Chapter 199

In Su Manyao's office, she sat like a queen, a pen pressed to her chin, legs crossed on the wide office chair, her black high heels swaying slightly, wearing framed glasses, listening to Li Qinqin report work at the desk.

After Li Qinqin finished speaking, Su Manyao set the pen on the desk and said: "On Jiang Cheng's side, they blew up on Jin Ge Shou yesterday; see if the company has any high-quality business we can collaborate with their studio."

Li Qinqin scribbled notes in her notebook with her pen, nodding: "Okay."

Then she said: "Boss, there's another matter to report."

Zhouzixin and Chen Gang of Team Two both submitted resignation letters, expressing willingness to pay liquidated damages, but the damages are not paid directly; they said they would go to court, and the first step of compensation is a lengthy process, mainly because these two have jumped ship to Huang Zhengming's company.

Smack!

Su Manyao unconsciously slapped the desk after hearing that.

"Again Huang Zhengming, pushing his luck—how many people is this now!"

The two people Li Qinqin just mentioned are the company's current hot actors; the company has invested considerable resources to cultivate them.

They had finally found their footing and were about to start making money, yet they are jumping ship to Huang Zhengming's company.

This isn't the first time Huang Zhengming has poached people.

Li Qinqin said: "Huang Zhengming's company has secured venture capital and investments from two big firms, now poaching everywhere; this month we've lost six people to him, each a pillar of Qingman Entertainment; if this continues I'm afraid."

Li Qinqin didn't finish her words, but Su Manyao knew what she meant.

Not to mention her being afraid, Su Manyao herself felt uneasy inside.

Huang Zhengming's kind of move counts as entering the scene without playing by the rules!

Su Manyao finds it hard to guard against.

Because her company is now a mature enterprise, its operations in all aspects have formed their own system.

To prevent Huang Zhengming's high‑salary poaching, the only way would be to raise everyone's compensation.

But that's obviously unrealistic, because Huang Zhengming's poaching burns money, aiming merely for a mighty momentum.

Those who were poached perhaps didn't care much about future development, only seeing the cash they could get now.

If Su Manyao's company tried to raise wages to that level, it couldn't do it for everyone, because that wouldn't be healthy development; if we really did that, the company might as well shut down.

…

On Jiang Cheng's side, he and Chu Siqi have already entered Han Xiaoxun's apartment.

At this moment Han Xiaoxun was sitting in the living‑room chair, looking at the materials Jiang Cheng sent him.

They are all about Ma Zheke's videos and chat logs.

These were gathered by Su Peng through various means.

The more Han Xiaoxun looked, the more shocked his expression became, his face turning pale.

She was watching the video.

The video shows Ma Zheke consuming at Musi bar on two consecutive nights.

It includes surveillance footage as well as cellphone‑recorded clips.

Honestly, Su Peng is really impressive—having marketing shoot with phones is no surprise, but he actually managed to get the surveillance footage too!

"He might have just been invited by friends to hang out." Han Xiaoxun, face pale and eyes glazed, looked at Jiang Cheng and said.

Jiang Cheng knew Han Xiaoxun's psyche was already shaken, so he said: "Look at his arrogant appearance—he's not the protagonist; does the protagonist even know others?"

"Keep going and watch the rest."

After the video comes a screenshot of the chat log.

It is the chat between Ma Zheke and his so‑called girlfriend.

Han Xiaoxun's hands began to tremble, tears pouring down.

Jiang Cheng said nothing, just let her look. Ma Zheke's so‑called girlfriend is merely someone he bought with money.

Ma Zheke can buy her company with money, and Su Peng can of course also pay to buy the chat logs from that woman.

The chat logs mention Han Xiaoxun.

But the remarks there are most unpleasant, for example:

"He's just an idiot, easy to fool!"

"And she's like a holy mother—now the whole internet is cursing her, and she dares not spit out the truth!"

"People like her just love pretending to be good, letting others put her on a pedestal!"

"Just thinking about her now makes me laugh—she sings in a bar, thinking it's some fun thing, and wants to play the good guy way too much!"

Han Xiaoxun burst into tears upon seeing this information.

Chu Siqi stood beside her, patting her back to soothe her.

!

After a while, Han Xiaoxun lifted his head.

But she still couldn't stop sobbing.

Jiang Cheng said: "I want to turn around the online public opinion; are you willing?"

Han Xiaoxun's voice is already hoarse; if she sings now, she definitely won't have yesterday's flair.

She looked at Jiang Cheng, cautious and fragile, and asked: "Are you willing to help me? I don't know what to do."

Jiang Cheng said it's not to help you, but to help myself.

Basically we can be sure that behind this affair Huang Zhengming is pulling strings.

So what he said is also true—he is indeed helping himself, not Han Xiaoxun.

Then Jiang Cheng asked: "Can you now tell me about your situation with Ma Zheke?"

Up to now Jiang Cheng also doesn't know what relationship Han Xiaoxun has with Ma Zekē.

Then Han Xiaoxun began to confide in Jiang Cheng.

It turned out that Ma Zheke was a college student sponsored by Han Xiaoxun.

She has been sponsoring Ma Zeke for two years.

Every month, living expenses are given to Ma Zeke, including university tuition and miscellaneous fees, all of which are given by Han Xiaoxun.

Moreover, she does not sponsor only Ma Zheke.

Often Ma Zeke asks Han Xiaoxun for money, with many reasons for needing money, and Han Xiaoxun can only work harder to earn money.

But I don't know why, this time when she participated in the show, at night it suddenly came out saying she was keeping Ma Zeke as a kept man.

When the news first came out, Han Xiaoxun didn't take it seriously, because such things are easy to explain; just clarifying it would suffice.

But before Han Xiaoxun could go find Ma Zheke to clarify the situation, she saw online a solid proof of Ma Zheke speaking himself, saying Han Xiaoxun gave him money and wanted to keep him!

Upon seeing the video of Ma Zheke speaking himself, Han Xiaoxun was completely dumbfounded; she didn't know why Ma Zeke would say that.

As a result, when she went to ask Ma Zeke, Ma Zheke said he had found a girlfriend, and his girlfriend saw his transfer records in his WeChat chat logs, which led to the exposure.

Then Han Xiaoxun asked Ma Zeke, if it was exposed by his girlfriend, why didn't he explain but instead come out himself saying he was given money to be kept?

Ma Zheke's reason was simple: he said he had finally found a girlfriend and didn't want her to know he was a poor student, otherwise they would break up, so he could only come up with this excuse to brush it off; he just didn't expect it to cause such a big reaction online!

Then he begged Han Xiaoxun not to reveal that he was a poor student receiving sponsorship!

After listening, Jiang Cheng found the matter ridiculous and also melodramatic.

But placed on Han Xiaoxun, it actually seems reasonable; she is a girl under 25 who can earn money by singing resident at a bar to sponsor several college students, so upon hearing Ma Zeke's reason, it's understandable that she would be reluctant to expose the truth. (End of chapter)