Boss, He Is Chasing Stars Again Chapter 13
byChapter 13 Brother Long’s Call
After Shi Xingze hung up Brother Long’s call, he returned to the dorm room and opened his microblog. Sure enough, he saw the trending negative topic Brother Long had mentioned.
There were all sorts of comments under the hot search. Shi Xingze hadn’t even found the specific comment yet, but he was already being blamed for many things he couldn’t even explain. He scrolled for a while before finally finding the post Brother Long mentioned, which was allegedly a revelation from one of his university classmates.
Shi Xingze clicked on the person’s account. After looking at it for a long time, he couldn’t recall who the person was, but the location tag was indeed their university. As Shi Xingze scrolled down, intending to read more, the comment suddenly showed that it had been deleted, and the ranking of the hot search also began to drop.
He guessed that Brother Long’s side had started handling it. Sure enough, shortly after, he saw the clarification statement issued by Brother Long under the company’s name, refuting the online rumors. The situation finally calmed down a bit. Now, all they had to do was wait for the heat to slowly dissipate.
When he returned to the dorm, the other three roommates were already awake. Shi Xingze smiled and greeted them.
Huo Yan and Bai Jiayan nodded at Shi Xingze. Xie Jinhan held up his phone and waved it at Shi Xingze: “I saw what happened online. How are you? Are you okay?”
Huo Yan and Bai Jiayan, confused, took out their phones. Only then did they realize what had happened last night. They looked at Shi Xingze with concern. Shi Xingze explained to them, “It was a bit troublesome, but it’s been resolved. It was all baseless nonsense. By the way, what’s the schedule for today? Director Qi didn’t seem to say anything?”
Bai Jiayan shook his head, indicating he wasn’t sure, only knowing that there was no group recording today. Huo Yan, however, knew a bit of gossip regarding the song selection for the second public performance: “There seems to be a disagreement among the production team regarding the songs for the second public performance. I don’t know if it’s been resolved.”
Shi Xingze making it to the second public performance was already beyond his expectations, so he felt relatively calm. There were only seven debut spots in this Starlight Training Camp. Either way, there was no chance he would make it into the debut group.
He estimated that by the time he left the show, the mud slung at him would naturally dissipate.
Xie Jinhan’s group had a good number of votes and a high probability of entering the second public performance. Xie Jinhan glanced at the clarification posted by Shi Xingze’s manager on his phone and smiled at Shi Xingze, saying, “The rumors nowadays sound so convincing. Some people are even calling you gay.”
Shi Xingze remained unfazed: “It’s all a misunderstanding. I don’t know how borrowing a pen could lead to people calling me gay. But there’s a lot of true and false news in the entertainment industry. I assume you guys wouldn’t believe such groundless speculation, right?”
Huo Yan nodded: “Of course. But your luck seems a bit bad. Why is all the recent news about you negative?”
Shi Xingze also felt he had been unlucky recently, with even such baseless things spreading: “I don’t know. Maybe my luck is just a little poor lately.”
Although it was a good thing that the unknown fan was willing to vote for him, he had to admit that this level of affection was a little heavy for a small newcomer like him.
The first public performance recording was over, but the fan voting outside the venue had not ended. The production team was currently discussing the song selection for the second public performance. All the other songs were fine; the problematic one involved Tan Bin, who had recently suffered a career collapse and made headlines.
Tan Bin’s starring drama, The Past of Chengxi, was the most popular serious drama in the first half of the year. The production team originally planned to include The Past of Chengxi’s ending theme song in the Starlight Training Camp song library to capitalize on the popularity. They had even negotiated the adaptation rights. Who knew this incident would happen at the last minute?
Director Qi Xinci wanted to replace the song immediately. Some popularity, if chased, could lead to trouble. He was counting on this show to become a hit and would not allow any potential risks to affect his plan.
However, the difficulty lay in the fact that the producer of Starlight Training Camp did not agree.
The producer of Starlight Training Camp had some distant connection to Muyuan Dairy. His idea was simple: “It was Tan Bin who collapsed, not The Past of Chengxi. Besides, we already spent the money. Wouldn’t it be a waste not to use their ending theme now?”
Director Qi suppressed his temper and explained, “I know it was Tan Bin who collapsed, but look, all the film and television dramas related to Tan Bin are being taken down one after another. He’s practically been erased. At this critical juncture, it’s better to be cautious.”
The producer said dismissively, “I think you’re just too timid. The Past of Chengxi has so many famous veteran actors, even Cheng Huaqiu appeared in it. If we don’t capitalize on this popularity now, we won’t have the chance later.”
“Cheng Huaqiu was a guest star! He barely had any screen time in the whole show! That’s not the same thing!” Director Qi couldn’t help but shout. The producer was equally unyielding: “Don’t forget who invested in Starlight Training Camp. I want to keep The Past of Chengxi’s ending theme. If Director Qi has an issue, go talk to the investors.”
After saying this, the producer left smugly, calling out to the other staff: “My treat today. Hurry up if you want to come. This opportunity won’t come again. Don’t wait until the food gets cold to pick up the leftovers.”
Qi Xinci’s face was flushed with anger. The producer’s words were clearly meant to provoke him.
The staff members nearby exchanged glances. They looked at each other and quietly left the contentious area. They were just here to work; it was better to be careful not to get dragged into the mess.
Director Qi rubbed his chest to calm himself down. He valued the Starlight Training Camp program greatly. He had even endured pressure from the investors, starting from the auditions, all to wash away the negative impact brought by the disgraced Dai Mingcheng. He hadn’t expected another complication to arise.
The empty studio was suddenly left with only him. He couldn’t imagine how badly their production team would be criticized if this news leaked out. Public tolerance for drug use is very low, even if they only used The Past of Chengxi’s ending theme.
Director Qi dared not take the risk, but the producer was shortsighted.
This couldn’t continue. After calming himself, he immediately thought of a solution. But Muyuan Dairy was a huge company. Where could he, a mere director, find the connections to stop this?
Director Qi sat in the chair for a long time without coming up with anything. He took out his phone, irritably locking and unlocking the screen repeatedly. Suddenly, he saw the logo on the back of his phone and abruptly stood up from the chair!
That’s right, Chengtian also invested a sum of money in their show! If he could persuade Chengtian to intervene, they could definitely stop the producer from adding that song to the music library. Since Chengtian invested in Starlight Training Camp, and it was a valuable mobile phone contract, they must value the show’s influence and surely wouldn’t want to see it fail.
Director Qi also had a subtle ulterior motive: the endorsement contract for Chengtian’s mobile phone brand was originally set for Tan Bin. What the producer was doing was essentially dancing and setting off fireworks in Chengtian’s minefield. He didn’t believe Chengtian would have no reaction at all.
Thinking this, Director Qi walked out of the office full of confidence, ready to contact Assistant Yu, the one who had come to negotiate last time. Assistant Yu had only said that CEO Jian was on a business trip and that they would consider the matter.
After making the call, Director Qi sighed, looking at his phone. His show absolutely had to be saved.
“Achoo! Achoo!”
Jian Xingzhi sneezed twice in a row. Assistant Yu looked at him worriedly and asked, “CEO Jian, are you catching a cold? Do we need to change course and go to the hospital?”
“No need. Just proceed to the branch office as planned.” Jian Xingzhi felt he might have caught a slight chill and never considered that someone might be talking about him behind his back.
Assistant Yu nodded and reported truthfully to Jian Xingzhi: “I just received a call from Qi Xinci, the director of the Starlight Training Camp production team. Director Qi seemed to imply that there have been some internal changes within the team.”
“What changes?” Jian Xingzhi had been busy non-stop for the past two days. After getting off the plane, he was picked up by people from the branch office, and he had a company internal dinner party in the evening. Even though he only showed his face before returning to the hotel, he was still exhausted. He fell asleep after taking a shower and hadn’t had time to pay attention to what was happening with Starlight Training Camp.
Seeing that Jian Xingzhi was interested in the matter, Assistant Yu briefly explained the situation: “The producer of Starlight Training Camp seems intent on adding The Past of Chengxi’s ending theme song to the song list for the second public performance.”
Assistant Yu clearly knew about the previous phone endorsement issue. She paused before saying, “That’s the drama starring Tan Bin.”
Jian Xingzhi was stunned. He frowned and turned to Assistant Yu: “What did you say?”
Is the Starlight Training Camp production team crazy? They dare to use Tan Bin at this juncture?
Assistant Yu also found it a bit unbelievable but nodded to Jian Xingzhi: “According to Director Qi, it was the producer’s decision, as the popularity of The Past of Chengxi hasn’t completely faded. Director Qi feels this approach is somewhat risky and wanted to know your opinion.”
Jian Xingzhi understood Director Qi’s intention—he wanted Chengtian to intervene.
Tan Bin, it’s that Tan Bin again!
The last time Jian Xingzhi was a fan of Tan Bin, Tan Bin not only failed to live up to his expectations by not focusing on his career, but he also gave Jian Xingzhi such a huge surprise, becoming instantly notorious by appearing on a legal news program, making it known nationwide.
Now that Tan Bin had been erased from public view, he could still affect the Starlight Training Camp that Jian Xingzhi had newly invested in. Jian Xingzhi couldn’t tolerate it anymore.
Losing money once was enough. He couldn’t stumble over the same person twice.
Jian Xingzhi told Assistant Yu: “Contact the Starlight Training Camp production team. Chengtian will add another investment. I do not want to see anyone or anything related to Tan Bin in the program.”
There were thousands of good dramas and songs. He could not tolerate a drug user gaining the audience’s sympathy or pity through this method.
“Understood, I will inform them.” Assistant Yu’s respect for CEO Jian increased even more. She could see that CEO Jian disdained capitalizing on Tan Bin’s minor popularity; instead, he wanted Tan Bin to completely disappear from the public eye.
Jian Xingzhi was displeased and held his breath without speaking. Suddenly, Jian Lezhi’s call came in: “Brother, you’re still trying to trick me! Are you secretly a fan of Shi Xingze?!”