After I Gave Up/Let Things Slide, I Became Famous Across The Entire Internet - Chapter 12

The meal left the two of them feeling uneasy.

After dinner, Tang Shuxia found an excuse to slip away.

“Quick, let’s go.”

“…”

Xie Jinzhi had never seen Tang Shuxia flee in such a hurry, almost running for her life as if something was chasing her. Only when they were sitting in the car did she finally blurt out, “Grandpa and Grandma aren’t monsters that eat people, why are you running so fast?”

Tang Shuxia replied, “You don’t understand.”

To the original host, these people were blood related relatives who exuded kindness. To her, they were just strangers showing goodwill. The only connection between them was the original host, and since the original host was dead, some things could never be said. Tang Shuxia had always been one to return a foot of kindness with an inch of respect.

She occupied the original host’s body, so she had to accept this grace.

If she were facing truly wicked people, she could act without batting an eye. It was precisely these people who exchanged sincerity for affection that left her at a loss.

Seeing that Tang Shuxia didn’t want to elaborate, Xie Jinzhi didn’t press further.

Meanwhile, the three members of the Sheng family watched the inexpensive sedan drive away. The old man sighed slightly, “This child has clearly suffered a lot.”

At these words, the old lady’s tears began to fall like pearls, unstoppable. “I still remember, every time she saw me when she was little, she would rush into my arms and cry out in a baby voice, ‘Grandma, Grandma.’ Now, her guard is up so high, she can’t relax even in front of us. It must be all that bad seed Tang Mingcheng’s fault, and the woman he married later. They abused our Xiaxia. I always said we should have raised her here, but you two insisted on respecting Xiaxia’s wishes. Now look, she’s been bullied like this. Oh, my poor Xue’er, my poor Xiaxia, my heart aches so much.”

Sheng Gaoyang quickly supported the old lady, seeing she looked like she was about to faint from crying. “Mom, Mom, Xiaxia is grown up now. I promise you, I will never let them bully Xiaxia again.”

The old man heavily struck the ground with his cane. “It’s time to let them know that we Sheng family people are not to be trifled with.”

Xie Jinzhi only remembered the main business after seeing Tang Shuxia home.

“Wait.”

“Is there something else?”

Xie Jinzhi nodded vigorously. She felt it was necessary to have a serious conversation with Tang Shuxia about work matters.

After saying that, she naturally walked into Tang Shuxia’s house. With one meeting, they were familiar; with two, they were closer. Xie Jinzhi would no longer ask stupid questions like, ‘How come I don’t remember you having such rich friends?’ or ‘You don’t mind that your wealthy friend is here, do you?’

After spending these few days together, she finally understood: her artist was a low-key rich second generation, making deals worth tens of millions without blinking and giving her more than half. She felt ashamed that she had taken the liberty of securing a company apartment for her, thinking the small, shabby forty square meter place was all Tang Shuxia could live in. She felt like an unworthy manager.

Tang Shuxia didn’t refuse. After skillfully entering the password, she threw herself onto the sofa upon entering and asked, “What is it?”

For some reason, whenever Xie Jinzhi met Tang Shuxia’s deep gaze, she felt a tingling sensation on her scalp. But she steeled herself and stammered as she took out the contract from her bag. “Shuxia, I know you’re disheartened with the company and even the entire entertainment industry because of that pair of despicable man and woman, but please look at this first.”

Most company and artist contracts are for three years or more; some predatory contracts even bind an artist for ten years or more, all to keep the artist in hand and exploit them to the fullest. Xie Jinzhi couldn’t claim to be the best manager, but she had strongly persuaded Tang Shuxia to sign a three year contract.

According to the original plan, during these three years, she would have Tang Shuxia become familiar in a big production crew, hopefully land one or two leading roles, and appear in a few variety shows to gain fans and secure some endorsements. Even if she didn’t become a huge star, she would have a foothold in the industry. Who would have thought that one Cheng Zeyu and one photo seemingly showing an embrace would ruin three years of planning, rendering everything in vain?

Tang Shuxia picked up the contract and flipped through the pages, reading extremely carefully.

The only sound in the room was the rustling of the pages. Xie Jinzhi watched Tang Shuxia’s brow furrow tighter and tighter as she read to the end. “Although this incident has had a big impact on you, if we seize this opportunity, we can win a beautiful comeback. Shuxia, don’t be impulsive. If you feel the company’s treatment isn’t right, I will try my best to negotiate with the company to redraft a contract.”

But going on strike at the drop of a hat was too frightening.

Xie Jinzhi hadn’t slept well these past few days, occasionally dreaming that Tang Shuxia would really quit. The thought of Tang Shuxia, having just resolved the issue of being slandered online, immediately having to deal with a contract termination lawsuit with the company made her feel trapped between the company and Tang Shuxia, neither here nor there just thinking about it made life unbearable.

Tang Shuxia asked, “Breach of contract fee.”

Xie Jinzhi nodded. “When we signed the contract… I mentioned it to you, and you said you had no problem with it.”

Tang Shuxia tossed the contract onto the table. “Heh.”

Xie Jinzhi,

“…”

Don’t, that smile was terrifying.

Tang Shuxia casually glanced at her and delivered a harsh line: “If you want to snatch money from my hands, I think you guys are tired of living.”

Xie Jinzhi,

“…”

Great, her brain was acting up again.

Xie Jinzhi cleared her throat. “The contract was written like that, Shuxia. Even if you hire a lawyer, the lawyer would probably advise you against breaching it.” Because the penalty was too high. Forget an ordinary artist; even seeing Tang Shuxia’s villa and knowing her maternal family was wealthy, Xie Jinzhi still advised against this path. It would be better to work for two more years, and then everyone could go their separate ways when the contract expired.

Just thinking about that huge sum of money going into the company’s pocket made Xie Jinzhi wince. What couldn’t be done with that much money?

To be fair, Tang Shuxia also felt the pinch hearing that.

She recalled how hard she had worked to expand her territory in those years, once having to subsist on corn cakes for five whole months during the most difficult times. She checked her account; she could afford the penalty, but paying it would immediately turn her from wealthy back to abject poverty. Tang Shuxia did not want to live that hand to mouth existence again.

Tang Shuxia said, “Allow me to consider it.”

Xie Jinzhi’s eyes lit up. There was room for negotiation! She said excitedly, “Okay, take your time to consider. Let me know if you have any requests at any time. I will do my best to fight for whatever I can for you.”

Tang Shuxia replied, “Mm.”

When Xie Jinzhi left, her steps were light. Once she was sure Tang Shuxia couldn’t see her, she clenched her fist and jumped excitedly a couple of times on the spot. It’s great! Only when she sat back in her car and was about to fasten her seatbelt did she notice a line of sight from the building next door. She wondered if anyone had seen her crazy little jig. “…”

She rubbed her face, stepped on the accelerator, and sped away. It was too embarrassing.

When Xie Jinzhi picked up her phone again, she was shocked to realize that the hot search topic related to Tang Shuxia, which had been lingering at the tail end of the trending list that afternoon, had surged into the top ten of the hot search rankings after fermenting all afternoon, clearly trailing behind the terms related to Cheng Zeyu and Mu Yingying.

Xie Jinzhi: “???”

These netizens were truly toxic.

Fortunately, she didn’t have to dwell on it for too long. By 9 PM, the gossip account posted another update on Weibo. It specifically tagged Cheng Zeyu’s clarification video, adding the caption: “[I can’t tell at all that you’re drunk and talking nonsense. Also, here is a friendly attachment of a drunk Cheng Zeyu from a certain store’s surveillance video.]”

Mu Yingying also followed this gossip account. Her years of professional vigilance told her that this matter would likely not end well, especially since, after Cheng Zeyu’s clarification, there was still so much negative fallout. It was almost as if Cheng Zeyu’s clarification hadn’t helped her at all, but instead plunged her into a worse situation, as if someone was deliberately targeting her.

So, when the video was released, she immediately clicked on it.

In the video, Cheng Zeyu sat at a table, relaxed, speaking eloquently. In addition to the two major revelations that the public already knew by heart, there was a major revelation that followed:

“??? What do you mean by the good work I did? What did you say when I suggested it? You said that since she was just an unknown minor character and didn’t have the fate to become famous, we might as well give her a helping hand to keep her away from the turmoil of the entertainment industry, and that maybe in a few years she would thank us.”

“Didn’t I mention this matter to you before? A woman suddenly approached me and promised us resources if we ruined Tang Shuxia’s reputation. I told you last time, and you immediately agreed. I’m telling you, things have come to this point, don’t think you can just walk away cleanly.”

Mu Yingying was stunned.

The other voice appearing in the recording was clearly her own.

How could this be? How could this be?

She immediately drove to a villa in the suburbs. As soon as she entered the door, she rushed towards the room upstairs. However, before she could get close, she heard a woman’s voice from inside, sounding like she was being coerced.

Her expression changed, but she patiently waited downstairs until the matter upstairs was concluded.

A man, both fat and old, came downstairs half-embracing his new flame. The new flame cheerfully greeted Mu Yingying, “Oh, isn’t this our Sister Mu?”

Mu Yingying’s expression was cold. She completely ignored her, instead stepping closer to the old man and saying barely audibly, “Brother Xing, can I talk to you alone for a moment?”

Pei Xingbang signaled the woman in his arms, who reluctantly pouted and left.

Mu Yingying pleaded, “Brother Xing, only you can help me this time.”

Pei Xingbang snorted with laughter, mimicking someone’s tone, “Old man, old and ugly?”

Mu Yingying’s face turned pale. She swallowed hard, “Brother Xing, this is truly a misunderstanding.”

Pei Xingbang grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the wall three times, bang, bang, bang. “A misunderstanding? But it seems like you didn’t deny it. You took my money and flirted with that pretty boy behind my back, and now you look down on this old man, right? I seriously doubt that child was mine. What if you gave birth to it with him behind my back, and I have to raise your bastard?”

Mu Yingying’s vision swam with stars from the pain. “No, Brother Xing, it’s really not.”

Pei Xingbang slapped her a few more times in return. “Get out! Take yourself and that bastard child of yours and get out of here!”