He usually handled things by phone, so that group chat had been quiet for a long time. There weren’t many messages at all. But once the video file appeared, someone quickly replied.
Li Jia:
What is this?
Ren Bai:
Watch it and you’ll see. Friendly reminder — you’d better show it to your boss.
Within a minute, Ren Bai’s phone rang.
He rubbed his hands and stamped his feet, having waited eagerly. But when the ringtone started, he deliberately let it ring three times to act calm before picking up and turning on speaker.
On the other end, someone immediately spoke.
“Ren Bai, where did you get this video?!”
“Does it matter where I got it?” Ren Bai rolled his eyes. “Can we talk business now?”
Li Jia was silent for a few seconds. “What do you want?”
Ren Bai looked at Yu Shiqing.
Yu Shiqing said, “Terminate the contract.”
Li Jia blurted out, “Impossible!”
Ren Bai followed up, “Okay then, I’ll post it online. Not like I’ll be the one embarrassed.”
“Wait, wait, wait!” Li Jia quickly said. “I mean… this isn’t something I can decide. At least give me time to report it to my superiors!”
Yu Shiqing said calmly, “I want an answer within thirty minutes.”
“Thirty minutes? That’s too short—” Before Li Jia could finish, the call was already disconnected.
He stood there in shock for a moment. Then his colleague beside him asked something, and he suddenly snapped out of it, grabbed his phone, and rushed straight into his boss’s office.
Twenty minutes later, Ren Bai’s phone rang again.
He quickly answered and turned on speaker as usual.
This time, the voice on the line sounded familiar. It didn’t take long for Ren Bai to recognize that it was Liu Mingguang, one of Huaze’s top executives.
Liu Mingguang got straight to the point.
“Termination is impossible. Name your price.”
His tone was arrogant, as if offering money was doing them a favor.
Ren Bai immediately hung up.
He turned to Yu Shiqing and complained, “What kind of attitude is that?”
Less than half a minute later, the phone rang again.
Ren Bai answered it and said lazily, “President Liu, please. Yu Shiqing and I are very busy. If you’re not sincere, then there’s nothing to talk about.”
Liu Mingguang held back his anger. “Agent Ren, I asked you to name a price — that’s already giving you a lot of face!”
Ren Bai replied, “Fine then. I want 4.8 billion.”
Compared to Huaze, he was loyal — he wasn’t about to play middleman and take a cut.
“You—!” Liu Mingguang shouted angrily.
“Don’t push your luck!”
“Oh~” Ren Bai suddenly understood. “So that’s what ‘not knowing your place’ means. No wonder — I always felt your company had a certain… aura, but I just couldn’t put it into words. Turns out it takes someone as cultured as President Liu to sum it up so well!”
Liu Mingguang was furious. “Ren Bai, do you even know who you’re talking to?”
Ren Bai gave a cold snort. “President Liu, let’s be direct. Right now, it’s a seller’s market. It’s about time you people got a taste of what it feels like to be powerless.”
He had long disliked the higher-ups at Huaze. Since he would never work with them anyway, he wasn’t going to waste this rare opportunity. He was going to vent every bit of frustration all at once.
Liu Mingguang’s voice turned dark. “Do you really think a meaningless video is enough to make you ride on Huaze’s neck? Ren Bai, you’re being way too naive.”
Ren Bai laughed. “Then hang up the call.”
The call suddenly went silent.
Ren Bai felt a bit nervous and couldn’t help glancing at Yu Shiqing. He silently mouthed, “Is he really going to hang up?”
Yu Shiqing shook his head with a smile.
Ren Bai sighed in relief, snorted again, and continued, “President Liu, you have two choices in front of you. One, terminate Yu Shiqing’s contract. Two, pay 4.8 billion for the video.”
Liu Mingguang’s growing frustration could be felt in the long silence from the other end.
Ren Bai was starting to get impatient. “You have seven minutes left from the thirty-minute deadline Yu Shiqing gave you.”
He checked the time. “If you still haven’t decided by then, I guarantee this video will go viral on every corner of the internet. When that happens, how it will ruin Qi Taihua’s reputation and how it will affect your company’s costly drama production — that’ll be none of our business.”
He emphasized the words “costly drama production,” and before Liu Mingguang could say anything, he hung up the call for the second time.
This time, Liu Mingguang didn’t call back immediately.
He stood still, his breathing getting heavier. After a long time, he still couldn’t swallow his anger and hurled his phone across the room.
With a loud “bang!”, the phone shattered on the glass coffee table, pieces flying in all directions. A few bits even hit people nearby — but no one dared to move.
Just twenty minutes ago, they had been scrambling for crisis PR, already halfway through Huaze’s official statement draft.
Now, twenty minutes later, the atmosphere in the room was suffocating.
“Useless!” Liu Mingguang swept everything off the table in front of him, turned around, and furiously pointed at Qi Taihua, who was sitting on the couch.
“You idiot! You’re a complete disgrace — totally hopeless!”
Qi Taihua sat by the coffee table, hands shaking, not even daring to lift his head.
His manager gathered the courage to ask, “President Liu, what did Yu Shiqing ask for?”
Liu Mingguang’s expression was so dark it seemed like it could drip water. “He wants to terminate the contract.”
“Terminate the contract?” Qi Taihua instinctively stood up. “He can’t do that!”
If Yu Shiqing terminated the contract, with his talent, it would just be a matter of time before he made a comeback. If that happened, the secrets between him and Du Han could be exposed. How could he possibly stay in showbiz?
Even if nothing got exposed, he couldn’t stand the thought of Yu Shiqing walking away freely — couldn’t bear being looked down on again like some lowly assistant.
“You think I don’t know that?” Liu Mingguang sneered. “And who do you think caused all this in the first place?”
Qi Taihua shrank back and sat down again.
Liu Mingguang shot him a disgusted glance. “A dog can’t change its nature.”
Hearing this, everyone in the room had different reactions. Some looked directly at Qi Taihua; others glanced at him subtly.
Being stared at like that made Qi Taihua feel like his skin was burning. He felt like he was sitting on pins and needles.
His manager looked at him too, then asked Liu Mingguang, “So… are you going to agree to his terms?”
Liu Mingguang didn’t answer — his face only twitched hard.
Yu Shiqing’s attitude was firm. He clearly understood how important the new drama was to Huaze. And Qi Taihua’s scandal had hit Huaze right where it hurt.
Just like Ren Bai said — this was a seller’s market now. They had no choice but to accept Yu Shiqing’s demands.
But Yu Shiqing…
Liu Mingguang rubbed his temples — his head ached just thinking about him.
Every year, Huaze suppressed countless invitations meant for Yu Shiqing. Sometimes they profited by recommending their own artists instead. It had helped them build up a lot of hidden resources.
If Yu Shiqing terminated the contract, all those hidden benefits would vanish.
Worse, Liu Mingguang had once gone to see one of Yu Shiqing’s stage plays. He’d seen several familiar faces in the audience — all people who clearly held Yu Shiqing in high regard.
So much so that, after nearly four years, Director Shi Zhifeng still named him as the lead actor.
All these details made one thing clear: even now, Yu Shiqing had the absolute power to make a comeback.
And the last thing Huaze wanted… was for him to come back. That would be like releasing a tiger back into the wild.
Especially since reconciliation with him was out of the question.
“President Liu?”
Liu Mingguang snapped out of his thoughts and slumped onto the sofa, defeated, waving his hand weakly.
“Call him,” he said, closing his eyes tightly.
“Tell him Huaze agrees to terminate the contract.”
The next day, 3 PM, was the time set for signing the termination agreement between Yu Shiqing and Huaze.
Ren Bai didn’t go back to his hometown. He insisted on flying back with Yu Shiqing.
As soon as they landed, Ren Bai’s face was glowing — clearly overexcited.
Their flight was at 11:30 AM, but Ren Bai had knocked on Yu Shiqing’s door at 7 in the morning, excitedly saying he hadn’t slept all night.
On the plane, Yu Shiqing told him to rest for a bit. Ren Bai didn’t listen at all.
Before getting in the car, he grabbed Yu Shiqing by the collar, still overwhelmed with emotion.
“Yu Shiqing, you’re finally terminating the contract!”
Yu Shiqing smiled. “I know.”
Ren Bai let go, clasped his hands together, and prayed to all the gods. “Thank you, heavens — there’s always a way out!”
As he prayed, his eyes turned red.
“Shiqing, you’re finally free…”
He took a deep breath, checked the time, and clenched his fist.
“One more hour, and Huaze can go to hell!”
Because they were in a hurry to finalize the termination, Ren Bai didn’t go home. He drove straight to the Huaze building.
Jiang Yu, who had taken the same flight, was also there.
On the way, Ren Bai apologized to him three times for not dropping him off first.
But Jiang Yu honestly didn’t mind.
Still, when they arrived at the Huaze building, Yu Shiqing didn’t let him get out of the car.
“I’ll be back soon.”
Since Huaze always used dirty tricks, Yu Shiqing didn’t want Jiang Yu to get involved.
“You wait here.”
Jiang Yu understood what he meant and simply said, “I don’t mind.”
He had barely worked with Huaze, and even if he had, he didn’t care about burning bridges.
But Yu Shiqing leaned on the car roof and looked down at him.
“I mind.”
Jiang Yu was slightly stunned.
Yu Shiqing put a hand on his shoulder, not noticing his expression.
“I’ll come back once I’ve signed the papers.”
Then he stood up straight and shut the door.
Ren Bai had already run three meters ahead. Seeing Yu Shiqing still by the car, he got anxious and quickly dragged him toward the entrance.
Yu Shiqing let him pull him along. As they reached the door, he turned to glance at the car window, and through the dark glass, locked eyes with Jiang Yu one last time before walking into Huaze’s building.
