Caught in Affairs with Superstar

Chapter 1556: Chapter 789: Return to Beijing

The last day of November.

In Phoenix Town, the wind was roaring.

Zhou Yun stood in front of the house she’d been living in, and took a group photo with all the crew members.

”See you again in summer.” Wen Bing said.

Everyone clapped.

These twenty-odd days of shooting, everyone had fought side by side here, creating together—and also living together. For them, this was a very precious memory.

Zhou Yun and Liu Yun packed their things; half the suitcase was filled with food Xiuxiu’s mother had brought them—homemade cured meat, dried radish peel, chili sauce, perilla cakes and so on.

Before leaving, Zhou Yun specially went to buy a farewell gift for Xiuxiu.

She said, ”Xiuxiu, next time we meet it’ll be summer already, don’t forget Aunt Xiao Yun, okay?”

Xiuxiu said, ”I won’t forget.”

Zhou Yun smiled and patted Xiuxiu on the head.

When she left here, Zhou Yun felt a kind of vague, hollow loss.

She sat in the car to the airport, looking at the sky outside through the window. The sky was overcast, silent, murky—you couldn’t tell if it was cloud or fog, all rolled together, thicker over there, thinner over here, but all of it grey.

...

”Welcome back.”

Zhou Lan picked Zhou Yun up at the airport and gave her a hug.

Zhou Yun, wearing sunglasses, walked out with Zhou Lan.

”Is it especially cold in Beijing now?” Zhou Yun asked.

Zhou Lan said, ”About the same temperature as the place you were filming.”

”So that’s very cold.” Zhou Yun said. ”We’re staying in Beijing for ten days and then flying to Australia. It’s summer over there now, right?”

”Mm.” Zhou Lan said. ”I really want to go with you, but I’ve just got too much work here, I seriously can’t get away.”

Zhou Yun said, ”When you’re a bit freer, come over for a vacation, rest for a couple of days.”

Zhou Lan said, ”Where would I find that kind of time? Yuk Chu’s new project contract still hasn’t been finalized. For Xiao Jing, there’s a French director who sent over an audition invitation, I have to go to France with her once. Then there’s Yu Zhiyang—Wen Bing really likes him and recommended him to a director called Lu Bin for a new film, I have to go talk about that too, it’s a whole pile of things.”

Hearing Zhou Lan say all this, Zhou Yun could only say, ”Okay then, you’re working hard.”

”I really am working hard.” Zhou Lan said very seriously. ”Fortunately Huang Zicheng and Lu Zhongting stepped in to manage Xiaoju, otherwise I honestly wouldn’t be able to cope.”

”What about the assistant you found for yourself?”

”Too clumsy with the work, I let her go.” Zhou Lan said. ”It’s really hard to find a capable assistant.”

Hearing this, Zhou Yun didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

”Oh right, Xiao Yun, Zheng Xiaowen asked you to go try on the gowns, but you’re basically booked solid for the next few days, so I could only have them bring the clothes to the set where you’re shooting the commercial for The Day After Tomorrow and try them there.” Zhou Lan said. ”She’s a bit unhappy about it, but we genuinely can’t squeeze out any time here. Two commercials already have fixed schedules, that’s four days of shooting. Besides the commercials, you also have to record two shows; you’ve been set as the flying guest for them for a long time, they’ve just been waiting for your dates.”

Zhou Yun nodded and said, ”Then just explain it to her. It’s only to check the size.”

Zhou Lan: ”That’s what I told her. You choosing their gowns to attend the Golden Ball Award this time already gives them a lot of face.”

Zhou Yun said, ”Don’t put it that way. Designing a gown takes a lot of steps, it’s hard work. Hoping we’ll formally go there to try things on is perfectly normal.”

”Mm.” Zhou Lan nodded.

”Let me go over the two shows you’re going to record.” Zhou Lan said. ”The first is Yuehai’s self-produced variety show ’Comedy Coming’. It’s a competitive comedy show; different comedy teams perform their pieces on stage and then battle it out. You’ll be their flying guest for the finals, going to record that episode.”

Zhou Yun nodded.

”The second is Lew Yuan’s new show ’Life Visit’. Because Teacher Lew Yuan personally wrote an invitation letter to you, and he’s always had a good relationship with you, I just went ahead and accepted it.”

Zhou Yun said, ”Brother Lew’s new show? What kind of show is it?”

Zhou Lan said, ”It’s not a variety show. For this one, each episode goes to some place and stays there for three days, and in those three days you experience the local culture and customs.”

When Zhou Yun heard that, her eyes lit up.

”That’s a good show. Brother Lew still has some idealism in him, that’s nice.” Zhou Yun said. ”When are we recording it?”

Zhou Lan said, ”Recording on the 5th, done by the 8th.”

When Zhou Yun heard that, she immediately frowned. ”So I finish recording on the 8th, then go straight to find Song Chi, and on the 10th I’m already flying to Australia. Great, that means I can only spend one day with him again.”

Zhou Lan hummed.

”What are you humming about?”

”Nothing.” Zhou Lan shook her head and smiled.

Zhou Yun kept feeling like Zhou Lan was hiding something from her.

”Oh, and ’Geology Talk’ has been inviting you this whole time. They want you to go back and record a few more episodes, but I’ve been blocking it for you.”

”Ugh, that show is too exhausting, forget it.” Zhou Yun shook her head. She didn’t have much affection for that program.

Back when she was recording that show, it hadn’t been a pleasant experience either.

”Okay.”

After talking through all that, Zhou Lan started on the endorsements.

”Most of your fast-moving consumer goods brands are expiring now. I’m not planning to renew them; I’ll talk to the companies and see if they’re willing to switch to Yuk Chu and Xiao Jing.” Zhou Lan said. ”Besides not renewing the FMCG brands, for some of the better-known brands where the cooperation’s good, I plan to renew. But there’s one brand I don’t intend to renew.”

”Which one?”

”Blink.” Zhou Lan said. ”Even though they’re top blue blood, their higher-ups still refuse to upgrade our Title. We’ve been working with them for almost two years. For other brands, at worst they’ve given us the Asia-Pacific Region spokesperson title, but Blink still only gives you the Greater China Region spokesperson role. By contrast, the Japan and Korea spokespeople have both been bumped up to Asia-Pacific Region spokespeople.”

Zhou Yun thought about it and said, ”Fine.”

Zhou Yun agreed so quickly that Zhou Lan was stunned.

She said, ”You don’t want to think it over?”

”We’re not short of a Blink now anyway, what’s there to think about? One less endorsement means fewer commercials for me, that’s easier.” Zhou Yun said. ”Didn’t you say it yourself? The Japan and Korea spokespeople have already been upgraded to Asia-Pacific Region spokespeople, so why should I put up with this crap?”

Zhou Lan laughed.

”If those two had been working with Blink longer than you it’d be one thing, but they’ve only been spokespersons for a year, and they’re both idol group members, with no solid achievements at all. If they were as popular as Blackpink I wouldn’t say anything.” Zhou Lan said.

In truth, Blink’s reaction was very abnormal.

Zhou Yun’s rise was visible to the naked eye, especially with the international big production ’Killing Song’ about to start shooting. In that situation, every other brand was eager to hold on to Zhou Yun and not let her be snatched away, yet Blink remained unusually arrogant.

Zhou Yun understood why Zhou Lan was angry.