Chapter 10: Are You Sure You Want to Be So Unyielding?

Yan Qiuping personally made a call to Luo Ning; he hadn't been blocked.

Listening to the ringing, waiting for the call to be answered, he sneered internally. Luo Ning was clearly playing hard to get, not daring to truly offend him.

On the other side, Luo Ning had just finished signing a new contract and picked up the call when she saw it was from Yan Qiuping.

"What's the matter?"

Yan Qiuping, with a hint of anger in his voice, said, "Luo Ning, who allowed you to post that kind of Weibo? Do you realize how much trouble this will cause Xinghang? Stop messing around and delete the Weibo."

Upon hearing this, Luo Ning scoffed, "If I go and delete the Weibo now, wouldn't that cause even more trouble for me? Dream on."

To post such a Weibo and then delete it would not only result in mockery from trolls but also ruin her reputation with the general public. This guy was too malicious.

"Luo Ning, if you continue to be so willful, then consider all your future appearances and activities suspended," threatened Yan Qiuping.

To oppose him over this matter was foolish of her; he was her agent after all, and it would be easy for him to ruin her.

Since she was being uncooperative, it would be a good opportunity to funnel all upcoming resources towards Bo Xiangxiang. Xinghang was furious, so he probably wouldn't object.

"You wish to cancel my appearances, but you'll need the authority to do so," Luo Ning's voice remained calm as she continued, "I'm officially notifying you now that I'm firing you, I want a new agent."

Yan Qiuping laughed as if he had just heard a ridiculous joke, "Luo Ning, are you being naive? As long as I don't agree, the company's executives won't possibly let you change agents."

"Don't even dream of it; you can only be an artist under my guidance."

"Now go and delete your Weibo and admit that the person in the trending photo is you, then Xinghang and I won't pursue your previous actions," he no longer bothered to conceal his intentions.

He couldn't allow Luo Ning to change agents, or else she would be out of his control.

"Get lost!" Luo Ning, not bothering to argue further, hung up and blocked all his contact information.

Hearing the word "Get lost!" and the subsequent busy signal, Yan Qiuping was stunned. Had Luo Ning gone mad, daring to openly defy them to this extent?

Ever since he had become a top-tier agent, no one had dared speak to him like that. He was extremely irritated.

Luo Ning could just wait to be frozen out of the industry.

After Yan Qiuping ended the call with a sour expression, Ji Xinghang couldn't help but ask, "What did she say?"

"She refused, even said she wanted to change agents and told me to get lost." Yan Qiuping suppressed the anger in his heart, his face carrying a helpless expression as though Luo Ning was the one being unreasonable.

Ji Xinghang furrowed his brow, "She's being too willful this time."

Brother Yan had deep roots in the company; it was almost impossible for Luo Ning to change agents.

What good did this confrontation do for her? Clashing with her agent was the most unwise decision. Wasn't she usually quite smart?

Yan Qiuping sighed, "Exactly, that's why I'm planning to cancel all of her appearances for now, let her cool down properly."

Over time, when all of Luo Ning's hype had died down, her vase-like public image not active in the circle, she would be quickly forgotten.

Ji Xinghang's frown deepened, "There's no need to suspend her appearances; I will communicate with her properly."

"Don't have her acknowledge the trending photos or delete her Weibo. I'll have someone pull down the related trending searches."

The dispute with Luo Ning was over this matter, and if he made concessions, she likely wouldn't persist.

Yan Qiuping choked, thinking Ji Xinghang would be even more furious, but unexpectedly he was willing to compromise.

It seemed that Luo Ning's position in Ji Xinghang's heart was not as unimportant as they had imagined. This couldn't continue.

He was just about to try to persuade Ji Xinghang when his cellphone suddenly went off.

Seeing it was a call from the company's HR department, he paused for a moment, thinking it was a good opportunity to give them a heads up not to let Luo Ning make a fuss about changing agents.

He answered the call. Just after saying hello, the person on the other end informed him that the company had decided to assign Fang Yan as Luo Ning's new agent, and that he no longer needed to manage her matters.

Yan Qiuping was completely stunned. "Without my consent, on what grounds do you replace Luo Ning's agent?"

"Just on the basis that this decision was personally delivered from the higher-ups. The company has already signed a new contract with Luo Ning, so you don't have to worry about it anymore." The person said and then hung up.

Only then did Yan Qiuping realize that Luo Ning wasn't playing hard to get, but was serious. The feeling of losing control was not good at all.

"Luo Ning knows the company's top management?" he regained his composure and asked Ji Xinghang.

Ji Xinghang thought about it and shook his head, "She probably doesn't, what's up?"

"She really went to the company to apply for a change of agent, and even got Fang Yan. If there was no one at the top backing her, it would never have happened," Yan Qiuping said, sounding very gloomy.

Luo Ning was someone he was planning on letting go himself, yet she had beaten him to it and climbed up the ladder with the company's ace agent. This made him particularly annoyed, but he was unable to object.

He hadn't felt this frustrated in a long time.

Ji Xinghang was also surprised. There were no secrets between him and Luo Ning; he knew pretty much everyone she knew.

But now, she broke up with him, blocked him, and secretly changed agents without telling him—all of these incidents caused him a rare feeling of panic.

"I'll go to the company and talk to her tomorrow." He felt they couldn't go on like this.

Yan Qiuping was also somewhat in a mess now, "Right, you go and have a proper talk with her."

Now, they could only bet that Ji Xinghang was still very important to Luo Ning and could persuade her to come back, otherwise their plan with Bo Xiangxiang would be completely ruined.

On the other side, Luo Ning left the president's office with Fang Yan.

Fang Yan said, "These next few days you don't need to worry about anything, just prepare for the variety show you'll be on next week. It will be the deciding factor in whether you can turn the situation around or clear your name."

Luo Ning's reputation had been tarnished by a tide of negative press, and appearing on live variety shows was a good opportunity to clean up her image, as it was very direct and could subtly change public perception over time.

Of course, live shows could also attract negative attention. If her performance was poor, it would damage her appeal to neutral audiences and could lead to a backlash from her fans. Instead of cleaning up her image, that would definitely make things worse.

Luo Ning nodded her head. "I think so too."

"Brother Fang, I plan to post another tweet to inform the public about the change of agent," she sought his opinion.

Fang Yan asked, "How do you want to post it?"

Luo Ning showed him the pre-edited tweet on her phone.

Upon reading the content, Fang Yan first expressed surprise, then chuckled, "Are you sure you want to be this confrontational?"

Luo Ning nodded, "Sure, I not only want to wash off the vase label, but I also want to tear off those tags that have been stuck to me. So, let's start with a head-on confrontation. I am who I am."

She was never the type to be weak or to back down.

Seeing her confident and assertive manner, Fang Yan's eyes revealed a look of admiration, "Okay, but don't post it today. Wait until the buzz from your previous tweet dies down a bit more, then post it tomorrow."

"After you post the tweet, inform me. I will interact with you on Twitter and have the company post an official announcement on their official Twitter. To prevent those paid trolls from influencing public opinion, I'll have our public relations department control the comments."

Luo Ning's decisive and straightforward manner was something he liked and admired. He started to feel that her future was promising.

"Alright, thank you for the trouble, Brother Fang." Luo Ning nodded, understanding that this was the right way for her agent to take charge.