Chapter 53: Salary
Su Jinli didn't understand these matters; he had just learned Chinese phonetics, and his typing speed was exceptionally slow.
Each time he opened Weibo, he wanted to respond to every comment. However, he simply didn't have the time so he stopped opening it altogether.
Usually, his phone web surfing was limited to chatting with friends or looking up how to remove fishy odor — he had yet to participate in any online disputes.
So, he just followed An Zhihan back to the dormitory. As soon as they entered, they saw Fan Qianting helping to turn off the camera.
Their dorm's poor camera would often be messed with when idle. The show's crew dared not voice their grievances about their dorm.
Wu Yu was sitting under the window with his hand on his knee, his forehead leaning against his arm. It was clear his mood wasn't very good.
Su Jinli sat cross-legged across from him and rubbed Wu Yu's head.
"I've noticed whenever someone becomes famous, their ex-girlfriends often get exposed. Why do netizens love digging into celebrities' past relationships so much?" Fan Qianting asked while sitting on the chair, unable to hold back.
"Curiosity," An Zhihan answered. "Hearing you say what type you like isn't satisfying enough for them. They want to see the real thing. Once they see it, they feel the need to attack — for instance, criticizing someone's looks or questioning the taste of their idol, and stuff like that. There's also..."
As An Zhihan spoke, he pointed in the direction of the other bedrooms: "Wu Yu is now a powerhouse, so how would other contestants' agencies try to bring him down? They use this kind of gossip, attacking each other in the circle, without caring if it's innocent or not. They'll use whatever can bring you down."
"Ah... Wu Yu, don't be bothered by it," Fan Qianting advised.
"She didn't do anything wrong. If there was any fault, it was in how I handled the breakup. She shouldn't be attacked like this," Wu Yu replied with a heavy voice.
"Why did you break up?" Su Jinli asked.
"After we got together, I was always busy practicing, often arriving late for dates, and even forgetting her birthday. I wasn't good at comforting her either," Wu Yu answered.
"Forgetting birthdays, being late for dates, and telling her to drink more hot water? With behavior like that, it's a miracle you even found a girlfriend. It's really all thanks to your looks," An Zhihan couldn't help but criticize.
"Are you much better? Cheating scumbag," Wu Yu immediately retorted. It didn't matter what others said about him, but did An Zhihan have any right to criticize?
"Hey! I know I'm not a great person, so I only look for casual companions. But you, you've let that poor girl down," An Zhihan shot back.
"Stud."
An Zhihan was livid and was about to retort when Su Jinli interrupted him: "You'd be better off with someone like Brother An."
"Should I look for a partner who's 193 centimetres tall? One who is 6 centimetres taller than I am? So they can carry me around and play with me every day? Should I just throw myself into their arms?" An Zhihan asked disdainfully.
"No, I meant someone who'd give you a thrashing whenever you step out of line. You need to be taught a lesson."
"Stop kidding me, okay? I prefer the soft, cute, and adorable type."
"At least Wu Yu is better than you. He's committed, okay? And he doesn't badmouth his ex after a breakup." Su Jinli defended Wu Yu, rebuking An Zhihan, who, in sheer frustration, collapsed onto the bed.
Once An Zhihan stopped talking, Su Jinli began brainstorming solutions: "Can you help to intervene?"
"If we defend her on Weibo, it might backfire. People who didn't know would come to watch the spectacle. Plus, it could upset Wu Yu’s female fans, leading to even more attacks on his girlfriend," Fan Qianting shook his head.
Fan Qianting took out his phone and did a quick search, then sighed: "Your ex-girlfriend is quite pretty, the innocent type."
Wu Yu seemed especially helpless, asking, "What on earth are you focusing on at a time like this?"
Su Jinli curiously stretched out his hand to take Fan Qianting's phone but got scolded by Wu Yu. He then pitifully retracted his hand, pretending as if nothing had happened. However, his poor acting gave him away.
"Doesn't your company take care of this?" Fan Qianting asked.
"Boruo Pineapple gives Wu Yu zero PR support. He's basically on his own," An Zhihan added.
"In that case, I'll talk to my brother and ask him to help," Su Jinli immediately suggested.
Wu Yu, however, immediately stopped Su Jinli: "My brother is in a precarious situation within the company right now."
"Hmm? What happened?"
"He just became a shareholder and is in a fierce struggle with the senior management of the company. Even though he's been dominating the situation, he's also constantly under scrutiny. Given my complicated situation, if he assists me, it could harm him instead."
At this point, An Zhihan sat upright, asking, "Should we enlist the help of our Sejia Legend's PR team?"
Wu Yu looked at An Zhihan and subtly furrowed his brow.
"Our family situation isn't complicated. Our style is straightforward and brash; we're rich and unrefined," An Zhihan further explained.
"Then... please help me," Wu Yu rarely conceded to An Zhihan, but this time, he genuinely didn't want his ex-girlfriend to be implicated. As a result, it was the first time for him to show such an attitude towards An Zhihan.
"Call me 'big brother' first," An Zhihan even pushed his luck.
"I'm older than you!"
"But I love being the big brother."
Wu Yu, vexed for a moment, eventually gave in: "Big brother."
An Zhihan, delighted, immediately took out his phone and called Jiang Pingqiu, giving him instructions. After a short while, he was finished.
"Delete all of it from the internet, control the trending searches. The expenses will come out from your pocket later," An Zhihan told Wu Yu.
The problem was solved in merely ten minutes with An Zhihan's help.
Wu Yu, initially skeptical, waited a while before checking Weibo. As expected, many posts had been deleted, and his hot search terms were gone.
Wu Yu looked up at An Zhihan again, seeing him expect compliments, it riled him up again, but he still said, "Thank you."
"What are you thanking me for? It was nothing."
Meanwhile, Su Jinli sneakily took Fan Qianting's phone, looked at a photo of Wu Yu's ex-girlfriend, and quietly sighed, "She's so beautiful."
An Zhihan, unabashed, came over, took a look and asked Wu Yu, "Do you have a thing for girls with dimples?"
"Anyway, it's not the snake spirit type," Wu Yu retorted. He took out his phone and sent a message to his ex-girlfriend: I will try to control the public opinion.
His ex-girlfriend replied quickly: Okay, good.
Wu Yu thought for a moment and replied: Mm.
Then, he discovered that his ex-girlfriend had blocked him, which made him feel a bit more downcast.
An Zhihan noticed Wu Yu's reaction and asked, "Your girlfriend doesn't seem too clingy. Doesn't she know that you're famous?"
"Do you think everyone is like your flock of snake spirit sisters? Are you afraid to let them rest their chins on your chest for fear of getting a stab in the heart?"
"Why are you always so annoying? You keep bringing up the same old issue."
After a bit of bickering between Wu Yu and An Zhihan, Su Jinli suddenly stood up and began to sing one of his songs.
The other three were dumbfounded and asked, "What are you doing?"
"To ease the awkward atmosphere," Su Jinli answered.
"How come you're nothing like your brother?" asked An Zhihan.
"And you're nothing like your brother either," Su Jinli retorted.
Fascinated, Fan Qianting asked, "So, who is Su Jinli's brother?"
Last time, An Zhihan had indeed suspected that Shen Cheng was Su Jinli's brother, but Fan Qianting didn't believe it.
If Su Jinli's brother were Shen Cheng, he would probably have a similar personality to An Zhihan, or at least not as destitute-looking as when they first met, wearing only two sets of clothes and hardly ever changing.
"I won't tell you," Su Jinli and An Zhihan replied in unison.
Wu Yu looked at his phone for a while and then asked, "Is your family responsible for Zhou Wenyuan's news?"
The others' attention was immediately drawn to the new hot search topic: Zhou Wenyuan's campus violence.
This hot search suddenly appeared in fifth place. Clicking it revealed that, during Zhou Wenyuan's student days, he had been involved in campus violence against classmates.
On Weibo, there was even a picture of Zhou Wenyuan wearing juvenile delinquent clothes while being interviewed by a reporter.
Looking at the photo, Su Jinli asked in surprise, "He used to bully classmates?"
"Initially, when you claimed Zhou Wenyuan was the culprit, I wasn't fully convinced. Now, I finally believe it. Zhou Wenyuan has been out of touch recently; has he been arrested?" Fan Qianting asked as he looked at the news.
Su Jinli was aware of some things but didn't respond, fearing he might reveal some inside information.
An Zhihan then commented, "Zhou Wenyuan's family is quite affluent. If Zhou Wenyuan wanted to debut, they would definitely clean up this information. It shouldn't have come out."
"It must have taken a lot of money for someone to dig it up," Wu Yu replied.
Both An Zhihan and Wu Yu simultaneously looked at Su Jinli, who immediately shook his head.
Shen Cheng had said that they should handle this issue discreetly, fearing that any more news might affect their plans. After all, their approach couldn't be made public.
An Zhihan lowered her head and texted Jiang Pingqiu.
An Zhihan: Brother Jiang, do you know what's up with the news about Zhou Wenyuan?
Jiang Pingqiu: Weren't you going to handle PR for your friend?
An Zhihan: Yes, I am.
Jiang Pingqiu: Your brother has been investigating Zhou Wenyuan recently. Since he had some dirt on him, he just used it as a distraction.
An Zhihan picked up his phone and showed it to Wu Yu.
After reading it, Wu Yu asked, "The cost of hyping up Zhou Wenyuan's scandal, I don't need to repay you guys, right?"
"Is that really your main concern?"
"I'm really poor, okay? My fixed allowance is just slightly over ten thousand a month right now."
Su Jinli immediately sprang up, "Over ten thousand? I only get five and a half thousand. Yong Ge told me it's considered high."
After hearing this, An Zhihan made a downward-sliding gesture, "For your small agency, five and a half thousands is not bad. I've heard that some companies only give a thousand as allowance, including all meals and accommodation."
"How much is your company's salary?"
"After deducting insurance and tax, probably over eight thousand."
Fan Qianting suddenly raised his hand sheepishly, "I get one and a half thousand a month, including all meals and accommodation."
Su Jinli suddenly felt that his studio had treated him very well indeed. It was truly a big brother's treatment.
"When does your contract end? How about joining our Sejia Legend?" An Zhihan asked.
Fan Qianting seemed quite interested and started asking more questions.
Meanwhile, Wu Yu measured two fingers, "I still have nearly two years left."
At this moment, Su Jinli's phone chimed with a notification.
Hou Yong: Little Jinli, we've been working overtime to produce a song for you. It just needs lyrics now!
Hou Yong: Do you want to listen?
Hou Yong: We've been working so hard we haven't had time to watch your latest competition. Later, we all plan to watch it together in the studio.
Su Jinli: Thank you all for your hard work. I'll listen right away.
________________________
After sending the messages, Hou Yong put down his phone and rubbed his eyes.
His colleagues in the studio had already started preparing the big screen.
They were going to watch the latest episode of National Idol. If it wasn't for their overtime work composing a custom song for Su Jinli, they wouldn't have delayed watching for this long.
Their studio had relied on De Ge's department writing songs and lyrics for others to sustain themselves until recently.
Now, because of Su Jinli, they had truly managed to turn their luck around.
Recently, several advertisers had started reaching out to Hou Yong wanting Su Jinli to endorse their products. The fees needed to pass the scrutiny of Sejia Legend and only if they found the offered rates fair, would it be forwarded to Hou Yong.
Even if the contract for Su Jinli was exceedingly beneficial, the studio could make a fortune from it.
Seven endorsements were planned for shooting within a month, and recently, they have been receiving scripts as well.
Their boss generously approved the renovation of the studio environment and replaced the old equipment. Of course, this money came from Sejia Legend.
The screen flickered to life, and they started streaming online TV.
Every time Su Jinli appeared, they would let out a cheer and say, "Our company's top guy is really handsome."
"I think Wu Yu should be the center, he's so stable."
"Maybe it's our Little Jinli." Hou Yong yawned as he watched the judges make their selection.
In the beginning, everyone seemed to favor Wu Yu, only Gu Ju steadfastly supported Su Jinli.
De Ge couldn't help commenting, "Gu Ju seems to take good care of Little Jinli."
"Hmm."
When it was confirmed that Su Jinli was named the central figure, it was like the studio had won a bid to host the Olympics. The entire room burst into cheers, and two of their female colleagues even broke into tears.
Following Su Jinli's makeover, when he appeared on the screen, someone screamed, "Our Little Jinli looks amazing!"
"Both talented and handsome."
"What are you saying? Our number one guy is stunning."
"I'm so proud. Just the thought that he's my colleague makes me feel magical."
A golden koi has jumped out of the slum company, leading the entire studio on the path to wealth and prosperity.
From humble studio employees, they suddenly enjoyed the perks of a Fortune 500 company, something they hadn't dared to dream of before.
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