Don’t Be a Kept Man

he walked straight to her room to pack up, not even sparing them a single glance.
Zhao Ke Yi had wanted to work out their relationship and went up to start a conversation, 

“Su Li, are you going to eat?”

“You have already finished, and now you finally think to ask me if I have eaten? Too bad I don’t eat leftovers, and for the rest of my life, I never want to come back to this disgusting place.
When I go back, I can and will eat whatever the hell I want.” 

For whatever reason, Li Su Li was blowing up in anger, and she packed up noisily and with aggression, her face full of unhappiness.

Not only her, to be honest, everyone else wasn’t exactly in a great mood.
When the filming crew announced that the program was done once and for all, they exchanged contact information before heading to their rooms to pack up and leave without any more words.

Chen Yi threw his luggage into the trunk and was about to sit in the passenger seat when his assistant Ling Dang hesitatingly passed a cellphone over, 

 

“Xiao-Yi Ge, Ah Ya’s new concert to promote her single is on its last show, at the World Trade Stadium.
Zhou-Ge said that you’ll be a guest, and to be there by 7:30.
It has already posted this on weibo…… 2“

Ah Ya was one of Global Entertainment’s female song artists.
Supposedly she had the backing of a high up company executive and the moment she debuted, she was able to release a solo album.
These past years, she had achieved some fame, and without speaking about her singing ability, she had gathered quite a few fans for her clean, graceful image.
However, she has always lacked the “trend”, the something to be on the charts, and this time, making Chen Yi be a guest for her last show was meant to help her create some buzz.

This kind of thing was obviously hard work and only for generating negative press.
When the status post was published, Ah Ya’s fans were first shocked from the surprise and then they blew off their tops.
They immediately ran to Chen Yi’s page and started a new tornado of hate comments, tearing apart everything and anything about him, and the storm did not seem to be ending anytime soon.
Passive aggressive and directly cursing him, all sorts of comments were sworn at him, saying that he’s trying to leech off their idol.

[ Fuck me! How did this fucking piece of dogshit leech on? Ok, I’ll be nice.
Go back to your hole will you Chen Yi? ]

[ What helpful guest appearance? I’ll already be thankful if he doesn’t mess this up! How could our Ah Ya be so pitiful? Bumping into parasites when she’s just touring? ]

[ Who the fuck thought about this!!! Who came up with this idea? Better speak up as I have a working grenade in my hand ]

[ Can Chen Yi fuck off? Why is he everywhere? Can there be a day today where I don’t have to hear about him? I just want to throw up now ]

[ My angel Ah Ya, how ethereal she is.
Why do you have to invite such a person to be a guest in your show ]

Chen Yi scrolled a few times before giving up.
He had never liked to cause himself suffering.
He sharply asked Ling Dang, 

“Where’s that bastard, Zhou Ming?”

Ling Dang was just checking over everything that needed to be prepared and rechecked the directions to get to the stadium, 

“He left by himself at 1 this afternoon, and told us to head to the World Trade Stadium first.
He said there will be someone who will meet us there.
It’s currently 2:30, and we will have to get there early to change your clothes and your makeup.
Xiao-Yi Ge, you should get some rest now, otherwise you might have a hard time.”

Chen Yi asked, 

“What do I need to do?”

Ling Dang started the car, 

“You just finished your recording, so the higher ups want to borrow your recent popularity to boost up Ah Ya.
So most likely it’s just sitting in the guest panel seats, showing your face for a bit, interacting a bit.”

Chen Yi didn’t have time to respond before his phone vibrated a few times.
He took a quick glance, and all the messages were from Fu Xiu Nian.
His fingers lightly danced on the keyboard, sending a line of message out before saying to Ling Dang, 

“Whatever.
Counting it as a free opportunity to listen to a concert.”

The amount of Ah Ya’s fans was alright, and adding on to the numerous anti-fans of Chen Yi, the situation was skyrocketing up onto the charts after only a few hours.
Fu Xiu Nian naturally couldn’t not have seen it, and as he scrolled further and further down the discussion threads and comments, it was only getting worse and worse.
Every comment seemed to be beating for the title of who could be more vitriolic.

Currently sitting beside him was a middle aged looking lady with a pair of black rimmed glasses.
This was one of Happy Star Entertainment’s top managers, Yan Jin, and she had a certain way about her, being very good at what she did.
No celebrity artists under her had not been famous or popular.
She took a quick glance at the screen and immediately came to a conclusion.

“Global Entertainment won’t last much longer.
They will die by their own methods if they only know to use these kinds of induced marketing.
As long as their artists have eyes, who would dare sign onto their company? When Chen Yi’s fame has passed, he’s going to be left to his own demise.”

Fu Xiu Nian opened up the laptop by his side and logged onto his throwaway account.
His fingers flew on the keyboard, furiously typing, arguing back with all the haters he could.
He calmly replied, 

“That might not be the case.
I think Chen Yi will skyrocket into fame, good fame, soon.”

Yan Jin paused, and then she smiled at Fu Xiu Nian, 

“You haven’t been in the industry for very long, so you don’t understand the rules.
I have dwelled here for a long time now, and what have I not seen? Don’t think that Chen Yi’s been trending, but that trend is based on his notoriety.
There’s a time limit ticking on that.”

Fu Xiu Nian said, 

“And what if he comes into fame?”

He quickly took a look online, and he said to Yan Jin, 

“There’s only one year left until the end of his contract with Global Entertainment.
I think Happy Star should try and sign him on.”

Global Entertainment and Happy Star Entertainment, these two companies have been the top two companies holding up the entertainment industry.
But these few years, Global Ent.
had started to crack, with Happy Star Ent.
lurching forward, growing to be stronger than Global Ent., possibly to the point of creating a monopoly.
The images of their artists were positive, and their PR was excellent.
And so with these kinds of infamous celebrities, with pages and pages of negative press like Chen Yi, it would be extremely difficult to sign him on.

Yan Jin smiled, 

“Mr Fu Xiu Nian, this is not my area.
But I think the possibility of the company executives signing on Chen Yi will not be very high at all.”

Fu Xiu Nian stared at his computer monitor, and he suddenly said, 

“Do you have a throwaway account for weibo?”

Yan Jin was surprised, 

“What?”

Fu Xiu Nian: “I have cursed and swore at too many people, so my account has been reported and suspended.”

Yan Jin: “……”

When the car reached the World Trade Stadium, it was already 6:30, and the person in charge was already waiting there for them.
Chen Yi put on a baseball cap and a mask as he headed through the employee entrance, covering his face up tightly.

The one meeting them was holding a timetable and she spoke in a rush, 

“Clothing has already been prepared for you, so you can head in to change your clothes and do your makeup.
Right in the middle is the special guest seating area, and when Ah Ya has finished singing the opening song, the camera will pan right over.”

She was a young lady, and her attitude was not the greatest, and Ling Dang was 99% sure that she was an anti-fan of Chen Yi.

 

Notes:

 

*1 “public bus” means, well, to say it more politely… the female is “open” to the general public (like a public bus), for anyone to have a gander with her

*2 weibo: this is like facebook/twitter/reddit combined.
Basically their social media all in one (the thing to note especially about this is that there are fan groups, so to say, some of which are usually “officially” backed up, with resources, time scheduling etc.
that may be released to the fan club organizers (usually if official, is appointed/approached by the celebrity’s manager or agency).
Stanning an idol is quite a dedication to be honest and requires “a bit” from your wallet, and depending on the celebrity and their size/amount of fans, there are usually requirements to even get in/to keep staying in the group (mostly able to speak/talk (be active basically) + donate + do stuff for the celebrity as part of the fanclub).
There are a few more things but that will be revealed by the characters in this volume very soon 

It’s been a very busy few weeks since the start of the year, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to stop anytime soon for me, but I promise I will try and reply to all comments as soon as I can  Thank you to all those who leave such supportive and kind words and letting me know you enjoy the novel as I did! And of course, I can never forget to thank all the readers who has joined in on the ride (or come to check it out too!)  Each and every one of you have made my day(s) (and Plum’s) for the ongoing interest in the story(-ies) ever since I started and I always look forward to the responses and stats as I publish a chapter everytime (and use it to fuel my energy trying to keep up with the translations haha)! Thank you so very much ₍՞◌′ᵕ‵ू◌₎♡