Huayu: It's normal for me, as a director, to mentor young actresses, right?

Chapter 19 Would you feel sad if you stepped on an ant?

Lin Yu and his second brother exchanged a glance.

Lin Yu was all too familiar with the expression on his second brother's face, which gleamed with a sharp light and the corners of his mouth turned up.

He always looked this excited whenever his grandfather whipped him with a belt.

Just as Lin Yu was about to speak, Nazha took his hand first.

"Sister Cai." Nazha looked up at Cai Yinong, her voice calm: "I really want to become a star, and I'm very grateful to the company for giving me this opportunity."

She paused, then her tone became firm, "But I cannot sign this contract."

Cai Yinong's face darkened. She stared at Nazha, then slowly leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

"Do you know what you're saying?" Her voice turned cold, as if she were a completely different person. "If you don't sign, the company can't guarantee that some inappropriate behind-the-scenes information won't be leaked."

She paused deliberately when she said the word "behind the scenes".

"You don't want to be ruined by some scandals, do you?"

An amateur who hasn't even signed with Sugarman yet gets to play the third female lead in a Sugarman drama, alongside Hu Ge, Liu Shishi, and Tang Yan, the company must have a backup plan.

Do you really think these film and television companies are doing charity work?

Whether it's misalignment or editing, as long as the sugar man wants, he can create a "behind-the-scenes" segment anytime.

With the addition of a massive online army, even fake news can become real.

Naza looked at Cai Yinong in disbelief.

Her hand trembled slightly as she held Lin Yu's. She clearly hadn't expected that the person who had spoken so kindly and cared for her before would suddenly reveal such a fierce fang.

Lin Yu looked at the somewhat panicked Nazha and shook his head. The young girl was naive and still harbored beautiful fantasies about the entertainment industry.

So many artists in later generations risked being sidelined and leaving the industry just to terminate their contracts with Sugar Man. Who would believe that Sugar Man was running a charitable organization?

One or two could be considered a coincidence, but when someone with a bit of fame wants to terminate their contract, it's hard to say.

Although I arrived a little early for today's lesson, it's good to broaden my horizons.

He released Nazha's hand and slowly began to clap his hands.

"Slap, slap, slap."

Applause broke the silence in the conference room.

"Brilliant!" Lin Yu laughed. "Absolutely brilliant!"

He turned to his second brother and said, "I told you we shouldn't wear clothes without any logos. Next time you order clothes, remember to have Hongdu embroider the tags on them. That way, people won't not recognize them."

The second brother smiled and nodded, without saying anything.

Cai Yinong was taken aback. Hongdu? What kind of brand is that? As someone who's been in the entertainment industry for years, he'd never heard of it.

Seeing Cai Yinong's expression, Lin Yu cursed inwardly: "Trying to fool a blind man. These bumpkins from Hong Kong don't know anything."

Lin Yu looked away, the smile still on his face, but his eyes had turned cold.

"President Cai, your methods are quite 'sophisticated'." His voice was calm. "How many people have you ruined with this move?"

Seeing Lin Yu's expression, Cai Yinong suddenly laughed.

She'd seen plenty of people who bluffed like that; in the end, they all obediently gave in and signed the contract.

A truly capable person wouldn't sit here wasting their breath talking to her.

"Mr. Lin, that's going too far," Cai Yinong said, resuming his professional fake smile.

She paused, her tone laced with the arrogance of a Hong Kong-accented Mandarin, "We hired a publicity company to help the artist increase their popularity, but the results were unsatisfactory. How can that be considered 'ruining' the artist?"

"Your sophistry is superb." Lin Yu nodded. "No wonder you're CEO Cai."

He paused, leaned forward slightly, and looked directly into Cai Yinong's eyes.

"Let me tell you what your company will encounter next."

Cai Yinong raised an eyebrow, his face conveying an expression that said, "You speak, I'm listening."

"Tomorrow, October 23rd," Lin Yu slowed his speech, "the tax inspection team will be stationed directly at your headquarters in Shanghai."

"Oh, no, tomorrow is Sunday, the tax department is closed." Lin Yu shook his head. "But it's okay, they'll definitely be 'happy' to work overtime for you guys."

Cai Yinong's smile froze for a moment.

"Of course, I believe your company is definitely not 'evading taxes'." Lin Yu smiled and put his finger in quotation marks.

Gong Xin dropped the pen from her hand onto the table without even noticing.

"After that, it's fire safety," Lin Yu continued, his tone relaxed. "They will thoroughly inspect every office space and every photography studio in your company. You know, fire safety is always an important issue."

"And another thing," Lin Yu tapped his fingers on the conference table, "the 100 million yuan credit line endorsed by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Radio and Television will enter the review stage. Every step of the approval process and every flow of this money must be reasonable, legal, and compliant."

He paused here, looking into Cai Yinong's eyes.

"Finally," Lin Yu lowered his voice, "every artist in your company will request to terminate their contract."

"Note that I said every single one of them. Including your company's so-called top artists."

Upon hearing this, Cai Yinong genuinely felt that the young man opposite him had some mental issues.

The self-produced TV series "Scarlet Heart" by Sugar Man has just aired and is extremely popular.

The company also has many top celebrities such as Hu Ge and Liu Shishi.

He even made it sound like major IPs like the Legend of Sword and Fairy were on the verge of extinction.

"Mr. Lin," she said, her eyes filled with sarcasm, "do you think you can cripple Tangren by simply making up a few baseless threats or fabricating accusations?"

She stood up, placed her hands on the table, and stared at Lin Yu: "You're really too naive."

Lin Yu didn't speak, but just quietly looked at Cai Yinong, as if he were watching a joke.

For some reason, these people from Hong Kong always have a strange arrogance about them.

He wants to make money in the mainland but doesn't want to lower his standards. It's really giving him too much face.

He turned to look at Uncle Wang.

Wang Liming had already closed his laptop and looked very happy, but the smile on his face was still restrained.

It seems I don't need to worry about my little apprentice's first battle.

Lin Yu looked at his second brother again.

His second brother smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

Lin Yu knew that the matter had been explained, so he looked at Cai Yinong again with a gentle smile, as if they were having a casual chat.

"President Cai, you've misunderstood." Lin Yu leaned back in his chair. "I never speak without a reason."

"First, there's the tax audit. You can call to confirm; the notification letter should have already been sent to your company's finance department."

She looked at her two legal counsel with a mixture of belief and skepticism.

The older legal counsel hesitated for a moment, then took his phone and left the meeting room.

He returned shortly afterward and whispered something in Cai Yinong's ear.

Cai Yinong's smile froze.

"Mr. Cai, the tax bureau called. They said it's a routine audit and they need to review the financial data from the past five years."