Zhang Yang’s words elicited a huge reaction from Song Wennuan. She slammed the notebook in her hand on the ground and asked, “What did you just say? The chief director of this show is me, Song Wennuan. When did it become you?”
Zhang Yang waved his hand with a smile. “What, Director Song, haven’t you received the notification yet? Just wait a moment, the higher-ups will call you soon.”
Elder Wan, who was sitting on the sofa, stomped the cane in his hand and said slowly, “Xiao Song, this is also the decision of the station, so you can’t object. We know that you are the biggest contributor to this show, and its popularity is all due to your ability to recognize people’s talent and operate the program. You are a very capable person, and you can do a great job no matter what program you take on. We have great confidence in you and value you very much, so we’re going to transfer you to host another program. What is it called?”
Elder Wan looked at the young woman sitting next to him. The woman whispered softly in his ear, “It’s called ‘China’s Got Talent.’ It’s similar in nature to this show. It’s also a competitive program where amateurs compete.”
“The copyright of ‘China’s Got Talent’ was bought from abroad. I heard that the ratings were very hot abroad. Xiao Song, this starting point is high enough, isn’t it? The people in the station still think of you very highly. Don’t worry, after YangYang takes over this program, everything will still be filmed according to the content you set before, and there will be no major changes. This show will still be the fruit of your labor.”
No matter how nice Elder Wan’s words were, Song Wennuan was not fooled. She built “The World of Strange People” bit by bit from scratch, and she watched the ratings rise step by step, while “China’s Got Talent” was purchased overseas. The format of the program was already very mature, and the audience had accepted this format. The work she could do was very limited.
It might be a bit complicated, but to use a more vulgar metaphor, it was: “The World of Strange People” was Song Wennuan’s biological child, while “China’s Got Talent” was the child of someone else’s family. Could it be the same between her biological child and someone else’s? How could these people have the nerve to ask her to give up her own child and adopt someone else’s child instead! It was too shameless!
However, before she could get mad, her cell phone rang. It was the director of the station, and she had to answer the call.
Song Wennuan stood frozen for a while before taking heavy steps out. When she passed by Meng Zhong, she glanced at him and saw anger and helplessness in his pupils. Even the powerful Minister Meng seemed to have no way to deal with Zhang Yang. Could this man’s hands and eyes reach the sky? What right did the Zhang family have?
A few minutes later, Song Wennuan walked into the recording room again, her bright expression now dull. In the end, she failed to resist the power. The ugliness of reality always made her angry, but also left her helpless. People would always encounter many setbacks and blows when they lived in this world. When resistance is useless, it seems that only endless patience is left.
She clenched her fists and tried hard to suppress the resentment in her heart, but Zhang Yang didn’t even give her a glance from the corner of his eye. He stared at Fan Jialuo and asked again, “How about it? Do you want to fight or not?”
Fan Jialuo naturally would not fight, and no one could shake his choice and decision. However, his lips only trembled slightly before a large hand held his wrist and shook it gently.
Fan Jialuo’s thin lips closed again, knowing that Dr. Song had something to say.
Song Rui let go of the young man’s hand and said calmly, “Mr. Zhang, I am the largest investor in this show. You also know my relationship with Song Wennuan. Since you have revoked her position as chief director, I have no choice but to divest from the program.”
Zhang Yang thought he was threatening him, so he laughed contemptuously. “Okay, you can withdraw, how much money did you invest in the first place? I will return it to you intact. Who is in charge of legal affairs? Legal affairs, legal affairs, legal affairs?” He shouted at the top of his voice like he was walking a dog.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The person in charge of legal affairs had to stand up, with an angry expression but not daring to speak. “Mr. Zhang, I am in charge of legal affairs.” This man is really a big guy from Beijing, his style is too arrogant!
“Where is his investment agreement? Find it for me. I will return the money to him. You immediately draw up a divestment agreement and get him out of here as soon as possible!” Zhang Yang kicked down a stack of banknotes as tall as a person before sitting down on the remaining stack of banknotes. He crossed his legs and hummed a song, feeling confident. He tried to show his authority with his wanton actions, silently telling Song Rui—I don’t care about your small amount of money at all. If I have more money, I can even use it as a stool!
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The young woman covered Elder Wan’s skinny legs with a thin blanket and seemed to take very good care of him. However, her beautiful eyes frequently glanced at Zhang Yang, as if she was fascinated by his arrogance and unruliness.
Zhang Yang was here to cause trouble. He seemed to be just an ordinary person, but his destructive power was even greater than that of Shen Tu, because he had mastered the two most powerful forces in the world. One was money, and the other was power.
Meng Zhong sighed silently. No one knew how embarrassed he felt standing here. He was the one who advocated the filming of this show in the first place, and now he was the one who had gotten the show into a difficult situation. Faced with Song Wennuan’s frequent questioning looks, he was a little embarrassed.
The legal officer quickly brought the relevant contracts, and Zhang Yang flipped through them casually with a contemptuous sneer. “How can you fight with me here over only eight million? I will give you ten million, and you can immediately get lost.”
“Ten million? Isn’t it a bit low? I want 20 million. This show is very hot right now. If I transfer my shares out, many people will be willing to pay a higher price for them. Mr. Zhang was so loud before, I didn’t expect the offer to be nothing more than that. It seems I was the one who overestimatedMr. Zhang.” Song Rui curled his lips with contempt on his face.
Zhang Yang’s cheek muscles tensed for a moment, as if he was irritated. He snapped his fingers and said, “Okay, give him 20 million!” So a few minutes later, twenty metal boxes were placed at Song Rui’s feet. But he didn’t even look at it, and just nodded slightly to Fan Jialuo, indicating that he could say something now.
Fan Jialuo then said calmly, “I want to quit this show.”
His words seemed to open a valve, and Yuan Zhongzhou, who was already extremely dissatisfied with Zhang Yang’s behavior and character, immediately followed up, “I won’t shoot either.”
Zhu Xiya: “I quit.”
Ah Huo and He Jinglian once again said in unison, “We won’t be filming either.”
“Everyone has stopped participating. What’s the point of being the only one left? I’m quitting too.” Ding Puhang smiled reservedly on his face, but he was shouting excitedly in his heart: Great! Thank God! This ghostly program finally gave me an honest reason to quit. I was frightened to death by these monsters a long time ago, okay? No, no, no, Teacher Fan is by no means a monster. Teacher Fan is a god, a living Bodhisattva who saves those suffering. It is absolutely right to follow the Bodhisattva.
The only remaining psychic looked around and asked expectantly, “If they all quit voluntarily, then logically, I will be the champion, right? Can I take the money?”
“Fuck your mother!” Zhang Yang’s wanton expression completely cracked, and he said through gritted teeth, “You think this is a vegetable market, where you can come and leave when you want? Don’t forget, you all signed the contract! Legal affairs, How much does it cost if they quit without permission?”
The legal officer replied in a quiet voice, “Two million dollars must be paid.”
“Two million? So little?” Zhang Yang was stunned.
The legal officer took out a contract and explained, “Their appearance fee is small, so the compensation is also small.”
Only then did Zhang Yang look at Yuan Zhongzhou and the others, and found that their clothes were all simple, and their faces were full of traces of vicissitudes of life or hardship. He grinned confidently. “Did you hear that? If you want to leave, you have to pay two million in liquidated damages. Whoever takes out the money can leave. If not, you have to stay for me, and you have no right to refuse whatever I ask you to do!”
After saying these words, Zhang Yang felt a sense of disinterest in his heart, because the person he wanted to punish most had escaped. Two million was not much for Fan Jialuo. He could afford to pay, and even if he couldn’t afford it, that boy Zhao Wenyan was willing to help him out. But these poor people were different. They were either ascetics with no wealth or country bumpkins from border towns. Where could they have savings? They had no choice but to continue filming. The real master had run away, so he could only use these people to calm him down.
Sure enough, Yuan Zhongzhou and others’ expressions became extremely solemn after hearing these words. Even Ding Puhang, who portrayed himself as a young entrepreneur, had less than one million in savings. Without money, none of them could leave. Modern society had its own set of laws to restrain human beings’ words and deeds. However, the psychics had been away from society for too long and did not understand the gameplay and rules at all.
Song Rui chuckled at this moment and said, “I can lend you the money first, and you just need to write me an IOU.” He knew that these people would not trust him, so he looked at Fan Jialuo and hinted, “I know you are also short of money. Do you want two million? If you want it, you can take it now.”
No more words were needed. Fan Jialuo understood what he meant and nodded happily. “Okay, thank you Dr. Song.” He asked the staff next to him for a piece of white paper, wrote an IOU on the spot, and took two million from the box.
He could be regarded as the leader and soul of these psychics. Since he had shown his trust in Song Rui, the others would naturally be moved by him. In a small group, the behavior of the leader played an unimaginable leading role, especially the spiritual leader.
Song Rui could predict the next choices of these people without being a psychic.
Sure enough, Ah Huo, who was very disgusted with Zhang Yang, raised his hand without thinking. “Dr. Song, can you lend me two million? I will also give you an IOU.” As soon as he finished speaking, He Jinglian spoke timidly, “Dr. Song, Dr. Song, I will also borrow two million from you, and I will work hard to make money and pay it back to you.”
“Of course, who else wants to borrow? With your current reputation and popularity, it should be easy to make money outside. Two million may be your reward just for taking on a single business.” Song Rui smiled and fanned the flames.
Then Ding Puhang also spoke up, and Yuan Zhongzhou and Zhu Xiya slowly raised their hands with a relaxed look in their eyes. They would rather owe Dr. Song a huge sum of money than stay with this program that was no longer recognizable. Which was more important, freedom or money? Was there any need to answer? For cultivators, it was freedom or death.
Twelve million of the twenty million in cash was quickly loaned out. Song Rui neatly folded Fan Jialuo’s IOU and hid it in the front pocket of his suit beside a decorative handkerchief, while the other five were casually put in his trouser pocket. Now he still had eight million in cash left, exactly what he had invested in the first place, and without the program’s best contestants, they would eventually become cannon fodder.
Following the show, the audience saw many strange people and strange things, and also invested a lot of emotions. They each had their favorite contestants and supported them through many channels. If all these contestants were suddenly gone and replaced by others inexplicably, would the audience accept it? Even an idiot knew the answer to this question.
Song Rui nodded slightly to Zhang Yang and smiled lightly. Fan Jialuo had already handed the two million to the legal affairs officer and asked politely, “Can I terminate the contract?”
“Yes, yes.” The legal officer nodded subconsciously.
Zhang Yang, who was so arrogant a few minutes ago, was now so angry that his face was blue. He gritted his teeth and squeezed out a sentence, “Song Rui, you fucking tricked me! Hah, you are very good!” He pointed his finger at Song Rui’s nose, then looked at the legal officer with red eyes, saying firmly, “They are terminating the contract collectively, which is not allowed by law! They can’t leave!”
The legal officer wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and answered tremblingly, “Mr. Zhang, they signed individual contracts, so they can leave as long as they pay the liquidated damages. When we signed the contract, we did not consider that everyone would walk away together, so we did add this clause. Look, the contracts are all here.”
As soon as the legal officer handed over the folder, Zhang Yang knocked it away with one hand. Snow-white papers were flying around him, set against the mountains of bright red banknotes. The contrast between the colors was very strong, but it was also full of irony. He came here to show off his power and to have fun by playing tricks on monkeys, but he didn’t expect that the person who got tricked the most would be himself.
His face had never looked so ugly, and the viciousness in his eyes was like a frenzy, sweeping towards Song Rui. Wave after wave of anger burned his reason, causing him to pull out a gun and point it at Song Rui’s head. After living half a lifetime, this was the most embarrassing and wretched day for him!
Song Rui had no intention of dodging, but Fan Jialuo had already pulled him behind him and quickly deployed his magnetic field.
Meng Zhong took a few steps forward to block the gun’s barrel and said coldly, “Don’t forget what we came here for today!”
Elder Wan didn’t expect that such a good program would fall apart. He quickly stood up to smooth things over. “Forget it, Yangyang, let them go. You can increase the prize money and recruit another group of people.” This was typical bureaucratic thinking on his part, thinking that all problems could be solved as long as enough money was given and they were replaced with a group of obedient people.
But Zhang Yang knew that the reality was not like this. Once Fan Jialuo and the others left, this show would die. He didn’t get anything today, and he lost both his face and his reputation! He had always heard people say that Song Rui was someone not to be messed with, but it wasn’t until today that he understood how cruel his enemy’s methods could be. As early as when he asked for 20 million, he had already planned the subsequent development, right? Okay, he would remember this person!
Zhang Yang slowly put the gun back into the holster and gritted his teeth reluctantly.
Meng Zhong then turned around and looked at Fan Jialuo, and said with a wry smile, “Teacher Fan, actually, we have something to ask you for today. Can you lend me a moment to talk?”
Fan Jialuo looked past him and looked at Zhang Yang, half-smiling but not smiling. “So you guys are here to beg me, right?”
Zhang Yang’s face turned from livid to pitch black in an instant. Apart from embarrassment, there was no trace of arrogance left.
Song Wennuan, who was so annoyed before that she wanted to vomit blood, snorted with laughter. It is not good to offend Teacher Fan and my cousin. It’s difficult to deal with these two people separately, but Zhang Yang, you forced them to join forces. Isn’t this looking for death?
Lol! Ty for the chapter 💕
Ms. Song you’ve got it wrong… they’ve been on the same team for a long time. 😘😍🥰
thanks for the chapter!!!