Ch34 - Don’t know what he’s called

One day after filming, Ling Xi received a phone call from Wu Youpeng. Ling Xi pushed the answer button as soon as he saw the exceedingly welcome name flash across the screen.

“Wu-ge!” Ling Xi was overjoyed and greeted him enthusiastically, “How are you these days?” 

“It finally connected…” Wu Youpeng’s familiar voice could be heard on the other end of the phone. “Your mountain’s signal is terrible. I called numerous times in a row, but all I got was a busy tone. So I decided not to call if I couldn’t get through this time.”

The signal was poor, like a swarm of bees buzzing in the phone line as they fluttered around.

“I’ve been quite fatigued recently. The youngest of the new idol group members I took over is sixteen, and the oldest is nineteen. It’s the age when they’re the noisiest, and there are five of them. You can imagine how hectic my schedule is. But these little girls can endure hardship and are dedicated to their dancing and singing. The company is now working on their first single, which is expected to enter the charts in three months.”

Wu Youpeng couldn’t disguise his delight when he spoke about his new artists, despite his fatigued voice. For the previous eleven years, he had been completely devoted to Ling Xi. He had a lot of relationships and resources, but they weren’t suited for Ling Xi. Ling Xi’s popularity had never been particularly strong. He got himself into a pickle, sometimes even doubting his own competence and worth. He was now in charge of new artists, thanks to a move from the company. For him, it was like cultivating a seedling from scratch. He could try his best and avoid the detours he had taken while accompanying Ling Xi’s development. 

Ling Xi was envious when he heard Wu Youpeng singing the praises of his new artists. It was like a past exceptional graduate paying a visit to his class teacher on Teacher’s Day, only to have the benevolent class teacher present him to her current favorite pupil, forcing him to face the fact that “I graduated from her class” again.

But he swiftly adjusted his emotions. Wu Youpeng also had a teacher, friend, and family member relationship with him. Wu Youpeng had reclaimed an important position in the company and was establishing a promising girl idol group. Ling Xi, his friend and family member, was overjoyed for him.

“How about you?” Wu Youpeng inquired. “How are things going for you these days?”

“Especially good!” When Ling Xi heard this question, he became energized. “Let me tell you, a few days after you left, the cast and crew troops arrived, and AnAn and I — my nickname for An Ruifeng — moved to a small suite. But because the single bed is so narrow, we can only fit in it by lying side by side every day. The soundproofing in the room, on the other hand, is so good that even the person lying next to you can’t hear what you’re saying! AnAn was a little nervous at first and made me bite on the pillow, but how could I! You don’t know how~ big~ AnAn is. My skin was rubbed raw when we unlocked a new position the other day!”

Ling Xi was quite distressed when discussing the issue of size: “I rashly vowed to bite him the next time. It’s only that he’s so long that I’m afraid my mouth won’t be able to hold him…”

Wu Youpeng quickly cut in. If he kept listening, his ears would insist on going deaf. “Stop! Stop! Stop! I don’t want to know how long An Ruifeng is!”

“Then what do you want to hear?”

“I’d like to hear how your life has been recently, not how your sex life has been recently!” Wu Youpeng had been in contact with normal artists for 20 days and had almost forgotten how Ling Xi did not play cards in accordance with common sense. 

“Life? Health is twice as good, food is delicious, early to bed and early to rise, and I’m neither fatter nor thinner.” Ling Xi clearly had a “never mind” attitude toward this dull subject. “As for filming, it’s still lou. There aren’t as many scenes as the dog’s, and the food is also not as good as the dog’s.”

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

He reported success (?) but not bad news. He steadfastly avoided addressing Bao Hui’s hogging of the camera lens, crowding him, or causing him to tumble into the water while filming. After all, Wu Youpeng was now the agent of someone else. Telling him would only make his anxieties worse.

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“What new agent?” This was an issue that couldn’t be concealed, so Ling Xi told him bluntly, “I haven’t seen his shadow yet. I’m not even sure if he’s a man or a woman.” 

“…” Wu Youpeng became enraged, his mouth bitter as if he had dry swallowed a handful of MSG, “Wait, I’ll dash to the president’s office in a moment with a cleaver. If he doesn’t explain himself, I’ll chop his cherished golden thread redwood work desk into pieces and burn it as firewood for you.”

“What decade are you living in!?” laughed Ling Xi. “Where is it necessary to burn firewood? Forget about it. Ask him what’s going on when I burn paper money for him in a few days, okay?”

Ling Xi deftly handled such a serious topic, and the two then discussed other gossip. Surprisingly, the conversation went in circles and eventually landed on Bao Hui.

For professional reasons, Wu Youpeng had easy access to the Internet and was well-informed. He was always aware of news that Ling Xi was unaware of. “I’m not sure who Bao Hui has offended. There has been a lot of black material about him floating around the Internet in recent days. It’s not the type of dark material that can kill him. It just indicates that he does not respect other artists, stands up reporters, and enjoys responding to fans but refuses to admit it. It has now devolved into an internet brawl! I’m not sure who the black hand is who is releasing this material. Despite the fact that they have used numerous alternate accounts and forums, the release rate is quite consistent. There are photographs as well as audio recordings. It is obvious that it was done as part of a team effort. They’re truly acting on behalf of Heaven!” 

“So that’s what happened!” Ling Xi suddenly realized. “I was wondering how he was so well-behaved in the past two days. He quietly returned to his room with his agent after filming and remained there. It turns out that he has no time to make trouble because he is preoccupied with the online scandal.”

Wu Youpeng urged, “Now Bao Hui is filming with you. You should avoid him at all costs. Don’t be photographed in a fight between him and you… Even if you’re right, relying on your fans’ fighting power, I believe they’ll be burned to ashes in a minute by his ashamed and angry brain powder fans.”

Ling Xi pondered it carefully, and the more he considered it, the more he realized that the timing was too much of a coincidence. He had only recently filed a complaint with An Ruifeng, and Bao Hui’s black material had also been revealed in the last few days. He believed there was a link between the two. But his thoughts were speculative at this point, so he couldn’t speak until they were confirmed. He assured Wu Youpeng that he would avoid Bao Hui. He raced to find An Ruifeng after hanging up the phone to validate his theory.

The Taoist temple was quite large. He hurried to the front studio and circled it, but he couldn’t see him; he then proceeded to the various courtyards to look for him. He eventually found An Ruifeng in a little pavilion behind the Taoist temple. He was going to hurry up to greet him when he turned a corner and saw that there were three other individuals seated in the pavilion with him. One was Xu Zhiqiang, and the other two were Bao Hui, whose black material had recently been released on a regular basis, and his condescending agent. 

Ling Xi had no idea what the four of them could possibly be discussing. Curiosity pricked his heart, making him restless. He hurriedly hid himself and then crouched, cautiously advancing towards them before ducking in the shrubbery. He had acute hearing and their voices were not soft, allowing him to readily eavesdrop on their talk.

Their conversation appeared to be just getting started. Bao Hui exchanged conventional greetings, saying he was fortunate to be on the same team as the company’s big star senior brother. He was overjoyed, and he had recently learnt a lot from his senior brother.

An Ruifeng listened patiently as he wormed his way into friendship, occasionally responding with a few words like “Yeah, oh, is it, you are also very good.” His attitude was neither hot nor cold, and it was difficult to call him intimate.

Bao Hui’s current agent was a family member, and he had no professional agent training. He took advantage of Bao Hui’s current rising popularity and used his position to bully others, his temper worsening day by day. He lost his cool when he saw An Ruifeng appear as immovable as a mountain. He grabbed the initiative and began speaking, “Mr. An, some recent Internet news has not been favorable to our Bao Hui. You also know that our Bao Hui has a forthright personality and can’t keep his words to himself. He is blunt and outspoken, and doesn’t realize he has offended someone. Many people have recently vilified him.” 

An Ruifeng did not need to open his mouth. Xu Zhiqiang, who had an unspoken understanding with him, responded cooperatively, “Oh! Really? I’ve haven’t heard of it. The network signal is poor on the mountain. We go to bed at a fairly early hour every day and don’t have time to pay attention to this. But the circle is exactly like this. For example, An Ruifeng is also the subject of rumors. He is dating this female celebrity one moment and has an ambiguous relationship with that female celebrity the next. There isn’t much you can do. Simply ignore it. I’m not sure what kind of black material Bao Hui has. What does the company have to say?”

Bao Hui hastily stated, “They are all minor gossip made up of nothing, and the company stated that it will assist in dealing with them. Some rumors, though, are aimed at me making friends. The company instructed me to find some Weibo friends to interact with… Look, let’s take a picture together, senior brother. I’ll share it on Weibo when the time comes. Just keep in mind to forward it.”

His intentions were quite apparent. Those dark materials stated that he did not respect other artists and included audio recordings of him mocking other actors. In that case, he’d post a few group shots with other celebrities and then joke with them on Weibo. Naturally, claims of his “low popularity” would be debunked. It was best to hug An Ruifeng’s thigh because he was his fellow senior brother and was highly popular.

It was unfortunate that he had miscalculated. An Ruifeng sat there silently listening to his plea. He only raised the corner of his mouth and cocked his head to one side. This gesture appeared to be random, but Bao Hui, who was observing his expression intently, felt his heart thump inexplicably. He had a feeling it would be tough to gain An Ruifeng’s support. 

Sure enough, Xu Zhiqiang spoke in place of An Ruifeng, and his ice cold language shattered his delusion. “I’m sorry, but the signal on the mountain isn’t very good. Making a phone call is challenging, and connecting to the Internet is even more difficult. It is not an issue for you to take a group photograph. But, unfortunately, you’ll have to wait for An Ruifeng to finish filming and descend the mountain before interacting with you.”

The remaining scenes would take at least half a month to film. It would be impossible to believe that they had a close relationship if An Ruifeng responded to his post half a month later.

The rejection couldn’t be any more direct. Bao Hui didn’t understand how he offended An Ruifeng in order to make him disregard the relationship between artists from the same company. He not only stabbed him and stole the end-credits song, but he was also unwilling to interact with him. He was proud and arrogant. When he was met with An Ruifeng’s rejection, he didn’t bother to be tactful to try to figure out why. He directly rose up and said, “That’s fine, I won’t bother senior brother,” before dragging his agent away quickly.

An Ruifeng said no more than five sentences from start to finish. 

After the two of them had left, Xu Zhiqiang noticed that there was no one nearby, so he sarcastically questioned An Ruifeng, “So, how is it? Is it energizing to be the black hand behind the scenes?”

It was just as Ling Xi had predicted. This time, the exposé on Bao Hui was indeed related to An Ruifeng. He and Bao Hui worked for the same company as artists. It was fairly simple to find out what was going on with Bao Hui. He pointed out a few directions to the paparazzi squad anonymously, and the paparazzi who caught wind of the news followed the clues to hunt it down and discovered a lot of black material. Bao Hui’s popularity was already very low. When they saw the wall collapse, everyone gave a shove, and many people who had just superficial friendships with him contributed to his black material. The water got muddy after only a few days of work. An Ruifeng, as the instigator, withdrew from the conflict early, and no one thought he was the first to wield the sharp sword in this campaign against Bao Hui.

An Ruifeng’s tone was serene when it came to this subject, “I merely wanted to teach him a lesson so that he wouldn’t be so haughty in the future. He can’t afford to offend everyone. I wasn’t expecting to come across so much black material on Bao Hui. There are numerous videos and audio recordings of him cursing in the background. He has obviously only recently begun his career, but he is extremely irresponsible. How is the company supposed to put up with him?”

Xu Zhiqiang rubbed his chin and stated, “I assume the company didn’t anticipate him having such big guts in private… Consider this. He even substituted a relative for his agent. If he did something wrong, the agent will undoubtedly assist him in concealing it. He’ll never be able to manage him.” He patted his chest, “So, if you’re looking for an agent, you should go with someone like me. An agent cannot follow the artist blindly. They must inform the artist of what they can and cannot do…” 

At this time, he sighed and looked at An Ruifeng. “You, however, are an accident. You’re not my artist; you’re more like my Party A!”

Following that, the two discussed the cast and crew, as well as scheduling concerns. An Ruifeng was quite popular, and he had a plethora of advertising and movie invitations piled up on his desk. Some of them had been checked out for him by Xu Zhiqiang, while the remainder would be chosen by An Ruifeng when he returned. Soon after the two had finished talking, Xu Zhiqiang’s phone rang, so he dashed to the front yard with it, where the signal was slightly better.

An Ruifeng sat alone in the pavilion for a while after Xu Zhiqiang left. Ling Xi waited in the bushes with bated breath, wondering if it would be better to show up. Eavesdropping on people’s discussions was not a great thing, and it made Ling Xi too embarrassed to leave his hiding location.

He intended to lie down till An Ruifeng left when he heard An Ruifeng’s footsteps. The sound grew closer and closer until he appeared to have walked from the pavilion to him. Ling Xi foolishly looked up, gazing up along the two long, straight, and gorgeous legs in front of him. By the time his eyes reached the towering An Ruifeng’s face, his neck was aching. 

Ling Xi’s entire face was smeared in dust, and two weeds swayed on his head. An Ruifeng did not ignore him out of dislike. He stooped and pulled him out of the bushes, carefully wiped his face and hands clean, and… picked clean a handful of bush thorns that had pierced him, one by one.

Ling Xi scratched his nose, “How did you find me? I thought I was hiding well.”

“I didn’t ‘find’ you; it was more of a weird and irresistible intuition that if I look here, I’ll see you.” An Ruifeng anxiously examined his palm, concerned that he had been harmed by the thorns. Words of love poured naturally from his tongue. “If you’re truly curious, it’s probably because our hearts are linked.”

Ling Xi giggled foolishly, admitting that the idiom “heart has lingxi” pleased him. 

An Ruifeng inquired as to when he had arrived.

“I was here when you initially started chatting,” Ling Xi responded.

“You can come out and listen openly the next time you wish to listen. Don’t lie on the ground, it’s too dirty.”

Ling Xi batted his eyes and asked, “AnAn, I heard what you said just now. Is Bao Hui’s matter your doing?” 

“Yes.”

“Because he bullied me?”

“Yes.”

Hearing the straightforward and uncomplicated one-word response made Ling Xi feel as if a puppy was bumping against his heart. He was obviously overjoyed, but he made a hypocritical reason, “I’m not ready to be the world-famous Chen Yuanyuan just yet. How did you become Wu Sanxing, who gets enraged because of a beauty?” 

“… Who is Wu Sanxing?” An Ruifeng raised his head, perplexed. “It’s Wu Sangui who was angry because of a beauty.”