Her face started to change after she finished the drink. The reaction came fast and furious, and she clenched her rumbling tummy in agony.
"Now, get lost!"
Still feeling upset, Qin Zhou gave her a kick.
The assistant hurriedly scrambled away with him at her back.
Yun Shishi stole a glance at her manager and could not help taking a dig at him. "Boss, I didn't realize that you could also be a bad judge of character!"
He was known to be sharp and shrewd in reading people, and it was least expected to find a bad apple in his team.
He cleared his throat in embarrassment and quickly switched the topic. "Have you gotten over your jet lag by now?"
"It's manageable."
In her heart, though, she knew overcoming jet lag would not be that easy.
"Are you still feeling terrible?"
Cocking an eyebrow, she replied, "Of course! How is it possible to recover so fast?"
"I didn't expect this to happen. I didn't manage my team well. Sorry…" he apologized, feeling remorseful.
She had a wry look. "It's alright. You don't want this to happen, either."
"You take a good rest now; you'll need to go for your makeup later. Recording will start in the afternoon. Can you take it? If not, I'll reach out to the program team to postpone the recording."
She shook her head. "I'm fine! It's not that serious."
"That's good!"
He nodded, comforted by the knowledge.
Gu Xingze had experienced a similar attack in the past.
During one of his concerts, he was backstage when an anti-fan passed him a bottle laced with super glue. He was very trusting toward his fans, so he took a gulp without hesitation. Stomach upset immediately preceded and he subsequently passed out.
He woke up while on the way to the hospital and threw out blood a few times. Qin Zhou, who was by his side, went aghast with fear. His agent did not know what was the drink spiked with and thought that it was poison at first. Finally, the hospital traced the cause to the super glue found in the drink, which had burned his respiratory and digestive tracts. The actor only managed to recover after a stomach washout.
However, it was a grave disruption to his work as he had to rest for about two months before he was considered well enough to return to his post.
That incident caused quite the stir at the time.
The irony was that, under the immense pressure of the public, the victim had to request for leniency on behalf of the underaged perpetrator.
The superstar was a public figure, after all, and had to be seen as forgiving and magnanimous.
Of course, the agent was incensed at that time. If it had not been for the fact that the anti-fan was a mere teenager, he would have sent his men to teach him a lesson!
The doctor said that the repercussion would have been worse if the actor had reached the hospital any later!
This incident had also cast a profound, dark shadow over Qin Zhou's mind.
He was deeply remorseful at one point.
Even though his charge was a public figure, and such negative events would repeat despite his best efforts, he was still ridden with guilt when he could not properly protect his artists.
In the end, the superstar had to turn around to console and reassure him that this incident was, in no part, due to his negligence.
The star himself had not stayed vigilant and had accepted a drink from a stranger without hesitation.
The manager continued to be troubled by this matter, though.
Hence, what Yun Shishi had encountered set off alarm bells in his head.
It appeared that he needed to reshuffle his team!
If not, such a thing would happen again!
He would not allow his present charge to be harmed the second time around.
…
The production team sent a message, asking the actress to get ready to do her makeup.
Gu Xingze's flight would land at the airport at 5 PM, and the program would start recording from the moment of his touchdown.