The most painful part was that the screening had not done anything.
No extra clip.
No surprise guest.
No speech.
No free snack.
No tiny commemorative paper that could be blamed, banned, shredded, or taxed.
The old film simply played at the scheduled time. Customers watched it. Customers left. Some said it felt good that Xplendi had not turned the storage-hall accident into a gimmick.
Yang Ruoqian read those comments with the hollow calm of a man watching people applaud an empty stage.
"We need to reduce curiosity," he said.
Chang Zhiqing asked, "By explaining?"
"No."
"By ignoring it?"
"That already sold out."
"By denying?"
"That created the queue."
No one spoke.
The room respected the shape of the trap.
Yang looked around the table and saw the same expression on every face: cautious agreement.
That was worse than opposition.
