CH 33

April 7, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 33: Snowed Out

Translated and edited by KChandra

Chen Ke, who was standing behind Gongxi Qiao, looked at the reporter who asked the question, but he looked unfamiliar. The information on his press card showed that he was a reporter from a lesser-known online platform. With Director Wang’s status in the circle, his film’s opening ceremony was full of media wanting to come to the event. They would never invite such a small website to make up the numbers, so he really didn’t know how they snuck in today.

Generally, the journalists invited to the scene, even if they were asking some more explosive questions, would also have a proper degree of control and wouldn’t be so direct in bringing up a topic, unless they didn’t think highly of an artist. Zheng Lei invited a water army to step on Gongxi Qiao online. Although everyone knew what was going on, Zheng Lei didn’t admit it, and Gongxi Qiao didn’t come out and say anything.

Now Zheng Lei said grandly on Weibo that they were good brothers. If Gongxi Qiao didn’t admit it, it would be suspicious in the eyes of some fans. But if he admitted it, it would be like slapping the faces of those netizens who spoke up for him before.

Zheng Lei’s move was indeed quite shameless. However, after he pulled this tactic, whether Gongxi Qiao took the bait this time or not, other artists would never get too close to Zheng Lei again to avoid being pitted by his shameless tactics. Thinking of this, Chen Ke sneered. The artists raised in small studios were like this. Their perspective was low, and their tactics weren’t up to par. The entertainment industry was chaotic, but there were rules. If the rules were broken, who would play with him in the future?

“Brothers are like hands and feet.” Gongxi Qiao stretched out a pair of beautiful hands and shook them in front of the camera, smiling at the reporter who asked the question. “It shows how important and indispensable brothers are.”

Was he saying that Zheng Lei was not worthy of being his brother, or was he forgiving Zheng Lei and still treating him as a brother?

This reporter still wanted to ask questions, but he found that a head drew up beside Gongxi Qiao. This behavior of squeezing beside Gongxi Qiao even in front of many reporters made all the reporters a little dumbfounded.

“Senior brother.” Gongxi Qiao moved to the side and then smiled at the reporters.

The reporters had some subtle expressions. Seeing the easy mannerisms revealed between Gongxi Qiao and Xu Chao, they guessed that the two had a good relationship in private. So a reporter who had a good relationship with Senhe Entertainment said, “Qiao Shao, do you have a good relationship with Da Chao in private?”

“The two of us have withstood the agents’ scolding, eaten kebabs together, and also played tricks on friends in the company together,” Gongxi Qiao put his hand on Xu Chao’s shoulder, “Now several friends in the company have to take a detour when they see us two. What do you call this if not brothers?”

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Chen Ke twitched his eyelids. When did he ever scold Gongxi Qiao?

Wu Hai squinted at Chen Ke. As expected of a gold medal agent, he even dared to scold the cash cow.

The two guys showed off their brotherly friendship, and the reporters knew that if they asked any more questions about Zheng Lei, they wouldn’t get any answers, so they had to lay off.

After the interview was over and Gongxi Qiao and Xu Chao were escorted to the same car by security guards. Only then did Xu Chao let out a breath, “Holy shit, these reporters are really getting meaner and meaner.”

“Thank you for helping me out just now,” Gongxi Qiao smiled gratefully at Xu Chao as he remembered how he had squeezed over regardless of his image. “Let’s go to my house for dinner tonight. My dad is coming home to cook tonight, so you’ll be lucky.”

On hearing this, the eyes of Chen Ke, who was sitting in the passenger seat, lit up, “Uncle Xiong’s handicraft must not be missed. I’m not leaving tonight either.”

“Who else is coming with, ah?” Xu Chao smiled a little embarrassedly. “Isn’t it a little bad to just invite ourselves to dinner?” He had heard that his junior’s family was very rich and Uncle Xiong was a very successful big boss. Would such a big boss also cook at home like his father?

Wu Hai looked at Xu Chao’s eager look and felt a little helpless. If he wasn’t driving now, he really wanted to reach out and whack Xu Chao a few times. Maybe then his brain would work better.

In the end, the four of them went to Gongxi Qiao’s house to have dinner. When they left, each of them was so fat that they could barely walk, and Xu Chao finally understood why Chen Ke, after hearing that the person who cooked the dinner was Uncle Xiong, had the audacity to tag along to have dinner.

That night, the interview footage about the opening ceremony of ‘The Greatest Warrior’ was aired by major TV entertainment programs. Almost all the TV stations expressed their anticipation for the movie, and also aired the video of Gongxi Qiao being interviewed by someone with ulterior motives.

The online media wasn’t as polite as the TV media in their speech. There was even a headline from the online media like: ‘Brother or Backstabber?’ “One foot hired a water army to step on someone to get to the top, and the other foot said openly on Weibo that he and the person were good brothers. I had an embarrassment-phobia attack when I saw that Weibo post by Zheng Lei.”

“That entertainment reporter is also really interesting. It was obvious that Qiao Shao was embarrassed. Should Qiao Shao say in front of all the media that he doesn’t take Zheng Lei as a brother at all?”

“Being betrayed by a brother is depressing enough. Especially when you turn your head and this brother still acted like nothing happened. Now the word brother is really worth less and less.”

“Look at those Weibos posted by Zheng Lei before, and then compare what he’s doing now. I really think such a person is too terrible. On the surface, they call you brother, but in their hearts they’re jealous of you, and even use means to slander you. If I were Gongxi Qiao, I would be very sad to learn the true face of Zheng Lei. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, when the reporter mentioned Zheng Lei, Gongxi Qiao’s smile was so forced, like, ‘I am very sad, but I pretend that everything is fine’.”

“Above, I hadn’t realized that Qiao Shao really smiled so sad and heartbroken QAQ.”

The netizens weren’t fooled by Zheng Lei’s disgusting approach, and public opinion was lopsided in favor of Gongxi Qiao. Of course, what also caused the situation was that Gongxi Qiao’s usual public image was too good.

He was a good-looking man with good manners, and every time he faced his fans, he was very considerate. The directors in the circle all praised Gongxi Qiao when they mentioned him. A reporter went to interview Director Zhu of ‘Immortal Mountain Courtyard’ after this incident came out, and Director Zhu’s answer was also intriguing.

“Zheng Lei is a very hardworking actor.” About Zheng Lei, she said only that, and in an unsavory way.

“I appreciate Xiao Qiao. After working with him, I found that he improved every day,” Director Zhu mentioned Gongxi Qiao with both love and hate, “He’s the most popular among the whole group. If I yell at Xiao Qiao one day, the meat in my lunch box that day will be reduced by half, because even the logistics team was helping him out.”

The circle was full of people who never said who was good and who was bad. But just a few words could make people understandably perceive if they felt closeness or distance.

Netizens also saw from this interview Director Zhu’s appreciation and love for Gongxi Qiao. As for Zheng Lei, very hardworking?

Zheng Lei was indeed a very hard-working actor. He was also a notoriously prolific artist in the circle, taking both good and bad movies, leading and supporting roles. Who could say he wasn’t hard-working?

But in addition to this point, Director Zhu didn’t mention anything. If you couldn’t see that Director Zhu was supporting Gongxi Qiao, you were watching in vain.

One way or another, Zheng Lei’s reputation got worse. Under his Weibo that said he and Gongxi Qiao were good brothers and in a friend circle with Gongxi Qiao, he got a lot of mocking comments. Finally he was forced to turn off the Weibo comment function.

Now not only did Zheng Lei have misfortune, but even Zheng Lei’s agent was criticized by the executives because the recommendation list they submitted to the Xi Group was rejected by the Xi Group.

“We spent a lot of effort to get the recommendation form, only to have it rebuffed with a single word from someone!” The old boss slapped the table. Spittle almost flew to the face of Zheng Lei and the agent, “before, they originally still thought that Zheng Lei was suitable for one of the roles. The result was, they returned the call today, saying that their work was a cultivation project and the image of our company’s artists didn’t match!”

“How you guys want to make trouble in private, I don’t care. But also think about which people can be touched and which people can’t be touched,” the old boss lit a cigarette and took a vigorous puff, “We’re just a small company. It’s not easy to gain a foothold in this circle. You don’t want to offend people who shouldn’t be offended.”

Zheng Lei listened to the boss’s reprimand with a sullen face. He looked at the recommendation form that was crumpled up in front of the boss, and his heart’s resentment was getting thicker and thicker. He had paid so much, but was he still no match for a spoiled rich kid?

“If you can’t get this opportunity, forget it,” the boss put the cigarette fiercely in the ashtray and pressed it down, “Xiao Zheng, ah, you’re too tired recently. Take some time off first. Your agent should take on a few new people first.”

Zheng Lei’s face changed greatly. What did the boss mean by this?

The agent also heard that the boss had the intention of snowing out[1] Zheng Lei. He looked at the boss with some trepidation. Zheng Lei was now the most profitable artist in their company. Was he just going to give up like this?

But when he saw the boss looking reluctant to speak anymore, he had to lower his head in silence.

When the two left, the boss sighed. As long as the master of the Xi family didn’t care about this incident, what did it matter to snow out one Zheng Lei?

To make an artist fade away gradually was a simple matter. As long as he wasn’t given the opportunity for exposure, in another year or two, how much popularity would he have left?

Unlike Xing Entertainment’s gloom and doom, Senhe Entertainment had been fortunate ever since they signed Gongxi Qiao. They had just gotten the ‘National Industry’ masterpiece, and now they received another invitation letter.

This invitation letter was sent by the team of the ‘Cultivation’ film which had recently received a lot of attention. They invited Gongxi Qiao to participate in the audition for the male lead role in the film.

“Xiao Qiao is filming ‘The Greatest Warrior’, what can we do about this?” Xiang Hong didn’t want to miss this opportunity, but he also understood that the reason they could get the recommendation form was because of Gongxi Qiao. If Gongxi Qiao didn’t go to the audition, it would be a waste of effort even if they recommended other artists from the company to go.

Such a work with an investment of several hundred million yuan actively invited Gongxi Qiao to audition for the role of male lead. Just thinking about it, Xiang Hong felt somewhat dreamy. He looked at Chen Ke who was sitting on the sofa. “Chen Ke, you honestly tell me, what is the relationship between the master of the Xi family and Xiao Qiao?”

Chen Ke looked at the audition invitation in his hand, and looked up at Xiang Hong with an innocent face. “They’re rarely together, so I don’t know.”

“You really don’t know?” Xiang Hong was a bit skeptical.

Chen Ke nodded. “If I knew, how could I not report to you?”

“Okay,” Xiang Hong also felt that Chen Ke might not know, and looked at Chen Ke after a moment of contemplation, “Do you think I should be more polite when I see Xiao Qiao in the future?”

Chen Ke: “……”

Boss, when you asked this question, did you ever think that you’re already too polite when you face Gongxi Qiao?

“As for the issue of schedule, ‘Cultivation’ officially starts filming after June. By then, ‘The Greatest Warrior’ should be about to finish, so there’s no conflict in timing.” Chen Ke put the invitation to one side, not wanting to answer Xiang Hong’s previous question that wasn’t nutritious. “The most important thing is that the role of male number one isn’t that easy to get. Let’s not think too much so as not to put pressure on Xiao Qiao.”

“You’re right,” Xiang Hong nodded, “you go talk to Xiao Qiao about this, and try to guide him more in general.”

When Chen Ke found Gongxi Qiao on the set, Gongxi Qiao was filming a scene, in which he watched Gongxi Qiao’s character, a weakling noble son, fall down because he couldn’t climb a wall, only to knock out a kidnapper, who was found to be the villain the government had put a bounty on for over a month.

After the scene, Gongxi Qiao’s elbow was skinned by the fall. He didn’t even frown, but Director Wang couldn’t help but ask the crew’s medical staff to disinfect him before moving on to the next scene.

Chen Ke stood quietly on the side, watching Gongxi Qiao brandish an ink brush under the camera, impassionedly writing down the characters for “Chivalry”.

He even heard the awe of the surrounding crew as the four characters were written so beautifully that each brush stroke was like art.

“Good,” Director Wang clapped his hands and then said to Gongxi Qiao, “Xiao Qiao’s handwriting is so beautiful, we don’t need a literary substitute for the crew in the future.”

After saying that, he went up and looked at it several times, praised it again, and then said to the set manager, “When the shooting is over, send this piece of writing to my room.”

Director, are you really not ashamed of doing this?

Gongxi Qiao put down his brush and said, “Director Wang, this paper isn’t good and the characters aren’t good. If you don’t mind my unsightly characters, I’ll write a new one for you next time.”

“That’s good, you have to keep your word,” Director Wang smiled and patted Gongxi Qiao’s shoulder. “What else do you know how to do? Tell me first, so that we won’t be frightened by you from time to time.”

Gongxi Qiao blinked innocently. “Probably …… Also eat and sleep?”

“Go, go, go,” Director Wang smilingly slapped him on the head, then pointed to Chen Ke, “Your agent is here, he might have something to see you about. Go over, it’s distracting to look at.”

Gongxi Qiao smiled at him, before he covered his head, which had no red marks, and walked towards Chen Ke.

After learning that Chen Ke came to the set for the ‘Cultivation’ crew to invite him to audition for the male lead, Gongxi Qiao took the invitation and said, “I understand.”

He walked to the nearby corner and sat down, took his own personal cell phone from Xiao Yao and found Xi Qing’s cell phone number.

But before he could dial the number out, the phone already rang first.

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