Chapter 307 - Qiao Lian, I Like You (7)
In the conference room.
Zhang Chunhua looked at Qiao Lian haughtily. “I wonder where that Miss Go-Getter disappeared? Perhaps she has slackened off after being promotion to chief editor? How is it that my team managed to snap this picture and yours didn’t? I think someone’s just not doing her job.”
Qiao Lian frowned.
Although they were on a par now, Qiao Lian had suffered so much under this woman in the past. What right did Zhang Chunhua have to be so arrogant and bossy now?
Qiao Lian rebutted sarcastically, “Why so smug about this finding? You’re making these arbitrary assumptions about Mo Xicheng based on just a bag and a dress. This is fake news!”
Zhang Chunhua burst out laughing at Qiao Lian’s words. She pointed at Qiao Lian and turned to her team. “This must be the funniest joke of the year!”
Qiao Lian was stunned.
Zhang Chunhua continued, “What sort of journalist do you think you are? An entertainment news reporter! Do you have any idea of what this means? It means your worth is based on the number of reads you manage to attract and the attention you manage to catch with your articles. This is what is expected of entertainment news reporters. The notion of ‘truth’ in the entertainment circle is a great joke!”
Qiao Lian stood rooted to the spot and clenched her fists.
The reason she had become a journalist was so that she could expose the truth of what had happened those years.
As both an individual and a professional, her bottomline was to keep the truth intact.
Although as a veteran in the entertainment industry, she knew too well the tendency of many people to exaggerate and sensationalize news so as to gain reads.
But now that Zhang Chunhua had so explicitly pointed out the unwritten rules, she suddenly felt that her insistence on her ideals probably looked so naive and laughable to these people.
She pursed her lips tightly.
Shi Nianyao wasn’t going to take it. “This is too much! These are all groundless accusations. Besides, my idol went nowhere near this woman that evening!”
Zhang Chunhua laughed derisively. “Do you think I care if they were together? The hit rate for this article has gone over 100,000 views. Let’s see if you can do it!”
Shi Nianyao retorted, “You have no integrity!”
“Enough!” Zhang Chunhua’s hand slammed the table and she looked to Liu Zhixing, who had said nothing until now. “Managing Editor, we’ve got the news you wanted. In any case, Team One has now delivered. Don’t you think we should be rewarded?”
Liu Zhixing frowned and glanced at Zhang Chunhua. “So what do you want?”
Zhang Chunhua sneered, “Well, I do think that Team One’s office is in a mess. As you know, our cleaning lady is getting older and is not as efficient in her work as before. Why don’t we get our colleagues from Team Two to clean the office for us?”
Qiao Lian was livid upon hearing this.
This was blatant bullying.
Zhang Chunhua was absolutely underhanded.
She looked at Liu Zhixing.
Surely he would not entertain such a nonsensical request?
However, Liu Zhixing grinned as he looked back at Qiao Lian. “Chief Editor Zhang is not wrong. How about this afternoon, when Team One goes out for lunch, the both of you give the office a bit of a clean-up?”
Qiao Lian was furious beyond words. “Managing Editor, this—”
“We are a team and some competition is necessary to drive improvement, so let’s settle with this!”
Qiao Lian thought this was ridiculous. “But we haven’t lost!”
“It doesn’t matter if you lose or not in the end, but you’ve lost this round. Let’s wait until you come back with even more sensational news. Then we can think of a penalty for Team One.”