Chapter 383

Hua Yi's actions sent ripples through the market, with one investor cursing Hua Yi: "Absolutely thuggish behavior."

Another, Bai Hu Investment, directly named and cursed Hua Yi: "Despicable!"

The general public remained indifferent; media merely reported it, without generating any buzz.

The box office has dropped, yet they stubbornly hold onto screening slots, leaving no room for other films—naturally, other film investors are furious.

There's no help for it; the market is this brutal—either you die or I live, who cares about competitors' feelings?

Even if all competitors call Hua Yi thugs, Hua Yi will still do it, because Hua Yi isn't just making money from box office anymore—they're going for the stock market, they're playing finance.

They're answerable to shareholders, not to content, not to competitors—so long as the stock price rises, they can rake in massive profits; box office earnings are peanuts.

"Just stabilize the stock market for now; losses from theaters can be recovered through stocks. Hold steady until the 8th, and we'll make a killing." General Manager Da Wang told General Manager Xiao Wang.

"Got it, brother!" General Manager Xiao Wang worked hard too.

They weren't targeting Yu Tu—they were squeezing every competitor to lift the stock market and cash in.

Hua Yi offered theater share concessions; Yu Tu remained silent, continuing its routine propaganda.

Chen Zhixi saw Hua Yi's stock soaring and actually feared she'd crush those two brothers!

The reason? She'd bought Hua Yi stock herself; seeing its relentless rise, she'd grown hesitant, didn't want to go too hard.

She hoped it would hold steady until October 8th, afraid that if she pushed too hard, she'd suffer heavy losses and regret buying.

Damn, this damn company is too fragile!

On the 1st, Shen Du Long Wang's box office skyrocketed to 67.74 million; Lucky Key was left far behind at only 29.78 million.

The market is this small—the more one side takes, the less the other gets.

Also today, Hua Yi's stock rose to 47 billion yuan, up another 2 billion.

"Sis, the Hua Yi stock you recommended me to buy skyrocketed—thank you so much, small token of appreciation." Lu Dabo sent Chen Zhixi a message, ecstatic, and even sent her a red envelope.

He'd already made enough to buy a house.

This was the friendship built after the Jin Tong Yu Nu incident—Chen Zhixi had attended meetings and knew film stocks were about to surge, so she tipped off Lu Dabo.

Once a person reaches a higher level, even casual leaks can make those around them rich.

This is better than the Principal—he knew insider info but never told anyone around him to make money.

It's not really his fault—he didn't buy any himself, not even told his own mother, though she didn't play this game anyway; he'd have been talking to air.

He'd only told Liu Tianxian about it, as casual gossip—Liu Tianxian didn't trade stocks, so it didn't matter.

This stuff is a double-edged sword—if you profit, you're a god; if you lose, they'll curse you to hell.

"Hmm, but stay alert—I think it's about to crash hard." Chen Zhixi replied, accepting the red envelope.

"Huh?! Then shouldn't we sell immediately after the market reopens?" Lu Dabo exclaimed.

"Don't rush—I'll check first." Chen Zhixi, driven by personal desire, had already eased up on Hua Yi—hoping they'd deliver.

October 2nd: Shen Du Long Wang earned 59.5 million, still strong; Lucky Key held steady at 29.03 million.

All other films' box offices dropped below ten million; the market is this small—if others earn more, their films become sacrifices, no way around it.

Lucky Key's leads, Xiao Yang and Yu Hewei, had to scramble for promotional interviews—they'd already gone to South Korea.

The film had been imported into South Korea, distributed by Xi Jie.

"The 'three-no' comedy Lucky Key—no big stars, no big gimmicks, no big spectacle—has surged as a dark horse, topping South Korea's weekend box office for consecutive weeks, with over one million admissions."

This news was published by Toutiao, original source material; other media could only repost it.

Below it, numerous audience comments appeared.

"One million admissions? Big deal—any decent film of ours breaks ten million."

"South Korea has a small population—one million admissions is already impressive."

"."

Netizens weren't excited; they found one million admissions too petty, felt nothing.

Still, doing well in South Korea was something to be proud of!

October 3rd: Shen Du Long Wang earned 54.73 million; Lucky Key earned 27.91 million—both steady.

Screenings didn't change much; Lucky Key saw a slight reduction, but Shen Du Long Wang wouldn't drop—high share meant theaters made money off it.

Now, the more people watched Shen Du Long Wang, the more criticism it got; conversely, Lucky Key's reputation improved, its Douban score climbing past 7.

But Hua Yi's two brothers didn't care—they were like gamblers, just hoping to hold on.

October 4th: Shen Du Long Wang earned 48.86 million; Lucky Key earned 25.13 million.

October 5th: Shen Du Long Wang earned 40.72 million; Lucky Key still over twenty million.

October 6th: Shen Du Long Wang earned 36.07 million.

If this collapse continued, by the 8th it'd likely drop below ten million. Seeing the trend, Chen Zhixi quickly messaged friends and Lu Dabo: "Sell all your Hua Yi stock the moment the market opens on the 8th."

"Even if the box office tanks, the total is still huge!" Lu Dabo messaged.

"Total box office is already four hundred million—push hard, five hundred million's possible. Their floor guarantee is 1.5 billion; if they don't make it, the crash will be worse." Chen Zhixi leaked insider info.

This film collapsed so fast because it was terrible—audiences spread the word, draining its novelty.

If your film's good, fine—you've got potential; if it's utter trash, once box office drops, there's no coming back.

Lucky Key's holding steady now—if it keeps this pace, its box office won't fall short of Shen Du Long Wang's.

This message was mass-sent; all close friends received it, including Fang Hong.

When Fang Hong received the message, he was torn between laughter and tears—he hadn't bought any Hua Yi stock.

He thought these people were truly clever: competitors buying each other's stocks—how could they ever fight freely?

But he hadn't stopped them back then—mainly because he hadn't thought that far ahead.

"What's wrong?" Liu Tianxian bit into an apple, tilting her head to look at his phone.

"Chen Zhixi and others bought Hua Yi stock—they say it's about to crash, told me to sell on the 8th," Fang Hong said.

"Oh."

Liu Tianxian didn't pay it any mind, took another bite of her apple, but after biting down she suddenly froze, stunned on the spot. Realizing something, she hurriedly took out her phone to send a message.

"What's wrong?" Fang Hong asked, seeing her flustered and at a loss.

Liu Tianxian took the apple out of her mouth and hurriedly said, "My mom bought stock in Huayi. I'm rushing to tell her to sell."

He hadn't expected Liu Xiaoli to have that hobby. Fang Hong asked, puzzled, "How did your mom end up buying their stock? That company is fragile as anything—either it soars or it crashes."

"Ugh, it's because you came back from a meeting back then and told me the movie market was about to change big time, that film and TV stocks were going to surge. So I told my mom, and my mom bought in."

Liu Tianxian explained while sending her message, then asked, "Hey, do you think it'll crash?"

"It'll definitely crash, crash right through the floor," Fang Hong said with certainty, gesturing for her to hurry up and send the message.

These people really are something—Liu Xiaoli probably told her friends too.

Sure enough, when Liu Xiaoli got the news, she hurriedly messaged her rich-lady friends, and during work they rushed to dump their Huayi stock.

Don't ask—ask and the answer is insider information.

This world really is full of big and small circles, all of them learning the news early, making a killing, and then running.

The ones who suffer are still those poor retail investors!

This only strengthened Fang Hong's resolve never to play the stock market. Even with a second life you can't beat it—even someone like him only has insider information to a certain degree.

And don't even mention the higher-level financial circles above him; those people really do have insider information. The ones who always get screwed are the retail investors.

If you don't reach that level after rebirth, you're destined to be fleeced. Relying on memory isn't reliable either.

Once you flap your wings, there will definitely be changes.

Fang Hong was right. On the seventh day, the box office of "Shen Du Long Wang" collapsed to 24.57 million.

Following the trend, Huayi's stock also began to fall, but they couldn't run—today was still a market holiday, no selling or buying allowed.

This already made some people regretful.

By the 8th, Huayi's market value evaporated by 7 billion along the way, crashing straight below 40 billion.

Back to the 30-billion stage again.

This left some people heartbroken—of course some were still watching and waiting, fantasizing!

But luckily Chen Zhixi, Liu Xiaoli, Lu Dabo and the others ran fast, so they didn't really lose anything. They'd started buying back when it was at one or two hundred billion.

There's still over 30 billion in market value now.

But Huayi hadn't stopped falling—it kept plunging, dropping 500 million a day, for at least half a month.

So much money—Fang Hong was envious!

It only fell this much because after the eleventh, "Shen Du Long Wang" couldn't even hold onto ten million at the box office, only a few million or so.

Meanwhile, although "Lucky Key" had also dipped, it was still steady, still at 19.78 million.

Really, if "Shen Du Long Wang" can't make a comeback, its final box office might not necessarily beat "Lucky Key."

But it can't make a comeback anymore—it's over.

Through this incident, Fang Hong strictly forbade Chen Zhixi from buying the rival's stock anymore.

It made him timid and constrained, unable to move freely.

Chen Zhixi said nothing, and could only clear out her Huayi and Enlight Media stocks, no longer buying film and TV stocks—they were all rivals, and it really did affect decision-making.

As for those in the middle and lower ranks, he didn't bother with them—let them buy if they want.

Fang Hong didn't blame them for this either. Everyone has their own interests, everyone has to grow, everyone has to go through maturing.

"Hey, still fell a bit short."

Xiao Wang sighed—he still hadn't stabilized the stock market, but at least there wasn't too much loss. If only he'd harvested a wave at the peak, that would've been the real big killing.

He added, "Xu Laoguai is really useless, the movies he makes are garbage."

"He's old now, what kind of stuff is he even making—probably doesn't even know himself," Da Wang Zong said.

(End of chapter)