CHAPTER 31Song Nanchuan was wearing one of his preferred light-colored suits with a red tie. Elegant and handsome, he was especially eye-catching among the middle-aged men present.
With that speck under his slender eyes, he casually glanced over to the door, carrying an ineffable expression.
Pei Ying scolded herself. All it took for her to waver was seeing Song Nanchuan’s face.
The director was at the head of the group, so he took the opportunity to introduce each of the CEOs inside the private room. “This is CEO w.a.n.g. This is CEO Jiang. This is CEO Song.”
Everyone greeted each other. Sitting in the middle was CEO w.a.n.g, “Alright, we didn’t invite you to stand here as punishment. Everyone, have a seat.”
After he spoke, everyone sought out a seat. The room was large, and there was more than enough room for some ten plus people. Aside from the three Universe executives, only the four main actors and the director and a.s.sistant director were inside the private room. The rest of the crew sat in the main dining area.
He Wan was the second female lead in Season of Love. When she entered, she’d already targeted Song Nanchuan. Seeing the spot beside him empty, she quickly hurried over. But before she was able to take a seat, Song Nanchaun turned and shot her a look.
To put it in terms of wuxia stories, his look was full of murderous intent. He Wan was startled, and then she moved away from the chair to sit in another empty spot.
Pei Ying was about to sit there, but after He Wan took the seat, she could only find another one. She took a look around, but the only open seat left was the one beside Song Nanchuan.
…They all did this on purpose, didn’t they?
She bit her lip and then walked over to sit down beside Song Nanchuan. Seeing that everyone had taken their seat, the waiter started bringing out the food. This was a very famous seafood restaurant. All the food brought out was seafood and it all looked extremely fresh.
“The seafood here is pretty good. Please help yourselves.” CEO w.a.n.g picked up his chopsticks and grabbed a piece of lobster. Following, the rest of the guests picked up their chopsticks. Pei Ying had a piece of scallop and was preparing to peel a piece of lobster when she heard CEO w.a.n.g ask, “I heard that Ms Pei really enjoys seafood?”
Pei Ying was taken aback. She smiled at him. “Yes.”
“Then make sure to eat more tonight. You must try the shrimp dumplings here. The steamed fish as well; it’s very fresh.” As he said this, CEO w.a.n.g turned the turntable so that the dumplings and fish were in front of her.
Pei Ying quickly said, “Thank you, CEO w.a.n.g. I can get it.”
“You’re welcome. You’re the female lead for this drama, right? It will be tough. Do well. Our CEO Song thinks very highly of you.”
Song Nanchuan finally turned to him and said, “CEO w.a.n.g, you sure have a lot of things to say tonight.”
CEO w.a.n.g laughed at him and then closed his mouth and started peeling his lobster.
With their words, Pei Ying suddenly grew a bit embarra.s.sed. She glanced over at Song Nanchuan, who avoided her gaze. He lowered his head and kept eating.
Everyone had heard a bit about the things between Pei Ying and Song Nanchuan, so the atmosphere at the table was a bit strange. The director decided to pick up the role of host as he started some conversations to lift the mood.
Pei Ying didn’t speak much that meal, and she only made a short response when questions were directed at her. She picked up a crab leg and took a bite. She wanted to crack off the crab sh.e.l.l, but due to her inattentiveness, she cut herself.
A slight hiss escaped her lips. She put down the crab leg to inspect her injury. The cut wasn’t very deep, but a drop of blood had come out. Song Nanchuan noticed her go still and turned to her. His brows wrinkled and he said, “Why were you so careless? Aren’t you experienced with peeling seafood?”
As he spoke, he took her hand in his and very naturally bent his head down to suck on her wound.
Their small movements caught the attention of the rest of the table. Pei Ying pulled away her hand awkwardly and told him, “It’s not for you to worry about.”
Song Nanchuan’s eyebrows knit together more tightly. Without any explanation, he grabbed her hand back and, seeing the blood still beading out, used a towelette to press down on her wound. “Waiter, bring a bandage.”
“Yes, sir,” the waitress inside the room responded before quickly heading out the door. The scene she’d just witnessed really made her heart thump. She’d previously seen news about Song Nanchuan and Pei Ying on Weibo, but after what she just saw, she just wanted to say that the people who started rumors about Song Nanchuan’s true love being Xie Han were all idiots. Pei Ying was obviously the person he liked the most. She only cut her hand a bit and he was already this worried.
She quickly brought back a bandage, and Song Nanchuan was still pressing down on her hand with a towelette.
Pei Ying really wanted to pull her hand away, but Song Nanchuan had a strong grip on her, so she just couldn’t. After the waitress returned, Song Nanchuan opened the bandage and stuck it over Pei Ying’s wound.
Pei Ying’s face was completely red by then, and the entire room had their eyes on the two of them. After her wound was taken care of, she abruptly pulled her hand away and turned her body slightly to the other side.
Song Nanchuan was still frowning as he looked at her. “There are crab crackers here, so why did you have to use your hands?”
Pei Ying ignored him and picked up a cracker, about to crack open her crab leg.
Song Nanchuan looked at her bandaged finger and took the crab cracker from her hands. “Alright, just let me do it.”
Pei Ying had a slight desire to flip the table. Song Nanchuan, are you blind to all the people staring at you?!
Of course, after Song Nanchuan placed the de-sh.e.l.led crab meat in front of her, she gobbled it up like a person without a backbone…
After the meal concluded, Pei Ying deeply reflected on herself.
As the group exited the restaurant, she heard Song Nanchuan ask her, “How are you getting home?”
Pei Ying opened her mouth and responded, “My a.s.sistant will drive me home.” She walked away to her car without turning back once, so her a.s.sistant could send her home.
Song Nanchuan stood in place and watched her car drive off, his brows slightly turned. CEO w.a.n.g followed the direction of his gaze and then pat him on the shoulder. With a bright smile, he said, “Don’t worry. The TV drama will air for a few months, so you can keep inviting the crew out to eat.”
Song Nanchuan shrugged off CEO w.a.n.g’s hand from his shoulder and then got into his car.
After Pei Ying got home, she stared blankly at the bandage on her finger. The feeling of Song Nanchuan’s tongue sweeping over her finger seemed to still be present, and then Pei Ying’s face turned abruptly red.
…Wait a minute. Pei Ying, what are you thinking about? What are you recalling about?!
Pei Ying let out a sigh and then dropped onto her bed.
Couldn’t he just… apologize?
Advertis.e.m.e.nt
Her busy filming schedule every day meant that she didn’t have much time to think about Song Nanchuan. And since the story was about a girl who loved eating meat and a chef, the actors benefited in many ways.
For example, when it came to eating.
[Pei Ying] (Official)
We’re filming another eating scene today. (glutton) Other teams might not enjoy filming eating scenes, because their food is just a prop and the flavor can’t be guaranteed or it might have already gone bad. But all our food is freshly prepared, and the flavors are amazing. Universe must be rich, hahaha (picture) (picture) (picture)
Fans gave very enthusiastic feedback.
“Bless Pei Pei to gain 5kg, Amen. (praying)”
“Pei Pei, after you finish your drama, you’ll turn from Pei Ying to Pei Yiiiing :)” (Note: The character for Ying is split into two parts, insinuating her getting fatter?)
“Fat, fat, fat, fat, fat, fat (smile)”
“Don’t worry, Pei Pei. Even if you gain 5kg, no even 10kg, I’ll still like you (smile)”
“Oh, I heard that the Yu family is providing the filming venue. If Pei Pei doesn’t gain 10kg, it will be a blow to the Yu’s reputation (doge)”
Song Nanchuan was sitting in his office when he saw Pei Ying’s Weibo post. Somewhat absentmindedly, he stared at the photos on his screen.
It was true that he’d had a personal motive when he invited the crew out for a meal before. He wanted to see Pei Ying. He thought that after they saw each other, he would stop thinking about her. But the reality was different. Ever since that night, there wasn’t a single moment that he hadn’t been thinking about and missing her.
“CEO Song.” Xiao Zhang walked up to Song Nanchuan’s desk. “These doc.u.ments need your signature.”
“Mm.” Song Nanchuan glanced at the doc.u.ments and then picked up his fountain pen to sign.
After he signed, Xiao Zhang looked over the doc.u.ments and felt a bit embarra.s.sed 囧. “CEO Song, these doc.u.ments need to be signed with your name.”
“Huh?” Song Nanchuan looked at his a.s.sistant with some confusion.
“Ah, this…” Xiao Zhang returned the doc.u.ments to him. “Take a look for yourself.”
Song Nanchuan looked down and saw two boldly written characters. Pei Ying.
Song Nanchuan, “….”
He felt like he was losing his mind. He took a deep breath and leaned against his leather chair. “Print out another copy of the doc.u.ments. I’ll sign them again.”
“Okay.” Xiao Zhang didn’t take away the already-signed doc.u.ments and just stepped out of the room.
Song Nanchuan’s heavy eyes fell to the words “Pei Ying” on the doc.u.ment as his mind wandered.
Several days later, Pei Ying’s single was officially released. GuangChen Records prepared a series of promotional activities. Pei Ying’s filming schedule was already pretty packed, but now she had to squeeze in promotions for her song as well.
When the announcement went live on Weibo, Pei Ying’s fans celebrated.
“Pei Pei’s been doing amazingly recently! Good job!”
“The alb.u.m cover looks great! My Pei is beautiful! Excited!”
“Ying, ying, ying. I really think Pei Ying’s going to get super famous this time. It feels like I’m marrying off my daughter qwq”
“The producer was Qiao Yichen… My heart aches thinking that you were scolded (doge)”
Song Nanchuan, who had recently been silently following Pei Ying’s Weibo, found out this information for the first time. He checked the time and saw her solo would be released two days later. He called Xiao Zhang and directed, “Buy me a thousand copies of Pei Ying’s Blooming when it comes out in two days.”
“…Do you need that many copies?” Xiao Zhang was a bit rattled.
Song Nanchuan responded, “Mm. Gift a copy to every staff member.”
“…Okay. Thank you, CEO Song.”
Two days later, Pei Ying’s solo single Blooming hit the shelves and also digital music stores.
On that day, many of her fans left tips (bought the song?). One mysterious fan among them tipped her twenty thousand (dollars?), sending her to the top of the ranking chart.
Watching fans, “…What kind of nouveau rich guy is that.”
Advertis.e.m.e.nt
Songs produced by Qiao Yichen had a certain insurance on them. The first day of Blooming‘s release, not only were its sales and ranking top of the board, the song itself earned quite the reputation.
Of course, with praise, there always comes criticism. Not even one morning pa.s.sed when someone jumped up with accusations that Pei Ying wouldn’t dare to sing this song live.
Everyone was quite familiar with this cycle. In the beginning, there was Sima Xiaoxiao, and more recently, there was the empress, Ding Meng. They were both called into question like this, but when you compare the difficulty of their songs, Blooming was definitely not as difficult as their songs. So, most of the netizens believed that, while Pei Ying wasn’t a singer by profession, if she were to sing live, it wouldn’t be that bad.
GuangChen took advantage of this momentum and set up two signing events for Pei Ying. Although each event would only last for forty minutes, this was forty minutes she had to pull out from her filming schedule.
Both signings would take place in A City. Fans in A City were ecstatic and banded together to create an A City fanclub for Pei ying.
The first signing event was at Star Department Store. After Pei Ying finished filming that morning, she headed over hastily. She even had to change and do her makeup in the van on the way.
Chen Sheng was already waiting for her at Star Department Store. When he saw her, he asked, “Have you eaten yet?”
Pei Ying nodded. “I had some bread on the way here. It’ll keep me through the event.”
“Alright. The event host is already waiting backstage, so head over.”
“Okay.” Pei Ying headed backstage and found the host. The host went over the event process and then the signing officially started.
Beneath the stage, there were a large number of fans with CDs and signs. They were even holding out horizontal banners. This was the first time that Pei Ying would be interacting with her fans face to face. Seeing them all, she felt very touched.
When she stepped onto the stage, her fans cheered her name loudly. On the stage, the host smiled and spoke, “h.e.l.lo, everyone. This is the first signing event for Pei Ying’s Blooming. We’ll be starting right away.”
When the host’s voice stopped, the crowd cheered again. The host handed Pei Ying a microphone and told her, “Give a greeting to your fans.”
Pei Ying smiled and waved to her fans. “Hi, everyone. I’m Pei Ying.”
From below the stage, chants rose out. “Pei Pei! G.o.ddess Pei! Long legs!” and other such nicknames.
The host motioned for everyone to settle down. Then she said, “Pei Ying’s Blooming has been getting rave ratings. Since we’re graced with her presence today, would you all like to hear a live performance?”
“Yes!!” the fans cried out excitedly.
At the side of the stage, Chen Sheng felt his heart drop.
Qiao Yichen had previously told him that there was one part of the song where they recorded it line by line. If she sang live, that would give her away. That’s why he’d already discussed with the event organizers that this would only be a signing event. There would be no singing.
What was going on with this host?