Huayu: From charlatan to great entertainer

Chapter 582 The money didn't belong to the "Xu" family; it was found "on the road."
June 1, 2010, is destined to be recorded in the history of China's internet industry, film industry, and even Chinese football.

From LeEco Culture setting its listing date to Wanda's CEO finally deciding to go global, and then to the industry-shaking equity-binding cooperation between Tencent and Alibaba, each of these events is something that financial media and netizens alike find incredibly exciting.

LeTV Culture is about to become the second listed domestic film company after Wuyue Culture. With the example set by Bingbing, countless celebrities are flocking to it. Jia Yueting is taking advantage of this to negotiate with celebrities and directors in the industry to exchange shares for shares, attempting to bind outstanding content creators with shares, including top directors such as Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou.

For LeEco Culture, which already boasts top-tier domestic directors and stars such as Teng Huatao, He Ping, Chen Kexin, Chen Sicheng, Jia Kezhang, Yang Mi, Deng Chao, Sun Li, and Sun Honglei, this step is to leverage the enormous power of the capital market to directly compete with companies like Wenjie, Wuyue, and Chengtian in content production and star resources.

For Wanda, it was essentially a complete imitation of what Wang Sicong proposed: Boss Lu's strategy of "using foreign influence to bolster his own position and using Chinese influence to control foreign influence." This was a high-stakes gamble, comparable to "buying Hong Kong and landing on the mainland," and also the first time that Chinese private capital had attempted to gain a voice in the end-user market of film consumption.

It directly rivals and surpasses the influence that Lukuan has built in North America through cooperation and marketing, attempting to establish a "home ground" for Chinese films overseas through the crude method of "buying the entire theater chain." While Wenjie is building cultural influence, Wanda aims to construct a physical empire.

What's most impressive is still the powerful alliance between penguins and Ali, these two "old rivals".

These two companies are like water and fire in a parallel universe: one occupies the traffic entrance of social networking and games, and the other dominates the transaction terminal of e-commerce and payment. For many years, they have maintained strict barriers in multiple fields and blocked each other.

For example, Taobao links cannot be opened directly on QQ, indicating a tense competitive situation.

However, with the rise of Wenjie Mall in 2004, the marketing of Zhifutong in 2008, and the birth of WeChat announced by Wenjie this year, just like the alliances and counter-alliances of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Penguin Ali achieved a "great reconciliation of the century" under the terrifying pressure brought by the time traveler.

Wenjie officially announced that WeChat will be launched on 618, which is a well-intentioned scheme to beat up Lao Ma when he was down.
The decision by both Da Ma and Xiao Ma to launch QQ on 618 is a powerful response and counterattack.

Faced with this "new species" that spans content, social media, and e-commerce, the two established giants chose to set aside their disputes and unite against it.

Among the four companies involved, Wang Jianlin maintains his stance of not taking sides and only competing, but it is clear that LeEco, which opened its traffic entrance to QQ, along with Tencent and Ali, has a certain tacit understanding.

Even without a prominent whiteness, wouldn't that lead to bias in the competition?

In the shadows, there was another toothless tiger, the old chairman, who had been beaten to the point of near death but was not yet ready to die immediately.

For industry insiders who are deeply involved in the industry and understand the inside story, this situation is an unprecedented, comprehensive, and multi-dimensional attack on the "Wenjie Group," no matter which direction or angle you look at it from.

Its scope is so broad, ranging from online traffic to offline cinemas, from content production to payment gateways;
Its strength is so high that it has brought together almost all the top companies in the domestic sub-sectors, and devoted the best efforts of the industry.

This is no longer a single-point competition in a particular field, but a protracted "all-out arms race" destined to burn through astronomical sums of money.

It was very similar to the mid-Warring States period, when the six states of Qi, Chu, Yan, Zhao, Han, and Wei outside Hangu Pass put aside their long-standing feuds and suspicions, formed an alliance, mobilized their entire army, with banners obscuring the sun and chariots roaring, and jointly pointed towards the seemingly invincible Qin in the west.

Anyone with a modicum of common sense could see that even though the mighty Qin army was fierce and its reforms by Shang Yang had laid a deep foundation, it was still vulnerable to defeats on all fronts if it made a slight mistake when facing such a large-scale coalition.

All the spotlight, interview microphones, and online opinions have turned to Wenjie, focusing on Mr. Lu, holding their breath and waiting for his response...

Is it to issue an emergency statement? To announce a larger-scale confrontation plan? Or to hold a strategic press conference to prepare for a full-scale battle?

However, what everyone saw was a calm and unassuming scene, even somewhat unrelated to the real world:

Liu Yifei, whose Weibo account has surpassed 1800 million followers, updated her account with a photo of herself wearing a Crystal Palace jersey, standing on the field, and embracing the sun during this tense time.

With text:

This is my first time in London. I'm so grateful that the sky cleared up for this memorable day. I wish all the children in the world good health, happiness, and a bright future!

On behalf of the baby, I also want to thank Dad for the first Children's Day gift you received...

Okay, Mom can't lie to you, this is what your unscrupulous dad prepared for himself!

Just kidding! It's officially announced that Mr. Lu Kuan has acquired 100% of the shares of Crystal Palace, a century-old English football club, becoming the new owner of the club. We look forward to working together!
……

As usual, the fans and sycophants first downloaded Liu Yifei's Weibo pictures and saved them to create fan art. Once they were completely satisfied with their fan art, they would then look at the text. However, this time, they found it a bit hard to understand.

Or rather, they couldn't believe it.

Wasn't it supposed to be a trip to the UK to discuss the distribution of "Ball Lightning"? Yesterday, Askworld and Fox's Chinese Weibo accounts even announced details of their collaboration in the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and other locations.

Murdoch has a vast network of media outlets and Fox branches in Commonwealth countries, which facilitates the promotion and distribution of his films.

But now, why is it that the Celestial Immortal suddenly says that the washing machine bought a football club? And this happens right at the time when the Eight Great Sects are besieging Bright Peak.

Considering that there were over 100,000 comments asking "Where's my gift?" under Xiao Liu's previous Weibo post, and combining this with the content of this post, it's easy to imagine that this is the "gift" that the washing machine was referring to.

That dog deserves to die!

You're going to spend real money to play a live-action version of Football Manager, right?
However, the fans now don't have time to denounce him. They are more worried about the business situation of Wenjie than the emperor is worried about the eunuch. After all, the fairy can't go back to the past. She can only hold her nose and stand on the same side as the washing machine.

But for fans whose fan base doesn't overlap significantly with Lu and Liu's in the past, this is a major event worth writing about and studying in detail!
Just this March, a real estate company owner from the south, sporting a very cool belt, spent a whopping 100 million yuan to buy out all the shares of Guangzhou Evergrande Football Club, gradually transforming it into a top-tier team at the AFC Champions League level.

2010 was the year that later became known as the beginning of China's "money-driven football," an era when foreign players in the Chinese Super League couldn't even negotiate their salaries with their own national teams, which would scare their teammates from other national teams.

But this is still in the Chinese Super League, at most the AFC Champions League, and maybe if we grit our teeth a little more we can look forward to the Club World Cup. There is still a gap between us and a century-old Premier League club like Crystal Palace.

Especially on fan forums like Hupu, the buzz surrounding "Evergrande's promotion to the Super League" that was hot a few months ago has been quickly replaced, even surpassing the previous most talked-about topic of Yao Ming of the Rockets.

One is the NBA, and the other is the "world's number one sport";
One is a player who can only contribute on the competitive level, and the other is a club owner who can take whatever he wants.

The sense of immersion is absolutely incomparable.

In 2010, China had a huge number of football fans. According to incomplete statistics from the General Administration of Sport and industry white papers, the number of core football fans in China had exceeded 2.5 million, of which about 8000 million fans had a continuous following of the top five European leagues.

These figures are based on viewership ratings, frequency of viewing, paid subscriptions, and social media discussion among fans during CCTV broadcasts, excluding casual fans who only watch games occasionally.

The English Premier League has accumulated a huge fan base in China due to its intense competition, wide broadcasting, successful marketing and promotion worldwide, and the off-season tours of superstars such as Beckham and Ronaldo before leaving the Premier League. This has surpassed the "old Serie A" that first entered the domestic fans' field of vision.

Compared to celebrity fans in the entertainment industry, sports fans are a large, silent but extremely passionate group with a strong willingness to spend and a high degree of community cohesion.

They gather weekly on Baidu Tieba, Hupu, and Sina Sports comment sections to cheer and argue for their favorite teams;
They stayed up late into the night in front of the television, supporting the high viewership of CCTV5 and sports channels across the country;

They buy jerseys, scarves, and even travel overseas to collect trading cards and order official merchandise.

However, the huge domestic football market has never truly had its own world "home team." They can only be distant spectators, experiencing joy or sorrow over the wins and losses of the various giants in the top five leagues.

However, on June 1st, with the supplementary explanation of this news on the official website of Wenjie, the opening and entry of Crystal Palace's Chinese website and Chinese Weibo, and the official Chinese Weibo of the Premier League, hundreds of millions of domestic fans were in an uproar!
From now on, the dormitories of Yenching University, Huaqing University, and Lanxiang Vocational School across the country will be filled with discussions about Crystal Palace's signings.
Office workers who like to slack off and browse football apps will set it as their special attention and refresh it from time to time;

At barbecue stalls and bars, wherever there are men, the topic of football is inevitable, and whenever football is mentioned, the Chinese national team's "RNM refund" and the Premier League's rising star Crystal Palace are bound to come up!
"We now have a home team from one of the top five European leagues!"

Chinese fans are both the most lovable and the most pitiful. Fortunately, on this day, a welcome turning point arrived. They are no longer bystanders, nor are they spiritual tenants living under someone else's roof.

From that day on, the red and blue of the stands at Selhurst Park Stadium truly took on an Eastern character.

Wanda, Tencent, and other companies made their official announcements around 6 PM Beijing time, while news and media reports about Crystal Palace reached China around 6:30 PM.

So, starting from dinnertime across the land of China, the top ten trending topics on Weibo began to change hands constantly. Apart from the Eight Great Sects besieging Bright Peak, the remaining topics were things like "Boss Lu acquires Crystal Palace".

While the domestic internet was being stirred up by the alliances and mergers of the three giants, another, larger and more fervent force was being ignited in another dimension through the first-hand reports and images from reporters and fan clubs.

The full text and video clips of Lu Kuan's speech at the Crystal Palace press conference, as well as every photo of Liu Yifei interacting with fans while wearing a jersey, spread like wildfire on Weibo, Hupu, Tieba, Sina Sports, and other fan gathering places.

The fans' reactions were far more direct and passionate than those of entertainment industry fans!

"Holy crap! I actually bought it! This move by the washing machine is comparable to Maradona's Hand of God! From today onwards, Crystal Palace is my number one team! Attached is a screenshot of the online ticket purchase for 'Ball Lightning,' and a record of activating a joint membership on Weibo and Zhijie Video. I urge all JRS to support Boss Lu with real actions!"

JR means "family members" on the Hupu forum, a way users refer to each other. JRS is the plural form, reflecting the forum's community culture.

This forum is mostly populated by straight men. In the later Hupu Goddess selection, which was a successful marketing campaign, "Choose Liu (Yifei) if you have her" became the aesthetic and politically correct choice for straight men.

"I used to think that all the WAGs in the Premier League were foreign women, but now our boss's wife is a goddess who has completely outclassed us! Her aura is better in a football jersey than in haute couture! What about Victoria Beckham? Does she even stand up to our Eastern goddess? I hate that a scoundrel stole my wife, but for Crystal Palace's sake, I'll swallow this for now!"

"Spending so much money to buy my wife a club with the same name as her as a gift reminds me of Nan Fang's 'Celebrity Couples Ranking' from last month. It feels so rubbish! Those other couples on the unofficial rankings, like Donkey Face and Huang Shengyi, or Coal Second Generation and Yang Mi, can't compare to this couple at all!"

"I hereby announce that, starting today, the Hupu Celestial Fairy Branch is officially established. JRS, listen to my command and drive away all the fans of Huang Shengyi, Stinky Feet Sheep, Jiang Yiyan, and others! Especially Stinky Feet Sheep, I suspect that it's because of your stinky feet that the national football team is so trash!"

"Director Lu's move brought tears to my eyes! Before, we could only stay up all night to watch the game, but now we can confidently say that Selhurst Park is our own backyard! I'm speechless. Here's a screenshot of me treating everyone to a private IMAX screening of 'Ball Lightning'! I'm taking my own company employees to see it! Director Lu, I'll boost the box office for you, so save your transfer fee!"

"After watching football for twenty years, finally there's a team I can proudly shout 'Our team' for! I hereby solemnly declare that I have officially transferred to Wenjie Party, I'm the first to download WeChat, and my shopping cart on Wenjie Mall has been emptied! From now on, anyone who dares to criticize Crystal Palace and Washing Machine is going against the millions of Chinese football fans! Kings of London, charge!"

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and buy players, then ask the World Mall for Crystal Palace's official jerseys! Of course, if they have that 'original match-worn' jersey of Angelina Jolie, I'm willing to go bankrupt and buy it for a fortune!"

"Fast forward to 2027. Little Washing Machine inherits his father's business and becomes the owner of the European giant Crystal Palace Club, then starts washing everything in Europe and America. By then, Boss Lu's assets should have ballooned to an unimaginable size, right? I wonder if he'll be able to wash the princesses of European royalty. Washing Machine, spread your seeds across Europe and America! Looking forward to it!"

In addition to ordinary netizens and football fans, people in the entertainment and cultural circles who like football, such as Zhao Benshan and Sun Nan, also interacted remotely, making the scene even more enthusiastic.

Crystal Palace, a small London club that was not well-known in China, suddenly became a new "home team" option for tens of millions of Chinese Premier League fans, carrying a strong sense of national sentiment.

It seems that this seemingly casual move is no longer a simple business acquisition, but a direct entry into a vertical field with a scale far exceeding that of the domestic entertainment industry and extremely high emotional stickiness.

With all the news nearly fully circulated and the momentum exhausted, the media outlets were able to launch their own "carnival" based on a comprehensive overview. Whether it was the internet, finance, or entertainment gossip, there were simply too many angles to explore.

The first to speak out were, of course, domestic sports media. The authoritative "Football News" compared Guangzhou Evergrande and Crystal Palace, and enthusiastically looked forward to the future of Chinese football:
Just as we were thrilled by Evergrande's massive investment of 100 million RMB in football, another unexpected surprise stunned everyone like a "ball lightning bolt"!

Chinese people now have their own favorite teams in the top five European leagues!

That's right, it's not a case of Chinese capital holding shares or subsidiaries indirectly holding shares, but rather it belongs 100% to a Chinese national who is an internationally renowned artist and entrepreneur!
On behalf of this newspaper, I would like to extend my sincere greetings to Lu Kuan, Chairman of Crystal Palace Club, and his wife Liu Yifei.

In comparison, it must be said that—

Evergrande focuses on domestic competitions, investing heavily in the Chinese Super League and AFC Champions League titles. Its core strategy is to leverage football to enhance the domestic reputation of its real estate brand, which is a typical "domestic king" strategy.
Lu Kuan, a top billionaire, directly entered the core of global football, the English Premier League. He used far more capital than Evergrande, and his strategic intentions were even grander: not just to run a club, but to build Crystal Palace into a strategic fulcrum for Wenjie Entertainment's global reach, aiming to leverage world-class traffic and influence.

Ignoring everything else and considering only the development of Chinese football, Xu Jiayin's proposals regarding future foreign players and learning from other countries' plans may serve as a "strengthening" measure to improve the national team's performance in the short term.

But Mr. Lu's Crystal Palace offers another possibility with far greater implications:
By having a top-tier league club platform, promising young Chinese players can be systematically and comprehensively sent to truly world-class football environments to learn, train, and grow.

This is no longer a short-sighted "naturalization" approach, but rather a fundamental "heart-wrenching" and "talent cultivation" strategy, aiming to nurture players like Fan Zhiyi and Sun Jihai who can truly stand on the world stage for Chinese football.

This is not only a success for capital, but also opens a brand new door for the future of Chinese football, leading to the world's top stage.

Regardless, we are happy to see more successful entrepreneurs investing in Chinese and world football, and we look forward to seeing the Chinese team rise to prominence soon!

Caijing Magazine published an article titled "The Richest Man's 'Toy' Economics: The Eastern Chessboard Behind £2 Million," providing a preliminary analysis from a business perspective.

The acquisition of Crystal Palace by Road Rackfield cost approximately £1550 million. According to reports, the total annual operating cost for a mid-table Championship club aiming for promotion to the Premier League, including player salaries, is around £5000 million.

Even without considering the £2 million investment promised by Lu Kuan himself, the two investments mentioned above, totaling approximately RMB7 million, make this "big toy" with the same English name as the richest man's wife seem especially expensive.

But is the richest man really just playing the "beacon fire to amuse the feudal lords" game, as jokingly called by the public, just for his own amusement or to make Liu Yifei, who is nicknamed "Bao Si" by netizens, smile?
I believe this is far from the truth.

Beyond the £65.5 million operating costs, backed by the 1.4 billion-strong Chinese market, Wenjie actually possesses profit-generating methods comparable to mining. Referring to the commercial marketing revenue that Yao Ming, as a player, brought to the Rockets, we can attempt to calculate the following—

In terms of commercial sponsorships and endorsements: the club's global sponsorship value is expected to increase by £1000-1500 million per year, with Chinese brands accounting for the majority of the sponsorships. In particular, considering the huge reputation, fan base, and moviegoers of Lu Kuan and his wife in mainland China, their combined influence with the newly emerging fan base makes them a very promising business target.

Jersey and merchandise sales: Authentic jerseys currently sell for an average of around £60 each. Even without considering overseas markets, assuming only 100 million core Chinese fans (0.4% of the total fan base) purchase them, this alone would generate an additional £6000 million per year. With other merchandise included, this annual revenue could easily exceed £7000 million.

Broadcast revenue sharing and content licensing: The Premier League's global broadcast revenue is split equally among all participants. However, Crystal Palace can negotiate broadcasting rights for content such as friendly matches against Chinese teams and youth training collaborations, which is expected to bring in up to £500 million per year.

Asia Tour and Commercial Matches: An annual commercial match will be held in China, generating a combined revenue of £500-1000 million per event from tickets, sponsorships, and broadcasting.

Based on the above rough estimate, with the professional operation of a multinational corporation like the Sino-US border crossing, Crystal Palace Football Club, backed by a blue ocean market, can generate up to £1 million in revenue annually, which can basically cover operating costs, with a surplus of £4 to £5 million to improve the stadium and purchase players.

Looking at it this way, do you still think the richest man's promised investment of £2 million over five years is a lot?
It's clear that this £2 million investment isn't purely "consumption," but rather intended to cover the initial acquisition costs, initial player investments needed for promotion to the Premier League, and early market development. Once the club enters the Premier League, thanks to the significant increase in Premier League broadcasting contracts after 2010 and the substantial incremental revenue from the East, the club is fully capable of achieving financial self-sufficiency and even profitability.

Lu is not "burning money," but rather using a controllable investment to buy a ticket to the top tier of the world's number one league, and to install a powerful "traffic engine" and "brand accelerator" for his vast entertainment empire that can directly resonate with the emotions of hundreds of millions of Chinese fans.

The chessboard of this deal is far larger than that of a football club.

……

A special feature article in China Business Weekly, titled "A Precise Experiment in Ecological Feedback," discussed how the acquisition of Crystal Palace would benefit Wenjie and Lu Liu's work and career in the short term and foreseeable future.

While the internet industry was abuzz with the debate over strategic alliances and counter-alliances, Lu Kuan's move in London was initially seen by many as a gamble that deviated from his core business, or a romantic and capricious act reminiscent of "playing with fire to amuse the princes."

However, as the details of the Crystal Palace club acquisition gradually become clear, the profound strategic intentions behind it and its feedback effect on the vast ecosystem of the gaming industry are beginning to emerge.

This move is not an off-topic gamble, but rather a brilliant "ecological synergy" strategy that precisely targets the future.

There has been much already been written about Mr. Lu Kuan's operational role in the club, so I will not repeat it here. Instead, I will start by talking about Liu Yifei herself.

Will Crystal Palace, the future Premier League club of the same name, also benefit Mr. Lu's wife, Liu Yifei?
The answer is absolutely yes.

This is an attempt to leap from "national celestial beauty" to "global symbol".

We can see that within 24 hours of the official announcement, Liu Yifei, as the wife of the Crystal Palace Club chairman and the central figure in the controversy, saw her Weibo followers surge by over 200 million, breaking the 2000 million mark. Her Twitter and Mytube followers also saw significant increases.

More importantly, the fan base has undergone a qualitative change: a large influx of new male and sports-related users has completely broken the boundaries of their original film and television fan circles.

She is no longer simply an "actress" or "star"; her identity has been given a completely new dimension: the "owner's wife of a century-old European football club."

This title combines international appeal, financial strength, and community affinity, making it far more valuable than any top luxury brand endorsement. It has significantly enhanced her premium pricing power in the fashion and high-end business sectors, opening up a highly imaginative global market space for her personal brand.

At the same time, Liu Yifei's social media accounts have been transformed into an international traffic portal for the Wenjie ecosystem, bringing unprecedented exposure and conversion to her film and television works and partner brands.

Looking at the big picture, we believe that Mr. Lu Kuan's move was by no means a casual gamble to win a woman's favor, but a strategic investment that has been carefully calculated.

Its core logic is: by acquiring a sports IP with a deep community culture and global influence, it forcibly enters a vertical field with a huge scale and extremely high emotional stickiness, and uses this as a hub to empower and drive traffic to all its business lines, including content, platform, social and personal IP.

One of the most direct observations is that there is currently an extremely strong call on the internet to support "Ball Lightning" and director Lu Kuan's work. As of the time of writing, all the premiere tickets for the film on IMAX screens in Beijing are sold out, and scalper prices are approaching those of the initial success of "Avatar".

This gives us a glimpse into the situation.

You might think he's using the profits from movies to satisfy his personal hobbies, but in reality, he's using football, the world's number one sport, to build a larger, more loyal, and more powerful consumer base for his entire entertainment empire.

While competitors are still forming alliances and maneuvering within the existing internet market, LuKuan has already transcended the current battlefield and planted a seed full of infinite possibilities for the next decade of Wenjie in the broader blue ocean of sports consumption.

This seemingly insignificant move transcends simple business gains and losses; it demonstrates the highest strategic wisdom in building a sustainable ecosystem.

Perhaps our only concern is whether Crystal Palace, with its expansion and increasing operating costs, will drag down the cash flow of other companies as it becomes a capital-intensive project.
After all, the cost of stadium renovation and expansion, as well as the frenzy of the football transfer market in this World Cup year, is staggering.

……

In the previous life of Evergrande, in this life of Evergrande and Wenjie, it's not too new for top companies to invest in football. It's just that Boss Lu took a bit too big a step, going straight to the center of world football.

What is the purpose of investing in football for these wealthy individuals and large corporations?
Just as various financial media outlets have analyzed and revealed, it's not that they are so passionate about football, but rather a strategy of giving back and empowering others.

During the golden decade of real estate, Xu Jiayin rapidly built a championship team through massive investment, instantly and greatly enhancing Evergrande Group's national brand awareness and reputation.

This high level of exposure can translate into huge real benefits in terms of business relationships, land acquisition, bank loans, and consumer trust. Football is more like a top-tier billboard that is costly but highly effective, and its commercial returns are closely tied to the prosperity of the real estate business.

Later, seeing this, Old Ma became envious and also invested in Evergrande, so Evergrande was renamed "Evergrande Taobao Club".

Ma Yun's goal was the same: to leverage the huge fan base in China to generate traffic for her internet business. After all, in her previous life, the Chinese people felt the most honor and sense of belonging to Guangzhou Evergrande, which dominated the AFC Champions League.

Zhang Jindong of Suning also had the same goal in mind when he successively acquired Jiangsu Sainty and Inter Milan.

Has Wang Jianlin, who participated in the "siege of Bright Summit," not made any moves this time? He is an entrepreneur who is most adept at judging the situation.

After angrily resigning from the old Jia-A era, he later took advantage of his investment in Wanda Business Travel in Spain to invest 4500 million euros in 2015 to acquire a 20% stake in La Liga powerhouse Atlético Madrid and join the board of directors, because his superiors liked football.

The following year, it acquired the naming rights to a new stadium, namely "Wanda Metropolitan Stadium". This is not only a brand advertisement, but also an important symbol of the internationalization of its cultural tourism real estate, bringing sports traffic into its business ecosystem.

According to the actual course of history, it will be five years from now before China's top companies, especially real estate companies that benefited from the "golden decade," go overseas to buy up assets, or even cross over into the football industry.

But with the existence of a time traveler in this life, and with all the necessary and sufficient conditions met, Boss Lu didn't hesitate to take action against Crystal Palace.

The media storm and heated discussions that this event sparked both domestically and internationally in a short period of time left his competitors and entrepreneurs associated with football somewhat speechless.

Xu Jiayin, who was smug about his extravagant spending, claimed that the money did not belong to him but was found on the road.

Zhang Kangyang, son of Suning's Zhang Jindong and currently pursuing a master's degree at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and the future youngest president of Inter Milan: I feel inexplicably that my luck has been stolen.

Wang Sicong, who painstakingly imitated Boss Lu's "using foreign influence to bolster his own position and Chinese methods to control foreigners," is getting increasingly Westernized and increasingly heavy-handed!
One step ahead leads to another, and any future big bosses who are unwilling to accept defeat and want to use football to go global will only be seen as copying others' ideas.

But for the companies that participated in the siege of Bright Peak, the situation is now rather awkward.

Even though their announcements didn't carry a strong competitive tone, didn't target the same person, and didn't make any further clamor beyond a statement, who, except those who don't care about the domestic business world, can't see the crux of this drama?

However, they had been preparing for this for a long time, carefully planned, and mobilized all available resources to launch a series of attacks that they believed were enough to shake up the market.

The feeling was akin to the allied forces of the six states during the Warring States period, who, after a difficult alliance, finally arrayed their troops at Hangu Pass. War drums thundered, banners blotted out the sky, and the entire army was in high spirits, awaiting a decisive battle that would determine the fate of the land. As they fiercely fired their proclamations and arrows at the pass walls—

But they found that on that seemingly impregnable pass, there was only a nonchalant washing machine and his wife, who were even amusedly playing the trick of lighting beacon fires to amuse the feudal lords among the foreigners.

Those photos of Liu Yifei smiling and laughing, and Boss Lu's eloquent speech on stage, can be seen as a kind of humiliation for them.

Wanda's Lao Wang is determined, and both Xiao Ma and Da Ma are planning their moves carefully. They haven't reacted much yet. The main problem is that everyone at LeEco Culture, from Jia Yueting to Yang Mi, is feeling a bit frustrated.

How much the former longed to be able to fool foreigners like he was abroad!
The latter felt helpless and jealous of Liu Yifei's inexplicable surge in followers and her unexpected rise to fame.

This is just too unreasonable!
Da Mimi wished she could give her boyfriend, who had just bought her a big house, a lot of money to play in the NBA and back down Shaq, so that she could become a basketball babe for fans all over the country.

Including Huang Shengyi, who has already become the vice president of Yangzi Company with her donkey-faced boyfriend, there are no ambitious female stars who don't envy this career path.

It's a pity that it's easy to imitate Liu Yifei and become a wealthy capitalist's wife, but not everyone has the opportunity to navigate the international stage. Moreover, even if they did, could they achieve the same effect as Liu?
This requires a natural, approachable charm that transcends the image of a female celebrity; it requires an unpretentious and natural demeanor. Habitual actions such as pouting, sucking cheeks, or striking poses are unacceptable.

This also requires a just-right sense of proportion, always leaving the spotlight to the husband, fulfilling the role of supporter and partner, but being able to gracefully present oneself when needed.

Character determines destiny, and even starlight has its own texture.

Compared to Bingbing, another actress who is currently doing well internationally, mainly in the fashion industry, Xiao Liu's advantage lies in having a classic beauty that appeals to both Chinese and foreign audiences. Her temperament is purer and more approachable than Bingbing's, lacking aggression yet exuding a sense of sophistication.

This is the standard requirement for noble ladies and wealthy women who want to appear presentable.

Film fans are celebrating, eagerly awaiting the domestic premiere of "Ball Lightning" at the end of the month, which shone brightly at Cannes.

Fans are celebrating and following Crystal Palace's official Weibo account in China, waiting for news about player signings after the World Cup.

Fans of the actress are celebrating as their idol reappears in a different guise, winning the hearts of the British public.

Laundry detergent fans are also celebrating, as they saw in Liu Yifei's official interview that the future little washing machine might become a player, and most likely a club president.

More than a decade has passed since I last served as his successor. The frost-covered blade has yet to be tested. I await the day when my young lord will sweep across Europe in blood.

But at this moment, King You of Zhou and Bao Si, who were at the center of public opinion, appeared on the streets of London in a relaxed mood, with a world-class director providing street photography services for his wife.

The infamous "femme fatale" Xiao Liu wore a sharply tailored black leather skirt adorned with metal rings, exuding a cool and powerful aura.

With her exquisite makeup and a striking red lip, set against the serene tones of the European-style street scene, her elegant figure leaning against the wall exudes a noble, confident, and slightly aloof modern chic.

"Come on, look at me, and make sure you're covering your teeth!" the great artist instructed.

Liu Yifei, hands on her hips, angrily scolded, "You bastard! That's not what you said when you were licking my teeth last night!"

The washing machine pretended not to hear, "Okay, that's it, one, two, three..."

Click!

(Author's note: That's all.)
(End of this chapter)