CH 84

Real or Fake

Su Shen kept silent and sat there pondering for a while before replying, “I have to discuss this with Xie Yan.”

“You don’t need to discuss it with him. You can make the decision,” said He Hua firmly. 

Taking a sip of the soymilk, Su Shen glanced at Xue Zhixin, who was eating luosifen, and said insipidly, “I have to discuss it with him first.”

Since this kind of matter involved both parties, Su Shen naturally couldn’t make the decision alone. Although Xie Yan wasn’t a xiao xian rou idol, he still had a lot of female fans. If they suddenly went public, there would definitely be fans who would leave his fandom. Although she didn’t think Xie Yan liked to engage with fans, it was better to discuss it with him first. 

“Okay, okay. You guys can take your time discussing this matter, but remember that you have to attend a variety show on the 1st. Has Liu Min informed the production crew about this engagement?” asked He Hua.

This variety show had been booked a long time ago, and it was also one of the promotion activities with the cast. When they signed the contract for this movie, they had already informed them about this, so she just needed to let the director know. 

“Yes.”

Thinking of Liu jie, Su Shen felt a little helpless. There were no banquets in this world that did not end. There was no way around it. 

After hanging up the call, Su Shen sat there alone, drinking the soymilk slowly and biting into the xiao long bao* slowly. She noticed, however, that Xue Zhixin was watching showbiz news over there. 

xiao long bao – often referred to as a kind of dumpling, most noted for having soup with a piece of meat as its filling

“Following Xie Yan’s passionate kiss, our reporter specially contacted a staff of Xie Yan’s studio. The staff said that the authenticity of the video has yet to be confirmed, but they will definitely put an end to some of the false rumors online.”

It was the voice of a female reporter. Sitting there, Su Shen glanced at Xue Zhixin, who was still watching the video, and said, “The said person is here. Why are you still watching the news?”

Xue Zhixin, who was looking at her phone, suddenly turned down the volume and leaned against the sofa helplessly. “Those people married old and ugly rich people. You’re lucky. Not only is Xie Yan handsome, he’s also able to give you a lot of resources and opportunities. Moreover, he doesn’t womanize either. You’ve already reached the peak of life!”

Most of the female stars in the entertainment industry only had two endings. One was to marry rich, then retire from the industry. If it became an unhappy marriage, resulting in divorce, then they would come out of retirement. The other was to marry someone from the entertainment industry because they empathized with each other more. However, most of the people in showbiz were wilder, and there were too many temptations. Thus, there were very few men who would stay faithful, so many couples appeared to be united but were already separated at heart. This was why Su Shen didn’t want to find someone from the industry at the beginning.  

“Maybe I’m just luckier,” said Su Shen with a smile before picking up the script and looking at it.

She originally didn’t believe in love, but she was indeed lucky to have met Xie Yan.

……

It seemed that He Hua had asked someone to remove the headline from Hot Search as it couldn’t be seen at night. Although Xie Yan doesn’t engage with his fans, He Hua was an expert at it. He quickly contacted Xie Yan’s superfans and asked them to inform the other fans to control the comments, trying not to give the antis a chance. 

When fans were made good use of, It was much more effective than buying a water army. He Hua was super familiar with this kind of integrated process. He was originally responsible for Xie Yan’s matters, so he was able to deal with these kinds of matters quickly every time. 

When Su Shen returned to the hotel at night, she took a shower before sending a message to Xie Yan.

Su Shen: He Hua said it’s not a solution to keep our relationship a secret and wants us to go public on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. What do you think?

She didn’t know whether Xie Yan had fallen asleep or not. Just when Su Shen was about to post a selfie onto her Weibo, a notification sounded on her phone. 

Xie Yan: En, I have no objection. 

Seeing that he had agreed so readily, Su Shen suddenly felt helpless. Xie Yan was really not afraid of losing fans!

Su Shen: Okay then. I have to go attend a variety show on the 1st. He Hua said that there would be fans waiting for me at the airport, so you don’t have to come pick me up. I will go see you at night. 

After sending the message, she felt it was improper, so she immediately sent another one. 

Su Shen: Or you can come pick me up in the morning on the 2nd. 

It was better that she went home. After all, all her clothes were at her condo. However, it seemed that Xie Yan had sensed her thoughts as he quickly sent another message over. 

Xie Yan: Your clothes are still here.

Seeing this, Su Shen subconsciously thought of that night and immediately closed her phone, snuggling into bed abashedly. 

At the thought of that night, Su Shen’s heart beat faster, and she didn’t know when she had fallen asleep. When she woke up in the morning, she saw a message from Xie Yan sent last night, telling her to come back earlier that day. The auntie had taken a leave, so he had been ordering takeout for the past two days.  

Su Shen didn’t know what to say. She had already seen through Xie Yan’s scheme. When she went over to his house the first time, he said that the auntie had asked for a leave. Later, she asked the auntie and was told that Xie Yan specially gave her two days off, deceiving her to go over and cook for him. It must be the same this time too. 

She didn’t reply to Xie Yan. For the next two days, she continued to shoot, and the matter of Xie Yan’s passionate kiss gradually subsided under He Hua’s manipulations. On the morning of the 1st, He Hua came over to pick her up to go to the airport. 

There would be fans waiting for her at the airport today. He Hua had also brought a few bodyguards. Since the drama was currently being aired, when photos of fans picking her up at the airport were published, it would add more hype and create the image of her being very popular. The times now competed with influence. Although He Hua could promote her, there was one bad thing. He was a man, so he couldn’t give some styling advice to Su Shen for some engagements and could only hire a stylist. However, Su Shen had heard that He Hua was in touch with a top styling team for her.     

“Look at what kind of engagements Liu Min accepted for you before. They’re all worthless commercial appearances, just for that little amount of money. Do you know how much you’ve lost right now?”

As soon as he got off the flight, He Hua couldn’t help but complain. Although it was unnecessary for him to accompany Su Shen to the variety show, showing up with her now would thoroughly reinforce that she was an artist under him.  

“Who knew at that time? My schedule was empty then, so Liu jie accepted it.” Su Shen couldn’t help but explain. 

A large number of fans holding up Su Shen’s name could be seen outside. He Hua could only lower his voice and said, “Forget it. I’ve canceled the ones I could, and for those that couldn’t be canceled, let’s just treat it as a loss. Your popularity is on the rise now, and your value will increase. I’ll wait until you’re stable before accepting any endorsements and commercial appearances.”  

He Hua’s plan was all about profits, but Su Shen only hoped that she could film at ease during this time, leaving everything else to He Hua to handle.  

“AHHHHH! SU SHEN!”

“SU SHEN, LOOK HERE!!!”

“AHHHHHHHHHHH! SU SHEN, I LOVE YOU!”

As soon as they exited the arriving gate, the group of fans crazily surrounded them. Su Shen lowered her head and pressed down her cap. The bodyguards opened and led the way, with He Hua protecting her at her side. Those fans crazily surrounded them, holding their phones and taking photos fervently. 

This group of fans was all from her fan club, all of which were diehard fans. The photos they took wouldn’t be posted online so wantonly unless He Hua asked someone to publish a post of them picking her up at the airport, only then would they post a few photos. There were also some professional fans part of it, who specialized in managing and controlling the comments under posts of their star’s engagements. Every fan club basically had one. 

When they finally got in the car, those fans surrounded the car and were reluctant to leave while yelling for her to take care of herself, be mindful of her health, etc, which all sounded really heartwarming.

“Your matters and Xie Yan’s matters are coinciding lately. The contract for his Hollywood project is still in the midst of negotiations, so I’ll find a new manager for you as soon as possible. She’s also a partner of our agency. I’ll introduce you guys probably in the middle of the month. She produced many household names before, so she should be more suitable for you,” said He Hua suddenly from the front. 

Hearing this, Su Shen just uttered an “en” and said nothing else. After all, He Hua was a man, and sometimes it was indeed inconvenient. A female manager could help her with makeup and straighten her dress when she attended engagements. 

“By the way, I heard that you’re going to see Xie Yan’s parents tomorrow?” He Hua suddenly turned around with a smile. 

At this, Su Shen just coughed blushingly and said, “En.”

In the entertainment industry, Su Shen was definitely the shyest female artist that He Hua had ever seen, but perhaps Xie Yan liked this kind. He just laughed and said nothing else.  

When they arrived at the recording studio, Jiang Yin and Zhu Qinqin had already arrived. Seeing Su Shen being surrounded by people as if she was the apple of their eyes, Zhu Qinqin immediately walked aside unhappily and played with her phone, pretending not to see her. 

In the afternoon was the dress rehearsal, and at night was the live recording.  Before the rehearsal, Su Shen had to go to the dressing room to get her makeup done. It seemed that He Hua had gone off to chat with the program director.  

This kind of indoor variety show required going over the script. Not long after, a staff came in to go over the itinerary of the show. When they saw her, they greeted her politely. Su Shen remembered that no one had paid her any attention when she went on this show the first time, let alone going over the script. 

“Later, the host may ask questions summed up from some netizens’ questions.” The staff sat on the sofa looking at the script while saying, “For example, there was a rumor that you introduced Xie Yan to his girlfriend. Is that true?”