Chapter 1178: Trouble at the Advertising Agency

Spending time with children is actually quite enjoyable. Although kids sometimes ask a lot of questions, like a never-ending stream of 'whys,' they are very amusing. For instance, Fan Beibei would stand in front of a toy she liked, refusing to leave, gazing pitifully at the shop window. When you came over to ask her, she would timidly say, 'Brother, if I give you a kiss, will you buy this for me?'

Zhao Fusheng was naturally willing.

In his previous life, he had no children. In this life, with a psychological age of decades and a physical age of over twenty, he naturally treated Fan Beibei as his own daughter.

It is often said that boys should be raised frugally and girls should be raised indulgently. In Zhao Fusheng's view, this saying holds some truth, because boys are generally more mischievous, and if spoiled too much, they are likely to go astray.

Conversely, girls are relatively more delicate, and showing them a bit more affection never hurts.

'Brother, I want to go to the amusement park,' Fan Beibei said, holding the toy Zhao Fusheng had just bought for her.

Zhao Fusheng smiled and nodded. 'Alright, I'll go with you.'

He had already decided to spend this period of time accompanying the little girl well.

The siblings spent the whole day playing wildly at the amusement park. By the time they returned home in the evening, Fan Beibei had fallen asleep on Zhao Fusheng's shoulder.

Naturally, Zhao Fusheng laid the little girl on the bed, covered her with a blanket, and then left the room.

Now six years old, Fan Beibei could sleep in her own room.

He wasn't worried about being seen with Fan Beibei by the media. Journalists nowadays were far less intrusive than they would be in a few years. Besides, he was only half in the entertainment circle, and reporters in the economic circle weren't bored enough to engage in paparazzi work.

Moreover, even though Fan Baobao was now a third-tier actress, backed by the Future Group, ordinary journalists wouldn't write sensational news.

It should be noted that, from the present back to twenty years ago, the 1980s and 1990s, the relationship between journalists and celebrities in both Hong Kong and the mainland was actually quite good. After dealing with each other many times, they could even chat together.

Andy Lau once told Zhao Fusheng that he had several good journalist friends, and they occasionally had meals together. He would even ask them about the latest gossip in the circle.

Zhao Fusheng could understand this well. After all, journalists and artists are essentially a symbiotic community of mutual benefit and shared interests.

For example, if a star wants to be known, the simplest way is to appear in newspaper news—in other words, to be reported by journalists.

And for a journalist to get exclusive news and various scoops, earning substantial fees, the best way is naturally to get inside information from the stars.

Thus, the star gets exposure to attract attention, and the journalist gets paid and is satisfied.

Everyone is happy.

Zhao Fusheng didn't know these things originally, but he had many friends in the entertainment circle. Although most of them disdained hype, he had heard too many such stories through osmosis.

Top stars are aloof, second- and third-tier stars have mutual benefits with journalists, and those eighteenth-tier minor stars even have to ask journalists to help hype their news.

It's like light and darkness: stars represent the glamorous side of the entertainment circle, while journalists represent the dark side.

After all, no matter how beautiful or handsome a star is, they still have to eat, drink, use the bathroom, and stay up late to rehearse scripts or get their hair done.

As for the 'Monday revelations' or 'some-day revelations' type of news—

Heh, it's just a matter of the price not being right. If the price is right, no scandal can't be suppressed.

So Zhao Fusheng wasn't worried about those messy things at all. Besides, Fan Baobao's current status was too low; let alone paparazzi following her, few people recognized her even at the airport.

The capital wasn't like Ninghai; there weren't that many groupies.

Just as he was about to go to bed after showering, he received a call from Fan Baobao.

'How was it today?' Fan Baobao asked, lying on the bed.

'How was what?' Zhao Fusheng was a bit confused and asked in puzzlement.

'How was your time with Beibei, of course.' Fan Baobao snorted. She was quite jealous that Zhao Fusheng could accompany her sister, wishing she could become Zhao Fusheng and stay by Fan Beibei's side.

The saying 'sisterly affection runs deep' was no joke.

Zhao Fusheng looked helpless. For a sister-obsessed person like Fan Baobao, not being able to accompany her sister was undoubtedly frustrating.

'It was okay, just walked around...' Zhao Fusheng then recounted the day's itinerary with Fan Beibei in detail, finally adding, 'The little girl must be tired from playing; she's asleep now.'

Having satisfied her curiosity, the two chatted affectionately about everyday matters before hanging up.

Zhao Fusheng knew that Fan Baobao was just unaccustomed to being away from him for so long.

Habit is a scary thing. Because of habit, people take things for granted. Because of habit, no one thinks about what it would be like to lose something.

Neither Fan Baobao nor Zhao Fusheng wanted to lose each other.

...

...

Time passed quickly, and soon it was late autumn. The earth was already bleak. Whenever the wind blew, countless green and yellow leaves fell from the trees by the roadside. If a small whirlwind came, it would roll up the leaves like a colorful dragon dancing in the sky.

Fan Beibei had been living in the capital for nearly a month. Zhang Qian had completed his task early and returned to Zhao Fusheng's side. So most of the time, wherever Zhao Fusheng went, these two—one big, one small—were with him.

Even when he went to the company, he brought Fan Beibei along.

The clever and sweet-tongued little girl quickly won the affection of all the employees at Future Group.

Of course, the subordinates liked her because she was the boss's sister, but Dong Chenxi and Zheng Yao genuinely liked the girl.

'Brother, I'm going to stay at Sister Chenxi's place today,' Fan Beibei said, pulling on Zhao Fusheng's arm with a sweet smile.

Zhao Fusheng looked at her helplessly, wanting to refuse, but seeing Fan Beibei's pleading expression, he had to nod. 'Go ahead, go ahead. Remember, don't cause trouble.'

'Okay,' Fan Beibei agreed with a grin.

She was very willing to visit those pretty sisters' homes. Every time she went, she got a bunch of gifts. She could just take whatever she liked.

'Be good. Your sister is coming back soon. Don't make her angry,' Zhao Fusheng warned, patting Fan Beibei's head.

Fan Baobao had called him earlier, saying that her scenes for 'A World Without Thieves' were almost all finished, and she would be back soon.

If she came home and found her precious sister not there, she would definitely throw a fit.

...

...

As it turned out, although Fan Baobao always said she wanted her sister to be called Zhao Beibei, sisterly affection was no joke. From the moment she came home and saw Fan Beibei, she kept her sister close by.

So much so that Zhao Fusheng didn't even have the chance to sleep with her at night.

For a normal man, having a beautiful girlfriend but having to sleep alone, Zhao Fusheng's mood was understandable.

So anyone who provoked him at this time would face consequences that went without saying.

'Can you tell me why we've lost so many advertising orders in just three months?' Zhao Fusheng sat in his chairman's office, slamming a report in front of Zheng Yao, his face as cold as frost.

His mood was already gloomy early in the morning, and seeing the business reports for Future Advertising over the past few months made it even worse.

'The main responsibility for this lies with me,' Zheng Yao said with a helpless bitter smile, seeing Zhao Fusheng's outburst.

As the direct head of Future Advertising and the company's president and CEO, she was naturally to blame for such a major oversight in the advertising company.

'We'll talk about responsibility later. Now tell me, why did this happen?' Zhao Fusheng frowned deeply, asking Zheng Yao.

He certainly didn't believe the report's claim that the market was sluggish.

The domestic advertising industry was currently in a period of vigorous development. After all, this industry was closely tied to the overall economic environment. As long as economic growth didn't slow down and all industries developed smoothly, it was impossible for advertising to see a decline in market share and profits.

'You probably don't know yet, but Future Advertising is no longer one of the top three advertising companies in the northern region. It's now the second-largest advertising company in the north,' Zheng Yao said with a bitter smile.

She hadn't wanted to bring this up to Zhao Fusheng originally, thinking she could solve the problem on her own. But she never expected that due to her hesitation, the situation would spiral out of control, affecting Future Advertising's revenue. So she took the risk of angering Zhao Fusheng to tell him.

Sure enough, Zhao Fusheng's reaction confirmed Zheng Yao's guess.

Zhao Fusheng's expression tightened slightly. Intuition told him that Zheng Yao wouldn't bring this up for no reason.

He knew Zheng Yao's personality all too well. Although she had been somewhat impulsive when they started the business, after five or six years of navigating the business world, she was no longer the naive young girl who knew nothing.

Now, Zheng Yao was a genuine businesswoman.

Especially under these circumstances, her sudden mention of this matter gave Zhao Fusheng an ominous premonition. Intuition told him that the current state of Future Advertising was likely inextricably linked to what she had just said.