Boss, He Is Chasing Stars Again Chapter 1
by“Next, we bring you a piece of social news. Recently, the A City police received a tip-off from an enthusiastic citizen in Xiangyang District. The A City Public Security Bureau immediately launched an operation and apprehended actor Tan Bin and other involved individuals. The case is currently under further investigation.”
The host on the television was still recounting actor Tan Bin’s debut history and representative works. Jian Xingzhi sighed and turned off the TV. Jian Lezhi sidled over, patting her brother’s shoulder with a grin: “Bro, I’m telling you, this entertainment industry Medusa physique of yours is seriously toxic. Even a small actor who was obscure for years and only became popular for three months has crashed. If you ask me, you should just stop being a fan.”
If Jian Xingzhi wasn’t her biological brother, Jian Lezhi wouldn’t believe that a CEO’s hobby could be following celebrities—and one who causes every celebrity he follows to crash. Jian Lezhi was losing count of how many celebrities Jian Xingzhi had caused to crash, including the one on TV.
“I think you don’t have enough homework. Do you want me to arrange for you to board at school?” Jian Xingzhi shot her a look. Jian Lezhi immediately bristled: “Bro, who boards at a noble high school? You, a dignified CEO, coming up with such a rotten idea—people would laugh themselves sick if they heard it.”
She just exposed his weakness, how petty.
In fact, it wasn’t just Jian Lezhi; even he himself was puzzled.
How could this happen?
The celebrities he became a fan of were perfectly fine when he started following them. To immerse himself, he even learned how to vote and stream, working a serious second shift after a tiring day at work, only for them all to be wiped out. Moreover, he noticed that the speed at which celebrities crashed was directly proportional to the amount of money he spent—the more he spent, the faster they crashed.
Especially that popular actress Wu Yafu, who debuted young and had almost no negative reviews for years. Jian Xingzhi became her fan because of the female-led drama she starred in, only for her to be exposed for tax evasion, making her virtually erased from the entertainment industry.
Not to mention the national younger brother he followed who was exposed for simultaneously dating six girls, eventually earning the collective nickname “Six-Pack of Yellow Pills,” and the actor Tan Bin on TV, who was obscure for years, finally gained attention, and then immediately hit his career peak upon debut.
If this level of public notoriety counted as a career peak.
Although strictly speaking, this wasn’t Jian Xingzhi’s fault, Jian Lezhi still felt her brother was too toxic when it came to being a fan: “Bro, I’m serious. Next time you plan to follow someone, tell me in advance. I promise I won’t become their fan.”
“Go away. I didn’t force them to do those things.” They were perfectly fine when he became a fan. It was the same when he became a fan of Tan Bin this time; he felt he had finally unearthed a hidden gem from a corner of the entertainment industry. Who knew the gem would turn into a pig?
Seeing that her brother wouldn’t listen to advice, Jian Lezhi shook her head, slung her backpack on, and prepared to return to her room. Jian Xingzhi quickly stopped her: “Wait, whose merchandise is on your backpack? I don’t think I’ve seen it before.”
Jian Xingzhi had bought countless pieces of merchandise, even dedicating an entire room to storing them. However, the merchandise in that room came and went quickly, never lasting long. Later, Jian Xingzhi became much more restrained in his purchases, not wanting to relive the days of merchandise turning into trash.
Jian Lezhi’s heart tightened. She laughed awkwardly, hugging her backpack as she ran back to her room: “It’s from the one we followed together before, the one who crashed later. I’ve been busy studying, so I forgot to take the keychain off. I’ll take it off when I get back, I’ll take it off.”
Feeling guilty, Jian Lezhi hid the doll’s face in her palm, not daring to let Jian Xingzhi see it. She had secretly started following a minor celebrity recently and couldn’t let her brother find out, so she had to be secretive about her fandom.
Though it felt a bit disloyal, Jian Lezhi didn’t want to gamble on whether Jian Xingzhi’s crashing physique would affect her own idol.
She used to be happy when she could follow celebrities with her brother, but after realizing the truth, she started following them in secret. Fortunately, because of Jian Xingzhi’s crashing physique, although Jian Lezhi loved following celebrities, she didn’t have much of a fan filter for them, maintaining a terrifyingly stable mindset.
If they crash, they crash. The next one will be better.
Jian Lezhi closed the door, hugging her backpack, and breathed a sigh of relief. She touched the cotton doll hanging on her backpack and then contentedly started on her homework.
But Jian Lezhi still couldn’t understand why her brother, who seemed completely unrelated to celebrity fandom, loved it so much.
If Jian Xingzhi knew Jian Lezhi’s thoughts, he would probably say, “You don’t understand my joy.”
Jian Xingzhi looked at the black TV screen and, feeling depressed, opened his phone to prepare to sell Tan Bin’s merchandise. Opening the used goods app, he found the page was full of the same merchandise he had collected.
Thanks to Tan Bin’s hit drama, Jian Xingzhi estimated that no one would want them even at a discounted price now. Jian Xingzhi tapped his finger, setting every piece of merchandise at 0.01 yuan, or one cent, with free shipping. He wasn’t short on that little bit of money anyway.
Jian Xingzhi looked up at the room storing the merchandise upstairs and silently sighed. It looked like it needed another clearing out.
But Jian Lezhi looked a little strange just now. The cotton doll on her bag didn’t seem to match any of the celebrities he remembered. It shouldn’t be a celebrity she followed with him. Jian Lezhi wasn’t an adult yet, and Jian Xingzhi managed her allowance quite strictly. Her purchasing power for merchandise was definitely not as high as his.
Did she start following a celebrity behind his back?
Jian Xingzhi narrowed his eyes, preparing to sneak upstairs and catch Jian Lezhi off guard.
Jian Lezhi was hunched over her desk doing homework. Although the coursework wasn’t extremely heavy, she still had to take it seriously. When she got tired, she would touch the cotton doll, watch a video of the minor celebrity, and immediately regain her motivation.
When Jian Xingzhi knocked, Jian Lezhi had just reached for the cotton doll. Hearing the sound, she swiftly hid her hand behind her backpack, trying to mute her phone and hide it, but she was a second too late.
“Bro, why did you suddenly come up?” Jian Lezhi gave an awkward laugh, only managing to flip her phone face down.
Jian Lezhi definitely had something to hide. Jian Xingzhi looked at the cotton doll on her bag. Under Jian Lezhi’s nervous gaze, he picked it up and looked at it, asking casually: “This doll is quite nice. Which crashed minor celebrity is it? You still can’t bear to take it off even though they crashed.”
Almost all the minor celebrities Jian Xingzhi and Jian Lezhi had followed together had crashed. Jian Lezhi laughed awkwardly and said: “Well, the celebrity crashed, but the doll didn’t do anything wrong, so I kept it. Um, Bro, I still have homework to do, you…”
“Mama loves you!!!”
A sharp scream came from Jian Lezhi’s face-down phone, seemingly mixed with the name of a minor celebrity, though Jian Xingzhi didn’t catch it clearly. Jian Xingzhi immediately confirmed his suspicion and looked at Jian Lezhi with a questioning gaze: “Jian Lezhi, you were secretly following a celebrity behind my back! Didn’t we agree to follow celebrities together?”
Since Jian Xingzhi had found out, Jian Lezhi decided to admit it recklessly: “Oh, Bro, I didn’t mean to secretly follow someone behind your back. It’s just that your luck is a bit bad, and I was afraid you’d cause the minor celebrity I follow to crash too.”
Despite saying this, Jian Lezhi kept her phone face down, guarding against her brother like a thief, terrified that he would see who the minor celebrity was.
Jian Xingzhi took a deep breath and told Jian Lezhi: “Give me your phone, and I’ll forgive you for secretly following a celebrity.”
Jian Lezhi stuck out her tongue at Jian Xingzhi: “No way. Bro, I really like this one. Please don’t follow him.”
Jian Xingzhi ultimately didn’t make things difficult for Jian Lezhi and walked out of her room with a dark expression. However, before leaving, Jian Xingzhi glanced at the writing on the cotton doll and saw the minor celebrity’s name: Shi Xingze.
“Achoo!”
Shi Xingze inexplicably sneezed. His assistant quickly handed him a tissue. His manager, Brother Long, frowned and nagged Shi Xingze: “Did you turn up the air conditioning again recently because you wanted to cool down? As an artist, your schedule is already upside down. If you don’t take care of your health, you’ll break down.”
Shi Xingze nodded. Brother Long’s real name was Pang Yalong. Although his name sounded imposing, he was actually a very meticulous and caring person. However, Shi Xingze touched his forehead; he didn’t feel like he had a cold. Was someone talking about him?
Brother Long was relieved to see that he was listening. Disobedient artists were a headache: “Although you passed the preliminary selection for the Starlight Training Camp, you can’t get complacent. Do you remember Dai Mingcheng, the national younger brother who debuted from a previous survival show?”
“Yes, he was so popular. I’ve heard of him.” Shi Xingze probably guessed what Brother Long was trying to say and nodded cooperatively.
Brother Long reached out and smoothed down a strand of Shi Xingze’s hair that was sticking up. While checking his styling, he said: “Look how popular Dai Mingcheng was during the show. Although he wasn’t the leader, his popularity was no less than the leader’s. What happened? He couldn’t control himself, was exposed by those six girls, and was given such a terrible nickname. Even capital couldn’t save him.”
Brother Long was also secretly following the news the day Dai Mingcheng was exposed with long articles and pictures released by the six girls.
Brother Long still felt regretful thinking about it. With such high popularity, why didn’t he cherish himself? It was likely that the first thing people would remember about Dai Mingcheng in the future would be that nickname, “Six-Pack of Yellow Pills.”
As a man himself, Brother Long always felt that the nickname sounded like a sign of poor kidney health, but Dai Mingcheng didn’t deserve sympathy anyway.
At least the nickname wasn’t about him.
Shi Xingze smiled at Brother Long: “Don’t worry, Brother Long. I will work hard and definitely won’t disappoint you!”
Shi Xingze was still in his second year of university. Brother Long looked at Shi Xingze’s youthful and innocent face, patting his shoulder encouragingly, speaking like an experienced veteran: “There’s still a lot to learn in the entertainment industry. You’re young, so take your time. But there’s one thing you must remember: don’t touch what you shouldn’t touch, and don’t skimp on what you shouldn’t skimp on. Look how many people have crashed in recent years. Even the popular actress Wu Yafu, whom everyone was optimistic about, crashed. I wonder if she offended the Grand Duke of Jupiter.”
Even Brother Long himself had been optimistic about her future development at the time. It was truly bizarre.
The staff inside politely came over and said it was their turn. Shi Xingze understood and smiled at Brother Long: “I remember. I’ll go in now.”
In the Jian family villa, Jian Xingzhi inexplicably sneezed. Was someone talking about him?
Jian Xingzhi didn’t take it too seriously. He took out his phone and searched for the name he had just seen: Shi Xingze.
Shi Xingze seemed to be a minor celebrity who had recently debuted. There weren’t many pictures or news about him online. The highest-clicked link was a compilation of contestant profiles released by the Starlight Training Camp. Jian Xingzhi scrolled through three pages before finding Shi Xingze.
Jian Xingzhi clicked on the high-definition image. Shi Xingze was smiling at the camera with great infectiousness, and even Jian Xingzhi’s inner gloom dissipated somewhat after seeing it.
Jian Xingzhi found Shi Xingze’s personal account and followed it. He wanted to see what kind of charm Shi Xingze possessed that Jian Lezhi was so determined to keep him a secret.
He would follow him.