Although Yu Shiqing didn’t often come to the Huaze Building, his face was like a pass. No one gave him a hard time after he entered, but no one paid much attention either.
Anyone who worked at Huaze could see how Yu Shiqing was treated.
Trying to get close to an artist with no future? That would be a waste of time.
Only the staff member waiting by the door for Yu Shiqing came forward when he saw him.
“Hello, Teacher Yu. I’m here to take you to the meeting room!”
“Oh, it’s you,” Ren Bai said. He recognized the man it was Le Yang, the one who had come to the hotel to inform them about the cast change for Dawn.
Le Yang was surprised and said, “Brother Ren, you still remember me?”
“Of course I do,” Ren Bai replied cheerfully. He was in a great mood today and was happy to see anyone. “Let’s go, take us upstairs.”
Le Yang nodded quickly and gestured inside. “This way, Teacher Yu!”
He led the two of them to the guest elevator.
This short path from the entrance to the elevator was the first time both Yu Shiqing and Ren Bai had walked it.
Along the way was a long hallway called the “Art Corridor.”
The walls and arched ceiling were lined with layers of clear glass display shelves, filled with trophies from Huaze’s signed artists and their works.
Behind the shelves were beautiful posters related to the trophies, extending all the way to the end of the hallway. The golden, shining trophies made the whole hallway visually stunning.
Everyone who came to the Huaze Building would walk through this hallway and feel the deep pride Huaze had in its achievements.
As a part of Huaze, Le Yang always felt proud walking through here.
As they were walking, his eyes suddenly lit up. “Brother Yu, look that’s your trophy!”
There was only one poster of Yu Shiqing in the hallway, but it was the most important one.
It was placed in the most noticeable spot.
The shelf in front of the poster was full of trophies both domestic and international each one highly valuable. In this glittering hallway, his collection stood out even more.
Yu Shiqing glanced at it, then quickly looked away.
Ren Bai, however, said angrily, “Are they serious? How shameless of them to display your trophies!”
No need to guess those trophies must’ve been taken out secretly by Qi Taihua when he was working as Yu Shiqing’s assistant. No wonder they had been missing.
“Huh?” Le Yang froze.
But Ren Bai’s good mood soon returned. He said to Le Yang, “Pack up Yu Shiqing’s trophies for me. I’ll take them with me later.”
“Huh??” Le Yang was even more confused.
Ren Bai: “…”
He said irritably, “Stop saying ‘huh.’ Call your boss and say it was me. No, say it was Yu Shiqing who said so.”
At first, Le Yang thought he was joking, but after hearing this, he realized Ren Bai was serious. He couldn’t help but look at Yu Shiqing.
Yu Shiqing said, “Go ahead.”
Ren Bai already knew which floor the meeting room was on. Without waiting for Le Yang to react, he pulled Yu Shiqing into the elevator and went upstairs.
In front of the meeting room, Ren Bai cleared his throat twice, straightened his collar to make sure he looked his best, knocked on the door twice as a courtesy, then pushed the door open and walked in.
Inside the meeting room.
The long table was full of people.
It was still over ten minutes before the scheduled 3 p.m. meeting with Yu Shiqing, so they were actually in the middle of a meeting.
After deciding to cancel the contract with Yu Shiqing yesterday, Liu Mingguang didn’t dare use the original plan anymore. He was afraid Yu Shiqing might ignore their agreement and upload the video online. So, he had the PR department rewrite a new statement.
The new announcement explained that the video was a misunderstanding, using a barely reasonable excuse to cover it up.
Because fans completely rejected this explanation, Liu Mingguang had Qi Taihua and Wang Ling repost the statement on Weibo. Since Yu Shiqing didn’t have a Weibo account, they left it at that.
But even so, Qi Taihua’s fans still didn’t believe it was the truth. After all, in the video, Qi Taihua was kneeling and collapsing it looked like he was in so much pain he could’ve rolled on the floor. And you call that a misunderstanding? Are you kidding?
Facing all the fans’ and netizens’ doubts, Huaze’s official account no longer responded.
In the meeting, someone suggested that Qi Taihua should find a way to calm the fans.
But Qi Taihua didn’t want to comfort the fans at all. He was the one who got beaten, and last night he was scolded like crazy now they want him to go comfort fans? Who’s going to comfort him?
His hand, which Yu Shiqing had squeezed, still hurt faintly.
Qi Taihua sat in the corner of the long table, feeling the emotional stares from everyone around him. He was full of frustration.
He was just about to speak and object to the idea of comforting the fans when he saw Liu Mingguang answer a call. No one knew what he heard, but his face which already looked bad became even darker.
Qi Taihua didn’t dare say anything after that.
After the call, Liu Mingguang hurriedly gave out some instructions and was about to dismiss the meeting when there was a noise at the door.
“Who let you in?!” He turned around and saw Yu Shiqing and Ren Bai walking in like they owned the place. He slammed the table and stood up.
“I came in because I wanted to,” Ren Bai said casually, now holding the upper hand. He didn’t care what Liu Mingguang was saying. “If you don’t want us here, fine. I’ll just post the video online right now.”
When had Liu Mingguang ever been treated like this at Huaze? His face instantly turned dark with rage. “Ren Bai, don’t push your luck!”
“I am pushing it. What can you do about it?” Ren Bai had already realized how important the video was to Huaze, so he was speaking confidently.
“Yu Shiqing, control the man you brought with you,” Liu Mingguang said, turning to Yu Shiqing angrily.
Yu Shiqing replied calmly, “Ren Bai is my agent. He has the right to handle everything on my behalf.”
Ren Bai grinned proudly. “Any problem with that?”
Liu Mingguang clenched his fist. The pen in his hand snapped, and the cap flew off with a “pop.”
“Enough talk. Bring out the termination contract,” Ren Bai said impatiently as he walked forward and tapped the table. “If it weren’t for canceling the contract, do you think Yu Shiqing and I would come here? After today, even if you beg us, we won’t ever come back.”
Knowing he couldn’t outtalk Ren Bai and afraid he might get too angry, Liu Mingguang waved to a staff member to bring the termination contract over.
Ren Bai flipped through the contract and saw the attached confidentiality clause. He sneered, “President Liu, Yu Shiqing and I came all this way not to play games with you.”
A staff member tried to explain, “Mr. Ren, these are standard terms—”
“I don’t care what terms!” Ren Bai cut him off sharply. “I don’t have time for this nonsense. I’ll say it one last time no extra conditions. Yu Shiqing signs the contract right away, or we’re done here.”
The staff looked at Liu Mingguang. “President Liu, this…”
Liu Mingguang saw how firm Ren Bai’s stance was and knew he wouldn’t give in. He said, “Ren Bai, don’t forget when Yu Shiqing signed the original contract, there was already a confidentiality clause. Even if you don’t sign this one, you still can’t reveal any of the contract’s contents.”
“Pfft!” Ren Bai almost spat in Liu Mingguang’s face. “Aren’t you afraid your tongue will twist from lying? When did Yu Shiqing ever sign a contract with you?”
Liu Mingguang’s expression changed.
Realizing how reckless Ren Bai could be with his words, he waved at the others. “Everyone out!”
Ren Bai said mockingly, “So you do know your shady business can’t see the light of day?”
Liu Mingguang replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Ren Bai didn’t bother arguing. He was about to return to the main topic when, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Qi Taihua trying to slip out with the others. He suddenly shouted—
“Stop!”
