Seeing Sun Wei's confused expression, Gu Chenan let out a mocking laugh.
"Because I am..."
"We at Zhenhua sincerely welcome your arrival!"
Just as Gu Chenan was about to speak, Huang Yuan walked into the office.
"President Huang."
Sun Wei stood up to greet him, but Huang Yuan waved his hand lightly and sat down in the chair next to Sun Wei.
"This is Zhenhua's general manager, President Huang," Sun Wei hurriedly introduced.
General manager?
Gu Chenan raised an eyebrow.
So this is Song Xiaoli's boyfriend?
Interesting, all the key players are gathered now.
After introducing Gu Chenan, Sun Wei turned to introduce to Huang Yuan, "President Huang, this is Mr. Gu, and this is Miss Liu."
"Hello," Huang Yuan nodded in greeting.
He didn't connect "Mr. Gu" with Gu Chenan at all, since Song Xiaoli had told him that Gu Chenan was Caiying's real boss.
If he was Caiying's boss, how could he also be Miss Liu's manager?
"Since you two have come, you must have accepted our proposal. So I'll be straightforward - we at Zhenhua want to invite Miss Liu to be our spokesperson. Mr. Gu, please name your price."
Huang Yuan spoke with utmost confidence, putting on an extremely generous demeanor.
"Heh," Gu Chenan chuckled softly, crossing his hands on the table. "President Huang, Mr. Sun, I actually came here for something else."
"Please, Mr. Gu, go ahead," Huang Yuan gestured.
"Your Zhenhua is willing to take a loss just to target Caiying. A soon-to-be-bankrupt Caiying isn't worth such efforts, is it? Moreover, even if Caiying goes bankrupt due to your plans, Zhenhua won't benefit at all. So, why?" Gu Chenan asked.
At these words, Huang Yuan and Sun Wei exchanged a glance, both looking somewhat embarrassed.
Huang Yuan's reason for wanting Caiying to go bankrupt was simple - to vent his girlfriend's anger.
Sun Wei's reason was to vent his own emotions.
Initiating a business war against another company just to release personal emotions - this wouldn't sound good if it got out.
"Haha," Huang Yuan laughed loudly. "Mr. Gu, having never stepped into the business world, you naturally wouldn't understand the reasons. Regardless of why we targeted Caiying before, given Caiying's current fame, we must do something."
"I see," Gu Chenan nodded and continued, "But has President Huang considered that Caiying's current fame is also due to Zhenhua's pressure?"
Huang Yuan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
"Look," Gu Chenan leaned closer to Huang Yuan. "Caiying originally just wanted to launch a face mask as a safety net to prevent the company from going bankrupt. But your Zhenhua had to go for the kill by also launching a face mask and even shooting commercials. Caiying, of course, couldn't just sit back and do nothing, so they followed suit and shot commercials like you."
"So, if Zhenhua hadn't been relentlessly pressuring, Caiying wouldn't have become what it is now. The root cause is that Zhenhua's decision-makers are too stupid."
Saying this, Gu Chenan put on a curious expression. "President Huang, which genius came up with the order to go to war with Caiying?"
"Well..." Huang Yuan awkwardly pursed his lips. "Mr. Gu, this seems unrelated to what we're discussing today, doesn't it?"
"Yes, yes, yes," Gu Chenan nodded. "Then let's continue talking about the endorsement. Where were we just now?"
"We were saying that we didn't charge a penny for Caiying's commercial," Liu Mingrui, who had been silent for a while, added from the side.
"Didn't charge a penny?" Hearing this, Huang Yuan looked confused. "Mr. Gu, you let Miss Liu shoot the commercial for Caiying for free?"
"Yes," Gu Chenan nodded.
"This move..." Huang Yuan thought for a moment but couldn't figure it out. After hesitating, he asked, "...what's the intention?"
"Heh," Gu Chenan laughed lightly, leaning back in his chair. "Of course we don't charge for shooting a commercial for our own company."
"Your own company?"
Huang Yuan and Sun Wei exchanged a glance, and in the next second, they both realized something, standing up in shock and disbelief.
"You... you're Gu Chenan?!" Huang Yuan pointed at Gu Chenan incredulously.
"That's right," Gu Chenan sat casually in his chair, looking up at Huang Yuan.
The expression in Huang Yuan's eyes was extremely complex, filled with confusion, shock, and a hint of anger at being fooled.
"Yes," Gu Chenan nodded and smiled. "So, you really are an obedient dog. Song Xiaoli tells you to go against me, and you're willing to use the entire company's resources to do so?"
"If she told you to eat shit, would you immediately rush to the toilet?"
"You, you!" Huang Yuan pointed at Gu Chenan, his fingertip involuntarily trembling. "You bullied Xiaoli. As her boyfriend, of course I have to stand up for her."
"Bullied?" Gu Chenan raised an eyebrow. "When you say I bullied her, are you referring to her twisting facts and framing me at the class reunion, being sarcastic and disgusting towards me? If so, then sure, let's say I bullied her."
"Don't make things up! How could Xiaoli do such things?!"
Huang Yuan completely disbelieved Gu Chenan's words. In his view, his girlfriend Song Xiaoli was practically a pure white lotus in this world. How could she possibly twist facts and be sarcastic?
Watching Huang Yuan and Gu Chenan's confrontation, Sun Wei was completely out of the loop.
He didn't know what grudge Gu Chenan and Huang Yuan had, but from their conversation, it seemed to be because of some woman.
Suddenly, he was stunned.
Does this mean that his coming to Zhenhua to deal with Caiying was entirely due to Huang Yuan's personal grudge?
Damn, he had been used as a pawn!
And, if this Gu Chenan was actually Caiying's boss, then Caiying's President Su was just an employee like himself?
Thinking of this, Sun Wei became even more angry.
We're both just employees, but you acted as if Caiying was yours! What nonsense!
"Sigh," Gu Chenan shook his head and stood up. "President Huang, you'd better think about how to explain this to Zhenhua's board of directors. Even I, someone who knows nothing about business, can predict Caiying's future trajectory. You certainly can too."
"You know better than me what will happen to Zhenhua's promotional face masks in the face of Caiying's enormous popularity."
At these words, Huang Yuan's heart suddenly sank.
Gu Chenan was right. The strategic adjustments Huang Yuan had made using Zhenhua's resources were clearly unwise. Zhenhua could have remained a dominant force in Shanghai's beauty industry, but because of Huang Yuan's unwise decision, Zhenhua was now facing a loss-making situation.
Although a loss of this scale wouldn't bankrupt Zhenhua, it was enough for the board of directors to replace this general manager.
"You!"
Huang Yuan gritted his teeth and looked at Liu Mingrui.
"Miss, I don't know what benefits Gu Chenan has promised you, but as long as you sign a contract with our Zhenhua, we won't mistreat you!"
"How much money do you want? We at Zhenhua will give you double!"

ose... to cooperate with the protagonist! Shen Yuan: I have a system! Protagonist: What? System: Holy crap, you're just spilling it out like that? Shen Yuan: Let's team up, we'll split the system rewards! Protagonist: Fifty-fifty split? Shen Yuan: No way! Protagonist: What!? I'm the one getting beaten up, and I don't get half? Shen Yuan: Forty-sixty split, I get forty, you get sixty! Protagonist: Deal! Big brother, come on, hit me! As long as it doesn't kill me, beat me like you mean it! Shen Yuan: Don't worry... I will definitely protect all of you! No one but me can lay a finger on you! Guard our Heaven's Chosen Ones! I'm the only one allowed to bully them!

rowess are unmatched, commanding a million-strong army! Yet, the Emperor wants to depose him for the sake of a false prince? Hold on, are you throwing me into some female-oriented romance plot? How can I tolerate this? With a grand wave of his hand—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! Slander the Emperor? Very well, all of you shall die! ... The False Prince: "Although I am not the biological son, Father and Mother love me more. The throne should be mine!" The Female Lead: "Qin Xiao, you are the Emperor, and I am a commoner. If you wish to marry me, you must abdicate. Otherwise, you will never have me!" The Empress: "After we divorce, you must give me half the empire!" The Transmigrator Consort: "You worthless Emperor, why should I kneel to you? All men are equal—I advise you to be kind!" The Great General: "The enemy general is my childhood sweetheart. For her sake, I willingly abandon the frontier defenses!" The Retired Emperor: "Although Yu'er was adopted, I prefer him. Qin Xiao, you should abdicate and let him become Emperor!" ... Very well! So this is how you want to play? Facing this twisted world of female-oriented tropes, Qin Xiao grins and raises his hand to unleash—the Nine Clan Extraction Technique! I am the Emperor. Why would I bother reasoning with you? Seal the gates! Leave none alive!

d intelligence to keep the plot moving, and sometimes even the protagonists are forced into absurdly dumb decisions. Why does the A-list celebrity heroine in urban romance novels ditch the top-tier movie star and become a lovestruck fool for a pockmarked male lead? Why do the leads in historical tragedy novels keep dancing between love and death, only for the blind healer to end up suffering the most? And Gu Wei never expected that after finally landing a villain role to stir up trouble, she’d pick the wrong gender! No choice now—she’ll just have to crush the protagonists as a girl!

grated, and just when he finally managed to get into an elite academy, he discovered that he actually had a system, and the way to earn rewards was extremely ridiculous. So for the sake of rewards, he had no choice but to start acting ridiculous as well. Su Cheng: "It's nothing but system quests after all." But later, what confused Su Cheng was that while he was already quite ridiculous, he never expected those serious characters to gradually become ridiculous too. And the way they looked at him became increasingly strange... (This synopsis doesn't do it justice, please read the full story)