Chapter 181 A Petty Heart

Hearing her ’threat,’ Li Yan chuckled and leaned his face closer: "Go ahead, bite if you want! I’m totally open to it."

Seeing his expectant expression, how could Zhang Yurong not know his thoughts? Moreover, how could she possibly really bite his face?

"And you say you have thin skin, now your true colors show, huh? Get away, you haven’t even shaved!" Zhang Yurong pushed Li Yan’s face away with her hand and turned to walk out.

"Would just shaving be enough?"

"I never said that!"

...

After this conversation, the tension between them caused by lies from last night had basically dissipated. This intimacy also helped them better accept the habit of Yue Yao no longer being around.

After eating, they rested for a while and then went back to busying themselves with their own matters. Zhang Yurong habitually went to the office, while Li Yan headed to the gym.

After exercising in the gym for over an hour and then showering, he went to the office and saw Zhang Yurong still busy. So he pushed the door open and went in.

"Still busy? I thought you were trying to delegate authority sooner?" Li Yan walked behind her and started massaging her shoulders and neck.

Zhang Yurong had been sitting for a long time; it was just right to take a break. She closed her eyes and enjoyed Li Yan’s massage. She replied, "No matter how much I delegate, as the CEO, it’s not like I can relax. Besides, now that it’s near the end of the year, things tend to get busier. Especially today, there’s been an unusual fluctuation in our stock. Everyone is keeping a close eye, and while nothing’s come up yet, I need to focus a bit more. It’s the last few trading days of the year, hopefully, nothing goes wrong."

Hearing her words, Li Yan felt a stir inside: "When it comes to stocks... I’m not very knowledgeable, so I can’t help you much. But maybe my amateur perspective might bring you a new way of thinking."

"Oh? Do you have any good ideas?" Yurong smiled slightly.

No matter what ideas Li Yan had, she would agree and encourage him. Just like Zhang Tianyi’s initial thoughts, she now also hoped Li Yan could grow quickly, especially after hearing that recording this morning. Despite Liu Yuyang’s harsh words, they were not entirely baseless. If Li Yan couldn’t grow better, even if the CEO and Board Chairman supported him, he couldn’t be given more valuable responsibility.

Moreover, without greater responsibility, his contribution remains limited. Without creating a larger value, transferring shares to him in the future might meet resistance with too many inconveniences. Perhaps it won’t impact their livelihood, but for a man, in front of his wife and others, there might still be a sense of inadequacy.

From this angle, Zhang Yurong indeed hoped Li Yan would become interested in stocks and other investments. The potential and speed of progress in this area are much greater than making movies.

"What good ideas could I have, I just thought I’d casually help you analyze it." Li Yan laughed.

But Zhang Yurong became serious: "Personally, I really hope you become interested in investments like stocks. The potential for growth and wealth creation in this area far exceeds that of making movies."

"Uh... wasn’t it you and Wen Qianyi who both felt starting a film company had prospects? Were you just doing it to give me a suitable position?" Li Yan broke into a cold sweat.

Zhang Yurong shook her head: "Not that. The domestic film market is developing, and for our group’s investment division, diversification is a necessary route, and investing in films is just a part of it. But from a technological development perspective, the movie industry has become a twilight industry. The Cloud Island, Lan Island, which were once glorious, not to mention them now. Even the most profitable Anders, the share of box office revenue is gradually decreasing.

The annual box office on the Siro Continent barely tops 10 billion International Coin, incomparable to the toy and game industries. Old established film companies in Anders either close down or get acquired and restructured. Look at the owners behind the biggest film companies, Warner, Fox, Disney; they’re not standing on films alone, movies are just a part of their media and entertainment empires. Sony even more so.

Now in Anders, the high pay for stars and directors, the large bonuses, and the high costs of filming and promotion mean many films make no money just from box office revenue. They’re using the global market to mitigate risk, and rely on DVD sales and licensing from developed countries like the Celestial Continent to recoup part of the funds. Moreover, superhero films like ’Transformers,’ ’Iron Man,’ with big budgets and returns, are essentially commercials for toys, as toy sales are the real moneymakers.

The Yun Country is merely catching up because it started at such a low point, making the current boom seem impressive. But even the movie industry and its peripheral industries in the whole Yun Country can’t match the scale of just one of our Paradise Group companies. How is that a promising industry? Meanwhile, the game market, which started low and late, during the same period of the film market’s ’rapid growth’ by tens of percent, grew exponentially from tens of billions to when the movie market broke 100 billion, the game market was already at hundreds of billions or even trillions."

Zhang Yurong was too eager, hoping Li Yan could shift his mindset from limiting himself to dabbling in movies and venture into more lucrative fields. She quickly rattled off a string of remarks about the lack of prospects in film, leaving Li Yan speechless.

Finally, he had to interrupt: "Honey, understand something. I never even entered college, let alone studied finance, and I’ve never traded stocks or invested. Someone like me should pick the right professionals to manage it rather than getting involved myself. Anyway, you said making movies wouldn’t take much company money, so I can continue fooling around with that. Let’s skip the stocks!"

Zhang Yurong was a bit disappointed, trying again: "Don’t you want... to publicly... um, what I mean is..." She realized it was inappropriate coming from her.

Li Yan smiled and took over: "You mean, when our relationship goes public, my identity and capability won’t match up to yours, nor my wealth, people would mock me like Liu Yuyang, thinking I’m just mooching off you, right?"

"..."

"Whatever, I don’t mind what they think. They can think whatever they want. As for who has more or less money, does it matter that much?" Li Yan replied calmly with a smile.

Zhang Yurong sighed: "Alright then, since you find this more suitable, then keep at it."

"Oh, your lengthy discussion interrupted my train of thought; I was originally going to talk to you about stocks."

Zhang Yurong chuckled: "Alright, I’m all ears now."

"I think... could someone be targeting our company’s stock specifically?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yurong couldn’t help but laugh. "That’s quite an exaggeration! While you’re right, Soros did once target many markets on East Continent, leading to the financial crisis back then, and many stock market crashes have such financial sharks in the shadows. But today’s stock market is quite normal, just our stock has some unusual fluctuations. If there really were such actions, Paradise Group’s stock wouldn’t be the best entry point, we’re not a heavy weight index stock, nor can we mess with just any company."

Li Yan shook his head: "I don’t mean those multi-billion financial maneuvers. Could it be some of our enemies causing trouble, trying to attack our stocks?"

Zhang Yurong frowned slightly: "You mean... Changhe Group? With their strength, they wouldn’t dare play such games with us. It would mean mutual destruction, not beneficial for them."

"What about Liu Yuyang? Isn’t he a manager of some fund at Us? If he uses his fund’s capital to target us, it wouldn’t take much cost, just leveraging a point could trigger a lot of chain reactions, right? Like maybe his family is quite wealthy, maybe Changhe Group would also follow, along with some other speculative institutional big players, and finally affected retail investors... Overall, it could create an anomaly that we’d struggle to trace the origin of."

The night before last, their relationship with Liu Yuyang had already soured; he had said direct words, Li Yan had messed with his car, and yesterday when they met, they were pranked by those few guys, how could he endure that?

"Liu Yuyang...? He’s not likely to do that, is he? Even if he’s a fund manager, he can’t randomly use investors’ money like that, especially in a fund based at Us." Zhang Yurong still found it hard to believe.

"Haha, that’s for you professionals to analyze. I’m just thinking from a petty perspective, this guy might really use such a method to cause a crisis for Paradise Group, then he could heroically save the day with funds, maybe even propose a merger or something. That day, no one mentioned we’re married; he might just think I’m your boyfriend, so there’s still a possibility!" Li Yan laughed lightly.

Zhang Yurong couldn’t take it so lightly; she had heard Liu Yuyang’s words in the morning, which should be his true thoughts. Just for maximizing interests, having a boyfriend or even being married, he might not give up.

"I don’t understand the financial industry that well, but if I were a fund manager, other people’s money isn’t as pressing as my own. My own money, if lost, is gone, but with others’ money, you earn commissions on gains or losses, at worst if big losses, you lose bonuses, get fired or something. Even if it’s Us’ fund, it wouldn’t just be invested at Us, right? Could also go through personal connections..."

Zhang Yurong was truly stunned; regardless, this should be taken seriously. If Li Yan is wrong, advance precautions won’t cause harm. If he’s right, then it’s crucial!

Liu Yuyang... Until today, she had a good impression of him, never thought he could say such things, have such thoughts. The heart is unpredictable; better be cautious!

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