I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 309 Business Empire!

In the conference room on the other side.

The silence was oppressive, making it hard to breathe.

Luo Hongming glanced down at the time displayed on the wall...

Zhou Yang has been gone for nearly two hours.

Outside the window, the setting sun cast its crimson glow upon the entrance of [Xuan Shi Entertainment].

The brand representatives near the window frequently looked down, their eyes revealing anxiety.

The entrance was crowded with brand managers carrying briefcases, eagerly waiting to discuss cooperation with Zhou Yang. Among them were several major international brands...

At that moment, a strong sense of unease welled up in everyone in the conference room—

Could it be that Mr. Zhou has already abandoned them and turned to cooperate with brands that offer higher prices?
In this materialistic world, such a choice seems perfectly reasonable.

but……

These brands have walked alongside Zhou Yang, witnessing each other's growth and rise. Their relationship extends beyond business cooperation; it is also one of deep trust and friendship.

Zhou Yang has provided them with support at critical moments on many occasions, and they have always stood firmly behind Zhou Yang, facing the storms of the market together.

At this moment, they are more willing to believe that Zhou Yang will not easily abandon this trust, but will lead them to find a new way out, just like in the past, so as to jointly fight against the encirclement and suppression of capital.

Just when the atmosphere was reaching its peak of tension, a series of noisy commotions finally broke out outside the conference room...

Almost everyone held their breath, their eyes all fixed on the doorway!

The next second, the conference room door was flung open, and a group of people stormed in...

The brand representatives in the conference room were stunned as they watched the noisy coal bosses squeeze in.

They stared dumbfounded at the group of well-dressed, loud-voiced nouveau riche before them, momentarily at a loss for how to react.

The coal bosses jostled and pushed their way into the conference room, their gold chains gleaming under the lights, and the fur collars of their mink coats swaying with their movements.

They spoke with heavy accents, shouting all at once:

"Mr. Zhou, are these the brands you're referring to?"

"This little bit of money is nothing, I can cover it all by myself!"

"Bullshit! Who gave you a chance? I was here first!"

"..."

The brand representatives looked at each other, completely bewildered. Someone quietly tugged at Luo Hongming's sleeve and whispered, "Mr. Luo, who are these people?"

Luo Hongming looked equally bewildered and could only shake his head.

The entire conference room instantly descended into chaos. The coal bosses' loud voices were ear-piercing, while the brand representatives stood there bewildered, creating a highly chaotic scene.

Just then, Zhou Yang silently walked in, and then walked step by step to the podium. Standing on the podium, his gaze swept over everyone in the conference room, his expression serious and firm.

He pushed up his glasses, his voice steady yet extremely penetrating.

"Ladies and gentlemen, overseas capital is coming in aggressively. They want to use money to smash open our market and force us to bow down through acquisitions and squeeze. But today, I want to tell you all! We will never bow down!"

"Everyone, please rest assured, you have followed me, supported me, and witnessed my journey to this day since I was just a nobody... At this important moment, I will stand with you..."

"From 'Martial Soul' to 'Twilight,' we've come a long way not through financial handouts, but through unity and resilience! Now, we don't need to go it alone; we need to band together and undertake an unprecedented mega-project!"

"This project will be a counterattack for our Chinese brands!"

"Everyone here today is a creator of this empire. I, Zhou Yang, hereby promise that as long as you trust me, I will lead you through a bloody path!"

Zhou Yang's voice echoed in the conference room, carrying an exhilarating power: "Everyone, what we're going to do is not a small-scale operation, but a revolution that will overturn the entire industry! From production to sales, from domestic to overseas markets, we're going to build an unbreakable commercial Great Wall!"

He slammed his fist on the table, his gaze behind his glasses sharp as a knife. "Those capitalists think they can crush us with money? Dream on! Every one of you here today will be a witness to a new era!"

Although the coal mine owners were still a bit confused, the words "major event" and "industry disruption" ignited their passion like flames. The fat man in the mink coat suddenly stood up and couldn't help but yell, "President Zhou, just tell me how to do it! Who am I afraid of, you coal miners? Disruption, huh? Count me in!"

The bald coal mine owner slammed his fist on the table and roared, "Money is no object! As much as you want! If we pull this off, we'll be rewriting history!"

The entire conference room erupted in chaos. More than thirty coal mine owners, their faces red and necks bulging, shouted loudly, instantly making the entire conference room noisy and even interrupting Zhou Yang's voice.

At that very moment, Li Dachun, that troublemaker, seized the opportunity to raise his arms and shout: "Brothers, President Zhou rarely says things like this! I guarantee with everything I have that this is an opportunity that will go down in history! President Zhou, lead the charge, and we'll fight our way through! We'll pave a smooth road for domestic brands! What the hell are these foreigners? They're capital? Aren't we capital too? When it comes to money, we're not afraid of anyone! Let's do it!"

The roar made the glass windows vibrate, as if the roof was about to be blown off at any moment.

Zhou Yang stood on the podium, his impassioned speech stuck in his throat.

Since coming into this world, I have actually experienced a feeling called "being humiliated" for the first time.

Watching the scene of more than thirty coal bosses rolling up their sleeves and slamming their fists on the table below the stage, I took a deep breath.

"Everyone, actually what I wanted to say was... actually, I haven't even talked about the project yet..."

Zhou Yang had just raised his voice when he was drowned out by shouts of "Fuck him!" and "Money's nothing!" He
Seeing this, Li Dachun slammed his fist on the table, his leather shoes leaving several footprints on the project plan: "Shut the hell up! Listen to Commander Zhou!" The coal mine owners argued even more fiercely, one of them so agitated that he even smashed his thermos on the ground with a loud bang that left everyone speechless…

This scene...

"Everyone, everyone..."

Zhou Yang finally picked up the microphone and turned up the volume.

Finally, the meeting room was barely quieted down.

He looked helplessly at the noisy coal bosses, then waved his hand, no longer offering any more passionate platitudes. Instead, he had Zhang Jingya bring over an investment agreement and a confidentiality agreement for each of them...

"Everyone, please carefully review the contents of this agreement. Once you've confirmed everything is correct, you can sign it. From now on, we'll be partners fighting side by side."

……………………………… This world.

It seems magical.

In April, the Chinese film market was swept up in an unprecedented frenzy by the sudden release of "Twilight".

This vampire romance film, criticized by North American film critics as "refreshingly bad," swept through major theaters in China with overwhelming force.

As of April 18, the box office has exceeded 180 million RMB, with a peak of 2.3 million viewers in a single day, setting a new record for imported romance films.

What's even more astonishing is the explosion of Zhou Yang's personal influence—his portrayal of the "Eastern Exorcist," though less than a third of the film's screen time, contributed over 80% of the buzz surrounding the story.

On social media, hashtags such as #ZhouYangSmokingScene# and #BandageBloodStainAesthetics# have accumulated over 100 million views. His account 【KuaiBo】 gained over 10,000 new followers in a single day, and countless female fans spontaneously organized "second viewing check-in" events. Some even rented out entire theaters to invite strangers to watch the film just to "promote the brother's divine looks"...

What surprised everyone the most was...

The domestically produced "Flint Lighter," which only appeared for 3 seconds in the video, sparked a buying frenzy due to Zhou Yang's smoking scene. The manufacturer's orders surged by 500% in a single week, forcing them to work 24-hour shifts to meet demand. Furthermore, they reached an export agreement with the US market for the first time, becoming the first Chinese lighter brand to export.

Meanwhile, a domestic brand of cigarettes called "Anjiang Cigarettes" suddenly became a hot seller in the North American tobacco market, and everyone was trying to imitate Zhou Yang's way of smoking that cigarette...

As the commercial impact of the hit movie "Twilight" continues to grow, major brands are openly extending offers to Zhou Yang...

In media interviews, Zhou Shenming, the boss of [Tita Apparel], publicly called out Zhou Yang, saying that he had prepared a nearly 1.2 million yuan offer to endorse their sports series. The general manager of [Jianlang Liquor] personally declared that they would break industry convention and sign a 1.5 million yuan contract for their first liquor advertisement. Furthermore, media reports revealed that [Kaixin Air Conditioning], which has never hired celebrities for endorsements, came to negotiate with a 2 million yuan contract...

The messages shocked countless netizens...

Even more shockingly, a message appeared on the internet from an unknown source, stating that according to authoritative industry statistics, the total value of endorsement offers rejected by Zhou Yang's business team in a single day has exceeded 5 million RMB, and his personal business valuation has soared to the tens of billions level, earning him the media title of "walking money printing machine".

This commercial appeal is unprecedented in the Chinese entertainment industry, and has even sparked a new wave of research on the "celebrity economic effect" in the economics field.

but……

Strangely, Zhou Yang did not accept any endorsements!

……

4 month 19 day.

In the office of "The Banquet".

Liang Xiaogang sat quietly in his chair, silently following the news about Zhou Yang.

Are these brand endorsement news reports true? Or are they just hype?

"According to reliable sources, this is not hype... Capital is now flocking to Zhou Yang, and even many overseas investors want to cooperate with him... His commercial value is astonishing..."

"In other words, as long as he's willing to accept, signing an endorsement contract worth billions is not a problem at all?"

"From a commercial perspective, that's certainly true..."

"He rejected them all?"

Yes, they all refused.

"Next, please keep an eye on him for me. I have a feeling he's going to do something big!"

"Ok!"

"..."

This world is ridiculously absurd!
Faced with wealth of billions or even more, some people can remain completely unmoved!
At this moment, Liang Xiaogang couldn't understand Zhou Yang at all!

What on earth does he want to do?
Nevertheless, for some reason, a strange premonition was growing wildly within me:
Zhou Yang...

They're probably about to pull off something earth-shattering!

……

In the following days, Liang Xiaogang prepared for the release and promotion of "The Last Supper" while closely monitoring Zhou Yang's movements.

However, Zhou Yang's side was unusually quiet, so quiet that it made people feel vaguely uneasy...

He heard some rumors, some true and some false—it was said that the conference room at [Xuan Shi Entertainment] had been brightly lit for five consecutive days without ever turning off…

But what's inside, nobody knows...

until!

4 Month 25 Day!
This day...

When Twilight's global box office surpassed $2 million...

When the total box office in China surpassed 2.5 million RMB...

[XuanShi Entertainment]'s official website suddenly announced something!

They officially partnered with Anji Department Store to create the nation's first urban complex project, using the Anji Department Store as a pilot site. This project encompasses other industries centered around film and television services, including retail, catering, entertainment, and lifestyle amenities…

This message was just posted not long ago...

Hundreds of brands that Zhou Yang had previously collaborated with quickly responded and simultaneously announced their entry into the complex.

Domestic brands including Bingbing Yang Cola and Langchao Socks released cooperation announcements on their official websites immediately!
……

I saw this message!

Liang Xiaogang's eyes widened!
But what shocked him even more was what followed...

The entire film and television industry!
It seems like things are about to change!

(End of this chapter)