Chapter 2

Chapter 2

In Pei Chuzhi’s view, as a fan of Xing Ye, Qiao Na shouldn’t make such a fuss over this little twist.

After all, since Xing Ye’s debut, he had had not ten but at least eight scandals.

A few minutes later, Qiao Na, who had finished scrolling through Weibo, raised her head, her face full of an indescribable expression.

Seeing this, Pei Chuzhi also took out her phone: “Your expression is strange. Could it be real this time?”

She casually tapped into the trending searches and immediately saw the video posted by marketing accounts.

The video was obviously secretly filmed. The clarity wasn’t very high, but it was enough to see what was happening.

The tall, straight figure in the night—at a glance, it had to be Xing Ye.

The video seemed to be shot in spring. Xing Ye wore a dark shirt and matching long pants. From afar, his body proportions looked unbelievable. He walked hurriedly; after entering the frame, he quickly got into a business vehicle.

The business vehicle did not drive away immediately.

More than ten seconds later, a young woman with a graceful figure walked out of the shadows.

She stood outside and exchanged a few words with the person inside the car, then opened the door and got in.

The camera zoomed in a bit more. Through the rear window of the business vehicle, one could vaguely see the two facing each other and talking.

This kind of situation could indeed be understood as a late-night private meeting.

—If the “meeting partner” were not Pei Chuzhi herself.

Pei Chuzhi put down her phone and finally understood why Qiao Na’s expression had been so complicated just now.

A few minutes ago she had just said she wasn’t interested in riding Xing Ye’s popularity, and a few minutes later a video of them riding in the same car climbed onto the trending searches.

She took a deep breath and slowly spoke: “Listen to my explanation.”

“No need to explain.”

Qiao Na grasped her hands tightly, her eyes mixed with envy and relief. “I was immature just now. I didn’t expect you two had already developed to this stage. Zhizhi, well done!”

“…”

Pei Chuzhi withdrew her hand and rubbed her brow bone. She had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, the next second, her phone rang.

It was her agent Tang Dong.

·

Tang Dong asked for Pei Chuzhi’s location and personally drove over to “escort” her to the company.

As soon as the car started, Tang Dong began interrogating her:

“What’s going on with the trending search? When did you hook up with Xing Ye? Last time I advised you to ride the popularity, what did you say to me?”

“‘Do you want me to get out of the entertainment industry?’ You said it so nicely, but how did you rush up yourself? The company had zero preparation. Zhizhi, are you trying to shorten my lifespan?”

“Oh no, I can’t do it. Let me find where my quick-acting heart pills are.”

Looking at her agent’s thin, bony frame, Pei Chuzhi was really afraid he might faint from anxiety.

She cleared her throat and said awkwardly: “Brother Tang, calm down. I just caught a ride.”

“Xing Ye let you catch a ride?”

Tang Dong steadied his breathing before asking through gritted teeth, “What exactly happened? Explain clearly.”

This matter was not complicated.

Two months ago, Pei Chuzhi was chosen by the director to film an advertisement with Xing Ye.

The advertisement only filmed for two days in total, so the company did not assign her an assistant to follow the crew. Every morning, the driver would drop her at the suburban studio, and then leave her there to fend for herself.

On the first day, they wrapped early, and Pei Chuzhi took a taxi back to the city herself.

But when all the filming finished on the second day, the time was already close to two in the morning.

The studio was in a remote location, with no people around.

Pei Chuzhi waited outside the studio gate for a long time. Not to mention taxis, she didn’t even see a single illegal cab.

No drivers accepted orders on the ride-hailing app, and Tang Dong couldn’t be contacted because he was on an international flight.

At that moment, Xing Ye came out of the studio after changing clothes.

Pei Chuzhi politely greeted him: “Teacher Xing, you’ve worked hard.”

Xing Ye nodded, then stood in place and called his assistant to bring the car over.

He had just turned twenty-three this year, only two years older than Pei Chuzhi. The two should have been considered peers.

But with his experience and status, the title “teacher” was naturally something he could bear.

After greeting him, Pei Chuzhi continued fiddling with the ride-hailing app, with no intention of awkwardly chatting to seize the opportunity.

Although the interaction between the two in the finished advertisement was full of tension, in reality, due to the short shooting schedule, they hadn’t had time to get familiar with each other.

Just as the failed ride notification popped up, a low, hoarse male voice suddenly came from above her head: “Your assistant didn’t come?”

Pei Chuzhi raised her head and met Xing Ye’s pitch-black eyes.

His eyes were long and narrow, his eye sockets deep. Because of the height difference, he slightly lowered his gaze, somehow giving off a strong sense of pressure.

There was a bit of distance between them. The streetlight stretched his shadow very long, enveloping Pei Chuzhi entirely.

“Ah, I don’t have an assistant.”

Pei Chuzhi answered frankly. She lifted her phone and said with a smile, “But I can take a taxi back.”

The screen light illuminated Xing Ye’s cold jawline. He seemed to raise his brow, then said nothing more.

Not long after, a business vehicle stopped outside the gate.

Pei Chuzhi watched Xing Ye get into the car. Just as she was about to call someone else for help, she heard the sound of the car window slowly lowering.

“Get in.”

Xing Ye turned his face to look at her, his figure immersed in dim light.

Pei Chuzhi froze: “Me?”

Xing Ye’s brows slightly furrowed, and his lips pressed into a straight line, as if he thought she had asked a useless question.

Thinking of the industry rumors that he had a bad temper, Pei Chuzhi could only brace herself and walk to the car, asking one last time: “Wouldn’t it be too troublesome for you—”

Xing Ye glanced at her, leaned back lazily against the seat, his voice a little impatient: “Are you getting in or not.”

Clearly an act of helping others, yet his urging made it seem like he was forcibly abducting a civilian woman.

Those who understand the times are wise.

In the end, Pei Chuzhi obediently got into the car.

“Anyway, that’s what happened. We didn’t contact each other afterward.” Pei Chuzhi felt very innocent. “I didn’t expect someone would secretly film it.”

Tang Dong was silent for a long while. The words he had prepared on the way were hard to say.

In the end, this matter should be blamed on the company for not valuing Pei Chuzhi, which almost caused her to be unable to get home after work.

But the current situation being tricky was also a fact.

Originally, when he suggested that Pei Chuzhi ride Xing Ye’s popularity, he only planned to use the title “female lead of Xing Ye’s advertisement,” then slightly embellish their cooperation process, skirting the edge to raise her recognition a bit.

But now, this was great—she had directly soared onto the trending searches together with Xing Ye.

Tang Dong thought for a moment and said, “Right now, netizens haven’t figured out who you are yet. But your ad together is playing everywhere. It won’t be long before people recognize you.”

Pei Chuzhi’s heart skipped a beat, and the image of herself being hung online and mocked to death appeared in her mind.

She wondered if it was still too late to quit the entertainment industry now.

Tang Dong didn’t know what she was thinking and continued analyzing while turning the steering wheel: “Xing Ye is basically a walking blood bag. Quite a few female stars have leached off him. But they themselves are more famous than you. Even if Xing Ye personally denies it, they can still turn the follow-up attention into traffic resources.”

Pei Chuzhi shook her head repeatedly: “This kind of attention is too hot to handle. One careless move and it could burn me to death.”

Coincidentally, Xing Ye’s fans were called “Wildfire.” She could practically see herself tied to a stake like a medieval witch and burned to death.

After hearing her, Tang Dong felt an even worse headache: “The key is we still have to explain clearly to Xing Ye’s side. Otherwise, if they suspect we leaked it ourselves…”

The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. He stepped hard on the gas, wanting to rush back to the company to discuss follow-up operations with the PR department.

But when they were less than one kilometer from their destination, a phone call from the company stunned him on the spot.

Tang Dong pulled over to the roadside, his face pale: “Xing Ye came to the door.”

·

Huaxing Entertainment was a small company established less than five years ago.

The most popular artist under them had only just reached the edge of second-tier. Bottom-tier unknowns like Pei Chuzhi made up most of the signed roster.

Limited by the shareholders’ financial strength, Huaxing Entertainment’s office building in a certain film and television park also looked somewhat shabby.

The five-story gray building had a uniform decoration style from the developer. Like other performing arts companies in the park, it was filled with the humble aura of “we’re very unpopular.”

And at this moment, Huaxing Entertainment’s meeting room was glowing with prestige.

Pei Chuzhi quietly lifted her eyes, sizing up the two people sitting across the long table.

The industry-famous gold-medal agent Song Shiqing wore a neat suit. His silver-rimmed glasses gave him a cold elite aura. The glance he swept over seemed as if he were calculating how many years of imprisonment Pei Chuzhi should receive.

And sitting beside him, Xing Ye wore a loose black sweater, the sleeves rolled up to reveal his smoothly lined forearms.

Though there was no extra expression on his face, his entire person inexplicably carried a prickly hostility.

Pei Chuzhi suspected they had come to demand accountability.

Tang Dong also remembered the rumored flamboyant personality of Xing Ye who acted recklessly. His voice trembled slightly: “We also just received the news. The video really wasn’t released from our side.”

He paused, then suddenly raised his volume as if to add credibility, “And our Zhizhi is Teacher Xing’s loyal fan. Even if you gave her a hundred times more courage, she wouldn’t dare tarnish her idol!”

Pei Chuzhi: “…”

She had her own idol, okay? And what did “tarnish” even mean?

But the well-intentioned lie seemed to please Xing Ye. He lazily lifted his eyelids and asked, “Is that so?”

Under the circumstances, Pei Chuzhi had no choice but to admit: “Yes. I was too shy during the ad shoot, I didn’t even dare ask for an autograph.”

Forget it—Xing Ye was publicly acknowledged as handsome with good acting. Being his fake fan wasn’t embarrassing.

When the atmosphere eased slightly, Song Shiqing pushed his glasses and spoke calmly:

“Please don’t be nervous, you two. We’ve already investigated. The video was released by a reporter who has long been following Xing Ye. So coming here today, first of all, we want to apologize to Miss Pei. Sorry for implicating you.”

Such a reasonable speech moved Tang Dong to tears of gratitude.

Pei Chuzhi glanced at him. Both were agents—by comparison, hers was simply too cowardly.

Song Shiqing raised his hand, signaling Tang Dong not to be too touched: “However, I think you both know that Xing Ye has been troubled by scandals since his debut. Although we’ve spent a lot of effort clarifying afterward each time, over time it still affects his image in the public’s mind.”

Of course Pei Chuzhi knew this.

Xing Ye’s do-as-he-pleases personality was extremely rare in the entertainment industry.

Such a distinct personality could both attract fans rapidly and draw attacks from keyboard warriors.

He was already a life winner with money and background. Coupled with occasional scandals, many haters online scolded him for “improper conduct, entering the industry just to flirt with girls.”

As for some harsher and more vulgar remarks, Pei Chuzhi didn’t even want to recall them.

Thinking about it this way, she felt Xing Ye was actually quite pitiful.

Clearly every time it was other actresses hyping things up, yet in the end, what people remembered was only “Xing Ye tangled with another woman again.”

Tang Dong, who had once also planned to leech off his popularity, felt a bit embarrassed and used the act of drinking water to hide his shame.

Song Shiqing didn’t mind his action. He just looked at Pei Chuzhi and smiled gently: “So after discussion, the company decided that rather than constantly having scandals with different female artists, it’s better to hold the initiative in our own hands.”

Pei Chuzhi asked alertly: “What do you mean?”

Song Shiqing said: “It means we want to ask Miss Pei whether you’re willing to cooperate with Xing Ye to hype a CP.”

Tang Dong spat out a mouthful of water.

Author’s note: This kind of operation is generally called: coming to propose marriage.

Thanks to the little angels who cast overlord tickets or irrigated nutrient solution for me~

Thanks to the little angels who cast landmines: Ti Ti raises Ti Ti 5;

Thanks to the little angels who irrigated nutrient solution: Ti Ti raises Ti Ti 15 bottles; Ye Zhen, Echo, xxxjenny 10 bottles;

Thank you very much for everyone’s support, I will continue to work hard!