Chapter 32.1

The two middle-aged men in the elevator looked at the person behind them who spoke and saw a tall, and handsome young man. They thought the young man was a rookie actor that had been dug up somewhere by an agent. Hence, they ignored this newborn calf that was unafraid of tigers and instead, greeted the secretary, Li Si, beside the young man.

Li Si was young and didn’t have a high position in the company but she was one of those people who worked closely with the Boss. She would definitely be able to talk to him. As veterans, they knew that communication was important.

“Young man, the entertainment department is not on this floor. You better look for your agent first. Don’t go running around, bothering other departments,” One of the men kindly advised.

Xie’s entertainment department only occupies one floor in this enormous building. Its main office and training academy is in another branch with inexpensive land and building. Most of the actors and actresses who come here in the main office are newcomers who are instructed to sign their contracts.

They also had a reason for saying this advice. Over the past year, the whole entertainment industry has been experiencing drought. Because of this, the higher ups decided to lower the entertainment department’s budget in the second half of the year. It was unknown how long this cutback would last. The entertainment department is unable to make ends meet so they have to be as humble as they can in front of other departments.

As they say, those who are too bold are vulnerable to blows. If they’re unlucky, they might just have their budget reduced once more.

Li Si immediately introduced the young man beside her, “Director, assistant manager, this is Mr. Xie’s younger brother.”

The man was obviously not Xie Jisheng who has already worked in the company, so was this the boss’ youngest brother, Rong Jing? The one that their President Xie told them to never help in the entertainment industry? They have seen photos of him before and he does resemble his brother, but his temperament was so different from the older Xie that they weren’t able to recognize him as the young master at first glance.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Mbl yvvkvwel sq vbl vos kxxlekyvlzu nbydtle. Ssdt Kkdt ypjle vblx ytykd yde zlyadle vbyv Qw Dk’p nsdvaynv oyp ycswv vs lde vbkp xsdvb.

Rd vbl cssj, Qw Dk oyp yzalyeu kdqyxswp qsa ‘psxlvbkdt’ yv vbkp vkxl. Vlsrzl yv vbl nsxrydu eked’v jdso obs oyp pralyekdt vbl awxsap ycswv bkx cwv okvb Qw Dk’p ‘czynj xyvlakyz’ clkdt pralye sdzkdl, kv sdzu yeele qwlz vs vbl qkal. Mbspl ‘czynj xyvlakyzp’ olal qyjl cwv lhlausdl clzklhle svblaokpl. Mbld ytykd, vbl nsxrydu Qw Dk oyp wdela oyp wpwyzzu ldtytle kd pbyeu ynvkhkvklp. Tl oypd’v vblka sdzu hknvkx.

Qw Dk byp yzoyup oydvle vs nbydtl bkp fsc, vblu jdlo vbyv. Jlnywpl sq vbyv, vblu oydvle vs cakdt bkx esod yp y ryucynj qsa zlyhkdt pkdnl vblu bye ds wpl qsa bkx yduxsal.

Ssdt Kkdt alxlxclale vbyv kd vbl dshlz, Qw Dk bye yzoyup ldnswaytle yde nsxqsavle bkp svbla ns-yavkpvp obs yzps oydvle vs nsxxkv pwknkel clnywpl sq vblka nsxrydu’p srralppksd. Rv oyp alyzzu byae qsa Ssdt Kkdt vs kxytkdl Qw Dk eskdt vbyv.

Mbl xyd bye yzoyup yvvlxrvle vs jkzz bkxplzq ulv bl rlapwyele svblap vs nsdvkdwl zkhkdt.

Jlbkde vblka pwnnlppqwz qynyel, Fbldtvldt Odvlavykdxldv, vbkp pbyeu nsxrydu, bye ynvwyzzu zsdt clld kd elcv clnywpl sq vblka rssa xydytlxldv. Mbkp nsxrydu bye xykdvykdle vblka pwrrsple rasprlakvu cu qyjkdt vblka qkdydnkyz pvyvlxldvp yde ds sdl jdlo vbyv vblu olal yzalyeu sd vbl hlatl sq cydjawrvnu. Rq sdl oydvle vs cwu vbkp nsxrydu, vblu pbswze vyjl yehydvytl sq kvp nwaaldv pvyvl dso. Ssdt Kkdt ycpszwvlzu eked’v oydv vs cwu kv yv vbl raknl Dkl Kkpbldt ynnlrvle kd vbl dshlz.

Ssdt Kkdt zlv Nk Fk nsdhlu bkp kdvldvksd vs Hbsw Dkydt ycswv cwukdt Fbldtvldt’p pvsnjp.

Tl eked’v lhld byhl vs ts vbaswtb vbl pvynj sq esnwxldvp vbyv Dkl Nkdt tyhl bkx vs jdso vbyv vbkp nsxrydu oypd’v kd kv. Dkl Nkdt oswze dlhla zlv bkx cwu y nsxrydu okvb pwnb y cye alrwvyvksd.

Sure enough, he received a message on WeChat from his brother.

Xie Ling: Not worth it, pick another one.

The director he met a while ago also told Rong Jing that Xie Jisheng once wanted to buy Shengteng as well but Xie Ling did not agree. Xie Ling’s way of doing business has always been based on a macro strategy and has never let his personal feelings get mixed with his work. Shengteng could be seen as a treasure trove on the surface since they do have second and first rate stars like Gu Xi. However, if one wants to buy their shares, they have to pay a lot of money.

The director said, “Young master, based on that company’s market value, even if we propose an acquisition, it would cost a lot of money to win it.”

Rong Jing knew that it really wasn’t worth it. He understood Xie Ling’s intentions. In the novel, Xie Jisheng would have bought it without a second thought if it wasn’t for Xie Ling’s adamant refusal. He fell in love with Gu Xi at first sight and since then regarded him as his property.

In the story, Xie Jisheng was unaware of Shengteng’s hidden baggage. It was probably one of the reasons for Xie’s decline after Xie Ling’s death. He spent a hundred times more than he actually needed to buy Shengteng, becoming the greatest joke in the business industry.

Later, Wu Hanqi would say, “I would willingly accept the money that they’re sending my way. How could I refuse this big Xie cash cow?”

“What if I do something to lower its market value? Do you think it would still be worth it to buy it?”

“Certainly!” Aside from Gu Xi, who’s about to leave Shengteng, the company still has a lot of stars that could still bring profits.

Rong Jing whispered a few words to Li Si, and then waited for things to happen.

It was considered trash? Then what was it still doing in this world? What it needed was to be put away.

The entertainment department has been in a slump for more than half a year. Its room in the main office had become almost empty. When an intern saw the Director guiding a young man about his age, like a VIP, he instantly stood up and came back to his cheerful self.

He heard that the man was the Xie family’s youngest son. Though he wasn’t blood related to them, they knew that the young man was extremely favored.

The intern thought that the young master would be aloof like the second young master, but he was completely different. He even got a ‘thank you; when he offered warm water to him, which made him a little happy.

The Director glared at the intern and immediately took away the warm water, “I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”

Before even waiting for Rong Jing to speak, the Director personally went to the office pantry to make coffee and get refreshments. When he came back, he saw Rong Jing contemplating on the sofa.

He was deep in thought, completely different from his actions earlier when talking about Shengteng’s acquisition. He was resolute and unswerving. Yet now, it was hard to guess what was Rong Jing’s disposition. One must know that he was a graduate of the Film Academy. He wouldn’t simply look at the data of the market on a surface level. This person should have some understanding of the market.

Now that the entertainment industry is in decline, they have decided to cut down the entertainment department’s expenses and to invest in other fields. However, with this person joining them, maybe their entertainment department would have the chance to fight back this year. Having these thoughts, the Director’s heart was suddenly filled with enthusiasm.

The Director and the others wanted to know his preferences and wondered if he was someone who would throw his weight around, but they couldn’t figure him out. He was very hard to read.

But in reality, Rong Jing had already turned off his business mode. His staring-into-nothing mode had started so his brain could rest for a moment.

Why did I go here again? Ah, right, for the cellphone! I totally forgot about that.

-Back at Xie Ling’s office-

Xie Ling: “Xiao Jing wants to talk to the bank president in Longhua, because Shengteng may have falsified their accounts? He wants their loans to be denied?”

The implication of these words was that Shengteng was likely to take a loan and run away. Shengteng’s boss was not Chinese. It was possible for him to travel incognito abroad. Once he manages to escape from China, searching for him would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Zhou Xiang: “Yes, that is what the young master said.”

Xie Ling: “How did Xiao Jing know?”

Zhou Xiang also had no idea how the young master knew of this, but then he suddenly thought of something, “Maybe Director Wu told him?”

‘Director Wu’ is, of course, Wu Hanqi. Though his father is still alive, Wu Hanqi is the one that leads the Wu family.

Xie Ling knew that his little brother was very attached to Wu Hanqi when he was a child but Wu Hanqi was not someone that was easy to get along with. It was unlikely for him to talk about business secrets, especially to a child.

After contemplating for a while, Xie Ling made a phone call to the bank president that he was acquainted with. The other party was surprised to know that Xie Ling knew that they were planning to lend 80 million yuan to Shengteng Entertainment. The bank has loan targets every quarter. Companies with stable assets like Shengteng Entertainment would be able to take a loan.

Xie Ling asked the other party to check the company profiles more carefully. Thinking of Rong Jing’s words, he called the State Taxation Administration and inquired amicably about the tax situation of Shengteng Entertainment. On the surface, the company had no problems. If their problems could be hidden for this long now, there must be an inside problem.

After hanging up the phone, Xie Ling thought for a while before saying, “If what we think is true, that company would surely liquidate its assets as soon as the news gets released.”

Zhou Xiang immediately blurted out an exaggerated compliment, “The young master is truly our lucky star.” Even though it’s cringy, some people still like to hear these kinds of compliments.

Sure enough, the corner of Xie Ling’s mouth raised slightly, “Mmhmm.”

Xie Ling recalled the figure of Rong Jing desperately preventing him from giving him money and laughed, “Didn’t he say that he was a business black hole? If he wins this, will that company close the same day he gets it or what?”

Zhou Xiang: “Even if he calls himself a black hole, you’d still invest in whatever company he’d pick, right?”

Zhou Xiang clearly remembers that Xie Ling told people not long ago: No one is allowed to help him!

Xie Ling didn’t invest in movies for his brother but will invest in companies that his brother will pick. He wouldn’t invest much, just a nine-figure investment.

Xie Ling glanced at him coldly, “Get lost.”

With that, Zhou Xiang quietly left the office.