Jin Corporation.
The company settled in its usual workday pace now that its recent big business project was running smoothly without needing constant attention from the President-CEO.
Jin Liwei sat behind his massive dalbergia desk while his assistant stood a few steps away from him. Xu Tian just finished relaying the most relevant daily business news.
Afterwards, Xu Tian cleared his throat and began his next daily task which was relaying public news about his future lady boss. "President, I have several news concerning Miss Long. Which would you like to hear first? The good news or the bad news?"
Jin Liwei frowned. "There's bad news?"
"Yes, President. Unfortunately."
"Good news first."
Xu Tian nodded and then looked at his notes as he spoke. "Miss Long's album 'Rebirth' is still reigning at the top of the music charts. Today, all the top 3 positions in the singles ranking are taken by 'Rebirth', 'Phantom of Your Love' and 'Black Star'. Second Master's song is in fourth place. It has been struggling to place third for more than a week now. It's even in danger of falling down further because the song behind it is the theme song for a very popular TV drama right now."
"Hmm. Excellent. Good. Continue."
Xu Tian blinked a couple of times. He immediately interpreted the President's brief comments. "Excellent" was obviously for Miss Long's achievements in the music charts. How about the "good" then? Did the President mean that it was "good" that his younger brother's song was falling down the ranks in the music charts? Xu Tian suddenly felt a little sorry for the Second Master. But he didn't have time to think about the matter because he still had more news to relay.
A pleased smile appeared on Jin Liwei's face.
"JJ's record label did an outstanding job in promoting Miss Long's album overseas, especially since Miss Long is more or less completely unknown outside the country. She's being labelled as an up-and-coming original music composer. There aren't a lot of reviews yet but most of the early ones gave positive reviews. It seems that critics are having a difficult time properly categorizing the album's musical style because although the music employs classical piano techniques, it doesn't completely rely on classical interpretation."
'Whatever that means,' Xu Tian thought as he read from his notes.
He continued, "Some foreign music analysts are labelling 'Rebirth Melodies' as contemporary classical but others are disagreeing. It seems that there is a debate going on about how to categorize Miss Long's album."
"Hmm… A debate can be good. Keeps up the interest," Jin Liwei murmured.
Then Xu Tian hesitated. At the moment, the President looked very pleased. Xu Tian was certain that the next news he was about to relay would wipe his boss' pleasant expression. Sighing inside, he steeled himself.
"President, would you like to hear the…bad news now?" As expected, he didn't even say anything yet but his boss already looked displeased.
"Go," Jin Liwei ordered, his voice cold.
Clearing his throat, Xu Tian flipped to his next notes. "Miss Long is currently under fire from some of classical musicians led by Maestro Liu Wei."
Jin Liwei was enraged. "I often attend Maestro Liu Wei's performances and even invite him as an honourable guest for social events that I host. I respected him but I didn't know that he can be this spiteful just because he's jealous of my Xiulan's success. Preposterous!" Then he ordered, "Give me a list of the other bastards who are bullying my Xiulan."
"Here they are, President." Xu Tian was ready and immediately handed him a printed sheet of paper with a list of names.
Jin Liwei glanced at the names. Number one on the list was Maestro Liu Wei followed by sixteen other names. He only recognized two names besides the maestro's.
"Make it hard for them to book concert locations in the country," he ordered. "Also dig dirt about him and these other people."
Jin Liwei's influence might be insignificant within the classical music industry, but his Jin Corporation was the number one company in the country. It pervaded many industries including much of the property sector. There were many places used as venues for classical music concerts that belonged to his company.
He might not be able to completely prevent the maestro and his lackeys from booking other places in the country, but at the very least, they wouldn't be able to book most of the major venues because they belonged to Jin Corporation.
This was the price for antagonizing the future Madam of Jin Corporation. How dare they bully his baby girl? His respect and admiration for the maestro was now completely gone.
"Understood," Xu Tian replied. "And also…"
"There's more?" Jin Liwei's expression was now completely ugly.
Jin Liwei leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to calm his anger. He waved his hand, gesturing for his assistant to continue.
"The investigation results you ordered to find the identity of the Alarm Girls' new backer has arrived."
"Oh?" Jin Liwei opened his eyes, a dangerous glint in them. "Who is it?"
Xu Tian hesitated before handing him a file folder.
Jin Liwei opened the folder and began reading.
Shock and then fury appeared one after the other on his face. Then he threw the folder hard on his desk. It slid on the surface before falling to the floor.
"B*tch!"
Xu Tian waited for a couple of seconds before cautiously retrieving the folder, tucking it between the other folders in his arms.
Jin Liwei's hands clenched tightly into fists, slamming one onto his desk. His eyes burned with cold fury.
