Chapter 12 - Impossible
The head of Strawberry Entertainment Company walked carefully through the quiet corridor, afraid of the atmosphere. He didn’t know why Mr Ting, who previously refused to meet with him, suddenly changed his mind. Thus, he couldn’t be careless at all. On weekdays, he was a person who stirred up trouble in the circle but he was nothing in front of this person.
“President Sun, please.” The secretary smiled sweetly and led the way. President Sun thanked her and knocked on the door, not forgetting to neaten his clothes.
The door opened from the inside and a serious man in a black suit came out. “President Sun, please come with me.”
“Thank you, Special Assistant Qin.” President Sun thanked him in a low voice, squeezed out a flattering smile and followed behind Special Assistant Qin.
The man sitting behind the chair looked good with all senses. Just based on his face, it was easy to be distracted. However, now one would dare to have any thoughts about him in their hearts.
“President Sun, sit down.” The man looked very calm. He would be described as ‘eyes cold as ice’ or ‘severe’ in novels but once President Sun sat down, he didn’t dare to sit too hard and even subconsciously leaned forward.
“Thank you, Mr Ting.” Everyone knew that this person didn’t like to be called Mr Xu and gradually, everyone tacitly referred to him as Mr Ting. This name was somewhat unusual but everyone ignored it.
Yan Ting signed the last word on the document before looking up. Only then did he open his mouth.
“Mr Ting, a few days ago, there was a naive artist under my banner who didn’t understand anything and tried to imply a relationship with you. Our management was lax and troubled you.” President Sun’s hands started sweating. “Please rest assured that such things won’t happen in the future. We will deal with things before it becomes that serious…”
Yan Ting raised his hand to interrupt President Zong and spoke flatly. “En.”
What did this mean? President Sun had doubts in his mind but he was afraid to ask. He opened his mouth but was silent because he was afraid to make a sound.
“Special Assistant Qin,” Yan Ting called out. “Who was the speaker in that interview the secretary watched just now?”
“It is an actor called Li Zhao.”
Yan Ting closed the document and seemed to speak casually. “That child is good.”
“I didn’t expect Mr Ting to also appreciate Mr Li.” President Sun immediately took the lead. “Many people in our company appreciate Mr Li’s acting skills and even hope to sign him. If we are fortunate enough to have him join our company, we will arrange the best team and take the high-quality development route…”
“Most young people have a lively personality.” Special Assistant Qin smiled and interrupted. “They didn’t like to be controlled by others. As long as they don’t walk along a crooked road, sometimes it is harmless to just follow them.”
“It is as Special Assistant Qin said, some young people have their own lively personality.” President Sun changed his tune. “Our company has always respected the artist’s choices and character. We won’t interfere in their freedom too much.”
“President Sun always has a high opinion.” Special Assistant Qin nodded. “We are just speaking casually. We have little interest in Mr Li, please don’t misunderstand.”
“Of course, of course, it is my own personal thoughts.” President Sun sighed. “It is the first time I’ve seen such an ingenious actor in my decades of living. In the entertainment circle, I have to cherish talent when meeting such a good actor. How can I let gossip affect his career?”
“A boss with a heart of love is always admirable.” Special Assistant Qin smiled. “President Sun must be busy, I’ll send you downstairs.”
“How can I trouble Special Assistant Qin? I can go down on my own.” President Sun didn’t dare to stay. He politely said goodbye to Special Assistant Qin, hurried out of the building and spoke anxiously to his secretary waiting outside. “Hurry to check the actor called Li Zhao and try your best to politely sign him to our company. Remember, even if you can’t sign him, it is best to not offend him or let our company artists offend him.”
“Okay.” The secretary hastily opened his mobile phone and arranged for people to check Li Zhao’s information and the method to contact Li Zhao. The staff of Strawberry Entertainment hadn’t managed to approach Li Zhao’s side when a piece of gossip related to Li Zhao burst on the Internet.
[The male and female leads of the Overbearing Female President drama are suspected to be intimate in the underground parking lot. Talk about the unexpected love between an older woman and a younger man in the entertainment circle. Our budding CP came true!]
In a short period of an hour, the news of Li Zhao’s love affair with Yao Shasha spread to almost every network platform. The netizens felt it was inexplicable. Where did this 38th tier artist come from?
The most intense reactions didn’t come from the drama fans but Yao Shasha’s fans and Li Zhao’s face fans.
Yao Shasha’s fans felt that Li Zhao was too young to be relied on. Li Zhao’s fans thought that she was pulling on the male’s hype. It was because regardless of whether it was the interviews or behind the scenes drama footage, it could be seen that Li Zhao and Yao Shasha didn’t have a good relationship. It was ridiculous for them to suddenly fall in love.
“Emmmm, don’t blame me for speaking harshly. The photos that the gossip account burst out is only a few photos. One exposes half of Li Zhao’s face and the other is Yao Shasha leaning down to the window. Where it the intimacy?”
“I haven’t seen the drama Overbearing Female President but I feel tired for the actor called Li Zhao. Today, there is a close brother in the crew and tomorrow there is someone in love with him. I’m afraid that in two days, someone will suddenly come out and claim that Li Zhao is his long lost son.”
“Advising the crew not to fry the hype. The fry will burn.”
“Ohh, a new artist’s fans are really funny. Do you still care about your favourite artist falling in love? What is wrong with the love between a younger man and an older woman? You monsters are opposing it?”
There was online bickering and even the marketing accounts followed the heat. Yao Shasha’s name soon became hot on Weibo. Some netizens found that two hours ago, Yao Shasha had forward a video of her and Li Zhao in the same frame and boasted that Li Zhao was lovely. This made more fans convinced that they were doing a fake play.
“I knew it wasn’t that simple.” Zhang Xiaoyuan flipped through the popular Weibo and spoke to Li Zhao sitting on the couch. “I was originally going to have you sign up for a Weibo account today. It seems that you will have to wait for a few days or you will be hyping up the love relationship.”
“Fortunately, you told me about it in advance so I pre-prepared.” Zhang Xiaoyuan rubbed his hands together. “These smelly and shameless people usually ignore you in the crew. Now that you are finally gaining popularity on the Internet, they want to grab your heat.”
His mobile phone rang. Zhang Xiaoyuan saw a strange number and waited a moment before connecting. “Hello, I am Zhang Xiaoyuan.”
“Strawberry Entertainment?” Zhang Xiaoyuan thought there was a problem with his ears. This was a first-class company in the industry and had countless big celebrities. How could they look at an actor who just became popular on the Internet?
Listening to the other person’s polite and almost gracious tone, Zhang Xiaoyuan chuckled, casually found an excuse and hung up the phone.
The entire entertainment circle knew that Strawberry Entertainment had abundant capital and many large bowls. It was difficult for new artists to sign with this company. How could a company like this approach him with such a keen attitude? Even swindlers should pay attention to the basic law.
“Brother Xiaoyuan, who was it?” Li Zhao asked.
“A person who claimed to be from Strawberry Entertainment but his tone was too warm and reasonably. I suspect he is a liar.” Zhang Xiaoyuan went to Li Zhao and sat down. “I might’ve imagined that you would sign with this company but my sense of reason didn’t allow me to think about it.”
“Oh.” Li Zhao continued to bow his head to play with his phone. Then he happily shared this low-level deception with his friend.
In the silent office, the mobile phone on the desk suddenly shook. Yan Ting picked up the phone and took a look.
Good Luck is Coming to Zhao Zhao: Ting Ting, I encountered a scam! After so many years of poverty, a scam artist finally took aim at me. Just now, a scam artist who claimed to be from Strawberry Entertainment called my agent and said he wants to sign me. Now the scam artists are doing things less seriously. They should think before wanting to cheat people. How can Strawberry Entertainment sign a small artist like me? Hahahahaha, I really don’t know who would use this lie.
It was followed by a laughing emoji.
Yan Ting, “…”
Seeing Li Zhao giggle at his phone, Zhang Xiaoyuan also took out his phone. “Don’t keep playing with your phone. Look up at me and smile.”
Li Zhao looked up in a confused manner. Zhang Xiaoyuan took the opportunity to take a photo.
The big boy in lamb pyjamas and holding a pillow in his arms was silly but especially cute. Looking at Li Zhao in the photo, Zhang Xiaoyuan sighed emotionally. “Ugly people always look strange while good-looking people are lovely without dead ends.”
He took a photo and posted it on his Weibo.
Brother XIaoyuan: I secretly took a photo while my artist was indulging with his phone. I didn’t expect to be caught on the spot [Photo].
The photo was released and gradually attracted the attention of netizens who searched with the keyword ‘artist’. They were busy and helped buy a headline for this Weibo.
In any case, he didn’t have many followers on Weibo and buying a headline didn’t cost him more than a few yuan. A few yuan could be exchanged for the happiness of countless melon eaters. The enthusiastic netizens were full and happy at doing such a trivial thing.
Yao Shasha’s team didn’t know that Zhang Xiaoyuan had made a post a few hours ago to clarify the situation. Thus, they bought a water army to hype the love between Yao Shasha and Li Zhao.
Yao Shasha had been in the circle for nearly a decade. In her early years, she had some important roles in star dramas. However, as there were more and more new people and she didn’t show much improvement, she could only go to film some online dramas.
This time, Yao Shasha tasted the sweetness of a hot drama and wanted to increase her exposure. Song Yu had a background and she didn’t dare use him to stir up a topic. Li Zhao had the highest popularity and no background so he was the best choice.
As for whether this type of speculation would have a negative impact on Li Zhao, this wasn’t within the scope of Yao Shasha’s speculation. In her eyes, Li Zhao would be popular for half a year at the most. Then he would have no follow-up resources and no one would pay attention to him.
In any case, this person would sooner or later be cold. She wasn’t sorry at all for taking advantage of him.
However, Yao Shasha and her team weren’t happy for long. A marketing account took a screenshot of the Weibo post that Zhang Xiaoyuan had recently sent out.
Eating Melon Little Sister I might eat melons every day but I haven’t seen a team use such ugly means in a long time. A few hours ago, there is a Weibo account suspected of belonging to Li Zhao’s agent. He ridiculed his no EQ artist for not knowing how to send a female colleague home. I didn’t expect that after a few hours, some people would use this to hype the love between an older woman and a younger man. Who bought these hot searches? You can guess it with your toes. Before the drama finished airing, a pheasant company’s team can’t wait to step on people. They bullied him because he has no team support [Photos].
Yao Shasha’s team panicked when they saw this post. They weren’t afraid of the contents but the identity of this Weibo account. It was because this marketing account was under the banner of Strawberry Entertainment’s management team.
“Did… Li Zhao sign with Strawberry Entertainment?” Yao Shasha didn’t want to accept this speculation. “Is it impossible!”
The author has something to say:
Ting Ting: That child is good.
President Sun: I understand, I really understand!