CH 13

March 3, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 13: Script Invitation

Translated and edited by KChandra

In the middle of the show, a trivia session was arranged in which the host would randomly ask the three guests some questions, and then the guests would answer them. The one with the lowest score would be rewarded with a dry ice attack.[1]

The candidates for this session were Zhou Huaisheng, Gongxi Qiao and Liao Weikai, three male artists. As the second male lead actor of this drama, Liao Weikai, as always, had no presence. Although his popularity was higher than before, he was less conspicuous than the battle between the male lead and the third male lead.

Liao Weikai knew in his heart that he was pulled in by the program team to make up the numbers, probably just to ease the atmosphere between Gongxi Qiao and Zhou Huaisheng. He had heard about the things that Zhou Huaisheng did behind the scenes. When he first joined the group, his manager had said to stay away from Zhou Huaisheng because this person had some sinister tactics and often hired a water army[2] to deliberately smear other artists. Even Zhao Yikun of Ringstar Entertainment had been tricked.

But he didn’t expect this time that he had kicked an iron plate. He was too eager in his actions and mistook the person’s own father for his godfather, and in the drama Gongxi Qiao stole his limelight, so he lost all face.

Therefore, payback was always due. Zhou Huaisheng stepped on others to get to the top. There would be a day when he stepped on a razor blade and cut his feet. His heart wasn’t in the right place, who else could be blamed?

“Xiao Qiao, you are the academic superstar. You must show mercy later.” Zhou Huaisheng looked at Gongxi Qiao with a smile on his face. “Don’t defeat us too badly.”

Gongxi Qiao took his place. He smiled at Zhou Huaisheng and didn’t say anything. Then in the trivia session, he relentlessly crushed Zhou Huaisheng to the point where he couldn’t lift his head.

The audience saw the host finish the question, Gongxi Qiao’s button light up, and then answer the correct answer. The host continued to ask, Gongxi Qiao continued to grab the answer, and so on and so forth. Zhou Huaisheng, who was standing next to Gongxi Qiao, could only stand with a lifeless face, dumbfounded.

“Excuse me, which cartoon is the animal in this picture from?”

Gongxi Qiao looked at a round doughnut with eyes on the screen and silently withdrew the hand that pressed the light.

“Ding!” Liao Weikai was full of pride. “I know, it’s Meow Meow White from the ‘Kaka Star Travels’ cartoon.”

“Correct answer,” Du Cheng smiled. “It seems that Weikai must often watch cartoons at home with his daughter, considering that this is the most popular cartoon for little girls this year.”

“My daughter really likes this cartoon. The house has collected a room full of Kaka Star stuffed animal dolls, which can barely fit inside, but the child likes it, so it can’t be helped.” Liao Weikai had a sweet burdened expression, simply full of fatherly love.

Gongxi Qiao nodded: “The last time we were outside shooting, Brother Kai bought several dolls to put in the room. I just thought Brother Kai liked them himself. I also secretly muttered in my heart, I did not expect that Brother Kai, who looks so sturdy, would have such a girly hobby.”

A good-natured laugh came from the scene, and even the two hosts laughed along.

Liao Weikai looked very tall and gave people a tough guy feeling. The image of a tough guy sleeping with a doll in his arms was too beautiful to think about.

Liao Weikai wasn’t stupid and knew that Gongxi Qiao was helping him gain more publicity, so he smiled and said, “No wonder you looked at me strangely those days. It was about this.” He and Gongxi Qiao had a good relationship in the series, but not to the point of being close buddies. He took note of the other party’s kindness.

“It seems that the two of you were very close in the crew,” Du Cheng teased, “Qiao Shao even knows what Weikai put in his room.”

“Probably because we were both robbed of our beloved by the male lead and shared the same lovesickness.” Gongxi Qiao lightly smiled, “Brother Kai’s little girl looks especially cute. I still have her picture on my phone, but I won’t show it to you.”

“I love cute little princesses the most,” hostess Xiao Wei smiled and replied, “wait for the end of the program recording, then you secretly give me a look.”

“Then you have to look at Brother Kai’s phone, it’s full of cute photos of his daughter,” Gongxi Qiao cupped his chin and nodded towards Liao Weikai, “This one is a classic wife and daughter slave.”

Zhou Huaisheng, who was standing on the side, watched the hosts chatting with Gongxi Qiao and Liao Weikai about the subject. His hands were balled up into fists and his veins were rippling. What did this Gongxi Qiao mean by deliberately leading the subject onto others to weaken his presence?

When the show was over, Zhou Huaisheng returned to the backstage with a sullen face to remove his make-up. The staff in the make-up room saw that he looked bad, and after exchanging glances with each other, they all curbed the smiles on their faces and quickly removed his make-up.

Even though Zhou Huaisheng was on the verge of anger, he wasn’t stupid enough to offend the TV staff. So although his face was sullen, he did not vent his anger on others.

When his makeup was almost removed, Chen Ke came in holding a box of chocolates and said with a gentle smile, “Everyone has worked hard today. Recently, Xiao Qiao’s friend brought him back several boxes of chocolates from abroad, and he was worried that he wouldn’t be able to finish them and they would be wasted, so he asked everyone to help share some.”

Chen Ke’s words were beautifully spoken. Instead of saying that it was a gift, Chen Ke said that he was asking for everyone’s help. The staff present were all personable, and one of the make-up artists said, “Then we won’t be polite. Thank you, Xiao Qiao.” She took a box of chocolates from Chen Ke’s hand, looked at the brand, and smiled, “This brand of chocolates isn’t easy to buy domestically. Thank you, Qiao Shao, for having something good and still thinking of us.”

Although they were also television staff, they were not the creative staff of this station. They would usually have artists give them things, but not something as fancy as Gongxi Qiao did.

Who in fact was in need of a box of cookies and a box of chocolates? It was just a matter of courtesy.

After Chen Ke left, Zhou Huaisheng threw the chocolates he got onto the makeup table. His face became even more gloomy, and if it wasn’t for his agent watching, his face would have been even more ugly.

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When Zhou Huaisheng and his group left, a makeup artist looked at the box he threw onto the makeup table and slowly took a bite of the chocolate in his hand, “That young man is so sulky.”

Zhou Huaisheng was still too inferior to Gongxi Qiao. Just in terms of the agent’s tactics, it was a big difference. Unless Zhou Huaisheng changed his work team, he would not be able to fight Gongxi Qiao in the future.

“A second-or-third-tier artist really considers himself a big name. Making that face, who is he kidding,” complained an assistant next to him. “Gongxi Qiao’s family is so well-off, and he’s a top student from Imperial University, but he’s not as arrogant.”

The makeup artist laughed and did not deny it.

She didn’t know whether Gongxi Qiao was arrogant on the inside, but his high emotional intelligence was undeniable. Such a person was really suitable for the entertainment industry.

“Qiao Shao, there is a beverage company who wants to invite you to be the spokesperson for their products. I haven’t yet given a reply,” after the group came out of the TV station and got into the car, Chen Ke turned over the information of this company and put it into Gongxi Qiao’s hands, “but in my opinion, I don’t recommend you to take this endorsement. You are not lacking in money or fame, and it isn’t suitable to waste your popularity endorsing low-grade products. It isn’t good for your development.”

Gongxi Qiao didn’t even look at the information in his hands and said with a smile, “I have no intention of taking the endorsement for now, so I’ll trouble Chen to put it off for me.”

Chen Ke nodded and put the information back into his bag, then said, “You can consider the scripts I handed you this morning. Two of them are still good offers.”

Gongxi Qiao nodded. He had just gone through the scripts roughly and was satisfied with Senhe’s reliable arrangements. At least Chen Ke did not send over scripts that he knew were money-grubbing and lousy movies at first glance.

When he got home and pushed open the door, he heard his dad talking to someone on the phone.

“Just heard the news that someone from the Xi family got involved in the project together with Old Li. How is Old Li doing over there now?”

“Gods fight and we mortals suffer. The Xi family is really aggressive now.”

“Okay, I know, you also pay more attention.” Gongxi Xiong hung up the phone and sighed. He turned around to see his son sitting on the sofa holding several scripts, so he lamented, “This time the Imperial Capital is in a bit of turmoil. I wonder how many people are going to suffer.”

“I just heard you talk about the Xi family, is their family’s new head the one who made a move?” Gongxi Qiao had heard about Flower Country’s grand Xi family. After hearing about the change in power two years ago, he predicted that this day would come sooner or later, so he advised his dad not to get involved with the Xi family business.

“Son, fortunately I listened to your advice, otherwise it would have been too late to cry, like Old Li.” Gongxi Xiong was secretly glad that when Old Li invited him to participate in the real estate development with Xi’s family’s capital investment, despite being tempted by the huge profit, he finally refused thinking of his son’s reminder.

Gongxi Qiao put down the script and said after careful consideration, “Although this person in power in the Xi family is young, his strategies are even… Better than his predecessor’s.” He twiddled his thumbs, “Families like ours can’t afford to get involved in their game.”

Although their family were indeed tycoons, compared with the prestigious[3] Xi family, a century-old family, it was the difference between a magnate feudal lord and a local landlord, not on the same level at all.

Gongxi Xiong nodded at his words. He was clear about his own strength. He had managed to save these family assets over the years to let his wife and son live a privileged life, and did not want to go back to his former life overnight.

Gongxi Qiao never cared about things that did not affect his family, so after making sure that his family would not be affected by the turmoil of the Xi family, he continued to read the script at ease.

In the end, he selected two of these scripts. One was the second male in a movie script, and one was the first male lead in a TV script.

The male lead in the TV script was based on a famous historical figure, and the main plot was his love-hate relationship and his official deeds during his youth.

The movie script was a modern comedy film. The second male lead was the brother of the female lead, and a lot of funny coincidences occurred to stop the male lead from marrying his sister.

The director of the TV series was well known in the circle, and his works were always famous for the exquisite costumes, logical direction of the plot, and good manners, which were very reliable. However, if he wanted to participate in the role, he had to attend an audition first.

On the other hand, the movie script directly said that as long as he was willing to participate, the role would belong to him.

Gongxi Qiao flipped through the script in his hand. Finally, he decided to take the movie script offer first, and then asked Chen Ke to help him contact the TV series male lead audition.

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