Ning Zhe sat on his chair; his expression was gloomy.
Ning Chun stood at the side quietly.
"Still no results?" Ning Zhe asked in a low voice.
Ning Chun nodded. "Our clients in Japan and Europe have said if we can't come up with something new, they will terminate their cooperation with us."
Ning Zhe frowned. "Based on what Ning Xia said, it seems like she's unaware of the existence of that book. Is it possible that Zhuang Yi didn't give it to her? If it's not with Ning Xian, then where could it be? The old mansion in the countryside?"
Ning Chun thought for a moment before he said, "Could it be the late Madam from the Fu family who worked with Madam previously?"
Ning Zhe shook his head. "The Fu family has been enticed by Ye Cheng so they're after the trademark as well. First, they wanted to reconcile with Ning Xia. When that didn't work, they slandered her. If they had the book, they wouldn't have resorted to this."
Ning Chun could not think of anything else either.
Ning Zhe sighed. "Zhuang Yi's thoughts are too deep!"
It was impossible to say he did not regret it, but he now had no way to make up for his regrets. If he had not been possessed back then, would the Ning Group fall to such a state today? It was unfortunate there was no medicine for regret. The only thing he could do was move forward now. Even then, he was at a loss. Ning Xia was just as stubborn as her mother.
After a while, Ning Zhe said, "Investigate the Eldest Young Miss; I want to know everything about her. From now on, we must let everyone know we're waiting for her return."
Ning Chun nodded. It seemed like Ning Zhe was still insisting on using the public to force his daughter to return to the Ning family.
…
There was a lot of buzz about the film festival that was only held once every four years.
Since a month ago, all the billboards in the city advertised the film festival.
At the same time, many major companies seized the opportunity to promote their artistes as well. Needless to say, Ye Xin's management company was the most aggressive him promoting Ye Xin.
After all, Ye Xin was a daughter of a noble family. Moreover, she was slated to play the female lead in the remake of Yi Yao. Her boyfriend had been snatched away by a vicious woman, and yet, she remained virtuous and kind. It was no surprise that among all the celebrities, she was the most talked about.
With all kinds of headlines and hot searches about Ye Xin, one would be misled into thinking the film festival was all about Ye Xin.
Naturally, it was impossible for everyone to feel the same way. There were some discordant voices that were against Ye Xin as well. There were many comments such as:
"She's bragging so much, but she hasn't even won a single award!"
"Even now, she still shamelessly bears the title of Little Ning Xia. She's still riding the coattail of her senior until now!"
"Does she even have any acting skills? Why don't I see it? I've only seen her acting pompous and relying on her appearance. Some of your praises are too exaggerated."
"I don't believe her boyfriend has been snatched away. She's rarely seen with that president…"
"Is she going for the beautiful and tragic image? It's too fake though."
"Personally, I think she focuses too much on publicity stunts. She's promoting herself too much. An actress should concentrate on making works that make a statement. Why is she always embroiled in gossip?"
"The comment above is wrong. An actress and a celebrity aren't one and the same. In any case, despite her rumors, I think this young miss from a rich family has rather good acting skills."
"The TV series for Yi Yao hasn't even been aired yet. They're really bold to remake such a classic movie. With her acting skills, it's difficult to say if she'd be able to pull off the character. If it's a flop, I'm going to be so angry!'
"Yi Yao occupies a special place in my heart. If she dares to ruin it, I'll curse her ancestors and her eighteen generations…"
These discordant voices would quickly disappear as soon as they appeared. With this, only pleasant comments were left.
…
Meanwhile, the film festival made an announcement through a live broadcast that they would open the poll for favorite male and female celebrities three days before the commencement of the film festival.
As time passed, something strange began to happen. The new celebrities began to drop in ranking while those at the top were veterans.
Ye Xin's votes were not too bad. She had consistently ranked fourth and fifth.
Gradually, strange phenomena began to appear. After three days, the popularity of the celebrities who had just become popular started to drop lower and lower on the rankings. The ones who were truly at the front were those old actors who could be praised.
Ye Xin's votes were still okay. She had always been ranked fourth or fifth. However, due to the discordant comments that appeared, her ranking and popularity dropped sharply.
This naturally put Ye Xin in a bad mood. She threw a huge tantrum at Yang Li and Peng Peng. In the end, she resorted to buying votes. She was determined to rank in the top 5. In this regard, she still had a sense of measure. She knew she could rank at the top, overtaking the veterans in the industry. Otherwise, she would only invite criticism.
Alas, Ye Xin had a useless father who ruined everything. When Ye He saw the billboards and advertisements of daughter in the city, he was incredibly happy. He bragged about his daughter to everyone who was willing to listen. Most importantly, or unfortunately, he ordered his subordinate to push his daughter to the top of the ranking.
In fact, Ye Xin was not the only one; there were many celebrities who also used money to buy votes. However, when they saw Ye Xin's popularity drop because of the backlash, all of them no longer dared to act recklessly.
In the end, due to excessive effort, Ye Xin was easily pushed to the top of the ranking with a ridiculously high number of votes.
By the time Ye Xin's management company found out about this, things had gotten ugly.