Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Chapter 281: Chapter 243: Rise Phase: 79

The car wound its way to the dubbing studio.

After quite some days, Zhou Yun finally saw Song Chi again.

Song Chi wore a duckbill cap, a simple white T-shirt and black shorts, revealing a section of his long calves.

Dubbing would take some days, and every day spent in the studio should of course be as comfortable as possible.

When the two met, they exchanged pleasantries, and once the surrounding people dispersed and only the two of them remained, Song Chi finally bent his eyes, a smile hiding in the corners of his mouth as he looked at Zhou Yun, saying, ”Thanks to you, my collaboration brands are very happy with me recently, the popularity is astonishingly high.”

Zhou Yun gave her an annoyed look and said, ”Enough, can you stop teasing me here? These days have been bad enough.”

As she spoke, she gave him a puzzled glance.

”Is this really a good thing for you? Isn’t everyone saying we’re hyping things up, deceiving the fans?”

Song Chi maintained a teasing smile and said, ”You might not know yet, but many of my fans were so happy to learn that our relationship was just for hype, they almost wanted to clap in joy.”

Zhou Yun snapped back to reality.

She remembered, Song Chi was different from her. Before the scandal, he was already a huge star with a terrifying number of fans. For her it was different; the first real batch of fans she got was because of the variety show ”After the Scandal” that she filmed with Song Chi, where her fans came for the chemistry between her and Song Chi.

Song Chi noticed a sudden flash of bewilderment across Zhou Yun’s face.

”What’s wrong?” he asked.

Zhou Yun snapped back to reality, smiling and shaking her head, ”Nothing, just suddenly thought of some things.”

”Just quietly wait for these troubles to pass, it’s okay,” Song Chi said. ”This kind of thing is common, don’t take it too seriously, the more you care, the more it will affect you.”

Zhou Yun remembered the recent scandal Song Chi got into for being friends with a celebrity involved in a cheating controversy.

She curled her lips into a smile.

”However, Li Ci doesn’t really like you, does he?” Song Chi suddenly asked out of the blue.

Zhou Yun’s smile froze on her face.

Song Chi’s gaze carried a hint of scrutiny.

Zhou Yun: ”Are you serious?”

The threat was evident in her tone.

Immediately, Song Chi opened his hands awkwardly, with a sort of apologetic smile, ”Just to be cautious, I had to ask.”

Zhou Yun raised her hand and punched Song Chi’s chest.

”Ow!” Song Chi exaggeratedly covered his chest and bent over yelling.

Meanwhile, a staff member opened the door and came in, ”Zhou Yun, it’s—”

Her gaze landed on the two people inside the room.

No doubt, her eyes were conveying the inner monologue: Did I just interrupt something between these two?

-

-

At noon, they had lunch together.

Zhou Yun gave Song Chi a look and said, ”If there’s any more gossip about the two of us, it’s all your fault.”

Song Chi raised both hands in surrender, saying, ”My bad.”

Zhou Lan watched the two with interest and asked, ”Can I ask what happened between the two of you this morning?”

Zhou Yun said, ”This idiot here overreacted when pretending to be in pain, and a staff member saw it, making it look like I punched him.”

Song Chi emphasized with a serious face, ”You did punch me.”

Zhou Yun: ”I hardly used any force, okay?”

Song Chi started to laugh and said, ”Then that’s your fault for punching me.”

Zhou Yun rolled her eyes, ”Great, now if this gets out, it might turn into me getting physical with Song Chi in the break room, Song Chi not willing, and then me using violence.”

She covered her face with one hand.

”That’s it!” Zhou Lan suddenly exclaimed with delight.

Zhou Yun jumped, looking at Zhou Lan in surprise. She didn’t know what Zhou Lan’s ”That’s it” was referring to.

Zhou Lan said, ”We’ll use this incident to turn the public opinion.”

”Everyone is saying you two are hyping up a fake couple and deceiving the fans’ feelings, right? We’ll leak this event to show that you two aren’t involved in any hype.”

Zhou Lan clenched her fist, ”I’m going to find that staff member right now, what does he look like?”

”Wait, wait,” Zhou Yun hastily grabbed Zhou Lan’s arm, saying, ”Sister Lan, don’t rush, are you planning to have that girl spill the beans online?”

Zhou Lan nodded, ”Yes.”

”That would really be hyping it up.” Zhou Yun grabbed Zhou Lan’s hand, ”Forget it, let’s just leave it at that. Let those online say what they want; we just won’t pay attention to them.”

Zhou Lan said, ”This isn’t about paying attention or not, right now, there are many Haters clinging on to this and not letting go, cursing you and smearing your image.”

”But this seems too deliberate,” Zhou Yun covered her forehead, ”It’s like... as if the punch I gave Song Chi was purposely for those online to see.”

Song Chi joked, ”See, you admit you punched me.”

Zhou Yun swiftly threw a dagger-like glare at him.

Zhou Lan: ”Darling, we must handle our public relations; we can’t just sit back and wait. In ancient times, a rumor could become ’three men make a tiger;’ even more so nowadays, once you have a bad impression in the public’s mind, it’s hard to turn it around.”

Zhou Yun looked helplessly at Song Chi, seeking his support.

What else could Song Chi do?

”Let’s just be understanding of her not wanting to expose her personal life to the public spotlight,” Song Chi told Zhou Lan.

Zhou Lan: ”...”

With a dead-serious face, Song Chi said, ”Otherwise, be careful, she might punch you too.”

Zhou Lan laughed out loud.

Zhou Yun was grinding her teeth, ”Can you ever quit?”

Song Chi laughed heartily.

”If worst comes to worst, we’ll handle it like before, actually, no matter what others say, what’s important are the fans who like us, whether they would feel hurt by others’ words or not. All we need to tell them is that we didn’t hype or lie, that we aren’t a so-called contract couple, and that’s sufficient.” Song Chi took out his phone, ”Let’s take a picture together and post it on Weibo, interact a bit, to give an attitude to the fans who like us. If others keep nagging incessantly, we don’t have to care.”

Zhou Lan looked at Zhou Yun.

”I think that’s good,” Zhou Yun said.

Zhou Lan picked up her plate to leave, as she would appear in the middle of the picture if she didn’t leave.

But Song Chi said, ”No need, you can just sit there, Sister Lan, let’s take a picture all together.”

Zhou Lan: ”It’s alright if I appear?”

”Being more authentic is better.”

The group photo was posted on both of their Weibo.

The smiles of the three people were natural and warm, around a small round table with half-eaten boxed meals on top.

Just like Song Chi said, sometimes there’s no need to change everyone’s views, just let those who truly care about them know their real selves; what others think doesn’t matter.

A single photo calmed both of their fans down. Then, strangely, the controversy passed.