Seeing that the air around Bo Jianyan was chillingly cold, Song Chengchi did not dare to cross him further.
The site selection for the branch office had always been criticized by the company’s “old fogies.” After a great deal of effort, Bo Jianyan had finally convinced them to settle on a location, only for this disaster to strike right at the moment of handover.
Bo Jianyan’s fingers flew across his phone screen, typing out lines of text, while he spoke without looking up, “Call everyone from the project team up for a meeting.”
He tried making several calls, but the screen repeatedly showed that the other party was in another call.
Song Chengchi did not even dare to breathe too loudly. “I will get everyone up here.”
Bo Jianyan gave a curt “Mm” and sent him a document. “Go negotiate the investment. Offer whatever price they want; I will handle the rest.”
“As for Gu Chong’s side, continue talking to them as planned.”
Bo Jianyan strode into the conference room and began handling the fallout, doing his best to minimize the damage. The news that the branch office site had been snatched away reached the ears of those old fogies almost instantly.
Just as Bo Jianyan finished a meeting, several of them were already waiting at the door. One man, whose hair was half-gray, began to nag, “I told you not to choose that location, Little Bo, but you insisted. Now look at the mess you have made.”
Bo Jianyan did not even look up at the accusation, but his tone carried a hint of impatience. “If you gentlemen came here specifically to lecture me about this, the lounge is to your left. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.”
Without waiting for their reaction, he walked away with his documents.
“Bo Jianyan, what kind of attitude is that toward your elders!?”
“If you do not give us an explanation today, you might as well step down as CEO!”
Bo Jianyan sneered, “If giving you an explanation could solve this, I would not need to be working from dawn until dusk. Please, see yourselves out.”
The men were left behind, shouting curses in their rage.
Bo Jianyan ignored them and continued his work. It was interesting; the investigation showed that the mastermind behind the scenes was indeed Gu Chong himself. Recalling Gu Chong’s obsession at the banquet with pushing Gu Yi into power, he felt that someone else was likely pulling the strings from the shadows.
Bo Jianyan had no more time to think. His job already kept him on his feet constantly, and over the last two days, meetings had been scheduled every one or two hours. He was so busy he could only grab a few bites of food before rushing to the next task. Fortunately, he always had a backup plan for this project, so they began implementing the alternative site for the branch office.
By the time the matter was finally settled, the dark circles under Bo Jianyan’s eyes were glaringly obvious. He looked exhausted. Seeing the dawn breaking outside, he rubbed his temples; he had pulled another all-nighter.
Only then did he remember that he had promised Gu Huai two days ago to take him to the old estate to visit his grandmother. He hadn’t expected to be delayed this long.
Bo Jianyan felt a headache coming on. The company work wasn’t finished, but he thought about sending Gu Huai a message to let him know. Just as he stood up, he felt a wave of dizziness. Darkness suddenly swamped his vision, and his body collapsed without warning. There was a loud thud as he hit the ground, followed immediately by the sound of chaotic footsteps nearby.
Bo Jianyan’s consciousness faded. He couldn’t hear the reactions around him clearly, though he thought he heard Song Chengchi’s shouting mixed with a few screams.
Gu Huai had been busy at his company for the past two days for the official announcement of the drama. Ji Chen placed great importance on this production and had made extensive preparations for the opening ceremony.
Despite being in the industry for years, this was Gu Huai’s first time joining a major production. He couldn’t hide his excitement. After putting on his character’s costume, he was led by staff to the location for the incense-burning ceremony. Ji Chen had arranged for people to take photos constantly, aiming to capture as much social media buzz as possible.
As a popular novel adaptation, this drama had been a focal point for netizens. As soon as the production team released the ceremony photos, a wave of public opinion slammed into Gu Huai’s personal Weibo account.
Right after Gu Huai reposted the official announcement photos, his Weibo comments exploded exponentially. In all his time in the industry, he had never seen so many comments. Gu Huai was stunned, but when he clicked on them, the screen was filled with malicious comments:
[None of the top-tier actors got the lead in this. Who knows how Gu Huai got the role?] [Probably slept his way in. Everyone knows how dirty this circle is.] [Five years since debut and his acting is still trash. His previous works are so bad they should be taken down.]
Gu Huai lowered his eyes and stopped scrolling. The hate was even worse than he had imagined. But for an actor as obscure as he was, this was actually a good thing; it increased his visibility. He didn’t care and wasn’t affected by the vitriol.
Ji Chen immediately took over his Weibo account, saying the company needed to manage it uniformly. She also sent him a long voice message: “Those people online are just biased. The director, the rest of us, and the crew all know you got this role through talent. Hang in there, Xiao Huai. We are all standing behind you.”
Gu Huai silently resolved to produce results. Only then could he show everyone that he didn’t rely on any underhanded methods to get the role.
The reason this storm was so intense was likely because someone was manipulating it from the shadows. Gu Huai had a bitter rival named Song Miao. Unlike Gu Huai, Song Miao was a top-tier actor at a rival company. His connections and resources were incomparable to Gu Huai’s.
Song Miao had always cared deeply about landing a role under the famous Director Ye. Not only did he have a massive fan base, but his looks and acting were top-tier. Most importantly, he was an Alpha.
Alphas seemed to be born as the darlings of the world. No matter how difficult a resource was to obtain, as soon as an Alpha stepped into the entertainment industry, plenty of agencies scrambled to sign them. Their natural appearance and unique reproductive advantages brought them many benefits. These types of Alphas looked down on the mediocre Betas who never quite made it big.
Song Miao had been rejected by Director Ye several times for not fitting the image the director had in mind, and he had long been dissatisfied. He loathed Gu Huai even more. Why should a Beta be better than him? Why should a Beta get resources that he couldn’t? Moreover, Gu Huai had talked back to him once, which made him dislike the boy even more.
Knowing that Gu Huai had beaten him to the role in A Sword Cold as Frost, Song Miao was nearly driven mad by jealousy. In a fit of rage, he bought a large number of internet trolls to stir up trouble for Gu Huai.
Gu Huai didn’t particularly care about him in fact, he didn’t even acknowledge him which only made Song Miao angrier. How dare a plain Beta act so arrogant toward me!?
Seeing that there had been no response from Gu Huai or his studio for half a day, Song Miao slammed the items off his desk in a frenzy. “How did he get that role!?”