Chapter 75
Until the incident escalated and the leading actors involved were used by marketing accounts to stir up gossip, people finally realized that many once-popular and well-known actors and singers were actually under the Xie Corporation.
‘Lunar Rescue’ had a huge production, and more than half of Xie Corporation's actors participated in it. Some of them were filming outside, and during interviews, they were inevitably questioned by reporters about their views on the film source leak.
Zhong Ning had no interest in her classes. She spent almost the entire day watching related videos, viewing these interviews, and following the marketing accounts' speculations.
She just couldn’t stop worrying. After hearing Xie Shiqing’s self-deprecating words last night, she felt even more distressed.
During lunch break, Fu Nanshuang came to find her for a meal, only to see her with a gloomy face, all wrinkled up like a bitter melon.
She rolled her eyes right on the spot.
“On How All My Friends Are Hopeless Romantics”
"Don’t you know what kind of person Xie Shiqing is? How could she possibly suffer a loss?" Fu Nanshuang came over carrying two bowls of noodles, placing one in front of Zhong Ning. "She started helping with company affairs before even graduating high school. She’s handled more crises than you’ve had meals."
As she spoke, genuine admiration appeared on Fu Nanshuang’s face. "Really, her skills aren’t just impressive. Do you still remember the car accident from back then?"
Of course Zhong Ning didn’t remember, but she nodded slightly.
"That car accident was so sudden. Her parents died on the spot. Although she only suffered minor injuries, her eyes went blind. It was the Head of the Zhong family who helped arrange the funeral. Not long after the funeral, those shareholders began causing trouble."
Fu Nanshuang mixed the seasonings into her noodles with chopsticks. Recalling the past, she couldn’t help but click her tongue.
During that time, her two unreliable mothers didn’t even bother calling their little lovers—they were too busy watching the drama unfold and expressing their amazement.
When she got a bit older, this event became a textbook example her mothers recounted to her.
Sudden death, stock volatility, and the company was in chaos like a sieve. Nearly every shareholder was plotting to seize control of the company for themselves. Only one major shareholder, surnamed Su, who had been the former Head of the Xie family’s most trusted confidant, was firmly determined to support Xie Shiqing’s rise to power.
In fact, given the means of the previous Head of the Xie family, there should have been more loyal allies. But somehow, all of them started acting out together, almost causing the Xie Corporation to split apart completely.
Xie Shiqing came out of the operating room and showed up at the company in a wheelchair the very next day.
How young she had been then—eyes covered in gauze, a hospital gown draped with an overcoat. She looked like she was carved out of ice. The clothes hung loosely on her body, as if she were a ghost, quietly sitting there.
Following behind her were people from the tax bureau. Several of the noisiest troublemakers were directly taken away on charges of tax evasion, with solid evidence in hand. It was obvious that this wasn't something newly discovered, but rather a card that had been held in reserve all along.
Once those people were dragged away struggling, she finally spoke her first sentence. No greetings, no pleasantries, and no explanations—she went straight into talking about the company's recent development plans. She left an agent behind at the company to handle the matters, and after finishing what she had to say, she left in her wheelchair and returned to the hospital.
Clean, decisive, and swift.
The effect of killing the chicken to warn the monkeys was immediate— the remaining shareholders all quieted down and stopped making a fuss.
Perhaps it was because so many years had passed, and Xie Shiqing had always appeared outwardly cheerful, always smiling and seemingly easy to talk to. Plus, some of the shareholders had been replaced with new faces, so they had forgotten what she used to be like.
This person, since taking over the Xie Corporation all those years ago, had never lost even once—there had never been a single misstep in her decisions.
She was practically a legend.
If it weren’t for the fact that the Fu family and Xie Corporation had little overlap in business dealings, and that Fu Nanshuang had become friends with Zhong Ning and joined her in disliking Xie Shiqing, she would have made a point to get close to her no matter what. Even if not particularly friendly, at least to the extent that they could talk.
That’s how impressive she was.
But this situation wasn’t bad either.
Rounding up, she and Xie Shiqing were now friends too.
As Zhong Ning listened to this story, she even forgot to chew the noodles in her mouth. In her heart, the image of Xie Shiqing was once again elevated.
"Xie Shiqing is sharp as a whip. She’ll definitely handle this well, don’t worry," Fu Nanshuang said disdainfully. "Besides, what’s the point of you worrying? Don’t give yourself an illness over it."
"We’re all outsiders here, can’t help at all, we can only trust her."
"I know," Zhong Ning said slowly, "but I just can’t control myself." Seeing her friend roll her eyes in exasperation, she lowered her head in shame.
After a while, she lifted her chin in defiance. "Haven’t you ever worried about your girlfriend?"
Fu Nanshuang gave a laugh and stabbed a piece of melon with her fork, popping it into her mouth. "Worry about what? That they’ll mess up their manicure again?"
"We’re all just playing around. When we get tired of each other, we break up. It’s not that serious."
"Speaking of which, does your family want you to marry for alliance purposes?" Zhong Ning suddenly asked.
"Honestly, now that the company’s developed to this point, marriage alliances are just icing on the cake. They don’t change much. What, if I don’t get married, our partners won’t stay friendly anymore? If that logic held, every family would need to have how many daughters to marry off?"
Fu Nanshuang’s tone held a touch of sarcasm and boredom. "But who knows. At least those two unreliable ones haven’t mentioned it yet. Tsk, I don’t even want to talk about them. Just brings on a headache. You have no idea—they’ve been acting up again lately, insisting on going traveling and dragging me along."
"Each of them bringing one of their little lovers, and then dragging me too. Calling it a ‘family vacation.’ Ugh! I’m seriously about to lose it."
Zhong Ning responded with a sympathetic look.
She really didn’t have any advice to offer. The Fu family’s affairs were like an absurd comedy, and yet everyone involved acted like it was completely normal. The best course was not to get involved.
Fu Nanshuang was just venting, complaining a bit casually.
She lowered her head and ate a few more bites of melon. After just a few mouthfuls, something seemed to come to mind. She reached into her crossbody bag and pulled out a copy of Advanced Mathematics.
"Right, I haven’t been paying attention in class these past couple of days. The teacher assigned homework, and I don’t know how to do it."