Rebirth 09: Starting from taking charge of Running Man on CCTV

She sat there quietly, her hands clasped together, her fingertips trembling slightly.

A few seconds later, she picked up the wine bottle on the table and poured herself a full glass.

"Chen Yang".

"exist."

"Head screenwriter?"

"your."

Su Xiao picked up her cup.

"I don't have anything to worry about."

Her voice was soft, but steady.

"Anhui TV has nothing left for me to write about."

"To the capital."

He downed it in one gulp.

Liu Gang's reaction was the simplest.

He pulled the briefcase with the worn-out zipper from under the table, opened it, took out a stack of crumpled price lists, and tore it in half with a ripping sound in front of everyone.

"That 500 yuan order, we won't change it."

He threw the shredded paper onto the table.

"I'll go and deregister the company the day after tomorrow."

The three people raised their glasses and clinked them together.

The disposable plastic cup made a dull thud when it bumped against the glass.

The wine spilled on half the table.

Nobody paid any attention.

Chen Yang also picked up his glass and clinked it with theirs.

There were no sentimental words.

Needless to say.

Everyone present knew that from the moment they clinked glasses, the strongest executive team had been reassembled.

This time, however, the game wasn't being recorded in a provincial satellite TV studio.

It was during prime time on CCTV that they did something that no one had ever done before.

……

"At the earliest, it will take three days to reach the 12th floor of the CCTV building in Beijing. Bring your ID card and proof of resignation."

Chen Yang zipped up his backpack and stood up.

"When you arrive, I'll show you our venue."

"You're leaving already?"

Zhang Lei tugged at his sleeve.

"We haven't finished our drinks yet."

"I can't drink anymore. I'm catching the last flight back to Beijing tonight."

Chen Yang patted the back of his hand.

"Senior, I'll leave the people on your side to you to coordinate. Also, please put in a good word for Lao Zhou; if he's willing to come, reserve the position of camera supervisor for him."

Zhang Lei was stunned for a moment.

"Old Zhou? Zhou Jianjun?"

"right."

"He was still working as a political cameraman in the news department, but he used all his skills to feed the dogs."

"Then it's even more likely to happen."

Chen Yang pushed open the wooden door of the food stall, and the twilight from the alley rushed in.

He glanced back at the three familiar faces.

See you in three days.

The door closed.

Zhang Lei, Su Xiao, and Liu Gang sat still, none of them moving.

The official document from CCTV lay quietly on the table, the light from the incandescent bulb casting a dark red halo around the seal.

"He has really changed."

Su Xiao stared at the closed door, her voice very soft.

"Back in the station, he was the most capable deputy."

"Now……"

Zhang Lei picked up the approval document and took one last look at it.

"Now he's the director."

"Yes! The director!"

……

It was 11:40 p.m. that night.

Luzhou Luogang Airport.

The waiting hall wasn't crowded. The air conditioners were humming and blowing cool air, and flight information was being broadcast over the loudspeaker in both Mandarin and English.

Chen Yang sat on a plastic chair next to the boarding gate, holding a Nokia N95 in his hand, his thumb swiping back and forth on the function keys.

The memory bank in my mind automatically retrieved a piece of information.

Chen Xi.

Twenty-three years old, majoring in New Media at Communication University of China, a 2009 graduate.

An active moderator of the entertainment gossip section of Tianya Forum, pen name "Gossip Xiao Chen," whose celebrity exposé posts consistently garner over ten thousand replies.

In her past life, this girl later became the absolute pinnacle of new media marketing in the domestic variety show industry.

But that was five years later.

She has just graduated a month ago and has submitted more than 30 resumes, all of which have gone unanswered.

Chen Yang remembered hearing her mention in his previous life that when she first came to Beijing to look for a job in 2009, she rented a partitioned room in an urban village and was cheated out of two months' rent by a shady real estate agent.

He opened his phone's browser and searched for recent posts by "Gossip Xiao Chen" on Tianya Forum.

The latest post was published this afternoon.

The title is: "Let's expose how shady the agents of popular young actresses are - continuously updated."

The number of replies has already exceeded 8,000.

Chen Yang copied the post link and saved it to his phone's notes app.

The loudspeaker came on.

"Attention passengers bound for Beijing Capital International Airport, boarding for Hainan Airlines flight HU7192 is now commenced..."

Chen Yang put away his phone, picked up his backpack, and stood up.

The core team has been secured.

The next step is to bring back these wild masters scattered in various corners one by one.

The first target is the capital city.

……

May 28th, 4 PM.

A village within the city, in Northwest Wang Town, Haidian District, Beijing.

Chen Yang stood in front of a drab six-story residential building, looking down at the address he had written down on his phone.

Unit 3, 502.

There were no lights in the hallway, the stairs were covered in a layer of dust, and large patches of plaster had peeled off the walls, revealing the grayish-yellow cement underneath.

He climbed the stairs and went up to the fifth floor, then turned left.

The metal security door of apartment 502 was ajar, and two people were standing in the doorway.

Two burly men, one wearing a black polo shirt and the other a camouflage short-sleeved shirt, their arm muscles bulging taut.

The guy in the black polo shirt was pointing his finger through the crack in the door, his voice so loud that the whole floor could hear him.

"Xiao Chen, right? I'm going to calculate it with you one last time!"

"The contract clearly states that early termination incurs a penalty of two thousand! Add to that the four thousand you owe for the two months' rent! That's a total of six thousand!"

"You're not taking a single thing out of this house until you settle your account today!"

A young woman's voice came from the crack in the door, trembling with suppressed anger.

"The contract states the rent is 1,500 a month, but you charged me 2,000! What's the extra 500? Don't you know what it is?"

"And this partitioned room—the contract said it was 15 square meters, but the actual measurement is less than nine! Isn't that fraud?"

"Stop giving me that nonsense!"

He leaned against the door frame in his camouflage short-sleeved shirt, his voice louder than his companion's.

"You signed it, so you've agreed to it. It's all in black and white, right here!"

"You have to pay this money today, whether you like it or not!"

Chen Yang stood at the corner of the stairs and saw the whole scene clearly.

He didn't stop.

As I walked out from around the corner, my sneakers made a moderate sound as they clicked on the concrete.

The two shady brokers turned their heads at the same time.

"Who is it?"

Chen Yang didn't look at them.

His gaze passed over the two men's shoulders and through the half-open door, he saw the people inside.

A petite girl with short, ear-length hair was wearing an oversized white T-shirt and slippers. She was holding the doorknob with one hand and hiding a cell phone behind her back with the other.

Twenty-three-year-old Chen Xi still had the naivety of a college student on her face.

But his eyes were very stubborn.

Her lips were pressed into a thin line, her chin slightly raised, and she carried the weight of two adult men on her shoulders. She didn't cry, she didn't panic, she just stubbornly endured it.

Chen Yang nodded inwardly.

Exactly the same as in my previous life.

This girl has a strong backbone.

He took two steps forward and stood behind the two shady brokers.

"Dude."

The man in the black polo shirt turned around and looked him up and down.

"Who are you? This is none of your business, get out of here."

Chen Yang's lips twitched slightly.

"I'm her boss."