Chapter 11: Two phone calls
Translator: Aafkee
Proofreader: ChaiTea
The scandal between Shen Yu and Wan Sheng caused a slight ruckus nonetheless. Zhong Simo, who was sitting leisurely in his own office and had a sudden interest in Weibo’s hot searches, happened to see news related to their scandal.
He lifted his brow as he read through the article rapidly.
“What a touching love story.”
Mary was organising the details regarding their collaboration with Tian Chen and was about to pass Zhong Simo some documents for him to look over when she suddenly heard her boss sighing out loud. She could feel her temples throbbing.
Hearing that tone of voice, Mary wondered which idiot was it this time that provoked this person here who no one could afford to offend.
Zhong Simo commented again before Mary could even ask, “Judging from the whole article, this masterpiece is probably written by a talented primary school kid who had taken inspiration from all the classic love stories from both ancient and modern times, from both locally and overseas. Unfortunately, this person had clearly extracted all the core essence from their inspiration while leaving behind a ruined mess.”
“Boss.”
“Hm?”
“I can tell that you’re scolding someone but please use a language that a normal person can understand.”
“I’m thinking of signing you up for a Chinese language training course,” Zhong Simo smiled as he pointed at his phone screen and said, “This headline is absolute trash.”
With Zhong Simo’s tacit permission, Mary leaned over to glance over the content displayed on the phone and nodded in agreement.
“Although my Chinese language level is, indeed, limited, I can still tell that this is a classic way of how a low-cost marketing social media account would write their articles.”
“Shen Yu sure is a poor thing. Not only does he not have a reliable assistant and an operation team, but his popularity is also divided among other people the moment he begins to have a taste of it. There’s no way he’ll become popular with that team of his.”
Zhong Simo did not comment on Mary’s criticism because he was still looking at his phone, his growing interest blatant on his face. Although he had yet to confirm his own feelings towards Shen Yu, he still wanted to get himself involved in this matter from both the perspective of his personal feelings, as well as the perspective of him wanting to pay back for Shen Yu’s kindness.
“Boss, what are you still looking at?” Mary could not help but ask.
“This female idol looks familiar. Where have I seen Wan Sheng before?” Zhong Simo lifted his brow as he tried to recall. He had a pretty good memory but it was impossible to remember every single face he had seen before.
Hearing that, Mary unlocked the tablet that she always brought around and had a quick search before she answered, “Wan Sheng does not have much fame in the entertainment industry but she apparently has a financial backer.”
“Ah, I remember,” Zhong Simo let out a sneer when he heard Mary’s words. He tilted his head and continued, “Half a month ago, one of the rich kids who hangs out with Yan Caizhu had a birthday party so I went for a bit to show my face. She was the one who those young masters brought that time, saying that she’s a popular streamer and can give them a live performance right then and there..”
“What performance?” Mary had some understanding regarding that circle but she could not think of what type of performances could possibly satisfy those young masters on the top of her head. She reckoned that even a performance at the National Centre for the Performing Arts could not keep their attention for more than 15 minutes.
“I left early so I didn’t see it for myself but I speculate that it was an action film.”
“Huh?” Mary’s head had not wrapped around the idea yet.
“A live-action film that could be done in a single, shoddy shot, pixelisation to cover some parts and finally accompanied by some Japanese subtitles. You get the idea?”
Mary finally understood. Her face became red and purple, and she was left speechless.
“No way. Mary, how old are you? Why are you so pure and innocent?” Zhong Simo interrupted that air of awkwardness with his casual question.
“Thank you for the information, boss. No matter, the pure and innocent me has already decided to get married and yet, the impure and not innocent you still does not have a boyfriend.” Mary would never give up any opportunities to laugh at Zhong Simo.
No matter how awesome Zhong Simo was, he was indeed losing at this aspect so he could only admit his loss this time.
“I initially thought she was merely a newbie brought in by them whose main responsibility lies in pleasing those young masters. I didn’t think she would dare to act too, let alone trying to hype up a scandal.”
Although having a financial backer in the entertainment circle wasn’t all that uncommon, it was a huge risk for celebrities given how public their profession was. Their reputation could be in complete ruin with just a small mistake. Therefore, even if these celebrities did have financial backers or sugar daddies, they were usually less blatant about it so as to avoid leaving behind any evidence that could be used against them.
None of Wan Sheng’s actions corresponded to her profession at all.
Seeing how interested Zhong Simo seemed in this incident, Mary suggested, “Boss, do you want me to assign someone to look into this?”
“There’s no need for so much trouble,” Zhong Simo shook his head and looked through his contacts on his phone for Yan Caizhu’s name, “I’ll ask directly.”
It was dinner time at the moment and the busy city was filled with aromatic smoke and fire. Everyone, regardless of status, was busy trying to fill up their stomach and get back the energy they had been spending as they worked hard throughout the day.
A young man was sitting at the corner of a cafe lazily, his cap covering half of his face, still half asleep, as he was waiting for the pasta he ordered. There was a busy flow of people outside the glass window while he, on the other side, looked as if he was on a vacation at a sunny, quiet beach, enjoying the light sea breeze, seemingly relaxed and content.
However,good things don’t last forever. Just as he was feeling the quiet peace, almost as if he was becoming a static piece of oil painting, his phone rang untimely. The languid yet leisurely melody of the song, “Havana”, flowed into the young man’s ears. He remained unmoving for several seconds before he took off his cap unhurriedly and dug out his phone.
And with those movements, the young man’s face was revealed completely. He had delicate facial features; his eyebrows were straight and thin, his skin fair and clear, his pairs of long and narrow red phoenix eyes were naturally slanted slightly upwards, forming a pretty shape. He was born with a natural blush on his cheeks and a pair of thin and rosy lips. His beautiful appearance was overbearing, it could almost be considered gender-neutral yet, it did not give out a sense of being overly feminine.
The young man let out a sigh of relief after glancing at the caller ID. He continued to spread out comfortably after changing his direction, the single ear chain on his left ear dangling along with his movements, shining a bright silver light.
“Hello? Zhong Simo, I can’t believe a busy bee like you is actually free to call me during working hours. Let me just put it out there first, I’m absolutely not related to any proper businesses you may be involved or interested in.” The young man rushed out his words before the other party could say anything once he picked up the call.
“I thought it was even rarer for Young Master Yan to pick up my call during this time period when nightlife is starting soon.” In regards to being sharp-tongued, Zhong Simo had never been at a disadvantage before.
“Forget it, don’t even mention anything about nightlife right now. You have no idea how I spent my last couple of days. It was almost as if I was part of some illegal gang or something. I did not even dare to show my face anywhere.” Yan Caizhu let out a big sigh and grumbled his unhappiness.
“Oh? Would you look at that? Which bestie are you in an argument with now?” Zhong Simo knew how untrustworthy Yan Caizhu’s words were so he responded without putting much thought into his words.
“If only he was my bestie. At most, I’d only need to buy a bag or something as an apology.” Yan Caizhu let out a sigh again. He had already been hiding near his apartment for a couple of days, not daring to meet any of his friends, “Do you remember what I said about the ethnically Chinese designer from America half a month ago? The one who takes inspiration from China’s traditional opera and who Master Xie asked me to accompany?”
Yan Caizhu was a well-known rich young master in the rich men circle of Beijing. He came from a very liberal family so he had no restraint in whatever he did. Because of that, he had a very good reputation amongst the like-minded rich young masters, earning him much protection and good humour from them. A mere stomp of his feet could cause a commotion within Beijing’s social circle.
However, he did have merit when compared to his good-for-nothing playmates, which was the fact that he had been passionate about Beijing opera since a young age and had apprenticed under a Beijing opera master, Xie Ruzhuo. He was actually a decent opera singer* at that. Although he seemed wanton and unrestrained on the outside, he was extremely clear-headed regarding what was right and wrong. He respected his master and friends, which was the reason why he earned Zhong Simo’s friendship.
(T/N*: There is a type of opera where a male actor would play the female role, which was what Yan Caizhu was involved in.)
With Yan Caizhu’s reminder, Zhong Simo finally recalled that there was indeed such a thing. That Chinese designer was pretty famous in the fashion scene and his personal brands were developing pretty well in these last couple of years.
“It was not as if you have never accompanied someone before. You only need to ask your assistant to arrange his meals and accommodation, accompany him and walk around for a couple of days, chat a bit more if you guys hit it off, or find an excuse not to meet him. It’s that simple. What made you so spooked?”
“You won’t understand.” Yan Caizhu seemed to want to grumble more but swallowed his words at the last minute and changed the subject, “You must have been extremely busy judging from the news about the collaboration between you and Tian Chen. There’s no way you’d call me without an objective. Go ahead and say what you need from me?”
Zhong Simo had no intention to pry if Yan Caizhu was unwilling to talk about it himself. They were both adults, they had a clear idea of whether or not they could solve their own problems. As a friend, he should give him some personal space.
“We met this female celebrity called Wan Sheng when I went to the Luo family’s young master’s birthday party with you last time. Do you know what her situation is like?” Zhong Simo stated the intention of his call.
“Wow, what is happening today? Why is everyone calling me to ask about Wan Sheng?” Yan Caizhu was stupefied when he heard Zhong Simo’s question and could not help but laugh afterwards.
“Who else asked you about her?”
“A distant relative, my younger female cousin. She has been playing around with filming some TV drama or something and Wan Sheng is her female lead.”
Thank you for the chapter!
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