When Lin Zixi returned to the hotel the next morning, someone was already waiting for him in his hotel room.
"This is an endorsement contract, and the legal department has already checked it." Chen Yunyun pointed to the document on the coffee table and said, "You can sign it if you have no objection."
"Why is it so sudden? I’ve never heard you talk about this before…." Young actor Lin picked up the document curiously and was totally bewildered when he saw the name of the manufacturer, "Esther? Are you sure?"
Esther was an internationally famous affordable luxury cosmetic brand, and their target market was young women. Although asking a male idol of young women to represent their brand was not a strange thing, the question was….
"Isn't this brand always endorsed by Qiu Lianyi?" Lin Zixi asked while looking over the contract. "Does Esther plan to launch a double series in the new season, so they add a spokesperson?"
Chen Yunyun extended her right index finger and waggled it, "It’s only you. Nothing to do with him."
Young actor Lin was stunned, "You, you... are you trying to make me grab Qiu Lianyi's endorsement?! Damn, this is asking for a fan war, ah!"
"I want to make you grab it?" His agent sneered and ruthlessly poured cold water on him, saying, "Do you think that with your popularity and our company's connections, you can move the resources of Fengcheng’s first brother?!"
This was a heart-breaking statement. Fortunately, young actor Lin did not have much aspiration and ambition. So he did not feel any displeasure because of it, only curiosity. "Then why did Esther stop using Qiu Lianyi and look for me? I haven't heard any negative news about him recently."
"It’s not that Qiu Lianyi has no negative news, but there’s no news about him at all…." Chen Yunyun stopped in the middle of her speech and crooked her finger at Lin Zixi, pretending to be mysterious.
Young actor Lin very cooperatively moved closer to her and listened attentively, waiting for her to announce the answer to the riddle.
"My friend in Fengcheng told me in private." Chen Yunyun paused for a while and then released the explosive news word by word: "Qiu Lianyi is missing."
Lin Zixi's eyes widened all of a sudden, "When did it happen? Wasn’t it said that he was doing closed training and experiencing life for the filming of a movie?! I’ve seen the press release several times."
"He seemed to be missing after attending the annual TV drama celebration of S Satellite TV. In order to suppress this matter, Fengcheng deliberately released all kinds of fake news outside. But now that the new season of Esther's advertisement is about to be shot, if he can't appear, Fengcheng can only give up the endorsement…. Fortunately, Qiu Lianyi's endorsement contract has just expired, otherwise it’d be enough trouble for Fengcheng to terminate the contract halfway." Chen Yunyun said.
"A big living person, and a star on top of that. How can he really be missing?" Lin Zixi could not figure it out but soon realized that something was wrong, "You said that Qiu Lianyi was missing after S Satellite TV’s celebration? But he still replied to my WeChat the next day, although it’s just two or three sentences…. I won't be the last person to have contact with him, right?!"
"Who knows." Chen Yunyun shrugged her shoulders.
Young actor Lin went through his last WeChat conversation with Qiu Lianyi on his mobile phone, "Please help me contact Fengcheng and tell them that I’ve been in contact with him after S Satellite TV’s celebration."
At first, Chen Yunyun only glanced casually at Lin Zixi's mobile phone, but then she snatched it away and pointed at Master Qiu's original sentence [There’re two trained people in the venue looking at you with abnormal expressions, but I think you should be able to deal with them.] with a serious expression while asking, "What's this all about?!"
...You still asked what’s this all about?!
You were the one who foolishly bought a hot search, resulting in the ‘Lin Zixi looks like Gu Zecheng’ to anger his gold master daddy, which subsequently made him live a too-blessed life of ‘referring to his father as his elder brother, and recognizing his grandma as his mother’.
Young actor Lin glanced at the initiator of a thief shouting to catch a thief and snatched his mobile phone back, "It's nothing. Anyway, I don't have anything to do now, but Qiu Lianyi has been missing for almost two months…. You contact Fengcheng, and I can provide screenshots of our conversation if needed."
"Whom should I contact?" Chen Yunyun shook her head, "You don't have Qiu Lianyi's location back then in your WeChat conversation. If I contact Fengcheng, they’ll only know that I’ve bribed their internal staff, and I’ll no longer be able to get any other useful information. Great Holy Mother Lin, I think you should take a break. Take care of your own affairs first before thinking of others’.... Are you optimistic about the outcome of the contract?"
Although Lin-Holy Mother-Zixi still wanted to inform Fengcheng that young actor Qiu had been in contact with him before he went missing, considering that Chen Yunyun's words also had a certain truth, he could not just betray his own agent as he wished. So he had to find a chance to talk about it again later.
Lin Zixi scanned the endorsement contract in his hand, pondered for a while after closing it, and said, "The contract is OK, but the problem is…. Qiu Lianyi's fans don't know that he’s missing. As soon as I grab this one endorsement, I reckon our fans will fight and tear apart the 'LianXi Fufu' CP."
Chen Yunyun sneered, "His ordinary fans don't know what's going on, do those big fans and professional fans not know the score? If his team can't placate the fans at that time, it can only mean that they’ve also wanted to tear the CP themselves."
"Also?" Young actor Lin noticed a certain word in what his agent said.
"Since the romantic scandal between you and Liu Xia was not hyped up, but her black history was dredged up instead, the company felt that your CP with Qiu Lianyi was too crazy and needed to cool off. So killing this CP is just a matter of time." Chen Yunyun stared at Lin Zixi’s face from left to right, "I really didn't expect this group of CP fans to be so sincere when they joined together to hype 'LianXi Fufu' back then. Even your crazy girlfriend fans can't compare."
Young actor Lin and young actor Qiu were just doing romantic CP for business. Now that their partnership was going to be torn apart, he had no reluctance at all. His only worry was, "But if you rely on me 'grabbing an endorsement' to kill the CP, I think I’ll reap a huge wave of fans unfollowing and turning into anti-fans."
Chen Yunyun, however, was calm and composed. "Haven't you heard a rumor in the rivers and lakes? The number of the so-called BG CP fans is approximately equal to the number of fans of the girl, while the number of BL CP fans is approximately equal to the number of fans of the shou (bottom).... Just add some extra propaganda, and those fans who unfollow ‘LianXi Fufu' won’t unfollow you."
……
…………
Young actor Lin, who had never cared about fandom management, was completely shocked, "There’s actually such an operation?!"
"There’s such an operation." Chen Yunyun patted Lin Zixi on the shoulder, "This is all a routine…. But in the future, when you have a BG CP, you’ll probably get a reversal of the wheel of fortune, and your fans will be purified."
"The company still plans to hype a BG CP for me?" Young actor Lin felt a little annoyed.
"It’s actually unlikely." Chen Yunyun said, "But you’ll always find a girlfriend in the future, right? I think with you being such a homebody, there’s little chance that you’ll find someone from outside the circle. I guess you’ll walk the route of falling in love on set in the end "
His own agent obviously looked down on otaku, did she?!
Who said that otaku stars could only find a female co-star to fall in love on set, ah…. He could also find a male star.
Young actor Lin, who was male and liked men, swallowed the words in his mouth down and lowered his head to sign the endorsement contract in his hand.
Although Lin Zixi's endorsement could not be said to be an emergency rescue, it could be regarded as the most urgent. A few days after the contract was signed, he asked the crew for leave and flew to B City to shoot the advertisement.
Young actor Lin and his assistant, Xiao Zhang, boarded the plane through the VIP access. After taking their seats in the first-class cabin, Lin Zixi pushed down his peaked cap extremely low, hoping that people on the plane would not recognize him.
However, his hope quickly came to nothing.
Moreover, the one who recognized him was quite brazen and said directly to his assistant sitting next to him, "My seat is right behind you. Let's change seats."
As a result, Xiao Zhang actually got up and changed seats with the other party. Not only that, but he also didn't ask young actor Lin's opinion.
Lin Zixi raised the brim of his hat in astonishment and looked at the person who had just sat down next to him… only to see a man in a suit and leather shoes, with a noble temperament and a majestic appearance, written as ‘eldest brother’ but read as "biological father".
"President Gu, are you going to City B too?" Young actor Lin asked Gu Zecheng beside him.
His gold master daddy replied jokingly, "I've already got on the plane. If I don't go to City B... can I jump off the plane halfway?"
……
…………
“You and I are people with (inherited) Mercury retrograde, and you still made a bad joke about jumping off the plane while on board?!" When the plane they were taking had an engine failure half an hour after takeoff, Lin Zixi grievingly and indignantly made a belated complaint to Dad Gu.
TL's note:
I'm taking a vacation, so there won't be an update on Thursday. Next chapter will be posted on Monday, June 27.