Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Compared to Chu Hengyi, who had only recently been reborn and still had very limited connections and influence, Ye Mingzhao, who had lived in the Ye family for eighteen years, was far more experienced and commanding when it came to manipulating and driving up stock prices.

With just a little bit of hype, Ye Mingzhao could easily incite many self-proclaimed well-informed individuals to rush into the market and scramble for shares. Moreover, as described in the original novel, the reason why the stock price of *Lanheyao Base* skyrocketed was ultimately due to the wave after wave of hot money flowing in from various regions, seizing the opportunity upon seeing the good news. Ye Mingzhao, familiar with the plot, simply gave a little push to make what was destined to happen in the original novel occur earlier.

Although the capital Ye Mingzhao invested was negligible compared to the loose hot money flowing through the entire secondary market, his highly targeted operations still successfully caught the attention of major investors. This prompted them to focus on *Lanheyao Base*, a "miracle stock" destined to shock the domestic financial market, earlier than expected. The early entry of these major investors caused the price of *Lanheyao Base* to rapidly rise from 1.26 yuan to 2.68 yuan.

The cost of sweeping up shares more than doubled in an instant.

With a single, calculated move, Ye Mingzhao threw Chu Hengyi's carefully laid plans into disarray.

While Chu Hengyi stared at the stock price that had suddenly broken through 3 yuan and doubted his life choices, Ye Mingzhao had already completed his early buying low, selling at the peak, and securing his profits.

However, Ye Mingzhao did not stop there, because the original novel also described how, after obtaining his first pot of gold, the male lead Chu Hengyi continued to speculate in foreign exchange and international futures using his reborn perspective.

To highlight the male lead's prowess, the original novel provided a detailed description of how Chu Hengyi used his reborn foresight to snowball into a second fortune.

Thanks to the detailed description in the original novel, the now-awakened Ye Mingzhao was able to stand on Chu Hengyi's shoulders and see further into the distance.

As an old Chinese saying goes: "A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush."

So, Ye Mingzhao decided to continue following the male lead Chu Hengyi's footsteps, using the unexpected bonus to invest in foreign exchange and international futures, just like Chu Hengyi.

Of course, Ye Mingzhao's experience and skills in market manipulation were far more sophisticated and sharper than the recently reborn Chu Hengyi's. With a keener sense for data, his precise operations led to significantly better book profits than Chu Hengyi's.

In the end, Ye Mingzhao's initial capital of 4 million turned into 300 million.

Looking at the sudden increase in his account balance, Ye Mingzhao smiled, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

You don't make a killing in the market without taking risks.

"What are you thinking about, looking so happy?" Yu Mingze handed the revised script, which had been modified yet again, to Ye Mingzhao and asked curiously.

"Nothing much," Ye Mingzhao said with a smile, taking the script. His hyperthymesia allowed him to imprint the revised script content into his mind.

"I've made some changes to Fu Shen's background," Yu Mingze said, not putting much weight on Ye Mingzhao's evasion. "In the previous version, I portrayed Fu Shen's father as an alcoholic who was violent, loved gambling, and was incompetent, while his mother was a meek and submissive woman. But this didn't fully explain how such a family could raise someone like Fu Shen, who was extreme and ruthless."

"So, I revised the setting. Fu Shen's father remains an alcoholic and gambler, but I've added an even darker trait. Because he's a compulsive gambler, when he loses money, he uses his wife as collateral to pay off his debts. He feels that she cheated on him because of this and, though he doesn't dare confront the creditors, he drinks to drown his sorrows and becomes violent towards Fu Shen's mother. Fu Shen and his two siblings were born into this environment."

"Fu Shen's father didn't consider Fu Shen and his siblings his children and even tried to sell them for gambling money. The neighbors were well aware of this. Growing up in this toxic environment, Fu Shen was ashamed of his parents and siblings. He worked hard to escape his family, but he could never shake off the humiliating blood ties. So, when he learned that the male lead, Gu Mingchao, had lost his memory, Fu Shen saw an opportunity and immediately hatched a plan to take his place—"

"Director Li, Producer Yu, something's wrong!"

A flustered shout interrupted Yu Mingze's analysis. Deputy Director Wang Tong came running over, holding his phone in panic. "Quick, look at this!"

Yu Mingze frowned. "What's the matter, so—"

Before he could finish, Yu Mingze's expression turned furious as he saw the news on the phone screen. "Zhou Yueze, that bastard!"

Ye Mingzhao covered his ear and leaned over. On the small phone screen, a breaking news alert read: "Recently, the modern urban idol drama *Prince Transformation* officially announced its launch, starring newcomer Chu Qingyi, pop diva Liu Rumei, and popular young actor Zhujunjie. The drama is directed by the renowned Director Ding Ding, with many veteran actors joining the cast..."

The news also revealed that the drama's investor was Zhou Film Company, which had previously pulled out of the *Prince of Beggars* production.

Yu Mingze was so furious he almost lost his mind. "That damn *Prince Transformation*! He must have gotten the idea for this drama from my script. And he even wants to promote Chu Qingyi, a family member of human traffickers, as a star? He can keep dreaming!" Yu Mingze raged and immediately wanted to call Zhou Yueze.

Director Li Zhengzheng, sitting behind the monitor, along with the rest of the crew, also noticed the news and didn't look too happy.

In their line of work, script plagiarism, while not ubiquitous, is certainly quite common.

There have been cases in the past where a script was leaked, and others would gather a team to film a similar production and rush to release it before the original. The plagiarists not only made a fortune but also left the subsequent broadcasters of the original work to shoulder the stigma of theft.

Therefore, as soon as this news broke, everyone in the crew immediately thought of these previous incidents as a cautionary tale, and the previously orderly filming atmosphere instantly fell into disarray.

Everyone feared that after months of hard work, they wouldn’t see any rewards and would instead be left with nothing.

Someone glanced at Ye Mingzhao and muttered under their breath, "We shouldn’t have let President Zhou withdraw his investment..."

Before they could finish, Director Li shot them a glance, stopping them mid-sentence.

However, Director Li wasn’t entirely free of such thoughts either. He silently glanced at Ye Mingzhao, secretly harboring some resentment. If Ye Mingzhao hadn’t pushed things too far when he had the upper hand, the crew wouldn’t be facing this crisis now.

"Why are you all looking at Zhaozhao?" Yu Mingze noticed the tense atmosphere in the crew and immediately stepped forward to defend Ye Mingzhao. "If you want to blame someone, blame that bastard Zhou Yueze for his dirty tricks and inhumane actions! He’s really something, thinking of such a method to get back at us. He doesn’t bite, but he sure knows how to annoy!"

With a swollen head from anger, Yu Mingze spoke fiercely, "This isn’t over yet! I’m going to contact a lawyer right now. I’m going to sue him for plagiarism!"

"How are you going to sue him?!" Director Li frowned deeply, stopping Yu Mingze’s impulsive behavior. "What evidence do you have that his script is plagiarized?"

"Do we really need evidence?" Yu Mingze, red with anger, pointed at the news on his phone screen and said, "Isn’t it obvious?! We’re filming *Prince of Beggars*, and they go and make *Prince Transformation*. He only just withdrew his investment from our crew! I don’t believe he could write a completely new script from scratch in such a short time. If I can get my hands on their script—"

"How are you going to get their script? Are you going to send someone to steal it?" Director Li, with a head full of worries, said, "Can you please not be impulsive? Not to mention how difficult it is to take legal action, even if you succeed, when would that be? Can you stop them from filming this drama right now? Can you prevent their drama from being released smoothly?"

Yu Mingze let out a frustrated howl, "So we’re just going to let this go?!"

"Of course not." Ye Mingzhao lightly interjected.

In an instant, the entire crew’s attention focused on Ye Mingzhao.

Ye Mingzhao’s gaze remained on his phone screen.

Yu Mingze followed Ye Mingzhao’s gaze and, upon seeing the name Chu Qingyi, felt a surge of joy in his heart. "We can expose Chu Qingyi as a family member of human traffickers to the media. Just imagine the backlash when the lead actor of *Prince Transformation* is revealed to have such a huge scandal. I’d love to see how they can keep filming after that!"

Ye Mingzhao remained silent. Unlike Yu Mingze’s thoughts, his attention was drawn to the name of the new idol, Zhu Junjie.

Ye Mingzhao, who had a sharp memory, instantly remembered that this name had appeared in the original novel.

In the original novel, without Ye Mingzhao’s interference, Chu Qingyi smoothly secured the lead role in *Prince of Beggars*. Unlike Ye Mingzhao, the Chu Qingyi in the original novel had no acting experience, nor did he have the gimmick of playing two roles. He also lacked Ye Mingzhao’s strategy of using the crew’s name to partner with international luxury brands to hold global jewelry and fashion design competitions for publicity.

Despite the efforts of renowned screenwriter Yu Mingze and Director Li, *Prince of Beggars* struggled with low ratings and popularity. It was overshadowed by another period drama, *Jiangshan Strategy*.

However, Chu Qingyi was, after all, a member of the protagonist group in the original novel. Regardless of his acting skills, his luck was undoubtedly top-notch.

When *Prince of Beggars* was halfway through its broadcast, another period drama, *Jiangshan Strategy*, which was competing against it, was abruptly taken off the air because one of its actors was exposed for drug use. The novel also described how the investment company behind *Jiangshan Strategy* went bankrupt due to this incident.

Ye Mingzhao, with his sharp memory, immediately recalled that the actor who was blacklisted for drug use in *Jiangshan Strategy* was named Zhu Junjie. With his morally ambiguous aura, he played a highly popular villain in *Jiangshan Strategy*.

Ye Mingzhao’s eyes softened, and he reassured Yu Mingze with a calm smile, "We should issue a solemn protest against the *Prince Transformation* crew and strongly condemn their actions."

The entire crew: "..."