“Er Bingbing…” Chu Qin crooked a finger at Zhong Yibin. “Come here, I need to discuss something with you.”
A sense of vigilance grew within Zhong Yibin and he refused to go over. “I’ll stand here, you can just speak.” The fear that Chu Qin would use a honey trap was written all over his face, his expression unyielding.
“It’s not like I’ll eat you up,” Chu Qin pursed his lips as he held in his laughter. “How many fans do you have on Weibo lately?”
“Oh…about three million,” Zhong Yibin harrumphed twice. Ever since he was on the last Confusion episode, audience members across the entire country had been paying close attention to him and his Weibo fans had also experienced a sharp increase. Coupled with his prior sex scandal and interactions with Chu Qin, his fan count had already caught up to that of a second-string actor.
Chu Qin squinted slightly, his smile foxy.
As Shengshi’s director, Zhong Yibin was also counted as someone in the entertainment industry. Moreover, his current popularity was high. It was perfectly all right for him to participate in his own family’s program. In contrast, Zhong Yibin’s brother was a secretive person in front of the public. As a young and promising entrepreneur, Zhong Jiabin was often featured on a variety of finance and economics magazines since many years ago. His handsome and wise visage left a deep impression, and he was a knight in shining armor within countless girls’ hearts.
It would be hard for the program not to become popular with such a pair of brothers participating.
The corner of Zhong Yibin’s mouth twitched. He hadn’t expected Chu Qin to bring up the matter of him and his brother participating in a reality show. He didn’t have objections – after all, it was the first program his wife personally worked on. Even if he was emotionless or without reason, he still needed to show some support. It was only his brother’s side that he was unsure of.
“The thought just suddenly came to me. Help me ask elder brother then, forget it if it can’t be done,” Recalling the callous face of the Zhong family’s elder brother, Chu Qin once again wilted. Wishes were beautiful but reality was cruel.
Zhong Yibin sat beside Chu Qin and embraced the person with a drooping head, massaging him. “Tired?”
“En,” As he leaned into Zhong Yibin’s sturdy, warm embrace, Chu Qin felt exceptionally at ease. Relaxing his body, he rubbed against Zhong Yibin’s chest. He didn’t actually desire the position of director of entertainment programs but since he had received it, he needed to do it well. This had always been his attitude towards work, regardless of anything else.
All programs in its start-up phase would encounter many challenges. This period of preparations had truly drained him physically and mentally.
Zhong Yibin pecked him on the forehead. “Who’s the host?”
For a reality show, it was necessary for a host to follow along with the cameras. At present, there were only a few hosts Shengshi could use. Those with less experience wouldn’t be able to control the venue while those with greater depth of experience had styles that weren’t suitable.
“Me,” Chu Qin said moodily. If it was someone else in the director’s position, he could still plead being busy as an excuse but since he was the director, he couldn’t push it to someone else.
Zhong Yibin frowned slightly. He didn’t expect Chu Qin to personally go along. This program was filmed entirely in the outdoors and the program crew would need to travel to all sorts of scenic areas. If Chu Qin was personally participating in it, he would be apart from him literally every day.
“I’ll speak to my brother tomorrow,” Zhong Yibin hugged him tightly.
The program was still in its tense preparation phase. The process of inviting guests was still ongoing and if there were any particularly optimistic ones, Chu Qin would let the workers repeatedly invite them. Some important people were fond of the feeling of being repeatedly pleaded with. After it reached a certain level, they would then agree.
Sure enough, under their unyielding perseverance, another pair of brothers was confirmed.
The elder brother was a singer called Sun Xiang. The younger brother was still attending school and was not an entertainer. The reason why they were invited was because Chu Qin had seen Sun Xiang’s younger brother before – he had a very cute appearance and a lively personality.
In Korea, <Bun, Quickly Run> was also reliant on the meng the kids sold to attract fans. The majority of artists invited were those with younger siblings. However, in China, finding artists with siblings was already tough, so they could only ignore age and whatnot. Thus, Chu Qin was still quite gratified to be able to find younger siblings.
Mu Chen and Mu Sha had also squeezed out timeslots and were confirmed. Out of five guest pairs, four pairs had been decided. Chu Qin heaved a sigh of relief. With the brand of the film emperor and empress, it would be easy to invite others.
After a busy and disorderly day, the entertainment director from Xinghai Entertainment contacted him. <The Golden Age of the Great Jing> was about to reach its end and since its popularity was extremely high, Xinghai Entertainment had already prepared to create spin-offs. What Xinghai Entertainment hoped for was for Shengshi to cooperate with them.
“Shengshi Entertainment has already decided to re-broadcast during the winter vacation. So, we hope that several entertainment programs can buffer the blocks of time in-between and maintain its popularity.” Xinghai Entertainment and Shengshi’s collaboration had gone well, so their attitudes naturally also became more amiable.
Chu Qin smiled in agreement. “The company has already been notified on this end. I’ll get someone to do up a plan and send it to you in the next two days. After you’ve finished looking it through, we can discuss it.”
“Okay, thank you Director Chu,” The director of Xinghai Entertainment smiled in thanks. He was very pleased with this newly appointed entertainment director. He was much easier to get along with than Chen Feng.
After ending the call, Chu Qin went to check on the reactions towards <The Golden Age of the Great Jing>. Quite a few actors had already risen to fame because of this drama. For instance, the young hunk playing the secret guard, the young lady who played the pampered concubine, and even the older actor playing the head of eunuchs had all become popular.
Making a drama of superior quality was truly worthy of praise.
As the main lead in this drama, Mu Chen attended the next few reality shows, coincidentally keeping this drama’s popularity high. Chu Qin stroked his chin. Maintaining the drama’s popularity had inadvertently already been completed by him. Everything would more or less be settled after a few other people in the drama participated in two more phases of entertainment.
Just as he was looking at this, his vision suddenly turned dark.
When Zhong Yibin came over, he noticed Chu Qin staring at the computer in a daze. Since the office was used by the team in charge of preparations, the area inside was in chaos and everyone was very busy. Seeing that the director had come over, they all stood up and greeted him. Zhong Yibin made a gesture to keep silent and stealthily made his way to Chu Qin’s back, covering his eyes.
“Guess who I am?” Zhong Yibin’s magnetic voice sounded beside his ears.
Chu Qin rolled his eyes in the dark, stretching out his arms as if unable to guess. He touched the face that had moved close and squeezed Zhong Yibin’s handsome face into the shape of a chick’s mouth. “Oh, a sharp mouth, it must be Zhong Chick.”
“Pfft—” A few workers couldn’t resist laughing out loud and hurriedly covered their mouths. None of them were new and were more or less aware of the relationship between the director and Director Chu, but it was still their first time seeing the two of them playing around in such an intimate way.
Zhong Yibin glared at them and angrily released his hands. Chu Qin smiled at him and raised his chin, indicating for everyone to continue working before dragging Zhong Yibin out. “Why did you come over?” It was still working hours right now.
“I have a piece of good news to tell you,” Zhong Yibin dragged Chu Qin to the entertainment director’s office.
“What?” Chu Qin blinked. What good news was worth Zhong Yibin personally running over to tell him?
Zhong Yibin placed a contract in front of Chu Qin. The white paper and black words were the guest contract for the reality show. As Chu Qin’s gaze skipped over the complicated terms and conditions at the start, it landed on the vigorous and powerful signature at the end. The two words ‘Zhong Jiabin” could clearly be seen. These words had been penned with a high-grade felt-tip pen; they were elegant and pleasant to look at without losing form.
To be honest, Zhong Yibin hadn’t expected for things to go smoothly either. He had thickened his skin and sought out his brother, and only after hemming and hawing for half a day did he manage to blurt out his wish for his brother to join the reality show with him. At first, Zhong Jiabin stared at him as if he were looking at an idiot. As the director of a Group, the value of his every hour far exceeded the profit of an hour at a reality show. To him, it was a complete waste of time.
However, after listening to the entirety of the program’s contents, the Zhong family’s big brother unexpectedly fell silent. After half a day had gone by, he abruptly said the word ‘okay’, shocking Zhong Yibin till he almost fell off the couch.
“Elder brother agreed?” Chu Qin’s eyes widened and he leapt up in happiness. Hugging Zhong Yibin’s neck, he gave him a loud kiss. “Er Bingbing, you’re awesome!”
With the Zhong family brothers joining, five pairs of siblings had been gathered. The greatest hurdle during the preparation phase had been resolved, and the following issues would be easily handled.
Zhong Yibin raised an eyebrow, hugged the top of Chu Qin’s head, placed those slender legs around his waist, and set his buttocks onto the office desk. Lowering his head, he rubbed against Chu Qin’s moist lips. “Those words should be said at night.”
The thought of Chu Qin excitedly saying the words ‘husband is awesome’ at a certain time was tacky but also suffused with emotion.
Chu Qin felt a certain hard object between the two of them, and turned red simultaneously. “You rogue, put me down.”
“Director Chu!” Little Zhang, the person responsible for contacting the guests, knocked on the door from outside. There was a hint of urgency in his voice
“Come in,” Chu Qin pushed a certain rogue away, tidied his clothes, and let him in.
Little Zhang walked in with a sullen face. Before he had even uttered a word, he could already feel an imposing gaze sweeping over him. Turning around, he noticed that the director was present and immediately felt an immense pressure. “Director Zhong…”
Zhong Yibin nodded slightly but continued to stare at Little Zhang. The complaints within his gaze were almost about to pierce right through him. Facing such a gaze, Little Zhang, who was here to be the bearer of bad news, felt like he was seriously on the verge of breaking into tears.
The author has something to say:
Small theater: <The pressure of eavesdropping is actually very heavy>
Er Bing: (Taking out a video game) Let’s play this
Qinqin: No, still have to go to work
Er Bing: What are you scared of? There’s only us two in this house
Little Zhang: ( ⊙ o ⊙ )
Er Bing: (Showing off the contract) How did I do?
Qinqin: Er Bingbing, you’re awesome
Er Bing: Hehe, I have something even more impressive
Little Zhang: o(╥﹏╥)o
Little Bird: If there is filth within the heart, every aspect is also filthy