The incident had caused quite a stir.
In fact, it could be called a rather big deal.
Although Wan Lian Lian’s red carpet performances had always been a little shaky, she was undeniably a top-tier actress.
Her fans were both male and female, though the male contingent was slightly larger.
Her post on Weibo was loaded with implications.
She wasn’t just playing the victim—she was hinting at Jiang Mian’s controlling behavior. She even mentioned that Jiang Mian never allowed her to read messages from male fans or accept gifts from them.
Worse still, she hinted that Jiang Mian had previously suggested she drink with certain “bosses.”
Only, she had always kept her integrity, rejecting every time.
These two points sent her male fans into a frenzy of shock and anger.
“?? Seriously? I remember when I first started following Lian Lian—she was so cute and soft, and she would reply to us. So all this time, she stopped replying and wouldn’t accept gifts because of that useless manager? Who does she think she is, controlling Lian Lian like this? We liked and supported her, and she would rather have her forced to accompany those stupid bosses than let her accept gifts from us fans? What a money-grubbing snake. You want to cozy up to bosses so badly, why don’t you go yourself? Oh right… with that face, nobody would want you.”
“I’ve had it. I said this woman was unreliable, always so busy tending to her own ugly face, dressing fancier than Lian Lian. A proper manager wouldn’t behave like this. Finally, Lian Lian tore into her online—this kind of person doesn’t deserve to be a manager.”
“I’m sick to my stomach. How is it that anyone can become a manager these days? Lian Lian is gorgeous, yet every red carpet event has problems. Now I get it—it’s all because of that manager. Also, when Lian Lian is filming, there’s the costume and makeup team and directors—she can’t interfere. So all she can control is the red carpet. Gross… can’t stand to see another woman look better. Poor Lian Lian, enduring this nonsense for so many years.”
Some of the more extreme male fans didn’t hold back, cursing violently. Three sentences with a family insult, five with crude sexual references.
Many even sent abusive messages directly to Jiang Mian’s private inbox, utterly shameless.
The sheer volume of insults, accusations, and ridicule engulfed her. She drifted through half the day in a daze.
She didn’t care about the others so much—but the fact that the remaining artists she managed had betrayed her too… Jiang Mian found that hard to accept.
She even wondered to herself: how could there be so many people with no heart in this world?
And yet, she had encountered them all at once.
What made it worse, the company called.
They told her that the incident had caused severe damage, and after discussion, the decision was to terminate her contract.
In consideration of her years of hard work, they wouldn’t pursue compensation for the severe damage caused.
Jiang Mian felt a mix of amusement and sorrow.
Amused, because the company’s so-called discussion came too quickly.
Quick enough that she couldn’t deceive herself—Wan Lian Lian had already preemptively spoken to the company.
There was truly no room left for her.
Her heart went completely cold.
She even reflected on herself—had she really failed so badly?
Otherwise, how could she have reached the point of being utterly abandoned?
Just then, her phone screen lit up with a number.
Jiang Mian froze.
Why him?
“Manager Jiang, you look surprised to see me?”
Fan Qing sipped his milk and glanced at Jiang Mian.
She didn’t look well.
Just a few days apart, and the confident, sharp, competent woman she knew now seemed so worn down.
Jiang Mian was silent for a moment.
She hadn’t expected this—she didn’t expect Fan Qing to reach out at a time like this.
After a while, she spoke.
“I’m sorry, Fan Qing. About the resource I promised you earlier… I really can’t provide it now. If that’s why you contacted me.”
Fan Qing chuckled lightly.
The milk arrived, he took a few sips.
“A resource alone isn’t the reason I would make time to meet Manager Jiang, don’t you think?”
Jiang Mian’s heart tightened.
Then why was he here?
“So… Fan Qing means…”
She paused for two seconds, then hesitantly asked.
She couldn’t imagine any reason Fan Qing would contact her.
In short, aside from the previous cooperation they discussed, she and Fan Qing had no other connection.
“Actually, I have a question for you, Manager Jiang.”
Fan Qing set down his cup, calm and composed.
From his expression, Jiang Mian couldn’t detect any negative emotions.
They were conversing just as they had a few days ago—she almost felt as if the online incident hadn’t even happened.
“Go ahead.”
Jiang Mian spoke slowly. She wanted to know what Fan Qing wanted to say.
Fan Qing glanced at her with quiet admiration.
“When you agreed to cooperate before, did you really think Designer Yao could deliver what you wanted?”
“Just that question?”
Jiang Mian blinked, a little taken aback.
Fan Qing tapped his fingers lightly on the table and added,
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to get your analysis—as a peer.”
Jiang Mian looked at him.
“Are you serious?”
“Of course.”
He nodded calmly.
Jiang Mian took a deep breath.
“You really are a strange one.”
Reaching out to her at a time like this was odd enough—but just for a single question?
Still, she felt, oddly, a sense of recognition stirring inside her.
Her previously dim eyes brightened just a little.
“Honestly, in my personal analysis, I’d say over sixty percent.”
“Sixty percent?” Fan Qing raised an eyebrow.
That wasn’t a low number. Anything above fifty percent was already very high.
“Yes.”
Jiang Mian nodded slowly.
“I’m not afraid to be honest. Before I even heard Director Jin’s name, I’d only estimated it between thirty and forty percent.”
She had genuinely analyzed it carefully.
“One percent of that is based on my observation of you, Fan Qing—your methods and actions.”
She spoke frankly.
“Don’t laugh, I started out as an assistant just like you did. There’s a lot managers know that I didn’t. What do you do when you don’t know? You secretly study others, and learn from them.”
It was a habit she had maintained all along.
“Fan Qing, you must know yourself—over the past two years, your influence among managers has been unmatched. You were the one I wanted to learn from. That one percent? That’s my trust in your eye for talent.”
Fan Qing hadn’t expected that reason. He couldn’t help a quiet, impressed murmur in his mind.
Jiang Mian pushed back some disheveled strands of hair and sipped the black coffee before her.
Bitter. Extremely bitter.
“The remaining three percent… one percent is from seeing Designer Yao’s work, the other two are from the jaw-dropping designs by Jian Feiyang that went viral online. I allocated only two percent there, considering the differences between men and women.”
She explained everything clearly.
She had even shared this analysis with Wan Lian Lian—but unfortunately, Wan Lian Lian didn’t need her insight.
Fan Qing raised his hands lightly and applauded.
“Excellent.”
Jiang Mian smiled bitterly, yet felt some gratitude.
“You flatter me. I trust that you, Fan Qing, would see even more than I can.”
Even just this recognition from a peer in the middle of such a moment lifted her mood.
She paused, suddenly wondering… could Fan Qing have come just to comfort her?
Impossible, right?
Her thoughts flicked to one important detail—the first time they met, the marks on Fan Qing’s neck.
Having spent years in the industry, she could read it easily—those were marks left by a man.
Jiang Mian exhaled in relief. All clear.
Then, the next second, Fan Qing spoke again.
“Indeed.”
He nodded, confirming what she had suspected.
He did see further than her, and he dared to take bigger risks.
Otherwise, why would Yao Ge now be doing other designs on the side, in addition to designing intimate apparel?
Jiang Mian: …?
Shouldn’t he have been a bit more humble here?
Her gaze gave away too much. Fan Qing noticed and raised an eyebrow.
“What’s this? Manager Jiang, do you think that because I praised you, I can’t praise myself?”
Jiang Mian was speechless for a moment.
She hadn’t meant it that way.
But, normally, would someone think like that?
Her clear train of thought had just spiraled into confusion.
No, seriously—why was Fan Qing here?
They couldn’t just be meeting for tea and mutual flattery, right?
Her mind regained clarity. Fan Qing had studied her carefully, and now finally got to the point.
“Since you’ve been paying so much attention to me, you must have heard about one thing, right?”
Jiang Mian genuinely felt she couldn’t guess.
“Which thing do you mean?”
“Tenghuang—it’s actually me handling that matter.”
Fan Qing was blunt.
Jiang Mian inhaled sharply.
Not… not that?
The topic today was heading in such a shocking direction?
She had already had her fill of scandals today—no need for a new one…
Wait. She paused in thought.
So, this wasn’t just mutual flattery?
She cautiously probed,
“I’ve heard of it, but isn’t that just praise for your strong methods?”
Haha… couldn’t be the actual truth.
“No, it’s the truth.”
Fan Qing’s words made her mind spin.
Which truth?
The one she had guessed?
Jiang Mian opened her mouth slightly. For a moment, she felt all her previous “scandals” were trivial.
This… this was the real big scoop.
After a long pause, she composed herself, her humility flawless.
“You…?”
Her reactions were quick, but her nerves were a little frayed.
Fan Qing looked at her appreciatively and spoke slowly:
“It’s nothing else. Tenghuang now has quite a few artists doing well under them. I wanted to ask if Manager Jiang might be interested in joining a new employer.”
In an instant, Jiang Mian’s gaze at Fan Qing was no longer just “you.”
She even felt that he radiated a kind of holy light.