The elevator chimed, and Liu Jiajia walked out holding a folder.
"Director Liu, you can go straight in and wait. Chairman Jiang's meeting is about to end," said the secretary, standing up to open the door for Liu Jiajia.
Just as they finished speaking, the elevator doors opened again, and Jiang Juyou emerged, looking utterly exhausted.
Liu Jiajia turned around and, seeing her expression, laughed, "The film department really put you through the wringer, huh?"
"Being a producer isn't easy..." Jiang Juyou's mind was still swimming with all the numbers she'd seen in the meeting.
"Let's go inside and talk," Jiang Juyou said, gesturing towards the office while rubbing her temples.
Once inside, Liu Jiajia couldn't wait to share about today's interviews. "Guess who I interviewed today?"
"Who?" Jiang Juyou asked, collapsing onto the sofa.
Liu Jiajia wore a mysterious smile as she handed over the file. Jiang Juyou looked at her suspiciously, wondering what candidate could have made her so excited.
They had already gone through several rounds of selecting female trainees, and today was the final round. Liu Jiajia was the one making the decision.
After finalizing her choice, she had come to find Jiang Juyou, hoping to see a look of surprise on her face.
Jiang Juyou, curled up on the sofa, briefly flipped through the resumes of the candidates. She didn't recognize the first few, so they probably weren't the one Liu Jiajia was referring to.
When she reached the last page, Jiang Juyou paused. "...Surname Pei?" She looked up at Liu Jiajia, then back down at the family details section, where the name Pei Luming was clearly written.
But in the next moment, instead of the expected reaction, Liu Jiajia saw Jiang Juyou frown and say, "...I thought Pei Luming's sister was a trainee in Korea. He said so himself."
Now it was Liu Jiajia's turn to tilt her head in confusion. "She did have training experience abroad."
Liu Jiajia moved to sit beside Jiang Juyou, looking at the resume together. "It says here she was a trainee overseas for two years and three months, and even made it into a debut group."
Jiang Juyou countered, "His sister was having dinner with him in Korea just last month!"
The two women looked at each other, speechless.
The information matched, but not completely.
Jiang Juyou pulled out her phone. "I'll have someone ask about this."
-
Pei Zhiping, having just finished the third round of auditions, was sitting in a small restaurant not far from Random Entertainment, aimlessly scrolling through her phone.
Her mind was preoccupied with other matters, but her hands couldn't stop moving, trying to keep herself from getting too anxious.
Suddenly, her phone screen changed as an incoming call cut through.
"Idiot" flashed on the screen.
Pei Zhiping: "..."
She answered the call with an annoyed expression. "Hello..."
A barrage of questions came flying through the phone:
"I just heard from a staff member that you auditioned for our company. What's going on?"
"Wait, you're in the country?"
"How did you come back by yourself?"
"Do Mom and Dad know about this?"
"And what's the situation with your company?"
Faced with so many questions, Pei Zhiping didn't know where to start. Her mood felt like the day she was told she'd be demoted from Class A.
She stirred the thin porridge in front of her, taking several deep breaths to calm herself before speaking. "...It's exactly as you've heard. I passed Random Entertainment's audition, and I'll be training in China from now on."
"What about your company then? Did our company poach you? Why would they poach you? How did they even know about you?"
Pei Zhiping: "..."
There was a reason they argued every day. Why did this person have so many questions?
She replied coldly, "Mind your own business. I'll talk to Mom and Dad myself. You just worry about yourself. I'm already 5'7", and you're only a bit taller than me. Watch out, or you might not debut because you're too short, you little squirt!"
The other end of the line immediately erupted in impotent rage. "Pei Zhiping, you ahhhhhhh - I'm gonna wahhhhhh!"
Hearing him yell on the other end of the phone, unable to do anything to her, Pei Zhiping's mood improved considerably.
She didn't even say goodbye, just hung up the phone, adding more fuel to Pei Luming's emotional fire.
Imagining him probably punching the air right now, Pei Zhiping felt quite pleased.
-
At the end of this month, Random Entertainment's official account was very active. First, they announced four female trainees, declaring the start of building a girl group. Then they officially announced the cast for a new drama, with all three of Random Entertainment's female actresses participating. Finally, they released a video of the male trainees training in Korea.
The last piece of news created the biggest stir. A simple Weibo post directly led to fans battling it out with over a million reposts.
"Please, Random Entertainment, treat the founding father and eternal TOP Ye Xing correctly and actively release training videos related to Ye Xing."
"Who's ranked 21st? I'm gonna say it! Who's ranked 21st? I'm gonna say it! Who's ranked 21st? I'm gonna say it! It's Ye Xing!"
"Since when did Random Entertainment start prioritizing popularity? Does the so-called 'Skill Back' dare to show their face?"
"If you have time to pressure Random Entertainment, why don't you pressure your bias instead? I'm talking about that Ye Xing guy ranked 21st."
The fan circle changed almost instantaneously.
After Ye Xing's 21st place ranking was announced, it devastated some fans and drove away many casual fans.
The bubble of popularity burst at that moment. After being enlightened by Jiang Juyou, even the general public began to comment on Ye Xing's weak skills. The louder these voices became, the more casual fans left.
Without the support of the public and casual fans, the tide of the fan wars suddenly turned.
Gao Xiayu took first place, but the true powerhouse in the fan circles was someone else.
It was Pei Luming, whose die-hard fans outnumbered everyone else's.
The incident started like this: Random Entertainment released a practice video of other groups at the end of the month, but Ye Xing's fans, eager to defend him, directly flooded the Weibo post's reposts and comments.
Logically, this had nothing to do with Pei Luming's fans. However, Ye Xing's fans couldn't resist taking a jab at Pei Luming while defending their idol. The consequence was that within five minutes, the hot repost area was completely reshuffled.
The fight between two top contenders resulted in a million reposts.
"If it's like this before debut... what will it be like after debut..."
"Who was it that brainwashed me into thinking there were only 300 fans in the whole network?"
"Wow, the proportion of real comments is quite high. Looks like they're all logging in to type insults themselves."
"21st place will be Ye Xing's shame from now on, it'll be brought up every time there's a fan war."
"To be honest, being 21st is really damaging. In fan wars, what you fear most is not being able to match up in terms of actual achievements."
"Ye Xing has lost so many fans recently..."
The one who should have been criticized the most, the first-place winner, was quietly let off the hook due to lack of attention. Other fandoms were also fighting, but none matched the scale of Ye Xing and Pei Luming's fans.
Every time these two fanbases fought, it would be picked up by marketing accounts, forcing the public to know about it every time.
Fighting was one thing, but every time they fought, Jiang Juyou would end up getting hurt.
Today at the airport, Jiang Juyou was surrounded by fans and paparazzi. She was pulling a suitcase, with an assistant following behind her.
Jiang Juyou wore earphones, pretending not to hear, but the surrounding paparazzi didn't care about her well-being at all. They asked directly, "Yesterday, Ye Xing and Pei Luming's fans fighting made it to the hot search. Whose side are you on?"
The surrounding fans first scolded on Jiang Juyou's behalf:
"Are you sick in the head?"
"Can't the paparazzi just get lost?"
"...Brainless."
Jiang Juyou's assistant remained silent, looking around: "..."
They hadn't expected the boss to have fans too.
orz, I'm sorry, I didn't expect today's update to be so short...
I'll make up for it tomorrow. I'm really not feeling well today.
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