Chapter 1914: Termination

"Excuse me, is this Li Tiantian's parent? This is Yong'an Branch."

The voice on the phone startled Ge Meng.

Yong'an Branch?

What's going on?

"I'm Li Tiantian's mother. What's wrong?"

Ge Meng asked suspiciously, "Is my son in trouble?"

As a mother, her first reaction was that her precious son was in trouble; otherwise, why would the police call her?

"It's like this: we received a report today..."

The other party continued speaking, but Ge Meng's face grew increasingly grim.

...

...

"What did you say? Li Tiantian shot someone?"

Zhao Fusheng sat in his office, staring at Ye Jing in disbelief.

"Mm."

Ye Jing nodded: "The news broke yesterday. As you know, Li Tiantian's case has been circulating online lately, so the media is naturally very interested in his family's movements. Yesterday, Ge Meng personally went to Yong'an Branch to pick him up, but unexpectedly, things got out of hand. The other party refused to let it go..."

He chuckled: "Li Qingshan, that old goat, marrying a young wife is one thing, but his son turned out so useless."

He didn't know Zhao Fusheng was behind this, but that didn't stop him from mocking old Li Qingshan.

"Ahem..."

Zhao Fusheng looked helpless and smiled bitterly: "I didn't expect it to blow up this big!"

"What?"

Ye Jing finally noticed Zhao Fusheng's strange reaction and asked puzzledly: "Don't tell me you're involved in this."

He wasn't stupid; Zhao Fusheng's reaction out of the blue made it hard for Ye Jing to believe he had nothing to do with it.

"It's like this..."

Zhao Fusheng didn't hide anything from Ye Jing and recounted the whole story. Finally, he smiled at Ye Jing: "I didn't expect things to turn out this way. I just wanted to expose the matter and teach Li Tiantian a lesson, but who knew the kid would stir up more trouble!"

That was the truth. Initially, Zhao Fusheng was purely acting out of spite, so he had Dong Guoxiang spread the news online.

He didn't care what the media would do; he wasn't a judge or a reporter, and they wouldn't report to him anyway.

Moreover, even if it was exposed, it wouldn't do much. Since the victim wasn't pressing charges, the news would at most ruin the Li family's reputation.

To actually change anything was impossible.

As the saying goes, 'Scholars rebel, but ten years later, nothing's done.' That's the truth.

...

The reason was simple: public attention to an issue has a shelf life. Over time, when the public stops caring and the buzz fades, the media drops it too. After that, the responsible parties go back to eating, drinking, and getting promoted as usual.

This has been true throughout history, in China and abroad.

So Zhao Fusheng didn't plan to do much to Li Tiantian.

But he never expected that this young master would court death. Before the dust had even settled, he stirred up another mess. Truly, 'Heaven's punishment can be avoided, but self-inflicted disaster is inescapable!'

"What do we do?"

Ye Jing asked Zhao Fusheng.

He had originally told this as a joke, but now that it involved Zhao Fusheng, they needed a strategy.

"Nothing."

Zhao Fusheng waved his hand: "It has nothing to do with us. Since things are already like this, let them take their course."

"Huh?"

Ye Jing looked at Zhao Fusheng in surprise. In his impression, Zhao Fusheng wasn't the type to be so easygoing.

He was the kind of guy who, if someone punched him, would kick back. Now that Ge Meng had falsely accused him and Zhang Qian, he was bound to retaliate.

Zhao Fusheng chuckled: "No matter what, things need to ferment slowly to have impact, understand?"

"You mean, wait until it blows up?"

Ye Jing frowned and asked Zhao Fusheng.

In his view, Zhao Fusheng was clearly waiting for the situation to escalate before striking hard.

"Not waiting for it to blow up."

Zhao Fusheng shook his head: "It's already blown up."

"What do you mean?"

Ye Jing still didn't quite understand. In his opinion, while the matter was indeed all over town, it hadn't reached the level Zhao Fusheng described.

"Just wait. Things will get more interesting."

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly and said to Ye Jing.

Ye Jing was puzzled and wanted to ask more, but Zhao Fusheng said nothing further.

...

...

Zhao Fusheng hadn't come to see Ye Jing for Li Qingshan's sake, nor did he care whether Li Tiantian was arrested. In his eyes, a spoiled brat, and a useless one at that, wasn't worth his effort.

With different status comes different perspective. To Zhao Fusheng, Li Tiantian and his father Li Qingshan were just ordinary passersby.

What truly concerned Zhao Fusheng was the big event about to happen.

To that end, Zhao Fusheng had even called Jiang Wen and the others back.

Not now, but inviting them to return to the capital on May 10th for a charity gala.

The reason was simple: his mother-in-law's birthday, and Future Group planned to hold a public charity fundraiser, hoping they could help show support.

None of them were fools; with Zhao Fusheng's earnest invitation, naturally no one refused.

However, according to Zhao Fusheng's information, there were some discordant elements in the film crew during shooting.

"That Miss Liu is really difficult. She causes too much trouble on set, and Old Jiang has lost his temper several times," Ye Jing said helplessly to Zhao Fusheng. "She's always asking for leave to attend events, leaving the set at the drop of a hat..."

Miss Liu, of course, referred to Actor Liang's wife. Barring any surprises, she would marry Actor Liang in July this year.

"Heh, someone about to get married is naturally busy."

Zhao Fusheng smiled faintly and said calmly: "I didn't want her to take this role from the start, but Old Jiang insisted. Now that it's come to this, let's terminate the contract."

"What? Terminate the contract?"

Hearing Zhao Fusheng's words, Ye Jing nearly bit his tongue. He stared at Zhao Fusheng in shock: "You, you're not joking, are you?"

"Do I look like someone who jokes?"

Zhao Fusheng sneered: "People like her don't take the crew seriously at all. Why should I give her face? What's so special about Actor Liang? He's just an actor; can he be bigger than the crew? I'm not Deng Guangrong, and he's not Wong Kar-wai. Stop playing that double act with me!"

With that, Zhao Fusheng waved his hand and said bluntly: "Terminate the contract immediately. Tell Miss Liu that if she wants to keep working in this circle, she'd better get lost quietly. Announce that she's getting married and the crew can't delay her wedding preparations. Then find me someone else. I don't believe that in this vast film and television industry, we can't find a suitable actress!"

Before Ye Jing could speak, Zhao Fusheng continued: "If you can't find anyone, cut this role out!"

He was genuinely angry. In Zhao Fusheng's view, if an actor doesn't like the job, they shouldn't take the role.

Wanting both money and fame while slacking off and treating the shoot as a joke—such people don't deserve to be called actors and have no place in his crew.

He already had a very poor impression of Miss Liu, and with this incident, he became even more ruthless.

"Alright."

Ye Jing nodded. He could see that Zhao Fusheng was truly furious; otherwise, given his temperament, he rarely spoke so harshly.

He had even started cursing.

Having known Zhao Fusheng for so long, Ye Jing understood that Zhao Fusheng was soft on the outside but hard on the inside—yielding to persuasion but not coercion.

He seemed always smiling and indifferent to everything, but if someone crossed his bottom line, Zhao Fusheng would not be polite.

And he was also very dissatisfied with Miss Liu.

In Ye Jing's view, Miss Liu's actions clearly showed she didn't take Future Film seriously.

Or rather, she thought the connections she had built in the mainland meant she didn't need to care about Future Film's attitude.

"Heh, a woman, and an actress at that, really thinks she's someone important!"

Ye Jing was well aware of the stories behind Miss Liu. He hadn't called her out before out of politeness, but now that the big boss Zhao Fusheng had exploded, Ye Jing naturally knew what to do next.

Any artist must bow before capital.

That was an iron law, beyond question.

And clearly, Miss Liu had challenged this rule.

Or rather, she had misjudged the situation, thinking Future Film wasn't as powerful as her network of connections.

But she forgot that Zhao Fusheng wasn't one of those wealthy men or powerful officials who coveted her beauty. He was a young man with a temper.

Young people, after all, are hot-blooded.

Especially someone like Zhao Fusheng. In Ye Jing's view, Miss Liu's behavior had clearly displeased Zhao Fusheng.

Since she displeased the boss, she had to pay the price.

To be honest, Ye Jing himself felt that Miss Liu deserved to be punished.