"Brother Chun, do you have any more scenes today?"
When Xu Chun heard Xie Jianyuan's question, he shook his head and said he was done filming.
Xie Jianyuan was just about to say something else when Xu Chun turned his attention to An Huiru.
He watched her in silence for a while, then smiled and said unhurriedly, "These crew members don't owe you anything. You didn't hire them, and they don't need you to pay them. You'd better rein in that temper."
There wasn't the slightest ripple in his tone, as if he were calmly stating a fact, as though he were saying, "Listen or don't. It's entirely up to you."
An Huiru's expression turned ugly. She turned her head away resentfully without a word. Naturally, she felt humiliated at being made to lose face in front of everyone, but she also knew that continuing the argument would only make things uglier, so she could only drop it awkwardly.
Xu Chun turned to look at Xie Jianyuan, who immediately understood what he meant from his gaze. He got to his feet and followed him out.
Xu Chun and Xie Jianyuan walked side by side for quite a while before Xu Chun spoke. "You don't seem like the type to meddle in other people's business." There was a trace of puzzlement in his tone.
Xie Jianyuan seemed to be in an excellent mood. Instead of answering, he simply looked at Xu Chun with a smile. "Were you helping me just now?"
Xu Chun gave a slightly awkward cough and said gently, "I suppose so."
Xie Jianyuan smiled and stared at Xu Chun without saying anything else.
That evening, Su Li called Xu Chun. After Lu Xian terminated his contract with the company, he left behind a pile of problems. She had been overwhelmed with work lately and hadn't had much energy to spare for Xu Chun.
He didn't know why she had suddenly called.
"Hello, Sister Su." Xu Chun answered the phone as he leafed through a newspaper.
Whatever she said made Xu Chun's hand freeze on the newspaper. After quite a while, he unfolded it again as if nothing had happened and gave a distracted hum.
"Where did you hear that Shen Zhu was back?"
"From his manager?" Xu Chun frowned slightly. Hadn't Su Li always been at odds with Shen Zhu's manager? That answer was unlikely. She had probably asked around on the sly. After all, she had always regarded Shen Zhu's manager as a rival and would certainly keep a close eye on him in private.
"Yeah, I really haven't been in touch with him for a long time."
"There's no particular reason. We just drifted apart."
"All right, I know. I'm hanging up."
After ending the call, Xu Chun tossed his phone onto the bed and leafed restlessly through the newspaper before finally letting out a sigh.
He had spent the past few days running back and forth between the film set and the variety show's filming location. Even Xu Chun was finding it physically exhausting, but he still gritted his teeth and soldiered on.
The talent competition was in its final few episodes. Since Xu Chun and Xie Jianyuan were on opposing sides, the production team asked the guest mentors from the two classes to talk tough to each other.
After struggling for ages, Xu Chun finally managed to come up with an unbearably awkward threat. He saw a hint of amusement in Xie Jianyuan's eyes on the opposite stage; Xie Jianyuan even turned his face slightly away, seemingly afraid Xu Chun would notice.
Xu Chun: ...
After the groups from each class finished dancing and singing onstage, Xu Chun discussed their performances with the judges for a while, and they finally reached a decision.
The trainee who had caused trouble for Xu Jin was on the elimination list. He had made several small mistakes in his dance, which Xu Chun had spotted with his sharp eyes and pointed out.
However, that trainee was in Xie Jianyuan's class. As Xu Chun spoke, he glanced at Xie Jianyuan's expression. Seeing that he offered no explanation, merely gave a quiet hum and continued listening attentively, Xu Chun relaxed and went on to list a few more reasons.
At last, the most senior judge pondered for a moment and announced the final result.
Filming resumed after a short break. Xu Chun was in charge of announcing the results, and every trainee whose name he called looked nervous, terrified of hearing him say the word "eliminated."
He read out the names one by one until only the last two were left. Xu Chun looked at their names and couldn't help frowning slightly. He didn't know whether the production team had done it on purpose, deliberately putting Xu Jin and a trainee who was to be eliminated last on the list. And as luck would have it, the trainee facing elimination was the very one who had been going against Xu Jin.
Xu Chun's expression darkened. With the order changed, the meaning would be different when he read it out, and many people would think he was giving Xu Jin special treatment.
Sure enough, after Xu Chun announced his elimination, the trainee looked furious and glared fiercely at him, as though he were about to charge at him. Fortunately, he still had some sense left. Instead, he tore the hat off his head and slammed it to the ground to vent his dissatisfaction and anger.
Later, in a backstage interview, the trainee came right out and said he was unhappy with the unfair result, and that he thought Xu Chun was giving his own younger brother special treatment while making things difficult for him.
When Xu Chun saw that part after the episode aired, he couldn't help sneering inwardly. When he became a guest mentor, he had known people would definitely make remarks like that.
But if he really wanted to pull strings and give his younger brother special treatment, he only had to say the word to the production team, and Xu Jin could debut with a high ranking instead of barely scraping through each competition as he did now.
Besides, even if he wanted to favor Xu Jin, Xu Jin still needed some ability. If he were completely useless, the other judges wouldn't agree, even if Xu Chun wanted to give him a push.
After the episode aired, many different opinions appeared online. All sorts of unsavory characters from every side joined the fray, causing an uproar.
"Everyone throwing shade at xc in the comments can die tonight [grin]"
"If a loser gets eliminated, he should just stay home and pick at his feet. Screeching at the top of his lungs won't change the fact that he was eliminated."
"Don't care, just focusing on my fave. Go, Brother Chun!"
"I had a pretty good impression of Xu Chun before, but I never expected him to use his seniority to bully a newcomer and casually destroy someone else's dreams."
"Who told my fave not to have a brother on the judging panel? [sobbing] Seriously, I'm done. Trash production team, trash judges."
"LMAO, the loser's fans upstairs are both stupid and vicious. Please count how many moves your fave got wrong."