Dark Fire chapter 15
Transformation
After dinner, it was already past eight in the evening. Ling Zhuo and his group had arranged to go to Zhong Yiran’s room to play games. Upon returning to the hotel, they unexpectedly encountered someone waiting for Ling Zhuo: his agent, Zhang Jing.
Zhang Jing’s face was cold and gloomy. Ling Zhuo asked her in surprise, “Jing Jie, what brings you here?”
Zhang Jing’s gaze swept over the others behind him, then turned to Liu Tao, the manager of their group, and sneered, “Of course, some people wouldn’t want me here. Are you afraid to face me due to guilt?”
Liu Tao furrowed his brows but didn’t say anything. Zhang Jing turned and headed towards the elevator lobby, her high heels clacking loudly on the marble floor.
Ling Zhuo felt slightly awkward and subconsciously looked back at Liu Tao, who simply said, “Let’s go upstairs.”
Once they were in Ling Zhuo’s room, it was evident that Zhang Jing had come specifically to confront them. She slammed the door shut and immediately turned to Liu Tao, firing off accusations, “The endorsement deal for CL perfume—I had almost finalized the contract for Ling Zhuo’s personal endorsement. How did it suddenly turn into a group endorsement? Liu Tao, as the group’s manager, explain this.”
Ling Zhuo was taken aback, and the others in the room looked surprised as well. Liu Tao frowned and asked, “Did you discuss this with them too?”
Zhang Jing snapped her fingers in frustration, exclaiming, “Liu Tao, you have quite the skill for lying with a straight face. Clearly, you knew I was negotiating this endorsement deal for Ling Zhuo, but you pretended to be his agent and contacted them, intercepting Ling Zhuo’s personal endorsement and turning it into a group one. Who do you think you’re fooling here?”
With Zhang Jing’s merciless interrogation in front of everyone, Liu Tao’s expression hardened, “I have no reason to lie to you. It was indeed the brand that contacted me. Believe it or not, it’s up to you.”
Zhang Jing raised her voice, “So, are you implying that the brand was lying to me? Do they have any reason to deceive me? I’ve experienced enough situations where my resources were snatched away by others. I’ve never seen someone as shameless as you. If the brand had contacted you first, why didn’t they do so earlier? The fact is, they had no idea how many agents Ling Zhuo had. If they hadn’t called me today to discuss the signing date and the scheduling of ad shoots, I wouldn’t have known that a personal endorsement had turned into a group one!”
Zhang Jing was nearly driven mad by anger. She had brought another female artist to this nearby city for an event today when she suddenly learned about this situation. She immediately drove over to confront Liu Tao face to face, but she hadn’t expected him, the manager, to deny it so shamelessly.
Ling Zhuo hesitated to speak, “Liu ge, Jing Jie, is there perhaps a misunderstanding…”
Zhang Jing cut him off sharply, “What misunderstanding could there be? I’m asking you, did you mention anything about endorsing CL perfume to these people before?”
Ling Zhuo clenched his fists tightly.
Zhong Yiran, standing beside him, took the initiative to answer for him, “He mentioned it to me once, but I didn’t tell anyone else.”
Zhang Jing sneered, “You mean you didn’t, but it just so happened that after he mentioned it to you, the endorsement fell into your laps?”
Zhong Yiran looked embarrassed but still insisted, “I didn’t tell anyone.”
Ling Zhuo added, “Jing Jie, I trust the captain. There must be some misunderstanding.”
“What misunderstanding?” Zhang Jing turned her accusing gaze back to Liu Tao. “Alright, since you both insist it’s a misunderstanding, why don’t you call them right now and confront them face to face? Did you contact them, or did they contact you? Do you dare?”
Everyone looked at Liu Tao, whose face turned grim.
In truth, everyone knew he was in a difficult position. Whether what he said was true or false, calling the brand to confront them would inevitably offend someone, as they still had to cooperate in the future.
Even if the brand had intentionally backed out to negotiate a lower price, they wouldn’t admit it.
Liu Tao said, “Believe what you want. This is a matter of each person’s capability. What’s the point of you coming here in a fit of anger and cursing me out? In the end, Ling Zhuo is still part of the group.”
Zhang Jing retorted, “Well, I’m sorry to inform you, but Ling Zhuo’s commercial engagements are with me. I don’t recognize endorsements made in the name of the group, and I won’t allow him to participate.”
Ling Zhuo quickly intervened, “I used to have group endorsements…”
Zhang Jing interrupted him sharply, “The past is the past. From now on, let’s follow the rules properly!”
This was about to turn into a major confrontation.
Ling Zhuo opened his mouth to speak, looking at Zhang Jing and then at Liu Tao, but the words he wanted to say remained unspoken, swallowed back down.
Ten minutes later, only Ling Zhuo and Zhang Jing remained in the room. Ling Zhuo stayed silent with his head lowered for a while before saying, “Jing Jie, I trust the captain.”
Zhang Jing raised her eyebrows sarcastically, “So, you don’t trust me anymore?”
Ling Zhuo replied, “It’s not that. I don’t know if Liu ge’s words are true or not, so I won’t comment. But I trust the captain.”
Zhang Jing’s tone was irritated, “What’s the use of trusting him? Even if this matter has nothing to do with him, do you think such incidents will decrease in the future? I’ve told you before, staying in this group is meaningless. Your fans are clamoring for you to come out. I don’t know what you’re so insistent on. If you like singing and dancing, you can release a solo album. Why do you have to tie yourself down to the group? You pour your heart out to others, but have you ever considered whether they truly want to see you constantly leading the way? None of them are lacking in personal resources now. But would they be as foolish as you to reveal everything before it’s fully settled? I know you want to say that you have a good relationship with Zhong Yiran, that he wouldn’t do such despicable things. But maybe he didn’t intend to, yet others did. What if he accidentally let something slip and someone else overheard?”
Ling Zhuo wanted to refute, but for the first time, he found himself unable to find words to argue with.
After a while, he said with difficulty, “My contract with the group still has a year left, at least, at least until after next year’s tour, as we agreed.”
This was not only his agreement with others but also his agreement with Zhong Yiran.
At first, he wasn’t determined to pursue this career. When he joined the company, he was still a high school student, and everything was just a coincidence.
At the beginning, there were many trainees in the company, but they were not valued by the company. Most of them quit. At the hardest times, only he, Zhong Yiran, and three others persisted together. They repeated the same moves in the dance studio over and over again. When they were exhausted and couldn’t move, they would still imagine that one day they would become famous, holding concerts for thousands of people, dancing under the brightest spotlight, and having countless people cheer for them. That was the only motivation that kept them going when they couldn’t see hope and the future.
But now, those things that were once out of reach were about to become reality, and many things had begun to deteriorate, even if Ling Zhuo didn’t want to admit it.
Zhang Jing saw him looking uncomfortable, and didn’t want to say much more, just reminded him, “You think it over. If you don’t want to, I won’t force you. If you lose this endorsement, forget it. Don’t go for the group’s endorsement. I’m talking to another competitive brand for you. Don’t tell anyone else for now.”
Ling Zhuo: “Another one?”
Zhang Jing: “Yeah, T&G.”
Zhang Jing didn’t elaborate. On her way here, she happened to contact the marketing planning department of T&G. They were also interested in Ling Zhuo and had already arranged a time to sit down and talk with her. In fact, she deliberately came here to confront Ling Zhuo face to face. On one hand, she couldn’t swallow this anger, and on the other hand, she wanted Ling Zhuo to wake up.
As for losing the endorsement, there were better ones coming up.
Ling Zhuo hesitated and asked, “If Liu ge signs the CL perfume on behalf of the group, will the brand side be unhappy if I don’t go? It might not end well…”
Zhang Jing angrily said, “Are you still considering him now? He said it himself that everyone is on their own. He didn’t have the authority to sign the business for you in the first place. Let him handle it himself!”
After Zhang Jing left, Ling Zhuo remained alone for a while, and Zhong Yiran sent a WeChat message: “Sorry, I wasn’t with the group before. I just asked them and found out that Liu ge did indeed talk to them a few days ago about signing the perfume, but they didn’t know you had contacted the brand first. As for Liu ge, he still insists that the brand approached him first.”
Ling Zhuo replied slowly, “Forget it, this has nothing to do with you, but Jing Jie won’t let me take this group endorsement. Will it affect you guys?”
Zhong Yiran: “Don’t worry about that, Liu ge will handle it.”
Zhong Yiran sent another message, “Ling Zhuo, do you really trust me?”
Ling Zhuo: “Yes, I trust you more than anyone else.”
Zhong Yiran: “Thank you.”
Ling Zhuo let out a sigh of relief, feeling slightly better in his heart.
Putting down his phone, Zhong Yiran said to the other three, “Now that Liu ge and Ling Zhuo aren’t here, I’ll be straight with you. Since Liu ge hasn’t finalized the contract yet, I think we should forget about this endorsement. I trust Liu ge. This is probably the brand trying to renegotiate at the last minute, and they don’t want to explain it to Ling Zhuo’s agent. It’s probably deliberate. We’re all teammates. Ling Zhuo had already negotiated on his end. It’s not right for us to interfere. What do you think?”
The expressions of the three in front of him varied. Qi Liangli first said, “I agree. Let’s forget about it. It’s better than making Ling Zhuo unhappy, and it’s awkward for everyone.”
The other two didn’t say anything. After a moment, Zhong Yiran asked them, “What do you guys think?”
Zhang Xun looked at Deng Lanluo, and Deng Lanluo said, “CL is a big brand, and the title they offered is generous. It’s a rare opportunity. I don’t want to give up. Since it wasn’t Liu ge’s intention, I think Ling Zhuo would understand.”
Zhang Xun hesitated, “I don’t want to either…”
Qi Liangli wanted to argue, but couldn’t find the words to say, so he gave up in frustration.
Zhong Yiran frowned, “Without Ling Zhuo for the group endorsement, the brand may not want to use us anymore. It might end up being a loss.”
Deng Lanluo insisted, “We have to give it a try.”
Zhong Yiran looked at him, and Deng Lanluo remained calm, showing no sign of backing down.
In the next room, Lu Chixie leaned against the sofa, absentmindedly swiping his phone. Xiao Qian came in, saying, “Just now, Mr. Ling’s female agent also left. T&G should have already contacted her.”
“Also, it seems that Haitian Entertainment recently encountered some problems with their funding chain. They seem to be considering bringing in new external shareholders.”
“Then let someone go and make contact.” Lu Chixie casually instructed.
Seeing supportive comments from fans on Weibo endorsing Ling Zhuo’s solo career, he casually liked one of them.