Jiang Li, are you fucking scheming against me again? What is this? A variety show? You plan to secretly send me to a reality show behind my back?"
Jiang Li continued to eat her meal, her expression unchanged.
Lin Manru took the contract from his hand with some confusion, "Lili, what's going on here?"
"Mom, you need to manage your daughter!" Jiang Yan interjected, "She deliberately let Jiang Shixu sneak into my room last night to scare me and tricked me into signing this contract."
Jiang Shixu immediately put down his utensils, his voice filled with anxiousness, "Great aunt, I didn't, I stayed in my room and slept all night last night, and got up early around six this morning to exercise with my sister."
Lin Manru glared at Jiang Yan.
"How dare you push the blame onto your younger brother? How can an adult like you bully a child?"
Jiang Yan: ? ? ?
"No, I—"
Just as he was about to speak, Jiang Li across from him quickly jumped into the conversation.
"You're saying I forced you to sign this? But you have a brain and hands, how could I have forced you? The signature on it is clearly yours, voluntarily signed."
"Hey, you—"
Jiang Li didn't pay any attention to him and turned to Lin Manru instead.
"Mother, this is the variety show I mentioned to you just now that Second Aunt is planning on filming. I plan to take this opportunity to calm down the online public opinion, and it just so happens to help Second Aunt out of her urgent trouble."
Lin Manru was extremely surprised.
She knew very well about Shen Lan's character - extremely clear on separating public and private matters. Jiang Li and Jiang Yan being willing to participate in the program must have been something Jiang Li fought hard for.
Not to mention it could also take care of the negative news online.
With this in mind, Lin Manru hurriedly said, "Then naturally you should go."
Then she switched to an angry expression and glared at Jiang Yan, "Your sister is also doing this for your sake. Don't be difficult. It's not easy for your Second Aunt to arrange this program, so don't let down their goodwill."
Jiang Yan finally managed to say something, "Mom, goodwill? Jiang Li obviously wants to harm me!"
"How could your own sister possibly want to harm you? You don't want to get married when asked, you don't want to help your grandfather and Uncle San at the company, you just know how to goof around all day. You have to do the show whether you like it or not. That's final." Lin Manru issued an ultimatum.
"Jiang Yan, let me remind you." Jiang Li said unhurriedly, "You've already signed your name on the contract. If you breach the contract, you'll have to pay a penalty of fifty million."
Jiang Yan: ? ? ?
Looking at his shockingly disbelieving expression, Jiang Li feigned confusion, "You don't know? Didn't you read the content of the contract before signing?"
Jiang Yan went completely crazy.
Who the hell would read every word of the content under the circumstances of last night!
Seeing the almost imperceptible cunning light in Jiang Li's eyes, Jiang Yan resigned himself to his bad luck and took back the contract.
"Fine, fine, fine, I screwed myself over, okay?"
It's just a lousy variety show, right? He would make Jiang Li regret choosing him to go!
-
-
At the Capital Film and Television Base.
The assistant Luo Le looked worriedly at the man opposite him.
"Brother, are you really going to sign this contract? Be careful, this variety show will only make you more misunderstood by those people, not to mention Aunt He—"
On the couch, the man in costume stared intently at the few pages of the contract in his hands.
Although nearly his entire face was covered by the shadows behind him, one could still discern the refined elegance.
His eyes sharp like a sword, his features deep and distinct, reminiscent of the moon's reflection in an ancient well, cold and proud.
Across from him, Luo Le was still going on in a serious tone about the crucial aspects of the matter, but the man had already stretched out his slender, fair hand to sign his name on the last page of the contract.
At the end, he only said one sentence, "I'd like to keep this from my mom if possible; regardless, I must take part in this variety show."
-
Star Media Entertainment Company.
"Sister Lan, great news, He Yun's assistant just sent over the contract, and he's agreed to join our variety show!" He Wen walked excitedly into Shen Lan's office, clutching her laptop.
Shen Lan was very surprised, "You mean Mr. He?"
"Yeah, I thought he would refuse. After all, we were already prepared to give up on him and invite someone else."
He Yun was the biggest name among the potential guests.
With him holding court, their program would be hard-pressed not to be a hit.
Shen Lan took the contract and read it over several times, but still could not recover from her shock.
He Yun was quite the figure.
A child star who at the age of twelve had won Best Supporting Actor and at eighteen had received the Golden Statue Award for Movie Emperor, becoming a hot commodity in the industry, a star endowed with both talent and charisma.
However, recently he had been embroiled in a reputation crisis with allegations of diva behavior surfacing regularly, landing top positions on trending searches several times, which is why they only approached the Movie Emperor with a one-in-a-million hope.
They had been prepared to be scolded by his studio and possibly subjected to veiled criticism via Weibo—as had happened with the dozen or so other scandal-plagued celebrities they had approached.
But the notoriously temperamental and high-profile Mr. He had unexpectedly consented.
Moreover, before this, she had also received a spontaneous signing request from a budding actress, Little Hua, which meant that within the span of a week, they had locked down all the cast members for the variety show that had been troubling them for half a year.
And all of this had started after Jiang Li had come to see her.
Could she really be her lucky star?
Shen Lan didn't dare waste any more time and immediately called an emergency meeting with all the departments that very night.
By the time she had finished with all of the company's work, it was already past four in the morning.
Just as Shen Lan was about to rest and had lain down, her gaze swept across the photo of Jiang Shixu on the table.
It was a birthday picture from when he was eight years old. Back then, although he was already showing signs of depression, his whole being was still full of sunshine and vitality, with a radiant smile on his face.
Feeling a tightness in her heart and after pondering for a moment, Shen Lan picked up her car keys and walked down to the basement.
When she arrived at the Jiang Family's house, the sky was beginning to lighten up with the pre-dawn glow.
Uncle Jiang, seeing her car, was quite surprised and hurried forward to open the door for her.
"Second Lady, what brings you back?"
Shen Lan got out of the car and closed the door, saying, "The company is going to be even busier soon. Taking advantage of some spare time today, I wanted to come home for a visit."
Jiang Ye immediately welcomed her inside with a cheerful demeanor.
"You've been working so hard, Second Lady, and still remember to come back and see the third young master. He will surely be delighted to see you."
Shen Lan hesitated, her expression becoming somewhat unnatural.
"Well... Shi Xu is probably still sleeping. I'll just look in on him and leave; you don't need to tell him I came."
After all, it seemed he was not exactly welcoming her return.
However, Jiang Ye waved his hand, "Eh, Second Lady, the third young master has completely changed from before. Not only is he up, but he's also in the backyard exercising with the young mistress."
Shen Lan could hardly believe what she was hearing.
But as she walked further inside, she indeed observed many changes.
The entire Jiang household seemed to have been rejuvenated. It was barely six in the morning, yet all the servants were diligently in place.
Not only that, but each one of them greeted her with a cheerful face and profound respect, a stark contrast to the lazy and slothful staff she remembered.