As soon as the topic turned to Jiang Juyou, she would suddenly cut off all contact with the outside world and play dead.
This time was no different. She refused to communicate with Cong Lixia, directly closing the chat window and gathering her change of clothes to take a shower.
Only the bedside reading lamp was left on in the room, its warm light as yellow as autumn leaves illuminating the interior. After finishing her shower, the first thing Jiang Juyou did was not blow-dry her hair or apply skincare products, but pick up her phone to call her assistant.
Downstairs, the young assistant had just hung a napkin on her collar, ready to eat a late-night snack. But just as she was about to take the first bite, her phone on the table suddenly rang.
The unique ringtone was one she had set specifically for Jiang Juyou—
"Please, please don't ask me to go out and buy anything!" After saying this little prayer, the assistant answered the phone. "Hello, Jiang-jie."
Jiang Juyou said on the other end: "Help me book a flight for tomorrow noon. We're going back."
"Alright." The assistant glanced at her newly opened suitcase, which still contained a few pretty dresses. She looked away and, forcing a smile, continued to ask, "Is there anything else you need me to do?"
"I'll head straight to the company after landing. Call all the department heads for a meeting, and everyone from the New Talent Development Department must be there."
"Understood."
After hanging up, the assistant muttered "Not good." She felt the fuse had been lit, and tomorrow afternoon's meeting would be the moment of explosion.
The late-night snack on the table no longer seemed so appealing. Thinking about the possibility of having her bonus deducted, she quickly tried to review if she had made any mistakes recently, not wanting to encounter such bad luck right before the New Year.
-
"There's a meeting this afternoon."
"But it's Saturday."
"...What's going on?"
In the entertainment industry, there's basically no such thing as a nine-to-five job or weekends off. Ninety-nine percent of the work is flexible. But Random Entertainment was different - almost all employees worked from ten to six with weekends off, unless there was a trainee performance that required weekend work. Otherwise, they had time off.
Even for big issues, they would usually wait until Monday to address them.
But last night, there was a sudden notification on the company app requiring all department heads and everyone from the New Talent Development Department to arrive at the company at 4 PM on Saturday for a meeting.
Such an abrupt notice meant something major must have happened.
Everyone was speculating, even guessing until bedtime, right up until 4 PM on Saturday when they finally learned the content of the meeting.
Although there was overtime pay, being forced to work overtime still made everyone come reluctantly. Some who arrived early sat at their workstations, planning to enter the meeting room at 4 PM sharp. Others came right on time, while some, thinking Jiang-jie wouldn't arrive so early, were late.
But when they arrived, they found Jiang-jie was already seated in her place.
"..."
The latecomers were from the New Talent Development Department. They bowed apologetically and quickly scurried to their group's position.
Liu Jiajia looked back, also showing displeasure on her face.
The conference room was large, usually used for the trainees' monthly evaluations. It was similar to a tiered theater with many modular seats. The staff sat in their positions, some even pulling out small tables to place iPads and pens, pretending to take meeting notes.
Jiang Juyou stood in the empty space at the front, wearing a very thin smoke-gray knit sweater that accentuated her bony frame even more. The straight-leg jeans hung loose on her, and the chunky high-heeled boots on her feet intensified the fierce aura around her, making her look even more unapproachable than usual.
"Did you all see the major error notice released yesterday?" Jiang Juyou asked, standing at the front with her arms crossed, scanning the room as she spoke.
The scattered response from below was just as Jiang Juyou had expected. "Do you know what happened in Thailand?" she asked.
After she finished asking, she heard someone answer softly, "...Sasaeng fans?"
Jiang Juyou chuckled lightly, "How did you know that?"
"I told groups 1, 2, and 3 yesterday not to leak any information externally, not even to others in the same department. How did you find out?"
As she spoke, she took out her phone and sent a link to the meeting group chat she had just created on the company software. "I'm just curious. Every little thing in our company seems to get leaked out. The outside world knows about everything that happens."
"Didn't HR tell you when you joined the company?" She looked towards the administrative staff. "Didn't you tell them about our company's confidentiality agreement?"
"We've told each of them individually, ensuring they know about the confidentiality agreement," replied the person she had singled out.
When it comes to the privacy of celebrities that the public is most curious about, the industry takes confidentiality very seriously. From small film crew projects to large collaborations, all participants must sign agreements. But even so, secrets can't be kept. There are always people who want to leak some information.
This mentality is similar to those in fan circles who compete to be fan leaders - they all want to be admired.
Jiang Juyou had long known that company news was easily leaked, but other companies were the same. It's just that Random Entertainment is currently in the spotlight, so public curiosity is particularly strong. Even the slightest bit of news can spread widely, while some companies struggle to get any attention even when they try to leak information.
This was a normal phenomenon, and as long as it didn't involve trade secrets, she usually didn't interfere much. But this time, it wasn't about trade secrets - the tone and emotion of the leaked information had changed.
She put her phone back in her pocket and looked at those in front of her, saying, "You are people working in this industry, working at Random Entertainment. If you have the same mindset as those outside, thinking that artists are troublesome, that they shouldn't earn so much money, that working for them isn't worth it, HR is right here. You can go find her after the meeting ends."
In those posts, many were comments expressing hostility towards artists and the company.
Chen Xi had previously been maliciously involved in a fake couple scandal with a male artist, who later faced consequences for his actions. What should have been the end of the matter continued endlessly due to the male artist's fans.
While Jiang Juyou was dealing with the trainees encountering sasaeng fans in Thailand, Cheng Yuan was handling the issue of Chen Xi receiving malicious packages from the male artist's fans.
But in the eyes of some employees, these incidents were affecting their ability to leave work on time, or they simply didn't care and leaked the information externally, enjoying the attention it brought them.
The company was treated the same way. Previously, they had worked without concept of day and night, but after suddenly transferring to Random Entertainment, they experienced the joy of normal working hours. After adapting for a while, they felt it wasn't enough - overtime pay was too little, working hours too long.
Some directly entered a retirement lifestyle: arriving at the company at 10 AM, having breakfast, drinking coffee, applying makeup, resting for a while - by then it was almost noon and time for lunch. After lunch, they'd take a nap, and when they finally started working it was already 2 PM. They'd barely accomplish anything before it was 6 PM and time to leave.
If they were actually working during that afternoon period, Jiang Juyou wouldn't have said anything. She had the system check, and during that time, most people were just surfing the internet.
The waves they stirred up crashed onto Random Entertainment, onto the trainees, onto the artists.
"You know how to unite with your colleagues in resenting capital, but don't you realize that artists are your colleagues too? Outsiders might not understand the content of an artist's work or know what they go through, but you don't know either?"
Jiang Juyou couldn't help but laugh bitterly at her next words. She had read all the posts last night and couldn't believe that title was given by someone from her own company.
She asked—
"Who started calling our trainees 'the 2.08 million ready-mades'?"
Some people in the audience raised their eyebrows in shock, never expecting such a person to be mixed in among the company staff.
"What benefit do you get from ruining them?"
"Does mocking them make you feel better?"
"Does ridiculing fans who chase stars make you feel more clearheaded?"
Jiang Juyou shook her head and spread her hands, saying, "Random Entertainment doesn't need people like this."
"Artists are our products. The parts of them that are judged by the public are our work failures, and the parts that are praised are the highlights of our work."
"Random Entertainment will never sign or train artists with poor character, and will always stand on the side of our staff."
"Do artists stand above us?"
Jiang Juyou raised her chin and said coolly, "No, we are the ones on top."
"I hope everyone will cherish and treat your works with love. After all, when your works become more valuable, your wallet will become fuller," said Jiang Juyou as she finished speaking and glanced at the time.
The meeting had only gone on for about twenty minutes. After checking the time, Jiang Juyou put away her phone and said, "The meeting ends here. Thank you all for coming. I hope we can cherish each other's rest time in the future. I don't want to increase your workload, and you shouldn't increase mine either, making me fly back from Bangkok just to talk about confidentiality clauses."
"As for employees who violate the confidentiality agreement, we will deal with them one by one. The results will be announced on Monday. Please go back and inform your subordinates about the content of today's meeting."
She looked at the HR director and said to her, "Sister Ren Ai, prepare the recruitment information. You might be very busy next week."
"Alright."
The twenty-minute meeting left people feeling chilled to the bone, with goosebumps rising on their arms. Everyone quickly tried to recall if they had posted any inappropriate comments online.
Liu Jiajia had a dark expression throughout the meeting. Jiang Juyou had called in the entire New Talent Development Department but didn't mention anything specific, even a fool could understand that this was leaving her some face.
In the company, apart from the A&R department which was quite large, the New Talent Development Department was the biggest. They were responsible for managing over a hundred trainees, arranging courses and assessments, and even supervising their daily lives. So there were many employees, and the competition was fierce.
Liu Jiajia had been busy lately cooperating with Yang Siyu to select members for the new girl group and organizing a female version of a talent show. Now, she was suddenly hit with this from the back.
"..."
She lowered her head, took out her phone from her pocket, and sent a message to the New Talent Development Department group, asking everyone to stay for another meeting.
-
This time, it wasn't about someone leaking information, but netizens discovered that Random Entertainment had started large-scale recruitment. However, people speculated that it was preparation for their future expansion.
Of course, there were also some rumors circulating within the industry, but no one dared to speak out.
After returning from Bangkok, Jiang Juyou didn't go out again. She probably wouldn't be able to see the concert. Some other things were arranged afterward, and one of these things was the issue of Chen Xi being harassed by anti-fans.
Jiang Juyou had been going to Chen Xi's house with Sister Cheng Yuan these past few days, helping her clean up.
Chen Xi had been sent a box of cockroaches by anti-fans. When she was opening the package, she didn't think much of it because there were so many deliveries at home that she couldn't remember how many things she had bought.
As soon as she cut open a small part with the knife, she felt something was wrong. When she finished cutting the tape, the things inside crawled out.
"Her mental state has really not been good lately..."
The two were still waiting for the elevator. While waiting, Cheng Yuan told Jiang Juyou about Chen Xi's condition these past few days, and said, "The crew won't wait. She can't join the group in her current state. I've checked Jiang Tang's schedule, she can go."
Jiang Juyou raised her eyes after hearing this, "Do you think she can handle it?"
"With the show as a prerequisite, she does have a certain level of recognition. At least young kids know her, and her acting is not bad," This was how Cheng Yuan evaluated Jiang Tang.
The project they were talking about was Random Entertainment's own. The scriptwriter they signed last year came with the script, and the project was decided then. They had been preparing since then. Jiang Tang even participated in last year's casting but didn't get the female lead role, instead getting the third female lead.
Jiang Juyou knew that her sister had been memorizing lines at home every day recently. She had basically memorized all the lines and even lost a lot of weight for the role.
The company had another actress, Zhai Ke'er, but Zhai Ke'er was developing towards the film industry, and her work for this year was already fully scheduled. She was still on set now. In her heart, she hoped Jiang Tang could play the female lead, but she couldn't gamble with such a big project.
Jiang Juyou hesitated for a moment, "Sister Cheng Yuan, I think we should still find other actresses from outside, or wait a bit longer, see how Sister Chen Xi recovers in these two weeks. If it's still not good, we'll change to someone else."
"Alright... The elevator's here, let's go in."
This was how she spent her time before the New Year. She basically went to Chen Xi's house every day, but Chen Xi's condition didn't improve day by day, instead it got worse.
Later, all the work that could be canceled was canceled, and the company even paid a large sum of breach of contract fees for this. Cheng Yuan was busy with other projects in the film and television department and couldn't come, so only Jiang Juyou and Chen Xi's little assistant went to accompany her every day.
They were supposed to go to comfort her, but in the end, it always turned into the three of them crying together.
And the female lead role in that ancient costume drama was changed to Jiang Tang. When Chen Xi's fans found out, they made a fuss in the comments sections of Random Entertainment and Jiang Tang.
Staying in the film and television department almost made her depressed, so when she saw the trainees who had returned from the tour, she was exceptionally kind, especially those with lively personalities. They were like little golden retrievers, instantly sweeping away the heaviness on Jiang Juyou.
After the tour ended, the trainees were given a week to do their final practice, and then it would be the final performance. Jiang Juyou was probably the only one looking forward to that day.
"Title: Gossip theory discussion/Can't accept it, the final performance is next week..."
"Who understands, family? I've been following since the first episode of the first season, spanning a year and a half. It's the first time in my life I've followed such a long talent show. Not only did I follow it, but I also got hooked. I can't let go of any of these twenty-one."
"Can't they just debut like this? There are exactly three groups. In the future, these three groups can fight it out. They don't need any other opponents. They'll absorb all the fans in the domestic entertainment industry."
"Ahhhhhh I don't want it to end!"
Comments:
"I understand..."
"Really, it feels like the fans of these three groups have taken up half of the domestic entertainment industry."
"Composition of the domestic entertainment industry: Actor fans and Random Entertainment fans"
"I can't accept it either. Please, quickly release the announcement of 21 into 7."
"They are conducting their final closed training. Now I want to cry just seeing these last two words."
"It's really unpredictable. Now it's basically a situation where each group gets one point. It all depends on how the final performance 'Hangover Cure' chooses."
"A tie is the most torturous now because we can't guess Jiang Juyou's thoughts at all."
"Hope Jiang Juyou will choose the West group considering that West Eight Zuma contributed two hundred million in the pop-up store."
"Now when I think that not only do I have to face choosing one out of three, but I also have to face choosing five out of seven... I just want to die."
No matter how unwilling they were to face it, the final performance still came.
They started promoting and advertising a month in advance. Random Entertainment even opened up applications for support. Those who passed the application could open group funding in the Galaxy fan section. The money didn't go through the hands of the support association but was directly paid to advertisers by Random Entertainment.
In other words, from a month ago, you could see various support for the trainees everywhere on the streets. There were advertising big screens, floating banners. Any available space was occupied by them.
It was like a carnival before parting.
The trainees in the park could also feel that atmosphere. In order not to make the atmosphere too sad, everyone was actively adjusting their emotions. The most obvious manifestation was that Pei Luming became more arrogant than before.
Gao Xiayu went from raising dogs to raising monkeys. Pei Luming wanted to climb onto the brothers' heads to pick lice every day, either hanging on Gao Xiayu or sticking to Chen Wu's back, demonstrating "it's the age of loving cuddling" to the extreme.
Gao Xiayu clapped his hands in the practice room, gathering the resting members, "Let's practice one last time and then we'll go eat. Dance well, everyone has to dance well before we can leave."
They had just lain down to rest for two minutes. Pei Luming deeply suspected that Gao Xiayu just disliked him for always disturbing people at night, so he wanted to exhaust his energy during the day.
The next-door practice room was even more ruthless. They didn't even eat lunch. The team leader was giving the members a final ultimatum.
"We haven't been to school for classes for a year, even the military training was moved to September this year to go with the next grade. So, we must definitely make it through this. Grit your teeth and persevere for a while. It's about to end. Don't let yourself down, and don't have regrets."
Like going to the battlefield, everyone was carrying the determination of the last time.
Because no one knew what the final result would be or where their fallback options were, there was a strong possibility they could be disbanded or even have their contracts terminated. With good luck, they might be signed by other companies; with bad luck, they could only become ordinary people again.
After two years of grueling training, all the trainees had reached debut-level skills, even far surpassing that standard. No one wanted to be the one eliminated.
Nor was it the result they wanted.
On the day of the final live broadcast, early in the morning the hot search topics were already bustling. Marketing accounts were all mobilized, hoping to get a glimpse of their rehearsal results from high vantage points, but they didn't manage to catch anything. Even so, the final performance still trended on social media.
The parking lot was filled with over a dozen trucks, all carrying stage equipment for this final performance. The stage design and layout were also leaked through candid photos, each climbing up the trending topics.
Today, Random Entertainment was the eye-catching package of the entertainment circle, appearing everywhere.
All morning, fans were queuing outside to buy merchandise. While fans of other Domestic Entertainment Industry celebrities might wave flags and parade the streets to show support, there was none of that here - because if they did that, they wouldn't be able to buy merchandise.
The queue circled the venue once and still wasn't enough, even extending directly onto the road outside. In the distance, silhouettes of people queuing could even be seen on the overpass.
"Headline: Did all you Domestic Entertainment Industry fans go to Hangzhou today?"
"[Image][Image][Image]"
"This queue is terrifying. Standing at the edge of the venue, you can't even see the end. People on site are saying it's reached under the overpass."
"Does this mean if someone in front doesn't want Sang Mo's down jacket merch, they can sell it to me?"
Comments section:
"Domestic Entertainment Industry fans from all over the internet have gathered in Hangzhou."
"This queue must have at least a few thousand people, right?"
"A few thousand? There are 80,000 tickets alone. Does this queue look like just a few thousand to you?"
"No matter how good the merch is, it's not worth queuing for this long."
"What if after queuing you could earn tens of thousands of yuan? The venue merch is limited edition for the final performance. It's also sold online, but offline sales come with small cards based on purchase amount, including randomly distributed SSR cards. Every Domestic Entertainment Industry fan knows how expensive Random Entertainment's small cards are. You think they're all Random Entertainment fans? There are plenty of scalpers and purchasing agents."
"They've been queuing since yesterday, that's really impressive..."
"Watch your mouth in this thread. If fangirls love queuing and want to queue, it's none of your business."
"It looks so lively, I regret refunding my ticket..."
After a bustling day, fans started entering the venue at 4 PM, while the queue outside buying merchandise showed no signs of diminishing.
Apart from fans, invited media were also present. The walls of the stands were plastered with sponsor logos. There were four sponsors this time: an automotive company, a daily chemical products brand, a snack brand, and a fast food brand.
Once inside, fans couldn't care less about brands; they just wanted to find their seats quickly. The venue was so large it took ages to walk around, and being open-air, the wind made it freezing cold.
Liu Yue and Jiang Liuxing came together again this time. Jiang Liuxing had given her media seat to an employee, while Liu Yue didn't need a private box this time as photography was allowed.
Random Entertainment being so open was something fans couldn't adapt to at first. The feeling of this being "the last meeting" grew stronger, and many sat in their seats on the verge of tears before anything had even started.
"Oh! There are blankets!" Jiang Liuxing exclaimed delightedly. Looking around, it seemed all seats had thick blankets, alternating green and white, with hand warmers underneath for fans to use.
Liu Yue frowned, "Suddenly being so nice to fans, it's hard to get used to..."
To be precise, it was an ominous feeling. She sighed, "I'd rather they treat me worse and let my bias debut."
As soon as Liu Yue said this, fans around who overheard began to pray.
"Please, please let my bias debut!"
Jiang Juyou: I'll try my best.
