Chapter 21#
【 No. 021 chapter 】#
After nearly two hours of the variety show, it couldn’t be finished in one meal. Jing Shun didn’t force everyone to stay and watch the show with him; instead, after dinner, he found an excuse to go upstairs first.
It was still early, so he looked at the jasmine tea he had brought up and decided to open a tin to give it a try.
There was a dedicated water bar on the right side of the second-floor hallway.
Just as Jing Shun had brewed himself a cup of floral tea, footsteps sounded from the stairs nearby. Turning his head, he saw Chi Gui and Chen Yiming coming up.
Chi Gui Keenly captured Jing Shun’s figure ， The steps stopped at the corridor entrance on the second floor. 。
Jing Shun took the initiative to ask, “Are you both still busy?”
“Yeah.”
Chi Gui noticed the steam rising from Jing Shun’s cup and asked knowingly, “What are you brewing?”
“The jasmine tea you gave me.” Jing Shun held the cup to warm his hands, looking at the gift-giver. “Want to try some?”
Chi Gui got the invitation he was hoping for, instantly hiding the fatigue in his brows. “Sure, I’ll give it a try.”
Seeing him approach, Jing Shun was about to put down his own cup and brew another one.
But Chi Gui asked, “Have you drunk from that cup yet?”
“Not yet, just brewed it.” Jing Shun thought the other party was in a hurry to go upstairs and work, so he politely offered, “How about you drink this one first? It’s not a personal cup anyway. I can just brew another one.”
Chi Gui didn’t refuse at all; he reached out and took it. “Alright.”
“…What?”
He actually took it?
Jing Shun hadn’t expected Chi Gui to take it so readily and almost didn’t react in time. He had to brew another cup for himself, but didn’t forget to ask Chen Yiming, who was behind them.
“Assistant Chen, would you like one too?”
Chi Gui brushed away the steam rising from the cup, as if he knew his assistant well. “He prefers coffee, not tea.”
Chen Yiming, hearing his boss’s words, quickly declined. “Young Master Jing, no need to trouble yourself. I really don’t drink tea.”
Jing Shun tried to recommend it. “Jasmine tea is really good.”
Chi Gui chuckled inwardly. “Keep it for yourself if you like it. Don’t worry about him.”
The steam filled the air with fragrance as the jasmine tea slowly steeped into a golden-yellow liquor with an enticing aroma.
Jing Shun was afraid of the heat, so he took a small sip.
Chi Gui’s thumb rubbed against the cup’s rim, his gaze following him. “How is it?”
“It’s delicious! Such a fresh, lively fragrance! You should try it?”
The corners of Chi Gui’s mouth lifted again. “Good. Looks like I made a decent choice.”
“…”
Chen Yiming, waiting at the hallway entrance, listened to their conversation and thought to himself:
How could this tea not be good?
Its market price was seventy thousand yuan per jin!
After this business trip ended, the boss had deliberately taken a day to fly to Min City and personally sought out this year’s jasmine tea king.
Not only that, but he was worried that Young Master Jing might feel burdened if he knew the real price, so he specifically bought ordinary-looking tea tins to package it and gave it as an ordinary gift.
Jing Shun indeed had no idea about the tea’s price. He simply noted the time. “Then I’ll head back to my room first. I won’t hold you up from your work.”
Chi Gui nodded slightly. “Rest early. Good night.”
“Yeah.”
It wasn’t until they entered the third-floor study that Chi Gui spoke quietly to his assistant. “Jing Shun’s show is already airing. Find a reliable PR team as soon as possible to monitor any online discussions about him long-term.”
“Whenever someone tries to exploit ‘our relationship,’ deal with it discreetly and quickly.”
The people from wealthy and powerful families wouldn’t dare gossip openly because of Chi Gui’s status, but there was no guarantee that someone wouldn’t make sneaky moves behind the scenes.
No matter whether Jing Shun would officially return to acting in the future, it was better to nip things in the bud.
Chen Yiming understood Chi Gui’s intentions. “Understood, sir. I’ll make the arrangements first thing tomorrow morning.”
…
Jing Shun didn’t consider himself a main character on “This! Is! The Real Workplace!” He figured that as long as he cooperated with the show’s recording and collected his appearance fee, he’d have done his job.
So, with a calm mindset, he found time to watch the full episode, without even thinking about checking the netizens’ feedback.
That was until Sunday evening, when he suddenly received a message from Yu Xiuzhu.
“Xiao Jing, you’re trending! Go check it out!”
“…”
Trending?
Jing Shun stared at this unfamiliar yet familiar word on the screen and opened Weibo in surprise.
Only then did he discover that his notification tab had tens of thousands of red dots, and even his follower count, which hadn’t moved in ages, had increased by fifty or sixty thousand in just two days!
And on the entertainment-related trending list on Weibo, his name under the topic #Jing Shun# had soared to the eighth spot, surpassing many celebrities and even climbing onto the overall trending chart!
“…”
What?
How did this sudden fortune fall into his lap? Was something wrong?
Jing Shun skeptically clicked on his own topic and began browsing the real-time comments from netizens—
“OMG, I saw a clip of the show on Douyin and was blown away by how handsome he is. I thought there was a new face in the Chinese entertainment industry! Turns out it’s a familiar face I haven’t seen in a long time!”
“It’s rare for a child star not to grow up ugly. I feel like Jing Shun looks even better now that he’s older. Those peach blossom eyes are so bright and sparkling ahhh!”
“I remember something happened to Jing Shun when he was filming a movie last year? There were even rumors that both his legs had been amputated!”
“Please stop spreading misinformation! No amputation! It’s just that his mobility isn’t as convenient. Since he’s back on the show, maybe he’s already recovered.”
“Who can say for sure? He was sitting on the observation room sofa the whole episode! And that movie production team has been silent too—they still haven’t released an official statement about the situation.”
Among the many praising comments, discussions about Jing Shun’s legs popped up from time to time, some positive, some negative, saying all sorts of things.
Jing Shun had no particular emotional reaction; he just browsed silently.
Soon, his feed showed a popular netizen’s post: “Friends, hurry and watch this edit! Back in the day, I was too young to realize how incredible Jing Shun’s acting was as a child!”
“Link: ‘Later, the Chinese Entertainment Industry Never Saw Another Child Star Like This!’ Part One!”
The reposts and comments had already exceeded a thousand, and the likes had reached ten thousand.
With curiosity, Jing Shun clicked on the link, and the page redirected to the corresponding video.
This was a video edited by a film and television blogger. With a matching, high-energy BGM, they showcased Jing Shun’s past roles and standout clips one by one—
There was the bald little monk he played, clever and mischievous.
There was the young knight he portrayed, executing smooth sword techniques.
There was the ragged little beggar he played, shedding a single tear in a snowy night before dying.
There was the young marquis orphan he portrayed, climbing the palace steps one by one, kowtowing and crying blood to clear his family’s name.
…
All the clips were clearly carefully selected by the blogger.
As Jing Shun’s age in real life increased, his acting in the show grew more refined and nuanced!
Netizens who stumbled upon this video after seeing the clip got goosebumps all over and flooded the comments.
—I’ll bet my life on it: Jing Shun was definitely in the top tier among child stars in the Chinese entertainment industry! He has both talent and skill!
—Who else gets me? I still want to give birth to a little novice Wunian. Baby, you’re the cutest little monk under heaven!
—Oh my god, that last scene of crying blood on the long steps was incredible! Jing Shun was only fifteen then, right?
—Forgive me for being too young back then to appreciate it. Is Jing Shun still acting now? With skills like that, he could easily crush those male 208w celebrities!
—As a longtime fan, let me educate you: Jing Bao’s last TV drama was “Night Chang’an,” where he played the young marquis Xiao En. After that, his resources dried up. [cry] As an adult, he starred in an art film called “For Anhe” that didn’t make much of a splash domestically but won international awards. He acted really well in it. If you’re interested, go check it out.
—The kid got injured filming a new movie last year, so he has no film/TV projects in the vault for now. He’s currently appearing on HSTV’s variety show. He’s very well-behaved and handsome!
—I initially liked the show for his looks and came to Bilibili to dig up his old works. After watching this video, I instantly fell into the pit!
—Hey, wait for me! I’m also falling into the pit through digging. Going to binge-watch his film and TV clips now.
Jing Shun read the comments about “falling into the pit” in the latest replies and found it all unbelievable. He never expected that netizens would recognize his acting skills again under these circumstances.
“Zzzz.”
His phone buzzed with a notification. Yu Xiuzhu’s WeChat came through again: “Xiao Jing, have you seen the trending list on Weibo?”
Coming back to his senses, Jing Shun simply called Yu Xiuzhu on voice chat.
The other end picked up quickly. “Hello, Xiao Jing.”
“Brother Yu, I just checked Weibo.”
Jing Shun was happy about the netizens’ attention and recognition, but he couldn’t help feeling concerned. “But this trending topic came so suddenly. Will the show’s production team have any objections?”
After all, the show was primarily a workplace reality show. As a temporary substitute and a marginal observation room guest, he didn’t have that much screen time.
Now, thanks to the show clips and the video edit, he had gained popularity, and his daily discussion volume had even surpassed that of other guests and regular participants. Wasn’t he stealing the spotlight?
Yu Xiuzhu understood his thoughts and reassured him. “Don’t worry. The search popularity accumulated by netizens is based on real data. It’s not like we deliberately bought bots or created hype. It won’t cause any issues.”
In recent years, with the development of video social media apps, popularity often came “out of the blue” like this.
Compared to Fu Changting and others who had been active in the entertainment industry with exposure from their works, Jing Shun had not appeared publicly for a long time, so it was only natural that netizens had a stronger curiosity about him.
Of course, this kind of popularity came quickly and could fade just as quickly.
“Sister Yin said that the show’s overall popularity has been pretty high since it aired, and the reality show segments have received good feedback.”
Yu Xiuzhu was a very competent agent, having already communicated with the production team.
“Besides, now that you, as a guest, have gained popularity, it might actually attract more netizens to watch the variety show. The production team should be happy about it; they won’t think you’re stealing the spotlight. We just need to cooperate with the promotion as usual.”
Relieved by this, Jing Shun said, “That’s good. Thank you, Brother Yu. Sorry for all the trouble.”
Yu Xiuzhu’s response was gentle and clear about the priorities. “Xiao Jing, your health is the most important thing. No matter how long this wave of popularity lasts, I and the company will give you the full right to make your own choices.”
In other words, they wouldn’t force Jing Shun to take any gigs; everything would be based on his wishes.
Touched, Jing Shun replied, “Thank you, Brother Yu.”
Yu Xiuzhu advised, “You just had surgery recently. Take good care of yourself at home. I’ll notify you immediately about anything important, so don’t worry unnecessarily.”
“Okay.”
Yu Xiuzhu was right. HSTV was an established satellite TV station that knew how to produce a good variety show—
The show was simultaneously broadcast on television and online platforms, with offline and online promotions launched at the same time. Additionally, the workplace guests on the show were strictly selected attractive men and women, attracting many netizens to watch voluntarily.
Thanks to the effective editing pace and interesting discussion topics, even the conversation topics surrounding the observation room guests kept rising.
With the airing of the second episode, the show’s popularity only grew higher and higher, clearly heading toward becoming a hit variety show!
…
Soon, the check-up day arrived.
Dressed neatly, Jing Shun took the wheelchair downstairs.
Chi Gui was sitting at the dining table and saw him coming down. “When are you seeing Professor Song today? Morning? Or afternoon?”
“Yeah, I have an appointment. I’ll head out soon.”
Jing Shun didn’t give a specific answer. He had a little secret and hadn’t revealed his entire plan for the day.
In fact, he had already looked up the nearby upscale shopping district and planned to find an excuse after breakfast to go shopping, wanting to pick out a gift for Chi Gui himself.
Chi Gui, unaware of Jing Shun’s real plan, suggested, “Then come with me when I leave. It’s on the way.”
“…”
Jing Shun glanced at his already empty plate and tried to decline. “I haven’t had breakfast yet. It’ll take some time.”
Chi Gui leisurely sipped his coffee. “No rush. I’ll wait for you.”
Jing Shun was at a loss.
He inexplicably got the feeling that Chi Gui was being clingy.
Just then, the phone beside him rang with an incoming call. It was from Yu Xiuzhu.
Jing Shun answered. “Hello, Brother Yu?”
Yu Xiuzhu’s usually calm and gentle tone carried a hint of urgency. “Xiao Jing, have you seen the news online this morning?”
“Not yet.”
Sensing something was wrong, Jing Shun instinctively turned his worried gaze toward Chi Gui.
Chi Gui set down his coffee cup and spoke almost simultaneously with him. “What happened?”