After she left, Niu Meiling and Jian Chuo exchanged silent glances. It was Jian Chuo who spoke first, somewhat displeased. "Ling Jie, this Mo Xiaojuan is going too far! Relying on her status as Mo Fei's relative, she doesn't put either of us in her eyes."
Compared to Mo Fei and Mo Xiaojuan, Jian Chuo, who had been brought up by Niu Meiling herself, felt more like one of their own. Niu Meiling shook her head and said, "Let's not talk about her. When the contract renewal comes next year, I'll assign a work assistant to Mo Fei. Mo Xiaojuan can just focus on being her life assistant!"
Jian Chuo's gaze fell on the CD on Niu Meiling's desk, and her expression shifted. "Ling Jie, let's listen to her songs! See if it's really Mu Zi'ang."
After Mo Fei had spoken, Niu Meiling already had a rough answer in her mind. She knew Mo Fei rarely lied, but she still handed the CD to Jian Chuo as instructed. Jian Chuo went to turn on the sound system embedded in the wall behind them and started playing it.
The first song left Niu Meiling and Jian Chuo exchanging glances of surprise.
By the second song, they had no more doubts about Mu Zi'ang's identity.
The third song...
Before it even finished, Niu Meiling stood up, turned off the sound system, and wore a gloomy expression.
"Ling Jie, this is going to be tough!" Jian Chuo said cautiously.
"Hmm..." Niu Meiling let out a heavy grunt.
"I was hoping to keep her down, but with these songs, she's probably going to soar again!" Jian Chuo said indignantly. "How does this person get so lucky? Why doesn't my Zhen Zhen have a fan named Mu Zi'ang?"
Niu Meiling was also troubled. She had planned to use the last year of the contract to squeeze Mo Fei, forcing her to sign a new one! Even Jian Chuo didn't know that the reason Mo Fei's comeback album was so poor was because Niu Meiling had tampered with the song selection process...
"Her wings are getting strong; she's ready to fly," Niu Meiling murmured, a strange glint in her eyes.
"Ling Jie, these twelve songs—almost every one of them is good enough to be a lead single for someone else," Jian Chuo said, her eyes also flickering. "How about we spread a few out? Like this one, I think it suits Zhen Zhen's sweet voice perfectly."
Niu Meiling frowned at her.
Jian Chuo chuckled, unafraid, and leaned in to whisper in Niu Meiling's ear, "Anyway, since Mu Zi'ang's songs are coming to our company, they're our company's resources now! Giving a few to Zhen Zhen, and the others won't just sit by either. If we share them out, it'll at least reduce Mo Fei's chance of making a comeback!"
Niu Meiling squinted, deep in thought for a long moment. She waved Jian Chuo closer again. "Handle this for me. Make it clean!"
"Ling Jie, if we're going to do it, let's go all the way!" Jian Chuo said boldly. "Mo Fei said her fan wrote these songs for her, right? There should be email exchanges for those files! Let's bypass them and contact Mu Zi'ang directly, or use Mo Fei's tone to email him and get him to authorize our company!"
Niu Meiling's eyes lit up, and she patted Jian Chuo. "Do it! Go find someone from the tech department. I'll call them in a bit and tell them to fully cooperate with you!"
...
That evening, Yang Yi was about to send high-definition illustrations for the prison break via email to Qiangzi when he unexpectedly received an email from Mo Fei.
But the wording was strange. It started with "Dear Mu Zi'ang," a tone she had never used before! Moreover, between the lines, it gave off a feeling of a young girl coyly acting spoiled toward a lover!
This was definitely not Mo Fei!
Yang Yi knew Mo Fei too well. With her personality, how could she ever act spoiled?
It probably wasn't Mo Xiaojuan either. Over these days of chatting with Mo Fei, Yang Yi had gathered that Mo Xiaojuan managed her email account and usually handled work matters with it.
But Mo Xiaojuan had never been this sickeningly sweet!
Though this woman hadn't been particularly nice to Yang Yi and could be a bit dramatic, she was also proud and aloof. Her coldness was bone-deep, the opposite of Mo Fei's. Having her act spoiled toward "Mu Zi'ang" like this seemed unlikely.
More importantly, when Mo Xiaojuan had secretly emailed him asking for songs behind Mo Fei's back before, she hadn't acted this way!
"Something's wrong," Yang Yi frowned, staring at the attachment on his computer screen. It was an electronic authorization form from the copyright association, but the rights to the songs were assigned not to Mo Fei, but to Tianmei Entertainment Agency!
He picked up his phone, ignoring what time it was, and called Mo Xiaojuan directly.
The phone rang for a long time before someone picked up. Then, Mo Xiaojuan's slurred, angry voice came crashing through: "Hello! Who's this? Do you know what time it is? I'm trying to sleep!"
"..."
Sure enough, Mo Xiaojuan hadn't saved Yang Yi's number. She probably never wanted to before, finding it disgusting, and now, with no need, she'd forgotten.
"It's Yang Yi," he had to identify himself. If he stayed silent, Mo Xiaojuan might hang up.
"Oh, brother-in-law, why are you calling me in the middle of the night? Got the money?" Mo Xiaojuan asked excitedly. She was just waiting for Yang Yi's money to start the company.
"Uh... not yet. It'll take a few days," Yang Yi said, referring to the payment from selling the film rights to his two books.
"Oh..." Mo Xiaojuan's excitement faded, and she responded dismissively.
"I wanted to ask, did you go back to the company today?" Yang Yi asked.
"Yeah, went to talk to Ling Jie about things," Mo Xiaojuan said lazily.
But since the conversation had started, she continued, "That woman's shady. I don't know what she's up to. She promised that once we gathered twelve songs, Fei Jie could release a new album, but now she's dragging it out, saying we'll discuss it at a meeting tomorrow."
"Hmph, but it's fine. Tomorrow, I'll show them all and shock everyone. Twelve songs? No big deal—I got them together just like that!" Mo Xiaojuan said smugly.
Yang Yi roughly understood the situation. He said a few casual words and hung up.
Mo Xiaojuan was a bit puzzled as she ended the call, muttering to herself, "What's wrong with this guy? Calling his sister-in-law in the middle of the night? Could it be..."
After putting down his phone, Yang Yi stared coldly at the email on his computer.
Mo Fei's situation was dire! People in the company were scheming against her, and she was being targeted with underhanded tactics. Luckily, they were dealing with him, and he'd been cautious!
He needed to make money quickly, let Mo Xiaojuan set up the studio, and get Mo Fei out of this mess soon!
Of course, the first thing to do now was figure out how to strike back!
How dare they mess with my Mo Fei! Yang Yi decided he wouldn't let them off easy.
Soon, an idea came to him. But first, he'd need to buy a new SIM card tomorrow.