The next day.

Gu Bai, who had just moved into Villa No. 91 in Yihe Original for one day, was having breakfast with Xu Beibei. Dressed in her girl group outfit, Xu Beibei sat cheerfully at the table and said to Gu Bai, "Normally, we have to get up at 6 o'clock. Shooting at home today, I slept until eight and woke up naturally. It feels so good!"

Gu Bai spread some Bordier butter on the bread and placed it in front of Xu Beibei.

Although breakfast was just simple milk and bread, it was also something the average family could hardly afford.

Bordier butter is a butter used by Michelin 3-star restaurants in France, and it's a special supply ingredient for Gu Bai's lifestyle management team, something that's hard to get even with money.

Lightly tapping the end of the butter knife on Xu Beibei's little head, Gu Bai smiled and said, "What's wrong? Can't handle it already? If you say you want to quit, I'll send you back to Sichuan Music College to study right now."

Xu Beibei exaggeratedly cried out in pain, then held her head and said, "No! Although it's a bit tiring, I like this kind of life. Besides, with you around, my treatment is the best in the entire program group, and those sisters are almost dying of envy."

"I have no objection to you wanting to be a celebrity, and I have the capability to make you famous, but there are some things I need to make clear to you now.

No matter how popular you become after the program is aired, you must complete your studies, and while I'm launching you using traffic methods, I don't want you to always rely on traffic to gain public attention.

A celebrity should always attract attention through their works. Traffic can make your journey a little smoother, but it's definitely not the ultimate goal. Under my company, there will never be any purely traffic-driven, capability-less vase idols. This is why I'm promoting Mao Buyi and ignoring artists like Xiao Zhan.

Do you understand?"

It was the first time Gu Bai spoke to her so seriously, which made Xu Beibei a little intimidated. Recently, both directors and celebrity mentors had praised Xu Beibei to the skies, coupled with the popularity of "Creation 111," Xu Beibei's short-term fame wasn't any lesser than a second-tier celebrity, and this caused some changes in her mindset.

Having such a brother made it easy to debut and gain fame, making her feel that becoming a celebrity was very effortless, leading to some slackness in her daily studies.

Gu Bai noticed all of this and today was the first time he gave her a reminder.

He didn't want Xu Beibei to become a completely bashed celebrity like Angela Despicable or Shangguan Nana online. If it were to turn out like that, it'd be better for Xu Beibei to be a wealthy lady. Anyway, with Gu Bai's money, even if Xu Beibei were extravagant, she couldn't spend it all.

"I understand, brother."

Xu Beibei paused for a few seconds but soon nodded to Gu Bai with a determined look.

She was smart and obedient, clearly listening to Gu Bai's words.

Gu Bai also patted her head, smiling and saying, "No need to be so serious; I don't require you to be exceptionally outstanding. As long as you don't follow the herd and maintain the qualities an ordinary idol should have, I have the ability to make the spotlight shine solely on you."

Xu Beibei nodded her little head heavily.

"Let's eat first. Just now, Long Dan Ni called me. Your program group will probably come to set up around 9 o'clock."

"Mm-hmm."

Xu Beibei once again returned to her endearing, charming demeanor.

Just as they were eating breakfast, Gu Bai's phone, placed on the side, rang.

Glancing at the contact, Gu Bai's expression showed a hint of puzzlement, but he didn't think for long before picking up the call, smiling and asking, "Big brother, how do you have time to call me?"

On the other end of the line came Chen Long's slightly imperfect standard Mandarin.

"I'm just in the Capital City recently; I heard your company's latest variety show is quite the hit, and almost every episode there's a movie from your company on the big screen. I bet Chairman Gu's about to lose track of how much money you've made?"

Facing Chen Long's flattery, Gu Bai gave a somewhat disingenuous smile.

"It's really just looking impressive; it's just some small earnings."

"That might not be true. With 'Detective Chinatown 2's' box office at 3.4 billion after its run, according to Black Swan Film and Television's investment share, you can probably make at least four to five billion. Plus, recently 'Tomato Richest' has become a small-budget dark horse, crossing 1 billion at the box office in just over a week. I happen to know your company holds the majority of investment in that film."

"That's why they call you the big brother of the entertainment circle because nothing escapes you. But big brother, I'm sure your call isn't just to congratulate me on making money?"

Gu Bai directly broke through the pleasantries and got straight to the point.

"Congratulating Chairman Gu on making money is naturally important, but there is indeed another matter."

"Big brother, please do tell."

"It's hard to explain over the phone; Chairman Qi specifically arranged a dinner today, and would like to invite you over. Why don't we chat over a meal?"

Even though there was now a cooperative relationship with Qi Hongjian, the Wu Qian incident in the past was undoubtedly a smack in the face for Gu Bai. Apart from normal business cooperation, there was hardly any private interaction between the two.

There's a saying that there's no feast to entertain without purpose; Gu Bai had been in the Capital City for such a long time and Qi Hongjian hadn't contacted him. Now suddenly inviting him to dinner, even having Chen Long call, obviously didn't seem like something promising. Though it couldn't be called a Hongmen Banquet, this meal surely wouldn't be easy.

But since they invited him, he couldn't not go. Thinking of this, Gu Bai smiled and replied, "Sure, actually, I won't be staying in the Capital City for a few more days. This is a great time to catch up with you and President Qi."

Receiving Gu Bai's response, Chen Long laughed heartily.

"So, it's settled then, 11 AM at Changfu Palace, Box 1, see you there, Chairman Gu."

"See you there."

After saying this, Gu Bai also hung up the phone with a smile.

Once the call ended, Gu Bai's smile disappeared instantly. Squinting his eyes, he sent a voice message to Gu Xin.

"Help me check what's been happening recently with Yao Lai Group."

Gu Xin quickly replied.

"Right away."

The saying goes, 'There must be something unusual about things that deviate from the norm.' Qi Hongjian's sudden invitation to dinner was definitely not just a casual chat. Gu Bai had a hunch, but without evidence, he couldn't jump to conclusions. So he asked Gu Xin to do a little investigation. With Gu Xin's super-intelligent business robot capabilities, it wouldn't take long for him to get the answers he wanted.

"Bro, whose call was that?"

Xu Beibei, curious about Gu Bai's frequent mention of "brother," asked.

"Who in the entertainment industry could be called 'big brother' if not him?"

"Are you talking about Chen Long?"

Gu Bai nodded with a faint smile.

"I didn't expect you to know Chen Long; he's a real big shot in the entertainment industry!"

Gu Bai chuckled softly, "Even the top big shots in the entertainment industry mean nothing in front of some people. Just like with me around, no one in the industry dares to have any bad intentions towards you."

"I knew you were the best, brother!"

A few minutes later, Gu Xin sent a long message, confirming Gu Bai's suspicions.

Something happened in Yao Lai Group!

The Yao Lai Culture, actually controlled by Qi Hongjian, is the second-largest shareholder of the listed company Wentou Holding. Over 90% of the shares he holds have been frozen. The shares held by Beijing Yaolai Investment in Yaolai Aviation Industry Investment and those held by Yao Lai Culture and Beijing Yaolai Investment in Yao Lai Aviation Investment have also been frozen. Qi Jianhong's seven properties located on Beijing Jieguan Street and Xingfu Second Village were seized.

Yao Lai Culture holds 300 million shares of Wentou Holding, of which 282 million shares are frozen by Ludao Trust.

Soon after Wentou Holding was listed in 2016, Qi Jianhong made a massive stock pledge, seeking financial institutions to provide funds and establishing a business management trust through Ludao Trust. The 3.548 billion trust funds were used to finance Yao Lai Culture controlled by Qi Hongjian for a two-year term, using 270 million shares of Wentou Holding as collateral. Qi Hongjian provided an unlimited joint liability guarantee for this financing.

As Yao Lai Culture was affected by the macro environment, the stock price experienced significant changes.

In January 2018, Yao Lai Culture added a pledge of 12.212 million shares of Wentou Holding to Xiamen Trust. However, due to the substantial depreciation in equity value, the collateral was insufficient to cover the margin, and since Yao Lai Culture didn't pay the 'supplementary depreciation fund' as per the contract, Ludao Trust applied for execution at the Beijing City High Court.

It can be said that the entire Yao Lai Group is now stretched to a thin wire; any mishandling could lead to bankruptcy and liquidation.

In fact, the current situation with Yao Lai Group could be resolved easily or complicatedly.

It comes down to money; if there's money, the crisis can be resolved instantly. However, even heroes struggle without a penny. Not to mention that last year, Qi Hongjian followed Gu Bai in aggressively expanding the cinema industry, taking out loans exceeding 3 billion from banks for the cinema business alone. How could there still be money to rescue Yao Lai Group from the crisis?

Looking at the message sent by Gu Xin, Gu Bai's face lit up with a smile.

During the previous collaboration, Gu Bai already mentioned that partnering with Yao Lai Group's cinema chain was about leveraging their channels for rapid development. As someone who could see through the future, Gu Bai already predicted the fate of Yao Lai Group; he was just waiting for this moment.

It's just that, in Gu Bai's memory, the crisis at Yao Lai Group was supposed to erupt in September 2018, which was over six months away from now, but he didn't expect it to happen six months earlier.

This should be the butterfly effect brought about by Gu Bai.

However, no matter what, this is a good thing for Gu Bai. If handled well, Gu Bai could acquire the entire cinema market of Yao Lai Group at the lowest cost.

In 2017, Wanda Cinema started its global expansion.

Previously, $3.1 billion was spent to acquire the world's second-largest cinema line, AMC. From 2016 to 2017, AMC under Wanda successively acquired the American Carmike Cinema Line for $1.1 billion, Odeon & UCI Cinemas-Group for £921 million, and Nordic Cinema Line for $930 million, experiencing rampant growth in the global market.

But domestically, they own less than 400 exclusive cinemas, with just 1,000 franchise cinemas as well. Even so, they, along with Earth Cinema Line, have firmly occupied the domestic cinema market.

Gu Bai currently has no interest in affecting the global market.

Last year, he spent 7 billion with Yao Lai Group to build nearly 200 new cinema lines, plus the more than 100 cinemas originally owned by Yao Lai Group. If Gu Bai acquires them, it would be no exaggeration to say that he would instantly become one of the top three cinema giants in the country.

Thinking of this, Gu Bai gradually became excited.

After laying out the plan for so long, it's finally time to reap the benefits.

Next, it depends on the reaction from Qi Hongjian's side.

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