194: Who exactly is evading taxes?

Netizens took screenshots and re-checked the final figure several times, finally confirming that it really was 2.6 billion.

"Paying 2.6 billion in taxes, little brother, did you start arms trafficking?"

"In that case, how much money did little brother actually earn last year?"

"If I remember correctly, it's only been a year and a half since little brother debuted, right?"

"If I hadn't been a fan of little brother from the start and known that he used to live in abject poverty, I would have suspected he was the heir to a ten-billion-dollar fortune."

"What did he do? To earn so much money!"

Lu Qingyu: "I am a decent, law-abiding businessman."

The Assistant Director had the same reaction as the netizens; he also stared at that string of zeros and counted them several times.

Damn, 2.6 billion. He knew that people in the entertainment industry earned a lot of money; there were many top-tier celebrities whose pay for a single drama could reach over 100 million, but those were top-tier stars who had been struggling in the industry for many years. How many years had Lu Qingyu been struggling?

No, wait, it was as if Lu Qingyu hadn't even started struggling yet.

"Did I see that right? The currently most popular Hot Pot Restaurant Chain is actually little brother's business?"

"This is a major taxpayer."

"Our little brother is just an unremarkable little genius at doing business."

Lu Qingyu: "Every enterprise under my name, and all the remuneration I earned from acting and releasing songs, has been taxed normally, but I can't speak for others."

At ten o'clock, the State Taxation Administration released a message commending good citizens who pay taxes in accordance with the law, and Lu Qingyu was among them.

Originally, the State Taxation Administration did not get involved in entertainment industry affairs, but since yesterday, people had been tagging their official website, asking them to investigate celebrities for tax evasion.

The person bearing the brunt of this was Lu Qingyu, and it was currently rumored online that Lu Qingyu was evading taxes. They knew that many celebrities used various methods to evade taxes, and many could not withstand an investigation.

Therefore, unless necessary, they did not want to speak up for celebrities, but Lu Qingyu had paid so much in taxes, and the accounts of his enterprises and companies were all very clear.

They couldn't help but commend him.

Seeing the State Taxation Administration directly vouch for Lu Qingyu, the haters fell silent, and the fans were ecstatic.

"Did you see that clearly? The news was released by the State Taxation Administration themselves. I'd like to see who is still there splashing dirty water on our little brother."

"Who exactly started this news about little brother evading taxes?"

"Since a law-abiding citizen like little brother was still falsely accused, then who is the one really evading taxes?"

So, who is the one really evading taxes?

Aunt Song didn't expect this matter to blow up so big, because the fire had spread to them.

At 12 o'clock, during the firepower voting, Song Yushuo had his aunt secretly cast 30 million votes for him; he thought that with this, he could directly surpass Lu Qingyu.

When the vote count came out, Song Yushuo was stunned.

He had 140 million, while Lu Qingyu had 208 million votes.

Song Yushuo gripped his phone tightly. What happened? How could it be like this?

As for the subsequent livestream, it went without saying; Song Yushuo was absent-minded, and his livestream became increasingly lackluster, while Lu Qingyu continued to provide high-quality livestream content that everyone loved to watch.

Finally, at 10:00 PM, during the last firepower vote, Song Yushuo had 145 million firepower, while Lu Qingyu had 260 million firepower.

As the winner of this game, Lu Qingyu also received an additional reward of 1 million.

In three days of livestreaming, Lu Qingyu earned 3.6 million, but that wasn't the most important part; the most important part was that he had also boosted the popularity of 20 artists from his company.

It saved the company tens of millions.

When the show ended, Lu Qingyu happily said goodbye to everyone.

After the livestream ended, the production team was nearby, and Lu Qingyu went to greet the director.

"Director, I really like this show of yours."

Director: "Heh, you are the first person to say that."

Lu Qingyu: "Director, if you invite me next time, I might participate again."

Director: "Wait for my heart to recover for a while; I've been a bit overdrawn these past two days."

On the day the show ended, hot search topics online were constant, and the most popular topic was tax evasion.

This topic was the one celebrities least wanted to see; many people felt guilty when they saw this word.

They had originally thought this was an incident targeting only Lu Qingyu, and didn't expect it to burn them as well.

Just as the general public thought, Lu Qingyu was cleared, but what about the other artists?

First, the one most closely associated with Lu Qingyu was Song Yushuo, because they were currently participating in a show together; they had played together, so what was wrong with joining in the commotion?

Everyone reported Song Yushuo's name and then tagged the State Taxation Administration. Song Yushuo had developed so quickly, and his parents were a business celebrity and a famous director respectively. It didn't matter if they didn't know if he was clean or not, they would just report his name.

Thus, the top three comments on the official website of the State Taxation Administration were brought up by everyone: Song Yushuo, Song Yushuo's mother, and Song Yushuo's father.

The tax rate for celebrities in the entertainment industry was very high because they earned a lot, but people were just like that; the more they earned, the more stingy they became. In fact, the State Taxation Administration had long wanted to rectify the entertainment industry, but they had never had the chance.

But now, here came the opportunity!

Since the netizens were so enthusiastic and the public support was so strong, it was time for them to perform.

With such high demand for the top three in the comment section, investigate.

Song's father didn't know yet that his son had caused such a big issue; while he was playing golf with a group of CEOs, he had no idea he had already been targeted.

The accounts on Song's mother's side were even less clear; as a director, she was not only suspected of tax evasion but also suspected of money laundering.

She filmed 18 movies in one year, but only three were released; what about the remaining fifteen?

Song Yushuo was actually cleaner, because everything was shouldered by his parents for him.

An example of a rich second generation screwing over their parents; here came another one.

The long-tail effect brought about by the show lasted for a week. Song Yushuo was investigated, and while nothing happened to him, his parents made it onto the hot search topics.

His father had many listed companies, and because of Song Yushuo, the listed companies' stocks plummeted, causing his father's heart to bleed with the losses.

His director mother was sent to the hot search topics, needing to pay back 200 million in evaded taxes.

In the Song household, the three of them sat in the room, and Song's father pointed at Song Yushuo's head and cursed loudly.

His mother felt sorry for her son, but this time she didn't dare to intervene.

Song's father: "Because of you alone, my company suffered losses of up to 3 billion. I am being held accountable by all the shareholders. How did I give birth to a son like you?"

Song Yushuo: "Isn't it just 3 billion? I'll pay you back later when I act."

Song's father: "You're still thinking about acting? Do you really think these people ask you to act because you have talent?"

"If your mother and I hadn't paid to invest, who would use you? You've implicated us to this extent; go out and see who would still dare to use you now."