CH 60

Walking the Red Carpet

“I don’t want to accept any more idol dramas.” Su Shen rejected it without a second thought, “I’ve already done two idol dramas this year. I want to try a different genre.”

At that, there was a moment of silence on the other end of the phone before Liu jie compromised, “Alright. I’ll help you select a few scripts of other genres then.”

Hearing this, Su Shen uttered a soft “en”. Liu jie then told her that there’s an award ceremony in a few days, reminding her to attend it. 

After hanging up the phone, Su Shen laid down and rested for a while. If she hadn’t been with Xie Yan and if she was still a newcomer without anything, Liu jie would’ve definitely forced her to accept this drama. It was just because she was now of high commercial value, Liu jie was afraid that she would go to Xie Yan’s agency and so respected her opinion so much.

However, people were like this, especially in the entertainment industry. In fact, it was better to take advantage of one another than stab a knife in each other’s back.

After taking a shower, she laid down and scrolled through her phone again. She had practically been out of the loop for the past few days and wanted to see what had happened in the entertainment industry recently.

To summarize, the discord between Wang Cheng and Jiang Yin’s fans was even more broad. Su Shen went to see the catfight between their fans, and it was simply too vulgar. The leaders of their fanclubs even went out to battle, coming up with plenty of nicknames such as “Wang niangniang” and “Yin* Jiang”, which were more than just personal attacks. After seeing them, Su Shen felt that the attacks she had received before were nothing at all.

Yin Jiang – a play on words, the character for Yin here translates to lewd or obscene  

What a person could receive and endure was always the opposite. In this industry, even a low-profile person like Xie Yan would also have antis, let alone others.

After reading through some other news, Su Shen suddenly noticed a headline. Two days ago, a historical drama announced their male lead, which was Lin Yun, who was one of the four big idols and had the best acting out of all of them. Logically speaking, the female lead of the drama would be a starlet, but Su Shen noticed that the female lead was unexpectedly Tong Le.

She hadn’t been in contact with Tong Le for quite a long time as she had been filming nonstop. It was said that many artists who get into a relationship with one another would always separate due to time apart. There wasn’t even time to date, not to mention the friendship between friends.

It was true that she hadn’t contacted Tong Le for a long time, but she didn’t expect that she would get the female lead role of this drama without saying a word. For this kind of drama, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to invite Yang Zhi to be in it. But, Tong Le had not an ounce of fame, a newcomer through and through. Her family came nowhere close to the entertainment industry. Out of curiosity, she wanted to ask her, but considering how late it was, she didn’t bother her as she thought that Tong Le must’ve had a stroke of luck.

After scrolling through her phone for a while, she then fell asleep. She hadn’t had a good sleep for the past few days, so she didn’t hear the alarm ringing until after a long time the next day.

When she went to set, the makeup artist immediately covered a thick layer of concealer when she saw how dark Su Shen’s eyebags were. There were a lot of action scenes again today. Su Shen felt that her body might really be unable to withstand it. She could fall asleep just sitting there and getting her makeup done.

After pushing through a few days, when Liu jie came to pick her up to go to the award ceremony, she fell asleep as soon as she got on the plane. When they arrived, she was shaken up by Liu jie.

“If you’re tired, I’ll ask for two days of leave from the production crew. Don’t make your body give out.” Liu jie said as she walked in front.

Xiao Zhou was following behind helping her carry her bag. With sunglasses on, Su Shen walked in the middle and could even fall asleep walking.

“AHHHHHH! SU SHEN!”

“SU SHEN, HERE!!!”

When they exited the arriving gate, the screams instantly woke Su Shen up. Through her sunglasses, she saw a group of girls holding signs with her name rushing toward her like a swarm of bees.

“Shit, I forgot to hire bodyguards.” Liu jie’s complexion immediately changed and immediately stood in front of Su Shen.

Before long, a group of fans surrounded Su Shen tightly. The other passersby all moved aside, and some even took out their phones to take photos. 

“Pardon us. Su Shen still has other engagements. Thank you for everyone’s support.” Liu jie led the way with a smile.

However, there were too many fans around. Liu jie could only advance forward slowly. The fans all screamed crazily and aimed their phones straight at Su Shen’s face, taking photos with a burst. Su Shen’s drowsiness immediately vanished and could only follow Liu jie closely.

“AHHHHH! SU SHEN, I REALLY LIKE YOU!

“CAN YOU GIVE ME AN AUTOGRAPH!”

Su Shen kept a smile on her face. The piercing screams could almost pierce her eardrums. The fans had crowded to her side, and the notebooks in their hands could almost poke her face.

It was not that Su Shen was unwilling to sign for them, but that she might not be able to leave as soon as she stopped.

Thankfully, the airport security guards quickly came. After separating the fans, Su Shen finally breathed a sigh of relief and quickly followed Liu jie.

After she got in the car, the fans were still there taking photos of her. They clearly knew that they wouldn’t be able to capture anything, but they were still reluctant to leave.

After the car drove away, Su Shen only then took off her sunglasses and exhaled. Fortunately, she came out.

“This is an accident. I’m in contact with all the superfans, and they definitely wouldn’t bring so many people to wait for you at the airport.” Liu jie explained, sitting in the front.

Su Shen knew that she also had a fan club now, which had different member tiers. There would be superfans who would manage the disordered fans. Generally, they would go support their idol whenever they would take part in a variety show. Additionally, those superfans would inform others to go and control the comments whenever any bad rumors about their idol were circulating online.

Generally speaking, the real rational fans would never interfere in the private life of their idol. The airport incident was truly an accident. After all, she had just become popular, so fans coming to wait at the airport for her as soon as they got her flight information was truly beyond her expectation.

“Don’t accept any engagements for me for a while, I’m exhausted.” She leaned against the seat and closed her eyes wearily.

“Besides today’s award ceremony and the variety show recording on Saturday, I’ll help you cancel the rest.” Liu jie turned around and looked at her seriously. “However, the wuxia drama starring you and Jiang Yin has been set to air, so there will definitely be a string of promotional activities you have to attend.”

Su Shen didn’t say anything. She suddenly envied Xie Yan. All he needed to do was film and didn’t need to care about the rest.

However, she had no choice. She didn’t have his status, nor did she have the right to refuse to participate in all of the promotional activities. 

The airport was bound to be full of reporters today. After all, there were at least a hundred artists attending the award ceremony with many A-listers. There would definitely be a comparison of airport photos between artists, where fans would have a catfight with one another again.

It was a common occurrence in the entertainment industry. When Su Shen arrived at a well-known makeup studio, Liu jie had her change into the gown that she had prepared in advance and then asked the makeup artist and hairstylist to style her.

The red carpet was where all the female artists competed with each other in looks, so they would make a splash every time. If they could expose their legs, then they would expose their legs. If not, then they would expose their chest. If they didn’t have a chest, then they would expose their back. There would definitely be a place that could be exposed. However, Liu jie knew that she wouldn’t wear those revealing gowns, so the gown she chose was a simple long strapless one, exposing just her collarbone. It was already very conservative with respect to the others, so Su Shen did not reject it.  

The award ceremony began at 8:00 pm, but artists had to walk the red carpet an hour in advance. Naturally, the order for walking the red carpet was also rather particular. The higher the status, the later one would walk. Naturally, the finale didn’t need to be mentioned. Su Shen walked the red carpet along with the rest of the crew, and the director was naturally present. The film’s lineup was already not bad, it was just that Xie Yan did not come. The organizers had informed them to walk at around 7:45 pm, which was already quite near the end.

When she arrived outside of the red carpet, there were already many cars waiting in line to walk the red carpet. Su Shen wrapped herself in a cotton puffer with Xiao Zhou lifting the hem of her gown as she quickly found the van for their cast.

Inside, Wang Cheng, Li Hao, Fan Meng, and the others were already there. The director was sitting in the front talking to Li Hao. Seeing Su Shen get in, Wang Cheng immediately scooted over and gave her a seat. 

“Su Shen, didn’t you take the flight earlier than mine? Why are you so late?” Li Hao asked, sitting in the front.

Leaning against the plush seat, Su Shen wrapped herself tightly with her cotton puffer as Wang Cheng explained, “Hao ge, you don’t understand. Girls need to change and do their makeup. Do you think they will come out if it hasn’t been a few hours?” 

It was apparent that Wang Cheng knew more about this than him. Su Shen glanced at him with a smile and said, “What girls? Look at you; you had your hair done today, right? How many hours did you spend on it?”

The van was quite large. Fan Meng was the only one sitting in the back and playing on her phone without uttering a word. She was wearing a deep V gown, with that slit almost open to her navel. It was apparent that she didn’t want Su Shen to steal the limelight.

“That’s right. I’m telling you, if you dye your hair too much, you’ll become infertile.” Li Hao said euphemistically.

With a light cough, Su Shen looked down and didn’t say anything. Wang Cheng punched Li Hao in the front discontentedly, “There are people who dyed their hair more than me. Why would it be that I’ll be infertile? You’re just jealous that I’m more handsome than you!”

The two of them were bickering and having a great time. Leaning against the seat, Su Shen was exhausted and tensed all over. If she could sleep, she could definitely sleep for a day and a night.

Time passed so quickly that soon a staff outside yelled at them to get out of the car. When Su Shen woke up, she lifted her gown as she carefully got down from the car.

Almost all the artists had gone in, leaving only a few people who were part of the finale here. Su Shen knew that there was a veteran superstar still waiting. It was already quite good for them to have this order in the lineup.

The red carpet was long and windy, but Su Shen had no choice but to give her cotton puffer to Xiao Zhou and then followed the director and the others to walk the red carpet.

Li Hao and Wang Cheng were rather considerate of her, so they had her walk in between them and stopped to help adjust the hem of her gown from time to time. Cameras were flashing on both sides of the red carpet incessantly. Many people liked this feeling of being watched by thousands of people like Fan Meng, who was striking poses along the way, trying to make herself more graceful. Su Shen, however, didn’t care too much about this as it was simply too cold.

When they finally reached the middle, the host immediately asked them to take position and said with a smile, “Wow, Director Huang, you’re so lucky. There are beauties on both sides.”

There were cameras all around. Director Huang was rather indulgent in the host’s teasing and said with a smile with a microphone in hand, “You only notice the beauties. Aren’t the handsome men not handsome?”

Hearing this, another hostess immediately laughed and said, “Of course they’re handsome! Hao ge’s my prince charming!”

“Go and quickly hug your prince charming!” The host stepped aside with a smile.

The flashes around them incessantly flashed. The hostess was a little embarrassed, but Li Hao stepped forward with a smile, so she plucked up her courage and hugged him.

Then, she laughed excitedly, “I’ve finally completed my fangirling dream.”

Hearing this, the others laughed in cooperation. Just at this moment, the host then started to get back on track and asked everyone to introduce themself and their role in the movie.

When the microphone arrived in Su Shen’s hand, she faced the rows of cameras and despite it being so cold, she still maintained a slight smile on her face and introduced herself, “I played as the Emperor’s favorite concubine in The Song of Trouble Times and was a villainess. Everything she did was for the male lead. I feel that this role was quite pitiful.”

After her introduction, the hostess immediately zeroed in on the topic and asked, “I heard that in this movie Xie Yan had given his first onscreen kiss to you. You both then collaborated on a drama afterward. Do you have a good relationship with him then?”