Chapter 30 – Young Master Bai
When the reporters standing on either side of the red carpet saw this unexpected combo descend from the car, the previously relatively controlled scene became immediately chaotic. They could barely contain their instincts and after the first person threw out a question, the rest also didn’t control themselves any longer and also began yelling at the top of their lungs.
“Mr Qiu, Mr Qiu!! It’s rare for you to attend these kind of events, why are you at the premiere tonight?
“Mr Qiu! Can you look over here please!! Thank you!!”
“Today you came in the same car as Mr Bai, what’s your relationship? Mr Qiu and Mr Bai it seems you shouldn’t know each other well ah?”
“Is it true the two of you previously took a holiday together!? Can we ask where did you go!?”
“Did the two of you leave the company together today? Or did you come from some other place?”
“Mr Qiu what’s your identity at the premiere tonight? As the CEO of Total Entertainment, or as Mr Bai’s friend?”
“Mr Bai! Can you tell us your relationship with Mr Qiu? Is it just boss and employee or is there some other kind of relationship!?”
“Gold’s premiere today is very grand and expensive. Is it because of Mr Qiu’s assistance ah!?”
“Mr Qiu is it because you’re interested in this movie, or is it that you’re interested in Mr Bai? Mr Qiu can you please tell us?”
The lights flashed non stop on Bai Lang and Qiu Qian’s faces. The two of them were separated by only step, they walked shoulder to shoulder.
Bai Lang took out the public smile he used to deal with the media and gazed calmly into the cameras. Qiu Qian was also very familiar with this kind of scene. No matter what kind of provoking questions was asked, he only treated it like air.
Fang Hua was at the moment standing at the end of the red carpet wearing a very unnatural smile. She wasn’t given much notice about this event.
When Qiu Qian had decided to appear together with Bai Lang, he had “kindly” informed Fang Hua in advance. However Fang Hua only had time to rush out in a panic. Thank God Qiu Qian and remembered to maintain a distance from Bai Lang, however the reaction of the reporters were still extremely sensitive.
“Mr Qiu!! Can you reply to the questions!?”
“If Mr Qiu doesn’t want to reply then Mr Bai you should ba! The fans will definitely be curious!!”
“Mr Qiu previously you also “went out” with some artists from Total Entertainment. Are you going out now with Mr Bai!?”
“Mr Bai what are your views on Mr Qiu previously going out with your colleagues!?”
“Mr Bai, can I ask if the diamond watch on your arm is a gift from Mr Qiu ah?”
“Mr Bai today you also wearing the watch right? Can you please show it to us?”
“Mr Qiu, did you give him the watch!?”
“Mr Qiu, can you at least choose one question to answer. Everyone is very curious ah!!”
“Can you stop for a moment Mr Qiu!? Can we take a photograph of you two together!”
Within the more and more sharp questions, there was one that was slightly more kind. Qiu Qian decided to answer it. He patted Bai Lang’s shoulder.
Bai Lang turned around and Qiu Qian pointed in the director of the reporter. “Let’s take a photo together.”
Bai Lang thus smiled and stood next to Qiu Qian. Because of the difference in their heights, Qiu Qian very slightly tilted his head.
There was an explosion of [ka-cha-ka-cha] sounds. The journalists standing on the other side were unhappy and immediately yelled, “Turn to this side!! Please turn to this side!! Thank you!!”
The two people cooperated to turn around to the other side and there was another explosion of blinding lights. After finishing, Qiu Qian smiled in a casual manner and finally answered, “The movie is quite good. Today I just came to watch the movie. Everyone should watch it carefully.”
After he finished there were even more questions being thrown out. Qiu Qian only smiled and supported Bai Lang’s back and finished walking the rest of the way with Bai Lang.
All the way until Fang Hua came walking over quickly as though she wanted to lead the way for them, and thus the two people became three people.
At that time, in one of the corners of the cinema.
Hong Yu looked at the noisy scene outside the door and turned to smile at Su Quan who was standing beside him. “Isn’t it very lively today?”
Su Quan smiled and replied, “If it can make Boss Hong interested, then of course it can’t be ordinary.”
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been out and about,” Hong Yu sighed. “Now that I look at it, the new generation of youngsters is indeed very talented.”
Su Quan’s smile was beautiful as usual. Afterwards he lowered his eyes and it was impossible for anyone to see his expression.
***
The next day it was no surprise that the photos of the premiere, big and small, filled half the front page of the entertainment news.
The famous artists leaving the premiere were stopped by the reporters who had been waiting for a long time outside and they were finally able to ask all their questions. And thus the topics discussed at the premiere were very rich and varied.
It was unknown whether it was because of this, but Bai Lang and Qiu Qian’s photo taken when they walked the red carpet together only occupied a small square in the news. All of the pointed and sharp questions asked by the reporters were completely absent from this morning’s newspaper.
So on the breakfast table, Bai Lang bit into a freshly made seafood egg pancake and flipped through the newspaper. Qiu Qian lazily poked his own plate and said, “Don’t worry, you won’t find what you’re looking for.”
He had been influenced by Bai Lang’s early to rest and early to rise sleeping pattern. As long as he didn’t have any evening events the night before, Qiu Qian could now match Bai Lang’s lifestyle.
Bai Lang quickly flipped through the “Morning Star”, then he looked through a few smaller publications.
“The reason you said I didn’t need to worry last night was because you had already made preparations?”
“Looking at the newspaper this morning, are you still not clear?”
Qiu Qian stuck another piece of egg pancake in his mouth. He had barely even swallowed before he took another large piece. This showed he liked the flavor very much.
Bai Lang paused. He looked with uncertainty at another headline on the newspaper. “Emperor Feng” was being investigated by the relevant government authorities for its content!?
{T/N: Not super related but Chinese government has a bad habit of getting involved in the movie/tv industry, they’re always making up new rules about what can and can’t be shown. Like no time travel, no too lavish historical dramas as it promotes ‘decadence’ etc… occasionally they’ll relax it. It seems to depend on the political climate at the time.}
“Are you trying to say that all of this is Hong Yu’s doing?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Qiu Qian ate another large piece. “On one hand he promotes the movie “Gold” and on the other he suppresses “Emperor Feng”. Hong Yu probably wants to remind Su Quan of the extent of his power and influence. So right now Hong Yu won’t allow you or anything related to “Gold” to go wrong.”
Bai Lang felt shocked and couldn’t help asking, “You knew about it from a long time ago?”
“There will always be some word that will get out.” Qiu Qian admitted.
Bai Lang paused then asked, “So last night… you planned it already?”
Qiu Qian raised his eyebrow. “Since there is definitely someone that will reach out to help, why shouldn’t we hitch a ride on the upwards wind?”
If the two of them started often appearing in public together, then the chances of someone using it to make up scandals or news would decrease.
Bai Lang put down the newspaper and looked at Qiu Qian. He felt like his brain was really not big enough to use.
“But what if Su Quan comes to beg you for help? What will you do?”
Qiu Qian pressed closer to Bai Lang. He gave an evil smile. “Why, are you worried?”
Bai Lang nodded his head honestly. “A bit.”
This seemed to make Qiu Qian overjoyed. He reached out and pulled Bai Lang closer and energetically kissed Bai Lang’s lips.
Qiu XiaoHai who was sitting to one side saw it and suddenly said, “Daddy, Ah Zan said that before kissing you have to wipe your mouth.”
He was also sitting on the table holding a small fork and intently eating the egg pancake. Right now his mouth was full of tomato sauce.
Thus scolded, Qiu Qian paused and his attention was diverted.
“Ah Zan? Why would he say that? Could it be that you didn’t wipe your mouth and ran to kiss him?”
Qiu XiaoHai immediately loudly defended himself, “I, I did wipe it after oh.”
He was immediately found out.
Bai Lang suddenly felt a bit guilty. Because this “kiss kiss” was something that he was forced to explain after being caught out a few times.
“You can only kiss if you both of you like each other, you can’t do it randomly. Okay?”
After speaking Bai Lang took a napkin and helped Qiu XiaoHai wipe his mouth.
“En!’ Qiu XiaoHai raised his chin to cooperate. He smiled sunnily and said, “I also let Ah Zan kiss me ma.”
***
Just as Qiu Qian said, Hong Yu appeared to have decided to use this method of raising one and stepping on the other.
After the premiere, Hong Yu continued to throw his support behind the promotion of “Gold”. A few famous artists who had come to the premiere because their connection with Hong Yu, all gave glowing reviews afterwards of the movie. With such a service, it would have been unusual if “Gold” didn’t make a big splash at the box office at its opening.
Of course “Gold” also had to have some actual substance in order to maintain the audience’s interest and reviews. So under these extremely smooth circumstances, “Gold” which was a small to medium production that cost under 40 million to make, earned 72 million on its opening weekend alone. Although it final box office didn’t break any records however it was enough to allow is owners to make back five times their investment.
By contrast, the large historical epic “Emperor Feng” was being filmed extremely slowly. Right now it had not even completed half of its filming. Not only were their rumors that the script had been investigated by the authorities, but a few of the crew members had even had a scandal related to dodgy insurance practices. The movie that had held such a grand opening ceremony was now mired in darkness.
As for Hong Yu’s intentions, what Qiu Qian didn’t tell Bai Lang clearly was that actually this can also be a form of trying to intimidate Qiu Qian. That’s why Hong Yu had picked Bai Lang, who was by Qiu Qian’s side, as his “example”. He wanted to let Qiu Qian know that if he wanted to make Bai Lang famous he could and so naturally if he wanted to, he could also blacken him. The choice was up to Qiu Qian.
However if Su Quan wanted to leave Hong Yu, then based on his qualifications, it was not as though he didn’t have any other “options” other than Qiu Qian. If Hong Yu only targeted Qiu Qian then probably it wouldn’t be enough. On the other hand perhaps Hong Yu, who had been with Su Quan for many years, was able to have an understanding about what, or rather who, Su Quan was thinking about in the depths of his heart.
No matter what with Hong Yu’s support, the movie cooperation between Zhu Kuan and Zhao JingXuan concluded very well.
And Bai Lang also road this wave of success. Within a month, he quickly rose from a talented newcomer actor into a popular A-list actor with real ability. After all the audience had how even if Bai Lang was kneeling on the ground, his superior acting ability could still fully express the majesty and resolution in his heart,
Thus there were a few fans who led the way and gave Bai Lang the nickname “little Su Quan” on the internet in order to express their expectations of his future success and development. However this immediately elicited the severe ire of Su Quan’s fans. Su Quan’s fans stated that this newcomer Bai Lang shouldn’t be so shameless as to try to ride on Su Quan’s coattails to promote himself. Bai Lang’s fans immediately responded by saying how was this riding on Su Quan’s coattails? Calling him this way was also giving face to Su Quan. Su Quan’s fans really didn’t know their place.
The situation got bigger and bigger, and even entertainment news began reporting on his spiralling out of control online feud.
Bai Lang himself really wanted to laugh helplessly. He knew that the fans were only being passionate however he really didn’t much like this nickname “little Su Quan”. In the end it was Fang Hua who spent money to quieten everything down on the internet, and changed “little Su Quan” to “young master Bai”.
“Young master Bai” also very aptly described Bai Lang who was a person who appeared twenty-four and yet wore suit pants and shirts as well as a designer diamond watch. It didn’t take long for this nickname to firmly be affixed to Bai Lang’s head.
As for the previous furore, there was one reporter who didn’t fear death who actually asked Su Quan for his opinion on it at some event.
Su Quan only smiled slightly and said, “Newcomers all need encouragement. So it’s good to be more generous with them.”
When he said it like this everyone could guess that a knot had already formed in his heart.
However on Bai Lang’s side, he actually received Su Quan’s “invitation”.
Su Quan had hired out a club and invited Qiu Qian and several of their common friends. Oh, and also this time he included Qiu XiaoHai.
The reason was to celebrate Qiu Qian’s birthday.
