SABA Chapter 43

Nie Jin had already received word when Jiang Tiao got into an argument with Yang Min at the photo studio. While cursing Yang Min in her mind, she politely said to Xu Sisi, “It’s nothing, it’s just a child being unreasonable.”

Xu Sisi’s expression was also very displeased. Yang Min’s behavior was entirely his own actions, and now she had to deal with the aftermath!

The two of them, accompanied by Chen Wa, hurried towards the photo studio. Before they could even attempt to smooth things over by admonishing both sides of the dispute, they saw Chu Qingchao standing at the entrance of the studio. He was wearing an oatmeal-colored cashmere-blend V-neck sweater, stylishly understated and exuding an outstanding aura. However, the palpable low-pressure aura surrounding him clearly indicated that he was not in a good mood.

Xu Sisi and Chen Wa instantly straightened up, exchanged glances, and saw the shock and fear in each other’s eyes.

Why is Mr. Chu here?

We don’t know! Why wasn’t anyone notified in advance?!

What’s going on? What happened inside?

How should I know! We were all together ten minutes ago!

So what do we do now?!

We just have to go in first?

After exchanging glances, the two tidied their clothes and hairstyles, their expressions becoming professional and more polished than ever.

Just as Xu Sisi was about to take the first step, Chen Wa grabbed her arm and, under the gaze of the two ladies, quickly pulled out loose powder from his pocket and hastily reapplied his makeup.

Xu Sisi: “…”

Nie Jin: “…”

Alright, it was understandable. After all, Nie Jin herself was also very nervous right now. Chu Qingchao was the CEO of ELEGANT Group, directly controlling multiple subsidiaries such as ELEGAN Fashion Magazine, ELEGAN Jewelry, and ELEGAN Apparel. He held numerous opportunities for collaboration with top international brands and the power to recommend high-end endorsements. It could be said that offending him in the fashion industry meant being permanently cut off from top brands and luxury goods.

Although Nie Jin was a top agent at Xingyi Media, she had never had the opportunity for direct communication with Chu Qingchao, because Chu Qingchao was not on the same level as them.

Nie Jin subtly wiped the sweat from her palms, continuously praying that the “little ancestor” inside hadn’t escalated the situation to an irreversible point. What she feared most now was that Jiang Tiao, in a fit of temper, would not only scold Yang Min but also Chu Qingchao.

God, just thinking about such a scene made Nie Jin’s vision go black.

Upon entering, Nie Jin quickly pulled Jiang Tiao to an inconspicuous corner away from the attention-grabbing shooting area. Standing in the central C position surrounded by lights, was this person afraid that everyone wouldn’t notice him!

“Mr. Chu.”

Xu Sisi stood before Chu Qingchao, enduring immense pressure. There was no other way; she was the person in charge of this issue of the magazine and the highest-ranking person among them. At this moment, she was filled with resentment towards Ye Qinghan and Yang Min. Both of them were troublemakers! If she had a choice, she really never wanted to cooperate with these two again!

Chu Qingchao glanced at her, his tone devoid of emotion, “Did you authorize his actions?”

“No,” Xu Sisi immediately denied. Her relationship with Yang Min was ordinary, just colleagues. She wouldn’t take responsibility for him, “This was Yang Min’s personal behavior. I just found out and came down to stop it.”

Yang Min’s face turned pale. Chu Qingchao hadn’t visited the shooting site in a long time, and he didn’t know why he would suddenly come today. He felt incredibly unlucky, not knowing how much he had heard.

“Mr. Chu, I didn’t mean it that way. I was just a bit careless with my words out of frustration with this uncooperative artist. I…” Yang Min’s attempted explanation was completely silenced by Chu Qingchao’s inscrutable expression. Even though it was a comfortably air-conditioned room, a thin layer of sweat had broken out on his back.

Chu Qingchao looked at him without acknowledgment, “Ye Qinghan was four hours late?”

“Yes,” Xu Sisi didn’t know how Chu Qingchao was so well-informed about the day’s shooting. “The original scheduled time to start hair and makeup was eight o’clock.”

Chu Qingchao: “Send someone to contact him and tell him he doesn’t need to come.”

The photo studio was silent. Yang Min’s face turned from green to white.

This… Xu Sisi furrowed her brows. She couldn’t worry about protecting herself at this point. She braced herself and explained, “It’s probably too late to find someone else now, and the publicity department has already released news to build momentum for the quarterly issue. Ye Qinghan’s high-profile return and immense popularity are significant. If we don’t use him, I’m afraid his fans will unite to boycott us and spread rumors.”

Chu Qingchao: “Wasn’t he the one who breached the contract first? Do I need to teach you step-by-step how to guide public opinion and control the narrative?”

Xu Sisi was rendered speechless.

When Yang Min heard that Ye Qinghan was indeed going to be replaced, he became very anxious. He quickly interjected, a smile on his face, trying to persuade on Ye Qinghan’s behalf, “Teacher Ye is already on his way, he’s just a little late. It won’t delay anything. I’ve already adjusted the lighting parameters. We can definitely finish shooting today, so there’s no need to change people, which would be so troublesome.”

Chu Qingchao looked down at him, “Since your heart is with Ye Qinghan, then pack your things. You don’t need to come to ELEGAN tomorrow. Go work for Ye Qinghan.”

The photo studio fell into a dead silence. Yang Min’s face was pale, his lips trembling. He opened his mouth several times but couldn’t utter a sound.

Seeing Yang Min’s fate, Xu Sisi didn’t dare to say anything else, fearing she would also be targeted and become the next person to be fired. “Then we’ll immediately discuss and confirm a replacement candidate.”

Chu Qingchao: “No need. Give this issue’s cover to him.”

Him? Who? Xu Sisi followed the direction of Chu Qingchao’s chin lift and looked at Jiang Tiao. A myriad of emotions swirled within her, like a hot pot with ingredients thrown in haphazardly, chaotic and tumultuous, yet sealed with a lid, without even an outlet for steam to escape.

The quarterly issue! This was the quarterly issue! If she wasn’t worried about becoming the next Yang Min, Xu Sisi would have really wanted to roar! Even if they weren’t using Ye Qinghan, they shouldn’t be using Jiang Tiao. Although she had no opinion of Jiang Tiao himself, the problem was that he was just a rising novice artist! By their usual standards, he wouldn’t even make the cover of a regular monthly magazine, let alone a quarterly one! So, did he save your life in his previous life?!

Xu Sisi: “Then I’ll contact Liu Ming and have him come over immediately?” Liu Ming was another chief photographer.

Chu Qingchao: “No need. I’ll shoot it myself this afternoon.”

“…” Xu Sisi felt she was becoming numb. Chu Qingchao had previously won a gold award in photography. In the early days when he first took over the company, he had personally overseen the work of the photography department for a period. However, after being promoted to group president, he hadn’t personally shot magazine covers for many years.

Chu Qingchao: “Let’s go, let’s go eat first.”

Just when Xu Sisi thought nothing else could surprise her today, Chu Qingchao’s words almost made her eyes pop out.

Go eat? Who was he inviting?

Then, along with Nie Jin and Chen Wa, whose eyes had also popped out, she watched as Jiang Tiao quietly walked out from the corner, greeted Nie Jin, and then left the photo studio with Chu Qingchao.

？？？？？？！！！！

Even if eight bulls tried to pull her, the galloping mud horse in her heart couldn’t stop it. What was going on??? What’s happening???!!!

Nie Jin’s situation wasn’t much better than Xu Sisi’s, but she couldn’t show it on her face. She had to maintain a composed expression, and under the scrutinizing gazes of everyone else, she appeared particularly inscrutable.

Finally away from the crowd, Chen Wa couldn’t hold back any longer, “You’re too unfair! You didn’t even tell me that your artist and Jiang Tiao are involved! You made me try so hard to smooth things over and analyze so much with you!”

“Heaven and Earth as my witness, I’m finding out for the first time myself!” Nie Jin was more wronged than Dou E. Seeing Chen Wa’s obviously suspicious gaze, she swore to the heavens, “If I’m lying, I won’t get a single cent of my bonus this year.”

For a working person, there was no more vicious oath than this. Chen Wa believed Nie Jin’s innocence in an instant.

With the internal disputes resolved, only the external gossip remained.

“What do you think their relationship is? Is Mr. Chu your artist’s sugar daddy? But that doesn’t make sense either. If you find a sugar daddy, how can they bypass the agent? How can the resources be delivered?” Chen Wa said, then negated his own guess.

Nie Jin also felt it was unlikely. After Jiang Tiao became slightly popular on “Extreme Escape Room,” she took some time to re-examine Jiang Tiao’s contract. She found that Jiang Tiao’s contract was very strange. It had no performance indicators, and the agent commission didn’t need to be shared with the company, but there were many other restrictions. For example, leaving his place of residence required reporting to the agent, he couldn’t privately participate in non-agent-arranged activities, the contract period was as long as ten years, and the termination fee was as high as eight figures.

Nie Jin felt that it was more like a custody contract than an artist contract.

The absence of any performance indicators meant that Jiang Tiao could do whatever he wanted. The sky-high termination fee ensured that Jiang Tiao couldn’t leave the company. The various restrictions protected Jiang Tiao to the greatest extent possible. And the agent commission only going to the agent ensured she would diligently manage Jiang Tiao.

No sugar daddy would be so considerate of their kept person. Therefore, she leaned towards Jiang Tiao being a young master from a wealthy family. His family didn’t approve of him entering the entertainment industry, but they couldn’t dissuade him, so they had him sign this contract with Xingyi to protect him as much as possible.

It was too convoluted. Gossip without enough information to support it was difficult to continue. Chen Wa hit a bottleneck and casually sighed, “Sigh, I’ve never seen Mr. Chu treat any artist this specially. You say, could he possibly like your artist’s type? Or maybe I should learn from him, do you think I have a chance?”

Nie Jin almost choked on her saliva, “What nonsense, you like our Mr. Chu?!”

Chen Wa: “Yes, didn’t I tell you? I fell in love with Mr. Chu at first sight during a show setup, and then I resigned and came to ‘ELEGAN’.”

Nie Jin: “You! Really! Haven’t! Told! Me!”

However, Chen Wa often talked about Chu Qingchao’s achievements in the fashion industry, such as bringing ‘ELEGAN,’ which was on the verge of collapse, back to its former glory, and successfully pushing ELEGAN Jewelry to the international stage to become one of the top luxury brands during his tenure…

So she had always thought Chen Wa was a worshipper of Chu Qingchao!

Chen Wa: “But after I came, I discovered that our Mr. Chu had too many admirers! Do you know the second son of the Vuitton family, who controls one of the high-end luxury blue-blood brands? He’s been pursuing our Mr. Chu for many years. Last time I went on a business trip to Paris, he had people cover the entire Charles de Gaulle Airport with roses.”

“That’s too outrageous!” Nie Jin was shocked, as it’s human nature to gossip. “Did your Mr. Chu agree?”

Chen Wa: “We analyzed that he didn’t, because those roses were airlifted to Syria the next day, each accompanied by a bag of food supplies, distributed to refugees.”

“…”

Nie Jin didn’t know how to comment for a moment.

“After all, Mr. Chu’s principle is not to discuss business in personal relationships, as it’s said to affect collaborations,” Chen Wa spread his hands, “However, Mr. Chu’s personal life has always been a mystery. We’ve dug into it many times internally, and the only thing we can confirm now is that he likes men.”

“This isn’t a secret, is it?” Nie Jin complained speechlessly, “Fortunately, ‘ELEGAN’ didn’t get its start from gossip, otherwise, with your level, you’d all be unemployed…”

…

On the other side of the city, Huo Shen and Jiang Mingyan had just finished a cross-border meeting together. Jiang Mingyan looked at Huo Shen, who was standing by the floor-to-ceiling window, with uncharacteristic concern.

“How are you and Jiang Tiao doing now?”

…