How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 271: The Severity of Burning Books, the Subtlety of the Letter (Part Two)

When you're poor, no one cares if you live in the bustling city; when you're rich, distant relatives come to visit even if you live deep in the mountains.

This is especially evident in the entertainment industry, a place where fame and fortune reign supreme. Not being famous is a sin, but once you're famous, everything is right. Right now, the most popular show in the industry is undoubtedly "22".

Compared to Zhao Liying's overnight fame, Gulnazar and Zhang Tianai, who played the second and third female leads, had prior experience in variety shows and were already very popular, which led to them receiving a lot of goodwill as soon as they returned to school.

Zhang Tianai was previously a nobody in the school for a year because she was in a continuing education program, and was even ridiculed by some people behind her back. But this year, she has made many good friends, and even the teachers have paid more attention to her. Such a big change not only makes her proud, but also makes her more cautious and humble, because she knows that this kindness does not come from her own value, but from the company behind her and Wang Yao.

So Zhang Tianai skillfully maintained a safe distance from everyone, but Nazha obviously didn't have that kind of brain. Fortunately, she had already formed her own little circle with Yang Zi, Zhang Yishan and others before enrolling, which could help filter out a lot of potential risks.

"Sister Ai, what do you think of Cai Wenjing? Should we introduce her to the company?" Nazha asked, nestled on the sofa playing on her tablet.

"What? Did she ask you about it?" Zhang Tianai was doing yoga, twisting her body into the happy baby pose.

"Your pose is so suggestive." Naza transformed into Doraemon and gave a perverted smile.

"Tsk, what kind of nonsense is going on in your head?" Zhang Tianai rolled his eyes. "Cai Wenjing has good grades and is pretty, she shouldn't lack companies, right? Didn't you mention our company's signing standards? Can she accept them?"

Cai Wenjing is considered to be the most talented among current students, apart from those who have already debuted, such as Shuangzi and Jing Tian.

“Several companies did want to sign her, but they weren’t very big. The companies she wanted to work for were worried that newcomers would be bullied. I heard she was harassed quite a bit during her interviews. It’s like all the other companies are full of bad people,” Naza muttered.

Zhang Tianai glanced at her.

Naza, a lucky girl who was protected in an ivory tower before even debuting, cannot imagine how dirty this industry is. If this were to get out, many people would definitely mock her for being out of touch with reality.

But then I thought about it again and realized that I was lucky. If Ni Ni hadn't come to cast me, she might have faced the same predicament as Cai Wenjing next year.

Is it better to remain unknown for a few years while waiting for an opportunity, or to face the temptation head-on?

Thinking of this, Wang Yao's face in my mind seemed to become even more blurry.

"If she can accept the contract, then let's sign it. We'll see if we can introduce her to any suitable resources later. Our company still has a lot of offline stage play activities. I see people in the Kaixin Mahua group saying they need more people every day," Zhang Tianai said with a smile, snapping out of his reverie.

“I reckon we can get a new A-level contract soon, and then I can use the budget to prepare a movie and bring her along,” Nazha thought for a moment.

"You think highly of her?" Zhang Tianai raised an eyebrow slightly.

A-level artists have about one opportunity per year to raise funds for a project, with the company and the artist sharing the costs. This project is used to explore the artist's potential or to help them change their acting style, and it's quite important.

“My brother has already planned out the ‘pretty face’ route for me. Being a talented actor has nothing to do with me. Just like how I rode on your and Yingjie’s acting fame in ‘22’ this time, I plan to promote a few more talented and skilled friends in the future, so I can just sit back and win.” Nazha smiled slyly.

"You're quite the clever one." Zhang Tianai rolled his eyes, but upon closer examination, he was surprised to find that Nazha's idea actually had some wisdom.

“It just so happens that the fairy-like style also needs different types of models, and I’ve seen many members say that my style doesn’t suit them.” Naza suddenly switched to an anxious state.

Fairy Style has recently seen a surge in popularity, leading to soaring sales and increased user feedback. As the manager, she naturally needs to consider whether some adjustments can be made.

Cai Wenjing's appearance leans towards a charming and mature look, which perfectly complements Gulnazar's current single sweet and innocent style.

Zhang Tianai received unanimous praise for her vertical sportswear and casual style, coupled with the added appeal of her "He Hui" persona, so there was no need to worry about that.

"Oh, right, Mr. Wang asked me to inform you that he's taking us to Paris Fashion Week at the end of the month," Zhang Tianai suddenly remembered.

“Great! I’ve never been to Paris before!” Naza’s face lit up with a smile upon hearing this.

The two were chatting and thinking about what to eat for dinner when Nazha's phone suddenly rang. When she answered, it was Jing Tian, ​​whom she had never met before.

Jing Tian was even more of a topic of conversation at school than Shuang Zi, and there were many rumors about her.

"Jing Tian? She's looking for you?" Zhang Tian asked, frowning.

"She said she brought us some things for her brother and asked when we would have time to deliver them. Does she have a business relationship with our company?" Naza blinked blankly.

"I don't know. You ask her where she is, and we'll go check it out." Zhang Tianai was also curious about this senior student with a mysterious background.

After all, everyone loves gossip.

“Okay.” Naza nodded, and after asking for the location, she and Zhang Tian’ai drove to a high-end residential area in Beijing. The entrance was much more upscale than the staff dormitory of Tianhuo in Beijing.

The two were checking apartment prices in the neighborhood when they soon saw a Rolls-Royce pull up and park next to their car. Jing Tian got out carrying her things and peeked around.

"Hello, senior." Zhang Tianai and Nazha got out of the car to greet her.

"Hello, wow, you're even prettier in person than on screen!" Jing Tian's eyes lit up with joy upon seeing the two of them, and her smile was radiant.

"Senior is the prettiest." Zhang Tianai looked Jing Tian up and down, a hint of amazement in his eyes.

"Thank you for your help, senior." Naza put the things in the trunk and smiled shyly.

"No trouble at all, just check if anything is damaged so I can report back to Boss Wang." Jing Tian smiled.

"Does your senior have a project collaboration with our company?" Zhang Tianai inquired.

"President Wang gave me an audition opportunity for a variety show, the international reality show 'Park Friends.' Will you participate?" Jing Tian asked truthfully.

After all, Wang Yao specifically asked them to bring things, which shows that their relationship is close enough.

When Nazha and Zhang Tianai heard that it was Wang Yao who took the initiative to extend the invitation to Jing Tian, ​​they immediately looked at her with higher regard.

"I think I heard Sister Zhang Meng mention it, but she didn't send us any announcements," Zhang Tianai said with a smile.

“This is my first time working on a variety show. It’s dinner time now, so if you guys have time, how about we have dinner together? I’d like to ask you for some advice on how to make a variety show.” Jing Tian took the initiative to extend the invitation.

“Variety shows are super simple. Just eat, drink, play, and shop around according to the script. Senior, don’t feel pressured. The biggest risk is to be constantly vigilant about the cameras. Make sure you’re dressed properly after taking a shower,” Nazha chuckled.

"If you have time, senior, you can come to our dorm for a visit. We've made plans to have dinner with Sister Jiang Yan," Zhang Tianai said with a smile.

"Then I won't bother you any longer." Jing Tian thought she had been politely rejected and looked a little embarrassed.

"No problem, no problem at all. We're all alumni anyway. But if you mind, we can meet up separately next time," Zhang Tianai waved his hand.

"Well then, I won't stand on ceremony." Jing Tian took a breath, asked for the address, and returned to her car.

"This Senior Jing Tian isn't as arrogant as the rumors say," Nazha commented from the passenger seat.

"He seems easy to get along with, and I feel like we're both a bit dull, just like you," Zhang Tianai joked.

“I’m not stupid at all.” Naza wrinkled her nose. “But it’s really strange that it was her brother who took the initiative to invite her to participate.”

"It's probably a collaboration at the company level. After all, looking at Jing Tian's car, it's the same Rolls-Royce as Quan Ge's. She must come from a wealthy family," Zhang Tianai chuckled.

With such a large artist network, what kind of guest could Tianhuo not find? Why would Wang Yao need to personally invite them?
Either there are greater interests at stake, or they've taken a liking to Jing Tian.

Zhang Tianai felt that the former was more likely.

“Then I’ll have to help my brother entertain her properly.” Naza perked up at this suggestion.

On September 9.25th, the captain, who had captured the attention of countless Chinese people, finally returned.

The internet erupted in cheers and jubilation.

Meanwhile, several domestic brands, including Mixue, Bawang, and Baixiang, sent representative teams to arrange a welcoming ceremony for the captain and signed an agreement to donate three 36-meter fishing boats, costing millions of yuan each, to reward the captain's spirit.

This marketing campaign by the three companies directly led to Mixue gaining over a thousand pre-franchisees, making it an unshakeable leader in the tea beverage chain brand. During this period, the total sales of offline sites reached over 30 million yuan. In the first few days, many stores were in short supply of raw materials. Coinciding with the hot summer, the ice cream machines had to run until they were smoking every day. Even the newly launched high-end beverage 'Tu Ji Herbal Tea' boosted sales significantly.

BaWang has successfully emerged from the previous ingredient crisis, taking the lead in promoting ingredient standards and establishing the "Hundred Herbs Project" to promote the Chinese herbal hair care alliance, which has once again gained the support of many consumers. The online sales of the newly improved products have improved, and even the stock price has returned to the 30 billion level.

Baixiang became famous overnight, not only clearing out two years' worth of inventory but also rebuilding offline channels that had been shut down. However, the most important factor was the online campaign, with sales expected to exceed 10 billion yuan. Millions of young netizens stocked up on goods in their dormitories by the case. Despite repeated calls from Baixiang officials for rational consumption, the enthusiasm of consumers could not be dampened.

Similarly, the surge in Baixiang's online sales caused huge blows and losses to three other instant noodle brands. Because they had foreign investment, they dared not make any statements about the Captain incident and wished they could just disappear. They could only watch as Baixiang's online sales exploded and its offline channels were eroded.

If this trend continues unfavorably, Baixiang's market share could very well grow from less than 8% to over 20% in the next few months. Once the brand effect is established and production catches up next year, it could cause a major upheaval in the instant noodle industry landscape.

With the captain's return, domestic brands united in their hatred of the enemy, and their generous donations directly fueled a renewed surge in anti-Japanese sentiment, which this time extended beyond the food sector to include mid-to-high-end consumer goods such as electronics and automobiles.

As a catalyst for this controversy, Tianhuo Media has gained widespread recognition in the marketing world, no longer limited to the small category of film and television.

In the past two weeks, the number of employees in Tianwang's business department has surged from more than 300 to more than 1,000. Moreover, Wang Yao has poached the original B2B business from Alibaba. Qian Jiawei, one of the key figures of the Iron Army, has been appointed as the head of Tianwang's B2B business. Most of these more than 1,000 people are former subordinates of the Iron Army.

Because of the payment transfer scandal caused by the "counterfeit goods scandal" in May, Ma Yun finally decided to take drastic measures last month to clean up the core B2B business to give customers an explanation and salvage her reputation. Such a big incident required someone to take responsibility, which led to the dramatic scene of "President Ma tearfully executing Wei Zhe". Wei Zhe, Qian Jiawei and others resigned as a result, along with dozens of their direct subordinates and thousands of related employees.

Wang Yao immediately extended an olive branch to Qian Jiawei, using the examples of Chen Qi and Wei Bo to impress Qian Jiawei's recognition of Tianwang's future development. After all, Mulan Street and Taobao Girls are projects with unlimited potential.

Qian Jiawei's greatest achievement was helping Meituan win the "Thousand Group War". His specialty is to rely on ground promotion to hard-hit the market. After joining Tianwang, he formed the Tianhuo Iron Army and relied on the B-end customer resources he had accumulated to quickly acquire a large number of B-end customers for Tao Nulang and Mulan Street, doubling the business volume in less than a month.

In addition, leveraging the case studies of Mixue and Baixiang, we successfully connected with many traditional medium and large-sized B-end domestic brands as 'major clients', converting them into e-commerce + brand promotion and operation services. Within half a month, the total business volume of major clients reached 3 million RMB, spanning multiple categories such as retail, electronics, digital products, apparel, and automobiles.

Currently, several core clients with annual revenue exceeding 10 million RMB include Xingyou, Gree, TCL, Changhong, Changdian, Want Want, BYD, Haier, Xiashou, Wahaha, and Sanjiu, primarily domestic brands. Wang Yao aims to build a "domestic brand alliance" system, creating a cluster effect of domestic brands through streaming media promotion and e-commerce.

Qian Jiawei's addition allows for direct access to these clients. If Wang Yao were to rely on himself, it would take at least six months to establish connections. We can only say we are grateful to President Ma for his generosity, providing both financial support and talent.

王曜预计Q3季度天网在宣发推广上营收规模可能达到5~6亿级别，在移动流媒体广告行业全年营收预计能达到5%（15亿）规模体量。

However, due to the surge in business volume, the company needs to acquire a large number of small and medium-sized advertising companies and recruit and train a large number of new media employees, which will likely compress net profit. However, streaming media advertising is still in its golden age and can still guarantee a net profit of more than 30%, since the profit margin of film and television business is sufficient.

Tianwang's cultural and creative department is expected to have more than 3000 employees by the end of the year, generating 3 to 5 million basic exposures daily across the entire network, mainly through social media platforms such as Ms, Mulan Street, and A/B Station.

Moreover, the addition of Tianhuo Tiejun has enabled Mulan Street's previously stagnant business development to achieve a breakthrough in the B-end. Originally, Mulan Street was a C2C product recommendation platform, but now it has added B2B product recommendation services.

A single move can have far-reaching consequences. This major event, affecting the entire nation, directly caused the industrial chain controlled by Wang Yao to expand rapidly. After successfully navigating the initial accumulation phase, Tianhuo Media's streaming media industrial chain finally began to show its initial signs of success.

With a stable and continuous supply of content, the Ms platform gained 7000 million users during this turmoil, including over 300 million mobile users, and the platform's attributes and issues have also undergone new changes.

Previously, Ms's topics mainly focused on two major themes: female-oriented and entertainment-oriented. Later, the new version update added music-oriented topics, and this time, Aiwa-oriented topics have been added.

The user attributes of the four main platforms are relatively common. Although there may be disagreements and frictions on certain topics, they have already established MS as the number one social media platform in China, leaving Sina Weibo and Renren.com behind. The only competitor left is Penguin Space.

Ms's rise has put some pressure on Sina, causing its user growth to decline for two consecutive months. It could have reached 100 million users before October, but now it only has less than 60 million users, and its activity level has also dropped sharply during this period.

Under Cao Ge's leadership, the management of Old Wave had been holding meetings for half a month. After the hype surrounding the captain's return was completely absorbed by Ms, they finally realized that the decisive moment had arrived.

If this continues, the old wave's advantages may vanish.

"Brothers, there's no time for peace anymore. Look at the 3Q war; it's reached a point where we have to choose between two irreconcilable forces. If we hesitate any longer, we might miss our last chance. So I propose that we unite with established social media platforms like Baidu, Tencent, Renren/Kaixin, Tianya, and Douban to form an alliance and formally challenge domestic entertainment companies to choose between us."

From now on, any artist under any entertainment company who has an account on MS will be blacklisted by the alliance and will not be pushed any related news content. Cao Ge's face was filled with a resolute coldness.

Everyone else in the conference room also felt a chilling atmosphere.

The last time MS was banned because of its built-in player, it was a soft measure within the industry. Although notices were sent to many entertainment companies, they were not enforced and were only taken as a warning.

But this time Cao Ge is clearly serious, because this is not just a competition in the Weibo social media field, but a ban on the entire social media streaming sector.

The essence of social media is traffic, the essence of traffic is exposure, and the essence of exposure is channels. The alliance formed by Cao Ge basically encompasses 90% of China's online channel platforms. Baidu and Tencent alone are enough to make a lot of content disappear. The likes of Renren.com are probably just bandwagoners.

Once these channels are cut off, it's as if Ms's traffic is isolated. Social media monetizes through traffic exposure, and when traffic channels are isolated and shrink, even if the platform has users, it will be difficult to feed itself.

After all, you can use Tencent QQ if you don't use MS, but you can't do without Baidu and portal websites.

Users use social media for entertainment, gossip, and social interaction. There are other alternatives for social interaction and gossip. If entertainment is cut off, then the social media attributes of MS will also collapse.

Even if an entertainment company chooses the MS platform, the loss of exposure for its artists through other channels is a significant loss, given the increasing importance of streaming media for entertainment. Therefore, this is a radical solution.

"Ms is, after all, a media group. If it really comes to this, will they try to manipulate the stock market against us?" Pang Bin asked with some concern.

“As long as our performance is good enough, investors aren’t stupid. Besides, the media group does have influence overseas, but it doesn’t have absolute power.” Cao Ge shook his head resolutely.

The others stared at each other, unsure of what to say.

The final decision was passed, and they were responsible for contacting major entertainment advertising companies, while Cao Ge and others were to contact Baidu and Tencent.

Baidu is already a shareholder of Sina. As long as the pros and cons are explained and they work together to persuade Tencent, the deterrent effect of this alliance will already be formed.

Cao Ge's proposal was supported by Baidu very smoothly. Ms's rise was too fast, and this wave of traffic had absorbed too much of their Tieba traffic. The ancient style, anime, CP, Korean wave, and fashion (non-mainstream) sections were almost completely drained by Ms.

What's most damaging is this captain incident, which directly drained most of the D8 angry youth's core support. The daily active users of Tieba decreased by 20% month-on-month, almost shaking the very foundation of the forum.

While there is competition between Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo, Tencent has recently been preoccupied with fighting 360 and has decided to focus its Weibo strategy on sports stars. Cao Ge (Tencent's CEO) simply relinquished this entire section, leaving only celebrity entertainment for fair competition, which secured Tencent's support. Tencent, with its 4 million-strong social media base, doesn't have a significant traffic conflict with MS (Tencent's music platform). The core conflict lies in the music sector; MS claims to offer only legal and free music, which does have some impact on Tencent Music.

If Ms is squeezed out of business, Tencent is prepared to take the time to discuss an acquisition.

With both Baidu and Tencent agreeing, companies like Renren.com naturally had no choice.

The following day, all entertainment, media, and advertising companies across the country received another invitation from the 'Streaming Media Alliance'.

SkyNet and Skyfire naturally received it as well.

However, Wang Yao received the information from Zhang Chaoyang.

"Brother, Old Wave is really being pushed to the limit this time." Zhang Chaoyang called early in the morning to gossip.

Apart from Deng Wendi and the senior executives of the media group, basically no one knew that Wang Yao was behind Ms. Although the artists under Tianhuo had been getting closer to Ms in the past six months, Old Sina only thought that this was Tianhuo's resistance after the last time they "extorted" them by raising the traffic fee.

This time, Sina specifically stated that if Tianhuo joins, the previous traffic purchase fee will be discounted by another 9%, returning to the price at the beginning of the year.

In Jiu Lang's eyes, this was definitely a sincere concession, but in Wang Yao's eyes, it was utterly absurd.

"Isn't this just ganging up on honest people? Ms. has never targeted them." Wang Yao said, both amused and exasperated.

“You can’t say that. MS has taken off too fast by riding the wave. There are only so many netizens in the country, and the social media sector is estimated to be only a little over 1 million. MS has directly taken half of the daily active users. Just like if Youku had taken 50% of the market, I would definitely have partnered with Tudou, Leshi, and Baofeng.” Zhang Chaoyang was quite empathetic.

"That's terrible," Wang Yao chuckled.

"However, the development of this MS is truly terrifying. I had the team specifically investigate it. This platform has risen from the ashes in less than a year, with both domestic and overseas versions back on track. Moreover, every step of its strategy has been very sound. First, it attracted mainstream women's issues, then it added emotional music features, and now it has seized the opportunity presented by Aihua."
Moreover, the advertising is relatively clean, and the user experience is excellent. I estimate that they may be planning to expand into the gaming sector later. I wonder who is pulling the strings behind the scenes. They say it's Deng Wendi, but I don't believe it. If she had that ability, would she need to marry an old man? Zhang Chaoyang exclaimed in amazement.

"They worked hard and diligently to build their business, without offending anyone. They finally had a harvest, but then the landlords came in groups to reap it all. It's just like the White-Haired Girl," Wang Yao chuckled.

"Business competition is a life-or-death struggle, that's normal. If Tencent weren't so unshakeable, do you think Ding Lei and his team wouldn't have been so ambitious? People just can't see through greed," Zhang Chaoyang clicked his tongue.

"Isn't Lao Lang afraid that others will do the same to him in the future? Will the instigator have no descendants?" Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

“Baidu is standing behind us; they are the source of upstream traffic.” Zhang Chaoyang said with a hint of sourness.

"Sohu is one of the four major portals, Mr. Zhang, haven't you thought about standing up for the weak and oppressed?" Wang Yao joked.

"I have the will but not the strength. Although Sohu is currently ranked fourth, it has 30 million fewer daily active users than Pig Farm, which is ranked third. Sina Weibo has almost twice as many as us. Otherwise, do you think I would give up the competition on Weibo?" Zhang Chaoyang sighed softly.

"Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. If Sohu steps in to help Ms. now and opposes this kind of monopolistic under-the-table competition, who knows what unexpected surprises might come?" Wang Yao squinted his eyes.

Zhang Chaoyang remained silent for a long time before speaking slowly: "If it were five years ago, I would definitely have done the same thing, but brother, I'm almost fifty, and I've long since become indifferent to the fighting and killing outside."

"So you called me just to chat, didn't you?" Wang Yao asked suspiciously.

Although Zhang Chaoyang loves gossip, he doesn't have to be this enthusiastic. Everyone is quite busy.

"I wanted to see what Tianhuo thought. What do you think? Tianhuo is now deeply entrenched and has a profound influence on the entire entertainment industry. If you take the lead in opposing it, the Le family will have to follow suit. Maybe that will protect Ms., and then Souhu will have a legitimate reason," Zhang Chaoyang said with a smirk.

So you're being generous with other people's money, huh?

One could say that Lao Zhang has some conscience, but not much.

However, Wang Yao felt that his actions might not be solely motivated by a desire to uphold justice.

"How could I possibly have the ability to shake the two giants?" Wang Yao chuckled.

"That's true, but you're young, so forget it," Zhang Chaoyang muttered to himself, seemingly somewhat lost.

I was indeed asking too much of them; the giants are unshakeable.

“Mr. Zhang, when the nest is overturned, no egg remains unbroken. The burning of books was so severe, yet the words of the correspondence were so subtle.” Wang Yao sighed softly.

"You're not really going to refuse, are you?" Zhang Chaoyang was taken aback by these words, and his heart began to race.

"If the giants get involved in social media with some kind of under-the-table agreement today, and the film and television industry with another under-the-table agreement tomorrow, won't they become oligopolies? What chance do ordinary people like us have to survive?" Wang Yao said in a somewhat gloomy tone.

"That's true, but the risks are quite high, so you'd better think it through." Zhang Chaoyang swallowed hard.

Although I was verbally trying to persuade them, my heart was racing with rage.

"Tencent is currently mired in the 3Q crisis and probably doesn't have much energy left for social media in the short term. While Baidu and Sina Weibo have closed-loop systems, they can't monopolize the market."
"Although Sohu, with its search engine on one hand and its portal website on the other, is declining in size, it may still have a chance to make a comeback, Mr. Zhang. Is Lian Po, though old, still capable?" Wang Yao's voice carried an irresistible allure.

Zhang Chaoyang's breathing quickened, but he did not speak.

"Mr. Zhang, what's wrong with watching and laughing at our audacity? What's wrong with being audacious?" Wang Yao chuckled and hung up the phone.

He then issued an order to the social media operations managers of Tianhuo and Xinghuo artists.

"What? Fan Bingbing's account was deleted?"

Cao Ge nearly fell off his chair upon hearing this news.

That was the only account on the old Sina Weibo with over 3000 million followers!

"The technical department investigated and found it wasn't a bug; it was logged out by itself." Pang Bin's expression was also somewhat grim, even shocking.

What is Tianhuo trying to do?
Not even willing to talk?
And to immediately delete the most influential account is just too drastic.

Are young people these days so impulsive?

"How could this happen?" Cao Ge's pupils dilated for a moment, then he picked up his phone and dialed Wang Yao's number, only to find the phone was switched off.

Cao Ge then called the person in charge of Tianhuo traffic placement, but the call was also immediately disconnected.

Tianhuo's spending on Sina Weibo since the beginning of the year is close to 100 million yuan, making it a major client. Moreover, the early beauty influencer economy model relied entirely on Tianhuo's models.

Although the last attempt to extort money failed, resulting in these models prioritizing development with Ms., the cooperation with Sina has never ceased.

"President Cao, what should we do?" Pang Bin asked cautiously.

Tianhuo's attitude is very important, perhaps even extremely important. Pang Bin had originally suggested that Cao Ge should personally greet Wang Yao to show respect, but Cao Ge, mindful of his status, insisted on waiting for Tianhuo to take the initiative to talk.

Now, they're showing their attitude directly through their actions.

We won't even talk about it.

Why are you showing off like this?

"It doesn't matter. It's just that the Heavenly Fire system is gone. At worst, you can only find negative information about their artists on Baidu, and not any positive information." Cao Ge's lips twitched, and he sneered.

Pang Bin raised an eyebrow slightly, thinking to himself, "You're making it sound like Baidu Search is under your control."

"Do you think it's possible that Tianhuo is using this method to wait for us to take the initiative to negotiate?" Cao Ge changed the subject.

"Hmm, that's possible." Pang Bin thought for a moment.

Although Tianhuo deleted his account, it can actually be recovered using technical means in the backend. Cao Ge's idea is very likely that Tianhuo is expressing his dissatisfaction.

But before he could say anything more, his phone rang again. When he answered it, Pang Bin was so shocked that he almost dropped the phone.

"What's wrong?" Cao Ge asked in surprise.

"Qu Shou and Ma Ruo's accounts have also been deleted, and it seems that all of Tianhuo's accounts are being gradually deleted. President Cao, it seems that Tianhuo really wants to cut ties with us." Pang Bin's voice trembled slightly.

It wasn't fear, it was shock.

The combined number of followers on these three accounts, literally speaking, exceeds the total number of users on the old Sina Weibo platform.

That's too decisive! Is Wang Yao getting arrogant, or are young people these days just so impulsive?

"How much money did Ms give them?" Cao Ge pondered.

However, he was quickly interrupted by his own phone call. When he answered, it was Yu Dong, the CEO of Berna: "President Cao, is it necessary to join this streaming media alliance?"

Although Yu Dong's tone was cheerful, Cao Ge still sensed something was off.

"Mr. Yu, you've misunderstood. This is just a collaboration proposed by Baidu and Tencent to better serve everyone through streaming media and social media; it's not mandatory," Cao Ge said with a smile.

“We have no right to meddle in the affairs of your platform’s bigwigs. Berna is currently in the process of going public, and if there are any impacts, I won’t be able to explain it to the major shareholders,” Yu Dong said with a smile.

If Cao Ge didn't know who the major shareholder of Berna was, he would have wasted his time in the capital.

"President Yu, you've misunderstood. This is indeed just a proposal," Cao Ge quickly replied with a smile.

"Okay, then I'll treat President Cao to dinner later." Yu Dong said politely and hung up the phone.

Cao Ge frowned, glancing at Pang Bin as he was about to say something, when he was interrupted again by the ringing of the phone. He looked at the unfamiliar number.

"Mr. Cao, I am Chen Yun from WMA." Chen Yun's voice was calm.

"Mr. Chen, I've long admired your name." Cao Ge's spirits lifted.

Although WMA doesn't have any major activities in China, it represents a series of international brand resources. Any one of them could provide Sina with tens of millions of yuan in advertising revenue every year.

Moreover, Zhang Ziyi and Liu Yifei, both under this company, are naturally hot topics.

"The parent company of this streaming alliance will most likely not approve it, so it shouldn't affect WMA's later cooperation with Sina, right?" Chen Yun said coldly.

“Of course, of course, this was originally mainly aimed at domestic companies,” Cao Ge quickly explained.

"Okay, you're busy." Chen Yun replied and hung up the phone.

Hearing the busy tone from his phone, Cao Ge's forehead veins throbbed, and he finally sneered, "These foreign lackeys are really arrogant."

Pang Bin was puzzled and was about to ask who it was when he was interrupted by a phone call.

In less than ten minutes, Cao Ge received six phone calls, all of which politely declined the cooperation offer. They were all concise and to the point, unwilling to waste a single word on him.

"The influence of Heavenly Fire is that great?" Cao Ge's expression turned somewhat gloomy.

These calls combined amount to more than a third of the entertainment industry. If all these people abandoned Old Wave and switched to Ms like Tianhuo, he would really feel bad.

"After all, they're a major player in the cinema industry, and online variety shows are quite popular lately. Plus, they're the largest model agency in China," Pang Bin said with a smirk.

"Book me a plane ticket to Shanghai. Contact Tianhuo; I want to pay them a visit," Cao Ge said, standing up after thinking it over carefully for a moment.

He planned to have a proper talk with Wang Yao in person.

Pang Bin responded and watched Cao Ge leave the office when he suddenly received a text message. He read it carefully twice, and his face turned pale.

"President Cao!"

Cao Ge, who had just reached the door, was startled: "What's wrong? Why are you so jumpy? The sky isn't going to fall."

"Mr. Wang, Mr. Wang," Pang Bin said haltingly, holding his phone.

"Wang Yao?" Cao Ge was delighted upon hearing this.

"No, it's Wang Zidong, President Wang. He registered a Weibo account and verified himself as the CEO of Ms. Huaxia Company." Pang Bin's face turned red.

Cao Ge was startled and quickly walked back to the computer to search for Wang Zidong's name.

Soon, a familiar profile picture popped up, showing a new Weibo post from two minutes earlier.

'Wang Zidong V: Let's start anew, rebuild our lost territories, and face the imperial palace. @Myspace.'

Cao Ge's pupils suddenly contracted, and he slumped into his chair.

grass.

The sky is really falling.

Why is there a scene welcoming the patriarch back from seclusion?
(End of this chapter)