Chapter 68
Being stared at directly by five pairs of eyes at the same time, all of them looking as if they would make him pay if he did not give them an explanation, Sun Xinping instantly broke out in a layer of cold sweat on his forehead.
As expected, just as he had guessed, even after they came out and remembered their real-life memories, these people’s relationship was probably still as close as real brothers.
Not to mention, Shen Jinfeng was the core figure among them.
He put on a flattering smile and pointed at the last nutrition chamber that had yet to open.
“Shen Jinfeng hasn’t come out for the time being. He’ll probably need another twenty minutes or so.”
However, the guests were not as easy to fool as he had expected.
Qin Ye looked at him coldly and immediately stood up. “Why hasn’t Shen Jinfeng come out yet? Is there something wrong with his nutrition chamber?”
“Exactly. There’s no reason we all came out, but Boss hasn’t. Are you deliberately targeting him?” He Erwang remembered Shen Jinfeng’s reputation and status in the entertainment industry, and his first reaction was that Sun Xinping was using the fact that he had a top-tier variety show to retaliate.
After all, this almost legendary variety show had been directly exposed by Shen Jinfeng this season.
How could the production team not be angry?
Then, thinking about Shen Jinfeng’s previous near-universal blackening on the internet, it was obvious that he had no backer.
The answer seemed self-evident.
Although he himself had once been fooled by those black materials too.
At a previous awards ceremony, He Erwang had run into Shen Jinfeng.
At that time, Shen Jinfeng had seen him and was about to come over to greet him, but He Erwang had believed the rumors and turned around to leave without acknowledging him.
Later, during an interview, a reporter asked him why he had walked away with a dark expression.
His subconscious reaction had been that Shen Jinfeng had deliberately arranged it, or that a rival had intentionally bribed the reporter and marketing accounts to wait for a chance to blacken him.
But He Erwang himself hated being threatened the most. It was too difficult for him to pretend to be friendly.
So at the time, he had raised his brow and bluntly mocked, “I’m rather shy around strangers. Although Shen Jinfeng is very famous, for personal reasons, I don’t like acting warmly familiar with people I don’t know.”
The implication was that Shen Jinfeng was notoriously fond of clout-chasing, but since He Erwang did not know him, was he supposed to stand there and wait to be clout-chased?
He remembered that later, that interview and the previous video had been brought onto the hot search together.
It gave Shen Jinfeng’s reputation for “loving to leech off popularity” another solid nail in the coffin.
Now, thinking about it, it was obvious someone had borrowed his hand to deal with Shen Jinfeng!
Damn it. Once he got back, he would have someone investigate it. He absolutely had to find the culprit who had used him back then and almost caused him to become enemies with Boss!
It was all those rumors’ fault, and his own fault for not being able to judge people.
He could have hugged this thigh back then!
As for the hearsay in his real-life memories versus all those days of living together on the deserted island—
Which one should he believe?
He was not stupid. Would he continue being influenced by black materials?
Could he not tell what kind of person his Boss truly was inside?
He Erwang only felt unbearably ashamed.
He had just remembered this incident and had already decided that the moment he saw Shen Jinfeng, he would immediately rush up and complete the full process: apology, confession, and thigh-hugging.
But after all this, Shen Jinfeng still had not come out?
He naturally felt that it was all the production team’s fault.
On the deserted island, he had been implanted with the personas of “polite” and “sensible,” and there was also Shen Jinfeng, who suppressed him in every aspect and made him worship him, so He Erwang had been relatively restrained and somewhat affected.
But in reality, he was already an arrogant person by nature.
Therefore, the moment He Erwang thought that the production team might be deliberately targeting Shen Jinfeng, his whole body practically bristled.
He also stood up and rushed to Sun Xinping in a few steps, acting as if he was about to grab Sun Xinping by the collar.
Sun Xinping was startled, but he reacted quickly and retreated a few steps.
“Don’t get worked up, don’t get worked up. Big Boss Shen is fine. He’s perfectly fine. He’ll be able to come out soon!”
He Erwang withdrew his empty fingers and snorted coldly, not continuing to attack.
But his tone was utterly impolite. “Sun Xinping, I’m warning you. If I find out you deliberately targeted my Boss, I won’t let you off.”
Sun Xinping’s expression stiffened.
How was he supposed to explain this?
This time really was not on purpose! Shen Jinfeng had not come out, and he was more panicked than anyone, alright?
But the previous targeting… well, it had already been done.
What else could he do?
Besides the initial persona setup, the rest probably would not be discovered, right?
“Cough, cough.” Sun Xinping coughed twice guiltily. “No, no, that won’t happen.”
When he looked up again, he discovered that besides He Erwang, the others’ gazes toward him were also icy and hostile.
That included Gu Shengsheng, who seemed to have the softest personality, and Mo Fan, who had no backing.
Only after hearing his repeated denials and guarantees did they withdraw their gazes.
Qin Ye stopped looking at him and turned toward the last nutrition chamber, which was still closed.
The nutrition chamber was transparent. Inside, the young man lay with his eyes closed, his posture relaxed and somehow obedient.
His entire aura was faint and mild. He looked utterly harmless.
It was impossible to connect him with someone who could serve as a team leader, lead all of them through a deserted-island survival scenario, and turn it into a “vacation trip.”
He had displayed his abilities and become the “Big Boss” recognized by everyone.
After He Erwang finished threatening the director, he waved to the others. “Come on, let’s go look at Boss too!”
Thus, the whole group surged forward again, following behind Qin Ye. One by one, they stretched their necks and practically pressed themselves against the nutrition chamber.
The corner of Sun Xinping’s eye twitched, filled with regret.
What a pity. This scene could not be recorded.
If it were broadcast, the ratings would definitely be high, and it would probably get on several hot searches too.
Qin Ye silently looked at the young man in the nutrition chamber for a long time before walking toward the staff member nearby.
“Can you bring up Shen Jinfeng’s physical data for me?” he asked politely, but his tone left no room for refusal.
The staff member did not even think to glance at Sun Xinping to seek permission.
Almost subconsciously, they pulled up the data and moved aside. “Please sit.”
Qin Ye shook his head. “You keep sitting.”
He did not spare anyone else any unnecessary attention. He only slightly narrowed his eyes and quickly browsed through the various data points still changing dynamically on the screen.
After coming out, Qi Xiu finally learned just how big of a deal his teammates on the deserted island were in real life.
In fact, he himself did not chase stars, but his teammates were all famous to the point that even someone who did not chase stars had heard of them.
For example, Qin Ye.
He had once been force-fed a frantic science lesson by his classmate, who worshipped Qin Ye, about just how awesome this idol was, listing Qin Ye’s life story in detail.
It was worth mentioning that his memory on the deserted island, where he thought he could get into Jing University, was fake.
But that classmate who worshipped Qin Ye had truly been recommended for admission to Jing University.
Of course, Qi Xiu did not know that.
His former top-student classmate now had another object of frantic worship.
Heh. It was also his teammate.
In short, after coming out and gaining a bit of understanding of the real-life gap between him and his teammates, Qi Xiu did feel slightly cautious, but not much.
After all, his divination could not be wrong. The noble person who brought him luck was only Boss. He was not hugging anyone else’s thigh.
Qi Xiu walked to Qin Ye’s side and naturally asked, “Brother Ye, can you understand this data?”
Qin Ye said, “I can understand a little.”
Because he had invested in similar technology companies and had learned a bit about related technologies himself. He could not claim mastery, but reading human body data was not a problem.
“Then Sun Xinping wasn’t lying to us, right?” He Erwang leaned over and asked.
Gu Shengsheng and Mo Fan were slightly more reserved, but they also stayed by the side, looking eagerly at the data on the display, then at Qin Ye, waiting for an answer.
Qin Ye did not answer for the moment.
He seriously went through the data from beginning to end.
Only then did he nod. “Little Captain should come out in about ten more minutes.”
He smoothly patted Gu Shengsheng’s shoulder beside him. The movement was completely learned from Shen Jinfeng.
“Don’t worry.”
Gu Shengsheng’s already slightly wet eyes flickered, and he quickly nodded.
Only then did the group finally relax.
Watching from behind them, Sun Xinping felt oddly uncomfortable.
These people had recorded a variety show together, and now their relationship was this good.
Gu Shengsheng had hugged such a thick thigh as Qin Ye so easily!
Of course, he still had some self-awareness.
The reason the six guests of the third season of What Kind of Person Are You could form such a good relationship was mainly due to two points.
First, all six people had extremely good natures.
Leaving aside Qin Ye and Qi Xiu, whose personas had barely changed, and Shen Jinfeng, whose change was so dramatic that it shocked everyone’s jaws off—
He Erwang’s usual flaws in the entertainment industry, such as being impolite and arrogant, had all improved in the public’s impression.
He had successfully transformed into an image of a rich, chuunibyou, seemingly easy-to-trick but sincere person.
Even more exaggerated were Gu Shengsheng and Mo Fan, who had been implanted with relatively negative personas.
From the omniscient audience perspective, it was clear that the struggle between the subconscious persona and their true nature had barely lasted long in either of them.
Gu Shengsheng’s “selfishness” had always been under a fair premise, wanting to do more so he could get more.
Mo Fan was irritable and easily angered, but the strongest expression of that was probably when he found the wolf displeasing and wanted to fight it. The original intention had been to protect his teammates.
Second was Shen Jinfeng.
Sun Xinping did not know, and also could not hypothesize, whether the six people’s humanity could have withstood test after test if they had truly struggled to survive on the deserted island and faced life-and-death crises at every moment.
But without a doubt, Shen Jinfeng’s existence had made the deserted-island experience full of fun.
He had changed everyone’s mood from tense to relaxed, even to the point that they happily felt the deserted island was like a paradise beyond the world.
He had made all the other guests worship him, like him, and form a good social circle centered around him.
The show had aired until now.
When Sun Xinping received the data Old Qian had compiled today, even he could not help feeling his heart race.
Not to mention all-platform ratings, video views, average watch time, discussion volume, and how many hot searches they had gotten…
Among the group, Mo Fan, who had gained the fewest followers, had already gained ten million Weibo followers in just over ten days!
It was simply unheard of. It had never happened before.
One had to know, this was real time. There was still a large batch of viewers who had not followed the livestream and were waiting for later word-of-mouth fermentation and continued heat. The follower increase could at least double again.
One had to know that among the new generation of rising male leads in the entertainment industry, many had starred in several male-lead dramas yet still had not broken ten million Weibo followers.
Although, well, the third season of What Kind of Person Are You had achieved huge success and formed a phenomenal explosion of popularity.
Most of it depended on the guests.
But Sun Xinping felt that the better the guests were, the more it proved his eye for people.
If not for him organizing this setup, could these six people have been gathered? His casting was simply too amazing!
It could be said that without him—
Qin Ye still would not have found someone he liked.
He Erwang would not have made true friends.
Qi Xiu would not have found a noble person whose thigh he could hug.
Shen Jinfeng, Gu Shengsheng, and Mo Fan might still be blackened across the entire internet.
Sun Xinping went through his “achievements” in his head and felt that his contribution was also not small.
Thus, he slightly raised his confidence and spoke calmly and self-assuredly. “Why don’t everyone sit down and eat or drink something first? Recording these past few days must have been tiring.”
He walked to Qin Ye’s side and made a gesture of invitation.
Qin Ye glanced at him and nodded. “Director Sun, please sit.”
Sun Xinping: “?”
He was rejected just like that, so smoothly?
Unwilling to give up, he asked He Erwang and the others behind Qin Ye, “Why don’t you sit over by the sofa and wait for Big Boss Shen to come out?”
He Erwang impatiently waved his hand. “No. I want to wait for Boss to come out at the place closest to him!”
Qi Xiu and the others nodded repeatedly in agreement.
Sun Xinping choked for a second. “?”
Could they not see him clearly from the sofa too?
Was this necessary?
Huh?
This group was going to guard this nutrition chamber without leaving a single step?
He fell silent for two seconds, then signaled for the staff to move the sofas over.
“Sit and wait. If Big Boss Shen comes out later and sees all of you standing, he’ll feel pressured too.”
The staff moved the sofas and chairs to their feet.
Only then did the group stop refusing and sit down.
Gu Shengsheng had already remembered all his real-life memories, and he also remembered that his original persona for this variety show had been completely that of a malicious cannon fodder character.
If not for Shen Jinfeng, if not for meeting such a good group of companions—
He did not dare imagine how he would have spent his days on the deserted island.
Although even now, he did not know how he had performed on the show or whether he was still being cursed.
After all, he used to be cursed no matter what he did.
And on the show, he had selfishly wanted to drink more water.
He had been the weakest and had fallen sick, nearly dragging Boss down.
He had even overestimated himself and said in front of Qin Ye and Mo Fan that his acting was good…
Gu Shengsheng did not dare think about his current reputation.
But he cared about Shen Jinfeng’s.
Now that Qin Ye and He Erwang were here and the director’s attitude was surprisingly good, he carefully said, “Director, you call Boss ‘Big Boss.’ Does that mean Boss’s wonderful performance on the show was recognized? Do the viewers like him?”
He also knew about Shen Jinfeng’s previous reputation in the entertainment industry.
They could only be described as brothers in misfortune, evenly matched.
Earlier, he had been worried about Shen Jinfeng’s safety and had not had the attention to spare. Now that he knew Shen Jinfeng was fine, he immediately asked.
The moment they heard it was about Shen Jinfeng, the people who had been staring at the nutrition chamber finally shifted their gazes and looked toward Sun Xinping.
Sun Xinping felt, deep in his stomach, that it was indeed as expected.
But this, he could talk about.
“Yes. Big Boss Shen’s performance on the show was truly too amazing!” His brows danced, and he instantly became excited, behaving like a little fanboy.
In front of a group of Shen Jinfeng’s fanboys and admirers, only by acting as if he shared their feelings could he gain recognition.
He gestured animatedly as he listed out Shen Jinfeng’s famous scenes one by one, from the beginning until now.
He praised him lavishly.
To be fair, every famous scene in the variety show was part of his own achievements and representative work, so he remembered them clearly.
“Big Boss Shen is omnipotent. He has received the love of the vast majority of netizens and our third season’s hundreds of millions of viewers! Big Boss Shen’s cumulative follower growth across all social platforms has exceeded one hundred million. The five most famous scenes have all reached an astonishing hundreds of billions of views! Our production team has already received over thirty brand endorsement invitations for Big Boss Shen, and also…”
Sun Xinping spoke endlessly.
This time, no one interrupted him.
Qin Ye and the others all listened attentively, with a sense of shared glory.
Although Sun Xinping’s performance was still rather clumsy.
His joy was real. After all, Shen Jinfeng had brought the production team overwhelming wealth.
But the deliberate show of admiration was, to be honest, a little overdone.
The social techniques and acting skills Sun Xinping used so smoothly in social settings—
In the eyes of truly top-level people, they were still not enough. For example, Qin Ye, Mo Fan, and Gu Shengsheng.
But they did not point it out. It was good enough to watch the bustle and hear the sound.
Now they knew. Later, they could explain it to Little Captain / Boss!
Compared to Sun Xinping, the emotions of the staff in the room who had not spoken much were much more real.
When Sun Xinping told them to say a few words too and introduce things in more detail—
A girl from the publicity team practically had stars in her eyes. Her voice trembled as she read out the data.
“I’m also a fan of Big Boss Shen. He’s too charming! I’ve been completely and absolutely won over by him!”
At the end, she was very embarrassed and cautiously said to He Erwang, “Little Pur—oh no, Brother Wang, I’m sorry. I was originally your die-hard fan, but now I’ve climbed the wall.”
He Erwang waved carelessly. “Then we’re supporting the same person now.”
The girl had not expected He Erwang to be so in tune, and her eyes brightened. She blurted out, “Looking forward to Big Boss cutting your hair into a buzz cut!”
He Erwang smiled until his eyes narrowed. “You reminded me! I have to remind Boss later too, so he doesn’t forget.”
Their joke loosened the atmosphere that Sun Xinping had tried so hard and failed to break open earlier.
Gradually, other staff grew bolder and began chatting with the guests, like a small fan meeting.
One staff member handed the plush toy they had secretly brought to Gu Shengsheng. “Shengsheng, those black materials about you have all been clarified now!”
Gu Shengsheng blankly took the plush toy. “Really?”
“Yes! Everyone really likes you! I even joined your fan support club. Your support club has five million fans now!”
Gu Shengsheng’s eyes widened in shock. “Five million?”
He remembered his previous support club had only around a hundred thousand or so fans, right?
The staff member held back the urge to imitate Big Boss Shen and rub his head.
Pretending to be serious, she said, “But there is one condition for us liking you.”
Gu Shengsheng asked, “What condition?”
The staff member directly moved the bullet comments in front of the main subject himself. “Your parents are too awful to you! You are not allowed to be that good to them anymore! From now on, you have fans. We’ll always stay with you and protect you. Oh, and if you really want parents, go find Big Boss Shen and Ye God!”
Gu Shengsheng’s eyes instantly reddened.
Mo Fan interjected from the side, “Not just Boss and Qin Ye. There’s us too.”
The staff member’s expression twisted slightly as she tried not to laugh.
Mo Fan had no idea what she was talking about.
Another staff member quickly changed the subject and comforted Mo Fan at the same time. “Brother Mo, I believe you’re not the kind of person described in those black materials. In the livestream, I saw your courage, your kindness, and your loyalty. The viewers all think so too.”
Moreover, during this period, many black materials about Mo Fan’s ex-wife had been exposed.
Insiders had revealed that the truth of Mo Fan’s domestic violence scandal was completely reversed.
Mo Fan was stunned for a moment, then smiled gently. “Thank you for your fondness and trust.”
But he did not say anything more about the so-called black materials.
As for Qin Ye’s side, normally speaking, no one should have dared to joke around with him.
But seeing that no one was mentioning Shen Jinfeng anymore, he only sat quietly, listening to the others laugh and make noise.
His eyes remained fixed on the nutrition chamber and never moved away.
A young intern who had gone mad from shipping the CP could not hold it in anymore and actually said what was in her heart out loud. “Big Boss Shen and Ye God really are real!”
Ahhh, this ship is killing me!
Qin Ye heard it immediately and subconsciously looked toward her.
“What?”
The intern was startled.
She hesitated for a moment, then boldly asked, “Ye God, is your love coming soon?”
Qin Ye’s body stiffened.
He did not become shy the way he had in front of Shen Jinfeng, but his gaze clearly drifted for an instant.
The intern pressed on, daring to court death by teasing him directly. “Did you just make a wish to the meteor shower too, wishing your love would hurry up and arrive?”
Qi Xiu had been a little distracted earlier and had gotten up to fetch a drink. When he came back, he happened to hear this.
He looked at Qin Ye in surprise. “Brother Ye, you have to believe my divination. If I say it’s coming soon, then it’s definitely coming soon.”
Qin Ye had just raised his cup and taken a sip of water. Now he choked on it.
“Cough, cough.”
He coughed several times before putting down the cup and replying, “I’ll borrow your auspicious words.”
The intern could not help screaming in her heart.
Ahhh!
The main subject himself was giving out sugar!
She could not resist praising Qi Xiu. “Little Qi, your divination skill is too amazing! Listen to big sister. Even if you don’t enter the entertainment industry after coming out, you can absolutely make a fortune!”
Not knowing the inside story, she blurted out, “You’ll definitely be able to bring your master to enjoy a good life. All the wishes you made to the meteor shower can come true!”
Sun Xinping heard this sentence amid the noisy sounds, and his whole body instantly petrified.
“Xiao Hou!” He quickly called out. “Come here.”
The intern was startled, not understanding why. She was just about to respond.
But when she lowered her eyes, she saw that Qi Xiu, who had still looked normal moments ago, suddenly had red-rimmed eyes.
Large tears rolled out of his eyes.
“Little Qi, what… what’s wrong?”
All sounds in the room instantly stopped.
Qin Ye also looked at Qi Xiu in surprise. “Qi Xiu, what’s wrong?”
Actually, Qi Xiu had remembered it after coming out of the show.
The old man was already dead.
The reason he had gone on the show was to raise enough money to buy the old man a grave plot.
The wish he had made to the meteor shower could never come true.
It was something he had known already, but after the buffer of forgetting his memories on the deserted island—
When it emerged in his mind again, it became especially unbearable.
Because the most urgent thing just now had been worrying that something had happened to Shen Jinfeng, he had not had time to think about it.
Now that he had sat down, and the intern had reminded him—
He suddenly felt as if he had instantly returned to the moment when the old man had died, with no family around him, as if he was the only one left in the world.
But this time was different.
He Erwang and the others were beside him, clumsily comforting him without knowing what had happened.
Qi Xiu had wanted to hold it in, but the more he was comforted, the less he could endure it.
His tears streamed down like a broken string of beads, like a small river surging endlessly.
The emotions that he had not had time to vent before poured out completely at this moment.
Sun Xinping stood there with a troubled expression, looking at Qi Xiu crying so hard he was gasping for breath. He seemed to be infected by it too.
He stepped forward and crouched down, apologizing softly, “I’m sorry, Little Qi. It’s all my fault…”
Before his words finished, he suddenly felt his collar being gripped by a powerful force. His whole body was lifted into the air and carried two meters away.
???
Shen Jinfeng’s voice sounded in the room, full of confusion. “Qi Xiu, why are you crying?”
“Did he bully you?”
He pointed at Sun Xinping, who had just been apologizing.
