Chapter 588 The Joy of a Tycoon

By evening, the sky had completely darkened.

In two MPV minivans, the agents and assistants waited wearily for their respective artists to finish their auditions.

The other artists had finished their auditions and left in their vans long ago.

But Wang Ou and Hu Jing were still inside, their audition process dragging on.

Although the agents and assistants from both sides had their suspicions, they didn’t dare to speculate wildly.

DING~

When her phone rang, Wang Ou’s agent, Chen Lu, jolted and quickly swiped the green icon to answer.

“Sister Ou, are you done with the audition?”

“Yes. Drive the car directly to the underground garage here at the South Tower.”

“Your voice?”

“During the vocal performance part of the audition, I had to sing quite a few songs. Be careful. Don’t let anyone get a picture of me.”

“Okay, Sister Ou, don’t worry.”

Chen Lu didn’t have the heart to burst Wang Ou’s bubble.

‘The entertainment industry moves so fast these days. What paparazzi would even bother taking her picture for gossip?’

“Old Wang, head to the South Tower’s underground garage.”

Chen Lu instructed the driver, her heart pounding with uncertainty.

She wondered if Wang Ou had managed to seize this opportunity.

After the car had been parked for a while, a figure stumbled and pulled open the door.

“Sister Ou?”

Chen Lu was startled and quickly helped Wang Ou into the car.

“Your black stockings?”

Chen Lu remembered Wang Ou had specifically worn black stockings, but now they were gone.

“They got a run while I was dancing, so I just took them off.”

Wang Ou explained casually, not planning to reveal the details of her deal with Qi Sheng.

“Get me a bottle of water.”

Wang Ou’s throat was terribly dry.

Anyone who had been straining their vocal cords all day would be in the same boat.

“Here you go, Sister Ou.”

Chen Lu took out a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Wang Ou, noticing her expression was a bit strange.

She even gestured with her hand, sizing up the bottle’s length and width, before twisting off the cap with a hint of disdain.

“Hmm???”

Chen Lu was completely bewildered. She felt like Wang Ou was on some next-level shit.

“Sister Ou, how did your audition go today?”

“It was alright.”

A smile spread across Wang Ou’s face as she nodded, clearly in a very good mood.

“So, does that mean you’ve locked in a spot in the final group?”

Chen Lu pressed on, her eyes gleaming with excitement.

“What do you think?”

Wang Ou shot Chen Lu a look, unable to stop herself from complaining internally.

‘This new agent of mine really is unreliable.’

It wasn’t that she hadn’t hinted to Qi Sheng that she was ready to switch agencies at any time.

But Qi Sheng didn’t take the bait at all. He was just focused on pounding her and Hu Jing mercilessly.

Fortunately, her efforts weren’t in vain. A debut spot had already been reserved for her.

Calling it a “debut” was more of an unspoken status. It meant she would get more screen time.

Thinking about the popularity of Sister Lang 1, Wang Ou’s mood soared.

Her chance to make a comeback was right in front of her. How could she not be happy?

“That’s great! After you’re on Sister Lang and your popularity spikes, you might be able to land some good scripts and even surpass Yang Mi.”

The moment she finished, Chen Lu realized she had misspoken and quickly tried to backtrack awkwardly.

“Sister Ou, as long as we can latch onto Xingchen Video, we might even get a chance to be in one of their original series later on.”

“Don’t worry. I’ve been in this business for many years. Whatever you can think of, I’ve naturally thought of it too.”

Of course, Wang Ou had the same thought, but she still felt a little uneasy.

‘If Qi Sheng really thought highly of me, he should have just signed me directly.’

But right up until they left, Qi Sheng hadn’t breathed a word about it.

‘What a classic hit-it-and-quit-it bastard.’

…

Just as Wang Ou suspected, Qi Sheng really didn’t think much of the two of them.

In fact, Qi Sheng even felt like he had gotten the short end of the stick.

Still, they were, after all, two actresses he had been a fan of.

He could consider it a dream come true, in a way.

As for the resources he’d given them, that was nothing more than a word from him.

But for Wang Ou and Hu Jing, it was enough to change the course of their careers for the next few years.

This was the allure of power!

Any actress he wanted to sleep with would obediently offer herself to him.

Unless, of course, she no longer wanted a career in the industry.

Otherwise, no one would be stupid enough to offend Qi Sheng.

Today, Shengxuan Group owned the streaming platform Xingchen Video, a theater chain composed of hundreds of Xingyi Cinemas, and the film production company Universal Entertainment.

From production to distribution, to broadcasting and promotion, it formed a complete, vertically integrated ecosystem.

It was like a great mountain pressing down on the heads of countless artists.

But this was not enough.

Xingchen Video was still a long way from growing into one of the top three platforms.

Qi Sheng wasn’t in a hurry. His current power alone was enough to make those celebrities treat him with fear and reverence.

Once he acquired Weibo and established a short-video platform, then he would possess truly overwhelming power.

…

The first fund of Jinshi Capital was sized at 1 billion US dollars.

It had invested in several high-potential unicorn companies, such as Spicy King, Zhuangyu Catering, Banyan Tree Group, and Pop Mart.

Admittedly, most of these were companies under Qi Sheng’s name.

But the value of the shares held by Jinshi Capital was constantly skyrocketing, a fact no one could deny.

Without this connection, it was questionable whether Jinshi Capital could have even gotten in on the deals.

Currently, the return on investment for Jinshi Capital’s first fund was already frighteningly high, reaching an astonishing 273%.

And it had achieved such an exaggerated ROI after just one year.

For many of the investors, nothing was more convincing than a straightforward track record.

The investment in Spicy King was a prime example, with its valuation multiplying by five times.

But the most profitable project was still Pop Mart.

Although Pop Mart was quite inconspicuous among the many companies under Qi Sheng’s name, the fact remained that its valuation at the time of acquisition was extremely low—less than 300 million US dollars.