Chapter 31: The New Assistant

As soon as Su Xuan’s electronic publication went live, it caused a frenzy. Shen Chao’s magazine sales were also unprecedented, selling out three times. In particular, the limited-edition poster of the two of them together sold out in one second. Everywhere online, people were begging for it. On Xianyu, the price had skyrocketed to thirty-six thousand yuan each.

When Liu Pangpang told Su Xuan this, Su Xuan was stunned. In the past, when Shen Chao was at his hottest, the highest price for a poster was eighteen thousand. Now, with Su Xuan added in, the price had doubled to thirty-six thousand.

It was just a piece of paper!! These girls were way too rich!!

Liu Pangpang mocked Su Xuan for being inexperienced. “Even at thirty-six thousand, you can’t get one. There’s a price but no supply. Fans who got the poster aren’t letting go of them at all. The price will only go higher later.”

As for Su Xuan’s electronic publication sales, Liu Pangpang spoke with both excitement and complex feelings: “You should become number two, Su Xuan. You’ll surpass Fu Mu’s historical record and become the second-best selling electronic publication artist. You’re really popular now, Su Xuan.”

“Number two?” Su Xuan asked.

“Yes, number two,” Liu Pangpang said. “We did a mathematical model evaluation on our side. Your final sales should be very close to Shen Chao’s. And if ‘Nine Streams’ follows up, your popularity will increase further. You might even surpass Shen Chao’s historical total sales—eighty-one thousand.”

Su Xuan was shocked: “No way?! Surpass Shen Chao?!”

“What misunderstanding do you have about your own popularity?” Liu Pangpang was speechless. “Right now, besides Shen Chao, you’re the hottest male artist.”

Though Liu Pangpang said this, Su Xuan didn’t really feel his popularity. Because he had way too much work, almost no time to react to his fame.

Su Xuan plunged into extremely high-intensity work. Even though he was working with Shen Chao, the endless stream of tasks came one after another. Su Xuan was spinning nonstop, leaving no room for any ambiguous moments with Shen Chao. And Shen Chao himself was very serious.

Only some language-based interview work was slightly lighter, but he still had to be careful not to misspeak. Su Xuan was basically rushing through appearances day and night. He hadn’t expected to have so many invitations. Some were in different locations, so he was flying around constantly. He felt this was even more draining than filming.

At least with filming, he could see the results. But after a period of this hectic running around, Su Xuan would collapse in the evening into a fancy hotel room heavy with disinfectant, feeling only emptiness.

He didn’t know what he was busy with. Though exhausted, he didn’t know what he had accomplished.

Maybe he was just busy for nothing, Su Xuan sighed.

Liu Pangpang called: “Su Xuan, post a Weibo. A selfie or something. Also, I found you an assistant.”

Liu Pangpang had the account and password to Su Xuan’s Weibo, but he only used it to forward ads. Moreover, because Su Xuan had been the subject of many rumors lately—both praise and criticism—popular artists are like that. So Liu Pangpang strictly forbade Su Xuan from logging in randomly or searching for his own name or its pinyin abbreviation.

Many artists break down under the overwhelming criticism and abuse, especially those who skyrocket to fame overnight. Liu Pangpang was afraid Su Xuan would crack under the high-pressure work and public opinion, so he basically forbade him from searching for anything related to himself.

But Su Xuan really was very popular lately. So popular that whenever he went online, he could see long articles revealing things about him or related to him, or someone claiming he did this or that. Among these various revelations, insults about Shen Chao and ‘serving seven women in one night’ were nothing special.

But Su Xuan had been toughened up. He wasn’t as fragile as Liu Pangpang thought. He had participated in countless large-scale flame wars—not his own, but Shen Chao’s.

Now when Su Xuan saw abuse like ‘your whole family is dead, you’ll flop soon’—the kind of brainless trash talk in arguments—he couldn’t take it to heart at all. During Shen Chao’s meteoric rise, Su Xuan had experienced several major flame wars. He’d been through the stage where people would say anything when arguing. Because some people really did hurl vicious insults at Shen Chao, and their mouths were incredibly filthy.

But Su Xuan always managed to calm down. He knew that at such times, many of these people’s comments were meaningless.

There was no point in dwelling on them.

He didn’t care about their love or hate.

Su Xuan had long passed the stage of wanting the whole world to love him. In this chaotic circle, genuine feelings that could land were rare. Everyone drifted together and apart. A little sincerity was precious.

Su Xuan just wanted to keep that little sincerity for the people he truly cared about.

Liu Pangpang paused on the phone for a few seconds: “Su Xuan, this assistant will go into the crew with you, but you can replace him anytime.”

“Because he was passed to you by Fu Mu. I previously applied for an assistant from Yezi, but Fu Mu found out. He volunteered to give you one… Do you remember that trainee with a good voice I brought before?”

Liu Pangpang continued: “Back then, without resources, he went to the UK to find a way out. I just found out he’s back.”

Su Xuan slowly furrowed his brows: “Ning Xinyang?”

“Yes, that’s him,” Liu Pangpang said. “But he doesn’t sing anymore. He spins records, a DJ.”

In Su Xuan’s memory, Ning Xinyang was a guy who only sang, hardly dared to look people in the eye, and seemed to have quite a high prescription. Without glasses, even if Su Xuan stood right in front of him, Ning Xinyang couldn’t see him.

Ning Xinyang sang quite well. That’s why Liu Pangpang had a dream of making him a song king for a while, but it soon fizzled out as Shen Chao left Yezi Media and the company declined.

Later, Ning Xinyang went to the UK, canceled his contract with Yezi, and paid a penalty.

Liu Pangpang said, “Do you want to meet him and decide if you want him as your assistant?”

Su Xuan had a good impression of Ning Xinyang. In his memory, Ning Xinyang was still a shy and bashful boy.

…At any rate, it wouldn’t be this guy in Su Xuan’s office, who had seven or eight rings on his clothes, jingled all over at the slightest turn, wore heavy smoky eye makeup and eyeliner, was smoking, and stood at 188 cm.

He was even wearing stiletto heels.

Su Xuan’s expression screamed [Who is this??] and [Shock of my entire neighborhood].

Su Xuan slowly turned to Liu Pangpang: “This is Ning Xinyang?”

Liu Pangpang’s face also twisted: “Yeah, he’s changed so much. No wonder we didn’t recognize him when he came back.”

Su Xuan said with complexity, “…This is more than just a big change…”

…It was like he had been reborn. Everything from his appearance to his sexual orientation seemed to have changed…

Su Xuan walked over and tentatively called, “Ning Xinyang?”

The man stubbed out his cigarette, swept a sharp look over: “Su Xuan, long time no see.”

With a troubled heart, Su Xuan watched Ning Xinyang speak to Liu Pangpang. He paused, then raised his hand: “…Uh, Ning Xinyang, I’m over here. The person you’re talking to is Liu Pangpang…”

Liu Pangpang was also speechless. He pointed at Su Xuan: “Ning Xinyang, Su Xuan is over there. And put your glasses on first, or else when the meeting is over, you won’t even know who you talked to.”

Ning Xinyang abruptly blushed, coughed a few times spraying smoke, and said quietly, “Sorry, sorry, my bad. Let me find my glasses.”

He fumbled through his pockets—Su Xuan knew that gesture, it was him looking for glasses. But Ning Xinyang squinted as he searched, his head lowered like a little old man. His high heels wobbled unsteadily. Su Xuan watched in fear, and before he could warn him, he saw Ning Xinyang sprain his ankle, lurch forward, and the glasses flew out of his pocket.

Su Xuan expressionlessly took the glasses that had gotten caught on the metal rings of Ning Xinyang’s clothes and handed them to him: “…Here they are… And I’m Su Xuan, not Liu Pangpang.”

People with high myopia really can’t tell humans from animals, Su Xuan sighed. He said, “You’re so nearsighted, why aren’t you wearing glasses? But with such thick makeup, you probably can’t wear them. Those fake lashes alone could knock your glasses off. Who told you to do this?”

As soon as this kid Ning Xinyang opened his mouth, Su Xuan felt he was still the same shy, polite boy from before. There was no way he’d dress himself up like this for Su Xuan on his own. It must have been some bad idea from someone else.

Ning Xinyang put on his glasses, bowed slightly to thank him, sat properly on the sofa with legs together, head slightly lowered and face still flushed. Like a 188 cm tall demure lady wringing her hands, he said in a voice as faint as a mosquito: “…Brother Fu told me to give you a show of force…”

Su Xuan looked at the false eyelash that had flown up halfway on Ning Xinyang’s right eye, and hesitated: “…Fu Mu’s show of force meant dressing you up like a Bulgarian drag queen and putting you in my office?”

“Is he messing with you or with me?” Su Xuan was speechless. He snorted coldly, “Immature.”

Ning Xinyang lowered his head and whispered, “But Brother Fu said that when you went to Thailand before, you were most afraid of ladyboys…”

Su Xuan: “……”

No, I’m only afraid of ladyboys who are too forward with me. For someone like you who can’t even find the right person, I’m still not afraid.

Liu Pangpang watched Ning Xinyang speak. Out of guilt and unease, he kept blinking, and the half-flying false eyelash fluttered incessantly. Liu Pangpang’s hands itched, so he directly pulled it off. Ning Xinyang screamed in fright, “Ah!”

Liu Pangpang pushed him into the bathroom: “First, change out of this outfit before you come out and talk to me.”

Ning Xinyang fussed in the bathroom for a while, washed himself clean, and came out wearing thick beer-bottle-bottom glasses.

Liu Pangpang looked at Ning Xinyang: “You haven’t changed much, just gotten a lot taller. Why are you back?”

Ning Xinyang lowered his head: “In the UK, people like me couldn’t make it. So I came back.”

“Doesn’t the UK rarely sign short-term contracts? You…” Liu Pangpang paused, “…You broke your contract with the UK and ran away? Their penalties are high…”

Ning Xinyang raised his hand to wipe his eye, and said in a muffled voice, “Mm, the penalty was high. Brother Fu paid it for me, and then I ran away.”

Liu Pangpang sneered upon hearing that: “Fu Mu paying your penalty? He’d do something like that…”

“Enough,” Su Xuan interrupted Liu Pangpang. “Ning Xinyang, you came to be my assistant. If there’s no problem, pack up your things. We’ll fly to the last gig tomorrow. After that, you’ll go into the crew with me. Okay?”

Su Xuan looked straight at Ning Xinyang: “Try working for a month first. Deal?”

He felt that Ning Xinyang knew a lot, and Su Xuan planned to find a chance to sound him out.

“Okay,” Ning Xinyang said. After a moment, he asked hesitantly, “Won’t you go into the crew with Shen Chao? These past few days, you two have been together for everything.”

Su Xuan answered, “No.”

Shen Chao was going back to the scenic area to shoot some pick-up shots, but Su Xuan was going directly to the other filming location for ‘Nine Streams’—this studio city.

Su Xuan’s last gig was a formal interview. Although it was his personal interview, basically all the questions were about Shen Chao—like how their private relationship was, and how Su Xuan viewed Shen Chao.

Now, the CP between him and Shen Chao was extremely hot. On Shen Chao’s shows, he also couldn’t avoid questions about Su Xuan. Basically, a solo interview turned into a joint interview.

The production team also played a compilation of Shen Chao’s most memorable scenes as voted by fans, asking Su Xuan which part he liked best.

In the clip, Shen Chao went from playing the mute who clawed his fingers bloody climbing a wall to catch Third Young Master in ‘Siheyuan,’ wanting to take him away—that kind of frenzy. To the young prince in ‘Horse Hoof Dust,’ of course he turned his body on a galloping horse, his face full of brute force, and shot an arrow directly into the bullseye with a single shot. Then to ‘From Now On,’ where the class monitor stood by a bicycle with headphones on, slightly indifferent, rejecting the heroine’s excited and nervous confession.

Finally, in the movie ‘Nine Streams,’ amidst a pouring rain, Shen Chao, dressed in black, stabbed backhandedly and beheaded a begging man. He sheathed his sword.

The head rolled onto the ground and was still talking: “You will die a miserable death! You will get your comeuppance! Ah! Ah!”

Su Xuan sat on the sofa in the studio. He looked up at these images of Shen Chao from a time before he had joined him. From these on-screen fragments, Su Xuan could clearly see Shen Chao growing from a teenager to a young adult—sharp as an arrow, dashing, growing rapidly on screen in a breathtaking manner, murdering the shallow passersby who had never seen Shen Chao before.

Su Xuan recalled that after these works were released, on countless nights he saw those surprised and praising comments about Shen Chao, exactly like the feeling he had when he first saw Shen Chao.

He appeared, and he was exactly the character I wanted to see.

The host asked: “Shen Chao’s most acclaimed scenes are the action scenes in ‘Nine Streams.’ I heard Director Hua even said they were stunningly brilliant. Among these, which scene do you think is Shen Chao’s best, Su Xuan?”

Su Xuan laughed: “They are all not the best.”

He looked up, smiling, not at the Shen Chao on the screen behind him: “The scenes he’s filming with me now—that’s Shen Chao’s best work.”

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