When he saw Yang Lin walking towards them, Liang Zhou finally confirmed that today's almanac absolutely must have read "unfavorable for going out."
Yu Shulin followed his gaze, his eyes sweeping over the elegantly approaching beautiful woman. He leaned closer to Liang Zhou and asked, "Who's that? Do you know her, Brother?"
"That's Yang Lin, the one Zhang Qian often mentions," Liang Zhou replied, his expression grim. Today's outing with Shulin was turning out terribly.
Yu Shulin's eyes shifted, indicating he understood.
"Brother Liang, what a coincidence," Yang Lin said naturally as she approached, sitting down opposite them.
Liang Zhou frowned, feeling a pang of regret for bringing Yu Shulin to rest at this outdoor café... he should have gone inside.
Seeing that he ignored her, Yang Lin didn't mind. She turned to Yu Shulin with a warm smile. "Hello, are you Brother Liang's relative? You're very handsome. I'm a friend of your brother's, you can call me Sister Yang."
Liang Zhou protected Yu Shulin very well, so it was normal for outsiders not to know his identity. But Yang Lin was from Ronghua and was very close to Liang Zixiu; if she said she didn't know who Yu Shulin was, even a ghost wouldn't believe it.
Thanks to Zhang Qian's thorough explanations, Yu Shulin was well aware of this woman's character. Seeing her address him, he quickly lowered his head to take a sip of juice, hiding the interest in his eyes. He looked up and gave her a sweet, shy smile. "Auntie Yang is a friend of my brother's?"
He then turned his head and said to Liang Zhou with a hint of reproach, "Brother, how come you never mentioned having such a... well-preserved friend? Were you afraid I'd tease you? Since she's a friend, why wasn't Auntie Yang invited to the last gathering? Did you forget to ask her?"
Auntie Yang? Well-preserved?
A hint of amusement flickered in Liang Zhou's eyes. He glanced at Yu Shulin and said calmly, "Indeed, I don't have any friends as mature and amiable as Miss Yang."
The smile vanished from Yang Lin's face, replaced by embarrassment and humiliation. These two brothers, singing in harmony, were openly and covertly calling her old and mocking her for forcing a connection. It was simply... they had no gentlemanly manners at all! They're both in the entertainment industry, can't they even manage some polite pleasantries?
Seeing her grit her teeth in anger but stubbornly refuse to leave, Yu Shulin felt a bit bored. He stood up and said to Liang Zhou, "It's getting late, let's go home. Aunt Liu made soup today."
Liang Zhou nodded and straightforwardly left with him, not even glancing at Yang Lin.
Yang Lin hurriedly put on a smile, raised her hand, and waved at their retreating figures, putting on an act of close friends parting reluctantly, but in her heart, she hated them to the core.
Her choice back then not to join Rongguang was definitely the right one!
Her assistant, who had been following at a distance, quickly ran up upon seeing this, anxiously urging, "Sister Yang, why did you suddenly run off? The director is looking everywhere for you. It's time for your scene."
Yang Lin's gaze swept over the other customers in the café, her smile unchanged as she stood up gracefully, but her tone was full of resentment. "What's the rush? Can't I even rest for a moment? Exploiting artists shouldn't be like this!"
The assistant's face showed some grievance but didn't dare to retort, following along meekly.
The next day, news with headlines like "Yang Lin secretly meets Liang Zhou in the park, relative present, wedding bells may be near" spread like wildfire across the internet and newspapers.
Liang Zhou leaned back on the sofa, squinting as he flipped through the newspaper. He took out his phone and dialed Zhang Qian's number. Before the other could exclaim, he said, "Get ready, I'm going to hold a press conference." Ronghua using him for their stories again and again—it was time to properly deal with them, lest his little uncle keep hopping around so annoyingly.
Once this news broke, the media instantly went into a frenzy. For a time, Yang Lin's fading popularity showed signs of quietly rising again.
A reporter interviewed Liang Jian about this news. Liang Jian spouted officialese, giving ambiguous answers that invited wild speculation. It led many to wonder: were the previous rumors about Yang Lin's ambiguous relationship with Liang Zixiu false? Were they smokescreens released to cover up Yang Lin's relationship with Liang Zhou?
Yang Lin was also evasive about the matter, her attitude highly suspicious. When reporters asked very pointed questions, she would only offer dry denials like "that's not true," while wearing a blissful smile on her face.
Zhang Qian and Zhao Zhi were practically dying of anger at Ronghua's shamelessness. They couldn't understand what benefit such gossip could possibly bring them. They were just setting themselves up for a slap in the face. Spreading this news now? Brain-dead!
The facts proved that Liang Jian was indeed brain-dead. Anything that could make Rongguang and Liang Zhou unhappy, Liang Jian was willing to do! Currently, his son was getting along swimmingly with the daughter of the Liu family. Now that the mess of Yang Lin was being pushed entirely onto Liang Zhou, he could practically laugh himself awake from his dreams. Anyway, he hadn't given a direct response; the fire wouldn't burn him.
Yu Shulin also saw the news and couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing—that Yang Lin really dared to stir up trouble.
Wang Zhi contacted him about it on QQ, chatting with him about this piece of gossip and sighing over the chaos of the entertainment industry. Thanks to the impact of this scandal, the earlier news about Liang Zhou being gay was brought up again and thoroughly mocked.
These two pieces of news released by Ronghua, one after the other, were a real slap in the face—pa pa pa.
The next day, Liang Zhou held a press conference, announcing his return to the entertainment industry and briefly mentioning his new work set for release during the National Day period.
The reporters present, wanting to show face to this boss of Rongguang, didn't ask anything too outrageous. Regarding yesterday's scandal, it wasn't until near the end of the interview session that someone finally gathered the courage to bring it up.
Upon hearing the question, although Liang Zhou's face remained expressionless, a clear hint of confusion showed in his eyes. He answered, "Yesterday? I did coincidentally run into Miss Yang Lin yesterday while visiting the park with my family. But 'wedding bells may be near'... Are you sure you're talking about me and Miss Yang Lin, and not Miss Yang Lin and my cousin?"
Liang Zhou's uncharacteristically approachable attitude excited the reporters, emboldening them. One even asked loudly, "Then are you and Miss Yang Lin on good terms privately? Do you like Miss Yang Lin's type? And what is the relationship between Yang Lin and your cousin?"
Upon hearing this, the other reporters cast admiring looks at the brave reporter who asked—such guts! This Liang Zhou was notoriously cold-faced, tight-lipped, and interview-averse. This gentleman dared to press on relentlessly in front of him? A true hero!
"Miss Yang Lin and I have no contact outside of work," Liang Zhou answered with rare patience, addressing each question one by one. "As for the type I like... I prefer someone more well-behaved and younger."
Ooh! They actually managed to find out Liang Zhou's preferred type! There would be plenty to write about tomorrow! But the Liang actor's words... seemed to imply Yang Lin was too old and worldly... Must be an illusion! Definitely an illusion!
"So what's the deal with Miss Yang Lin and your cousin? Was the earlier report about Miss Yang Lin secretly meeting the young master of Ronghua late at night true? Are they really in a relationship?" The heroic gentleman's fighting power remained formidable!
"They are very good friends," Liang Zhou replied, and then said no more. The host hurriedly announced the end of the interview session.
The reporters exchanged glances, then nodded in understanding. Who didn't know that "good friends" was the favorite cover-up phrase celebrities used in the entertainment industry to hide their relationships? Hearing Liang Zixiu say that, and connecting it with his earlier statements...
There was definitely something more to this story! Good friends? Yeah, right!
After the press conference, the reporters unanimously forgot its original theme. Instead, they wrote extensively about the ambiguous relationship between Yang Lin and Liang Zixiu, while also taking subtle and not-so-subtle jabs at Yang Lin's character, painting her as someone who loved clinging to powerful figures and was fickle in love.
Liang Zhou sat in his office flipping through the newspapers, a satisfied smile on his face. Yu Shulin's vacation was down to its last few days, and he didn't want these annoying matters to disturb his rest. So, he saved reading things like newspapers for the office.
Zhang Qian and Zhao Zhi were also looking through the papers, one thoroughly amused, the other looking worried.
"What a shame. I originally intended for this press conference to serve as the first promotion for the film. I didn't expect the spotlight to be completely taken over by gossip," Zhao Zhi shook his head and put down the newspaper.
"You workaholic, so rigid. This isn't bad either. Ronghua is taking a stumble, so our Rongguang benefits," Zhang Qian loved reading this kind of stuff and scoffed at Zhao Zhi's concerns.
Liang Zhou was also quite pleased with the focus of the reports, but he didn't want to dampen his subordinate's work enthusiasm. He said, "The promotion isn't urgent. We can arrange it after Bo Wen and I return from abroad; there's plenty of time since the film's release is scheduled for the National Day golden week. If you're really concerned, you can start some preliminary online promotion."
"Exactly. That so-called blockbuster from Ronghua is getting such poor reactions, we have zero pressure. We can take it slow. No matter how you look at it, we can overshadow them," Zhang Qian, ever the optimist, chimed in.
"The entertainment industry isn't just Rongguang and Ronghua. We can't limit our focus to just competing with Ronghua; that would be penny-wise and pound-foolish. All sorts of small companies are popping up constantly; we need a sense of crisis," Zhao Zhi said earnestly. As the company's manager, he naturally had a longer-term perspective than Zhang Qian, who was purely an employee.
Zhang Qian rolled his eyes. While he knew Zhao Zhi made sense, hearing this lecture every single day was going to give him earworms.
"That's right. Liang Jian's capabilities are limited; he's not a real threat. Right now, improving our own strength is the most important thing," Liang Zhou agreed. He pulled open a drawer, took out a proposal, and tossed it in front of Zhao Zhi. "Take a look at this, then discuss it with the company's senior management. Form a project team. We'll have a meeting later to discuss this properly."
Zhao Zhi picked up the document and started flipping through it, with Zhang Qian leaning over to look as well.
"Whoa, Liang Zhou, you want to segment Rongguang's businesses? That would be a massive restructuring..." Zhang Qian broke out in a cold sweat from the sheer scale of the plan outlined in the proposal.
"It has to be done eventually. Now, while Rongguang's involved industries haven't fully expanded, is a more suitable time. Rongguang was held back for too long under Liang Jian's management." Liang Zhou tapped the desk and continued, "While filming abroad, I carefully observed the business models of those established entertainment companies. Some aspects are indeed worth learning from. Television and film must be separated, artist development needs to be isolated as well, and there's the construction of cinema chains across regions. You all will have your work cut out for you."
Zhao Zhi's whole demeanor perked up, filled with fighting spirit. He closed the proposal and smiled, "I'll get right on this. You two chat, I'm heading out."
Liang Zhou nodded and looked at Zhang Qian.
"Uh, I'll get back to work too then. Bye." Zhang Qian beat a hasty retreat.
Once the office was quiet, Liang Zhou relaxed and leaned back into his executive chair, staring blankly at the QQ icon in the lower right corner of his computer screen. This company would eventually be handed over to Yu Shulin. He needed to build a better Rongguang before Yu Shulin grew up.
The QQ icon suddenly started blinking. He snapped out of his thoughts and clicked on it.
Yu Shulin: Brother, are you coming back for lunch? Aunt Liu bought an old hen today.
He smiled and typed.
Liang Zhou: Coming back.
Yu Shulin: Okay, I'll wait for you. [Smile]
He stared at that smiley for a long moment, then pushed the keyboard away, closed the QQ account that only had one friend added, tidied up some documents, and prepared to go home to have a meal with his brother.
