Reaching the age of thirty, my income randomly doubled

The internet is actually quite impetuous, especially in recent years with the rise of short videos, when young people achieve sudden wealth and fame overnight.

Mindsets often become uncontrollable—they easily swell and even more easily become arrogant.

Which leads to disdain for those who are far more capable than them.

The owner of Tianzhong Media is Zhao Yi. His parents' journey to success was quite arduous, even fraught with life-and-death crises.

During his childhood, Zhao Yi had only money but not the company of his parents, and even as he grew older, it remained the same.

The reason he founded Tianzhong Media stemmed from meeting two female streamers online.

They told him how lucrative short videos were nowadays. Zhao Yi tipped them over two million yuan and became a well-known online tycoon, which marked his entry into the world of influencers.

He traveled from Yun Province to Guangzhou, and with the financial support of his parents, he took tens of millions of yuan to start a business.

In the beginning, things weren't too smooth. Basically, he just copied whatever others were doing.

Later, a flashy wealth display video went viral, and only then did Zhao Yi find his direction.

Whatever had the most potential for showing off—he'd flaunt it.

He spent heavily to recruit streamers from screw-tightening jobs in his factories and packaged them as top-tier rich second-generation heirs.

He dressed them in Dragon Robes, gave them nicknames like Crown Prince, Imperial Mentor, Third Young Master, Diva, Er Piya, and so on.

Then he utilized the exaggerated promotion effects of live streams, and within a short time, the business took off dramatically.

This made Zhao Yi increasingly confident.

He firmly believed that given time, surpassing Teng You Media would be well within reach.

He even thought that given the right opportunity, he could soar to unprecedented heights in this industry.

Wang Dao Wen's proposal allowed him to seize his chance.

The retreat of Tengying Entertainment, including Teng You Media, made him even more conceited.

He even publicly declared that the legendary big boss behind Teng You was nothing special, and wasn't he defeated by Zhao Yi's triple assault?

Then, just as Tianzhong Media was basking in the reverence of the entire industry—

Chen Pingsheng's retaliation came crashing down.

Within a single day, all Tianzhong's streamers, big and small, were permanently banned.

On the headlines, across the internet, and throughout short video platforms, there was nothing but negative reviews about Tianzhong.

Zhao Yi didn't even have a moment to react, nor could he come up with a single countermeasure.

He desperately wanted to use public opinion to let outsiders know about the injustice he faced.

But the reality was, when a true giant crushed down with a single step, he was already dead.

There wasn't the slightest room left for a response.

He felt deeply wronged, even innocent, but the truth was, from the moment he engaged in false advertising in live broadcasts, selling subpar goods—

His downfall was inevitable.

When you, a fake goods seller, trash-talk billion-dollar publicly listed companies—

You're asking for outright demise, especially since he even threw a celebration party afterward, as if trying to award himself the "World's Biggest Badass" prize.

People like him dying only becomes a joke.

No one would have any sympathy for him. Even those who secretly followed his antics are now trembling with fear.

Who still has time to care about him?

Many influencer companies only gained some market presence after Teng You Media actively abandoned so-called emotional anchors, life-coach influencers, and marriage experts.

These folks make money quietly; who dares stick their head out at a time like this?

Tianzhong Media was obliterated in a single day; Chen Pingsheng didn't even bother to ask a single question.

These small influencer companies—relying on negligible tricks to make a bit of money and then skyrocketting on their own egos—

Rarely have any staying power. If they were allowed to last, it would only shorten the overall lifespan of the short video live-streaming economy.

Chen Pingsheng was attending a youth entrepreneur forum organized locally in Magic City.

This counted as a public appearance for him—he rarely participated in such events before.

Let alone speaking on stage.

The topic of this conference, though, was the long-term development of the short video and entertainment industry.

For the first time, Chen Pingsheng suggested more effective management and planning to tackle the chaos rampant in the live-streamed shopping ecosystem.

Stop letting every random person claim to be some rich heir while exaggeratedly saying they lose money selling products, and then pretend to offset losses with millions or even billions in subsidies.

When this kind of fraudulent marketing saturates the industry, it becomes a textbook case of bad money driving out good money.

The cost of such behavior would fundamentally erode customer trust.

Just sell your products properly; why does a tiny influencer have to pretend to be a rich heir?

Which real rich heir would actually go and host live-stream sales events? This tactic might fool people for a year or two, but can it last a decade?

It could be said that live-stream shopping emerged this year. Its rapid growth and market impact exceeded everyone's expectations.

At the same time, its rampant dishonesty, deception, and blatant disregard for advertising laws shocked outsiders as well.

If this kind of unchecked, wild growth continues, within a few years the industry will shrink tenfold due to these irresponsible acts.

Chen Pingsheng shared some of his perspectives on short videos. As for the future of the entertainment industry?

Honestly speaking, he didn't know.

Because there's nothing to talk about. Even less to say when actors don't rely on talent or capability to rise—what is there to discuss?

When TV stations must pay producers to buy ratings, fairness and justice in the industry are already gone.

Under such circumstances, keeping Tengying Entertainment profitable is already an achievement.

Trying to transform the entire industry? Sorry, that's beyond him too.

Chen Pingsheng didn't say much, merely discussing some observations on short videos and how big companies must embrace short video traffic for the future.

After speaking, he sat for a while and then left.

Many people wanted to chat with him one-on-one, and many dreamers presented their creative ideas in hopes of securing his investment.

Among them, there might be future commercial giants. Yet unfortunately, he didn't have the time or energy to listen to all their pitches.

He could only have Lin Qiunan collect the business cards they handed over, and say something like, "We'll decide after reviewing them."

Which actually meant there wouldn't be any decision—he probably wouldn't even look at them.

Anyone who had reached their level wouldn't dig for gold in the mud.

They only consider you when you've surfaced or have already shown signs of rising success.

It's not just him—almost all big companies are the same.

Zhang Wanyi called him. Zhao Yi had been arrested, and Zhao Yi's parents came looking for help.

They were willing to compensate for all consumer losses, just pleading to get Zhao Yi released.

Chen Pingsheng thought about it for a moment and told Zhang Wanyi to handle it herself; there was no need to report the matter to him.

It wasn't a big deal. It was already mid-July, and he needed to go to Hengdian to visit his wife and kids.

The spoiled brat had gotten tanned; Er Piya had slimmed down a bit.

Little Soldier Company had transitioned from war themes to the era of reform and opening-up, now treading the path of state-owned enterprise reforms.

For this game, he even invited several education experts to join forces.

The goal was to let them truly understand the sixty years of change during the Big Era.