Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 172 Farce
Looking at Mao Ning, who was sitting opposite him with a towel covering his ears and a sullen face.

Yang Yuying was somewhat dazed, not understanding how things had suddenly escalated so much.

The conflict between Zhang Mi and Mao Ning actually has a long history.

Zhang Mi, like Mao Ning, is from Northeast China. By chance, she joined the Guangzhou Song and Dance Troupe, won the National Young Singers Competition in 90, and participated in the Spring Festival Gala in 91 and 92.

However, because she did not get the opportunity to sing solo, even though she was a singer on the Spring Festival Gala for two years, her fame was not as great as Yang Yuying and Mao Ning.

Ironically, Zhang Mi's song "Blue Night, Blue Dream," which she had planned to sing solo at the New Year's Eve gala but was rejected due to costume and prop issues, was later popularized by Mao Ning.

Zhang Mi held a grudge about this and tried several times to confront Mao Ning for an explanation.

But these days it's common to cover other people's songs, and Zhang Mi is neither the songwriter nor did she buy the copyright to the song, so Mao Ning naturally wouldn't pay any attention to her.

During the New Year's Eve concert rehearsal, Zhang Mi persistently approached Mao Ning again. However, after only exchanging greetings, the already impatient Mao Ning bluntly said, "Don't fucking bother me."

Zhang Mi felt insulted and wronged, so she went to her boyfriend Guo Dawei to cry and complain. Guo Dawei then took her to confront Mao Ning, but the argument escalated and they ended up fighting on the spot.

Mao Ning was no match for the four hands. Not only did he get slapped by Zhang Mi, but Guo Dawei also smashed his head with a Walkman—actually, his earlobe was broken. It looked scary at the time, but the bleeding had stopped by now.

"This matter cannot be left like this!"

The agent from New Era Audio-Visual, his face grim yet tinged with excitement, rubbed his hands together to encourage Mao Ning, saying, "Deputy Manager Li will be here with his men soon. When that happens, you just follow Manager Li and charge out..."

Mao Ning glanced at him and hesitated, "What if the people who come to fulfill your dreams try to stop you? I saw that they have more than a dozen security guards, and they are all former soldiers."

"so what?!"

The agent waved his fist indignantly: "You're injured and you need to go to the doctor, isn't that a matter of course? Besides, with Manager Li leading the way, we can just follow behind, right?"

Mao Ning hesitated for a moment before nodding, and at the same time gritted her teeth and made her demand: "The company must stand up for me. I'm going to sue Zhang Mi until she's bankrupt!"

"Don't worry, you don't need to tell me. The company will definitely make an example of this to warn others, otherwise any Tom, Dick, or Harry will bully our New Era!"

The agent was referring to Zhang Mi, but Yang Yuying felt that this matter was not just aimed at Zhang Mi.

Just then, Wang Zhongqi, who was in charge of the concert's overall logistics, hurriedly walked in with two doctors in white coats and said to the three of them, "These two are doctors from the Department of Otolaryngology at Tianjin No. 1 Hospital. Our General Manager Zhang specially invited them to help Mao Ning..."

"What good is having doctors alone?!"

Mao Ning's agent stepped in front of her, angrily saying, "How can you check clearly without equipment? You keep blocking her way. If Mao Ning's hearing is damaged, can you take responsibility?!"

No matter how much Wang Zhongqi pleaded, the man stubbornly refused to allow the inspection.

Just as Wang Zhongqi was at a loss, another commotion came from outside, and then the team manager from New Era Audio-Visual appeared at the door.

"Manager Li!"

Mao Ning stood up as if she had seen a savior, and looked at the other person with a wronged expression.

This Manager Li is the one who kept contradicting Zhang Yan during the previous meeting.

However, precisely because of his repeated provocations, and with Zhang Yan's deliberate favoritism, New Era Audio-Visual failed to gain control of the Southern Information Distribution Center.

This not only made Manager Li angry, but also put him under considerable pressure from the company.

Now that things had taken an unexpected turn, Manager Li was naturally unwilling to let the matter rest. He snorted coldly and demanded, "Where are Guo Dawei and Zhang Mi?!"

Wang Zhongqi hurriedly said, "We have temporarily taken Guo Dawei into custody, and Zhang Mi is currently staying with him."

"It's under control?"

Manager Li continued to press, "Did you call the police? I didn't see any police officers here! And why were you preventing Mao Ning from going to the hospital?! You, Yuanmeng, must give us, New Era, an explanation for this!"

As he spoke, he called out loudly, "Mao Ning, come on, I'll take you to the hospital."

The agent immediately pulled Mao Ning out, but Wang Zhongqi, having received Zhang Yan's orders, could not let him leave just like that.

However, the majority of people in the room were from the new era, and Wang Zhongqi was quickly pushed aside.

When Wang Zhongqi relentlessly chased after him, he was restrained by the men brought by Manager Li. The security guards at Yuanmeng, who were waiting outside, were also indignant and clamored to step forward and rescue Wang Zhongqi.

In the midst of the shoving and pushing, Manager Li suddenly stumbled and fell to the ground, then shouted, "You bastards, Yuanmeng is hitting people! You really are in cahoots with Zhang Mi and Guo Dawei—call the police, call the police, call Yangcheng, and have the company fly over here with media reporters tonight!"

The agent chimed in, "Let's contact the Hong Kong Island reporters directly and see who dares to stop us!"

Even 20 years from now, there will still be people scrambling for company seals. These days, the power struggles among the lowest of the low will only become more straightforward and brutal.

The two were arguing loudly, clearly trying to drag Yuanmeng into the mess and accuse him of covering up and condoning her actions—although it might not have a significant effect, it would at least annoy Zhang Yan and make Yuanmeng's New Year's Eve concert less than perfect.

Upon hearing his shout, one of the henchmen asked Mao Ning for a mobile phone and prepared to make a call.

Wang Zhongqi subconsciously shouted "Stop him!" and the security guard who had helped him rush over to try and snatch the phone.

While Manager Li led his men to stop them, he shouted with his subordinates, "Yuanmeng is hitting people! Yuanmeng is stealing things!"

Wang Zhongqi was also afraid that if they were really hurt, there would be no way to handle the situation, so he shouted, "Don't do it! Don't do it! Don't hurt anyone!"

As a result, the two sides started playing a game of tag right outside the locker room.

The corridor was packed with staff and singers watching the spectacle.

Just then, a loud shout came from behind the crowd: "Who wants to call the police?!"

The sound was clearly amplified, making everyone in the corridor's ears ring.

Many people turned around and saw Zhang Yan carrying a large megaphone, leading people inside with a gloomy face.

The onlookers quickly made way for them, and the security guard who had fulfilled his dream and the people from the new era also parted ways.

Zhang Yan, carrying a loudspeaker, walked up to the people from New Era, looked down at Manager Li, and asked, "Is it someone from New Era who wants to call the police?"

Manager Li, his neck stiff with indignation, retorted, "So what if we're going to call the police? We're not just going to call the police, we're going to..."

"Well!"

Zhang Yan interrupted him, turning to the side and pointing behind him: "These are the comrades from the Public Security Bureau!"

Several people in police uniforms appeared in front of the crowd in response.

When Zhang Yan and his men approached, Zhang Yan pointed to the path and said, "These are the comrades from the JC and F courts! Come on, didn't you want to call the police? Now that the public security, procuratorate, and court officials are all here, you might as well explain yourself clearly!"

These are all people from the Economic Development Zone.

The hotel was not far from the rehearsal site. The reason Zhang Yan arrived so late was to wait for the people from the Economic Development Zone to come.

While Zhang Yan's influence might not be that great throughout Tianjin, it was a completely different story in the Economic Development Zone. Especially recently, due to the Bayi Film and Television Base, he would meet with the leaders of the management committee every few days.

So one phone call and everything is taken care of.

The same uniform, but when you switch from security guards to public security, procuratorate, and judicial personnel, the pressure suddenly increases more than tenfold.

Manager Li's expression also stiffened. Although he knew Zhang Yan was a local strongman, he didn't expect that the other party could mobilize people from all sides so quickly.

Didn't they say he'd only been in Tianjin for two years?!

But things had already escalated, and it was too late to back down now. Manager Li glanced at the singers and celebrities around him and gritted his teeth, saying, "Fine, go ahead and ask around. We at New Era aren't easy to bully!"

"So I'm just easy to bully?!"

Zhang Yan sneered and asked in return, then quietly turned on the loudspeaker and suddenly slammed it to the ground.

bang~
hum~~~
The loud and piercing noise caused many people to instinctively cover their ears.

Zhang Yan stepped forward, startling Manager Li into retreating hastily: "You targeted me during the meeting this morning, and now you're putting on this act again tonight. Are you all determined to sabotage things, New Era?!"

Without waiting for Manager Li's response, he waved his hand and said, "Nobody's sleeping tonight. Let's face each other and get to the bottom of this, word by word, and see what these two singers from Guangzhou are fighting about in Tianjin, backstage at our Dream Come True Center!"

(End of this chapter)