227: Killing the Chicken For The Monkey To See

Although Yazhi had been managed by Zhou Lin before, it was not Zhou Lin’s private property, but one of the industries under the name of the Zhou Group; its largest shareholder was Zhou Shichang. However, because Zhou Lin had managed it since the beginning, all of Yazhi’s employees were hired by Zhou Lin, including Pan Zhihai.

Originally, with Pan Zhihai’s status in Yazhi, as long as Zhou Lin was away, Pan Zhihai’s status would be the highest. At first, Zhou Lin did give him some rights. Not to mention calling the wind and rain, he could call most of the shots. It wasn’t until Zhou Lin handed Yazhi Media to Zhao Chenlin to manage, that Pan Zhihai had less and less of a right to speak in Yazhi.

[T/N: call the wind and rain = has the power to control a lot.]

Zhao Chenlin was an ordinary guy, unlearned and unable to control his lower body. He often went in and out of various sensual places with his friends. He lost his virginity when he was thirteen, and now was a veteran in love and bed affairs. Many celebrities who had scandals with him actually had relationships with him.

As the saying went, rabbits don't eat grass on the edge of their burrows. However, Zhao Chenlin used Yazhi to hook up with many artists in the company, and quite a few did this in order to become famous.

In order to make it easy to pick up girls, Zhao Chenlin often crossed Pan Zhihai to start things with the company’s artists, such as letting someone sleep with him for a night, and then promising them a chance to become famous, intervening in the things that Pan Zhihai had previously arranged. For example, if Pan Zhihai had already decided to let one artist take an important role in a certain movie or TV series, but another artist who had a relationship with Zhao Chenlin wanted this role, Zhao Chenlin would force him to replace that artist.

There were many situations like this that seriously interfered with Pan Zhihai’s arrangements for the company’s artists, and also caused the company’s artists to doubt his right to speak. Even if Pan Zhihai set their schedule, they would still doubt whether they would be replaced midway. So, after Zhao Chenlin entered Yazhi, Pan Zhihai never liked this young boss.

Fang Hui was a wise man. He saw Zhao Chenlin’s nature clearly, so did a lot of things that he liked. He had a dog-legged personality in front of Zhao Chenlin, and thus was trusted more by Zhao Chenlin. This is why Pan Zhihai had become lower and lower in his eyes.

[T/N: dog-legged = an accomplice to an evil force]

It was only yesterday that Pan Zhihai learned that Yazhi’s chairman changed, to another young boss of the Zhou Group who was also a grandson of the chairman of the Zhou Group. However, it was said that this young boss was different from Zhao Chenlin because his surname was Zhou.

Pan Zhihai was originally worried that Zhou Shao would be a stubborn kid like Zhao Chenlin. He didn't expect him to come over without saying a word. Fang Hui even regarded him as a star who wanted to be famous, wanting him to perform the hidden rules. If it wasn't for it being the wrong time, Pan Zhihai would definitely look up to the sky and laugh.

Afterwards, Pan Zhihai hurriedly convened a meeting with those who were still in the company, and introduced Wang Cheng, the new chairman, to everyone, so as not to have someone as stupid as Fang Hui mistakenly regard him as someone to covet. He then announced the decision to expel Fang Hui.

"You don't have the right to fire me," Fang Hui abruptly stood up, wearing a distorted expression. He finally got to this position in Yazhi, just for Pan Zhihai to decide that he would be fired? Wouldn't all his previous efforts be wasted? Even if he went to another economic company, the other party might not be willing to use him. He would have to start from scratch.

Pan Zhihai sneered and said, "Fang Hui, you have a brain hole. The decision to expel you was an order from Zhou Shao. I have just made it very clear that Zhou Shao is now the chairman of Yazhi, and the ability to call all the shots of Yazhi lies with him, this is an order from above."

"I am Zhao Shao's, only Zhao Shao has the right to decide whether I stay or leave," Fang Hui said, still not giving up.

Pan Zhihai did not speak, but looked at Wang Cheng who was calmly sitting there.

Wang Cheng leaned against the back of his seat with his eyes slightly narrowed. He looked casual and calm, raising his eyelids when he heard his words. Fang Hui gritted his teeth under his gaze. He asked, "Who pays your salary?”

Fang Hui was surprised.

"If I remember correctly, you have a salary paid by the Zhou Group. Zhao Chenlin has been exempted from all the affairs of Yazhi. Ever since I took over as the chairman of Yazhi, he had nothing to do with Yazhi. I am not joking with you, this isn’t something funny. Within an hour, pack up your things and get out - I don’t want to see you at the company after an hour has passed, otherwise, you will be at your own risk."

Wang Cheng’s hard attitude finally brought many people back to the real world. Unlike what they thought, this new chairman seemed to be a not-so-simple character. He had expelled Fang Hui, Yazhi’s most arrogant agent, on his first day in office. His killing a chicken for the monkey to see in one move was very powerful, and some people with ghosts in their hearts didn’t dare to say anything.

[T/N: kill chicken for monkey to see = to punish someone as a warning to others.]

Fang Hui flushed with embarrassment.

He left the sentence, “It's too low for laozi to work in this broken company called Yazhi,” then slammed the door and left.

Wang Cheng retracted his gaze and glanced at the people present. "Whoever else doesn't want to stay, you can leave now."

Everyone looked at each other, and no one stood up.

Wang Cheng had long expected this, and said: "Since no one wants to resign, then I will say the bad things first. My style is different from Zhao Chenlin’s, and I don't want to see any Yazhi employees scheming, let alone think that if they have a backer, they can run wild in the company. Do everything in accordance with the rules set by the company.”

After the meeting, Pan Zhihai took Wang Cheng to his office.

The office was the one that Zhao Chenlin had originally used. The decoration and office appliances were all his style: the more expensive the better, the more luxurious the better. He had never worked seriously in the office, yet he had worked with many artists in this room. It was no secret in the company that his office was messed up.

"Find someone to disinfect it again."

Wang Cheng didn't go in, only taking a look and then going to Pan Zhihai's office.

"Yes, Zhou Shao," Pan Zhihai responded without saying an extra word.

When the two came to his office, Pan Zhihai immediately pulled out a page of information from his desk, "Zhou Shao, this is Fang Hui’s most profitable artist this year, and the other two are less-known artists, who moved to other businesses last year. Those two had played supporting roles in several TV dramas, and had begun to make names for themselves. However, the most famous is this artist called Cen Xi, who played an important supporting role in a very prosperous xianxia TV series last year. He is now taking on films as either the male lead or second male lead. In addition, he has many commercial invitations, and is Yazhi’s most popular artist."

"But it is often reported by the media that he flaunts his name, has a bad temper, and beats and scolds his assistants at will. Is this true?"

When Pan Zhihai heard this, he knew that he must have known beforehand. After thinking about it, he didn't hide it. "Cen Xi's temper is really not good. His backer is Zhao Shao."

Relying on Zhao Chenlin as backing, Cen Xi was often the first to select the company’s resources. So, the good resources were usually picked by him, causing many artists to have to flatter him. If they could please him, Cen Xi would give them some resources he didn’t want - if he was in a good mood. Those who made Cen Xi displeased couldn’t even think of a chance to get ahead. So, Cen Xi was definitely a big brother in Yazhi; as long as he appeared in the company, one could always see a group of people around him flattering him.

"You don't need to give him all the good resources in the future. Find who is suitable to be his agent and assign him a new one. I heard that the company has assigned him six assistants, right?" Wang Cheng flipped through the information as he said this.

"Yes, that is correct."

"Remove four and give him two." Wang Cheng made this decision without hesitation. How many assistants were there in Yazhi? Some artists didn’t even have assistants, and shared agents with others.

Pan Zhihai's eyes lightened slightly, "But he is now the company's most profitable artist. If this arouses his dissatisfaction, and he quits to another business..."

Wang Cheng interrupted him, "Yazhi is not short of money, and he and Yazhi still have a four-year contract. If he breaches the contract, he will also lose a lot of money. If he really makes up his mind to quit, then let him jump. Give me a list of all the artists signed by the company, and their agents."

Pan Zhihai immediately drew out this list to him. Yesterday, when he learned that Yazhi’s chairman had changed, he had already prepared all the documents.

"It's all here."

Wang Cheng glanced at him, this was unexpected. He thought that Pan Zhihai was of the same class as Fang Hui. Even if he was not, he had been hired by Zhou Lin. He should be standing on the same side as Zhou Lin, wanting to embarrass him. However, it didn’t seem to be so.

"President Pan, talk about your views on Yazhi."

Hearing this, Pan Zhihai was shocked. He knew that the opportunity to show his loyalty had come. "Zhou Shao, from my standpoint, I actually hope that Yazhi can become better. However, before you came, the company just had too many problems. Additionally, Zhao Shao was too random, only taking care of himself. Regardless of whether the company was doing well or not, Manager Zhou also did not care. The company's profit was low, and the blame was all pushed to myself. If not for you, I would have thought about resigning. Your arrival at least gives me hope. If you don’t mind, I hope to help you make Yazhi develop in a better direction, it actually has a lot of room for improvement."

"You are smart. I really do need someone who can help me manage Yazhi, I hope you won't let me down." During the meeting, Wang Cheng found that Pan Zhihai didn't like Fang Hui. He didn't know the reason, but his relationship with Zhao Chenlin would obviously not be much better than his relationship with Fang Hui.

Pan Zhihai was overjoyed, "Don't worry, Zhou Shao, I will not let you down."

***

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