Director Fan felt he was already being quite tactful and polite.
Being associated with Yu Tianlin, let alone a cruise ship, even an aircraft carrier would sink!
Now branded a disgraced artist, with advertisements and endorsements pulled, his agency terminating his contract, and all parties distancing themselves, it was unthinkable for a drama starring him to continue airing during Hunan Satellite TV’s prime time.
If the station didn’t proactively halt the broadcast, were they waiting for higher authorities to mandate the suspension of *Love Cruise*?
Come on, show some sense!
The deputy station head frowned.
Halting the broadcast was no small matter.
Setting aside the tens of millions spent on securing *Love Cruise*’s exclusive rights, stopping it now would be hard to justify to advertisers. With the scandal breaking so suddenly, where could they find a drama to compete with *Galaxy and You*?
*Galaxy and You*, aired across four networks, showed its full dominance. Henan Satellite TV was the last of the four to broadcast it, yet despite the split viewership, Oriental TV’s premiere ratings broke 5%.
This was partly thanks to the Liang Dan couple. Without their hired trolls attacking Yuan Fenghui first, her vindication wouldn’t have boosted *Galaxy and You*’s ratings further.
And that was with three other networks diluting the audience. If Oriental TV had exclusive rights, the ratings might have hit 6%!
Finding a drama with 6% ratings nowadays was no easy feat.
In this year’s July prime-time ratings battle, Hunan Satellite TV had lost. The deputy station head didn’t expect a last-minute replacement to turn things around; he just wanted to minimise the damage and prevent the four rival networks from capitalising further.
While the deputy station head pondered, the meeting room was silent. Director Fan was visibly pained, “If we’d bought *Galaxy and You*, we wouldn’t be in this mess!”
The female executive who had pushed for *Love Cruise*’s broadcast rights, who had been smug in front of Director Fan days ago, now kept her head down, silent.
Liang Dan tried to salvage her dignity, “No one can predict the future. Who knew Yu Tianlin would be so unlucky before airing? He was clearly set up. To compete with us for July’s prime time, some people have no limits.”
Yu Tianlin was unlucky?
Hearing Liang Dan imply he was a victim, Director Fan scoffed, “Set up? Who could set him up like that? He chose to have so many ex-girlfriends, to two-time, to chase sugar sisters and sugar daddies—nobody forced him! Sure, no one predicts the future, but as seasoned media professionals, we should have professional judgement. Ratings can’t be predicted precisely, but can’t we judge a drama’s quality?”
Liang Dan was speechless.
Being called out for poor judgement was humiliating!
But Director Fan spoke the truth, and she couldn’t argue back.
The female executive glared at Director Fan, who, full of confidence, glared right back without fear.
“Enough, stop arguing,” the deputy station head made a firm decision. “If it needs to be stopped, stop it. Hesitation only breeds chaos. We’ll follow Old Fan’s lead on this.”
Liang Dan and the female executive looked grim. What made it worse was that the deputy station head not only decided to halt *Love Cruise* but spoke warmly to Director Fan, praising his keen eye for dramas and encouraging him to boldly bid for quality dramas in the future, with the station’s full support.
“Old Fan, keep in touch with Tianjiao,” the deputy station head said with high expectations.
Director Fan was clear-headed, “After we burned bridges with Tianjiao, I don’t have the face to mend that relationship.”
Tianjiao and Hunan Satellite TV had a great partnership, but they were pushed away.
Now look at the result.
Tianjiao could work with Oriental TV, Zhejiang Satellite TV, Shandong Satellite TV, and others. With *The Princess’s New Clothes* and now *Galaxy and You* as their foundation, any new drama from Tianjiao would have networks scrambling to bid!
The deputy station head sighed.
Indeed, this was tricky.
While money could mend most relationships, after the past unpleasantness, Tianjiao wouldn’t budge on new drama licensing fees, leaving Hunan Satellite TV at a disadvantage.
Though the deputy station head didn’t openly criticise the female executive for choosing the wrong drama, he knew whose judgement to trust going forward.
After the meeting, as the deputy station head left, Director Fan hesitated but called out to the female executive.
“This isn’t over—”
“Surnamed Fan, don’t push it! We’re colleagues. Have you never made a mistake at work?” she snapped.
So what if she picked the wrong drama?
The station could afford it!
The female executive was outwardly fierce but inwardly uneasy. Director Fan was exasperated, “…Whatever makes you happy.”
As colleagues, he had intended to warn her to quickly track down the “missing” Yu Tianlin.
Yu Tianlin had nothing left, a ticking time bomb. If it came out that the female executive or Liang Dan was one of his “sugar sisters,” Hunan Satellite TV would lose even more face!
Director Fan thought his only flaw was being too kind.
No one knew where Yu Tianlin was hiding.
His downfall was half his own doing and half fueled by Liang Dan’s meddling.
Yet Liang Dan, far from reflecting, blamed Yu Tianlin for being too stupid.
With so much dirt in Yuan Fenghui’s hands, how was he unaware?
Fool!
He deserved to be taken down by her.
Liang Dan had no time to mourn Yu Tianlin; she was more worried about her own standing at the station. Her plan to kill two birds with one stone backfired. Yuan Fenghui cleared her name through the ex-girlfriends’ exposés, shedding the stigma of arranging unspoken rule dinners, and the plan to drag Dairy Group’s Liu Zong down failed.
No way, Liu Zong was different from Yuan Fenghui. The Dairy Group had launched an internal review of Liu Zong, and while the spokesperson selection had no “unspoken rule deals,” could Liu Zong be clean in other business dealings?
Few in key positions could withstand scrutiny!
Yuan Fenghui escaped, Yu Tianlin fell, *Love Cruise* was halted—all bad news. The only comfort for Liang Dan was that the Dairy Group assigned someone else to handle Hunan business.
As if fate knew Liang Dan was thinking of Liu Zong, news about him soon arrived.
The Dairy Group issued another statement!
This one, sterner than the first, boiled down to two points:
First, the group’s internal review cleared Liu Zong of any violations. He would not only continue handling Hunan Satellite TV business but, due to his outstanding performance, was slated for a promotion.
Second, the ordeal caused significant personal harm to Liu Zong and damaged the group’s reputation. After the legal department sent a lawyer’s letter, the journalist didn’t promptly delete the defamatory post or apologise. Now, the group would sue the journalist!
Liu Zong was investigated.
And not only did he not fall, he was getting promoted?
This news hit Liang Dan hard, as it directly affected her interests!
Guan Zong was nervous too.
He had reassured the journalist not to fear the lawyer’s letter, and the greedy journalist let the defamatory post linger for two extra days.
That greed caused trouble.
When Yu Tianlin was suddenly crushed by his exes, the journalist, seeing the tide turn, deleted the post.
But it was too late. The Dairy Group’s legal team, after working overtime and facing colleagues’ mockery, had preserved evidence and was determined to take the journalist to court!
This time, they demanded not just deletion and an apology but substantial financial compensation.
A group’s reputation is hard to quantify, so as plaintiffs, they’d start with a large figure and let the court decide. The summons hadn’t arrived, but the journalist was already terrified by the potential compensation, frantically calling Guan Zong to beg for help!
If Guan Zong dared say he wouldn’t help, the journalist could expose that he acted on Guan Zong’s instructions.
“He can’t talk nonsense!” Liang Dan’s eyelids twitched, “Did you leave any evidence? I told you not to use your own account to transfer payment. You didn’t ignore me, did you?”
Guan Zong loudly denied, “Of course I didn’t use my own account!”
“Then what are you scared of?”
“We had phone calls. I’m worried he recorded them…”
His voice trailed off, unable to hide his guilt.
Guan Zong felt wronged.
The journalist just scribbled nonsense, and if it was wrong, they could delete it. Did it really need a lawsuit?
Entertainment industry logic didn’t apply to the Dairy Group. They wanted to make an example through the courts, and no one could stop them!
Had he known it would escalate to a lawsuit, Guan Zong wouldn’t have dared contact the journalist by phone.
Liang Dan was at a loss for words.
For the umpteenth time, she questioned her marriage: with a husband dragging her down, no wonder she couldn’t outmaneuver Yuan Fenghui!
