Chapter 123 : Chapter 123

Chapter 123: “Immortalstar.”

Is Li Yamin sick in the head?

The system was ninety percent confused, with ten percent left for the host to supplement—

Chu Zu: “He's sick in the head.”

Now the little yellow chicken could be confidently one hundred percent confused.

All Chu Zu had done so far was smash a watch and add ten lines of character settings.

Li Yamin had effortlessly given Wanshu Zu a glorious past as a director, a classic-to-the-core Zu-style orphan, and even created a Marcus Li.

We're all side characters not written into the main text, must we invade each other's setting rights like this?

Chu Zu: “Same status, same age, I've never seen such a childish adult.”

System: “Me too.”

Chu Zu was about to say something else but was choked up by the little yellow chicken.

He said hesitantly: “Has your speaking style been... upgraded?”

First there was "Oh my god," then "Me too," coming out of its mouth fluently and naturally.

The little yellow chicken blinked its eyes: “Long Aotian Little Chicken said, if we want to act like a Long Aotian, we little chickens must also change our mindset.”

“The host is the strongest and most invincible host in the world, and the little chicken is also the most domineering little chicken in the world.”

“I looked up what it means to be domineering, it means to be rough and wild.”

“Host, rest assured, I will absolutely not fall behind.”

“I also made a prop that is both practical and cool—”

The system pulled out something about the same size as itself, a regular octahedron, which at first glance looked like a star.

The little yellow chicken held it with its small wings, lifting it high.

“This!”

Chu Zu took it.

It looked angular, but it was actually all soft, feeling a bit like a stress-relief squishy ball.

“This is the ‘Special Attack Against Partner’ program that Long Aotian Little Chicken and I cooked up together, it's just that Li Yamin acted a bit faster than me... but it's okay, it can promptly curb any infringement on your character settings.”

The system explained, “If you are force-fed a new setting that you feel is inappropriate, just squeeze it hard. When you squeeze it all the way, it will light up, BlingBling means it has taken effect.”

Chu Zu was somewhat surprised.

He hadn't asked the little yellow chicken to do this, and the little chicken hadn't told him before doing it.

And it sounded quite like a BUG, directly touching upon the setting level.

Previously, Chu Zu could only control the character setting modifications limited by the "Side Character Correction" in a roundabout way, but the little yellow chicken...

“You worked directly with the ‘Long Aotian Correction’ system?”

Hearing the host's tone become serious, the system sensed his worry and immediately explained: “I didn't do anything against the rules. In essence, this is a one-click complaint device.”

Chu Zu: “?”

“In response to Li Yamin's actions, I have drafted ten templates in advance. As long as he's not outrageously tricky, the templates I've written can cover all sorts of emergencies.”

It said, “The performance of Death by Entertainment is very average, and it ended long ago. The author is currently stockpiling drafts, and is... quite free.”

“I had my superior communicate the trouble we encountered, and the author's reply was very straightforward, saying that you can handle Wanshu Zu's settings as you see fit. If there's a problem, email them, and what we can't handle will be handled directly by the author.”

Chu Zu: “...So it's actually a fancy email sending device.”

The little yellow chicken chuckled, quite proud: “Long Aotian Little Chicken and I designed this appearance together, Immortal star! The chicken on the other side has one too, so this counts as shared intellectual property.”

Chu Zu praised it against his conscience: “It truly is both practical and cool, so amazing.”

He put away the beautiful piece of junk: “Thank you, and help me thank Long Aotian Little Chicken too.”

The system had thought the host would furiously squeeze the star and change all the settings he didn't like.

Chu Zu didn't squeeze it.

After being discharged from the hospital, he quickly finalized the remaining decisions regarding the casting couch incident, handing over the execution entirely to Gu An, while he himself continued to advance the collaboration with Netflix.

He had just seen the matter of adopting cats and dogs in the system's memo, and only then did he remember that he had to arrange living expenses for the two protagonists.

This matter had to be prepared in advance, he couldn't wait until the two protagonists started looking for work to do it, that would be too deliberate.

When Gu An received the news, he was still a bit puzzled.

The boss had never shown any special fondness for cats and dogs, why did he suddenly want to adopt pets.

And it had to be both a cat and a dog.

After thinking it over, Gu An could only convince himself with the explanation that "the boss was so tormented by the two ancestors that he needed to find something healing to find peace."

Raising you two is not as good as raising a cat and a dog.

How is this not a form of humiliation?

Gu An agreed at once, and by the way, told the boss that this week's weekly report had not been opened yet, and to remember to check his email.

The system sighed: “The people under you are really a bunch of workaholics, afraid that their boss won't be ambitious enough.”

“You're right, but I can be even more ambitious.”

Chu Zu said, “The second son of the Li family also loves to push me to be ambitious. Knowing that I want to dissolve the partnership, he even throws me a trust fund and Li Goudan... hey, isn't this a way out plus legal aid.”

The little yellow chicken's perception was once again refreshed by the host's ability to seize every opportunity and his cold-blooded focus on the main point.

The little yellow chicken was a little ashamed: “I'm sorry, I was just sighing over Second Brother Li's youthful past that he can't let go of.”

Omitting most of the subjective emotions, there were still many points in Li Yamin's memories that could be carefully pondered.

A trust fund has independence and will not be included in bankruptcy liquidation, so even if Wanshu Zu were to lose everything in a rash move, he would still have a plentiful way out.

Wanshu Zu's childhood friend Marco Li was a rising star in law and politics a few years ago.

In recent years, he has been traveling back and forth between Hong Kong, Macau, and foreign countries, handling the business of many large enterprises, and is already a famous partner, known as Partner Li.

Wanshu Zu used to be among the top students at Media University.

At that time, he could already assemble a team to aim for Cinéfondation.

The channel was provided by Li Yamin, but the quality of the film still depended on them.

And whether it was the scriptwriter, producer, cinematographer, post-production, or other cast and crew members, after several years of development, they had all made achievements in their respective fields.

This was undoubtedly a very powerful resource, especially since Wanshu Zu had never done anything related to directing after that.

Even if the others had become old hands in the circle, when they recalled the high spirits of their youth, they would still sincerely call him "Wanshu Zu."

This belonged to Wanshu Zu's non-commercial private connections, without skills, without benefits, all emotion.

Sorting it all out, it seemed like Li Yamin was adding settings and raising the stakes for the host, but in fact, he was blocking his own way out.

Li Yamin, really, the little yellow chicken could cry a river.

No wonder the host said he was sick.

While the little yellow chicken was clucking its tongue, Chu Zu had already started opening emails.

First was Qiao Tian's contract termination.

Qiao Tian and Lishou Entertainment parted peacefully.

Because of Wanshu Zu's previous assertion, the legal department initiated a compensation lawsuit against Li Yichi.

A portion of the compensation would go to Qiao Tian.

For the company, it was just a drop in the bucket, but for Qiao Tian, it was timely rain.

Shen Weidi was so scared by Wanshu Zu that he had been well-behaved until now, constantly trying to sound out Gu An about Wanshu Zu's reaction.

Wanshu Zu had no reaction at all.

But Gu An was very good at using the information gap.

Taking advantage of the fact that Shen Weidi didn't dare to contact the boss privately, he had Shen Weidi completely under his thumb.

As long as he dared to act up, Gu An would immediately sigh meaningfully, and Shen Weidi would immediately behave, shrinking back to his original place like a grandson.

Chu Zu guessed that Shen Weidi probably had multiple concerns.

He had always been clear about the reason he was chosen.

Now that Qiao Tian had been messed up by him like this, it would be considered good if Wanshu Zu didn't skin him alive.

Moreover, his uncle also seemed a bit crazy.

People in the entertainment industry tend to stir up trouble when they go crazy.

His uncle was destructive enough, and without a manager's support, Shen Weidi didn't dare to confront his uncle head-on.

There were also many work reports related to Li Yamin in the latter part of the email.

Chu Zu selected them in a batch, directly forwarded them to Li Yamin himself, and replied to Gu An: He can decide these things himself from now on.

After dealing with the emails, Chu Zu started browsing various major platforms.

The direction of public opinion on major platforms was significantly different.

Weibo was basically dominated by Shen Weidi's fans.

This group of fans with strong combat effectiveness didn't think there was anything wrong with Shen Weidi's words and actions at all.

Hasn't Brother Shen Weidi always been true to himself, talking trash isn't illegal, why are you chasing after him and scolding him?

Usually you complain that there are no real people in the entertainment industry, and when a real person appears, you say he's impolite, hehe.

Who's going to make up for the live streams that Brother Di is missing?

Gossip Brother Shen Weidi's face turned red with anxiety during the live stream, so cute.

...

Professional fans guided the major fan clubs on counter-criticism rhetoric.

Under Gu An's instruction, all attacks on Qiao Tian were stopped, and Shen Weidi's materials were used to ride on related hashtags.

Clicking on the relevant Tag, you couldn't see a single Weibo post related to the casting couch, it was all a screen full of his face.

Douban's focus has always been on denouncing the casting couch director.

Previously, Qiao Tian was the victim.

Now that the news of her contract termination came out, Lishou was flamed as dog-eat-dog capital, and Qiao Tian's reputation continued to rise.

Of course, it's not out of the question that some Douban groups criticized and blamed Qiao Tian.

Because the matter was not clarified, Qiao Tian was accused of taking shortcuts.

They believed that Qiao Tian's behavior undoubtedly aggravated the stereotypes of women in society.

These groups also argued fiercely.

Those who scolded Qiao Tian and the netizens who believed that even if Qiao Tian took shortcuts, it was the environment's fault, were at loggerheads.

The platforms with more passersby were guided by the internet companies cooperating with Lishou Entertainment.

KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders) were paid to do their job, and artists who had a cooperative relationship with Lishou also spoke out after the situation calmed down.

The public relations team reviewed the comments they drafted in advance to ensure that they could gradually blur the focus, shift the center of gravity, and relentlessly attack the tax-evading director without involving other groups.

Li Yamin's name was particularly useful at this time, for the same reason, his image was too good.

He didn't appear on variety shows much, and rarely exposed himself actively outside of promotions.

The Li Yamin in the public's perception was only active on the big screen.

Few people knew that his motto was: A man is a giant baby until death.

He was the manager and shareholder of Lishou Entertainment, and he had also worked his way up from side roles.

He should be able to understand the mentality of a small actor and would be unlikely to push the artists under him into a fiery pit.

What surprised Chu Zu more was that on BiliBili, among all the people involved, the most popular one was actually... himself.

An Uploader had dug up some information about Wanshu Zu.

After the company got on the right track, Wanshu Zu didn't often appear in front of the camera, but a person can't completely disappear from the public eye.

Back in university, he was often secretly photographed and became a regular on the BBS.

After graduation, he would also attend major business dinners.

Because he had been a personal nanny for Li Yamin for several years, the paparazzi actually had quite a few photos of him.

The paparazzi were used to it and were too lazy to write him into their gossip columns.

Moreover, once Wanshu Zu was involved, they might even be warned by the company for portrait rights.

He was not an artist.

If they really pursued it, every lawsuit would be a sure win.

These photos were treated as scraps of Li Yamin, posted every now and then to gain traffic.

Now they were all compiled, and they managed to find high-resolution large photos from them.

And, at that press conference back then, Wanshu Zu attended for a full half hour.

At that time, the live streaming industry was not yet developed, and few people would record their screens.

There were also related clips of the press conference on the internet before, dug up from some corner by Shen Weidi's fans during their archeological digs, but they were all blurred out others, leaving only Shen Weidi as the focus.

Someone got a high-definition full version, edited it, and uploaded it—it directly exploded.

A video titled (Master Dog Trainer, I'll Bark a Few Words First) soared from the entertainment section to the TOP 3, and within seven days, the number of views accumulated to two million.

Because it was mainly self-media users, coupled with Bilibili's big data push mechanism, the data would only get higher in the next half month.

Chu Zu clicked on it.

Before the BGM even started, a full screen of bullet comments crazily scrolled past—(Only power, and desire).

Then the BGM started.

A high-intensity steady drum beat, the rhythm was not fast, and the black screen gradually revealed a picture with the beat of the drum.

A young man in a suit and leather shoes entered the venue calmly under the flashlights.

He was a whole head taller than the few people behind him, naturally standing out.

He pulled out a chair, unbuttoned his suit jacket, and sat down as his hand pushed aside the hem of his suit.

After sitting down, the young man's back was straight, close to the back of the chair, his hands clasped naturally on the table, and he was the first to speak—

“Friends from the media, respected members of society, hello everyone.”

The officialese in the middle was cut out by the Uploader.

The drum beat stopped abruptly, and the young man said in a flat voice:

“The person in charge of Lishou Entertainment, Wanshu Zu.”

The vocals in the BGM only started at this moment, a deep male voice full of masculine hormones, a smoky voice with a natural reverb, reciting the lyrics like a monologue.

The screen also kept switching with the beat of the drum.

When the young man was listening, he would stare at a certain point in the void, his scarlet eyes deep as if has a profound, intense and complex quality.

The flashlights went off and on, and his face was like a twinkling star.

Under the harsh lighting and tricky camera angles, his sculpted features were well-defined and three-dimensional, even his hair exuded a unique charm.

The screen kept switching with the BGM beat.

About 20 seconds into the video, photos replaced the press conference video.

The hot-tempered and unruly Wanshu Zu during his university days.

Wanshu Zu attending a charity dinner with Li Yamin.

Wanshu Zu being interviewed by a financial reporter when Lishou Entertainment was established.

Wanshu Zu as published by entertainment reporters after the press conference.

Wanshu Zu smiling after chatting intimately with a socialite when attending a business banquet alone.

And this time, Wanshu Zu with sunglasses, a blank expression, and a low pressure all over him, just after getting off the plane from Los Angeles.

The differences in the photos were very large, and the rhythm of the video was just right, so it didn't seem fragmented.

Instead, it clearly and obviously presented the changes in this person.

The only constant feeling that connected them was—the boiling ice in the depths of his eyes.

The video was less than two minutes in total, and the bullet comments went from (Fuck, my legs are weak) to (How does he look so dangerous no matter who he's looking at), and then to a full screen of (Woof woof woof).

The system watched with such great pleasure that it almost barked with its little chicken beak.

It still restrained itself and seriously inquired: “Host, is this also part of our Long Aotian plan?”

Chu Zu: “...I don't think so.”

Chu Zu: “If I squeeze the practical and cool Immortal star now, can the author delete these things?”

The little yellow chicken quickly persuaded: “This won't necessarily appear in the main text, it's useless for us to complain, right?”

Chu Zu: “But it has appeared in my life, and I am a low-key and reserved career person—this is cyberbullying against me.”

System: “…”

Its host, really easily gets angry over things that are not necessary to care about, because of shame.

Like the Big Mango before.

And now this video.

While Chu Zu was still trying to find a reasonable way to solve the "cyberbullying" against himself, the little yellow chicken quietly downloaded this video and saved it in its own database.

Chu Zu planned to start with the platform's rules.

If there were comments in the comment section that involved instigating fights or inappropriate remarks, he could report it to the moderators, and there should be a result soon.

He scrolled down, and the comment with the highest popularity was:

(I saw him sitting there, he was breathing. At first I thought what he said was not important, his looks were the word 'win' itself. Then he opened his mouth, and he got everything, it was that simple.)

The next one was:

(The vanity fair seems to be just his comfort zone, woof.)

...

Seeing the little yellow chicken's eyes shining, wanting to dive straight into the comment section and run wild, Chu Zu simply closed the webpage.

Chu Zu covered the little yellow chicken's beady eyes: “Don't look, they're malicious comments.”

In the end, this video still appeared in the main text.

Because the Uploader also uploaded it to Youtube and TikTok.

The former's user habits are similar to BiliBili, and the latter is the second social world for young people abroad.

It just so happened that Lishou Entertainment and Netflix reached a cooperation.

Although the official contract had not yet been signed, the news had already appeared in major news reports.

TMZ, E! News, People, Entertainment Weekly... these gossip entertainment media were jumping the highest.

Media report: (Netflix has tried to cooperate with mainland Chinese streaming media platforms in the past, but ultimately returned in failure. Now they have chosen a resource-based media company, which is undoubtedly a risky move in their business attempts.)

(And the young Chinese entrepreneur who finalized this cooperation, Wanshu Zu, his experience before this was also…)

There was also a joke in this.

Foreign media are used to using English names plus surnames, but Wanshu Zu did not have an English name.

They initially used pinyin.

They didn't have much respect for Chinese people, didn't bother to check, and directly wrote Zu Wansi.

Those with a little culture but not much culture wrote Mochi Zu, or Zu Mochi.

The former was an error due to a habit of contempt, and the latter, no matter which one, looked very much like the romanization of a Japanese name.

Chinese netizens immediately wouldn't have it.

Overseas students and brothers and sisters who could access the foreign internet charged to the front lines, protesting on public platforms, and also stuffed the mailboxes of related reports with complaint emails.

It just so happened that Netflix also issued a cooperation announcement, and in the all-English text, only the three characters for Wanshu Zu were in Chinese.

Under the bombardment from several parties, the various previous reports then sheepishly changed what they thought was pinyin, and all platforms uniformly displayed the Chinese name.

You know, even among the group of Chinese who insisted on not using English names, there were basically few who could use their Chinese names in official or unofficial reports.

Because foreign media have always treated all Asians this way, and no one thought there was a problem.

Now that there was an exception with enough popularity, the Asian region only realized it after the fact.

Koreans and Japanese also began to pay attention to this matter, this person.

And in recent years, the United States has been promoting so-called political correctness, and the wind of anti-discrimination and anti-prejudice blew right onto Wanshu Zu's head.

On that day, the third world trend on Twitter was actually #WHO IS Wanshu Zu.

Because of the chain reaction of the popularity, that video on Youtube and Tiktok also exploded in popularity.

The popularity fed back to the domestic audience, and was defined as a powerful counterattack by the Chinese in the face of contempt.

The audience that continued to pay attention to him was no longer limited to a certain circle or gender.

Netizens also traced back to the source, and after understanding the cooperative relationship and the development of the situation, a thousand words turned into simple admiration: Made us proud, very proud!

In the end, a very absurd result was formed.

Chu Zu received a call from the childhood friend that Li Yamin had forced upon him.

“Do you know how many people around me are saying your name?”

Li Goudan—Marcus teased on the phone, “Bro, the merchant business organizations in Chinatown have all contacted me, asking if you have any intention to cooperate... is your flight today?”

Chu Zu was silent for a moment, returned to the sea of consciousness, and asked the little yellow chicken again: “If I squeeze the practical and cool Immortal star now, can the author delete these things?”

The system confirmed: “Very difficult.”

It said in detail: “Right now, Qiao Tian is holding the beloved dog you've never met, browsing the news, and sighing with the streamer brother about your greatness.”

“The streamer brother is also acting like a grandson to the beloved cat you've never met, and agrees.”

“Xiao Qiao was inspired by you, thinking that what a great person says must be right, she can be a good actor, and plans to strive hard.”

Chu Zu: “…”

The little yellow chicken comforted: “I understand, facing cyberbullying from all over the world, you must be feeling very bad and under a lot of pressure.”

“But on the bright side, we've opened up a brand new track on the road of Long Aotian—the beautiful, strong, and tragic Long Aotian!”

Being "cyberbullied" by the whole world because of his appearance and strength, isn't that beautiful, strong, and tragic?

That's so beautiful, strong, and tragic!

Chu Zu was left speechless by the little yellow chicken's logic.

“Today's flight, arriving tomorrow,” Chu Zu said to his childhood friend.

The little yellow chicken felt that the host was grinding his teeth.

After hanging up the phone, Chu Zu sighed: “Help me check Li Goudan's settings—are there any settings for him? Simple ones are fine.”

Little yellow chicken: “Okay!”

Marcus Li has real estate in Los Angeles and had flown from Hong Kong in advance to handle other matters.

This time Li Yamin didn't follow, so he simply invited Wanshu Zu to stay at his place.

Wanshu Zu didn't refuse and went straight to the address after getting off the plane.

Marcus had sent him the password for the duplex villa's door lock in advance.

After opening the door, Wanshu Zu smelled a strong strange smell in the entrance hall.

Marcus, wearing a shirt and an apron, poked his head out of the kitchen.

A baby face with black curly hair, a few freckles on his face, not tall, 175 cm at most.

During the video conference, Marcus maintained his identity as a lawyer, and a pile of professional terms built up a facade, making him seem mature.

Seeing his friend, Marcus grinned, and his face became a bit rounder, looking even younger.

“Hey, Dear Sensation, you're not late. It's the same room on the second floor as before, change of clothes are all prepared. You can eat after you've cleaned up. This time I have to show you my skills one way or another.”

After staying in Hong Kong for a long time, Marcus's already non-standard Mandarin had become even worse.

He tried his best to adjust the word order, but it still sounded strange.

“You just got out of the hospital, you should eat more, don't be polite with me.”

Wanshu Zu didn't exchange pleasantries with him.

He had been dealing with work during the more than ten hours of flight, and his body couldn't keep up after recovering from a serious illness.

He was indeed tired enough.

By the time he had washed up and changed into a more comfortable loose-fitting sweatshirt, and went downstairs, Marcus was already waiting at the dining table.

Marcus had cooked a pot of truth serum.

Anyone who ate this stuff would suspect they had broken the law.

This was a new type of punishment.

As long as they could avoid touching it, it didn't matter if they revealed all their family secrets.

“You like white people food?”

Wanshu Zu sat down.

Marcus held up a finger, shook it, and said quite proudly: “This is my life's work.”

That pot of casserole with a base that couldn't be distinguished as cream, butter, or cheese looked simply terrible, but the taste was surprisingly okay.

But it got greasy after a couple of bites.

Both were pragmatic people who were fine as long as they were full, and they didn't dwell too much on dinner.

They ate about enough, chatted about enough, and soon turned the topic to business.

Wanshu Zu didn't talk about the already finalized business with Netflix: “You have to come back to the mainland with me for a trip, I might need you to help me with legal segmentation at the company level.”

“You want to go solo,” Marcus pointed out sharply.

This wasn't hard to guess.

Marcus and Wanshu Zu hadn't been in private contact for a while.

Since the establishment of Lishou Entertainment, they basically communicated about work through email, and occasional phone calls were also about business.

To be precise, since Wanshu Zu returned to China for university, Marcus and Wanshu Zu were no longer close.

But he was still one of the people who understood Wanshu Zu the best in the world.

—Because this person had not changed at all.

It is often said in the film industry that a director's first work during their student years can often reflect the director's true aesthetic tendencies.

Wanshu Zu never touched directing again after graduation.

He transformed from creating film and television art to creating "living dead"—those various images that looked glamorous, but were actually tied hand and foot, with the strings gathered in his hands.

Marcus always felt that his friend had only "created" one work: Li Yamin.

But he also knew his friend's character well.

Wanshu Zu never stopped moving forward, he had been like this since he was a child.

Even if he continued to be a director, he would be the type who would never look back at the movies he had made.

The next one would always be better.

The goal was also the same.

Under the abstract pursuit, the next stop was always higher.

The two clinked glasses.

Marcus poured himself whiskey, while Wanshu Zu's glass contained mint water.

“It's not that simple,” Wanshu Zu said.

“That's why I need your help.”

“Legal segmentation…”

Marcus savored the word for a few seconds.

“Segmentation… is it?”

Wanshu Zu nodded.

“Li Yamin is indeed a trouble.”

Marcus's evaluation was only from a legal perspective, “Lishou Entertainment is gradually growing, the company has optimized its VIE structure and has also formed a professional team. This is no secret, any discerning person can see that you are preparing to go public.”

“Li Chuyang is very happy to see his younger brother open up a new territory. I believe you know better than me that as long as you pass the SEC review, Li Chuyang will help a lot in the follow-up.”

“But at the same time—”

“But at the same time, if I kick Li Yamin out of the company, his brother will immediately turn against me.”

Wanshu Zu continued, he was very relaxed in front of his childhood friend, and laughed.

“You think I'll kick him out... what if I just want to clarify the advantage of shareholding ratio before going public?”

“Come on, Zu.”

Marcus showed an exaggerated expression, “They say you can tell a person's character from when they're three. My mom said you pushed me down in the mud and beat me up when you were three, just because I accidentally entered your backyard and said Hi to you.”

...

Chu Zu immediately asked the little yellow chicken: “Marcus Li won't raise the stakes on me too, will he?”

Little yellow chicken: “No! These didn't appear in the setting collection. No one's word counts for what happened when you were three. You could even say you wrote 'I was here' at the Pentagon when you were a kid.”

Chu Zu: “...I'm still quite civilized, let's forget about the 'I was here'.”

Obviously, his childhood friend Marcus Li was much more normal than Li Yamin, able to walk independently while maintaining a close relationship with people.

And he would never add any settings to Wanshu Zu, a truly clear-cut brother.

...

“Even if I kick him out of the company, it's just a change in position, his shares won't change.”

Wanshu Zu said, “As long as the shares don't change, Li Chuyang won't bother me for a while. He doesn't value Li Yamin that much either, otherwise Li Yamin wouldn't still be sticking to me now.”

Marcus shrugged: “When you first introduced him to me, I thought it would be a Succession plot. I was rubbing my hands together, planning to be the elite lawyer in a big family's internal struggle.”

Wanshu Zu: “Cut it out.”

Marcus continued: “But after a few years, you guys came up with a Social Network, the 'dissolving partnership' plot is really timeless, both in ancient and modern times, at home and abroad.”

The Social Network is adapted from the novel The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal.

It tells the story of the rise of Facebook founders Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin.

Or rather, the story of their partnership—and dissolution.

“Zuckerberg ended up paying Saverin 25 billion dollars in compensation,” Wanshu Zu said. “Marcus Li, you're not going to make me pay that much too, are you?”

“Of course not. What's the scale of Lishou Entertainment, you're comparing yourself to Facebook?”

Marcus teased, “If you can be like Zuckerberg at thirty, with a net worth of over 30 billion, Zu, don't forget to hire me as your private legal counsel.”

“You've always been my private legal counsel, otherwise what are we doing sitting here.”

“Emmm, discussing some legal but unethical business practices? Or, discussing my sister Nora's marriage? She's still talking about you, by the way, you know she's an adult now, right?”

“I haven't even reached the 30 billion net worth club threshold, and you're already eyeing my family property.”

Marcus said with great seriousness: “And your trust fund.”

“Leave some for me,” Wanshu Zu was obviously joking.

“If I get killed by Li Chuyang, at least I can still eat.”

“You can come to my place for meals,” Marcus said.

“If you hadn't returned to China back then, you might be surnamed Li now. My parents really like you, doesn't 'Big Brother Li' sound very imposing?”

Wanshu Zu laughed, the lines around his eyes crinkling openly.

Marcus also smiled like a Samoyed, but said: “I'll definitely help, you know my quote. I won't charge you for consultation by the hour tonight. Non-litigation cases are charged as a percentage of the subject matter amount, OK?”

Wanshu Zu shook his head: “You can count tonight as well.”

Marcus said very seriously: “Then I'll allow you to call me Li Goudan, my friend, God can do whatever he wants.”

He pronounced the three words "Li Goudan" with perfect enunciation, which was out of place in his Hong Kong-accented Mandarin.

After they had laughed enough, Wanshu Zu suddenly seemed to remember something.

“I want to set up a subsidiary.”

He said, “Old business, there will be a tilt of resources from the parent company, to cultivate artists who are not suitable for Lishou, and a new management team.”

Marcus: “I suggest you do this after you part peacefully with Li Yamin.”

Wanshu Zu was noncommittal: “No hurry, I'm just mentioning it in passing, as long as you have it in mind. I will harass you often.”

“Then let's talk about it when you're more prepared,” Marcus asked curiously, “Is it that Qiao Tian?”

Wanshu Zu admitted directly: “Yes.”

Marcus joked: “If I didn't know you've always not treated people as people, I would really think you're interested in her.”

Wanshu Zu: “I'm interested in all people with potential.”

“What about my sister?”

“She's in the category of 'not treated as people'.”

“Saying that to your good brother, be careful or I'll beat you up.”

“Then you're in for it, you'll have to wait to be beaten by Nora after I'm done with you.”

“You're really something...”

Marcus laughed in spite of himself, “I've noted the matter of the subsidiary—you've always had a plan for what you do, you won't give me an empty promise and let my business fall through.”

“No, this was a spontaneous idea.”

Wanshu Zu said with a smile, “I suddenly thought of a very interesting company name—Immortal star, what do you think?”

“Wow.”

Marcus gave a review that made the little yellow chicken beam with joy.

“Very… hungry and resplendent, like you.”

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