Chapter 147: The Encirclement Plan

Actually, whether Su Chen is popular or not is of no consequence to Dynasty Entertainment as a whole; aside from him and Xi Siyuan, perhaps no one really cares.

His original intention was to use this incident to curry favor with Chen Qianyuan, proving his ability to manage risks. "Look! This person had a grudge against you back in the day, and I nipped the risk in the bud." But now, the scheme had backfired. The loss of a few singers had already caught the attention of the top brass. What now? This had become a headache for him.

Knock, knock, knock! A knock sounded at his office door.

"Director Zhao, President Chen wants you in the conference room!"

*Whoosh.* Sweat immediately broke out on Zhao Hengyuan's forehead. It was time to face judgment. He dragged his stiff feet toward the conference room. After knocking, he opened the doors to find a somber atmosphere inside. The various executives sat on both sides of the table in silence, making his heart beat even faster.

"Hengyuan is here!"

"Sit down." One of the older leaders greeted him mildly. But he dared not relax; this man was known throughout the company as a two-faced, smiling tiger.

"What is this business with Li Kang?" As soon as he was seated, the man began his attack.

"It’s like this: I arranged the matter because Su Chen is..." As he spoke, he snuck a glance at Chen Qianyuan, who was sitting at the head of the table. At a time like this, he didn't dare bring up the old feud between Su Chen and Chen Qianyuan. Instead, he painted Su Chen as a former company singer who had been let go. Driven by resentment, Su Chen had supposedly ruined their plan to promote Xi Siyuan by writing songs for Jiang Yan. He claimed he had taken action at the awards ceremony solely to mitigate potential risks for the company.

"Stupid!"

"To be able to propel Jiang Yan to the status of a diva, the quality of those two songs is obvious. You didn't try to recruit him; instead, you made an enemy of him."

A vice president launched into a scathing tirade the moment he finished speaking. In this situation, he had no choice but to take it. By the time the criticism ended, he was still numbly wiping away cold sweat.

"What do you intend to do next?" Zhao Hengyuan cautiously looked at Chen Qianyuan again.

"Su Chen is a rebellious character! I tried to recruit him last time, but he cursed me out..." Zhao Hengyuan recounted Su Chen's behavior with tears in his eyes, his only goal being to convey one message: Su Chen could not be recruited.

"And so?" The group of men sitting there ignored his explanation entirely.

"I..." For a moment, he didn't know what to do.

"Alright! I am already aware of the situation!" Just as he was at a loss, Chen Qianyuan, sitting at the head of the table, spoke up. "I remember this person. There were some minor conflicts with the company back then," he said dismissively. "If it is as Hengyuan says, then I believe he is beyond recruitment. While Hengyuan’s actions were somewhat extreme, he was not entirely wrong."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hengyuan felt a wave of relief; Chen Qianyuan had backed him, which meant he was safe for today.

"Since the grudge has been forged, Dynasty does not fear anyone! Besides, he is just a small fry who has yet to amount to anything." A sinister look flashed across his face. "Hengyuan, didn't you just say he has a new song coming out? Arrange it—have all our singers' February releases moved up to January 15th! I want to see just how much ability he really has."

He scanned the room. "No objections, right?" The others in the room quickly voiced their agreement. Although Chen Qianyuan had been a playboy in his younger years, he had changed significantly since taking the throne from his father. His ruthless methods left everyone terrified. In just the past few years, the number of veteran staff he had purged was well into the double digits. Thus, when it came to these "small matters," they preferred not to object.

"In the future, you can handle such minor matters entirely on your own; there is no need to report them to the board!" Zhao Hengyuan was overjoyed and quickly agreed. The others in the room sighed silently to themselves.

This statement was tantamount to blaming them for making a fuss about the Li Kang incident in the meeting. The interrogation ended without a clear conclusion. That same evening, Dynasty Entertainment made an official announcement: Due to adjustments in the company's plans, the new songs for five singers originally scheduled for February would be moved up to release on January 15th.

When Su Chen saw the news, his face turned grim. Since the awards ceremony, he had been forming a plan to counter Dynasty Entertainment. He had intended to implement it only after finishing the songs for Xu Shuang and Lu Yuanqing. He hadn't expected them to come knocking so soon. They were truly impatient! If that was the case, then so be it—let it start now!

As the news spread on Weibo, some sharp-eyed netizens quickly connected Dynasty Entertainment’s release date with Xu Shuang’s. Combined with the recent conflicts between Su Chen and Li Kang, they seemed to have found the key to the problem.

"I suddenly realized something: Li Kang, Gong Ziming, and those other members of the 'Stab-in-the-Back' gang all seem to be from Dynasty Entertainment!"

"Huh? Now that you mention it, that’s true. But what does that prove?"

"Heh, the issue is huge. You saw the post Dynasty just made, right? Moving February songs to January 15th? And January 15th is exactly when the new song Su Chen wrote for Xu Shuang goes live."

"Damn! You figured that out? Does that mean Su Chen is going head-to-head with Dynasty Entertainment?"

"It’s not that Su Chen is going after them; it’s that Dynasty is going after Su Chen. Think about it..."

"I think I get it..."

This theory spread rapidly. A day later, the "Dynasty Entertainment Stab-in-the-Back Gang" trended on the hot search list again. But this time, it vanished from the rankings in less than ten minutes. It seemed the public had sensed something major was happening.

In the early hours of January 15th, "Courage" was released on TianTian Music. At the same time, fifteen songs from five different Dynasty Entertainment singers were released simultaneously. Suddenly, the January battlefield became exceptionally lively due to the confrontation between Xu Shuang and Dynasty Entertainment. Netizens looking for excitement sat back, waiting for the bloodbath of January to unfold.

Within one hour, "Courage" surpassed 500,000 downloads. Within two hours, it reached 800,000. Although the results were eye-catching, because it was already the middle of the month, many songs had already been released in the first half and had accumulated significant download counts. Therefore, neither Xu Shuang nor the Dynasty Entertainment singers could easily climb to the top of the charts in such a short time.