I'm the client for this project

"You trust him that much!"

Chen Kangcheng raised his eyebrows and said in some surprise, "Do you know what he's planning to do?"

Wei Zhao nodded. "Although I don't know what he's planning to do, he must have his reasons for doing it."

Chen Kangcheng: ...

So you don't know anything at all.

"Joking aside, this has nothing to do with trust."

Wei Zhao draped an arm over Chen Kangcheng's shoulders and headed toward the office with him, smiling helplessly. "I simply can't control him, so there's no point in me worrying."

"You're really laid-back," Chen Kangcheng couldn't help remarking.

Wei Zhao spread his hands helplessly. "What storms haven't I weathered these past two years?"

Meanwhile, the storm himself had been stopped outside the conference room on the 10th Floor.

"Sorry, there's an important meeting in progress. You can't go in."

Seeing Ye Yizhou about to push open the conference room door, the secretary to He Sipei, president of Yuhuang Entertainment Company, hurriedly stopped him.

As He Sipei's secretary, she had also asked about Ye Yizhou.

After all, the waves of negative trending topics affected not only Ye Yizhou personally but also brought a certain amount of negative publicity to their company.

But their president's attitude was to let Ye Yizhou do as he pleased, giving the impression that Ye Yizhou was both important and unimportant.

Unable to figure out what their president meant, she could only treat Ye Yizhou with ordinary courtesy to avoid getting herself into trouble.

Ye Yizhou didn't make things difficult for her, merely responding calmly, "Oh."

Ye Yizhou took out his phone, made a call, and held it to his ear.

"So I don't have to attend today's meeting, is that right?"

"Then may I ask what you mean by having someone stop me outside the door?"

Hearing Ye Yizhou say those two things to the person on the other end, the secretary grew a little nervous. Had she been wrong to stop him?

Before long, the conference room door opened from inside, and Lu Yuanqing, general manager of the Lingyao Group, came out.

"The meeting started at nine, and you only show up at ten. Do you think that's appropriate?" Lu Yuanqing glanced at his watch, frowning slightly.

"You can't blame me for that. I couldn't get up!"

Ye Yizhou sounded utterly innocent, offering that unjustifiable excuse with complete confidence.

"Come in." Lu Yuanqing said nothing more, merely pulling open the conference room door and stepping aside to let Ye Yizhou enter before closing it again.

The secretary outside breathed a sigh of relief.

When Ye Yizhou entered the conference room, everyone's attention focused on him.

"This..."

A third of those in the conference room were representatives from the Lingyao Group, a third were from the Yan Group, and the remaining third were from Entertainment Emperor Entertainment.

Apart from He Sipei, the people from Entertainment Emperor Entertainment only knew Ye Yizhou as an artist at their company-and a restless troublemaker who was always at the center of controversy.

They were therefore somewhat puzzled by Ye Yizhou's sudden appearance in this conference room and wanted to speak, but seeing that their president and the people from the other two companies said nothing, they naturally swallowed the rest of their words.

Ye Yizhou seated himself at the center of the head of the conference table without prompting.

Although Ye Yizhou wore a suit, his tie was slightly loose, and one button at his shirt collar was undone. Rather than looking entirely formal, he had an air of untamed defiance.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Ye Yizhou, and I'm in overall charge of this project. I look forward to working with you!"

Leaning back in his chair, Ye Yizhou spoke casually, a smile still on his lips as he surveyed everyone at the conference table.

Quite a few people looked astonished and incredulous, and some even began whispering to the colleagues beside them.

"You've been meeting for an hour. Have you reached a conclusion?"

Ye Yizhou didn't care what they were thinking at that moment. A meeting naturally needed to produce a conclusion.

"Entertainment Emperor Entertainment will cooperate with all work arrangements made by the Lingyao Group and the Yan Group."

He Sipei was the first to state his position. "Liu Jiangzhou will direct the film personally. As for casting, I hope we can select from Entertainment Emperor Entertainment's artists."

"Exactly. With such a huge investment, we can't just hand the benefits to someone else!"

"With Director Liu directing, the Lingyao Group's technology, and the Yan Group's enormous investment, this project is bound to be a hit in its own right. We certainly can't let outsiders benefit from a project like this."

"Exactly."

Everyone seemed fairly supportive of the proposal. Keeping the benefits within the family was understandable enough.

"What do you think?" Lu Yuanqing looked straight at Ye Yizhou.

He was the one with the final say.

"You make a very good point." Ye Yizhou nodded in agreement.

"Then let's..."

"But you don't seem to understand what this project is actually for."

Ye Yizhou spoke mildly, but his gaze was sharp. "We're not spending over a billion on this project to promote one person or a handful of people."

"We have to find actors anyway, and it's not as though our company doesn't have any. That way, not only will the project make money, but the artists it makes famous will also bring the company greater returns. That maximizes the benefits."

Naturally, someone disagreed with what Ye Yizhou had said.

"Are we supposed to use such an enormous investment to make other companies' artists famous, then?"

Ye Yizhou sat up straight and tapped a finger on the table before speaking slowly. "Perhaps I wasn't clear enough just now, so I'll say it again. All the funding and all the effort are for the success of this project itself."

"Casting for the project won't be limited to Entertainment Emperor Entertainment's artists. If their acting passes muster and they meet Director Liu's casting requirements, then everyone's happy."

Ye Yizhou made no attempt to mince words. "But if their acting is garbage, I don't care who they are. Every last one of them can get as far away as possible."

"I need to ensure that every actor's performance does this script justice. Only when the acting is good, the plot is strong, the pacing is fast, the costumes, makeup, and props are excellent, the postproduction effects are good, and so on, can this project reach another level, draw people back to watch it repeatedly, and give greater depth to what we want to convey."

"I don't want the discussion after the film finally comes out to be about how so-and-so can't act."

"Have I made myself clear enough now?"

Ye Yizhou's words instantly silenced the conference room.

"But..." Some still wanted to try to argue their case.

Ye Yizhou couldn't help frowning. "I don't think you quite understand your place."

"I'm the client for this project. Asking for your opinions doesn't mean you get to tell me what to do. If Entertainment Emperor Entertainment weren't an entertainment company under the Yan Group, you wouldn't even be qualified to sit here. Whoever I let reap the profits, they're still profits. It doesn't have to be you."

Ye Yizhou's tone was soft, but it carried an indescribable authority. "I'm not discussing this with you. I'm informing you. Understand?"

The expressions on some faces in the conference room immediately turned rather unpleasant.

"Does anyone else have any objections?" Ye Yizhou put away his cold, stern expression and asked with a smile.