Chapter 43: Love for the Land

The most talked about topic lately is a large scale historical drama titled Love for the Land, starring Xu Shiheng and Ge Siyu.

It tells a romantic story set during the Qin Dynasty.

The show was a massive hit when it first aired, drawing significant public attention.

However, people are now discussing major issues regarding the costumes.

Not only are they failing to follow the Qin Dynasty Hanfu style, but they actually appear to be foreign clothing altogether.

While the theme of the drama is national spirit and defending the country, it is laughable that the two leads are wearing foreign attire.

Looking at them now, they speak words of great righteousness while looking like traitors to their country.

In fact, someone had analyzed the costume issues when the show first premiered, but it failed to gain traction at the time.

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Once again, Ge Siyu found herself caught in a disaster while simply sitting at home.

She felt completely numb.

“Is this ever going to end! I was not even on that broken variety show, so why is my name always attached to these negative trends!”

Ge Siyu was so angry she smashed a teacup in her house.

“I am furious. You can promote your Hanfu all you want, but why dig up my drama? Well? Can we still not take down the trending search?”

Her assistant cautiously replied, “We cannot. Lin Ran’s account is interacting with Yi Xia. She wore several sets of Hanfu to show the audience and even went as far as educating them on the differences between Hanfu and similar foreign clothing. It is as if she is specifically targeting us. Even Meng Xiao joined the fun by filming Hanfu videos. The popularity of Hanfu is currently peaking across the entire internet. Since our show was airing, and the audience has been educated, they can spot the issues with the costumes at a single glance without anyone saying a word.”

“It is that Lin Ran again. How on earth did I offend her? Why is she constantly working against me?”

Ge Siyu kicked over a vase by the wall in a fit of rage.

She called her boss again to demand an investigation into Lin Ran’s past scandals.

The reply she received was: “We cannot find anything. She left no personal information from her past on the internet. We do not have her ID number. Even if we did, we could only check things like her education history. We cannot find any dirt.”

Ge Siyu did not believe it.

“With your resources, are you not able to find all of her private information?”

The boss replied, “If we absolutely had to, we could find it. We would have to hire someone to steal her ID card and then hack into the police system to check everything. However, doing that would likely result in prison time, starting at ten years or perhaps even twenty.”

Ge Siyu was speechless.

“So we just let it go?” she asked, unwilling to accept defeat.

“What else? Do you really want to go to jail? You are just an actress. If that drama cannot air, so be it. At least you already received half of your acting fee.”

Ge Siyu had received half of her fee during filming, while the other half was supposed to be paid after the broadcast.

Now that the show was canceled, the investors had lost everything and would never pay her the remainder.

“That is over twenty million yuan! Do I look like someone who does not need that money?”

“There is no other way. You can earn more money in the future.”

Ever since Lin Ran appeared, Ge Siyu had suffered a string of terrible luck.

What was mysterious was that Lin Ran did not seem to do anything directly to her, yet she remained incredibly unlucky.

Why did she have to promote Hanfu for no reason! If she had not helped promote it, would so many people even care?

Her drama would not have been ruined.

After hanging up on her boss, Ge Siyu called her co-star, Xu Yiheng.

“What do we do now? Is there any way the production can fix this? If it really cannot air, I still owe money!”

Xu Yiheng was also frustrated.

“I owe money too. Why are we so unlucky? This has nothing to do with us. This show owes me a final payment of thirty million that has not been settled. I was planning to use that to pay off my debts.”

“I have no choice. My last investment lost money, and I still have not filled the gap in my accounts. I have to keep paying interest.”

“Then we can only try to find a way through the accounting. I will ask the accountant if they can manipulate the books a little.”

“Fine. I will look into things as well.”

Meng Xiao finished her scenes early today and went home ahead of schedule.

She put some freshly bought sunflowers into a vase and took a light sniff.

Zhang Yuetong was sitting on the sofa looking at her phone.

She looked up and said, “The previous flowers were still fine. You bought more?”

“My Sister Ran likes them, so of course I will buy them for her every day.”

Meng Xiao hummed a song as she placed the food she just bought on the table.

Zhang Yuetong smiled and went back to her phone.

Meng Xiao sat down next to her and giggled.

“Sister Tong, guess why Sister Ran wanted to deal with Ge Siyu? Go on, guess!”

Without looking up, Zhang Yuetong said, “To stand up for Zhu Xiaoxiao.”

“Not at all!” Meng Xiao crossed her arms and frowned.

“She clearly did it for me! To stand up for me! What does this have to do with Zhu Xiaoxiao? Is she even close to her? Who is her actual employee?”

“Fine, fine, she did it for you,” Zhang Yuetong said helplessly.

Only then did Meng Xiao smile.

“Exactly! That is why she collaborated with Yi Xia for the videos. It looked like an educational series, but it was actually targeting Love for the Land. She wanted that awful show taken down! Also, you wrote quite a few articles about the costumes in that show, right? Even though you posted from a burner account, I recognized your style instantly!”

“I did not write those articles,” Zhang Yuetong said.

“Not you?” Meng Xiao was confused.

“Did Sister Ran write them herself? That cannot be right; she does not have that level of writing skill.”

As soon as Lin Ran entered the room, she heard Meng Xiao speaking ill of her.

Feeling embarrassed, Meng Xiao pointed to the vase on the table.

“Sister Ran, I bought new flowers for you.”

“Are you not supposed to be at the film set? Why are you back?”

Lin Ran did not hold a grudge.

“The scenes for today are finished, so I came back. It is nearby anyway,” Meng Xiao said.

“Did Director Liu not say you were going to film in the desert?”

Lin Ran picked up a strawberry and ate it.

“So sweet.”

“That is not until next month. Recently, we have been filming at the studio city.”

Lin Ran took the groceries into the kitchen and prepared a simple meal.

Meng Xiao had bought plenty of deli food, so they only needed a few freshly cooked dishes to round out the meal.

Once the food was ready, Lin Ran set an extra pair of chopsticks on the table.

“What, we have a guest?” Meng Xiao asked.

Zhang Yuetong rolled her eyes.

“The person who wrote those articles is here.”

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

Curious, Meng Xiao ran to open it.

The person standing there was someone Meng Xiao had seen before.

“You?” Meng Xiao was stunned.

“Yu Shijia?”

Yu Shijia smiled.

“Yes, it is me. We meet again.”

“Did your magic troupe go out of business?”

Meng Xiao asked curiously.

“The magic troupe is doing just fine,” Yu Shijia said as he entered and placed some fruit on the cabinet.

“But Boss Lin called me to come, so I came.”

He still remembered the shock he felt when he received the call from Lin Ran.

“Mr. Yu, I have my eye on you. Come work for me!”

Lin Ran had said directly, before explaining her plans.

“What? You want me to go to Ran Yue Culture? To handle online operations?”

Yu Shijia was bewildered at the time.

“Wait, I was the one who tried to headhunt you before. How did I end up being the one getting headhunted? This does not seem right.”

“What is not right about it? It is perfect!” Lin Ran laughed.

“With your skills, the business for that magic troupe probably takes you less than half a day a week to handle. It is a waste not to use your talents. Why not come work for me? I am exactly in need of someone like you.”

While Yu Shijia was still hesitating, Lin Ran suddenly asked, “Tell me! Do you have a crush on my Yuetong? I just realized you two have known each other since you were kids. Same elementary school, same middle school, same high school, and even the same university and major! You still have not managed to win her over?”

Yu Shijia stammered awkwardly for a long time before finally saying, “I have liked her since I was little. I confessed to her once, but she said I was just after her family’s magic troupe. Our families have always been at odds, so it is difficult for me!”

Lin Ran joked, “I am giving you a chance to be her subordinate. Are you not going to say thank you, boss?”

“Thank you, boss. Wait, we have not discussed the salary yet.”

“You can just give me three thousand. I will not mind if it is a small amount,” Lin Ran said.

“What? I have to pay to work?”

“If you perform well and become a full employee, you will not have to pay anymore.”

“So you do not think you should be paying me a salary at all?”

Once the dishes were served, Lin Ran invited everyone to eat.

“From now on, we are colleagues in the same company. Think of this as a welcome dinner for our new employee!”

Lin Ran led the applause, and Meng Xiao joined in enthusiastically.

Zhang Yuetong sighed but still clapped a few times.

Meng Xiao suddenly realized something.

“Sister Ran, is our company going to require a degree from Qingdao University as a minimum for new hires now?”

“There is no such requirement,” Lin Ran said.

“Yuetong has been too busy lately, so I hired someone to handle the video account operations. In this era of short videos, our accounts are very important. Brother Yu is very skilled in this area. With him managing the accounts, Yuetong’s workload will be much lighter. Besides, are we not also recruiting actors? Boss He recently signed two new actors. They are not famous, but he said they were good, so we signed them. They are currently in training.”

Meng Xiao nodded.

She had seen the two actors He Wenxin recruited.

They were newcomers without any fame, but they had great presence and excellent acting skills.

Meng Xiao felt He Wenxin had a very good eye. He was currently in charge of actor auditions and script selection, making him extremely busy.

She had also heard that He Wenxin’s new film was in pre-production, but there was no suitable role for her, so she would not be joining the cast. Meng Xiao understood this completely; forcing someone into an unsuitable role would be irresponsible toward the project.

Furthermore, her current project was not finished yet, so she did not have the time.