It sounds a bit familiar, tell me more in detail.
Xie Jinghu did not watch idol dramas and had previously had no interest in the entertainment circle, so his knowledge of Love’s Cruise, last year’s big hit drama, was limited to having heard the name.
Zhao Dong quickly gave Xie Jinghu a crash course, briefly recounting the feud between Love’s Cruise and Starry Night with You.
Mentioning Starry Night with You inevitably dragged Wen Ying into it.
To this day, Zhao Dong still believed Wen Ying was a key breakthrough in dealing with Xie Qian.
Xie Jinghu listened with a furrowed brow, Can you not widen your perspective a bit? Always fixating on some little girl.
His gaze was stuck on irrelevant minor details, no wonder he always failed at big things!
Zhao Dong was so infuriated by Xie Jinghu’s assessment that he nearly spat blood.
If Xie Jinghu were not richer than him, Zhao Dong truly would not want to serve such a person. What kind of man was this, so full of himself?
He refused to believe plain facts and instead turned around to claim others lacked ability!
Swallowing his anger, Zhao Dong steered the topic back to Love’s Cruise:
In short, this drama had extremely high ratings and buzz last year. After the male lead Yu Tianlin’s scandal broke, the channel halted it midway, and now it has not made a single ripple.
With a successful precedent right there, if they wanted to target Alleyway Folks, they might as well emulate Love’s Cruise… No, emulate the divine manoeuvre by Tianjiao Company, the rival at the time of Love’s Cruise.
Back then, Love’s Cruise and Starry Night with You were in fierce competition when suddenly Yu Tianlin’s scandals flooded the scene. The one who could grasp so much dirt on Yu Tianlin was, of course, his former manager Yuan Fenghui.
Tianjiao’s play had wrecked the competitor while avenging Yuan Fenghui too.
Zhao Dong’s logic was flawless, even down to the details of how to halt Alleyway Folks.
To study the opponent, Zhao Dong had watched Alleyway Folks episode by episode and knew its major leads were so-called veteran actors.
These veteran actors differed from typical stars and celebrities; they did not rely on hyping news for attention or fan economies. For them, acting was more like a job.
So they each had their personalities, and more or less some minor flaws.
But that did not matter.
Because their professional skills were high enough, audiences could overlook those little flaws.
To put it more bluntly, Zhao Dong could not even smear these veterans if he tried; they did not peddle personas, so there was no risk of a persona collapse.
Only Xu Mei, who appeared in the eighth episode of Alleyway Folks, carried inherent buzz, and she was a contracted artist at Ji Xin. Tainting her would deal a heavy blow to Alleyway Folks and a strike to Ji Xin as well.
Zhao Dong convinced Xie Jinghu with just one sentence.
Xu Mei is the artist Young Master Xie signed after taking over Ji Xin. To date, he has signed only this one artist.
Xie Jinghu hesitated no longer, This matter is yours to handle.
Xie Jinghu did not hide his call with Zhao Dong from Assistant Qi, but as for the specifics, why would the boss need to detail them to an assistant? Assistant Qi was nearly dying of anxiety and could only secretly leak a bit of wind to Xie Qian.
Xie Jinghu was not acting like a person, but Assistant Qi still wanted to be one.
Truth be told, either do not sign any wager agreement at all, or if you sign one, have the guts to lose. Assistant Qi even looked down on Xie Jinghu.
…
I am not surprised at all.
Xie Qian vented to Wen Ying, utterly calm.
The DNA results had caught Xie Qian off guard, but his scumbag father Xie Jinghu’s petty villainy remained consistent, instantly pulling Xie Qian back onto a familiar track.
Wen Ying felt both furious and heartbroken.
Wen Ying often complained that Old Wen was no good as a father, but that was comparing him to Little Aunt’s husband Deng Shangwei or to Qin Xianming and Wang Jun. If she compared Old Wen to Xie Jinghu, Old Wen seemed perfect, without a single flaw!
At least Old Wen would not spend his days plotting to sabotage his own daughter’s career. When Wen Ying’s new book launched, Old Wen would even buy a copy out of pocket to read it, which counted as support for her writing career.
So what do you plan to…
Nothing to prepare.
Alleyway Folks, from script to approval, actor selection and filming, and finally slotting it on Oriental Channel, had Xie Qian’s involvement and oversight at every step.
Xie Jinghu wanted to halt Alleyway Folks?
Xie Qian did not see any vulnerabilities in the project.
Unless Xie Jinghu had the funds to buy out Oriental Channel outright and directly order it to stop airing the drama!
Never mind whether Xie Jinghu had that much money; even if he did, he could not buy a provincial channel.
Xie Jinghu had been in business for years and, as president of Jin Hu Group, knew plenty of people. He might even know channel executives, but that would be of little use. When Alleyway Folks itself had no issues, which executive would dare order it halted?
That was Oriental Channel, not some small private firm run by a single boss. Executives like Director Fan held considerable power but were equally subject to oversight and checks. They could not do whatever they pleased.
Ruling out those options left Xie Jinghu with scant room to manoeuvre.
If Alleyway Folks truly had any vulnerability open to attack, a suspicion surfaced in Xie Qian’s mind.
Coincidentally, Wen Ying thought the same, and the two aligned once more.
Xu Mei?
If outsiders wanted to strike at Alleyway Folks, Xu Mei was the only target.
This was a serious drama, after all.
Yet Xu Mei, to maintain exposure, had actively hyped her romance, giving the tabloids ample fodder.
How had Hu Man fallen to Yu Tianlin? It was not from their fake romance turned real hype?
Yu Tianlin had later kept threatening Hu Man precisely because he had gathered leverage on her during the fake romance.
Did Xu Mei have any leverage in Cao Bo’s hands?
Forget explosive tapes or videos; even without such footage, if Cao Bo went all out and spilled sensational details of their romance to the media, given current fans’ and audiences’ tolerances, he could snuff out every bit of buzz Xu Mei had stirred up with such effort.
This was no unfounded worry from Wen Ying.
From what she knew, in her previous life, more than one rising female star had met ruin over similar matters!
Romance was something both parties engaged in together.
When a female star dated without cheating or stepping out, only to have an unscrupulous ex expose private photos after the breakup or publicly discuss bedroom intimacies, it was eight lifetimes of bad luck for her.
Wen Ying’s reminder made Xie Qian take it seriously.
Before signing Xu Mei, Gong Sheng had warned her to clean up her romance with Cao Bo thoroughly.
Xu Mei had assured Gong Sheng at the time that there were no issues.
Xie Qian did not doubt Xu Mei’s honesty; he worried she had overestimated her ex’s character.
I will have Gong Sheng ask about it.
Wen Ying nodded, Best to ask. No matter what move your father pulls, build your defences first so his schemes fall flat!
