FLBCP: Chapter 15

After the Qichen meeting, Zhao Changshuo gradually put the project on the right track. Zhao Zhikai was distracted by other things so Zhao Changshuo’s recent troubles were less.

On the desk in his office were two reports just sent in by the secretary. Zhao Changshuo was reading one of them and asked with surprise, “Yu said that the Third Young Master has recently bought shares in Huihua?”

The secretary answered, “Yes, the Third Young Master has been working with Chen Xi. It seems he plans to enter the entertainment circle.”

This was a bit strange. Zhao Yao left the Zhao family behind, quit his job and went into the entertainment industry that wasn’t closely related to the Zhao Group. A few days ago, there had been many rumors about him. Most of them were complaining about Zhao Yao’s strange behavior of leaving the family property dispute. A small number said that Zhao Yao was squeezed out of the company and had no choice but to go out and start a business.

Apart from the small number of people who knew that Zhao Yao supported Zhao Changshuo at the Qichen meeting, everyone else heard magical versions. They even took out the dog-blood plot of rich families on TV dramas, which was full of ups and downs and was very interesting. If it wasn’t for Zhao Changshuo accidentally coming across a scene where the rumors were being discussed, it might’ve reached the finale by now.

The secretary showed no fluctuations on the surface but couldn’t quite understand if the boss and the Third Young Master were in a cooperative relationship or not?

Zhao Changshuo looked at the report. He knew that Zhao Yao had the capital to go out and start his own business, but he hadn’t expected Zhao Yao to take the route of cooperation. The Zhao family didn’t have much involvement in the entertainment industry. There was a small company in the group but many departments had been closed recently due to a business downturn.

During the meeting that took place a while ago, he had consulted the other executives about stopping this business. Now Zhao Yao took this action. Could it be related to the reasons for his departure?

Zhao Changshuo was thinking when the mobile phone on his desk rang. The name ‘Zhao Yao’ was shown on the screen.

Why did he call at this time?

The secretary watched his boss pick up the phone, expression changing from strange to calm. He heard the boss mention a small company under the group. Then he saw the boss hang up and give him an order, “Contact the person in charge of Xingchen Culture and make a handover to Zhao Yao’s team.”

Xingchen Culture? Wasn’t this the entertainment company that was planned to be closed down at the senior management meeting not long ago?

Wait? The Third Young Master and Xingchen?

Before the secretary could leave, Zhao Changshuo added, “Follow the entire process and try to meet any needs that Zhao Yao has. Report to me directly if something happens.”

The secretary was full of doubts. Even if the Third Young Master resigned and didn’t work for the Zhao Group any longer, it was better to have an individual company than to take over the mess of Xingchen Culture. In addition, when did the boss and Third Young Master get along so well?

Zhao Changshuo wondered, “Is there a problem?”

The secretary collected the documents and immediately said, “No problem. I’ll contact Xingchen Culture straight away.”

***

Ji Heyu was annoyed by his roommate’s strange words as he came out of the dormitory assigned to him by the bar.  In the previous period, he was ostracized by many of his colleagues after he had a small conflict with the boss. Now he found a new place to settle down. He didn’t know who leaked the news that he was poached by a star scout but they came to him to mock him.

“I thought you were lucky but I heard that you are going to Huihua Culture. Everyone in the circle knows that the company is going to collapse and many high-ranking officials are running away these days.” A colleague glanced at Ji Heyu before continuing to speak to the others, “I don’t know if people can get a base salary after being cheated there. Maybe he has signed a 10 year overlord clause…”

Ji Heyu ignored these people and pulled his suitcase straight out of the dormitory.

His colleague sighed. “There is no star life but he already has a star disease.”

Ji Heyu was walking out of the dilapidated old city apartment when someone hurried up to him and called out, “Xiao Ji, Xiao Ji.”

The person stopped in front of him. “Are you moving away? Sorry, I just mentioned it to the others. I didn’t expect them to go so far.”

“It’s fine,” Ji Heyu answered. “What’s the matter?”

The colleague was embarrassed. “Don’t be impulsive. It really isn’t good to mix in that circle. Now these companies are casting out wide nets. Don’t be angry and sign an overlord contract just because of the boss. Have you really signed with Huihua?”

Ji Heyu didn’t answer.

“You should go online to check the situation of Huihua. These people are too much but Huihua really seems to be bad…” The colleague didn’t continue. He didn’t dare say that Huihua was about to go bankrupt and Ji Heyu might be sold after signing the contact.

Ji Heyu thanked his colleague for the concern. “It’s fine, thank you.”

The colleague didn’t stop him any longer.

After leaving the apartment, Ji Heyu took the initiative to contact Zhao Yao’s assistant. Then he dragged his suitcase to the office building where Huihua Culture was located. Previously when he found Zhao Yao, Zhao Yao had already told him about Huihua’s situation and made it clear he would sign with Huihua Culture in the future.

He didn’t know if it was due to Ms Yao but he couldn’t help trusting the young man in the wheelchair who appeared in front of him at that time. The young man only said a few words but Ji Heyu felt the absurd feeling of wanting to follow him.

He didn’t ask anything. Many visitors to the bar were from all walks of life and occasionally people in the industry came to the bar to play. None of them were optimistic about Huihua’s recent situation. First, the error in decision making made them fall into a crisis. In addition, the boss Chen Xi cooperated with outsiders and started to crowd out the senior management of the company. The senior management left and employees left… the negative news was just announcing that Huihua Culture would soon close down.

Ji Heyu looked up at the building in front of him. Huihua Culture occupied only one floor.

He muttered, “I probably am really crazy.”

Ji Heyu had received many temptations from scouts while singing. Two years ago, he still had unrealistic dreams. He always thought it was possible for him to fly in the entertainment industry. However, the bar environment was special and his colleagues were people with extensive experience. They saw him being entangled with scouts and mentioned a few words. They knew that these scouts were just casting a wide net to swindle young people who had no knowledge of the world.

Recently, he had a fallout with his boss so he lost his job and could only take on small jobs. However, he definitely couldn’t continue this for a long time. Going to the cultural theater was the best paid job he had received in this period of time.Ji Heyu knew that if he wanted to survive in S City, it wasn’t practical to rely on this alone.

A lot of employees had recently left Huihua. The actions of the boss Chen Xi even angered many executives and they took the company’s artists to jump directly to a rival company. Several departments were almost unable to survive.

“Sigh, I don’t know what President Chen is thinking. It seems Huihua can’t hold on any longer.”

“Isn’t it said that a rich second generation invested? How could it become like this?”

“Several agents ran away and I heard that the supervisor on the publicity side also ran away.”

“I heard that the new boss had President Chen do this because he is unhappy with the senior management.”

“No, then won’t we be kicked out if we make him upset in the future?”

“Who knows? I heard that the new boss came to the company today and he seems to be in the meeting room.”

“It’s over. I don’t think Huihua is a good place to stay at.”

“Should we change jobs?”

Who was this new boss…? Was it Mr Zhao?

Ji Heyu heard two girls whispering at the door the moment he arrived at Huihua Culture and became a bit nervous. He could deceive himself when hearing the rumors outside but the people inside Huihua were so unconfident. Perhaps the situation wasn’t as good as he thought.

“Excuse me…” Ji Heyu asked. “How do I get to the meeting room?”

The girl who was talking looked over. “Ah hello. Have you registered? Who are you here to find?”

Ji Heyu explained why he was here.

The girl was surprised. “Signing a newcomer? Our Huihua hasn’t signed a newcomer for many years.”

“However, Mr Zhao asked me to see him in the meeting room.” Ji Heyu hesitated a bit.

The girl was surprised when she heard this. She knew that the company’s new boss was surnamed Zhao. Could it be that this handsome guy had come to find the new boss? She had to say, “I’ll take you over to ask.”

Huihua had been rectifying a lot of senior management lately and the flow of personnel was normal. Chen Xi was very surprised when he received the news from Zhao Yao. He hadn’t thought about signing an artist so early yet Zhao Yao had found him a newcomer. Honestly speaking, Huihua had stopped signing newcomers many years ago. In recent years, most of those signed by Huihua were already famous artists. The agents in charge of newcomers had run away and it was difficult to find someone to temporarily negotiate a contract.

Chen Xi’s meaning was: Huihua’s management hadn’t been fixed and some people changed jobs with the employees. Now most of the company’s resources were focused on stabilizing the contracted artists in the company and it might be worse to do business with newcomers. In the final analysis, there wasn’t enough manpower.

Chen Xi told Zhao Yao to slow things down but as a result, this person brought a team the next day. He said they didn’t have any hands so he dug out a team for them.

The result of his inquiry was incredible. Wasn’t this team the agent team of Xingchen Culture that was under the Zhao Group? Did the bigshot even do poverty alleviation and dig out a team from the family’s company?

Chen Xi was sitting in the meeting room in a daze. The secretary was talking to the new team about the handover while Zhao Yao was sitting on a chair on the other side, reading a book intently.

“Mr Zhao, the core team of Xingchen…” Chen Xi hesitated to speak.

Zhao Yao turned a page. “They are here to help you. Since Huihua had so many people leaving, we should fill the vacancy to ensure the stable operation of the company. Don’t we have several projects under pressure recently?There is also the matter of the artists’ schedule and resources. We can’t neglect our work due to management problems.”

Chen Xi naturally understood this truth. “Xingchen Culture might not be a well-known company in the industry but its team coming here like this…”

The Zhao Group opened an entertainment company. It might not have created any waves but its internal departments were running well and received many praises in the industry. It was a pity that Xingchen Culture didn’t have a good time and the person in charge was a layman. They struggled for several years and was only at an ordinary level in the industry. Still, such a team was difficult to build up in a short period of time… now this mature team was about to enter Huihua Culture.

It was like the soldiers of the gods descending from the sky.

Zhao Yao raised his eyes slightly. “Don’t worry about it. The Zhao family is planning to integrate XIngchen Culture and this team will be dismissed at the time. They are just sending people over early.” He thought he would have to spend some time discussing this matter with Zhao Changshuo. As a result, Zhao Changshuo agreed without saying anything and sent his secretary to follow the whole process. Things went very smoothly.

Chen Xi wondered, “Is this a simple loan…?

He had originally expected the reorganization to take a long time. As a result, Mr Zhao’s poverty alleviation was equivalent to plugging an artist agency into the precarious Huihua. The team was also ready to work at any time. It simply solved a big problem!

“I said that you can tell me whatever you need.”

Zhao Yao looked at Chen Xi and found that this person wasn’t as calm as the stories. He thought about Chen Xi’s reputation in the entertainment industry in the last left. Why was he so naive now? However, in terms of time, the current Chen Xi only had a small reputation in the industry. Perhaps it was because Huihua hadn’t fully stood up yet.

Chen Xi heard the words and his heart was very moved.

Zhao Yao saw this person was a bit excited and patted him on the back of the hand. “Calm your heart.”

It was normal for young people to be impetuous when things happened. It wasn’t a big deal.

Just then, the door of the meeting room suddenly opened. Ji Heyu entered the vision of the many bigshots in the meeting room in an instant. He pulled his heavy suitcase and carried a guitar as he stared at everyone in a daze.

“Hello… I am looking for Mr Zhao Yao.”