Breaking free from the billionaire shackles

Chapter 004

The news that Director Sun had absconded with his team struck him with such force that his blood pressure spiked; the world went black, and he collapsed.

"Papa! Papa!" Su Lingwei cried out, her face deathly pale with fright. She frantically called for someone to phone an ambulance while fumbling for the emergency medication her father always carried. In an instant, the office erupted into frantic activity.

Mercifully, the ambulance arrived swiftly, and her father was rushed into the emergency room.

Su Lingwei kept a lonely vigil outside, her eyes fixed on the illuminated light above the ER door. A storm of terror raged within her, and she paced relentlessly back and forth, a frantic rhythm meant to quell the chaos in her heart.

After an eternity of waiting, the light finally went out. A nurse emerged, pushing a gurney bearing her father.

Su Lingwei hurried forward, her gaze falling upon her unconscious father. "Papa, Papa…" she called, her voice trembling.

There was no response from the still figure on the bed. Anxiously, she turned to the doctor, her eyes, rimmed with red, welling with unshed tears. "Doctor, how is my father? Why hasn't he woken up?"

"We've just administered medication," the doctor explained. "He will remain unconscious until it wears off. Your father suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. We have treated it, but even after he awakens, he will require complete bed rest and tranquility. He must avoid all emotional distress and physical exertion, or his condition could worsen, posing an even greater risk."

"I understand. I will take good care of him," Su Lingwei said, her voice thick with sorrow.

How could she have ever imagined this? In her rebirth, she believed everything could start anew, that she and her father could finally live a peaceful life together. But now, he had been struck down. In her previous life, her father's health had always been robust, only declining sharply after a car accident four years later, which led to his eventual passing. A stroke had never been a possibility she considered. Had she known, she could have taken preventative measures.

But self-recrimination was no solution now. Su Lingwei forced herself to rally her spirits and focus on caring for him.

Half an hour later, her father awoke. He tried to speak, but the words came out slurred and indistinct. Su Lingwei immediately rushed to find the doctor.

After a swift examination, the doctor confirmed their fears: the hemorrhage had affected his speech. Recovery would be a slow process, its duration uncertain—it could take a month, two, half a year, or even longer.

Her father required a long period of rest and rehabilitation, but the affairs of Jiahe Entertainment could not wait.

Now, Su Lingwei was alone. She would have to bear the entire weight of the company on her own slender shoulders. She could not allow her father's life's work to be destroyed.

She clasped her father's hand, her eyes burning, her nose tingling with emotion, and made him a solemn promise. "Papa, believe in me. I will manage Jiahe Entertainment well. I won't let you down."

Her father looked at her with mournful eyes. He had wanted to build a sky to shelter and protect her, but now, she was the one forced to carry the crushing burden.

"You… must… be… well…" he managed to say, each word a struggle.

Su Lingwei understood. She nodded vigorously. "I will. I promise I will."

*****

The next morning, Su Lingwei rose at dawn. After washing up, she applied makeup that was both sharp and refined, and drove to Jiahe Entertainment.

With her father ill, the entire weight of the company now rested upon her.

The moment she sat down in her office, before she could even take a sip of water, Assistant Zhang entered to report on the company's situation. He had been by her father's side for nearly a decade and was his most trusted aide.

Su Lingwei trusted him as well. "Tell me about this Director Sun," she said, "and about Yuefeng Entertainment. Our most pressing task is to deal with this crisis."

Seeing her get straight to the heart of the matter, Assistant Zhang's expression turned serious. "Director Sun is a long-time employee of Jiahe," he began. "He possesses both talent and a keen eye. In past years, he produced several highly profitable projects and was highly sought after within the industry."

"But success can make a man arrogant. Sun grew conceited and dismissive. His team operated solely under his command, and at times, he would even disregard the President's opinions."

"However, over the last two years, his projects have yielded mediocre results. One even incurred a significant loss. As a result, the President curtailed some of his authority and project funding."

"This move infuriated Director Sun. He felt the President was deliberately undermining him, suppressing a meritorious official. This resentment twisted his perspective until he saw malice in every action, eventually leading him down this treacherous path."

"Yuefeng Entertainment has always been our primary rival, constantly competing for projects and investments. For years, they were inferior to us, merely riding the coattails of our success, launching similar projects right after ours."

"That all changed two years ago. Yuefeng poached a new Vice President, Wu Yuanhua, from who-knows-where. He initiated a series of sweeping reforms, produced a wildly popular entertainment show and two blockbuster drama series that topped the ratings. Their rise was meteoric."

"Meanwhile, Jiahe has been on a downward slope. Yuefeng quickly surpassed us, and now they seem intent on grinding us under their heel."

"By poaching Director Sun, and having him take his team and the nearly-completed prestige project with him, Yuefeng has driven a knife deep into our chest. Jiahe Entertainment's losses are catastrophic."

Assistant Zhang's account matched what Su Lingwei already understood.

Jiahe's investments in three television series and one film over the past two years had all yielded poor returns. Hundreds of millions had been poured into them, all ending in losses. This year, the company had been banking on Director Sun's project to turn things around. They had staked nearly all of their available resources on it, investing far more than on any previous project.

And now, at this critical juncture, Director Sun had defected. Not only were months of work by the entire company wasted, but it was a devastating blow upon an already struggling enterprise, a dire situation made even worse.

If this crisis wasn't managed properly, if they couldn't implement effective countermeasures and secure a new, profitable project to recoup their losses, Jiahe Entertainment would face a severe capital shortage.

Once they reached that point, recovery would be monumentally difficult.

A heavy silence descended upon the office.

Su Lingwei continued to flip through the documents in her hand, her mind racing, searching for any possible solution.

"I have some personal funds I can use for now," she said without looking up.

It was only a temporary fix. The money was from her divorce settlement with Xiao Zhenyu—a considerable sum, but it would only hold them off for so long. For the company to survive, the most crucial thing was to generate new revenue; they needed a profitable project to continue operating.

She scanned a few more pages, analyzing the situation. "The team and the project that Sun took with him are currently our best assets. We can't produce a comparable project in the short term. Even if we could, we would be trailing behind them, and they would have already captured all the attention. We'd be left fighting for scraps, if we get any at all. We should pivot. Let's take stock of the resources we *do* have and explore other possibilities."

Assistant Zhang gave a bitter smile. "Miss Su, you've been here for over a month, you know our situation. We don't have any major resources at the moment. Our only active investments are in two small web dramas and a historical drama series. The main series is only half-filmed. It will be a very long time before it's completed, goes through post-production, is released, and we see any return on that investment. Our lead actor, Ding Yiming, is still on that set. Our actresses, Jiang Jingke and Xu Lingling, are working on other productions. The daily operations of this company cost money, and frankly, the accounts are empty."

It was the unvarnished truth. Jiahe Entertainment was in dire straits.

Su Lingwei knew this all too well. In her past life, those two small web dramas had generated almost no buzz. From what she could recall, they were complete nonentities. Even without that foreknowledge, her month of experience and assessment of the current situation told her these projects would not be profitable. Breaking even would be a miracle.

*To make money, you need a project that can make money,* she thought, her fingers flying through the pages. She was searching, desperately, for a way out of this predicament when, suddenly, her eyes lit up, her entire demeanor infused with a jolt of energy.

"I've got it."

Her words caught Assistant Zhang's attention. He leaned forward, curious. "Got what?"