Chapter 101 - Hotpot
“I didn’t steal the role; they said they would give it to me.” Song Zheng was waiting for Song Xiao in front of the elevator, and she looked furious.
“They? Who is ‘they’?” Song Xiao stared coldly at Song Zheng.
“It… It was…” Song Zheng felt a little guilty. Indeed, she was the one who had suggested it at the beginning, and she was long used to bullying the newcomers. A few days ago, when she saw how especially happy Xiao Xi was at getting an important role, she hated it, and wanted to snatch the role for herself.
Song Xiao lifted his eyes to look at the manager who was following behind Song Zheng. Because she was Song Zicheng’s daughter, the company had matched her with a manager, while the other newbies only had teachers to lead them. The manager had undoubtedly played a role in this matter.
When Song Xiao looked at him, cold sweat broke out on the manager’s head. “Eldest young master, don’t be angry. Xiao Zheng is young and doesn’t know how things work. I’ll properly reflect on myself over this matter.”
Song Xiao listened to him speak, his eyes cold. This feeble explanation wasn’t convincing at all. Taking the document which the secretary offered to him, Song Xiao glanced through it. The document was a draft of the PR crisis plan which the PR department had rushed out within the hour. Song Xiao told the secretary to have the head of PR come to see him in his office. Only then did he unhurriedly say to the manager, whose face had gradually turned pale from being ignored, “Since Xiao Zheng learned poorly from you, you don’t have to look after her from tomorrow onwards. Go look after that Xiao Xi ba.”
Stunned for a long time, the manager suddenly became delighted. In truth, he didn’t like taking care of Song Zheng. Firstly, this miss high and mighty was particularly unruly; secondly, Xinghai would become Song Xiao’s domain sooner or later, and Song Xiao didn’t like this illegitimate daughter. However, when the manager thought of Xiao Xi, his face turned bitter once more.
That girl thought that she could become popular by kicking up a fuss, but the fallout would be extremely troublesome; if the matter wasn’t handled well, she would be blocked and buried by the company.
This matter had exposed the problems with Xinghai’s system. In the long term, Xinghai would no longer be able to produce any famous celebrities; without them, this theatrical troupe would no longer be able to run.
Song Xiao returned to his office and made a call to Xiao Zhengqing.
It was night time over there, but fortunately, Xiao Zhengqing was still awake. Song Xiao told him what happened today and asked him how he had created stars in Xinghai in the past.
Xiao Zhengqing very quickly sent Song Xiao a clear and detailed email on the system he had set up before, and gave him some suggestions regarding today’s matter.
By the time Song Xiao was done dealing with the company’s affairs, the sky had already started to darken. Song Xiao kneaded the space between his eyebrows and went straight home.
Song Zicheng had said that he was going out to discuss a project today. Later, when he heard that Song Xiao had resolved the situation, he didn’t return to the office, and instead calmly returned home and had a cup of tea.
He had originally thought that Song Xiao, who hadn’t graduated, might have a hard time managing the company. He let Song Xiao train at the company for a few days, but who would have thought that after frantically running around for two days, he could already properly handle so many matters. This made Song Zicheng proud, and at the same time, made him a little more inclined to slack off. Since his son was competent, he wouldn’t bother with it.
When Song Xiao returned and saw his father acting like an idle old man, he promptly got a little angry. “Dad, I heard you gave Song Zheng shares.”
Song Zicheng’s hand which was holding the teacup paused for a moment, and he cleared his throat guiltily. “Qiu Mingyan kept coming to me for money before. It was troublesome, so I just gave Song Zheng one percent of the shares as child support. That way, I no longer need to have anything to do with them…”
Xinghai Entertainment had profits from the last two years, and there would be dividends at the end of the year. The dividend from one percent of the shares would be enough for the mother and daughter.
Song Xiao frowned a little. Since his father had put it like that, he would just regard it as a dowry for the concubine’s daughter. It wasn’t appropriate for him to keep pushing, but allowing Song Zheng to wreak havoc in the company was still out of the question. “I want to move the company’s headquarters to the capital.”
“Ah?” Song Zicheng was taken aback. Why move to the capital out of blue?
“The management here is already too inflexible; I can use the opportunity of k2018;moving headquarters’ to leave them behind here,” Song Xiao said with a solemn expression.
When he heard the words k2018;moving headquarters’, Song Zicheng couldn’t help quirking his lips. “Thatk2026;”
Before he could continue speaking, they heard someone knock on the door. Auntie Chen looked through the peephole and curled her lip. “Sir, it’s that Qiu Mingyan again.”
Hearing that it was Qiu Mingyan, Song Xiao raised his head and looked at his father in surprise. Even now, this woman actually still dared to come here?
In fact, Song Zicheng was also startled. After he gave her the shares, Qiu Mingyan no longer came by. Getting up, he walked over to the video intercom and picked up the phone. “Why are you here?”
Qiu Mingyan’s pale face was revealed on the intercom. “Zicheng, I’m in big trouble – help me.”
“Let her in ba,” Song Xiao walked over and said to Song Zicheng.
Qiu Mingyan was allowed to come in. Dropping to her knees with a thump, she clung desperately to Song Zicheng’s leg. “Zicheng, I owe a loan shark outside money – they want to cut off my hand. I truly have no other way, only you can save me ah, wuu…”
Song Zicheng’s heart softened a little at her appearance, but he felt awkward with his son’s eyes on him. “You get up first. Why did you borrow money from a loan shark?”
Song Xiao looked at the woman kneeling on the floor and said coldly, “Borrowed from a loan shark for John to pay off his gambling debts ba.”
Qiu Mingyan abruptly stopped sobbing, and she looked at Song Xiao with a face full of fright.
“What John? What are you talking about?” Song Zicheng shook off Qiu Mingyan and stared at her as he asked the question.
“No, that’s not it!” Qiu Mingyan cried out, but there was alarm in her voice, and she trembled as she looked at Song Xiao. “You – how did you know…”
Song Xiao looked at her coldly and didn’t deign to respond. He had no intention of explaining himself.
Qiu Mingyan became increasingly terrified. She never expected that Song Xiao would actually know so much. She had initially thought that even if Song Xiao had suspicions, he didn’t have proof. But now, he even knew about John’s gambling debts and the fact that he was demanding money from her. Then, did Song Xiao already get his hands on evidence?
“Who’s John? You used my money to keep a man outside?” When Song Zicheng saw Qiu Mingyan’s reaction, he immediately understood, and promptly flew into a rage. As he thought, this woman had, in any case, been a star before; she should definitely have plenty of savings, so why was she always asking him for money? It turned out that she was keeping a man who was a gambler outside!
“I…” Qiu Mingyan didn’t dare say much. If she said yes, she would definitely be beaten. If she said no, she would have no choice but to explain about John; how could she say that he was a murderer she had hired to kill Song Xiao?
“You…” Song Zicheng was so angry his face turned grey. He thought about how he had spent money to help an old lover keep a man, she had simply made a fool of him! He couldn’t help slapping Qiu Mingyan across the face. “Get the hell out!”
Qiu Mingyan didn’t dare stay any longer and fled in a hurry. However, she didn’t dare go home either, and could only give Song Zheng a call. “My daughter ah, you have to save mom…”
Because of his anger, Song Zicheng’s heart started to hurt, and he went to the hospital to get a checkup done, so he didn’t show up at the company for a few days. The people at the company also didn’t think much of it. After all, Song Xiao could handle most of the affairs.
Finally, there was a draft for the selection and promotion process for newcomers. Song Xiao compared it with Xiao Zhengqing’s previous system. After combining the two, he made adjustments to the draft, then had the people underneath him tweak it a little more.
When the old foxes saw how direct and to the point Song Xiao’s views were, they were convinced, and didn’t dare think about slyly avoiding the work as they obediently went back to do the alterations.
“The company is preparing to open a branch office in the capital. Everyone, please start making preparations for it.” Song Xiao directly announced the decision at an executive meeting. Everyone found it a little hard to accept, and started raising doubts one after another.
“Eldest young master, opening this branch office is easier said than done. The company’s profits have only just taken a turn for the better. Opening a branch office would be a massive expense!”
“That’s right, our company’s main resources are in A City; there’s no advantage in going to the capital at all!”
Song Xiao listened to them with a serious expression, then bent his head to send a text to Yu Tang.
【I really want to throw these old fogeys into a hotpot and cook them】
When Yu Tang, who was having a meeting in the company in A City, received this message, he expressionlessly replied:
【Permission granted】
Suppressing the corners of his lips that wanted to tilt upward, Song Xiao maintained an earnest and severe expression and raised a hand to dismiss everyone’s objections. “I said this so that everyone would be mentally prepared. It’s not like we’re carrying it out tomorrow.”
When he said this, everyone felt that there was still some room for discussion, and the objections immediately stopped being so vehement.
“Still too young ah…” When they left the meeting room, a few of the board members gathered together and shook their heads.
As if he couldn’t hear them, Song Xiao directly headed downstairs.
It just so happened to be time to clock out. A beautiful, sapphire blue convertible was parked at the company entrance. The female staff members passing by couldn’t help turning their heads for a look, and then another – that was because standing next to the car was the incomparably dashing Yu Tang.
“Ai, who’s the lucky person who caught this second generation’s eye?” A few of the female artists looked at Yu Tang and spoke very enviously. They were stars with very little fame, and most of them were unable to stand out. The best outcome for them was to marry a rich person. Someone like this, who was both handsome and rich, was truly rare.
“What second generation, this person is a genuine chairman.” A person in the know revealed, “Last month, I followed Ol’ Wu to a dinner party at the capital and saw him.”
The artist who was speaking had been fortunate enough to perform a ceremony at some summit meeting in the capital last month. It was a meeting for genuine entrepreneurs and wasn’t something that idle second generations could attend. This wasn’t a prince charming – he was clearly a golden king!
Just as the group of female artists were sighing with endless regret, the youthful chairman suddenly revealed a very brief smile before reverting back to his expressionless appearance. He raised his chin slightly and waited for that certain someone to walk over.
The female artists all turned to look as they tried to guess which film empress or popular new actress it was. Instead, they saw another youthful chairman in a suit walk unhurriedly out of the building, his own smile unwavering.
“Our little Chief Song is actually so handsome when he smiles!” A few of the girls cupped their faces and stared at their own company’s prince charming as he walked towards the golden king.
“Why are you here?” Song Xiao blinked.
“Get in.” Yu Tang jerked his chin and walked towards the driver’s seat. “Didn’t you say you wanted to eat hotpot?”
Song Xiao was taken aback, then let out a muffled ‘pfft’. “How can I dare trouble Your Majesty to come pick me up with the imperial chariot? You can just tell me where the place is and we can meet there.”
“What if you get lost if I don’t pick you up?” Yu Tang said calmly as he helped fasten Song Xiao’s seatbelt.
The faint scent of cologne filled Song Xiao’s nose at Yu Tang’s close proximity. Song Xiao felt his heart speed up, and he swallowed. Had His Majesty the emperor read another weird book?
Little Theater
Xiaoxiao: Your Majesty, what strange book did you read this time?
Fish Tang: Everything zhen reads is about ways to rule a country
Xiao An: (weakly raises hand) Does ‘Overbearing Chairman Fell In Love With Me’ also count?
Fish Tang: Zhen has long stopped reading that
Xiaoxiao: Then what are you reading now?
Fish Tang: ‘Two-Faced Chairman’s Little Pampered Wife’
Xiaoxiao: …