CH 23

@Ji Jing: Artists should set a good example, especially those that are highly reputed within the country and even internationally. A scandal being exposed out in the open does not just mean that it can suddenly become something good. @Lin Qinglu as a public figure, you should apologize.

As the industry leader Starlight’s president, and adding on his features which seemed to be sculpted by a chisel, the amount of attention on him rivaled that of a god-like movie king. What’s more, he even had a group of artists under him.

Male actor Shen Yu was appointed to be the first to repost the now-trending performance. Soon after, a string of artists connected to Starlight, no matter big or small, entered the stage one after the other.

His own influence, the influence of the artists under his banner, as well as the great amount of water troops mixed among them set off huge waves.

Each person’s fans were alerted: some got caught up in the flow and wanted Lin Qinglu to apologize, some were at a total loss.

“A-Yu[1], why are we getting involved in something unsavory”

“Lin Qinglu is my life. I’ve stopped being your fan now #FaintSmile”

“I support A-Yu. Lin Qinglu *vomit vomit vomit*”

“To discriminate against homosexuals, cya later, trash”

“Feel sorry for Zixuan, being pushed around by her senior all day long”

#Starlight Demands That Lin Qinglu Apologizes# moved up the hot search without any difficulties.

“What a joke. Qinglu isn’t even Starlight’s.” Luo Chun frowned in disgust. “Make a statement and criticize them right back.”

“Okay, I will immedi—”

“I’ve already asked President Yue,” resounded a raised male voice from outside, interrupting the conversation.

It was Xu Guanghui.

Xu Guanghui complacently entered the Public Relations Department, his voice shrill: “President Yue said that this incident has stirred up too much noise and that Starlight over there was too strong. If they use the industry’s image to suppress us, it’s difficult for us to wrap it up, so just have Lin Qinglu lower her head for a bit. It’s not like it’s that troublesome.”

“Say an apology and the matter will be over like that. Painless as can be but it saves quite a bit of effort.” Xu Guanghui laughed out loud twice. “You should send a message to Lin Qinglu now. Have her record an apology video and send it over. Oh, or maybe start a livestream—”

Luo Chun was angry but also found it laughable.

“You think that you’re some puppeteer controlling the emperor?”

Luo Chun’s heart burst into flames. Brilliant Moon’s decline and Yue Li, this president, were not unrelated. If it were not for his incompetence and weakness as well as biased trust in Xu Guanghui, Brilliant Moon wouldn’t have gone so far as to be suppressed by Starlight time after time again.

So much so that in front of the overbearing, not-in-the-least-bit reasonable Starlight, he allows our side who has the advantage to have our heads pressed down and apologize!

“You! No matter what you say, if President Yue wants you to apologize now, can you still say no? I’ll contact Lin Qinglu myself.”

Xu Guanghui fished out his phone, and before he even unlocked it, a phone call came in.

It was Yue Li.

This afraid-of-death-and-afraid-of-making-mistakes old thing must have wanted to urge me to make Lin Qinglu apologize.

Xu Guanghui shot a glance at the enraged Luo Chun, and like a show of force, he immediately turned on the speaker:

“Hello, President Yue. Rest assured, I am just about to contact Lin Qing—”

“You haven’t contacted her yet, right? That’s good, that’s good.”

“？”

“Don’t bother Qinglu anymore. Promptly arrange people to support her. The company must clarify its position and must not let the other party trample on her reputation like this!”

“……” Xu Guanghui’s face stiffened, and under everyone’s gaze, he was speechless.

“Quickly get it done and give me a reply.”

The sound from the speaker was very noisy, and all the people in the meeting room could hear it, loud and clear.

Xu Guanghui’s face was simultaneously blue and green.

Luo Chun was the first to come back to her senses. She cast aside the doubts in her mind and spoke with a sneer on her face:

“It seems that Director Xu and President Yue were unable to reach an agreement, hm?”

Xu Guanghui clenched his back molars, still wanting to argue, but found that the people around him all looked at him with an unusual gaze as if watching a comedy act.

“I’ll go ask President Yue until it’s clear.” He used up all his willpower while throwing out the words. As he left the Public Relations Department, he cut a sorry figure with his silhouette.

“Just what is Director Xu up to?”

“Isn’t he always like this? If it weren’t for his connections, how could he become a director…”

“Nothing but trouble. Work, work.”

……

President’s office.

Yue Li cupped the phone in his hands, his manner of speaking eagerly attentive:

“I’ve already instructed the Advertising Department and Public Relations Department to do it. You can rest assured, Director, that the company will absolutely help Qinglu get through the current crisis.”

The female voice on the other end was as gentle as a spring breeze: “Thank you for your hard work.”

Yue Li was overwhelmed by the unexpected favor: “What are you saying? This is what I should do.”

“Besides that, I’m planning to convene a meeting for the board of directors. I’ll be troubling you to arrange it.”

“Yes, yes.” Yue Li wrote it down at once.

Although the other party’s voice was young, she was actually the company’s second largest shareholder and even joined the board of directors and became their chairperson. With the power from the shares in her hands and also the power from her rich and powerful family allegedly being enormous, he naturally didn’t dare to be negligent.

After the other side finished giving her instructions, she efficiently hung up. Before Yue Li’s spirit had even returned to his body, the door to his office was pushed open and Xu Guanghui rushed in.

“President Yue, what is the meaning of this?”

“You know that we’ve changed to a new director, don’t you?”

Being such a major issue, of course Xu Guanghui had not dared to forget: “I do.”

Yue Li stroked his chin as he said, “The new director is most likely in the prime of youth and specially warned us to handle it carefully as we must not let Starlight interfere with our own matters.”

“Act accordingly. We have to leave a good impression on the director.”

Xu Guanghui felt utterly helpless. He obviously wanted to flatter a higher-up, but there was also a “second boss” behind him.

Trembling, he made a phone call to Ji Jing:

“President Ji, sigh, this matter will probably fall through… Ah, I’m at a loss, too… How about we just let it go. Your methods are exceptional, so if later you want to take care of Lin Qinglu, can’t you do it as you please? Just let this matter pass… It’s not me trying to evade it; you personally taking part was too risky. Won’t it be easy to deal with once we wait for everyone to completely digest it?”

Bang!

Ji Jing ruthlessly smashed the phone against the wall, and the phone suddenly shattered into a million pieces.

The squabbling with Xu Weiwei and Wu Cai over the agreement termination and leaving for Brilliant Moon thoroughly enraged him. Once he saw that Lin Qinglu made a clear statement, he contacted Xu Guanghui to employ some tricks on that side and try to use his business circles and the company to exert pressure on Lin Qinglu. Little did Ji Jing know that his plans would be broken once more.

Now that his current ploy had been quashed, Ji Jing sobered up. His course of action was indeed a little rash, forcing him to delete his Weibo post and to be unable to keep up appearances.

Let’s just let this incident pass. Ji Jing’s face tensed, and he decided to tackle the issue after the situation had settled down.

But things would not go as he had hoped.

Ji Jing, as a result of his arrogance and conceitedness, did such an illogical act and gave others a hold on himself. How could Jian Yixin let him go?

She was in the hotel’s executive lounge where it was exceptionally tranquil, the windows and table glittering.

Jian Yixin lightly sipped her tea as she sat on the sofa, making each and every phone call in an orderly way.

The first one was to Song Zhe.

“Big Brother, I don’t like Ji Jing.” Jian Yixin understood quite clearly which tone to use for which person when interacting with them, and her current tone was like that of a little girl acting spoiled toward her older brother, revealing a bit of the temper of a pampered young miss: “He always bullies Qinglu.”

“Didn’t you help bully him back?” Song Zhe said as he laughed a few times, his tone very indulgent.

As expected, Song Zhe knew what I was doing behind his back.

“At present, there were also people who asked me about this: whether or not Lin Qinglu and the Song family have any relationship. I helped you round out the justification.”

“Thank you, Big Brother, you’re the best.”

Song Zhe’s tone turned a little more serious: “Still, tell me, Pianxian, do you know Lin Qinglu’s sexual orientation?”

Jian Yixin was dumbfounded.

She thought for a moment and ultimately realized that what Song Zhe really wanted to ask was “What relationship do my little sis and Lin Qinglu have? Are they simply friends, or—”

As far as this matter regarding Lin Qinglu’s liking of girls was concerned, Jian Yixin only felt that it would influence the mission and never felt as if it had anything to do with herself.

If it is relevant…, she pondered, then I probably have to avoid arousing suspicion?

But the mission target doesn’t treat me in any sort of special way at all. Is this even necessary?

“Pianxian?”

Jian Yixin returned from her thoughts: “Big Brother, just where are your thoughts going? Qinglu and I are simply ordinary friends.”

“So that’s how it was.”

“If I deal with Ji Jing, will it affect your collaboration with them?”

Jian Yixin brought up the main reason for calling. The companies under the Song family and Starlight did have collaborative projects together, so no matter what it was due to, Jian Yixin should thoroughly check with Song Zhe.

Song Zhe, however, didn’t mind the latter part at all and was only immensely interested in what his little sister meant by “deal with”:

“Hm? Pianxian will be dealing with someone now? How will you be doing so?”

Song Zhe’s attitude was clear and demonstrated his lack of worries about the future consequences. Jian Yixin revealed a very soft smile.

Right as Jian Yixin finished the last phone call, Lin Qinglu appeared outside the executive lounge, her figure graceful and charming.

Today, she wore a loose white blouse paired with black suit pants, and her subtle temperament became all the more languid and enchanting.

“Work’s about to start.”

“Okay.”

It was now time for the cast and crew members to go to work, so those from each department all headed toward the movie set.

Jian Yixin walked together with Lin Qinglu and the others. Although Jian Yixin was originally already accustomed to this sort of group, after Song Zhe’s questioning, she seemingly began becoming aware of it and started paying attention to certain details.

There were workers carrying a large glass plate prop as they entered, and everyone avoided and made way for them one after the other.

“Be careful.”

Lin Qinglu’s stretched her hand out toward Jian Yixin, wanting to bring her back a little.

But Jian Yixin very slightly avoided it, and Lin Qinglu’s hand pulled on air.

“Please make way. Thank you.”

Under the urging of the workers, Jian Yixin followed the others and walked to the other side.

That side ended up being partitioned off as this particular glass plate separated the area between the two people. The delicate crystalline pink of one of its reflections glimmered, strange and multicolored.

She raised her eyes and looked in Jian Yixin’s direction but was unable to clearly see the other person’s expression.

TL Notes:

Oh? Oh?! Jian Yixin’s starting to feel self-conscious now~

Also, school’s starting back up again soon, and a lot of the chapters ahead are lengthier than the chapters so far. Idk how the release schedule will end up looking cause of that and some chapters may end up being a bit delayed.

Just wanted to give a bit of a head’s up

[1] 阿 (a1): in southern dialects, “A-” is a term of endearment used before names, pet names, surnames, or numbers denoting order of seniority in a family