He's essentially holding a grudge because you abandoned him...
"Wake up. You're drifting off in the meeting. Your boss is coming for you!"
Stella lowered her head and glanced sideways, using her long hair as cover. She nudged Ji Shuhe's arm with her elbow, trying to pull her back from her wandering thoughts before Shen Xing noticed and personally came to retrieve her straying soul.
Unfortunately, Shen Xing was no aging, half-blind professor from university. He had already noticed Ji Shuhe's distraction even before Stella did. Now he reached out, intending to take the notebook in front of her.
It was an ordinary spiral-bound notebook. The blank pages were empty except for a few twisted curves scribbled messily in pen—clear evidence that the owner hadn't put her mind on the work from the start.
"Xiao Shu, you haven't been yourself lately."
Shen Xing handed the notebook back. His voice was steady but carried an undeniable weight. "As a friend, I understand your situation. But as your team lead, I have to remind you: during work hours, don't let personal emotions affect your professionalism. You need to focus."
Ji Shuhe flushed, took the notebook, and pressed it under her arm. She apologized awkwardly to the two of them. "Sorry. I'll get myself together from now on."
Putting aside her personal issues, the main task for this return to Xinhai was to finalize the preliminary research for the documentary. Director Stella had already arrived from Paris and had been doing field research for days. Tomorrow was the critical meeting with local partners to finalize the narrative line, visual style, and representative buildings. The team was running at full capacity. Her distraction at this moment was indeed inappropriate.
"Alright, let's end this topic here." Shen Xing opened his laptop, his tone shifting to pure work mode. "I have to go back to London next week, so I might not be able to follow this project in real time. Xiao Shu, give me the details of your next steps."
"Okay." Ji Shuhe cleared her throat and projected the updated proposal she had worked on late last night. "After tomorrow's coordination meeting with Xinhai TV, I'll sync with Stella. Based on the meeting results, we'll refine the shooting script and outline. Once we've consolidated all creative plans and technical requirements, the production team will draw up a budget and a full-cycle timeline. I'll send the final version for your review."
"Mm." Shen Xing tapped the table with his fingertip, pondering. "The method and precision of building the 3D models, and how they integrate with live-action footage—that's both the key and the challenge. Our internal digital team may not fully cover it. If we can secure external technical support, we can significantly optimize this part of the budget."
He paused briefly, as if weighing options. "That company 'Tuowei Tech' we met during dinner the other day—worth exploring further."
"That company wasn't very interested in the filming collaboration before."
Ji Shuhe hadn't overlooked this part. Scanning buildings into digital models or presenting restoration effects in naked-eye 3D was a potential bottleneck for their tech team. Of course, she wanted to seek mature technical support. But after that night, that company had become something special to her.
"Still, I'll try to arrange a detailed talk with Manager Li. If that doesn't work, I'll ask the contact from the local TV station to help bridge the connection."
Shen Xing lowered his eyes and picked up a pen, gently rubbing his thumb against the smooth barrel. "Try your best first. If it really doesn't work, we'll find another way."
"Okay."
Stella was the director hired for the project. Although she had worked with Shen Xing many times and they were familiar, Shen Xing didn't have authority over her. The only reason she was sitting here listening to their internal communication was sheer boredom from her long vacation—she just wanted to join in on the fun.
She cared about the technical stuff they were discussing, but not that much.
She had been daydreaming when Shen Xing's reply caught her off guard. Her amused gaze immediately flickered between him and Ji Shuhe.
If it weren't for her exaggerated smoky-eye makeup hiding her expression, she would have been obviously gossiping.
She and Shen Xing had been classmates in the same year. Back then, when they were working on projects, everyone said they would focus on art. But later, she became a small director floating in the industry, filming whatever came her way, while that sanctimonious poser had transformed into a capital investor.
She couldn't stand him. Still, despite that, their collaboration had continued since university.
At first, it was school projects. Later, it was films that made it into documentary competitions at film festivals, netting quite a few nominations and awards. They had both left their marks on each other's paths to fame.
It felt like eating shit while crying—but it was too hard to find a partner in the industry who understood the craft and had money. This poser was just a bit pretentious, but at least he could understand human language—that beat ninety-nine percent of people out there.
If there was money to be made, one had to tolerate it.
But precisely because they had teamed up for so many years, any slight deviation from Shen Xing's usual behavior stood out to her like a sore thumb.
Right now, it was strange and abnormal.
Stella propped her chin on her hand, her amber eyes rolling around as she tried to channel Shen Xing's persona and imagine how he would normally act.
First, the tone should be gentle and flat, but the attitude should be intransigently strong. He would make his subordinates do whatever it takes to crack the hard nut. There was no "find another way"—only whether the result succeeded or failed. He might help clean up the mess, but afterward, that person might not be seen again.
That's why she called him a poser. Clearly a harsh person, but always putting on a false show of generosity.
As for the reason for the change...
Stella shifted her gaze slightly, focusing her peripheral vision on the little sprout beside her that Shen Xing had personally mentored into the industry—Ji Shuhe.
This wasn't Ji Shuhe's first time on set. Stella had a good impression of her. She was like Eastern water—soft and boneless, capable of meeting even unreasonable demands during shooting.
At first, Stella had suspected the two had an impure relationship. She had even played detective, but found no trace of an affair. "Senior" here and "Xiao Shu" there had withered her gossip-loving heart.
So what was the secret code now? The poser stopped posing? Made a move?
That didn't seem right either.
Stella rubbed her chin. If Shen Xing's tolerance was based on emotional change, then Ji Shuhe shouldn't be in this state.
Could it be that the company was really tough to deal with? No way—if it was a partner from the Planning Bureau, wouldn't they give face just by asking?
She pondered for a long time but couldn't figure it out.
Fortunately, the meeting finally ended. The busy President Shen, as producer, went out to take a call first. Stella grabbed the distraught Ji Shuhe and headed to the café downstairs.
"Come on, tell me. What did Shen Xing mean by that? What's tricky about that company? Hard to negotiate?"
The latte was too bland. Stella ordered a hot Americano with two extra shots. People in their line of work were all immune to caffeine. Regular Americano was no different from plain water to her, but the bitterness in this cup would probably taste like Chinese medicine mixed with coptis to an ordinary person.
Ji Shuhe frowned as she watched Stella drink it like water, worrying about her sleep tonight.
"It's not exactly hard to negotiate." Ji Shuhe let out a breath, her round eyes lowering with a listless look. "That company is a bit special. I did a background check and found..."
She didn't even need a thorough background check. From the moment she discovered the legal representative was Wen Cheng, fate's excessive coincidence had already seized the weak and helpless her, who tried to dodge.
"I found that the current head of that company is a... a..." Ji Shuhe clutched her paper cup, very troubled, trying to find an accurate label for their current relationship. "An old acquaintance."
"Old acquaintance?" Stella repeated the two words, frowning.
She was a Chinese-born abroad with limited knowledge of Chinese. Once you explained the term, it lost its flavor.