CH 85

I’m Hungry

Hearing this, Su Shen just took a sip of the coffee in her hand and nodded slightly. 

Many people in the entertainment industry had quarrels with production teams over these sensitive questions. Thus, no matter which shows, the staff would divulge the general scale of the questions. However, Su Shen didn’t think it was a big deal since they were going to go public sooner or later.

“There may be a phone call segment later. Is that okay?” The staff asked. 

At this, Su Shen thought for a bit before nodding in the end.

Seeing that she was so cooperative, the staff quickly finished going over the rest of the itinerary with her and left, leaving only Su Shen and Xiao Zhou in the entire dressing room. 

Su Shen wanted to let Xie Yan know beforehand in case he would give it away later. After sending a message over, there was no reply from him even after a long while. God knows what he was doing.

It was not until a staff informed them that the dress rehearsal was about to begin that she stepped foot into the recording studio. The makeup for the rehearsal didn’t need to be that good, it was a different case for the official recording though.

The design of coming onto stage was rather cool. Su Shen would come onto stage with Jiang Yin, and Zhu Qinqin would enter with one of the supporting male leads. The assistant director and crew members were sitting below the stage, and the audience had yet to enter the recording studio.  

“Wow, Jiang Yin, you’re here again!” The hostess laughed teasingly.

Jiang Yin appeared on the variety show once when he was promoting his new album, and it was not long ago either. He came once again, so the hostess couldn’t help but tease him.

“If you’re not welcoming of me, I’ll go home then.” Jiang Yin pretended to be angry and walked back. Several of the hosts immediately laughed and pulled him back. Zhu Qinqin, who was closest to him, held his arm familiarly, but the latter inadvertently broke away from her. 

“How can we not be welcoming of you? You guys’ drama has been so popular lately, even my mom has been chasing after it. Can you divulge a little of the ending?” The host took over the conversation and chatted away. 

Jiang Yin just smiled mysteriously and said, “The ending is that the protagonists are all dead.”

“Omg, you’re so bad. At that time, the audience may send blades to the scriptwriter.” The hostess looked at Su Shen with a smile, “It seems that it is the first time for Su Shen to work with Jiang Yin. What kind of person do you think he is?”

There were no cameras below, only the director and some staff were watching the dress rehearsal. He Hua was also sitting below the stage. Standing next to Jiang Yin, Su Shen replied with a smile upon hearing this, “He’s a great singer and rather humorous sometimes. In private, he doesn’t maintain the image of an idol, which is pretty good.” 

It was a civil response, but Jiang Yin couldn’t help but glance at her, not knowing whether she was telling the truth or not. 

“I heard that Jiang Yin, you’re going to hold a concert soon. Can you give us a little live performance?” The hostess said with a microphone in her hand. 

This must’ve been scripted with Jiang Yin, so he nodded. The OST of their drama began playing. Jiang Yin held the microphone and looked at Su Shen as he slowly sang.  

“The rays of sunrise shone lightly on your fingertips. I miss your dimple-like smile. I remember the dazzling sight of when I first met you, wishing that time could stop…”

The OST was originally sung by Jiang Yin, and the performance just now was pretty good. When the other hosts saw this scene, they all had an intriguing expression, and even He Hua was watching the fun below. He should’ve brought Xie Yan here.   

Jiang Yin’s gaze focused on her, but Su Shen felt uncomfortable, so she stared at the audience with no expression on her face.  

As soon as the music stopped, several of the hosts shouted, “Jiang Yin, have you ever thought about inviting Su Shen to be a special guest at your concert?”

Before Jiang Yin could speak, Su Shen suddenly said with a smile, “I’m tone deaf. His fans might refund their tickets if he asks me.”

“You can sit in the audience and listen to me sing.” Jiang Yin suddenly turned to look at her.

All of a sudden, the atmosphere became awkward. Thankfully, a host quickly reacted and asked, “We all want to go. Are you gonna send us the tickets?”

Su Shen just kept a smile on her face and said nothing. On the other hand, Jiang Yin just said yes with a smile. 

After this topic passed, the hostess looked at the script and continued to the next topic. She looked at Su Shen and asked, “You’ve worked with so many actors. Who do you think is most like your ideal partner?”

This was a question that they had already gone over before, so Su Shen quickly replied with a microphone in hand, “I don’t really have an ideal type, it depends on the feelings.”

“I heard that you introduced Xie Yan to his girlfriend. Is this true?” asked the hostess curiously. 

It was just a rehearsal, and there were no cameras, so Su Shen couldn’t help laughing and nodded a bit. 

The hostess looked at the script and said, “But, there were also rumors that you guys’ relationship was not good before. They said it was because of your poor acting, and that Xie Yan also declined “Little Sunlight”. What do you think?” 

Hearing this, Su Shen held the microphone and said solemnly, “This is actually just everyone’s groundless speculation. Xie laoshi is one of my great seniors. He has taught me a lot, and we are not on bad terms.”

At this, the hostess immediately said, “Since you guys have a good relationship,  do you want to clarify it on the spot?”

“This… isn’t good, right? We haven’t contacted each other in a long time.” Before Su Shen could finish speaking, a staff asked Xiao Zhou to hand over her phone.

She didn’t know if she could call Xie Yan or not, but she could do nothing if the call didn’t connect. Anyways, it was just a rehearsal. Holding her phone, Su Shen scrolled through her contacts.

Fortunately, she just saved his number as “Xie Yan”, so she was not afraid of it being seen by others.

“Actually, I’m also single. Su Shen, you can also introduce a girlfriend to me if you have time,” said jokingly by one of the hosts. 

Hearing this, Su Shen couldn’t help laughing. Just at this moment, the number had been dialed, and that host even specially asked her to put it on speaker. 

Zhu Qinqin, who was standing to the side, watched this scene coldly and felt a little scornful in her heart. She used Xie Yan for clout in the end anyways. She always pretended to be so noble, yet was such a b***h!

“Brr!”

The phone rang a few times, but no one answered. Su Shen didn’t know what Xie Yan was doing, so she could only say to the hosts, “He’s probably busy with something.”

After saying that, the phone was suddenly connected, and a languid male voice sounded from the other end, “When are you coming back? I’m hungry.”

Su Shen: “…….”

With the speaker on, almost everyone on stage heard it, and everyone was stupefied. Below the stage, He Hua frowned and ran up to the stage. 

To her surprise, he was sleeping. Before Su Shen came to her senses, He Hua, who rushed onto stage, snatched her phone and hung up the call. He then waved to the executive director. “It’s an accident. You guys can continue!”

In any case, they were all hosts, so everyone quickly reacted. They had heard of the news through the grapevine, but it was not as shocking as witnessing it with their own eyes. They acted as if nothing happened, and the director asked them to continue rehearsing the other small games. 

Zhu Qinqin, on the other hand, stared at Su Shen. She had never thought that this b***h would hook up with Xie Yan. No wonder she had such good opportunities and resources lately and even signed under He Hua. It was clear as day what was going on!

Although the atmosphere toward the end of the rehearsal was somewhat awkward, everyone pretended that nothing had happened. However, Su Shen was a little embarrassed. She didn’t expect that Xie Yan would be napping at this time. He had never napped before!

After the rehearsal, He Hua was waiting for her in the lounge sullenly. Needless to say, he must’ve had a quarrel with Xie Yan just now, but it seemed that he didn’t win. 

“You guys better go public as soon as possible, so I won’t be on edge all day every day. Xie Yan must’ve done it on purpose, napping during the day. Does he think he is in his seventies and needs a noon break?!” He Hua got angrier the more he spoke. If the news leaked now, people would definitely attack Su Shen for hyping. This was simply asking for trouble!

“Actually, this can’t be blamed on him. I told him I was recording at night, so he must’ve not thought too much about it. You also know that he doesn’t understand variety show tapings.” Su Shen couldn’t help but explain. 

Hearing this, He Hua took a deep breath of his cigarette. Forget it. He’s used to this zuzong’s* willfulness. In any case, this wasn’t the first time.

zuzong – literally means “ancestor”, this term is used by someone to address/refer to another person who is hard to deal with, but they would be willing to satisfy their demands to make them happy

“There are so many people at the TV station. One person spreads to ten, ten spreads to a hundred, and the news can’t be blocked. Forget it. Just take it as a warm-up to you guys going public.” He Hua sighed helplessly and exhaled a smoke ring. 

Ordinary staff would definitely not break the news, and even if someone did, it was useless if there was no evidence. This kind of scandal was basically a norm in the entertainment industry, and everyone was accustomed to it. 

In the afternoon, they rehearsed again. By the time of the recording, the phone call segment had been cut from the rest of the show. Even if Xie Yan already knew that it was part of the show, He Hua still didn’t want him to be a part of it.

Su Shen understood He Hua’s feelings. When the recording ended at 10:00 pm, just as Su Shen was about to call Xie Yan, he happened to call her. 

After the call connected, Su Shen put on her sunglasses and followed He Hua out of the TV station. “En, I just finished work.”

Hearing this, a deep and mellow voice sounded from the other end, “Where are you?”

“I’m at …” Su Shen suddenly saw something and stared at the familiar Bentley parked by the road. Beside her, He Hua snorted, “Such big balls to park here. Is he looking down on the TV station for not having enough reporters?” 

The night breeze blew, and the lights under the building were dazzling. From time to time, staff members of the TV station went in and out of the building since it was common for them to work overtime. 

After hanging up the call, Su Shen glanced at Xiao Zhou behind her. “Go take a taxi home. I have something to do tomorrow.”

“Got it!” Xiao Zhou nodded tacitly. 

Looking at the car parked by the road, Su Shen immediately put on a mask and jogged over. After looking around, she opened the door and got in. 

Xie Yan was dressed in all black, blending into the dark sky. After seeing her enter, he turned to look at He Hua. He Hua was standing outside, seemingly waiting for the chauffeur and seeing if there were any paparazzi around in passing. 

With him on the lookout, Xie Yan turned back to look at Su Shen, who was taking off her mask, and asked tenderly, “Did you eat yet?”

It was better if he hadn’t mentioned this. At the mention of this, Su Shen couldn’t help but frown and looked at him solemnly, “Did you do it on purpose today?”

He Hua was almost angered to death.

Hearing this, Xie Yan’s expression remained the same, and said earnestly, “I didn’t.”