41: Chapter 41 The Counterattack of Capital
The day JOY TV's ratings quintupled, Lin Feng received a call.
It wasn't from David Chen.
It was an unknown number, showing it was from Wall Street.
Lin Feng stared at the screen for three seconds, then answered.
"Hello?"
On the other end was a middle-aged man's voice, calm, polite, and bearing a hint of condescension:
"Mr. Lin, congratulations. JOY TV is doing quite well."
Lin Feng, with a straw in his mouth, was squatting at the shop entrance:
"Thanks. Who are you?"
The other side was silent for a second, then said:
"My name is Robert, and I am the joint representative for several hedge funds on Wall Street. I'd like to meet with you."
Lin Feng raised an eyebrow: "Meet for what?"
Robert smiled: "To discuss a partnership."
Lin Feng also smiled.
"Fine. Time and place."
Three days later, Lin Feng, accompanied by Frank, appeared on the top floor of a glass building in Manhattan.
Frank muttered the whole way: "Boss, this place doesn't look like somewhere good people hang out."
Lin Feng nodded: "That's exactly why we're here."
The elevator doors opened, and a blonde woman in a suit led them into a conference room.
Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows was the entire Manhattan skyline.
Sitting across the conference table were five people.
The one in the middle, in his fifties with graying hair and sharp eyes—must be Robert.
He stood up and extended his hand: "Mr. Lin, I've heard much about you."
Lin Feng shook it, then proceeded to squat on the chair.
The expressions of the five people opposite him froze for a second.
Robert gave a light cough, sat back down, and said with a smile: "Mr. Lin is certainly... one of a kind."
Lin Feng nodded: "I know. Get to the point."
Robert put away his smile and pushed a document across the table.
"This is our proposed partnership plan. Take a look."
Lin Feng flipped through it.
The gist was: Several major Wall Street hedge funds wanted to jointly invest in JOY TV, taking a 40% stake, and providing capital, resources, and channels to help JOY TV expand into the largest happy media platform in the United States.
Lin Feng finished the last page, looked up at Robert: "And the conditions?"
Robert smiled: "No conditions. Just a normal business partnership."
Lin Feng stared at him for three seconds.
Then he activated his skill: [Emotion Perception].
Five people, five clusters of color.
Robert—underneath his calm exterior, hid a bit of green. Not sadness, but calculation.
The fat man next to him—red excitement. He was anticipating something.
The skinny man next to him—yellow nervousness. He was afraid of something.
Lin Feng finished scanning the circle and knew what was going on.
He pushed the document back: "I won't sign."
Robert's smile froze for a second. "Mr. Lin, won't you reconsider? This is—"
Lin Feng interrupted him: "You want to invest in me not because you value JOY TV. It's because you fear JOY TV."
The conference room went silent.
Lin Feng continued: "What are you afraid of? You're afraid that more people will start to laugh. You're afraid that if more people laugh, those who are crying won't be able to hide it."
He looked at Robert, enunciating every word: "You aren't here to cooperate. You're here to pay me to shut up."
Robert's expression changed.
The fat man next to him stood up, his face turning bright red: "You motherf—"
Lin Feng didn't move. Frank stepped forward.
The fat man looked at his two-meter height and shiny bald head, then sat back down.
Robert took a deep breath, staring at Lin Feng: "Mr. Lin, think carefully. Friends of Wall Street can be partners, but they can also be enemies."
Lin Feng hopped off the chair and brushed off his butt: "I'm very clear on that."
He walked to the door, looked back at them: "Oh, by the way, if you have time, you can go to Detroit and take a look. Those three thousand workers are laughing every day now. Laughing so happily."
The door closed. In the conference room, the five people were silent for a long time.
Then Robert spoke: "Prepare according to the second plan."
Lin Feng walked out of the building, and Frank chased after him to ask: "Boss, what is the second plan they mentioned?"
Lin Feng shook his head: "I don't know. But it definitely isn't anything good."
Frank was a bit nervous: "Then what should we do?"
Lin Feng thought for a moment and said: "Go back and ask those losers."
A week later, Wall Street made their move. Not against JOY TV. But against AmeriMotor.
Three investigative reports appeared simultaneously on the headlines of major financial media:
[Exclusive Investigation: What is hidden behind AmeriMotor's "Happy Myth"?]
[Worker Exposé: Paid "Going Crazy" time is actually disguised overtime]
[Expert Questioning: Profit sharing suspected of violating regulations, may face class-action lawsuit]
Lin Feng scrolled through those headlines, biting his straw until it was flat.
Alex leaned over to look, his face turning pale: "Boss, this..."
Lin Feng waved his hand: "Fake."
Alex asked: "Then what do we do?"
Lin Feng stood up, walked to the backyard, and clapped his hands. The seven people gathered around.
Lin Feng explained the situation. Rachel was so angry her face turned red: "How could they do this?!"
Tony frowned: "This is a standard war of public opinion. First splash dirty water, then wash it off slowly."
Jenny asked: "What can we do?"
Lin Feng pointed at them: "You figure out a solution."
The seven people were stunned. Lin Feng said: "Last time at the car factory, you came up with a plan. It's the same this time."
He paused: "I'll give you three days."
Three days later, the seven people stood in front of Lin Feng, dark circles under their eyes again. Alex handed over a plan.
Lin Feng flipped through it, and his eyes immediately lit up again.
The core of the plan was: [Make them slap their own faces]
Specifically: 1. Do not respond to any accusations. Not a single word.
2. Have James lead three thousand workers to post videos on TikTok every day—filming them laughing, filming the things they made during "going crazy" time, and filming the receipts of the dividends they received.
3. At the same time, find the "anonymous whistleblowers" from those three reports—using money or something else, make them come out and speak for themselves.
4. Finally, do a special program on JOY TV and release all the evidence at once.
Lin Feng finished reading, looked up at them: "Who is going to handle the whistleblowers?"
Yuki raised her hand. Lin Feng was stunned: "You?"
Yuki nodded, handing over a note: [I hacked their email. I know who the whistleblowers are.]
Lin Feng stared at the note for three seconds. Then he smiled.
"Yuki, you are the most awesome loser I've ever met."
The corners of Yuki's mouth curled up.
A week later, the situation reversed. First, on TikTok, the #AmeriMotorHappy topic hit over 100 million views.
Three thousand workers posted videos every day, laughing, messing around, making strange things, receiving dividends, and showing off their receipts.
The comment section went from skepticism to envy, and from envy to support.
Then, the "anonymous whistleblowers" from those three reports came out themselves.
One was a former employee who had taken fifty thousand dollars.
One was an "expert" who had never even been there.
One was an extra reading from a script.
They stood in front of JOY TV's cameras, admitting they had taken money, admitting the script was written by someone else, and admitting they didn't even know what AmeriMotor was.
The final blow was that Robert's email was exposed.
It clearly stated: [Step 1: Smear AmeriMotor. Step 2: Short the stock price. Step 3: Acquire at a low price.]
The whole internet was in an uproar. The stock prices of those Wall Street hedge funds fell 15% in a single day.
Robert's phone calls were never answered again.
Lin Feng squatted at the shop entrance, scrolling through the news, laughing like an idiot.
The old man next to him asked: "What are you laughing about now?"
Lin Feng handed him the phone. The old man finished reading and also laughed.
"Lin Feng." Lin Feng looked up.
The old man pointed at Robert on the phone screen: "You made him cry."
Lin Feng shook his head and said seriously: "Not me. It was Yuki."
The old man was stunned: "That girl who doesn't talk?"
Lin Feng nodded: "She hacked their email."
The old man was silent for three seconds. Then he said: "This group of people around you, they really are crazier than the next."
Lin Feng laughed. "Right. That's why I can't leave them."
[Chapter 41 End]