Chapter 407: Eavesdropping.JPG
As soon as Jiang Shu left, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhang Yuanying and Liu Zhimin didn't feel much about Jiang Shu's presence or absence, but more often, they felt uncomfortable when Jiang Shu was around.
With Jiang Shu gone, they could also relax.
"Huh? It seems like no one from LE SSERAFIM came?" Zhang Yuanying suddenly noticed something was off.
At her reminder, the others also reacted belatedly.
All the idol groups under DM Entertainment had members drawn from them; even Kim Tae-yeon, who was a solo artist, and Red Velvet had three members directly brought in.
But not a single member of LE SSERAFIM showed up.
"If Kura Ouni had come, she might have played games with Xue Yun," Zhang Yuanying said with a smile.
Xue Yun was suddenly cued by the "big sister," and her small face was momentarily filled with confusion.
Seeing Xue Yun's bewildered expression, everyone laughed.
There was a significant age difference within their Girls' Generation; the oldest, Kim Tae-yeon, and the youngest, Xue Yun and Zhang Yuanying, were a full fifteen years apart, more than one zodiac cycle.
But as fellow maknaes, Zhang Yuanying's popularity was too high, and her seniority was also too high, so Xue Yun didn't dare to treat her as a maknae.
"Let's have dinner together tonight, just to get to know each other," Shin Yuna suggested excitedly, clapping her hands.
"Okay, I'll treat," Bae Joo-hyun responded with a smile.
"Hey!" Kim Tae-yeon stopped Bae Joo-hyun, "I'm the oldest, I'll pay."
Bae Joo-hyun was stunned; her usual reason for treating was this, and being suddenly stopped by someone using the same reason felt truly odd.
"Understood, then Taeyeon will treat." Bae Joo-hyun didn't insist; it was just one meal, a few hundred thousand to a million korean won would cover it.
A few hundred thousand to a million korean won wasn't much different from a few hundred korean won for their high-income group.
"Yay!"
Upon hearing they could eat, the girls all became excited.
Dieting was dieting, but they had no objection to being able to feast.
"Then... shall we go?"
"Go go go!"
...
On the fifth floor, in the President's office, Jiang Shu overlooked the girls streaming out of the building below from the floor-to-ceiling window.
"Wouldn't it be inappropriate without LE SSERAFIM?" Li Duohui's voice reached Jiang Shu's ears.
"There's nothing inappropriate; the fact that LE SSERAFIM members weren't selected means I had my reasons," Jiang Shu withdrew his gaze, not looking at Li Duohui, and went straight to sit on the sofa.
"What's the result of the negotiations with the TV station?"
"Currently, only MBC has relented," Li Duohui walked over, sat down, and said.
"MBC? I thought it would be SBS."
SBS was fully commercialized, and Jiang Shu had thought that SBS TV would be most willing to try this kind of experiment.
He hadn't expected it to be MBC, which was semi-commercial and semi-official.
"Keep trying to secure it; this outdoor activity is a pioneering effort and very significant."
"Understood."
Ring ring ring.
The desk phone suddenly rang.
Jiang Shu got up and went to answer the call.
"Yes, good."
"Let her in."
He hung up the phone, and then the office door was knocked on, then opened.
Li Duohui turned her head and saw a familiar figure.
A short top + straight-leg pants, a blue short knit top paired with black straight-leg suit pants, with a cropped design to define the waistline, and the drape of the straight-leg pants elongating the leg lines, a simple color scheme highlighting a casual layered look.
Wu Haiyuan's private fashion taste was good; even without the styling teachers from DM Entertainment, she could put together very eye-catching casual outfits.
Unlike Kang Seul-gi, according to Red Velvet members' revelations, Kang Seul-gi, whose private clothes were notoriously bad in the industry before her debut, was a complete mess and unbearable to look at.
It's rare for artists to have bad private clothes, mainly because companies have styling teachers specifically to teach them.
These styling teachers and stylists are two different groups of people; stylists like to dabble in avant-garde, fashionable clothes, but styling teachers teach how to combine the most popular clothes of the moment.
"Chairman, President Li!" Wu Haiyuan saw Li Duohui was also there and bowed to her as well.
"Hae-won xi has arrived," Li Duohui smiled and nodded at Wu Haiyuan.
"Have a seat," Jiang Shu said, pointing to the sofa.
"Understood." Wu Haiyuan bowed to both of them, then sat down.
Li Duohui's eyes flickered slightly; Jiang Shu was letting Wu Haiyuan listen to their upcoming conversation.
Since that was the case, she didn't mind.
"JYP has already sent over the proposal; their intention is to highlight Xue Yun as the core, but I don't think that's appropriate."
Wu Haiyuan blinked. What did it mean to highlight Xue Yun? She immediately pricked up her ears.
"Are you dreaming?" Jiang Shu scoffed, "With Xiao Liu and Xiao Yuan in the group, it's not Xue Yun's turn. Even if we push her hard, the audience might not buy it."
"I had the same thought."
Even excluding Liu Yuan, were Bae Joo-hyun, Kim Tae-yeon, Shin Youzhen, and Shin Yuna easy to manage? (Note: "easy to manage" is an idiom for not being troublesome or difficult)
Xue Yun's popularity among these nine people was genuinely in the bottom top 3; pushing her hard would only cause a backlash. JYP really just says whatever comes to mind.
"Let's promote her, to the second tier. We can't push her too hard, but we can't ignore her either. After all, this limited group only came about because of her," Jiang Shu said after some thought.
The group only came about because of Xue Yun?
What's going on? Something's not right! Very not right!
Wu Haiyuan was confused by what she heard. She had thought Xue Yun was just there to make up the numbers in Girls' Generation, but hearing this, not only was she not just there to make up the numbers, she seemed to be the core?
Is this right?
"Understood." Li Duohui responded, not asking who would be kicked out of the second tier. Such matters didn't require Jiang Shu's inquiry; she could make the decision herself.
Then the two discussed some other issues regarding the Girls' Generation limited group. After more than ten minutes, Li Duohui got up and bid farewell.
After Li Duohui left, Wu Haiyuan finally stood up.
"Chairman."
"You heard everything, didn't you?"
"Understood." Wu Haiyuan nodded. Jiang Shu and Li Duohui discussed a lot of things, and even if she didn't specifically understand the relevant content, she could extract a lot of useful information from their conversation.
"Do you know why JYP chose Xue Yun and not the rest of you?"
Wu Haiyuan shook her head.
"Because JYP wanted a divine beauty."
Wu Haiyuan suddenly understood.
Even though she was confident in her own looks, she still admired Xue Yun.
After all, whether someone is good-looking or not is something everyone can see.
"But that idea isn't very realistic." Jiang Shu shook his head. "With Liu Yuan and the others still active, it'll be difficult for Xue Yun to rise to the top."
What's more, Girls' Generation had all four divine beauties in it; how could Xue Yun, a candidate, possibly stand out?
"I see." Wu Haiyuan said "Oh" and then said no more.
As a good friend, she really hoped Xue Yun could be chosen. But this kind of thing wasn't up to her wishes; it depended on various factors and couldn't be decided by subjective inclination.
