CH 63

Counterattack

“Offend or not, I’ve already offended her. Or, do you think I shouldn’t do this?” Su Shen asked back.

At that, the person on the other end of the phone paused for a while before saying, “Fine, send me the money. They will expose it when the time comes.”

Hearing this, Su Shen didn’t say anything more. After hanging up the phone, she sent three million to He Hua. Compared to three million, she couldn’t stand Fan Meng even more.

In the next few days, He Hua didn’t have them release the video just yet but waited for the perfect opportunity.

As the first trailer of the drama starring her and Xie Yan was about to be released, they could use this matter of Fan Meng to divert everyone’s attention if it didn’t react well with the public or if those fans were maliciously attacking her. Killing two birds with one stone.

On the day the first trailer was to be released, Su Shen was shooting a fighting scene. It had been NGed several times before it passed, tiring her out to the point where her bones could disintegrate. The director then let her go and have lunch.  

Sitting in her dressing room, Su Shen ate a takeout box lunch. Her Weibo was now managed by Liu jie and she didn’t need to reshare promotional posts by herself anymore. Just when she was about to check her phone at 12:00 pm, a call came in.

It was Xie Yan. When she answered the phone, a familiar voice came from the other end of the line, “Are you free on the 20th?”

Hearing this, Su Shen was taken aback. She took a sip of water and asked, “What’s up? Won’t you still be filming?”

It was just her and Xiao Zhou in the dressing room. The others had gone out for lunch.

“A friend’s getting married.” Xie Yan said.

Hearing this, Su Shen’s heart couldn’t help but beat faster. She coughed embarrassingly and glanced at Xiao Zhou beside her, who was playing on her phone and laughing nonstop. 

She picked up a piece of tofu and put it into her mouth. She mumbled, “I… should be free.”

At that, the person on the other end paused for a bit before saying, “Then, you’ll leave with He Hua on the 19th. We’ll rendezvous in Paris.”

To have He Hua attend, who was an opportunist, the other party’s identity must not be simple, but she hadn’t heard of anyone in the industry who was getting married.

After pondering for a bit, she then responded, “Got it.”

Originally, she would wrap up filming for this drama on the 25th. In this case, she would probably need to shoot all the scenes together in advance. It shouldn’t be a problem if she told the director.

After saying that, there was a long silence on the other end of the line. Just when Su Shen was about to hang up, the person on the other end couldn’t help but ask, “When are you going to take me to see your parents?”

Su Shen: “…….”

She tightened her hold on the chopstick as her ears turned slightly red. Beside her, Xiao Zhou was laughing faintly, as if she had seen something funny.

“I… I’ll tell them when I have time.” As soon as she finished speaking, she immediately followed with, “I’m eating, bye.”

As soon as she said that, she immediately hung up before the other end could say anything and threw her phone aside, her heart beating faster. 

She knew that she should inform her parents about her relationship with Xie Yan, but she didn’t know how to bring it up. Moreover, her mom opposed her finding someone from the entertainment industry, so she didn’t know if she would also oppose Xie Yan when the time came.

Seeing her sitting still on the sofa, Xiao Zhou couldn’t help but look at the takeout box lunch on the table. “Is it not good? How about I go out and buy some side dishes?”

“No, it’s fine.” Taking a deep breath, she picked up the cup of water at the side and took a sip.

Thinking of the trailer released today, Su Shen immediately picked up her phone and went on Weibo. As soon as she opened it, she saw her and Xie Yan’s names were No. 1 on Hot Search. Thinking that she was being maliciously attacked again, Su Shen felt helpless. Female fans were very possessive, wishing that their idol stay single for the rest of their life.  

But when she clicked on the comments, she saw that the situation was different from what she had imagined.

Netizen A: AHHHH! MY MAIDEN HEART!

Netizen B: My HP’s zero! CUTENESS OVERLOAD!!!

Netizen C: I allow Su Shen to be our Yan ge’s woman. [doge]

Netizen D: The trailer’s so sweet. It looks pretty good, can’t wait for the drama to be released. [heart]

Netizen E: OMG! When I saw Su Shen sitting on my Yan ge’s back reading, this auntie couldn’t help smiling. 

Netizen F: NOOOO!!! HUBBY’S MINE!!!

Netizen G: I bet on a bag of latiao*. If there’s nothing between these two, I’ll livestream the mukbang. [smiley face]

latiao – literally spicy stick, a popular Chinese snack made of wheat flour and chili

Netizen H: Those who said that Li Xue could KO Su Shen’s acting back then, come out. Does your face hurt? [smiley face]

Netizen I: AHAHAHA, this scheming b***h is using Xie Yan for clout again, waiting for Xie Yan to come out and clarify. [smiley face]

Su Shen didn’t expect that there would be so few people maliciously attacking her. Except for a small number of Xie Yan’s diehard girl fans, the rest didn’t attack her and just looked forward to the drama. On the contrary, some passersby were the most excited. However, Su Shen didn’t know why they were so excited until she saw the trailer. The editor’s editing skills were certainly really good and suited the taste of the youngsters.

Su Shen understood the mentality of the fans. They thought that only the kind of woman who had a great character, beautiful, great acting, low-key, and did not hype could match their idol. Su Shen’s reputation before was not the best, mostly because of her poor acting and stealing other people’s roles. However, after the movie aired, coupled with the company’s marketing, her reputation gradually improved.

It was obvious that Liu jie didn’t expect this to happen also. She was already prepared to control the comments, but now, it seemed that there was no need for that. When Su Shen called her, the other end was busy, so she didn’t bother her afterward.

“AHHHHHH! HE’S SO HANDSOME!” Xiao Zhou sat on the other end of the sofa holding her phone excitedly.

Xiao Zhou was a diehard fan of Xie Yan to the point of being obsessed. Su Shen knew that, but assistants weren’t allowed to chase after stars, or they would be fired. But, Su Shen didn’t tell Liu jie about this.

Su Shen couldn’t help but say, “I’ll let you hug him next time.”

Being near, one would know that their idol was just like any other person. 

“Ah?” Xiao Zhou screamed excitedly and waved her hand desperately, “No, no! I won’t be able to stand it!”

Su Shen: “…….”

She didn’t understand the world of fans.

After a few bites, she put on her windbreaker and walked out of the dressing room to go look for the director. Hearing that she wanted to wrap up filming on the 19th, the director didn’t say anything and just told her to be prepared as it would be very tiring to shoot all the action scenes grouped together.

Su Shen naturally knew that these scenes would be exhausting, but she had no choice. She also decided that she would never take on this kind of action script again. Her body could not bear it.

In the afternoon, she shot several gun battle scenes. When she returned to the hotel, it was already 9:00 pm. On another note, Su Shen noticed that there was another paparazzi following her. Now, she didn’t even dare to open the curtains in her room and living room.

In the next few days, the cp shipping Xie Yan and her had been growing crazily, because in the past, Xie Yan would come out and clarify, but this time, he didn’t. There were more and more antis, but Liu jie said that her social media index was the highest this month. Although most of the scripts sent over were idol dramas, her booking fee had risen a lot. It had reached $350,000 per episode. Additionally, the modern romance drama starring Jiang Yin as the male lead seemed to be set on casting her, going as far as to compensate her with 30 million. But no matter how much they gave her, Su Shen didn’t want to accept it.

On the 15th, a media studio suddenly released a video, which instantly exploded the Internet. The topic #Fan Meng Checking-In To A Hotel With A Man# spread like wildfire. For this kind of scandal, netizens liked to watch it the most, and almost all the comments below the post were filled with obscenities. 

Netizen A: So repulsive, how could Fan Meng sleep with such an old man [vomit]

Netizen B: The diehard fans don’t need to come out and brainwash. No matter how good a relationship one has with another, would it be to the point of holding hands? Even father and daughter wouldn’t do this, no? [smiley face]

Netizen C: I can’t even look at it. This industry is too messy!

Netizen D: I can’t believe I used to be her fan. I didn’t expect her to be so disgusting. [vomit]

The comments online were extremely extreme. An actress with this kind of stain was bound to have this part of their dark history. However, Su Shen didn’t think Fan Meng was pitiful. When she wanted her to be exposed in front of everyone, she didn’t feel sorry for her.

In the dressing room, several makeup artists were discussing what happened online. They were all part of this industry, so they knew that someone must’ve done this to Fan Meng. However, Su Shen kept silent.

“Su jie, your call.” Just then, Xiao Zhou suddenly brought her phone to her.

Su Shen was sitting in front of the vanity getting her hair done. Seeing that she had a call, the stylist behind her stopped.

Seeing that it was Liu jie, an anxious voice came through from the other end as soon as Su Shen answered, “Fan Meng’s matter, did you do it?”