Although Xiao Bai had no idea how thinking about an answer could turn someone into a bald donkey, he still conscientiously committed the standard answer firmly to memory.
Jia Zhi Qing nervously adjusted his hair in front of the mirror. “What angle of my face do you guys think looks best on camera? My left eye seems a little bigger than my right. Should I keep my left side turned toward them the whole time?”
Without even lifting his eyelids, Gao Qin said, “One hundred and eighty degrees.”
Jia Zhi Qing’s face fell. “That’s the back of my head.”
Gao Qin shrugged. “Then stop asking me questions that difficult.”
Depressed, Jia Zhi Qing turned toward the remaining two people.
Feng Ya Lun smiled pleasantly back at him, looking as though he were waiting for Jia Zhi Qing to walk willingly into a trap.
So Jia Zhi Qing had no choice but to target the last person. “Xiao Bai…”
Sure enough, Xiao Bai’s sympathy overflowed. “Actually, I think you look okay from every angle.”
Jia Zhi Qing’s eyes lit up like two 220-volt lightbulbs.
Xiao Bai paused, then added, “At least you don’t look as strange as you did the first time I met you.”
“……Did you absolutely have to add that last part?”
“You can just filter it out.”
Jia Zhi Qing gritted his teeth. “I’m not a filter!”
The reporters attending the press conference were once again mostly familiar faces.
This time they had arrived aggressively and fully prepared, swearing that they absolutely would not let themselves be dismissed with a few casual sentences like last time.
The moment Gao Qin, Xiao Bai, and Jia Zhi Qing appeared, camera flashes began flickering like distress signals.
Jia Zhi Qing immediately felt his confidence return. Weren’t all those beautiful women below craning their necks just for the chance to obtain a precious photograph of him? Thinking of beautiful female reporters inevitably reminded him of Le Qing, and the corner of his mouth curled into a sweet smile.
With both his career and love life flourishing, his existence had finally transformed from autumn leaves scattering in the wind to the triumphant breeze of spring.
Gao Qin reached over and tugged at his clothes.
Jia Zhi Qing abruptly came back to himself and realized that Gao Qin and Xiao Bai had already sat down. He alone was still standing stupidly between them. He swallowed with an audible gulp and hurried to find a seat.
The press conference officially began.
Gao Qin did not waste time on any nonsense this time. After all, Ma Rui was usually the one responsible for nonsense.
He and Xiao Bai sat down directly, and Gao Qin waved a hand. “Please ask your questions.”
The reporters loved this kind of opening best.
It was bad enough that they had to listen to their bosses’ endless, irrelevant grand speeches back at their magazines and newspapers. Why should their ears have to be poisoned all over again every time they came out to gather news?
The reporters stretched their hands up like elementary-school students, desperately trying to attract the attention of the people on stage.
In reality, the moderator was already holding a list Gao Qin had given him. He pretended to look around, then lowered his head and began reading the names of the publications in order.
The reporters from each publication stood when called.
“I’d like to ask Xiao Bai: what exactly is your relationship with Yan Su Ang?” Since so many reporters had their hands raised, the first person selected went straight for the throat.
“Friends,” Xiao Bai answered without the slightest hesitation.
Gao Qin was extremely satisfied with both the speed and tone of his answer.
Another reporter immediately took over. “But Great God’s attitude toward you doesn’t look like that of an ordinary friend. When the famous director Lian Jue Xiu was in a car accident, Great God didn’t visit him until after work. He certainly didn’t abandon the production halfway through filming.”
Only then did Xiao Bai learn that when Yan Su Ang had rushed to the hospital last time, he had actually left the production crew behind to do it.
Seeing Xiao Bai freeze, Gao Qin immediately took over. “If you have questions about Yan Su Ang, could you please ask Yan Su Ang directly? Xiao Bai is Yan Su Ang’s friend, not a mind reader.”
The reporter sat down awkwardly, and a fresh challenger immediately sprang to their feet. “I’d like to ask Xiao Bai: how do you define this ‘friend’ relationship between you and Yan Su Ang?”
Xiao Bai instinctively answered, “Brother Gao said so.”
“……”
The corner of Gao Qin’s eye twitched.
Jia Zhi Qing suddenly felt that facing people with the back of his head might actually be quite nice. At least then he would not have to work so hard controlling his facial expressions.
After one brief moment of stunned silence, the reporters all excitedly realized that the dam had finally developed a crack.
If the security guards on both sides had not been watching them like tigers, they would have gladly thrown themselves onto the stage.
But Gao Qin was still Gao Qin. If such a minor scene were enough to defeat him, he would not be Yimate’s most celebrated ace manager. He calmly took a sip of tea before slowly saying, “That’s right. Xiao Bai and Yan Su Ang were able to become friends because I acted as the go-between.”
A go-between?
What an extraordinarily versatile phrase—with such quietly indecent possibilities hidden inside it. Take one tiny step farther and wouldn’t that simply make him a pimp?
The reporters could no longer restrain their imaginations.
“I assume all of you still remember… Xiao Bai started hosting GO! GO! SU… SUPER STAR almost immediately after his debut?”
The reporters nodded in unison.
Ever since Luo Pei Jue left, GO! GO! SU… SUPER STAR had been unable to find a suitable replacement host. Recently, NCC Television had already begun considering whether to take Luo Pei Jue back. Otherwise, the program was probably doomed to cancellation. Everything now depended on whether NCC’s boss could swallow his pride—and swallow the declaration he had made back then that Luo Pei Jue would never be hired again.
Gao Qin continued, “It was during that program that a small misunderstanding developed between Xiao Bai and Great God…” He deliberately left the rest hanging for the reporters to fill in themselves. Since the infamous “auntie upstairs” remark had caused such an uproar at the time, remembering what had happened was hardly difficult.
“That’s why I specifically arranged for the two of them to meet, clear everything up, and hopefully become good friends.” Gao Qin took out one of the magazines and pointed at the photograph of Xiao Bai and Great God eating together in the restaurant. “I was originally supposed to join them for that meal, but President Ma stopped me at the last minute. You all know what President Ma is like once he starts talking. There’s absolutely no getting out the door for several hours.”
The reporters laughed knowingly.
Gao Qin smiled. “So in the end, I had no choice but to let the two of them settle things by themselves. But they’re both men. What is there between two men that can’t be talked out or gotten past? Sit down for one meal and whatever old grudges or misunderstandings there were simply disappear.”
Jia Zhi Qing looked at him in admiration.
He actually managed to turn a crisis like this into an opportunity. As expected of Poison-Tongue Gao! If I ever want to reach this level, I still have a very, very long road ahead of me.
Once Gao Qin unlocked the door to his wisdom, excuses began pouring out like an endless tide. “As for the hospital visit and the time Yan Su Ang picked Xiao Bai up downstairs from his home, those were actually part of the same incident.”
The reporters were so deeply shaken by this newly revealed “truth” that they momentarily forgot to respond and simply stared at him with shining eyes.
Gao Qin had no choice but to continue like a professional storyteller. “There’s one thing I’m sure none of you know. Yan Su Ang and Xiao Bai are friends, yes—but he and Jia Zhi Qing, Xiao Bai’s manager here, are good friends.”
The reporters’ gazes went swish, swish, swish toward Jia Zhi Qing.
Jia Zhi Qing involuntarily straightened his back.
“The person Yan Su Ang went to see at the hospital actually wasn’t Xiao Bai. It was Jia Zhi Qing.” At this point, Gao Qin adopted an extremely caring tone. “There was really no helping it. Jia Zhi Qing had only just been discharged from the hospital when he got into another car accident and was admitted again… With such an astonishing accident rate, how could Yan Su Ang possibly not worry about him? As for the time he went downstairs to Xiao Bai’s home, the two of them had already agreed beforehand to go visit Jia Zhi Qing together.”
After listening to Gao Qin explain it like that, even Xiao Bai and Jia Zhi Qing—the people actually involved—almost began to believe that was what had happened.
One reporter raised another objection. “Then what about the time outside the hotel? Great God’s leg still hadn’t healed, and filming for the production was still stalled…”
Jia Zhi Qing jumped in. “Actually, I was there that time too. I’d just gone to get the car. You know how boring it is when you’re stuck in a hospital, so Great God had really come over to find us… to play Dou Dizhu!”
Elio’s Notes: Dou Dizhu (斗地主), literally “Fight the Landlord,” is an extremely popular Chinese three-player card game. Jia Zhi Qing conveniently chooses a game that would require exactly three people: himself, Xiao Bai, and Great God.
“……”
An icy wind seemed to sweep across the press conference.
The reporters silently wrote down the words “Dou Dizhu.”
Great God was human too.
Great God enjoyed playing Dou Dizhu too.
Gao Qin spread his hands. “Is there anything else anyone still doesn’t understand?”
The reporters looked at one another.
Jia Zhi Qing seized the opportunity to lean over and whisper worriedly in Gao Qin’s ear, “Do you think tomorrow morning’s headline will be a scandal between Great God and me?”
Gao Qin gave him a glance and said indifferently, “It’s not the end of the world. A magazine wouldn’t do anything that insane.”
“……”
One reporter suddenly asked in a low voice, “Actually, scandals involving celebrities are perfectly normal. Why does the company rush out to clarify things every single time Xiao Bai is involved in one?”
Gao Qin answered without the slightest hurry. “In fact, our company has been reflecting on this issue for several years now. How can we bring ourselves closer to our friends in the media, reduce the barriers between us as much as possible, and prevent the public from developing misunderstandings? President Ma and I both believe… communication is the best method. Of course, Xiao Bai is an important artist under our company, so protecting his image is also our responsibility.”
The reporters lowered their heads and sighed.
They had thought they had finally found Yimate’s weak spot and would be able to fight a beautiful, decisive victory this time.
Who could have imagined that in the end, their hopes would once again come to nothing?
Just as the reporters gradually began packing their things and preparing to leave, Feng Ya Lun suddenly walked out from backstage.
Dressed in a beige suit, he did not look very different from before the incident. If one absolutely had to name a difference, it was that the dazzling aura of stardom that had once surrounded him seemed to have settled and dimmed.
Gao Qin stood. “Actually, Ya Lun is the real protagonist of today’s press conference.”
Seeing the reporters’ startled expressions, he silently nodded in satisfaction. Exactly the effect I wanted. If they had been notified in advance, they would certainly have made all kinds of preparations specifically targeting Feng Ya Lun. By springing this on them without warning, their ability to do damage while completely unprepared would naturally be reduced by a great deal.
Jia Zhi Qing tactfully stood and surrendered his seat. No wonder they had arranged for him to sit in the center. It had all been planned from the start.
Feng Ya Lun slowly sat down, lightly running his fingers over the microphone before smiling. “It’s been less than a month, but to me, it feels as though I’ve been away for an entire year.”
That single sentence carried the weary sense of a world transformed—the stars shifting overhead and white clouds changing into gray dogs.
Elio’s Notes: 白云苍狗, literally “white clouds [becoming] gray dogs,” is an old idiom for the rapid and unpredictable changes of worldly affairs. Here it underscores how completely Feng Ya Lun feels his circumstances have changed in less than a month.
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