Then I Won't Be Bullying People with My Influence

Wen Chengze frowned as he looked at the message from his team.

He glanced at the members of the other groups. The production crew's makeup artists were already working on them.

"Wait here for a moment. I'll go take a look."

He had a rough idea of what was going on, but Wen Chengze still chose to go out.

There was some distance between the preparation room and the entrance to the set. Wen Chengze was in no rush at all as he strolled over.

When he reached the entrance, he saw that his car had indeed been stopped outside.

Wen Chengze found one of the staff members there. "Sorry, but the people in that car are all my staff. Can you let them in?"

The tall, skinny man looked Wen Chengze up and down, his tone unfriendly. "This is a major production. Who's taking responsibility if something goes wrong? You say they're your staff, and that makes them your staff? What if they're some shady people? This is a closed set. No outsiders are allowed in. Get moving."

Wen Chengze narrowed his eyes. This staff member seemed to know who he was.

Wen Chengze turned around and sent a message to the work group.

Then he headed back to the lounge. He thought he knew who was behind this.

Such a childish tactic—and people were still using it? What did the person backing Qiao Siyu see in her? Her stupidity?

A single message to Cheng Liang would solve this quickly, but there was still plenty of time. There was no need to panic. If he did not go back and play along with Qiao Siyu, it would be an insult to all the effort she had put into pulling strings.

When Wen Chengze returned, the four boys immediately looked at him.

"Bro, did something happen?"

"Yeah. The makeup artists were stopped outside."

The four boys frowned as well, their gazes falling on the other busy makeup artists.

Their styling had always been handled by Wen Chengze's own team, while the other groups used staff arranged by the production. There was no one available to spare for their makeup at the moment.

"How did this suddenly happen?" the four boys asked worriedly.

But before they could say anything else, they saw someone walking toward them.

Qiao Siyu wore a sweet smile. "Chengze, did something happen to your group? You need to hurry and get your makeup done. Recording is about to begin."

After saying that, she shot Wen Chengze a smug glance.

Only then did the four boys realize what was going on.

After Qiao Siyu left, the four of them looked at Wen Chengze. "Bro, was it because of her?"

Wen Chengze did not hide it. "Yeah."

"Then what do we do?" They were a little worried, but seeing how calm Wen Chengze was, they did not feel quite as concerned.

Wen Chengze lifted his eyelids. "Don't worry. Soon enough, someone will come begging us."

The four boys: ???

Was this the confidence of someone with powerful backing?

They did not doubt Wen Chengze's words in the slightest. Anyone who knew Zhong Mohan was definitely not someone to mess with.

Qiao Siyu usually rested in her own lounge and only came over for a token visit when recording was about to begin. Yet today, she had stayed here the entire time, her eyes filled with anticipation for a good show.

After a while, the production coordinator came by to inspect the set.

When she noticed that Wen Chengze's group had not started their makeup, she frowned.

"Why hasn't your group started yet? There are less than thirty minutes before the show begins." The coordinator was a gentle young woman.

Good-looking people naturally got extra points when they acted cute, and Wen Chengze's group was full of handsome boys.

Facing the gentle older sister, they immediately said softly, "Our makeup artists were stopped outside. We reported them to the production team beforehand, but we don't know why they were still blocked."

The handsome boys looked so wronged that anyone would have softened, let alone the coordinator.

She immediately straightened up and called the person in charge. "I'll contact them for you. You should have come straight to me earlier."

As soon as she finished speaking, the call connected. After explaining the situation for a few moments, the coordinator's face darkened.

"Rest here for now," she told them before hurrying away.

Very soon, all the trainees received a notice: recording for the program had been delayed by half an hour.

At the same time, Qiao Siyu was called away by the director.

The others were flustered by the sudden announcement, but Wen Chengze's side remained exceptionally calm.

Old Kong had also been resting in the lounge. He had confidence in his group, but the sudden notice still surprised him. In the end, he decided to go check on his trainees.

But when Old Kong arrived, he saw everyone else discussing the situation in all kinds of ways, while Wen Chengze and his group were completely composed. They had not even started their makeup, and a trace of confusion crossed his mind.

"What's wrong? Why haven't you started your makeup? Even with the delay, ancient costume styling is still quite troublesome."

"No, our makeup artists were stopped outside. Just now, the coordinator made a phone call, and before there was even a result, we received the notice that the livestream had been delayed. We're not sure what exactly happened either."

There was an art to speaking to one's elders.

Say half, leave half unsaid. An elder who had weathered countless storms would naturally understand the rest.

Old Kong frowned, his gaze lingering on Wen Chengze for a moment. Wen Chengze's expression remained calm.

Even without asking, he could guess that this group had been targeted again.

There was no need to ask who was responsible.

Old Kong sighed. It was not that he thought Wen Chengze's group was troublesome. He simply felt that people in the entertainment industry had become so impetuous these days. They struck without first figuring out the other party's family background, and they even used such low-level methods.

How could someone like that possibly last long in the industry? And someone like that certainly would not put any thought into improving their acting.

Wen Chengze was someone Old Kong thought highly of. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Can you handle it?"

"Yeah, I can. It should be about time now."

Sure enough, the moment Wen Chengze finished speaking, Qiao Siyu was dragged over by her manager with a cold face. The chief director followed beside them.

They headed straight toward Wen Chengze.

The four boys who noticed them silently sat up straighter, while Wen Chengze calmly held his script and even leisurely changed positions.

Qiao Siyu's manager approached first, smiling. "You must be Xiao Ze. That face of yours just screams acting potential. Our Xiaoyu has praised you to me so many times. Today's matter was my fault. Please don't get into a conflict with Xiaoyu. Someone once came to the production pretending to be one of Xiaoyu's staff and tried to secretly take photos and steal things, so I got a little sensitive. That's why I had your staff stopped outside. Be the bigger person and let them come in now, all right?"

As the manager spoke, he tugged on Qiao Siyu's sleeve.

Qiao Siyu looked at Wen Chengze unwillingly and gritted her teeth. "Sorry. It was our oversight, and it caused you inconvenience. Let your people come in."

Wen Chengze let out a cold laugh but said nothing. The atmosphere became awkward for a moment.

The manager's expression stiffened as well, but when he thought of the director beside him—a man who had directed countless variety shows with top ratings—he swallowed his anger and continued smiling. "Xiao Ze, we're all in the entertainment industry. We'll see each other sooner or later. If you ever need Xiaoyu's help in the future, just come to me. I'll handle it for you. Besides, Xiaoyu is fairly popular in the industry right now. She can provide you with plenty of help."

This time, Wen Chengze finally looked up. "I have many older brothers. This is the first time I've met someone like you who dared call himself my brother."

He had not expected Wen Chengze to open with such blatant sarcasm, and the manager's face immediately stiffened.

He was just a newcomer. If it were not for the director saying that he valued this group's performance highly and was even treating it as the finale, why would he be doing such a thankless task?

Seeing that Wen Chengze would not respond to either soft or hard tactics, the manager could only place his hopes on the director again.

But ever since the director arrived, his attention had remained fixed on Wen Chengze.

"Your performance is the highlight of this episode. Let your team come in and do your styling first. We can discuss everything else afterward. Since this happened on my set, I'll give you an explanation."

A director capable of producing so many top-tier variety shows was naturally no fool. He understood how to read the situation.

Wen Chengze had joined midway without revealing his identity, but he was definitely no ordinary person. Combined with his looks and acting skills, he would undoubtedly become the breakout sensation of this show. The director would not let such a living billboard slip away.

When she heard the director say that, Qiao Siyu's face darkened even further. Wasn't this episode supposed to be riding on her popularity? Shouldn't they be catering to her? Why were they focusing on that little newcomer instead?

The more she thought about it, the more unwilling she became. Qiao Siyu wanted to leave immediately, but when she saw the warning in her manager's eyes, she could only force herself to stay.

Only after the director repeatedly persuaded him did Wen Chengze allow his team to come in.

Wen Chengze slowly looked at Qiao Siyu and her manager. "Actually, I'm not someone who likes to argue with others. But since you took this step, I won't hold back. Since we're both relying on our backing, then I'm not bullying people with my influence."

Those few casual words instantly stunned everyone in the preparation room.

It was their first time seeing someone openly admit that he had powerful backing. Was he really not afraid of being condemned by everyone?

This kind of thing was usually left unspoken. Otherwise, every celebrity's carefully crafted persona would collapse.

Clearly, everyone took the backing Wen Chengze mentioned to mean a financial patron.

Wen Chengze's words were practically a direct tearing away of all pretenses. The manager, who had been smiling for so long, finally darkened his face. Qiao Siyu grabbed her manager and left.

In the hallway, the manager took a deep breath. "Contact President Lin. Since Wen Chengze said that, teach him a lesson. Let him know that people in this industry are not to be offended."

But what no one expected was that while the program was recording, a major Weibo account suddenly released nine photos.