It wasn't that his trust in Chen Yan was only this thin. It was because he had bet too much, too much for him to bear comfortably.
So this led to the usually shrewd businessman feeling a bit off balance.
After looking at the stock market for a while, Qin Ming really couldn't bear to watch it anymore.
He took a couple of deep breaths, then turned off his phone screen, hoping for an "out of sight, out of mind" solution. He planned to wait a few days before opening the app again to see if the increase was the four trading limit-ups in four days that Chen Yan had mentioned.
However, his decision lasted less than 3 minutes before it was broken.
The gamble of five million yuan kept him from calming down.
He sneaked a peek at his colleagues, saw no one was paying attention to him, and then secretly opened the stock trading app again.
As expected, the stock was still fluctuating around +1%, neither rising nor falling significantly.
This left him feeling uncomfortable, the stock's performance neither here nor there.
After taking another couple of deep breaths and turning off his phone, Qin Ming rubbed his face and got ready to work.
But as soon as he picked up his mouse, his phone rang.
Qin Ming glanced at it and saw it was a WeChat message.
He picked up his phone and saw it was from his cousin, He Mengxue.
[Have you bought the stock? If you have, let me know. I'd like to keep an eye on it too.]
[Don't worry, I won't make any moves. I just want to see his capability.]
Seeing his cousin's message, Qin Ming slightly furrowed his brow.
Strictly speaking, he shouldn't be sharing this information with outsiders.
But... He Mengxue was after all his cousin, and he had just borrowed three million yuan from her, so... since he had already made his move, even if he told her, there shouldn't be a problem, right?
With that thought, he hesitated for a while and ultimately couldn't make a decision.
In the end, he decided to take a middle-ground approach,
[I'll give you a live feed.]
Saying that, Qin Ming took a screenshot of the current chart, and after erasing the stock name and other information, he sent it to He Mengxue...
...
In He Mengxue's office.
He Mengxue, dressed in a black coat, held a mouse and clicked on the picture Qin Ming had sent.
She stared at the picture on her computer screen in silence for a while.
Then, she dragged the image out and opened the stock trading software, using the chart to search.
Qin Ming's picture didn't have much information. But for a sharp person like He Mengxue, it was enough.
Even though Qin Ming cleverly wiped off even the stock price, He Mengxue just needed to know whether this stock was gaining or losing, and the rough proportion of its gains and losses to narrow down the range.
So, it took less than half an hour for He Mengxue to find this stock.
"Xilin Education?"
Murmuring, she looked at the stock on the screen.
Then, just as she had told Qin Ming, she did not make any other moves, merely adding Xilin Education to her watchlist and pinning the software to the corner of her screen.
She planned to watch this stock in the next few days to see if Chen Yan could truly make money for Qin Ming...
...
While Qin Ming was trading stocks and He Mengxue was spectating,
Mei Li was making a big splash with her promotion of Lu Man.
After coordinating with He Mengxue's secretary today, Mei Li and the secretary flew to Tiandu to sign a one-year endorsement contract with Dior.
After completing the endorsement contract, Mei Li, now holding over a hundred million in cash, hesitated no longer in advertising the matter.
After obtaining Dior's consent, the topic #LuManBecomesDiorBrandAmbassador# dropped like a bomb on all the major websites and platforms, dominating the trending searches.
And close behind were the discussions related to Lu Man.
After the "Lu Man Development Conference," Mei Li had prepared many plans and contingencies for Lu Man's promotion, so now it was incredibly convenient to pull them out.
Topics like #EveryCandidPhotoOfLuManIsAHighFashionShoot#, #IsLuManTheBeautyCeilingOfInnerEntertainment# related to beauty and fashion began to emerge endlessly.
And Mei Li, remembering Lu Man's current requirements for transitioning her image, chose photos accordingly.
No longer releasing overly glamorous photos, but instead showcasing strong, powerful images of a successful woman.
This was her subtle way of reshaping Lu Man's public persona.
In fact, to aid in Lu Man's image transition, she even bought a trending search, #TheBeautyOfEntrepreneurLuMan#.
And her strategy was very effective.
Lu Man's beauty was indeed commendable. Though saying she was the beauty ceiling of Inner Entertainment might be an exaggeration - after all, beauty is subjective - claiming she was top 10 or top 5 was not an overstatement.
So, when her beautiful photos began to circulate, both males and females couldn't help but be attracted to this pretty girl.
Furthermore, with the "blue blood certification" from Dior and multiple trending searches across websites and platforms, a lot of netizens began to notice Lu Man.
Especially since the hit movie "Heartbreak" had just finished its run in cinemas, netizens were in a state where they were somewhat familiar with Lu Man but not overly so.
Thus, Lu Man's current wave of promotion was hitting just the right spot: piquing interest without leading to saturation or annoyance.
Also, with the addition of a high-end fashion brand like Dior: netizens may not differentiate the exact status of celebrities, but they will make comparisons.
The other four Dior brand ambassadors are all A-list stars, so Lu Man... she must be a hugely popular actress of the same caliber, right?
So, with this combined marketing punch, Lu Man's popularity soared...
...
Laypeople thrill to the spectacle, while insiders see the mechanics beneath it.
While netizens were barraged by Lu Man's trending searches and news, waves were also stirring in the vast ocean of the film and entertainment industries.
The traces of hyping a star's popularity and promoting a personality caught the attention of numerous companies and celebrities.
In a small group chat, some friendly A-list and B-list celebrities and executives started a discussion.
"Has Lu Man really signed with Dior? How come there was no buzz before?"
Someone well-informed spoke up, "I just asked an internal source at Dior, and they said it's true. It happened today at noon."
"Really signed, huh? How did she get those resources?"
The same well-informed person replied, "Apparently, it wasn't chosen through Dior's internal process, but personally decided by the regional president."
From the hints provided by this insider, everyone started speculating.
"The regional president made the decision? That's not likely Lu Man's own resource, is it?"
"Definitely not. If Lu Man had that kind of background, she would have been famous long ago."
"Then it's probably someone behind her."
"That Mr. Chen*?"
"Yeah."
Someone who was aware of the various ways Chen Yan had backed his people recently could not help but admire,
"This Xiao Chen is really something. He actually pushed Lu Man into the spotlight."
"With this blue blood brand ambassadorship, Lu Man's upward trajectory is pretty much assured."
A female star said enviously, "Never mind the brand ambassadorship. Just the money thrown into those trending searches is substantial."
"If it were me, I could make it to the A-list too."
...
Regardless, Mei Li's series of maneuvers served another knockout move in the industry.
Chen Yan, without any fanfare, helped Lu Man secure a top-tier fashion endorsement, undoubtedly refreshing everyone's perception of his power!
This also served as another goal of Mei Li's promotional wave: The celebration banquet was next week. If they didn't show some clout now, and too few companies showed up, the ones losing face wouldn't be the Xu brothers, but Chen Yan and Lu Man.
So, her moves were indeed killing two birds with one stone!
...
While Mei Li started to stir the pot according to plan, preparing for the next week's celebration banquet,
Qin Island, Wutong Group.
Qin Ming and He Mengxue were frowning deeply as they stared at their computer screens.
Perhaps because today's stock was the key step in verifying Chen Yan's "mettle," the siblings were continuously watching this stock all day.
Qin Ming had initially intended not to open the app and not to look at the stock for four days.
But in the end, he never lasted more than four minutes...
Even initially, he was sneaking looks on his phone.
But later, he simply hung the stock on a webpage and monitored it continuously.
Fortunately for him, he was He Ruifeng's nephew, so no one in the company bothered him too much about his apparent negligence.
And He Mengxue was much the same.
Even as a typically strong woman, today she too glanced frequently at the top-left corner of her screen to check the stock's chart.
But... regardless of how intently the siblings watched
The stock seemed to be immobilized, barely budging.
It started by fluctuating at the +1% mark.
But later, it lowered to fluctuating around the +0.5% mark.
Mysteriously, as if held by a string, the stock kept fluctuating, but never dipped below -0.3%.
Meaning, Qin Ming was still in profit...
But... this wasn't enough to satisfy Qin Ming!
He hadn't taken his savings out over these years at no cost: most of his money was in funds or fixed deposits, and withdrawing early incurred significant fees, penalties, and lost interest.
And besides, he hadn't taken out this much money just to earn one or two percentage points of profit. He was aiming for the 46% that Chen Yan had mentioned!
Qin Ming vividly remembered Chen Yan telling him that this stock would hit the trading limit-up on four consecutive days.
But...
Qin Ming looked at the clock.
It was already 2:20 p.m., with only 40 minutes until the market closed.
Why hadn't it hit the trading limit yet?!
Qin Ming really began to feel restless.
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