Netizens couldn't help but draw comparisons to the casting of the earlier *Soaring to Great Heights*.
[Who is this female lead Luo Yutong? I've never heard of her before.]
[The female lead is Luo Yutong, a newly signed artist under Starlight Entertainment. She's that beautiful woman who appeared as the representative at the *Aspirations of Qingyun* copyright sale event before.]
[Oh right~ She looks good, but she's a total newcomer. Her influence can't hold a candle to Yu Linglong from Dafeng Entertainment at all.]
[Hey! You guys are missing the point! The point is that the male lead and the villainous second male lead are both problematic artists! The male lead is actually Chen Wang! Chen Wang, the guy who cheated on his ex-girlfriend who helped him get ahead with his own assistant. If his name hadn't popped up on the *Aspirations of Qingyun* cast list this time, I'd have almost forgotten he existed! And then there's Zhou Zerui, ugh! He has a terrible temper and even attacked a director on set!]
[Starlight Entertainment has lost their minds, right? Giving two such important roles to two problematic male entertainers!]
[I heard the one who picked these two problematic actors is the newly appointed head of Starlight Entertainment, Jiang Youli! She's the one who's gone crazy if you ask me!]
[No way! I genuinely love the *Aspirations of Qingyun* novel!]
[Just look at *Soaring to Great Heights* next door, they cast Yang Yufan, the film king with zero negative press! Yang Yufan plus Yu Linglong, that lineup is absolutely unbeatable!]
[Oh my god, I'm so scared *Aspirations of Qingyun* will die before it even starts filming!]
Many fans of *Aspirations of Qingyun* also left messages under Jiang Youli's Weibo account.
[Goddess! Is the lead actor list leaked online real?]
[Goddess! Please cherish your reputation! We don't have a problem with the female lead, but why pick Chen Wang and Zhou Zerui?]
[If it's real! Swap out the actors now before the official cast announcement and filming start!]
[Yeah, you still have time to replace them now! Zhou Zerui even auditioned for *Soaring to Great Heights* from Dafeng Entertainment before and got rejected just because of his bad character, why would you take in such trash actors?]
This time, Jiang Youli chose not to respond, deciding to let public opinion keep fermenting. She planned to give fans an official reply only after her birthday banquet ended and the official cast list of *Aspirations of Qingyun* was formally released.
All she had to do now was wrap up the final promotion work before the release of her new song. Up to this point, all information about the song had been kept strictly confidential, and it was finally time to reveal a little bit of related details.
So she posted a new Weibo: [Three new songs will be exclusively launched on Hongguo Music on the 21st of this month, my birthday! Waiting for the counterattack to succeed!]
The attached image was a screenshot of the voting poll for her new song showdown against Jiang Zhao.
...
Over at Dafeng Entertainment.
Jiang Zhao had just rushed to finish recording the last of his new songs. After wrapping up the final track, he took off his headset and walked out of the recording studio.
Zheng Zegang and Yu Hongtu, who were waiting outside the studio, both wore fully satisfied expressions. Zheng Zegang stepped forward and patted his shoulder. "Jiang Zhao, the quality of your new songs is amazing. You are definitely going to blow up this time!"
"By the way, your sister Jiang Youli just posted a Weibo saying her new songs will only be released exclusively on Hongguo Music. Jiang Zhao, you've won in this aspect too. Young President Yu said that Dafeng Entertainment will release your new songs across every single music platform online!"
Hearing Zheng Zegang's words, Jiang Zhao took out his phone, opened Weibo, and saw his younger sister Jiang Youli's latest post. His expression instantly dimmed.
His mood was very complicated right now. On one hand, he was fully convinced he would win this showdown. On the other hand, he didn't want his sister Jiang Youli to lose too badly, because he was afraid that would make her hate him even more.
Yu Hongtu noticed he looked unhappy and said with obvious dissatisfaction, "What kind of reaction is that? What, I went to all that trouble to get your new songs distributed across every platform online, and you look like you're not happy about it?"
Zheng Zegang quickly jumped in to explain, "Young President Yu, how could Jiang Zhao be unhappy? I think he's just so overjoyed to get your recognition, right, Jiang Zhao?"
Taking Zheng Zegang's hint, Jiang Zhao suppressed his emotions and replied insincerely, "Thank you for your recognition, Young President Yu. I'm very happy."
Yu Hongtu was then satisfied. "Good job, you've worked hard this period. Once your new songs blow up, I'll talk to my dad and arrange a special celebratory banquet for you."
"Thank you very much, Young President Yu." Jiang Zhao said insincerely once more.
Yu Hongtu chuckled, stepped forward, and gently patted Jiang Zhao's good-looking face. "Jiang Zhao, you used to be the Jiang family's young master, but now you have to watch my moods. Doesn't that eat at you inside?"
Jiang Zhao's face was visibly turning displeased. Zheng Zegang at his side quickly apologized with a smile, "How dare he! He's in such a down-and-out state right now, he should be thanking his lucky stars that Young President Yu is even willing to give him a hand!"
Yu Hongtu scoffed softly. "Zheng the manager knows how to read the situation. Alright, Zheng, you'll be in charge of all the follow-up promotion work for Jiang Zhao's new songs. I only have one requirement: make sure they go online on the exact day of Jiang Youli's birthday banquet."
"Consider it done!" Zheng Zegang said, patting his chest confidently.
After seeing Yu Hongtu off, Zheng Zegang immediately turned stern and warned Jiang Zhao, "Jiang Zhao, you better watch your behavior in front of Yu Hongtu. From now on, Young President Yu calls all the shots at Dafeng Entertainment. If we want to get anywhere in the future, we have to kowtow to him. Don't still think you're the Jiang family's young master from the old days. If you want to make it big and impress Jiang Youli, you have to swallow all that dissatisfaction you have right now."
Jiang Zhao clenched his fist and said, "I know. You don't have to keep reminding me over and over."
"If I don't remind you, you'll forget your place!" Zheng Zegang said. "Alright, think about what you're going to post on Weibo to announce that your new songs are about to launch."
"Got it."
After Zheng Zegang left, Jiang Zhao planned to head back to his rental apartment to catch up on sleep. He'd been rushing to record songs nonstop in Dafeng Entertainment's studio these past few days and hadn't gotten a decent rest.
Once he got back to the apartment, he took a shower and was about to head to his bedroom to sleep when something suddenly crossed his mind.
His mother hadn't contacted him for several days now?
According to what his mother had told him, his older brother Jiang Xing had been completely unwilling to come back to Jing City with her, so his mother should have returned on her own. Why hadn't she come back yet?
He hadn't spent much time at the rental apartment these days, and his father had also been busy with who-knew-what these days, often not being around even when he got home.
Whatever, he just wanted to get a good sleep right now. He didn't have the energy to think about anything else.
...
At noon.
Jiang Youli was packing her bag to head to the Qi Group to give Qi Huan his regular treatment when the phone on her desk suddenly rang. It was Qi Huan calling.
Jiang Youli answered the call and heard Qi Huan say he was already waiting for her downstairs at the company. She tidied up her things quickly and went downstairs to meet up with him.
After getting in the car, Jiang Youli looked at Qi Huan and said, "Huanhuan, you came to pick me up today, are you planning to go find Zhou Zerui again and have me treat Uncle Ya?"
Qi Huan shook his head with a soft smile. "No, I'm taking you to see Qi Tianxiang instead."
