Daddy, Come Home For Dinner!

Chapter 949: Chapter 949: That Small Amount of Money, They Consider It Lost

These are kitchen supplies with extremely high usage rates.

Not to mention some of the billboards that appear in the frame, even though they’re not sponsored products, they still paid for advertising fees.

Even these, Lucas saw, have been taken down by as much as seventy percent.

However, the cookware and stoves are foreign brands.

But relying on these two, what’s the use?

"What’s going on with these brands?" Lucas asked in shock, "Did they all withdraw at the same time?"

This was news that was just received; even as of yesterday, there was no indication of any issues.

The secretary-general said, "We received notifications from them almost simultaneously, all within this morning."

After all, there are simply too many advertisers and sponsors.

Even if the messages came at the same time, they didn’t have time to look all at once.

"As for why they withdrew, the staff responsible are already contacting them for inquiries. We have just compiled the list, and I’ve immediately brought it for you to see," the secretary-general said.

"Hurry and investigate!" Lucas said.

The secretary-general nodded, "We’re already investigating."

He observed Lucas now, seeming somewhat overwhelmed.

The secretary-general was silent for a few seconds and then asked, "Do you think it could be Zhao Gushen..."

"Zhao Gushen?" Lucas suddenly looked up at the secretary-general.

"He did implicitly threaten us before, indicating that if we didn’t comply with his demands, he would oppose us," Lucas said.

Lucas immediately shook his head, "But what connection do these brands have with Zhao Gushen?"

Lucas paused for a moment and said, "Have you investigated? Do these brands have ties with Changping?"

"No," the secretary-general said. "While we are still investigating why these brands suddenly withdrew, we haven’t found the reason yet. However, we immediately checked the connections between these brands and found that although some of them might belong to the same group, not all do. Most are dispersed under different groups, or they are large groups with several sub-brands themselves."

"There are no common links between these different brands," the secretary-general said.

"This is too strange," Lucas frowned.

"Just investigate as quickly as possible," Lucas said, "Try to retain them where possible, and consider reducing the price slightly."

"During the initial recruitment, they secured their spots at extremely high prices, so we have a lot of room to lower prices. Use the second-highest bidding price as the baseline."

After all, the second-highest bid at that time was already the limit, and even if those brands replaced them, they couldn’t bid higher.

"Additionally, if it’s not possible, just switch brands. Contact the brands that previously lost the competition," Lucas said.

The secretary-general nodded and went to take care of it.

By the afternoon, the secretary-general finally came back with the investigation results.

"Lucas, it’s been clarified," the secretary-general said grimly, "It really is related to Zhao Gushen."

"Didn’t these brands have no ties with Changping?" Lucas’s expression changed.

"There aren’t any direct connections, but upon inquiry, these brands either belong to families with particularly good relations with Zhao Gushen or are groups secretly established by those families. It appears on the surface to be independent, but it is actually their family industry."

"In Hua Country, there are the very famous Eight Great Families. It’s said that their relationships are exceptionally good, to the point of unconditionally supporting each other, almost as if the Eight Great Families could merge into one massive family."

"Each family’s strength is incredibly formidable, you could think of it as eight Changpings combined against us," the secretary-general said.

Lucas took a deep breath, nearly collapsing into his chair.

One Changping, he thought, could hold its own against their entire Mokalesfo family.

And now eight Changpings...

This is unbelievable!

It must be a joke!

Lucas stared at the secretary-general in shock.

"There’s no joke," Lucas said in a low voice.

"How can you be sure it’s because of Zhao Gushen? Wait, how did you find out it was related to the other seven families? Weren’t some brands said to be founded without using the family name?" Lucas asked.

"Initially, we were only investigating the backgrounds of those brands, without thinking about those families. But just at noon, we received new information," the secretary-general said.

"What?" Lucas asked through gritted teeth.

He really didn’t want to hear any more bad news right now.

"Our International Cooking Competition’s broadcast in Hua Country has been suspended," the secretary-general said.

"Be more specific!" Lucas said in a low voice.

"Hua Country’s television stations will not broadcast our cooking competition live. Plus, due to language barriers, the common language for the International Cooking Competition is English. If broadcasting live, it requires simultaneous translation, which is highly demanding for live broadcasts. Additionally, Hua Country’s television stations have their own schedules, and our International Cooking Competition doesn’t have a large enough audience to warrant them purchasing our broadcasting rights for their stations," the secretary-general said.

"So, the ones who purchased our broadcasting rights are Hua Country’s network video platforms, and they bought exclusive broadcasting rights. That network video platform belongs to Han Bang."

Lucas was very aware of Han Bang.

He believed very few people wouldn’t know about it.

In Hollywood, it holds significant status, producing many blockbuster films in recent years.

"The family that owns Han Bang has particularly good relations with Zhao Gushen and is one of the Eight Great Families," the secretary-general said.

"What about other network video platforms?" Lucas said, "They can’t all belong to Han Bang!"

"Han Bang obtained our exclusive broadcasting rights, and the contract has already taken effect," the secretary-general said, "They’ve already paid us."

"So, they paid, but don’t broadcast?" Lucas asked in disbelief.

"Yes, that’s how it is," the secretary-general nodded.

Han Bang has exclusive broadcasting rights, but if they don’t broadcast it, no one else can either.

"Would they rather incur a loss, losing that much money, and not broadcast?" Lucas’s voice rose in pitch.

"If I recall correctly, Han Bang paid a substantial sum for these exclusive broadcasting rights!" Lucas said.

"Yes, we asked immediately. They said, for them, it’s just a small sum, and they can afford to lose it," the secretary-general said heavily.

They might as well not consider money as money.

"And the reason Han Bang paid a high price for our broadcasting rights is, according to them, not because they particularly wanted to broadcast our competition, but for the chefs from Hua Country. They hoped Hua Country’s netizens could see the chefs’ excellent performances."