From humble beginnings to the pinnacle of life

Just as I was thinking about these things, An Ran suddenly looked up at me, her tone earnest:

"Brother Lin, should I try contacting her privately? Try to arrange a meeting with her. I feel like Xingyao is a trap right now, and I can't bear to see her fall deeper and deeper into it. I still want to try my best to persuade her."

This one sentence alone reveals An Ran's true nature.

Even after years in the complex world of entertainment, she still retains a rare sense of justice and kindness, and is willing to lend a helping hand to others.

After a moment's thought, I nodded and advised, "Okay, you can try contacting her. But be careful not to say anything unnecessary, and don't try to persuade her to do anything to avoid causing her any trouble. Just ask her out for a meeting."

"Okay, I got it. I'll contact her later and tell you as soon as possible," An Ran replied earnestly.

Putting aside the hidden turmoil behind Xingyao and the doubts in my heart, I brought my thoughts back to the main matter.

"Take a good rest these few days to adjust your state, relax, don't worry about past data, and don't rush to start streaming to test the waters. Just wait patiently. Once the company renovation is finished and all positions are filled, I will help you to create a brand new persona, finalize the account positioning, and build your popularity and reputation from scratch."

"Uh-huh!"

An Ran's eyes were full of light and expectation as she nodded vigorously: "I believe in your professional planning, and I am confident that we will achieve great things in the future."

Afterwards, I briefly explained the onboarding details, content creation direction, and team cooperation rules to her before seeing Anran off.

The brand-new, spacious office area returned to silence, with only the intermittent sounds of construction workers finishing up their work drifting in the air.

I walked alone to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the endless stream of cars and the city street scene below, but my thoughts remained unsettled for a long time.

With Xingyao rebranded and relaunched, the person in charge behind the scenes is most likely still Fang Heng.

Qiqi was deeply involved, and this matter has always lingered in my mind.

I weighed the pros and cons in my mind whether I should intervene and help Qiqi.

After much thought, I still couldn't bring myself to ignore it.

In any case, I should meet with her first, hear her true thoughts and current situation, and then make a decision.

But I also know very well that two tigers cannot share one mountain.

Once our media company is on the right track and developing steadily, it will inevitably clash head-on with Xingyao, this hidden capital force.

One should always be wary of others, as long as Fang Heng is still pulling the strings behind the scenes.

That would be a huge threat to us, lurking in the shadows and ready to strike at any moment.

I stood alone by the window, lost in thought for a long time, gradually suppressing the turmoil and vigilance in my heart.

Composing myself, I turned and left the office area, taking a taxi back to the riverside courtyard.

When Su Qing got home, she was busy with her work in her home office.

She should have been resting peacefully after the surgery, but she hasn't been idle for a moment these days. She has taken on all the trivial and complicated logistics, personnel, and overall planning work of the company and managed the back home in an orderly manner.

It was precisely because of her support that I was able to completely extricate myself and focus on obtaining the official qualifications for the Terra expedition, and prepare for the adventure.

Hearing footsteps at the door, Su Qing immediately looked up and asked with a smile, "You're back? Did your talk with An Ran go well?"

I nodded gently, walked behind her, and naturally massaged her shoulders and neck, replying softly:

"It's settled. It's the same plan we agreed on before: a 50/50 split plus a guaranteed signing bonus of 200,000 yuan. Once the company is fully established, we'll sign a formal contract."

Su Qing nodded in response, as if she sensed that something was wrong with me.

She frowned slightly and asked with a puzzled look, "Why do you seem so preoccupied, and your complexion isn't good? Is something wrong?"

I sat down next to her, took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a light puff.

I exhaled a puff of smoke before slowly speaking, "You still remember Fang Heng's Xingyao Media, right?"

"I remember."

Su Qing frowned slightly, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes: "Why did you suddenly bring up this company?"

"I heard they changed owners."

Su Qing paused for a moment, then said, "Fang Heng has already been sent abroad, so this company must have been taken over by someone else long ago, isn't that normal?"

"It's not that simple."

I shook my head slightly, my tone becoming more somber.

"I had been trying to contact Qiqi, hoping to invite her and Anran to join our team, but she kept ignoring my messages."

After listening to my analysis, Su Qing frowned even more deeply and asked to confirm:

"So your guess is that although Xingyao Media seems to have a new boss, the person who truly controls everything behind the scenes is still Fang Heng, who is far away overseas?"

I nodded emphatically and said, "That's most likely the case. Otherwise, it just doesn't make sense why Qiqi hasn't replied to any of my messages for so many days."

After a pause, I added, "Moreover, Anran also said that when she chatted with Qiqi before, she was very cautious and didn't dare to say many things directly. This clearly shows that she is under strict control by the company and doesn't even have the freedom to socialize in private."

Su Qing narrowed her eyes slightly, lowered her head and pondered for a moment, then asked me, "So what are your plans now? How do you intend to deal with this next?"

I took another deep drag of my cigarette, the smoke slowly billowing, suppressing the heaviness in my heart, and said slowly:

"I think that as long as Fang Heng is still controlling Xingyao behind the scenes, once our media company is fully established, he will most likely target us in secret. Although he is not in the country, his connections and resources are not to be underestimated. Xingyao, lying in wait, is far more difficult to guard against than our open rivals."

Su Qing nodded thoughtfully, becoming more wary: "What you say is indeed true. We really need to be prepared and not let our guard down. This kind of opponent, lurking in the shadows, is the hardest to guard against."

I shrugged slightly, softened my tone, and tried to appear relaxed, not wanting her to be overly anxious with me.

"But there's no need to be too tense. We'll deal with whatever comes our way. As long as we do our work in a down-to-earth manner and have a clear conscience, that's enough."

Su Qing looked at me and nodded emphatically: "The more this is the case, the faster we need to speed things up. Only by quickly refining the company's team and systems and establishing a firm foothold can we have the confidence to deal with all the unknown crises of the future."

"Okay." I nodded in response. "I've already spoken to the renovation team and asked them to expedite the work and shorten the construction period as much as possible. I also plan to take advantage of this downtime during the company's renovation to complete the Terra line ahead of schedule."

Su Qing immediately looked up at me and asked with concern, "Have you found a teammate for the Terra route? The approval documents originally contained information for two people, but now we need to change the teammate, so we need to find a reliable person."

I gently shook my head and said truthfully, "It's not decided yet."

After a brief pause, I continued, "I actually wanted to invite Wang Ge to join us, but I wasn't sure if he would be willing. After all, this is a live broadcast that will be entirely public, and given his reclusive nature and dislike of being on camera, he'll most likely refuse."