NOVPUB
Chapter 1127: Chapter 986: Ongoing Fermentation
The content of the article wasn’t lengthy.
Or should I say... it was concise.
"Comet Group, established for just over a year, has made an unmatched debut in the global movie market, opening the doors for Huaxia’s science fiction to the world, earning critical acclaim, and amassing a vast amount of wealth."
"Just this year alone, Comet Group, with its two ’Civilization’ movies, has garnered a box office revenue exceeding twenty billion RMB, surpassing the total box office of all other Huaxia movies this year."
"And this rising giant in the film and television empire is helmed by none other than a second-year university student, aged just twenty, who owns sixty-six percent of Comet Group’s stocks. His name is—Tang Qing."
That’s it.
The article ended there.
Leaving the readers craving for more.
The source of the news was a report from Sina Finance, by a former paparazzo-turned-editor—Rong Ying—whom Tang Qing knew who had recently switched over to Sina. With the Hurun list scheduled to be released in a few days, she knew Tang Qing would surely make the list.
Thus,
last night, Rong Ying had called to seek Tang Qing’s opinion, hoping to break the news and get ahead.
Tang Qing thought about it and agreed.
It wasn’t a big deal after all.
However,
the number of people visiting the Sina website was relatively small compared to the total number of netizens, so after this news was published, many shared the link across Penguin groups, blogs, Baidu Tieba, and other sites.
Clickbait.
Sometimes you have to admit, titles like ’Why did the sow scream at midnight?’ pique people’s curiosity.
One click.
Read the content.
Those who read it were a bit confused, today wasn’t April Fools’ Day. Comet Group, the most profitable company in the Huaxia film industry, bar none.
And the boss is a university student.
Are you kidding?
But,
this was officially released by Sina Finance, and it was also pinned and highlighted in red.
It couldn’t be fake.
And it seemed the comments below the news couldn’t be fake either.
"Fake news? That’s impossible."
"Exactly, the editor should have verified before posting. Not even twenty years old, are you kidding me? Are you using this news to tell me I’ve lived my life as a dog? Sina Finance has fallen too."
"I don’t believe it."
"Well... I think it’s possible, the chief editor of Sina probably hasn’t gone mad."
Apart from the skeptics.
There were also some different voices.
"I’m an employee at Comet Group, and this news is absolutely true. Our boss is both handsome and young, everyone calls him Boss Tang, although he rarely comes to the company, I don’t know if he’s still a student."
"I’m also an employee of Comet Group, I don’t know much, but our boss is indeed very young and his surname is Tang."
"The person above is correct."
"..."
Comet Group.
After all, it is partly an Internet company.
With many employees who loved to surf the web.
Very soon,
many of Tang Qing’s employees started leaving comments online.
"I have another scoop, besides Comet Group, Sheng Tang Group and Tianyan Group are also owned by our chairman, haha, Boss Tang is mighty."
"I also know that besides these two or three groups, our Boss Tang also dabbles in security, energy, and minerals, I just forgot the names, I saw him earlier this year at the annual meeting."
"Top comment, I’m a designer at Sheng Tang Group, our chairman is indeed called Tang Qing, and he’s a very handsome young man, but unfortunately, it’s hard to meet him, he barely visits twice a year."
"..."
Boss Tang had previously unveiled his business layout to thousands of people at the annual meeting.
Many remembered.
Now,
the netizens exploded.
"Really?"
"... I guess I’ve really lived like a dog."
"Who has his photo? I want to curse him."
"Continue pretending, I’ll just believe your nonsense, okay?"
"The person above has a way with words."
"Handsome? Is he more handsome than me?"
"..."
In a certain university’s Penguin group.
"Did you guys hear? The chairman of Comet Group is also a university student, just like us."
"Today is not April Fools’ Day."
"It’s true, it’s spread everywhere, Sina has posted news about it, debates are all over the place, and I have inside information, he’s not only young but also very handsome, I swear I’m not lying, my cousin at Comet Group told me."
"You hopeless romantic, do you have a photo?"
"No, I searched everywhere online, couldn’t find any photo of Tang Qing, so many people are asking for his photo, even my cousin doesn’t have one, I heard he visits the company only a few times each year."
"Did you say his name is Tang Qing?"
"Yes, why?"
"Nothing, I just have a classmate named Tang Qing, he was the national top scorer last year."
"Pfft, probably just a coincidence. Right now, no one knows where that Tang Qing is from. I’m going to check if there are any new updates."
"..."
...
Comet Group.
Headquarters.
Although it was already dark, there were still people on duty.
"Come quick, our chairman has become famous." A spirited call broke the sense of calm in the bright office.
Hearing about their suddenly famous chairman,
they quickly gathered around.
"Where? Let me see, what the—there are no pictures, just a textual description. I really want a photo of our chairman to put under my pillow, to see him every day..."
"Go away, the chairman is mine, don’t you dare fantasize."
"..."
The few male colleagues around exchanged looks; women are truly incomprehensible creatures. It’s clearly impossible, yet they still daydream and go crazy like fans. Forget it, can’t deal with these fangirls.
"Alright, stop looking and get back to work," the duty manager put an end to this unproductive behavior during overtime.
"Oh..."
Everyone returned to their posts.
However.
Despite this.
Their minds were still caught up with more and more exposés; few people from Comet Group attended the last annual meeting. Only some management staff went, while employees at the lower levels in Shanghai didn’t.
There were also many new additions.
All were clearly distracted.
"Alright, if there’s nothing else, you can go online." Seeing everyone’s minds were elsewhere, the manager, itching to join in, let them be unproductive for a while, as long as it didn’t affect their work.
Especially when it involved the chairman.
"Fantastic."
"Long live the manager."
"Let me see, wow... Someone actually called our Boss Tang a kept man, that’s outrageous, I can’t stand this, girls, let’s tear them apart..."
"Come here... How dare they slander our chairman, you’re going to pay..."
"Little brats..."
"..."
The male employees quietly shut their mouths.
"You guys too, hurry up and join in cursing this bastard." Not just a bystander anymore, the female colleague next to them immediately dragged them in.
"..."
Disbelief.
Contempt.
Shock.
Exposé.
Slander.
Internet.
It’s always a place of controversy. Even with positive news, there will always be people leaping out to grab attention, recklessly expressing opinions from behind a screen, and then laughing at others being verbally and textually attacked.
People lacking presence.
This is how they find confidence.
Tang Qing watched for a while.
Then lost interest.
Until now, no one had called him, because those who should know, actually did. Those who didn’t, didn’t have his number, thus Tang Qing’s phone remained undisturbed.
In the living room.
"Tang Qing, a piece of news just got forwarded in our class group chat. It said that your identity as the chairman was exposed, and everyone in the group is having a heated discussion, haha, quite amusing. Don’t you want to come forward and comment?"
Wang Yan took out her mobile phone, hearing the continuous beep sounds.
"No, there’s nothing much to say. Everyone will know when it’s time," Tang Qing shook his head.
"Okay, I’ll close it then."
Tang Qing was uninterested, and Wang Yan immediately lost interest in the chat group, turned off Tencent, put down her phone, and joined Tang Qing in watching a TV show, which was broadcasting an old movie—Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils.
Tang Qing calmly watched TV.
The online commotion continued until early morning.
The next day.
Early in the morning.
It was Rong Ying again.
She once again exposed that Sheng Tang and Tianyan Group, under Tang Qing’s name, clearly stated that they had the same owner—Tang Qing. This news also provided a conclusion to last night’s debates.
As soon as this news was released.
It caused a stir again.
Unexpectedly, just as many netizens had said, these companies all belonged to the same person. Everyone became even more curious about Tang Qing’s identity, eagerly asking for his details in the comments.
...
At Sina Headquarters.
Seeing the fervor.
The News Department manager called Rong Ying to the office. 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙥𝙪𝙗.𝒄𝙤𝙢
"Rong Ying, the coverage was good this time, but it’s a pity, Tang didn’t let us report his personal details directly." The manager of the news department expressed regret. Technically, the media has some ’professional ethics’.
And ’speaking power’.
But that depends on whom.
Facing Tang Qing.
They dared not report carelessly, otherwise, a good source of news in the future might be cut off. As the leading online news media, once Tang Qing disliked them, it would be very problematic.
Not to mention the distant issues.
Recently.
Comet video already had a news channel.
But it mainly focused on video news broadcasting. Once Tang Qing became unhappy, and also launched a news website, then it would be a loss-making deal. There’s no need to cause trouble for a single article of news, especially since Rong Ying knew Tang Qing personally, that was enough.
Thus, Tang Qing’s words still held deterrent power over Sina.
Following Sina.
Tencent.
Sohu.
NetEase and other portal sites also forwarded this news.
The reach was growing wider.
Since Tang Qing didn’t come forward to speak.
Print media and TV media couldn’t keep up, otherwise, a news item, plain and dry with no accompanying images, what would be shown on TV? They were all wondering why there was no photo of Tang Qing to be found online.
Public opinion continued to ferment.
Until.
On the evening of October 6th.
Qingyan City TV.
The first to report Tang Qing’s ’glorious history’ as an outstanding entrepreneur of Qingyan City on TV media and Tang Qing, for the first time... had a clear photo released.
This was taken last year when he was awarded a certificate, posing with the mayor of Qingyan City.
