"Alright, as long as you’re confident. Compared to you, I’m just an outsider."

"Mr. Li, listen to you talk! You’re the boss, it’s up to us to do the work." Qiao Pan quickly smiled and said, "By the way, you’re the VIP tonight, will you be coming if you have time?"

Qiao Pan was very grateful to Li Yan. Besides investing in the film he planned, more importantly, he realized he was an outsider and did what an outsider does. Directors and producers like investors like him; if someone doesn’t understand and interferes with everything, with amateurs commanding professionals, it’ll end up a mess! This time, Li Yan didn’t even interfere in the actor selection, giving him considerable freedom.

"Even if I don’t have time, I must come. This is our first movie."

"I’ll be waiting for you! I’ll save you the best seat!" Qiao Pan was quite excited. He put a lot of thought into this film. Although he’s credited as the producer and supervisor, he’s been doing numerous jobs. This was his anticipated comeback work, and his pressure was actually greater than Li Yan’s!

...

In the afternoon, Li Yan saw on the ticket website that the occupancy rate had risen to over 30%. Although it wasn’t outstanding, it outpaced other films. The actual box office might not surge, but the single-day market share was already ensured, so tomorrow’s screening schedule shouldn’t decrease.

Jiang Xueyin brought the premiere movie tickets, and Li Yan asked her to take a few up to the CEO’s office for Zhang Yurong.

That morning, Zhang Yurong said she wouldn’t attend the premiere. If she went with him, it would draw too much attention, and going as the company president would also be too conspicuous. Just starting work, she was very busy. She said she’d wait a few days until a day off to watch it privately, since she’s not impressed by celebrities anyway. However, she requested a few tickets for the assistants and clerks in the CEO’s office.

Besides that, none of the other executives at headquarters asked Li Yan for tickets. They might feel it’s embarrassing to go to the premiere just to see stars unless a child at home begged to go. Other friends asked for tickets when they met him at work or called him, but he declined, suggesting they buy their own. Sun Hui was still hospitalized and on leave, not yet back to work.

Li Yan kept some tickets himself, as he wanted to invite someone, Wen Qianyi. He and Wen Qianyi were partners before, and everyone knew they were close, so inviting her wouldn’t raise any eyebrows.

He went directly to the Operations Department, a familiar place, but one he hadn’t visited in some time.

Seeing him come in, some women in the Operations Department greeted him and asked for premiere tickets for the movie they’d heard Heavenly Film was releasing today. Li Yan directly said that he had to buy the tickets himself and welcomed everyone to purchase tickets to support the film!

Those people weren’t very close with him in the past; many looked down on him. They certainly didn’t expect him to invite them, but they understood he was there to ask Wen Qianyi. However, since becoming the official operations director after Ye Jiahong left, those who envied Wen Qianyi had changed to befriend her.

"What’s up?" Wen Qianyi was deep in thought in front of her computer when someone came in without knocking, making her a bit displeased. Usually smiling, she frowned slightly and looked serious.

Li Yan came in, closed the door, and walked over to her side with a smile. "Nothing much. I just missed you..."

Seeing him approach, Wen Qianyi was wary he might get handsy. "Mr. Li, your movie is premiering today, shouldn’t you be busy? Yet you have the leisure to wander around?"

Li Yan considered getting close to her, but seeing her cautious look and remembering it was the office, he refrained. He retreated to the seat opposite her desk, "I came specifically to invite you to the premiere."

"No time," Wen Qianyi refused outright.

"I don’t care if you have time or not. You have two choices: one, I give you a ticket and you go, or two, you come with me as my date." After saying that, Li Yan leaned forward with his arms on her desk. "I won’t leave until you agree."

Wen Qianyi furrowed her brows, letting out a cold laugh, "Are you threatening me? Do you think I don’t have the guts to call security to throw you out?"

Li Yan didn’t respond to her threat, instead remarking, "This office is much bigger than your previous one but feels emptier. Back then was better — just the two of us in one room; you gave the orders, I did the legwork. Male-female team, light on the workload... Sigh, now you have a larger office, and I have my own office, but it doesn’t compare to the old comfort."

Hearing his reminiscing, Wen Qianyi’s guard slowly eased. The defensive stance she presented was undoubtedly deliberate.

Fortunately, a holiday followed, sparing them direct confrontation immediately, granting her more time to consider and adjust. Even so, she spent the entire holiday troubled, avoiding Li Yan’s calls and not replying to his texts. Only when he threatened to visit her did she answer, telling him she wasn’t home to avoid him lingering outside.

He called again yesterday, but she happened to have a meeting at the company. She didn’t expect him to show up at the office on the first day back to work.

His attitude just now, especially forcing her to choose one of two options, had irked Wen Qianyi.