CH 27

March 27, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 27: Endorsement

Translated & Edited by KChandra

When the meal was over, Xu Chao was so drunk that he only knew how to laugh and giggle, tugging at Gongxi Qiao’s sleeve and saying he wanted to drink 300 glasses with him, causing his manager Wu Hai to apologize to Gongxi Qiao repeatedly.

Although everyone was in the same company, there was a difference in status. Wu Hai knew in his heart that Gongxi Qiao was the company’s future champion. If his stupid artist had offended Gongxi Qiao, he would have been in trouble. But this one was so stupid, not only did he get drunk and go crazy, but he also talked nonsense about the brotherhood oath of the peach garden[1]. He had been with Xu Chao for three or four years and knew that this person was mentally lacking, but others here did not know that, ah. Anyone watching would think, this is “shamelessly hugging a thigh” behavior.

If Xu Chao really knew how to hug a thigh these two years, he wouldn’t have had to work hard all day to find resources for him. Blame it on the fact that he was too young back then and signed a minor supporting actor with good looks and good acting skills upon seeing him. Only now did he realize that an artist with a mental shortage was useless even with good acting skills.

“Brother Wu is too polite. Senior brother is quite interesting.” Gongxi Qiao looked at the time and looked up to the crowd. “It’s not early. I should go back too, or my family will worry.”

Everybody spent a lot of time in the crew. Knowing Gongxi Qiao’s personality, they didn’t mind and let him go after a few laughs and teasing.

Finally, He Peng and Wu Hai supported Xu Chao to follow Gongxi Qiao out of the door of the private room. On the way, Xu Chao was still humming songs that were required to be sung in kindergarten.

He Peng, who had been destroyed by the song along the way, said to Wu Hai with a tangled face, “Brother Wu, for the benefit of the people, if Xu Chao has plans to make a record in the future, you must stop him.”

Wu Hai: “……”

Obviously his own artist was being despised, so why did he have a subtle feeling that he approved of it?

The next day, Gongxi Qiao, accompanied by Chen Ke, arrived at Ya De Apparel. Upon seeing him, the receptionist was all smiles and said, “Mr. Gongxi, please come with me.”

“Thank you.” Gongxi Qiao exchanged a look with Chen Ke and followed the receptionist into the elevator. The elevator went all the way up and stopped on the fifth floor. They followed the receptionist and walked outside a small conference room with an open door. The receptionist knocked gently on the door, “Manager Ma, Mr. Gongxi and Mr. Chen have arrived.”

Inside the conference room, several people who were discussing in whispers stopped. A man who was about thirty years old and slightly chubby stood up and greeted Gongxi Qiao and Chen Ke with a smile.

“Manager Ma,” Chen Ke shook hands with this manager and said politely, “Our Xiao Qiao is still young, so if we do anything wrong, please give us more guidance.”

“Mr. Chen, you are too polite. Qiao Shao is handsome, he has a good temperament and is one of a kind, so it’s perfect for him to be the spokesman of our brand. Qiao Shao, hello, I’m the Xi Group’s PR manager. Usually everyone calls me Old Ma. I’m counting on you for this shoot.”

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“Manager Ma, you’re too kind.” Gongxi Qiao smiled and shook hands with Manager Ma. His attitude wasn’t condescending. He wasn’t unable to relax because he wasn’t a big enough star, nor did he think highly of himself because of Manager Ma’s politeness.

“Let’s sit down and talk.” Manager Ma waited for the two to sit down and brought out the contract that had been prepared long ago. Because Gongxi Qiao was only the newest spokesperson, not the general spokesperson, the term of this contract was only one year.

Ya De had already sent an electronic file of this contract. Chen Ke read it once and nodded slightly to Gongxi Qiao after making sure it matched the content he had read before.

Manager Ma watched Gongxi Qiao sign his name on the contract, and the smile on his face became clearer. “Qiao Shao, this handwriting is really beautiful, worthy of being a high-achieving student, haha.”

“Manager Ma over-praises me. I hope we have a good cooperation in the future.” Gongxi Qiao put down the signature pen and smiled politely at Manager Ma, then turned the contract around and handed it back to Manager Ma.

Manager Ma handed a separate copy of the contract back to Gongxi Qiao. “Since we’ve signed the contract today, why don’t I take Qiao Shao to see our new apparel now?”

Manager Ma was willing to take him to see the endorsement products that hadn’t yet been launched. This showed the sincerity of Ya De’s side, because from a certain point of view, such new designs that had not yet been launched were confidential to the company.

The fact that the other party was so polite didn’t mean that Gongxi Qiao was tactless. He showed just the right amount of regret on his face and said, “Ya De’s clothing designs are always simple, beautiful and have a noble air. I usually like to buy your company’s products, and it’s my honor to be able to enjoy Ya De’s new clothing before anyone else. I’m sorry to say that I’ll probably only be able to see the new clothes during the shoot.”

Ya De was a big company with a good reputation. The contract stated that it was an endorsement for a new jacket so he didn’t need to see the product. He knew Ya De wouldn’t joke around with the company’s product to mess with him, a small artist.

Big companies always attached great importance to their products, and if Ya De’s new work was stolen by another company, he wouldn’t be able to defend himself. In his previous life, Gongxi Qiao had seen nothing but conspiracies and tricks, so he thought it was better to prevent them before they happened.

When Manager Ma heard this, he smiled and said, “It’s okay. If Qiao Shao is interested, then it doesn’t matter when you see it. Since Qiao Shao has important things to do, it’s not convenient for me to stay long.”

Chen Ke smiled and took over, “It’s because we didn’t have a good schedule on our side, so please forgive me, Manager Ma.”

Manager Ma smilingly said it was just bad timing, and then personally sent the two downstairs before turning around and going back into the elevator.

“This Manager Ma is really warm,” Chen Ke closed the car door and said to Gongxi Qiao in the backseat of the car, “We still have more than an hour to go before our appointment with Director Wang, do you want to find a place to sit?”

“It’s almost New Year’s Eve. There are a lot of cars and people, so at this time you should drive slowly,” said Gongxi Qiao, who leaned back and started to rest his eyes.

The manager who sent off Gongxi Qiao returned upstairs and said to several publicity planners of Ya De, “This time the shooting must be perfect. Gongxi Qiao is a rare candidate who meets the theme of this outfit, so don’t be negligent.”

Several of the PR planners said they would definitely treat this promotion well, and by the way, they praised Gongxi Qiao according to Manager Ma’s intention.

“That’s fine, do it like that. Don’t worry about the funding, someone from the head office will follow up.” Manager Ma picked up the contract he put in the drawer and put it in his briefcase. “I’m going back to headquarters to report to my superiors. You guys think about the advertising ideas, and I’ll give an account to the boss.”

A few planners heard these words and suddenly became enthusiastic, feeling a sense of pride at the bottom of their hearts. It turned out that the big boss also valued their Ya De, otherwise why pay so much attention to their new campaign?

In the quiet office, Xi Qing picked up the contract on the table. His eyes fell for a long time on the signature of the other party. Only after a long time did he slowly put it down. He pulled open the drawer, put the contract in, and then pressed it with a thick black notebook.

After pressing it, he looked at it again unsatisfactorily and pushed the notebook back inside, revealing the good-looking signature on the contract, before closing the drawer in satisfaction. Then he took the cell phone placed next to him and sent a “happy cooperation” message out.

Gongxi Qiao just got out of the car and heard the text message alert of his private cell phone. He thought it was a new service promotion from a communications company, so he didn’t even look at it and walked straight into the exquisitely decorated restaurant in front of him.

After he sat for less than ten minutes, Director Wang arrived. After the two ordered their food, Director Wang opened his mouth to talk about business, “Xiao Qiao, I told you about the matter, what did you think about it?”

“Your films are always well received and popular, so I’m naturally moved,” said Gongxi Qiao. After saying this, he observed Director Wang’s expression and found that his face hadn’t changed because of his words, so he continued, “But I heard that you’ve been preparing for this film for several years, so how can you be short of filming capital?”

Director Wang sighed, “I’m not afraid of you mocking when you hear it. Originally, martial arts films were still very popular a few years ago. Unfortunately, the box office results of this genre have been getting worse over the last two years, but the investment needed is much higher than urban dramas. High investment, low return. Investors can’t make money, so they’re naturally not willing to invest large sums of money. More importantly, this time I don’t want investors to tell me what to do.”

When Gongxi Qiao received a phone call from Director Wang two days ago, he was also a bit surprised. What surprised him even more was that Director Wang was interested in letting him invest. With Director Wang’s status, investors looked for him waving their money to get a share. How could Director Wang worry about shooting funds?

“In my life, I’ve made movies with good reviews, but also movies with a lot of bad reviews. Now that I’m older, I just want to make a work following my heart.” Director Wang sighed and said, “After all these years of chasing after fame and fortune, I had the honor to be one of the main directors of ‘National Industry’. I have nothing more to ask for. The film I’m going to make this time is my finale, and it’s a fulfillment of the dream I have had for most of my life.”

With a tycoon father and the money he had saved over the years, it wasn’t that Gongxi Qiao couldn’t actually afford the investment. He just wondered why Director Wang had approached him.

“There are only two investors in this film. One is me and the other is you,” Director Wang said. “Your performance on the set of ‘National Industry’ wowed me, so I not only want you to invest, but I also want you to star as the male lead of this production. But for the shooting side of things, everything is up to me.”

Gongxi Qiao already understood what Director Wang meant. Director Wang wanted the complete filming rights, “Are you sure I can play a martial arts master?”

“No,” Director Wang picked up his cup of tea and took a slow sip. “Almost everyone in this drama is a martial artist. Only the male lead does not know martial arts.”

Gongxi Qiao felt his expression was a bit inadequate.

“I have long wanted to make a work in which the hero doesn’t know martial arts but dominates the martial arts world.” Director Wang put down his teacup and snorted. “Twenty years ago I wanted to make this script, but the investor said the hero wasn’t a warrior and no one would watch it, so I had to give up. Ten years ago I wanted to make this script, the investor said the male lead was too weak and would make the female audience feel insecure!”

“Why does the hero of a martial arts drama have to be strong, honest and straightforward!” Director Wang put down his teacup with a “pop”, “I just don’t believe in this iniquity!”

Gongxi Qiao silently wiped the tea that splashed on his chin. He thought for a long time and said, “Director Wang, your idea is very creative!”

“You think so too, don’t you?!” Director Wang, who was already over 60 years old, was immediately energized and talked to Gongxi Qiao about his plot setting with a flourish.

As they talked, Director Wang suddenly realized that Gongxi Qiao was a rare young man who was his soulmate! So he slapped the table and lamented that he hadn’t met him a few years earlier.

Chen Ke, who was sitting next to him, silently criticized, if you had known Gongxi Qiao a few years earlier, the movie wouldn’t have been made. At least the age wasn’t appropriate.

After the meal, Chen Ke looked at Gongxi Qiao and Director Wang chatting with each other like brothers and sighed silently.

These two people invested nearly 100 million Flower Country yuan to make a martial arts film in which the male lead didn’t know martial arts. He was drunk too.[2]

But the money was their own, they were happy.

And this noontime, one person was still silently waiting for a text message that was not destined to have a reply.

T/N:

[1] Peach garden oath: a reference to Romance of the Three Kingdoms that symbolizes pledging fraternal loyalty. Apparently the oath is “From this day forward, we shall join forces for a common purpose: to save the troubled and to aid the endangered. We shall avenge the nation above, and pacify the citizenry below. We seek not to be born on the same day, in the same month and in the same year. We merely hope to die on the same day, in the same month and in the same year. May the Gods of Heaven and Earth attest to what is in our hearts. If we should ever do anything to betray our friendship, may heaven and the people of the earth both strike us dead.”

[2] He was drunk too: Internet slang, basically implying somebody did something so stupid they must have been drunk, so you say “I’m drunk too”