Chapter 17

Liu Wantao in a pink dress was startled by the man in front of her and couldn’t utter a word. She just stared at him in a daze.

She was just discussing Xie Jin with her colleagues in the industry. Xie Jin was truly unique. At a young age, he already amassed huge wealth and outstanding abilities. Not only that, he was also blessed with good looks.

His noble aloofness made those with ulterior motives not dare to approach him. Some who secretly admired him also felt that he would never give them a second glance, so no one dared to take the initiative to strike up a conversation.

Never had Liu Wantao imagined that she would be approached by such an exceptional man.

Seeing him up close, he seemed even more handsome. She covered her mouth in pleasant surprise, momentarily at a loss for how to react.

Finally, when Xie Jin's eyes dimmed and he was about to leave, Liu Wantao hurriedly said, "Hello Mr. Xie, I'm Liu Wantao, you can call me Taotao."

Xie Jin, who had intended to leave after mistaking her for someone else, stopped in his tracks upon hearing "Taotao".

He turned back with a frown and asked in a low, somber voice, "What did you say?"

"Liu Wantao, Taotao."

Xie Jin narrowed his eyes, grabbed her wrist and pulled her in front of him.

Everyone on the second floor of the banquet hall looked over, attracted by this rare scene. They didn't expect that the aloof Xie Jin would show interest in a woman.

But only Liu Wantao saw the turbulent rage surfacing in Xie Jin's dark eyes. His naturally red lips parted slightly, and he enunciated each word ominously with a gloomy voice, as if licking blood from his tongue, "Who allowed you to call her Taotao?"

Liu Wantao was so frightened by his demeanor that her legs went soft. She felt that if he had a knife in his hand right now, it would already be stabbed into her abdomen.

She even felt that he would push her down the stairs in the next moment.

The others also sensed something amiss. They didn't understand how a greeting turned into a dispute.

Many were seeing Xie Jin's furious expression for the first time and were startled into swallowing their saliva. For a moment, no one dared to step forward and ask about the reason.

Just then, an eye-catching scene emerged from the revolving staircase on the third floor.

As if prearranged, a spotlight illuminated the already dazzling silver fish tail skirt and Su Tao's unparalleled beauty, successfully attracting everyone's attention.

Su Tao endured the glare of the harsh light and whispered to Zhang Qi Guang beside her, "Senior brother, isn't this a bit over the top?"

Zhang Qi Guang maintained his smile and replied in a voice only the two of them could hear, "It's fine, you have to stand out today."

Xie Jin's gaze fell upon the radiant woman on the stairs.

He slowly released Liu Wantao's wrist, looking at Su Tao in disbelief.

He abruptly closed his eyes tightly, then opened them again, repeating this over and over. It was as if he didn't dare open his eyes, hesitating for a long time before finally lifting his eyelids a sliver.

The woman he could only see in his dreams had not disappeared. She was not an illusion.

He stared fixedly at where she was, gazing at her in a daze, his eyes gradually turning red.

In front of the venue, the emcee's microphone sounded as media friends were invited on stage. The host loudly announced, "Everyone has been waiting for a long time. In just a few short years, Jing Yang Entertainment has grown from an unknown company into what it is today. It currently manages a total of 34 artists and over 20 outstanding agents, with over 100 employees..."

After introducing Jing Yang Entertainment's basic information, the host moved on to the key segment. "Next, please welcome Jing Yang Entertainment's CEO, Zhang Qi Guang, to the stage."

Zhang Qi Guang and Su Tao slowly descended the stairs hand in hand.

With Zhang Qi Guang's grand introduction, Su Tao became the focus of attention.

The crowd only now realized that this beauty was not a newly signed artist of Jing Yang, but rather one of Jing Yang’s three executive talent agents and also the company’s youngest shareholder.

After Su Tao took the stage, the spotlight shone on her. Despite her tranquil appearance, she revealed the confidence of a queen. "I'm very grateful to President Zhang for giving me this opportunity. In the future, I will learn a lot from my seniors in the industry, work harder, manage my artists well, and generate revenue for the company. Thank you everyone."

Thunderous applause welcomed this beautiful agent. Upon learning that she was Gu YiYan’s agent, the gazes on her grew even more heated.

In just one year, Gu YiYan had risen to A-list status without any background or connections. His work became a huge hit as soon as it started airing, which was considered a miracle in the industry. After getting off stage, Su Tao wanted to find a less crowded spot to sit and rest her ankles, tired from standing in high heels.

But as soon as she stepped off stage, she was surrounded on all sides. Many ambitious young men harbored thoughts of striking up a relationship with her and took out their phones to add her WeChat after exchanging just a few words.

Since they were all industry insiders, regardless of their motives, Su Tao had to expand her network and didn't refuse them.

Suddenly, a gloomy, hoarse voice sounded from behind the crowd, "Make way."

The voice wasn't loud, but everyone heard it.

Because of the anger and uncompromising assertiveness in the tone, people unconsciously obeyed and cleared a path.

Xie Jin's straight and upright figure came into view as he fixed his eyes on Su Tao.

His eyes were bloodshot, flashing intensely as his lips trembled slightly. For a moment, he couldn't utter a complete sentence.

Su Tao looked back at him with eyes as tranquil as still water. Suddenly, she smiled brightly and walked up to him, holding out her fair hand. "Nice to meet you Mr. Xie. Long time no see."

She took the initiative to defuse the situation, making it unclear to the crowd what their relationship was.

Xie Jin grabbed her hand, finally gaining some sense of reality. He barely managed to choke out, "Little Taotao."

Under the astonished gazes, Su Tao's smile became strained. She moved closer to him and whispered, "Come with me."

Xie Jin stared fixedly at Su Tao, following closely behind as she brought him to the nearly deserted champagne area.

"Let go." Su Tao's expression had already turned cold. She shouldn't have taken the initiative to reach out, knowing he would lose composure in public.

Xie Jin held on even tighter, absolutely refusing to let go. In a hoarse voice, he asked the question he had wanted to every day for the past year, "Why did you leave without a word? Why did you leave me?"

Su Tao looked straight into Xie Jin's eyes and laughed dryly. "I thought I already made it very clear before that we broke up.

"Where did you go this past year? Why couldn't I find you?"

Su Tao's face was completely tranquil, almost cold. "I don't want anything more to do with you."

But he seemed not to hear her words at all. His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at her as his other hand forcibly clasped her shoulder, fingers clutching tightly, afraid she would disappear the moment he let go.

Su Tao thought they wouldn't meet so soon. Even if they did meet, he should at least maintain composure.

It absolutely shouldn't be like now.

She couldn't break free of him. Her wrist and shoulder started to hurt.

Her expression chilled as she spoke calmly yet icily, "Xie Jin, I'm not that little girl who depended on your charity and could be manipulated by you anymore. If you want to restrict my personal freedom, I'll call the police. If you want to take more drastic measures, I can die."

Xie Jin dazedly looked at her. It was as if her every word nailed him in place like a knife, piercing deeply into his heart and leaving him unable to breathe.

Only this kind of pain made him feel it was real. This was the feeling he experienced every day. Whenever the heartache became unbearable, he would fiercely pinch his arm to alleviate it.

He released her shoulder and fiercely pinched his arm. Sure enough, the pain in his heart lessened.

As Xie Jin gradually came to his senses, he saw the red marks left on her fair wrist from his grip. It was like waking from a dream as he let go of her hand.

"You didn't let me find you just because you were afraid I would restrict your personal freedom?" Crystalline tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as his voice grew powerless and hoarse.

He had thought of countless reasons, but never considered that it was because she didn't want to return to his side. She had even used such serious words as "restrict personal freedom".

Before Su Tao could say anything more, a peach flavored candy was suddenly stuffed into her mouth.

"Be good, little Taotao. Come home with me."

He knew it was impossible, yet still feebly pleaded, because he also truly lacked confidence in keeping her now.

Su Tao took a deep breath, spit out the candy in her mouth, and violently smashed it on the ground. Her eyes, as tranquil as still water, were completely cold.

"I forgot to tell you, I was never obedient!"

—-

On Monday in the meeting room, all of Su Tao’s team’s five agents were present, except Gu YiYan’s agent who had to call in due to work.

After Su Tao finished arranging a series of tasks, the meeting room immediately rang out with lamenting and complaining.

"How is this possible? We can't interfere with platform ratings!"

"Sea Wave 2 is such a hard variety show to get on. Even Liu Ke couldn't manage it. How could I possibly?" "The producer of The Gun Runner is very difficult to deal with. I crossed paths with her once before and couldn't handle her."

Su Tao crossed her hands in front of her on the meeting table, quietly watching everyone. After a full five minutes of complaining, they finally stopped and the room became eerily silent.

Su Tao looked at Gu YiYan's agent on the video call and asked, "Sister Qi, any issues on your end?"

Wang Qi was in Gu YiYan's van and replied, "No issues. I'll get started right away and report back anytime if problems arise."

"Great, Sister Qi, I'll let you get to it then. Bye bye."

Su Tao hung up Wang Qi's video and swept her clear eyes over everyone. She instructed Xiaojie, who was taking meeting minutes beside her, "Write down all their concerns. You can each share them one by one, Xiao Jie, you start."

Sun Xiaojie was Tong Mingxuan's agent and a few years older than Su Tao. When Su Tao first entered the industry, Xiaojie had mentored her for a month.

Xiaojie was very pretty and quite arrogant. She spoke in a lecturing tone, not treating Su Tao as a superior at all.

"Su Tao, you're too young. Some theories sound good but are unrealistic. Everyone wants to get on Sea Wave 2 since it's currently one of the hottest variety shows, right? With Mingxuan's popularity, they definitely won't consider him."

After Sun Xiaojie finished, everyone observed Su Tao's reaction.

They didn't know the new supervisor well since she had just taken over and they all used to work independently before.

They were testing Su Tao's bottom line and figuring out how to get along with the new boss.

"So you didn't even try and just directly said it's impossible?" Su Tao's tone was unhurried yet powerful, articulate and sonorous.

The atmosphere in the meeting room suddenly grew tense.

Sun Xiaojie sat up straight and continued to refute, "For things you know are hopeless with a little thought, why waste time trying?"

Su Tao's expression darkened, her usually clear eyes turning sharp as she stared straight at Sun Xiaojie, pressuring her into averting her gaze awkwardly.

"You mean Tong Mingxuan can only ever get third and fourth-rate commercial resources, so don't waste time trying to obtain better resources. Is that right?"

Sun Xiaojie didn't look up, but her attitude was still secretly opposed. "I didn't say that."

"But that's how you've been acting!"

Su Tao's voice was sonorous and forceful, startling everyone present. Her voice wasn't loud or shrill, yet why was it so daunting?

"All of you, change your mindset! It's not about fighting for resources according to what tier your artists currently are. It's that when we obtain resources for them, they become more well-known artists!"

"Also, I hope this is the last time I hear you tell me something is hopeless before even starting. If it happens again, consider voluntarily resigning. I don't need employees who only create problems and don't solve them."

Liu Wantao finally said, "Your seniority and experience are certainly useful, but even if I were given a complete newbie who knows nothing but is obedient and willing to work, I could get them to grow quickly. No one is irreplaceable."

After saying this, Su Tao swept her gaze around at everyone again.

This time, everyone kept their heads lowered, no longer daring to look Su Tao in the eye.

"Any other questions?" Su Tao's voice softened, as if she hadn't been so overbearing just now.

Everyone shook their heads.

"The tasks I assigned just now must be reported back within one day. Dismissed."

Everyone watched Su Tao's departing figure from the conference room, finally breathing a sigh of relief. No one had expected that the seemingly soft and delicate little girl would be so overbearing.

-

Back in her office, Su Tao's phone rang. It was Zhang Qi Guang.

"Chairman Zhang, where are you dating this time?" As soon as she picked up, Su Tao teased.

"Ukraine, full of beauties, paradise!"

Su Tao could even hear Zhang Qi Guang drooling. She couldn't help but curl her lips in disgust.

"What important matter made you take your attention away from the beauties to call me?"

"Ah!" Zhang Qi Guang let out a heavy sigh, his tone lowered, "My dear Su Tao, I guessed you'd have some friction with that jealous freak when you met. But I didn't expect him to be so vicious."

When Su Tao heard him mention Xie Jin, her expression stiffened as she turned on her office computer. Somewhat impatiently, she asked, "Get to the point, what is it?"

"He wants to acquire our company."