His hand gave a jerk before he asked with a frown, "Why?"

It was a relief for the actress to get this off her chest. "Actually, I've never been pro this tactic in the first place. I find it a chore to fake feelings for someone I'm not romantically inclined with. This'll just hurt the other party involved. Besides, I think it's unfair to boost my popularity using him."

She was not saying this because she was famous now but because she truly did not see any value in faking a relationship just to increase her popularity.

She wanted her acting skills to be the basis of her success in career instead a lowly tactic like that.

While his eyes were still fixed on the documents in his hands, Qin Zhou merely retorted with indifference, "I thought I told you that if you wanna sustain a career in this industry, you need to employ such commercial gimmicks to boost your popularity. That's how this industry works, and there's no exception—not even when you're famous! Right now, your media exposure isn't enough, so naturally, we'll need to use this method to hype your name. There's no need for you to consider fairness to either party. Besides, Xingze's exposure has gone up because of the rumors too, so both parties are winners. You aren't taking advantage of him, so you don't have to take it to heart. Plus, I made the decision to employ this tactic; it has nothing to do with you."

"…" The woman kept quiet for some time before she let out a sigh abruptly. "But I can't overcome the guilt inside me. I'm already engaged and I treasure my relationship very much; I don't want to hurt anybody, including the superstar."

"Hurt anyone?"

Her manager broke into a chuckle. "There's no such thing as hurting someone in this kinda affair. Shishi, don't be oversensitive!"

"…"

Am I being oversensitive here?

He glanced up at her and gave a resigned smile in the end. "Besides, I'm afraid there's no more CP for you and him even if you wanna continue with it!"

"What do you mean…"

"Why? Don't tell me you don't know what's going on? The team has stopped releasing the script for such." The man stopped what he was doing and told her the truth.

There was a hint of angst beneath his calm exterior.

"Why is that?"

She was stunned momentarily before continuing with some hesitation. "Then, what about those scripts…"

He looked confused for a second before replying, "The marketing side was behind those. The scripts weren't from us. There's something I must tell you; even though the news isn't official yet, in reality… he's been blacklisted."

"What?!"

Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief, and she probed at once. "Blacklisted? Why is he… blacklisted?!"

"I thought you knew, but it appears that you're in the dark about this! I've wronged you!" He felt a rush of relief. "You didn't know about it at all."

"I don't know…"

She was bewildered. Why was the actor blacklisted for no reason? When did it happen?

She had no clue at all.

Her eyes then opened wide with a sudden realization. She uttered while clenching her fists unconsciously, "I just recalled… He didn't appear in the recent roadshows! He vanished from the public's eye immediately after the movie premiere…"