Chapter 56#
“Lovesick” Movie King (10)#
“Likes men? Who told you that?” He Xiao had thought his agent was going to break some particularly shocking news, but he never expected it to be about the other person’s sexual orientation.
He Xiao’s agent, Zhao Qian, said, “I naturally have my own reliable sources. In short, that Yu Si has someone backing him, and it seems to be his man.”
He Xiao asked Zhao Qian, “His man? What do you mean? Is Yu Si being kept, and the one keeping him is a man?”
Many celebrities in the industry have sugar daddies behind them, but without solid evidence or a major grudge, no one is foolish enough to expose someone else’s patron. After all, offending the capital behind them could backfire and lead to one’s own suppression.
Zhao Qian said, “I’m not entirely sure. It’s said to be a high-level executive at Xingchen Media. As for being kept, that might not be the case — maybe his own family is rich.”
Yu Si indeed had an excellent appearance and decent acting skills, but he was no longer young. According to Baidu headlines, Yu Si debuted at twenty-four, and counting his birthday, he was now twenty-five. A twenty-five-year-old newcomer in the entertainment industry, with a previous major completely unrelated to show business, suddenly appearing out of nowhere and receiving heavy promotion — it was hard not to suspect he had taken shortcuts.
He Xiao denied it, though. “Yu Si’s family is only moderately well-off. They have some money, but an investment of tens of millions to push him is completely out of the question.”
Zhao Qian was surprised. “You’re that familiar with him?”
He Xiao then said, “I only remembered recently. Do you still remember the middle school I attended? I was classmates with him for six years, from junior high to senior high.”
Back then, Kong Si was considered one of the most prominent figures in high school — the kind whose photo was posted on the school’s honor roll. Among all the youthful photos, his was the most handsome, the best-looking. In those days, many boys and girls pursued Kong Si, but his family was strict and didn’t allow early relationships. He had rumored girlfriends and boyfriends, but as an outsider, He Xiao couldn’t be sure if any were real.
Zhao Qian said, “Why didn’t you say so earlier? Such a coincidence — I think you two could hype it up.”
In the entertainment industry, there were no true friendships or loves, but selling a “true feelings” persona would definitely help He Xiao.
He Xiao asked him, “What’s the point of hyping it up with him? Don’t you know how crazy my fans are? It would hurt my image.”
Promoting a bromance or gay pairing would certainly attract a large fanbase of CP fans, but he had always maintained a straight-male persona. Suddenly going for a bromance would collapse that image. Besides, although they were classmates for six years, they weren’t in the same class. He remembered the other person, but the other person didn’t remember him at all.
Since He Xiao had decided on a straight-male persona in the first place, even if he liked men, he would carefully maintain that wholesome, unpretentious straight image in public.
Zhao Qian wasn’t stupid. “I know you have a lot of girlfriend fans, but that shouldn’t be a problem, right?”
He Xiao said, “Last time I played up ambiguous feelings with a female artist, my popularity dropped a lot, and you said it wasn’t a problem.”
He followed the idol route, with many young, fanaticism fans. Young fans were strong in combat and easy to fool, but they were also prone to extremes. The situation He Xiao mentioned was from the previous xianxia drama where he clashed with Yu Si. To promote the show, the production team had played up the idea that the male and female leads fell in love on set. The result was that the female artist’s Weibo was flooded with negative comments, and his own Weibo even lost a wave of followers. His company had to buy fake followers to keep his numbers from looking too bad.
“You know, I’m definitely going to get married and have kids in the future.”
Although the country had passed the same-sex marriage law a few years ago, not many men were truly willing to walk down the aisle with a same-sex partner. Reproduction was ingrained in human nature. He Xiao knew he liked men, but he was a traditional person at heart. If he earned a lot of money, he would still end up with a woman. And if he had a wife as cover, with a well-maintained straight-male persona, he could even go to hotels with men without arousing suspicion.
Zhao Qian looked at him with a slightly strange expression. “I never said you couldn’t get married and have kids later. Why did you immediately jump to selling a gay romance? I was talking about a ‘good buddy, good brother’ persona — like ‘brothers for life.’”
He Xiao then said, “You just said he likes men. I thought you wanted me to create some kind of romantic scandal with him.”
Zhao Qian explained, “I told you, it’s inside information. He likes men, but he hasn’t made it public. Besides, if he really has a sugar daddy behind him, would he agree to hype that kind of thing with you?”
He paused, a hint of advice in his tone. “When it comes to marriage and kids, you’d better not have that idea in the next few years. If you find a suitable partner, dating is fine.”
The “suitable partner” he referred to were female stars of similar status to He Xiao, preferably slightly higher — someone who could help He Xiao but not be too far ahead. If the woman was stronger than the man, the man could easily be labeled a “kept man.”
He Xiao rejected the agent’s suggestion: “Forget about dating. I don’t want to think that far ahead yet.”
He did want to get married and have children, but only to shut others up in the future and to cover up his identity as a homosexual. But dating a woman? No thanks.
Seeing his bad mood, Zhao Qian dropped the topic of the newcomer Yu Si. “You’ve been busy filming recently, and your interaction with fans hasn’t been much. It’s inevitable that your popularity has declined. Don’t worry too much. The drama you filmed before will be released soon. When your fans grow again, you’ll definitely outdo that Yu Si.”
Afraid He Xiao might overthink, Zhao Qian reminded him, “Even if you don’t like that Yu Si, there’s no need to drag him into this. Otherwise, you’ll just be spending money to give him free publicity — not worth it.”
For artists, black marketing was still marketing. As long as it wasn’t the kind of dirt that couldn’t be cleaned, popularity equaled their fame. Being tarnished and then turning things around could attract more casual fans and, at the same time, solidify the loyalty of existing fans. Some teams even manufactured scandals and then cleared them to boost their artist’s follower count.
He Xiao said impatiently, “I know. You can leave now. I want to read the scripts on my own.”
Zhao Qian handed He Xiao several scripts to choose from, gave a few more instructions, and left. He wasn’t just He Xiao’s agent, but since He Xiao was a cash cow he had personally cultivated, he valued him even more.
After the agent left, He Xiao tossed the scripts aside. He rummaged through his place for a while and finally found a thick photo album. The photos in the album were taken seven to nine years ago, during his high school years. The first picture was a campus landscape shot, and on it, the first person on the school’s honor roll was a photo of Kong Si from eight years ago.
Below the photo was a small introduction: “Kong Si: Grade 2, Class 13, Male, won first prize in the photography competition…”
The main focus of this photo was Kong Si’s appearance. Besides that, there was another photo of the honor roll, which showed two people: one was a tall, skinny guy with glasses, and the other was a short, pale fat kid. Unlike Kong Si’s spirited look, the little fat kid’s photo showed him looking very tense, biting his lip, timid and cowardly.
He flipped further. The little fat kid appeared frequently in his album — sometimes with a dejected expression, sometimes beaming with joy.
After looking at the last photo, he closed the album expressionlessly, feeling stifled again.
Zhao Qian felt that He Xiao was very concerned about the newcomer Yu Si, and this feeling was correct. But at first, He Xiao hadn’t hated Yu Si that much. Rather than hate, it was more like fondness. He really liked Kong Si’s face. Fans thought they overlapped in persona — sometimes their speech, expressions, tones, and small gestures were very similar. Rather than saying it was unconscious imitation, it was more accurate to say that he subconsciously mimicked the other person.
High school life was a very distant memory for him. He never thought he would one day enter the entertainment industry, nor did he think that Kong Si would one day enter it too. And from the start, they stood on opposite sides because of overlapping schedules and personas. When Zhao Qian said Kong Si liked men, many possibilities flashed through his mind. But to cover up his inner, upright thoughts, his words came out harsh.
Did Kong Si really have a man behind him? He Xiao wanted to know the truth, but before that, he had to find a way to get close to Kong Si. People only told the truth to close friends. Maybe Zhao Qian was right — the two agents could discuss a hype strategy centered on “good friends.”
Kong Si would refuse him, but he wouldn’t refuse profit. As a senior in the industry, He Xiao couldn’t be too eager or clingy, or he’d be accused of having ulterior motives.
He Xiao sighed. If possible, he didn’t want to be Kong Si’s rival.
Kong Si, on the other hand, had no idea He Xiao was thinking so much. Because after blocking He Xiao, he immediately grabbed his phone and went to find Lu Yi. He was not one to overcomplicate things, but he had Lu Yi. He wasn’t good at understanding people’s minds, but he was good at tattling.