225: Chapter 225 Choice

Li Qian now understood why Chen Shaoping had asked her to stay.

Of course, she didn't think Chen Shaoping's move was a lack of trust in her; it was definitely aimed at someone else.

She accepted readily. A female police officer stepped forward and began to search her.

Yang Mi appeared calm on the surface, but her heart was surging like a giant wave, and she even felt a hint of excitement.

She knew that Chen Shaoping had another identity as a Paparazzo.

She analyzed frantically, wondering how Chen Shaoping knew there was a mole, or if it was just his intuition and instinct as a Paparazzo.

At the same time, she had the illusion that she was standing naked before him.

However, this ability to nip danger in the bud made her feel more secure about their future cooperation, and even a bit thrilled.

Hu Shou was different; his sharp eyes scanned the room, trying to determine if the others were teaming up to play them.

After seeing Xu Jing's bewildered face, he finally felt at ease.

"Clang!"

Si Wodi had intended to take a sip of tea to calm his nerves, but his hand shook, and he lost his grip on the teacup. It fell straight to the floor and shattered in two.

Tan Zhuo's eyebrows twitched slightly as he walked straight up to him and asked sharply, "Sir, are you alright?"

Hu Shou caught sight of his nephew, whose body was trembling and lips were quivering; the heart he had just put at ease instantly sank to the bottom.

Could it be...

Although he was very reluctant, he couldn't help but think so.

A person who usually procrastinated and made excuses had suddenly become a different person upon hearing they were coming to Tongxing Entertainment to discuss cooperation.

He was obedient, worked hard, and had a better attitude.

So, this was Si Wodi's objective.

Si Wodi's eyes darted around, not daring to meet Tan Zhuo's sharp gaze. He stammered, "C-Comrade Police Officer, I... I'm fine."

Looking at him, Tan Zhuo felt secret disdain. With this kind of character, he actually tried to steal trade secrets like others.

"Since you're fine, please stand up. Since I'm already here, I'll start with you."

"Oh..."

"Okay..."

Si Wodi struggled to stand up from his seat, trembling so much that it was obvious he had a guilty conscience.

As soon as he stood up, he stumbled and fell to his knees before Tan Zhuo with a thud.

"Officer, I was wrong. This is my first time, I won't do it again."

"Please have mercy on me!"

Hearing this, Hu Shou's body swayed, and he almost collapsed.

He forced himself to pull through and walked up to Tan Zhuo. "Officer, this is my nephew, and he's also my subordinate at the company."

"He made a mistake, and I am responsible."

Si Wodi acted as if he had caught a lifeline and grabbed Hu Shou's legs. "Uncle, you have to save me! I don't want to go to jail."

Tan Zhuo looked at Si Wodi coldly and said flatly, "Hand over your tools of the crime."

With a trembling right hand, Si Wodi slowly rolled up his left sleeve, removed a recording pen from his arm, and handed it to Tan Zhuo.

Tan Zhuo didn't take it directly with his hand but had him place it in a transparent bag.

After giving it a light shake, he said to Hu Shou, "Sir, whether you are responsible or not is for us to determine."

"If we need your cooperation, we will come looking for you."

At the same time, at Tan Zhuo's signal, the two officers who were conducting searches stopped.

The culprit had been found, so there was no need to search the others.

Tan Zhuo had known who was problematic before coming in, but to be fair, he had prepared to search everyone.

He hadn't expected Si Wodi's psychological resilience to be so poor; before he could even intimidate him, the man had confessed everything out of guilt.

"Take him away!"

At Tan Zhuo's command, another male officer came over, handcuffed Si Wodi, and prepared to take him away.

"Officers, please wait a moment!"

Hu Shou's face was as white as a sheet. He called out and then turned to Chen Shaoping.

"President Chen, could you please show some mercy and let him go this once? I will definitely give you a satisfactory explanation."

Chen Shaoping shook his head. "Chief Executive Hu, you know Si Wodi's behavior best. If you hadn't been protecting him, he probably would have been behind bars long ago; it wouldn't have taken until today."

"You were reluctant to discipline him for your own reasons. In that case, I'll do it for you and give him a profound lesson before he commits a major mistake."

"President Chen, please let him go this once. I will discipline him this time." Hu Shou pleaded again, his tone thick with helplessness.

Chen Shaoping remained unmoved and didn't want to waste more words with Hu Shou on this matter.

"Chief Executive Hu, I've already cut him some slack. If I were to reveal everything he's done, I believe you wouldn't be able to stay at Tudi Cinema City either."

"No." Hu Shou still wouldn't give up. Seeing that Chen Shaoping wouldn't budge, a trace of gloom flashed in his eyes.

"President Chen, even if I can't stay at Tudi Cinema City, I can't let my nephew go to jail. It seems today's agreement won't be signed."

Yang Mi and Xu Jing exchanged a look. Everything had been going well; how did things suddenly take such a turn?

Now they didn't know who to help and could only watch from the sidelines.

In their hearts, they actually wanted to speak up for Hu Shou, but they were afraid of offending Chen Shaoping.

Especially Xu Jing.

Chen Shaoping's brow furrowed, and he let out a cold snort. "Chief Executive Hu, I think you're mistaken. From the very beginning, we didn't plan on cooperating with you."

"It was Xu Jing's suggestion that led to your participation in today's talk."

"However, now I've decided that I must cooperate with Tudi Cinema City. You know that you can't stop this cooperation at all."

Hearing this, Hu Shou's heart trembled.

From Chen Shaoping's firm and confident gaze, he knew that Chen Shaoping must know Yang Mengmeng's true identity.

If things escalated and Yang Mengmeng found out, he might be even less able to handle the consequences.

He sighed, looking as if he had aged ten years. "Officer, could you wait a moment? After we sign the contract, I'll go to the station with you."

"Be quick, we can't wait long." Tan Zhuo agreed.

Chen Shaoping looked at Li Qian and nodded.

"Everyone, please wait a moment while I go get the agreement." After saying that, Li Qian went out.

She soon returned with several copies of the agreement. It wasn't complicated, totaling only a dozen or so pages.

After the four parties finished reading and confirmed there were no issues, they signed and stamped the documents.

The alliance was officially established from that moment.

Yang Mi said happily, "After all this time, we finally see some results."

"Let's cheer together. Here's to our movie's box office success!"

She held out her right hand, and Chen Shaoping immediately placed his on top, followed by Xu Jing.

Hu Shou glanced at their stacked hands and, feeling frustrated, refused, "You guys celebrate."

"Officer, let's go."

"Sister Qian, please see them out," Chen Shaoping said calmly. "We're going to celebrate."

"Sure," Yang Mi said with a sweet smile.

"One,"

"two,"

"three,"

"Fighting!"

"Fighting!"

"To a record-breaking box office!"

Chen Shaoping looked in the direction Hu Shou had left, his eyes turning slightly cold.

Since the other party already harbored resentment, he would no longer show any mercy.