Yingxue walked side by side Qilong towards the meeting room. Aiyan almost never involved herself with Yingxue's management company, thus remained within the changing room where she could also watch the concert from.
"So.. Li Tian eh?" Yingxue mused.
"The vice-president arranged for this cooperation," Qilong said.
"Oh? Not the president?" Yingxue questioned. "Did they.. get into a dispute about it?"
"Well.." Qilong pondered. "I did hear yelling on the phone. But vice-president Ezra did assure me that there should be no problems on our end. It's the other side that hasn't been 100% convinced yet."
"What? Not convinced?" Yingxue chortled. "Hah! I say it's the other way around. They're showing us no sincerity! Faster, Qilong!"
She increased her pace, leaving Qilong behind. He chuckled at her confident words as he jogged to catch up.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐น๐ถ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ.
.....
Li Meilin waited comfortably in the meeting room. It wasn't overly extravagant, nor was it miserly either. It had the perfect balance of everything you needed for a meeting with a little extra thrown in for the nice homey feel.
๐๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ฅ, she thought while relaxing on the corner sofa. She happily snacked on the refreshments they had provided her earlier without a care.
Minutes later, knock knock.
Li Meilin quickly got up from the sofa, fixed her hair buns and smoothed down her black suit.
"Hello!" a cheery voice came from the door. A young woman walked in with a tall man trailing behind her.
"Good evening," Meilin said. As the two came closer, she took a good look at the new people she was meant to assess. The girl appeared young and pretty even from afar, especially with her pink outfit on. However, the most noticeable feature that Li Meilin couldn't take her eyes off of were definitely the girl's eyes.
๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ.
The closer the girl came, the more prominent the feature appeared. Even if she wore nothing but a bikini, Meilin was sure the only thing people would stare at were those big and bright violet pools. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฆ๐น๐ค๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ'๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ.
"Sorry for making you wait! I'm Yingxue," the girl flashed a dazzling smile.
Badump.
"Not at all. I'm Li Meilin." She stretched out her hand to give a handshake. Her heartbeat had abruptly quickened at the girl's expression but having been in the business a while, she still managed to put on a professional demeanor. ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด.
"You can call me Qilong," the tall man behind Yingxue greeted her with a handshake as well, his rough hand firmly gripping hers.
After exchanging pleasantries, Qilong gestured towards the seats.
"I take it that Mr. Li Tian will not be joining us today?" he inquired.
"I'm afraid he has other obligations to attend at the moment. But he sends you his regards," she coughed before giving a small smile and nonchalantly changing the topic. "Let's get down to business now shall we."
"Of course. We at Ying Corporations have fully welcomed the cooperation between the two artists. Preparations have already been made underway, provided that your end has agreed to our terms during previous negotiations. All that's left is our artists' consent."
"I understand. When it comes to the terms you've mentioned.." Meilin looked into her files and raised an eyebrow. "I'm assuming you are referring to the rated PG13 request?"
"That's right."
Meilin looked at Yingxue sitting beside Qilong. It was an interesting request indeed. The company did have their reservations on the peculiar request, most quite unwelcoming, but by seeing the girl with one's own eyes it would immediately become clear as to why.
Seeing Meilin's eyes on her, Yingxue shrugged sheepishly back, tilting her head to the side cutely. Appearing embarrassed by the topic, her face flushed pink, along with her silly movements, it was entrancing to the eyes. It was a fairly innocent gesture, but somehow it was enough to stir a building desire to protect the girl.
Meilin was a woman. A straight woman. But even she felt like she would fall if pressured sufficiently.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ'๐ด ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ.
She didn't know whether Yingxue was purposely trying to captivate her, and at this point, she was afraid to find out. If this wasn't intentional, then she probably wouldn't survive long. She evaluated briefly during the time.
๐๐ช๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ช๐ณ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ฆ. ๐ ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข ๐ง๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ป๐บ. ๐๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ค๐ต๐ถ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ..
She shuddered.
"I believe that Li Enterprise have no qualms with the conditions presented. However.."
Both Qilong and Yingxue raised an eyebrow questioningly.
Refraining herself from glancing towards Yingxue, she looked straight into Qilong's eyes with a troubled look.
"Our artist, Li Tian has yet to give his assent on the collaboration. Seeing as it concerns him, I can't exactly claim that he has no say in the matter.. Nonetheless, we understand it involves Ying Corporation's plans on promoting Yingxue. For Yingxue to branch out further South, I believe we both understand that Li Tian's influence is definitely indisputable. Hence, as his manager and representative, I can assure you that we will give a proper reply to you soon. I have no doubt you will like the answer."
"Huh," Qilong scoffed after listening to her. "You say it as if we desperately need him to create hype for our Yingxue. The way I see it, the man's too arrogant. Being the top in the South makes him think he can look down on us Northerners."
"He can be stubborn at times but he definitely has a sense of propriety," Meilin defended promptly.
"Oh yeah? Then where is he?" he rolled his eyes and pretended to look around. "I have my artist. Where is yours?"
Feeling incredibly insulted, she fired back, "I'm sorry but I believe I already ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ you that he had other matters at the moment!" Usually she was able to reign in her temper, especially when it came to work. Nevertheless at this moment, the man's expressions and words kept pushing her buttons.
"Matters? More important than the collaboration meeting between two of the most influential artists within North and South Huaxia to date? Hah!" Qilong leered. "Enlighten me."
Although the man had a point, and Meilin didn't exactly have a proper excuse, she still retorted, "The matters concerning our artists are of no concern to you."
Qilong scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Of no concern? Is that the best excuse you've got? Because you-"
At the same time. Meilin also reputed, "Excuse? I'll have you know-"
BANG.
"ENOUGH," Yingxue who had been watching the two bickering from the side, finally struck the table and shouted, her expression no longer amiable.
The two instantly shut up and looked in her direction. The dirty look she was giving made them both unintentionally recoil in their seats. They couldn't help but involuntarily notice how the frown between her eyebrows rather suited the girl in a beautiful and powerful way.
"Qilong! What has gotten into you?" she reprimanded. "Why are you bickering with the lady? Is this the show of Ying Corporation professionalism you plan on showcasing to others?"
Qilong held his head down. When Yingxue was like this, nothing could stop her. Meilin secretly snickered when she heard the man being scolded by his artist. Her face inadvertently became slightly smug.
"And ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ," Yingxue glared at her, not missing the minute shift in her expression.
Meilin stiffened.
"Regardless of how my manager has acted, his words have sufficiently enough merit," she stated.
Meilin didn't deny the fact. She kept quiet, perceiving that the young girl had not finished her dialogue.
Yingxue took a deep breath and leaned against her seat. "The collaboration between our two sides was meant to unite the fanbase community between the North and the South, thus skyrocketing, both the artists' influences, and our companies alike. As this matter concerns both me and Li Tian, this meeting was foremost meant for us to properly get acquainted directly and proceed forward with each of our own terms. Disregarding this fact, not only did Li Tian not show up, he didn't even come up with a proper explanation."
The more Yingxue criticized, the more Meilin quivered internally. Every word spoken used concrete facts and broached the messes Li Tian, the artist in question, had caused.
"Unless someone died, no excuse will absolve the insult towards us today," Yingxue stood up, startling both Meilin and Qilong, the latter regaining his composure soon after. She gazed into Meilin's eyes revealing a stunning cocky smile. "I have my pride. We both may have conquered our respective regions, but don't for a second think that I require his presence for me to breach yours."
Powerful. Powerful and undeniable. Two words best to describe the goddess standing before Meilin. She was stunned by Yingxue's display of charisma.
"Now excuse me," Yingxue turned around and headed towards the door. Just before she left, she confidently declared, "I have a crowd to please."
โฆ..