Chapter 0993: Imposing Momentum

Until she left the coffee shop where she had met Zhao Fusheng, Zheng Yao's face was frighteningly gloomy. Even after returning to the headquarters of Future Advertising, her expression showed no signs of thawing.

This news startled everyone.

After all, Zheng Yao was the head of Future Advertising. When the top boss was in a bad mood, the employees naturally kept silent as if walking on eggshells. The entire Future Advertising seemed enveloped in a storm.

After a long while, Zheng Yao instructed her secretary, "Call Future Film and Television and tell Bai Jie to come see me."

The secretary was somewhat surprised but nodded in agreement. Just as she was about to leave, she heard Zheng Yao shake her head and say, "No, I'll go over there instead. Prepare the car!"

"Ah? Yes." The secretary was even more surprised, never expecting Zheng Yao to personally go to Future Film and Television.

It was well known that although Future Film and Television was nominally a subsidiary of Future Advertising, ever since it became independent from the parent company, Zheng Yao had only been there once, when she announced the appointment. Apart from that, her visits had been limited.

It wasn't directed at anyone in particular; she simply felt that she didn't understand film and television production or the entertainment industry. Rather than go over and give misguided orders, it was better to stay in her lane, steer the ship well, and wait to see the return on investment.

From a certain perspective, this could be considered a form of self-awareness.

But today, President Zheng was actually going to Future Film and Television. Could something be about to happen?

Although the secretary's mind was filled with all sorts of random thoughts and baseless reasons, she didn't dare to slack off. She had already instructed the secretarial office to assemble the driver and Zheng Yao's advisory team, with the destination naturally being Future Film and Television.

Along the way, not only the secretary but also Zheng Yao's advisory team were utterly puzzled.

Each of them was an elite professional, well-versed in marketing, corporate management, and various other fields. They were a team that Zheng Yao had recruited at a high salary, answerable only to her. Their job scope was to study the progress of projects under the company's overall framework across all subsidiaries.

In simple terms, this was a think tank. They would do their utmost to help Zheng Yao make decisions that were most beneficial to the company.

But no matter how many prestigious universities they had graduated from or how many foreign languages they were fluent in, none of them could understand why Zheng Yao was suddenly making such a big show of force and bringing her team along. Could it be that she intended to reorganize Future Film and Television to prevent it from becoming too big to manage?

Several people simultaneously had this thought flash through their minds.

But on second thought, they found it too absurd and impossible. After all, Zheng Yao was no ordinary person. As a strong woman in the advertising circle who had started from scratch in the small city of Ninghai and made it to the capital, if she lacked that much depth, she probably wouldn't have come this far.

In other words, no matter how unwieldy Future Film and Television might seem, it was still nominally a subsidiary of Future Advertising. Zheng Yao, as both chairwoman and general manager, remained the one whose word was law. If Bai Jie had truly crossed her, she had countless ways to solve the problem and embarrass Bai Jie, without needing to make a grand show of barging into Future Film and Television like this.

This was the worst possible move.

Yet, Zheng Yao had done exactly that, and she did it openly and confidently, as if telling the other party, "I'm here to pick a fight today."

In fact, not only were these people puzzled, but even Bai Jie, who had received the notice, stood at the company entrance with a group of middle-level managers behind her, looking completely bewildered.

Why was Zheng Yao here?

Bai Jie's heart was full of confusion, and she even showed her bewilderment plainly on her face.

She was genuinely curious. After all, rumors said that she had squeezed out Dong Chenxi because of her close friendship with Zheng Yao. But in reality, both she and Zheng Yao knew very well that it was Dong Chenxi who was more trusted by the big boss Zhao Fusheng and was sent to head Future Investment.

But this was something that couldn't be brought up openly. Since Zhao Fusheng was the real boss and wanted to keep a low profile, she naturally couldn't say too much.

It was precisely for this reason that Bai Jie knew Zheng Yao basically wouldn't interfere with Future Film and Television's work, because she trusted her.

But what was happening now?

With such doubts, Bai Jie walked toward Zheng Yao as she got out of the car. "President Zheng, welcome for your inspection."

"Come on, don't stand on ceremony with me." Zheng Yao's attitude, however, was not as serious as many had imagined. She smiled and nodded at Bai Jie, then greeted the middle-level managers behind Bai Jie before leading her group upstairs.

"Today, I mainly want to understand the company's operations. Also, I'd like you to brief the colleagues from the Strategic Research Office on Future Film and Television's recent plans."

Sitting in the conference room, Zheng Yao said something to the middle-level managers of Future Film and Television that left everyone extremely surprised.

The Strategic Research Office of Future Advertising was the think tank that Zheng Yao had brought along.

Bai Jie naturally knew about this think tank from the parent company, but she hadn't expected Zheng Yao to come today specifically to have them listen to reports.

Her brows furrowed slightly as she looked at Zheng Yao, about to speak, but Zheng Yao decisively waved her hand and said, "That's it. President Bai and I will chat for a while; you all go ahead with your discussions."

Then she said to Bai Jie, "Bai Jie, care to have a word with me?"

Bai Jie was stunned.

After all, Zheng Yao only called her so formally when something was up; usually she would joke around and call her 'Little Jiejie,' even at the company, where she would address her as 'President Bai' in a teasing tone.

But now, Bai Jie could clearly sense that Zheng Yao seemed very anxious.

With this doubt, the two of them walked into the general manager's office together.

"What exactly happened?"

As soon as she entered, Bai Jie asked Zheng Yao curiously. With their years of close friendship, she didn't hold back.

"Let me ask you, does the company have any plans to invest in film or TV dramas recently?" Zheng Yao got straight to the point without any preamble.

Bai Jie was taken aback, her eyes flickering as she asked in surprise, "How do you know?"

Clearly, Zheng Yao's words had hit a nerve.

Realizing this, Zheng Yao's expression dimmed, and she sighed, "Is it that you have money but can't spend it?"

Bai Jie was silent for about half a minute, then nodded, "Yes, there have been almost no good scripts lately."

The implication, of course, was that she confirmed Zheng Yao's words.

In fact, the situation was a bit more troublesome than Zheng Yao thought. In the past three months, Future Films had not received a single script submission, and even the investments in several films and TV dramas that had been previously agreed upon were canceled because the other parties said they had found more suitable investors and no longer needed Future Films' investment.

In other words, Future Films now bore the name of a film and TV production company but could only survive by selling the broadcast rights to previously completed TV series and movies.

Fortunately, the quality of productions like "Conquest" was good, and many TV stations were willing to buy the broadcast rights, so the company still appeared vibrant.

But the middle management had already sensed the problem, and Bai Jie had been wondering if something was wrong.

However, she hadn't expected that Zheng Yao already knew.

Seeing Bai Jie's expression, Zheng Yao sighed inwardly and had to admit that Zhao Fusheng could sometimes be frightening.

Even things she hadn't thought of, he quickly realized just from a casual chat with Jiang Wen.

To be honest, having such a boss was both a good thing and a bad thing.

The advantage was that no matter what happened, you felt at ease and wouldn't panic. The disadvantage was that you couldn't make mistakes, because if you did, you would definitely be found out.

"You still haven't realized what's happening?" Zheng Yao looked at Bai Jie with a pained expression.

Bai Jie was startled, "What's wrong? What happened?"

To be honest, although the company hadn't received any scripts recently, Bai Jie wasn't too worried. In her understanding, the film and TV production industry often had lean years followed by a bumper one. As long as they found a suitable script, she was confident she could earn at least a hundred million in a year.

Zheng Yao smiled bitterly and repeated Zhao Fusheng's concerns, then said to Bai Jie, "Think about it, if this is really like Zhao Fusheng fears—someone pulling strings behind the scenes—what are you going to do next?"

"This..."

Bai Jie was dumbfounded.

Not just dumbfounded; she was now a bit dazed.

Although she had long known that Future Films' entry would inevitably step on some people's toes and that they would make underhanded moves, Bai Jie never imagined it would come to this.

As Zheng Yao said, if Zhao Fusheng's fears became reality, or if the situation Future Films had faced in the past three months was due to someone's sabotage, then the situation was very serious.

Having been in the film and TV production industry for a while, Bai Jie had a clearer understanding of certain things than Zheng Yao. She knew very well that if that were the case, breaking the deadlock would not be easy.

With that in mind, Bai Jie took a deep breath, looked Zheng Yao in the eye, and said word by word, "I think this is not something we should discuss here alone."

"What?"

Zheng Yao frowned, displeased with Bai Jie's words. As the person in charge of the company, when something like this happened, she said they shouldn't discuss it together.

What kind of attitude was that!

Her gaze suddenly turned cold, and the aura around Zheng Yao changed completely. At that moment, her momentum finally burst forth.