Chapter 24: Connections
Jiang Kun’s speech was far from impressive.
After listening for a while, Luo Jing turned to look below the stage—their manager, or rather, Jiang Kun’s personal manager, was standing there watching them.
Luo Jing recognized the person standing next to the manager. It was the head of the Artist Management Department, a senior figure in the company, known for his kindness. Luo Jing often gave him snacks when he visited the company as a child.
He opened his phone and found this uncle’s chat window.
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Uncle Chen, what’s the name of the person standing next to you?]
The man felt his phone vibrate, picked it up, and glanced at the message. He instinctively looked around, trying to find Luo Jing.
Luo Jing, sitting in the first row of the guest area, raised his hand slightly, gesturing towards the person standing to his left.
Chen Deng looked in the direction Luo Jing was pointing, thought for a moment, and replied: [His name is Wang Jin, from the Artist Management Department.]
Wang Jin, seeing Chen Deng glance at him, quickly put on a smile and greeted him.
Uncle Chen: [What’s up, Xiao Jing?]
Luo Jing: [Nothing, Uncle, do you have his contact information? I have something to ask him.]
Uncle Chen: [Okay, I’ll have him add you now.]
Luo Jing: [Thank you, Uncle.]
Although a bit confused as to why Luo Jing suddenly wanted to contact this person, he immediately called Wang Jin over and gave him Luo Jing’s contact information.
Seeing the note, he remembered that this was the manager of a new boy group the company was launching. Since they hadn’t officially debuted yet, they didn’t have any activities for the time being.
“Brother Chen, what’s up?” Wang Jin didn’t dare to neglect him and quickly turned to face Chen Deng respectfully.
“Add this contact I just sent you,” Chen Deng gestured to his phone.
“Okay, okay…” Wang Jin quickly picked up his phone, looked at the contact Chen Deng had sent, and was a bit confused: “What… Holiday Wholesaler?”
Chen Deng reminded him, “It’s the boss’s son. He said he has something to ask you.”
There was only one “boss” in the entire company, and it was clear who this referred to.
Wang Jin was stunned for a moment, both surprised and apprehensive, and quickly agreed: “Okay, okay…”
After nervously adding Luo Jing as a friend, he looked at Chen Deng again and asked cautiously, “Brother, what does Young Master Luo want to ask me?”
“He didn’t tell me.” Chen Deng thought for a moment, then glanced at the stage: “Maybe he likes one of the artists under you and wants to make friends.”
Wang Jin paused, then understood, and relaxed considerably.
Like the artists under him, he had also recently joined the company and had only heard of this young master from his colleagues, never having met him before.
If he could suddenly gain favor with such an important person…
He could already see his future career path paved with gold.
Then he remembered hearing that Young Master Luo was still a child.
Children were the easiest to please.
He surely wouldn’t be contacted for anything bad.
Thinking of this, Wang Jin couldn’t help but smile.
Less than half a minute later, Luo Jing received the friend request.
“What’s wrong with that person?” The boy next to him suddenly spoke as he clicked “Accept.”
Luo Jing was startled.
The other person sent a message: [Young Master, is there anything I can do for you?]
“Nothing,” he instinctively put away his phone.
The group on stage exited from the side of the stage. The manager had originally wanted to ask Chen Deng where Luo Jing was sitting, but seeing this, he didn’t have time to think and hurriedly followed them.
After thinking for a moment, Luo Jing told Huai Dan about what had happened before the reception started.
After listening, Huai Dan frowned, about to speak, but Ye Lin beat him to it.
“Wow, that’s so rude,” he said indignantly, also finding it unbelievable. “But how dare they treat the boss’s son like that?”
“Because they didn’t know who I was,” Luo Jing replied. “But that’s not the point. The point is, there must be something shady going on with this group.”
“Indeed,” Ye Lin replied. “And that person who spoke is so ugly.”
“I agree,” Luo Jing nodded in agreement.
The two hit it off instantly.
Huai Dan: “…”
Ye Lin was about to speak again when he saw his friend seemingly looking at him.
It was the same look as usual, but it inexplicably sent chills down his spine.
So he shut his mouth.
So petty.
After the stage activities ended, the hall was brightly lit. Several long tables had been set up at the back, laden with a variety of food and drinks for the guests.
Huai Dan wasn’t here just to see Luo Jing.
Although that was the main reason, there were indeed a few guests at this reception whom he needed to discuss business collaborations with, so he planned to take this opportunity to talk to them, saving himself the trouble of scheduling separate meetings.
And he also needed to greet Luo Jing’s father and Lin Xue.
It wouldn’t take long to confirm a few details, so he told Luo Jing and left first.
Luo Jing wasn’t interested in this kind of reception. Fortunately, not many people knew him, so after being introduced to a few uncles and aunties by his father, he was free to do as he pleased and secretly went to find Wu Li.
Wu Li was sitting in a booth in the corner, bored out of his mind. Seeing Luo Jing, he was like a long-lost relative and immediately dragged him to play games.
The waiter, seeing two young boys sitting there, thoughtfully brought them two glasses of orange juice. Luo Jing drank while playing games. Midway through the second round, he needed to use the restroom, so he got up and left the booth.
The banquet hall was bustling with activity, but the hallway was empty, finally giving his ears a moment of peace.
Just as he walked out of the restroom after washing his hands, Huai Dan’s message came in: [Where are you?]
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [I went to the restroom. Brother, are you done with your business?]
Brother: [Mm, I’ll wait for you inside.]
AAA.Holiday Wholesaler Xiao Luo: [Okay.]
Putting away his phone, Luo Jing took a breath, a subtle sense of excitement welling up in his heart. He immediately turned back towards the banquet hall.
Although he didn’t know why he was looking for Huai Dan, and Huai Dan probably didn’t have anything important to tell him either.
But they seemed to have a tacit understanding.
Turning a corner, Luo Jing suddenly heard a heated argument.
As he got closer, he realized the voices were strangely familiar.
It was Jiang Kun and two other people he didn’t recognize.
His intuition told him it wasn’t anything good, so he stopped to see what was happening.
With the obstruction gone, Luo Jing saw it was Jiang Kun, the manager, and one of the five members.
He remembered him. His name was Xie You. He hadn’t said a word and had kept a straight face all afternoon, seeming very quiet.
“You got my sleeve like this, how am I supposed to go back in?” Jiang Kun furiously yelled at Xie You. “Did you do this on purpose?”
“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry,” Wang Jin stood beside Jiang Kun, wiping his sleeve with a tissue. “It’s okay, just cover it with your jacket, no one will see it inside.”
After wiping it clean, he looked up at Xie You, frowning, his eyes full of reproach: “You should apologize to Brother Jiang.”
“I’ll say it again,” Xie You held a half-spilled drink in his hand, his voice calm. “He bumped into me.”
“Does it matter who bumped into who?” Wang Jin retorted, blindly taking sides. “The fact is, you got his clothes dirty.”
“And I’ve told you countless times how important today’s reception is.”
As Wang Jin spoke, Jiang Kun seemed to realize something and said with sudden understanding, “I get it, you’re jealous of me, you deliberately wanted to embarrass me, didn’t you?”
“Do you think your petty tricks will work on me?” he said angrily. “The five debut spots haven’t been decided yet. I’ll just tell my uncle to have you removed.”
“T-that’s not very appropriate, Brother Jiang,” Wang Jin, who had been taking sides, suddenly spoke up for Xie You.
Although this group hadn’t officially debuted yet, the company had been posting their practice videos on their official Weibo account. Although it had only been for half a year, they had already gained a small following.
Xie You had the most fans in the group and clearly had the potential to become very popular.
Precisely because of this, among the five members, Jiang Kun disliked Xie You the most, often finding fault with him, openly and covertly.
But giving him a hard time was one thing, losing such a cash cow was another. Wang Jin felt it would be a pity.
“What’s not appropriate? My uncle is Jiang Cheng,” he said, annoyed that Wang Jin dared to contradict him.
Seeing him angry, Wang Jin panicked and quickly tried to appease him.
Xie You looked at them with an indifferent expression, his eyes filled with apathy.
“Who’s your uncle?” A voice suddenly interrupted the confrontation.
All three looked in that direction and saw the boy who had gone to the wrong room earlier.
Seeing him, Jiang Kun’s face immediately showed impatience: “Which company are you from? Why are you so annoying?”
Company discrimination among artists was common. Jiang Kun considered himself an artist from one of the top five entertainment companies in the country and the center of the soon-to-debut boy group. The person in front of him was just an unknown, practically amateur, little trainee, so he naturally felt superior.
Anyway, with his uncle around, he believed it would only take a word to have this little artist banned.
Seeing another problem arise, Wang Jin felt a headache coming on and glared at the young artist in front of him: “Where did you come from? Who’s your manager? Aren’t they supervising you?”
Luo Jing, however, didn’t answer his question and continued to look at Jiang Kun: “I’m asking you, who’s your uncle?”
The child’s eyes were dark and bottomless, and Jiang Kun was startled by his inexplicable aura.
Snapping back to reality, realizing he had actually been intimidated by this child, he became embarrassed and angry, immediately bringing up his uncle’s name to regain face.
He said slowly, “My uncle, Jiang Cheng, is the deputy head of the Resource Department at Fengjing Entertainment.”
After speaking, he looked at the child triumphantly.
But the expected scene of the child apologizing in fear didn’t happen.
Luo Jing took the half-finished drink from Xie You’s hand and poured it onto Jiang Kun.
Unlike before, when only his sleeve had been slightly stained, this time, it landed squarely on his shirt. The orange liquid quickly spread across the fabric, a chilling sensation spreading through Jiang Kun.
“Oh,” Luo Jing put the cup back in Xie You’s hand. “My father is Luo Zhang.”
