Translator: Dj2203
Editor: Dj2203
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After the competition, Yan Han and the others had to go backstage to change clothes and take a group photo before leaving.
Director Wang seized this opportunity and called Yan Han away again.
This time, Yan Han wasn’t called into the small conference room like last time but was taken to a secluded corridor on the side of the TV station.
Yan Han didn’t mind; he shrugged and straightforwardly took out two voice recorders, handing them to Director Wang.
Perhaps not expecting him to be so agreeable, Director Wang’s brow twitched sharply before he took the two recorders and stuffed them directly into his pocket.
Yan Han asked him, “Do you want to check the contents?”
“No need,” Director Wang said coldly.
“You should still confirm it.”
A hint of embarrassment suddenly appeared on the face of the stunningly beautiful “girl.” Yan Han chuckled awkwardly, touched his nose, and said, “After you’ve confirmed it, please destroy these two recordings yourself, and then could you return the two recorders to me?”
Director Wang, who thought there was something fishy going on, was speechless.
Yan Han rubbed his hands together even more awkwardly. “I borrowed these from a friend. I heard they’re not cheap, costing a hundred or two hundred yuan each. It feels a bit impolite not to return them.”
“…”
Director Wang, unable to bear it any longer, finally roared, “Have you fu**ing had enough?!”
As soon as he roared, two figures appeared at each end of the corridor. Four people in security uniforms suddenly appeared and gradually approached.
Yan Han took a step back slightly: “What are you doing? What do you want to do? Trying to attack me?”
“We’re going to attack you!” Director Wang was so angry that his face was distorted, and his eyes flashed with a cruel and bloodthirsty light: “Didn’t I warn you before? Since you dared to threaten me, you should know the consequences! Tsk tsk tsk, it’s such a pity that such a pretty student like you is going to be ruined here today.”
After saying that, his expression changed again, and he actually chuckled and said, “Take her to the storage room over there. You can deal with her as you see fit. Just don’t make any noise.”
“Yes!”
“Hehehe, thank you, Director Wang!”
The several men dressed in security guard uniforms were clearly not security guards from the TV station. They rubbed their fists together and approached Yan Han, their eyes filled with amazement and drooling, but their expressions were so lewd that they were disgusting.
As they approached, Yan Han clenched his fists so tightly that they cracked. Those disgustingly laughing men did not notice the fearlessness and ferocity in his eyes.
However, just as those approaching reached out and were about to touch Yan Han, a shout of “Stop!” rang out, and someone suddenly burst into the secluded corridor!
The leader was tall, probably around 1.9 meters, and accompanied by several others, including men in security uniforms and two others: a middle-aged man and a man with gray hair who looked at least fifty or sixty years old.
“Stop!”
The first “Stop!” was spoken in a slightly cold tone, while the second was delivered by a much older voice.
The elderly man beside Lin Jianlu spoke up, his voice filled with rage as he questioned Director Wang: “Xiao Wang! What are you doing!”
“President Liu? What brings you here?” The previously arrogant Director Wang suddenly seemed flustered and rushed forward to greet him.
When he reached Lin Jianlu, he was intimidated by his aura and also taken aback by his appearance. He wondered who this man was, that two high-ranking executives from Tianhua could walk beside him…
Just as he was thinking this, he saw the tall, handsome man stride past him, his gaze straight ahead, not even glancing at him, and walk directly to… the high school student?!
“Are you alright?” In contrast to the cold tone, the other man’s voice was full of concern.
And seeing the high school student shake his head indifferently at him, Director Wang: …?!!
A bad premonition surged in his heart again, but the facts didn’t allow him to be shocked for long. The old man’s voice pulled Director Wang back to reality, “Director Wang! What do you mean by this!”
“President Liu… I didn’t…”
Caught red-handed, Director Wang didn’t know how to explain, and in fact, he didn’t need to explain anymore.
Lin Jianlu interrupted him, saying to their General Manager Liu, “I really didn’t know this was how Tianhua treats competition winners and newcomers to the industry.”
“Hahaha, Young Master Lin, you flatter me. This must be a misunderstanding, a misunderstanding!” The old man chuckled dryly twice, then turned to Director Wang and shouted, “Xiao Wang! The competition is over, what are you doing here looking for this student?! Have you forgotten our company’s rules and regulations?!”
“This…” Director Wang was also bewildered to suddenly see his boss bowing and scraping to a young man.
But he wasn’t stupid. He couldn’t just confront them head-on at a time like this, so he quickly changed his attitude completely. Not knowing what to say or what to say, he could only nod and bow, denying it: “It’s a misunderstanding, it’s all a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding? I don’t think so,” Yan Han said. “I saw you and the guys you brought were quite fierce just now.”
At this point, the eldest brother’s new performative personality kicked in again. He effortlessly adopted a charming persona, mimicking Wen Juerong’s usual coquettish manner, twisting his body and saying to Lin Jianlu, “Brother Lin, it’s him! He’s going to drag me to the dark room! I, I’m so scared!”
Lin Jianlu: “…”
Young Master Lin clenched his fist, his gaze towards Director Wang filled with murderous intent.
“Regardless, Yan Han has already signed with Lu Xuan. Please, Director Wang, have some self-respect.”
After saying that, he turned to the old man opposite him and said, “I’ll take him with me now, apologies for troubling you, Mr. Liu.” Lin Jianlu said, pulling Yan Han away. Yan Han didn’t struggle as he was being dragged. But after taking a couple of steps, he seemed to remember something and turned back to wave at Director Wang: “Director Wang, remember to return the recording pens to me. It’s very expensive!”
Everyone: “…”
Director Wang, who dared not speak, remained bewildered. Not only could he only watch helplessly as Yan Han was taken away unharmed, but he also received a reprimand from his superiors for this incident.
“Mr. Liu… who is that… what happened?”
“Xiao Wang, I entrusted this competition to you because I trusted you. You did a great job in everything else, how could you make a mistake in the last step!”
The old man in the corridor stomped his feet in exasperation, while the middle-aged man next to him stared at Director Wang expressionlessly, as if looking at a dead man who had no hope of promotion.
“You don’t know, that female student…” Director Wang was also aggrieved, not understanding how simply disciplining an ordinary student had ended up getting him involved.
General Manager Liu, whose temper was clearly not good, said, “Stop making excuses! After what happened today, don’t you know where you went wrong?”
“Your first mistake was not signing her, causing the company to miss out on a valuable resource! Your second mistake was not only not signing her but also letting her win first place! What were you thinking? Are we running a charity? Didn’t you know she had already signed with Lu Xuan?!”
“This…how would I know?” Director Wang’s arrogance had long since subsided, and he was now speechless.
If the other party had just been an ordinary contestant and hadn’t caused this commotion, he believed President Liu wouldn’t have cared about who won first place.
Having been in this industry for so long, he couldn’t possibly be so clueless about what he could control.
But the problem was that the other party had actually signed with Lu Xuan! This meant that not only did they fail to recruit her, but they also ended up benefiting Lu Xuan!
That bit*h… didn’t she say she didn’t want to enter the entertainment industry?! So it turns out she was just playing him!
Director Wang grew increasingly furious. “President Liu, who is that tall guy? I have to go and confront that little bit*h about this…”
“Confront my ass!” President Liu spat in Director Wang’s face, raging, “You also made a third mistake! We can accept her getting first place and that she signed with Lu Xuan, but how could you openly block her at the TV station?! Is this fair competition?! We’re a legitimate company! Not a gang! Now look what happened, Lin Jianlu saw it all!… Do you know what kind of background that Lin has?!”
“…”
The middle-aged man added, “Don’t even mention us, even our Chairman Nie has to give him some face. Now he’s come to our company in person, accusing us of mistreating a rising star, and then we see you like this… Xiao Wang, I’m not trying to be mean, but you’ve really made Tianhua look bad.”
“Well…” Director Wang was speechless after being scolded. He knew he had been outmaneuvered again and had lost face today. But he couldn’t just quit because he made a living; he had to find a way to salvage the situation. “Then, what do you two bosses suggest we do?”
“What else can we do!”
Director Liu roared, but he seemed powerless. “She’s already signed with Lu Xuan. It’s industry practice; we can’t touch artists from other companies.”
“Then…”
“You’ll learn a lesson from this! Don’t go looking for trouble! What you just did is enough to get you arrested on the spot, you know that!”
Director Wang was furious after being berated by Director Liu.
No matter the reason, being listed for those three mistakes by his superiors in such a competitive company meant he was finished.
Unless he had some opportunity or connections, he had no chance of turning things around.
From now on, he could only keep a low profile…
But even after all this, there was still one thing he didn’t understand and was unwilling to accept.
“Mr. Liu, what’s the relationship between that female classmate and that young master Lin? Is their relationship powerful?”
He already knew that young master Lin was not to be trifled with, so if it was just a normal relationship, he could still…
“Young master Lin personally orchestrated this whole charade, isn’t that just telling us not to mess with his people!” The old man glanced at him sideways, too lazy to explain anything else; this was his last act of mercy.
—When has the Lin family ever personally intervened in matters of the entertainment industry? Not even when Tianhua and Lu Xuan were competing fiercely.
So what kind of relationship the two have… is there any need to think about it?
At the corner at the other end of the corridor, the other two finalists stood pressed tightly against the wall. They had witnessed the entire scene and dared not make a sound, slowly moving until they were out of the corridor.
Back in the contestant preparation room, the male student who came in third place took a deep breath. “Phew, it seems like a lot of big shots came? Luckily, we weren’t discovered.”
The girl, however, was much calmer than him. She was still recalling their conversation when she suddenly sneered, “I knew President Wang would not change his mind… I should have known! I said it yesterday, how did someone who wasn’t signed with Tianhua get first place? So that’s how it is! So she has a stronger backer!”
“…” The boy had reached his limit with her.
Just now, as he was packing up to leave, he noticed the girl acting suspiciously as she walked alone towards the side building of the TV station. After following her, he learned that Director Wang, who was in charge of the overall planning, had led a group to intercept Yan Han.
The girl had come straight here without any hesitation, which proved that she knew about this.
It could even be said that she was in cahoots with Director Wang.
Although the boy didn’t want to meddle, he couldn’t just stand by and watch a young girl be harmed.
He was about to step forward to stop her when he overheard the “secrets” around the corner.
Although none of this concerned him, he was simply unable to tolerate the girl’s almost pathological grumbling.
He said, “You know perfectly well that if the rules hadn’t been changed at the last minute, she would have been first place.”
“What did you say?” The girl was taken aback, not expecting him to suddenly speak like this!
“If the organizers hadn’t pulled some tricks, Yan Han would have already won first place. She truly deserved it.” After saying this, the boy ignored the girl’s reaction, slung his bag over his shoulder, and left.
If he could, he never wanted to come to this TV station again.
The girl stood there in a daze, not coming back to her senses for a long time.
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