Chapter 664

At this moment, the two brothers Wang were utterly overwhelmed, facing pressure from Warner to increase their investment;

and pressure from financial institutions demanding repayment—if they couldn't pay, collapse was imminent.

"General Manager, give us some time, we'll top up immediately," Big Wang said, wiping sweat from his brow, his mouth bitter.

This was already the eighteenth bank call he'd taken, demanding they top up—if they didn't, the financial institutions would force liquidation to cover their losses.

Because the value of their pledged stocks was insufficient to cover the loan amount and interest, they were required to top up—with cash deposited into a designated account.

This effectively lowered their debt ratio, and the money could only come from the 3.3 billion borrowed earlier from Ma Baba.

Fang Hong had nearly crushed them—this cash gap was a staggering 1.8 billion, forcing them to use the 3.3 billion loan from Jack Ma to repay it.

That money was now gone, or nearly gone; no one knew exactly how much remained, as much of it had vanished.

There was no choice: Huayi's holes had grown enormous from this series of blows, and many projects were still ongoing—film projects like "Fang Hua" and "Journey to the West: Demon Chapter," each requiring funds.

Plus, debt interest was due, and real-world entertainment projects needed to proceed—there were countless holes to plug.

For instance, to develop real-world entertainment, they'd borrowed 1 billion from Ping An Trust for film city construction in Suzhou, Changsha, and elsewhere—the holes were terrifying.

Add to that, the films produced under the Principal's direction this year brought in almost no revenue—it was devastating.

Now they could only rob Peter to pay Paul, barely holding the situation together.

Little Wang was furious, never imagining the Principal had teamed up with Warner to destroy them.

At this moment, Jack Ma was also dealing with Zheshang Yinhang, since Zheshang Yinhang had lent the money only out of respect for Old Ma—how could anyone endure such a plunge right after borrowing?

After calming Zheshang Yinhang, Jack Ma was furious—how had he ended up with these two idiot teammates? He'd told them repeatedly to think hard: what had the Principal uncovered? Look from the outside, think carefully.

They still couldn't figure it out, still wouldn't mention it.

The more he thought, the angrier he got, so he directly called Big Wang—no sooner did the call connect than he started yelling: "You two idiots, I warned you."

"Sorry, Ma Baba, we never expected this," Big Wang said, having just hung up from a bank call and not even catching his breath.

Little Wang was cowering like a quail under the scolding.

"There are plenty of things you didn't expect—could you even handle Warner? Idiots!" Jack Ma couldn't hold back—he'd been dragged down too.

He'd groveled before Zheshang Yinhang like a grandson, all for these two fools.

"Don't be angry—you just said, 'The warrior does not rage…'" Big Wang said weakly.

"What the fuck," Jack Ma was speechless—were they pigs? Using his own words to shut him up.

That was just him showing off—he'd never meant it seriously.

"Ma Baba, we've called you Father—calm down. Right now, the urgent matter is to figure out how to respond," Little Wang said humbly—they still needed Ma Baba to clean up this mess.

Jack Ma took a deep breath and forced down his rage.

"This could've been avoided—if you'd told me earlier, maybe none of this would've happened," he said.

Knowing the risk, he could've contacted Warner's executives and possibly prevented it.

The two brothers fell silent—they simply hadn't thought to mention it, assuming it was a sure thing, as Warner had been feeding them sweet lies.

"Just hope the Principal has no more cards—if he does, even I can't save you," Jack Ma said.

He'd realized now: the Principal wanted Huayi dead—he wouldn't have planned so long or played his cards now unless he had nothing left.

But if the Principal still had cards, even then Jack Ma couldn't save Huayi.

How could he save them? He couldn't throw another billion at these two fools—he wasn't a bank, and even banks wouldn't play like this.

Unless he used physical force—he'd done it before, but he'd been stopped and warned.

These words chilled the two brothers. Big Wang said: "What about Zheshang Yinhang…"

"I'll handle soothing them for you—but if this happens again, I can't help. I'm your father, but they're not," Jack Ma said.

He could only do so much—he'd done his best, fulfilled his duty as a friend. No friend helps this much—they're not his real sons.

Besides, the Principal had always targeted Huayi alone—he was focused solely on Huayi, with no impact on Alibaba.

Ali Pictures and Youku were still fine; losing Huayi meant only financial loss—not catastrophic, just fear they couldn't repay.

"Slam!"

After hanging up, Little Wang slammed his fist on the table and roared: "It's definitely the Principal's doing!"

"I told you to be careful—you never listened," Big Wang said, face drawn with worry and exhaustion.

He'd warned them from the start: be cautious with Warner.

"Brother, was our investment wrong? Clearly they're evil, deliberately trying to destroy us," Little Wang fumed.

Big Wang stayed silent—his brother's chosen projects weren't wrong. "Aquaman" was a major IP; it wouldn't lose money upon release.

It was just that the other side had deliberately trapped them.

Seeing his brother say nothing, Little Wang angrily grabbed the phone on the desk and dialed.

"What are you doing?" Big Wang exclaimed.

"I'm going to ask the Principal what the hell he wants," Little Wang said, ignoring his brother's protests, and dialed.

"Speak nicely," Big Wang said, unable to stop him—his brother had already dialed. He didn't stop him either—he wanted to probe the Principal's intentions.

Best if this ended here—he truly didn't want to fight anymore.

It was already night—handling these matters took time, and the delays had dragged them into darkness.

At this moment, Fang Hong was lying in bed reading—still reading "Sun Tzu's Art of War." He couldn't afford not to study—each opponent was too hard to handle.

"Husband, I want hot pot," Liu Tianxian pounced on him.

"Hot pot? Didn't you just eat?" Fang Hong said.

"But I really want it now—desperately. Let's go eat hot pot," Liu Tianxian's almond eyes gleamed with longing.

"It's snowing heavily outside, and it's dangerous at night. Let's go tomorrow—Mom can make it for you then," Fang Hong glanced out the window.

Outside, snow fell thickly, blanketing everything in white.

"I want it now—I want the hot pot at Sanlitun. Baby wants it too," Liu Tianxian pouted, looking pitiful.

He even pointed at his own belly, which was already showing a noticeable bulge.

Fang Hong was truly helpless—truly, one strange behavior after another every day. He said, "Then I'll pack it and bring it back for you. Just don't go out."

The weather outside is bad, the roads are slippery—if you get hurt or catch cold, that won't be good.

"Okay! Thanks, hubby." Liu Tianxian gave a sweet smile.

Just as Fang Hong was getting up and putting on his clothes, his phone suddenly rang. He hitched up his pants and asked, "Who is it?"

Liu Tianxian glanced at the phone and said, "It's an unknown number, a landline."

"Scam. Hang up." Fang Hong said.

Liu Tianxian hung up directly—these days there are a lot of phone scams.

Over there, Xiao Wang was furious. He slammed the receiver down hard, then dialed out again—today he absolutely had to get through.

"It's ringing again, same number. Pick it up—what if it's something important?" Liu Tianxian said.

"What could it be? If it were something, it wouldn't be an unknown number." Fang Hong said.

He had saved all his company executives' and work numbers.

"This is a Beijing number. I still think you should pick up—if there's something going on, we'd be delayed." Liu Tianxian checked the area code.

"Bring it here, I'll take it." Fang Hong took the phone, glanced at it, and pressed answer.

The moment it connected, he heard a questioning voice.

"Hey, Principal, what exactly do you want?"

"Who are you? Do I know you?" Fang Hong didn't recognize Xiao Wang's voice—after all, it had been so long since they'd spoken, he'd long forgotten.

"We're the Big and Little Wangs. The Principal truly is too important to remember the little people." Xiao Wang said sarcastically.

"Then I don't know you either." Fang Hong said flatly.

Liu Tianxian got up, leaned her head close, pressed her ear to listen, and upon hearing it was Xiao Wang, looked surprised.

"Heh." Xiao Wang couldn't help but laugh.

"What the hell are you laughing about? Got something or not? If not, I'm hanging up—I'm very busy." Fang Hong couldn't be bothered to listen to his nonsense.

"Principal, please wait a moment. Ringing so abruptly, I just wanted to ask—what exactly do you intend to do with our Huayi?" Big Wang was still quite polite.

"I want you to call me Daddy, and call Liu Yifei Mommy. Will you?" Fang Hong said.

(End of chapter)