Chinese Entertainment: Becoming a Superstar After a Breakup

"Sister Yao, is there something you need?" Early in the morning, Shen Ze received a WeChat message from Zhao Ruoyao, asking him to come to the company. Shen Ze guessed that it was about the award that "The Coffin in the Mountain" had won.

"Sit down. 'The Coffin in the Mountain' won an award. Although it's not an acting award, it will give you more confidence when you get roles in the future. You have good judgment." Zhao Ruoyao twirled her pen as she looked at Shen Ze.

"But that's precisely why we have to be even more careful. Our careers are just starting out and not stable yet. As artists, the most important thing is to avoid negative news," Zhao Ruoyao said.

"Sister Yao, I'll be careful."

"Well, now that you've been with the company for a while and have completed your training, we're about to officially start promoting you. I hope you can keep your communication with the company consistent. If anything affects your career, please inform the company in advance so that we can be prepared and not catch you off guard." Zhao Ruoyao began to make his points.

"For example, dating history is very important. Many artists have disappeared from the public eye because they didn't handle their relationships well. The company doesn't prevent artists from dating, but we hope that artists won't keep it a secret from the company so that the company can deal with it in advance," Zhao Ruoyao said.

"Sister Yao, I'll go back and think about it," Shen Ze said. He wasn't stupid; Zhao Ruoyao wanted to know about his romantic history. Why would she ask this for no reason? Could it be that Dilraba had exposed it? He couldn't just say it directly; he had to check the information with Dilraba.

He originally thought it was about "The Coffin in the Mountain," but now it seems he was overthinking it. That makes sense; although "The Coffin in the Mountain" won an award, it wasn't a major one. This youth film festival is an award for newcomers, and every year some unknown films appear.

Last year there was a movie called "Mei Jie", which was a story from his hometown. He only learned about this movie after seeing "The Coffin in the Mountain" nominated. This movie won more awards at the Youth Film Festival than "The Coffin in the Mountain", a total of five. Everyone who has the awards that "The Coffin in the Mountain" has.

But what happened in the end? It was released after the National Day holiday last year, but it only lasted two days in theaters and didn't even gross a few hundred thousand yuan. Later, it was released on the movie channel and was also shortlisted for the Tokyo International Film Festival, which is not much different from the current "The Coffin in the Mountain".

However, that's from other people's perspectives. From Shen Ze's perspective, it's different. He had seen "The Coffin in the Mountain" in his later life, but he had never heard of "Sister Mei". It seems that "The Coffin in the Mountain" will only become a recognized high-scoring work after it is released in its entirety. Right now, it is just a niche work and not many people have seen it.

After leaving the company, I checked the time and saw that Dilraba was still working. I decided to wait. During lunch, my WeChat message popped up. Dilraba had shared a photo of her lunch with me, and then a video call came through.

"Baby, you're eating grass again, just like a cow. Let's have hot pot tomorrow. What did you eat for lunch?" Dilraba said. Her work meals were arranged by her staff, so they were naturally the kind of things that looked fancy but didn't taste good at all.

As an artist, you have to weigh yourself frequently. Dilraba has gained two pounds in the past few days, so she needs to control it.

"Look, the rice noodles, the mushroom flavor you bought, you don't dislike them, so I added some chili, it's alright." Shen Ze showed it to her.

"No way, I'll eat grass and you'll eat rice noodles, that's not fair. You should eat onions right now," Dilraba said.

"Stop fooling around, I have something to tell you," Shen Ze said.

"What's wrong?" Dilraba was taken aback, and could tell that her boyfriend was a little serious.

"The company contacted me today, for no apparent reason, asking about my dating history. It's a bit strange. I'm asking if it's a problem on your end?" Shen Ze asked.

"I'm fine, or should I ask?" Dilraba was also a little confused. Why was she suddenly asking about this? She didn't think of it for a moment. It was about her refusing to film as a couple. It wasn't that she was stupid, it was that she couldn't read minds. Normally, this matter should be directed to her.

"You asked if it wasn't exposed? It must be a coincidence, or maybe the company found out about us and deliberately singled me out," Shen Ze said.

"That can't be right, I hid it so well, I never even kissed you at the company," Dilraba said.

"There's only one reason. We found out from the school. You come to our school often, and everyone in our class knows about our relationship. Too many people will gossip," Shen Ze said.

He doesn't think the company brought this up casually, or that it just happened suddenly. But he personally believes there's more to it than just a coincidence.

"What should we do then?" Dilraba said.

"Just do what needs to be done. You know it, you know it," Shen Ze said.

"Yeah, that's even better. We can be together every day now. Hiding is too tiring," Dilraba said.

"Let's talk about it later. Don't think about it anymore. We'll talk about it when we get back," Shen Ze said.

"Okay, I want to eat hot pot tomorrow, at the place diagonally across from our building downstairs," Dilraba said.

"OK."

After hanging up the WeChat message, Shen Ze pondered the matter. Why did they contact him? What was the reason? What did they want? Oh well, he would deal with it as it came. He was caught off guard in this situation.

The next day, Shen Ze received a call from Dilraba early in the morning.

"Baby, don't pick me up. I originally wanted to go straight home, but the company asked me to come over. They said that Sister Mi came to the company today and mentioned me. Knowing that I was back today, she wanted to have dinner together," Dilraba said.

"Okay." Sister Mi, is that Yang Mi? Come to think of it, I haven't seen her since I joined the company. She's back now.

……

On the other side, in a private room of a restaurant.

"Honey, have you found out anything over there?" Zhao Ruoyao asked.

"I asked before, and now I've checked with my friend and confirmed it. Reba is really dating. I didn't expect her to bring her boyfriend to the company." A distinctive female voice with a nasal tone rang out.

"At first I thought they were friends. After all, they are undergraduates from Beijing Film Academy, so I thought it was fine if they came. I didn't expect that it was a case of blind spots. Reba really dared to do that," Zeng Jia said.

"Now it all makes sense. When Shen Ze first joined the company, Reba was at the company every day. At first, I thought that since she was a friend, she was responsible for her friend. But something just didn't seem right."

Reba has never liked getting close to men, and she keeps her distance from the men in our company. But when Shen Ze came, she practically clung to him. Later, I even had Yunlong and the others inquire about it, and it's true.

"I didn't take it seriously at first. We were dating, and it was going well. We were both from the company, so our relationship wasn't likely to cause any problems. The company could control it. But then Reba suddenly told me that she wasn't going to film a couple movie with Weiguang anymore, and that it was affecting her work," Zhao Ruoyao said.

"It's not that serious, is it? We're not doing anything. You can't even take a group photo? Is there some misunderstanding? Are you really sick?" Yang Mi said.

"I'll ask what's going on later. Right now, Dilraba is the artist who's gone the furthest in the company. Don't let trivial matters affect her career."