Chapter 388
"Zixing, when are you coming back after that short film is finished?"
On Monday morning, Xin Zixing opened her eyes wearily and saw a message that Liu Qiao had sent her an hour earlier.
It's only 8:30 in the morning.
This is the same message Liu Qiao sent her at 7:30.
The short film was only finished filming at 3 a.m. last night.
To meet the deadline, we had to finish filming even if it meant staying up all night.
After filming, Lu Yanhe left by car late at night because he had to catch up on his classes that day.
She didn't keep an eye on the finishing touches afterward, as she was too exhausted and went back to the hotel to sleep.
It takes about an hour and a half to drive back to the hotel from the film set.
She fell into a deep sleep as soon as she got back to her room. She didn't know how much time had passed when Huang Kairen, who had returned in another car, swiped the room card she had given him and came in.
They were both too tired to do anything, so they just hugged each other and fell asleep.
As a result, her damn biological clock still woke her up groggily, and then she saw this message.
"..."
Huang Kairen was still asleep, showing no sign of waking up.
Xin Zixing replied to Liu Qiao's message, asking, "What's wrong? You didn't finish work until 3 a.m. yesterday."
Liu Qiao called immediately.
The cell phone rang.
Xin Zixing hung up the phone in a second and glanced back at Huang Kairen.
Huang Kairen seemed not to hear anything; the sound did not disturb his sleep.
Xin Zixing quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
She quietly lifted the covers, got out of bed, went outside, and dialed Liu Qiao's number.
"Mr. Liu, what's the matter that's so urgent?"
Liu Qiao said, "Zixing, let me ask you, do you have any thoughts about leaving Yemai.com?"
Xin Zixing had just woken up from her sleep and was still a little dazed when Liu Qiao suddenly asked her that question. She was stunned and didn't come to her senses for a long time—mainly wondering how the news had spread so quickly. She hadn't told many people about this, only a few of her closest friends knew about it, so it couldn't have been them who leaked it.
"No, who said I was leaving Yemai.com?" Fortunately, Xin Zixing had anticipated this situation when she was considering leaving and had thought about how to deal with it. She only took a second to organize her thoughts and then said, "Who is spreading rumors about me behind my back?"
Hearing Xin Zixing say this, Liu Qiao breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good. I thought you were really blinded by anger over what happened before."
Blinded by reason?
A question arose in Xin Zixing's mind: Why did she initially think that Liu Qiao was a decent superior who understood and supported her?
"You need to come back quickly. This news is spreading like wildfire. The company's senior management are all asking me what's going on, and some people are even saying they want to investigate you."
"An investigation?" Xin Zixing asked incredulously. "President Liu, are you saying that you're going to investigate me just because of such a rumor?"
"Of course I disagree. Don't worry, how could I stand by and watch you be bullied like this?" Liu Qiao said.
"This isn't about bullying or not. I think the company probably does want me to leave as soon as possible," Xin Zixing said with a sneer.
Liu Qiao: "How could that be? You're a great hero to us, who wants you to leave? I'll make him leave!"
Liu Qiao's tone seemed to carry a hint of anger.
"Maybe it's because I want to do too many things, which has made some people unhappy." Xin Zixing smiled listlessly. At this moment, she suddenly felt that she was quite good at acting. After all, she was the wife of an actor, and through constant exposure, she had learned this skill to some extent. "To be honest, I've also felt like I've been hitting walls everywhere for the past six months. I can't do anything I want to do. It's completely different from how it was a year or two ago. Before, no matter what I wanted to do, you would support me. Now..."
Xin Zixing gave a soft, cold laugh and sighed.
“Zixing, you have to understand that the taller the tree, the more the wind will blow against it,” Liu Qiao said. “Your achievements have already threatened many people. It’s normal for many people to want to suppress you. But no one can take away your achievements. As long as you persevere, no one can overshadow your brilliance.”
Xin Zixing only heard a voice deep inside her softly ask: So, my grades are also a threat to you, are they?
The moment he heard the bell ring for the end of get out of class, Lu Yanhe felt a sense of relief.
He was really, really tired. He was so sleepy during the lecture that he was practically dozing off. To be honest, he forced himself to stay awake, but that only kept him from falling asleep immediately; he couldn't really hear what the teacher was saying at all.
Lu Yanhe wondered how those people in movies, TV dramas, and novels who seemed to be on steroids could stay up all night and still appear energetic the next day.
There is no such thing as having it all. Human energy is limited; if you try to do one thing, you will lose the other.
Lu Yanhe sighed.
Zhou Mukai asked Lu Yanhe if he wanted to go to the cafeteria for lunch.
Lu Yanhe shook his head and said, "I'm too sleepy, I'm going back to my dorm to sleep."
He still had classes in the afternoon, so he could only catch up on sleep during his lunch break.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Mukai nodded, knowing that Lu Yanhe had rushed back early yesterday morning.
"Want me to bring you lunch?"
"If you have any bread or steamed buns, please bring me one. I don't need to bring any food. I can sleep a little longer if I want," Lu Yanhe said. "If I can't get up, please wake me up."
Zhou Mukai smiled and nodded, "Okay."
-
Xiao Jing and Mao Jiayang were surprised to see Lu Yanhe taking a nap in his dormitory.
Lu Yanhe rarely sleeps in his dormitory, and even less so does he take a nap there.
Lu Yanhe usually studies in the library or an outside classroom during lunchtime.
Mao Jiayang and Xiao Jing even talked about this in private, saying that it's no wonder Lu Yanhe succeeded. Successful people are full of energy, while those who lack energy have long been eliminated.
At 2 PM, Lu Yanhe was woken up by Zhou Mukai.
Lu Yanhe sat up, looking exhausted, and stared blankly at the floor below the bed.
The dormitory room was dark, with everyone using their desk lamps.
"I have to go to class now. It's in Zijiao this afternoon, which is a bit far, so I need to leave early," Zhou Mukai said.
Lu Yanhe let out a long yawn and made an "oh" sound.
Mao Jiayang asked, "Boss, what time did you go to sleep last night?"
“I…I finished filming at three o’clock, and then slept the whole way in the car, on and off, I don’t know how long I slept,” Lu Yanhe said.
"You've worked hard, tsk tsk, you're a role model for us all." Mao Jiayang jokingly remarked, "Being your roommate makes it so easy to get caught up in things. Every time I want to slack off, the thought of you makes me afraid to stop."
“Please don’t. I want to stop but I don’t have time. I’m afraid to stop because I’m afraid that if I don’t seize the opportunity now, I won’t be able to get the opportunity later,” Lu Yanhe said. “If it weren’t for those fleeting opportunities, I wouldn’t have made so much trouble for myself and suffer. It’s much better to have a balance between work and rest.”
Mao Jiayang: "Damn, I thought you genuinely enjoyed being busy and couldn't stand having a single minute wasted. I was thinking, 'A master is a master. While we're all struggling with our own laziness, you've completely overcome human weaknesses and are charging forward like you're on steroids every day.'"
"Please don't project an image like mine to the outside world."
Mao Jiayang laughed heartily.
Mao Jiayang asked, "Do you have any more work to do after this?"
"Not for now," Lu Yanhe said. "I haven't taken on too much work this semester. This short film was a last-minute assignment. I'll still be busy later, but I don't have many other things to do."
Mao Jiayang nodded.
"I also wanted to ask you, when will you film your 'City Travelogue' program in my hometown?" Mao Jiayang asked. "My parents really want you to come over, and they keep asking me when you two can come together."
"Do you want this show to be filmed in your area, or do you want Yan He to come and have fun there?" Xiao Jing asked.
Mao Jiayang said, "Of course I hope so, and it's not just him, my parents have always wanted you all to come and visit us."
Lu Yanhe said, "I told the production team about your location a long time ago, but I don't know if it's a problem with the arrangements, there haven't been any plans to film in Dongbin. I'll ask again. However, if everyone has time, we can go to Dongbin for a visit first."
Mao Jiayang said, "It's not very nice where we are in winter. Let's go next summer. There will be plenty of food, sights, and activities there."
Xiao Jing: "Next summer, we'll all be finishing our junior year and going into our senior year. Will we have time? We're not all going to do internships, are we?"
Mao Jiayang said, "I've made up my mind. I've decided to pursue a master's degree. My grades should be good enough to get into my current university. What about you guys?"
“Me too,” Xiao Jing said. “I’m also planning to pursue a master’s degree, but I might get a guaranteed admission to Yuming University. I’ve worked with Professor Zhang Ting at Yuming quite a bit, and I want to work with him.”
Zhou Mukai: "I haven't decided yet."
Lu Yanhe said, "Me too, I haven't thought it through yet."
As a top-performing dorm, all four members consistently maintained good grades. However, Lu Yanhe's grades were slightly weaker, and whether he could secure a place in the postgraduate entrance exam was uncertain—his GPA was only average within the college, barely qualifying him for postgraduate admission.
In fact, Lu Yanhe had been struggling with the question of whether or not to pursue graduate studies.
He was basically certain that he would be developing his career in the entertainment industry. A master's degree was, to him, optional. However, Lu Yanhe felt that reading more was never a bad thing; if conditions allowed, the more he read, the more he would accumulate knowledge, providing a more solid foundation for understanding culture, literature, art, aesthetics, and people.
However, pursuing a master's degree means his acting career will continue to be affected by his studies, and he'll face more and more challenges like those he faced last night and today. Should he let his studies interfere with his acting, or vice versa?
It's difficult to achieve the best of both worlds.
Just then, an unexpected phone call came in.
It turned out to be Liu Qiao, the content editor of YeMai.com.
No, he's now General Manager Liu.
Lu Yanhe was genuinely puzzled by this sudden phone call.
Normally, it's Xin Zixing who contacts him on Yemai.com. Although Liu Qiao has his contact information, they only exchange greetings during holidays and don't have much other communication.
"Hello, Mr. Liu?" Lu Yanhe answered the phone, greeting him with some surprise.
Liu Qiao smiled and said, "Yan He, are you at school?"
Lu Yanhe: "Yes, I'm here."
"I'm here to visit a professor at your school. Would you like to have dinner together tonight? With Professor Zhao Dezhong."
Zhao Dezhong is a highly respected professor in the School of Humanities, who is also very influential in the field and has a high academic standing.
Lu Yanhe was very surprised and wondered why Liu Qiao would come to visit Professor Zhao Dezhong.
However, as a professor in his own college, Lu Yanhe had a lot of respect for Professor Zhao Dezhong, and he would certainly agree to have a meal with him if given the opportunity.
-
That evening, Lu Yanhe arrived at the restaurant ten minutes early.
The restaurant is located on the school grounds; it's a restaurant that's been contracted out to someone else.
When he arrived, Professor Zhao Dezhong had not yet arrived; only Liu Qiao was in the private room.
"President Liu," Lu Yanhe greeted with a smile.
Liu Qiao warmly stood up to greet Lu Yanhe, saying, "Why are you being so formal? Just call me Brother Qiao."
Lu Yanhe smiled and readily called out "Brother Qiao".
Lu Yanhe wasn't particularly fastidious about such superficial matters, nor was he reluctant to use any formal titles. It was just a matter of address; if others wanted to show closeness through their form of address, then so be it.
Anyway, the truth can't be hidden, and the false can't be made true.
Liu Qiao said, "I told Zixing a long time ago that I wanted to ask you out to talk about cooperation, but you are very busy and it is difficult to find the time. This time I came to Zhenhua to visit Professor Zhao, and Zixing told me that you came back to teach today, so I tried to ask you out to see if you could come."
Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "Brother Qiao, I've had a long-standing partnership with Yemai.com, and Sister Zixing has helped me a lot, so there's no need for us to be so polite."
Liu Qiao nodded, "Zixing and you have indeed maintained a very good relationship. The success of Yemai.com is largely due to your tireless promotion and in-depth cooperation. I am well aware of this. I was also very angry when you used the fact that you didn't want to be the spokesperson for marketing last time, but you have to believe me. Zixing and I were both firmly opposed to this. After that incident, we both strongly opposed it within the company, and this will never happen again."
Lu Yanhe smiled and said, "Brother Qiao, my situation is one thing, but what I didn't expect is that even Sister Zixing and Brother Kairen's relationship can be used for marketing. We're celebrities, being used to entertain everyone. Although we don't want to, we have to accept it. Sister Zixing didn't gain any advantage as a public figure, and she's one of your Yemai.com members, yet she's being used like this. It makes me a little... Let me be frank, I'm a little wary of you. In business, of course, there's profit, but there's also the code of honor. If you only care about profit and not honor, why would I continue to put the digital version of 'Jump Up' on your Yemai.com? Our cooperation is a one-year contract. Aren't there other platforms offering higher prices? I believe you know that without me saying it. Not to mention all sorts of collaborations, like 'City Travelogue' or this short film with Director Wang Zhong. To be honest, we trust you because we've had a pleasant collaboration before. If we're really just talking business, then Yemai.com isn't the most sincere business."
Lu Yanhe's words were like a knife cutting through flesh, slowly but surely revealing the most heart-wrenching truth to Liu Qiao.
Liu Qiao wore a bitter smile.
"Sigh, I know that I have a lot of unspeakable difficulties regarding this matter."
Lu Yanhe blinked in surprise, looking at him with a puzzled expression, as if asking, "What's troubling you?"
Liu Qiao was taken aback.
He didn't expect Lu Yanhe to act unpredictably.
At times like this, shouldn't we chime in with a few words to express our sympathy for his "unspeakable suffering"?
Sigh, he's still just a kid.
Liu Qiao sighed silently to himself.
Lu Yanhe had no idea what he was thinking. If he did, he would only sigh and say, "He's only twenty-one years old, how can he be an adult?"
Okay, I'm an adult now. But it's not unreasonable for me to pretend to be a naive college student.
Liu Qiao smiled, but there was still a hint of bitterness in his smile. He added, "Although I am now in charge of the content business, the company's strategic deployment is not solely my responsibility, nor is everything decided by me."
Lu Yanhe frowned slightly and said, "I see. I thought that as long as I maintained a good relationship with you, Mr. Liu, at Yemai.com, I would be fine. You could handle anything, and I wouldn't need to contact anyone else. Actually, that's true. I'm just too used to Yemai.com, so I'm a bit lazy and don't want to establish new partnerships with other platforms."
Liu Qiao was speechless after Lu Yanhe's words.
“Your situation is certainly different, Yan He. Your relationship with YeMai.com goes beyond a normal partnership. For YeMai.com users, you have been intertwined with YeMai.com for years. There is a large overlap between your fans and YeMai.com users. On our website, your support rate and user favorability are unparalleled,” Liu Qiao said. “Besides YeMai.com, you would find it hard to find another website with such a high degree of overlap with your fan base.”
Actually, Liu Qiao wasn't wrong.
That's true.
For Lu Yanhe, his collaboration with Yemai.com is almost impossible to replicate.
When the two sides began their cooperation, it was just the beginning, and they integrated into each other's development paths until where they are now.
This experience is unique and cannot be replicated.
Just like a celebrity, when are their fans most enthusiastic?
During the peak of one's career, it's about following your idol through thick and thin—watching them level up and reach the top.
That was a period of time.
Today, Lu Yanhe has reached a certain level of success and can no longer attract the kind of fans who watched him grow step by step from the live stream and participated in his entire rise.
They are ultimately different from other fans.
Therefore, the core meaning of Liu Qiao's words lies here.
Leaf Vein Network certainly needs Lu Yanhe. But doesn't Lu Yanhe need Leaf Vein Network too? Aren't they in a symbiotic relationship?
If Lu Yanhe loses the Yemai.com platform, it doesn't mean he will lose a lot of fans, but it means he will lose a large fan base, and a long-term, stable one at that.
Lu Yanhe smiled slightly at Liu Qiao and said, "Brother Qiao, Sister Ziyan once told me that a good collaboration is based on mutual recognition, mutual respect, and mutual promotion. Yemai.com and I did achieve that before, right? But can we continue to do so in the future? I believe that if Yemai.com is under your control, there will never be any marketing tactics that use my refusal to be a spokesperson, because you respect me. But, Brother Qiao, if Yemai.com is run by people who don't respect me, I don't think I can just swallow my anger because you respect me. What do you think?"
At this moment, Liu Qiao completely put away his impression that Lu Yanhe was just a child.
“I heard from Zixing before that you were hesitating about pursuing graduate studies.” Liu Qiao immediately changed the subject with a smile, “Professor Zhao is actually planning to take on a graduate student this year. Perhaps you could gain some insights from having a good talk with Professor Zhao.”
Lu Yanhe was taken aback, but then he understood.
So this is where he was waiting for dinner tonight.
-
Xin Zixing curled her lips into a cold smile.
Huang Kairen was sitting opposite her.
They're having dinner together tonight, having specifically chosen a new restaurant to try something new.
As soon as I sat down, the flash of a camera that I hadn't turned off kept going off next to me.
Huang Kairen and Xin Zixing were already used to it and pretended not to see it.
Since it's already been made public, everyone can take pictures as they please.
Huang Kairen and Xin Zixing did not shy away from this topic.
Of course, the restaurant's service was quite good. Especially since Huang Kairen's presence at this restaurant was a huge draw, they certainly didn't want him to have a bad dining experience. So, even without Huang Kairen's request, the restaurant manager proactively had two waiters bring over a screen to create a relatively independent and enclosed space for them, isolating them from the surrounding gazes.
Thanks to this screen, Huang Kairen no longer needed to be too reserved when speaking to Xin Zixing.
After all, these days, many people will even record videos and then have someone analyze their lip movements to see what they said.
"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing the cold smile on Xin Zixing's lips.
Xin Zixing put down her phone and said, "Liu Qiao went to see Yan He tonight, and Yan He was just complaining to me."
Huang Kairen frowned slightly.
"What do you mean? Liu Qiao is bypassing you and trying to contact Lu Yanhe directly?"
“Maybe so. After all, Yemai.com can accept my departure, but not Lu Yanhe’s,” Xin Zixing said. “That’s the downside of working behind the scenes. Your visible value isn’t apparent. Even if you’re very capable, in the eyes of the higher-ups, you’re still just a replaceable mule. No matter how capable a mule is, it’s still just a mule. People only want it to do more and stay longer, not to let the mule rise to the top.”
Huang Kairen asked, "Is Liu Qiao so certain that you will leave Yemai.com?"
“Whether I leave Yemai.com or not, he has already begun to diminish my presence,” Xin Zixing said. “If it weren’t for what he said to me, I still wouldn’t have understood. I always felt that Zuo Yu was targeting me, that Zuo Yu was blocking my way. Now that I think about it, if it weren’t for Liu Qiao’s tacit approval, how could I have suffered such a complete setback in my career over the past six months and received no support at all? The bigger the tree, the more the wind blows, and it becomes a threat to others. Of all the things he said to me that day, the most crucial ones were those two sentences.”
Huang Kairen: "It's okay. Losing you is his loss, and it's also a loss for Yemai.com."
"Believe it or not, the day I leave YeMai.com will be the day YeMai.com starts using my story with you for marketing and traffic generation."
“Since they want to use us for marketing to attract traffic, why should we let them benefit from this?” Huang Kairen said. “Then let’s accept interviews from seventeen or eighteen media outlets and see where they start their marketing.”
Xin Zixing stared at him in shock.
"Wouldn't that be exhausting?"
“It’s better than you dying of frustration,” Huang Kairen said. “If they get the better deal, with your personality, you’ll be so upset you won’t be able to sleep at night.”
Huang Kairen hit the nail on the head.
Xin Zixing was too embarrassed to refute.
That is indeed true.
Xin Zixing said, "Do you know what kind of dirty trick Liu Qiao used?"
"What a lousy trick!"
“I mentioned to him before that Yan He hadn’t decided whether to pursue graduate studies. He invited a professor from Yan He College to come over and expressed his willingness to recruit Yan He as a graduate student,” Xin Zixing said. “Yan He was still hesitant about whether to pursue graduate studies, but because of what happened tonight, he directly declined the professor’s offer and said that he had not considered pursuing graduate studies for the time being and would focus on his acting career in the future.”
Huang Kairen was stunned.
"You're just going to refuse like that?"
Xin Zixing said, "Yan He's personality is like this. You should never provoke him. Don't be fooled by his gentle and kind appearance. If you really provoke him, he won't care about your interests or how much you gain. He will fight you to the death rather than live in dishonor."
Huang Kairen then realized that Xin Zixing's understanding of Lu Yanhe far exceeded his own.
Huang Kairen felt inexplicably jealous.
"You... know so much about Yanhe?"
“Look how many projects I’ve collaborated on with him. Different jobs bring different experiences, so of course I know him well.” Xin Zixing stared at Huang Kairen. “Don’t get jealous of me like that.”
(End of this chapter)
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