Tianyu's lawyer and agent both turned pale. They had only listened to Jiang Mengmei's one-sided account, believing the film crew had bullied her.
Tianyu Entertainment would not allow a small film crew to walk all over them, especially since the sisters Jiang Mengmei and Jiang Mengran had connections with the Chu family. Thus, they had rushed to deliver a lawyer's letter early that morning.
But they never expected the situation to have such a dramatic turn of events beforehand.
As public figures, to verbally abuse first, once this got out, their reputations would be ruined, and in severe cases, they might even be asked to retire from the industry by the entire internet.
The agent naturally understood the implications and quickly changed his attitude, laughing it off, "Jiang Mengmei is new to the industry and still immature. You also know her sister's relationship with the Chu family, which has made her a bit spoiled. I apologize on her behalf. We won't pursue the assault matter either. As for this recording..."
Quan Jiu slightly lowered her eyelids, the bitterness in her heart long gone, replaced by boundless anger: It seemed her leaving back then had truly been a favor to them.
Wang Feifei immediately seized on the agent's words and sneered, "You were so aggressive and unwilling to reconcile just now. Your change of attitude is so fast, even the weather is ashamed. Is this what they call a slap in the face?"
The agent chuckled, "Director Wang is truly quick-witted. Speaking of this matter, we should be on the same side.
Although our artist cursed first, your staff also assaulted her afterward. And if we're being strict, the law doesn't criminalize cursing, but it does criminalize assault causing injury.
Tianyu doesn't want to blow this out of proportion, which would make things look bad for everyone. So, let's settle this here. We'll pretend today's events never happened, alright?" He looked at the person involved.
Quan Jiu suppressed her emotions and smiled, nodding, "I don't hold grudges. What's past is past."
Hearing her say this, Wang Feifei quickly eased the tension, smiling and shaking hands with the other agent, "The auditions for Tianyu's two popular artists yesterday went very smoothly. Their acting skills were quite good, and they will surely have bright futures."
Tianyu had more artists than just Jiang Mengmei, and many more they wanted to promote. The agent was also satisfied with this outcome. After a few more polite exchanges, they left.
A conflict, thus, subsided. After Wang Feifei saw the Tianyu people off, she excitedly hugged Quan Jiu, "Jiu Jiu, you're amazing! How did you think of recording it? Today was a perfect counterattack.
Jiang Mengmei must be furious. She has to swallow this bitter pill of three slaps without being able to retaliate."
However, as soon as she finished speaking, the assistant director knocked and entered. He glanced at Quan Jiu first, then said cryptically, "Nan Chen, come here. I need to tell you something."
Jiang Nan Chen walked over. The assistant director showed him a news item on his phone, "This was posted yesterday. Because... the audience in this circle isn't that large, it only started to ferment today."
Seeing Jiang Nan Chen's furrowed brow, Wang Feifei leaned in to look. Upon seeing the content, she immediately cried out in anger, "Damn it, is Deng Jie crazy? She wants to ride on Jiu Jiu's coattails. When she didn't get her way, she started spewing garbage. What's wrong with her brain?"
As she spoke, she took out her phone, ready to issue an official explanation. But Quan Jiu stopped her, first understanding the situation, then calmly saying, "Let's hold off on this for now. Let it ferment a bit more. She's actively giving us traffic, so we might as well use it."
Wang Feifei's eyes lit up, and she patted Quan Jiu's fair cheek, "My Jiu Jiu is still the smartest."
The assistant director looked at Jiang Nan Chen, "So, we're not going to deal with it for now?"
Jiang Nan Chen looked at the trending searches, which were still rising, and nodded. They would not deal with it for now.
...httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
The Tianyu agent and lawyer returned to Tianyu headquarters and reported the incident to their superiors. Because the other party held the recording, although it couldn't be used in court, it could be released, which would have a detrimental impact on Tianyu and Jiang Mengmei. Therefore, the matter had to be dropped.
But just as the agent was about to call Jiang Mengmei to explain the situation, the public relations department rushed in, pointing to a trending topic, "Jiang Mengmei has posted."
The agent's heart skipped a beat. He quickly took out his phone to confirm. Indeed, Jiang Mengmei had exaggerated her account of being beaten by the film crew, even posting a photo. However, she was wearing makeup and had used a beauty filter, so even a crying photo looked no different from her usual appearance.
"This idiot," the agent cursed in anger and quickly dialed Jiang Mengmei's number.
On the other end, Jiang Mengmei was happily browsing Weibo, seeing more and more of her fan accounts coming out to curse and boycott Jiang Nan Chen's film crew, her smile stretching from ear to ear.
While she was enjoying herself, her agent's call came. She thought it was to deliver good news, and her voice was full of excitement, "Brother Yang, how is it? Did they agree to kneel and beg for mercy?"
Yang Zhen was so angry he roared into the phone, "Do you have a brain? They recorded all your abusive words. I worked hard to suppress this matter so neither side would mention it, and now you're posting on Weibo? Delete it immediately, right now."
Jiang Mengmei was stunned by the scolding. After a moment of hesitation, she retorted angrily, "Yang Zhen, the CEO of Chu Group is my brother-in-law. If you speak to me like this, do you believe I won't have my brother-in-law fire you, making it impossible for you to establish yourself in this industry?"
Yang Zhen was so angry he laughed, "Alright, alright, if you have the ability, go ahead and have the company fire me, making it impossible for me to establish myself in this circle. But before that, you need to get kicked out of this circle yourself."
"Bang~" Yang Zhen hung up the phone. He stood with his hands on his hips and continued to curse, "Showing off like she's a precious lady all day, thinking she's someone important, but she's nothing."
The public relations department looked at Jiang Mengmei's Weibo, which had not yet been deleted, and asked, "Should I retrieve her Weibo and delete it myself? She's not deleting it."
"Retrieve it, retrieve it," Yang Zhen had no patience for disobedient artists.
...
After Jiang Mengmei's call was hung up, she was so angry that she wanted to post a few more updates to ruin agent Yang Zhen's reputation. She had the influence of five million followers.
But suddenly, her Weibo showed she was logged out. She was stunned, immediately guessing that the company was behind it. She quickly opened a secondary account to search, and indeed, her Weibo post was no longer visible.
Jiang Mengmei still felt it was unreal. She was the future sister-in-law of the Chu family. Why would these people dare to provoke her one after another? No, she had to make her brother-in-law fire all of them.
With this thought, Jiang Mengmei immediately dialed Chu Rong's number.
...
On the top floor of the Chu Group Building, Chu Rong was listening to the technology department's report on the previous day's hacker incident. He saw an unfamiliar number and hung up without a second thought.
The technical director continued, "...The attack method was very clever. The technology department screened all hacker incidents from the past three years worldwide and indeed found a case with a similar technique in M City, G Country.
Although we cannot confirm that the hacker is in M City, we will first exclude the possibility of M City and are currently collecting all hacker information in M City. The results will be available next Monday."
Chu Rong nodded slightly. Seeing the unfamiliar number call again, his brow furrowed, and he simply blocked it.
Jiang Mengmei tried calling several times, but he didn't answer. The last time, her phone showed he had turned it off. Was he busy? Yes, he must be, her brother-in-law was a very busy man.
Then she called Jiang Mengran. This time, the call was connected quickly.
"Sister, you must ask brother-in-law to help me get justice. First, get that agent named Yang Zhen fired, so he can never be an agent again. Then, find the media to expose Jiang Nan Chen's film crew. They beat people and think they're in the right. My face is still swollen, and I have evidence."
Jiang Mengran was still distracted by Chu Rong's indifference to her last night. Hearing this, she was confused, "Didn't they say Tianyu had already sent people to handle it? Haven't they gotten results yet?"