He Had Never Expected Her to Be So Bold

The moment Yi Qiang returned to the company, he had someone summon Yu Huan from the dance studio, where she was practicing. As soon as the door shut, his face darkened, the fat on his cheeks twitching.

The sight made Yu Huan's heart pound with fear. She hurriedly swayed her hips, trying to nestle into his arms. "Qiang, who made you so angry?"

Yi Qiang saw through her intentions at once and snapped, "Stay there. Don't come any closer."

Yu Huan stopped in her tracks, frozen in an awkward pose.

Yi Qiang took a deep breath. "Tell me. How did you offend the Xia Group?"

Yu Huan's guard relaxed a little. "How could I possibly have offended the Xia Corporation? If I had connections like that, I'd have shot to stardom long ago. Why would I need to go to all this trouble?"

Yi Qiang narrowed his eyes. Already squeezed small by the fat on his face, they became even smaller, but the viciousness in them was plain enough to make Yu Huan's heart race with fear.

"You really didn't?" Yi Qiang did not believe her.

Yu Huan raised three fingers. "I swear, I really didn't."

Yi Qiang scoffed. "If swearing worked, I'd have been struck dead by lightning long ago. You'd better tell me the truth."

"I really didn't." Yu Huan hesitated. "Could it be because we wanted to invite Lin Fengmian to be my guest singer?"

Yi Qiang raised an eyebrow. "What kind of background does this Lin Fengmian have?"

At this point, Yu Huan had nothing left to hide. "Lin Fengmian is award-winning actress Song Su's youngest son."

As soon as Yu Huan said that, Yi Qiang understood the connections involved. Song Su's name carried immense weight in the industry, and her influence was enormous. Even after retiring from acting and becoming less active in the industry, she still had an extensive network.

Many directors and investors would do her favors, especially since she had married into the Lin Family of Shengjing.

Everyone in the industry had to show her some respect.

And her youngest son was close buddies with the man at the helm of the Xia Group. That was the public version, anyway. In private, people said Song Su's youngest son was the Xia Group boss's boyfriend.

He doted on him as though he were his very heart.

Yi Qiang had seen photographs of the Lin Family's three older children. He had even instructed the company's people to steer clear whenever they encountered them, lest they bring trouble upon themselves.

But to this day, no one knew what the Lin Family's youngest son looked like.

He was very well protected.

"You told me Lin Fengmian was just your ex's former bandmate, the drummer who made a name for himself by suing his management company. You never told me he was the Lin Family's youngest son." Yu Huan had actually kept such important information from him. What was she trying to do?

Yi Qiang could figure out her intentions without even trying. She simply wanted to use her ex's former bandmate, who was not only a skilled musician but also an extremely capable lawyer. Yu Huan had also mentioned that Lin Fengmian was good-looking. When the time came, they could hype them up as a couple and spin the story into two men fighting over her, coming to blows and even falling out completely and facing each other in court.

Then Yu Huan, moved by his sincere feelings, would bring him onto the show to sing love songs together.

Fans these days had romance on the brain. All they had to do was make up a story and hype it, and the fans would take it as gospel, squealing over the pairing. Once they had attracted fans through the romance hype, they could kick this utterly unthreatening man aside, saying he lacked ambition and was not good enough for someone as outstanding as her. She could walk away without a stain on her reputation.

That was also why he had originally agreed to let Yu Huan invite some nameless nobody to be her guest singer.

But he had never imagined that Yu Huan was holding something back. If Lin Fengmian was Song Su's youngest son and a close buddy of the Xia Group boss, once Yu Huan exposed those deeper connections...

Yi Qiang could already imagine how shocked people both inside and outside the industry would be. Yu Huan could ride that wave of attention from the second tier straight into the first.

He stared at Yu Huan with a complicated look. He knew this woman was scheming and ambitious, but he had never expected her to be so bold that she would dare drag a member of the Lin Family into it.

Yi Qiang was seething, his anger boiling over. He hurled the pen in his hand at Yu Huan. "Someone like him is not yours to exploit."

Even he would have to weigh whether he was qualified to exploit someone like that, and whether he would end up dead without an intact corpse.

Let alone a mere entertainer like Yu Huan.

Yu Huan did not dare dodge, letting the ink splatter across her face. "The Lin Family cares about appearances. They might not blame me over this kind of baseless publicity stunt. I won't come forward myself. I'll just have paid commenters blend in and steer the discussion a little. If the Lin Family pursues it, I'll say the netizens acted on their own and it had nothing to do with me. Wouldn't that get me off the hook?"

"Do you think the Lin Family and the Xia Group boss are idiots? That you can play them like puppets? The fact that no one knows what the Lin Family's youngest son looks like even now says it all."

"You only invited him to be your guest singer, and you haven't even succeeded yet, but the Xia Corporation has already stepped in and kicked you off the show. That shows just how much Xia Qinghe cares about Lin Fengmian."

"No, we can't just sit here and wait. I'll use my connections and see if I can get a request through to apologize in person."

"Post on Weibo first. Say you're temporarily withdrawing from Empire Singer for health reasons."

Yu Huan was deeply unwilling, but she had no choice. To preserve her dignity, she could only make a Weibo post.

[Apology and statement: Hello, everyone. I'm Yu Huan. I deeply regret to inform you that, due to personal health issues requiring rest, I have decided, after amicable discussions with the production team, to withdraw from the remaining recordings of "Empire Singer."

I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this causes the production team, our partners, and the viewers who love and support me. I am deeply grateful for the production team's continued trust and care, and for everyone's support and companionship during this time.

I sincerely wish "Empire Singer" smooth recording sessions and soaring ratings! I hope the other guests will shine on the show. Keep it up!]

She also tagged the show's official account and several singers appearing alongside her.

As soon as the Weibo post went up, comments flooded the comment section.

[Huanhuan, get some rest. Don't wear yourself out. Love you! Sending you a heart.]

Most people told her to take care of herself, but soon, some discordant comments full of conspiracy theories were pushed to the top, gaining more and more likes.

[She was interacting with fans and posting bikini photos from her swim just yesterday. How did she suddenly get sick?]

Someone replied beneath that comment.

[Maybe she caught a cold swimming and has a sore throat.]

[That can't be right. There are still several days before the recording. She'd have recovered by then.]

[Could someone else have wanted to get on the show and kicked out our Huanhuan because she has the least seniority?]

[Wow, I think your analysis makes a lot of sense. I'm going to check who replaced our Huanhuan on the show right now.]

As Yu Huan watched the comments veer further and further off course, she closed her eyes, opened them again, and tapped to disable comments.

She did not know that disabling comments sent her fans into an uproar. Believing their idol really had suffered workplace bullying, they kept spreading the word and stirring up public opinion, hoping to draw the production team's attention and ultimately get their idol back on the show.

When Yi Qiang received word from the PR department, he was so furious he nearly suffered a brain hemorrhage. "I only told you to make a post explaining things. Why did you turn off the comments?"

"I... I found them upsetting. I was afraid they'd steer things out of control, so..."

"Shut up."

Yi Qiang wanted to strangle this woman. He had once thought she was different from the others. Why was she just as stupid?

Leaving Yu Huan behind, Yi Qiang requested funds from the company and spent the money to suppress the buzz.