14 PaparazziWhy was LSRR’s Shi Jing able to get famous so quickly?!
Although the magazine editor’s hunger for gossip was hard to resist, Song Nanchuan’s overbearing, director-like aura stopped her restless footsteps.
With a laptop in her hands, she smiled at Pei Ying and gave a slight bow. “Ms Pei, h.e.l.lo. I’m Xiao Feng, and I’ll be interviewing you.”
Pei Ying quickly exited the game on her phone and sat up straight on the sofa. She nodded and said, “Ms Feng, h.e.l.lo.”
“h.e.l.lo, h.e.l.lo, you can just call me Xiao Feng.” Xiao Feng’s words were modest, but her impression of Pei Ying increased greatly.
She sat down across from Pei Ying, unable to keep her eyes from landing on Song Nanchuan. After her eyes met with his, she quickly turned away and gave a nervous and unsettled laugh.
Song Nanchuan looked at her and chuckled. “I’m not bothering you two by staying, am I?”
“Of course not, of course not!” Xiao Feng shook her head. Right now, she was more worried that she’d disturbed the two of them…
“Then you two can start. I promise to stay quiet.”
“O-okay, ah.” Xiao Feng gave another uneasy laugh. Then she looked at Pei Ying, “Then, shall we start?”
“Oh… Sure.” Not only was Song Nanchuan’s presence a burden to Xiao Feng, it was also a burden on Pei Ying. Was he going to sit here and listen to her interview? How embarra.s.sing!
But making him leave was very rude. He was staying behind just to wait for her after all.
Pei Ying straightened up her neck and resettled herself on the sofa. “Let’s start.”
XY was a very serious magazine, so the questions they asked were also as such. Like he’d said, from start to end, Song Nanchuan remained very quiet. Xiao Feng and Pei Ying, who were gradually getting to business, quickly forgot about his presence.
“Ms Pei, your figure is amazing. Do you usually watch your diet?”
Pei Ying shook her head. “I don’t really have any special diet, but my eating schedule is very standard and I make sure not to overeat. When I’m not busy, I’ll do yoga at home or work on some jumping exercises.”
“So that was it. Eating regular meals is also very important.” Xiao Feng typed on her laptop as she continued to ask, “Then, Ms Pei, what do you enjoy eating ordinarily? Give us an introduction to some food.”
“Oh, personally, I like seafood. If I go to a seafood buffet, I can eat twenty scallops in a single sitting. I’m not exaggerating.”
Xiao Feng, “…”
Who was the one who just said not to overeat…
“Secondly, I prefer spicy food, like hotpot and the like. And I like having snacks too, like macarons and potato chips…”
Xiao Feng’s face darkened as she listened to Pei Ying listing off food… Regular diet, my b.u.t.t!
Song Nanchuan listened attentively at the side. A lot of the things Pei Ying was saying hadn’t been mentioned in Xiao Zhang’s notes. He was making use of his strong memory to remember all of it.
The short interview ended in ten minutes. Just like when she’d entered, Xiao Feng carried her laptop and gave a quick bow to Pei Ying. “Thank you for your cooperation, Ms Pei. This will be published with the next issue, and we’ll send you a complimentary copy.”
“Okay, thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Then I’ll take my leave.” Before she left, she gave a bow to Song Nanchuan. “CEO Song, goodbye.”
Then she walked out.
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Song Nanchuan stood up and walked in front of Pei Ying. He smiled and asked, “Are you hungry?”
“A bit.” Because of that afternoon’s photoshoot, she hadn’t eaten much for lunch. Song Nanchuan opened the door and looked over to her. “Then let’s go.”
“O-okay.”
When they got to the elevator, Song Nanchuan pressed the down b.u.t.ton and then asked Pei Ying, “What do you want to eat for dinner?”
“Oh, I was just talking about scallops, so I want to eat scallops now.”
“Then let’s go eat seafood.”
“Will we maybe be unable to get a seat if we go now?” Pei Ying was a bit worried. The seafood buffet she usually went to had really good business, so she often had to make a reservation two days in advance.
Song Nanchuan laughed. “It’s fine. Xiao Zhang will take care of it.”
Pei Ying suddenly remembered. Song Nanchuan was a mighty CEO. Why wouldn’t he be able to get a seat?
During the time that Song Nanchuan gave Xiao Zhang a call, the elevator arrived at the first floor. When they walked out of the front doors of KaiHuang, Pei Ying had a strange feeling. She turned to look around, but didn’t find anything out of the ordinary.
“What is it?” Song Nanchuan stopped to ask when he saw her looking around.
“It’s nothing. I must just be imagining things.” Pei Ying shook her head and then walked with Song Nanchuan to the car waiting for them.
Not long after the car left, the driver looked into the rearview mirror and said to Song Nanchuan, “Mr Song, there appears to be a car following us.”
Song Nanchuan’s brow twitched. He turned around and took a glance. “Which car?”
“The white van.” The driver recited the license plate.
Song Nanchuan looked. His driver was very experienced, and because of his status, his driver was much more vigilant about safety than most drivers. His intuitions weren’t usually wrong.
But Song Nanchuan couldn’t think of anyone that would be following him.
Pei Ying turned back to look at the van as well. It was a bit away from their car, just driving on the road. From what she saw, there didn’t appear to be anything suspicious.
“Actually, when we were leaving KaiHuang, I felt like someone was taking pictures of us.” Pei Ying quipped up with her earlier doubts. Originally, she’d thought she was just imagining things, but after what the driver said, it was very possible that someone was watching them.
“Pictures?” Song Nanchuan tried to remember. He wasn’t as sensitive to cameras as Pei Ying was, so he hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.
Pei Ying said, “Actually, in our business, there’s often paparazzi tailing us. but I’m not famous, so no one’s ever followed me before…” Was it paparazzi this time? Were they after her or Song Nanchuan?
Song Nanchuan looked down and thought for a moment. Then he asked the driver, “Can we lose them?”
“Yes.” The driver saw that the traffic light was about to turn red and then sped through.
The van was stuck waiting for the light to turn green. Pei Ying laughed. “Even though they’re following someone, they still follow traffic rules.”
Just as she was saying that, the van signaled and turned left.
“Looks like they haven’t given up.” Song Nanchuan laughed.
The driver made several turns before finally losing the van. Song Nanchuan thought for a moment and then said to Pei Ying, “I’ll just send you home first today. We’ll eat next time.”
“Mm.” Pei Ying nodded. Since they currently didn’t know who was following them or what their motive was, she decided it was best to hide out at home for now.
The driver changed lanes and headed to Pei Ying’s place. When they arrived at her apartment, Pei Ying got out of the car alone.
“I’m really sorry about today. They really might have been paparazzi following me,” Pei Ying said apologetically to Song Nanchuan.
He replied, “It’s fine. It’s just a bit of a shame. I’ve already invited you out for a meal three times, and we still haven’t been able to go out.”
Pei Ying laughed. “Next time for sure.”
Song Nanchuan also laughed. “I hope so. Go on up. If there’s anything, call me.”
“Okay. Goodbye, CEO Song.” Pei Ying waved to Song Nanchuan and then hurried back to her apartment.
Song Nanchuan didn’t have an appet.i.te, so he had his driver return to the office so he could continue working.
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When Pei Ying arrived home, she started thinking about the matter of having been followed. The possibility that it was paparazzi was high, which meant it was very likely that they’d gotten photos of her together with Song Nanchuan. Should she report this to Chen Sheng first?
She thought it over carefully. If there were photos, it would be nothing more than her and Song Nanchuan getting into a car. At most, they’d be able to write up an article about how ‘seemingly intimate’ they were. If she let Chen Sheng know, he might even look forward to such articles about her and Song Nanchuan.
She shrugged and decided to just let things run their course.
Because she was unable to have any seafood for dinner, Pei Ying felt especially hollow. Even a large bowl of noodles was no help.
The next morning, she was woken up by her phone ringing. She was startled to see that it was Chen Sheng calling her. Did she get another new job?
She quickly answered her phone. “GM Chen, good morning!”
“Good morning…” Chen Sheng was a bit intimidated by her enthusiasm. “Ah… Xiao Pei, have you gone online today yet?”
“Not yet.”
“Oh, then you’d better take a look. You’re in the headlines with Song Nanchuan.”
Pei Ying, “…”
She ran over to her computer. “Wait, wait. I’m turning on my computer now.”
“Oh.” Chen Sheng continued, “You don’t have to be anxious. They didn’t get pictures of anything much, just a photo of you getting into Song Nanchuan’s car. The reason I’m calling you is to ask if you and Song Nanchuan…”
“There’s nothing going on!” Pei Ying explained.
“Is there a possibility for anything then?”
Pei Ying, “…”
So it really was going this way…
“Song Nanchuan just invested in Universe Pictures. He’s a hot figure now. Didn’t Xie Han take a photo with him before? It was trending for several days. If not for that, she wouldn’t have been able to get that female lead role so easily.”
Pei Ying, “…”
“Uh, GM Chen, let me take a look at the news article. I’ll call you back later.”
“Alright, take your time reading.”
Pei Ying hung up the phone and started to read the article carefully.
From the t.i.tle alone, she could sense the overflowing malice from this writer.
“Why was Pei Ying, the actress behind LSRR’s Shi Jing, able to get famous so quickly?! She was backed by major shareholder at Universe Pictures, Song Nanchuan!”
The writer wrote a voluminous thousand-character article. After going through it, Pei Ying pulled out the three main points.
“Look! I told you guys that it was strange that Pei Ying shot to fame so quickly! Indeed, she had a financial backer!”
“Yep, her backer was the new major shareholder of Universe Pictures! LSRR was financed by Universe Pictures!”
“She got into Song Nanchuan’s luxury car. Where were they going? Oh, so embarra.s.sing!”
Mm, the ending was indeed supplemented with the words ‘seemingly intimate.’