Page 27

She was going to be Qianqian's best friend for life!

"That scumbag Ruan Ming actually dared to threaten you. Did he scare you? Qianqian, you haven't been sleeping well these past few days, have you?" He Tao asked, holding Li Qianqian's shoulders and studying her complexion.

"I-I'm fine," Li Qianqian said.

He Tao wiped her tears away gently, but said irritably, "And you call this fine? You've got dark circles under your eyes, and your face is so pale. Have you even been eating properly?"

Feeling guilty, Li Qianqian looked away without saying anything.

He Tao knew Li Qianqian. She was shy, sometimes like a timid little rabbit. What had happened this time must have...

Suddenly, He Tao's gaze casually swept over the person who had been standing to the side all this time. Was this person waiting with Qianqian?

But when had Qianqian made a new friend?

When He Tao took a closer look, her eyes abruptly widened, and she let out a startled cry.

Li Qianqian was startled by the cry as well. Her eyes wide, she said, "T-Taozi?"

"C-Cai..." He Tao pointed at Cai Jinbai in utter shock. "P-President Cai?!"

As an expert-level internet surfer who never missed the latest news, He Tao had not only ogled him beneath the videos back then, but had also followed the incident involving Xu Yuqing and Chen Chengrong. She had indignantly cursed the haters online on their behalf. How could she possibly fail to recognize Cai Jinbai?

After all, those two presidents had been unbelievably popular at the time. They were practically wealthy young masters from romance novels brought to life.

Even now, the buzz surrounding Jinbai Entertainment remained high from time to time. The company's regulations and humane management were enough to make people green with envy. He Tao was one of those envious people, and her wails of despair were never absent from the comments.

She had even dreamed that one day, she might meet President Cai in real life.

Too bad President Cai was not a celebrity. Otherwise, she would definitely have been a die-hard fan, the kind who would follow him to the end!

But now! Her dream had come true?!

She had actually seen the living, breathing President Cai with her own eyes!

Aaaaaah!

He Tao screamed silently.

Though she tried her best not to make a sound, her actions and expression still gave her away.

She was clearly incredibly excited. Clutching Li Qianqian's hand tightly, she whispered, "H-How is President Cai here?"

"President Cai?" Li Qianqian asked, puzzled.

He Tao leaned close to Li Qianqian's ear and said, "He's..."

Li Qianqian's eyes widened.

"You and President Cai?" He Tao could not help asking.

Cai Jinbai smiled. "We happened to meet by chance. I was fortunate enough to serve as Miss Li's listener for a while."

"However, although Miss Li has recovered the original manuscript of her script, Ruan Ming's production crew has already started filming. Even if you want to sue him, he can simply drag things out until the production is finished. By then, the losses caused to Miss Li will still be irreparable."

Moreover, Li Qianqian and He Tao's family backgrounds were not enough to support them in taking on Ruan Ming and the production crew behind him.

The best possible outcome would be for Ruan Ming to "pay" Li Qianqian the copyright fees, stuffing her with money and treating the script as though he had bought it.

But Cai Jinbai believed that even this best-case outcome would not happen.

Given Ruan Ming's nature, he was not afraid of Li Qianqian and He Tao at all. He had connections and means, while they were only two ordinary girls. If he was crueler, he might even make it impossible for Li Qianqian and He Tao to remain in the industry.

He Tao understood Cai Jinbai's meaning perfectly, and even Li Qianqian knew how serious the matter was.

Setting aside her fangirling for the moment, He Tao said, "I know it won't be easy to resolve this, but no matter how difficult it is, we have to do it. Qianqian, you want justice too, right? I don't think we can let this go. If someone like Ruan Ming can take your script, then he can take someone else's too."

As long as scum like him remained in society, it was unfair to original screenwriters and made him a black sheep!

Even if there was no result in the end, the process still mattered most. Only by letting more people know what kind of person Ruan Ming was could they be on guard against him.

Li Qianqian nodded. "Yes, I want to sue him!"

"But there isn't enough evidence. A lawsuit will be difficult..."

She did not want to drag He Tao into this. If her best friend was implicated, she would never be at peace.

But before Li Qianqian could say those words, Cai Jinbai said, "Jinbai Entertainment is currently recruiting screenwriters. I wonder whether Miss Li would be interested in joining my company? If you become my employee, then I naturally have an obligation to protect your lawful and legitimate rights."

"For example, I have plans to invest in Miss Li's script and turn it into a drama. In that case, the production crew that plagiarized Miss Li's script should cease filming in accordance with the law, compensate Miss Li for her losses in accordance with the law, and compensate my company for its losses as well."

After Cai Jinbai finished speaking, Li Qianqian and He Tao both looked completely dumbfounded.

Li Qianqian: "Huh?"

He Tao: "Huhhh?"

Wait, had such good fortune actually fallen into their laps?!

What was there to hesitate over? Of course they had to agree!

The production set.

Director Wang called Ruan Ming over and asked, "Have you dealt with that Li Qianqian?"

"You're sure she won't threaten the production after this, right?"

Hearing this, Ruan Ming said indifferently, "Uncle, don't worry. Li Qianqian has no background at all. I scared her a little, and she got frightened. How could she dare threaten the production? She doesn't have the guts. Otherwise, I wouldn't have just taken her script."

Director Wang nodded in satisfaction, then asked, "By the way, isn't she your girlfriend's best friend? What if she tells your girlfriend about this..."

Ruan Ming was even less concerned. "Let her tell her. I'm tired of her anyway. Girlfriends are like clothes—you just replace them with new ones."

Although He Tao was pretty, cheerful, and generous, all qualities he liked, and the two of them had indeed reached the point of discussing marriage, what was a girlfriend compared to prospects and wealth? If He Tao really made a fuss over Li Qianqian, he would break up with her on the spot.

Ruan Ming thought smugly that Li Qianqian truly was talented, and the script she had painstakingly written this time was excellent too. Unfortunately for her, it had benefited him.

When Li Qianqian had brought the script to him for his opinion, Ruan Ming had lied that a script like this would not appeal to audiences. In truth, he had been deceiving Li Qianqian. He had seen then that if the script was made into a television drama, it would definitely become a huge hit, so he had gotten ideas.

Now that the production crew had been established, the matter was already half settled...

But just as Ruan Ming and Director Wang were imagining their future together, a crew member suddenly rushed over in a panic and shouted.

"D-Director, Brother Ruan, hurry and look online! Something happened!"

The person looked anxious yet somewhat strange, and his eyes kept flicking toward Ruan Ming as though the matter had something to do with him.

Ruan Ming's heart skipped a beat under that gaze, and he suddenly had a bad feeling.

He hurriedly took out his phone and went online. No, he did not even need to search deliberately. The moment he opened the webpage, his name was hanging on the trending searches.

And there was more than one trending topic. The discussion across the internet was skyrocketing.

[#RuanMingStoleAScript#]

[#FamousScreenwriterIsActuallyASerialPlagiarist#]

[#XXProductionCrewStealsOriginalScriptForFilming#]

This XX production crew was the very crew Director Wang and Ruan Ming were currently filming with.

And the actors they had hired were not unknown minor actors either.

[Huh? Who is Ruan Ming?]

It was normal for a screenwriter to be less famous than a director, so someone replied below.

[Ruan Ming? He's a screenwriter. The television dramas he has worked on include... You can look him up. He's fairly well-known in the screenwriting industry. Oh, right, the director of this drama currently being filmed is Ruan Ming's uncle. They're relatives.]

[Feels like this is going to be another huge scandal. I'm grabbing some popcorn, haha.]

[Let me sort out what happened—someone wants to sue Ruan Ming for stealing her original script, and the script being used by the production currently filming was written by her, but Ruan Ming took it without paying her. He freeloaded, so she got upset?]

[No, you got it wrong! The original post is here. Read it yourself. Ruan Ming said he would help revise her script, and she thought he was giving her guidance. Who knew he was stealing it? He did not even intend to return the original manuscript. Luckily, Ruan Ming's girlfriend was her childhood best friend, and before Ruan Ming could react, she secretly took the script back.]

[No way, was he really that blatant?]

[The truth of the matter still needs to be verified. I'll wait and see.]

The netizens had not yet swarmed in to curse Ruan Ming.

After all, the situation was not clear yet. They could not accuse someone based solely on a single Weibo post.

But immediately afterward, the matter quickly developed further.

Ruan Ming had stolen other people's original scripts more than once. He was a repeat offender and had used plots written by other screenwriters without permission before.

Besides Li Qianqian, several other screenwriters who had been oppressed by Ruan Ming also joined together to expose his actions.

They also stated that they would jointly sue Ruan Ming in court and seek the compensation they deserved.

Even the production crew Director Wang was currently filming with had been sued by Jinbai Entertainment.

[Huh? Jinbai Entertainment? Does this have something to do with my President Cai again?]

[What does this have to do with Jinbai Entertainment?]

[Aah! This Li Qianqian joined Jinbai Entertainment!]