The Old Station Director of Cake TV held a place of high esteem in everyone's hearts.
Many of the middle-aged core staff still at Cake TV were personally promoted by the Old Station Director, including Little Mei.
Little Mei always felt a sense of gratitude towards the Old Station Director for recognizing her talents.
This time, it was also the Old Station Director who saw potential in the culinary competition show.
After all, it was a crucial moment for the TV station to transition into the internet era.
Many major TV stations had already successfully made the transition, with 800-900 million young people currently active online in China.
Those meager TV ratings seemed hardly worth looking at anymore.
Cake TV had its moments of glory in the past.
A few years ago, their in-studio variety shows had led the trends for a while.
That was considered Cake TV's most glorious period.
But over the past decade, Cake TV had been on a steady decline.
It was clearly on a downward slope.
They had tried to utilize the internet before.
But no matter how much money they poured in, it always seemed to disappear without a trace.
After several attempts, everyone gradually lost hope.
This time, the Old Station Director saw that the online popularity was genuinely high.
The number of judges and applicants was particularly impressive.
However, when it came to production and filming, things seemed a bit rough.
There was indeed a noticeable gap compared to what their professional team could produce.
Upon inquiry, they learned that Lin Rui was behind it.
Lin Rui's Lin Family belonged to the same local wealthy circle as Little Mei.
When she came over with the intention of bringing the show under her wing, she brought along plenty of sincerity.
They wanted to use this popularity to help the TV station transition.
But who would have thought that after everything had been agreed upon, as the popularity grew, people's attitudes began to shift.
The Old Station Director handed these matters over to the Deputy Director.
When Little Mei called, although the Old Station Director didn't answer, he learned about the situation from someone who was online.
He couldn't be bothered to deal with these issues anymore; young people making a fuss, it was all trivial to him.
The Old Station Director had worked within the system for so long.
His thinking had become somewhat rigid, completely unaware that it was now time for young people to reshape the workplace.
He thought that even if they faced some unfair treatment, they would find various ways to voice their concerns.
They would work through layers of obstacles to ultimately achieve their goals.
But now, Lin Rui had chosen to confront the issue head-on, which was beyond everyone's imagination.
Upon learning of the situation, the Old Station Director immediately called Little Mei, but to his surprise, she didn't answer.
This left even the Old Station Director somewhat incredulous.
By the time the Old Station Director managed to find Little Mei, she had already packed up and resigned. He didn't even get to see her in person.
For Little Mei, staying at Cake TV was originally about repaying some of the Old Station Director's kindness.
But after a series of events, she realized she had been too naive.
They were all just employees, what kindness was there to speak of?
The other party promoted her because they valued her abilities and family background.
Since everyone had their own agendas, there was no point in talking about who owed whom.
This time, she felt she had let down her good friend Lin Rui.
Such immense popularity.
In internet terms, a fortune beyond measure had been handed to Cake TV.
Now Cake TV was publicly using their social media team to make snide remarks about others, how could she hold her head high when facing her old friend?
Moreover, she discovered that the Old Station Director wasn't as good as she thought. It was all an act.
He and the Deputy Director were cut from the same cloth.
One played good cop, the other bad cop.
It wouldn't be surprising if they had planned it all beforehand.
This time, the Old Station Director and the Deputy Director had taught her a lesson.
Lin Rui had blocked all of Little Mei's contact methods.
Now Little Mei's world was in chaos – she had lost her job, lost her good friend, and she didn't want to deal with this mess anymore, so she simply resigned.
Cake TV was a very large organization.
Including interns, there were several hundred employees, with talent coming and going, which wasn't important to the station.
When Little Mei resigned, the leadership only made a token effort to persuade her to stay.
Seeing her firm resolve, they signed her resignation papers.
After all, the leadership had been somewhat uncomfortable with Little Mei, a second-generation rich kid playing at work. Now that she left on her own, they felt more at ease.
By the time the Old Station Director came back looking for Little Mei, he learned that she had already resigned.
As soon as the Old Station Director returned, the Deputy Director hurriedly invited him to his office.
Along the way, many people stared, and they could hear whispers around them.
After all, this was a place of intense competition.
This time, with the incident occurring, there was no shortage of spectators.
"What are we going to do now?" The Deputy Director was getting anxious.
They quickly closed the office door after entering: "Uncle, please say something."
The relationship between the Deputy Director and the Old Station Director wasn't like the typical superior-subordinate relationship people might imagine.
The Old Station Director had watched him grow up since he was a child.
Although they weren't relatives, their families had been close for twenty or thirty years.
It was an iron-clad network of relationships.
That's why the Deputy Director was able to stand out among so many excellent competitors.
To become the designated next station director.
The Deputy Director had often offended people in the office before.
But the Old Station Director had managed to eliminate most of his so-called opposing forces through various means.
Now the Old Station Director was planning to retire and enjoy his golden years.
Who would have thought his "good nephew" would cause such a big mess?
The Deputy Director was now as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He had seen the comments online, which were a deluge of abuse.
Most people couldn't withstand this.
Every time he saw so many people start to attack him, his whole body trembled with anger.
His heart felt like it was suddenly gripped by a large hand.
People who haven't experienced it can't imagine what it feels like to be maliciously abused online.
It's a suffocating feeling that comes with just one glance.
As for the social media editor who made the post, he couldn't even look at the backend now.
All kinds of insults were coming in faster than he could delete them.
He had no idea that a mere kindergarten could wield such power.
At this moment, the Deputy Director was still rambling on: "If only we hadn't collaborated with them!"
Under this kind of institutional setup, they didn't seek to achieve great things, but rather to avoid making mistakes.
With this kind of incident, how could he hold his head up?
The Old Station Director, seeing his constant complaints, was also getting a bit impatient.
But after all, old ginger is spicier: "I heard Little Mei resigned. What kind of leadership are you providing? She was a crucial person."
The Deputy Director had secretly rejoiced upon hearing that Little Mei was planning to resign. He believed that someone who didn't follow orders should indeed leave.
But now, hearing the Old Station Director say, "She must have realized the mess this incident would cause, so she's resigning to take responsibility," the Deputy Director was shocked.
The Old Station Director gave the Deputy Director a long, evaluating look.
It seemed that after playing office politics for too long, the Deputy Director could no longer distinguish between the big players and the small fry.
