Chapter 138: Chapter 138 Decide to Reconcile
“You go notify the public relations department to handle this,” Xue Zhanhua realized there was no other way and decided to let the public relations team start their work.
“Okay.” The assistant took their cellphone and headed out.
Xu Yang sat in the chair, his expression fluctuating, contemplating whether to reconcile with Xu Yang or not.
If he reconciled, it would mean he had lost, and his face would be utterly disgraced.
What was meant to display his power had turned into a complete embarrassment.
In the future, when meeting other film industry magnates, especially those who were his sworn enemies, they were sure to mock him over this incident.
He could foresee that for a long time to come, he would be the laughingstock of the industry, the butt of jokes among other moguls during their leisure time.
Thinking of such consequences made Xue Zhanhua’s face grow even darker.
“No reconciliation, the matter has already happened, just deal with it. Let him face my wrath next,” he determined.
“Fengcai Guild, huh? And Wu Jing, with my network, causing some trouble for these two companies will be easy,” he mused.
“If you won’t let me live in peace, I won’t let you have it easy either.”
Xue Zhanhua muttered to himself, picking up the cellphone on his desk, ready to make a call to stir up trouble for Fengcai Guild and Wu Jing, to show Xu Yang what he’s capable of.
Just then, the assistant pushed the door open once again, still in a panicked state.
“What’s happened now?” Xue Zhanhua’s heart skipped a beat.
Now, seeing the assistant made him a bit fearful.
Twice the assistant had entered without knocking, each time bringing extremely bad news.
Had something else happened?
“President Xue, there’s a video circulating online claiming to show one of our vice presidents exploiting an actress from the bottom lines. It’s caused quite an uproar,” the assistant reported as they placed their cellphone in front of Xue Zhanhua.
It was a Douyin video, showcasing a conversation between a vice president and an actress from the bottom lines.
“Xiao Mei, if you’re willing to sleep with me, you’ll be the second female lead in XX drama.”
“President Feng, I’m not that kind of person.”
“You think the role of a second female lead isn’t enough? No problem, as the vice president, I can offer you the same role in another drama. Two second leads might make you a sensation, how about that then?”
“President Feng, I’m truly not that kind of person.”
“You should think carefully; this is your opportunity. You know what this circle is like. Without any backing, it’s very hard to become famous.”
“President Feng, I believe I can make it on my own through hard work.”
“Naive! Such thoughts are that of a fresh graduate. If you don’t agree, I can immediately terminate our contract and blacklist you. I have the power to ruin your reputation, making it impossible for you to work in this industry again.”
“President Feng, you’re being unreasonable.”
“Heh, how does my being unreasonable matter? What can you even do to me? Stop pretending. When you entered this circle, you should have learned the rules. Just give in to me.”
“Even if I leave this industry, I won’t agree to your conditions.”
“Humph, refusing a face-saving opportunity, I’ve seen many women like you who say no but actually mean yes. I’ll force myself on you and see what you can do about it. If you dare to leak this, you’ll never survive in this industry, haha!”
“Don’t come any closer, let go, you bastard…”
The voice abruptly stopped, and the video ended.
Scenes of the act, of course, couldn’t be shared, but just from the dialogue, it was clear that this so-called President Feng had unscrupulously taken advantage of the actress.
Moreover, it wasn’t just one actress that had been exploited.
As the video ended, Xue Zhanhua’s face turned an ashen blue.
He was aware this President Feng was lecherous and had a habit of exploiting actresses.
Such matters, if not exposed, would usually go unnoticed.
After all, there were many actresses who rose to fame by these means, some even hoping to be exploited to get better roles, and those who hadn’t been would still try to use it to their advantage.
But once exposed, the situation changed entirely.
He looked at the comments then.
“Fuck, that’s way too blatant!”
“This industry is such a mess; I never believed it before, but now I’m totally convinced.”
“A vice president who has taken advantage of who knows how many actresses, what an animal.”
“No wonder so many people want to be executives in film and television companies, they can just sleep with any actress they want.”
“If I had that kind of opportunity, I’d be doing the same with the actresses, haha.”
“I really want to know who this little beauty is and whether she ended up getting taken advantage of.”
“Looking at it, she probably couldn’t escape.”
“That’s not necessarily the case; this video might just be the little beauty’s doing, exposing the vice president’s wicked deeds.”
“I want to know, if the vice president is this bold, what about the CEO?”
“The CEO must be even more awesome, taking advantage of even more actresses, hahaha!”
Seeing these comments, especially the ones about him as the CEO, Xue Zhanhua’s face darkened.
He didn’t take the initiative to proposition actresses; it was mostly the actresses who made the first move.
“This son of a bitch, how could he have a recording? Make him release an apology and admit his mistakes, and then get the hell out!”
“Also, get the PR department on it. I don’t care what they think of; they must minimize the negative impact.”
Xue Zhanhua roared in anger.
“Yes.” The assistant knew that Xue Zhanhua was truly enraged and didn’t want to stay in front of him, lest he face the brunt of Xue Zhanhua’s fury, so he took his phone and quickly left.
“It must be Xu Yang’s doing; how the hell does he know all this?”
Xue Zhanhua’s face looked terrible.
At that moment, the phone rang.
He saw that the caller ID was a leader from the industry regulatory department.
“Leader.” Xue Zhanhua answered the phone.
“What is going on with your company? Do you have any idea the negative impact your company’s scandal is causing in society?” the leader said sternly.
“Leader, this is all slander by those with an agenda; we’ll handle it,” Xue Zhanhua hurriedly replied.
“Whether it is slander by those with an agenda, you know better than I do. I don’t want the situation to escalate; you’d better handle it quickly, or I’ll handle your company,” the leader huffed and hung up.
Xue Zhanhua, on his end, put down the phone, his face looking horribly gloomy.
Now, he kind of wanted to reconcile.
Reconciliation, perhaps, was the best choice.
Otherwise, his benefits were yet to be reaped and he already faced heavy losses.
Damage to the company’s reputation could eventually exceed the profits made from investing in “War Panther 2.”
Reconciliation!
Xue Zhanhua gritted his teeth, deciding to reconcile.
But how to reconcile?
There’s a knack to reconciliation, like calling Xu Yang directly, admitting defeat, and begging for mercy.
Or finding a mediator to communicate, getting the other side to back down, and then sitting down to talk.
The former would mean losing face; the latter might save some.
Xue Zhanhua chose the latter.
But who to choose as the intermediary?
Those connected to Xu Yang include Fang Pengtao of Wan Entertainment and Wu Jing.
Before he could decide on an intermediary, his phone started ringing again.