Chapter 1211: Don’t Touch the Entertainment Circle
After hearing Xiao Peng's words, everyone asked in confusion: "Boss, you've confused us all. The entertainment industry is the entertainment industry, how can it be called a distorted entertainment industry?"
Xiao Peng explained, "Celebrities in our country's entertainment industry make a lot of money! Any celebrity earns thousands or even tens of thousands of times more than the average person. And what about those top stars? One day's salary is what an average person would earn in a lifetime!"
Everyone whistled, "Boss, are you kidding me? This is too much!"
After hearing this, Xiao Peng said, "Am I kidding? Let's assume the average Daxia person earns 50,000 yuan a year, and works for 40 years to earn 2 million yuan. And in our country, a female star earns 2.08 million yuan a day! Isn't that equivalent to someone else's lifetime salary in one day? And let me tell you, this isn't even the highest! There are countless people who earn more than this!"
Walter and the others were shocked: “Is being a star such a good treatment in your country?”
Khedira perked up: "Boss, before I joined the army, a scout actually approached me and asked me to be a star. Do you think I can become a star in your country with my qualifications?"
Xiao Peng looked at Khedira and replied seriously, "Believe me, it's easy to become famous in our country. You're fluent in Chinese now. Just go record some short videos in Chinese praising Daxia and criticizing Germany and even Europe. I guarantee you'll be famous in no time. There's a group of foreigners online in our country who make money by playing the 'patriotism card.' It's basically the same model. And if you're popular enough to attract the attention of investors, you can enter the real entertainment industry. I tell you all...except Bruch, you can do this after you retire—learning Chinese does have its benefits! No need to thank me."
Bruch said, "It's not too late for me to study hard now!"
He had been away from Xiao Peng for a long time, so naturally he wasn't as fast as Walter and the others who spent every day with people in the Chinese community learning the language. He could barely speak Chinese.
"Is this okay?" Khedira asked with wide eyes.
Xiao Peng nodded. "Why not? We Daxia people always laugh at Indians' inexplicable national pride, saying it stems from their inferiority complex. But our country has only really developed in the last twenty years, and many people haven't changed their mindsets, making them similar to Indians. They share the same inferiority complex and sensitivity. These foreigners playing the 'patriotism card' just fit their needs."
Kasin suddenly realized, "No wonder these girls work so hard. Being a star in your country pays so well? Boss, why is that? This doesn't conform to market laws!"
Xiao Peng was stunned after hearing this and snapped his fingers, saying, "Look, look! What do you mean by progress? Even Kasin is saying 'market law'! What do you mean by progress? This is progress!"
Everyone burst into laughter.
Kasin was not shy at all: "I am your bodyguard, boss! I can't be good at nothing but flattering you, right?"
Xiao Peng laughed and said, "Your flattery skills are getting better and better, and you're starting to leave no trace. Don't think so badly of yourself. You're still willing to take a bullet for me, and I appreciate it. But let me explain to you, there's a reason why these stars in our country are so famous. Didn't I just say that? Our country's entertainment industry is a distorted entertainment industry."
Just at this moment, the waiter brought the coffee. After thanking the waiter, Walter said, “Boss, why do you use the word ‘abnormal’ to describe your country’s entertainment industry?”
Xiao Peng replied: "This is actually why celebrities in our country have high incomes. In fact, from a broad perspective, our country's entertainment industry is a tool for money laundering."
"Money laundering tools?" Everyone looked at Xiao Peng.
Xiao Peng nodded. "Like I said, our country's real development has only happened in the last twenty years. A large number of wealthy people have emerged, but the means these people used to accumulate wealth were not necessarily honorable. For example, there are smuggling, tax evasion, pornography, gambling, drug trafficking, gang violence, and so on. Many of them rely on exploiting loopholes to accumulate wealth. Well, actually, I'm pretty much the same, but I call it 'reasonable tax avoidance.' And this money obtained through dishonorable means is naturally black money. Because it violates the law, black money cannot be circulated in the market, so it needs to be laundered to become legal. So how do you make this black money legal? You must have money laundering methods. For example, the so-called 'shoe speculation' and 'virtual currency' are actually methods of money laundering. And the most common method of money laundering in our country is through the entertainment industry!"
Walter became curious: "How to launder money through the entertainment industry?"
Xiao Peng explained, "There are so many ways. The most common, simplest, and most brutal method is the Yin-Yang contract. If I have money to launder, I'll find a star director to make a movie and declare to the public: I invested hundreds of millions, but in fact I only invested a few million to make a bad movie. No one will watch such a movie, but it doesn't matter. I'm falsifying the box office through fake box office results. In this way, my black money becomes movie box office revenue, which can be laundered and turned into legal income."
"Can we play it like this?" Kasim asked in shock.
Xiao Peng shook his head and said, "This is just the simplest and most basic money laundering method in the entertainment industry. This method is used very frequently, which is one of the reasons why our country has so many bad movies."
"The simplest one? Is there any more advanced method?" asked Bruch.
"Of course there are!" Xiao Peng took a sip of coffee to moisten his throat. "For example, celebrities opening stores is one way."
"A celebrity opening a store?" Bruch expressed confusion.
Xiao Peng nodded and said, "It's those celebrities who use their influence to open businesses like restaurants and bars. It seems like they're constantly striving to improve themselves and develop side hustles, but in fact, many of them are also involved in money laundering."
"How can we launder money like this?" Everyone was confused.
Xiao Peng explained, "You can fake sales by investing money in a celebrity's store. Celebrities bring their own traffic, and many people flock to their stores. No one can say for sure what the reasonable daily turnover of a celebrity's store is. This gives them the opportunity to manipulate sales. Since they keep their own books, they can launder the black money this way."
Ka Xin asked, "Which celebrities are willing to help them launder money?"
Xiao Peng shook his head. "Kaxin, I just praised you and you ask such a stupid question. Why do they do this? For 'profit', of course! They gain more benefits from it! Forget about money laundering and dividends, they can create the illusion of booming business by promoting sales figures, then trick franchisees into opening franchise stores and continue to make money, charging exorbitant franchise fees! Don't say I'm trying to scare you, in our country, some celebrity brand stores have franchise fees as high as nine figures!"
"So many?" everyone exclaimed.
Xiao Peng shook his finger: "Actually, this is just a little trick!"
"Is this just a small trick?"
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