CHAPTER 417: CHAPTER 287: KING OF MASK SINGER FINALE CONCERT

"Hello, President Chu, guess who this is?"

He had just finished discussing the next development direction with Li Guang and hadn’t even had the chance to exchange a word with Xu Qingqiu after returning to the office when his phone rang.

Chu Tian glanced at the caller ID and knew it was Hou Yichuan.

Hearing that sickeningly sweet voice on the other end, he felt like giving up entirely.

"Get lost! If you have something to say, spit it out!"

"President Chu, you really forget old friends for new ones. You used to call me Sweetie, but now..."

"Hou Yichuan, could you be any more disgusting? Just say what you want, quickly."

Listening to that revolting voice, Chu Tian’s face was a mask of resistance. He involuntarily brought his left hand to the bridge of his nose, pinching it. He was truly at his wits’ end.

Seeing his plan succeed, Hou Yichuan’s mood instantly brightened. He had done it on purpose, purely to disgust Chu Tian. How could he not be happy when it worked so well?

"Alright, President Chu, you haven’t forgotten you still own a company, have you?"

"No, no, I haven’t forgotten, big bro. Let’s just talk straight. There’s really no need for this."

"Really?"

"Really, really! You’re my bro, I’m begging you, bro, please act normal."

Chu Tian was genuinely scared. Hou Yichuan was really going all out, his voice booming. To make matters worse, Xu Qingqiu, seeing Chu Tian return, had habitually sat down beside him.

Hearing that disgusting voice from the phone, she looked at Chu Tian with a conflicted expression. Who wouldn’t be creeped out by that?

If my girlfriend really misunderstands, that would be a huge loss.

"Alright then, President Chu, when will you be gracing the company with your presence? Our temple may be small, but it’s still your temple, isn’t it? You can’t play favorites."

Glancing sheepishly at Xu Qingqiu, Chu Tian quickly replied with a gloomy expression, "I’ll go, I’ll go! I’ll go right now, alright?"

"Excellent. I shall await your grand arrival at the company."

After hanging up, before Chu Tian could even explain, Xu Qingqiu spoke first.

"That was President Hou, right? Don’t blame him for acting like that. You’ve been staying with me all this time, and he must be swamped over there. He’s probably feeling quite stressed. If there’s nothing important here, you should hurry over. Don’t keep him waiting."

Seeing his girlfriend being so understanding and considerate, Chu Tian’s face instantly lit up with a smile.

He couldn’t help but cup Xu Qingqiu’s face, saying excitedly, "My wife is the only one who truly cares about me. I’ll just make a quick trip over there and come back as soon as I’m done."

"Oh, stop it! Who’s your wife, you shameless thing?"

"Hehe, if not you, who else could it be?"

"Alright, hurry up and go. If you dawdle any longer, you might not make it back tonight. Just don’t come back with a boyfriend, okay?"

Chu Tian was speechless.

Good heavens, when did Xu Qingqiu learn to make jokes like that?

Chu Tian’s smile froze. He awkwardly rubbed his nose, said a quick goodbye, and then hurried off in his car toward Unlimited Entertainment.

He had to hurry. Knowing Hou Yichuan, he might actually pull something like that. Of course, Hou Yichuan wouldn’t do it himself, but hiring someone to deliberately disgust him was entirely possible.

Upon arriving at the company, seeing the bustling scene that had become somewhat unfamiliar after his long absence, Chu Tian felt a wave of complex emotions.

He never thought a casual move he’d made back then would lead to this.

But there wasn’t much time for sentimentality. After nodding to a few acquaintances, he went straight to Hou Yichuan’s office.

Just as he pushed open the door, Chu Tian couldn’t help but complain, "I’m here. What’s so urgent that you had to disgust me like that?"

"President Chu, you’re the boss! You never come back, and all these employees are like motherless children. You tell me if I should be anxious or not!"

Chu Tian was annoyed, but Hou Yichuan felt even more aggrieved.

"Alright, alright, my bad, okay? I’ll give each of them a big red envelope later, and a bigger year-end bonus. That should do it, right?"

People work for money, of course. Chu Tian admitted he wasn’t particularly gifted at management, but he excelled at one thing: spending generously. He knew his staff worked hard, so he never bothered with empty platitudes. Instead, he simply threw money at problems, confident that enough cash could eliminate ninety percent of all troubles. The remaining ten percent was probably just a matter of not enough money.

However, it seemed Hou Yichuan wasn’t appreciative.

"Hmph, of course, you should give them big red envelopes."

Hearing this, Chu Tian realized there might be some good news; otherwise, Hou Yichuan wouldn’t have said that.

"What’s going on? Where did we make more money?"

Seeing that Chu Tian had caught on, Hou Yichuan couldn’t help but sigh. My boss is good at everything—smart, perceptive, and very generous. The only problem is his preference for being a hands-off manager. As a result, while Chu Tian has it easy, I’m left running off my feet every day.

"Sigh, I can’t be bothered to explain. Just look at this. Here’s the summary of work and financial details from this period."

A large stack of documents was placed in his hands. Chu Tian started to get a headache before he even began to look through them.

But it was his company, so no matter how much of a headache it caused, he had to look.

"Hmm? What’s this about an investment in ’iPartment 2’? Isn’t it still filming?"

"It’s not finished filming, but many people have already approached me about it. Take a look first, and I’ll explain the details after you’re done."

Chu Tian read on with a mix of doubt and curiosity. When he saw the earnings for ’iPartment 1,’ he was still quite surprised, despite having anticipated a good result.

"Nicely done, President Hou! How did you negotiate with these people to get such a high price?"

"What else could I do? It was definitely popular at the start, but it’s a low-budget production, so we couldn’t sell it for a high price. Plus, we wanted a simultaneous release across all networks, so there was no way to demand a high price..."