CH 24

Chapter 24: Choose her

After getting out of the car, Jiang Fengchi went straight to the director’s team and as soon as he entered, he asked: “What’s happening to the voting page?”

The executive director was taken aback by Jiang Fengchi’s expression and was startled for a few seconds. After he realized the mentor was talking about the portraits uploaded early, he quickly got up to explain.

“Do you mean Qiao Dai’s photo? There was something wrong with it, we will update it with a new one tomorrow. Don’t worry, the voting hasn’t started yet…” The director opened his mouth but noticed Jiang Fengchi was seriously looking at him and realized he couldn’t try to hide things from him. If some words could deceive outsiders, Jiang Fengchi had been in the circle for many years already, and playing dumb would definitely not work on him. The director sighed heavily and decided to tell him the truth, if not a little helplessly: “We had no choice. We had agreed to upload the portraits today but the investor asked us to change Qiao Dai’s photo. What do you think is happening here? The audience already knows this was a themed shoot, where do I get a similar photo for Qiao Dai?”

The director could not help but be annoyed: he had already seen Qiao Dai’s portrait and knew it would make a lot of noise. Who would have guessed that during the upload process, the Cheng group would tell them to change Qiao Dai’s picture and find a new one.

Ah, what on earth was happening?

The program had officially announced today’s photos upload and at this time, one was suddenly withdrawn; it would actually be weird if netizens weren’t scolding them for shady business! The director was a little lost.

However, it was impossible for the program team to postpone the voting page and they could not just use a random picture to be changed later or people would definitely wonder why. That’s why the program had decided to leave Qiao Dai’s portrait empty for the moment. When anyone asked in the future, they could just say the webpage had been malfunctioning and not loading correctly.

After listening to the director’s words, Jiang Fengchi frowned and said: “So it was at the investor’s notice?”

The director nodded and Jiang Fengchi’s brows furrowed even tighter. He took a deep breath and profound disgust crossed his eyes.

***

On the other side, Yan Lang was also working overtime and arguing with the Communication Department.

After handing in today’s work, Yan Lang had heard the staff of this department discuss the quota for the posters. Originally, this issue had nothing to do with him but since he had gone to the shooting scene that day and met Qiao Dai himself, he had changed his mind. Now that the results were coming out, he felt that it was natural for him to go take a look, which could be said carrying things through1.

But had he not gone to take a look, he would not have learned about the current issue. Who had then chosen to represent the Deep Blue Star Sea?

After reading the report, Yan Lang had gone to the Communication Department and asked them how they had made their choice; did they treat everyone else as fools?

“I don’t know the situation of the other two groups but I was present when the Deep Blue Star Sea group modeled. Do you think I’m stupid?”

Yan Lang’s was very serious mixed with anger. He was looking at the Deputy Director of Communication with a blank face, waiting for his colleague to give an explanation. The other man wiped the sweat from his forehead, tried to smile, and said: “Director Yan, how dare we think that? The North Island is your project, how can we choose the promotional posters randomly? Isn’t it because of the Tear of the Mermaid? This is one of the major attractions of the water performance, and, in order to keep some mystery, it is not convenient for us to show it to the public in advance.” The Deputy Director had a guilty conscience and cursed his superior in his heart for dropping this sensitive situation on him. Was Director Yan a fool? Would he even believe this nonsense?

Sure enough, when the Deputy Director gave this explanation, Yan Lang sneered. He did not look much angrier but his tone became even colder. The man could not help but strengthen up and slightly shake.

“Do you really think this will work on me? Was I born yesterday?”

Yan Lang found this whole situation ridiculous; the Tear of the Mermaid he had lent to Qiao Dai that day was indeed an important item of the Deep Blue Star Sea, but if it was so important it had to remain hidden, would he have really done so? Was the Communication Department waiting for him to send a gift and apologize for his negligence?

The Deputy Director smiled awkwardly. He swallowed and whispered: “No, no, isn’t that all Director Ruan’s idea? We can only do as we are told.”

Yan Lang did not expect to hear this dame and pondered for a while before asking: “Ruan Mingyi?”

The Deputy Director nodded, looking like his soul was about to fly away and cold sweat rolling all over his body.

Yan Lang frowned and once again opened the folder placed aside. His eyes swept over it until he found the name of the girl chosen for the Fantasy Forest poster.

Ruan Tao, Ruan Mingyi’s daughter. So that was what was happening.

It was rather clear to Yan Lang that Galaxy was an entertainment company affiliated to the Group Cheng and because the poster was designated by the Cheng Group, naturally someone would take advantage of their authority to seek personal gain and rely on the relationship between Galaxy and the Cheng Group, like have the Communication Department favor the Galaxy players for the publicity posters for example. That was why the player selected for the poster of the Deep Blue Star Sea was Lai You.

Yan Lang had a little impression of this player but compared to Qiao Dai, she wasn’t worth mentioning. If Yan Lang had not seen the shooting with his own eyes, he might have reluctantly agreed to the Communication Department’s selection; but now that he had seen Qiao Dai, there was no room for discussion in his mind. Since they had to choose, they had to choose the best.

Yan Lang had guessed there was an inside story in this matter but he had not expected it would be related to Ruan Mingyi, a member of Galaxy’s board of directors. Even he had to give him some face, not to mention the Group Cheng’s Communication Department had always been close with Galaxy: Yan Lang’s word may not be as effective as Ruan Mingyi’s.

Did it mean this matter had to end here?

Yan Lang’s expression became a little hard to look at. When he thought about Qiao Dai’s smile in the water that day, he felt stuffy: a smile like this deserved to be seen by more people, rather than…

“How come I didn’t know Director Ruan was at the head of our Communication Department?”

At this moment, a somewhat unpleasant voice was heard from the door and everyone’s expression changed before turning to look at the newcomer.

The young man was wearing a suit, his hair still semi-wet and slightly messy, and when everyone saw him, they greeted “President Cheng”.

Cheng Su responded casually. The Deputy Director wanted to take him to the lounge but the young man just raised his hand, indicating it was not necessary, before taking a chair and sitting down. He looked at both men and asked: “What’s the situation?”

Nobody answered and Cheng Su pointed at Yan Lang: “Yan Lang, explain.”

Director Yan did not dare to delay and explained the whole ordeal quickly while Cheng Su listened quietly. Once he was done, Cheng Su did not speak directly but looked at both men; his eyes were full of pressure, giving people the impression a predator had claws around their throats, and they both instinctively held their breath.

Cheng Su quickly flipped through the player profiles in his hand, his gaze flicking across the photos. There was no change in his eyes when he looked at the two girls from the Fantasy Forest and the Mirror of the Sky but when he turned a certain page, his eyebrows raised and his hands stopped.

The other two men held their breath in unison, their heart thumping wildly, and the atmosphere in the room became tense, no one daring to break the uncomfortable silence.

Cheng Su’s gaze fell on the girl in the photo. Qiao Dai’s figure was wrapped in the limpid water, the reflection of the lights swaying on her side. Her eyes were bright and shone like the sea, tinted with wisps of azure. It was a mere image but enough to show everyone the depth and mystery of the ocean.

Cheng Su’s eyes moved slightly, like ripples on a calm sea, and his gaze moved to the girl’s name.

Qiao Dai.

Cheng Su recited her name silently in his heart, tapped Qiao Dai’s picture with a slender finger, and looked at the two men before declaring: “Choose her.”