Chapter 67: Provocation

October 25, 2022kaychandra

Chapter 67: Provocation

The words of confession were blurted out. There was no beautiful setting, no gift, not even a candlelight dinner, no romantic atmosphere at all.

A thunderclap sounded. Xi Qing’s back shivered slightly, and his deep eyes looked at Gongxi Qiao, like a prisoner about to be tried by a judge, waiting for the final verdict.

Gongxi Qiao grinned and looked at Xi Qing for a few seconds, smiling. “If you like me, he wants to deal with me. Does he have a crush on you and treats me as a love rival?”

Xi Qing was a little stunned, a little unable to react. What did that mean?

“Since it’s your business, I’ll let you take care of it,” Gongxi Qiao leaned on the door frame and said lazily, “I’m just a small entertainer with no power. I don’t want to interfere in the fights between you prestigious families.”

“I won’t let you worry about these things.” Xi Qing’s tone paused and stumbled a bit, “I just……”

“I heard what you just said very clearly.” Gongxi Qiao hooked a finger towards him, and waited for Xi Qing to walk obediently in front of him before smiling. “There’s the saying time reveals a man’s heart, distance tests a horse’s stamina. Even though I don’t take many things to heart, I don’t like to play with feelings. You’re very good, and to my liking. However, my feelings for you haven’t reached the point of being committed to spending a lifetime together, and you don’t know me well enough. I don’t want you to end up feeling like a victim in this relationship because you didn’t see my true face. So, wait until you know me well enough before mentioning this relationship again. If you talk about it again at that time, be prepared to spend the rest of your life with me.”

After listening to this long passage, Xi Qing came to a conclusion that his confession seemed to have been politely rejected. However, the good thing was that the object of the confession didn’t hate him, but had good feelings for him. It was just that those good feelings were still in the observation period.

“It’s my business that I like you. I won’t let anyone else bother you about it, let alone make things difficult for you,” Xi Qing said with a relieved smile. “I’m also a very serious person about my feelings, and I think it’s a lifetime commitment.”

This was the person he liked. Gongxi Qiao wouldn’t be pretentious or annoyed, nor would he pretend to be superior, although he sounds arrogant when he speaks so bluntly. However, Xi Qing felt that this should be the case. The Gongxi Qiao he liked should be like this. He wouldn’t let himself be wronged, and wouldn’t play around with others’ feelings like a slimeball. 

“It’s good that you can think it through. I’m going to take a shower. You rest early.” Gongxi Qiao showed a perfect smile, and then closed the door of the room lightly.

Xi Qing looked at the door in front of him, stood quietly for a long time, and a smile suddenly appeared on his face.

The fact that Xiao Qiao could say those words showed that in his heart, he had the intention to spend a lifetime with him.

So thinking about it, he felt that the failed confession was nothing. He was in a good mood and went back to his study to brush up on the entertainment news, as well as save a certain PSA video to his computer hard drive.

The next morning, Gongxi Qiao arrived at the ‘Cultivation’ set in the special car of President Xi, once again showing the crew how good their friendship was.

“You look much better today,” Chen Yi joked as he reached out to take Gongxi Qiao by the shoulders. “If the media photographs you coming to the crew in President Xi’s car, there will be several news reports.”

“They can write a few heartfelt articles whether they catch anything on camera or not.” Gongxi Qiao didn’t care much about the entertainment news reports out there, “They can do what they want, as long as they don’t smear me too much.”

“You’re very broad-minded.” The two of them entered the dressing room together, surrounded by makeup artists to apply makeup on their faces. Chen Yi glanced at Gongxi Qiao and noticed that he seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood today, so he couldn’t help but ask, “Is it because the work you invested in made money again that put you in such a good mood?”

After getting acquainted with Gongxi Qiao, he learned that Gongxi Qiao liked to invest in some promising works, including variety shows, TV series or movies, and even some web dramas. He didn’t know whether he was lucky or had an eye for money, but the works he invested in were all very good and even the web dramas made a lot of money.

“The few works I invested in haven’t been released, so how could I make money on them?” Gongxi Qiao laughed. “I slept well last night, so I’m in a good mood.”

Chen Yi laughed twice, but because of the makeup team staff all around, he didn’t ask more questions.

The makeup team staff were veterans in the circle. They knew that they could hear some things, but they couldn’t ask questions, let alone tell anybody. So even though they were interested in the film and television works invested in by Gongxi Qiao, they didn’t speak up.

After shooting the scene at noon, Gongxi Qiao sat with several other main actors of the cast to eat a box lunch. Ji Yuming took a sip of tea, swallowed the somewhat greasy meal and looked at Gongxi Qiao. “I heard that you are going to participate in the ‘Understanding Conversation’ live broadcast tonight?”

Gongxi Qiao nodded. ‘Understanding Conversation’ was a program on one of the national channels, and its ratings had been very good for several years. There was even a rumor in the industry that most of the artists who can participate in the recording of this program were doing very well. Among the people present here, Ma Qian, Dai Ni and Ji Yuming had all been on the program.

Although Dai Ni and Ma Qian weren’t artists in the same agency, and both were top women in the industry, the relationship between them wasn’t as bad as the media reported because they took different routes and their roles didn’t conflict much. At least in the ‘Cultivation’ crew, on the surface the relationship between the two was good, just like a good sisterly appearance.

The two people were both successful in getting to the position of top actresses and film queens, so they were very good at judging situations. In the outside world, Gongxi Qiao’s status in the circle was far less than theirs, but they knew very well that they would rather offend a few film emperors than a figure like Gongxi Qiao. The people backing him, with just a few words, could decide whether their future star path would be scenic or bleak.

Now hearing Ji Yuming mention ‘Understanding Conversation’, as people who had been there, they were happy to say a few more things about it.

“Liang Jing isn’t only the host of the program, but also the director’s son-in-law. His hosting style is stable and prudent. He’s a very particular person.” Ma Qian spoke of Liang Jing, the top host who got his fortune from his wife, with a complimentary attitude. “His topics are very lofty. Don’t worry about him deliberately digging pits for you in order to find a topic. The only thing that’s a bit troublesome is that his show won’t give guest scripts and the show is live, so when you speak, you have to pay more attention.”

Nowadays there were many variety shows that deliberately tossed guests around for ratings, deliberately mentioning some specious issues, digging pits for guests to jump into, hyping up topics, and were simply uncouth. The good thing was that with their current status in the industry, they didn’t have to be played around with like monkeys by program groups in order to increase their exposure like small entertainers did.

“Thank you for reminding me, Sister Qian, I will definitely pay attention.” Although he already knew something about the program process, Gongxi Qiao thanked Ma Qian for her reminder, seeing her good intentions. His relationship with Ma Qian wasn’t considered close, but he still showed the respect of a junior for his senior.

After finishing his meal, Gongxi Qiao put down his lunchbox and said apologetically, “I’m going to the restroom.”

The ‘Cultivation’ crew was rich and generous, and spent a lot of money to build several beautiful indoor studios, which also allowed the actors involved in the filming to suffer less.

Just after entering the bathroom and closing the outside door, Gongxi Qiao heard two people walk in, and the two whispered something.

“What film emperor or film queen? Aren’t they still circling around a newcomer?”

“He’s not a newcomer, he’s a young man who can call Master Xi his brother. A film emperor or film queen might be famous in front of the media, but what’s that worth in front of Master Xi? Isn’t even Film Emperor Gu, when facing this young master, also polite and full of praise?”

“I’m just a little upset, a group of film emperors and film queens are playing support for him. He debuted less than two years ago, why should he play the lead?” said the man with some resentment in his voice. “We have been working hard in the circle for so many years. In order to get a role we drank until we had stomach bleeding. However, we’re not as good as someone who’s holding Master Xi’s thigh.”

The two people walked inside the bathroom and noticed that the door of one of the toilets was closed. They shut their mouths and hated themselves for not being cautious in what they said and speaking ill of people on this occasion, in case the person in the toilet repeated their words.

Gongxi Qiao didn’t care how apprehensive the two people outside were feeling. He patted his costume, opened the toilet door, and then walked to the sink to wash his hands under the horrified eyes of the two people.

“Qiao, Qiao Shao.” The two people who spoke didn’t expect the person they were complaining about to be in the toilet, which meant that what they said was heard by the other person in its entirety. The more they thought about it, the more scared they were, and they couldn’t even say a complete sentence.

After washing his hands slowly and methodically, Gongxi Qiao took a paper towel and wiped his hands while looking at the two of them. “You guys are right, it’s because I’ve got Master Xi that I have such great prestige.” He shook his head with regret. “I can’t help it if Master Xi is willing to be my friend, don’t you think so?”

After saying that, regardless of what the two people thought, he turned around and walked out of the toilet.

He knew that half the reason the crew was so polite to him was because of his acting skills and the other half was because of Xi Qing, but he didn’t think it was an insult, nor would he be angry at Xi Qing for it. He wasn’t crazy.

Whether a person was relying on force to bully others or borrowing somebody’s authority to elevate themselves, he didn’t feel that there was anything wrong with it. If someone didn’t like the look of him, didn’t they still have to continue to put up with him? Instead of saying that these people weren’t happy to see him holding someone’s thigh, it would be better to say that these people were envious and jealous.

If, because of a few words from others, he decided to draw a line with Xi Qing to prove that he relied on his own strength to gain a position in the entertainment industry, then either he was sick in the head or had an inferiority complex to the extreme.

He had a good relationship with Xi Qing, not because he intended to curry favor, but naturally. Alienating Xi Qing, a true friend or future boyfriend, for the sake of other people’s opinions would be tantamount to trampling on Xi Qing’s sincerity as well as having an inferiority complex that was foolish and ridiculous.

As for others who say he holds his thigh, so what?

If someone takes the initiative to give him a thigh to hold, that was also his own ability. If others didn’t accept it, they should hold it in. Otherwise, what else could these people do to him? Make Xi Qing keep that thigh away from him?

The most important thing was that the two artists who gossiped about him in the toilet were simply inconspicuous little actors. But no matter how insignificant they were, they were still in the ‘Cultivation’ crew, so they couldn’t have been so brainless that they didn’t know that the toilet was a bad place to whine.

Someone saw him on his way to the toilet, and then he had barely entered the stall when two people came over to whine. Nothing else was mentioned except that he was leaning on Xi Qing as if they wanted him to prove his innocence by immediately distancing himself from Xi Qing’s faction. To say that this wasn’t an attempt to sow dissension, he didn’t believe it.

These were the kinds of tactics that he played in his previous life. These people still dared to play them in front of him. When did he become a vase that only knew how to act and had no brain?

The fact that they wanted to sow dissension with just a few words was looking down on him too much.

In the study of the Bai family villa, where the doors and windows were closed, Bai Zhong’s face was a bit unsightly. He flipped through a thick stack of photos in his hand and sneered. “Everyone outside says how good Xi Qing is, but who would know that he had fallen for a man.”

He looked at the photo of Gongxi Qiao in costume, white clothes like snow, jade crown binding his hair. His appearance was indeed very outstanding. “His appearance isn’t bad. He’s a second generation nouveau riche at least, but he has to go and be a little pretty boy.”

His men hesitated for a moment and said, “President Bai, from the information I investigated, Xi Qing may not have succeeded yet.”

“Oh?” Bai Zhong smiled a lot better and threw the photo aside with some contempt, “Since he hasn’t succeeded, let’s not let him succeed. Xi Qing has never failed in a scheme before. I want to see what he looks like when the man he likes is getting farther and farther away from him.”

“Please don’t worry President Bai, I’ve arranged for someone to do this,” his man said flatteringly, “it’s just……”

Bai Zhong leaned back and said with his arms around his chest, “okay, no need to talk about those useless things. Come back to me for credit when things are done.”

The man said yes. He knew that Bai Zhong’s work wasn’t going well recently, so he didn’t dare to continue to disturb him. He found an excuse and said goodbye.

After his men left, Bai Zhong picked up the photos on the table and looked at a few of them. Finally his eyes fell on the photo of Gongxi Qiao’s advertisement print that caused a traffic accident and his brows couldn’t help furrowing.

The young artist called Gongxi Qiao did have some appealing qualities, so it was no wonder that people like Xi Qing had their hearts set on him.

It was always easy to be tempted by a good-looking person. He rubbed his thumb lightly on the photo. Such a good face, he was a little moved looking at it.

But such an actor dared to refuse his Bai family’s endorsement, which did not make him happy!