It was a photo taken at the panda base of Xiang Qingwei and Ling Jiayi, in which the two were standing very close to each other, smiling brightly at the camera.
"She poured the wine on my face, and after that, I couldn't continue to stay at the banquet to negotiate with the brand sponsor. Jiang Rong also wanted to win the endorsement deal that night, so I believe this was a deliberate attempt by her to sabotage me."
Xiang Qingwei didn't notice Fu Yanbo's strange expression, and continued, "So I hope the company can punish her, and announce it to the entire company to prevent such malicious competition from arising within our internal operations."
Fu Yanbo looked up at her.
Xiang Qingwei's expression was calm, as if she was simply handling official business.
It was a stark contrast to her appearance in the photo.
Fu Yanbo couldn't remember how long it had been since he'd last seen Xiang Qing smile.
To think she would smile so brightly when she was with Ling Jiayi.
Jealousy gnawed away at his heart little by little.
As Fu Yanbo continued to stare at her with a complicated expression, Xiang Qingwei couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Fu?"
Fu Yanbo suddenly asked, "Did you enjoy your visit to the panda base last time?"
Xiang Qingwei was taken aback, a little lost as the topic had jumped too abruptly.
Without giving her a chance to respond, Fu Yanbo continued, "I want to change Ling Jiayi's manager. What do you think?" As he spoke, Fu Yanbo stared at her, waiting for her reaction.
Xiang Qingwei frowned immediately. "What do you mean?"
"I'll give him a new manager, but you can still receive a portion of the commission from his work."
Xiang Qingwei laughed in anger. "So you're saying I won't have to do any work but still get paid?"
"You can think of it that way."
Xiang Qingwei stared into his eyes and said firmly, "Ling Jiayi is my artist, and I will not hand him over to anyone else."
Fu Yanbo put down his phone, opened a drawer, and took out a pack of cigarettes. He pulled one out and lit it in front of Xiang Qingwei, then leaned back and exhaled deeply, slowly letting out a cloud of smoke. His expression seemed gloomy within the haze. "Why? Is he that important to you?"
Xiang Qingwei frowned slightly, then waved a hand to blow away the smoke before her, saying confidently, "It's very important."
Fu Yanbo narrowed his eyes, his voice cooling. "What if I insist on changing it?"
Xiang Qingwei looked over, her gaze piercing through the smoke and into Fu Yanbo's dark eyes. "Mr. Fu, please don't interfere with my work using your personal feelings."
The finger Fu Yanbo was using to tap his cigarette ashes trembled, and he stared at Xiang Qingwei without speaking, his deep black eyes fixed on her.
Xiang Qingwei returned the gaze, her bright eyes meeting his abyss-like ones, neither backing down.
The two held each other's gazes, remaining still, as if waiting to see who would yield first.
Secretary Wen knocked on the door, immediately feeling the strange atmosphere inside the office.
The boss was smoking.
Fu Yanbo wasn't a regular smoker; he only ever smoked when he was extremely depressed or frustrated.
"What is it?" Fu Yanbo glanced over coldly.
Secretary Wen walked in, bracing herself for the reaction. "Mr. Fu, Director Feng is here."
Fu Yanbo said, "Have him wait in the meeting room. I'll be there right away."
Secretary Wen stepped out of the office once again.
Fu Yanbo stared at Xiang Qingwei, then let out a low, cold laugh and stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray. "Xiang Qingwei, do you really think I wouldn't dare to do anything because I'm reluctant to let you go?"
Xiang Qingwei's expression stiffened slightly, but before she could respond, Fu Yanbo interrupted her, "Shut up. I don't want to hear another word from your mouth."
Xiang Qingwei closed her lips.
"I'll warn you one last time," Fu Yanbo said coldly, "if I hear another outrageous rumor about you, it won't be settled by simply changing your manager."
"Then what about Jiang Rong?" Xiang Qingwei asked.
Fu Yanbo glared at her. "Are you trying to provoke me?"
Xiang Qingwei responded confidently, "I was talking about Jiang Rong with you, but you brought up something else."
Fu Yanbo felt a headache coming on, realizing he had created his own monster, as the saying goes.
"She spilled red wine on you, and you spilled coffee on her; the ice cube also accidentally hit her eye—so you're even."
Xiang Qingwei said, "The nature of our actions is different. She engaged in malicious competition with the intent to steal this endorsement deal. If Yun'er hadn't received this opportunity, it would have caused the company a significant loss. If Jiang Rong isn't punished, others will follow suit in the future..."
Fu Yanbo interrupted her, "I'll have Secretary Wen investigate thoroughly before handling this matter. Is that satisfactory?"
"I've been a bit short on funds recently, so Jiang Rong should compensate me for the dress."
Fu Yanbo frowned. "You're short on funds? Where did your money go?"
Xiang Qingwei fell silent.
Fu Yanbo pondered, recalling Xiang Qingwei's spending habits. She had always been quite generous with her money, lacking any sense of financial management or investment. She spent as she pleased, and her end-of-year bonus from last year had been a seven-digit sum.
Considering it had already been more than half a year since then, it was likely not enough for her lavish lifestyle.
Xiang Qingwei stood up. "Director Feng is waiting for you still, so I won't continue to take up your time—I'll leave first."
Every word out of your mouth is "you." Either way, she refused to allow him to feel at ease.
"Get out, get out, you annoy me," Fu Yanbo said with a frown. Despite his words, his gaze remained fixed on Xiang Qingwei's back until she had walked out of the office and disappeared from sight.
He then turned his attention back to himself, but couldn't resist the urge to reach for his cigarette pack again. Xiang Qingwei was the only person in the world who could make him so mad he felt suffocated, yet he still dared not do anything to her. What's more, she had come to anger him on behalf of another man, which only made him feel even more suffocated.
Xiang Qingwei walked out of the company building, stood at the entrance, and lifted her head to look up at the sky. She took a deep breath, and a mocking smile curved the corners of her lips before she turned and walked away without looking back.
The next morning, at 9 a.m., the Super Idol official account released promotional photos of the 100 contestants all at once.
At 11 a.m., the hashtag #SuperIdolContestants# took the top spot on the Weibo hot search.
Of course, the spot had been purchased, but now that they'd bought the top spot, even passersby would click in to take a look.
Aside from those who already had some fame, such as Yao Yuan, who had debuted in South Korea, and the star second-gen and influencer contestants, as well as those with small but dedicated fan bases, Ning Yang's discussion rate was the highest.
In order to maximize promotional efforts, the photos released by the show's official account hadn't been excessively photoshopped. For example, the group roasted the influencers for how drastically different their looks were from their usual, heavily filtered selfies on Weibo.
The contestants wore matching black school uniforms. Ning Yang, with his black hair and eyes and delicate features, had a cold aura that made him easily stand out amongst the rest of the photos.
The comments section below the official account's posts had long been overtaken by Yao Yuan's fans.
After all, Yao Yuan already had hundreds of thousands of followers on Weibo.
Amongst a sea of hot comments such as "Yao Yuan is going to debut at the top!" "Yao Yuan, let's walk down the flower path together!" "Yao Yuan is making his grand comeback as king!"
The only comment with the second-highest number of likes was about Ning Yang.
"Little brother number 26, Ning Yang, is too perfect! This face! This aura! I'm picking him!"
The number of likes it received was just below the first comment about Yao Yuan.
The comments beneath it even surpassed the number under the first comment.
Someone even found Ning Yang's Weibo, only to discover that his account had been created last month, with a verification label as a Super Idol contestant.
He had only a few dozen followers, the majority of which were fake accounts, and he had only ever posted one photo, a picture of the sky with the caption: The weather is beautiful.
Within a matter of hours, however, Ning Yang's Weibo fan count skyrocketed into the thousands, with the number growing by the second.
At the same time, Ning Yang's publicity team began their work. The marketing accounts they controlled swiftly produced a ranking of the top nine most attractive contestants in Super Idol.
Ning Yang was on the list, and in the center position at that. This attracted a large number of retweets from other marketing accounts, spreading an enormous promotional net across Weibo.
The contestants' backgrounds were quickly dug up.
But aside from Ning Yang's company being Huaying and his manager being the same person who had brought Ling Jiayi and Tao Yuner into the spotlight, no other information could be dug up.
However, the fact that his manager was also the person who had brought Ling Jiayi and Tao Yuner into the spotlight garnered quite a bit of attention.
Vivian originally wanted to use this as a key point in their promotional campaign, but it was shot down by Xiang Qingwei. Being pushed into the public eye due to Ling Jiayi's incident last time had been unavoidable, and Xiang Qingwei deeply despised being exposed to public scrutiny.
But even though the promotional team didn't use her as a focus, netizens still began to direct their attention toward her, voluntarily spreading interest in her.
A thread titled "Who exactly is the manager behind Ling Jiayi and Tao Yuner?" appeared on certain platforms, garnering quite a few comments from curious individuals.
Quite a few people even gasped at the photos taken of Xiang Qingwei at the tourist site, marveling at her beauty.
Ling Jiayi's manager was truly a formidable figure; she had plucked Ling Jiayi straight from a talent scouting show and thrust him into a leading role that made him an overnight sensation.
Even with Tao Yuner's image in tatters, this woman had dared to take her on as a client, and had even managed to turn Tao Yuner's career around, breathing new life into the washed-up star.
This Ning Yang seemed like a complete nobody; no dirt could be dug up on her, not even on Weibo, and her account appeared to have been created last month. She truly was an enigma.
Regardless of anything else, this woman had incredible foresight and was a master at packaging her clients.
Ling Jiayi wasn't particularly striking during his talent scouting days, but his image had undergone a drastic metamorphosis upon leaving the show! His looks were now nothing short of ethereal!
Tao Yuner's face was easily in the top tier among female celebrities, and with Ning Yang added to the mix, the two women presented vastly different styles but were both uniquely captivating in their own right.
Don't you think Ling Jiayi's manager is incredibly good-looking? Even in such a chaotic situation, her candid photo came out perfectly fine.
Anyone who could single-handedly propel Ling Jiayi and Tao Yuner to stardom must be extraordinary. I have a feeling that Ning Yang will be this season's dark horse.
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The entire book has been translated, with a total of 414K words and more than 1,200 pages.
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