Around 10 o'clock.
The work on the sunset and starlight has been basically completed.
Sunset assigned at least 16 employees, while Starlight assigned an astonishing 26 people. This doesn't even include those who refused to be reassigned. If those were included, the number would probably be over 30.
This number ensures that if the Sihai Group sends people to gather information, they can pinpoint the individuals they have dispatched.
Once they can find these people sent out to gather information, it's their time to shine.
Around 11 o'clock.
The Sihai Group has begun to take action.
Wang Ya, Wang Yaowen, and several other colleagues who had already finished get off work made plans to go eat bullfrogs together after get off work.
As soon as I stepped out of the Starlight Building, two people walked towards me.
"Gentlemen, I'll give you ten thousand dollars. How about we go to the coffee shop across the street and have a chat? Don't worry, with so many of you here, and it's right across from my company, you think I'm going to eat you alive?"
To be honest, the people sent from all over the world are straightforward and brutal in their work. They throw money at you without saying a word, without wasting any time or effort.
Wang Ya directly refused: "Isn't this the kind of flirting you're going to do?"
A male employee of Sihai Group: "$15,000 for a ten-minute chat."
Wang Ya glanced at the side; there were four of them in total, and with $15,000, each of them would have a considerable amount.
She was tempted.
Working at Starlight for a month only pays $2,900.
"Tell me what you want to talk about first?" Wang Ya didn't want to flirt.
Let's talk about some things related to Starlight Anime.
"Oh?" Wang Yaowen became interested: "Your Sihai Group is trying to mess with our Xingguang?"
“We’ll wait for you in the coffee shop for ten minutes. If you don’t come, we’ll have to ask someone else from Starlight.” The two employees of Four Seas Group felt that $15,000 was very tempting.
That translates to a little over 100,000 yuan.
You can get 100,000 yuan just by chatting for ten minutes. These aren't high-level employees of Starlight, so it's impossible for them to do business strictly. As long as the price is right, the company will sell it to you.
"Shall we go, Sister Xiaoya?"
"I don't know... The key is that I don't know much about the secrets of the anime and manga department either."
"They didn't say they wanted to ask for anything confidential, they just said they'd chat for ten minutes, so I thought I could go."
"Let's go then, it'll only take ten minutes."
"Walk."
Three women and one man walked together to a coffee shop across the street.
The two employees of Sihai Group smiled when they saw the three women and one man approaching.
"We'd like to know if your Starlight Anime & Comics department has collaborated with Li Zhaoyang of Sunset Glow?"
"Yes!" Wang Yao answered first.
"Is Li Zhaoyang planning to make a 2D animation?"
“Exactly!” Wang Yaowen chimed in, “They’re taking too big a step, even aiming for three top standards, like 4K resolution. It feels like it’s going to flop, but who can blame them when Wanxia has the money?”
"Okay, we understand."
Two employees of the Sihai Group got up to leave and handed over a stack of US$15,000.
"Huh?" Wang Ya and the others were stunned.
You can earn 15,000 yuan in less than a minute of chatting?
This is too much...
"Sister Xiaoya, I have a feeling something's not right. It looks like their chests are glowing. Could they be filming us with a hidden camera?" One of the female colleagues began to feel uneasy.
It would be a huge loss to lose your job over such a small amount of money.
Wang Ya, being quite experienced, chuckled, "What's the panic? Did we betray the company? Did we leak company secrets? We only answered that the animation was produced to the highest standards. That's not a secret within the company. Even if a video leaks, so what? They can't fire us for that, can they?"
“That’s right.” Wang Yaowen’s eyes lit up. “Let’s start dividing the money…”
...
What few people knew was...
There were also some of Starlight's employees in the upscale restaurant next door. These employees were all personally arranged by Li Gui and Yang Kai.
And I did receive some real benefits just now.
Only after the matter was resolved did Yang Kai personally report to Director Zhang.
Director Zhang simply said "watch the show" and then hung up.
In the past, it would have been normal not to be able to guess what Director Zhang was going to do.
Having come this far, Yang Kai seemed to have a general idea of what was going on, and even went to find Li Gui.
Li Gui guessed what was going on: "If Director Zhang wants employees to act as representatives of Sihai Group, he must be anticipating that Sihai Group might be up to something, either by posting something on social media or by stirring up trouble to smear us."
Yang Kai: "The more smeared they are, the more thoroughly they will be proven wrong after the movie is released. Director Zhang is truly a prophet."
Unfortunately, the two only guessed half of it correctly; they were indeed trying to drag Sihai into the game.
But not in the form of smear campaigns.
The most sophisticated method is often to praise someone to death.
Zhang Shulan had anticipated that the Sihai Group would use excessive praise to their detriment.
“No…that’s not right,” Li Gui said. “Sihai Group wouldn’t be that stupid. I think Director Zhang has another reason…”
"What?" Yang Kai had just figured out Director Zhang's line of thinking when he was completely confused by Brother Li's words.
Just then, Li Gui's assistant came to report:
"Mr. Li, something bad has happened. Some company has leaked information online about our Starlight Studio producing a 2D animated film, and they've even attached several videos featuring Starlight employees. And... Mr. Guan is looking for you."
Li Gui thought, "Did things happen so fast?"
"Okay, I understand."
"Brother Li, I'll go with you to find Boss Guan."
The two took the elevator to Mr. Guan's office.
Mr. Guan immediately put on a stern face: "Director Li's script is so great, it still needs to be made to the highest standards. How can we let the news leak out before it's fully completed?"
Guan Feng shouted, "I sent people to investigate ten minutes ago. This was the work of Si Hai."
Guan Feng felt uncomfortable whenever the topic of Sihai Group came up.
The Sihai Group has been putting pressure on them for quite some time.
Just two months ago, Sihai Group suffered a huge loss.
"Mr. Guan, what did you see?" Li Gui asked, seeing that Mr. Guan was so angry. Surely Sihai Group couldn't really be smearing Xingguang behind the scenes, could it?
Even though I knew what would happen next, it was still upsetting to have this process smeared.
"See for yourselves!" Guan Feng shouted.
Li Gui and Yang Kai looked at the computer screen that Guan Zong was pointing to.
A forum was displayed on the screen.
The forum was almost entirely filled with discussions about Director Li's new film.
The trending search terms are: "Shocking! Li Zhaoyang's second new film after Truman", "My God, Director Li has abandoned the live-action film market and is now expanding into animated films!", "What? Director Li Zhaoyang's 2D animated film is going to meet three highest standards?", "What are the three highest standards?"
There are many more topics like this.
The three highest standards are the most discussed.
Many people became die-hard fans after watching The Truman Show, only to realize after following the show that it was actually Li Zhaoyang from the music industry.
Therefore, expectations for Li Zhaoyang are getting higher and higher.
I heard that Li Zhaoyang is going to release a new movie, so I'm definitely going to pay attention. But what I heard was that he has three top standards.
I can't imagine what the viewing experience would be like if a 2D animated film were made to the highest standards in three aspects and presented on the big screen in a movie theater.
After a few minutes, Guan Feng shouted again, "Did you see that? How are we going to explain this to Wanxia? How are we going to explain this to Director Li? If Wanxia had made the announcement herself, there would be no problem. The key is that it was released by Sihai Group. They must be planning something big."
"Damn!" Li Gui suddenly realized many things and became terrified upon closer examination: "How could Director Zhang have guessed that Sihai would flatter us to our detriment?"
Like Li Gui, Yang Kai had been following the film closely, so he knew a lot about what had happened.
Guan Feng, however, without knowing the details of the matter, only knew that Si Hai had intervened and felt that something was bound to go wrong.
"What do you mean by 'praise to death'? Now I'm asking you, how are you going to make amends? How are you going to explain this to Wanxia?" Guan Feng was even more furious when he saw these two guys still acting all high and mighty.
"President Guan... all of this was Director Zhang's plan. I had guessed that Director Zhang might use Sihai to smear this movie, but I never expected that Sihai was actually trying to kill us with praise!"
Li Gui listed the ultimate benefits of this matter: "These tactics of flattery to kill were all anticipated by Director Zhang. Don't you think that the current hype surrounding this flattery is actually Sihai advertising for us? As long as the quality of the movie holds up after its release, this will be free advertising! And you've read the movie script, Mr. Guan. Do you think this is free advertising?"
Li Gui instantly returned to two months ago, digging a pit for Si Hai to jump in.
He was actually quite panicked during that period, throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars at a time, and he had invested a lot of money in total. Fortunately, the plan was developing in the direction they had envisioned.
But there is no risk in bringing Sihai into the game now.
Because all these risks are locked in—that's the script!
After listening to Li Gui's words, Guan Feng fell into deep thought...
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