Heartthrob, Your Image is Crumbling!

Chapter 593: The Whole Thing Is Very Strange

In 2015, although Zhou Yuwen had entered the short video market early, compared to the internet boom of e-commerce and electronic payments, the short video sector was barely worth mentioning.It could be said that in 2015, the internet industry was truly at the forefront of a trend where even a pig could fly if it stood in the right place. That year, Taobao became the world's largest e-commerce platform, and Boss Ma ascended to the throne of the richest man. The B2B concept connected all walks of life. Every industry began to emphasize online payments and offline consumption. Even foot massages could be ordered online, with technicians sent directly to one's home.

Furthermore, there were food delivery services, Didi ride-hailing, and the tourism sector.

In short, all sorts of businesses were moving online; basically, anything that could be digitized was digitized.

While Zhou Yuwen appeared to be solely focused on the short video market domestically that year, his overseas financial institution had long gathered substantial capital. Under Zhou Yuwen's command, they gradually infiltrated various industries.

As of now, the companies that had accepted Zhou Yuwen's investments did not even know he was the man standing behind this foreign institution.

They only knew that there was a foreign investment company with massive capital, bringing no less than a hundred billion in funds, focusing exclusively on the Asian market.

Companies that would later achieve highly successful public listings, such as Bilibili, Ctrip, Pinduoduo, and even ByteDance, had all secretly received investments from Zhou Yuwen behind the scenes.

Because Zhou Yuwen's overseas institution was exceedingly active in investing in these internet companies, never hesitating to throw money around, and clearly stating they would not interfere in management, these emerging startups absolutely loved them. They even fought tooth and nail to win the favor of this investment firm.

Whenever the firm showed interest in a company, they would be received with the highest standard of hospitality during their visits.

Therefore, despite the bustling internet market, Zhou Yuwen was not in a hurry at all.

He continued to focus on his current path. Douyin had already been pushed into the top three across the entire internet by Zhou Yuwen, and he also controlled the largest MCN internet celebrity incubation agency online.

Relying on his current influence, Zhou Yuwen even partnered with several short video companies to establish an Internet Artists Association. The goal was to ensure that no matter how popular an internet celebrity or guild became in the future, they would all be bound by the association, thereby monopolizing the entire influencer market.

By August, Zhou Yuwen's endeavors had basically taken shape. The future was uncertain, but for now, any internet celebrity who wanted to make money had to rely on Zhou Yuwen to earn their daily bread.

Over the course of a single month, Zhou Yuwen met with an unknown number of internet celebrities, including many who would become massive stars in the future. He met countless influencers famous solely for their good looks and figures.

On the internet, these supposed goddesses appeared completely unattainable.

However, when facing Zhou Yuwen in reality, they were eager to climb into his bed just to secure a little more traffic and popularity for themselves.

To be honest, once these internet celebrities stepped away from the beauty filters on their phones, Zhou Yuwen truly looked down on them. Without filters, they looked like goblins, completely out of place in Zhou Yuwen's circle.

These days, Zhou Yuwen's daily routine consisted of spending some time at the company, attending dinners with promising companies that invited him, and otherwise playing golf or engaging in other leisure activities.

The city of Jinling could be considered vast, yet it was also remarkably small. The number of people truly worth talking to was quite limited.

Take Zhu Hong from Meituan's East Region, for example. She was someone Zhou Yuwen had known relatively early on. Who would have thought that after just over a year, their respective statuses would undergo such earth-shattering changes?

A year ago, backed by Meituan, she was one of the top-ranking beautiful female executives in Jinling.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yuwen was just a university student who had good luck and started a food delivery company.

A year later, although Zhu Hong had been promoted within Meituan, she was ultimately an outsider and not fully accepted by the local business community in Jinling.

Zhou Yuwen, on the other hand, was now considered a representative figure in the Jinling business community. Not only did he maintain close relationships with officials, but he also held massive amounts of capital.

Zhu Hong had always recognized Zhou Yuwen's potential, so the two maintained a friendly relationship.

In their free time, they would occasionally play sports together.

Now, Zhu Hong had introduced Zhou Yuwen to a much fresher sport.

Fencing.

Fencing seemed simple to a layman, but once someone actually tried it, they would realize it heavily tested an individual's stamina and reflexes. When Zhou Yuwen first started, he assumed that with his abilities, he would master it effortlessly. Yet, after a few rounds with Zhu Hong, he surprisingly failed to land a single hit on her.

This piqued Zhou Yuwen's interest. Over the next few matches, he quickly grasped the patterns. Now, not only were his movements full of elegance, but he could easily toy with Zhu Hong before piercing her vital spots in the blink of an eye.

When Zhu Hong took off her mask, she was already drenched in fragrant sweat. She shook her head and declared, "I am not playing anymore. I simply cannot beat you. Your athletic ability is completely abnormal. You have barely been playing for any time at all, yet you are already at the level of a professional athlete."

Zhu Hong was speaking from the heart, though Zhou Yuwen was still left wanting more. Indeed, Zhu Hong's skill level was too poor; Zhou Yuwen simply wasn't satisfied.

The kind of fencing he wanted to play would probably involve real swords in actual combat, and even then, Zhou Yuwen wouldn't fare badly.

People often said that the peak of human physical performance was found in an eighteen or nineteen-year-old young man, after which things slowly went downhill. Zhou Yuwen was about to turn twenty, so logically speaking, his physical condition should have begun its gradual decline.

However, Zhou Yuwen could clearly feel that his current body still possessed endless energy. No matter what he tried, he could learn it instantly and master it shortly after.

He had hired professional bodyguards a few months ago. While interacting with them daily, he would sometimes test his own combat level against theirs.

At first, he merely sparred with one bodyguard.

Later on, he fought one against six, and those six men struggled tremendously to hold him back.

It could be said that unless he encountered someone exceptionally freakish, Zhou Yuwen was basically an invincible existence.

After taking off the bulky fencing suit, Zhu Hong could not help but tease Zhou Yuwen, mentioning how difficult it was to even get a meeting with him these days.

"An outstanding young entrepreneur of Jinling, with a personal net worth exceeding ten billion, you are quite the superstar. We knew each other fairly early on, so now that you are so well-developed, you must remember to help out your older sister."

Having removed the fencing gear, Zhu Hong wore only a black one-piece bodysuit, fully displaying her excellent figure. Her big waves hairstyle perfectly complemented her striking red lips.

She presented the perfect image of a mature, commanding woman.

Zhou Yuwen, however, appeared extremely calm. He took a sip of mineral water and replied, "Does Sister Zhu still need my help? Meituan just completed its Series D financing last month, totaling seven hundred million dollars, and its valuation has exceeded seven billion dollars."

"Compared to Meituan, my small amount of wealth is nothing but petty cash," Zhou Yuwen said.

Zhu Hong's voice was gentle as she laughed, "No matter how much wealth there is, it ultimately belongs to someone else. At best, I am just an employee. If we are really comparing, I truly fall short of you."

"You cannot put it like that. Sister Zhu, you took the position of President of the East Region before you even turned thirty. In a few years, becoming the CEO of the group is not impossible. By then, throwing around seven billion dollars will be a casual matter for you. As your younger brother, I could not possibly compare to you," Zhou Yuwen flattered her.

Zhu Hong simply chuckled, stating that it was impossible for Meituan to let a woman take the helm.

Furthermore, she was not part of the founder's inner circle.

How could she possibly enter their core group?

Regarding this topic, Zhou Yuwen did not offer any comments; he merely took another sip of water.

Speaking of financing, Zhu Hong remembered something. For last month's Series D funding, Meituan had actually chosen between Tencent and Alibaba. In the end, Tencent took the lead and became a major shareholder in Meituan.

However, beneath that surface, there was a very obscure foreign investment company that had also participated in the funding, acquiring nearly a one percent share in the Series D round.

A one percent share of Meituan was by no means small.

So Zhu Hong mentioned that since Zhou Yuwen had previously mingled on Wall Street, she wondered if he had heard of this investment company.

Zhou Yuwen replied that there were countless foreign investment firms, so how could he possibly have heard of every single one?

Seeing Zhou Yuwen's expression remain entirely unchanged.

Zhu Hong could not help but smile. She said, "Oh? Is that so? I remember Wanting seemed to have gone to work for a foreign investment firm. Strangely enough, the controlling shareholder of the company that invested in our Meituan happens to share Wanting's English name. Tell me, do you think there could be any connection between the two?"

After saying this, Zhu Hong continued to stare at Zhou Yuwen with a smiling gaze.

Yet Zhou Yuwen merely responded, "I do not quite understand what you are implying, Sister Zhu. It is getting late, and I probably need to leave now."

Zhou Yuwen checked the time; it indeed wasn't early anymore. He was supposed to have dinner at Zheng Yanyan and Lu Lin's place today, so after a brief farewell to Zhu Hong, he prepared to leave.

Zhu Hong simply watched Zhou Yuwen's retreating back, maintaining her silent smile.

She called out to Zhou Yuwen, expressing that she was just an employee. She had no desire to pry into the convoluted affairs of the upper echelon.

"But I still need to know who my true boss is. Finding out sooner means I can latch onto those thighs better, wouldn't you agree, Mr. Zhou?"

Zhu Hong shouted this toward Zhou Yuwen's back.

Zhou Yuwen ignored her words, merely offering a faint smile as he kept walking.

This woman, Zhu Hong, was extremely intelligent. She would not achieve any massive breakthroughs by staying at Meituan.

Since Zhou Yuwen was currently in need of capable talent, she was someone he could genuinely consider recruiting.

After changing his clothes, he had his driver take him to the big flat.

Usually, when Zhou Yuwen arrived here, Lu Lin and Zheng Yanyan would have already prepared dinner and been waiting for him.

Today, however, when Zhou Yuwen walked in, it was unusually quiet.

Only Zheng Yanyan was in the house, sitting distressed at the dining table with a pale face.

Seeing Zhou Yuwen approach, she hesitated for a moment, looking as if she wanted to speak but stopped herself.

Noticing her panicked demeanor, Zhou Yuwen could not help but feel curious. "Why are you the only one here? Where is Linlin? Aren't you two always inseparable?"

At this moment, Zheng Yanyan suddenly threw herself into Zhou Yuwen's arms and burst into tears.

Bewildered, Zhou Yuwen watched as Zheng Yanyan handed him an envelope.

Zhou Yuwen opened it, only to find a ransom note printed from a computer.

Upon reading the letter, Zhou Yuwen was genuinely stunned for a second.

This was something he had never expected to happen.

Lu Lin had actually been kidnapped.

Moreover, the message was explicitly clear. The kidnapper stated that they knew Lu Lin was Zhou Yuwen's woman.

If he didn't want anything to happen to her, he needed to prepare thirty million!

Zhou Yuwen was only allowed to deliver the money entirely alone!

If even one extra person tagged along, they would kill the hostage!

Boss Zhou had always been quite the romantic.

They just wondered if Boss Zhou was genuinely romantic, or if he was simply coaxing these girls for fun.

They wondered if this Miss Lu was truly worth thirty million!

Along with the ransom note, there was a photograph of a bound Lu Lin.

Zheng Yanyan had been the first to discover this ransom letter. To be honest, upon seeing it, her mind went completely blank, yet her first thought had not been to discuss it with Zhou Yuwen.

Astonishingly, her very first instinct was to send it to their WeChat group chat—the one titled Zhou Yuwen's Harem, which included Su Qing, Tao Tian, Shen Yu, and others.

Basically, as long as someone was Zhou Yuwen's woman, they would be pulled into that group.

Usually, everyone would spend time chatting in there. Of course, Zheng Yanyan would occasionally use it to show off certain things.

Now that Lu Lin had been bafflingly kidnapped without rhyme or reason, Zheng Yanyan was temporarily at a loss for what to do. She had even asked in the group chat whether or not they should inform Zhou Yuwen about the situation.

This incident plunged everyone into a stunned silence.

Thirty million?

Truth be told, everyone suddenly wanted to know whether or not Zhou Yuwen would actually cough up those thirty million.

Aside from a few women who weren't currently in Jinling, others like Tao Tian, Shen Yu, and Li Shiqi rushed over to the big flat immediately.

The atmosphere at this moment was undeniably heavy.

None of them had ever imagined a kidnapping would occur.

Zhou Yuwen had previously assigned bodyguards to protect them.

However, news came from Liu Shuo that the bodyguard responsible for secretly protecting Lu Lin had unexpectedly lost contact as well.

This indicated that the opposition was incredibly well-prepared, fully capable of silently neutralizing a professional security guard.

That meant they were dealing with experts.

At this moment, everyone was gathered in the big flat, completely unsure of what their next step should be.

Just as everyone remained mired in silence.

Tao Tian was the first to speak up.

She suggested that the most secure method was to call the police.

"We have never experienced anything like this before, nor do we know how to handle it. We should trust the police."

"We cannot call the police! They said they will kill her if we alert the cops!" Zheng Yanyan had the closest relationship with Lu Lin, and right now, she was genuinely terrified for her friend's safety.

However, Tao Tian had her own considerations for suggesting it.

She knew there were certain things that were inconvenient for Zhou Yuwen to say out loud. She had to prioritize Zhou Yuwen's best interests above all else.

Thirty million in exchange for a single woman—was it really worth it?

Tao Tian pointed out that it was already very late, and it was simply impossible to scrape together thirty million in cash on such short notice.

Furthermore, even if they attempted to withdraw thirty million, the bank would undoubtedly interrogate them about its purpose, which would inevitably alert the police anyway.

"We don't want it to be like this either, but there really is no other way. I think Yuwen feels the same." Tao Tian was effectively giving Zhou Yuwen a graceful way out, looking toward him after she finished speaking.

Zheng Yanyan and the other women also turned their gazes to Zhou Yuwen.

Zhou Yuwen remained somewhat silent regarding this. It wasn't that he didn't want to save Lu Lin, but he simply felt that the entire situation was rather odd.

Far too strange.

If they were going to kidnap someone, grabbing Zheng Yanyan would have felt like a matter of course to him.

After all, she was incredibly flashy and prone to showing off.

But Lu Lin rarely even walked alongside him in public.

Yet, the kidnappers straight up declared that she was his woman and deliberately targeted her.

It truly was entirely baffling and without rhyme or reason.

"Zhou Yuwen," Zheng Yanyan called out, growing anxious as she saw his continued silence.

Zhou Yuwen finally spoke up. "Withdrawing thirty million in cash is impossible right now. Didn't we bring back some gemstones from the United States earlier? Yanyan, go and fetch that gemstone."