Chapter 20.2: Second Upload (2)

The exposure of Shang Jing and He Jiang’s relationship in Yang Yue’s live broadcast had brought extensive exposure to the streaming platform. The short video showing the ‘phone scam’ even hogged the platform’s No.1 most viewed video spot for three consecutive days and made its way into the Top 10 all-time favorites list in just a few days.

Twinkling Stars Live Broadcast was a streaming platform with over a billion users. The videos in their Top 10 all-time favorites list were all about major events the entire nation was concerned with. But the exciting and funny scenes in Yang Yue’s live broadcast had captured the attention of viewers who watched them on repeat, brutally pushing it through the ranks and landing a spot in the list.

With the intention to expand into the market of in-house variety shows and web-dramas, the platform manager decided to jump on the opportunity and approach He Jiang for a collaboration which was accepted.

The support and help of a large platform was what the team needed to ensure a great success of the variety show. The director decided to adopt a bold filming format for the show, choosing to live broadcast the games segments and opening a poll for netizens to vote while leaving the rest of the details to be shown in the actual airings.

And that live broadcast was the opportunity Shang Jing was waiting for. When the time comes, He Jiang would be forced to play the nice guy to keep his image. Unlike him, whatever he did, even if it tarnished his reputation, would not affect his plan to leave after earning that sum of money.

Even though he could make quick money in the entertainment scene, it was not what he aspired to do.

At the set of the photoshoot, Shang Jing was introduced to the other three pairs of guests in the show.

Cen Feinuo and Zhuang Qin, a young handsome lad. They met while filming a drama together.

Actor Liu Xin and his athlete girlfriend, Ju Zhou. This was their fifth year together and was already a well-known couple in the industry.

The last couple was Lu Gaojie and Huan Nalan. They were both idols from popular groups and had come on the show with the purpose of announcing their relationship.

Not forgetting Yang Yue who was the host of the show.

Each group was assigned to a studio for their photoshoot and had no interaction in between. As He, Cen and Yang were more apt in front of the camera, they were done in a short time and went to a hotel room beside to rest while waiting for the others to be done.

Before leaving, He Jiang took a moment to watch Shang Jing’s photoshoot. He was having difficulties with making eye contact with the cameras but was confident and graceful. Coupled with his suave looks, he sufficiently made up for any flaws he had.

Getting Lin Lin to monitor the situation, he made his way to the hotel room.

The fight sight that greeted him was Yang Yue staring bitterly at his phone.

He asked, “What happened?”

Cen Feinuo answered monotonously, “It seems stock prices have fallen and made him lose a concert worth of money.”

He Jiang was speechless, “Can’t you just save your money in the bank or hire a professional to manage it for you?”

Yang Yue lamented, “Where is the fun if I am not the one personally choosing the stocks?”

He Jiang: “You can continue to brave the tides then.”

Yang Yue: “Forget about me. I’ve checked the room, there are no cameras. Hurry and spill the tea, what is going on between you and Shang Jing?”

He Jiang had briefly explained the situation to them via text earlier but decided to re-emphasis his point, “Shang Jing thinks we are married so don’t spoil things for me.”

Yang Yue: Tsk tsk. To still tolerate him after being dumped, you’re beyond saving.

“Based on what you’ve shared, both of you are sentimental people so why did you break up? Is there some misunderstanding?”

He Jiang: “There’s no misunderstanding.”

If there was really a misunderstanding, their entire relationship could be considered a huge misunderstanding.

Yang Yue was sure He Jiang must have been heartlessly dumped three years ago. If not, how would he justify the darkened expression on his face whenever the break up was mentioned?

He Jiang: “He has lost his memories so try to be more lenient on him in the show.”

Yang Yue: “I knew the purpose of you coming here is to say that! I’ll warn you first, the director team has requested for more realism in the live broadcasts so there will not be any cheating during the lucky draws. I’m just a normal host. The most I can do is to give more hints to your wife.”

He Jiang: “It doesn’t matter how much airtime he gets. He’s not intending to debut anyway. If you have spare time, it will be better for you to show more love to Cen Feinuo’s team.”

“Oh, right!” Yang Yue turned towards Cen Feinuo. “There’s a situation on your side too! Did you call in love while filming the drama?”

Cen Feinuo had long since resigned to his fate. He said, “It’s a war film, where’s the romance in that? I just thought he has a good work ethic. There were no complaints from him after rolling around with me in the war trenches and appearing with a dirty face most of the time throughout the entire film.”

To a handsome and popular star like Zhuang Qin, it was practically a waste of time to appear in the film as a side character without leaving any suave photos of himself in a military uniform for his fans to squeal over, needless to say he was only one of the many characters in the film.

Plus, the drama demanded long hours of filming with actual scenery. Zhuang Qin was initially scheduled to appear in a modern drama after his work on this side was over. But because he was away in the Northwestern region to work on this, the opportunity was stolen by another artist in his company with some underhanded means.

Yang Yue: “You just have to tell me whether you want me to take care of him.”

Cen Feinuo: “I’ll be relying on you.”

…

“Can we get a few shots of the both of you together?” The photographer called out to Shang Jing and Zhuang Qin. He was attracted to their multiplicative soothing and non-invasive aura when they stood near one another.

But he had some ulterior motives too. Seeing how Cen Feinuo decided to participate in the show with just an invite from He Jiang, the relationship between those two must be good. As such, there was potential to market these photos of Shang Jing and Zhuang Qin under the pretext of them being sister-in-laws in the later part of the show.