Chapter 0994 Misunderstanding

Bai Jie had never imagined that Zheng Yao could be so imposing.

Or rather, she hadn't expected that when they were alone together, Zheng Yao would exude such an aura.

In fact, Zheng Yao was very angry now. In her view, Bai Jie's attitude just now was very bad. No matter what difficulties arose, everyone could solve them together. What did she mean by saying this matter wasn't suitable for the two of them to discuss?

Did she want to fly to the sky?

"This matter must be resolved as soon as possible. Come up with a solution in the shortest time." Zheng Yao looked at Bai Jie and said word by word, "Let the people I brought stay and have your meeting to discuss."

She was referring, of course, to the group from the Strategic Research Office.

Bringing a group of her trusted confidants, Zheng Yao had gone to great lengths, clearly afraid that Bai Jie's side lacked the ability to solve the problem.

"Uh, why should we involve them? Shouldn't this matter be reported to Fusheng?"

Bai Jie looked at Zheng Yao in astonishment, her expression quite strange.

She didn't understand. With such a big incident, and one that Zhao Fusheng had predicted, why was Zheng Yao's first reaction not to report to Zhao Fusheng? What was going on?

No!

Zheng Yao also realized the problem at that moment. She looked at Bai Jie with a strange expression, but her earlier imposing manner had vanished without a trace.

"You don't think..."

Bai Jie also sensed something was wrong. She looked at Zheng Yao speechlessly and slapped her forehead.

The atmosphere between them suddenly became awkward.

There was no help for it. Both had thought the other wanted to suppress the matter, but after all this fuss, they had both been petty.

"Well..."

"Um..."

After a moment of silence, they both spoke at almost the same time. Their eyes met, and they couldn't help but laugh.

"Forget it, I'll call that brat and have him come over." Zheng Yao finally waved her hand and spoke first.

Bai Jie nodded: "Alright, I'll go have a meeting with the Strategic Research Office first and see if we can draft a plan."

Both of them understood clearly that this matter could be big or small. If handled well, it might be an opportunity for Future Film to establish itself in the film industry. If not handled well, Future Film might have to withdraw from film production altogether.

This was not an exaggeration, but a real possibility.

Soon, Zhao Fusheng received a call from Zheng Yao.

"As you guessed, Future Film hasn't received any script investment proposals for three months now." Zheng Yao said in a heavy tone over the phone.

Clearly, she would rather Zhao Fusheng had been wrong than have this happen.

Zhao Fusheng was quite relaxed and chuckled: "So someone is already making moves."

"Yes, I brought people over to discuss with Bai Jie how to resolve this. If you're free, come over and talk, see if there's a way to solve it." Zheng Yao said sincerely to Zhao Fusheng.

Zhao Fusheng paused, then smiled: "No rush. Even if I come, I won't have any specific solutions. You go ahead and have your meeting first, see if you can come up with any good ideas."

He paused and joked: "After all, we pay them salaries, spending so much money. If they can't even handle this and need their boss to come up with ideas, then your Strategic Research Office and Bai Jie's executives might as well pack up and go home."

He said this in a joking tone, but to Zheng Yao's ears, it carried a hint of menace.

The moment she hung up the phone, Zheng Yao felt a chill run through her.

She understood Zhao Fusheng's meaning, but had to admit he was right. If even this kind of thing required the boss to come up with ideas, what use was it to keep so many useless people in the company?

Drawing annual salaries of hundreds of thousands, sitting in the office all day drinking tea and reading newspapers?

Ha, that's a government office, not a company.

In a commercial company like this, if you're useless to the company, there's only one outcome.

Kicked out!

Taking a deep breath, Zheng Yao put away her phone, walked out of Bai Jie's office, and headed straight for the meeting room.

In the meeting room, Bai Jie had just announced the result of her discussion with Zheng Yao. She said seriously, "Now, Future Film may be facing the biggest challenge since its establishment. I hope everyone here can give a hundred percent and quickly come up with a plan to solve this problem."

She looked around the room: "So, you won't disappoint me and President Zheng, will you?"

At that moment, the entire meeting room fell silent. No one spoke, no one wanted to speak. Everyone suddenly felt that the once bright and promising future had been cast into shadow.

They looked at each other in bewilderment. Some wanted to speak, some were deep in thought, and others were pondering their own future.

It was at this moment that Zheng Yao pushed open the door and walked in.

"Why is everyone so quiet?"

Zheng Yao, entering the room, was not polite at all. Her tone and expression were very serious: "Usually you all love to talk eloquently, as if you could guide the nation. Why are you all mute now?"

The Future Film people were fine, having never seen her lose her temper, but the scholars from the Strategic Research Office looked grim. Clearly, Zheng Yao was targeting them.

"President Zheng, President Bai, I think the knot must be untied by the one who tied it. We need to investigate who is behind this and then counterattack against them." A shiny-faced young man raised his hand and spoke first: "Whoever has such influence must be no ordinary person."

"Yes, President Zheng, someone must be pulling strings. If we can find out who it is, we can target them." Someone immediately agreed.

"Also, I think Future Film could independently invest in producing a TV series or movie. We could buy a script at a high price. The Copyright Bureau should have scripts for sale." Someone proposed a different approach.

"Idiot!"

Both Zheng Yao and Bai Jie cursed in their minds simultaneously.

They exchanged a glance and shook their heads in unison, having to admit that these people might be good at advertising, but in the film industry, they were practically helpless because they were too naive.

Bai Jie looked at the Future Film management who had remained silent and took a deep breath: "What about you? Anything to say?"

Now, she could only pin her hopes on these people.

A middle-aged man at the head smiled bitterly: "President Bai, to be frank, this matter is probably very difficult to handle."

This man was Zhou Kai, whom Bai Jie had hired at a high price. He had previously worked at China Film Group but had to retire early due to health reasons. He rarely spoke in the company.

"Vice President Zhou, just say what you have to say." Bai Jie gritted her teeth and said to Zhou Kai.

At this point, she had nothing to fear. If Future Film couldn't establish itself in the industry because of this, the responsibility would be too great. Although she could return to Future Advertising without any impact, Bai Jie felt she couldn't afford to lose face.

Zhou Kai shook his head and sighed. He looked around before speaking: "Actually, there's no need to investigate. Someone must have tipped them off. As they say, a tall tree catches the wind. Our company was in advertising before, and now we're moving into film production, which is like taking food from others' bowls. To be honest, whoever proposed the plan to invest in movies was utterly brainless. Did they really think making a movie was just about finding a script and some actors?"

Clearly, he had been holding back these words for a long time and only now had the chance to say them.

"Well..."

This time it was Bai Jie's turn to be embarrassed. This matter was partly her fault. Initially, Zhao Fusheng had pulled in investments for the company to invest in a few movies, and Bai Jie noticed that the profits from filmmaking seemed quite good, and there was also a chance to win awards and gain fame.

Thus, Ms. Bai had gone further and further down the path of a film enthusiast.

Now that Zhou Kai had brought it up, Bai Jie realized that she had indeed made a mistake.

"I apologize. This was a mistake in my decision-making."

With that thought, Bai Jie took a deep breath and said calmly, "As the general manager of the company, I apologize for my previous decisions and will request disciplinary action from the head office."

Everyone was stunned, not expecting her to say that. Even Zheng Yao looked at her in surprise.

In Zheng Yao's impression, Bai Jie was not one to easily back down, especially in front of so many people.

Unexpectedly, this time she was so decisive.

With the general manager personally apologizing, Zhou Kai had gained enough face and naturally wouldn't say anything more.

Having come from a government background himself, he was well-versed in certain unwritten rules. Since the higher-ups had already made their gesture, he shouldn't push further. Moreover, even if Bai Jie were to be held accountable, it would be a matter for Future Advertising, Future Film's parent company. Including Zheng Yao, there was certainly a big boss behind it all—that was a matter for the top management.

"We'll deal with the disciplinary action later. Let's discuss what to do next." Zheng Yao said in a deep voice.

As the head of the parent company, she naturally had the authority to interrupt Bai Jie and steer the meeting back on track.

Zhou Kai smiled faintly and slowly said, "Simple. Since no one writes scripts for us, we'll write our own. If there are no domestic actors, we'll look abroad."

What?

Hearing this, everyone was taken aback, and their looks toward Zhou Kai changed.