CH 27

The topic changed from talking about the influence of dark foods[1] on the body and its shape to the topic of when everyone was abroad how attractive the food of the motherland seemed to them.

“When I was working in a part-time job outside of school, I knew a lot of friends because I would cook hot-pots. We still keep in touch.” Ning Xi said helplessly. “Among these friends, many have become successful in the industry but each time I contact them, they never fail to talk about hot-pot. This shows how much charm our Chinese cuisine has.”

“Then you can ask them to come here and have fun with us so they can eat that food.” Zhao Ming slapped his hands on the table heroically. “We can accept anything in our great country, but we cannot accept that something cannot be eaten.”

“Well,” Ning Xi smiled. “When the time comes, Brother Zhao must play the host.”

“Right, right, Brother Zhao must be the host.”

The other guests followed this and stirred up the atmosphere to make it lively. As the program came to an end, everyone felt that they had not talked enough.

“The topics are endless but the time is limited. The show must come to a close.” Zhao Ming showed a sad expression on the camera. “According to our usual practice, we have to give our special guest today a minute, or how can she be known as a special guest, right?”

The camera cut to Ning Xi who had an ‘I knew it’ expression. “I knew that the special guest sent to the show through red envelopes didn’t have much status but I didn’t think even a little bit of status was also not accorded.” She made a wronged expression and the camera took a close-up shot. “I hope that everyone will support this program and strive to increase the ratings and clicks. Then next time, I will be invited with a special invitation without giving Brother Zhao red envelopes.”

“Hey, I told you not to mention the red envelopes’ matter again. Don’t you know that the director will cut my salary?” Zhao Ming shot out his hand to block the camera. “This is all the time given to today’s special guest. Let’s ask the other guests to say something, to sum up the show.”

After the guests finished, Zhao Ming said to the camera, “Thank you for watching this program. We are also very grateful to Ning Xi to be able to appear here as the special guest to bring us a lot of joy, thank you.”

“Thank you, Brother Zhao, thank you for the care on this program, thank you, all the guests.” Ning Xi bowed and waved at the camera, “Goodbye, viewers and friends!”

Once the program ended, Zhao Ming laughed and said to Ning Xi, “Ning Xi, you must come another time as a guest on the program.”

“If Brother Zhao does not mind, let me come as the resident guest, I have no problem.” Ning Xi laughed and replied.

“That won’t do! You were so good there. If you were made the permanent guest, then the audience wouldn’t even notice me.” Zhao Ming waved his hands repeatedly. “Visiting occasionally is fine. Don’t come often. If you come often, then I’ll dislike it.”

Seeing Ning Xi and Zhao Ming chatting so openly, the other guests realised that Ning Xi was now very popular. So to rub some popularity on them, they specifically took pictures with her and posted on Weibo.

Netizens saw the many guests of “Happy Chat” taking pictures with Ning Xi, so they guessed that she must be the special guest on the next episode.

Some people were curious about what the next topic would be. There were netizens who cropped the photos of the guests and put their own pictures to pretend to be seen with the goddess. Some even cropped Ning Xi’s image out and saved it on their computer.

Of course, there were also some – her black powder who thought of her as only a vase and believed that in this kind of joyful and comedy show, she would definitely be unable to open up.

Which artists didn’t have anti-fans? Fans were too lazy to argue with them so as to not bring trouble to their own idols.

When Zhang Qingyun went to Ning Xi’s home and saw her hair rumpled, with no makeup and wearing large pyjamas, he quickly closed the door and said, “We really should let those who call you a goddess see you like this.”

“This is my flying self, to reduce the pressure on the soul and mind. You, this old-fashioned man, can’t understand it.” Ning Xi yawned and washed a cup to pour a glass of water for Zhang Qingyun. “Didn’t you say I would have a few days off? How come you came so soon?”

“I have a few scripts here. Take a look at them,” Zhang Qingyun added, “This is all for the heroine or the second female lead. See if you are interested.”

“Alright,” Ning Xi nodded, opening the curtains in the living room. The sunshine immediately poured in and suddenly, the entire room was bright.

Zhang Qingyun saw that the room had a lot of green plants, but he somehow felt that the room lacked vitality. He turned to Ning Xi and looked down to gulp the water down. “This time, I came because there was something I needed to talk to you about.”

“What is it?” Ning Xi put down the cup and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She smiled and looked at him.

Facing this smile, Zhang Qingyun hesitated before saying, “I heard that when you were shooting, you clashed with the son of the Chen family?”

Chen Shaohua was on the list of China’s wealthiest. He was also quite famous. Ning Xi having a dispute with his son, if this news spread to the boss’ ear, it would be disadvantageous for Ning Xi.

Ning Xi knew that this matter couldn’t be concealed from Zhang Qingyun so she wasn’t surprised when he asked. She lowered her eyelid slightly. “Yes, that’s true.”

“You… have you met him before?” In Zhang Qingyun’s mind, he was very clear that with Ning Xi’s EQ, she wouldn’t for no reason clash with Chen Yijun.

“So what if I do and so what if I don’t?” Ning Xi’s lips curved. “Brother Zhang, don’t worry, I won’t put the company in an embarrassing position.”

“I didn’t mean that,” Zhang Qingyun frowned. “I’m just worried that it would not be a good thing for you.”

Ning Xi smiled and shook her head. “Brother Zhang, do you still remember what I said when I was signing with you?”

Zhang Qingyun’s expression slightly changed. After a long time, he said, “You said you wanted money and fame.”

“Yes, fame and money are good things.” Ning Xi smiled dully. “So you don’t have to worry that I will make it difficult for myself to be popular.”

Zhang Qingyun gripped the cup harder in surprise. He then coughed and said, “I heard recently that Chang’s president intends to enter the entertainment industry and invest in the future. This is a good thing, there may be more resources for us later.”

Ning Xi nodded and reached out to pick a random script that was titled, “Three Lives with Rouge”.

Zhang Qingyun looked at her and described the general outline of the script. “This is a women’s drama. The script is written well. Speaking of women using rouge, these three women are in different backgrounds and have different personalities.

It borrows the idea of rouge to explain a woman. The three women are from different backgrounds and have different personalities. The characters are well-described. However, there’s a big disadvantage. The concept of love in this movie is too realistic. It may not appeal to the female audience.”

“Who said that the female audience looks at only love scenes? This is the narrow understanding of all you men!” Zhang Qingyun Ning Xiu turn a blind eye, “Zhang brother, you think this idea is too dangerous, or not.”

Ning Xi turned a blind eye to Zhang Qingyun. “Brother Zhang, this kind “

Zhang Qingyun: Whose thoughts are more dangerous?!

“Then you take a good look at it first. Recently, companies are approaching me for you to endorse their products. I’ll go check their product reputation.” Zhang Qingyun was very clear in his mind. It wasn’t easy to argue with a woman, because you can never guess in a debate, how sharp and eloquent she could be.

Coming out of Ning Xi’s apartment, Zhang Qingyun received several calls from many media houses wanting to interview Ning Xi. He declined with good words and headed to the company.

As the owner of a large entertainment company, Li Jianhui couldn’t be called the first, but among the several bosses of entertainment companies, he could definitely be called the most generous.

However, this generous boss, after hearing that his artist dared to start with the second generation of giants, he too had cause for worry.

“Qingyun, you came at the right time. I heard your artists seemed to have some confrontation with Young Master Chen?” Seeing Zhang Qingyun come in, Li Jianhui quickly waved him in. “I also understand that some wealthy youngsters are a bit too much, but isn’t Ning Xi’s temper a little too big?”

“Boss, I asked Ning Xi about this matter, the blame cannot be really put on Ning Xi’s head.” Zhang Qingyun didn’t expect the boss to know of this matter. He didn’t have time to think about who might’ve told him the secret. “This matter, if the Chen family didn’t pursue, then we should also pretend not to know, give it a cold treatment and forget about it.”

“Agh,” Li Jianhui sighed, “Our entertainment industry seems to be developing rapidly. But in fact, the competition is greater than ever before. We finally took in a female artist, but it seems like that must fold again.”

It wasn’t that he was too cautious. It was really Jiuji’s bad luck for not being able to train female artists.

“Knock, knock!”

Li Jianhui’s secretary came in. His tone was agitated as he said, “Mr Chang, Chang’s president wants to see you.”

“Who did you say?!” Li Jianhui suddenly jumped up from his chair and looked at his secretary as if the latter was a magpie who had spoken. “Say it again!”

“Chang’s president…”

“Then what are you doing standing here?! Go and welcome them in!” Li Jianhui dropped his pen, “Wait, I will personally receive him.”

He walked out of the door in full swing and turned back to the secretary and said, “Take out my dàhóng páo[2] and use the best set of cups to make tea. Go quickly!”

“Yes!” The secretary ran quickly as if that 10-centimetre heels didn’t exist.

Zhang Qingyun followed Li Jianhui and walked into the VIP lounge with him. Chang Shi Gui was sitting casually on the rustic leather sofa. Obviously, he was just sitting there, but his mere presence made people feel a sense of inferiority.

“Mr Chang visiting our company is really brightening our doorstep, brightening our doorstep!” Li Jianhui smiled brilliantly and shook Chang Shi Gui’s hands and, with an eager look on his face, he asked, “I don’t know for what Mr Chang has come down here for…”

“I was just passing by your company and remembered the artist I really appreciate who is under your banner. So I thought I should come and take a look.”His eyes fell on Zhang Qingyun. Seeing him, he spoke first, ” Mr Zhang, we met again.”

“Hello, Mr Chang,” Zhang Qingyun suddenly remembered the embarrassing atmosphere the other night. He didn’t know if this gentleman had heard him and Ning Xi talking.

Chang Shi Gui gave him a slight smile and said to Li Jianhui, “Having come so suddenly, I feel very sorry. I wonder whether I have disturbed Mr Li.”

“You’re not disturbing, not a bother at all,” Li Jianhui smiled and asked, “I don’t know which artist it is that Mr Chang admires?”

Thinking about it, all the well-known artists in his company were men. Li Jianhui felt that he couldn’t meet Mr Chang in the eye. No wonder no woman was close to him. Originally…

“She is the artist under Mr Zhang, Ning Xi. Some time ago, I went to their crew to look around and I discovered she had quite the aura and good acting skills. Only after inquiring did I realise that she was an artist under Mr Li.” Chang Shi Gui said this and smiled, “Just, recently, I have become more interested in the entertainment industry, so I wanted to talk to Mr Li regarding this.”

Li Jianhui ashamedly wiped his face. He felt like he needed a packet of polish. His mind was too dirty.

[1] Dark foods: Any food (according to Baidu) which is unsightly or distasteful. It can include some street food and also new bizarre food inventions.

[2] Dàhóng páo: A premium variety of Oolong tea