Chapter 75: Popularity

October 29, 2022kaychandra

Chapter 75: Popularity

When the reception ended, the master of the Xue family stood at the front door to send off the guests. After Xue Chong saw Gongxi Qiao and Xi Qing, the smile on his face suddenly became a few degrees warmer. “You’re welcome to come back to my house again, Xiao Qiao.” Of course, it would be better if you can bring your calligraphy and painting works or something.

“Good. When the time comes, I hope you don’t find me too bothersome.” Gongxi Qiao exchanged a few pleasantries with Xue Chong, then said, “Thank you for your hospitality today.”

Mother Xue swept her eyes over him and Xi Qing and said with a big smile, “No need to be polite. His father and I are relieved that Xiao Chong is being looked after by you, his good friends.” She had observed tonight that Gongxi Qiao and Xi Qing’s relationship was indeed very close. The fact that her boy could get along well with both Xi Qing and Gongxi Qiao was also a good thing for the Xue family.

After being politely sent to the car by the Xue family and leaving the Xue family mansion, Gongxi Qiao yawned and leaned towards Xi Qing. “Tell me when we arrive. I’m going to rest my eyes for a while.”

Xi Qing adjusted his sitting position, so that Gongxi Qiao leaned more comfortably. Seeing that Gongxi Qiao had closed his eyes, he reached out to gently encircle him in his arms and didn’t speak again.

It was quiet on the way. Xi Qing looked down at the person who was almost half lying in his arms, and his eyes suddenly became tender. He carefully took the lightweight blanket handed over by the bodyguard in the passenger seat.

When they arrived at the manor, Xi Qing saw that Gongxi Qiao was still awake and gently patted his face, “Xiao Qiao, we’re home.”

Gongxi Qiao opened his eyes in a daze and reached around Xi Qing’s neck. “I don’t want to move.”

Seeing him like this, Xi Qing laughed a little and touched his cheek. “I’ll carry you back to your room, okay?”

“Mm-hmm,” his half-open eyes finally opened. Gongxi Qiao let go of his hand and nodded with a smile, “okay, okay.”

The bodyguards who followed Xi Qing out the door were dumbfounded to see the boss half-crouch down in front of the car door, and Qiao Shao simply pounced on his back.

Their shining eyes were blinded. If this could still be called brotherly love, they wouldn’t be able to look at the word “brother” in the future!

Xi Qing’s back was very broad and his steps were very steady. Gongxi Qiao rested his chin on his shoulder and snorted out a laugh.

“What are you laughing at?” Xi Qing walked into the residence. A maid had already opened the door for him. The team of highly qualified professional maids were slightly surprised to see the two men’s pose, but they all retreated very professionally and kept silent with their heads down again.

“Nothing.” Gongxi Qiao was still smiling. When Xi Qing started climbing the stairs, he said, “I just didn’t think I’d still experience the feeling of having someone carry me when I’m this old.”

Xi Qing’s footsteps didn’t stop. He climbed the stairs with a very rhythmic pace. “I can do this every day for as long as you want.”

“Why would I want you to carry me every day? I couldn’t bear to.” Gongxi Qiao put his head forward and pressed it against Xi Qing’s cheek, smiling. “But you have pretty good stamina.”

“I used to be alone. When I had nothing to do, I liked to run, play tennis, and the like.” After climbing the stairs, Xi Qing paused when he reached the door of his room. He took a dozen steps forward, opened the door of Gongxi Qiao’s room, turned on the room light, and put him on the bed.

“It’s late. Take a shower and go to bed early.” Xi Qing looked at Gongxi Qiao lying on the bed and leaned down to give him a kiss on the forehead. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Gongxi Qiao met his gaze. Xi Qing’s pupils reflected a clear picture of himself. He smiled and said softly, “Good night.”

Xi Qing couldn’t help but reach out and touch his soft hair. He got up and left the room, and thoughtfully closed the door for him.

After touching his forehead where he had been kissed, Gongxi Qiao couldn’t help but laugh. After lying in bed for two minutes, he got up, found his robe, and headed for the bathroom.

In the study, Xi Qing opened his email box. Inside, there was a file about Xǔ Su, and the time of receipt shown on it wasn’t long ago.

When he clicked on the file, it contained information about Xǔ Su’s life since he was a child. Everything from the most important events in his life to the smallest arguments he had with people were clearly written in the file.

When he saw ‘Imperial Capital No. 1 High School’, his expression finally changed. After reading all the information about Xǔ Su’s high school days, he frowned slightly. It turned out that Xǔ Su had a good relationship with Xiao Qiao back then. At least from the information, the two were quite close at first.

It turned out that Xiao Qiao was the first in his grade, and Xǔ Su always came in second[1]. Xi Qing immediately thought, this kind of always second place person still dared to have a secret crush on Xiao Qiao? Even if he had a secret crush, he didn’t have the courage to confess and deceptively mocked someone for being gay[2]. This kind of mentality, how dare you say that you like him?

After reluctantly reading this information by himself, Xi Qing deleted the file and his eyes were a little cold. Such a person wasn’t worthy of Xiao Qiao’s attention.

Looking at the time, it was almost midnight. He rubbed his eyes, got up and left the study, and met the bodyguard patrolling the corridor.

“Boss.” The bodyguard greeted in a low voice.

“Good work.” Xi Qing glanced toward the door of Gongxi Qiao’s room. “Is Xiao Qiao asleep?”

“Qiao Shao is already asleep,” the bodyguard replied in a low volume. “The light at the door of his room was turned off forty minutes ago.”

Xi Qing nodded, opened the door to his own room, and walked in.

After Xi Qing’s room door was closed, the bodyguard continued his patrol, but his heart was a bit emotional. Previously, it was said that the boss was cold-hearted and aloof, and he was married to his job. However, who would expect that he would fall in love with an outstanding national male god, and he was actually smitten. Who would dare believe it?

The media didn’t dare to report on the upper class circle, but the fact that Gong Xi Qiao was invited to the Xue family reception was known to the senior management within the media. Therefore, whenever negative news about Gong Xi Qiao came out, they shouldn’t report on it freely without investigation.

In the face of power, the media bullied the soft and feared the hard. In addition, Gongxi Qiao usually behaved well in front of the media, so the media circle had a high opinion of him. When some members of the media posted news in the Cape Forum with sockpuppet[3] accounts, they also praised Gongxi Qiao for being a very good person, a rare artist with good character and acting skills among the new generation of actors.

When “The Greatest Warrior” was shortlisted for the Golden Leaf Awards, the media weren’t shy in their praise, making the movie a hit even before it was released.

It was no wonder that the entertainment media reported on it so much, mainly because Flower Country’s film and television works weren’t well accepted internationally. The three major film awards, namely the Golden Leaf Award, the Little Golden Man Award and the Golden Forest Award, were the most prestigious and publicized awards internationally, with the Little Golden Man Award having the highest status.

So for Flower Country, it was already a commendable thing to be shortlisted for the Golden Leaf Awards. Over the years, their country’s films that had won the high gold content awards in the Golden Leaf Awards could probably be counted on both hands.

This year, there were only two films from their country shortlisted for the Golden Leaf Awards. Although the Golden Leaf Awards had a total of more than ten days of events and several programmed activities, for the general audience, they didn’t care about the market showcase or the film critics’ week. They only cared about whether the artists walking the red carpet at the opening ceremony looked good and which works actually won the awards.

As for what panel voted for Best something, and what panel voted for Most Promising, laymen had never even heard of such things.

“The Greatest Warrior” and “Desert City” were two very different styles of films. The former was the martial arts genre that was popular in Flower Country for centuries, while the latter was a work that exposed poverty, suffering and human nature. In terms of subject matter, domestic critics were more optimistic about the latter. Who told the foreign jury to favor works that highlighted the poor and underdeveloped side of Flower Country?

As for “The Greatest Warrior”, the critics were sure that it was a good movie, both in terms of acting and production. However, its subject matter was martial arts. In the eyes of foreigners, the superhuman qinggong[4] in Flower Country’s martial arts films was no different from a fantasy film.

Before going to Iris country, Gongxi Qiao’s work team prepared ten sets of outfits for him, with streetwear and various tuxes, hoping that Gongxi Qiao’s personal image would be flawless to the teeth.

In terms of popularity overseas, Gongxi Qiao was probably higher than several other film emperors in “The Greatest Warrior”, although the source of his popularity wasn’t film or television works, but paintings and calligraphy works. In any case, because Gongxi Qiao was in the lead role, the cast of “The Greatest Warrior” also received more attention from foreign media.

It was for this reason that Gongxi Qiao’s team was so careful to spend so much money and manpower to prepare him for the festival.

Because of the filming schedule of the “Cultivation” crew, Gongxi Qiao didn’t arrive in Iris country together with Director Wang and the others, but took a red-eye flight to Iris country. Due to the time difference, it was around 1 A.M. when Gongxi Qiao took off on the plane, and the flight lasted more than ten hours, but it turned out to not even be 6 A.M. local time when he arrived.

After Gongxi Qiao arrived at the scheduled hotel with his work team, Chen Ke didn’t make any demands on Gongxi Qiao and didn’t rush him to take photos or receive media interviews, but urged him to go to his room and sleep.

Without a good sleep, how could he have a good mental outlook? As an agent, he didn’t want Gongxi Qiao to appear in front of foreign media with a haggard look.

Finally, Gongxi Qiao was woken up by hunger. When he got up, it was around noon local time. After eating lunch and resting for half an hour, he was pushed to the bathroom by Chen Ke, and then changed into the outfit carefully prepared by his work team. After the group of people did his make-up, he was taken outside to take some so-called “street shot” photos, then he was surrounded by everyone to go back to the hotel and wash off his make-up before he had the opportunity to meet up with the cast and crew of “The Greatest Warrior”.

Fortunately, everyone was staying in the same hotel on the same floor. When Gongxi Qiao found Director Wang, he was sitting in his room with the main cast members of the film.

When they saw Gongxi Qiao come in, everyone was very enthusiastic. Because they came a day earlier than Gongxi Qiao, many foreign journalists had already taken the initiative to go up to them and ask questions about Gongxi Qiao.

They had heard about the sensation that Gongxi Qiao’s paintings and calligraphy caused abroad, but they had already understood that their domestic journalists liked to use praise, so they discounted the so-called “sensation” several fold and had reservations about Gongxi Qiao’s popularity abroad.

When they arrived abroad, they found out that their domestic media was actually very honest this time. When they said that Gongxi Qiao was a sensation, he was really a sensation, without any discount. They just got off the plane when they were surrounded by several journalists. When they found out that Gongxi Qiao didn’t travel with them[5], it was like their disappointment was physically pasted to their faces.

“Xiao Qiao, you’re finally here!” Xu Chao saw that the clothes on Gongxi Qiao’s body seemed to have been carefully coordinated, setting off Gongxi Qiao as someone who was both spirited and handsome. He couldn’t help but say, “You look really good in this outfit.”

Compared to some artists wearing garish clothes to attract the media’s attention, Gongxi Qiao’s outfit appeared much more normal, but it just looked too good to be true. If there was someone in a garish outfit standing with Gongxi Qiao, it would be the difference between a beast and a prince.

“Sorry I’m late.” Gongxi Qiao smiled at everyone, and then came to sit next to Director Wang, giving him a fawning smile.

Seeing this good-looking face showing such an unsightly expression, Director Wang felt like his eyes hurt a little. He coughed dryly. “Okay.” Director Wang pushed Gongxi Qiao’s face aside and said, “When you walk the red carpet tonight, don’t get nervous, guys. It’s still the same here as it is in our own country.” Director Wang didn’t say things too thoroughly, which was considered saving face for everyone.

Everyone understood Director Wang’s meaning in their hearts. When they went abroad, their words and actions represented not only themselves, but also their nation, so they all nodded their heads. Even if they all wanted to dawdle a little longer on the red carpet, for the sake of the crew’s face, even if they had that desire, it wasn’t good to do such a thing.

“You guys are coming with me tonight.” This wasn’t the first time that Director Wang’s work was shortlisted for the Golden Leaf Awards, so his reputation was a bit higher than several “newcomers” in the crew. “Xiao Qiao, the organizers are hoping that you can walk the red carpet alone.”

Gongxi Qiao nodded his head and couldn’t say anything more. On this occasion, it seemed inappropriate to say anything.

Sometimes, this was the case when it came to popularity. In order to walk the red carpet of the Golden Leaf Awards, some entertainers had to walk the red carpet their first time as a manufacturer’s spokesperson who didn’t have any representative work, while some people already had their red carpet order arranged for them by the organizers before they even arrived.

Fortunately, Gongxi Qiao was the investor of “The Greatest Warrior” and had a good relationship with everyone, so despite their envy, they didn’t feel sour.

To put it bluntly, Gongxi Qiao was internationally famous because of his talent. Even if they were envious and jealous, they couldn’t practice good calligraphy and painting.

This is the first time they had participated in the Golden Leaf Awards, and they were faintly grateful to Gongxi Qiao. If Gongxi Qiao hadn’t become famous, how could they have gotten so much media attention for their crew?

T/N: 

1. Always came in second: 万年老二 Literally “second child for ten thousand years” meaning a student who always get second place and never first place. It has a negative meaning like “always second best.”

2. deceptively mocked someone for being gay: 骗人嘲笑他是同性恋 I don’t know if I translated this right

3. Sockpuppet account: A throwaway account or side account created for a specific purpose

4. Qinggong: The practice of martial arts “lightness” skills, like jumping great distances or running on water in martial arts movies

5. Travel with them: the author actually wrote 同性 tóng xìng (same sex/homosexuality) but after some guesswork I think it was supposed to be 同行 tóng xíng (same journey)… Nothing else made sense…