Huayu Chunqiu, starting from being adopted by a fairy mother

Chapter 359 The Brother-Supporting Demon

Ding-ding-ding-ding-ding...

On the outskirts of Yandu, a construction site is bustling with activity.

As long as the money is in place, there's no need to rush the project.

Sisi, wearing a sun hat, stood on a high platform with a gratified look on her face.

She witnessed the entire process of how this wasteland gradually took shape, growing from nothing to something, and participated in the whole process.

"Mom, do you feel a sense of accomplishment?" Sisi asked ingratiatingly, even holding a fan to cool Li Jie.

"No, not at all." Sister Li shook her head, snatched the fan from her daughter's hand, and said, "I'll fan myself. Who knows how they'll calculate the cost later? A single fan could cost tens of thousands. I have to be careful."

"Look over there, a three-story building, built especially for you. From now on..."

“I have plenty of places to live, and I don’t want to live with you anymore. Let’s all be well and have our own peace and quiet,” Sister Li interrupted.

"Mom, that's going too far. I'm your daughter, your only daughter. Why are you treating me like a thief?" Sisi complained.

"It's hard to guard against a thief within the family," Sister Li sighed. Ever since her daughter acquired this land, she's been eyeing her every penny.

She really doesn't care about a few tens of millions of dollars.

But even if she had a lot of money, she felt that building a zoo was unnecessary.

Moreover, with the current economic crisis, every penny must be spent wisely.

After some time, she plans to buy up some stocks at rock-bottom prices and acquire a few companies and some industries.

"This isn't a zoo, it just has a lot of animals, but it's mainly for people to live in." Sisi said dejectedly. Sure enough, they are from two different generations, the generation gap is really too big.

She initially thought the biggest generation gap was between her and her father, one of the four family members. Now she realizes she was wrong; her father is quite supportive, but they're just too poor. A year's salary isn't even enough to pay a worker's daily wage.

"Let's talk about it next year. You know the situation right now," Sister Li sighed.

The economic crisis has fully erupted. Liu Jing is full of confidence, while Chairman Li is shrewd and calculating. She couldn't sleep all night, wondering when it would end.

Especially that Chairman Lee from the neighboring country, we really underestimated him back then.

To lead such an international company is no ordinary task.

Old Li initially proposed jointly establishing an investment fund to invest in the global market. The question was: how much capital could she raise, how much would the other party provide in return, and how could Qin Shi Huaxia maintain a dominant position?

In Sister Li's opinion, this was not a small bargain, but a big one, so of course she had to take advantage of it.

She, Liu Jing, and their team studied the proposal carefully and ultimately agreed to Old Li's suggestion.

As soon as Qin Shi Global Fund was established, Liu Jing went to the United States to tell her which companies she could invest in.

Sister Li was very efficient and carried out the tasks one by one. Old Li didn't say anything. He only made one request: he could pledge his shares to raise funds if needed.

A month ago, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, and this bubble was completely burst.

Old Li didn't know what he talked about with Liu Jing, but Liu Jing suddenly told her to fully cooperate with Old Li's actions.

Then Old Li launched a series of dazzling maneuvers, leaving Sister Li completely bewildered and unable to sleep all night, fearing that she had been tricked by the old fox.

She asked Liu Jing several times, but he always told her to calm down and that she would understand in time.

Sister Li couldn't remain calm. The other party wasn't using money directly, but rather a series of financial maneuvers. They neither sold the shares of the companies she had invested in, nor transferred any funds from her account.

Money makes money, interest arbitrage, capital leverages capital, and foreign exchange loans are used to obtain foreign exchange.

As a month passed, Sister Li gradually understood what was going on.

The Lee family does not hold a large stake in the Samsung Group, especially in Samsung Electronics, where they directly hold less than 5%.

Foreign investors hold as much as 55% of the common stock, while South Korean domestic investors hold only 19%, and major shareholders and related companies hold 21%. Among those foreign shareholders, US institutions account for more than 80%.

The situation was even more dire with preferred shares, where foreign capital accounted for as much as 89%, virtually monopolizing the distribution of corporate profits.

This shareholding structure has resulted in more than half of Samsung's annual net profit flowing to Wall Street.

However, Samsung's control and profit rights are separate. Lee Kun-hee controls voting rights through a triangular structure of Samsung Life Insurance, Samsung Electronics, and Samsung C&T, via cross-shareholdings and concerted action agreements. The Lee family gains nearly 50% control with minimal cash flow rights.

Taking advantage of the economic crisis, with Wall Street lamenting and the US preoccupied, Old Li used various means to acquire more voting rights and control.

Sister Li isn't worried anymore. Samsung benefited greatly, but Qin Shi also gained a considerable amount. Since there are benefits to be had, what is there to worry about?

"What a cunning old fox, he started plotting this last year. What a pity... If only we could have arranged a marriage," Sister Li muttered.

Sisi's ears perked up, her face darkening. "Mom, what marriage alliance? What are you planning now?"

“I’ve been watching a TV series recently. The two families had a good relationship, but due to some reasons, they eventually became enemies. If they had arranged a marriage back then, they probably wouldn’t have made it this far,” Sister Li explained.

"Korean dramas, I guess." Sisi pouted, as if to say, "Do you really think I'm blind and deaf?"

"Sigh! When men have money and status, the first thing they think about is continuing their lineage. Out of ten successful entrepreneurs, eight have illegitimate children, one has one openly, and the remaining one can't have any," Sister Li sighed.

"Yeah! It's because of your old-fashioned thinking that you've spoiled this blockhead into being so fickle. You weren't properly raised from a young age, what's there to say?" Sisi mocked.

"What do you know? I'm just keeping him within certain limits. If we let him run wild, believe me, he would have gone completely out of control long ago," Sister Li scolded.

Sisi fell silent, forced to admit that her mother was right.

When that bastard was just an adult, he was like a stray dog, wanting to sleep with anyone he could get his hands on. Most of these messy relationships he's in now are the result of that time.

Things are much better now, especially after Xiaoxue came along. Even when beautiful women are offered to me, I remain unperturbed.

She was chatting with Zhang Min yesterday and they talked about this.

Zhang Min thought it was normal; men are all like that at the beginning. Later, after experiencing more, she came to see it as commonplace.

Experiencing more things isn't necessarily a bad thing; it will prevent you from making the same mistakes again and from being ruined by a woman.

Tang Sanzang experienced eighty-one tribulations on his journey to the West. It was easy to fall into the tribulations of life, but difficult to overcome the tribulations of love. Separation caused him great distress, and longing consumed him.

In reality, many spirited young men and heroes, unafraid of hardship, challenges, or difficulties, ultimately succumb to the word "love."

Confidence turned into self-doubt, self-reliance into hypersensitivity, and independence into decadence and lethargy. Dwelling on the past, losing oneself, one becomes like a walking corpse.

Sisi remained silent, feeling that Zhang Min's words also made sense.

"I recently went to Guangdong province. There's a boss in a prefecture-level city there, his assets are probably several hundred million. Good heavens, he has over a hundred mistresses across the country. No matter which big city he goes to, he has a little nest there. He was so smug at the dinner table, saying he was trying to have a mother-in-law in every county, it's absolutely disgusting. You also travel abroad often, in some places in the US and Canada, young and beautiful women with children, how many of them are the first wife..."

"Mom, do you think it's appropriate for you to say these things to me?" Sisi said irritably.

Sister Li glanced at her daughter, "Those who don't have children either can't afford them or can't have them, it's not that they don't want to. Don't follow their example..."

"Xiaoxue is almost a year old, why are you still urging me? If you want to hold your granddaughter, go to Shanghai to hold her." Qianqian said impatiently.

"Xiaoxue is not a member of the same family, but I treat her like my granddaughter..."

Sisi interrupted rudely, "Mom, are you mistaken? My daughter is your granddaughter, okay?"

Sister Li was speechless, she misspoke, and her daughter caught her out, so her imposing aura also subsided.

"We still need to have that," Sister Li muttered.

"If you have nothing else to say, I'll head back now. I have an appointment with Wang Xiaoping; she'll come to see me this afternoon with the script." Sisi didn't want to stay here any longer; she felt no sense of accomplishment.

Wang Xiaoping was a big fan of "Empresses in the Palace" and approached him several times, wanting to produce the show.

Sisi is unwilling to hand over the copyright, but she can invite Zheng Xiaolong to direct and Wang Xiaoping to adapt it.

"Hey! You kid, I was just saying a few words to you. What's going on between you and Mu Tou? Every time I go online, all I see is news about you two," Sister Li said curiously. "You know 'Painted Skin' is out, right?" Xi Xi asked.

"You played the fox spirit? Of course I know. My daughter is beautiful, she looks beautiful in any costume. The box office broke 300 million yesterday, Golden Harvest will get a lot of money, and the market value has increased a lot." Sister Li was particularly energetic when talking about the stock price increase.

Due to the economic crisis, TVB's market value has been plummeting, and it has now fallen below HK$80 billion.

Golden Harvest was also significantly affected, with its market capitalization surging following the release of "Painted Skin." Yesterday, it officially surpassed HK$80 billion, overtaking TVB to become the top-performing entertainment stock in Hong Kong.

The century-long rivalry between Golden Harvest and TVB is showing signs of a new development, which has been extensively covered by numerous media outlets.

Buying high and selling low is the norm, and stimulated by this, Golden Harvest shares rose again today, while TVB shares fell accordingly.

"Congratulations." Sisi's expression was indifferent; these things were far removed from her. She wasn't interested in things like stock market value; even if it rose so much, tens of millions wouldn't be given to me.

"I even went to the cinema to watch it and contributed over thirty yuan to the box office," Sister Li said proudly, muttering to herself quite a bit while watching the movie. Young people really know how to have fun; she just couldn't stand how these three actors acted in the film.

"Thank you." Sisi pouted. How generous of her, she wouldn't even buy a VIP seat.

"What? Thirty yuan isn't money. You can watch it for free, but I specifically paid to watch it."

“Jing Tian spent more than 30,000 yuan.”

"How much will you get after 30,000? You'll just be wasting your money."

Jing Tian set a record since the promotion of tickets: booking the entire venue.

When "Painted Skin" was released, she contacted me directly and said she wanted to buy a thousand tickets.

Tickets are welcome, of course, and a discount was offered. But Jing Tian simply said, "Discounts don't matter. I'm treating everyone to the movie to support Brother Jing and Sister Qianqian. You guys book the whole theater for me, and let the audience get tickets through the ticket system. I'll pay for all 1,000 tickets."

It's a problem having tickets; the website doesn't have that feature yet.

Programmers worked overtime to upgrade and optimize the feature, successfully launching it before the National Day holiday.

The homepage of Youpiao's official website features beautiful pictures of Jing Tian, ​​with the caption "Jing Tian invites you to the movies."

Because of this incident, Jing Tian was invited by Youpiao to become the second spokesperson.

The girl originally wanted to buy 10,000 tickets, but then she thought the director wasn't Jing Ge (a famous Chinese comedian), so she decided to just buy 1,000 as a token gesture. She plans to rent out another 10,000 tickets when "The Message" is released.

"Old people, you don't understand." Sisi was too lazy to explain. It was all a generation gap, an insurmountable one. Stocks fluctuate by tens of millions, yet they're still agonizing over the cost of a few movie tickets.

In her eyes, her mother, the chairman of the board of directors of Golden Harvest, was definitely the most unprofessional of all film and television companies.

His eyes light up when he talks about investing, but he becomes impatient when he talks about management.

"I don't understand. Gao Yuanyuan has already won Best Actress, when are you going to win one? Then I'll understand everything." Sister Li wasn't very concerned about Golden Harvest's business, but she was very concerned about her daughter's career.

In Sister Li's view, of all the businesses in the family, the entertainment company is the one that requires the least of her attention.

Zhang Min, Zhou Wenqiong, Liu Jing, Gao Yuanyuan, Bai Bing, Li Xiaoran, Chen Zihan...

With these people around, she can relax and be a hands-off manager.

"I'm still young..."

"Yagira Yuya won the Cannes Best Actor award at fourteen, Guo Keyu won the Golden Goblet Best Actress award at seventeen, Li Xiaolu won the Golden Horse Best Actress award at seventeen, Lin Biqi won the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress at seventeen, and Xia Yu won both the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Horse Best Actor awards at seventeen. They were all young and achieved fame at a young age," Sister Li said, listing them off with great familiarity.

"Mom, you seem to know a lot about these things." Sisi looked at Liu Jing with the same confidence she'd developed. "You don't ask about company management, but you seem to know everything about movie stars."

"You have to love what you do, and Best Actress is undoubtedly the highest honor in your profession. When your mother started dancing, she was aiming for that highest honor. The Golden Horse Awards are usually held at the end of the year, so are you confident you can win Best Actress?" Sister Li asked with high hopes.

"I can't win. When the deadline for submissions to this year's Golden Horse Awards came, 'Painted Skin' hadn't even been released yet." Sisi shook her head.

"Look at my memory, I forgot about this. I'll have to wait until next year." Sister Li patted her head.

"The Golden Horse Awards favor art films, and 'Painted Skin' is primarily marketed in mainland China. The director wants to focus resources on winning the Hundred Flowers Awards the year after next, and the Huabiao Awards next year," Sisi explained.

“His thinking is correct. Even if we can get nominated for the Golden Horse Awards, we might not win any major awards. Last year, the Golden Horse Award went to 'Lust, Caution.' In the first half of the year, the Hong Kong Film Awards went to 'The Warlords.' In the second half of the year, the Hundred Flowers Awards went to 'Assembly.'” Sister Li sighed and asked her daughter, “You did a good job in 'Painted Skin.' Do you need me to help you with some PR?”

"No! If you overdo it, people will say I'm all talk and no action. Even if I win Best Actress, people will still criticize me for being unworthy." Sisi quickly refused. She believed in her mother's abilities, but she couldn't accept an honor that was bought.

"Wood wants to use Chen Jiashang to reform the Hong Kong Film Awards, probably hoping you'll win Best Actress. He's really going all out for you. Aside from being a womanizer, he's perfect in every way." Sister Li felt a mix of emotions.

"Just focus on filming, why worry so much?" Sisi smiled, agreeing with her assessment; the mother and daughter had clearly misunderstood.

"Wait a minute! You played a mistress in 'Painted Skin,' cough cough, a fox spirit, no, a demon, you played a demon. You two should be considered a couple, right? How come the internet says you're some kind of 'brother-supporting demon'?" Sister Li suddenly realized something was wrong.

"Did you watch this episode of 'Happy Camp'?" Sisi pursed her lips, looking quite aggrieved.

She wasn't very optimistic about the promotional effect of variety shows. She thought appearing on a show might be icing on the cake, but it couldn't change her fate.

It's indeed icing on the cake; one episode of "Happy Camp" was very effective.

On October 10th, "Happy Camp" aired, and the box office that day was 12 million yuan. The following day, the box office jumped to 22 million yuan. This is the result after only half a month of release, showing a strong momentum reminiscent of its initial release.

The next day, many related news articles and trending topics appeared online.

For example, you are Liu Yifei like this; for example, Fan Bingbing's best friend; for example, Fan Bingbing falling into the water and Liu Jing protecting herself; for example, Liu Yifei's daring...

Some people praised the deep bond between the siblings, which saddened her somewhat.

Some people say she's a brother-obsessed girl, which makes her rather happy.

Who knew that things would gradually get out of control, and someone coined a term to call her a "brother-supporting demon".

And so this new word was attached to her, becoming hotter than any other buzzword.

Then countless netizens suddenly realized that there was too much evidence to prove this point.

The woman in yellow was a minor supporting role, but even someone of her celestial status had to play it because it was her brother's debut film.

The fairy in "Painted Skin" was played by a celestial being who disregarded her image because the male lead was her younger brother.

Why did I become the producer of "Chinese Paladin 3"? It's all for my bratty little brother.

Sisi was feeling down, thinking that her and Mutou's performance on the variety show made them seem like a couple.

The final, honest question revealed that she was truly moved.

Why do viewers perceive their relationship as so innocent? Is it because it ended up being questionable?
He was telling the truth, and the instrument wasn't a lie detector.

She later realized that her emotional state at the time had caused the instrument to misjudge the situation.

This cannot be explained, and there is no way to explain it.

Sisi has been depressed for two days. According to her expectations, there must have been a lot of discussion about their relationship during these two days.

They've discussed it, but they're not a couple; they're still siblings.

Thinking about all this, the last glass of cilantro juice didn't taste so bad anymore.

"It's all scripted, nothing interesting," Sister Li shook her head.

"Mom, loosen the soil over there, I'm going to plant cilantro." Sisi pointed to the empty space at the far end.

"What?" Sister Li looked completely bewildered.

"Goodbye." Sisi waved her hand. You didn't even watch the show, why should I explain it to you?

"Hey! Who is this person! They didn't want to come, but they insisted on bringing me. Now look what's happened, they've abandoned me and run away."

(End of this chapter)