The third day of the first lunar month is Valentine’s Day, and inschool’s Valentine’s Day advertisement is officially broadcast on the three major TV stations.
The content of the advertisement is that Xiaozhi and Xiaomei have graduated from college and both work in companies. They rented a small apartment together and started living together.
The two of them would squeeze into the subway to go to the company in the morning, and then return to the apartment exhausted. Xiaomei would follow the latest news of her college roommates through inschool. Some of them bought cars, got promoted, and some got married and became full-time housewives.
Xiaozhi posts his lunch on the inshcool homepage every day at noon. The SHINA Group where he works is a large conglomerate, and the food in the company cafeteria is very rich, which his girlfriend Xiaomei envy very much.
One day at noon, Xiao Zhi made a mistake at work and was severely criticized by his boss. Xiao Zhi didn't even eat lunch and kept modifying the plan at his workstation.
Xiaomei didn't see her boyfriend posting the Chinese food picture, so she called her boyfriend Xiaozhi. Xiaozhi said, "Xiaomei, I'm still busy now. I'll call you back later."
Xiaozhi worked overtime until late today. When he returned to the apartment, his girlfriend Xiaomei had fallen asleep on the sofa. He covered her with a blanket and she woke up. She brought a bowl of steaming ramen from the kitchen and Xiaozhi wolfed it down.
At the end of the year, Xiaozhi finally got a permanent job and his salary increased significantly. Xiaomei suggested buying a car, but Xiaozhi wanted to move to an apartment closer to his girlfriend's company so that his girlfriend wouldn't have to work so hard.
After the Chinese New Year, Xiao Zhi went to visit his girlfriend's house for the first time. When he arrived at Xiao Mei's house with a lot of luggage, Xiao Mei's mother opened the door for Xiao Zhi. Xiao Mei was cooking in the kitchen and called her mother to help. Xiao Zhi was a little nervous at first, but when he saw the piano in the living room, he calmed down instantly and passed Xiao Mei's mother's inspection smoothly.
Xiaomei posted a photo of her parents, her and Xiaozhi on inshcool's homepage. Her roommates commented on the photo, "Are you going to get a marriage certificate?" Xiaomei replied with a smiley face and didn't say much.
The entire commercial ends here, and then the slogan appears on the screen: "inschool, with you every day."
The male and female protagonists of this commercial have not changed. Cha Tae-hyun plays Xiaozhi after graduation, Kim Tae-hee continues to play Xiaomei, and Xiaomei's mother is still played by Seo Ju-hyun's mother, and the photo of Xiaomei's father is used from Seo Ju-hyun's father, which can be regarded as an easter egg in the commercial.
If the theme of inshcool's first commercial was "secret love", then the theme of the Valentine's Day commercial is "accompany". Xiaozhi accompanies Xiaomei, while inschool accompanies them both, recording the beautiful moments in their lives.
On February 16, Chinese athlete Yang Yang won the women's short track speed skating 500m final, winning the first gold medal for the Chinese team in the Winter Olympics. Yang Yang then defeated South Korean star Ko Ki-hyun in the women's short track speed skating 1000m final, scoring twice and winning another gold medal.
Song Yi and Kim Tae Hee watched the entire 1000m final on TV. When Song Yi saw Yang Yang win the championship, he couldn't help but clench his fist to celebrate, "Beautiful! Yang Yang!"
Kim Tae-hee was a little unhappy when she saw Ko Ki-hyun take the runner-up, but she immediately smiled happily when she saw Ko Ki-hyun win the women's 1500m short track speed skating championship.
Song Yi put his arm around Kim Tae Hee's waist and "threatened" his girlfriend: "Tae Hee, you are now a Chinese wife, you have to cheer for the Chinese team! We must stand on the right side and not be crooked."
Kim Tae-hee felt a little itchy, and laughed and retorted to her boyfriend, "I am Korean, isn't it natural for me to cheer for the Korean team? If the Chinese team played against other countries, I would definitely cheer for the Chinese team, otherwise wouldn't I be a traitor to Korea?"
Zhou Shulan seemed to have misheard, "Taexi, we must all unite to fight the Japanese devils, and we must not be traitors."
"Mom, what Tae Hee said was that we can't be traitors to Korea. The Han in Korea, not the traitor to China." Song Yi explained helplessly.
"Whether you are a traitor to China or a traitor to Korea, you cannot be one." Zhou Shulan emphasized that this is a matter of principle.
"Auntie, you are right." Kim Tae-hee was very proud. Look, my future mother-in-law is on my side. Do you still dare to ask me to support the Chinese team instead of the Korean team?
Kim Tae-hee spent an unforgettable Spring Festival in Bianzhou. The two drove to visit the major and minor scenic spots in Bianzhou, and Song Yi also conducted an on-site investigation of the geographical conditions of the Tuman River Basin.
On the last day before returning to South Korea, Song Yi took Kim Tae-hee to visit the Tianchi Lake in Baekdu Mountain. Changbai Mountain and Tianchi Lake are also the border dividing line between China and North Korea.
The Tianchi Lake in Baekdu Mountain is completely frozen in winter, and the lake is covered with white snow. The wind on the top of the mountain is so strong that it seems to blow Song Yi and Kim Tae Hee away.
Although Song Yi and his group were fully armed, wearing thick hats, jackets and thick cotton boots, they still felt unusually cold. The place where they got off the bus was about 200 meters away from the entrance of Tianchi Lake. Song Yi wanted to persuade his girlfriend to go back, but Kim Tae-hee insisted on walking to the lake.
When the wind died down, Song Yi took the time to take some photos with his camera. He planned to post them on his inschool homepage.
After inschool's Valentine's Day commercial aired, Shin-A Network Co., Ltd. officially announced that inschool would open registration to all past graduates in Korea, including high school and college graduates.
Song Woo-seok registered an account on inschool. The first update he posted was "Hello everyone, I am your Song Woo-seok," and then uploaded a photo of himself smiling and waving while giving a speech.
Song Woo-seok's popularity is really not to be underestimated. In just one day, he gained 100,000 new fans on inschool, and this number is still rising.
Some careful users have noticed that compared to other real-name verified users, Song Woo-seok’s personal account has a yellow V-shaped certification behind it, and his certification is “Member of the 16th National Assembly.”
With the entry of Song Woo-seok, more and more celebrities have opened personal accounts on the inshcool website, including Hyundai Group Chairman Zhou Mengzhun, Asan Group Chairman Zheng Enxuan, South Korean men's national football team player Park Ji-sung, Caidie Art Museum Director Song Suying, Seoul With Piano Piano Training Center Principal Liu Huiying, etc.
If it weren't for media reports, Song Yi wouldn't have known that the piano training center opened by Seo Ju-hyun's mother was called With Piano. He actually wanted to complain that Koreans are just so bad at naming things. They always use names like Young, Na, Zhen, Shan, La, Yuan, Hui, etc.
Because this was the second time that Mother Xu appeared in an inshcool advertisement, her performance in the advertisement was very natural and attracted a lot of attention.
Netizens commented on Naver and Yahoo Korea, "This aunt is really like a mother. She gives people a kind of intimacy that makes people want to get close to her. She is like a beautiful, gentle and intimate big sister."
Later, the Korean media revealed the real identity of Xu's mother. With Piano piano training center became popular, and Xu's mother became famous. The staff of Xinya Network invited Xu's mother to join inschool. In the past few days, many people went to With Piano to consult about piano learning, which was also a pleasant surprise for Xu's mother.
Seo Ju-hyun's appearance in the inschool advertisement did not attract the attention of other entertainment companies, but Seo's mother's small-scale popularity on inschool made Korean entertainment companies pay attention to Seo Ju-hyun again.
The famous Korean entertainment company SM invited Xu's mother to sign a contract with SM Entertainment and become a trainee of the company.
When Xu's mother called Song Yi to tell him about this, Song Yi felt very strange. "Are you saying that SM Entertainment wants to sign Joo Hyun and let her debut as a member of a girl group?"
"Yes, SM Entertainment's President Lee Soo-man called me personally and said he is very optimistic about Joo-hyun's potential and that she can become an excellent artist and actor in the future." Mother Xu was also a little confused.
SM Entertainment is the first entertainment company in South Korea to be listed on KOSDAQ. Lee Soo-man is the founder of SM Entertainment and the largest individual shareholder. Hallyu fans are accustomed to calling him "Uncle Man", and Song Yi is certainly no stranger to him.
"So, Sister Huiying, what do you think now? Do you want Joo-hyun to become an artist?" Song Yi asked Mother Xu.
"If someone else had invited me, I wouldn't have taken it seriously. But when President Lee Soo Man contacted me personally, I could still feel his sincerity."
"President Lee Soo Man wanted me to take Ju Hyun to SM Entertainment for a field visit to see the company's environment and the company's personal plans for Seo Ju Hyun. After all, SM Entertainment is a listed company, so he told me not to worry about Seo Ju Hyun being treated unfairly by the company."
"If I'm worried, I can ask a friend who knows the entertainment industry to accompany us to SM Entertainment, and he can show us the trainee contract directly."
Mother Xu seemed to understand now, and her voice was a little hesitant, "Song Yi, do you think President Lee Soo Man is targeting you? Is this just an excuse for wanting Seo Joo Hyun to join SM Entertainment?"
SM Entertainment has a close relationship with the Millennium Democratic Party. According to Zhong Xiaotong’s “culture-based nation” strategy, SM Entertainment is an outstanding representative of the export of Korean culture.
SM Entertainment went public in 2000, and the company's top star Boa made her debut. The following year, it established the SM Japan branch for the Japanese market and cooperated with Avex Japan.
Because of the localization strategy, SM Entertainment got rid of the KPOP slump at the beginning of the century and became more and more successful in East Asia and even the world. It was because of Boa's success in Japan that SM Entertainment signed Han Geng and let him join Super Junior, and EXO had four returning members.
However, Lee Soo-man is a man of many talents. He successfully went public with the help of the bigwigs of the Millennium Democratic Party. After Song Woo-suk left office, he tried his best to clear himself of his political factional affiliation.
Samsung is one of SM Entertainment's shareholders. After the Millennium Democratic Party lost power, SK Telecom became the second largest shareholder of SM C&C in 2017. Even Alibaba in China later became a shareholder of SM Entertainment, holding 4% of the shares. Alibaba invested in SM Entertainment, and Tencent later invested in YG Entertainment. Alibaba and Tencent continued to compete in Korea.
Song Yi thought for half a minute. Mother Xu on the other end of the phone did not hang up, nor did she disrupt Song Yi's thoughts. She knew that Song Yi was helping her analyze Lee Soo Man's intentions.
"Sister Huiying, this is my analysis. You can believe half of what Lee Soo Man said. He does think highly of Seo Ju Hyun."
"First of all, Seo Ju-hyun is indeed very beautiful. She inherited your good looks, Hye-young. At least she didn't have to undergo plastic surgery before her debut. Natural beauties are still very popular in Korea."
"Secondly, Seo Ju-hyun has already filmed an inschool commercial and is a child star in the advertising industry. She and you already have a certain degree of fame. A trainee's popularity before her debut is directly related to whether she can debut successfully."
"Finally, Lee Soo-man might also be testing. He wants to know how close the relationship between you and your daughter and Shin Asia Media and me is. After all, Shin Asia Media is planning to produce two TV series and two movies this year, and SM Entertainment is not well-known in the film and television industry. He also wants to reach a cooperation with our Shin Asia Media through Seo Ju-hyun. So you are not wrong when you say that Lee Soo-man came for me." Song Yi finished speaking.
Liu Huiying blushed when she heard this. What kind of words did Song Yi say? How close is the relationship between you and me? If someone else heard it, they might think she was saying that she used her beauty to seduce Song Yi to help her daughter Xu Zhuxian get promoted.
But when she heard Song Yi say that Xu Zhuxian inherited her beauty, Liu Huiying was secretly happy. Liu Huiying found that Song Yi's way of addressing her was getting better step by step.
Song Yi first called her auntie, then changed it to sister when they first filmed the inschool commercial. After the Valentine's Day commercial was filmed, Song Yi directly called her Sister Huiying, but she didn't mind Song Yi's closeness to her.
"Joohyun's father is still serving in the army. It's not time for him to take a vacation yet, so I can't discuss it with him. Song Yi, do you think it would be convenient for you to come to my place in the next two days so we can discuss it first. If possible, you can accompany Joohyun and me to SM Entertainment. Is that okay?" said Mother Xu.
Song Yi was a little embarrassed. "Sister Huiying, I have a lot of things to deal with in the company these days. Can you come to Xinya Building? If you get there, please contact Xiyuan directly and she will take you to my office."
Because it was related to her daughter Xu Zhuxian's future, Liu Huiying did not dare to be careless. She immediately agreed and drove Xu Zhuxian over.
At this time, Jin Xiyuan came to the office to find Song Yi to sign. The crew of the movie "Memories of Murder" had been established, and director Bong Joon-ho was waiting for the money from New Asia Pictures to start filming the movie.
Song Yi and Jin Xiyuan talked about Lee Soo Man inviting Xu Zhuxian to join SM Entertainment. Jin Xiyuan felt confused. "If Xu's mother really wants her daughter to enter the entertainment industry, then wouldn't it be a better choice to join our Xinya Media? Even though SM Entertainment has been listed, SM Entertainment alone is not as good as one of our Xinya's subsidiaries."
Song Yi thought for a moment, "I don't know either. Maybe Sister Huiying doesn't want a woman to go to a company she knows. After all, if money and interests are involved between friends, they might not even be friends anymore."
Jin Xiyuan suddenly figured it out, and she smiled meaningfully, "Mother Xu didn't think so. When you met Xu Zhuxian and her daughter, the girl next to you was Li Xianzhen. When you later visited their home, your girlfriend became Kim Tae-hee."
"Not long after New Asia Entertainment was established, you signed Song Hye Kyo, and later signed Jun Ji Hyun from SidusHQ. There are a lot of gossips about you, Song Hye Kyo, and Jun Ji Hyun in the media. They even said that Song Hye Kyo and Jun Ji Hyun took turns to serve you during their breaks."
"Look, you and Xu Zhuxian's mother and daughter have only known each other for less than two years, and yet you're surrounded by the opposite sex one after another. How could Mother Xu feel at ease when others leave such a beautiful daughter by your side?" Jin Xiyuan said.
Well, Song Yi felt that what Jin Xiyuan said made sense. Although he was more than ten years older than Xu Zhuxian, when Xu Zhuxian turned 18, he would only be 33 years old, still in his prime. It was normal for Liu Huiying to have such concerns. But why did Jin Xiyuan and Liu Huiying think that he liked the girl next door who had just grown up? "By the way, Xu Zhuxian and her mother will come to Xinya Building later. She will call you when she arrives. Please answer the phone for me." Song Yi instructed.
First update in July, I feel like I'm back to normal (end of this chapter)