Chapter 71
When Gu Shengsheng heard that his parents had come, he had not even had time to summon up any negative emotions or think of the questions he wanted to ask before Shen Jinfeng scattered those thoughts for him.
“Boss, I’ll go with you.” He agreed without the slightest hesitation.
He let go of Shen Jinfeng’s waist, which he had been hugging just now, but still clung tightly to his arm, looking completely dependent on him.
Shen Jinfeng nodded. “Mm.”
He looked at Sun Xinping, his gaze asking a silent question.
Sun Xinping came back to himself. “Of course, of course. Then we’ll talk tomorrow.”
He signaled for the staff to retrieve the guests’ phones and other personal belongings and return them.
Shen Jinfeng took his phone, rubbed it between his fingers, and did not test whether it could be turned on in front of everyone.
He simply said goodbye to the others, then followed the staff member who had come to guide him and started walking. “Then I’ll head off first.”
The whole thing was clean, swift, and without the slightest hesitation.
The others had not even reacted yet.
Qin Ye stood there in silence for a moment, then asked Old Qian at the doorway, “Who came?”
Old Qian froze. Who came?
Under Qin Ye’s unfriendly gaze, he finally remembered what he had come to notify them about.
He hurriedly replied, “It’s your assistant, Special Assistant Zheng.”
Qin Ye said, “Tell him to arrange himself tonight. Tomorrow morning at eight, have him come to the hotel where I’ll be staying.”
After saying that, he strode forward on his long legs and directly followed Shen Jinfeng out.
“Captain, wait for me. I’ll go with you.”
Old Qian let out an “Ah?” and stood there dumbfounded.
He Erwang suddenly understood. So they could do that!
He quickly asked Old Qian, “Is it my manager who came?”
“Please tell him for me too. Let him arrange himself tonight, and tomorrow morning at eight, he can come to the hotel where I’m staying.”
He spoke in a rush. Then, realizing something was off, he had already dashed out before slamming on the brakes and turning back. “Oh, wait, no. Make it nine. Eight is too early. I need to sleep in.”
After that, he rushed out again. “Boss, Brother Ye, wait for me! I’m going to the hotel with you too!”
Old Qian: “…Okay, okay.”
He suddenly thought of something. Eight was too early?
Had he forgotten that on the deserted island, he had gotten up at five on the dot every day to exercise?
Eh, he was suddenly a little curious. He wondered whether the routine developed in the virtual world would carry over into reality.
Unfortunately, there would be no livestream tomorrow morning.
In the blink of an eye, four of the six people had left. Qi Xiu’s eyes darted around, and he said, “I don’t have a manager. I’ll go back with Boss and the others too…”
But just as he was about to run out, Sun Xinping stopped him.
“What are you doing?” Qi Xiu looked at Sun Xinping warily.
Sun Xinping gave him a kind smile. “Xiao Qi, the car is full.”
Qi Xiu was dumbfounded.
Damn it. He Erwang had moved so fast and snatched the last seat.
“Can you arrange another car then?” he asked Sun Xinping.
At that moment, Old Qian, who had been standing dumbly at the door, turned back.
“It’s fine, Director. I’ll have the driver use a seven-seater business car to take them back.”
He swiftly called the staff member in charge of coordination, then waved at Qi Xiu while making the call. “Xiao Qi, hurry and catch up with them.”
Qi Xiu’s eyes lit up, and he thanked him. “Thank you, uncle!”
He also ran off in a flash.
Only Mo Fan was left. “…”
The foot he had subconsciously stepped forward with stopped again.
He did not have such great backing and felt embarrassed leaving without first greeting his manager.
Old Qian spoke again. “Mo Fan, do you want to go to the hotel with them? It just so happens to be a seven-seater. The six of you can take one car. If you want to go, I’ll tell your manager for you. We booked the same hotel for the managers anyway. They’ll head over tonight too, so you can meet your manager at the hotel.”
Hearing that, Mo Fan smiled at him gratefully and said without hesitation, “Then I’ll go first too. Please help pass the message along. Thank you.”
He took his phone and also strode out.
Everything happened too quickly.
Sun Xinping felt as if, in just a few breaths, all the guests had emptied out.
Old Qian was still smiling cheerfully at him. “Director, shall we head up now? Do we still need to talk with the guests’ managers?”
Sun Xinping’s head was covered in black lines. He took a deep breath and glared fiercely at Old Qian. “You sure know how to play the good guy.”
Qi Xiu had no one backing him.
Mo Fan had relatively low status and had been in the entertainment industry for a long time, so he understood the rules. Sun Xinping had originally wanted to break through one by one and secure those two guests first.
Great. Now that was all ruined.
He stormed toward the elevator, his steps unusually heavy.
Old Qian rubbed his head in confusion. “What’s his problem?”
Meanwhile, Shen Jinfeng, who had been the first to leave and had intended to return to the hotel, had not expected that as soon as he got into the car, even with the little tail Gu Shengsheng beside him, Qin Ye would get in just a few seconds later too.
The tall, handsome young man bent down and entered the cabin, naturally sitting beside him. His brows and eyes curved slightly as he smiled at him. “Captain, I’ll go back with you.”
Shen Jinfeng stared at him for a moment, then nodded.
He only felt that Qin Ye’s smile looked the same as it had on the deserted island, yet also very different.
Back when he thought Qin Ye had a crush on him, seeing Qin Ye smile at him on the island, he would automatically imagine that Qin Ye was trying to attract his attention, or that he could not help feeling delighted at seeing the person he liked.
But looking at Qin Ye’s smile now, Shen Jinfeng felt that it seemed quite normal.
It was a very good-looking smile, but also very normal. It could not be called passionate.
It was not even as passionate as the next person who charged in.
He Erwang came running over, his head of purple hair especially eye-catching even in the night. The moment he hopped into the car, his brows and eyes curved, his smile bright, excited, and dazzling.
As soon as he rushed into the car, he looked like a swallow returning to its nest. He even excitedly went up and hugged Shen Jinfeng and the others one by one. “Boss, I’m so happy to see you all again!”
He smiled like a little sun, his emotions so warm and intense they were almost overwhelming.
Even Gu Shengsheng’s low mood was infected by him, and he smiled faintly. “Brother Wang, do you always talk so dramatically? I feel like it hasn’t even been a minute since we last saw each other.”
He Erwang waved it off. “Hey, one second apart feels like three autumns.”
Pfft.
Shen Jinfeng laughed helplessly and pressed a hand to his forehead.
He casually slipped his phone into his pocket.
With so many people around, there was no way he could look at his phone now.
If he tapped on it later and neither fingerprint nor facial recognition worked, and he did not know the password either, that would be rather strange.
The driver in the front asked whether they were ready to set off.
Qin Ye stopped him. “Wait a little longer.”
“I think Qi Xiu and Brother Mo should be here soon too.”
Sure enough, not even two minutes later, Qi Xiu and Mo Fan, who had been a little slower because a different staff member had led them over, got into the car as well.
“Good thing I made it! I was worried Boss and the rest of you would leave first. Now it seems we really do have a tacit understanding.” Qi Xiu got into the car and patted his chest, his heartbeat slightly quickened from running.
“Comfortable. Tomorrow’s troubles can be dealt with tomorrow. Tonight, I just want a good sleep.” As soon as Mo Fan got into the car, after greeting everyone, he lazily reclined in a single seat.
Qi Xiu said, “No way, Brother Mo. You slept for so many days, and you still haven’t had enough?”
Mo Fan said faintly, “Having your eyes closed isn’t called sleeping. These past few days, our consciousness was awake the whole time. Especially Boss. He was doing physical labor on the island the entire time.”
Shen Jinfeng did not actually feel tired, but to prevent being disturbed again in the middle of the night, he echoed, “I am a little tired. Everyone should go back and rest early tonight.”
The moment he spoke, the others, who had been about to question it, instantly swallowed their words.
Shen Jinfeng also lazily leaned back. He turned to look at Mo Fan and saw Mo Fan giving him a gentle smile.
He was stunned for a moment.
Then he realized that Mo Fan was meticulous. He had probably noticed that Shen Jinfeng wanted to be alone, which was why he had said that first.
Shen Jinfeng also smiled and nodded at him.
He Erwang did not notice the exchange of glances between the two at all. He simply agreed, “Oh, right. Let’s sleep properly tonight. Tomorrow we can listen to the production team’s nonsense.”
“But Boss, whatever you guys think, you can tell me. I’ll have my manager negotiate with them. I’ll also borrow a few lawyers from my dad to help us negotiate.”
“Eh, wait.” He suddenly remembered something and asked Qin Ye, “Brother Ye, your company has developed so well these past few years. I heard my dad say you’ve never lost a lawsuit. Your lawyers must be even better, right? You should have your family’s lawyers come. You can directly order them around.”
Qin Ye did not refuse either. “All right. Everyone should go back and rest properly tonight. Think over what you want to do next. Tomorrow morning, we’ll meet first, exchange our thoughts, then relay them to the lawyers together.”
The driver, who was sitting in the driver’s seat and silently driving like a mute, became even more silent and did not dare make a sound. “…”
No, had these ancestors in the back completely forgotten that there was another person in the car?
He was also part of the production team!
Or were they certain he would not dare report this?
What a joke. Gathering the lawyers of the Qin family and the He family to deal with their tiny production team—wasn’t that a bit like using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken?
Even if he reported it, the production team probably could not do anything anyway.
So, here came the question. Should he report it or not?
Shen Jinfeng and the others in the back row had no idea what the driver was thinking.
Before joining What Kind of Person Are You, the six of them had been famous strangers who had heard of one another but never truly met.
By chance and circumstance, they had been gathered together. That could also be considered fate.
On the way back to the hotel, because they had just left the show, what remained in all their minds and tied them together was still the memories of the deserted island.
Everyone spoke almost tacitly only about the island and what had happened there.
“Wuwu, what a pity about my clothes, my bowl, and my Fei De Kuai.” He Erwang pulled a mournful face. God knew, one moment ago, he had been lying on the beach wearing the leaf clothes his boss had made for him!
Once he said that, the others were instantly overcome with grief as well.
Gu Shengsheng felt especially wronged. He rarely received gifts from others.
“My clothes.” Just thinking about them made him want to cry.
Even Qin Ye looked full of reluctance.
His eyes were slightly red.
Shen Jinfeng: “…”
?
What was going on? How had they started talking and suddenly all looked like they were going to cry?
“Actually, leaf clothes don’t last long to begin with,” he said.
The others’ expressions stiffened for a moment, and they looked at him resentfully.
Then they continued mourning their lost leaf clothes.
Qin Ye lowered his brows and eyes, his dark lashes trembling faintly. “Leaf clothes don’t last long, but my pigskin outfit could have lasted a lifetime.”
He had originally made up his mind to keep it for the rest of his life.
Shen Jinfeng said, “You all said so much… because you want another one, right?”
Gu Shengsheng suddenly looked up. “Can we?”
Shen Jinfeng struggled to explain again. “But leaf clothes really don’t have a long shelf life.”
He Erwang waved his hand grandly. “It doesn’t matter! I don’t believe there isn’t some preservation technology on the market that can preserve my leaf clothes.”
Shen Jinfeng sighed and looked at Qin Ye, about to say something.
Qin Ye’s eyes were dark and bright as he looked at him. “I still remember the ratios for throwing, drying, shaping, dyeing, and the herbal medicines and solutions needed.”
Shen Jinfeng: “…”
Fine. He had originally wanted to say that with industrialized equipment, making pigskin clothes would not need to be so troublesome.
“Sigh, what a pity about my Fei De Kuai. It had only just learned…” He Erwang continued endlessly reminiscing about everything on the deserted island.
Seeing that everyone’s emotions had inexplicably been led astray again, Shen Jinfeng’s mouth twitched.
“Can I ask you all a question?” he said.
The others instantly quieted down.
“Boss, ask!”
Shen Jinfeng said calmly, “Before you knew me, what impression did you have of me?”
Everyone’s expressions froze at the same time.
“Uh…”
On the other side, after sending the guests away, Sun Xinping returned to the control room with a group of staff.
He discovered that although all the guests had already exited, the livestream screen was still on.
“Goat, why hasn’t the livestream ended yet?” he asked.
Goat turned around and stared at him resentfully. “Director, when you all left, the viewers were making a fuss. You told me to handle it and give Shen Dalao an explanation.”
Sun Xinping said, “Mm.”
Goat continued, “So I thought of a way to notify Shen Dalao and said he’d have to wait at most another hour before going out. The viewers saw it too and said they wanted to watch Shen Dalao for one last hour.”
Sun Xinping frowned. “Don’t say such unlucky things. What do you mean, ‘watch Shen Dalao for one last hour’? Maybe they’ll come back tomorrow.”
He was still dreaming unrealistically.
Goat pursed his lips. “Then Director, you guys were too fast. Before an hour had passed, Shen Dalao disappeared too…”
Sun Xinping said, “Mm. What’s the problem?”
Goat pointed at the screen. “Director, look for yourself.”
Sun Xinping fixed his eyes on the screen full of bullet comments, then fell silent.
The bullet comments were raging. The netizens’ resentment was heavier than ghosts.
[What happened to the promised one hour? How is the production team going to pay back the thirty-seven minutes you owe me?]
[This desolate island—no one remembers there was still a group of us waiting bitterly.]
[Hehe. On this sorrowful night, only lonely netizens are left huddling together for warmth, pitifully pouring out their hearts to one another. The starry sky bears witness; the meteor shower sheds tears of grief, all saddened for the lonely netizens.]
[Tonight, we gathered here to celebrate Shen Dalao breaking through the virtual world and carrying his teammates to victory. Then, a group of poor viewers was born.]
[The guests can’t be kept, fine. Production team, I advise you to work hard to keep me. Use this incredible meteor shower!]
[If anything can still soothe my soul, it must be this starry sky, which once let me and Shen Dalao, Brother Ye, Shengsheng, Xiao Qi, Brother Mo, and Little Purple Hair breathe the same air. So, if the production team dares to turn off the livestream and cut this meteor shower short, don’t blame me for mailing you blades!]
[If I’d known this meteor shower would be so heartbreaking, I would’ve threatened the production team not to release it.]
[I advise the production team to repent. Keep this meteor shower running until Dalao and the others come back, just to continue where things left off.]
[After all, the production team is pitifully stupid. You let Brother Ye disappear. You let Dalao disappear. I probably won’t survive tonight either. Once the meteor shower disappears, I’ll disappear with it.]
…
The bullet comments came one after another, full of sarcasm, truly displaying a beautiful mental state.
Decadent, with a faint touch of madness.
Sun Xinping broke out in a cold sweat.
“What’s wrong with these netizens? Just for those thirty-seven minutes?”
Goat nodded blankly. “Seems so.”
Sun Xinping said, “I wasn’t the one who promised one hour. You caused this, so solve it yourself.”
“When fewer people are watching, turn off the livestream. Got it?”
After instructing him, he turned and walked away.
“Old Qian, where are the managers? Come with me to meet them.”
Goat, who had been abandoned on the spot: “…”
Heh. His own resentment was about to become heavier than a ghost too.
Sun Xinping brought a grand procession of staff to meet the managers.
After all, contracts were usually negotiated with managers.
Those who had arrived that night, except for Gu Shengsheng’s parents, were the managers of the other guests gathered in one place.
This incident, at its root, had happened because the production team had too many bugs.
If one dug into it, the reason the guests had left the virtual deserted island early was actually because they had performed too well.
Therefore, Sun Xinping was not as confidently domineering as he had been when they first signed the contracts. He said with a friendly attitude, “Actually, our contract period with each of your artists has not ended yet. But for the sake of smooth continued fulfillment and pleasant cooperation, advertising revenue, heartbeat value shares, appearance fees… all of these can be renegotiated and redistributed.”
The moment he said that, it basically meant the production team was willing to bleed heavily.
Gu’s father’s eyes immediately lit up. “How much can the appearance fee be increased? Our Shengsheng’s value isn’t the same as before now.”
Gu’s mother also asked, “Can the production team pay part of the deposit in advance?”
Shen Jinfeng’s manager was concerned about something else. “If he continues participating in the show, will the production team still implant personas and memories? Can we decide those ourselves?”
His eyes flickered with shrewdness, obviously harboring impure intentions.
But Qin Ye’s assistant, who had heard that Qin Ye had already gone to the hotel, directly stood up and said to Sun Xinping, “Sorry, I have limited authority and no decision-making power. I need to ask President Qin first before negotiating with you.”
He said this “politely,” made an apologetic gesture “politely,” then “politely” left.
He Erwang’s manager could not help laughing. “Director Sun, it’s already quite late tonight. I also can’t control our Wang-ge. I’ll go back and ask him first.”
With the two biggest Buddhas gone, even reaching an agreement with the rest would be useless.
Besides, Gu Shengsheng’s parents and Shen Jinfeng’s manager—
He was not brainless. What was the point of reaching an agreement with those people?
Therefore, Sun Xinping stood there, silently calmed his surging thoughts, angrily downed an entire glass of water, and also directly sent the guests away.
“Then let’s discuss this again tomorrow.”
After seeing all the managers off, he waved his hand and kept the production team’s core staff behind.
“Come on, everyone brainstorm. Come up with several plans for tomorrow’s negotiations.”
The pitiful workers: “…”
Damn it. It was the middle of the night and their brains had already shut down, yet he still wanted a brainstorm!
Storm your head!
Late at night, close to midnight.
Shen Jinfeng, who had basically figured out the information about this body’s original owner, lay in bed and felt like he was going to lose sleep.
Earlier, on the way to the hotel, he had asked the others what impression they had of him in real life.
The way they hemmed and hawed had said everything.
In summary, he was a black-red celebrity in the entertainment industry.
Aside from tax evasion and sleeping scandals, and without pornography, gambling, drugs, or crimes, the original owner basically had every other bad reputation one could think of.
Even so, the original owner had always had resources in the entertainment industry.
However, practically useful resources were almost nonexistent.
They were all variety show black memes that had gone viral, major awards ceremonies, fashion banquets, and low-tier web dramas as lead or supporting roles.
After he came back, Shen Jinfeng looked through all the original owner’s public black materials in the entertainment industry.
But seventy to eighty percent of those black materials had already been clarified in pinned Weibo posts by his fan support club, who had collected evidence during this period.
As for the remaining twenty to thirty percent, most netizens were also skeptical.
Occasionally, when a troll popped up, they would immediately be suppressed before they could make any waves by fans and passersby who had been won over by his performance on What Kind of Person Are You.
Shen Jinfeng opened his phone and saw that he alone occupied eight hot searches. His vision nearly went black.
Whether negative black-red fame or positive explosive popularity, both were tens of thousands of miles away from what he had expected.
But he had taken over the original owner’s body, and the original owner had indeed been framed.
The hotel had a computer. After returning, Shen Jinfeng spent more than an hour finding the causes, consequences, logic chains, and evidence of framing for all the remaining black materials. He compiled them into a clarified report with images and text, clear enough to understand at a glance, and sent it directly to the president of his fan support club.
Once the other party saw it and posted it, everything should be resolved.
Then he took a shower and lay on the hotel bed.
He thought about the slightly more troublesome matter of his identity.
888 had not lied to him. No parents, no attachments, rich and handsome.
The premise of everything should originally have been that he would first deal with the Shen family.
Just now, he had conveniently packed up all the filthy things the Shen family had done over the years and sent them to a group of marketing accounts, waiting for public opinion to ferment. He would give them a taste of their own medicine.
At the same time, he had also filed a police report. Later, he would hire a lawyer to help sue them and send in whoever deserved to be sent in.
However, after cracking all the original owner’s passwords, he discovered that an enormous sum of wealth was already lying quietly in his bank account.
After looking into it a little, he understood.
Oh. So this world’s national father had taken action and helped him reclaim his inheritance.
That led to an even more troublesome point.
The pitfall system 888 had not transmitted him complete memories, causing him to accidentally reveal a little too much on the deserted island, which seemed to have drawn the attention of many people.
Because now, after turning on his phone,
he had already received messages and WeChat friend requests from many extremely famous figures.
These people were even quite nice.
Aside from a few people who had called and said they would come see him tomorrow,
the others had only sent texts or friend requests, saying that he should rest well tonight.
So tomorrow, not only did he have to continue discussing what to do with that production team,
he also had to deal with a group of inexplicable important figures who had been drawn in by him.
Shen Jinfeng lay in the darkness, looking at the faintly lit ceiling, and blinked.
He suddenly felt a little wronged.
888 was truly too much of a pit!
All of this could not be blamed on him, right?
