Author: Su Youbing
Translator: Xandros
Proofreader: KainGuru
It took about three or four minutes, but it seemed like three or four hours for the two who were stuck inside the elevator. Finally, someone came running all the way to the elevator and shouted outside the door: "Who"s in there?"
Xiao Bai moved close to the door and yelled back: "Me…"
The man outside was silent, but then asked, "Who are you?"
"Zeng…Bai…"
"Wait." The man, who was outside the elevator, left this word indifferently and was in the course of sneaking out.
Yan Su"ang suddenly popped out the words, "There"s also me."
The sound of the footsteps outside the elevator abruptly stopped, then it turned into quick light steps. Finally, a creaking sound could be heard—it was the loud noise of a door opening and closing.
Even though the elevator door and the door were separated, Xiao Bai could still vaguely hear the man roar, "Oh my, hurry up, Great G.o.d was trapped!"
Yan Su"ang suddenly closed his hand into a knuckle and knocked on the wall of the elevator.
The crisp sound was particularly sharp and clear in the enclosed s.p.a.ce.
Xiao Bai faintly said: "Don"t destroy public property."
Yan Su"ang"s fingers stiffened, "Rest a.s.sured, even if it"ll get destroyed, my fingers would get ruined, too."
Xiao Bai thought about it and felt it was quite reasonable, "Oh.”
…Oh? Oh what? Could it be that he meant that since it was Yan Su"ang"s fingers that would get ruined, then it did not matter? Yan Su"ang felt the suffocation in his chest gradually worsening.
He, who was very influential in the entertainment circle, had not felt this kind of frustration for a long time. Even when the world-renowned director met him, they were polite with each other and never put on airs. On the contrary, this newbie in front of him, who had just started his acting career without any background and backing, kept on nailing him again and again. The most annoying thing was that he clearly knew that the other party was deliberately targeting him, not because he was Yan Su"ang.
While thinking of this, that pent-up frustration in his mouth had surged to his Baihui acupoint [1], and three blossoms gathered on his head [2]. "Xiao Bai."
([1]「百会穴」is one of the acupuncture points on top of the human"s head. It literally translated as Hundred Convergences.)
([2]「三花聚顶」The term comes from 三花聚顶，五气朝元. It is a term from Neidan, which is a way of practice for the harmony between nature and man. In ancient time, "花" and "华" were connected [both read as "hua" which mean flower], so "三花" and "三华" means three flowers. "三华" in turn, represent the spirit and glory of human body. As for "聚顶," it means that the spirits mixed together and gathered at one point.)
"Yeah?"
"Do you think I"m an eyesore?"
"No."
Hmph, let"s consider your quick reply. Yan Su"ang"s anger dissipated a little.
"I can"t see you now anyway."
"…" His dissipated anger immediately gathered back, then he asked grievously, "Do you mean to say that if you can see me now, you"ll think that I"m not pleasing to the eyes?"
"No."
Yan Su"ang waited for his next words.
However, Xiao Bai seemed to have fallen asleep. Even the sound of him breathing was quite gentle.
"And then?" He could not help but ask.
"What then?" Xiao Bai, who was trying to take a nap, had no choice but to wake up again.
Yan Su"ang calmed down and said: "Why don"t you think I"m not an eyesore?"
This was the first time in his life to ask such a…self-inflicting question.
The two "not" words caused Xiao Bai"s mind to go around in circles for a few times. He pondered over it for a while then said: "Ah, oh, because there"s no reason for me to say that you"re an eyesore."
"…" Yan Su"ang borrowed his thoughts and thought about it, then he asked with a very gentle tone, "It"s because you simply don"t feel that I"m an eyesore, am I right?"
Xiao Bai nodded hard, but then he thought that Yan Su"ang could not see him nod, so he crisply replied: "Yes."
The pent-up anger directly broke through the top of his head, forming a dark cloud above his head, and so, gloom daunted over Yan Su"ang, "Then, how about Aaron Feng? What"s your impression on him?"
"Brother Aaron is a very, very good person."
A very, very good person? Yan Su"ang laughed at himself. Yeah, they were fellow apprentices from the same company and rumored boyfriends according to hot gossip magazines. In any case, Aaron Feng was still closer to Xiao Bai than with him, an artist from a rival company.
He pondered and pondered over it, but he eventually felt out of sorts.
Although Aaron Feng had been compared to him all the time in these few years, in reality, he had never really won against Yan Su"ang — whether it was awards, popularity, public praises, alb.u.m sales, or box office ratings, so he never cared about Aaron Feng before. However, this time, he hated the man from the bottom of his heart. He never expected that he would lose in any other aspects, but he actually lost in terms of popularity this time around!
He was peeved so he asked: "In what aspect is he good?"
Xiao Bai replied happily: "He gave a shirt worth more than 500 RMB."
"…" Yan Su"ang"s drive came back to life again, "Just because of that?"
"I"m really grateful to him."
Yan Su"ang proudly weighed his words and said: "Well now, isn"t your basis of judging people a bit too low?"
Xiao Bai was surprised so he said: "You talk like Zhiqing."
"Zhiqing?"
"My best friend." Xiao Bai paused and added, "And my manager, too."
"Great G.o.d…" The chaotic sound of footsteps could be heard from far and near.
Then came the creaking sound of the door being pried open.
Relying on his memory of the creaking sound a moment ago, Yan Su"ang grabbed Xiao Bai by his arm, "Move back."
Xiao Bai obediently took two steps back.
Bang.
The elevator door was pushed open from the middle to both sides.
The sudden flash of the light made Xiao Bai and Yan Su"ang close their eyes at the same time.
The maintenance staff ingratiatingly looked at Yan Su"ang, and apologized constantly, "Mr. Yan, we"re really ashamed. I"ll get someone to repair this elevator right away. We got you into trouble. We"re terribly sorry. Please don"t take this to heart. We"re also…"
Yan Su"ang interrupted him with a smile, "Can"t you pull us up first before you continue?" They could not keep them hanging on half of the floor, while looking up at their crotches, right.
As if awakened from a dream, the maintenance staff immediately reached out and pulled them up.
After having their feet planted on solid ground, the maintenance staff continued their unfinished apologies to Yan Su"ang.
After Yan Su"ang had a hard time to persuading them that he would never take this matter to heart, he found that Xiao Bai had gone on his own way and did not even say goodbye.
The next day "GO！GO！SU……SUPER STAR" broadcasted, the average audience rating was actually 32.6 and the highest time period rating was 38.3, which was three percent higher than the time when the Great G.o.d partic.i.p.ated in the show!
At the same time, the wonderful content made the official forum bloom again.
Netizens were excited to find that since Xiao Bai joined the show, they did not have to worry about having nowhere to spit on, because he was really a disaster.
After he offended the Heavenly Emperor, he offended the Heavenly Empress, without taking a breather at all.
The moderator took the opportunity to put two posts at the top——
【Vote】Who do you support to be with Aaron Feng:
-Zhou Minli
-Xiao Bai
-Yan Su"ang
-Don"t want anyone
-NP
-Others
The poll battle progress was deadlocked. At midnight, a total of 3486 enthusiastic netizens partic.i.p.ated in the poll. It was surprising that the winner was actually Yan Su"ang, the one who was competing fiercely with Aaron Feng for the last two years. The results were as follows:
-Zhou Minli – 812
-Xiao Bai – 974
-Yan Su"ang – 1256
-Don"t want anyone – 223
-NP – 176
-Others – 45
The magnificent four digits made those who wanted to ignore it impossible to overlook it.
The typical reasons for voting were as follows:
Fans who voted for the Great G.o.d: No matter what, Great G.o.d must strive for the first, never give up!
The netizen who voted for Xiao Bai: In the stolen photo that the magazine posted, Aaron Feng was taking good care of Xiao Bai as if he was his treasure. It"s too sensational, too wicked!
Netizens who vote for Zhou Minli: Their relationship has been so good for so many years, we"ve been accustomed to it. Changing back and forth — we have to adapt again, it"s so troublesome!
Netizen who voted for no one: Every heartthrob should be shared with everyone! If everyone can like them, then that"s really good!
Netizens who voted for NP: Messy relationships are healthier!
Netizens who vote for Others: Others should go to h.e.l.l! Aaron Feng"s most beloved is me!
The other top post was——【Main Issue】The subtle moments between rivals in love.
The one who posted it could not be underestimated, because he almost put "GO！GO！SU……SUPER STAR" under the microscope to look at it.
Those moments when Xiao Bai "broke" Zhou Minli"s sincere expression, when Zhou Minli stiffly smiled as she replied, and when Shi Daming"s cold sweat could be seen on his forehead from time to time… were cut out one by one. Coupling them with the comments made by the netizens made it vivid and interesting.
Compared to the bustling forum, Yimate held a low-key and desolate emergency meeting. The partic.i.p.ants were Ma Rui and Gao Qin.
The main content of the meeting was aimed at Xiao Bai, who was now in the limelight.
The main content of the meeting was aimed at Xiao Bai, who was now in the limelight.
Xiao Bai"s way of being famous was much like those artists in the entertainment circle who relied on swearing, revealing people"s privacy and cursing other leading artists — the speed was fast, the way was strange and the targeted area was large; however, the route that Xiao Bai took was the idol route. In Ma Rui"s words: He was a deformed freak. He never went through a long-term professional training. He spoke and worked with a one-track mind and offended people unconsciously. He was a hot taro, but could make money.
“I think it"s best to hide him first, let"s not expose him to the audience so quickly. Let"s wait a bit more and fix his brain a little more to make it intact, so that he won"t always carelessly say what"s on his mind.” Zhou Minli"s agency was not easy to deal with. Just a cynical phone call from them was enough to make people"s scalp numb.
Gao Qin smiled and said: "I think he"s doing quite well now. He"s going to carve and have his own unique style. The main reason why Yimate"s unable to produce a new star like Aaron Feng is because we"re constantly duplicating Aaron Feng. However, no matter how good the trained newcomers are and no matter how much they look like Aaron Feng, it"s impossible to replace him. Therefore, it"s time for me to consider changing my mindset and set out for a new path."
Ma Rui disagreed with him, "Aaron Feng"s success shows that the public likes this kind of style. Aaron Feng will grow old one day, of course, we need to find him a successor. Isn"t Zhang Fuman doing the same? In the recent years, how many people did he find with the same style as Yan Su"ang?"
You would always run behind Zhang Fuman"s a.s.s like this, but you would never really surpa.s.s him.
This sentence made a turn in Gao Qin"s mouth, but in the end, he chose not to speak it out.
Ma Rui added: "I"m not trying to give up on Xiao Bai. I just feel that it"s irresponsible for us to let him fumble around like this. After all, an artist"s road to fame is very long. Now that he had offended everyone in the entertainment circle, who would dare to use him in the future? You also know that in this circle, people rely on relationship and face."
Gao Qin had to admit that his words were reasonable, "I"ll go back and think about it.”
"Of course, since I handed over the manager role to you, it"s natural that I completely believe in you." Ma Rui straightened his body with satisfaction then added, "I see that this kid, Jia Zhiqing, isn"t bad. He"s very clever and willing to learn. It"s a pity he doesn"t have a good face. If he"s got Xiao Bai"s cheeks, I"ll give him all of my support."
Did he mean to say Xiao Bai has looks but no brains while Jia Zhiqing has brains but no looks?
Gao Qin pursed his lips, "If CEO Ma has Xiao Bai"s looks and Jia Zhiqing"s brains, I wouldn"t have supported Aaron Feng."
Ma Rui: "…" f.u.c.k! When I was talking for so long, I thought the poison in his tongue has been detoxified, didn"t expect I"d be deceived like this!