After the Divorce, I Could Hear the Voice of the Future-Chapter 354 - 351: Public Outrage Has Been Sparked

"Zhang Jing’s guts are way larger than yours, just smashing 150 billion like that."

Liang remained on the 22nd floor, not going upstairs to supervise, to avoid putting pressure on Zhang Jing.

"Zhang Jing really does have more courage than I do," Sun Yutao couldn’t help but laugh while admitting his own timidity.

The T+1 trading method, still a public fund, still in the domestic market, still in the new energy sector.

If it were him, he’d only be bolder.

After all, this was Liang’s private territory; if anything went wrong, he’d be there to help pick up the pieces, and it was unlikely that anything would go wrong.

"Time to go, see you next week."

"Mr. Lu, let me see you out."

In the end, Lu Liang took another look at the market trend before leaving the New International Building to return to Sinograin Seaview One.

Being able to withstand three hours of pressure and break through upward indicated that the capital pressure from above wasn’t as high as imagined.

Three consecutive days of decline, with an average drop of -15%.

The market had adjusted quite a bit; it was about time for it to rise.

The stock price had already turned positive; Zhang Jing’s plan had initially succeeded, so there was no point in continuing to watch.

Approaching three o’clock, Lu Liang returned home.

Huang Ling sat writing copy in the dining room, while Li Manli, holding a tray of fruit, lay on the sofa, chuckling as she watched a variety show.

The show being broadcast featured Zhang Tian’ai and the Mahua Team as guests on Mushroom House, seemingly to promote "Iron Fist".

Suddenly, Huang Ling stood up, calling out loudly, "Mr. Lu, you’re back."

Li Manli quickly hid the fruit tray, covered herself with a blanket, and with a muffled voice said, "Liang, is that you back already?"

"Keep busy," Lu Liang said with a nod, walking to the living room to sit by the sofa, smiling, "Fever gone?"

"Check for yourself; it feels like there’s a little left," Manli squinted her eyes, coughed uncontrollably, looking utterly muddled by her fever.

Lu Liang suppressed a laugh, felt her forehead, and much better than in the morning, her temperature had practically normalized.

Suddenly he pinched Manli’s cheek, tugging it slightly, saying gruffly, "Stop pretending. How do you feel now?"

Manli yelped in pain, then suddenly sat up cross-legged, rubbing her cheek, and grinned, "Fever’s gone, just a bit of a stuffy nose and a scratchy throat."

"Rest up, drink plenty of hot water."

"Mmmhmm~"

"I’ll send Little Huang to keep you company over the weekend, I need to step out for a bit."

Manli felt a pang of disappointment, hesitated to say more, but kept quiet; Lu Liang added, "Just a short trip, a day or two."

"Okay, be careful on the road, stay safe."

Li Manli beamed with joy, a moment to remember, as Lu Liang began to show concern for her feelings.

Liang didn’t linger long at home, ate a few grapes, had a drink of water, and left within half an hour.

His primary reason for returning was to check on Li Manli; since their home was close to the office, he didn’t want to make another trip later.

Leaving the compound, Lu Liang drove to Baoshan Road in the suburbs, the headquarters of Panda Interactive Entertainment.

As soon as he saw Little Wang, he didn’t give him a warm welcome, "All talk, is it really that urgent?"

Since last Friday, Little Wang had been calling him almost every other day, Lu Liang was annoyed to the point of making a personal visit.

"Liang, we’re about to go public, now we’re just missing your signature and authorization," Little Wang said with an aggrieved expression, resembling a wronged little wife.

It was just a matter of signing and attending a meeting, yet Lu Liang had put it off for a week, always saying he was busy each time he called, causing the entire process to stall with him.

"Mr. Wang, you have to understand, Mr. Lu has just returned to the country, and a lot of issues have piled up all at once."

Zhou Hongwei from Qihu was also there, greeting Lu Liang with a beaming smile as he walked out of the conference room.

Zhu Hu followed close behind, grinning brightly, "Mr. Lu, all finished with your work?"

Clearly, he was referring to the brevity of public fund matters, and subtly inquiring about the private fund situation.

Lu Liang smiled, "Almost done, planning to take a good few days off and think about future plans."

Zhu Hu immediately understood and didn’t press further, Zhou Hongwei sighed, "Nezha N01 has been released."

"Have you heard? How’s the response?" Lu Liang was curious.

Among the pile of invitations he had received last Friday was one for the Nezha N01 new car launch, but it was now past the date, and he hadn’t followed up further.

Zhou Hongwei had a faint sorrow on his face, "With this lousy name, it was already unpopular, and then there was that BYD combustion incident earlier, so this model is pretty much doomed."

The launch’s pre-orders didn’t even reach a hundred units, and the misfortune of the new energy vehicle combustion incident led to over thirty cancellations.

Now they only had two choices: either stop production or revise the model. The new energy market wasn’t as simple as he thought; it wasn’t just about having some money and being able to sell whatever was produced.

Lu Liang could barely hide his amusement, "Nezha is a great name, Third Prince, a valiant dragon-slaying young hero, comes with its own IP."

"I think it’s more like it’s getting beaten up. Gao He sounds better than Nezha."

Zhou Hongwei was indignant, fuming at the mere mention of the name. More than once, he wanted to crack open Fang Yunzhou’s head to see what he was thinking.

The name was even worse than Xiao Peng. The failure of the N01 launch was inextricably tied to the brand name.

As they chatted, Little Wang and Long Fei approached with smiles on their faces and said, "Everyone, please come inside."

Including Long Fei, their combined shareholding exceeded 66.7%, more than two-thirds, making it unnecessary to invite others.

Long Fei suppressed his excitement, stepped onto the podium, and began with cash flow, indicating there was a reserve of 180 million US dollars.

They planned to spend it all in the next three months and then initiate the listing phase, with a provisional valuation of 3 billion US dollars.

Without any surprises, five months later, in January of next year, Panda would land on NASDAQ.

Long Fei also described Panda’s four main projects: live streaming, esports, original variety shows, and live-streaming with goods sales.

The initial impractical dream of becoming the Eastern Disneyland had been cast aside by Little Wang. People still had to bow to reality.

Live streaming with goods sales had already brought sweet rewards to Panda.

In the next three years, whether it was game live streaming, esports teams, or original variety shows, the essence was to attract traffic, and ultimately, all traffic would flow into live streaming with goods sales.

In the next five months, they aimed to achieve a sales target of ten billion and multiply that figure several times in the following year.

Finally, Little Wang also took the stage, his expression sincere, hands clasped together, "Everyone, the next year is extremely crucial. I hope that where there is a need for everyone’s help, you can lend a hand."

After listing on the Nasdaq in five months, as the original shareholders, their shares would be subject to a six-month lock-up period.

So, for the coming year, Panda needed their escort, not just for Panda’s sake, but also for their own.

Lu Liang and the others looked at each other and nodded, their stock holdings’ realization and maximization of benefits were critical.

The upcoming year was of utmost importance.

In the evening, they found a restaurant nearby for a dinner gathering.

Men, when they drink too much, are all the same; they like to discuss military conflicts and international situations.

After all, to them, women are just things that come when called and leave when dismissed, nowhere near as attractive as international tensions.

When discussing the international situation, they couldn’t avoid the ongoing tension in the west, with India acting as if it was on steroids, provoking border confrontations one after another.

Zhu Hu suddenly asked, "Lu, what’s your take on the recent events in the west? Your judgment on last year’s events down south was very accurate. Share your thoughts."

The bottles had gone around three times, and the flavors of the dishes had been widely savored.

The conversation had become more relaxed, and they no longer addressed each other formally as Mr. Lu, Mr. Zhou, or Mr. Zhu.

Zhou Hongwei glared angrily, looking like a middle-aged nationalist, "Decades ago, we should have cleaned them up. A mere joker dares to be provocative."

Lu Liang pondered for a long time, squinting his eyes, "It’s hard to say; the public anger has been stirred up now."

As the situation in the west continued to ferment, War Wolf 2’s box office showed an odd trend.

Previously, without holidays or premieres, the highest daily box office on a weekday was only 73 million.

But yesterday, on Thursday, War Wolf 2’s daily box office on a weekday quietly breached 100 million.

In its first week, the cumulative box office reached 1.165 billion.

If things were normal, a film in its first week, aside from holidays, should be on the decline.

But War Wolf 2’s box office went against the trend, creating a completely different curve.

Platforms like Maoyan were baffled and had not updated their forecasts in a long time, afraid of being proven wrong again.

Continuing to forecast might lead to even losing their jobs.

Lu Liang observed that the rise in War Wolf 2’s box office actually reflected the public’s attitude toward the situation in the west, as the theme of the movie was: "Those who offend China, no matter how far away, will be pursued and punished!"

Last year at the same time, the United States came to our doorstep and was driven away; a little India would certainly be dealt with decisively.

After nearly a hundred years of restraint, the Chinese people seem to have an inexplicable anticipation for war.

Through this event, Lu Liang also clarified why War Wolf 2 achieved such an exaggerated box office.

Public anger is the most unreasonable emotion, especially when it’s tied to patriotism.

While there is talk of painting the enemy three shades darker, the actual situation is that positive emotions far outweigh negative ones in power.

"War Wolf 2? Lu, seems like you invested in it, right?"

Zhu Hu was curious. He wasn’t very informed, but Lu Liang must have invested, otherwise, he wouldn’t be promoting it.

"Yes, I did invest a little," Lu Liang replied with a nonchalant smile, while Little Wang chimed in with a smile, "Owning 52%, that can’t be considered a small investment, right?"

"52%?" Zhu Hu and Zhou Hongwei’s eyes widened, and suddenly, they sobered up.

Based on the fact that the production party only receives one-third of the box office revenue, assuming a box office of 4 billion, Lu Liang would make at least 650 million.

Even after accounting for marketing expenses, the movie’s investment was only 2.8 billion, and Lu Liang probably put in about 1.45 billion of his own money.

As long as the box office breaks 4 billion, he would have at least a 348% return on investment, far from a minor business.

"Back then, no one else was investing, and I happened to have some spare cash, so I just threw it in for fun, never expected this," Lu Liang said, smiling.

His nonchalant look made others want to punch him, just to get some relief.

Little Wang cleared his throat and suddenly said, "I seem to have also invested over twenty million, about a 9% stake."

"..."

Zhu Hu and Zhou Hongwei looked at each other, their faces not looking too good, "Let’s go, time to sleep."

The conversation about international tensions was going well, but suddenly turned to making money, and damned if they weren’t brought along. What a joke.