raknovel Chapter 53, Dedication?
Chapter 53, Dedication?
Yan Xi was stunned again.
It wasn't until Cheng Chen's figure reached the corner of the stairs that she snapped out of her daze and hurriedly chased after him.
"Producer!"
Cheng Chen's sleeve was grabbed tightly by an urgent force, forcing him to stop. He turned to the side, his gaze coldly falling on the trembling hand clutching his sleeve.
"Yan Xi, please have some self-respect." He slowly pulled his sleeve away, his tone as distant as if he were talking to a stranger. "Since you've chosen to resign, you're no longer my trainee. You don't need to keep calling me producer."
Yan Xi's eyes widened in disbelief.
How can this man change his expression faster than turning the pages of a book? He was perfectly fine one second, but in the blink of an eye he becomes cold and indifferent.
But right now her mind was a mess, and she didn't have the energy to think too much.
"No...that's not how it is, please let me explain."
Her face flushed red, not from embarrassment, but from anxiety.
"Um... I'm just a magical girl who was captured and brought to the Sound Palace Entertainment. I have no money, no skills, and a bad temper. I'm not likable at all. From the very beginning until now, Producer, you've worried about me so many times and have been helping me all this time..."
"Huiya is not worth all your effort. You don't need to waste resources on her, you don't need to gamble your reputation in the company for her, and you don't need to vouch for her mistakes time and time again."
Yan Xi took a deep breath, suppressing the sting of tears, and looked earnestly into Cheng Chen's eyes, pleadingly saying:
"She didn't want to run away, she just didn't know how to repay him, so..."
"Yan Xi, my classmate."
Cheng Chen simply interrupted her.
Almost instinctively, the silly magical girl tensed up and stood at attention: "Here!"
"I've said it before, you should be more confident." Cheng Chen looked at her calmly. "You deserve to be liked by many people, including me."
"Hehehe... I like it!?"
Yan Xi's face flushed red instantly, filled with terror.
"In the eyes of many ordinary people, magical girls are not entertainers, but heroes. But 'magic' has become a chasm. They don't understand your lives, so they speculate based on their own imagination; while you don't know their thoughts, so you often underestimate yourselves."
Cheng Chen paused briefly, his gaze gently falling on the girl's bewildered face. "Just like you, you often underestimate yourself."
At this point, he abruptly changed the subject, quickly suppressing the fleeting warmth he had shown earlier, and his tone returned to its businesslike manner.
"I was the one who forced you to take this job, and I was also the one who unilaterally prepared your debut plan. I unilaterally ignored your thoughts and failed to realize in time that you were not ready. This is my dereliction of duty as a producer."
For the last time, he completely broke free from Yan Xi's hand that was still trying to touch him.
"Work is just work. If being my trainee makes you unhappy, there's no need to force yourself to suffer. Originally, the plan was to officially announce the specific details of your debut at the next press conference... but now it seems that's not going to happen."
The cold tone left Yan Xi at a loss for words.
Almost instinctively, driven by her fear, she blurted out, "What will happen to this project if I'm not here?"
"They'll probably choose other trainees."
As Cheng Chen spoke, her tone finally softened a bit, "You don't need to feel guilty. The company has contingency plans for every project. Besides, you were personally arranged to join the company by Vice Mayor Liang. Even if you don't want to debut, the company won't hold you responsible. Just go back to your old life."
Before? What was it like before?
Yan Xi struggled to think, but couldn't piece together even a complete picture.
"Then...producer, will we be able to meet again in the future?" She bit her lower lip, not even understanding why she asked that question.
Cheng Chen smiled at her: "Of course. After all, you're still nominally employed by the company, so there's bound to be a chance we'll bump into each other in the hallway occasionally."
He straightened his cuffs and continued, "However, I'll be going to mentor other magical girls soon. I've learned a lot from you, and I'll be even more dedicated from now on."
"Go back to your studies and focus on your studies. You don't need to see me off."
Cheng Chen waved and walked away.
"Okay, then be careful on your way."
The girl should have been happy to finally hear the answer she had been waiting for from Cheng Chen.
But for some reason, I felt empty inside and couldn't be happy at all.
……
boom!
The empty table next to Zhong Ai was slammed down, making the pens on it jump.
The quiet girl with black-rimmed glasses slowly closed the book.
"Yan Xi, I don't remember ever offending you."
"What did you say to him!" Yan Xi exclaimed, like a little lion with its fur standing on end.
There weren't many people in the classroom, and everyone was terrified by the outburst of anger, staring silently in their direction.
Zhong Ai slowly raised her head, meeting the pair of eyes that were staring at her with uncontrollable rage, and stared back at them without any emotion.
After a brief silence, Shen Caihua rushed out from the back of the classroom, her brows covered in sweat.
"Excuse me! Excuse me!"
She grabbed Yan Xi's arm and pulled her away from Zhong Ai, all the while smiling apologetically.
Only after half-dragding, half-carrying her back to her seat in the last row did Shen Caihua cautiously and nervously begin to speak: "Lulu, you..."
"I'm fine."
Yan Xi pulled her arm away, clenched her fist, and took a deep breath.
Reckless, irritable, and impulsive—that's her true nature. But after spending so much time with Cheng Chen, she's almost forgotten that she can get angry or show such expressions.
'Producer...'
Thinking of Cheng Chen, Yan Xi felt a surge of emotions.
How could he say such a thing so casually? Does he not want me anymore? Did I disappoint him? Or was it because I ran away?
Rather than admitting she had made a mistake, Yanxi preferred to believe that Zhong Ai had slandered the producer.
Otherwise, how could the producer's attitude towards him have changed so drastically in just one day?
She turned her head sharply and looked around the classroom again.
Zhong Ai remained quietly seated in her seat, head down, engrossed in her book, seemingly unaffected as if nothing had happened. The others in the classroom, however, glanced at her with fear, as if she were a monster, lest they be caught in the crossfire.
Yan Xi felt bored.
Even the out-of-control anger vanished in an instant.
With her head down, she mumbled an 'sorry' to Shen Caihua beside her, then grabbed her shoulder bag from her seat and rushed out of the classroom without looking back, as if fleeing.
……
"So, it was a wasted trip?"
The Qimingxing X7 drove smoothly on the road. Cheng Chen held the steering wheel with one hand, and the car stereo played the cheerful tone of the female CEO, who seemed indifferent to the situation and even a little gloating.
"Hmm, let's give her some time to rest."
Cheng Chen looked calmly at the traffic lights ahead.
"Weren't you looking furious yesterday, rushing off to arrest someone? What happened? Did you become so calm and peaceful after catching up with your mentor?"
"...How did you know I was catching up with Lao Deng?" Cheng Chen sensed something was wrong.
"Haha."
Jiang Fei tried to bluff her way through, her phone calls filled with nonsense like "This document is too complicated" and "Let me look at a contract."
Someone's possessiveness seems to be growing quietly in places unseen.
Cheng Chen rubbed his throbbing temples, deciding to skip the details and continue the previous topic:
"Of course I could force Yan Xi to obediently return to the company, and given her personality, she would most likely comply. But that would ultimately be a coercive order, which doesn't align with my ultimate goal."
Jiang Fei's ramblings immediately disappeared, and her voice returned to its light tone: "It's about 'dedication' rather than 'control.' If you want someone to do things your way, the important thing is not to tell them what to do, but to make them feel that they should do it."
"You have to wait until she begs you—begs you to let her come back to the company and become an idol. Only then will she willingly obey...right?"
"almost."
Cheng Chen responded.
Human hearts are complex things, and forcing Yan Xi at this time will only deplete her favorability.
When she discovers that Cheng Chen is a source of her stress, rather than a reliable and trustworthy figure, the dependence she has built up will only gradually decrease and will be difficult to restore.
Cheng Chen needs Yan Xi to come back willingly, to willingly return to the spotlight, to follow his arrangements, and to become an idol.
Or to put it more bluntly, let her think that she made the choice herself.
Kindness, inferiority complex, and jealousy.
He silently considered what he could use in this plan.
Jiang Fei did not disturb them.
Only after Cheng Chen had slowly sorted out her thoughts did she speak again: "What about the third project? Are you going to use one of your other trainees, Lingxia? Zhulei? Or maybe just choose Cimei?"
The 3rd project refers to the new idol release plan that Yinfu Entertainment announced in front of all online media at the previous press conference.
"None of them are suitable."
Cheng Chen flatly rejected the idea, saying, "Ling Xia is too calculating; Zhu Lei refuses to communicate; Ci Mei has only been with the company for a few days, and we still need to consider her background."
"So who should we choose? We can't just say at the next press conference that the 3rd project is canceled and that the last press conference was just a joke, can we?"
"There is a very suitable backup candidate."
Cheng Chen answered calmly.
Or rather, it was precisely because of this person's existence that he suddenly decided to change the plan and let Yan Xi act as she pleased.
"A backup candidate?"
Jiang Fei was stunned for a moment.
For the first time, the confident, self-assured tone in his questioning voice had vanished.
"Yes. However, there are still a few key details that haven't been finalized. Once I've sorted them out on my end, I'll personally bring her to the company to sign the idol contract."
After saying that, he hung up the phone.
……
click.
Inside the CEO's office, a fine crack appeared on the screen of Jiang Fei's phone in her palm.
Not far away, Congcong, the assistant, cautiously peeked out: "President... President?"
Jiang Fei lowered her eyes to look at the crack. With a thought, the crimson magic vanished from her fingertips in an instant, and when she looked again, the crack on the screen was completely healed.
She composed herself, placed her long, slender hands on the desk, and said in a deep voice, "Go, notify all department heads to hold a meeting and have them immediately report to me on the status of all the projects they have on hand."
Congcong shrank his neck and lowered his head:
"Yes, Mr. President."
……