Chapter 441: Faang is actually C

In 2011, the 48th Golden Horse Awards ceremony was held on November 26th at a memorial hall in Taipei.

This was the first time since 2008 that the Golden Horse Awards had moved the ceremony forward from December to November, a gap of three years.

In June, when the Golden Horse Awards organizing committee announced this news, the media, with their rich imaginations, immediately focused their attention on *The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1*, which was set to be released in December of that year.

Otherwise, there was no other reason; what about "convenience for artists with busy year-end schedules to attend the Golden Horse Awards"? Besides that person, who else could receive such treatment?

According to those Hollywood tabloids, as the finale of the entire series, someone who hadn't participated in *Twilight* promotions since the premiere of the first film would be attending the global roadshows for the final two parts this time.

Could the decision to change the date be because of this scheduling conflict?

Does this mean the Golden Horse is bowing down to someone?

Ultimately, could someone who abandoned the awards last year put aside last year's unpleasantness and appear on the Golden Horse red carpet with the *Let the Bullets Fly* crew?

It could be said that in the month before the Golden Horse opening, this was the biggest suspense of this year's awards.

However, in the end, fans and media in Taiwan and across the three regions were all disappointed.

From the beginning of the red carpet to the end, let alone the person, not even a shadow was seen. When asked, the rest of the *Let the Bullets Fly* crew all said they were busy. Only Jiang Wen said, "He is in a bad mood."

Consequently, without even waiting for the next day, as soon as the red carpet ceremony ended, many entertainment media outlets reported the matter online.

"Chen Nuo is 'in a bad mood' and draws a line with the Golden Horse Awards," "Will last year's Golden Horse be the last one Chen Nuo attends?", "When will the forgotten trophy wait for its owner?", "When the Golden Horse is treated like a worn-out shoe, how much further can it run?"—articles like these spread across the entire internet shortly after the awards ceremony began.

It also caused dissatisfaction among many netizens in Taiwan Province, especially those Taiwanese who had become fans of Ruan Jingtian because of *Monga* last year.

"Damn it, if he's not coming, he's not coming. Who cares?"

"The Golden Horse Awards are unique, okay? So what if he's arrogant?"

"If he doesn't come to the Golden Horse, where else can he go to receive awards? The Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers? Look at the miserable state of this year's Shanghai International Film Festival; no one in the world went. Laughing to tears."

"If he doesn't want it, why not just donate the trophy?"

"Taiwanese artists shouldn't go to next year's Shanghai International Film Festival either, let him continue to be in a bad mood."

On Weibo.

The trending topic "Chen Nuo absent from Golden Horse Awards" dominated the top of the search list for three full hours that night. In comparison, neither "Liu Dehua wins Best Actor" nor "*Seediq Bale* wins Best Picture" had any heat at all.

Only after 11 o'clock, when the Golden Horse Awards ended, did Sina Entertainment's mockery that "*Let the Bullets Fly* only took five technical awards and got nothing for Best Director or Actor" trigger another round of condemnation from mainland netizens regarding the unfairness of the Golden Horse Awards, finally pushing it off the top spot.

Actually, for Chen Nuo, the person involved, the Golden Horse Awards had long been a thing of the past; he never had any intention of attending this year's Golden Horse Awards from start to finish.

The Golden Horse Awards organizing committee had known this for a long time. Li An had called him three times before; from the initial polite refusal to the end, he couldn't even be bothered to be perfunctory and just said no directly.

On this day, November 26th, when his name was put on the Sina trending list because of the Golden Horse Awards and he was being attacked by Taiwanese netizens across the strait, Chen Nuo was completely unaware and didn't care.

It might make many Taiwanese netizens feel defeated to hear this, but he had even forgotten that today was the Golden Horse Awards.

Because what he was doing was far more important to him than any Golden Horse Award.

The night was like a curtain; only a warm yellow desk lamp was lit in the small two-bedroom apartment. The dim light spilled over the messy bed, the bedding piled up in a crooked heap, and a lingering warmth remained in the air.

Everything that had just ended left Chen Nuo somewhat exhausted.

He had used an excuse tonight, saying he was going back to stay at Pan Chengrong's place, to get rid of someone's entanglement. To avoid prying eyes, he changed cars three times halfway and, under the cover of Gulinazha and Linghu, quietly snuck in here.

The fiery entanglement just now, it must be said, was indeed worth the trip—she was still the most supple of all his women, and her positions were the most varied. The sense of conquest she brought him at the moment near the end was almost overwhelming.

After finishing his "official business," he turned his head to check the time: 9:50 PM, just the right time to "go to work."

Chen Nuo reached out from under the pillow to fish out his phone; a missed call from an unknown number was glowing on the screen. He glanced at it and swiped it away as if he hadn't seen it at all, then tapped on a familiar app.

"What are you doing? Is someone looking for you?"

Tong Liya's voice came softly from the side. At this moment, she didn't even have the strength to move a finger; the electric pleasure from just now had almost made her lose control, almost causing her to make a fool of herself in front of him.

But the man had picked up his phone right after finishing, so she felt a bit nervous, propped herself up slightly, leaned on Chen Nuo's shoulder, and asked softly.

Chen Nuo looked down at her, seeing a stretch of delicate, smooth skin exposed at her shoulder, her long black hair cascading down like a waterfall, setting off the clear lines of her profile. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide open, and her eyelashes were still fluttering.

He smiled: "No one. Even if there were, I wouldn't leave. I'm not going anywhere today; I'm staying right here. I went through so much trouble to sneak in; I'd have to be crazy to leave now."

Hearing this, Tong Liya breathed a sigh of relief and couldn't help but laugh, revealing two sharp canine teeth, and asked curiously: "Then what are you doing? You look quite anxious."

"See for yourself." Chen Nuo's fingers slid across the screen.

Tong Liya leaned over to take a look. She didn't understand at first, thinking it was some game software or computer program—the interface was densely packed with English and numbers, and only "buy" and "sell" were recognizable to her.

Tong Liya asked curiously: "What is this?"

"A stock account, ever seen one?"

"Ah?" Tong Liya was a little surprised, "You're day trading."

"No, I don't day trade; I just buy stocks. Have you ever bought any?"

The operation was smooth and decisive, without a hint of hesitation.

Although the market data was a bit delayed at this moment, he never placed limit orders; he always raised the price by a few cents and executed at the market price.

If any professional trader saw his way of operating, they would definitely conclude that he was a god-like person born with an awesome attribute from the womb, the legendary "womb god."

Of course, Chen Nuo knew he was "womb-like," but he really had no heart to care about the rise or fall of those few cents.

Does it have any meaning?

With Tesla at less than 30 dollars, what does a few cents more or less matter?

"Day trading, buying stocks, is there a difference?"

"Of course there is. Day trading is when you buy and sell, so you lose money, but I only buy and don't sell, so I won't lose."

"Ah? There's such a thing." Tong Liya really didn't understand. Hearing his nonsense, she actually believed it and asked curiously: "............Why is yours in English?"

"Because I'm buying US stocks."

"American stocks?"

"Yeah."

"Why not buy Chinese ones?"

"Because..."

Speaking of this, Chen Nuo couldn't help but think of some unhappy things.

Damn Han Sanping, he just happened to have had a bit to drink at the time and said one word too many, and now it's known to everyone.

Just like facing Tong Liya's question now, he couldn't tell those big shots in the financial circle that even if there were a future IPO, he wouldn't want to list domestically.

This is the same logic as not trading A-shares.

It's just that while he still has a choice, he doesn't really want to harvest his own people's leeks.

In his view, the stock market is a zero-sum game.

Ten-plus years from now, everyone will be grinding, fighting for food in a limited pool, infighting, and everyone will be so miserable. If he, a reborn-level big sickle and big dealer, adds another blade on top, one slash down, a middle-class family might be gone. Thinking about it, he really can't bear it.

Hearing Tong Liya's question, he paused, avoided the heavy and focused on the light, and perfunctorily said half-truthfully: "Because the salary I earned from *Inception* this time is in US dollars. I'm too lazy to exchange it into RMB, so I just bought US stocks."

"Wait..." Tong Liya was stunned for a moment, looking down at the rows of numbers on the screen, and suddenly realized, counting as she spoke: "One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand, hundred thousand... hundred million... this, is this over 200 million?!"

"Haha, yeah." Chen Nuo replied with a smile.

Tong Liya was not illiterate. Although it was hard to read, after staring at Chen Nuo's stock account interface for a while, she barely understood some of it. Especially the "USD" marked in the parentheses made her completely dazed.

The man was not joking.

At this moment, she felt that the string of numbers suddenly expanded infinitely, occupying her entire field of vision, and even the air became thin. She swallowed subconsciously; even though she had just regained some strength, she now felt her legs go weak again, and she felt like peeing.

Subsequently, she saw Chen Nuo's slender index finger lightly tap the screen. The total assets in the top right corner of the phone decreased slightly, while the "TSLA" stock column at the bottom of the screen changed from 140,000 shares to 160,000 shares, and the stock price jumped from 29.5 to 29.7. The man sighed.

Tong Liya was startled and asked hurriedly: "What's wrong? Did something go wrong!?"

Chen Nuo sighed: "There's no problem, it's just too troublesome."

Tong Liya blinked and asked, not understanding: "What do you mean?"

Anyway, there was nothing shameful about it, so Chen Nuo patiently explained to her: "I have a bit too much money, so to buy in without attracting attention, I have to split the stock buying volume. I can only buy 20,000 shares at a time, and no more than 100,000 shares a day. I also have to watch the price so the stock price doesn't rise too sharply. Look, I just bought 20,000 shares, and the price went up by 0.2 dollars. I calculated that if it goes on like this, I'll have to operate for about a month... just thinking about it is annoying."

"A month? You have to operate like this for a month?"

Chen Nuo nodded and gave a hum.

Tong Liya swallowed again, her breathing became heavy. She saw Chen Nuo open the interface for another stock, placed an order for this stock called NVDA, and finally, a total of 600,000 US dollars instantly disappeared, turning into 40,000 shares at a unit price of 15.03 US dollars.

Tong Liya asked stammeringly: "Then in the end, how much money are you planning to... buy?"

Chen Nuo wasn't finished yet, but hearing her tone was a bit interesting, he couldn't help but tilt his head to look at her.

Seeing the girl's eyes wide open, looking extremely cute, not at all like a 28-year-old woman, with a hint of a pure girl, no wonder she called herself a late bloomer, he couldn't help but laugh and ask: "Of course, buy it all. Otherwise, why would I wire so much in?"

"You..."

Tong Liya was completely speechless. Just thinking about how much over 200 million US dollars was in RMB made her feel dizzy.

"Aren't you afraid... that these companies have problems?"

"I am." Chen Nuo replied as a matter of course, "So didn't you see I'm diversifying my investments?"

"Diversifying? How to diversify?"

"Just buy a few tens of millions in each company."

Tong Liya was completely speechless and could only blink mechanically.

Chen Nuo, however, became interested and continued: "This is definitely my exclusive secret, I tell you. Back then, no matter how others tried to force it out of me, I didn't say. Do you know what FAANG is..."

Well, someone who lost money like a dog in the US stock market in his previous life could now lecture others with certainty.

Chen Nuo was still patient with Tong Liya, unlike how perfunctory he was with Theron.

Unfortunately, Tong Liya's comprehension was clearly not as high as that South African woman's. After talking for a long time, she was still confused, half-understanding, and her sensitivity to numbers was almost zero. By the end, Chen Nuo could only sigh and give up.

—Three days ago, Huanxin Film completed its annual dividend, and Chen Nuo received about 350 million US dollars. Because he didn't transfer it back to the country to exchange for RMB for the time being, he didn't pay taxes yet. Of course, he would definitely have to pay it later, just like Qi Yuntian, whatever it is, it is, absolutely no ambiguity.

He was a person with low material desires, so he only planned to keep 50 million US dollars in his foreign account as a reserve, including daily expenses in the United States. The remaining 300 million US dollars were quietly dispersed through several accounts to buy stocks.

With Tesla's current market value of only 3 billion US dollars and a daily trading volume of no more than 300 million, in order not to attract outside attention, he set a low-key one-month position-building plan for himself.

In the end, 100 million US dollars were allocated to Tesla, and the remaining funds flowed into Google, Netflix, Nvidia, and Microsoft. Except for Amazon, which he didn't like, he bought 40 million US dollars of each of the others for initial position building.

Among them, he was also prepared to buy another 40 million of Netflix, totaling 80 million US dollars. The reason was simple: he was about to cooperate, right? He had to meet tomorrow. He had to boost the confidence of Mr. Ha, take a stand, raise its stock price, and give Mr. Ha a meeting gift.

With this, plus the fifty shares of Berkshire Hathaway Class A stock, 1.8 million shares of Apple stock, and that 2% stake in Facebook he already held, Chen Nuo felt—if even an allocation of this caliber could still lose money by the time he sold it all in 2024?

Then it could only mean that the United States of America had collapsed. If that day ever truly came, it wouldn't matter to him anyway.

That’s right, as far as Chen Nuo was concerned for now, he didn't intend to hold these stocks forever. He planned to sell off the majority before July 2024. Because after that, the mists of the world would once again obscure his vision, and he wasn't prepared to take any risks for the time being. Of course, whether he would actually sell or not remained to be seen when the time came.

Tong Liya wouldn't understand these words if he said them, and Chen Nuo couldn't be bothered to explain.

For the next hour, he completed the day's operations step by step on his phone. Tong Liya also lay quietly by his side; although the process was incredibly dull, she watched with great interest, like a child seeing an adult work for the first time.

"Alright, done."

After buying the last of the Tesla shares, Chen Nuo let out a sigh of relief, turned his head, and said, "By the way, I haven't asked you yet, what date does your *Beijing Love Story* air? You've been so busy lately, is it coming out soon?"

Tong Liya snapped out of her daze, nodded, and said, "Yes, soon."

"When?"

"Next month, after New Year's Day."

"Haha, are you nervous?"

"It's, it's alright."

Chen Nuo was a bit skeptical: "Really?"

Tong Liya said earnestly: "Really."

*Beijing Love Story* would premiere on Zhejiang Satellite TV on January 2nd of next year. For Tong Liya, this was the first time in her life she was serving as the female lead in a television drama.

In truth, she had been incredibly nervous about it—after all, if the broadcast performance was poor and the audience didn't buy it, the reputation she had worked so hard to build in the industry could collapse overnight.

As the lead actress, she had barely rested since mid-November. Platform interviews, press conferences, meet-and-greets—one after another, her schedule was packed to the brim. Being able to carve out an entire evening to rest like tonight was a rare luxury for her.

Originally, she had planned to use this meeting to properly vent her frustrations to him; after all, there were many things she truly couldn't find anyone else to confide in.

Yet, for some reason, she suddenly felt there was nothing left to say. Whether the ratings were good or bad, what did it matter? Just as Gu Xuan had told her...

Come to think of it, her period was about to start, and these past few days she had been tossing and turning, unable to sleep alone. Sometimes her dreams were filled with bizarre and grotesque things, and she would wake up in the morning to find her hand inside her panties, feeling cold and damp.

If she didn't seize the time now, she didn't know when they would meet again.

However, Xibe women were always shy, and she didn't know how to start if she wanted to take the initiative. Tong Liya could only imitate tricks from movies, sliding her slender fingers over Chen Nuo’s slightly protruding ribs, and asked with feigned nonchalance: "Since the filming is done anyway, let fate decide. Hey, why do I feel like you've gotten thinner? You aren't even filming movies anymore, why are you still losing weight? You need to take care of your health..."

"Come here, let me see how fat you are?"

Tong Liya’s voice was soft and sticky; one could tell it wasn't a serious tone. Chen Nuo didn't stand on ceremony either; after replying, he began to move.

Before long, Tong Liya was panting under his touch, urging him on incessantly.

Chen Nuo teased her for a while before fulfilling her wish, pinning the weak and pitiful Yaya beneath him, and amidst Tong Liya’s satisfied sighs, began a new round of weight-loss exercise.

He was going to act in *Eagle Catching Chicken*, and the character required him to lose weight as well. He needed to drop from his current weight of over 150 jin to around 130 if possible, to match the character's downtrodden temperament.

Therefore, he had made up his mind that night to exercise more and sweat more.

Early the next morning, before the sky had even brightened, Chen Nuo got up.

His schedule for today was actually quite full. In the morning, he had to visit a chairman who had suddenly suffered an unexplained stroke, and in the afternoon, he had to receive a group of impatient guests from the United States. To avoid drawing attention, he had to leave early, slipping away quietly in the chill of dawn.

Tong Liya seemed to have been "tossed about" quite a bit by him last night, and she was sleeping exceptionally soundly at the moment.

He didn't wake her, simply packing his things with light steps. He took a bank card from his bag, pulled out a piece of paper, and bent over the coffee table to write a few lines: "Password is six zeros. Buy something good to eat, you're too thin."

After writing, he placed the card and the note side-by-side before quietly heading out.

More than half an hour later, the bedroom door opened gently. Tong Liya walked out, rubbing her sleepy eyes.

She looked at the bathroom in a daze, glanced at the kitchen, and even looked at the balcony with a glimmer of hope—as if the man might suddenly pop out from some corner.

Finally, she sat on the living room sofa with her phone, stared blankly for a while, and then sighed, ultimately putting the phone back on the coffee table.

It was then that she noticed the bank card and the small note on the table...

The words on the paper were few, not particularly beautiful, and even a bit sloppy, yet she stared at them for a very, very long time.

After a long while, Tong Liya suddenly pouted, and with a bit of nasal tone, said indignantly: "Where am I thin? It's clearly a C-cup."

PS:

Late, I'm late!

Sorry everyone.

(End of chapter)