Chapter Ninety-Two: The First Ridiculous Couple in the Show’s History

From the standpoint of age, An Tinghan was a few years older than Chen Fang, yet Chen Fang was far more mature than she was.

Tong Qin had no intention of persuading An Tinghan.

After all, the two of them had worked together for so many years. Tong Qin knew her temperament well; if she tried to reason with her earnestly, An Tinghan would only play innocent and, in the end, still do things her own way.

So the opening had to be found elsewhere.

Watching Chen Fang’s handsome, melancholic features on the television, Tong Qin thought it seemed she would have to make time to speak with him.

Onscreen, after Chen Fang finished singing “The Deep Sea,” the image cut back to the gathering place on Cloud Dream Isle.

Eight celebrities.

Four couples.

They were about to begin a week-long life as pairs in this place.

Of course, though it was called a couple’s life, there was basically no intimate contact. Unless the two truly took a shine to each other on the show and a spark of love was struck, the production team would naturally not interfere.

Tong Qin spared a glance at the comments streaming across the screen online.

Nearly all of them were praising Chen Fang.

Under Chen Fang’s influence, the public opinion surrounding Future Stardom was also gradually improving online.

And with that, the one suffering most became Kang Zikai.

Sniveling and crying, he had finally managed to get his eyes swollen in front of the cameras; he had never expected that in the time it took Chen Fang to sing one song, the internet would already be full of comments questioning him.

Clearly...

Chen Fang had not even made any direct counterattack.

Yet Kang Zikai still felt especially troubled and frustrated.

"Damn it!"

"Chen Fang deserves to die!"

Kang Zikai slammed a fist hard against the table.

But the next second, his expression darkened at once, and he put on a pained look. "My hand hurts..."

At that moment, a middle-aged woman was standing beside Kang Zikai. She was plain enough in appearance, but her clothes were extremely flashy; a glance was enough to make one dizzy from the rings, necklaces, earrings, and bracelets all over her body, giving off the air of some nouveau riche upstart. Hearing the sound of Kang Zikai pounding the table in anger, she flashed a trace of disgust.

"Don’t rush. Ruining an artist isn’t that easy!"

More importantly, Chen Fang was at the height of his momentum right now.

It would be even harder to drag him down from the spotlight.

The same old story: as long as an entertainer did not cross the country’s bottom line, no matter what they did, there was always a chance of staging a comeback.

Insulting people?

Hitting fans?

Sleeping with fans?

Being imperious and arrogant?

Heh.

Not exaggerating in the least, none of those counted as a major scandal.

As long as it was a moral issue, it wasn’t a major matter. If the later public relations worked well enough, even a pile of filth could be rewrapped in golden paper.

Of course, it also depended on how much Future Stardom valued Chen Fang.

From the current situation, Future Stardom was clearly determined to protect him no matter what. If the company did not care about Chen Fang, then the moral problems mentioned earlier would have been enough to crush him already. Without a company to cleanse his image, he would not be able to make much of a splash.

The middle-aged woman frowned slightly.

Things were somewhat troublesome now.

Chen Fang’s creative talent was too strong.

In terms of hard ability, he could not be matched.

On top of that, Future Stardom attached exceptional importance to him.

Trying to use public opinion to pressure Future Stardom into burying Chen Fang was not an easy path either.

"No weak point."

The middle-aged woman sighed inwardly.

After mixing in the entertainment industry for so many years, this was the first time she had encountered such a difficult opponent.

"Manager Ju, should I keep complaining online?" Kang Zikai said indignantly.

The next second, he shot the middle-aged woman a furtive glance, his eyes flickering with excitement and anticipation.

Ju Nanchun.

A silver-tier agent at Creation Entertainment.

She managed quite a few artists under her wing: some were rising stars, others were second-tier idols, and there were also several third- and fourth-tier pretty-boy rookies. If he had her protection in the future, life would surely be much easier.

Maybe someday he could even become a star of the first rank.

Just thinking of that made Kang Zikai tremble slightly with excitement; his face even flushed red, and he almost wished he could strip naked at once and offer himself to Ju Nanchun’s bed.

There were no stable bonds in the entertainment world.

If one had to name one, then a physical relationship barely counted.

In business circles, many deals were sealed at the banquet table; in the entertainment world, many transactions were concluded in bed. It was the same for both male and female artists.

If Kang Zikai could spend a night with Ju Nanchun, he would never have to worry again.

Catching the look in Kang Zikai’s eyes, Ju Nanchun sneered inwardly. These pretty little nobodies with no real skill always thought only of using sex to bind themselves to someone.

She was fond of handsome men.

But she was not blind.

Why would she pass over other male artists with good figures and high looks to sleep with a trainee ranked at the very bottom?

Dream on.

Yet on the surface, Ju Nanchun remained calm, pretending not to understand the hint in Kang Zikai’s eyes.

"Lay low for now," she said. "I’ll ask the boss what he thinks and see what the higher-ups plan."

At that, Kang Zikai felt a little disappointed.

Ju Nanchun no longer paid him any mind and walked out of the office.

If it weren’t for this mess with Kang Zikai, at half past eight that night she ought to be lying on the master bed of a villa with several male models giving her a full-body massage, while she caressed their muscles and enjoyed the bliss of being thoroughly tended to.

Then, all at once, Ju Nanchun thought of Chen Fang.

Those eight sculpted abs.

How tempting.

Women like Ju Nanchun, over forty, were even more infatuated with the muscles of sturdy men.

Only then was there enough strength to have fun.

As for Kang Zikai—good-looking enough perhaps, but thin as a monkey, a pitiful little sissy—he did not even enter Ju Nanchun’s eyes.

"Maybe I should try inviting Chen Fang out. With a newcomer like that, a little benefit should be enough to lure him into bed," Ju Nanchun thought with rising expectation. Although Chen Fang was an artist under Future Stardom and her own company’s rival, that only made it more thrilling.

Sleeping with a male artist from another company behind one’s own company’s back.

It was practically like an affair.

The more Ju Nanchun thought about it, the more restless she became.

After turning forty, one simply wanted a bit of excitement.

...

The eight celebrities gathered.

The show officially began.

The program director finally appeared on camera and announced the next task.

The Room Grab Challenge.

The rules were simple.

In truth, it was a test of mutual understanding.

The production team would ask questions, and the male and female celebrities would answer in turn. For example, the woman’s favorite food, answered by the man; after a series of such questions, the couple with the highest score would get first choice of the rooms.

Inside the villa, seeing this scene, Chen Fang’s mouth twitched slightly.

This task was probably the most unforgettable part of the seven days of filming for Chen Fang.

Because he and An Tinghan scored the lowest.

The other couples got some answers right and some wrong, but at least they could manage six correct out of ten questions.

They had come prepared.

By contrast, when it came to questions about An Tinghan, Chen Fang got every single one wrong.

And An Tinghan was no different.

When the production team asked questions about Chen Fang, she got them all wrong as well.

In the show, the expressions on Chen Fang’s and An Tinghan’s faces as they stared at each other were far too funny.

Both wore expressions of complete bewilderment.

Chen Fang looked at his zero-score paper with an expression identical to the one on that famous meme of an old man on the subway looking at his phone.

It was too hilarious.

The comments exploded in laughter.

In an instant, all the viewers’ attention was focused on Chen Fang and An Tinghan as a couple.