Hi, Wifey! [Entertainment Industry] - Chapter 23

In the hospital room, Zhou Wen remained silent, watching Cheng Wanyu as if the other could see right through her.

Finally, she sighed and resignedly spread her hands. “All of this… was arranged by the company.”

As a top-tier agent, Guan Yunwen frowned slightly at Zhou Wen’s words. “Are you saying those trending hashtags smearing Fu Xia were orchestrated by your own company?”

“Not entirely.”

Zhou Wen told them, “I’m only telling you this because you’ve helped me and Fu Xia before. I hope you’ll keep it confidential—this is practically… an unwritten company secret.”

She looked at Cheng Wanyu and continued, “Actually, those hashtags were initially meant to smear Fu Xia. But that same night, our company contacted the marketing account behind it. Since they’d collaborated with us before, they revealed the whole story.”

“All six trending topics were paid for by someone trying to tarnish Xia’s reputation. The marketing account even discussed whether to take them down for a fee, but our boss refused.”

Zhou Wen explained, “Getting trending topics is hard to come by. The boss saw it as a great opportunity for publicity. So, except for the first day of genuine smear attempts, the following two days of negative marketing were bought by our own company.”

Guan Yunwen shook her head in disapproval. “You’re ruining someone’s life.”

“I know,” Zhou Wen admitted. “When I first took over as Fu Xia’s manager, I knew the company had planned this ‘controversial fame’ path for her.”

Cheng Wanyu’s expression darkened. “You’re destroying Fu Xia’s reputation!”

Zhou Wen sighed helplessly. “There’s nothing I can do. This was decided by upper management. Getting angry at me won’t change anything.”

Guan Yunwen interjected, “Fu Xia is a top-tier star now. Hasn’t she considered starting her own studio?”

Zhou Wen replied, “She signed a 20-year contract with the company. Breaking it would require astronomical compensation.”

Cheng Wanyu countered, “What about her earnings? With annual income in the hundreds of millions, surely, she can afford the penalty?”

After a long silence, Zhou Wen finally said, “Regardless… she can’t pay the penalty right now, so she has to follow the company’s arrangements. Sometimes Fu Xia even helps promote newcomers—half of those dozen artists who spoke up recently are newcomers the company plans to push.”

“Using Fu Xia’s scandals to boost newcomers’ popularity,” Guan Yunwen remarked with feeling. “Your company really knows how to exploit its artists.”

Zhou Wen looked at Fu Xia. “What choice do we have? We’re all just employees.”

At least she could quit if she couldn’t take it anymore—Fu Xia’s indentured contract still had years to run.

The evening city was bathed in golden sunset light that streamed through windows, spilling across the luxurious office floor like liquid gold.

Amid the tranquil dusk, the office intercom suddenly rang. A man picked up the receiver.

“President Cheng, you have an outside call. Shall I put it through?”

It was his secretary, her voice sweet and tone gentle as she inquired.

The man’s jet-black hair was neatly groomed, his sideburns precisely trimmed. His hand, holding a fountain pen, paused mid-air. “Who is it?”

The secretary replied, “It’s the young miss.”

The man responded with an “Oh,” then said, “Put her through.”

After the secretary acknowledged the request, the call was quickly connected. The man listened to the voice on the other end before speaking slowly, “After running away from home for three years, you finally remember to call me?”

Cheng Wanyu sighed, leaning against the hospital corridor wall with the phone in hand. “Brother.”

Cheng Hongzhi relaxed into his wide office chair. “So, you still remember I’m your brother?”

“Brother,” Cheng Wanyu said, “I need your help with something.”

Rubbing his temples, Cheng Hongzhi opened his eyes—deep-set and dark, just like Cheng Wanyu’s. Their features bore a striking resemblance.

“You need my help?” Cheng Hongzhi sounded puzzled. “For three years, you refused to let us interfere. What made you suddenly think of asking me now?”

“Can you stop bringing up the ‘running away for three years’ thing?” Cheng Wanyu retorted. “You’ve seen how I’m doing on TV, haven’t you?”

Cheng Hongzhi scoffed. “Does our family lack the means to support you? Was it necessary for you to flaunt yourself in the entertainment industry?”

“That was my choice. And I didn’t call to argue—I need you to look into a company for me.”

“A company?” Cheng Hongzhi was taken aback. “What does an artist like you need with investigating a company?”

“Just tell me if you’ll help or not.”

“Of course I will,” Cheng Hongzhi replied calmly. “But I need to know the full story.”

“The full story is that I don’t like this company,” Cheng Wanyu said. “Get me all the information on Shengxin Entertainment and send it to my email within ten minutes.”

“Shengxin Entertainment isn’t the company you’re signed with, is it?” Cheng Hongzhi asked, intrigued. “Why investigate them?”

“You’ll understand once you look into it.”

“Fine.”

Cheng Hongzhi didn’t press further. Gazing out the window, he asked, “Are you coming home for the Lunar New Year?”

Cheng Wanyu paused before answering flatly, “It’s only August.”

“I know. That’s why I’m asking if you’ll be home for the New Year.”

“…”

Cheng Hongzhi sighed. “Do we really make you that uncomfortable? Enough that you’d rather run away than come back to see us?”

“It’s not that,” Cheng Wanyu said quietly. “I just don’t know how to face you all.”

“Wanyu, all you need to know is that we love you. That’s enough. The rest… you really don’t need to overthink it.”

Cheng Wanyu hung up and leaned against the tiled wall, staring at her darkened phone with another sigh.

In the three years since she left home, Cheng Wanyu had endured many hardships. Her family had sent people to find her, but she had refused them all. After one particularly heated outburst, the Chengs stopped openly searching for her. Yet, given the family’s vast business empire—spanning industries and dominating commerce—and Cheng Wanyu’s career as an artist, their paths inevitably crossed from time to time.

Still, they never forced her to return home again.

That cage—she had no desire to go back.

When she returned to the hospital room, Guan Yunwen was on a call while Zhou Wen sat by the bed, watching Fu Xia. Cheng Wanyu pulled up a chair and took a seat on the opposite side.

“About today’s incident,” Zhou Wen said quietly, meeting Cheng Wanyu’s gaze, “I hope you’ll keep it to yourselves. Xia probably wouldn’t want anyone to see her like this.”

Cheng Wanyu nodded, then seemed to remember something as she said to Zhou Wen, “I want to attend the charity gala at the end of the month with Fu Xia.”

Zhou Wen looked at her: “Are you really planning to appear together with Xia?”

Cheng Wanyu nodded.

Zhou Wen sighed and reached out to stroke the still-sleeping Fu Xia, saying, “Alright, I’ll tell her when she wakes up.”

Fu Xia woke up that very night, though she remained feverish. For the next two days, she had persistent low-grade fever, and it took a full week for her to fully recover.

Meanwhile, all the negative rumors about Fu Xia were suppressed the night she woke up. She had no idea what had happened, and Zhou Wen didn’t tell her either.

One day, Fu Xia sat on her hospital bed playing with her phone while Zhou Wen sat beside her peeling an apple.

“How come the trending topics disappeared so quickly this time?” Fu Xia munched on the apple curiously. “They usually stay up for four or five days—why were they gone in just three this time?”

She looked at Zhou Wen, her light-colored eyes fixed on the other woman. “Don’t tell me the company ran out of money to buy trending spots?”

Zhou Wen: “…”

She placed the peeled apple on a plate and said to Fu Xia, “Don’t worry, the company still has money to buy you trending spots. There must be other reasons this time.”

Fu Xia hugged the plate and said pitifully, “I want to suggest to the company that they shouldn’t buy trending spots for me so often. Netizens will get tired of seeing me all the time. Wouldn’t it be better to spend that money on other artists? After all, the company is one big family—everyone should get equal attention.”

What a way to phrase “equal attention.”

Zhou Wen stood up and said to Fu Xia, “I think you should just lie down. If I die one day, it’ll definitely be from anger caused by that mouth of yours.”

Fu Xia grinned. “Don’t say that, Sister Zhou Wen! You’ll definitely live a long life!”

Zhou Wen laughed despite herself. Picking up her bag, she said, “I can’t be bothered with you. There’s a company meeting today—stay in your room and don’t go anywhere, understand?”

Fu Xia nodded. Only after Zhou Wen left did she climb out of bed, lower the air conditioning temperature, and burrow back under the covers.

With her phone plugged in, Fu Xia lay on the hospital bed fiddling with her device. She had grown bored during her days of rest and was itching for something to do. Just as she unlocked her phone, a news notification popped up.

Headline: Shengxin Entertainment Implodes Internally—Specific Reasons Still Under Investigation…

Fu Xia froze. Wasn’t Shengxin Entertainment her agency? Was the boss being investigated?

In the following days, the CEO of Shengxin Entertainment was thoroughly exposed—tax evasion, employee exploitation, keeping multiple mistresses, even paternity tests revealing his children weren’t his. Though no one really knew who this CEO was, the drama was irresistible. Just as it was revealed he had three mistresses in the same neighborhood, paternity test results showed two of his sons weren’t biologically his.

The consequence of watching this drama unfold up close was that Fu Xia didn’t get much rest during those days. When she was discharged from the hospital, she still had dark circles under her eyes, though her spirits were high.

Zhou Wen looked at Fu Xia helplessly. “How did you end up looking worse after days in the hospital?”

Fu Xia nibbled on an ice pop. “Not at all, Sister Zhou Wen. Is our company… about to get a new boss?”

Zhou Wen glanced at Fu Xia with a hint of depth in her eyes, then nodded and said, “The boss has changed, but that’s all. Everything else remains the same as before.”

“Oh?” Fu Xia asked curiously, “Who’s the new boss?”

Zhou Wen replied, “I don’t know, but we’ll probably get to meet them soon.”

Fu Xia licked her popsicle and said, “Alright then.”

After all, the change in boss had nothing to do with her anyway.