Chapter 41

Chapter 41

Chairman's Office, Zhou Group

"Dad, the stock price of Zhou Group has surged since yesterday. Someone has been aggressively buying shares in the secondary market. With the funds that Chu Hengyi and Ye Mingzhao have on their own, they probably couldn't have done this," said Zhou Yueze, anxious and breaking out in a cold sweat. He hadn't expected things to become so severe. "Could the Ye family have gotten involved?"

Zhou Heting's expression was stern. "This is something we expected. Why are you so worried? They can buy in large amounts, and so can we. The priority now is to see who can grab more shares—"

"But we don't have enough cash on hand!" Zhou Yueze interjected quickly. "Zhou Group has already invested ten billion in cash flow to support Zhou Film Company. There’s no extra funds in the group's account. Additionally, many shareholders oppose the idea of the group buying back stocks in the secondary market. They think it would harm their interests—"

The more Zhou Yueze spoke, the more frustrated he became, and he couldn't help but curse, "A bunch of shortsighted old farts. Don't they realize that if Zhou Group is really acquired by the Ye family, they won't end up with anything good!"

As he spoke, a sudden thought made his eyelid twitch. "Are they planning to sell their shares to Ye Linyuan?"

"...," Zhou Heting looked at the rising K-line chart, but his mood was heavier than when Zhou Group's stock price had plummeted. "Help me arrange meetings with a few old friends. Zhou Group must not be acquired under my watch!"

*

"Young Master Mingzhao, we have accumulated a 5% stake in Zhou Group. Under securities law, we have met the requirement to declare our position..." The voice of the current department manager of the finance department of the Ye family business came through the phone.

Under securities law, when an investor holds 5% of the issued shares of a listed company, they must notify the company, the stock exchange, and the relevant securities regulatory authorities. This process is called a declaration of holdings.

Once holdings are declared, investors can't increase their stake for three days or decrease it within six months. If they wish to reduce their stake, they need to issue a reduction announcement in advance.

This regulation is mainly to protect the interests of retail investors and prevent large institutions from manipulating stock prices behind the scenes.

For Zhou Group and Ye Mingzhao, these three days were like a temporary ceasefire!

"Dad and older brother met with some major shareholders of Zhou Group this afternoon," Ye Mingxi snatched the phone from the finance department manager and said excitedly, "As long as we can convince these shareholders to support us, the Zhou family is doomed."

"Don't get ahead of yourself. Zhou Group is Chairman Zhou's life's work—he won't just sit back and let us take it over," Ye Mingzhao waved his hand, signaling the makeup artist waiting to pause for a moment, then said, "He'll definitely try to raise funds and keep buying up Zhou Group's stock."

So, these three days would be fully utilized by Zhou Heting.

Ye Mingzhao could also gauge the amount of funds Zhou Heting could raise and his upcoming countermeasures by observing who he met.

In fact, with Ye Mingzhao's understanding of Zhou Heting, who Zhou Heting wanted to meet, from whom he could borrow funds, and how much he could borrow... were almost all within Ye Mingzhao's grasp.

Ye Mingzhao allowed Zhou Heting to act without interference simply because he wanted to use this opportunity to force some people to take a stand and bring out hidden malicious intentions.

After all, in the original story, there were "family friends" colluding with Chu Hengyi to harm the Ye family, not just the Zhou family.

However, Zhou Heting had contributed the most, gained the most after the fall of the Ye family, and harbored the deepest malice towards Ye Mingzhao and the Ye family. Following the strategy of "catching the ringleader first," Ye Mingzhao certainly wouldn't let Zhou Heting off.

But after successfully acquiring Zhou Group, Ye Mingzhao didn't intend to spare the accomplices who aided the enemy.

Chu Hengyi was still part of the Ye family, and Ye Mingzhao, not wanting to hurt his family, wouldn't actually harm Chu Hengyi. But he couldn't stand by and watch Chu Hengyi betray the family and harm the Ye family. Eliminating all of Chu Hengyi's allies and neutralizing his resources would be the best way to keep this dangerous beast under control.

*

After hanging up the phone, Ye Mingzhao signaled the makeup artist who had been waiting for a while to continue.

The next scene to be filmed was where the protagonists, after overcoming numerous challenges, finally met Xiao Zhuge, the leader of the Tianji Pavilion. However, it turned out that everything was a trap set by Xiao Zhuge to capture them all.

According to the plot, the protagonists would surround Xiao Zhuge and angrily denounce him for causing turmoil for personal gain. But during the actual shooting, the protagonists, who were supposed to speak with righteous indignation, couldn't muster the courage and righteousness needed to rebuke the antagonist for the sake of the people.

"Cut—"

The director, watching from behind the monitor, patiently addressed the trembling protagonists who lacked confidence, "When you see Xiao Zhuge, you should immediately surround him and not shrink back. You're here to denounce Xiao Zhuge. You need to show the momentum of a righteous army..."

The protagonists nodded obediently, secretly swallowing as they looked at Ye Mingzhao, who was smiling gently on the side.

The director spoke to Ye Mingzhao, "Xiao Zhuge's performance was excellent. Keep it up!"

Ye Mingzhao returned to his seat on the throne in the main hall of the Mystic Heaven Pavilion, assuming the pose of the big boss.

The protagonist's male lead, who had been speaking righteous words, inadvertently met Ye Mingzhao's eyes and fell silent.

What kind of eyes were those?

Those were dark, deep, and black eyes, devoid of any emotion, yet with a faint smile. When those black-and-white eyes looked at you quietly, you felt a sudden chill from the top of your head, as if locked onto by a predator. You could sense an icy, indifferent, inorganic killing intent emanating from his very bones. It was as if he was an aloof, disdainful god, viewing everyone as ants.

He could easily manipulate the world, so how could he care about the joys and anger of mere mortals?

Oddly, the male lead suddenly thought of how Ye Mingzhao had casually almost made a billion-dollar corporation change hands. The lines on the tip of his tongue got stuck in his throat, unable to be spoken.

"Cut!" The director, sitting in front of the monitor, yelled: "Say your lines! Why are you stuttering?"

The male lead, who had suddenly forgotten his lines, took a deep breath and quickly said, "It's my fault. Director, let's do another take!"

The director waved his hand, signaling everyone to get back into position.

The members of the protagonist team exited the hall. The next second, they burst through the door and landed in the center of the hall: "You are the pavilion master of the Mystic Heaven Pavilion..."

This time, they successfully completed the dialogue scene. Upon the completion of their lines, Xiao Zhuge, seated on the throne, rose gracefully and slowly descended the steps.

According to the script, the members of the protagonist team should have rushed forward to fight the main antagonist, Xiao Zhuge.

Unexpectedly, as Xiao Zhuge descended the steps, the entire group of protagonists stepped back in unison—

"Cut!"

The director was simply exasperated: "What are you doing? Why are you stepping back?"

The protagonists, realizing their mistake, looked at the director with embarrassed expressions.

The director took a deep breath: "Once more!"

"Cut!"

After several consecutive NG takes, the director, seeing that the protagonists were clearly not in the right state, finally lost his temper: "What's going on with you guys? Can you act or not?"

The actors playing the protagonists looked at each other, secretly complaining.

They wanted to act well too! The problem was Ye Mingzhao's full-on presence... It was really frightening!

They weren't deliberately forgetting their lines or stepping back. It was just that Ye Mingzhao was really off today.

The script described Xiao Zhuge as a master strategist, omniscient, contemptuous of the world, capable of manipulating events, and able to effortlessly deceive and kill tens of thousands of soldiers for the sake of his own calculations... They had originally thought this character was a bit exaggerated, something that could only be conveyed through the plot and setting.

Until they faced Ye Mingzhao in full makeup!

A group of trembling protagonists huddled together, shedding frustrated tears: "Big shot, do you really have to act so real?"

"It doesn't even look like you're acting!"

The scene dragged on, from morning until around 4 PM, as dusk approached. Finally, it met the director's standards.

When the director shouted "Cut," the protagonists, who had been enduring hours of struggle, jumped up on the spot: "Hurray!"

"Finally, we got it!"

"Come on, serve the food already! I'm starving!"

"Mingzhao, you're incredible." Someone else looked at Ye Mingzhao with stars in their eyes. "Your acting was so good; it scared me half to death."

When he wasn't rehearsing, Ye Mingzhao always appeared mild-mannered and non-threatening. Hearing someone praise him, he even shyly bent his eyes slightly. "It's my first time acting in a historical drama. I just hope I didn't slow anyone down."

"How could you possibly slow us down!" The young actress who played the female lead made a hand gesture like a fan dance and exaggeratedly said, "You're really carrying the whole team!"

"Regardless, after today's scene airs, tons of viewers are gonna fall head over heels for you."

Ye Mingzhao remained noncommittal about these comments.

He didn't care whether the audience would like his performance or not when filming. As long as he enjoyed the process, that was enough for him. Real life had too many constraints that kept him from showing his true self, but during filming, he could freely release the darker side of his personality.

This gave Ye Mingzhao a strong sense of security.

"Mingzhao, what's your next project?" The actor playing the male lead cautiously asked.

As soon as he said this, the actors standing around immediately perked up their ears.

It's no wonder everyone was so concerned. One condition Ye Mingzhao had for signing with Starjoy Media was getting first pick of internal resources. So, in situations where resources might conflict, everyone naturally tried to steer clear of projects Ye Mingzhao might be interested in—

Of course, there were also some male actors who felt they weren't yet qualified to take on the lead male role but could handle the second or third male lead roles, and most of the actresses actually wanted to work with Ye Mingzhao again in the next project.

At the very least, with Ye Mingzhao as the lead actor, one didn't have to worry about the production team and other configurations.

Ye Mingzhao smiled kindly and replied patiently, "I haven't decided yet. I've been very busy lately, so even if I do want to film something, it'll probably be after the Lunar New Year."

Just as he was speaking, the production assistant walked over with a strange expression. "Teacher Ye, someone is here to visit you on set."

"He said his name is Lin Feng."