CH 37

April 14, 2021kaychandra

Chapter 37: Friendship

“Qiao Shao, may I ask where would you like to go?” The bodyguard driving in front of him politely asked Gongxi Qiao’s opinion.

Gongxi Qiao looked at the tired looking Xi Qing and asked in a low voice, “Have you eaten dinner?”

The bodyguard in the passenger seat moved the corner of his mouth, and swallowed back the words he didn’t say when he saw his boss nodding.

“Let’s go to Bai Wei Xuan.” Noticing the unnatural look of the bodyguard, Gongxi Qiao smiled and said to Xi Qing, “The soup you brought me last time is quite good.”

The corners of Xi Qing’s mouth curved slightly at that, “It’s good that you liked it.”

The manager knew Xi Qing and led the two to a private room.

“President Xi and this gentleman, please have a seat.” The manager looked at the young man who followed Xi Qing. He couldn’t see his face behind the baseball hat. He put the menu book in front of the two men. In his mind, he guessed the relationship between the two men, and no longer cast his eyes on the young man.

“This soup has yam in it?” Gongxi Qiao pointed to one of the pages and asked the manager in a low voice.

“Yes, sir.” The manager stepped forward, read it, and replied, “This is a soup for the stomach.”

“Then add another one of these soups.” Gongxi Qiao ordered the dishes promptly and turned to Xi Qing, “If you don’t pay attention to your stomach at a young age, your stomach will get sick and you’ll suffer.”

In his last life, he was often hungry and cold when he was young. At only 30 years old, he had developed chronic leg and stomach problems. Even though his lord later asked the palace doctor to treat him, he didn’t get better completely. He knew very well how uncomfortable it was whenever the pain flared up.

Xi Qing was silent for a moment and gave a soft “hmm”.

The food was quickly served. The soup was pre-brewed, so they didn’t have to wait long. Gongxi Qiao scooped a bowl and put it in front of Xi Qing. “Have some soup before you eat anything else.”

Xi Qing looked at the bowl of soup in front of him that smelled faintly of medicine and thanked Gongxi Qiao. He picked it up and finished it not too fast and not too slow before he finally picked up his chopsticks and took the food.

Gongxi Qiao expressed great satisfaction at this obedient behavior of his.

“Has the ‘Cultivation’ crew started auditioning recently?” Xi Qing saw how Gongxi Qiao ate with great relish and his own appetite inexplicably increased, so he couldn’t help but eat an extra bowl of rice than usual.

“Mm-hm,” Gongxi Qiao nodded while wiping the corner of his mouth, took out a card from his money clip and handed it to the manager, “Check out, please.”

The manager was secretly surprised at the relationship between this man and President Xi. He spoke and acted without any caution, just like a good friend. When he took the card, he accidentally glanced at the wallet in the other party’s hand. Oh, it was full of platinum cards and diamond cards, this seemed to be a rich man, ah.

After signing the bill brought over by the manager, Gongxi Qiao looked at the time. “Let’s go. I’ll have to trouble you to send me back first though.”

Xi Qing stood up and picked up his jacket, walked over to Gongxi Qiao and said, “Is the crew still busy?”

“I have to say I’m not busy, otherwise how could I invite you out for dinner?” Gongxi Qiao justified. “Young man, don’t be so serious.”

Xi Qing laughed and had to accompany Gongxi Qiao back to the hotel where the crew was staying together first.

“Boss?” The bodyguard looked at the hotel door. Qiao Shao had been inside for a long time, why was the boss still staring at the door?

Xi Qing withdrew his eyes, closed the car window, and spoke lightly, “Go back.”

When he arrived home and was preparing to get out of the car, his hand accidentally pressed on a hard object. He picked it up and took a look – it turned out to be a pair of sunglasses with black frames.

Thinking of Gongxi Qiao’s outfit today, he smiled and put the glasses into his coat pocket.

All was quiet, and the lights in Xi Qing’s room were dimmed. The bodyguard standing in the dark corner whispered to his companion beside him, “The boss actually smiled just now, did you see it?” The last time he saw the boss smile was a few months ago, when the boss sent his second uncle to prison. The result was that not long after, when it was rumored that this person was seriously ill and died, the boss showed a smile.

Only, today this smile seemed a little different from last time.

His companion paid vigilant attention to the surrounding movements and made sure nothing was amiss before he said, expressionlessly, “When the boss smiles, only good or terrible things happen. All you need to do is keep your mouth shut.”

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After Gongxi Qiao got up and came to the set, he noticed that there was something wrong with the atmosphere on the set. Even Mi Yue, who was usually on good terms with him, gave him a sympathetic look.

“Junior Brother,” Xu Chao, who had already put on his makeup, saw Gongxi Qiao and ran over in three steps with a worried face, “Did you run into Zheng Lei yesterday?”

After hearing what Xu Chao said, the rest of the crew stood up with their ears open, waiting for Gongxi Qiao’s answer.

“Yes ah, he told me yesterday that his parents are seriously ill or something. I said I would lend him money first, but he didn’t want it, and inexplicably kneeled down and left. I haven’t even figured out what happened yet,” Gongxi Qiao said, raising his voice with some curiosity, “How do you know about this? He borrowed money from you?”

After saying that, he shook his head in some doubt. “No ah, he and you aren’t really close, why would he tell you about this?”

“Crap, that bastard was plotting against you yesterday!” Xu Chao saw Gongxi Qiao looked like he didn’t know what was going on, so he knew he was being set up by Zheng Lei. He was so angry that he cursed, “He really doesn’t want any face. For the sake of popularity, he can even use such tactics!”

“What’s the matter with him?” Gongxi Qiao just finished these words, when he saw Chen Ke walking over with a very ugly face. Before he had time to speak, Chen Ke spoke.

“Xiao Qiao, I called you this morning, why didn’t you answer?”

“Maybe my phone battery ran out.” Gongxi Qiao looked blankly and uncomprehendingly at the people around him who looked strange, “What’s going on, why are you all acting so strange?”

One after another, everyone looked at Gongxi Qiao’s face full of confusion and sympathized with him. He was being backstabbed and still wanted to lend money to the person. It wasn’t the money he wanted, he wanted to step on Gongxi Qiao to make a name for himself.

“Half an hour ago someone posted a video on the internet, saying that you bully people, forced Zheng Lei to kneel, and also caused him to be unable to do business in the entertainment industry,” Xu Chao carefully put the phone into Gongxi Qiao’s hand, “It’s spread all over the internet now. “

Gongxi Qiao took the phone and clicked on the video.

The shooting angle of the video was behind him, plus it was a certain distance away from him and Zheng Lei, so only Zheng Lei’s movements could be seen in the video, and also a vague voice could be hard.

After the whole video played, the only words that could be heard were “I was wrong”, “medical expenses”, “banned”, “please” and so on. However, just these few words, together with Zheng Lei’s kneeling posture, were enough to outline a poor artist who was suppressed by a rich second generation and couldn’t rise to the top.

The video was too “coincidental”. It just so happened that someone came across the incident and happened to take a video of it, and it just so happened that only those words could be heard clearly, and it just so happened that they could only see Zheng Lei’s actions and not Gongxi Qiao’s.

There were no limits to what people in the entertainment industry could do to get ahead – just like Zheng Lei’s pity play – so Gongxi Qiao got screwed over this time. If there was no evidence to clear up the whole thing, he could only blame his bad luck.

The crew was sympathetic to Gongxi Qiao, but the internet had exploded. Many people said that Gongxi Qiao had gone too far, and that he should forgive and forget[1]. It was wrong for Zheng Lei to hire a water army to attack him, but Zheng Lei was already in such a state. It was too unethical to block others from living. There were some people who felt that Gongxi Qiao had gone too far.

There were also people who felt that Gongxi Qiao was ruthless and oppressive to the poor because of his status. This was looking down on the poor who simply had no human rights in this society. Therefore, it caused a group of wealth-haters to run to Gongxi Qiao’s Weibo page and swear at him – even Senhe Entertainment’s official Weibo page was also cursed bloody.

But perhaps it was because these people bullied the weak and were afraid of the strong that, while Gongxi Qiao’s Weibo was so scolded that even several artists with whom he had a good relationship were also affected, the Weibo of Xi Qing, a recognized good brother of Gongxi Qiao, was exceptionally quiet. Occasionally there were a few troublemakers, but all of them were just newly registered side accounts.

In addition, some passers-by felt that Zheng Lei’s “I’m weak and pathetic” posture was somewhat despicable. He had the ability to frame a person, so he should have the ability to bear the consequences. In addition, his own agency, Xing Entertainment, blocked him. What was the point of going to beg Gongxi Qiao? Could it be that he was pulling Gongxi Qiao to create hype again?

“I also hehe’d, Gongxi Qiao is really that perfect? What acting skills, good moral character, I don’t see it. All those fans who like him, who isn’t just looking at his face? A rich second generation is great. Bullying the children of poor people is great?!” The netizen who said this listed quite a few of Zheng Lei’s works and then said, “Zheng Lei has always been known as a hardworking man in the circle, what exactly did he do that was so wrong to be so badly hurt?”

“Yes ah, your great Sanshi is the most powerful. Hiring a water army to step on people is even more powerful. Saying Qiao Shao has no acting skills, your idol’s great acting skills are so good that they break the sky. Unfortunately, ‘National Industry’ let Qiao Shao play an important role, but not your family’s great Sanshi. You have the ability to bite the ‘National Industry’ crew ah.”

“If Sanshi had the resources of Gongxi Qiao, he would have been much more popular than him, who knows how he got into the ‘National Industry’ crew.”

This comment offended other fan groups as well. How could you get into the ‘National Industry’ cast just by having connections?

When the fans were fighting against each other, Xu Chao sent out a Weibo post.

Xu Chao V: Junior Brother, come on, I believe you aren’t such a person. Some people should save some face for themselves!

Later the netizens who originally concentrated on attacking Gongxi Qiao, by the way, also attacked Xu Chao. Words like, “holding his thigh, kneeling and licking” were constantly pasted on Xu Chao’s face.

Later, Mi Yue reposted this Weibo post from Xu Chao. Unexpectedly, shortly after, Chen Wen also reposted this Weibo.

The netizens who were so excited to quarrel with Gongxi Qiao were a bit confused. Usually, entertainers didn’t wade into such muddy waters, but how come several artists who worked with Gongxi Qiao came out to support Gongxi Qiao?

Especially Mi Yue. In ‘Immortal Mountain Courtyard’, she played a couple with Zheng Lei. However, she was standing on Gongxi Qiao’s side instead of speaking for Zheng Lei, which was a bit peculiar.

Zhao Yikun V: What’s wrong with being a rich second generation? It’s not like Tian Liang Wang Po[2]. Some people have persecution delusions, right?

Probably because Zhao Yikun’s Weibo post was so obvious, everyone knew what he was implying, so they were a bit speechless. There was a lot of gossip that Zhao Yikun and Gongxi Qiao didn’t get along, but at this juncture, the young master who was notoriously bad-tempered came out to speak for Gongxi Qiao, which was really strange.

Was it because Gongxi Qiao was a rich second generation like him?

“What’s going on online?” Xi Qing found out that someone was smearing Gongxi Qiao on the internet. He looked for Special Assistant Gou, asking him to arrange for someone to find the surveillance video of the parking lot.

“Boss, isn’t this Zheng Lei the artist who hired a water army to step on Qiao Shao some time ago?” After reading the online entertainment news, Special Assistant Gou knew that the boss had a good relationship with Qiao Shao, so he immediately said, “I’ll make a phone call to Xing Entertainment and ask.”

Xi Qing nodded, and after Special Assistant Gou went out, he clicked on Gongxi Qiao’s Weibo. Almost all of them were cursing him, and there were all kinds of unpleasant words everywhere, which made him furrow his brows.

After typing a few words with a sullen face and finally stopping helplessly, he thought for a moment and dialed Gongxi Qiao’s phone number.

Gongxi Qiao finished a scene and was sitting in a chair getting his makeup touched up. Seeing that Xiao Yao had brought his personal cell phone over, he looked at the caller ID and pressed the talk button, “Da Xi, what’s up?”

The make-up artist’s hand shook and they almost drew outside his eyebrows. Qiao Shao called this person Da Xi – it couldn’t be that Master Xi, right?

“It’s okay, don’t worry,” knowing that the other party was worried about the online video, Gongxi Qiao smiled, “friends in the circle believe in me, there won’t be any impact.”

Even Gongxi Qiao himself didn’t expect that Xu Chao and the others would stand up for him in this storm. He wasn’t worried in his heart because he had a hidden edge, but Xu Chao and the others spoke up for him without knowing that. Such friendship was invaluable.

“Okay,” hearing Xi Qing’s reassuring words, Gongxi Qiao’s tone was unconsciously gentler, “If someone dares to scheme, he should be prepared to be exposed. He’s the one who should be afraid, not me.”

After confirming that Gongxi Qiao didn’t let this matter affect his mood, Xi Qing finally put his heart at ease and hung up the phone. Looking at Zheng Lei’s picture on the computer screen, his eyes were tinged with coldness.

The old boss of Xing Entertainment received a phone call from Special Assistant Gou and wanted to choke Zheng Lei to death in his heart. During the water army incident last time, the Xi Group did not react and he was relieved in his heart. Nobody expected this video incident today. Now even the most valuable assistant of Master Xi came to the phone personally. If he didn’t handle it properly, he was afraid he wouldn’t even have a place to cry.

“Xiao Qiao, don’t worry about this, there will be a solution,” after filming two shots, Mi Yue reached out and patted Gongxi Qiao’s shoulder with great pride, “Don’t worry, we are all on your side. If I had known that Zheng Lei was such a person, I wouldn’t have recommended him to ‘Immortal Mountain Courtyard’ in the first place.”

Mi Yue and Zheng Lei had worked together once before and she felt that he was stable and down-to-earth before referring him to ‘Immortal Mountain Courtyard’. If she hadn’t been so nosy in the beginning and pulled strings, maybe there wouldn’t have been so much trouble.

“You don’t possess psychic vision, so you couldn’t have known what was going to happen,” Gongxi Qiao smiled reluctantly, “I’ve learned from my mistakes, and this has taught me a lesson.”

Mi Yue saw that his smile was very forced. She knew that he was hurt by Zheng Lei’s behavior, and didn’t know what to say for a while, so she asked her assistant to pour a glass of water and put it in his hand.

Chen Ke had been scanning the online news all morning, and when he saw that the time was almost twelve o’clock, he made a phone call to the studio. “Our side can prepare for a counterattack.”

The Big Mouth was a famous entertainment gossip blogger. Because of the accuracy of the entertainment news he usually broke, many people followed him. This time, Zheng Lei’s bullying video had been out for several hours, but he hadn’t come out to say anything, so everyone felt a little surprised.

It wasn’t until 12 noon when he finally showed up and posted a video.

The Big Mouth: About the Zheng Lei Gongxi Qiao bullying video, I wasn’t present and didn’t see the full version of the video, so it wasn’t good to make a comment, but in the morning a netizen sent me an interesting video. After professional identification, this video didn’t have any editing, everyone interested can look. [Video]

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