Chapter 40 – Retaliation

After “Chaos Street” finally finished its pre-production activities, the time was already twilight.

Qiu Qian threw on his jacket and stood up from his chair. He was immediately surrounded by a crowd of microphones. Because of the host’s tantrum from before, no one dared to make any movements until the activities on stage had finished. Right now it was finally completed so they naturally rushed over.

Under the pa-cha-pa-cha of the flashing lights, the reporters all thrust their microphones forward and began asking their questions.

“Mr Qiu why did you appear here today! Was your schedule already decided in advance!?”

“Mr Su went over to Total Entertainment very early, does Mr Qiu know? Are you deliberately trying to avoid him!?”

“Can you tell us why Total Entertainment terminated Mr Su’s contract. Mr Qiu can you give us an explanation!?”

“And why have you also terminated all working relationship!? What has Mr Su done wrong!? Is the situation so serious!?”

“Doesn’t Mr Qiu and Mr Su have a personal friendship!? Isn’t treating him this way damaging the friendship!?”

“At the end-of-year party earlier, the people in your company reported that the two of you seemed very close. Was that just an act?”

The microphones surrounding him were close to knocking Qiu Qian on the chin. However Qiu Qian maintained a relaxed stance. He said as though he had no idea, “Su Quan came to the company today? Oh, it’s probably to go and pack his things ba.”

These words sent the reporters into a frenzy! Finally they had found a person willing to talk about this matter!!

At this time the cameras broadcasting the opening ceremony live had also been turned around and was now focused directly on Qiu Qian.

“So Mr Qiu didn’t know that Mr Su came by today!? No one told you!? This isn’t logical Mr Qiu!”

“Can you please let us know the reason for the termination!! Mr Qiu can you let us know the details ah!?”

“Also what is the amount of damages that Total Entertainment has to pay to Mr Su!? Can I ask if it’s more than ten million yuan?!”

“Total Entertainment has many artists signed under its label. Mr Qiu do you think that this a manner of ending the contract will impact them in some way!?”

“There’s been some rumors that Total Entertainment is planning to close down!! Mr Qiu do you have any opinions on these rumors!?”

“Is it because Mr Su has some kind of medical condition ah!? His manager said he’s taking time off to recuperate, could it be–”

“Ai, you guys need to slow down so people can reply. I still need to go to the next venue ah.”

The last sentence was not said loudly however because of all the microphones, it was still heard very clearly.

The reporters all turned their head and saw that outside the throng of reporters, Sun XiBin was standing with his head straining up to see over them.

When he saw all the gazes turning to him, Sun XiBin seemed to realize his mistake. “What are you looking at me for, I also have the right to know ah.”

His manager had completely given up trying to keep a lid on Sun XiBin this gossip monger. He had instead chosen to go and make his greetings to the director.

Qiu Qian laughed and said, “It’s only been one day and already the rumor mill has gone crazy. You guys are really capable. Okay, I’ll say it once and say it clearly.” After he spoke he stepped forward and began to walk away, completely ignoring if there was anyone in his way.

Thus Qiu Qian took this big group of reporters and directly walked towards the stage where there was still a group of people left right after the activities had finished.

This included the director, producer, Bai Lang and a few other actors.

Qiu Qian made a generous greetring. “Director Xu, I’m so sorry ah. Today I came to show my support but I didn’t think I would bring all this trouble to you.”

The Director Xu JunXi looked at Qiu Qian in a familiar manner. “Hahaha, don’t say it like that. I’m very honored that Boss Qiu could make the time to come today. It definitely made our little gathering a lot more popular ah.”

“Director Xu you’re being too humble. With Director Xu and Producer Li here, Total Entertainment has high expectations for Chaos Street.” Qiu Qian smiled and took Xu JunXi’s offered hand, shaking it. “I’m glad we were able to win this opportunity over Full Color. I hope we can cooperate well.”

With these words, there was another flash of camera lights.

One of the rumors was regarding “Total Entertainment” closing down. However this had just been disproved by Qiu Qian’s words just now.

“It’s a pity that Su Quan has parted ways with us,” Qiu Qian continued to say, his face not changing at all. “It can’t be helped since people choose different pathways in life. Rather than dragging things out, it’s better to end things cleanly. However I didn’t expect that it would bring so much trouble to the production.”

Director Xu waved his hand. He was very cooperative. “People’s wants and ideologies are different and there’s no point to force things. It’s quite common in this circle. We can only wish them fortune and good luck, isn’t that right?”

These words clearly expressed that Su Quan was not going to take part in “Chaos Street” any longer. After the breaking news, this was the first role confirmed that was going to change from Su Quan to another person!

There was immediately a flurry of activity among the reporters. However these two big figures were still chatting. Even the dumbest reporter knew that right now was the time to listen and not to ask questions.

“Director Xu is right,” Qiu Qian nodded his head. “According to my knowledge, at least Hong Kuan Films came to snag Su Quan very early on.”

Hong Kuan Films was the film company that Hong Yu had created for Su Quan previously.

“If someone is popular there will always be people wanting to fight over them ah,” Director Xu gave an exaggerated sigh. “The fact that Mr Qiu is willing to give things up is also very noble, hahahaha.”

However the fact that these people’s expressions were both very happy and completely didn’t conform to the words they were saying told to the truth of the matter. {T/N: They seem like they’re being sarcastic.}

It was clear to everyone that this was “polite speech”. Director Xu was still smiling but at this time someone couldn’t help but interject.

“Mr Qiu what do you mean by “different pathways in life”!? Can you let us know more specifically!?”

“Is Mr Su leaving Chaos Street!? Director Xu is that what you were talking about earlier!?”

“Also what do you mean by “finishing things”, Mr Qiu? Are you planning to suppress Mr Su!?”

“Can I ask what does this have to do with Hong Kuan Films!? What has Mr Su done that would make Total Entertainment treat him so drastically!?”

... although they knew they would only get perfunctory replies, the journalists still rushed to ask their questions.

On the other side, Su Quan and his manager Luo ZhenAn who was sitting in the office of Total Entertainment, were also watching this scene via the news broadcast. Accompanying it was the a reporter who make a quick monologue over the scenes;

“Right now that was Total Entertainment’s CEO Qiu Qian. These are the words that he made after Chaos Street’s opening ceremony! According to Qiu Qian’s words, Su Quan went to the company today for the purposes of completing his end of contract administration procedures. As for Su Quan, after being seen going into the premises of Total Entertainment, right now we still haven’t seen him reappear. It seems that there are serious matters that are being discussed. Or perhaps, the two sides are currently discussing the contractual damages related to the contract termination. As for the amount, Qiu Qian did not disclose any information. He only said the following procedures would be taken care by his subordinates and that he very much trusts their work ethic—”

After Su Quan heard this he picked up his coffee mug and violently dashed it against the ground!

Anyway there was no one here to see. Other than the young woman who had brought him his coffee earlier, he had been here for several hours without seeing another soul.

So right now Su Quan had no choice but to believe that he had been sold to Hong Yu.

Otherwise Qiu Qian wouldn’t have raised the subject of Hong Kuan. He would also have not given the outside world such an unsatisfactory explanation for the contract termination.

As for the reason behind it....

Su Quan hatefully stared at the figure of Bai Lang who would every now and again be captured by the cameras. He definitely had something to do with this.

So he definitely wouldn’t let them live well.

He would definitely not let it go just like this.

***

Following that there were several days of noisy news as the entertainment world made various conjectures about the reason behind the termination as well as the amount of damages. Not only did they try to guess the amount of money paid to Su Quan himself, but also the damages that Total Entertainment had to give to various related parties in order to change out Su Quan’s jobs.

Bai Lang watched the news for a few days then one night he took his bank card and a stack of documents and went to find Qiu Qian on the couch to have a chat.

Qiu XiaoHai was sitting to one side watching cartoons. It was unknown whether or not he would have trouble finishing his homework.

“For you.” Bai Lang stretched out his hand.

Qiu Qian looked up from several documents in his hand. He looked at what was in Bai Lang’s hand. “What’s this?”

“I want to help make up for a little of what was lost over Su Quan.” Bai Lang said in a serious tone.

In Bai Lang’s eyes, Qiu Qian’s actions completely were “using a public means to solve a private matter”. If it wasn’t handled well then it might affect Qiu Qian’s standing with the senior generation of the Qiu family. However since Bai Lang knew that it was useless to try and persuade Qiu Qian to change his tactics then at least he could help to make up for some of the lost money of Total Entertainment.

Qiu Qian raised his eyebrow. He said in an amused tone, “How much do you want to give me?”

Bai Lang paused. “Thirty million. Is it enough?”

It was Qiu Qian’s turn to go still. “Where did you get so much money from?”

“There were about 8 million of funds that came out of that series of books. I used it to buy stocks in those online shopping platforms. Last month they were officially released to the platform and so the the prices of the stocks have risen quite a lot, about 3-4 times. Also there is the money that I earned from Gold and a few other things. Added together, it should be about this much.” Bai Lang calculated. This was approximately everything that he had.

Qiu Qian naturally knew this. He laughed and pulled Bai Lang towards him and tipped up his chin. “Don’t you treat those online shopping stocks like treasures? Wouldn’t it be disadvantageous to sell it off right now?”

“The books will earn more money. I’m not scared.” Bai Lang really didn’t mind. If money wasn’t spent when it was needed, then what was the point of having it?

Qiu Qian raised his eyebrow again. This was another strange thing about Bai Lang.

Bai Lang didn’t have any background and he had never seen him do much research or education regarding business. However every time he chose to invest in something he would earn a lot of money. The online shopping platform was one matter, at least it was a trending industry, but the series of books was extremely strange. Each one was more popular than the last. The price to earning ratio even made Qiu Qian feel a little bit ashamed.

Then there was V Country’s oil business that Qiu Qian was preparing to invest in. Bai Lang only heard a bit about it and then immediately said out loud a few key points without a second thought. He had even praised Qiu Qian for his foresight. Of course words were cheap and it wasn’t hard to just casually say a few things, but it just so happened that the key points that Bai Lang grasped were the exact reason that Qiu Qian was interested in this business. If it wasn’t for the fact that Qiu Qian had already given up on suspecting Bai Lang, then he would really suspect that Bai Lang was a corporate spy that someone had sent over to him!

The reason that Bai Lang knew these things was of course because of his previous life. There just so happened to be a program that introduced the successful business ventures Chinese people had made overseas. One of them was V country’s oil business. The program was very detailed and thorough, Bai Lang had a deep impression of it and so naturally he could remember it.

However the person whose business proposal was picked by V country in his last life was not the Qiu family. The reason was because the application for funding transfer overseas by the Qiu family was processed too slowly, and so by pure bad luck they missed out on this opportunity.

In this life when Hong Yu asked Qiu Qian what he wanted in exchange, Qiu Qian thought about it and decided he didn’t want to rely on Hong Yu too much to prevent himself being controlled by Hong Yu in the future. So Qiu Qian had given what he thought was a relatively safe and almost sure to win proposal over to Hong Yu to “help” with. He told Hong Yu to just help him rush a few of the government workers who were working a bit slowly. Within just a few days it was processed and Qiu Qian became busy confirming this new business venture.

After thinking about quite a lot of things, Qiu Qian narrowed his eyes. “I’ll ask you one more time, are you hiding anything from me?”

“Nope.” Bai Lang rolled his eyes to cover his feelings. He didn’t ever want to tell the truth about his past life to Qiu Qian, particularly not how he died.

Qiu Qian didn’t believe it but as long as this person stayed by his side, then he was willing to overlook these small things.

However he still held this person and kissed him heavily. He said in a warning tone, “Do whatever you like but taking care of your body is the most important thing.”

There was a rush of warmth in Bai Lang’s heart. But he didn’t forget the thing in his hand. “Take it then.”

“Are you this worried about me?” Qiu Qian lowered his head to laugh, then added a few more kisses. “Don’t fuss. The money for the damages aren’t a big deal. I’ve already made preparations for everything that will come. No matter if it’s the outside or within the Qiu family, in order to topple Su Quan it won’t come to paying with ourselves. This money... why don’t you leave it for Xiao Hai’s bride price.”

{T/N: Bride price is money paid by groom to the bride’s family. Opposite to a dowry which is what a bride pays a groom’s family. In China, most of the times it’s the man doing to paying however different areas have different customs.}

The working hard on his homework Qiu XiaoHai heard his name and raised his eyes. “What’s bride price?”

Qiu Qian thought for a moment then came up with a good example. “It’s like the money you need to buy steamed buns for Ah Zan to eat.”

Bai Lang could help slapping Qiu Qian on the shoulder in a warning manner.

Qiu XiaoHai’s eyes went bright. He threw away his pencil and happily came over to squeeze in between the two people on the couch. “Then it needs to be lots and lots of money, right?”

“If it’s Ah Zan, then I’m afraid so.” Qiu Qian rubbed his chin.

These words really weren’t wrong.

***

Eight days after “Total Entertainment” announced the contract termination, Su Quan continued to maintain his silence. He had not made any reply to Qiu Qian’s words of “different pathways in life” and so it seemed he was admitting to it.

However unexpectedly on the ninth day, several quite popular entertainment online discussion boards all posted the same two series of photos.

One series was Su Quan and Qiu Qian. The two people were meeting in private at several bars and clubs. The picture showed them chatting or drinking together.

The other series was Qiu Qian and Bai Lang’s photos taken on first day they had appeared officially in public together.

Putting these two series of photos together, there was a heavy flavor of condemnation.

And the question of sexual orientation the images raised once again created another explosion in the entertainment circle.