Chapter 294 - Attempt at changing the topic. Failed. (2)

Xi Wenjun glanced at Shen Weiyin's screen. Sure enough, it was a Weibo post about Lu Beichuan and Ye Zhen.

"I already told you. Don't look at news about them before you win the award for film empress! Why do you keep forgetting?!"

Shen Weiyin calmly got up, took out a cigarette and lighter from her bag, walked to the window, and lit the cigarette.

Xi Wenjun strode forward to take the cigarette from Shen Weiyin, but Shen Weiyin blocked her hand.

Shen Weiyin took a deep breath. Tobacco seemed to numb her nerves. "If they write nonsense about me, then just let them." She coldly looked at Xi Wenjun. "You're my agent. At this time, you should lock the door and open the window for me."

She exhaled a ring of smoke. As she looked at the silent night in the distance, she bitterly smiled. "It's so late. What do you think they're doing right now?"

"Weiyin! Stop thinking about them!"

"You want me to stop thinking about what I can't get?" Shen Weiyin scoffed. "At this time, they're probably making love."

Xi Wenjun didn't know how to persuade her. She had said and done everything that should be said and done. Lu Beichuan didn't care at all about the rumors online. He brought his wife along to various banquets and functions. He confidently showed public displays of affection. Everyone in their social circle knew that Lu Beichuan and Ye Zhen were a loving couple. They were practically glued at the hip.

"During this time, I keep thinking what if. What if I hadn't been so prideful back then? What if I had confessed to him? Perhaps, it would be different now. The more I think about… the more I want it. The more unattainable it is, the more I think about it." Shen Weiyin lazily looked at Xi Wenjun. "That thought won't leave my mind. The more I think about it, the more I hate my past self. Pride is worth sh*t!"

Shen Weiyin stared at the ember between her fingers and sneered. "What I can't have, no one else can have it either."

Seeing her like this, Xi Wenjun was scared that she was going to do something extreme. "What exactly do you want to do?"

Shen Weiyin smiled. "What can I do? I'm a mere actress. How can I shake up a giant tree like Lu Corporation?"

"It's good as long as you know. You're an actress. Your job is to focus on that movie you acted in in the first half of the year. The director from the movie contacted me. The movie trailer will be released at the end of the year. Let's cooperate with publicizing the movie. Once the release time of the movie is officially confirmed, we'll be plenty busy."

Shen Weiyin casually murmured an acknowledgement. It was very windy outside, and the lit part quickly reached the end of the cigarette. She pressed the cigarette butt on the windowsill to extinguish the flame, leaving a dark mark on the windowsill.

"Don't worry, I must win the title of film empress!"

Xi Wenjun finally smiled. "That's right. Cheer up. There's no one eligible to win the film empress title other than you. Come on, let's go. The director is still waiting for us."

***

Hundreds of kilometers away from them, in the Lu's mansion, Ye Zhen was lying on the bed and reading the animated discussion online with relish. She read all the way from the first page to the last one.

The original poster had such a thorough understanding of the Ye's family affairs. It had to be someone who had close contact with a member of the Ye's.

Lu Beichuan entered the room and looked at Ye Zhen, who's attention was focused on the tablet. He casually asked, "What are you looking at?"

It was just an offhanded question, but Ye Zhen sat up and showed the post to Lu Beichuan. "What should we do? Everyone knows about the "incomparable love" between us."

Lu Beichuan raised his eyebrows. He took the tablet, casually swiped the screen, and skimmed the post.

"Actually, they're not wrong." Ye Zhen looked at Lu Beichuan with a smile. "Brother-in-law, when did you fall for your sister-in-law?"

Chapter 295 - You Jing, do you know why I broke up with you? (3)

Lu Beichuan deeply looked at Ye Zhen and seemed to have thought of something that made him incomparably happy. He put the tablet down on the bed, bent a leg on the bed, and got up close to Ye Zhen with his hands resting on the headboard, forcing her to lean back and look up at him.

Most of the overhead light was blocked by Lu Beichuan and his shadow enveloped Ye Zhen's figure.

"Brother-in-law?" Lu Beichuan flippantly held her chin. This smile in his eyes deepened. "Rather than Brother-in-law, I rather you call me…" He leaned close to Ye Zhen's ear and whispered.

He blithely said that word, but Ye Zhen felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She instantly flushed with embarrassment. That embarrassment turned into anger in her eyes. Utterly discomfited, she pushed Lu Beichuan away.

"Shut up! You hooligan!"

Lu Beichuan looked like a serious person, but he was a beast at heart! He was a beast camouflaged in a gentleman's attire.

Ye Zhen glared at him. She tossed a pillow at him, indicating for him to go sleep in the study.

Lu Beichuan held the pillow. Quitting while he was ahead, he tried changing the topic to calm her anger. "Qin Zhiyin told me today that Qinhua’s Riverside's filming and its first trailer has already been completed. The post-production is near completion too. How is the review going?"

Ye Zhen still had residual anger, but most of it was embarrassment. In an unhappy tone, she said, "Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on that."

From her tone, he could tell that he had annoyed her a lot.

Lu Beichuan put away his smile and said with a businesslike attitude, "I recently received news that the review department has been more stringent with the subject matters in movies. It might be difficult to get approval."

Once Lu Beichuan said that, Ye Zhen was no longer in the mood to be angry with him. Her focus was completely diverted to the movie. "They've gotten stricter again? How come?"

"The people below will put a blanket ban if there's an order from above. It's always been like that. Once you've come into contact with more things, you'll get used to the changes brought by the marketplace and government policy."

Ye Zhen furrowed her brow and didn't say anything for a while.

She went through the movie's plot. It didn't have prohibited plots or explicit s*x scenes, but it had a sensitive subject matter and several adult scenes. If they deleted those scenes, it was bound to cause flaws in the interpretation of the movie.

He could see that Ye Zhen was worried. He tossed the pillow onto the bed and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He quietly said, "I'm here. Don't worry."

Ye Zhen sighed. "Yeah, let's worry about it when the time comes. If there are scenes that have to be deleted, there's nothing we can do about it."

"When will the trailer be released?"

Ye Zhen mulled it over. "I'll pay the review department a visit in a few days. If there's no problem, we should be able to release the trailer before the end of the year."

Lu Beichuan advised, "If your meeting with the review department doesn't go well, try having tea with the mayor's wife."

Ye Zhen raised her eyebrows as she looked at Lu Beichuan. She had almost forgotten about Madam Zhou.

Fortunately, Lu Beichuan had reminded her.

She and Madam Zhou had happily chatted at Madam Zhou's birthday party. Madam Zhou had also said she could go look for her if a problem came up with the review process of the movie. Later on, she had met with Madam Zhou many times at various functions.

"No problem, I'll schedule a meeting with her tomorrow!"

With a beauty by his side, it was natural that his mind would roam towards a certain direction. "We can talk more about work during work hours. It's getting late. Let's turn in."

Lu Beichuan made to get in bed. Just after he got under the blanket, Ye Zhen looked over with doubtful eyes. She suddenly remembered what happened recently. With a calm face, she pointed at the door. "You, study."

Attempt at changing the topic. Failed.

Lu Beichuan carried a pillow and blanket to study. Lying on the small bed in the study, he stared at the ceiling and suffered from insomnia for half of the night.

Chapter 296 - You Jing, do you know why I broke up with you? (1)

Ye Zhen deliberately ran into Madam Zhou at a function in order to create an opportunity to talk about getting the movie approved.

When they sat down, they tossed aside that they were at a function and happily chatted. Madam Zhou liked Ye Zhen's frankness and enthusiasm, and Ye Zhen liked Madam Zhou's elegance, generosity, and gentleness. When Madam Zhou asked Ye Zhen what she had been up to recently, Ye Zhen didn't directly say she had been busy with getting the movie approved. Instead, she brought up gossip.

Madam Zhou pointedly looked at her. Ye Zhen felt embarrassed.

"You're usually a clever person. Why are you embarrassed to speak your mind in front of me?"

Ye Zhen said with a smile, "I was thinking that I don't need to bother you about the movie."

Madam Zhou smiled back. "You don't have to worry about the movie's review. I'll talk to my husband about it. The movie will pass review as soon as possible."

"No," Ye Zhen rejected her, "Madam Zhou, thank you for your good intentions. There's no need to have Mayor Zhou use his official authority for private interests. My intention is to have the review department review the movie in accordance with regulations. If any of the parts or storyline don't meet the requirements, I hope they can give a response about it as soon as possible."

Madam Zhou immediately understood what she meant.

It was common for the reviewers to be slow with reviewing. The review process for a movie could be delayed anywhere from a few months to a few years. The review department could afford the delay, but Ye Zhen couldn't afford the delay on her movie.

Ye Zhen's words instill a favorable impression in Madam Zhou. Officials were most scrupulous about getting involved with business people.

"I know what to say to my husband."

Ye Zhen and Madam Zhou smiled at each other and didn't say anymore about this topic.

***

Just as Madam Zhou had said, the review process that took place in the following days went extremely smooth. The communication between Chaoxun Entertainment and the Review Department went very smoothly.

However, Ye Zhenting's case review also came to an end during this time.

From Ye Zhenting's arrest to the completion of the case review and prosecution, over four months had passed. A verdict was finally reached.

Ye Zhenting was found guilty of kidnapping and extortion. Human testimony and material evidence, including a phone recording were all available. Moreover, Ye Zhenting pleaded guilty to the charges. He was sentenced to seven years in prison.

The reason why Ye Zhenting so nimbly pleaded guilty was probably because he had thought about his outcome if he appealed and was successful. There were loan sharks waiting for him once he left prison. He wanted to save his life. In this day and age, there was only hope if you lived. There was nothing left once you died.

Therefore, he was fine as long as the loan sharks didn't come looking for him in prison. As for Mother Ye and Ye Qing, their lives weren't at risk. At most, the loan sharks would take away the mansion and their cars.

However, in the past four months, Mother Ye had been posting on Weibo every day. She angrily rebuked Ye Zhen for not taking into consideration the bond between parent and child and for framing her father. She asserted that was going to call the police and expose Ye Zhen's true colors!

Mother Ye had also written a small article describing Ye Zhen's indifference to her maiden family in the past years and how Ye Zhen was greedy and vain and stole her sister's husband. Reading between the lines, one could see that she wished to trample Ye Zhen.

She was like a rabid dog on Weibo. She wouldn't let off Ye Zhen.

Of course, this kind of ethical drama attracted many readers. In the past month, many people scolded Mother Ye from not knowing right from wrong and posted the link to that popular forum post to her. Mother Ye strongly denied the facts written in that forum post. She insisted that someone was deliberately discrediting her family.

Of course, there were people who thought there's no smoke without fire. Since Mother Ye dared to say these things, then Ye Zhen must have done something awful and they just didn't know about it. They shouted for Ye Zhen to come out and clarify the issue. After all, they were a family. Even if there were contradictions, she couldn't sever her relationship with her family. She shouldn't be so cold and ruthless.

However, the interest in this topic waned to nothing with the passage of time.

A month later, Mother Ye continued to bite at Ye Zhen, but except for the paid commenters stationed under her Weibo, no one paid attention to her.

No matter what she said, no one believed her anymore.

Chapter 297 - The whistleblower solemnly vowed that he had evidence to back up his claim (2)

After Ye Zhenting was sentenced to seven years in prison, someone saw online the news of the Ye's mansion and other real estate being put up for auction. An insider revealed the news that the Ye's had to sell all of their property in order to pay back the huge debt Ye Zhenting owned to the loan sharks.

Ye Qing's contract was still with Chaoxun Entertainment. She couldn't afford to pay the high liquidating damages. There was even less hope of winning a lawsuit. Without anyone noticing, she disappeared from the public's eye.

The only person left was Mother Ye, who kept up with the Weibo posts. But that was for naught. Ye Zhen didn't care about this at all.

Qinhua’s Riverside's trailer had been released. Although the movie didn't have a well-known director, Chaoxun Entertainment did its utmost to publicize the movie, online and offline.

In addition to Chaoxun Entertainment's hyping of the movie, people were surprised to see that Ye Zhen's name was on the credits list. She was actually the producer of the movie?!

Ye Zhen?

Ye Zhen as in the wife of Lu Beichuan, the CEO of Lu Conglomerate?

When did she become a producer?

Many people put up a summary of Ye Zhen's academic and work records. With her unremarkable record paired with the lackluster cast of actors and actresses, many people had misgivings about the movie despite the excellently produced trailer.

The director wasn't well-known, and the producer had no relevant experience. Other than Meng Jie, who played the part of the heroine, the other cast members weren't well-known. As for Meng Jie, her popularity had been at its zenith four years ago.

With a lineup like this one, it was inevitable that many people would doubt the quality of the movie.

However, there were more people speculation whether this was Lu Corporation's poor judgment or if it had been hoodwinked by members of the entertainment industry. After all, the trailer was only a few minutes. No matter the quality of the movie, it was possible to take out a few minutes of wonderful scenes from it to showcase.

While people were excitedly discussing this well-publicized film online, hot pieces of news suddenly arrived.

There were earth-shattering rumors that the actor, who played the male protagonist, was a two-timer, drove while drunk, hit reporters, and was temperamental and arrogant. There were rumors that his mother was a third party in a relationship and troubled the wife of the man she was cheating. The man's wife ended up miscarrying because of her.

The private life of the actress playing a supporting female character was also messy. There were claims that she had an affair with the director of the movie and it was accompanied with photos and facts. These rumors were so fantastical.

Even Meng Jie wasn't let off. It was said that her splendid success four years ago was because she had been kept by a rich man for five years.

The entire cast was plagued with negative rumors. Chaoxun Entertainment was faced with a huge public relations crisis.

Qin Zhiyin wasn't frazzled by this. With her past experience, she deftly dealt with these negative rumors. She clarified the facts and had the lawyers' send out their legal letters. She used all possible means to deal with this public relation issue, but the other party was obstinate and seemed determined to bite off a piece of meat from Qinhua’s Riverside.

This small-scaled attack was actually nothing to be scared about. From another perspective, negative attention was still attention. The more people negatively affected, the more the scope of attention would spread. Moreover, netizens had limited attention. The interest in this topic wouldn't last for long.

However, another piece of news came out at this time.

It was said that Lu Corporation had paid a bribe to get Qinhua’s Riverside to pass review. That a government official and Lu Corporation were mutually shielding each other.

The whistleblower solemnly vowed that he had evidence to back up his claim.

This hot piece of news ignited the netizens' attention.

Chapter 298 - You Jing, do you know why I broke up with you? (3)

Qin Zhiyin sent a lawyer's letter to the person who broke out this news. She strongly criticized him for these baseless rumors. However, the whistleblower seemed determined and didn't withdraw or change his previous remark. He insisted that Lu Corporation had colluded with the Review Department.

This incident seemed to have alarmed the relevant department. It was a big deal.

Qin Zhiyin informed Lu Beichuan of this matter. After investigating this matter, he found out that You Jing was the one behind this incident.

Meng Jie guessed that You Jing wouldn't easily let her off, so she called him. This was the first time she called him after blocking him four years ago.

When Meng Jie made the call, You Jing was in a drunken stupor and in the midst of a fog of cigarette smoke. He was with a group of rich youngsters. They were all from well-off families and didn't worry about their future.

When his phone rang, You Jing didn't notice, but one of the good-for-nothing youngsters he was with got impatient with the ringing phone. He raised his head and shouted, "F*ck. Who's phone is it? So noisy!"

The people around him checked their phones. It wasn't them.

Someone pointed at You Jing. "Young Master You, your phone is ringing."

You Jing looked at him in askance. It took him a long time before he lazily picked up his phone. The name on the screen immediately shot him with a jolt of energy. He jumped up from the sofa with a whoosh and told people to turn off the music and quiet down.

These good-for-nothing youngsters looked at each other. They didn't know who the caller was that could make You Jing so excited. Even when You Jing's dad called to check up on him, they didn't seem him properly standing up like a soldier.

The music stopped, and the voices dimmed. You Jing took a deep breath. As he pushed down his excitement and prepared to press the answer button with a trembling hand, he smiled. It was a conceited smile.