Obviously, she wasn't here to report to Chen Cheng. Everything that needed to be reported had already been covered last night.

Lucy walked into the office, went straight to Chen Cheng's side, and placed her bag on his desk.

She leaned her butt against the desk, looking down and pondering how to bring it up.

Chen Cheng frowned. "What's wrong?"

Lucy lifted her chin and parted her red lips. "Isn't the bonus a bit too much?"

Today, Lucy was wearing a black knit sweater with a white shirt layered underneath, topped with a taupe lamb's wool coat. On her lower body, she wore slim-fit black jeans paired with Dr. Martens.

With her signature bright red lips and a black beret on her head, she was as stylish as ever.

Chen Cheng's mouth twitched. "You're not happy about getting a bigger bonus?"

The bonuses at Company Name were decided by Zhao Hui and reported to Chen Cheng. Therefore, Chen Cheng was aware of the overall year-end distribution.

Lucy shook her head. "Giving me 500,000 all at once is really too much."

"I didn't even earn this much in America last year."

Lucy blushed. "It's mainly that I feel handing out bonuses indiscriminately is detrimental to the company's institutional development."

She wasn't wrong, but since Zhao Hui had already done it, there was no need to correct it.

Chen Cheng thought about it. With salaries being confidential, if Lucy didn't mention it herself...

Only Zhao Hui and the accountants in her finance office would know.

Chen Cheng smiled. She was still thin-skinned, afraid of what others might say behind her back.

However, as long as Lucy remained the CFO of Company Name, no gossip would get out.

Chen Cheng smiled and reached out to take her hands. "The financial audit during the Company Name merger and the establishment of the financial framework for ZEN were both led by you."

"Neither of these were small tasks, so it's perfectly normal to receive a larger bonus."

"You might not get this much next year."

Lucy had only come to complain to him a little; she hadn't actually expected to change anything.

If she went to change it, it would just look even more suspicious. The finance staff handling it below would start letting their imaginations run wild.

It would be fine while she was still in the position, but once she left, the gossip would start spreading.

Then again, who doesn't talk about others behind their backs? And who isn't talked about?

Lucy was suffering from a bit of PTSD.

Lucy pouted, pondered for a few seconds, and slowly asked, "Do you think I should go home?"

Chen Cheng immediately chuckled. So, what she said before was just casual talk; this was what she actually wanted to discuss with him.

Since running away abroad, she hadn't been home in five years.

In fact, she had already bought the ticket, but as the time drew near, she started feeling anxious again.

Chen Cheng thought about it. Following the inertia of the plot, Lucy's mother was probably already working on a "backup account."

It was truly obsessive to want to have another child after retirement.

What was absurd was that while Lucy's own period wasn't always regular, her retired mother had actually gotten pregnant.

Chen Cheng tightened his grip on her slightly sweaty hand. "Since it's all in the past, you should go back and take a look."

If she didn't go back this year, Lucy might not even see her mother one last time.

And there would be an extra sister, one who could be her own daughter.

Lucy didn't say anything. She had already bought the ticket; she actually had the answer in her heart, she was just feeling conflicted.

After chatting for a while, Lucy left with Zou Yu.

They went shopping after work.

Watching the two of them leave arm in arm after work, Chen Cheng found the scene indescribably bizarre.

Unconsciously, he started thinking of something wicked.

Heh heh heh~

After finishing the backlog of documents, Chen Cheng checked the position reduction status of the two funds.

The approach was more aggressive today; they didn't do any wash trading, and liquidity increased by nearly 1 billion.

The cash held by the two Company Name funds reached 11 billion.

Of this, over 4 billion was the liquidity support already held, and the rest was the result of reducing positions over the past three weeks.

There was one more trading day tomorrow, but Chen Cheng didn't plan to continue reducing positions.

Stock investors in the A-shares market didn't like holding stocks over the holidays, so there was bound to be a big sell-off tomorrow.

With over 10 billion, it would be enough to bottom-fish when thousands of stocks hit the limit down after the holidays.

Near six o'clock, Chen Cheng picked up his coat and left the office.

Eleven drove the pullman and dropped Chen Cheng off at the new office location for Xingmang Entertainment.

It was right next to Lin Yu's recording studio. This whole area was a cultural and creative industrial park, a location recommended by Lin Yu.

It was a four-story building facing the street, totaling over 2,600 square meters.

After Qiao Jingjing and Sister Ling came to see it, they decided to rent it.

The rent was nearly 6 yuan/㎡/day, which came out to about 460,000 per month.

The property management for the entire park was actually Company Name, which was quite abstract.

After the renovation, they had only just moved in this month.

Not counting Chen Cheng's alter ego, Xingmang Entertainment now had four artists: Qiao Jingjing, Deng Xiaoqi, Xiao Ye, and Ding Jianguo.

Oh, and Xiao Ye's Unconditional Surrender band.

Currently, the whole company was still in the investment phase; the one actually making money was surprisingly Chen Cheng himself.

The songs he plagiarized—last year, in just half a year, copyright licensing and streaming revenue actually exceeded 200 million.

A large portion of this came from overseas; the song "My Heart Will Go On" alone contributed a huge amount of income, which was something Chen Cheng hadn't expected.

KTV royalties were also a large part, with this item alone exceeding 30 million.

Chen Cheng got out of the car and, accompanied by Little Zhu, walked from the first floor up to the fourth floor.

The first floor was planned for reception functions, as well as offices for HR, operations, PR, legal, and other departments.

The second floor had some rehearsal rooms, artist lounges, and the like.

The third floor was for core functional departments, including offices for the Artist Management Department, Marketing Department, Planning and Production Department, Finance Department, etc.

Walking into Qiao Jingjing's office, he happened to run into Sister Ling holding a meeting with several staff members.

After becoming a boss herself, Qiao Jingjing realized what it meant to be under immense pressure.

It was mainly because Chen Cheng had given her some IPs that could be developed.

Otherwise, she could have been more relaxed. But with so many good IPs sitting there, Qiao Jingjing really couldn't bear to waste them.

Seeing Little Zhu bring Chen Cheng in, a glimmer of light suddenly flashed in Qiao Jingjing's tired eyes.

She smiled at Sister Ling and the two staff members. "Let's stop here for today. Let's leave the remaining items for after the new year."

"Thank you all for your hard work."

The group glanced at Chen Cheng, who was sitting on the sofa drinking tea, exchanged looks, and stood up to leave Qiao Jingjing's office.

Everyone inside the company knew that Chen Cheng was the main shareholder of Starlight, and they also knew about the relationship between Chen Cheng and Qiao Jingjing.

Sister Ling came over to greet Chen Cheng before leaving.

Before Sister Ling had even walked out of the office, she heard Qiao Jingjing acting spoiled.

Qiao Jingjing stood in front of Chen Cheng, opened her arms, and pouted. "Quick, give me a hug."

"I'm out of energy."

Chen Cheng's lips curled up slightly as he stood up and pulled her into his arms.

Qiao Jingjing rested her head on Chen Cheng's shoulder, wrapped her legs around his waist, and hung onto him entirely.

She looked exactly like a koala.

Qiao Jingjing took a few breaths and spoke in a huff:

"I feel like I've been led into a pit by you."

"I'm even busier now than before."

"My hair is falling out in clumps."

Chen Cheng bent his knees and sat back on the sofa, gently stroking her hair. "Just dump the production work on companies in the market."

"We just need to stuff a few artists in there, and that's it. You don't have to lead every project yourself."

Qiao Jingjing lifted her chin. "That would mean giving the profitable parts to others. I won't do that."

"I spent so much on the breach of contract fees..."

Chen Cheng shook his head with a smile and affectionately flicked her exquisite little nose. "Silly, why are you still hung up on the breach of contract fees?"

Before, when discussing the contract termination with Chen Cheng, Qiao Jingjing hadn't felt it that strongly.

But now that 200 million had actually been paid out, Qiao Jingjing only felt her heart bleeding.

Now, she was crazily wanting to earn that 200 million back.