“Honey, I’m going out to work soon. We’ve received 20,000 copies of this order. The ‘Dragon’s Armor’ is so popular. If we sell each one for 10 yuan, the 20,000 copies will be sold out in less than a week. We can make a net profit of 140,000 yuan from this one order, which will be enough to buy a house.”

Liu Xiaoyan glanced at Gao Dazhuang and said, "Shouldn't you keep your promise to buy me the gold jewelry?"

The tall and strong man took a sip of his drink and ate a bite of braised beef: "No problem. You promised to follow me, so I'll make sure you live a life of luxury. Look at how much we've earned in just a few years. We'll arrange all three gold items for you, and I'll buy some for your mom too. It'll be a good opportunity for you to show off during the New Year, so you can go back to your parents' home with style."

Upon hearing this, Liu Xiaoyan immediately placed a large chicken leg on Gao Dazhuang's plate: "Honey, eat more. Do you want me to go help you?"

Gao Dazhuang shook his head: "What are you going to do? Just wait at home and count your money."

Just then, the phone rang.

Gao Dazhuang answered the phone: "Dazhuang, why aren't you here yet? We've been waiting for you for ages! Hurry up!"

Gao Dazhuang looked at his wife with a smile: "Look, this is all waiting to bring us money."

"Coming soon, I'll make sure the brothers have a good meal."

He hung up the phone, stood up, looked at his wife, hugged her, and gave her a sweet kiss: "Wait for me to come back, I'll give you a good lesson in ideology and politics."

He patted his wife's plump buttocks and gave them a hard pinch. Humming a little tune, he went to the warehouse, ignoring Liu Xiaoyan's seductive glare.

Gao Dazhuang had been working in the piracy industry for many years. He started by selling pirated cassette tapes, and later pirated books, CDs, and DVDs—he did everything that was involved in piracy. At this moment, dozens of middle-aged men were already standing at the warehouse entrance. These were all pirates from the surrounding towns and villages. Gao Dazhuang was a city-level agent, and his piracy strategy followed a distribution model, using cities to encircle the rural areas.

"Dazhuang, why are you so late?"

Gao Dazhuang took out cigarettes and handed them out to everyone. Hua Zi, thanks to these distributors, had been living a very comfortable life these past two years.

Opening the warehouse, the more than 100-square-meter warehouse was filled to the brim with pirated goods. Gao Dazhuang skillfully lifted the lid of the goods that had just arrived the night before and looked at the distributors behind him.

"Here are 20,000 CDs, Zhang Yimou's new film, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon. Now you all know how popular this movie is. There are people controlling it. It's been a week, and there are still no pirated copies on the market. I can guarantee you that this is definitely the first batch of resources. Each DVD not only contains a high-definition version of Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon, but also 10 big-budget Hong Kong films. It's 20 yuan a disc. How many do you want? Just name your price, and we'll settle the bill immediately."

"20 yuan a piece, Dazhuang, that's too ruthless."

Gao Dazhuang, with a cigarette dangling from his lips, slightly raised his eyelids: "20 yuan a ticket, 10 movies, that's only 2 yuan per movie on average, and you can keep watching. Just 'Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon' is worth 10 yuan. Do you know how much a movie ticket costs now? 48 yuan a ticket."

"And as I just told you, this is the first batch of resources. Those who are the first to try something new get to enjoy the most luxurious feast. We're all in this business, you all understand the logic. If you think it's too expensive, you don't have to buy it. I also have other pirated discs. Buy ten and get one free for 5 yuan each."

Liu Jianqiang curled his lip: "Those are all your stock, who would want them? 20 it is, I'll take 300. Here's the money."

Once the first person was there, then the second person followed suit. One minute it was 300 CDs, the next it was 500, and before long, 20,000 CDs were all gone. The tall, strong man was happily counting his money, and was considering where to go for a massage parlor.

"Don't move! Hands behind your heads and squat on the ground!!!!!"

Five or six policemen appeared at the door, guns in hand, aiming at the crowd. Seeing this, the bootleggers immediately tried to run, but just as they were about to scatter, they discovered the back door was also blocked. Seeing this, Gao Dazhuang pushed aside a shelf, attempting to escape in the chaos, when suddenly, a loud bang was heard!

The gun went off, and immediately the dozens of pirate brothers present trembled and squatted on the ground, with Gao Dazhuang even wetting his pants.

A stern-faced middle-aged policeman approached Gao Dazhuang: "Gao Dazhuang, right? You are suspected of major film and television piracy and copyright infringement, a crime of intellectual property infringement. The amount involved in the piracy is huge. This time, we're targeting typical cases like you. Behave yourself!"

Then I looked around at the warehouse, which was full of pirated books, pirated DVDs, pirated magazines, and even pirated Japanese adult films.

"Your industry chain is quite extensive, huh? You have everything."

Gao Dazhuang had finally calmed down by now: "Sir, we're just selling a few pirated copies, it's not a big deal, is it? They're everywhere on the streets, just give us a small fine. It's the New Year, everyone's struggling..."

The middle-aged policeman looked at Gao Dazhuang with a smile: "If it were before, to be honest, I wouldn't have bothered with you doing this kind of thing. But now, I'm sorry, the higher-ups just issued a document telling us to make an example of someone. Not only is the amount involved huge, but you've also formed a gang. You'll be sentenced to at least three years. You're also suspected of disseminating obscene materials. You're in for a rough time."

Gao Dazhuang was dumbfounded: "Sir, what did you say? Three years minimum? Don't think you can bully me just because I'm not well-educated. This is just a matter of fining me a little money."

The middle-aged policeman patted Gao Dazhuang's face: "Believe it or not, you must have some money. I'll spend some money to hire a good lawyer for you. If you don't go in and eat free food this time, I'll change my surname to yours."

These crackdowns on pirates have been taking place across the country, drawing widespread media coverage and sparking heated discussions online about their merits and demerits.

Many people think this is making a mountain out of a molehill, while many others think this is the right thing to do.

Shen Fang doesn't care about what ordinary people think. What he's doing might harm the interests of some of his teammates, but it will cost him a lot. To put it more directly, the hard work of all the filmmakers is being shamefully leeched off by these pirates. He's protecting the interests of this ecosystem, and to this ecosystem, he's a hero, and that's enough.