Chapter Ninety: Zhao Jinzhi's Decision—Does the Fan Club Need to Lose Two Members?

Although Lee Shixin had already obtained an acting license and shed his status as an extra, in essence he was still a freelancer.

To make a name for himself, he had given himself the persona of an aging dreamer with a grave illness and little time left to live. That image did bring him some attention, but it was also a double-edged sword. A star exists because of fans and the traffic of public attention; all the rules by which film and television companies operate stars are built on that traffic to generate profit.

But grave illness and a short remaining life meant that such traffic would never be long-lasting or stable.

No company with a functioning brain would sign an actor like Lee Shixin, someone who might well be propped up by a wave of resources and then simply die.

In fact, during this period Lee Shixin had received inquiries from several agencies. Yet after meeting with them, he had rejected every one of their offers.

Without exception, none of those companies wanted to keep investing in him. They merely wanted to take a gamble and cash in on his present fame for a quick return.

To put it bluntly, they were trying to strip the old man of whatever value remained.

A cheap bargain, picked off the ground.

Under such circumstances, Lee Shixin, a man entirely on his own, had no real advantage at all when it came to production resources.

Of course, he was still better off than the extras in Rongdian, thanks to his two godsons.

Looking at the group of old fans around him, each one gloomy because of Zhou Chuanfang's passing and because they would not be able to see him act again in the near future, Lee Shixin began calculating.

A thought was gradually taking shape in his mind.

Although he looked down on Zhou Chuanfang's two sons, when they came over to toast him, Lee Shixin said nothing more.

In death, the departed are to be honored. If, as an outsider, he used his own likes and dislikes to make things difficult for the younger generation of an old friend, that would not be standing up for the dead; it would be disrespecting the dead.

After taking the two sons' toasts at the memorial banquet, it meant the funeral feast had come to an end.

At the hotel entrance, Lee Shixin reminded the group of old fans to take good care of their health, not to fall into despair over Old Zhou's passing, and to keep an eye on the chat group for news from him before heading home.

He had something he wanted to discuss with Zhang Ying and Zhang Shuo.

...

At the same time.

Rongdian, Runfengyuan Villas.

At Zhao Jinzhi's home in Rongdian.

"Jinzhi, why do you keep running to this lousy little place in Rongdian lately? Don't tell me you've taken a pretty boy lover here? Come on, spill it to your sister. Which young heartthrob got so lucky that he can skip thirty years of struggle, never has to sweat his way through life, and just picked up a little seductress like you for free?"

On the sofa in the living room, Zhao Jinzhi's best friend, Xiao Jingshu, one of the founding members of the Huaqi board, teased her while holding a teacup.

"Even Da Hong Pao can't seal your mouth shut."

Curled up on the wide sofa, wearing only a loose shirt-style nightgown and looking utterly relaxed, Zhao Jinzhi smiled with languid amusement. "If I had that kind of mind, I'd probably have had several children by now."

It was meant as a casual remark, but Xiao Jingshu's hand on the teacup stiffened. "By the way, Jinzhi, how do you plan to deal with Meng Nan? This time when you went back to Shanghai, you gave that brat a hard lesson, and you reestablished your authority. But you need to understand, the reason Meng Nan has been so reckless isn't just because his ambitions have run wild. There are people in the board who are dissatisfied with the company's current situation, and they've given that kid plenty of courage from behind the scenes."

Seeing Zhao Jinzhi simply squinting and smiling at the tea leaves drifting in her cup without saying a word, Xiao Jingshu grew anxious. "My dear sister, say something. Let me tell you, none of us old timers agree to your retirement. And even if you do retire, you absolutely cannot hand the company over to Meng Nan, that little bastard!"

Zhao Jinzhi's brows lifted slightly. Facing her best friend, she smiled. "After all, he is my son."

"Son my ass!" Xiao Jingshu slammed her teacup hard onto the coffee table.

"He's your old man Meng's son, not your own flesh and blood! Yes, Huaqi was left behind by Old Meng. But what was Huaqi like when he passed away? Just an advertising company making a couple hundred thousand a year in profit!

"And what is Huaqi now? A sprawling entertainment group worth more than eight billion in market value! After all these years, what relation does Huaqi still have to Old Meng?"

Seeing that Zhao Jinzhi was still staring at the teacup without speaking, Xiao Jingshu let out a long sigh.

"Jinzhi, for all these years you've poured your youth and energy into Huaqi. You raised that little brat Meng Nan, sent him abroad, paid for his idle extravagance, and even gave him thirty percent of the shares in your hands. That's more than enough loyalty. More than enough to answer to Old Meng's trust in you. Don't ruin the rest of your life over this.

"You know it, and so do the rest of us: Meng Nan is not the kind of material who can hold up a whole group. He isn't the sort of child who understands why you never married all these years, or why you built Huaqi into what it is.

"He's just a wolf cub that can't be tamed.

"Let me say something ugly. For all these years you've treated him like a son. When he grew up, he may have seemed obedient on the surface, but what is he really thinking in private? That you stole the position his father should have had, that you seized back Huaqi, an industry that no longer has anything to do with his father. When has he ever treated you like his real mother?

"And the reason he's making such a scene now isn't because he's capable. It's only because some people on the board, for the sake of their own interests, have dragged Old Meng's dead name out to stir up trouble.

"Jinzhi, rest assured. I can't promise anything else, but if you want to cleanly deal with Meng Nan and the gang behind him, then on the board, I will definitely stand with you!"

After quietly studying her friend's expressions and microexpressions, Zhao Jinzhi lifted her teacup and smiled.

"Sister Xiao, don't leave this afternoon. Stay for dinner. I'll cook myself."

"Uh..." Xiao Jingshu, who had been full of heroic confidence a moment ago, suddenly twisted her face. "Jinzhi, I still have something to do tonight. Ahem. Let's do tomorrow. I'll book a good place and treat you. How about that?"

Zhao Jinzhi gave a sly smile, stretched out her long legs, and affectionately nudged her best friend with the tip of her foot. "You won't even dare to eat food I make, and you still say you'll support me with all you've got. So insincere."

What a little enchantress.

Looking at Zhao Jinzhi's playful expression, Xiao Jingshu rolled her eyes. "Don't give me that. If you told me to climb mountains of blades or plunge into boiling oil, I, Xiao, would not say a word. But eat the food you cook? Absolutely not. And I advise you, too, to build up some karmic virtue for yourself. Spare those already unfortunate chickens, ducks, fish, meat, and live seafood. Let them... die meaningfully in someone else's hands. That way they won't die miserably and still make people feel sick just looking at them."

After laughing and joking for a while, Xiao Jingshu stood up from the sofa. "All right, enough nonsense. I really do have something this afternoon. Call me tomorrow."

"All right."

Zhao Jinzhi also stood, saw Xiao Jingshu out, and after watching her drive away, returned to the study on the second floor.

She draped a thick house robe over herself, stood before the bright floor-to-ceiling window, and slowly closed her eyes.

Of the seventeen people on the board, only five were now firmly and reliably on her side.

When mercy was in order, do not strike. When you strike, show no mercy.

If she wanted to completely purge the board and restore the company to a fully controllable state, this was not enough...

Standing there, two or three hours slipped by in the blink of an eye.

Unaware of the passage of time, the sun outside had already slid westward, and the sky had deepened into evening.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep...

Just as Zhao Jinzhi was massaging her temples and considering the composition of the board, the phone on the desk, the one completely separate from her work, rang several times in succession.

She picked it up and saw an all-hands message in Lee Shixin's fan support group chat. Tapping in, she opened a voice message sent by the elderly Zhang Mingrong.

When the audio played, it was not the old man speaking, but a woman's anxious voice.

"What exactly did you all go and do today? My mother went out this morning and still hasn't come back! She didn't even bring her phone, and nobody knows where she went! I kept telling her she's so old now, she shouldn't be running around every day chasing some celebrity. And now look, she's gone and gotten herself lost while chasing one!"

Jianhong Residential District.

Lee Shixin was holding the calculator on his old phone, staring at his after-tax fee of 180,000 yuan, feeling bold and unconquerable.

This old man has become rich too!

With this money, I can really live a little.

Just then, a message popped up on his phone and instantly drained away the swelling pride he had only just begun to feel.

Wu Ming: Everyone, something's happened. Sister Zhang is missing!