LWDC Chapter 30

Chapter 30 – Shifting the Negative Reviews

Ning Fei arranged the flowers and originally intended to deliberately take them to Duan Yunhong to “chat” about the vase. But as soon as he returned to Duan Yunhong’s side, the projector just happened to be showing the part where Su Cenxi and Duan Yunhong were answering questions. Ning Fei immediately forgot about teasing Duan Yunhong and turned around to sit next to him.

Then, bonelessly, he leaned directly on the other’s shoulder.

Duan Yunhong simply glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, without moving or speaking. The two of them quietly finished watching this segment of the show.

The production team almost entirely retained the conversation between Su Cenxi and Duan Yunhong, and also interspersed it with expressions and short comments from other judges, guests, and even the newcomers. When Su Cenxi finally passed the buck back with his last two sentences, Duan Yunhong, looking at Su Cenxi’s enlarged face on the screen, finally couldn’t help but say, “Su Cenxi is learning from you, you know that?”

Ning Fei was momentarily taken aback: “…Huh?”

“His expression, his tone of voice, he’s obviously learning from you.” Duan Yunhong paused the video, critically commenting, “Now, when he encounters situations he can’t handle, he’ll imitate you to muddle through.”

He said it quite seriously, but Ning Fei’s reply was a little careless: “Wow, you’re observing our Cenxi so carefully, Director Duan.”

Duan Yunhong used his left hand to turn his chin, making him turn to face him: “I’m being serious with you.”

“I know about what you’re saying.” Ning Fei still didn’t really care, “I’m the one who taught him. What, are you upset that he wasn’t stumped?”

“He’s just imitating your speech, it’s not like he’s actually improved himself.” Duan Yunhong criticized without reservation, “And he’s doing it badly, like trying to draw a tiger and ending up with a dog.”

“As long as it’s useful, that’s all that matters.” Ning Fei slapped his hand away, “You’re familiar with me, so you have a sense of déjà vu. The audience isn’t familiar with me, how could they tell who he’s imitating? Why are you making such a big deal out of it?”

Duan Yunhong narrowed his eyes: “But if you do this, he’ll be putting on a different persona on the show, it’s not really him.”

Ning Fei scoffed: “He’s not your person, so why are you getting so worked up? What, you don’t want others to learn from me?”

“…I just want to ensure the smooth running of the show.” Duan Yunhong’s tone was serious, “If his persona suddenly changes, he might behave in a way that doesn’t meet the production team’s expectations.”

“Ha, for the sake of the show…”

Ning Fei seemed to have thought of something, raising an eyebrow and saying, “If you’re going to say that, then I also have a question to ask.”

“What?”

“Tell me honestly, when this segment airs, are you also planning to hype up the matter of Su Cenxi ditching the brand at the last minute?”

This time, Duan Yunhong didn’t answer immediately.

“…Looks like I guessed right.” Seeing this situation, Ning Fei immediately understood. He simply straightened up and leaned back a little, confronting the man face to face: “You’re really something, Duan Yunhong. If I don’t ask, you won’t say anything. As soon as I ask, you clam up. Are you going to catch me off guard again?”

Ning Fei’s body suddenly moving away actually made Duan Yunhong feel a chill for a moment. He discarded these distractions and replied in a calm tone, “What’s that, it’s just a kind of…”

“A kind of hype tactic, to increase the show’s popularity, is that what you want to say?” Ning Fei interrupted him, scoffing, “Not informing us beforehand, wanting to act first and report later, and then using this kind of excuse to fool us, is that your entire plan?”

He had originally thought that this guy was willing to give Su Cenxi a spot, which meant they had “reconciled.” Who would have thought that if he wasn’t careful, he would secretly target Su Cenxi again.

Facing this guy who always unexpectedly held him back, Ning Fei was truly amused: “I knew that your words that day were all hinting at something, that you had an agenda. As soon as this show airs, everyone in the industry will know that you’re insinuating something. And by using the popularity of this show to promote it, who would still remember anything about that Aili incident? Everyone will be discussing Su Cenxi’s lack of professionalism!”

Duan Yunhong, completely exposed, didn’t argue, but simply asked, “Isn’t it a fact that he ditched the event at the last minute?”

“It’s a fact, I’m not denying it, but we’re discussing your marketing plan.” Ning Fei sneered, “Su Cenxi is a permanent guest who signed a contract with the production team, doesn’t the production team have an obligation to even inform us before using his material for hype?”

“You yourself said that informing you is the production team’s job.” Duan Yunhong calmly passed the blame, “What’s the use of you coming to question me personally now?”

“Keep pretending, pretend all you want. Without you orchestrating this behind the scenes, could you have carried out this treacherous plan so smoothly and flawlessly?” Ning Fei stood up, looking down at Duan Yunhong, “Fine, since you’re making your targeting of Su Cenxi so obvious, then I can only say, don’t think we’ll obediently submit to your manipulation.”

Duan Yunhong raised his head to meet his gaze: “What do you want to do?”

“What do I want to do is none of your business, anyway, I won’t just lie down and take a beating.” Ning Fei scoffed, “I can’t stop you from targeting Su Cenxi if you insist on it. You also can’t stop me from winning this game if I insist on it. Let’s play, anyway, who will emerge victorious is still unknown.”

Duan Yunhong denied: “I’m not trying to target anyone, it’s just that his topic is quite suitable. This show is produced by a global team, it’s normal to dig up some material for hype, there’s no difference between black and red. After a while, who will remember those scandals? As long as he’s still in the industry, he’ll still do what he’s supposed to do.”

“That’s a well-thought-out excuse, but unfortunately, I don’t believe a single word of it.” Ning Fei’s long legs stepped forward and he sat down, pressing his entire weight onto the man, tightly grabbing his collar, “If you didn’t have other ‘skills,’ I would have torn you apart. This damn gamble has already wasted enough of my time, I won’t let others easily influence me again. Once I win, Su Cenxi can do whatever he wants, and you can target him however you want, who cares about you guys.”

Ning Fei’s actions stunned Duan Yunhong for a moment, and the feeling of tightening around his neck also distracted him, so he didn’t carefully listen to what Ning Fei was saying, only subconsciously said, “Aren’t you going to leave?”

“I’ve already come, wouldn’t it be a waste of my gas money if I didn’t sleep with you?” Ning Fei sneered, “And Su Cenxi has to go to the production team’s charity event tomorrow, how would I dare to offend you at this time? I might as well bite you hard a few times to vent my anger.”

Saying this, Ning Fei squeezed the man’s Adam’s apple, threatening, “I’ll bite you right here, let’s see how you’ll face the camera tomorrow.”

Duan Yunhong remained noncommittal, only pinching his waist, as if measuring something: “If you dare to bite, tomorrow I’ll stuff you into my car and take you directly to the scene, so everyone will know who the culprit is.”

Ning Fei: “…”

He suddenly pulled open the other’s collar and bit hard on his shoulder.

*

The charity event the next day was filmed smoothly.

It was just that when filming the scene of going to the hospital to donate money and pick up the girl in the morning, Duan Yunhong rarely didn’t see Ning Fei at the scene with Su Cenxi. He surveyed the area without showing any emotion, confirmed that the person wasn’t there, and took the time to send a message: [Aren’t you following the scene this morning?]

Before long, Ning Fei replied: [In the RV. That animal caused it.]

Duan Yunhong remembered how early in the morning he was cursing and saying he was tired, while slapping his wet hands all over himself in retaliation. The man silently and slightly raised the corner of his mouth, and sent a message back to Ning Fei: [Have you had breakfast? Should I ask someone to send it to the RV for you?]

Ning Fei: [Don’t bother me.]

Duan Yunhong: [I’ll send you that bottle of PETRUS you mentioned before tonight.]

Ning Fei: [That works.]

Director Duan put away his phone with peace of mind.

*

The third New Model Competition finally officially launched online.

As predicted, the “favored contestant” Aili was immediately pushed to the forefront of public opinion, and most of it was scolding her. Comments like “unprofessional,” “if you don’t want to do it, then get out,” and “what’s a newcomer being so cocky about” flooded the comment sections of various platforms. In the various polls wanting Aili to withdraw from the competition, the votes in favor reached a high of nearly 100,000. Not only did various “professionals” in the fashion and entertainment industries come out to comment and analyze, but even human resources specialists, psychological analysts, and micro-expression experts all came to join the fun with a gossip PPT.

Taking advantage of this wave of popularity, the exposé about Su Cenxi ditching a high-end brand at the last minute was also launched on schedule.

Ning Fei had already exposed this marketing plan before, but Duan Yunhong seemed completely unaffected, and still acted quickly and accurately. Various data were pushed, large and small entertainment bloggers discussed and promoted it, and some other seemingly true but false exposés about Su Cenxi were added, completing the entire marketing strategy for Su Cenxi. The topic of a supermodel was naturally more sensational than that of a new model, and people immediately forgot how the little model was acting up on a show, and instead discussed topics such as “supermodels are also unprofessional,” “abusing their boyfriend’s status to do whatever they want,” and “persona collapse.” Many people repeatedly watched the third episode of the show, and countless video clips and screenshots circulated online, all mocking Su Cenxi, saying he was “slapping himself in the face.”

This wave of popularity directly broke the circle of the competition. From the perspective of show promotion, this series of hypes was undoubtedly very successful.

But for Su Cenxi, this was a fierce wave of negative reviews. If Ning Fei hadn’t been prepared, Morning Sun Studio would have been thrown into a panic when suddenly facing this sudden surge of negative public opinion. Ning Fei and Jia Silin alone received a total of hundreds of interview calls asking about the matter in one day. Even Gu’s side was contacted by many media outlets, wanting to ask Gu Hechen what he thought about the matter.

President Gu was actually very angry, but Su Cenxi played his role this time, fully explaining and holding down this overbearing president who often messed things up. Otherwise, Duan Yunhong would likely have directly received a questioning call from this overbearing president. At that time, Director Duan would have counterattacked by releasing the recording of the phone call, and the show would have exploded again, and Gu and Su would have been hit even harder.

In short, under the command of Ning Fei, everyone in the studio methodically advanced the response plan.

The plan was very effective, and in less than two days, Duan Yunhong received a public opinion monitoring report from ST’s public relations department. When he saw the summary of the information on the report, his brows furrowed.

“Su Cenxi’s ditching the event… was caused by his manager, Ning Fei?”