Chapter 2278: A Bolt from the Blue

How extravagant was Zhao Fusheng's party?

Over six hundred people attended the party, with a food area exceeding fifty-five thousand square feet, a cherry tree decoration standing thirty feet tall, and a host of famous singers invited to perform at the party.

When the attendees walked into the estate, they were all stunned.

"Scarlett, how much did this, this cost?"

Charlize Theron and Jennifer Lawrence, who had been invited, stood there dumbfounded.

Although they were both top Hollywood actresses, they had never encountered a party like this before.

"Ten million."

Scarlett Johansson walked ahead of them and said with a smile, "To be honest, Tony and I originally planned to split the cost, but Zhao said he was in a great mood lately, so we didn't have to pay."

In a great mood?

The two actresses were at a loss for words.

What the hell kind of reason was that?

What a ridiculous excuse!

In all their lives, they had never heard of someone throwing a ten-million-dollar party just because they were in a good mood.

And especially in such a huge estate.

"I remember this estate sold for nearly two hundred million, right?"

Charlize Theron thought for a moment and said to Scarlett Johansson.

This South African actress became known to audiences at the turn of the millennium, delivering two brilliant films that year—*Men of Honor* and *The Legend of Bagger Vance*—and began her ascent into the ranks of Hollywood's top actresses.

Then, in 2003, she not only released the artistic classic *Monster* but also starred in the commercial blockbuster *The Italian Job*, which was her only film to gross over a hundred million domestically in the U.S. and her most commercially successful work.

Moreover, at the 2004 Academy Awards, Charlize Theron unsurprisingly won the Best Actress Oscar, becoming the first Oscar-winning actress from Africa.

After that, she lay low for a few years and then achieved great success with the anti-war film *In the Valley of Elah*, regaining the acclaim of critics and audiences.

Two years ago, her collaboration with Will Smith on *Hancock* made her a superstar, as the film grossed six hundred million worldwide—no small figure.

Jennifer Lawrence's story was simpler: at eighteen, she won the Best Newcomer Award at the 65th Venice Film Festival for *The Burning Plain*. At twenty-two, she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her outstanding performance in *Silver Linings Playbook*, becoming the second-youngest Oscar winner in history.

These two were among Scarlett Johansson's few female friends.

And she had invited them to today's party.

But they really hadn't expected the party to be this luxurious.

That mysterious Eastern man was really that rich!

"Less than two hundred million."

Scarlett Johansson said, "The seller was in a hurry to offload it at the time, and then Zhao..."

As she spoke, she recounted what had happened back then, and finally laughed, "We didn't expect things to turn out that way, but to be honest, he's really amazing."

The others all laughed.

They naturally understood what she meant.

Of course Zhao Fusheng was amazing.

Damn it!

It was like Batman in the comics.

Others had superpowers; he had the power of money!

"Hey, Scarlett, how are things with you?"

As a close friend, Jennifer Lawrence quietly asked Scarlett.

In the U.S., her nickname was "Big Cousin" because Lawrence was the name of a watch brand.

"Still the same."

Scarlett Johansson smiled bitterly and said helplessly, "You know, I like him, but he doesn't like me."

"I don't believe it."

Charlize Theron pouted, looking skeptical: "He let you throw a party in such a huge estate. Do you think he'd do that if he didn't like you?"

"I told you, it's because he wants to thank Disney and Marvel people, and also because he recently invested in some company," Scarlett Johansson explained to her two friends.

"Invested in a company?"

The two were stunned.

They knew Zhao Fusheng's identity—his wealth was unimaginable.

What kind of company would he invest in?

"Yeah, a company called Uber."

Scarlett Johansson said.

"Uber?"

Both were curious, but they picked up their phones and started looking up information about Uber.

After a while, they looked up, dumbfounded.

"This, this company was founded just over a year ago?"

"Yeah, and he invested fifty million dollars?"

The two whispered among themselves.

Scarlett Johansson shook her head helplessly. At least she had done what Zhao Fusheng asked.

That's right.

Earlier, Zhao Fusheng had told her and Robert Downey Jr. to spread the news about his investment in Uber.

The reason, of course, was to boost the company's profile.

......

......

The same scene played out between Robert Downey Jr. and his friends.

Soon, everyone at the party knew the whole story.

The owner of the estate was the legendary Eastern billionaire, who held shares in Facebook and was an early investor in Twitter.

More importantly, he was rich, very rich, extremely rich.

Even Marvel was part of his business.

And now, he had invested in a Silicon Valley startup called Uber.

Thus, Uber became a hot topic in the American entertainment industry, with many people searching for information about it on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Also, Heath Ledger's arrival.

Robert Downey Jr. didn't know him well, but fortunately, friends of friends and various connections helped them get acquainted.

"Ronnie, thanks for the invitation."

Heath Ledger was a polite man; since he was invited, he came specifically to thank Robert Downey Jr.

"No, my friend, you don't need to thank me."

Robert Downey Jr. smiled and said, "The one who really invited you is the host here."

"The host?"

Heath Ledger was surprised: "You mean the Eastern billionaire?"

"Yes, Mr. Zhao is very interested in you. He really likes your acting."

Robert Downey Jr. smiled and said, "Do you want to meet him later?"

"Ah, sure."

Heath Ledger looked curious, full of confusion.

To be honest, he really didn't know what was going on.

Sure, his performance as the Joker in *The Dark Knight* was excellent and widely praised, but that didn't warrant a billionaire throwing a party just for him.

He was a billionaire.

In America, with Zhao Fusheng's net worth, he was among the top tier.

Full of doubts, Heath Ledger followed his friends to continue eating and drinking at the party.

Meanwhile, Zhao Fusheng wasn't chatting with others at the party but was upstairs in the estate talking with Kevin Feige and Shawn Levy.

"Zhao, thank you."

Kevin Feige said to Zhao Fusheng with a smile.

Regardless, Zhao Fusheng's party had given them a great time.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and waved his hand: "Consider it a reward for everyone."

To be honest, Marvel's development had been going very well recently.

Though Zhao Fusheng was reluctant to admit it, he had to say that under Disney, Marvel was developing better than under his own control.

In a sense, Marvel's development had only gotten on track after Disney became the major shareholder.

Zhao Fusheng's earlier acquisition only provided Marvel with an opportunity to rise and a lot of cash.

Of course, he wouldn't say that himself.

"By the way, where is Mr. Iger?"

Zhao Fusheng asked curiously.

Robert Iger hadn't shown up today, which surprised Zhao Fusheng.

He had thought Iger would meet with him to discuss Marvel, but unexpectedly, Robert Iger wasn't there.

That made Zhao Fusheng a bit puzzled.

"Chairman, there's a phone call for you."

As Zhao Fusheng was speaking, Liu Yiming walked in and said to him.

"A phone call?"

Zhao Fusheng was a bit surprised but nodded.

He smiled at Kevin Feige and the others, stood up, and went outside to take the call.

"What's up?"

Zhao Fusheng asked on the phone.

"It's me."

Zheng Yao's voice came through: "There's a problem with Alibaba."

"A problem?"

Zhao Fusheng's expression changed: "What do you mean?"

"I'll make it brief."

Zheng Yao quickly said.

As Zhao Fusheng listened, his face turned grim.

A few years ago, Alibaba went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and its stock price soared on the first day. But later, due to the global financial crisis, the stock price kept falling, and now it had dropped to a tenth of its initial listing price.

More importantly, Ma Xiaoyun planned to take the entire Alibaba Group public, but the dual-class share structure displeased the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

So, Alibaba had now initiated a privatization process.

"Is the news confirmed?"

Zhao Fusheng asked seriously after listening to Zheng Yao.

"Yes, it's confirmed."

Zheng Yao said bitterly, "If it really goes private, our shares might be diluted. What should we do?"

Clearly, this issue worried her greatly.

After all, it involved equity, especially in a company like Alibaba, where even one percent was a lot of money.

It might even be more than Future Group's annual profit.

This problem couldn't be underestimated.

Even Zheng Yao herself couldn't decide, which was why she called Zhao Fusheng.

In fact, Zhao Fusheng was also helpless after hearing the news.

"That Ma Xiaoyun."

Zhao Fusheng sighed. He knew that Ma Xiaoyun would never stay quiet.

That guy, besides being eloquent and persuasive, was even more formidable in his vision.

At the very least, in China's current business world, no one had noticed the online payment market, but Ma Xiaoyun had.

In fact, besides Ma Xiaoyun, only another Ma boss in China had noticed this.

"What should we do?"

Zheng Yao asked Zhao Fusheng again.

"Have the strategic planning department evaluate it."

Zhao Fusheng thought for a moment and said to Zheng Yao, "Also, have Dong Chenxi's team monitor Alibaba's situation immediately."

"Okay, I understand."

Zheng Yao nodded and hung up.

After putting down the phone, Zhao Fusheng's brows were tightly furrowed.

He had been in a good mood, but now it suddenly soured.

What exactly did Ma Xiaoyun want to do?

Didn't he know that initiating privatization at this time wouldn't benefit Alibaba's development?

The financial crisis wasn't over yet; doing this was like dancing on a knife's edge.

With that thought, Zhao Fusheng picked up the phone to call Ma Xiaoyun, but hesitated and ultimately gave up the idea.

Regardless, he would wait and see.

His confidence in this company came from the saying about "two dads" from his past life.

Although he didn't remember the exact stock price, he clearly recalled that the wealth of either Ma boss was beyond reach.

"Chairman, what's wrong?"

Liu Yiming asked Zhao Fusheng with some surprise.

He rarely saw Zhao Fusheng with such an expression; most of the time, their chairman was calm and composed.

Zhao Fusheng sighed helplessly: "It's a problem with Alibaba."

"Ah?"

Liu Yiming was taken aback and was about to speak when Zhao Fusheng said, "Start gathering information on Alibaba immediately. I want to know what happened to its stock price over the past year, its current operating status, whether Ma Xiaoyun has given any media interviews recently, and whether he has met with executives from Sequoia Capital and SoftBank Asia. Understood?"

As Zhao Fusheng rattled off these instructions, Liu Yiming's expression grew increasingly serious.

He knew that Zhao Fusheng wouldn't say such things unless something was up.

So he immediately nodded: "Okay, Chairman, I'll arrange it right away."

He was no longer alone; behind him was a large team belonging to Zhao Fusheng's secretarial team. Usually, Zhao Fusheng gave instructions to him, and he would delegate them.

After saying this, Zhao Fusheng headed straight toward Robert Iger and the others, while Liu Yiming started making phone calls. He knew his task ahead was arduous, and he might not be able to stay in the U.S. for many more days.