Chapter 233: The Challenge (8)

It came time again for the Three Months Club's meeting between Xiu Ling and Joann. With regards to the location, Joann's home was unavailable because the film crew for the Call of Joy was still removing the equipment from their home. Joann and Xu Jing just finished wrapping up the shooting and with people walking in and out of their home, it was not conducive for a private chat between the two women.

Joann did not feel like going out either because the fever from the show was still dying down. The film crew and director managed to make something work and the series ended in a happy ending. However, that did not mean that people had forgotten about what had happened and what everyone loved to do these days was to give their own advice despite their lack of qualification.

They saw Xu Jing and Joann's desire to make the marriage work and every Dick, John and Tom had their opinion on how they could move this relationship forward. It was one thing if they kept their advice column to the internet but since most of the show's viewership included females, they would not hesitate to stop Joann on the road to give her relationship advice. As woman, they felt like they could relate to Joann's problem and thus offered her advice on how to overcome it.

Joann appreciated their concern and would have handled them with grace of a celebrity if the purpose of the meeting was not going to have a private conversation with her best friend. Joann did not want their conversation to keep getting interrupted by members of the general public.

That left only one plausible location for their meeting, it was the Lin family's home. Xiu Ling had no problem with it and that how they ended up meeting at Xiu Ling's place for their Three Months Club's meeting.

Joann brought Xiu Ling up to date on her relationship status with Xu Jing and thanked her for her valuable advice that enabled her to reach this stage of openness and acceptance. Honestly, Joann was not sure she would come to this decision without her talk with Xiu Ling and the previous advice given by Lee Mu.

Xiu Ling was glad to hear that things were going well for her best friend. She had faith that after surviving this hurdle, their marriage was going to be much stronger even though her best friend still had reservation on that front.

Then, it was Xiu Ling's turn to bring Joann up to speed on what was happening in her life. When Xiu Ling told how Lin Kang had assigned her a post at Lin Corps, Joann commented on how sweet the man was. However, when she asked what was the actual job scope of the post that was assigned and Xiu Ling answered, there was nothing for her to do, Joann frowned. She understood how her best friend was averse to being given something for no reason.

Then, when Xiu Ling brought up the group resistance from the board of directors, Joann was angry on Xiu Ling's behalf. Even though she could see logically why the board of directors would think that way, Joann was ultimately in her friend's corner. How could they gang up against her best friend like that?

Xiu Ling then related that to the story of how Elder Lin extended her a challenge and she had accepted it. Xiu Ling left out the part of the private conversation she had with Elder Lin inside his study. She did not think that was relevant information to share with her friend.

Joann gasped when she heard that. She did not expect Elder Lin to come up with something like this. She was under the impression that everything was going smoothly in her best friend's relationship with Lin Kang, and everyone within the Lin family approving of it.

Joann was furious that Lin Kang did not step forward to protect his wife. How could the man allow his wife to be bullied by his family like that? Of course, Joann did not expect Lin Kang to go against his own father but at least he could have said something to the man, instead of letting everything land on Xiu Ling's shoulders.

Xiu Ling was glad that her friend got her back but she still pulled Joann down and explained the situation to her. It was her decision to accept the challenge and Lin Kang did try his best to step in but after she made her decision, he chose to respect her choice.

Then, Xiu Ling went on to explain why she made that decision. She talked about the issue of image and her recent more frequent occurrences with Lin Kang at public functions, the special concessions he made for her sake in terms of business like the special post that he had given her at Lin Corps. She also threw in some of the talking points she received from her father-in-law.

Joann understood it better than Xiu Ling expected. Then again, at the end of the day, Joann was a celebrity and she had been dealing with issue of public image since the beginning of her career, she just did not expect those in the business world had to deal with that as well. However, once she gave it some thought and combining it with the revelation provided by Xiu Ling, she could see why. The world of business depended on the public's perception of a brand as much as the entertainment world.

Understanding the perspective Xiu Ling was coming from, Joann finally understood why Xiu Ling made the decision that she did. Since Xiu Ling seemed to have her mind made up about this challenge, then Joann would do her best to support her best friend.

However, like Xiu Ling, Joann was not really a businessperson. In fact, she had even less experience in things related to business compared to Xiu Ling, at least Xiu Ling had worked for a while at Lin Kang's company.

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