Translator: LiLi041
Chapter 37: Endorsement Crisis
After leaving Zhou Yaming’s office with a copy of the contract in his hand, he found Chief Song, who had just finished dealing with all his work and was planning on coming downstairs to invite him to eat.
The assistant manager had gone out to run some errands, so it was Chief Song who had opened the door for his own employees.
As soon as he walked through the door and ascertained that there was no one around, Chi Song flung himself over extremely fiercely and kissed Song Zhihuai on the lips.
Two days ago, he had seen Bai Zhirong kiss Brother Harry like this. Brother Harry seemed to have been restrained by Bai Zhirong’s momentum and became well-behaved.
Chi Song, who had watched the whole process from the sidelines, felt that this action was particularly manly.
As an actor, Chi Song perfectly reenacted all of Bai Zhirong’s actions on Song Zhihuai’s body. He felt that he had learned the essence of the actions and that his moves could score a full ten points.
However, Song Zhihuai wasn’t Brother Harry, who seemed fierce on the outside but was actually soft on the inside.
The big bad wolf was stunned for a moment by the little white rabbit’s action of baring his fangs and brandishing his claws. Then, he cupped the face of the little white rabbit who rarely took the initiative and barbarically kissed back.
After several turns, Chi Song had been kissed dizzy and was dazedly lifted onto the desk by Chief Song.
When Chi Song was pressed down onto the streamlined desk, all he could feel was that the large and sturdy table top fit against his back really well. It wasn’t uncomfortable in the slightest.
Seeing Chi Song’s thoughts, Song Zhihuai kissed his nose. “When I re-renovated the office, I specially asked someone to design the table according to your height. It’s comfortable to lie down on, right?”
Chi Song: “…”
Great Ruffian Mr. Song, well, you really weren’t lying.
…He had originally just wanted to kiss a bit, but he was actually pressed down onto the table to do the full set. Chi Song expressed that even though it was very comfortable, he still felt like he was losing out somehow.
After they became full from eating the pre-dinner dessert, Mr. Song opened up the office’s ventilation window and took Chi Song downstairs. Then, he settled him down in the car and went to the little restaurant nearby to bring back a serving of free-range chicken soup, a serving of stir-fried vegetables, and two servings of rice.
The two people hid in the car, sweetly enjoying their lunch for two.
Chi Song was a bit nervous as he said, “Being Aden’s ambassador might be a bit too much.”
Song Zhihuai ladled some chicken soup over Chi Song’s rice before reaching out to pat the back of his head. “Don’t worry. There’s no way for you to spend your birthday at home this year, so you’ll definitely be unhappy inside. This can be considered your husband’s early birthday gift to you, so you won’t be unhappy.”
Chi Song bit the spoon and thought, I was almost scared to death, where would I have the energy to care about being unhappy or not?
When Song Zhihuai saw that Chi Song didn’t say anything more, he also secretly released a sigh of relief.
…He was just afraid that Chi Song would clearly draw a line between them.
When the two had just gotten together, Song Zhihuai watched as Chi Song ran back and forth between various sets all day long, volunteering his services just to ask for only a little role in exchange, one that he could only act for a dozen or so days before it was finished. He wished he could just stuff all of his best resources to Chi Song.
He knew a friend who had actually dumped 200 million into a TV show in the past in order to indulge his mistress and let her become the female lead.
However, that script was very average, one that was all just Mary Sue.
Song Zhihuai had even laughed at that friend, “In any case, you should have given her a better script.”
He hadn’t expected that friend to say, “She was a dancer at a dance academy before. She won’t be able to act out a good script anyway, so it’s a waste to give one to her. It’s better to just let her doll herself up beautifully and let her realize her dream of becoming a star.”
Song Zhihuai thought, who said that women were prone to doing foolish things in love; once men became lovestruck fools, they weren’t any worse than women.
Unexpectedly, not even a few years had passed when the wheels of fate turned. Now, Song Zhihuai was the lovestruck fool.
But when Song Zhihuai asked Chi Song for his thoughts, he was met with opposition.
Chi Song said, “I don’t want it. I’m not together with you for this.”
Song Zhihuai was afraid that Chi Song would misunderstand and softly coaxed him, “If Husband doesn’t take care of you, then should he take care of other people?”
At that time, Chi Song still wasn’t used to Song Zhihuai calling himself ‘Husband’ and would blush as soon as he heard it.
“That’s not what I meant…” said Chi Song. “It’s just that after I got together with you, I feel that being unpopular is pretty good too.”
And now, Salted Fish Chi Song could pretty much already shed his ‘Salted Fish’ label.
Since the situation was already different from before, Chi Song also had to make some small adjustments to his goals.
As Chi Song ladled a scoop of rice soup, he said softly, “I have to save up money.”
Song Zhihuai was very astonished. “…What are you saving up money for?”
Chi Song said, brimming with confidence, “I want to buy a house for us, the kind that faces the sea. When I can’t act anymore, we’ll go there to live.”
Song Zhihuai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “If you want one, I can buy one for you right now.”
Chi Song gravely used the plastic ladle to jab at Song Zhihuai’s bowl. “I’ll buy my own house. When we grow old, I’ll be the one taking care of you. When the time comes, you’ll have to listen to everything I say: if I tell you to be on top, you’re not allowed to be on the bottom.”
Song Zhihuai laughed, “Hahahahaha.” What a grand dream.
Chi Song said a bit aggrievedly, “…Every time I’m on top, my knees start to hurt from kneeling. It’s very tiring too.”
Song Zhihuai placated Chi Song, “Okay okay, you can be on the bottom every time in the future.”
As soon as Song Zhihuai placated him, Chi Song become hesitant once more. “…But it really is pretty tiring to be on top. I’m afraid of tiring you out.”
Song Zhihuai didn’t say anymore. He rubbed Chi Song’s forehead and gave him a chicken soup-flavored kiss.
Chi Song was full of motivation as they discussed his house. The entire meal, he went through the account books with Song Zhihuai, meticulously picking out the colors they would use for the roof tiles and wallpaper. Song Zhihuai also very seriously discussed this over with Chi Song.
After they finished their meal, Song Zhihuai drove Chi Song back home.
On the road, Song Zhihuai watched the traffic light in front of him as he said, “Speaking of which, about being a brand ambassador for Aden, you really do have to prepare yourself mentally.”
Chi Song had just gotten such a big windfall and hadn’t yet had the time to systematically process Aden’s matter when he heard Song Zhihuai say this. He couldn’t help but become nervous. “What’s wrong?”
Song Zhihuai said, “You know Qian Qi, right?”
Chi Song fell silent.
Qian Qi was also a child star that had acted in “Coming and Going” with Chi Song.
Speaking of which, he was the person who knew Chi Song the earliest out of the entire entertainment circle.
During the years when child stars were still allowed to act in advertisements, Little Chi Song and Little Qian Qi had acted in the same milk powder advertisement.
Since Little Chi Song looked rather delicate and cute, he acted as a girl in the advertisement.
Little Qian Qi was older than Little Chi Song by a year and had acted in several advertisements before. He could already be considered a veteran at this.
He had always believed that Little Chi Song was a girl. He even sneakily kissed Little Chi Song’s cheek and said, ‘Little sister, you’re really pretty.’
Little Chi Song had never met a delinquent like this before. He touched the cheek that had been kissed and said in confusion, “You’re also good-looking.”
After the two had grown up some more, they met once again on the set of “Coming and Going”.
After Little Qian Qi arrived at the set, he excitedly went to find Little Chi Song, full of expectations. He couldn’t find him anywhere, so he decided to just go to the bathroom to wash his hands and freshen up before going to woo girls.
Even if Little Qian Qi died, he would never have thought that he would meet Little Chi Song in the bathroom. He even had the same exact little instrument of crime that he himself had.
Little Qian Qi’s worldviews collapsed.
Most likely because Little Qian Qi felt that he had been cheated big time, he started to bully Little Chi Song.
In the show, Little Qian Qi, Little Chi Song, and Little Zhu Ziqi acted as siblings who loved and supported one another. Little Li Qiuli acted as the neighbors’ brat. His character in the show was similar to that of Takeshi Goda from《Doraemon》. Little Chi Song rather liked him.
On the contrary, Little Qian Qi, who acted the role of his older brother, disliked him very much.
Though Little Qian Qi’s methods of bullying others were rather childish, such as hiding Chi Song’s lunchbox or tossing the shredded carrots Chi Song hated the most into his bowl, Chi Song still became very unhappy.
The fuse was when filming ended on a certain day and Little Qian Qi wanted to pour water on Little Chi Song’s head, but accidentally poured it onto Little Zhu Ziqi, who was wearing Chi Song’s down jacket.
It was in the middle of winter. When Little Zhu Ziqi was splashed full in the face with this cup of cold water, she started to cry with loud wails. Little Chi Song became enraged. He pulled up his sleeves and started to fight with Little Qian Qi.
Since then, Little Chi Song refused to say another word to Little Qian Qi, other than when the script required him to.
When Chi Song had just gone abroad, pretty much all of the actors he had filmed with before had sent him postcards one after another. He didn’t know where Qian Qi had gotten his school’s address, but Qian Qi had also sent him a postcard.
On his postcard was written: When you come back, you’ll be begging for me to protect you.
The Chi Song at that time was no longer the little kid who would start a fight at the slightest provocation. He put Qian Qi’s postcard, which was just brimming with chunni-ness, at the very bottom of all his postcards and preserved it.
After Chi Song returned from abroad, Qian Qi hadn’t contacted him, and nor had he contacted Qian Qi.
During the past nine years Chi Song had been abroad, Qian Qi had never stopped acting. All the shows he acted in were idol dramas. His acting skills were average, but he had full points in attractiveness. He had never been ugly from childhood to adulthood, which was extremely rare.
Chi Song never thought that he would hear this person’s name again through Song Zhihuai. He became absent-minded for a moment before asking, “What about him?”
Song Zhihuai replied succinctly, “…He’s always been Aden’s promoter.”
As soon as Song Zhihuai said this, Chi Song understood.
There were only around two hundred celebrities in the entertainment circle whose names and roles were widely known by everyone. However, the number of people who were really involved in this circle and lived this kind of life were as numerous as the sand at the bottom of the Ganges River. There were only so many resources like advertisements, TV shows, movies, and spokesman positions for brand names. When people really started fighting, they would even want to just bash each others’ heads in.
A compelling endorsement was infinitely helpful to a celebrity’s career. However, incidents where ‘people can just sit at home and a brand ambassador offer drops out of the sky’ were very rare. Most of the time, the only way to get these opportunities was for celebrities and their teams to take the initiative in contacting a brand and actively recommend themselves for the job.
Certain big brand names definitely didn’t lack celebrities willing to promote for them.
Being a so-called promoter was different from being an ambassador. When put nicely, the brand had invited you to collaborate. When put not-so-nicely, promoters were just there to fill in the numbers.
…So, this was where it became awkward.
Qian Qi had been a promoter for Aden for so long, but the big fruit of his labor, the ambassador position, had been plucked away by Chi Song.
Aside from Qian Qi and his personal grudges, what made Chi Song most worried was that Qian Qi could be considered a popular star. He only needed to say the word to get an immense amount of support.
He… was he going to have to go against a very popular star’s influence?
When Chi Song thought of the scenes of bloody carnage on Weibo, his heart felt emptied out. “…Oh, Qian Qi.”
Song Zhihuai smiled. “What’s wrong?”
Chi Song said, “He’s a popular star.”
Just as Chi Song was silently deciding to stop using Weibo for a while, Song Zhihuai stopped the car in front of a red light and asked back smilingly, “…Aren’t you also one right now?”
Translator’s Note: Happy February everyone! Long time no see~ This is a chapter that took me… a whole month to translate lol. I don’t know if I can go back to a normal schedule for this novel, but I’m not dropping this btw! I’m just a bit busy still with school. As for that Chinese competition… I did horrible QAQ but I’ve put it behind me! More competitions ahead! (✿◡‿◡)
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