Avenge Our Love – The Second Breakup – Part Twelve, 1 of 2

World Hopping: Avenge Our Love

Translator: translationraven

First Published on Chaleuria

 

Cao Kun, who had just reached an agreement with Song Yucheng, received the news too. The adjustments to the requirements set by the National Radio and Television Administration was a disaster for Song Yucheng.

Cao Kun frowned, and sent a message to Song Yucheng. ‘Do as you see fit.’ He put down his phone and decided not to pay him any more attention.

He’d like to see how that confident Xie Qianchen, claiming revenge, would handle this impossible situation.

To put it simply, this was about the manager rankings.

There were ranking lists for managers and celebrities in the entertainment world. The celebrities were ranked according to popularity, of course. Managers were ranked according to the total value of the celebrities they managed.

This was also why Xie Qianchen’s record from years ago had still not been broken by anyone. He had numerous celebrities flourishing under his care.

No one could determine just how much power he had in the film industry. True, Xie Qianchen had not been in the industry for the longest time, and his connections were not so deep that he knew every single director. But he had enough reach. He had connections to practically half the film industry, so how could he not be able to make a newbie rise through the ranks with a network like his?

Plus, Xie Qianchen had had two mega A-listers under his care back then.

There were only six mega A-listers in China, and Xie Qianchen had managed two of them. Of the remaining four, one was his junior, one was a person he had nurtured and let go, and the last two were on good terms with him.

He was like a great shining pillar of glory in the entertainment industry. With a track record like his, Luo Tong would never surpass him even if he put all his all into it. He was only able to take the top spot after Xie Qianchen withdrew from active management, but he would always only be playing second fiddle.

This was also the main reason why Luo Tong hated Xie Qianchen with a passion.

According to the adjustments to the requirements, the base qualifications for managers had been changed again. A manager now needed to have at least two celebrities ranked as ‘minor celebrities’ to be considered a professional manager. Elite managers could only keep their base titles as ‘manager’ if they managed a celebrity who was an A-lister or higher.

Xie Qianchen had not been actively managing any celebrities for the past two years, and he only had Shen Yi and Qi Luo. However, Qi Luo had not officially made his debut yet, and Shen Yi was only a small-time celebrity. There was no way he had any position at all in the industry — he was at the bottom.

Luo Tong wanted to make use of Xie Qianchen’s lack of popular celebrities. This was the loophole he could exploit.

Just keeping the title as ‘professional manager’ was difficult enough. Having two minor celebrities sounded easy, but it was not that simple to even make it to the minor leagues as a celebrity.

Shen Yi had made his debut in an online drama and had some popularity but it was useless. He had no proper rank as a celebrity, and could only be called a public figure at most. He wasn’t even ranked as high as Xie Qianchen.

Xie Qianchen had won the Hundred Flowers Best Supporting Actor award after all, so he was still ranked at the tail-end of the minor celebrities list though he had retired from acting years ago. The file assessment timeframe meant that Song Yucheng wouldn’t be able to meet the requirements, no matter what. He couldn’t even produce two minor celebrities, much less an A-lister.

In Xie Qianchen’s office.

The physical notice from the National Radio and Television Administration and Cao Kun’s text message arrived in Song Yucheng’s inbox at almost the same time. Both held similar messages — there was only a month and a half before the final review. If Song Yucheng failed to meet the requirements then, he would be well and truly f*cked.

Revenge? He wouldn’t even have the qualifications to continue as a manager.

System: I feel cold for some reason. [GonnaPissMyself.jpg]

Song Yucheng was speechless. This unreliable System was lucky it had met him. This reaction from the System would probably result in 10,000 complaint reports if it were paired with another Enforcer who needed help.

But now was not the time to think about these things. He knew what this notice was telling him, and what he had to do now was to find a way to solve his immediate problem. It was a good thing that Xie Qianchen had another identity, though it was a pseudonym. It was still going to be a great help.

Nobody, not even Cao Kun, knew that Xie Qianchen was also a scriptwriter.

Song Yucheng had an idea. He sent a message to Cao Kun. ‘President Cao, there is a public welfare short film project now, right? I want an opportunity to work on it.’

‘Sure.’ They had an agreement. Cao Kun didn’t have high hopes for Song Yucheng to turn the tides but he still agreed right away. He told his subordinate to deliver the registration form to Song Yucheng.

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Meanwhile, Xiao Lun was hopping mad in the hospital. He had been sure that Cao Kun would not let Xie Qianchen off after suffering such humiliation. Never in a million years did he think that Cao Kun would let this slide, and even hear news that Xie Qianchen was going to be active again in the film industry.

What the f*ck? Was Cao Kun mentally handicapped? Or was it Xie Qianchen who had got to him? Cao Kun had not touched him for ten years, and now that something big has happened, he was treating him like some precious treasure!

More importantly, Cao Kun’s public relations agents were pretty good too. Both of them had been publicly humiliated, and he was still up there on the trending list but Cao Kun’s piece of news was already losing popularity. Cao Kun had simply overturned it with a simple statement that he had been a victim of fake pills.

But come to think of it, Cao Kun was like the prodigal son of scandals. What was a threesome with models to him? That bit of news about him being cucked by a model was just a sort of clarification. Everyone had fun, and it was old news.

It was different for him, however. There was no way that Xiao Lun could wash the dirt off his name now that his good reputation had been ruined. Those photographs had completely brainwashed the netizens. The club, money boys and hospital were all real, and it was still damning even if he had been framed.

He now had a problem with one of his key functions and could not even get out of bed. He couldn’t go cause trouble for Xie Qianchen and Cao Kun, and could only stew in his anger.

When his eldest brother came to visit, Xiao Lun’s first words to him were to ask him to help him strike back at Cao Kun. He didn’t expect that he would almost pass out from anger because of the orders he received from his brother.

“What did you say?” Xia Lun could not believe his ears. Something this bad had happened to him, and his brother had not consoled him. He actually told him that their parents had banned him from appearing in public and were forcibly sending him overseas.

“Why are they doing this? That bastard Cao Kun started it first! And Xie Qianchen was behind it too. Why am I being sent away?” Xiao Lun tried to protest.

This time, however, his eldest brother was unmoved. He called for his men to have Xiao Lun transferred to another hospital.

Lu Mian was not a person the Xiao family could afford to offend. Xiao Lun’s eldest brother didn’t understand what a has-been manager had to do with him, but Lu Mian wanted to protect this man, and to keep it quiet from him, so this was the only way to get Xiao Lun out of the way.

Everyone knew that Xie Qianchen and Xiao Lun had bad blood between them. He could not tell how highly Lu Mian held Xie Qianchen in his regard either, so he could not gamble with his little brother’s future on it. He had to be ruthless.

Xiao Lun’s eldest brother grew more firm about sending him away after those thoughts ran through his mind.

Xiao Lun could not go against his brother, and could only agree to let himself be sent away. Before he was sent away, he found an opportunity to call Cao Kun. Cao Kun seemed to have no intention of answering the phone call, so he called Xie Qianchen instead in his disgruntlement.

“You’re f*cking smug now, aren’t you?” Xiao Lun spoke through his clenched jaws. “I’m being sent away by my brother. There’s no one to keep you in line now!”

“How can that be?”

“Stop with the act. I won’t let you off!”

“What is it that you don’t want to let me off for, Mr Xiao?” His charming and gentle words, and the ambiguous tone he used stroked at Xiao Lun’s ears like soft silk.

Xiao Lun’s uncomfortable nether region suddenly spiked with pain. He let out a curse.

Song Yucheng, however, laughed gaily. “It seems Mr Xiao’s glory still stands. Congratulations. No need to thank me though — you are a good-looking one after all, and I did have fun.

“But I am busy now, so I can’t keep entertaining you anymore, Mr Xiao. Goodbye.” Song Yucheng hung up.

Xiao Lun was dizzy with anger. How dare he! He hung up on him!

Busy? Xie Qianchen had just two little celebrities to manage, and he said he was busy?! What sort of joke was this? The other parts of the phone call also felt like a slap to his face; it was humiliating.

He was good-looking and Xie Qianchen had fun? So was he saying that he was pretty much the same as the money boys at the Lucky Cauldron?

Xiao Lun was beside himself with anger, but his brother did not give him more time to dally. He ignored Xiao Lun’s struggling, took him straight out of there and put him on a plane out of the country.

With Xiao Lun gone, Song Yucheng had less external problems to deal with. However, Luo Tong was still in the country, and he had sworn to kill Xie Qianchen.

It was no coincidence then, that Luo Tong was an old rival, and one with very consistent behaviour. He had signed up to participate in the public welfare short film project at the time Song Yucheng had sent a message about it to Cao Kun.

This was a delicate situation. Many people in the industry were quietly keeping an eye on this, trying to guess at the final outcome. Xie Qianchen had not come out of his shell for a long time after all, so there were not many people supporting him. Many felt that Xie Qianchen was just wasting time.

It looked like he wouldn’t even be able to keep his qualification as a manager now, so what was he bothering with a public welfare short film project for? Was this short film going to put Shen Yi in the minor celebrity rankings?

Dream on!

Luo Tong responded to the news with a snort of ridicule. Xie Qianchen had definitely gone mad.

 

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