"If you ask me, if we’re going to do this, we should go big. Spending a bit more money is fine; after all, it’ll start making money as soon as we take over. But since you said you want to start small, we’ll do as you say," Li Zhengmin said.
With Assistant Lin’s help, a professional manager was quickly found. It was Xu Li, the former CEO of Ruijia Entertainment Company. The former chairman of Ruijia Entertainment Company had been recuperating from an illness for several years and had headhunted Xu Li into Ruijia. Xu Li spent three years doubling Ruijia’s market value. However, when the chairman’s son returned from studying abroad and took direct control of the company, he was only willing to give Xu Li the position of PR department manager. As a result, Xu Li resigned.
After getting in touch with Xu Li, Ning Yue naturally had to meet him in person. Xu Li was thirty-one years old this year, carrying himself with a very composed demeanor. The gold-rimmed glasses he wore only added to his air of wisdom.
Ning Yue had a good first impression of him. "Please, have a seat."
Inside the private restaurant, the two sat across from each other. Although it was their first meeting, neither felt the slightest bit uncomfortable.
"Hello, I’m Xu Li."
"Ning Yue. If nothing unexpected happens, I will soon be your boss."
Xu Li raised an eyebrow, wondering if she had already approved of him and if she was being a bit too hasty.
Ning Yue said, "I believe Assistant Lin should have already told you about my requirements. Does Mr. Xu think he can’t do it?"
Xu Li unbuttoned his suit jacket and personally poured Ning Yue a cup of tea. "I have a question I’d like to ask Miss Ning. I wonder if you could clarify something for me."
Ning Yue said expressionlessly, "Speak."
"Miss Ning doesn’t lack money and has no intention of entering the entertainment circle, so why open an entertainment company?"
Ning Yue replied, "I want to use four years to crush a listed entertainment company."
Xu Li thought that was certainly direct enough.
"Which company is it?"
Ning Yue said bluntly, "Yaoyang. Are you confident, Mr. Xu?"
Xu Li was taken aback. Yaoyang? Wasn’t the CEO of Yaoyang Company Li Chengrong?
"Li Chengrong is a bit dirty in private, but Miss Ning shouldn’t have any interactions with him."
Mixing in the same circle, Xu Li naturally knew a thing or two about Li Chengrong’s character. Among those potbellied executives, the ones who properly kept a mistress were considered the good ones. One-night stands, drugging, coercion, keeping three to five little mistresses, or even worse things were nothing new.
As for Li Chengrong, as far as Xu Li knew, the man was involved with no fewer than seven or eight female stars.
"Are you confident about crushing Yaoyang within four years?"
Xu Li said without hesitation, "It won’t take that long."
Ning Yue picked up her teacup and took a sip. "Crush Yaoyang within four years, and I’ll give you twenty percent of the company’s shares."
Xu Li furrowed his brows. Seeing that Ning Yue didn’t look like she was joking, he broke into a smile. "That’s quite a massive pie in the sky. But I accept, Boss."
The funds Ning Yue had prepared for acquiring an entertainment company totaled two hundred million. Twenty percent of that two hundred million alone was forty million.
Factoring in the subsequent operations, if he couldn’t multiply the company’s market value several times over within four years, he, Xu Li, would have no place in the business world anyway.
The two immediately signed the employment contract. Xu Li was quite satisfied with it; after all, he had worked at Ruijia for three years without receiving a single share, and he had essentially been kicked to the curb.
Ning Yue had a grudge against Yaoyang, but didn’t he also harbor a deep dissatisfaction toward Ruijia?
Finding an agreeable boss was no easy task. Since his boss trusted him, he would naturally repay her with full dedication.
Xu Li moved quickly. In less than a week, he acquired a small entertainment company that only had two third-tier artists and a dozen trainees, officially renaming it Shengshi Entertainment. Afterward, he began aggressively headhunting and hired recruiting firms to bring in several highly capable individuals.
These included Chai Ke, a composer and lyricist embroiled in a plagiarism scandal; Gu Ran, a gold-medal agent exposed for forcing artists into prostitution; and Wang Kun, a director who had suffered a disastrous box-office flop. In addition, he recruited an incredibly formidable public relations team. Soon, the company’s major departments were established. All of this took just over a month from start to finish.
Xu Li thought Ning Yue would definitely ask a question or two about these major moves, but she had zero reaction. When he took the initiative to call her, Ning Yue simply told him, "Do what you think is right. The company currently belongs solely to me, but in the near future, it will belong to the two of us. Of course, this future depends entirely on your abilities. I still have to go to school and don’t have much time, so I’ll have to leave the company’s affairs in your hands."
Xu Li thought he finally saw the truth—his boss genuinely just wanted to be a hands-off shopkeeper!
However, he had to admit that Ning Yue’s attitude made him incredibly happy. If he had received the same treatment at Ruijia Entertainment, Ruijia’s market value could have doubled at least one more time.
But there was no point dwelling on the past. From now on, he had to work hard for his own company!
Working for others versus working for oneself—the mindset was undeniably different. After brief training, Shengshi’s original trainees were quickly pushed into a talent show. As for the remaining two third-tier artists, because Gu Ran evaluated them as cultivable, Xu Li hired professional teachers to specifically train their acting skills. In short, Shengshi quickly got on the right track.
During the two months of summer vacation, Ning Yue was very busy. She wasn’t busy with the company’s affairs—she was merely a hands-off shopkeeper—but was instead busy running back and forth to the library. She read all kinds of books related to materials science, such as *Fundamentals of Materials Science and Engineering*, *Introduction to Materials Science*, *Mechanical Behavior of Materials*, *Mechanics of Metals*, *Polymer Physics*, *Polymer Chemistry*, *Plastics*, and so on. Even after returning home, she was not idle. When Mr. Ning and Ning’s mother were swamped, she would help handle matters for their online store. The small online shop run by the couple was doing exceptionally well, which kept Mr. Ning and Ning’s mother beaming with joy all day long.
When August arrived, Hu Songbai delivered two more file folders. Aside from Li Chengrong’s daily whereabouts, there was also a set of various intimate photos between Qi Qiong and a young idol named Lu Qing. The other folder was entirely filled with audio recordings.
Without another word, Ning Yue sent the first set of materials straight to Xu Li. She also attached a photo of Queen Qi’s family of three, along with exclusive private photos of Queen Qi and Li Chengrong. For this kind of matter, handing it over to an expert was the only way to fully maximize the destructive impact of these photos!
Xu Li never expected it—he truly hadn’t seen this coming. The young idol named Lu Qing was the very same rookie that Ruijia had launched this year. He had gained a burst of popularity by playing the third male lead in a Xianxia drama and subsequently participated in a romance variety show. Queen Qi happened to be a regular guest on that show, which was how the two had crossed paths. Counting the days, the two must have been together for over three months.
Queen Qi was someone from Yaoyang, while Lu Qing was an artist under Ruijia. Seeing concrete proof of an affair between these two surface was truly a delightful spectacle.
The very next day, the news of Queen Qi meeting the young idol Lu Qing late at night was posted online. The burner account that broke the news was called "I Have the Scoop." It was a newly created account without a single follower, but the moment the news broke, fans of Queen Qi and Lu Qing rapidly seized the high ground.