The quarrel at the Cliffside Restaurant, with more people paying attention, began to continuously ferment, causing a huge uproar within Hua Country, resulting in quite a bit of gossip regarding the incident.
Among them, some said the Tiny Times crew was bullying and occupying the dining seat of the literary goddess, Su Qianqian. Others suggested that Su Qianqian had a long-standing grudge with the Tiny Times crew. Additionally, some believed it was the poor service of Jade Island that led to this dispute.
In short, various speculations kept emerging.
And such an outcome was probably something neither side present had anticipated.
At this moment, inside the restaurant.
"Su Qianqian, as your senior sister, I am obliged to tell you that your behavior is extremely impolite, especially towards such a distinguished guest as Mr. Xiang. He has made a huge contribution to our mainland entertainment industry, so I demand, in the name of your senior sister, that you must apologize to Mr. Xiang now!"
After Chen Wensheng tried persuading Su Qianqian several times to no avail, the famous performer Yang Mi, sitting beside Xiang Huaqiang, could no longer contain herself. She stood up and harshly scolded Su Qianqian, her tone arrogant and domineering.
Yang Mi is a renowned film and television actress, having secured her position as a female big shot after a historical fantasy drama became a hit years ago. However, in recent years, her fame significantly declined, being pushed off the throne by some younger and more beautiful rising starlets, which has always preoccupied her mind.
Therefore, she has been searching for good scripts, famous directors, and investors, hoping to hit it big again with a new series and restore her reputation.
After much effort, she finally found President Xiang beside her. A top mogul in Port City's entertainment circle, he, having noticed the rise of the mainland film and television industry in recent years, intended to invest heavily to enter the mainland market. For her, this was an extremely rare opportunity.
Hence in such a background, she could not allow anything embarrassing the opposite party to happen.
"Hey, what are you talking about? Our Qianqian just came over to eat, why should she toast this lecherous old man?" Guan Xiaofei, hearing Yang Mi's arrogant words, was instantly infuriated and angrily retorted.
Ever since sitting down, she noticed that the president of some entertainment company across the table kept occasionally casting lewd glances at Qianqian. If she hadn't been worried about damaging Qianqian's reputation, she would have spoken up long ago.
Now, seeing a crowd of parasites and bootlickers on the other side beginning to join forces against Qianqian, Guan Xiaofei finally couldn't hold back anymore.
In fact, if she had known these people were of such character, she wouldn't have sent them invitations initially, but now it was too late to say anything. The most important thing was not letting her best friend be wronged.
With her already fiery temper, Guan Xiaofei's words were like a bombshell, stunning everyone on the opposite side.
Lew... lecherous old man??
Hearing this, Xiang Huaqiang, who was barely maintaining his composure, twitched his mouth violently and almost spat out a mouthful of old blood!
As a mogul in the entertainment industry, he was never insulted like this in public, and the insult was so unpleasant!
Even when he had conducted unofficial dealings with a universally acclaimed queen of Port City back in the day, she didn't dare speak out, only daring to denounce him years later through a small tabloid.
Yet today, he was scolded face-to-face by a no-name young girl, causing his chest to shake violently and nearly triggering a heart attack.
However, Xiang Huaqiang was after all a figure of authority. Despite his rage, he took a deep breath, forcibly restrained his anger, and resumed a calm demeanor.
In his view, engaging in a shouting match with such a minor character would only tarnish his own reputation and demeanor. He thought it better to maintain composure and handle it calmly.
After all, he had plenty of ways to easily deal with these minor characters, methods he had previously used on many other entertainment stars.
With this in mind, Xiang Huaqiang adjusted his expression, looked at Su Qianqian across, and solemnly said: "Ms. Qianqian, though I don't know why you dislike me so, I find it necessary to reserve the right to pursue responsibility for your and your friend's actions in harming my reputation. Furthermore, if I'm not mistaken, you are currently filming a movie called 'Rainy Season is Coming'?"
Upon seeing Xiang Huaqiang's seriousness, Su Qianqian furrowed her brows, knowing there was an ominous feeling rising within her.
She calmed herself down, looked directly at him, and said: "Mr. Xiang, I wish to clarify that neither I nor my friends had any intention to harm your reputation. We were compelled to speak severely only because your film team persistently harassed us. Also, I believe what movie I'm shooting seems to have nothing to do with you, does it?"
"Ha ha! How could it not? Don't you know that the investment company for this movie happens to be a subsidiary of Xinghuang Entertainment? So, I want to say, you should be clear about how serious this matter is, right?" Xiang Huaqiang suddenly revealed a meaningful smile, his tone extremely unkind.
In fact, the moment he arrived at the Cliffside Restaurant and saw Su Qianqian, he recognized her as the female lead of a significant mainland drama titled 'Rainy Season is Coming,' invested by one of his entertainment companies earlier this year.
Originally, he intended to discuss matters closely with her under this connection at the dinner table, and perhaps seek a deeper engagement. However, he didn't expect that this minor actress would not give him face, making him feel extremely angry.
By this point, since the facade was already torn, he deemed it unnecessary to maintain appearances any longer. Since the other party didn't appreciate the favor, he needed to let this ungrateful little actress learn the cost of offending him.
Although the film was already close to wrapping up, and the investment benefits would be visible soon, this little money meant nothing to him.
On the other side, upon hearing Xiang Huaqiang's words, Su Qianqian's expression finally changed.
She was genuinely shocked by his words!
The other party was actually the investor for the movie she starred in!
As an actress, Su Qianqian certainly understood the power of investors. They are the dominators, the highest authority in the entire crew, with the right to decide on the actors and directors, as well as to edit or even replace the lead.
In an instant, Su Qianqian quickly realized that she had probably provoked someone she couldn't afford to offend.
'Rainy Season is Coming' is the drama she invested the most of her energy in these years and her favorite. When director Zhang Qin approached her with the script, she nearly agreed right away after just a glance.
No doubt, this drama could be considered a true depiction of her youth!
The love story between the male and female leads in the drama was so similar to the relationship she experienced before!
The two met during the rainy season and parted ways due to misunderstandings. The most moving part was that after enduring numerous hardships, the male and female leads finally meet again in the rainy season.
Especially the beautiful ending in the drama, which she was very fond of.
Rather than saying she wanted to act in this drama, it would be more accurate to say she was enacting her ideal life in the drama.
For such a work into which she had poured countless efforts, seeing it about to dissolve into nothing because of the other party's words, the always stubborn Su Qianqian felt a slight wavering in her heart!