CH 23

March 20, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 23: Invitation?

Translated & Edited by KChandra

After confirming with Gongxi Qiao’s parents on the phone that Gongxi Qiao had returned home, Chen Ke turned to a chagrined He Peng. “Mr. He, I spoke with you on the phone in advance at noon, and you said you would pick up Xiao Qiao from the hotel on time. Why did you only start to leave when I called you after 9:00?”

He Peng looked a little embarrassed. He went to eat hot pot with his friends in the afternoon before rushing to the hotel. Who knew that someone would scrape his car halfway, and his phone would be lost to who knew where, resulting in Gongxi Qiao being drunk and not being able to contact him.

“Xiao Qiao’s career is now on the rise, and the media’s trying to find some scandalous topics on him. If no one picked him up at the hotel and the media caught him drunk, I’m afraid that tomorrow there would’ve been negative news about Xiao Qiao being conceited and smug because of a little fame and drinking heavily at the hotel. The elegant and enterprising rich second generation image that the company has shaped for him during this period of time would be completely ruined.”

“As a good celebrity assistant, it’s not about showing up in front of the artist in the nick of time, it’s about taking the artist’s business to heart and preparing everything in advance. If you don’t have such mental preparedness, I don’t think you’re suitable for this job,” Chen Ke didn’t want to speak so harshly. After all, He Peng wasn’t an assistant arranged by the company. However, if it wasn’t made clear to He Peng now, his work attitude could lead to bigger problems later, “Before ‘Lord Brother-in-Law’ was released, you could do this because there wasn’t much media attention on him at that time, but today is different from the past. Now, even if Xiao Qiao casually says a few words to a female artist, the next day it could turn into a suspected love affair with an actress, not to mention something like appearing drunk in front of a hotel.”

“And here’s your phone, which I just found under the back seat of your car,” Chen Ke handed the phone back to He Peng, “Your phone isn’t a big deal, but if you accidentally lost Xiao Qiao’s phone, what kind of trouble would it lead to? Have you thought about it? And even if no one grazed your car today, the time you rushed to the hotel wouldn’t be considered early. With such behavior, you can’t be considered a qualified artist assistant. I hope you will behave yourself in the future.”

“Brother Chen, I know,” He Peng said with an ashamed face. “Recently a buddy of mine broke up and a few of us buddies just sat with him for a while. Next time, I’ll manage my time reasonably.”

Seeing that He Peng had a good attitude, Chen Ke looked milder, “Sorry, I don’t want to put it so harshly. It’s just that artists have no privacy in the entertainment industry, so we, as agents as well as assistants of entertainers, have to pay more attention to these small details so as not to let the entertainment reporters take advantage of a loophole.”

“Brother Chen, I understand that you’re also doing it for the good of Qiao Shao,” He Peng scratched his head. “It’s just that the company’s car was scraped. Now, along with getting it repainted, Xiao Qiao is going to participate in the ‘Immortal Mountain Courtyard’ promotion tomorrow. What if there isn’t a car?”

“It’s okay, I’ll have the company reassign a car,” Chen Ke lifted his wrist and looked at his watch. “It’s late, go back and rest. Tomorrow, I’ll pick up Xiao Qiao.”

After He Peng left, Chen Ke sighed. The hotel where the ‘National Industry’ crew met for dinner was owned by the Xi family. Xiao Qiao met Xi Qing when he went out drunk. It was too much of a coincidence.

What worried him was that the men and women of the rich and powerful circle had always been unrestrained. The head of the Xi family hadn’t been rumored to have any scandalous news, but……

Thinking of Gongxi Qiao’s outstanding face, Chen Ke wiped his brow. Hopefully he was just worrying too much about nothing.

When Gongxi Qiao woke up from bed the next day, he found himself still wearing yesterday’s clothes, with a faint smell of alcohol. He got up and went to the bathroom to wash up and change his clothes, then he heard a knock at the door.

“Qiao Shao, Mr. Chen is here.” Aunt Luo’s voice sounded outside the door.

“Thank you Aunt Luo, I’ll be right out.” Using his hands to rake through his wet hair, Gongxi Qiao pulled open the door of his room. He smiled at Aunt Luo standing in the doorway and walked towards the stairs with his long and slender legs.

“Xiao Qiao, I heard you were drunk last night. Are you feeling okay now?” Chen Ke, who was drinking soy milk, put down his cup and greeted Gongxi Qiao. “I’ll send you directly to the Capital TV station to record the program later. Xiao Yao and He Peng will come over by themselves later.”

Gongxi Qiao nodded. He sat down next to Chen Ke, looked at the half-eaten fried egg and bun in Chen Ke’s bowl, and jokingly said to Mama Qiao, “Mom, Brother Chen often comes to our house to eat breakfast. Should we charge Brother Chen for breakfast?”

“Brat, what are you talking about?” Mama Qiao slapped him on the back. The sound wasn’t small, but the pain level wasn’t high, “Xiao Chen, just ignore him.”

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“Even if I have to pay, I’ll eat. Auntie’s hand-made vegetarian buns are delicious, much more delicious than the buns bought and sold in restaurants outside,” Chen Ke took a few bites and a bun went into his belly.

Gongxi Xiong, sitting in the corner of the sofa, shook the newspaper in his hand and hummed in his heart. The young man really had no vision. It was clearly his doing, and his wife just did the step of putting the buns into the steamer.

Gongxi Qiao twisted his head to look at his father, who was shaking the newspaper with a rustling sound, and stifled a laugh.

After the two of them finished their breakfast, left the house, and got into the car, Chen Ke said, “I was so shocked when I called you last night and found out that it was the head of the Xi family who answered the phone.”

“It’s thanks to him that I got a ride home last night,” Gongxi Qiao still had a general impression of what happened last night. Remembering what happened last night when he came out of the private room at nine o’clock, he frowned and said, “Liang Yumeng ……”

“This Liang Yumeng person, I suggest you don’t get too close to him,” Chen Ke turned the car around a corner and spoke in a heavy tone. “When there was a female artist in Ringstar Entertainment who had a scandal with him, it didn’t take long for the artist to be banned; There was also a male artist who tried to step on him to promote himself a few years ago, but eventually he was also ruined. I’m not sure who’s behind him, but that person’s identity is certainly not simple.”

“Then I’m probably in some trouble.” Gongxi Qiao raised his eyebrows and shifted his phone in his hand. Someone had posted photos of him and Liang Yumeng on Weibo.

There were nine photos in total, including him and Liang Yumeng going for a walk during filming, the two of them talking alone with their heads buried together on the day of the opening ceremony, and the two of them walking out of the hotel together with their shoulders together.

Little Red Riding Hood Selling Rainbows: It turns out that the relationship between Film Emperor Liang and this popular youngster is so good that I believe in friendship again!

There were some people below the microblog who praised the two men for their handsomeness. Some envied the two men for their good relationship. Of course, some said that Gongxi Qiao was hugging the film emperor’s thighs to get hype. And of course, there were a group of people who were saying that, aww, they were so loving and good together and so on.

Chen Ke pulled over to the side of the road to take a look at the phone. He frowned and said, “Our PR team wouldn’t use such cheap hype to promote you. I’ll contact the ‘National Industry’ crew about this. If you let them think you’re taking advantage of this for hype, you’ll be in trouble.”

The ‘National Industry’ production team was composed of big names in the domestic entertainment industry, so if they misunderstood Gongxi Qiao, it would be very bad for Gongxi Qiao’s future development. For something like this, an earlier explanation would be more sincere than a later one.

The director team was working on the film with the post-production team, and Director Li’s assistant was a bit surprised to receive a call from Chen Ke all of a sudden. After he handed the phone to Director Li, he saw Director Li talking to the other side, and his face turned from flat to serious, and finally returned to relief.

When Director Li hung up the phone, Director Wang, who had a good relationship with him, asked suspiciously, “What happened?”

“Someone on the Internet used Liang Yumeng and Xiao Qiao to hype some news, and Xiao Qiao’s agent specially called to explain it.” Director Li smiled, “This agent from Senhe Entertainment is actually quite conscientious.”

Director Wang sensed Director Li’s difference in closeness and affinity from the way he addressed the two men, and immediately smiled, “Nowadays, everything’s on the internet. Xiao Qiao’s agent is too overly cautious.”

“Although he’s a bit over-cautious, he’s a man of understanding,” Director Li said in a relaxed tone, “Xiao Qiao was lucky to meet such an agent.”

“That’s true.” Director Wang smiled, then took out his phone and searched the online news. After reading all the content, he sighed in his heart. If President Sun, who was behind Liang Yumeng, knew about this, there was no telling what would happen.

In the beginning, there were three suitable candidates for Liang Yumeng’s role, and Liang Yumeng was only one of them. Later, it was because of this President Sun’s multiple actions that they finally settled on Liang Yumeng to play the important role of the head of state.

So in this circle, a beautiful face could be a curse.

Gongxi Qiao and the main actors of ‘Immortal Mountain Courtyard’ finished recording the program and stepped out of the elevator to see two men dressed as bodyguards standing not far away. The dark sunglasses on their faces were particularly conspicuous in the light of the underground parking lot.

“Mr. Gongxi, our boss invites you to lunch. Please do not hesitate to pay us a visit.” A man in a suit stepped out from the pillar behind the two bodyguards with a polite smile on his face.

Gongxi Qiao recognized this man as the one who came to pick up Liang Yumeng last night, but a puzzled look appeared on his face, “May I ask which VIP is your boss?”

Chen Ke and He Peng also stood to the left and right of Gongxi Qiao at this time, vigilantly looking at the three men in front of them. Xiao Yao even quickly retreated inside the elevator and put her hand on the alarm button of the elevator button area.

The man in the suit noticed Xiao Yao’s action and smiled as he said, “Please don’t be nervous, our boss just invited Qiao Shao to have a friendly lunch.”

Gongxi Qiao sneered, “I appreciate your boss’s kindness, but rather unfortunately, I already have an appointment at noon today.”

The man in the suit pulled up the corners of his mouth. “Qiao Shao, it’s better not to make things difficult for us.”

“Ms. Sun is so gracious and generous. I wonder if you could give my humble self a few moments to go along for the ride?” Just when the two sides were at a standstill, several people suddenly came down from a black car parked next to them.

When the man in the suit saw who was coming, his face changed slightly, and his careless smile turned into wariness and respect.