Chapter 12, Section 12: "What can she do to you?"
The wind outside seemed to suddenly become violent, the grass and trees trembled, the sky and earth turned yellowish, and the clouds pressed down, stealing away the last bit of light.
He Xiaoqing turned on the car lights, casting a yellowish Tyndall effect beam forward.
She stared at them for a few seconds and asked, "What's going on between you two?"
The sound system in the luxury car was so good that even Jiang Yi's breathing could be clearly heard when he was silent.
He Xiaoqing was puzzled: "Sister, why aren't you saying anything?"
"What did you say?" Jiang Yi seemed to hesitate for a moment, then became firm and impatient. "Nothing, don't worry about it."
He Xiaoqing was speechless: "You two really are alike. If you want to talk about the difference, my sister Gu is much more comfortable than you."
“Oh,” Jiang Yi said nonchalantly, “then go ask her again.”
He Xiaoqing slammed her hand on the steering wheel in frustration and honked twice at the car in front that tried to cut in front of her. Jiang Yi, who was on the other end of the phone, heard it too and said, "Drive properly," before he was about to hang up when He Xiaoqing quickly interrupted.
“Wait, I have something to say.” He Xiaoqing blurted out, “You know my drama, right? The other one should be Fan Zi, the girl from Sister Gu’s studio who looks a bit like her.”
Jiang Yi said with obvious disgust, "If you're going to make something better, then change it."
He Xiaoqing had been waiting for her to say that, and immediately chimed in, "Sister Gu also agreed."
Jiang Yi choked: "You did this on purpose, didn't you? You can't live without her?"
"So that's what upset you. No wonder, I was wondering why. What's wrong? Why are you so angry?" He Xiaoqing had a sudden idea. "Why don't you talk to Sister Gu? That would break the ice."
"You're a genius, a genius at adding fuel to the fire," Jiang Yi said coldly. "I don't know if she did it on purpose, but the fact is she really disgusted me. Tell me, if I let her know that the most prominent label she'll ever have for the rest of her life is 'A-Lai counterfeit,' will she still want to take on any acting roles?"
He Xiaoqing's tone was peculiar: "How could Sister Gu be so blind as to fall for someone as despicable as you, an exploiter like you?"
Jiang Yi remained silent.
He Xiaoqing didn't realize something was wrong, and she really added fuel to the fire: "If that's really the case, I don't know if Ms. Fan will accept any more roles, but Sister Gu might be so angry that she'll spend the New Year at Huating No. 1."
Jiang Yi paused for two or three seconds and said, "I don't understand why movie roles can't be changed. Can't someone be professional, look similar, and have a similar style?"
He Xiaoqing found this layman unreasonable: "Anyone can marry him now, why are you so picky?"
“Yes,” Jiang Yi said, “I’d like to know too.”
He Xiaoqing was taken aback; she never expected that Jiang Yi would say such a thing one day.
Perhaps the two people involved won't admit it, but she really felt that her best friend had actually poured all the tenderness and patience she had in her life into Gu Lai.
He Xiaoqing was familiar with both of them, but she almost never missed hearing Jiang Yi complain about them. Instead, she would occasionally hear snippets of information from Gu Lai. This was understandable, as Gu Lai's complaints were often interpreted as her being affectionate or showing off her relationship, while Jiang Yi's dissatisfaction was easily interpreted as genuine disgust.
He Xiaoqing remembered something Jiang Yi had said to her a long time ago, something like this: the difference in family background was not a problem, and she wouldn't make the person she cared about choose between self-respect and love.
He Xiaoqing asked, "Where did that patience go when you were trying to get Sister Gu a role, asking me to invest in the film, going through the resumes of every actor and reviewing the script draft by draft?"
Jiang Yi: "You said it yourself, it's not the first film. Are you just hiring this agent or that agent to freeload?"
"You know what I mean."
He Xiaoqing complained: "You can't expect me to do this and that for no reason, worrying about things that don't even address the core issues. Even if the subject matter is this kind of drama, are we even going to film it? I only called her 'Sister Gu' because the script was good and I wanted to do a good job, but it's not like we should be having conflicts over a drama. Is nothing more important than relationships and family?"
Jiang Yi said, "I told you it would be pointless to tell you, and I wasn't trying to avoid the topic. Do you know why?"
He Xiaoqing was confused: "Huh?"
"Other people's friends are relationship mentors, but yours is a missile." Jiang Yi was actually amused. "Why did I stop you? I told A Lai to stop filming. I suspect that Fan Hong might fall in love with you after filming."
He Xiaoqing suddenly realized: "So it really wasn't your blind jealousy that angered Sister Gu?!"
"I..." Jiang Yisheng bit the lip, and at that moment He Xiaoqing felt as if the entire He family genealogy had passed through her throat, "In your eyes, am I just a brain-damaged person?"
“You said you had cerebral palsy.” He Xiaoqing quickly pointed out this point. “Sister Gu is soft on the outside but tough on the inside. You’re trying to fool me here. Fine, I’ve been helping you diligently. You can figure out what you’ve done wrong. Besides, she’s not some red or green-tinged person. Her name is Fan Zi.”
Jiang Yi took a deep breath, and He Xiaoqing heard the "click" of a lighter being turned on and off.
“There’s something I really don’t understand,” Jiang Yi said, his voice sounding a little tired, “why are you so sure it’s my problem?”
He Xiaoqing asked in surprise, "Did she offend you? What could she possibly do to you?"
"You're just... I can't explain this to a rich kid like you who plays with mistresses and throws money around."
"You're the one who doesn't see the true nature of things. When you're arguing, you definitely don't think it's your fault. If you did, the argument wouldn't have started."
"No, who exactly is your childhood friend?"
"I'm getting anxious."
"..."
“Stop being silent, Jiang San,” He Xiaoqing said, having had her fill of laughter. “From all the arguments I’ve seen that have gone to a breakup, it’s either about money or feelings. If money is out of the question, then it must be a problem with the feelings. It doesn’t seem like infidelity, and if it’s a misunderstanding, they would explain themselves. So, whose decision did the other person disagree with? It doesn’t seem like anything serious has happened. It’s just a normal bickering, nothing serious.”
Jiang Yi remained silent for a long time before saying, "You really think so?"
“Yes,” He Xiaoqing readily agreed, “so it’s all over now.”
Jiang Yi said, "That's it, because there really isn't a problem, so I really don't have a solution."
He Xiaoqing was still driving when she heard this and it took her a while to understand what it meant.
She said, "Maybe you're too busy, so you've overlooked it? We artists are all very sensitive."
Jiang Yi remained noncommittal. Perhaps He Xiaoqing's inclusion of herself as one of the "artists" alongside Gu Lai made Jiang Yi feel awkward and speechless, or perhaps she genuinely didn't want to gossip with others, so she simply skipped the topic.
Jiang Yi asked, "When will the machine be turned on?"
"If everything goes smoothly, we'll be past the New Year. I'll talk to your secretary at least a week before filming starts, okay?" He Xiaoqing said. "Then I'll let you know, and you're allowed to be the on-site supervisor, okay?"
He Xiaoqing's tone at the end was somewhat like that of a close friend, offering words of comfort and encouragement.
However, things didn't go as planned.
The buzz surrounding "From Winter to Summer" lingered long after its theatrical run, and it even made headlines again due to its inclusion in various year-end reviews by social media. While the creative team was busy with overseas acquisitions and resale of the rights, a video of it quietly climbed to the top of trending topics and went viral—
Box office fraud? Ghost screenings? Exposing the capital logic behind box office manipulation.
Tan Junming and Gu Lai's publicity agents were among the first to react. However, since Gu Lai's side was not involved in the investment, they only informed the rest of the main creative team and remained silent to the outside world.
The trending topics shifted from the video platform Bilibili to Weibo. They appeared and disappeared repeatedly, but the actions taken were hesitant to be too significant. Directors, producers, distributors, and others were mainly busy with infighting, accusations, and searching for internal spies, giving the impression to the general public that the topics kept changing, yet the site remained consistently on the trending list.
Gu Lai, as one of the main creators and a key figure, was naturally involved, but frankly, the impact was minimal. When the public opinion began to ferment, the narrative was already being built around the idea that "Gu Lai has powerful backers, so her behavior couldn't possibly be so foolish." Therefore, the debate surrounding Gu Lai among fans and casual observers remained focused on whether she was a well-protected and pristine noble princess.
During this period of fluctuating public opinion, Tan Junming, Feng Lu, and the family office team have been in close communication, originally not wanting to disturb Gu Lai too much. Gu Lai has no desire for control and doesn't make decisions; they can usually handle things on their own.
Gu Lai was aware of this situation. Therefore, before Tan Junming arrived, she had already reviewed the detailed information that Zhou Shanshan had compiled for her.
"Let's talk about the box office fraud first. They definitely did it, and the evidence is what Zhou Shanshan summarized."
Tan Junming, with dark circles under his eyes but bright ones, remained relatively calm: "Everyone inflates box office numbers; investors buy tickets and create hype beforehand. 'From Winter to Summer' is different. The producers used it for securitization, making nearly 200 million yuan in cash before its release. They've already made enough, but they're greedy. The film's reputation and box office were already mediocre, and the investors and producers still tried to inflate it. Now they've blocked other people's path, been exposed, and the investors' stock prices have plummeted. Now, the only ones who are clean are us."
Gu Lai asked, "Did Director Mu get involved too?"
"I don't know what Director Mu thinks, but he did call you the day before yesterday to ask about your situation and that was it." Tan Junming smiled. "But the numerous companies and studios behind him are all related to the investors. In a few days, someone will definitely dig up this relationship. In fact, it should already be there, but it just hasn't come into our view yet. It just needs an opportunity to be brought into the public eye."
"The high box office is actually just supported by Director Mu and my names... it's because of our collaboration again." Gu Lai paused for a moment, "What are they trying to do?"
“They’re tied to us.” Tan Junming gave an expected answer. “Of course we have the ability to clean up the mess we didn’t do. Now they’re all getting involved and muddying the waters. The public is still concerned about this matter, so how can we ask for leniency?”
Gu Lai slowly sipped her coffee until the cup was empty, then placed it on the saucer with a crisp sound.
She suddenly raised her hand, took the work tablet from Tan Junming's hand, and turned it on.
Whether out of surprise or something else, Tan Junming did not stop them.
"Gu Lai is suspected of filming a gay-themed movie, directed and starring He Xiaoqing..."
"Details of Gu Lai's collaboration with director Mu Hongru on 'Frost'..."
"The inside story of the Best Actress award won by 'Frost' five years ago..."
"A review of Gu Lai's love life..."
Tan Junming watched as Gu Lai lowered her eyes and quickly skimmed through the concise summary of public opinion in the meeting materials, only slowing down towards the last few pages of the document, which also included several audio recordings of the meeting.
Click to convert the text.
"Fenglu: We have not received any instructions on handling public opinion, so we cannot take any major actions."
"Feng Lu: Could you... could you have your General Manager Gu contact General Manager Jiang or Assistant Ge?"
"Feng Lu: Actually, President Gu should just cut ties when necessary."
The last sentence of the recording was followed by a period, which looked very abrupt, as if the person editing it had just messed around in a bad mood.
Tan Junming explained, "Actually, it's not that there was any sudden problem on their end. It's mainly because we wanted Fenglu to promote topics like the year-end review and the Fenglu Grand Ceremony. This task also requires them to communicate with their sub-brands, so it is indeed a bit difficult."
But why didn't you make things difficult for them before?
Because someone had thought of that for her beforehand.
"Besides this diversionary tactic," Gu Lai tapped the recording screen with her stylus, "are there any other options?"
Tan Junming opened another document, but his fingertips did not leave the screen. After a long pause, he said, "Actually... what Feng Lu said makes sense."
"What?"
"Cut your losses decisively," Tan Junming said. "Being sentimental will only embolden those people."
"so?"
"So let's contact President Jiang, just to break the ice."
“No,” Gu Lai said.
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Thank you for the nutrient solution! [heart emoji]
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