Upon landing in Shanghai, this time it was Lao Qi who came to pick up Xiao He.
When they arrived at the studio and entered the reception room, Xiao He was the first to spot two figures.
The woman seated solemnly before the tea table had a serious expression. When they first met, she had a neat, chin-length bob, but at some point, her hair had grown long enough to be pinned up. With her neck and cheeks exposed, her aura seemed even sharper. Dressed in a fitted and proper women's suit, she exuded the full demeanor of a boss.
The girl sitting opposite her, looking like an obedient student, wore a light yellow floral dress. Her legs were pressed together, her back was straight, her expression was anxious, and she was focused intently on the woman in front of her, not even daring to breathe too loudly.
This scene inexplicably reminded Xiao He of a student being called to the principal's office with their parents.
He stifled a laugh and raised his hand to knock on the door.
"Hello, Brother Xiao."
Pan Yuerou turned her head at the sound, saw Xiao He, and immediately stood up somewhat flustered, giving him a slight bow in greeting.
"Ah, what a coincidence."
Xiao He also greeted her: "Here to sign the contract today?"
"Yes."
Facing Xiao He, Pan Yuerou always felt a bit guilty. She forced a smile and said weakly, "I've already signed."
"Is that so? Then welcome to Linghui Studio," Xiao He said with a smile.
"It might be Linghui Company soon."
Liu Rulan's serious expression also softened, a hint of a smile appearing on her face.
"Huh? Already submitted the application?"
Xiao He looked at Liu Rulan.
Liu Rulan gave a slight nod. However, in front of Pan Yuerou, she didn't elaborate on the matter and instead said to Xiao He, "Go wait in the office first. I'll have a few more simple words with her."
"Okay."
Xiao He nodded to Pan Yuerou in acknowledgment, then turned and headed towards the office.
Pan Yuerou, on the other hand, nervously clenched her fingers.
After seeing Xiao He off, Liu Rulan looked at Pan Yuerou, her expression turning serious again: "You said you were previously an anti-fan of Xiao He?"
Just moments ago, after completing the signing, Liu Rulan, as usual, began following the standard procedure to ask Pan Yuerou about her basic identity information, as well as questions related to family, life, and relationships, aiming to understand any potential public opinion risks associated with Pan Yuerou in advance.
However, when it came to questions about her online activity history, Pan Yuerou hesitated.
The fact that she had once been a fan of Su Shengxi... seemed like it could be a public opinion risk, right?
After all, having been a fan of Su Shengxi was also one of her own personal black marks...
And Pan Yuerou's hesitation was instantly caught by Liu Rulan.
Who was Liu Rulan?
She hardly needed to hesitate to know that Pan Yuerou was hiding something from her.
Immediately, the woman's gaze turned sharp: "It seems there's still something you haven't told me?"
Pan Yuerou bit her lip, her eyes evasive.
Finally, under Liu Rulan's increasingly piercing gaze, Pan Yuerou revealed that she had once been a fan of a celebrity.
And that celebrity was none other than Su Shengxi. She had even been something of an anti-fan of Xiao He at the time, all for Su Shengxi's sake...
After hearing Pan Yuerou's story, Liu Rulan's expression remained unchanged. But before she could say anything more, Xiao He arrived.
Seeing Xiao He, Pan Yuerou's heart immediately began to race, especially when she met Xiao He's friendly gaze. She was so embarrassed she could have crawled into a crack in the floor.
To Pan Yuerou's relief, Liu Rulan didn't bring up her issue in front of Xiao He and instead asked Xiao He to leave first.
Only after he was gone did Liu Rulan continue discussing the matter.
"No, no, I can't really be considered a full-blown anti-fan, right..."
Pan Yuerou desperately tried to explain, "I just didn't like Brother Xiao much when I was a fan of Su Shengxi, and I followed the crowd online saying some bad things, and incidentally liked some posts..."
Back when Su Shengxi's fans were cyberbullying Xiao He across the entire internet, although Pan Yuerou felt it was somewhat inappropriate, she still followed along and said a few words in the comment sections.
Of course, Pan Yuerou wasn't like other crazy fans who immediately started cursing Xiao He's entire family. She merely expressed her dissatisfaction with Xiao He hitting someone in public in the relevant comments.
"I was using a side account at the time. I only found out later... that Su Shengxi had actually staged the whole thing himself, deceiving everyone. So I deleted the account..."
After explaining her general situation, Pan Yuerou's fingers were practically twisted into knots.
Revealing her past black history was incredibly awkward.
However, Liu Rulan's attitude was calm. She wasn't angry at all, she simply pushed a form in front of her: "Write down the phone number you registered with at the time and the account ID name, along with the approximate times and dates of your posts... Apart from this, is there anything else you haven't told us?"
Pan Yuerou carefully wrote down what she could still remember, then looked at Liu Rulan: "Um, there's nothing else. But about this matter..."
"Don't worry about this matter. The agent assigned to you later will handle it properly."
"Should I apologize to Brother Xiao?"
"No need."
Liu Rulan tidied up the various signed documents on the table and smiled at Pan Yuerou: "You don't need to bring this up again later, and don't dwell on it, okay? It's just a trivial, harmless little thing. Adjust your mindset."
In Liu Rulan's view, Pan Yuerou's issue was not a big deal at all. Forget about when she was just an ordinary person; even after becoming a popular star, Liu Rulan had encountered situations where people used side accounts to curse rivals to death or photoshop memorial photos of them.
"Ah? Okay, alright—"
Liu Rulan stood up, glanced at the time on her wrist, and said to Pan Yuerou, "Alright, there are basically no issues. You can head back for now."
"What about my agent..."
"Your agent, I'll have him come find you later. For now, you should focus on your studies. Once *Imperial Decree* wraps up here, you should return to Beijing first. As for online matters, we'll handle them directly for you."
"Okay, thank you, thank you."
Pan Yuerou quickly stood up as well and expressed her sincere thanks.
After Pan Yuerou left with the Young Assistant, Liu Rulan turned and went to the office where Xiao He was.
Xiao He was looking at documents on the desk and immediately looked up at the sound.
"She's already gone?"
"Gone."
Liu Rulan sorted and organized the documents, placing them in the bookcase, then said, "Her agent is coming this afternoon. I'll conduct a brief interview."
Yes, actually, the studio currently didn't have an agent readily available to assign to Pan Yuerou.
That's why Liu Rulan hadn't directly answered the question when Pan Yuerou asked.
Xiao He rubbed his temples, somewhat amused: "Why does it feel like we're tricking the young lady?"
"A studio transitioning to a company, with overall scale expansion, inevitably means being short-staffed in the early stages," Liu Rulan said, not feeling the least bit guilty. "Besides, her most urgent need right now is for the studio to handle her online public opinion issues, and at most, help arrange her upcoming schedule. These things are actually quite simple; an assistant can handle them all."
So the order of things can be adjusted based on priority and urgency.
"These are some signatures you need to provide."
Liu Rulan pushed another stack of documents in front of Xiao He.
"Besides interviewing the agent this afternoon, there are also two professional managers. You should come take a look then."
"No problem."
Xiao He nodded.