Who could be knocking on the door?
Zhou Yun didn't move; in this unfamiliar place, Zhou Lan would handle it.
The one knocking was a young girl with a joyful face and sparkling eyes, probably around twenty years old.
"Hello, I am Lin Xiaomiao, I came here to do some preliminary recording."
Zhou Lan didn't just let her in but expressed her doubt.
"Preliminary recording? Didn't we agree to do that after the show is recorded?"
Lin Xiaomiao said, "Ah? Is that so? I wasn't aware of that. I just received a notice to come and do a preliminary recording for Zhou Yun. Is it convenient?"
"Is there enough time, considering we have a photo shoot scheduled shortly?" Zhou Lan asked.
Lin Xiaomiao replied, "Our preliminary recording will be quick. Just a few questions, and it will be aired as a short feature."
Zhou Yun was only a minor artist, and without excessive prior discussions, it wasn't ideal to outright refuse and risk acquiring a reputation for being uncooperative.
For an artist like Zhou Yun with no influential background and not much fame, if his reputation wasn't managed well, he would find it even harder to get work.
Zhou Yun, listening from inside, straightened up a bit. When Lin Xiaomiao entered with the photographer, Zhou Yun greeted them with a sweet smile.
"Hello, Xiaomiao."
After some greetings, they put on headphones, tested the sound, and were about to start the formal recording when someone knocked on the door again.
Zhou Lan went to open the door, and the person standing there wore a badge indicating affiliation with the "What a Nice Weather" show. Zhou Lan suddenly remembered that Lin Xiaomiao and her photographer hadn't worn such badges.
"Are you Sister Lan?" This person, a young man in his twenties, greeted her with a slight smile, "We would like to take Zhou Yun for a few promotional photos."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lan looked back at Lin Xiaomiao and others, saying, "She's in the middle of preliminary recording, just started, not done yet."
"Preliminary recording?" The young man looked puzzled. "We scheduled Zhou Yun's recording for after the shoot."
Zhou Lan stepped aside, pointing at Lin Xiaomiao and others, and said, "The plan we received was the same, but there was a sudden change just now."
The young man took a glance inside, his puzzled expression deepening.
"Which team are you from? I've never seen you guys before?"
Hearing this, Zhou Lan was stunned and quickly approached.
"Your work IDs? Let me see them."
Lin Xiaomiao and the photographer showed a fleeting look of panic.
"We, we didn't bring them, well, since you have a photo shoot, we'll come back later." Saying that, Lin Xiaomiao and the photographer tried to leave.
"Wait!" Now Zhou Lan sensed something was wrong, grabbed Lin Xiaomiao's arm, pulling her back, "Who exactly are you?"
The young man seeing this, turned back and yelled down the corridor, "Get security!"
Zhou Yun looked confused, utterly unaware of what was going on.
Ten minutes later, Zhou Yun found out that these two weren't staff arranged by the show at all, but paparazzi who had sneaked in intending to misuse the recording session to get an exclusive interview with Zhou Yun.
"Imposters!" Once Zhou Lan learned the truth, she turned pale with anger, "Call the police!"
Director Wang, upon hearing the news, came over with the producer, his face couldn't hide the embarrassment.
"How can you let people in when they're not one of ours?" Director Wang angrily reprimanded someone nearby.
People around exchanged glances.
A variety show shooting always involves a lot of people and is chaotic, but management has always been strict. These two must have been brought in by someone from the crew.
Seeing the director losing his temper, Zhou Lan didn't say much.
"Director Wang, let it be. Fortunately, we discovered it in time and there was no real harm done. The shooting is about to begin, you go attend to your work," Zhou Lan could only speak magnanimously.
After all, it was someone else's show crew, and every department was busy. Zhou Lan didn't want Zhou Yun to get involved in media controversies at this time.
Who knows if someone might deliberately create false news.
These days, just mentioning "inside information" can cast a smokescreen and tarnish people's reputations.
Director Wang and the producer consoled Zhou Yun a bit and then left.
Throughout, Zhou Yun just stood silently behind Zhou Lan, occasionally smiling, not speaking.
Once everyone had left, Zhou Lan turned and asked, "Are you alright?"
"It's nothing serious, and thanks to this gentleman for detecting it timely, we discovered the issue with those two earlier," Zhou Yun said to Xu Zhijie, who was still standing by the door smiling warmly, "Thank you."
Xu Zhijie's face suddenly turned red.
"No, no need to thank."
Zhou Yun mentioned, "Didn't they say something about taking promotional photos? Let's go; we've already delayed enough, let's get the shooting done, don't hold up the program."