"We all know you and Brother Yuan worked together on a variety show. How would you describe him as a person?"
Su Li was listening nearby, and her expression changed. She hurried to interrupt the interview, but Xu Chun gave her a reassuring look, then considered his words before answering, "I think he's a very attentive person. Whenever something's wrong, he's the first to notice. He's also very polite and respectful of others."
There was nothing out of line in that answer, but the reporter, as if eager to stir up trouble, asked another question. "Then, hypothetically, if Xie Jianyuan were a woman, would you want him to be your girlfriend?"
Xu Chun was taken aback. All he could do was laugh awkwardly. "Can't you give me an actual woman?"
"Xie Jianyuan is a woman right now."
Xu Chun rubbed his nose. The question was genuinely difficult to answer. If he said no, Xie Jianyuan's fans would be unhappy; if he said yes, they would be unhappy too.
"Then how about this? Who would you choose, Bai Lingling or Xie Jianyuan?" The reporter rephrased the question, and, apparently finding it funny himself, couldn't help laughing aloud.
That put Xu Chun in a bind. He couldn't say Bai Lingling; if he did, the rumors about them would only grow worse. With that in mind, Xu Chun joked, "Then I'll go with Little Xie."
After the interview, Su Li called Xu Chun into a private booth. She was furious that he had chosen Xie Jianyuan instead of Bai Lingling, since that indirectly clarified the rumors about him and Bai Lingling.
Xu Chun listened to Su Li lecture him for ages. Only when her mouth was dry did she sheepishly stop.
"But..." Xu Chun remembered something that bothered him. "When did I get a new assistant? Where did Xiao Qi go?"
Su Li's expression turned awkward for a moment. Then she said uneasily, "She went to Lu Xian."
As the company's star agent, Su Li had more than just Xu Chun under her. Lu Xian, who had recently debuted, was also her client. Given his experience, she shouldn't have been managing him personally, but something about him had caught the attention of the company's upper management, who specifically assigned her to him.
Lu Xian had lived up to expectations, though. Not long after his debut, he had taken first place on the rookie popularity rankings. He had potential.
With Xu Chun and Lu Xian under her management, she didn't have to worry about too much conflict over resources, since they were pursuing different paths.
But Lu Xian had always been a well-behaved, quiet kid. That day, he had made a rare request of her, saying he wanted Xu Chun's assistant. Poaching someone's staff was normally a major taboo in the industry, but she thought that Lu Xian rarely asked for anything, and Xu Chun had a good temper, so she transferred the assistant to Lu Xian, thinking that at worst, she could transfer her back.
Xu Chun gave Su Li a meaningful look and smiled. "I see."
Someone had poached his assistant in his previous life, though it hadn't happened at this point in time. I haven't even fallen out of favor yet, and they already can't wait to poach my staff?
Su Li felt a little guilty, but seeing that Xu Chun had nothing more to say, she merely said, "This assistant is good too. He graduated from a prestigious university and is extremely capable at his job. He's just a little gloomy."
Xu Chun frowned slightly. "Did you check his background?"
In the industry, close assistants like this knew more of an artist's private affairs than anyone else. Before working together, they had to sign a confidentiality agreement, and any breach would result in enormous damages.
Their backgrounds were also thoroughly investigated, as a precaution against their being spies sent by someone else.
Su Li said, "His background is clean. After graduating, his personality made it hard for him to get along with coworkers or deal with his bosses, so he quit several jobs. He doesn't have many friends, and his personal connections are simple. That makes him a little easier to employ."
Although Xu Chun still felt something was odd, after hearing Su Li say that, he couldn't really say much more.
When the interview from that day was published, Xu Chun looked at his interview page in the magazine and wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
"Have I forgotten how to read?" Xu Chun looked at Su Li and pointed dazedly at his interview on the page, feeling dizzy.
Su Li gritted her teeth. "You're reading it right. We've been set up."
The magazine's exact words were: "Asked whether he would choose Xie Jianyuan as his girlfriend, Xu Chun smiled but said nothing. When the reporter pressed him to choose between Xie Jianyuan and Bai Lingling, Xu Chun chose the former without hesitation and gave the reporter a meaningful smile."
Xu Chun felt a dull ache at his temples. "When did I give a meaningful smile? When did I answer without hesitation?"
They had discussed so many serious professional topics, yet the magazine had focused on gossip. Knowing that he and Xie Jianyuan had recently been at odds, it had insisted on taking the opposite tack to create a sensational story.
"There's nothing we can do. That's what audiences like to see." Su Li was somewhat frustrated too.
Xie Jianyuan also saw the magazine report. When he saw his own name, he couldn't help pausing in surprise.
Wei Jiahe quickly skimmed the interview beside him, nudged his shoulder, and waggled his eyebrows. "Not bad. It hasn't been that long, and you two are already so close. But take it easy, all right? I quite like Xu Chun. He's a pretty good guy."
He paused, then added with a laugh, "Is it really worth grinning like that?"
Xie Jianyuan glanced at him and deliberately restrained his smile a little. "You're seeing things."
"..."
"But..." Xie Jianyuan thoughtfully rubbed his chin as he looked at the word "girlfriend." "Didn't they really get it backward?"
"..."
Chapter 15: Confession
After being maligned over the last interview, Xu Chun now saw everyone as someone trying to harm him. When he went on a variety show, he stayed on full alert whenever the host spoke, afraid he would be led into another trap.
He thought everything he had said throughout the show was watertight, but he had forgotten about the trick of devilish editing.
"I just don't understand how these editors are so good at it. They can turn white into black." Xu Chun pressed his fingers to the spot between his eyebrows, his usually gentle voice tinged with dejection.
"They must have seen how much attention you attract," Su Li said. Her head ached too. She thought that the sensation caused by the earlier magazine interview had given these people who depended on audiences for their living a taste of success.