Chapter 8: What should I pay him back
Translator: Aafkee
Proofreader: ChaiTea
The Weibo hot search was the assembly of the focuses of the different social circles in the society. It was updated every minute, 365 days a year. There were countless and all sorts of hashtags and keywords.
Supposedly, as a professional assistant of a major director, there was no need for Mary to care about those hot searches that end up on the trending list by chance. Yet, this silly hot search regarding Shen Yu actually caused her fingers to tremble, resulting in her drawing a slanted brow.
“I swear I’ll never fiddle with my phone again the next time I touch up my makeup.”
Mary was grumbling, but her expression was serious. She did not choose to salvage her brow but instead, decided to click open the hot search immediately and send a message to the PR department in passing.
When she just found out about her boss’s tracks last night, she racked her brain trying to figure out how to delete the clips from the main security cameras. She also checked who exactly brought her boss back last night and could finally relax after everything was sorted. Then, she discovered this third-rate appearing out of nowhere, trending as one of the hot searches on Weibo.
Good Samaritan, what a coincidence.
Mary bit her lower lips as she quickly browsed through all the popular posts. She found that the majority of the people were only hahaha-ing, a minority of them were trashing or praising Shen Yu’s appearance and acting. After making sure that there was almost nothing that could give her boss away, she finally relaxed.
It seemed like she had overthought things and that side had nothing to do with this.
Mary put down the eyebrow pencil which she had been clenching tightly in her hands and notified her colleagues from the PR department to hold their actions for now. Her other senses returned after the emergency state had passed. The beauty with curly hair looked at the term “middle-aged uncle” and laughed. She finally had the spare time to fix her delicate brows, picked up her iPad and went upstairs again to report on the situation.
It was already past noon, Zhong Simo had already gotten out of the bed and tidied himself up. When Mary pushed open the door and went into the room, he was sitting beside a window with his back facing the door. He was wearing a bright coloured t-shirt, which was rarely seen on him, both his arms were straightened behind him to support his body which was slightly leaned back, basking in the sunlight.
“Have you booked the plane tickets?” Zhong Simo stretched himself and turned to ask. The tips of his brows always lifted slightly when he smiled, his eyes narrowing into an eye smile. Accompanied by that good looking face, he was seemingly romantic and yet not greasy.
“It’s done, it’s a direct flight to Beijing in two hours. If there are no other problems, we can set off now.” Mary ignored Zhong Simo’s good looks and answered calmly. In any case, no matter how good looking he was, there was no way he would become hers fundamentally given his sexual orientation. Who knew which family’s little boy would become his unfortunate target in the future.
“I have no problem with it, let’s tidy up and go.” Zhong Simo nodded his head but Mary had not finished what she wanted to say.
“Just a moment, Boss. You asked me to check how you came back last night.”
“You got it?”
“Why don’t you have a look at Weibo’s hot search yourself?”
Seeing that Mary was unwilling to continue the topic, Zhong Simo could only take out his phone and open his Weibo. He was usually not that concerned about the hot searches as they reflect the rules while he was someone who formulated rules.
However, he was usually willing to cooperate with his assistant with her cliffhangers under normal circumstances. He was someone who knew how to be both easy-going and serious depending on the situation. The reason why Zhong Simo’s studio had such a cohesive team had a high correlation to its owner’s high EQ and charisma.
Mary watched Zhong Simo as he swiped on his phone screen with his brows creased. He would pause every now and then, let out a light chuckle at the end, but never displayed a particular expression that she was expecting.
“Contact the department and ask them to get that hot search off the trending list without any drama.” Zhong Simo ordered after he put down his phone a few minutes later.
Mary waited for a few seconds and no other orders came. She hesitated, “What about after that? Do we not need to find out why this happened?”
“It’s merely an accident.” Zhong Simo understood Mary’s intention. He crossed over the couch with his long legs and sat himself down.
“Although Zhou Qianhe isn’t smart, she isn’t brainless either. Regardless of whether she’s trying to provoke me or use dirty tricks on me, all of those actions of hers were done privately. If she dares to do those things publicly and reveal our family scandals to the public, Chen Yi will be the first one that would not forgive her.”
Zhong Simo was half leaning on the couch when he said those, his eyes were narrowed and overflowing with disdain.
“As long as you are well aware of the situation.”
It somehow made Mary let out a sigh of relief to hear Zhong Simo speaking about his conflicts with his father and stepmother. As long as he did not keep it to himself in his heart, she had never seen Zhong Simo being afraid of anyone before. She did not merely trust him blindly, it was trust that had built across the years she had witnessed him creating miracles.
“If you say that it was an accident, you must remember something from what happened last night.”
“Yeah, I do have a vague impression, it’s just that I didn’t know what his name was. He did not recognise me and my state did not allow me to freely ask him.” Zhong Simo squinted his eyes thoughtfully. As if extremely delighted, he patted on the phone lying next to him, “But now I know. Middle-aged uncle, ho.”
Mary wasn’t sure why Boss would have any favourable impression on that particular term, so she could only continue to say what was on her mind, “If he really did send a drunk stranger back to the hotel in the middle of the night and heavy rain without any ulterior motives, Shen Yu sure is warm-hearted.”
In other words, Mary did not find it believable. She had seen too many different types of celebrities in the entertainment circle, many of them would rush to cling to Zhong Simo’s influence and cause many unpleasant incidents. Over time, Mary would judge and examine others with caution every time she met someone.
“Did you not see how Shen Yu fans praised him for being warm-hearted but also a bit silly?” Zhong Simo nodded in agreement, it was difficult to tell if he was acting dumb or not.
“Do you actually believe in those character settings that management companies packaged nicely to show to the fans? You do know that those celebrities are forever perfect in the eyes of their fans, right?” Mary’s temples pulsed as she thought that it was all done for now that Boss must have become silly because that woman had angered him so much.
“He is merely an actor who is so obscure that even a passerby could not recognise him. I don’t think his company has any inclinations in packaging him in any set personality.” Zhong Simo shook his head as he recalled that young man from last night who was right up his alley in both appearance and temperament, his smile was much more authentic this time. He clasped his hands together and fiddled with his thumbs as he commented unhurriedly, “Besides, judging from what I saw last night, I don’t think that this summary of him is too far off.”
Mary never doubted Zhong Simo’s foresight when judging a person’s character. Since Zhong Simo was so sure that there was no problem, then there really was no problem. However, it made her even more puzzled.
“Since you think that Shen Yu is not too bad of a person, then why do you want to get rid of his hot search?” To a third-rated actor, it was no easy task to appear on the hot search. Every minute was a chance for him to gain more exposure.
“If not?” Zhong Simo counted, “Leave him as one of the trending hot searches for the rest of the day, let the netizens continue to hahaha a few more times, let those small variety programmes invite him to their show as a comedian to take advantage of his temporary popularity and then letting it end just like that?”
What Zhong Simo said was completely accurate but Mary could not agree. She was more familiar with the inside workings of the lower levels of the entertainment circle than Zhong Simo was, “But this is considered a very good resource for Shen Yu. A pretty good small wave of popularity, exposure and topic, who knows, he might get cast as the male lead of a small web drama or something. Besides, he did actually give you a hand, why are you ridiculing him?”
“If he sincerely wants to be a good actor, he doesn’t need to get himself involved in such a hideous mess.” Zhong Simo pondered for a moment before he continued, “As for paying him back… Mary, why don’t you give him a place in the casting audition for our collaboration film with Tian Chen?”
Although a casting audition spot from Director Zhong would not give as much exposure, it held much more value. If he performed well and got a word of praise or two from Zhong Simo, he would be marked as a skilled actor in the industry by all the other producers even if he did not get the role in the end. Comparing those two, the latter was definitely of more value to an actor.
Mary was surprised that Boss was being so generous this time. She suddenly thought of a ridiculous possibility so she smiled in high spirits and asked, “Boss, you didn’t fall in love at first sight, did you?”
Of course, although she said that, it was only a joke and even she herself did not actually believe it. After all, it was a well-known fact that Zhong Simo had extremely high expectations and no one had caught his interest all these years. There were even rumours of him not liking humans. And over time, Boss’s relationship became a playful topic among the employees during their leisure time.
But this time, Zhong Simo did not counter back with his sharp tongue as he usually did. Instead, he squinted his eyes and turned to face the sunlight. He only answered quietly after a moment, “Not exactly.”
That young man from last night, Shen Yu, appeared in front of him at the lowest point of his life, it was as if he was a bright, clear spring in the eyes of an exhausted traveller on a long journey. He was careful and paid attention to the smallest detail when he gave him the help he needed while not expecting anything in return. Zhong Simo could still remember the pure and warm aura the other party gave out vividly. He admitted that he longed to come into contact with such an aura again and, coincidentally, Shen Yu’s appearance was also his cup of tea. But Zhong Simo thought that if even this was considered love at first sight, then the word “love” was rather shallow. Indeed, he was interested in Shen Yu, but the rest could only come with more time and observations.
Mary did not waste any time when Zhong Simo was recalling the details about Shen Yu in his heart either. She took out the tablet which she always carried in person and checked on something. She then laughed and said, “Boss, you probably need to change the way you pay him back now.”
“How come?”
Mary passed her iPad to Zhong Simo. It was a day worth engraving into her memory, it was her first time seeing Zhong Simo blundering so many times in merely half a day.
“According to my examination, Shen Yu’s manager, Mei Fei, got a spot for the audition through relations from Tian Chen’s side. She has already given the spot to Shen Yu.”
“Tsk,” Zhong Simo took a glance and tossed the iPad aside. He rubbed between his eyebrows and said, “Then, I shall meet him again during the audition.”
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