Chapter 29: Taking action

"Why are you watching this early in the morning?" Chu Qin wiped his mouth.

"I… I wanted to look through the project information…" Zhong Yibin stammered, hurriedly closing the video. At this moment, the doorbell rang.

Chu Qin rubbed his eyes and went to open the door. Through the peephole, he saw the breakfast-totting Secretary Jin dressed in a suit.

"Secretary Jin, you're here so early," Chu Qin opened the door, unable to resist yawning once again.

"Good morning, Madam," Secretary Jin greeted Chu Qin in an upright manner. After switching his shoes for slippers, he placed the breakfast in his hands on the dining table. Glancing at the busy Director and the ma.s.s of dense material on his computer screen, he inwardly sighed with sorrow that being a Director was truly exhausting.

Chu Qin was still in a half-conscious state and had yet to react to that 'Madam'. When he regained his senses, Secretary Jin was already seated beside Zhong Yibin with a face of diligence as he listened to him speak about the project's problematic areas.

Zhong Yibin had to go the Group at 10 o'clock today for a meeting and wouldn't be able to make it to the company, hence he directly asked Secretary Jin to come here so they could go to the Group together.

The corner of Chu Qin's mouth twitched. He went to wash up and tidy up the appropriate before sitting at the dining table to eat his breakfast silently. Secretary Jin brought pan-fried dumplings but they were a little cold because the distance he had to travel was far. Chu Qin warmed the dumplings up in the electrical baking pan before taking them out to eat. As he bit into a dumpling dipped into balsamic vinegar, the juices spurted out. It was extremely tasty. No porridge was necessary, it was just right with a cup of lemonade and honey.

"I want some too," Zhong Yibin smelled the fragrance and opened his mouth for Chu Qin to feed him.

"Come over and eat it yourself, you can do your work after eating," Chu Qin ignored him and bit into another dumpling.

Zhong Yibin had no choice but to go over obediently to eat, leaving Secretary Jin to struggle with tidying up the materials. Time was tight and he needed to get the things arranged neatly into a catalog. Secretary Jin put the slides, including the pictures and videos, into a separate folder before copying them to a USB drive. Following that, he went one step further by copying the data for the catalog and finding a shop to print it out.

After they finished their meal, Chu Qin went to the closet and searched through it for a long time before letting out a sigh. The clothes Zhong Yibin had here were simply too limited. There weren't even any suits that he could choose from to attend a formal occasion.

"It's fine, they're all people from the Group. They would still recognize me even if I wore a bed-sheet," Zhong Yibin smiled indifferently. After putting on the top, he didn't even put on a tie before taking the blazer and leaving.

Chu Qin also had to record so he dragged his sore waist to the TV station. While Du Wei was applying makeup for him, he couldn't help dozing off.

"Where did you go last night?" Du Wei asked smilingly after finis.h.i.+ng the makeup application.

"Nowhere," Chu Qin yawned.

"Zeze[1]…" Du Wei clicked her tongue and laughed at him.

"Wei Wei-jie, I'm being rushed," Chen Jiming, who was seated a corner, couldn't resist hurrying her. He only recently learned that Du Wei actually had a higher status than him and was even an exclusive makeup artist for the hosts. His delight didn't last longer than a few days before he realized that he was always placed at the end of the queue whenever he had to apply makeup with other hosts. This difference in treatment was particularly prominent whenever Chu Qin was present. Du Wei would even intentionally chat with Chu Qin for a while longer.

Du Wei rolled her eyes and turned around, saying gently, "Is it very urgent? If it is, I can send you up with some powder."

Chu Qin pursed his lips and tried to keep his laughter down. He had no intention of speaking up for Chen Jiming. Du Wei was neither good-tempered nor considerate, offending her would certainly lead to a painful time.

As expected, Du Wei took out a bottle of foundation that was rarely used and applied it onto Chen Jiming's face. This foundation's color leaned towards the darker shades and while it was not noticeable in the dressing room, it would give one an aged look when up on stage.

Chu Qin put a hand on the back of the chair and rested his chin on his arm, "Wei Wei, accompany me to go shopping in the afternoon."

"Oh! You finally thought of shopping with me?" Du Wei glanced at him and smiled.

"When have I not relied on you for shopping, it's settled then," Chu Qin narrowed his eyes at her. Before leaving, Chu Qin glanced at the deliberately made ugly Chen Jiming, "Jiming, later I'll bring you on stage with me to string the program together[2]."

"Alright!" Chen Jiming agreed without thinking it through. In his heart, he thought that Chu Qin finally knew to bring him along.

The guest for this week's recording of Confusion was the cast of an idol drama. Having a group of young people together made it very lively.

"Qin-ge!"

"h.e.l.lo Qin-ge!"

Chu Qin went backstage to explain the flow of events to these youths. The male and female leads who happened to be happily talking immediately stood up to greet him and other people also continuously went up to ask after him.

"Qin-ge, it's been a while since we last met," Qiao Su, who played the role of male lead two, had a fair and delicate face. He looked fresh and honest when smiling and was very good looking. He debuted a few years ago and rose to fame after playing the role of a beauty in ancient times as his debut. It was a pity that the company he was signed under was bad and didn't know how to promote him. Even now, they still let him act in this sort of brainless idol drama.

Chu Qin gazed at him with some regret. Three years ago when Qiao Su was on his program, he was a high-spirited youngster who had just left the thatched cottage but now he had grown a lot more reserved. This could be partly attributed to the last few years of wasted time.

"I heard you recently joined a costume drama, how is it?" Chu Qin privately spoke a few words to Qiao Su after finis.h.i.+ng his explanation of the flow of events.

"It's a big production," Qiao Su couldn't help but smile when his new drama was brought up. "It's Xinghai Entertainment's project and has plenty of funding." Since the sample clip had yet to be released, everything was kept confidential and Qiao Su could not say much either. That being said, promotions were due to start in two days or so and giving people in the industry a sneak peek of the stills was still acceptable.

Chu Qin went to Qiao Su's side and glanced at the still on his phone's screen. That one glance revealed whether the production quality was of superior quality or not. The snow-white wide-sleeved traditional robe and outer-garment made of translucent thin yarn accentuated Qiao Su's clear as jade complexion. The exquisite sash on his waist was inlaid with jasper and a strand of jasper hung down from his waist. The craftsmans.h.i.+p was intricate and could be described as extravagant.

"Truly luxurious[3]," Chu Qin lamented. Seeing Qiao Su's beaming face, he couldn't help asking, "Your contract is about to expire, have you ever considered switching companies?"

"Switching companies?" Qiao Su raised his eyes to look at Chu Qin and was stunned for a moment. Persuading others to switch companies was somewhat taboo in the industry. After all, the power of a company in the performing arts was greater than that of an artist. One could never be certain that they would not be ratted out by another, offending others for no reason. The fact that Chu Qin could voice such a thing was not only because he was not afraid of anyone disclosing his words but also because he genuinely wanted the best for Qiao Su.

"What are you guys talking about?" The actor playing male lead one saw that the two were chatting enthusiastically. Feeling slightly left out, he moved over as well to join the conversation.

"Haha, filming is starting, we can't casually chat any longer!" Chu Qin laughed as he went over and called out to Lin Xiaoxiao and Zhu Chang to go the front of the stage.

The filming process could still be considered smooth-going. Another reason why Qiao Su gave Chu Qin a glimpse of the still before they went on stage was to raise his own status and avoid any awkwardness on stage. But he hadn't antic.i.p.ated his own narrow heart. Chu Qin did not snub him at all despite his obscurity. On the contrary, he even bore the possibility of offending others just to urge him to switch companies.

Chu Qin was really an exotic flower in this industry.

During the latter half of the games segment, five men were needed. Adding together the two male actors, Chu Qin and Zhu Chang, they still lacked one last man.

"I have an idea!" Chu Qin hopped over to the audience.

"Ah—Qin-ge—" The fans in the front row erupted into a frenzy and went forward to catch him.

Chu Qin nimbly dodged the fans' tender hands and grabbed Chen Jiming, who was seated at a corner, "Look at what I found!"

"Eh? Isn't that Chen Jiming from next door?" Lin Xiaoxiao feigned astonishment and jumped down as well, helping to drag Chen Jiming on stage. Chen Jiming had applied makeup for the purpose of filming a backup shot for his talk show. Since he had promised Chu Qin to connect the program events, he didn't remove his makeup and came over to wait after he finished filming.

Disregarding the comedic Zhu Chang, when the five men stood together, the two leads of the idol drama as well as Chu Qin were all fair-skinned and delicate. Only Chen Jiming's complexion was ashy.

"Eh, is he the newbie host recruited by Shengs.h.i.+ TV? Why is he so old?" The audience below stage whispered.

"Exactly. He's so much uglier compared to our Qin-ge," One of Chu Qin's fans in the front row who was raising a board said.

Since this was the games segment, one's reaction was entirely dependent on the state of the situation. This was originally Chu Qin's territory so he was naturally like a fish in water. Male lead one's emotional quotient was not high but his advantage was that his foolishness was seen as cute. Qiao Su was too good looking, he only needed to smile; On the other hand, Chen Jiming had only partic.i.p.ated in talk shows where all he needed to do was stand so a certain cautiousness could be seen when he played the games. Hence, he appeared rather awkward on stage.

Fortunately, from time to time, Chu Qin would say some amusing things to ease the atmosphere, making the eventual process a smooth one. However, Chen Jiming felt that his performance had been too terrible and was extremely upset.

At the same time, Zhong Yibin was standing at the front of the conference room in the headquarters of Shengs.h.i.+ Group and speaking confidently.

"There have been no TV dramas of superior quality in the market recently. This is a great business opportunity," Zhong Yibin's tall and straight posture, as well as his frank and confident manner of speech in front of the slides, easily bewitched people.

Zhong Jiabin sat at the other end of the long table and silently watched his brother's performance.

"Second young master has finally grown up," Uncle Ning was all smiles at the side.

"En," the Zhong Family's big brother responded faintly. Only he was aware that his brother had not grown up but instead became a young child. He could even act spoiled!

"This is the sample clip, may everyone take a look," Zhong Yibin gestured for Secretary Jin to play the video. The screen cut to video mode. A lane lined with trees. A teenager dressed in a school uniform walked ignorantly along the lane. A burly man charging out…

Zhong Yibin, "!!!"

The author has something to say:

Small theater:

Er Bing: My G.o.d! Why did it become a movie!

Big Brother: You better explain it clearly to me

Er Bing: I, I don't know either QAQ[4]

Big Brother: I'll forgive you if you act spoiled

Er Bing: →_→

Qin Qin: →_→

[1] Onomatopoeia for clicking one's tongue

[2] 串場: These two characters actually contain a whole lot of meaning that can't be fully translated in a mere few words, but it essentially refers to the actions and words that a host needs to learn to connect all the events that occurs during a show (e.g. starting and ending) seamlessly

[3] 大手筆: This refers to spending money in a very carefree manner but to make for easier reading and flow I phrased it as luxurious

[4] ◢思◢兔◢文◢檔◢共◢享◢與◢線◢上◢閱◢讀◢: This was also in the line but I couldn't decipher the meaning so I'm putting it here in hopes that someone will enlighten me ☹

Translator's corner: So I was in the middle of translating yesterday when I realized danmeila (site where I get the raws) was down. I thought that was the end of this translation… that is, till I found another site with the raws. Moral of the story: You guys are stuck with me for a while longer ?