CH 19

‘Face-to-face Celebrity’ was a live variety show that was favored by young people. One episode was streamed every Saturday night, and every episode was seventy minutes long. As it was a live show there were no advertisements in between, so it was rated highly by the audience. 

The next episode’s preview was played at the end of the current episode like usual. The guests’ sequence was arranged based on their popularity. The first one was Feng Yating, next was Zhao Ziyi, Chu Mengyao, and Jiang Li. 

It wasn’t the first time for Feng Yating to join this show, so everyone thought it was normal. Although it was the first time for Zhao Ziyi and Chu Mengyao, they were well-known enough and even had more than 20 million followers on Weibo, so everyone still thought it was expected. Jiang Li was the only newbie among them; he only had a little more than two million followers on Weibo, not even ten percent of the others’. 

As the preview streamed, the real-time comments exploded! 

— What? Who’s this Jiang Li? How come I’ve never heard of him before?

— Is he a new-debut? I’m totally fine with his appearance! 

— Eh, there’s a really good-looking Xiao Gege in the guest list! 

— Wow, is this year’s trend dominated by Jiang Li? Is it not enough to buy the hot search? Even the variety show is bought! 

— Even newbies with no work to their name can join a popular variety show now? Is his backer so strong? 

— The friend upstairs that says he has no work, please get to know that he’s acting in two roles in ‘Long River and Falling Moon’!

— A trashy variety show that anyone can join, what a waste of time. 

— I thought there’s news saying Yan Jiaqi will be joining the next episode? Why has it changed? 

Not long after the preview was published, a lot of netizens went to search for Jiang Li’s information. 

Jiang Li didn’t post much on his Weibo, and most of it was related to ‘Long River and Falling Moon’. The latest post was a photo of a cat lying on a tatami. The white cat was lying on the soft cushion beside a beige vase, a slender hand was patting its back tenderly. 

Jiang Li V: Jiang Nuomi, I’m your daddy Jiang Li, please take care of me from now on. [Picture]

As the photo was taken during the evening, a few streaks of warm yellow rays of sunset could be seen in the background, making the whole atmosphere feel cozy. 

People who own pets always give off a gentle aura, especially with the enhancement of a warm picture like that. The netizens who were curious about Jiang Li and searched for him started enjoying looking at the cat for some reason. After looking, they even went to search for Weibo posts from ‘Long River and Falling Moon‘. 

Of course, there were still a lot of haters who scolded Jiang Li for having no notable work, saying that he depended on his backer to join the show and stole other senior’s resources. Most of those haters were Yan Jiaqi’s fans. 

Yan Jiaqi was a celebrity under Yi Xing media studio who graduated from University F’s Music Department. He debuted without a solid foundation and became famous through web dramas; he was considered to have popularity as well. Before the preview of ‘Face-to-face Celebrity’ was publicized, there were a few marketing accounts who gave out news, saying that Yan Jiaqi’s studio was discussing the schedule of a live show with a very high viewership, and it was almost confirmed that he was invited to the show. 

There were a few variety shows that were popular, but ‘Face-to-face Celebrity’ was the only live variety show that had a high viewership, so many people guessed that Yan Jiaqi was joining this show. 

His fans were really happy when they knew their own idol was joining a good variety show. Before the production team announced the guests, his fans had already shared the news to heat up Yan Jiaqi’s popularity, going around to promote their own idol. When someone disagreed with them, they would diss back with “Do you know how hard-working he is?”.

After the show’s preview was out, Yan’s fans were dumbfounded. Before they knew what was really happening, Yan Jiaqi suddenly posted a subtle weibo. 

Yan Jiaqi V: I won’t steal or snatch, I’ll deal with everything calmly. 

I won’t steal or snatch, these words were really subtle, they showed his attitude of not snatching and stealing, but they sounded like they were hinting at something. 

Based on Feng, Zhao, and Chu’s popularity, it was normal for them to join the show. But the fact that a newbie like Jiang Li was able to join too was something that was worth looking into seriously. 

Yan Jiaqi’s post was quickly deleted but was still screenshotted by some ill-intentioned netizens. As the marketing Weibo accounts start to promote this, Jiang Li and his name would be bound together. 

An entertainment industry’s newbie snatching a senior’s resources? Climbing the social ladder depending on a backer? Who’s behind Jiang Li? 

Suddenly, a newly registered Weibo account uploaded a post, saying that he/she also joined the audition for ‘Long River and Falling Moon’ and Jiang Li was personally sent to the audition venue by a mogul’s secretary. 

That post was shared quickly. Although it was just words and there was no proof, in the eyes of the netizens, this confirmed that Jiang Li really got the drama roles through underhanded methods.

In less than an hour, words like ‘Yan Jiaqi, Jiang Li’. ‘Jiang Li snatches resources’, ‘Face-to-face Celebrity’ climbed up the hot search. When Feng Dong saw them, Jiang Li’s Weibo had already been flooded by keyboard warriors scolding him. Meanwhile, Yan Jiaqi’s Weibo was filled with comforting words. 

Some of Jiang Li’s fans were helping him explain in the comments, but their strength was too small and they couldn’t do much. Nevermind Jiang Li, they weren’t even able to protect themselves. 

Feng Dong’s heart sank when he saw how the incident developed and quickly called Jiang Li. 

… 

Jiang Zhan was trimming Jiang Nuommi’s nails at the moment; the little guy obviously didn’t like him. It1 was struggling in his arms and didn’t want to cooperate. It even called towards the bathroom occasionally. 

After so much hard work, Jiang Zhan finally managed to trim the nails of one paw. He got into a bad temper as it wasn’t cooperating. Having learned the methods stated in ‘How to make your cat obedient’ that was sent by Jiang Li, he went to take a kitchen knife out and placed it beside Jiang Nuomi aggressively.

“Jiang Nuomi, I dare you to move again.” 

Jiang Nuomi looked at the kitchen knife that was reflecting silver light, it then widened its eyes and looked at Jiang Zhan innocently. 

When Jiang Zhan saw it become obedient, he hmphed, “I should have done…” 

Before he finished his words, Jiang Nuomi who was initially looking obedient suddenly took action. Its two paws clenched onto his shirt and jumped up, it stepped on his head and escaped from his back. It was so fast that Jiang Zhan couldn’t react to it. When he finally came back to his senses, the little guy had already escaped. 

“… Fuck.” 

After a long while, Jiang Zhan clenched his teeth tightly and said, “This little guy owned by the little bastard is also nowhere good, always pushing my limits.” 

At that moment, the phone nearby suddenly rang. Jiang Zhan, who was suppressing his anger, didn’t look at the caller ID and accepted it directly. After he accepted it, a voice quickly came out, “Jiang Li, did you see Weibo? If you saw it, please don’t care about them. I’ll contact the PR department to deal with it. The more you care about it, the more it will provoke the netizens to diss you…” 

Jiang Zhan heard his words and suppressed the intention to punish Jiang Nuomi. He interrupted him, “What are you talking about?” 

The unfamiliar voice made Feng Dong fall into silence, he thought he had called the wrong number. He looked at his phone, it’s Jiang Li’s phone number, there’s nothing wrong with it!

“Who are you? Is Jiang Li there?” 

“He’s bathing.” Jiang Zhan didn’t beat around the bush and asked again, “What happened on Weibo?” 

It was already 11 at night; it must be someone who had a special relationship with Jiang Li since they were together at this time and were able to receive his calls. The word ‘bathing’ made Feng Dong realize that he might be the person with a high position behind Jiang Li, but he didn’t dare be sure, so he didn’t answer right away. 

Jiang Zhan noticed that he was being silent, he then asked annoyingly, “I asked what happened? Are you doing your job as an agent properly?” 

The dominating oppression and the overwhelming displeasure in his words shocked Feng Dong, he unconsciously explained what happened on Weibo. After he finished speaking, he even said as if he was asking for permission, “I’m planning to communicate with the public relations department to take down the hot search, please tell Jiang Li about this and ask him not to care about it.” 

Jiang Zhan didn’t care about him and said straightforwardly, “I’ll deal with it.”

Shortly after he hung up the phone, Feng Dong received the PR manager’s phone call. He told Jiang Li that the public relation department would deal with it completely, he also asked him to not worry and prepare well for the show. 

Feng Dong initially only planned to contact the head of the PR department and ask him to help deal with it; he didn’t think that the PR manager would personally call him. He was relieved, but on the other hand, he thought about the person behind Jiang Li. The sound of the person who received the call earlier was a bit familiar, but he couldn’t recall exactly whose voice it was. 

A short while after the public relations department contacted Feng Dong, the production team for ‘Face-to-face Celebrity’ issued a notice and a record of their discussion. The notice explained that the plan of inviting Jiang Li was set from the start and what the netizens said wasn’t real. The screenshots of the chat were also shown as proof. 

After the production team, a Weibo account that specializes in exposing suddenly posted about the Z-list actor, Yan Jiaqi acting bossily in shooting sites, being kept by a wealthy woman and frequently using a social media app for one-night stands. After this post was shared by influencers with more than millions of followers, it attracted the netizens’ attention. 

The people who went to Yan Jiaqi’s Weibo were the same as those who scolded Jiang Li. They were supporting Yan Jiaqi and making sure that justice was served earlier, and now they were scolding Yan Jiaqi more fervently than anyone. 

At the same time, Zhou Jin who rarely appeared on Weibo also uploaded a post, and a video of Jiang Li acting was published with it as well. 

Zhou Jin V: I heard that someone said that I choose actors based on appearance? You’ve watched so many of my dramas and are still looking down on me? [Video]

As a top-notch director, Zhou Jin’s reputation in the industry had always been good. His name could guarantee the quality of the production. All the actors, producers, and staff put huge efforts in the dramas, each one was made impressively. 

His post rendered a lot of the netizens who watched the movies he directed silent. 

Why did they forget that all the main roles of this drama were personally auditioned by Zhou Jin? Such a strict person like him would definitely not choose the actors based on appearances, this really humiliated the awards that he had achieved throughout his career in directing. 

The public was really guilty in following the trend to spread hate and opened up the videos uploaded by Zhou Jin. 

The video was the scene where Liu Chuandeng found out Mother Liu’s letters. Although it was only a few minutes, it was a video without editing or voice acting. It was only the shoot and the voice recorded on site. 

Without even another single actor involved in the scene beside him, Jiang Li slapped the faces of those people who insulted him with his solid skills of acting and speech. 

After the huge commotion, a lot of people went back to Jiang Li’s Weibo to apologize for what they’d done earlier. 

From the beginning till the end of the incident, Jiang Li was not involved at all, he only knew about it two days later when Xiao Zhou told him. 

In his previous life, he had been treated like that many times as well, but there were not many people who could help him, most of them only cared about themselves. Although he didn’t really care about these things anymore, Jiang Zhan’s action of solving the problem behind his back made him feel like he was protected, a warm feeling flowed out in his heart. 

The rehearsal date came in a blink of an eye. Jiang Li and Feng Yating took the same flight to the streaming location in City T. 

After the guests gathered and got familiar with each other, they spent a day rehearsing, so that there would be no mistakes in the next day’s streaming. 

On the day of the live show, Jiang Zhan canceled his business dinner and waited in front of the live channel after returning home early and feeding the cat.

As the clock struck 8, the live location was shown on the channel. The host of the show appeared on the screen and greeted the audience, then he introduced the invited guests one by one. 

Feng Yating and the other two were popular, so there were eventually a lot of people who came to see them. After Yan Jiaqi’s incident, Jiang Li’s fans had increased rapidly. As all four of them appeared on screen, the real-time comments exploded, their faces couldn’t be seen at all. 

Jiang Zhan was dazzled by the real-time comments that were scrolling through the screen, he then switched them off and found a comfortable posture to sit on the sofa and watch the live show. It was rare for Jiang Nuomi to not fight with him, as it laid down obediently beside him and watched with him. 

Shen Yuzhi’s phone call came just ten minutes after the show started. 

Recently, other than working, Jiang Zhan was spending time together with Jiang Li. It had been quite a long time since he and Shen Yuzhi met. When he saw the incoming call, he casually picked it up, “Hi.” 

“Ah Zhan, what are you busy with?” Shen Yuzhi’s voice echoed out from the phone. 

“Nothing.” Jiang Zhan didn’t tell him that he was watching the live show, he then asked, “Why?”

“Nothing much, I want somebody from you.” Shen Yuzhi said, “It’s a small celebrity from your company, he’s a newbie and doesn’t have much popularity.” 

Shen Yuzhi had kept some of the celebrities under Jiang Zhan’s company before; it was normal in the entertainment industry. As long as the celebrity is fine with it, and they won’t expose their relationship affecting the company and work, Jiang Zhan won’t care much about it. 

So, when he heard his words, he didn’t mind it. As his sight was still stuck on the live show, he asked half-heartedly, “Who?” 

“A small artist called Jiang Li.” 

Shen Yuzhi’s voice had a sense of laughter, as if he had found something great, “I saw him when I was watching the live show with my younger sister, he’s really good-looking. It’s fine if he has no popularity, he will have it if I promote him.” 

Jiang Zhan, “…”

I’m already promoting him well, so why are you here blindly worrying about it? 

The cat is a He but I used ‘it’ so there won’t be too many HEs in one passage which is confusing.