Chapter 580: Keep a Little Decency: A Qi Xi Festival Tradition

Every organization has its leisurely departments, and within the Film Bureau, the Review Department is undoubtedly the most leisurely.

After all, these people are advanced in age and possess long-standing seniority; the younger colleagues within the bureau cannot afford to provoke them.

As for their direct superiors, it is not easy to give them a cold look, otherwise, bearing the reputation of being disrespectful to old comrades would have some impact.

Even their office environment is the best; otherwise, if these old men were to pass away in the office one day, who could one go to for justice? Externally, they hold certain powers, so very few people dare to offend them.

Therefore, when the two, Tong and Zhang, arrived, they saw a group of old fellows chatting about household trifles, completely lacking the proper demeanor for work hours, and they did not even notice the arrival of the two.

The anger Zhang had just suffered, combined with the scene before him, instantly caused his fury to surge.

"Everyone, is it appropriate to chat about these things during work hours?"

The suddenly appearing cold tone shattered the originally harmonious and friendly atmosphere, and the large office instantly fell into dead silence.

Although the dissatisfaction in the words was audible, this new leader clearly could not suppress them. Someone joked, "The two of you, with so many scripts and finished films every day, need to relax after reviewing for so long. Isn't it said that one should balance work and rest? Besides, we are all old and stiff, heh."

It must be said that sometimes age is also a weapon; Zhang really found it hard to lash out, but Tong retorted in a neither fish nor fowl manner.

"Since you all know you are old, why not retire? Raising flowers and planting grass, fishing and playing chess, or dandling grandchildren—wouldn't any of those be more comfortable than being here? At such an advanced age, still occupying..."

"Leader, is there something today?"

Someone directly interrupted Tong; the advantage of being old and having seniority lies right here.

"Why was Wei Jin's *Operation Mekong* rejected?"

The people from Golden Shield really didn't misjudge; if this group didn't have the intention of seeking private revenge, he would write his surname 'Tong' backward.

But that is fine; even if he became Wei Jin's blade, he would have a clear conscience when he struck.

Tong looked cold and sternly questioned, "*Operation Mekong* is a project nodded through by the GA Department, initiated by the Propaganda Department, and assisted by Golden Shield. The script was filed with the Ministry. Now that you have rejected it, what are you trying to do?"

Hearing this, the group of people all had a bad premonition.

Sure enough, the next moment they heard Director Tong's cold voice.

"Therefore, from now on, do not use the excuse of 'young people being reckless' to fob me off. I see that the older ones have made no fewer mistakes; the embarrassment has even spread outside.

When the age is reached, one should retire; do not occupy a position without doing proper work. Especially those over 65, there are no conditions to negotiate this time. After all, someone must stand up; be a little more decent yourselves."

The meaning in these words was very clear: either those over the age limit retire directly and take the blame, or there will be a thorough internal investigation into exactly which people voted to pass the rejection.

In short, someone must be held responsible for this matter. The explanation to the outside world must be that it was their work error! And just as Director Tong's voice fell, three old men at the scene swayed, and Lu Chuan's father was among them.

Director Tong's gaze swept over, looking at this old fellow who had passed seventy, feeling extremely disgusted. This person was already half in the grave, yet he still wouldn't settle down.

"Alright, Old Zhang, handle the follow-up matters yourself; have a result as soon as possible."

"Rest assured, Director Tong."

Even though Director Tong and Director Zhang had already left for quite a while, the large review office remained terrifyingly quiet.

After a long while, someone reacted and began to complain:

"Old Lu, I told you to just ask, but you insisted on holding out. What do we do now? This time it's for real."

"What's the use of saying that now? Wasn't he dealing with the Gao Shu Qun matter at the time? Do we not even have the right to make decisions? Do we really have to be a rubber stamp?"

Lu Laotou immediately retorted, then shifted the hatred, "Also, shouldn't we blame Wei Jin for this? This little brat must have done it on purpose. He didn't say a word when submitting the materials; it's clear he was digging a pit for us."

The vast majority of people in the office did not agree with this, because no matter what, Wei Jin could not have predicted that they would reject it directly; that didn't make sense.

But at a time like this, they needed an external conflict to divert internal disputes, as the responsibility had not yet been determined.

Thus, everyone echoed in agreement, condemning Wei Jin for being unfilial.

If this group of people knew that the cause of this incident was merely a misunderstanding, perhaps they would be so angry they would die on the spot?

After venting for a while, someone threw the question out again: "Then how exactly do we handle this?"

At this moment, one of the three over-age individuals stood up to state his position.

"Things have reached this point, what else can we do? As Tong said, let's give everyone a little decency."

As soon as the words fell, Lu Laotou and another over-age old man looked at each other and nodded, "Hmm, Old Qi is right; we will take responsibility."

It wasn't that the three were truly selfless, but they knew very well that this was the best way to handle it; otherwise, they would be cutting themselves off from the collective!

"Alright, don't look so mournful. We couldn't have lasted much longer anyway. Now we should consider who will come up next."

"Yes, yes, this matter is very important. It's not that I don't believe in the ability of young people, but this mess still needs someone with rich experience to oversee it."

"Hmm, that's the logic. Let's call the old partners later and discuss it."

"Good."

Wei Jin did not know what happened at the Film Bureau, but he had received calls from Department Head Zhong and Director Tong one after another, so he could roughly guess seven or eight out of ten.

Things were fine on Golden Shield's side; they only said the matter was resolved and the Film Bureau would handle the aftermath, though there was still some dissatisfaction in their tone.

Wei Jin also knew that by contacting the Ministry directly this time, he had essentially used them as a tool, so his attitude was very good, expressing that he would definitely deepen cooperation in the future. As for Director Tong's call, it was much more direct.

"You brat are ruthless enough. A matter that could be solved with one phone call, you had to blow it up. Every day you just find trouble for me..."

"Leader, you can't just say things like that. Don't you know me? I have always been kind to others. But this is a project filed with the Ministry after all. If there is a problem with the script, that means my work was not up to standard, so I certainly had to explain it to the big leaders..."

"Alright, stop playing dumb with me. Don't I know you? In any case, don't let it happen again."

Speaking of this, Director Tong sighed, "Some things are better handled slowly internally; don't let other units make a joke of us."

"Uh..."

Wei Jin couldn't respond to this. Handled slowly? That sounded nice.

From the time Han Sanping advised him to wait, it had been more than three years. Even Old Han, who had made huge contributions to the development of the film industry, had retired, yet how many of this group had stepped down? But he couldn't complain about this in front of Director Tong, after all, this was something that happened during his tenure. Wei Jin could only change the subject and probe, "Director Tong, how do you plan to handle this matter?"

"How to handle it? How else do you want to handle it? You resubmit the script here, and I'll pass it for you."

Upon hearing this, Wei Jin wouldn't have it, "No way? Director Tong, that's it? The public notice of the rejection, don't I need an explanation?"

"Heh, you continue, I'm listening. The Director Wei who just said he was kind to others, what kind of explanation do you want?"

Wei Jin instantly realized he had been set up. He cursed the old fox under his breath, then his tone became tactful.

"Well, Director Tong, it's not that I want an explanation. But, if I just submit the script like this and it gets passed, isn't the Bureau slapping its own face?"

"It's fine, anyway, that group of old fellows has slapped their own faces many times; the industry won't find it strange."

Bureau Chief Tong was impervious to reason, so Wei Jin stopped playing along, "Hey, hey, Bureau Chief Tong, if you're going to be like this, then there's no way to continue this conversation."

Through the phone, Bureau Chief Tong said testily, "Enough, stop guessing blindly; there will definitely be a resolution. But he is an old comrade, so it's inevitable that there would be some negligence in his work. We'll just give him an internal reprimand and have him make room for the young people."

Wei Jin understood in a second and raised his banner high, "Bureau Chief Tong is wise."

In the evening, Wei Jin left Yanjiao Villa and headed toward Xishan Villa.

Today happened to be the Qi Xi Festival, so he had left the daytime to Ceng Li and Gao Yuanyuan, and had also spent the whole day playing with his father, his uncle, and his two children; naturally, he had to experience the wonderful combination of the "Wealthy Flower" and the "Celestial Fairy" in the evening.

Come to think of it, it had been a full year since the last time the three of them were together; he really missed it.

"I wonder what the two of them will have prepared?"

With a sense of anticipation, Wei Jin arrived at the place and saw the two beauties busy in the kitchen.

Jing Tian was the head chef, while Liu Yifei was helping out as a sous-chef.

It was clear that Wei Jin's subtle influence over these years had been quite effective; both of them had grown accustomed to this way of getting along, at least on Qi Xi and Valentine's Day.

"What are you making?"

"Brother, you're here."

Liu Yifei had long been bored, so she immediately put down the work of picking vegetables and walked over, while Jing Tian, focusing on the dish in the pot, replied casually, "Boiled beef."

"Mmm~~~ It smells so good; Tian Tian's culinary skills are getting better and better."

Wei Jin offered a compliment, then joined the two young women in the kitchen to get busy, chatting about recent work and life along the way.

Liu Yifei didn't have much going on; she had been resting at home, and even when she did go out for promotional events, it never exceeded a week at most.

However, with the "Golden September and Silver October" coming up, she, as a popular actress, would also have to start getting busy.

Jing Tian was filming with the *Coming Home* crew; the film had started shooting at the end of last month, and things were going quite smoothly so far.

According to Zhang Yimou, the progress was even faster than expected, and they would definitely be able to wrap up before National Day.

Furthermore, Jing Tian got along very well with Chen Daoming and Gong Li; after all, she really was a very polite and well-bred girl.

"Tian Tian, did Director Zhang scold you on set?"

Wei Jin's words drew dissatisfaction from Jing Tian, who rolled her eyes at him, "I performed quite well, why would he scold me? Besides, Director Zhang has a pretty good temper."

Liu Yifei, standing to the side, chimed in, "Exactly, exactly. Other directors aren't as fierce as you, hmph!"

Looking at the two of them "uniting against a common enemy," Wei Jin didn't know whether to laugh or cry; how did they get so emotional? He wasn't that fierce, was he?

Amidst the lively atmosphere, a dinner that wasn't exactly sumptuous but was very warm was served; after the warm dinner, it was time for the segment Wei Jin was looking forward to the most.

Jing Tian was seen wearing a blue, tight-fitting, mid-sleeve shirt, which made her already proud bust stand out even more.

With red, black-soled high heels, paired with fine-textured 5D high-transparency black silk stockings and an ultra-short hip-hugging skirt, a mature and alluring charm washed over him.

But paired with the rimless gold-framed glasses on her exquisite face, she actually appeared even more noble and grand, as if she had transformed into The Queen.

Liu Yifei, on the other hand, was dressed in a cool student outfit, with glossy, flesh-colored silk stockings under an ultra-short skirt, which made her round and slender legs look even more beautiful.

Her long ponytail was tied high, and combined with that ethereal, peerless face, it was truly stunning! The two of them played the roles of teacher and student to perfection. (End of chapter)