Chapter 43: Hell
An Zhihan squatted beside Su Jinli, who was packing his luggage. After staring at him for a while, he declared, "I've realized that I suddenly need to get to know you again."
Confused by An Zhihan statement, Su Jinli paused his actions and looked towards him.
In order to prevent the camera from recording the sound, An Zhihan deliberately came closer to Su Jinli and said, "Your brother is so rich. Why are you so stupid? You're not faking it, are you?"
Su Jinli glared at An Zhihan, snorted lightly through his nose, and decided to ignore him.
Among everyone in the entire training camp, he was closest to An Zhihan and Wu Yu. If An Zhihan started doubting him, he would truly be upset.
"No, no, no. Don't be angry. I misspoke." An Zhihan quickly tried to pacify Su Jinli, before attempting to pry open his mouth, "Let me check on your throat."
Su Jinli dodged swiftly and wrote on a small notebook: It's alright. I just can't indulge in food and drink recently and I can't speak. Paying more attention to rest is enough.
"You made such a big fuss, and now you're better just like that?" An Zhihan couldn't help but be puzzled.
Su Jinli was taken out in An Zhihan's arms. Just recalling that image made An Zhihan break into a cold sweat, categorizing it as a nightmare-level event.
And yet, within a day or two, Su Jinli was back, smiling brightly.
"What did you want then? Did you want him to be bedridden for the rest of his life, relying on an oxygen machine?" Wu Yu coldly asked from the side.
"Hey, why are your words so harsh?" An Zhihan was not pleased.
"But isn't that what you meant?"
Soon, the two were bickering again, and Su Jinli took the chance to continue unpacking his things.
Upon hearing of Su Jinli's return, Chang Siyin and Fan Qianting, who had just begun their training not long ago, returned together to see how Su Jinli was doing. Knowing that he had lost his voice, they were quite concerned.
In just one more day, the fourth round of competition would commence, and Su Jinli's current state was quite risky.
A group of people gathered together and chatted briefly until another person entered the room.
"Su Jinli, you're better now? We've been so worried about you these past few days," Zhou Wenyuan entered and greeted Su Jinli cheerfully.
Su Jinli glanced at Zhou Wenyuan, his brows slightly furrowed, and he simply responded with a non-committal "mm".
Raising his eyebrows, Zhou Wenyuan let his eyes roam over Su Jinli, before laughing, "It's good that you've recovered."
As Su Jinli sorted out his things, a member from the television crew also arrived. They wanted to inquire about Su Jinli's situation, but upon realizing he had lost his voice, communication proved to be somewhat difficult.
Thus, the staff had no choice but to communicate with Hou Yong.
These past few days, Hou Yong had been on the verge of going insane.
Just as there were signs of Su Jinli becoming famous, his studio had just signed a contract with the Sejia Legend, and then Su Jinli had an accident.
Holding Su Jinli's test results and looking at him unable to speak, Hou Yong even cried for a while.
Sad for his own artist and feeling guilty for not educating Su Jinli better, he blamed himself for not instilling a sense of vigilance in him.
However, Hou Yong was still relatively calm, advising Su Jinli not to mind and that there would be more opportunities in the future. For now, recovering his health properly was the most important matter.
This time, Hou Yong was the one who brought Su Jinli back. Before leaving, Hou Yong was called over by Shen Cheng and given a lot of instructions.
Shen Cheng didn't tell Hou Yong that he was Su Jinli's older brother.
But Hou Yong guessed it on his own.
When Su Jinli first joined the company, he was looking for someone, and Hou Yong promised to help keep an eye out. Now it turned out that the person Su Jinli was seeking was actually Shen Cheng.
The fact that Su Jinli was Shen Cheng's younger brother took Hou Yong's breath away, leaving his brain in a state of shock for quite some time.
As an agent who had signed a contract with Su Jinli based purely on his looks, he felt like he'd stumbled upon a jackpot.
With Shen Cheng as his older brother, it would be strange if Su Jinli didn't become famous in the future!
At first, Hou Yong accepted all of Shen Cheng's instructions.
For example, Su Jinli gets cold easily, and he needed to pay attention to keeping him warm.
For example, Su Jinli doesn't understand much of the world, and he needed Hou Yong to care for him more.
Hou Yong agreed to all of these.
But when it came to the later parts...
"Absolutely do not let An Zhiyan speak with Su Jinli alone. If they meet, you must stick to Su Jinli stubbornly," Shen Cheng instructed.
"???"
"Do not let An Zhiyan add Su Jinli on WeChat."
"???" How could he control that?
"Also, do not allow An Zhiyan to call Su Jinli 'little brother.'"
"This..." Hou Yong really couldn't control this. How could he control An Zhiyan?
Under immense pressure, Hou Yong discussed the follow-up plan with the show's production team. Fortunately, they had already signed a contract with Sejia Legend, which also sent representatives to negotiate with the production team.
"It's not that we are making things difficult for you or making special requests. Our artist was sent to your training camp and experienced such a serious problem that it's uncertain whether he can sing in the future. Are our demands excessive? We haven't even begun to talk about your responsibilities."
The person in charge at Sejia Legend was a woman with short hair, slightly curled at the ends. She looked a bit old, but her makeup made her appear quite youthful.
The production team began to respond noncommittally.
Zhang Heming, one of the key persons in the production team, was present. He knew that Su Jinli's incident occurred during the training camp and recently, he did not dare to accept any gifts from the fans, constantly apologizing to Hou Yong and his team.
"We only request that no contestant challenges Su Jinli in the next round, allowing him to sit in that position calmly until the end of the fourth round, and advance without any troubles. Furthermore, give Su Jinli a week to recover fully. If there are any issues after that, we will not further impose."
"We can privately inform the contestants about this, I believe they will take care of Su Jinli," Zhang Heming replied, forcing a smile.
Hou Yong wiped the sweat off his forehead and tugged at his shirt, continuing, "Last time, we cooperated with you and allowed you to suppress the news. We took care of a lot personally. You should be aware that Su Jinli has frequently been trending recently. Containing this will affect his popularity to some extent, so we hope that there are more camera shots of Su Jinli."
Zhang Heming looked at Hou Yong, mixed emotions running through his mind.
Initially, they picked Su Jinli mainly due to his outstanding appearance, which was an excellent crowd-puller.
Unexpectedly, Su Jinli, from Hou Yong's small studio, became the dark horse of the show, standing out amongst the multitude of contestants.
Now, he had even become an artist of Sejia Legend. Indeed, ... fortunes could really change.
Initially, when Hou Yong was expelled from Huasen Entertainment, it was equivalent to being ousted from the A-list circle. But against all odds, he managed to enter Sejia Legend thanks to a newly-signed artist.
Worse still, Hou Yong's superior is An Zhiyan.
Unbelievably, it seems like a promotion.
"We've given enough camera shots..." Zhang Heming replied helplessly.
In the show, because Su Jinli suddenly attracted attention, he indeed got a lot of additional screen time. Many other contestants had their shots cut, but Su Jinli never experienced that.
Nowadays, it's indeed quite challenging to meet the demand for multiple cameras.
The female manager spoke again: "I really can't compliment your show's PR team. The problems you've caused now require us, Sejia Legend, to suppress them ourselves. And you still act as if it's difficult for you..."
"Okay, okay, we'll try our best to arrange it."
After chatting for a while, another person they couldn't afford to offend arrived, the chief agent of Boruo Pineapple, Mai Feng.
Having just finished speaking with Hou Yong and the person in charge of Sejia Legend, Zhang Heming now had to interact with the bigwig of Boruo Pineapple. This was really torture.
Both were big shots that couldn't be offended.
Upon entering the conference room, Zhang Heming found Mai Feng's attitude to be much better than the lady from Sejia Legend. It seemed that an organization's leadership greatly influenced its employees.
An Zhiyan was decisive and assertive, exuding dominance; thus, his subordinates were undoubtedly confident.
Shen Cheng was gentle and elegant, and his team approached people with kind smiles, making everyone feel comfortable.
However, after a few exchanges, Zhang Heming realized that he preferred the people from Sejia Legend, as they were at least not two-faced.
"Eliminate Zhou Wenyuan?!" Zhang Heming widened his eyes, unable to fathom such a request.
Wasn't Zhou Wenyuan also from Huasen Entertainment? How could Boruo Pineapple dare to make such a demand?
"This is the best way for the production team to save face, and it is the safest method," Mai Feng casually replied with a smile, as though it were a matter of little significance.
"There must be a reason, right?" asked Zhang Heming.
Mai Feng tossed a stack of documents in his hand to Zhang Heming. After glancing at them, Zhang could not help but frown.
If these negative news about Zhou Wenyuan were leaked, it could ruin his newly rising popularity, making it difficult for him to make progress.
Along with this, the show might also be attacked, affecting all the other contestants.
"I understand this will be difficult for you, after all, he is a popular contestant. To abruptly eliminate him will definitely require some effort. So, we will ensure everything is executed flawlessly. You do not have to worry about Huasen Entertainment. We will handle them and compensate the production team," said Mai Feng.
"How would you compensate? Zhou Wenyuan's popularity is high at the moment. To eliminate him in the fourth round is quite premature."
"We could invite Lu Wenxi to be a guest singer. Our company will bear all the expenses. Lu Wenxi has already agreed," Mai Feng replied.
Zhang Heming was immediately stunned.
Lu Wenxi, the artist with the highest number of followers on Weibo in the entire entertainment industry, unrivaled.
Shen Cheng wanted to deal with Zhou Wenyuan, but he wouldn't act rashly.
As long as Su Jinli wanted to continue participating in the competition, Shen Cheng would need to handle Zhou Wenyuan without affecting the competition.
In the fourth round, let a contestant who is about to be eliminated challenge Zhou Wenyuan for his position.
Then, have Zhou Wenyuan eliminated from the competition. This move is both dramatic and efficiently gets rid of Zhou Wenyuan.
Once Zhou Wenyuan gets eliminated, Shen Cheng will wash his hands off him entirely.
Dare to hurt Su Jinli?
You should quit your performing career and get lost.
Author's note:
Su Jinli: I have backing now! From today onwards, call me Proud! Immortal! Fish!
[Shen Cheng has confirmed that it was Zhou Wen Yuan who did it, that's why he made such an arrangement.]
[How exactly he found out... hehehe, please stay tuned for the detailed explanation in the next episode.]
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