CH 5

Chapter 5: His Fans Have Returned!

DECEMBER 10, 2021 / KINKYTRANSLATIONS

Your Rival in Love Gets Prettier Every Day

Author: 公子于歌 / Gong Zi Yu Ge

Translator: Kinky

Yan Qiuchi stood behind the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting his gaze below.

Gao Qiao said while scanning Weibo, “What the hell is Shen Jintai doing?!”

“He really… gave up?” Xiao Yang asked.

Yan Qiuchi didn’t speak, but stood in front of the window, watching Shen Jintai get in the car and drove off.

He recalled the scene that happened earlier when Shen Jintai looked back at him and said, “Then it’s just as you wish.” His tone was firm, and his eyes were clear.

“What did you want to tell me just now?” He turned around and asked Gao Qiao.

Gao Qiao quickly put down the phone: “Oh, yes, I forgot to tell you. I just went out to buy coffee and met Shen Jintai and Li Meilan. As a result, I heard him say…”

Xiao Yang impatiently said: “Can you just spit it out.”

Gao Qiao: ” He seems to be planning to take action on Bai Qingquan. He wants to pursue Bai Qingquan and said…that Bai Qingquan is much better than the boss…”

“Holy shit.” Xiao Yang said, “What kind of ridiculous trick is this.”

“Didn’t he hate Bai Qingquan the most? How many times has he stepped on him by slandering him in the past? Is this some kind of diversion to deliberately arouse the boss?” Gao Qiao said: “As if Bai Qingquan would even look at him. If nothing else, the moonlight powder* will tear him apart. It’s like a toad wanting to eat swan meat**!”

*As a reminder Bai Qingquan fans. Qingquan = Moonlight. Powder = refers to fans.

**Idiom that refers to wishful thinking or unrealistic aspirations.

How shocking!

Bai Qingquan was the most profitable artist of Sunshine Media while Shen Jintai was still struggling.

Today is the day of the hot search on Bai Qingquan.

Bai Qingquan took the Little Fairy route, so he didn’t dispute it when he was referred to as the white moonlight. These days eight out of ten hot searches were usually bought with money. At the lowest level, one can buy it at one’s own expense creating a fake hot search. While netizens can’t tell, people in the circle would immediately recognize that the search was bought.

Alternatively, one can find a marketing account* to push a topic, and then rely on fans to create a commotion causing it to become a hot search.

*Public accounts on social networking platforms that create or collect content about every hot topic and event all over the Internet. Many contents from them are untrue and unreliable.

People like Bai Yueguang tend to have neither hot spots or black spots*. His hot searches were usually bought and only when it was related to his current work making netizen quite amiable to them.

*Hot spots = high interest material / Black spots = like hot spots but is negative material (scandals).

Today, the makeup photo of his performance in <The East Palace is Coming> was announced, and Wei Ge bought a hot search for him. Probably because he hadn’t shown up for a long time, relying on his fan injected with chicken blood*, his search shot straight to second place.

*Literally this term means to “inject chicken blood.” Chinese netizens use the term to mean that someone is crazy or obsessed about something or an idol. It could means making someone very excited.

Ranked third was Yang Liuzhi, the flowering orchid, who like Bai Qingquan, had also posted their make-up photos. This search most likely was bought as well.

Bai Qingquan looked at the Weibo hot search today and was very satisfied. He suppressed a top-notch little flower orchid like Yang Liuzhi.

As for the current number one hot search, it was an 18th-tier actress who relied on sharing hot searches with her model boyfriend. It was bought personally by them. Such immature action that led to over-marketing will eventually undermine them.

Looking at the position, Bai Qingquan was still in the position of the top male in the entertainment industry. It gave him a sense of relief.

But, wait…

Bai Qingquan seemed to have seen a familiar name.

In sixth place of the hot search was…. Shen Jintai!

He thought he went blind for a second.

Their contracts were all signed with confidentiality agreements. Shen Jintai’s participation in the drama <The East Palace is Coming> was still under wraps. He needed to wait for the official announcement of the crew. Bai Qingquan believe that Shen Jintai would dare to buy hot searches at this time. He hurriedly refreshed it and saw the hot search for “Shen Jintai Tattoo” has already surpassed Yang Liuzhi and has risen to third place!

“Fuck!” He sat up with fury and swiped it again, only to watch Shen Jintai’s hot search overwhelm him and jump to second place.

“………Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah!”

He immediately jumped up and wailed to Brother Wei: “Where are your 300 marketing accounts you bought. Hurry up and push me up! Why is Shen Jintai on the hot search? I rather die than be beneath him!”

—

Shen Jintai was sitting in the car reading the script when his phone rang. He glanced at the caller ID showing Lin Xu. Lin Xu was Shen Jintai’s girlfriend* who lived in the same community.

*Platonic sense.

This was the first time he had dealt with his best friend. He took the call with some anxiety and heard Lin Xu howling on the other end of the phone: “Holy shit, sister*, you are on the hot search!”

*I doubled checked and yes, she does call him “JieJie” XD

Shen Jintai: “What?”

“You are on the hot search!” Lin Xu was very excited. She and Shen Jintai were childhood friends, so she knew that Shen Jintai shouldn’t have bought this hot search. Shen Jintai was one of the few real hot searches in the entertainment circle that was completely dependent on blood and sweat.

“Where are you now?” Lin Xu asked excitedly.

Shen Jintai: “I’m in the car heading home.”

“I just got off the plane, and I’m halfway there. Let’s go home and talk.” Lin Xu finally said with emotion: “Sister, you finally figured it out!”

Shin Jintai: “…”

After Shen Jintai hung up the phone, he hurriedly looked on Weibo, and saw that his name was on second ranked on the hot search with the word “boiling” at the back.

So magical.

It was weird to see his name appearing on the hot search.

Li Meilan turned to look at him: “What’s the matter?”

Shen Jintai turned the phone to her.

“Shit!” Li Meilan was shocked, and quickly took out her mobile phone to look confirming that it was not a photoshopped picture.

“You bought it?” she asked Shen Jintai.

“I don’t have the money to buy hot search now.” Shen Jintai said.

That’s true…

Li Meilan’s hands trembled with excitement. Shen Jintai’s was on the hot search. It felt like she just accomplished a life-long goal. She wanted to even cry a little.

“You… You’re washing away your tattoo?” She raised her head with red eyes and asked Shen Jintai.

Shen Jintai nodded while looking at the hot searches.

—

“Shen Jintai. Which Shen Jintai is it? That Shen Jintai?”

“I’m sure there have been a lot of XXJS* in my district during the summer. I haven’t even heard of any Shen Touhua**.”

*Not sure what this is referencing to.

**Nickname for Shen Jintai. Will be explained by the author shortly.

“Without pictures, I can make a hundred of this kind of material a day!”

“Shen Jintai broke out and the fans are frothing.”

“It should be true. There’s a photo of him and the tattoo artist.*”

*“应该是真的，有他和纹身师傅的合照。刚从他超话过来，简直笑死人，金粉全在嗷嗷叫!” I have no idea what this is trying to say so I omitted the last half.

“Shit. Shen Touhua still has fans? I thought they all abandoned him a long time ago.”

“I saw someone move this yesterday, but it didn’t spread. Today, it was pushed by several entertainment accounts, and it became a hot search*.”

*顶流就是顶流啊 There was this part at the end that I’m not sure what this is trying to say or reference so I omitted it.

“Recently, my district clamored about this explosion and that explosion. It’s time for them to see what real traffic is.”

“XYXF* Shen Touhua!”

*Not sure what this is referencing to.

“Someone doesn’t know who Shen Touhua is? It’s time to give away the memes that I have treasured for many years.”

“My eyes are becoming hot…”

“Damn, I’m blind.”

Shen Jintai clicked it open and saw a few moving pictures of ghosts and animals, all of which belonged to him, twisting in anger.

Shen Touhua was Shen Jintai’s nickname.

The reason why a cannon fodder is cannon fodder is because their low IQ. The cannon fodder Shen Jintai had countless black history* but if you want to refer to the #1 incident, it would have to be the “head-pulling flower” incident.

*Scandals.

“Pulling the head flower”, Baidu Encyclopedia explains: “When boys are weak to a certain extent that they can’t even beat girls in a fight, they need to use the method of pulling the head flower*. Only by doing so would they stand a chance to protect themselves.”

*AKA The hair.

Shen Jintai once had a fight with a female star backstage at an awards ceremony. The scene became: a man starting a fight with a woman and pulled her hair. Such a scene made people and even the gods angry.

Because of this, Shen Jintai nickname was Shen Touhua*.

*Touha = Head Flower.

He has always had a flirtatious image, and his stage actions are even more coquettish. Someone had photoshop a big red flower on his head and named it the “head flower dance”. This is how these animated gifs came from.

Shen Jintai looked sweaty.

Li Meilan said: “Have your fans returned? I remember that you only had more than one million followers some time ago.”

Shen Jintai was taken aback for a moment, and quickly ran to his Weibo to look.

Holy shit!

Shen Jintai: “So many! Two million!”

Li Meilan: “Brother*, you used to have 20 million.”

*Gege. Not related.

Shen Jintai: “…”

Okay.

But two million was more than enough. He dared not be too optimistic.

He refreshed it and it became 2.1 million. His fans really had returned.

—

“Let’s talk about it.” The little beauty Lin Xu crossed her legs on his sofa, “What has happened to you in the past few days when I went abroad?”

Shen Jintai: “What do you want to hear?”

“Of course, it’s about your tattoo! Yan Qiuchi’s business!” Lin Xu said as she stretched out her hand to pull at his shirt.

Shen Jintai blocked her: “No need to look, it’s true. I really washed it, but I haven’t completely washed it off yet. I have to go a few more times.”

Lin Xu: “Fuck. What happened? Why did you suddenly want to wash off the tattoo?”

Shen Jintai said: “Because I think it’s stupid to tattoo Yan Qiuchi’s name on my body.”

Lin Xu: “I know it’s stupid, but haven’t you always been stupid? Why are you not stupid all of a sudden?”

Shen Jintai: “…”

Lin Xu: “Hurry up! Hurry up and dish about everything! What happened between you two?!”

Shen Jintai thought for a while. The scene from that fateful night appeared in his mind.

That was also the last scene of Shen Jintai, the cannon fodder of the original text. He had stalked Yan Qiuchi and entangled with him in the hotel room but was pushed away. His eyes were red as if he was crazy and he bit Yan Qiuchi’s neck.

“Do you like that Bai Qingquan’s bastard? What do you like about him? Am I not comparable to him?!” He roared.

Recalling this, he couldn’t help but shuddered. The cannon fodder went completely bonkers. It was like crazy was running through his body. After biting Yan Qiuchi’s neck he was immediately kicked out. He then went and jumped off a building to his death hoping to make Yan Qiuchi remember him forever. Unfortunately, the male protagonist’s heart was already set. How could readers accept such a vicious little cannon fodder trying to attack it. When Shen Jintai leapt off the building, they all celebrated with gongs, drums, and thunderous cheering!

It’s disgusting that the cannon fodder didn’t even know his own weight*.

*In terms of how little impact his death would really have on Yan Qiuchi.

He focused on the two sentences Yan Qiuchi said to him.

“Even in my next life, let alone touching you, I will never love you!”

“Because you can’t even match his toe!”

Lin Xu was stunned when he finished speaking, “I really I don’t know what to say to you.”

Shin Jintai: “Then don’t say it. I have no face to review it again. I have completely given up.”

Lin Xu: “I hope you are serious this time. How many times now have you said you’ve given up only to end up punching yourself in the face the next day.” But this time, he even washed away the tattoo. It looks pretty serious. “Yan Qiuchi has been notoriously cultured since he was a child. If you can force him to say such things to you, then I’m convinced.”

Although she was Shen Jintai’s best friend, Lin Xu privately was on Yan Qiuchi’s side. Honestly, even as a best friend, seeing some of Shen Jintai’s behavior made her cringed. It was too cheap. If it wasn’t for the affection, she had growing up with him as a child, she would have kicked him to the curb a long time ago.

Yan Qiuchi was different. Because he was so cultured, his simple indifference to Shen Jintai was like a simple courtesy.

Lin Xu: “Then what are your plans now? Are you going to return to the entertainment industry?”

Shen Jintai nodded: “I just picked up drama as the second male lead.”

“Wow.” Lin Xu was also surprised: “Even now you can still get the role of a second male lead.”

“The male lead is Bai Qingquan.” Shen Jintai whispered.

Lin Xu frowned, “Bai Qingquan…You mean Bai… Jian*… Shit!”

The word “goods*” almost came out.

He couldn’t blame her. Shen Jintai used to call Bai Qingquan a white bitch (Bai Jianhuo)* whenever he talked about him. After constantly listening to him call Bai Qingquan this, she almost forgot what his real name was.

*So, this whole conversation here is based on the names they are using of which I’m probably not qualified to explain but I will try. The gist is Lin Xu almost called Bai Qingquan (白清泉) Bai Jianhuo (白贱货). Bai (白) = white. Jian Huo (贱货) = cheap goods. When combined (白贱货) she’s calling him cheap goods. Jian Huo (贱货) can also mean bitch so he could also be referred to as a white bitch. Hopefully this is a proper explanation. It’s basically a play on word (I think). Someone who is more qualified please help explain.

“This drama you’re in… This sister can’t accept it!” Lin Xu said.

After a while, Lin Xu asked: “You didn’t sleep well? Don’t hide it from me.”

Shen Jintai: “…No!”

Lin Xu: “Why did you bring him up? I don’t think you are that bad.”

Shen Jintai: “Lies. I’m not beautiful enough.” Compared with Bai Qingquan.

“But you’re so sexy.” Lin Xu commented objectively. Although she didn’t agree with the cheap and outrageous behavior of her good friend, she occasionally felt that his crazy actions had a bit of an allure to them.

“That might be because I was born with no morals.” Shen Jintai said.

Not everyone had the ability to eat Yan Qiuchi’s kind of food that can make people “tremble and weep”!

Shen Jintai’s hot search was still trending on Weibo for most of the day. Before going to bed at night, it was still trending, but it fell to more than 20 ranks. Shen Jintai laid in the dark for a while. Unable to sleep, he turned on the bedside lamp, then untied his pajamas, grabbed the phone, and took a few pictures.

Finally, using photoshop, he covered the important parts with emojis and then posted the first Weibo in a long time.

“The old me is dead, and the new me has been reborn.”

The picture showed a slightly red and swollen tattoo, the lines have been blurred, and only an unmodified face, which looked fresh and clean. The words “Yan Qiuchi” can still be vaguely distinguished.

Yan Qiuchi threw the phone on the table, raised his head and drank a few sips of water. His phone screen was still on. “Shen Jintai Tattoo” jumped to the top of the hot search in the middle of the night, followed by the word “Explosive”.

The first comment: “Breaking news! The inside story: He’s making a comeback.”

The author has something to say:

Thank you all for your support, and thank you all for your comments, Momoda.

Kinky Thoughts: *Sigh* What did I get myself into picking a showbiz novel. It’s so difficult translating Weibo/bystander comments especially when they use slang that I’m not familiar with so there’s a lot of footnotes regarding those.

Also, what’s everyone opinion of whether I should keep the original for terms for things like Brother/Sister (Gege/JieJie) or translate them? In terms of “Americanizing” the translation, you wouldn’t normally call someone “Ge” or “Jie” like the intended meaning of how Chinese people would. I guess depending on the context it would be like “Bro” or “Sis” but that sounds a bit awkward.

Side Note: I love how Lin Xu calls Shen Jintai Jiejie. The gay equivalent would probably be like gurl~~ or sisss~~ Haha.

Things are starting to heat up!