CH 18

March 12, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 18: Questioning

Translated and edited by KChandra

Chen Ke watched the elevator floor number drop from 8 to -1, and carefully looked at the man standing side by side with Gongxi Qiao. He didn’t know if it was his illusion, but he thought this man looked a bit familiar.

The elevator door slowly opened and Xi Qing and Gongxi Qiao glanced at each other at the same time. Xi Qing made a please go ahead gesture towards Gongxi Qiao.

The polite attitude of the other party made Gongxi Qiao dispel the slight antipathy he had when they met last time. He nodded politely to this person, stepped out of the elevator and stood outside and turned to look at this person.

Xi Qing took a big stride to Gongxi Qiao, trying to make his face with little expression become milder: “Hello, Qiao Shao. I’ve seen the drama you filmed and you performed very well. If you don’t mind, can we take a picture together?”

Was it really okay to say such things with no expression on your face?

Gongxi Qiao looked at this man who had the word elite written all over him from head to toe saying that he had seen ‘Princess of the Closed Moon’, and felt his world view shattered a little. Pulling up the corners of his mouth he smiled and said, “My pleasure.”

Xi Qing looked back at his assistant, who quickly took out his phone and shot a series of pictures of Xi Qing and Gongxi Qiao. Not knowing why, his palms inexplicably began to break out in cold sweat.

“This is my business card. I hope to have the opportunity to work with Qiao Shao in the future,” Xi Qing took out a gold-stamped purple business card from the assistant’s briefcase and handed it to Gongxi Qiao, “when the time comes, I would ask Qiao Shao to please give me a little bit of face.”

Gongxi Qiao took the business card. It only had a simple name and cell phone and email contact information printed on it, which looked like a private business card, not a work business card.

Xi Qing?

He looked up at the man named Xi Qing and thought about it. His eyebrows moved slightly and then selected a light-colored printed business card from the business cards handed over by Chen Ke: “I look forward to working with Mr. Xi.”

He was a man who would seek vengeance, but he was equally a man who would return favors.

Xi Qing received his personal business card and put it into the pocket of his suit jacket. When he saw that his bodyguard was coming this way, he said, “Where is Qiao Shao going? I’ll give you a ride.”

“Our car is nearby, Mr. Xi, no need to be polite,” Gongxi Qiao noticed Xi Qing’s action of putting away the business card, and the smile on his face genuinely increased a few points, “Please be at ease.”

Xi Qing nodded, and after saying goodbye to Gongxi Qiao, he took his assistant and bodyguard and got in his car, then watched Gongxi Qiao’s car drive away in silence through the car window.

“Boss, these photos…” The assistant didn’t understand why his boss, as the head of the prestigious Xi family, would care about a second generation nouveau riche entertainer, so he couldn’t decide what to do with the photos.

“Go back and upload all the photos to my private email.” Xi Qing unconsciously reached out and touched his suit jacket pocket. His expression was somewhat complicated. It turned out that the person he saw in the emperor’s costume a few months ago was really him.

“Going through more hardships is useless. Only going through those hardships and then looking down on them arrogantly is real success.” The teenager who was wearing the uniform of the top high school in the country said to him back then, “The most pleasant thing in the world is to trample underfoot those people who once laughed at you. It’s so refreshing.”

At that time, his parents were set up to die by the family, and he was living a wretched life in the schemes of the rest of the family. Then one evening, he happened to meet a teenager who was wearing the uniform of a major high school but fighting with a gangster.

He helped him in a fight, and he accompanied him to eat a few plates of kebabs and drink a few bottles of poor quality beer.

They were strangers coming together by chance who then went their separate ways.

When he rose to a really high position, he once again recalled the high school student who accompanied himself to drink a few beers together, and was suddenly surprised to find that although the other party’s appearance had blurred in his memory, the words he said were extraordinarily clear.

The twenty-two year old him was sitting with a 17 or 18 year old high school student drinking beer and eating kebabs at a roadside stall. Even if he told others, no one would believe him.

The Imperial Capital was big, so big that after he became the head of the family, it was impossible to find the person who drank beer with him back then. The Imperial Capital was also small, so small that he could meet him when his car had a minor accident.

“Xiao Qiao, do you think that person just now is a little familiar?” Chen Ke frowned and thought for half a day but really couldn’t recall where he had seen this person.

Gongxi Qiao took the milk tea from Xiao Yao’s hand and drank it slowly: “Maybe you’ve seen him on some important occasion, his name is Xi Qing.”

Xi…

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Xi Qing?

“You mean Xi Qing?!” If it were not for the seat belt on his body, Chen Ke, who was always calm, would almost have jumped up from his chair, “That Xi Qing?!”

“It’s that Xi Qing.” Although Gongxi Qiao had never seen what the head of the Xi family looked like, he had heard of what he was named.

Using a gilded purple personal business card, going out with bodyguards, with cars all modified for safety, if this wasn’t suspicious, the other party’s age and name was too similar to that member of the Xi family.

Thinking of Gongxi Qiao’s calm energy when exchanging business cards with the head of the Xi family just now, Chen Ke simply wanted to kneel down – that’s the head of the Xi family, ah. The head of the Xi family could break the Gongxi family with a word. The young master is too broad-minded.

Wait, the family head of the Xi family claimed to be a fan of Xiao Qiao and had seen Xiao Qiao’s work?

The only work that Xiao Qiao had released right now was… ‘Princess of the Closed Moon’?

Thinking about the dog blooded plot of that drama, Chen Ke felt as if he knew a great and shocking secret and his whole being was a little unwell.

He always felt that with Xiao Qiao around, even his world view had to change.

Two days later, Chen Ke received a notice from the National Station’s ‘National Industry’ crew to sign the contract.

At that moment, he almost thought it was someone’s prank, but the other party’s voice was the familiar director Li, and the caller ID was also Li’s name unmistakably, so it was impossible for him not to believe it.

He hung up the phone and looked blankly at Xiang Hong, who was sitting across from him, for half a day before saying, “Boss, Director Li of the ‘National Industry’ crew called personally to cast Xiao Qiao in the role of Admiral Zheng Xueguo.”

Xiang Hong took a deep breath, got up and patted Chen Ke’s shoulder: “We’ve found a treasure this time.”

Some time ago the company spent a lot of effort to train their top star, Cao Zheng, who jumped ship to Ringstar, and their company suffered a lot. The most important thing they lacked now was an entertainer who could hold his own. Now that Gongxi Qiao could participate in the centennial tribute movie, this kind of great thing, even if the ‘National Industry’ crew didn’t pay Gongxi Qiao, they would be willing to pay Gongxi Qiao out of their own pockets to make up for it, as long as he was willing to appear in the film.

“How is the public relations team arranged for Gongxi Qiao doing?” Xiang Hong fiercely squeezed his fist, “This time we must spend a lot of effort to develop Gongxi Qiao. I don’t believe he will be the second Cao Zheng!”

Seeing that his boss had made such a great determination, Chen Ke hesitated for a moment and told what happened when he met Xi Qing in the National Station a few days ago.

“The head of the Xi family?!” Xiang Hong looked at Chen Ke in surprise. Regardless of how lively their entertainment circle was, any director or boss with unlimited glory, in front of the family head of the Xi family, would also have to bow down and play the grandson.[1]

For example, himself… At a certain reception, he only looked at this legendary family head from afar, not qualified to even speak.

“He personally exchanged business cards with Xiao Qiao, and said he was a fan of Xiao Qiao, and spoke humbly?” Xiang Hong pondered for a long time before he slowly opened his mouth with a look of emotion, “The world of the rich is too far away from me, I don’t understand.”

Chen Ke: “Heh.”

In ‘National Industry’, a film with political/government significance, from the director’s team down to the background roles were all very popular. They didn’t even need to advertise on the internet, nor did they need to advertise the set photos. A single invitation to the opening ceremony was enough to make various media outlets scramble for tickets.

In the end, only a hundred media outlets could enter the shooting, and both domestic and foreign media exercised all their powers just to choose a good shooting angle.

This time, the opening ceremony wasn’t the ordinary way of offering incense, but having all the crew members outside the Heroes Memorial Hall, bowing inward in unison to show the crew’s respect for the martyrs.

The atmosphere was very solemn, and the media didn’t make any noise until the ceremony was over and everyone left the memorial hall and went into the conference room before they started asking questions to the three main directors.

On such occasions, the journalists worded their questions carefully so as not to disgrace the country in front of their foreign colleagues.

After the opening ceremony launch, the domestic journalists were given a list of the main cast.

The crew knew that the media must be concerned about those things. While these reporters were on the scene, they didn’t ask those gossipy questions in order to maintain their international image, so they simply sent a list of names, for the good of everyone.

When the first reporter who got the list found the name of Gongxi Qiao in a group of veteran actors and actresses his eyes were blurry. After vigorously rubbing his eyes he found that the name was still there.

Gongxi Qiao as Zheng Xueguo?

The Admiral Zheng Xueguo, who took thousands of girls by storm and remained a national god, was actually played by a newcomer like Gongxi Qiao?

Not only was this reporter surprised, other reporters were also surprised. They didn’t think Gongxi Qiao had no acting skills, but they thought…

Was Gongxi Qiao really worthy of playing Admiral Zheng Xueguo?

When the news came out, everyone was skeptical of Gongxi Qiao except his fans who said that their male god was awesome.

What work did Gongxi Qiao have?

The third male of a Mary Sue drama.

Could this entertainer play such an important role well? Zheng Xueguo’s image in everyone’s mind was too lofty, so they were extraordinarily harsh on the actor who played the role.

Many critics didn’t hate Gongxi Qiao, but because they liked and admired Admiral Zheng Xueguo too much, they were afraid that the role of Admiral Zheng Xueguo played by Gongxi Qiao would degrade the elegance of Admiral Zheng.

The speculation and questions from the outside world had no effect at all on the ‘National Industry’ crew, because the day after the opening ceremony launch, their entire crew went on a full-scale closed shoot, and no media could get the slightest bit of information about them.

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