Speechless to the extreme.
Mu Qiu dipped the shrimp paste she’d grabbed into wasabi sauce and put it in Guan Yu’s bowl: "Your story was so good, this is your reward."
Guan Yu picked up her bowl, and before she could do anything else, Li Yang, Shi Yuhuai, and Shu Ran all lifted their own bowls off the table in perfect sync.
"...What are you doing, what are you doing?! Am I the kind of person who dumps the food from my bowl into yours?"
Shi Yuhuai: "As boring as this question is, I can still reluctantly answer you: yes."
Bai Shu: "Pfft—"
Guan Yu: "...You people are so—annoy—ing!"
Mu Qiu snickered, happily took a sip of Cheng Zhi, the corners of her lips curling up as she continued eating the shrimp paste.
The six of them had been together quite a while and were already very familiar with each other, but the other six were Different; they still spoke with a bit of restraint.
When the conversation turned to Love, resources, what galas they might attend, whether they had any past scandals and all that, the others barely joined in. To avoid awkwardness, the topic eventually circled back to the show.
Talking about the show made Mu Qiu remember the look on the director’s face she’d glimpsed after the stage finished that afternoon.
"He was smiling in this super meaningful way, and my first instinct was that there was definitely some shady scheme brewing. But now the stage has wrapped up smoothly, and nothing shady seems to have happened. Why do you think he was smiling like that?"
Shu Ran guessed, "Maybe it’s about the next episode?"
Li Yang let out an ah and asked suspiciously, "Does the next episode have something to do with our punishment segment? What, the headbands and fruit-and-vegetable juice are going to keep showing up next time?"
Shi Yuhuai leaned back in his chair like some retired old grandpa: "That question should be directed at Guan Yu."
"From what I know of the director, he probably watched the punishment segment and got inspired on how to upgrade the next episode. Make it even more deranged."
Guan Yu smacked her lips and added, "But we can’t be sure. How about you all chip in for a gift box, I’ll carry it to his place and bribe him a bit, fish out some real intel?"
Shu Ran: "Didn’t you say every time you show up with a gift box before recording you get thrown out? Give it a rest."
"......Then it’s settled: he’s definitely going to make the next episode even more deranged. That’s the shady scheme."
"How deranged can it get?" Mu Qiu looked at Shi Yuhuai. "Is he going to turn Brother Huai’s ’locked in a dark room’ setting into ’hidden beauty in a gilded cage’?"
Shi Yuhuai looked at her like she was dead meat: "You’re already pretty deranged yourself."
Li Yang: "But I actually think that sounds great... Hey hey hey Brother Huai, don’t hit me!"
Guan Yu: "Hit him! Beat all that swagger off him today!"
They barely got a few lines out before they started physically scuffling again. Mu Qiu sighed, then mimicked Shi Yuhuai’s orchid fingers, lifted her glass of Cheng Zhi and took a drink, while filming them bickering and tussling.
If she ever ran out of money one day, she could still sell those photos for grocery cash.
Cheng Zhirang barely joined their noisy squabbling; most of the time he was focused on taking care of her while she ate. When his phone rang he even specifically told her he was stepping out to take a call.
Mu Qiu nodded.
Bai Shu, seated two spots away, couldn’t help glancing over at them. When she looked at Mu Qiu, her eyes were full of admiration, as if saying, "Not only did you nab Brother Cheng, you’ve got him totally under control, that’s impressive."
Mu Qiu felt a bit embarrassed.
She didn’t see herself as having such a strong need to control, she didn’t demand that he report everything to her. But he always took the initiative to inform her, making it seem like she was being very strict.
But unexpectedly, that feeling was kind of nice.
...
The call was from Chen Song, about the Lin Family situation.
"They didn’t expect the news to blow up this fast, they’re basically caught off guard, and only now is their PR team starting to push it down."
Corporate PR tactics and response speed are never as fast as top-tier celebrities’. One side doesn’t constantly care about online rumors, the other keeps a death grip on all online information related to them, treating every rumor and PR battle as a major event on the road of their career.
So by the time the story "Lin Family executive coercing pregnant mistress employee to resign" was already everywhere, they only then stepped in with money to suppress it. Once they did, the tag’s spread dropped immediately, but in netizens’ minds their image took another plunge.
Buying out a scandal with money is no different from a guilty thief exposing himself; they’re using money to buy out their own recent public image.
For a company to stand long-term in the market, it depends on the credibility its corporate and brand image presents to everyone. How a female employee’s pregnancy is handled has always been a high-risk topic, and public attention was already intense.
With this scandal breaking out, their stock price nosedived, and the Lin Family’s market cap evaporated by several hundred million.
Cheng Zhirang didn’t want to say much. He just hummed, "If they want to suppress it, let them. We don’t need to worry about it. What about Qing Rong?"
"Qing Rong has decided to file a case against the people spreading rumors. The studio will work with him on a joint lawsuit. But are you sure binding the three of your names together won’t make you uncomfortable?"
"We’re talking about events, not people," he said calmly. "His life has indeed been affected because of us. As for anything else, that’s not within the scope of what I worry about."
"Okay, we’ll get everything on our end ready. Oh, and fans have sent you loads of letters again this time. Should we bring them to the studio or have Assistant Liang deliver them to you? Thursday is your birthday, you might want to read more before then, in case there are questions you need Cheng Zhi to answer."
This, Cheng Zhirang did think over for a moment, then said, "Put them in that black car. As for today’s couple dance tag, keep a handle on it, don’t let it stay at the top too long."
On the other end Chen Song chuckled, "Got it. You guys have fun, I’ll go talk to that author Qing Rong. You’re going to keep working together anyway, maybe we can use this collaboration to pull off a reversal."
"Do as you see fit."
Ending the call, he turned and headed back. Passing the restroom in the middle of the corridor outside the private rooms, he happened to run into a drunk woman who came stumbling out of the bathroom.
She had her head down, was wearing a low-cut top, reeking of alcohol, and she crashed straight toward him.
Cheng Zhirang frowned and turned to the side to avoid her, lifting his gaze toward where she’d just rushed out.
It was the men’s restroom, and there were curses coming from inside.
Since she hadn’t hit him, the woman fell to the floor. Hearing the shouting from the restroom, her whole body trembled. She lifted her head, her face full of tears, and looked up at him.
"Sir... Brother Cheng? Brother Cheng, I’m your fan, can you help me? The guy inside got me drunk. He wants to force himself on me! Can you help me, take me away?"
She had fallen on the ground while he was standing; with a single glance downward Cheng Zhirang could see how she was practically half-naked, and that hand with red nail polish reaching to grab the hem of his pants.
He acted like he hadn’t seen it, calmly moved his line of sight away, first stepping out of any angle that could be used by hidden cameras, then spoke: "What happened, miss? Do you need me to call the police?"
The woman was pretty, and crying gave her the look of a suffering beauty that tugged at the heart. But she didn’t say whether she needed the police; she only kept staring at him, repeating that he should take her away.
Cheng Zhirang pulled out his phone and was about to dial the police when someone suddenly came out of a private room nearby.
"Cheng Zhirang?"