Chapter 26 Why is my head being cuckolded?

In the early spring of 2013, Jian Zhen returned to work after her holiday and learned two shocking pieces of gossip.

Firstly, the head of Qili was exposed for drunk driving late at night during the holiday, causing one death and one injury by driving against traffic on the highway. As of the next morning when everyone went to work, the police had not yet released a report, and major media outlets had not yet published official news. However, descriptions of the horrific scene had already spread within the company in great detail. Jian Zhen heard about it while having breakfast with Paopao.

After hearing Bubble's vivid description, Jian Zhen frowned. She silently put down the whole-wheat bread she had barely eaten, picked up the black coffee beside her, took a sip, and asked hesitantly, "Is there any evidence? How can you be sure this news is true?"

"Look at the stock market," Bubble said mysteriously in a low voice.

Jian Zhen took out her phone, opened Tonghuashun (a Chinese stock trading platform), and sure enough, less than an hour after the market opened, Qili's stock price had already plummeted. At this rate, it was likely to hit the daily limit down before the market closed. What was even more ironic was that because Qili had too much influence in the domestic animation market, other upstream and downstream companies, and even peer companies, had long been under structural pressure and were all hoping that a bolt from the blue would strike this mountain king.

Now that the thunderbolt has truly arrived, competitors are clapping and cheering, leaping over Qili's corpse one after another, riding the wave of success, turning the stock price red, and creating the peculiar scene of Qili being "a single green leaf amidst a sea of ​​flowers" in the entertainment sector.

"Is our company going to go under?" Jian Zhen put her phone away, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and asked excitedly in a low voice.

"No, even a starved camel is bigger than a horse. Our company came from a bloody era, and we're not exactly innocent either." Bubble frowned and considered for a moment before cautiously saying, "I guess there will be some personnel changes in management. If the public opinion storm gets too big, I don't know if it will affect the drama that is currently airing."

"Sigh." Jian Zhen sighed, thinking what a pity, what a perfect opportunity to collect the compensation and leave.

Bubble glanced at her warily: "Sister Xiaozhen, are you planning to leave? Didn't you promise me you wouldn't leave until I found Lin Sheng?"

"No, no." Jian Zhen shook her head repeatedly, staring into her eyes as she asked, "Will 'Mystery Valley' be affected?"

"Probably not..." Bubble said, stroking the mug.

Unfortunately, the word "should" did not come true. The laws governing the world are often in Murphy's hands, which brings us to the second piece of gossip that Jian Zhen learned.

—This matter was conveyed to her personally by Laure.

Due to the drastic changes in management and the resulting business line changes, the highly anticipated animated feature film "Three Carpenters and a Locksmith," which was being broadcast on a satellite TV platform, was forced to be taken off the air and suspended. "Mystery Valley" had to temporarily take its place.

Jian Zhen's jaw nearly dropped to the floor: "What...what's going on here?"

"I can't say for sure whether this is good news or bad news," Lau said, rubbing his temples with a headache.

As a less mainstream animated series, "Mystery Valley" has been doing well since its release on streaming platforms. Although it hasn't become a huge box office hit, it has received positive reviews, and its ratings have even been steadily rising as the series progresses past the halfway point. However, these are, after all, the opinions of a small group of viewers. No one can predict how it will fare if it were broadcast on a major television network.

Perhaps they will become famous overnight and rise to fame as a group; perhaps, viewers who hate this show could drown everyone with their spittle.

Just thinking about it sends chills down my spine!

Jian Zhen hissed and couldn't help but ask, "Isn't there any room for maneuver in this matter? I heard that 'Three Carpenters' has only aired one episode. All that hard work to get that certificate, and it's just going to be wasted like this? Even when dynasties change and old officials are purged, they don't squander their family fortune like this!"

"It's easy to take it down because it just started airing. If it were nearing the end, you'd have to consider the audience's opinions before taking it down. Unlike now, you can just say it can't be broadcast due to technical reasons. Anyway, not many people watch it, so who cares?"

Jian Zhen exclaimed with a grim expression, thinking that the bigwigs at the top of Qili could casually sacrifice an entire team's work that had been meticulously crafted over several years in order to fight for power. This was not capitalism; it was a step backward from feudalism by thousands of years.

Lau Le: "The good news is that 'Mystery Valley' still needs to wait for the license to be issued, which means that the production time for the remaining 6 episodes has been extended. In addition, our broadcast on satellite TV will also start from the first episode and air weekly. The schedule that made everyone complain before the Lunar New Year is now twice as relaxed."

“Ha~” Jian Zhen looked at the edge of the table and repeated lightly, “That’s really good news.”

Lao Le, both amused and exasperated, told her to leave, but then called her back: "By the way, besides preparing you mentally, I'm also reminding you to take some time to rest. Aren't you moving? If you want to leave work earlier these days, just let me know."

Jian Zhen's eyes lit up instantly, and she smiled, revealing a row of neat, white teeth: "Thank you, Director!"

"You're welcome, the pickles are delicious, thank you," Laure said with a smile.

That same day, Jian Zhen accepted Lao Le's offer and left work early to look at apartments. Jian Zhen hadn't originally planned to move; she was quite comfortable where she lived, and her lease had expired at the end of the year, so she renewed it for another quarter. However, after returning to Guangzhou after the New Year, she suddenly received a message from Xu Weisheng asking if she would consider improving her living conditions.

Jian Zhen's response at the time was a question mark: Is she living in some kind of doghouse now?

Xu Weisheng sent her a screenshot of a chat log. It was from a long time ago, when Xu Weisheng jokingly asked her if she didn't want her coat because she had nowhere to hang it. She hadn't expected this at the time and just said "yes".

Now, well, they've come to handle the aftermath.

"Are you going to vacate your villa for me to live in?" Jian Zhen asked jokingly.

Xu Weisheng chuckled on the other end of the screen: "I haven't even moved in myself yet, so don't even think about it. With your meager salary, you can't even afford the property management fees."

Jian Zhen complained: "You call yourself a rich second generation? You're doing terribly. I'm ordering you to start over."

“It’s already being remixed, don’t rush it,” Xu Weisheng said with a smile.

He said he didn't live in a villa either, which sounds absurd, but it's actually the truth. When Xu Lijun bought the big villa, Xu Weisheng was already living a boarding life at school. Later, he left Guangdong to study, and the days he went home became less and less. Those beautiful lawns, the shiny luxury cars in the garage, and even the mattresses worth six figures in the room... had nothing to do with him. For him, home was just a hotel where he would stay for a few days a year.

Now, all those assets are going to end up in his pocket, as compensation for Xu Lijun's misplaced paternal love.

However, Xu Weisheng still couldn't get used to going back. He preferred to rent a place to live on his own to avoid sharing a room with his awkward stepmother and younger brother. It was through this opportunity that Xu Weisheng met Manager Li of a local real estate agency. Manager Li, having gained such a distinguished guest, showed Xu Weisheng all the properties in the city, big and small, as long as he could get his hands on them.

Manager Li once thought that Xu Weisheng's enthusiasm for understanding the local rental market was because he planned to invest his dream money and become an angel investor. However, after a lot of trouble, he found that Xu Weisheng was still the simple and unpretentious rich second-generation heir who rented the most expensive luxury apartment for a solo living. Alas, his fantasies were in vain.

Half a year later, Xu Weisheng contacted Manager Li again to inquire whether there were any available properties in the certain community that he had introduced last time.

Manager Li's ears perked up; he could smell the gossip.

That afternoon, he was drinking water at the entrance of the residential area when he saw Xu Weisheng driving his new car from afar. Just as he was about to wave to him, he noticed that Xu Weisheng had pulled over and someone got out of the passenger seat first.

From behind, the girl seemed tall and thin, but when she turned around, Manager Li realized she was also very beautiful. However, she wasn't the type with big eyes, a narrow nose, and a pointed chin. Manager Li had seen many women like that recently; many nouveau riche kept mistresses with that type of beauty. Manager Li scoffed at this, privately mocking the nouveau riche for their poor taste. He thought women like that were only attractive when standing still on a calendar.

The one in front of me is clearly the type who becomes more and more vibrant the more she moves, the type that makes it impossible to look away when we're face to face... Wait a minute, face to face? How did she end up standing right in front of me?

Jian Zhen nodded to him and said politely, "You must be Manager Li?"

"Yes, that's me. Mr. Xu asked me to look at houses today. You are his..."

“Friend, Xu Weisheng has parked his car. Let’s wait for him for a while.”

"Oh~" Manager Li nodded, and said meaningfully, "President Xu doesn't have many friends like you."

Jian Zhen suppressed a smile and glanced at him, then couldn't help but chuckle. Manager Li made her sweat a little, and suddenly she was unsure what the relationship between the two of them was.

They waited for Xu Weisheng by the roadside and entered the residential area together. Manager Li demonstrated his top-notch sales skills, introducing everything from the developer's qualifications, construction background, and surrounding facilities to the unique species in the greenery and the main occupations of the neighbors. He was so eloquent that Jian Zhen wanted to give him a thumbs up.

“These are all advantages. Let me tell you about the potential problems with this house.” As the three of them stepped out of the elevator and prepared to enter the house for a tour, Xu Weisheng suddenly said this.

Manager Li was puzzled and had no choice but to give him the initiative to speak. Then Manager Li realized that Xu Weisheng must have a very good memory, because he had completely replicated the house-viewing skills that Manager Li had used when he showed Xu Weisheng houses. From whether the bathroom door opened inward or outward, to the rationality of the traffic flow design, he could analyze everything in detail and recall it with ease.

Fortunately, he had already screened the properties once, and the community itself was of good quality. After more than half an hour, Xu Weisheng did not find any major problems, so Manager Li was still holding his own.

Jian Zhen thought it sounded good too. She agreed to look at houses with Xu Weisheng. Originally, she only came with the mindset of "finding an excuse to go on a date and improve her impression of him". However, she did not expect that people are too easily motivated to move forward when it comes to material desires. She was no exception. When she saw a good one, she quickly wanted to replace her own small house.

"What do you think?" Xu Weisheng asked, taking a sip of water.

Jian Zhen thought everything was great, the only problem was the price. After paying the rent, she couldn't even afford Lanzhou noodles anymore and could only drink soup.

Xu Weisheng saw through her predicament and offered, "Rent is not a problem, I can help you solve it."

"Huh?" Jian Zhen couldn't help but lean back, thinking to herself, "Now they're even helping me with poverty alleviation?"

“But you have to agree to one condition,” Xu Weisheng said immediately.

The two were having such an exciting conversation without any attempt to hide it from others. Manager Li, who was standing nearby, felt his legs go weak and quickly grabbed the wall for support.

Take a day off today, thank you.