Chapter 100

"Ha ha, it's all in the past, let's not bring it up again." Jin Young-min laughed a couple of times and then said, "Mr. Xiahou, what are your plans next?"

Xiahou Zhongying was momentarily stunned by Jin Young-min's words. Jin Young-min's words were very similar to the opening remarks Li Hao-ying used when he tried to poach him, almost identical. Could it be that he had the same intention?

"For the time being, I don't have any plans," Xiahou Zhongying smiled and replied.

"Oh, you don't have any plans to continue filming movies? Are you interested in joining our company? Our company will support your development as a director and select some good scripts for you to direct," Jin Young-min chuckled and revealed the purpose of his meeting with Xiahou Zhongying.

Jin Young-min had not mentioned his intention to poach Xiahou Zhongying to anyone beforehand. The people from S.M. Entertainment were stunned when they heard his sudden words. Jin Young-min's intention to poach was obvious, and the conditions he offered were surprisingly good, almost as if he was determined to cultivate Xiahou Zhongying.

Jin Taeyeon and Lim Yoon-a, among others, were overjoyed, especially Jin Taeyeon. She liked Xiahou Zhongying, and if he agreed to join their company, they could be together more often.

"Brother Zhongying, please agree," Lim Yoon-a wished Xiahou Zhongying would accept the offer. After these few months of interaction, she knew Xiahou Zhongying's abilities. If he wanted to develop as a director, he would definitely become a top director in the future. With her relationship with Xiahou Zhongying and being in the same company, if there were auditions, her chances would greatly increase. This was such a good opportunity, and she was naturally delighted.

Zheng Xiuyan was surprised and a bit indignant. What was so great about this guy that the president would personally come to poach him?

"Ha ha," Xiahou Zhongying looked at Jin Taeyeon, Lim Yoon-a, and the others who were eagerly waiting for his response, and laughed a couple of times before saying, "I'm still a student."

Although Xiahou Zhongying did not use explicit refusal words, his words clearly indicated that he was unwilling to join S.M. Entertainment. Jin Young-min and the people from S.M. Entertainment naturally understood his meaning.

Jin Taeyeon was very disappointed, and Lim Yoon-a, Huang Miying, and Seo Jihyun were also filled with regret. The members of TVXQ and other artists from S.M. Entertainment were shocked. They did not expect Xiahou Zhongying to refuse Jin Young-min's offer, which included such good conditions. They wondered if he had been kicked in the head or something.

"How can you be like this?" Zheng Xiuyan was furious. Although she did not understand what made Xiahou Zhongying worth Jin Young-min's personal poaching, seeing him refuse without a second thought made her extremely angry. In her mind, if Xiahou Zhongying joined S.M. Entertainment, he would have a bright future, and he was not appreciating it. She scolded, "Are you crazy? The president personally invited you to join the company, and you don't agree? What more do you want?"

Among the girls, only Zheng Xiuyan had the right to scold Xiahou Zhongying like that. After all, they were like a family, while the others were at most close friends, and Xiahou Zhongying was their director, so they could not do the same.

Those in S.M. Entertainment who did not know the relationship between Xiahou Zhongying and Zheng Xiuyan found her behavior very strange. Could these two have a secret relationship? S.M. Entertainment had a clear rule against artists dating, especially trainees, and the president was right there. This was a bit too presumptuous.

"I am still a student, after all. If I give up my studies now, my father will kill me," Xiahou Zhongying spread his hands and said helplessly. "And, Xiuyan, I'm still your brother. Is this how you talk to your brother?"

Zheng Xiuyan was stunned, remembering that Xiahou Zhongying was different from them. He was a rich second generation, an only child, with a large family business to inherit. He did not care about being an artist or a director; filmmaking was just a hobby. She was speechless.

She also realized that her behavior was a bit excessive, scolding Xiahou Zhongying in front of so many people, which was very impolite and would make him lose face. But she and Xiahou Zhongying had been at odds for a long time, and she was not very convinced by him, so she did not want to apologize in public. She huffed and lowered her head, no longer speaking.

Jin Young-min smiled. Even though Xiahou Zhongying had refused, he did not take it to heart, only feeling a bit regretful.

Xiahou Zhongying was someone Jin Young-min saw as a promising talent worth cultivating, but he was not indispensable. Jin Young-min had already gone to the limit by personally coming to poach him. Adding more incentives would not be worth it, as Xiahou Zhongying was just a newcomer, and a student director, though impressive, might not contribute much to S.M. Entertainment's film industry development.

Moreover, the movie had not been released yet, and its impact was unknown. Jin Young-min was also cautious about fully courting Xiahou Zhongying.

Although Jin Young-min was the president of S.M. Entertainment, he had only recently taken office and his position was not yet secure. S.M. Entertainment was a public company with many shareholders, and he could not make all the decisions alone. If he used the company's resources to fully support Xiahou Zhongying, the other shareholders would definitely oppose it.

Jin Young-min was also frustrated with the shareholders who only cared about profit and short-term gains. Since taking office, he had to persuade the shareholders to support proposals that would benefit the company in the long run but not show immediate results. Even then, sometimes the proposals would not pass, which made him very angry.

"Ha ha, I hope we have the opportunity to collaborate in the future," Jin Young-min said with grace.

"There will be opportunities for collaboration," Xiahou Zhongying smiled. "Although I don't have any filming plans recently, who knows when I might have one? When that happens, I'll still need Xiuyan and the others, and I hope President Jin won't ask for a fee. I can't afford it."

Hearing Xiahou Zhongying's words, Jin Young-min burst into laughter.

After laughing for a while, Jin Young-min said, "As long as it's not a commercial film, Xiuyan and the others will be exempt from fees for life. I also promise to let other trainees and even some artists in our company participate for free."

This time, filming "Green Apple Paradise" had been a sweet deal for Jin Young-min. Without any investment, he had managed to promote trainees like Zheng Xiuyan and Jin Taeyeon. He was happy to see this continue and even wanted Xiahou Zhongying to help promote some artists who had debuted but remained unknown.

"Then let's have a pleasant collaboration," Xiahou Zhongying thought to himself, somewhat disdainful of Jin Young-min's intentions. If it weren't for his good relationship with Zheng Xiuyan and the others, he would not have helped. Jin Young-min even wanted him to promote others, which was out of the question. However, since Zheng Xiuyan and the others were from S.M. Entertainment, he could not alienate Jin Young-min, or he would not be able to help the girls.

"Let's have a pleasant collaboration," Jin Young-min and Xiahou Zhongying lightly shook hands. Seeing that Li Hao-ying from DSP Entertainment had also come to support Lee Hyori, Jin Young-min wanted to brush up his presence and chat with Li Hao-ying. After hinting to his people to chat more with Xiahou Zhongying, he walked over to Li Hao-ying.

Seeing Jin Young-min walk over alone, Li Hao-ying's face darkened. Thinking about how much effort and resources his company had put in to achieve this result, while S.M. Entertainment had done nothing and benefited so much from the relationship between the girls and Xiahou Zhongying, he felt very aggrieved.

DSP Entertainment and S.M. Entertainment were competitors, and the relationship between the two companies was not friendly. Li Hao-ying knew Jin Young-min was not coming to be friendly but to provoke him. So, before Jin Young-min even got close, he nodded from a distance and turned to leave, ignoring Jin Young-min.

Jin Young-min did not expect Li Hao-ying to act so rudely. He was stunned for a moment, then laughed and shook his head, not minding, and walked back to Xiahou Zhongying and the others.

The artists and trainees from DSP Entertainment, unlike Li Hao-ying and Jin Young-min, were not affected by the company's competition. Many artists from different companies were good friends. So, they did not need to avoid Jin Young-min and walked over to Xiahou Zhongying and the others.

After greeting Jin Young-min, the people from DSP Entertainment ignored him and started chatting with Xiahou Zhongying and the S.M. Entertainment artists and trainees.

After a while, Jin Young-min felt it was not appropriate to stay in the middle of everyone, so he said goodbye and left with his staff, leaving the place to the artists and trainees.