On their way out, they bumped into two familiar faces. Xu Qiao raised his eyebrows slightly.
It was Li Chengxuan and Guan Han.
Seeing the materials they were holding, it seemed they were collaborating on a commercial. The two had a good relationship within SSE, and there had been ongoing rumors about a romantic relationship. Them working together wasn’t an uncommon occurrence.
Li Feifei’s gaze kept drifting toward Li Chengxuan’s back. Not seeing his manager, Yang Hui, around surprised him a bit. Knowing Yang Hui’s tendency to dote on Li Chengxuan, he wondered why she wasn’t accompanying him for this event.
Li Chengxuan, upon seeing Xu Qiao, first froze, then his expression turned rather unpleasant.
Recent developments in Xu Qiao’s career had taken Li Chengxuan by surprise. First, Chatting About had remarkably positive reviews, with Xu Qiao’s portrayal of Jin’er earning high praise. Then, he secured the male lead role in Hu Zhenghua’s drama series. Following that, his performance in a variety show stood out, and now, he had taken on an advertisement for Hecate…
Just thinking about it made Li Chengxuan so frustrated it felt like a punch to his lungs.
Remembering that he had initially recommended the role of Jin’er to Xu Qiao, thinking it was a character that would attract criticism no matter who played it. To cast someone like Xu Qiao, a wooden actor with no acting skills, the show was expected to be heavily criticized once it aired.
Unexpectedly, Xu Qiao turned the tides with this series.
Adding salt to the wound, he had snatched the role of the young Daoist from him. Feeling proud of himself for stealing this role, who could have predicted that Xu Qiao would swiftly land the male lead in “Water Ghost”?
Now, having signed with a top-tier talent agency, he had a promising future with abundant resources.
On the sidelines, Guan Han tightened her fingers. Because of Xu Qiao, she experienced the first setback in her professional career.
The body double incident in Chatting About had dealt a significant blow to her popularity. However, she only filmed for about three days in total for the show, and after that initial buzz, discussions dwindled. After a period of silence, she recently started becoming active again.
The entertainment industry had a short memory, but the stains always lingered.
Xu Qiao passed by them without a glance.
“Don’t get too cocky,” Li Chengxuan said in a cold tone.
Xu Qiao responded with a nonchalant “Hmm” and didn’t even pause his steps.
Li Feifei rolled his eyes as he trailed behind Xu Qiao. “Big Brother, look at him. Let him be smug. Once you join the ‘Hundred Ghosts’ cast, he’ll still be playing second fiddle for my big brother.”
Muttering to himself, Li Feifei walked out with Xu Qiao and spotted a familiar figure at the entrance.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Once Li Feifei recognized who it was, he muttered a sarcastic remark, “Just as I thought, Yang Hui couldn’t possibly stay behind.”
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Yang Hui indeed faced recent challenges. Soon after letting Xu Qiao go, she encountered a tough situation. His popularity soared, and his reputation gradually reversed. As a former agent, she felt the pressure within the company.
Facing questions from the higher-ups, mockery from colleagues, and even self-regret, Yang Hui was going through a rough patch.
She regretted not fully recognizing Xu Qiao’s potential earlier. Why did she hesitate and let the scales tip towards Li Chengxuan, leading to the current predicament?
SSE even pressured her to bring Xu Qiao back.
However… that was no longer possible.
Xu Qiao signed with Mo Chenghong as his agent, cutting ties with her.
Having exchanged a nod with Xu Qiao, who she once managed, Yang Hui watched as he and Li Feifei got into the car.
Li Feifei took the driver’s seat, checked his phone, and hesitated before pressing the accelerator.
Xu Qiao glanced at him. “What are you looking at?”
“What’s the deal with Oiled Paper Umbrella?” Li Feifei suddenly furrowed his brow.
“Oiled Paper Umbrella?” Xu Qiao’s voice sounded indifferent.
“Big Brother, this is one of your longtime fans. She was in the fandom even before Chatting About became popular. Now she’s managing three fanbases.”
Xu Qiao usually didn’t pay much attention to his fanbases. The studio handled that. However, with the increasing number of members, the studio couldn’t manage, so after conducting evaluations, they granted limited administrative rights to a few old fans.
“What happened to her?”
Li Feifei’s voice carried a hint of discontent. “Seems like there’s an illness in her family, and she shared a fundraising link. Fanbases are explicitly prohibited from posting such money-related links. As an admin, she must have known this yet still did it. It’s bad for the image. If everyone starts doing this, what will happen to the fanbases? A place for love and support turning into a fundraising hub?”
Taking the phone from Li Feifei’s hand, Xu Qiao saw the messages flooding the fanbase. He scrolled upward, taking a while to find the fundraising link shared by Oiled Paper Umbrella.
Oiled Paper Umbrella: “My younger brother has acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We’ve exhausted our family savings on his treatment. I hope my sisters can help our family.”
Several medical expense invoices were posted afterward.
Xu Qiao scrolled down to the responses. Some fans donated money, expressing their willingness to help, but the majority disagreed with sharing the link in the group.
Apart from a few fans criticizing Oiled Paper Umbrella for violating fanbase rules as an admin, most others had a relatively mild tone.
Oiled Paper Umbrella might have felt significant pressure when sharing the link. Seeing the widespread disapproval, she became disheartened and chose to remain silent.
Frowning, Xu Qiao suddenly remembered something. “Oiled Paper Umbrella, did she send gifts to the studio?”
He vaguely recalled opening a gift box at home and seeing this name.
Li Feifei paused, carefully recollecting. “Seems like it. I remember a few bottles of high-end perfume and several pairs of limited edition shoes. It added up to around thirty to forty thousand. Following your instructions, anything over a hundred yuan was sent back.”
Leaning back in his chair, Xu Qiao asked, “If the gifts were returned, can she get a refund?”
Thirty to forty thousand was a substantial sum, especially for an ordinary family facing financial difficulties.
“Um,” Li Feifei scratched his head, “should be possible. Returning purchases is quite convenient these days.”
Xu Qiao nodded, taking Li Feifei’s phone and browsing this girl’s profile. Judging by her attire, she didn’t seem to be from an affluent family, yet she impulsively spent thirty to forty thousand on idol-chasing.
Xu Qiao looked at Li Feifei. “Feifei, what are the criteria for selecting admins in the fanbase?”
“Admins get a lot of perks, whether it’s for fan meetings or other events. The chance to interact with you is much higher, so it’s no surprise that admins are mostly loyal fans. They also need to have some managerial skills, available free time, and…” Li Feifei’s voice lowered as Xu Qiao’s gaze intensified, “look at their contribution.”
“Contribution?” Xu Qiao’s tone deepened.
Li Feifei pouted. “Big Brother, it’s not just our fanbase. It’s the same in other fanbases. There are only a few admin positions, and many fans vie for them. There must be some criteria – like how much money they spent for you, crowdfunded for support items, that sort of thing. Wealthy big fans naturally get priority.”
Xu Qiao pointed to Oiled Paper Umbrella’s profile and photos. The girl was probably still in university. “What about someone like her? Without independent financial means, if she’s spending far beyond her capacity for the admin position, has she considered the consequences?”
Li Feifei grumbled, “Consequences? Everyone does it…”
Xu Qiao’s expression looked unusually unpleasant. “This kind of thing must not happen again. I’ll talk to Mo Chenghong about strengthening the management of the fanbases.”
After speaking, Xu Qiao used Li Feifei’s phone to send the crowdfunding link to his own phone.
Li Feifei watched as Xu Qiao clicked on the link and anonymously donated a hundred thousand yuan.
“Big Brother.” He frowned in disapproval.
His big brother had just recovered and didn’t have much money on him. Li Feifei felt pained for him, having donated such a substantial amount.
“Paying for this mistake.” Xu Qiao rubbed his temples, understanding Li Feifei’s concern.
If he donated for every fan’s family member facing an illness, it wouldn’t be feasible. Through this incident with Oiled Paper Umbrella, he saw some hidden dangers in fanbase management.
For the next two days with no work arrangements, Xu Qiao went to the studio for classes and workouts, spending the rest of his time at home reading “Water Ghost” scripts and immersing himself in the role.
Until Mo Chenghong called and sent a video link for a local lifestyle program.
Xu Qiao opened the video to see a family with mosaics covering their faces. A woman, in tears and snot, accused her daughter of idol-chasing, squandering money needed for her younger brother’s medical treatment.
The TV screen was chaotic.
A determined voice came through, “That’s money I earned from my part-time job. Besides, Xu Qiao returned those gifts.”
“You earned the money yourself? Who supported you through these years of schooling? You spend money on a minor celebrity, and you don’t even feel sorry for your younger brother. What kind of heartless sister are you? You say the gifts were returned, but where are they returned to?”
Xu Qiao guessed that this girl should be Oiled Paper Umbrella.
Her voice carried a sob, “I don’t know, it’s definitely on the way. They must have been returned. When I bought those gifts, my younger brother wasn’t sick yet. If I had known, I would have saved the money.”
The following scene showed the mother slapping her daughter, with others quickly coming to intervene. The girl cried with her face covered.
Xu Qiao took a deep breath and dialed Mo Chenghong’s number.
“Did you watch it?”
“Yeah.”
“This video has been picked up by marketing accounts. I’m working with PR, and we’re checking with the logistics company to find out where those returned gifts are.”
Mo Chenghong sighed, “Fortunately, you really sent the gifts back. Otherwise, there would be no way to explain, just lying there to be scolded.”
Even though it was the fans’ actions, when fans misbehave, the main celebrity foots the bill. When such things were used to create stories, there was really no way to avoid it.
Never really thought about how Fan group mangers are chosen.
Yeah, it’s interesting how much they’re delving into this!
Isn’t this case pretty similar to what happened to the actor who played Wei WuXian in The Untamed? In a sense that a fan misbehaved and he took the blame for it
Are you talking about the ao3 scandal or smth else? iirc that was bc a fan wrote ‘problematic’ fanfic of Xiao Zhan x Wang Yibo rpf and some anti-shipper reported it to the freaking government & in the end XZ did have to issue a statement of apology even tho it had nothing to do with his actions
Not just that, he was also slandered and scrubbed off the internet. His fans band together to combat the antis and refuse to let him be cancelled. Went on for years I think? Not sure what’s the situation now.
From what I’ve heard he’s still pretty popular (among young women anyway)
There was an interview about it, and if I remember correctly, he wasn’t cancelled per se, but her for a while kept low profile, since he didn’t want for the brands with which he cooperated to be criticised by the small, but very loud anti-fans, and he didn’t want for the war between fans and anti-fans to continue. I think he in the 2022 or 2023 resumed with his acting and modelling, but said that those years after the scandal were hard on his mental state.
Is this IRL? Geez. There’s a reason I’m not a fan of stuff written about real life people
Eesh
Thank you for the update 🖤 💯
Thanks for the chapter! Weird.
Yeah every time I read news like this I feels bad toward the artist. It is not like they are asking for the expensive gift in the 1st place.
Thank you for the chapter.
Thank you for the update ☺️
Thank you for the chapter.
I’m looking forward to see the interaction between the MC and ML.
Poor Xu Qiao, he even has to take the blame for what his fans do.
Thank you for the chapter!
Ty for the chapter