Love? The Reborn Me Just Wants to Obtain Rewards
Chapter 915 - 378: If You Won’t Accept Face Given, Then Go to Die (Part 2)

Chapter 915: Chapter 378: If You Won’t Accept Face Given, Then Go to Die (Part 2)

Everything that happened afterward, Xingyu stayed firmly at the forefront of the gossip, making a remarkable contribution to ensuring people didn’t need to swallow shit.

From Xingyu’s perspective, we have no grounds to demand compensation from any party, but we will fully support anyone seeking compensation from the production side. These garbage-tier IP projects, focused solely on milking money, shouldn’t have any space to survive. If there’s another one like this, we’ll keep criticizing it."

The announcement stirred up widespread praise from netizens immediately.

Praise, heap it on!

"Such a conscientious company."

"So daring, Xingyu, you’re truly bold!"

"I’m on Xingyu’s side for this. Refusing to eat shit is our right."

"Just boycott them, let them rot. Letting Battle Through the Heavens make money is an insult to all web novel readers, a continual harm at that."

"Marking my stance: my Penguin Video membership will not be renewed when it expires."

"The crappy horse animation completely wrecked my youth. Xingyu actually understands young people. Next time you’ve got a project, I’ll vote mindlessly for you!."

Gu Tonglin scrolled through the online comments, nearly coughing blood with anger.

How is this fair?

You shamelessly turn around and pocket thirty million, while gaining a wonderful reputation?

I’m so pissed I could explode!

This really stings — from Tencent Video to Yida Xinli, all the way to the production team, each of them was gnashing their teeth in fury.

Su Huai, you really have the guts to push things to the absolute limit, don’t you...

Still, grumble as they might, not a single person dared to hold Su Huai accountable.

No one even dared to say a harsh word to him.

Quite the opposite, Su Huai’s unrelenting attitude broke their illusions entirely, prompting them to gang up on Gu Tonglin in an effort to recover losses and rebuild trust.

In the future, they’d still have to collaborate with Xingyu, no two ways about it.

If one company alone could dominate the entire scene and leave even a giant like Penguin helpless, then a true partnership was a financial equation no one would fail to understand.

In early February, a world where only one person suffers became a reality.

Jiang played it the most ruthless, declaring the contract invalid on the grounds that he hadn’t received Gu Tonglin’s funds—and then promptly booting him off the project.

Afterward, Yida Film and Television posted an announcement, stamping a red seal as cleanly as they could.

"Our company, as the lead producer of the Doupo project, has never received the promised investment from XX company. It was precisely due to their delayed funding that we lacked post-production special effects budget, disappointing the expectations of many original novel readers. Regarding this..."

Blah blah, they apologized profusely but washed their hands of blame entirely, ending with plans to sue Gu Tonglin.

People who knew the ins and outs fully understood that none of the funds collected in this investment scheme were ever going to be spent. They were falsely framed as production costs, but actually earmarked as profit.

The fifty million Gu Tonglin spent buying shares? It was protection money paid to Xingyu.

The cash he shelled out to hire water army for PR campaigns after taking over? That was protection money handed to Yida and Xinli.

Finally, when Battle Through the Heavens aired its last episode, he still needed to fork over more protection money to Penguin.

But now, Yida Film and Television had done a complete U-turn, flipped the table, and pinned all the blame on him—cornering him against the wall.

At last, even Gu Huatang couldn’t sit still.

He called Wang Jianlin directly: "Wang, your subordinates aren’t handling matters properly!"

Care to guess whether Wang Jianlin was aware of this situation?

Don’t even ask—he’d pretend not to know.

"Something’s up? Let me check on it. Don’t worry, I’ll definitely get back to you with an explanation."

Turned out, Jiang was removed from his position shortly afterward. Yet the lawsuit Yida Film and Television filed for compensation continued to drag on.

Mr. Wang was profoundly apologetic: "Sorry about this, old pal. Right now, there’s no one available to take over Yida Film and Television. Our Yida Films are actively pursuing full acquisition of it, and this complicates things for me..."

The courtesy couldn’t be faulted.

But it was completely useless.

Gu Huatang glared furiously at Gu Tonglin, then shifted to pestering someone from Penguin.

He wasn’t on close terms with Ma, but after bending over backward endlessly and finding a broker, he managed to reach Tencent Video’s president, Sun Zhonghuai.

This side was even more polite, full of "I’ll resolve this appropriately." Meanwhile, Penguin’s legal team continued proceeding with the lawsuit like clockwork.

After half a month of back-and-forth torment, Gu Tonglin finally had a realization: "Hold up! Something about this doesn’t add up. This minor issue—there’s no way they wouldn’t give our Gu Family some face, right? Could it be..."

Gu Huatang’s face darkened as he phoned Gu Tongshu that evening.

"Ba’s situation—you’re aware of it, aren’t you?"

"I’ve heard bits and pieces."

Gu Tongshu responded cheerily to soothe his old man: "Don’t worry, I’ll have Yueyue and Su sort things out. We’re family, no need to make it so ugly."

"Hmph!"

If anything, Gu Huatang’s anger burned brighter.

"That brat you built up—your words don’t carry weight, and Yueyue has to smooth him over instead? What nonsense!"

Gu Tongshu immediately protested: "Dad, what do you mean I built him up? Our family has zero clout in the entertainment industry! We’re not even associated, okay?

I’ve always been at odds with that kid—pressuring him, criticizing him—it’s all been done. But he created this situation for himself. Now, begging him? How could I manage that?

The only way we can resolve this is through Yueyue. He’ll only respect Yueyue.

Trust me, I’ll handle it. Stop fretting about this. Even my second uncle isn’t worried, but you’re stressing yourself out too much."

With no other options, Gu Huatang ordered Gu Tonglin to go beg Gu Tongshu.

"Go find your brother. No one else can fix this. I’m getting old, and my face doesn’t command respect in public anymore!"

Though that sentiment sounded pitiful, it was actually laced with sheer rage.

Just thinking about Gu Tongshu gave Gu Tonglin chills. Unable to help himself, he pleaded: "Uncle, how about you ask Su Huai for me? My brother will definitely tear me apart..."

Gu Huatang hesitated: "I don’t know Su Huai well..."

Gu Tonglin eagerly egged him on: "Even if you’re not close, you’re still Yueyue’s real grandfather. He might not respect my brother, but could he really disrespect you?"

After pondering, Gu Huatang decided it might be time to "discipline" Su Huai a bit.

"That kid is getting too out of hand—who goes so far just to make a point? I’ll give him a call and ask him."

Angrily, Gu Huatang dialed Su Huai’s number.

"Su, this is Gu Huatang speaking."

Upon hearing the old man’s pompous tone, Su Huai’s face instantly turned icy.

He truly underestimated the arrogance and audacity of such people—thinking they had the gall to dial him?

Yet, while his expression froze, his tone warmed: "Grandpa Gu, how’s your health been recently? I’ve been meaning to visit you but haven’t gotten the chance! I feel so ashamed that you’ve taken the initiative to contact me—thank you, thank you! Is this about my uncle’s matter?"

Feeling mollified by the warm and respectful manner, Gu Huatang’s mood improved somewhat.

"Indeed, Su, Tonglin seems to have gotten into a misunderstanding with you, which has left me deeply unsettled.

Business is business, let’s not escalate it into a clash of egos. We’re family—what can’t be resolved by sitting down for a heartfelt discussion?

Dragging matters into public view only brings humiliation to our Gu Family. Don’t you think so, Su?"

Misunderstanding? Ha!

"You’re absolutely right." Su Huai agreed eagerly, though he couldn’t help adding, "But I really couldn’t help it. If I didn’t take a stand now, who would respect us in the future? How would the company keep operating?"

"Your reasoning is sound, but the way you went about it was wrong. I understand your frustrations, but elders are elders in the end..."

An endless ramble with one main message: The Gu Family’s dignity matters; yours doesn’t.

What was even left to discuss at that point?

Su Huai maintained his cheerful demeanor: "You’re exactly right. My youth and impulsiveness led me astray—I’ll certainly handle things more thoughtfully next time. Let’s do it your way. Whatever you suggest, I’ll go along with it, alright?"

Gu Huatang broke into a grin, glancing smugly at Gu Tonglin while feeling victorious.

"I wouldn’t dare trouble you with other matters. Just help smooth things over with the investors to get them to withdraw their lawsuits, and return the leftover project funds to them. Could you handle that please?"

The total was over 300 million, with 200 million remaining. Gu Huatang’s request was for Gu Tonglin to walk out unscathed, playing for free but without financial loss.

In his view, this was generous enough toward Su Huai.

Su Huai readily agreed: "No problem! I’ll try my best to mediate. I’ll let you know as soon as I have good news!"

Once he hung up, Su Huai immediately instructed the Commander: "Contact the investors. Tell them it’s time to initiate the next steps."

The young man sneered softly through gritted teeth: "Truly think you’re the boss, huh..."

The next day, the core group of Northeast investors spearheading the lawsuits shifted their target directly to Gu Tonglin.

Previously, they had sued the Battle Through the Heavens production team, making a show of strength while leaving some leeway.

Now, they sued Gu’s Financial Asset Management Company for fraud.

The reasons for the lawsuit were as follows: Gu’s Financial Management knowingly acted with fraudulent intent toward the production side by misrepresenting shares through false contracts, and subsequently convinced the plaintiffs to purchase shares at a hugely inflated price using claims such as, "Xingyu Company is a participant in the project and believes strongly in its profitability." This demonstrated clear intent to defraud the plaintiffs of their property...

When the court summons landed in Gu Tonglin’s office, the entire Gu Family exploded in chaos.