Chapter 527 - The Bait was Laid
William quietly followed one of the artists of IHZHI, who had been invited by someone towards a rather dim area.
William usually would not care how these small artists fared in the industry, no matter if they were heading towards the dark path. However, he had been handed a task to supervise them by the tigress.
As someone who clearly knew the ins and outs of the dazzling entertainment industry, he knew how some artists were coerced to a path of no return.
Not only their life was destroyed due to their mistakes, their broken reputation would also affect their company's image.
The man who approached IHZHI's artist was someone William knew. This person happened to be one of the people whom William did not want to associate with.
But out of responsibility, he quietly followed them.
There were some people who went in his way to greet him but William just shot them a silent look which clearly implied that he was not in the mood to talk to them.
He saw that man and the artist go to a corner.
William frowned.
'Is that artist dumb? Why would he follow someone to a less populated corner, especially someone he should have just met?'
Even small artists who were desperate for fame and opportunity must not blindly follow just any person in hopes that they would be blessed by a lucky encounter. Not all people would give a stroke of fortune, many came with bad intentions.
William was about to interrupt the pair when someone called behind him.
"Sir William."
William turned to look. The person was one of IHZHI's newcomers. She was one of the pretty female artists. However, William was no longer in the mood to flirt with a beauty right now, so he just nodded.
He was about to turn and continue ahead when the woman suddenly held his arm.
"Sir William. I need your help."
William turned to the woman. His face was calm.
"Sure. Just wait for me a bit."
But the woman still held his arm persistently.
"I actually need help... right now."
William narrowed his eyes.
What was the matter with this woman?
He was William Grand. Someone whom even influential people and investors needed to respect and be cautious with. But right now, he was being treated like someone who could be in their beck and call.
But before William could reprimand the woman for being rude, he remembered again that this female artist was one of IHZHI's people.
Sigh. Fine. He would be kind and let bygones be bygones for once.
William turned to look at the two people whom he was following, but he found them nowhere to be seen.
??
Where did they go?
His head swept around.
There was no sign of them.
"Sir William..."
William sighed and looked at the woman with a smile.
But inwardly, he was thinking where the artist and that man went to.
"What help do you need?"
**
William had a dark face as he watched a group of girls walk away with disappointment.
The women gave them one last look of anticipation and regret.
"Thank you... Mr. William," King Yan said with a bashful face.
William turned to the man with an expressionless face.
So this was what the woman meant about something urgent?
William was still upset. He could not help but vent his tiny bud of anger on this man, King Yan.
He did not want to show his anger on the female artist earlier, so he shifted the muzzle to King Yan instead.
"Are you really a man? How come you need another man to help you reject them? How are you able to survive this long? Not all the time, your managers will be with you to shoo them away. You must use your brain and face to let them leave with a satisfied heart. Can you not even do that? How can you call yourself a popular artist?"
William's tirade flowed out like an overflowing dam.
King Yan's cheeks were red. He accepted William's scolding.
"I am sorry."
"That's not what I want to hear."
King Yang obediently hung his head. "I will take what you said to heart."
William finally nodded.
He then turned to the woman who called him.
"And you—" The woman straightened her back with a remorseful face.
William's voice then became gentle and soft. "…You did a good job of asking others to help your colleague. However, there is a hierarchy of steps for that. When one of you is in trouble, call your manager first. Who is the manager here?"
The woman said obediently, "It is Sister Xiao Mei."
"You're right. Since you know it, next time, call her instead of me. I am only here for a week. It is Xiao Mei who calls all the shots for you, alright?"
"Yes."
William nodded.
King Yan silently watched all this with a complicated face.
How come this handsome man was so strict with him but soft towards the others?
William looked around.
He was looking for the artist he saw earlier. He wanted to remind them and teach them some inside stories so these kids would not tread to the darker path. But too bad, he did not know the newcomer's names.
"Hey, you." William turned to King Yan.
"Yes?"
"Look for the newbies and bring them for me to see."
"All of them?"
"No, just the men." It was a man who got invited, he was one among the three male artists from IHZHI.
King Yan: "…"
But King Yan took it wrongly.
He suddenly had a thought. His eyes flashed a bit.
"Sir William... Do you, perhaps...?"
"Hmm?"
"…Swing the other way?"
William: "..."
His blue eyes looked at King Yan with a look of 'what kind of nonsense are you saying', but when he saw the other's sparkling eyes, his words were swallowed.
William: "You..."
King Yan opened his mouth as his eyes scanned William's body with a hot gaze.
"The truth is, I've been single for a year already and when I saw Mr. William... I..." The man blushed, but his eyes continued to go down.
William's eyes opened wide. "Don't say it."
With a face as calm as Buddha, he quietly 'ran' away from King Yan.
William: I respect your preference, brother. But I'm totally straight as steel!
Now, he knew why he got strange looks from King Yan since the beginning.
The man liked his...ass!
Not meeee! Look for someone else!
**
In a dimly lit corner, the artist whom William was looking for was having a smoke with the man who approached him.
He blew out a puff of smoke and sighed with contentment.
"Sigh. This calms my nerves. I'm glad you have cigarettes on you. My agent is totally strict that I can't sneak any," the artist said towards his 'new friend'. "I'm glad I met you tonight. It was totally suffocating there earlier."
The man smiled. His eyes held many mocking thoughts directed to this naive artist.
"Who told you to quit smoking? You are new here so you will definitely receive a lot of stress and pressure. Just call me anytime you need a break."
"You are so kind."
"Anyway, you came with William Grand earlier. Is IHZHI Entertainment going to jump onto the Grand's boat? That William Grand have been coming to various occasions with your agency's representatives. Many speculate that the Grand Agency is planning to cultivate IHZHI Entertainment."
The artist humbly smiled. "Nothing certain yet. We are just lucky to get supervised by William Grand."
This made the man's assumption more certain.
For William Grand to supervise IHZHI must meant that IHZHI was really going to ally with Grand Agency.
Was it not a good opportunity to extend some rooted channels to IHZHI Entertainment which seemed to be very promising in the domestic market?
The man had been hesitating to sell his 'items' because he was not sure if the artists from IZHI would be able to give huge benefits in return. But if they partnered with Grand Agency—such a big company for their backup, IHZHI Entertainment would likely not be exposed even if he spread his already rooted channels there.
The man had already successfully excavated many useful channels in companies related to Grand Agency, because Grand Agency usually took a blind eye on it as long as they were not affected by it.
"Oh? That's still great! You'll have more opportunities in the future." Then the man showed a contemplative expression. "Speaking of opportunities…"
"Oh?" The artist's eyes lit up.
"…Nah, it's just another way to make money. You might not be interested, after all, this is pretty common and many artists do it too."
"Don't say that! Aren't we friends? No one hates more money."
The man appeared to look around guardedly.
The artist was intrigued. "What is it?"
The man shook his head, "I am not sure if I should tell you right now. We just met, and this information is confidential."
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