"You deliberately moved up the broadcast schedule just to compete head-on with 'Imperial Decree'?"
In an office at Xingchen Entertainment.
Yu Xuezheng removed the sunglasses from her face, her expression toward her agent cold and severe.
In front of outsiders, Yu Xuezheng was the warm, gentle Caring Big Sister. But only those close to her knew she was emotionally detached, exceptionally decisive in her approach to matters, and could even be somewhat harsh to work with.
"Why didn't you tell me about this in advance?"
Yu Xuezheng originally had no idea that her 'The Legend of Zhaohua' was intentionally delayed until early August solely to target another smaller production in the same season. It wasn't until now, with the traffic backfiring and all the public opinion starting to press down, that she finally learned the whole story from her agent.
"Sigh, this matter wasn't something we could decide either."
The agent gave a bitter smile. "Sister Zheng, this decision was made by President Qin. If they wanted to suppress 'Imperial Decree,' there was nothing we could do."
"And the platform just agreed to it like that?"
"Competition between platforms, sister, you know how it is. The platform side might have been happy to do this."
After all, it was a battle between two platforms. The state of a "palace intrigue drama" showdown had already formed before the broadcasts even started. The platform side probably also wanted 'The Legend of Zhaohua' to crush 'Imperial Decree.' But they never expected that 'Imperial Decree' would be a tough, scrappy underdog that came out swinging. Everyone miscalculated, ending up as the control group, being stepped on and climbed over by 'Imperial Decree.'
Listening to her agent's words, Yu Xuezheng's chest heaved with anger. Finally, she could only grit her teeth, sit down on the sofa to the side, and light a lady's cigarette to calm herself down.
But she truly couldn't calm down.
In many aspects, 'The Legend of Zhaohua' wasn't as worthless as the marketing accounts on the internet were now claiming. Its style was inherently that of a tragic love story set in the deep palace, following the early tragic romance route. The original novel was one of the representative works of this type of tragic romance over a decade ago. It's just that with the development of the times, such deep palace tragic romance works gradually lost their former glory. Today's audience prefers feel-good stories where the protagonist overcomes and humiliates their adversaries.
If they hadn't encountered 'Imperial Decree' in the same season, relying on the poignant, beautiful cinematography and the actors' superb performances, the current direction of public opinion definitely wouldn't be like this. Instead, it would lean more toward marketing angles like "the aesthetics of early tragic romance" or "poignant tragic love in the deep palace." Even if the audience had some criticisms, with proper control, they could still have earned a huge amount of heat.
But they just had to collide with 'Imperial Decree.'
One a tragic romance, the other a feel-good story. When they collide, the audience aren't masochists. After being tortured by the plot a few more times, they all ran off to the show next door.
Yu Xuezheng found the current outcome hard to accept.
If... if their 'The Legend of Zhaohua' had aired in the first half of the summer season, would it have turned out like this?
Maybe they could have even leveraged the popularity of 'Imperial Decree's' broadcast for a boost in heat, bundling the marketing of the two female leads to create a win-win situation where the two queens don't meet.
But now it's all ruined!
"Even if they wanted to target Linghui Studio, they shouldn't have used me as their pawn." Yu Xuezheng flicked the ash from her cigarette, her expression tinged with annoyance. "Qin Yuezhang is narrow-minded, but is Qin Song also that petty? Recently, with the higher-ups fighting and internal scrutiny so tight, if this project of ours goes down, they can't possibly drag me out to take the fall, can they?"
'The Legend of Zhaohua' was immensely significant to Yu Xuezheng, and equally significant to Xingchen Entertainment. If this entire 'The Legend of Zhaohua' project becomes a loss-making venture just because they wanted to suppress a small-budget web drama, they could truly become the laughingstock of the industry.
The kind that makes people laugh their heads off.
"Haha, that probably won't happen..."
The agent's laugh was particularly strained.
Yu Xuezheng shot him a sidelong glance. "What else have you been doing behind my back? Tell me everything clearly, otherwise—"
The woman slowly exhaled a puff of smoke, a smile seeping with coldness on her face. "Xingchen Film Industry hasn't been very stable lately. You'd better hope you've chosen the right side. Otherwise, when the reckoning comes, don't blame yourself for taking things too far."
Meeting her gaze, the agent's heart trembled.
Yu Xuezheng was undoubtedly a figure filled with ambition.
She had used many methods and sacrificed many things to climb to her current position as the "top sister" of Xingchen Entertainment.
So now, to protect her position, she could also resort to any means necessary to do more.
The current agent hadn't been with Yu Xuezheng from the very beginning, so he held a certain fear of her in his heart.
"Alright."
The agent finally relented. "There's not much else. However, the company recently subtly guided your fans to help you vent your anger. The female lead of 'Imperial Decree' is still a student, right? And not signed to any company. So recently, she's been getting cursed out pretty badly by your fans."
"What?"
This time, Yu Xuezheng was truly angered to the point of laughter. "They guided my fans to cyberbully someone else and called it helping me vent my anger? Why didn't you just wait until I was dead from anger to tell me?"
"Uh, it shouldn't be a big deal." The agent didn't think much of it. "Just a lucky newcomer. The company also wants to pressure her regarding her contract. It's standard procedure."
On one hand, guiding fans to cyberbully Pan Yuerou; on the other, having Xingchen Entertainment approach Pan Yuerou, using the weight of a big company to pressure her contract terms, making her choose their company... this was already a very common practice within the industry.
The agent felt Yu Xuezheng's reaction was too extreme.
Seeing the agent's nonchalant attitude, Yu Xuezheng let out a cold laugh. "Idiot."
Why did Xingchen Entertainment specifically want to sign Pan Yuerou at this time? Precisely because the 'Imperial Decree' that Pan Yuerou starred in had defeated her.
And as the top sister of Xingchen Entertainment, her allegiance within the entire group had never been with the Qin father and son.
Now that the internal power struggle within the group had reached a white-hot stage, that old thing Qin Song wanting to find a "replacement" for her wasn't going to be that easy—
Yu Xuezheng stubbed out her cigarette in the ashtray and pulled out her phone.
When the call connected, her voice instantly softened.
"Hello, President Song, how have you been recently?"
"Sigh, a lot has indeed happened recently. I've been feeling quite troubled in my heart too..."
"Alright, shall we meet then? I'll wait for you at the usual place."
...
Xiao He had no idea that his existence, along with that of 'Imperial Decree,' had caused Yu Xuezheng so much trouble.
After spending some time at home with his parents, he was also preparing to return to Shanghai.
Before leaving, despite Father Xiao and Mother Xiao's repeated objections, Xiao He still arranged for a driver to stay with them.
This driver was similar to Lao Qi, both being ex-soldiers, capable of serving as both driver and bodyguard. His task was simple: appear on time every day to drive Father Xiao and Mother Xiao to and from work.
If Father Xiao and Mother Xiao felt uncomfortable, the driver could also park nearby and let them walk the last few steps themselves. He wouldn't normally appear in front of them proactively.
Xiao He's main purpose in arranging this driver was actually to have someone help look after and protect his parents, serving as an invisible safeguard.
Although doing this was indeed somewhat extravagant, it allowed Xiao He to relax a bit more.
After all, no matter how strong he was, capable of protecting himself both in the internet and the real world, his family couldn't completely withstand the storms his presence might bring.
So all he could do was make some preventive preparations before the storms arrived—
Watching her son's departing figure, Mother Xiao wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.
Father Xiao raised his arm to embrace Mother Xiao's shoulders, comforting her softly. "Forget it. If he left someone, then he left someone. They don't live with us normally anyway, so it doesn't affect our lives."
"I know. I just feel like our son seems to have grown up again."
Mother Xiao put down the tissue and sighed softly. "If he feels the need to send someone to protect even us, how dangerous must things be around him?"
Father Xiao couldn't help but chuckle. "Hahaha, listen to what you're saying. He's just going to act, not going to the battlefield. Where would all that danger come from!"
Mother Xiao immediately jabbed Father Xiao in the chest with her elbow, displeased, and rolled her eyes fiercely. "The outside world is full of dangers! Forget it, there's no point talking about this with a blockhead like you."
"Ouch." Father Xiao clutched his chest. "I was just joking."
"Hmph."
Mother Xiao crossed her arms and turned to go back inside.
"Hey, wait for me—"