Cindy ignored King's glance from the driver's seat, she didn't know why Yige had come here.
Even if he knew about the gossip, it wouldn't be something Yige needed to deal with. She thought their "cooperation" was limited with that time with Aunty Monika. She even purposely ignored his text messages just so she could be his fans again in silence and make everything normal again.
"You've been ignoring my messages."
"No."
"No?" He took his phone out, "A month ago: good luck with your audition - Yige. No reply. The day you got the role: Congratulations on your first role - Yige. No reply. The shooting's ceremony: Have fun and be careful, I heard you do your own stunts don't forget to drink the supplements I sent you - At this point, you know it's Yige, right. No reply. A few hours ago: Good luck with your last day of filming. Still no reply. I send you four thousand and eighty-four messages in total and you don't reply to any of those. Which part of it not ignoring me?"
King was out of his mind, he never knew an A-list actor with long career history like Wu Yige could be a sulky boyfriend. Furthermore, he never knew the rumored wallflower in Stardust, Cindy Li was actually Wu Yige's girlfriend. Thankfully he always acts with respect and professionalism, if not his new job might be thrown out of the window.
Cindy could see King's smiling lips, she knew that her manager must have misunderstood. "Senior, don't act like this. My manager might be misunderstood."
"What misunderstanding? Isn't this self-explanatory?" he glanced at King, "Don't you think?"
King was a man himself, of course, he had also faced an angry lover. He never thought the newcomer he worked for to be the girlfriend of his idol. The entertainment industry was really full of surprise, "Yes, yes. I understood God Yi."
Cindy doesn't care anymore, if King will misunderstand then just let him misunderstand. Cindy opened the sandwich King had brought and began to devour it. Even though Arthur will hold a clarification, there will still be people who blame Cindy. If the public blames Cindy then the company will lose money, if the company loses then Minglin will scold her badly. Cindy needed the energy to listen to the woman's nagging.
HAP
Yige took a big bite of her sandwich, nodding while chewing the food.
"This is good, tuna and mayo? I thought you would cry and be scared because of the news, but seeing you calm and still able to eat voraciously makes me relieved." He paused and took his handkerchief out, wiping some food stains on her lips. "What a messy eater. You're not a child, eat slowly."
Stop it! Stop it and let this little girl eat in peace!
Cindy grabbed her soy milk and drink it in one gulp, hurriedly took her phone out.
To: hubby
Senior, I beg you to stop this.
Just state your purpose and leave.
You scared me.
From: hubby
Oh, so now you text me?
To: hubby
Senior, please.
You know why I don't reply to you.
From: hubby
Oh, enlighten me.
To: hubby
Senior, The incident at the track site is accidental.
I didn't mean to overhear your conversation.
I also didn't protest when Senior took me to see Mrs. Monika, right?
I helped you enough.
Therefore please stop this charade.
Senior can say that we are no longer in touch right?
Let's get this over with.
Please.
From: hubby
Nope.
To: hubby
Senior!
From: hubby
You are tied to this ship.
MY ship.
If I'm coming down then you coming down with me.
Cindy looked at Yige with horror.
To: hubby
What was that supposed to mean?
From: hubby
My ex is not someone like you can handle.
You will get hurt unless you're under my protection.
You should be thankful because I care about your well-being, Junior Sister.
Cindy gave up, she didn't care anymore. She clearly forced herself to debut as a member of an idol group for the sake of her safety, now she also had to pretend to be dating for the sake of her survival. Whatever. Anything to stay alive.
In the entertainment industry, the work pressure of the company was quite heavy. Not only did they have to deal with a lot of schedule affairs, but they also have to have enough sharp vision and resolute work efficiency. High quality of public relations, crises management, and understanding of trends was a skill set they must have.
The company seems to be shrewd, sophisticated, and capable at the same time.
Starlight might be a big player in this industry, but their preferential treatment of the big cow and ignorance of the skinny one was notoriously known. Instead of immediately making a statement against the rumors, they remained silent even after Arthur's company - ZEUS gave clarification.
They made the public direct their anger at Cindy for raiding on Arthur's wave. Worse still, apart from a few solo appearances at concerts or photoshoots, Cindy hasn't proved her skill much in the world of showbiz. The public thought that Cindy was just an inexperienced girl who got lucky with Starlight's support and used Arthur's big name to succeed.
A big insult for an artist.
Funnily enough, while the Starlight PR team did nothing for Cindy. Wang Media PR team was busy contacting fans and staff who were on the set of Flower Generals. They collected various evidence from various angles to show the whole incident in 360-degree video and proved that the videos and photos that circulated were just a matter of shooting angle.
The video soon hit millions of views and gathered various comments under the tab. They were wondering why was Wang Media acting so swift and harsh all of sudden. After all, this kind of thing was nothing out of ordinary in this circle. All kind of guess was written in the comment section, but then the public agreed on one thing: Wang Media tried to protect their investment in Flower General.
Away from the public eyes, Wang Media's Legal Department also contacted B Label and ZEUS to directly provide a draft prosecution against the paparazzi who took photos that violated the privacy of the two artists.
Not only that, Wang Media publicly warned and demanded an apology from media outlets who exaggerated the groundless rumors without giving the parties time to give a clear statement.
Finally, they also published the names of accounts that had vilified Cindy and Arthur and demanded the deletion of comments before 24 hours or they would be subject to civil and criminal prosecution.
It was quite of a frenzy but before the female lead caught the wind of it, the internet turn peaceful. The hot search disappeared and the hashtag gradually faded with the awareness of their fans to delete their previous tweet.
"Thank you."
"You see now? Nothing bad will happen to you as long as you cooperate with me."
Cindy bit her tongue, she never knew the male god she idolized to be this narcissistic. But then again he got every reason to be. "Fine, then what do you need, Senior?"
"Before talking about our cooperation, we must establish a few rules."
"Rules?"
"You can't keep calling me senior, beside you not yet my junior. Flower General is your debut and it's yet to air."
"Fine."
"You can call me darling."
"Uuhk!" Cindy choked on oxygen, what the what?
"Only in front of my family," he added, "You can call me Brother Yi outside. We need to establish closeness as soon as possible to avoid suspicion from my ex. We will announce our relationship to the public after your contract with Starlight is over. For now, you can do your work with ease under the shadow protection of Aunt Monika."
"But-"
"What?"
"Why the public announcement?"
"If we date under the public eye the breaking up is more real. Therefore your safety is guaranteed although we no longer cooperate."
What kind of girlfriend does the male god date? She sounds so scary.
"In estimation, we will have to pretend to be dating for 3 years. A year unnoticed and two years of public dating then an official break up. Deal?"
"No," Cindy was too surprised earlier and just followed Yige's words. But things have become like this, somehow Aunt Monika and Yige cover all of this there must be times when news gets out. If Cindy had to risk her career and life then there had to be a fair replacement price. "What's the payoff for me?"
"You said you didn't need compensation."
"I don't need compensation for keeping my mouth shut but now Senior is asking me to be your fake lover," CIndy paused to see how Yige reacted, "Even though later we will separate but everyone will always associate your name with me. Senior knows very well how labels make people prejudiced. Not to mention the women who might attack me for snatching their idol. I need insurance for myself, Senior."
Yige grinned, "And here I thought you're a naive girl."