Chapter 401: Chapter 322: A Twist in the Road
Xu Guiying is forty years old this year.
She started her business in the steel trade, and for a woman to build her business to such a size in the backdrop of the 90s, becoming the female boss of a company valued at over a billion, was no easy feat.
Xu Guiying married at thirty but the marriage did not last a few years before ending in divorce. She only has one son who is currently attending high school abroad.
After her divorce, several men appeared in her life, but none stayed for long.
A year ago, she signed Yu Zhiyang.
Originally, someone like Yu Zhiyang would never have agreed to such a servitude contract. However, Yu Zhiyang’s family faced troubles, needing a large sum of money to pay off debts. Xu Guiying seized the opportunity, and only after the contract was signed with Yu Zhiyang did she show up. Although Yu Zhiyang is generally reticent, after realizing he’d been deceived, he made a fuss.
However, how could an eighteen-year-old youth out-fight Xu Guiying and her gang who were well-versed in dealing with tough characters?
Through threats and temptations, and in the end, Yu Zhiyang signed the contract willingly. If he didn’t obey, Xu Guiying and her people had countless ways to deal with him.
Unless Yu Zhiyang could pay a significant sum to break the contract and walk away. But if Yu Zhiyang could afford that astronomical breach fee, he wouldn’t have signed the contract in the first place.
Becoming a celebrity is the dream of many youths, but Yu Zhiyang had walked through the wrong door from the start.
Yu Zhiyang was stubborn, with a strong backbone, unwilling to compromise.
To make Yu Zhiyang compromise, Xu Guiying arranged for him to get a lot of low-quality jobs through the company. Such as mall performances and various indecent advertisements. Yu Zhiyang’s agent, Zhang Linlin, couldn’t bear it, especially after getting to know Yu Zhiyang for a longer time, she softened, not wanting to see the young man’s best years wasted on these things, so when the company wasn’t looking, she would find him many opportunities, sending his resume to various companies, seeking better jobs.
Like the last advertisement he shot with Zhou Yun.
That wasn’t something Xu Guiying wanted Yu Zhiyang to film. Initially, the advertiser had told Yu Zhiyang’s company that they needed some background models, mainly focusing on Zhou Yun.
But unexpectedly, adjustments were made, and Yu Zhiyang ended up playing the male lead opposite Zhou Yun.
Xu Guiying was not pleased to see Yu Zhiyang gaining popularity. The more popular Yu Zhiyang became, the harder it was to control him. As a result, Xu Guiying had negotiated several times with the advertisers, trying to get them to reshoot and remove Yu Zhiyang. But the contract had already been signed, and the advertisers certainly wouldn’t ask Zhou Yun to reshoot the ad for Yu Zhiyang. The cost to reshoot with Zhou Yun once more would have been an additional expense.
Moreover, Zhou Yun didn’t have the time to accommodate a reshoot.
But Zhou Yun’s undetermined fashion drama was directly canned. The contract had not yet been signed, and they had only gone through a second round of consideration; because of the advert issue, Xu Guiying directly halted all of Yu Zhiyang’s work.
After Zhou Lan had recapitulated most of the information, Zhou Yun had formed a preliminary impression of Xu Guiying.
A formidable woman with strong control desires.
At the same time, also a very selfish woman.
Zhou Yun had no idea how to persuade Xu Guiying to let Yu Zhiyang take part in this film. She had no clue, and she insisted on going herself, not wanting to have future regrets.
She didn’t believe she could be more powerful than He Yong and deal with Xu Guiying directly.
...
"President Xu," Zhou Yun called out affectionately.
The woman before her was even more formidable than Zhou Yun had imagined. She was dressed very casually, wearing a beige velvet top, with medium-length hair. Her skin was not very good, and she had light makeup on, the corners of her eyes slightly uptilted like a Peking opera mask, giving her a somewhat aggressive look.
Xu Guiying stood up and shook hands with Zhou Yun.
"What a beauty."
Zhou Yun smiled and replied, "Hearing you compliment my looks makes me happier than compliments from anyone else."
"Why is that?" inquired Xu Guiying.
Zhou Yun answered, "These past few years, I’ve met many bosses and CEOs, but there are few female bosses like you who have built their own empires from scratch. You’re a role model for us women, and I admire you, so your compliments make me especially happy."
Xu Guiying smiled and said, "No need to be so sweet with your words."
Zhou Yun responded, "Then may I give you a hug?"
Xu Guiying looked at Zhou Yun in surprise.
Zhou Yun said, "I’m asking you for a favor today, so please allow me to express my closeness to you."