The day’s shooting was finally completed. As soon as he returned to the hotel, Chu Yinlong received a call from Xiang Yunru.
“Tianqin Capital seems to be up to something recently. I discovered that someone has been investigating me secretly. You and Xiao Dao should also pay attention.” Xiang Yunru said straightforwardly, “After dad tricked Qin Jiangshan twice, I get the feeling there should also be some internal problems within Tianqin Capital. In short, if Qin Jiangshan contacts Xiao Dao again, don’t let him go.”
“En, I see.” Chu Yinlong responded.
“Last time Xiao Dao said that Chen Si might be an insider. Dad tested him, but found nothing.” Xiang Yunru continued, “So it’s best not to count him now. Getting Tianqin Capital to the point of being too busy to take care of itself may take some more time.”
Chu Yinlong breathed in a slow breath and expressed his understanding: “A hundred-footed worm is dead but not stiff. Tianqin Capital’s network is so large, it will definitely not collapse in a short period of time.”
Who knew that not ten hours after they finished their conversation, early next morning, the top Weibo search headlines dealt Tianqin Capital a heavy blow – Chen Si, Qin Jiangshan’s most trusted secretary, suddenly broke the news of many illegal dealings within Qin Capital. Tax issues, gray industries, and even money laundering on behalf of others, etc…
Qin Jingshan was able to suppress such rumors before, but this time, the pace of public opinion was out of control. It touched on too many parties’ interests, and they really crossed the line, so the corresponding investigation was swift and resolute.
In addition, the two huge investments Xiang Yuancheng tricked Qin Jiangshan into making both ended in failure, evaporating his cash flow. In the face of such accusations, Tianqin Capital could not save itself… The financial behemoth collapsed almost overnight.
This incident has been brewing for a long time. After the news blew open, everyone’s goodwill towards Tianqin Capital, Qin Jiangshan, and Qin Xiao evaporated. So, as soon as the news of the collapse of Tianqin Capital came out, almost the entire internet cheered.
However, in order to gain attention, some unscrupulous media deliberately linked the Qin family’s affairs to Jiang Dao by taking advantage of the frequent publicity of “Operation Red Owl”, trying to gain the popularity of both parties at the same time.
Unexpectedly, their actions had just begun when an entertainment magazine under Longqi Entertainment published an exclusive interview with Jiang Dao.
In this interview, Jiang Dao shared his life experience for the first time – he lived with his mother in a closed mountain village since he was a child. His mother worked as a teacher in the only primary school in the area and raised him with a meager income. She later died in an accident, and he never received financial support from his father.
This was all information Jiang Dao obtained from investigating the original body’s history after filming “Operation Red Owl”.
After his mother died, he came to Yan City to try to find a way to survive. In the end his only chance – to enter Xingyao Media – came from his half-brother, and he did not receive a penny from the Qin family.
All of the above were obtained by Jiang Dao from the historical transactions in the original owner’s bank account. The half a million or so when he first came to Yan City was from his mother. As for whether this part of the money was given to Jiang Ruo by Qin Jiangshan back then, he had no idea.
Later, because he was dissatisfied with Xingyao Media’s attitude towards artists, and happened to be favored by Chu Yinlong, he seized the opportunity and moved to Chu Yinlong’s studio. He also took on the debt of liquidated damages for this.
The above was the story Jiang Dao and Chu Yinlong agreed upon based on some facts.
In short, this exclusive interview revealed that Jiang Dao never received any funding from Qin Jiangshan since he was a child, and has nothing to do with Tianqin Capital. The only favor he received was from Qin Xiao’s personal friendship with President Liu of Xingyao Media – and it is precisely because of this personal relationship that Jiang Dao was almost pimped out, and left Xingyao Media in a fit of rage.
Not long after the interview was released, Director Liu, who had already been taken away for investigation, confessed that he sent Jiang Dao to Li Cheng’s crew based on Qin Xiao instructions to deliberately dig a hole for Jiang Dao.
Almost at the same time, the director of “Love”, who was criticized before for asking Jiang Dao for money, also stood up and said that his reason for asking Jiang Dao for money was also instructed by Qin Xiao. Before, the Qin family was powerful and he didn’t dare to refuse, nor did he dare confess; after Tianqin Capital fell, he finally dared to tell the truth.
These two people were naturally scolded by netizens.
And Jiang Dao has become the most pitied and sympathized with artist on the entire network, and there is a flood of maternal love under his Weibo.
However, Jiang Dao’s brows wrinkled more and more after reading the increasingly loving speeches of netizens.
“It doesn’t seem right, why did they arbitrarily decide that I am a typical ‘beautiful, strong, and miserable’ character?” Jiang Dao pointed to the hot search topic and complained to Chu Yinlong. “I don’t want any character design, and don’t like this kind of unrealistic character. Otherwise, if others irritate me in the future, won’t I be scolded and collapse?”
Chu Yinlong smiled: “You have to understand the fan circle. They are too far away to understand the truth – it’s inevitable to not see some things.”
Jiang Dao raised his eyebrows. “Huh? Setting up my character like this without authorization, and then saying that I’m going to collapse, is it really possible?”
Chu Yinlong nodded. “I experienced it myself. When I was young, I didn’t understand anything when I first entered the circle, so I talked less, listened more, and acted more. At that time, those mother fans took it upon themselves to create a good-natured baby persona for me, saying that although I was good at fighting in movies, in reality I was gentle and well-educated.”
Jiang Dao asked, “What happened later?”
Chu Yinlong shrugged: “Afterwards, I often failed math exams, so they removed ‘well-educated’ from my character. Finally, after a female artist went too far in unilaterally firing CP, I couldn’t hold back and scolded her directly on Weibo. Some fans directly said my personality collapsed, and I lost some fans who turned black…”
Although it sounded miserable, Jiang Dao still laughed unkindly. “So, even you have this kind of experience?”
Chu Yinlong spread his hands. “You already know, but I am such a person. Sometimes when I get too angry, and scold people… it’s gotten better in recent years. My temper was worse when I was younger; it’s gotten better after so many years of reading scriptures.”
With a smile on his face, Jiang Dao aimlessly scrolled through the hot search entries. “Then what should I do to break this ‘beautiful, strong, and miserable’ character design?”
There are too many people who see the world in black and white. When the rumors first came out, they thought Jiang Ruo was a bad person, and decided he must not be a good person. Now they find Qin Jiangshan unbearable, and think Jiang Ruo is a good person, so he must be an innocent victim.
But Jiang Dao knew that, judging from the actions of the original Jiang Dao, he could not be called a “good person” at all. Including what he did to Qin Xiao before and what they did to Tianqin Capital, calling him ‘good’ is a stretch, but saying he’s a “bad guy” really wrongs him.
“You don’t have to worry, let PR handle this.” Chu Yinlong said with a smile. “Few artists under Longqi have perfect characters to safeguard against such settings collapsing one day. It is better to let the fans accept their artists’ flaws from the beginning. They might have some minor flaws, but are more approachable this way.”
Sure enough, not long after Jiang Dao’s “beautiful, strong, and miserable” character started to heat up, a group of people of unknown origin began to bring up old things again, saying that in some early talent shows he wasn’t strong at all, and once tried to bribe a director to steal a role… bringing up Jiang Dao’s black stuff over and over again.
Based on what those accounts say, no one would be able to guess they were led by Longqi Entertainment, the “backer” behind Jiang Dao.
…
Because the troubles of the Qin family might involve Jiang Dao, Mu Zhixing asked the coordinator to give Jiang Dao a few days of vacation and let him go back to cooperate with the investigation.
Fortunately, Jiang Dao was not deeply involved with the Qin family, let alone Tianqin Capital. The investigation completed quickly, and he soon rejoined the crew.
On the day when Jiang Dao returned to the crew and resumed work, Chu Yinlong received a message about the Qin family again—
Qin Xiao went crazy.
“He had some mental problems before, and refused to take medicine. Later, after Liu Yueran’s report and being arrested for illegal drug possession, his state worsened.” Officer Xing explained to Chu Yinlong. “A few days ago, Tianqin Capital’s illegal activities were exposed by Chen Si. After Qin Xiao saw it in the news, he went crazy.”
“How crazy is he?” Chu Yinlong asked.
“He can’t recognize anyone anymore. Whenever he sees someone, he calls them Chen Si, thinking that the other party is going to kill him, so he has to do it first.” Officer Xing’s voice lowered a fraction. “Because of his aggressive tendencies and uncooperative attitude, the police transferred him to a mental hospital. According to the hospital, he has refused to eat for the past few days, believing that the food was sent by Chen Si and must be poisoned.”
Chu Yinlong was silent for a long time and asked, “That Chen Si, what’s going on?”
Officer Xing smiled bitterly. “We just found out after investigation that he is the younger brother of a woman surnamed Chen who committed suicide due to Qin Jiangshan. After leaving his hometown, he changed his name, and entered Tianqin Capital in order to avenge his sister.”
Chu Yinlong sighed after hearing the inside story. “Qin Jiangshan has done a lot of injustice, the Qin family’s punishment is not wrong.”
Officer Xing was silent for a moment and said: “Unfortunately, in order to win Qin Jiangshan’s trust, Chen Si also helped him do a lot of dirty things. Moreover, from the information we got, the reason why Qin Xiao acted recklessly was because Chen Si was behind him, cleaning after him.”
First, he dismissed Qin Xiao, the heir, then he flipped two company executives, and finally took advantage of Qin Jiangshan’s two failed investments and capital problems to release the illegal evidence he collected over the past ten years. Chen Si’s blow was fatal, so that Tianqin Capital and Qin Jiangshan could not even see the slightest hope of making a comeback.
“He’s a ruthless man.”
That night, Jiang Dao couldn’t say anything after listening to Chu Yinlong’s retelling.
“Fortunately, he isn’t our enemy.”
Treating himself as bait, hiding in the shadows, and not giving the enemy a chance. Such people are not uncommon in the last days, but he did not expect such decisive people to exist in this world.
“The Qin family has finally been resolved,” Chu Yinlong held Jiang Dao’s hand. “Faster than expected.”
“Yes.” Jiang Dao smiled, “We originally thought it would be a long battle to knock down the building, but who knew this tall building is actually tofu, and has long rotted on the inside…”
Chu Yinlong smiled and intertwined fingers with Jiang Dao.
After solving the Qin family who targeted Jiang Dao, from now on, in the entertainment industry, they will have nothing to fear.
In addition, Jiang Dao’s efforts and strength have been recognized by many older generations in the circle. As long as he does not make any big mistakes in the future, his career path in the film and television industry will be very smooth.
“Have you made up your mind? Are you really no longer pursuing an idyllic retirement and freedom?” Chu Yinlong asked with a smile.
“It’s still something to pursue,” Jiang Dao lazily leaned into Chu Yinlong’s arms. “But, I’m still young now and far from retirement… And it’s quite interesting to make movies with you, it’s also exciting and profitable. When I don’t want to film, we can talk about retiring somewhere idyllic and living freely.”
There was a smile in Jiang Dao’s eyes when he looked at Chu Yinlong, but his tone was serious: “I want to be with you, and leave some traces in this world to prove that we once walked side by side.”
Poignant
Don’t forget to rate and leave a review on novelupdates. Want to support ABV? Buy me a ko-fi for faster releases (add’l release status is tracked on my ko-fi page).
