Chapter 388 Intercession
"Huh, I'm finally out--"
Li Mu, who had just walked out of the Chaoyang Branch Detention Center, took a deep breath of the air of freedom.
He has lived for more than 20 years. Although he has not achieved much, he is still a law-abiding person and has rarely run a red light. He never thought that one day he would be detained for writing two articles. As expected
, since ancient times, many literati have violated the law with their words!
Fortunately, it was only a public security detention, and there is no criminal record. Although there will be a record of his political review, at least it will not affect his descendants.
He was hesitating whether to report to Mr. Meng, when a black business car stopped in front of him. Then, two tall and familiar figures got out of the car and squeezed out an ugly smile at him.
Li Mu sighed. Well, he doesn't have to worry about it this time, they just come to "invite" him.
He got into the car consciously, and after more than 20 minutes, he saw Mr. Meng again.
"Tsk, you've been in there for three days, and your complexion has improved."
Looking at Li Mu who was a little restless opposite, Meng Bai teased.
Li Mu's face was full of vicissitudes: "I get up at six in the morning, go to bed at ten in the evening, and do two hours of physical exercise during the day. All three meals are noodles, bean sprouts, and blanched vegetable leaves. I have never had such a regular schedule in my life."
"It sounds healthy. It's a good place to be pure and simple."
"..."
"OK, let's talk business." Meng Bai returned to his serious face, "You should know why I kept you here, right?"
"I know." Li Mu smiled bitterly and said, "Mr. Meng, whatever you want me to write, just tell me."
"It's very simple, you don't even need to play anything." Meng Bai handed him a piece of information, "You just need to cleverly repeat what the other party did."
Li Mu took it and took a look, and couldn't help but tremble in his heart.
The information in his hand recorded the details about Straw Bear Entertainment and the company's boss Liu Xiaofeng, shareholders Wu Qilong, Liu Shishi, and Zhao Liying. But the most important thing is to introduce how the other party has joined forces with the film buyers of several major TV platforms over the years to manipulate ratings and establish a black industry chain.
Before Li Mu was detained for public security, he already knew that the group that contacted him to attack Meng Bai was this Liu Xiaofeng. At this moment, he immediately realized that it was Mr. Meng's counterattack.
And unlike the other party, he did not start with personal reputation, but went directly to the core of the other party.
Li Mu hesitated and said, "Mr. Meng, this..."
"Why, is it difficult?" Meng Bai asked.
"It's not difficult..." Li Mu said with a stiff upper lip, "It's just that I just came out, what if I get found again this time... right."
His words were very vague, but Meng Bai still understood his concerns.
"Don't worry, we at Arc Light don't have the habit of killing the donkey after it has done its work." Meng Bai comforted him, "You just need to write the content, and we will handle the dissemination later. But you'd better not say everything like before, just keep it to yourself."
"Don't worry, it's enough to suffer this loss once."
——With
the end of the National Day holiday, all the statutory holidays this year have been celebrated. Everyone should go to work and go to school, and there will be no holidays except weekends until New Year's Day.
Without the expectation of holidays, life becomes boring and long. When they get together every day, in addition to playing games, watching TV series and movies, they also chat about all kinds of gossip.
If we talk about the hottest topic about the entertainment industry online during this period, in addition to the total box office of "Detective Chinatown 2" which is about to exceed 3 billion, there is also the "rumor of Zhao Liying's pregnancy".
Since the release of "Journey to the West: The Women's Kingdom" at the beginning of the year, there have been rumors that Zhao Liying and Feng Shaofeng, who are both the male and female protagonists of the movie, have "fallen in love" with each other.
Until recently, someone suddenly posted online that the two had already registered their marriage, and Zhao Liying was pregnant for three months.
As one of the most popular "85 flowers" in recent years, Zhao Liying's popularity is unquestionable. As soon as this gossip appeared, it immediately triggered a lot of heated discussions. Especially her fans, while denying it online with netizens, they called on the studio to come out and give an explanation.
Perhaps because of the fans' pressure, Zhao Liying, the person involved, finally came out and posted a Weibo in person. In the photo, she was wearing a floral skirt with her legs apart, and the text "I don't know what to say, I'll do a split for everyone."
Her fans and many netizens naturally thought that this was her denial of the pregnancy rumors.
However, many people, especially haters, pointed out that the content of this Weibo post neither denied nor admitted it, and said nothing at all. If everyone finds out that this is true, they can also use "we didn't deny it" as an excuse, which can be said to be ready to pass the buck in advance.
Zhao's fans were naturally dissatisfied with these remarks, and the two sides naturally quarreled on the Internet.
It was at this time that a new rumor spread from many marketing accounts.
[Zhao and Feng are indeed married, and the pregnancy is also true. The two were together when they were filming a movie before. The reason why they are so eager to get married is that a capital investment of Zhao's early years has recently gone wrong, so she wants to use the power behind Feng to help solve it. ]
The content of these marketing accounts is different in details, but the general meaning is similar. And these marketing articles are mixed with a lot of specific descriptions, which makes people look very real.
Zhao fans and Zhao haters were already arguing fiercely, and this rumor naturally added fuel to the fire, making it more intense.
However, the actions of both sides were quite consistent. They immediately began to verify what the so-called "capital operation in trouble" was.
This information is naturally easy to find, and netizens soon discovered the clues.
As early as 2015, Zhao Liying acquired 1% of Straw Bear Entertainment's shares for 100,000 yuan and became its celebrity shareholder. Not long after, Baofeng Technology hoped to acquire Straw Bear Entertainment at a price of 1.5 billion for 60% of the shares, but it failed later.
Despite this, Straw Bear Entertainment still appeared in the sight of the capital market. In the following years, Alibaba and Qiyi TV successively joined the ranks of shareholders. The valuation rose to 2.8 billion at its highest, and even now it can be worth more than ten billion.
Although Zhao Liying has not worked for Straw Bear Entertainment, the two sides have cooperated a lot in recent years. "The Legend of Zu" and "The Legend of Chu Qiao", which have been popular in recent years, have Straw Bear Entertainment behind them.
And her 1% stake has been maintained until now. In total, the 100,000 yuan at the time has now gained nearly a hundred times the increase, which can be called a perfect capital investment.
But now, the problem lies in this little share.
As early as when Guo Jingyu first posted on Weibo to expose the "ratings fraud black industry", someone determined based on the description that the satellite TV station he said "required to buy ratings" was Litchi TV. And the so-called "god" who can manipulate the ratings is Liu Xiaofeng, the boss of Straw Bear Entertainment.
It was just that later because of the "scandal incident" of Meng Bai, the boss of Arc Light Film and Television, everyone temporarily let it go. However
, with the recent press conference held by Arc Light Film and Television to clarify the relevant scandals and reiterate the "resistance to the ratings black industry", coupled with the successive voices of the industry and the official, this matter has returned to the public eye.
Now, coupled with the news that "Zhao Liying was implicated and avoided suspicion", it can be said that the previous rumors are basically confirmed.
Not many netizens know about Straw Bear Entertainment and Liu Xiaofeng. But everyone is familiar with the several celebrity shareholders of this company.
Suddenly, in addition to Zhao Liying, the celebrity couple Wu Qilong and Liu Shishi were also involved.
And to be honest, Zhao only has 1% of the shares, so even if something really happened, it wouldn't be too much trouble.
But Wu and Liu are different, especially Wu Qilong, who is not only one of the founders of Straw Bear Entertainment, but also the third largest shareholder. There are also rumors that the boss Liu Xiaofeng is just a spokesperson he pushed up, and he is the ultimate actual controller.
If this news is true, it means that Wu is likely to be the real behind-the-scenes person of the industry's black industry.
Conspiracy theories, once proposed, cannot be easily calmed down. For a time, the controversy on the Internet against Wu and Liu immediately became a hot topic.
But the situation is far from over here. On the second day after the identity of "Wu Liu" was exposed, Arclight Entertainment, which has been at the forefront of the storm for some time, issued a lawyer's letter to the public and formally filed a lawsuit against a person named Chen Zhijie.
The name of the lawsuit is "spreading false statements and causing damage to the corporate image."
When seeing the reason for the lawsuit, netizens who eat melons immediately reacted that this should be the "scandal rumors" some time ago.
Digging up Chen Zhijie's identity information again, as expected, he is a senior executive of Straw Bear Entertainment.
Now the whole cause and effect is connected.
A large number of netizens flocked to the social accounts of the two people's work, asking them to come out and explain the situation, whether they were involved in the "black interest chain" behind the scenes.
"Wu Liu" has many fans, but there are also many black fans. Especially Liu Shishi, her fans "Little Lions" are well-known for their strong fighting power in the entire "85 Flowers" fan circle, and they have made a lot of enemies because of this.
Now that they see that the opponent is in trouble, how can the fans of other families let go of this fun, and they all join the "crusade army" together.
Such a large-scale dispute is naturally impossible for the "Little Lion" family to resist. Even if there are big fans calling for control of comments, they are quickly drowned in the vast ocean of "people".
It is impossible to play dead and get away with it when it is so fierce. And even if netizens don't pay attention, there are still lawyers' letters and official attention from Arc Light.
Soon, the two studios of "Wu Liu" issued announcements, saying that this matter has nothing to do with them.
[…Mr. Wu Qilong and Ms. Liu Shishi are only shareholders of Straw Bear Entertainment. They have not participated in the actual operation and have not held any management positions. The relevant personnel have no connection with us…]
Both sides decisively denied their relationship and said that they were "unaware". This is naturally a common practice in the entertainment industry. It is only to stop the disputes among netizens.
If we really want to solve the actual problem, we have to start from the "source".
-
Arc Light, President's Office.
"I didn't expect it, President Dai, that they would ask you to intercede." Meng Bai leaned back in his chair and said to the phone in a leisurely tone.
On the other side of the phone, Dai Ying's voice came: "Alas, our Qiyi TV has cooperated with them for several years and has invested in their company. There is always some cooperation."
Although Straw Bear Entertainment received investment from Alibaba, it did not choose to cooperate with Youku. On the contrary, Qiyi TV has been their largest seller of works over the years, accounting for more than 80% of the online broadcast revenue.
Qiyi TV also values Straw Bear Entertainment. In addition to normal film and television cooperation, it also invested money through a venture capital company under its umbrella, accounting for about 12% of the shares, making it the fourth largest shareholder.
Unlike the other party's previous sneaky actions, Arc Light, who holds many trump cards in his hand, does not bother to hide his identity at all, and directly stands up and launches a counterattack against the other party.
Straw Bear also knows that the key to this crisis lies with Meng Bai. Therefore, while issuing a notice to the outside world to stabilize netizens and fans, it also asked various connections to help intercede and try to contact Meng Bai.
After searching for a while, they finally found Qiyi TV. Dai Ying and others didn't want to care about the other party's troubles at first, but in the end, considering the friendship of many years of cooperation, they still helped to contact them reluctantly.
"Straw Bear said they want to meet you for dinner to discuss whether there is a possibility of an apology and compensation." Dai Ying said, "Mr. Meng, just come and see what you want. I'm just helping to pass on the message. Don't worry about us."
"Haha, I still have to give Mr. Dai face." Meng Bai smiled brightly, "Okay, let's meet. I'm also curious about how they want to apologize."
"Okay, then I'll reply to them."
Dai Ying responded, but then reminded, "Mr. Meng, don't blame me for being long-winded. I think no matter how they apologize, they still have to think about it. After all, the official attitude this time is quite tough. Don't go back and cause trouble for ourselves."
"Thank you for reminding me, Mr. Dai. I know what to do."
...
After receiving Dai Ying's message, the other party acted quickly and made an appointment for the next night.
"Hahaha, Mr. Meng, I've heard of your name for a long time. I'm honored to finally meet you today."
In a private club in northern Beijing, a middle-aged man in formal clothes greeted Meng Bai who had just entered the door with a smile on his face. After saying that, seeing the unfamiliar expression on Meng Bai's face, he clapped his chin and said, "Sorry, I was a little excited and forgot to introduce myself. I am Liu Xiaofeng from Straw Bear Entertainment."
"Ah, Mr. Liu." Meng Bai nodded, with a faint smile on his face: "I remember that when we were working on "Peace Hotel" last year, I seemed to have communicated with Mr. Liu. We have been friends for a long time."
Liu Xiaofeng was a little embarrassed when he heard this, but he still kept a warm smile on his face: "Haha, when it comes to that cooperation, I have been blind to it. It's a pity that I couldn't cooperate with Hu Guang."
The two of them were talking and laughing, and no outsider could see the hostile relationship between them.
Or it can be said that adults are full of hypocrisy, even if they stab each other with a smile.
After a few greetings, they entered the room, where there were two people sitting inside, a man and a woman.
Meng Bai recognized the man as Wu Qilong, who has been at the center of controversy recently. As for the woman, she was a girl with a thin waist, long legs and a sweet face, but she was not Liu Shishi.
"Mr. Meng, let me introduce you." Liu Xiaofeng said, "This is Wu Qilong, a shareholder of Straw Bear Entertainment..."
"Mr. Liu, there is no need to introduce him." Meng Bai said, "I watched a lot of plays when I was a child, so I must know him."
"Hello, Mr. Meng. It's our first meeting. I have heard of your name for a long time." Wu Qilong's attitude was also very enthusiastic. After hearing what Meng Bai said, he quickly declined a few words.
Meng Bai smiled and turned his eyes to the last woman.
"Hello, Mr. Meng. My name is Zhang Chunye." The girl stood up quickly and introduced herself with some restraint.
Liu Xiaofeng at the side introduced: "I don't know if Mr. Meng recognizes me. Xiao Zhang is the leading actress among the hosts of Lizhi TV. I have always admired Mr. Meng very much. When I heard that you were coming to meet you, I had to follow you. Xiao Zhang, you will sit next to Mr. Meng later, just to fulfill your wish."
Zhang Chunye heard this and immediately showed Meng Bai a sweet smile.
Meng Bai glanced at a few people and couldn't help laughing in his heart.
Isn't it said that the "honey trap" is placed at the end? Why is this not following the routine?
(End of this chapter)
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