In reality, many seemingly large companies and conglomerates, even those with assets in the hundreds of millions, actually have very little liquid cash in their accounts; most of it is tied up in fixed assets and businesses. Generally speaking, a company with assets of several hundred million only has about twenty million in liquid funds. Besides regular daily expenses, they keep a small amount of cash for emergencies, and the rest of their money isn't left to sit idly in the bank; instead, they invest it all.
It's really rare to find someone like me with a large sum of cash in their account that they can withdraw at any time.
Fang Nan's company has a complex set of assets. It has fixed assets of over 100 million yuan, as well as an intangible asset. The most valuable asset is the long-term contract with Ms. Jenny, the most popular superstar at the moment!
Fang Nan understood what I meant, and she also understood my reluctance as a man to accept such a large gift from my woman. In the end, we negotiated a price of about 200 million yuan, and I bought out Fang Nan's company in one go.
Originally, I wanted to leave some shares to Fang Nan, so she could receive a dividend from the company's profits each year. However…
Well, last night when we were lying in bed, she heard my suggestion and immediately rejected it, then used her feminine charm to her advantage: "I'm your woman now, so naturally you'll support me from now on. What would I need these dividends for?"
That's enough!
In this situation, Fang Nan is so devoted to me and has done so much for me. If I were to act coy and pretentious again, would I, Xiao Wu, still be a man?
"At worst, Wu Gang and his men will come and shoot me dead." I straightened my chest and said, "From now on, you're my woman. If your old man at home causes me trouble, I'll just hide back in Canada!"
Fang Nan left the company, and although Ning Yan and Qian Pan were reluctant, having me take over was the best solution they could hope for. To put it simply, the boss's wife quit, and then her husband took over the company. This is perfectly logical. Besides, I have a good personal relationship with them, and they trust me to work for them.
After the agreement was reached, the specific details were handed over to the lawyers, and the matter was decided but not yet announced to the public.
Anyway, since Miss Qiao and Mu Tou A Ze have already run away to Suzhou, I simply sent a few more people to Suzhou to take care of them.
I simply moved out of my original hotel and secretly moved into the Four Seasons Hotel, openly living with Fang Nan in the hotel's presidential suite.
Attorney Zhou, with his buck teeth, has already completed all the formalities with his domestic legal colleagues. Regarding the company transfer, we've streamlined the process by skipping the asset calculation, since it's a transfer within our own ranks, significantly reducing paperwork. In Fang Nan's words, "From now on, my money is your money, and your money is my money. You'll have to support me eventually, so why bother with any division?"
That makes sense.
Two days later, Jenny, the most popular super idol star under Deep Blue Entertainment, officially kicked off her solo concert in Shanghai. That night, the Shanghai Stadium, which can hold 80,000 people, was almost completely full!
This is the first stop of Jenny's tour. I finally experienced Jenny's super popularity in China in recent years. The huge stadium was already surrounded by countless people three hours before the concert started, and the traffic around the stadium was in a state of semi-paralysis. An hour before the start, the stadium was already full!
Such box office success would make the organizer's boss laugh in his sleep.
I stood in a VIP box in the stadium, looking down at the sea of people, at the young men and women holding posters and glow sticks, and at the organized fan groups dressed in matching outfits as they entered. The entire stadium had long since turned into a giant beehive, and all I could hear was a deafening roar of cheers.
As the company's top star's concert, Fang Nan and I, being the company's former and current bosses, naturally had to attend and show our support. The VIP boxes at the stadium were quite nice. At least it wasn't too noisy there.
However, what I didn't know was that our secret entry into the VIP box had been secretly monitored by a group of reporters.
Of course, these reporters didn't seem to care about Fang Nan, because everyone knew that the vast majority of employees at Deep Blue Entertainment, from top management to ordinary staff, were women—it was an open secret within the company. And since Fang Nan had entered with Qian Panningyan and others, no one paid them any attention.
But I, a currently popular celebrity, a rising star in the Hollywood film industry, and a guy who's famous all over North America, actually came to see Jenny's concert and even hid in a VIP box. My whereabouts were immediately noticed by those with ulterior motives.
It even reminded me of a TV interview I did before, where I apparently said publicly that I'm not very familiar with the Chinese entertainment industry, and the only person I really admire is Jenny… Considering that statement, my decision to go to Jenny's concert seems rather ambiguous to ordinary people.
Anyone who has been to a concert like this knows that the atmosphere is incredibly frenzied. You could even say that even a normally calm person, surrounded by waves of cheering and shouting, fervent and excited faces, screams at the top of their lungs, and endless noise, will inevitably be swept up in the atmosphere.
That's exactly what happened. When Jenny slowly walked up from the slide under the stage at the start of the concert, it was as if a powder keg had been lit, igniting the atmosphere of the entire stadium. Countless fans who were originally sitting in their seats couldn't sit still anymore, and some even tried to push forward. The security guards were desperately trying to stop the people in front of the stage from entering through the barrier.
Deep Blue Entertainment seems to have put a lot of effort into Jenny's debut concert. I sat in my box and watched her sing two songs. The songs themselves weren't particularly moving; they were just typical pop songs. However, the stage, lighting, and effects were almost perfect. In my opinion, it was nearly on par with the concerts of those top superstars I've seen in the US.
Jenny wore a cute top and short hot pants, showcasing her tall and alluring figure. Her wasp waist, perky buttocks, long legs, and full, firm breasts, combined with her healthy, light tanned skin, all exuded a free-spirited and passionate sexiness. After two energetic songs, Jenny, who had been singing and dancing, was slightly out of breath, with beads of sweat on her forehead.
"Thank you!" Jenny said breathlessly, one hand on her headset. Then she waved loudly to the audience, "Thank you for supporting me all this time!"
I sat in the private room smiling, while Jenny seemed to have quite the air of a star.
Singing a couple of songs and then saying a few words is a normal part of a celebrity's concert. After all, singers are human too; if they sang dozens of songs in one go without saying a word all night, they would be exhausted. It's normal to take a break and catch your breath by saying a few words during the transition.
However, I soon realized that something was wrong.
Jenny suddenly raised her hands and made a downward pressing gesture. Then she said loudly, "Please be quiet, everyone. I have something to say. Thank you. Could you please be quiet for a moment?"
The moment the beautiful idol spoke, the entire venue instantly went from a frenzied uproar to a strange silence.
On the big screen, there was a close-up of Jenny's face. She wiped the sweat from her forehead, but her expression seemed unusually excited. Her breathing was a little unsteady, and I even thought I could see that her eyes were a little red.
“Today, I feel very…happy. Really happy.” Jenny smiled, her voice soft, but the microphone carried it clearly throughout the stadium: “Actually, all this time, besides thanking you all, thanking you for supporting me… I especially want to thank one person… no, or rather, not thank you, but gratitude, thanks! Without this person, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Without this person, there wouldn’t even be me now, there wouldn’t be the ‘Jenny’ I am today, let alone me singing and dancing on stage. Without this person, I’m probably still struggling with fate…”
At this point, Jenny gently wiped away her tears. Standing on the stage, her gaze drifted towards the VIP boxes above. She softly said, “What makes today so special is that he can see and hear me singing and dancing here. For the past two years, I’ve been working so hard, practicing my singing and dancing diligently, because I know that everything I have today is thanks to him, and I can’t let him down. Now that he can see all of this with his own eyes, I feel truly moved. Of course, I know that you helped me back then, helped me get to where I am today, without asking for anything in return. But in my heart, I wish I could repay you with everything I have… with all of my life, everything I own… to repay you.”
As she spoke, Jenny suddenly swayed, and then, in front of tens of thousands of people, she slowly knelt down on the stage, her body facing the VIP boxes in the distance.
She knelt on the stage, crying as if her tears were falling like raindrops. The tens of thousands of audience members below the stage seemed to explode instantly, because Jenny was their idol, and at this moment she was crying so pitifully on the stage. These heartfelt words were clearly not just empty formalities, but a heartfelt expression from the bottom of her heart.
The entire venue erupted. Countless people shouted, some asked each other in confusion what was going on, and others looked around, trying to see in the direction Jenny was looking...
The average viewer was unaware, but the reporters astutely noticed many things, especially the direction Jenny was kneeling, which clearly indicated the location of a VIP box, and the thought that I was the person in that box tonight...
Throughout the entire concert, Jenny's performance tonight can only be described as "go-getter." She seemed determined to unleash all her energy and passion in this concert, singing and dancing with all her might on stage, performing one song after another, striving to showcase her most beautiful, unrestrained, and charming side. Even after I heard that she twisted her ankle during a dance, she refused to change songs, enduring the pain to go on stage and continue jumping and singing until the very end!
Several times when she went backstage to change clothes, she was in so much pain that tears streamed down her face, but once she was on stage, she immediately became passionate and unrestrained like a flame!
The tens of thousands of audience members below the stage were completely captivated, but I remained quietly seated in my box. Only I knew that she was putting on such a powerful performance, singing just for me alone.
...
That evening, after the concert ended, tens of thousands of audience members lingered at the venue, reluctant to leave. Fang Nan and I, however, had already gone directly to the backstage area through a secret passage. It was there that we learned that Jenny had twisted her ankle and took her directly to the hospital.
We were in a car. Fang Nan's expression was a bit strange, Ning Yan didn't say anything, but Jenny sat there quietly with her head down, looking very weak. Actually, after she finished speaking on stage tonight, she went backstage and was scolded by the director of the entire show, who had been invited by the company. This was completely unexpected and disrupted the entire show's schedule.
Later, she acted almost recklessly, ignoring her foot injury, which greatly annoyed Ning Yan, who rushed backstage at the last minute. However, Ning Yan knew the reason for Jenny's agitation tonight, so although she was annoyed, she couldn't stop her.
"Alright, anyway, thank you for tonight." In the quiet carriage, everyone seemed afraid to speak, but I finally spoke with a smile.
Jenny looked up at me, then bit her lip.
YoYo was also on the bus. She looked at her sister, then at me, and couldn't help but whisper, "Did my sister do something wrong? Chen... please don't scold her, okay?"
“No, she didn’t do anything wrong.” I shook my head and smiled.
Upon arriving at the hospital, I was given a special, quiet ward where I saw a doctor for examinations. To be on the safe side, I also had an X-ray taken. After thinking for a moment, I told everyone to stay outside while I went into the room alone to talk to Jenny.
“Actually, you don’t need to push yourself so hard tonight.” I smiled. Jenny sat on a bed with her head down, her legs flat on the floor. I sat down next to her. “I know you want to perform well for me, you think it’s a way of repaying me… But you don’t have to. I used to be abroad, but I’m back now. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to sing and dance for me in the future, there’s no need to push yourself so hard. And…” I thought for a moment, then chuckled softly, “I can tell you a secret, this hasn’t been announced yet… Um, I’ve already bought out Deep Blue Entertainment. That means, from now on, I’m your boss, hehe… Are you still worried about not having opportunities to sing and dance for me?”
Jenny paused for a moment, looked up at me, and a hint of surprise appeared on her face.
"Alright, this news hasn't been announced yet, so it's normal that you don't know." I waved my hand, then my face turned serious: "What I'm about to say is very serious."
I slowly reached out and gently stroked her hair, saying softly, "I know I helped you back then, bringing you out of Vietnam, taking you away from there, sending you to China, and then asking my friend to help you treat YoYo's leg. Then you became a star, enjoying immense fame... You're a good person, kind, and grateful. These are rare qualities, because in this day and age, countless people turn their backs on you after achieving fame. So in this respect, I think you're a very good woman."
I paused for a moment, then withdrew my hand and smiled. "Perhaps I don't know how to say it... Well, let's put it this way, of course, it could also be my own misperception. If I've misunderstood, I hope you won't laugh at me..." I hesitated for a moment, then decided it was better to just say it directly, so I said, "Jenny... do you... do you... do you... have you always harbored the thought of giving yourself to me?"
Jenny paused for a moment, glanced at me, then quickly lowered her head and nodded gently: "Mm!"
"Why?" I sighed.
“Because I fell in love with you.” Jenny’s expression was complicated. “You gave me everything, you gave me the light in my life. You saved me… You are the noblest and greatest man I have ever met!”
Part Three: The Pinnacle, Chapter Fifty-Five: Media Warfare
I laughed: "Just because of that?" I couldn't help but pat her face: "But do you still remember the day I was injured in Vietnam and hid at your house?"
I looked into her eyes: "I remember back then, you were so scared that you even grabbed a kitchen knife and tried to kick me out."
Jenny blushed: "I...I'm sorry."
"No, no, no, there's no need to apologize." I laughed. "It's normal in that situation. What I mean is... you see, when I helped you, it wasn't out of any selfless intention. You helped me too, didn't you? I hid in your house for a day. If I hadn't hidden there that day, I probably would have died on the streets of Hanoi, Vietnam! Shot to death or hacked to death."
I looked at her intently and said slowly, "Do you understand what I mean? Actually, you don't need to feel like you owe me anything. You don't, really you don't! I helped you, and you helped me too. If we're talking about repayment, then the fact that I hid in your house for a day is equivalent to you saving my life. Saving someone's life is a huge debt, isn't it? So, when you calculate it that way, I actually owe you more, don't I?"
Jenny opened her mouth, as if she wanted to say something.
After a long while, her eyes suddenly reddened, and she whispered, "You...you look down on me, don't you? Hmm...is it because I used to do...that kind of thing in Vietnam?"
"No." I immediately shook my head, shifted my body closer to her, and whispered, "Well. Actually, even now, we don't really understand each other. You see, you don't know what I've done in the past, what kind of person I am, right? Under these circumstances, your so-called 'falling in love with me' is mostly just a shadow that has been accumulating over time due to a sense of gratitude. As for your past..." I looked into her eyes and said seriously, "I have never looked down on you because of that, really not."
Looking into Jenny's eyes, I smiled and said, "Do you know what I used to do?"
Before she could speak, I chuckled to myself, "Speaking of which, we have similar backgrounds. You've worked in nightclubs. Actually, I have too. I used to work at a nightclub, starting as a waiter and working my way up to manager. I did that for four or five years."
"I've seen many girls working in nightclubs. To be honest, I don't have much of a feeling about this line of work. Some girls are forced into it because of financial difficulties at home. Of course, many more do it because it's easy money. It's not as hard as other jobs; you just need to drink with customers, sacrifice your looks, and you can easily make money without getting tired. There are all sorts of reasons... As for you, to be honest, I initially thought you were just like the other girls I knew before. But since I visited your home in Vietnam, and saw YoYo, and saw how painstakingly you've created the best possible environment for your sister's growth, how you've given so much to raise her... I finally understood why you do it." I looked at Jenny and then smiled gently, "I really believe in one saying..."
"What did you say?"
“No one is born depraved,” I said slowly, looking into her eyes.
I stood up, patted her shoulder, and smiled, "I understand your thoughts and feelings. I hope you can figure it out soon. Actually, you're not in love with me, but rather out of gratitude. And, I'm sorry to say, I really can't accept your feelings. I hope you can understand this soon. You've already moved on from the past. Look, I used to call you 'beautiful girl,' but now you have a new name, Jenny. You're no longer that girl from Vietnam. You're now an idol admired by thousands. You have your own life, your own destiny, and you still have decades of your life ahead of you. You also have your sister… So, if you've thought it through, I hope we can be friends in the future. Besides, I'm still your boss! You're my cash cow now."
With a smile, I left the pensive Jenny behind and walked out of the ward.
I don't know if these words can dispel her inner conflict, but I hope they will have some effect.
As for her feelings for me... well, whether it's true love or repaying a debt of gratitude, I can't accept it.
It's not because she used to be a prostitute, nor is it because I'm not interested in celebrities...
Ultimately, the simple reason is: I don't have those feelings or thoughts for her.
"Finished talking?" Fang Nan looked at me with a half-smile after we came out.
I shook my head, gently put my arm around her shoulder, and laughed, "Yeah, we're done talking. Sigh... she's actually quite pitiful."
Fang Nan looked at me cautiously: "You...are you going to..."
"I have nothing, I can't do anything." I shook my head and laughed, "You really think of me as a stud?"
Fang Nan smiled and gently pursed her lips: "Hmph... Haven't you had enough of your romantic escapades?"
I was in a great mood and took her hand: "Come on, let's go back... Hmm, I'll drive. It's been a long time since I've been your driver. Back in the day, I was your boss Fang's personal driver."
But as soon as I stepped out of the hospital, I couldn't smile anymore.
I had just walked to the hospital entrance when I was met with a barrage of flashing lights aimed at me, so brightly that I almost fainted.
"What's going on?" I asked angrily, then immediately realized what was happening and muttered under my breath, "Damn! These paparazzi reacted really fast!"
Immediately afterwards, people escorted us out of the hospital, Tu tightly protecting me as we pushed through the swarm of reporters, like flies, and then shoved me into the car. Outside, reporters were still banging on the car window, shouting, "Mr. Chen, please say a few words! Please say a few words!"
Damn it, no wonder there's a famous saying in the entertainment industry:
Fire prevention! Theft prevention! Journalist prevention!
The next day. A media storm finally began.
Almost every newspaper's entertainment section gave extensive coverage to this scene from Jenny's first tour! All the newspapers featured large photos from different angles on their entertainment front pages!
In the photo, the delicate Jenny kneels on the vast stage, tears streaming down her face, her expression filled with deep emotion…
The text then details Jenny's heartfelt confession at the concert, with some reporters even copying down almost the entire passage verbatim!
Some websites are even more impressive; they've recorded long stretches of video!