Chapter 3 – Mutual Following

The sound of leather shoes tapping the floor echoed throughout the hallway. Xiao Zhang couldn’t help but stealthily glance back at Jiang Heng’s clear and unruffled face, then silently turned his head, commending him mentally.

True to form, the actor never exposed his true feelings.

As Jiang Heng’s personal assistant, of course, Xiao Zhang knew what truly mattered to his boss.

How could he be angry! Brother Jiang was Shen Fubai’s number one obsessive fan! He wouldn’t even admit to rushing out of the bathroom when Shen Fubai’s program was on TV, causing him to slip and get hospitalized!

The public speculated wildly about the reason for Jiang Heng’s hospitalization—some said it happened on set, others thought it was a car accident. Each time Xiao Zhang read these guesses, he felt like he was the sane man in a sea of madness: Tch, you muggles could never know that it was just a result of Jiang Heng’s fangirling gone awry.

There was no anger, and even if there was, Brother Jiang could never be angry at his idol.

That was why Xiao Zhang admired him even more. To be utterly ignored by your long-yearned-for idol! If it had happened to him, he’d cry a river for three days three nights, and land in the ICU. All Brother Jiang did was crinkle his eyebrows—it was astounding self-control!

Despite the likelihood that Jiang Heng had been gnawing the straw of his watermelon juice to bits—

Holding the glass of watermelon juice, Jiang Heng’s brows were unperturbed and his eyes calm. After being brushed off by the idol he had admired for six years, he felt his mood plummet, but he had a strong grip over his emotions, refusing to reveal any semblance of it on his face.

Apart from the momentary loss of control when they passed by Shen Fubai, Jiang Heng maintained an unflinching expression. All the staff marveled at how the actor had genuine magnanimity, chilling at an unforeseen slight against his pride without any reprimand.

But even that split-second captured by the camera made it enough ammunition for the media to construct unfounded exaggerations.

Xiao Zhang escorted Jiang Heng to the makeup room, where Jiang Heng noticed the ‘Exclusive Makeup Room’ sign and gently furrowed his brows. “Why an exclusive makeup room?”

Xiao Zhang: “Well, with your status, of course you’d have a private makeup room.”

Jiang Heng turned on his heels and started walking.

Xiao Zhang hurried after him. “Brother Jiang, where are you going?”

Jiang Heng without looking back. “Public makeup room.”

Xiao Zhang was perplexed—he would be seeing Shen Fubai in the private makeup room, now he wanted to head to the public makeup room?—and still, he understood Jiang Heng’s thinking. That’s right. There was no chance of seeing Shen Fubai in the private makeup room; if he went to the public makeup room, they would share the same space, and maybe he’d be able to use the opportunity to strike up a conversation and exchange contacts…

The more Jiang Heng pondered over it, the more he found the plan plausible. He was truly brilliant.

Xiao Zhang, a seasoned assistant, quickly grasped Jiang Heng’s thoughts and could only feel pained for his idol-possessed CEO: “Brother Jiang, you won’t meet Fubai in the public makeup room. Do you think someone as high profile as him wouldn’t have an exclusive makeup room?”

“…”

In an instant, Jiang Heng turned around, went back to the exclusive makeup room, walked in, and shut the door.

Xiao Zhang: “Brother Jiang, I’m still outside.”

The stoic voice of Jiang Heng floated from inside: “Come in.”

Xiao Zhang sighed. In Brother Jiang’s eyes, everything else paled in comparison to Shen Fubai, all others were rendered invisible.

As Xiao Zhang entered, he observed Jiang Heng playing with his phone slouched on the makeup chair.

The tall and youthful figure leaned back against the chair, a clean-cut and handsomely serene profile met the eye. With his lithe fingers gripping the watermelon juice, the straw plunged into his lips, it was a quiet scene, and any fleeting glance could be a painting.

Xiao Zhang had to say every time he saw him, Brother Jiang was undeniably the most dashing among acting talents. Xu, the director who was incredibly fond of using newcomers, once remarked, “Jiang Heng was born for the arts, the work he produces are works of art—he himself was a work of art. While others are a promising seedling I have dug out, he is a star I have unearthed.”

Jiang Heng was radiating brilliance since his debut. He possessed an artful look, every contour of his face was exquisite, every part of his physique was beautiful. In the first glance, he might not have been as striking as Shen Fubai who was known for his breathtaking beauty, but he was definitely at the top of his game in the entertainment industry, undeniably ageless.

Blessed with looks and inherent acting talent, he truly was a star. It was a seedling that required soil to sprout while he was destined for the horizon.

This was such a vivid and distinct character.

Xiao Zhang observed the man in front of him, who held an empty cup and gnawed on the straw even though all the watermelon juice was long gone, and wondered: If only I wasn’t his assistant.

For he would not be disillusioned like this—

Some appeared radiant and splendid yet behind closed doors, they were someone’s fervent admirer.

The sanguine tranquility encapsulated by Jiang Heng at the moment was being disrupted by frenetic texting on his screen.

Amber was typing: Today, I finally met my idol—he’s incredibly stunning, except he didn’t acknowledge me. Tearing up with sadness.jpg

This account was Jiang Heng’s fan account, exclusively used for pursuing his idols.

His pursuit was just centered around Shen Fubai.

Superstars often had myriad things they couldn’t write on their main account, any choice of words could be interpreted into infinite analyses, and Jiang Heng did not want to cause any trouble for his idol.

Jiang Heng’s fan account was considerably cooler than Shen Fubai’s. At least, several of Jiang Heng’s fans found Shen Fubai’s second account, but Jiang Heng’s was utterly hidden in plain sight.

Though his account was filled with Shen Fubai’s updates, all were set to only viewable by himself.

Despite the man being a household name, known to almost everyone, and a shining star in the world, Jiang Heng harbored a single selfish desire, wanting a side of him seen only by him.

It was a die-hard fan’s final line of defiance-

After sending the post, Jiang Heng switched out of his deserted account, logged back into his main account boasting fifty million followers, and felt disinterested at the sight of his main account’s screen, which was dominated by ‘Official Forwards’, and hands poised, awaiting the perfect screen grab.

He tapped ‘Home’ and started scrolling through Weibo posts.

Jiang Heng was not one to indulge in gossip, but he always checked the trending section. That’s because his idol popped up in the trending section every so often—sometimes even thrice in a day.

And Shen Fubai always trended for odd reasons—

Oddly mismatched shoes led to a powerful tide of fashion. In reality, it was Shen Fubai’s hasty exit that morning which caused the screw-up.

Switching a cellphone case immediately invited wild speculation on whether it was an exclusive brand worth tens of thousands. Yet, that was merely a temporary purchase by Xiao Lin to replace the splintered phone case at a flea market, costing less than a dozen yuan, a result of Shen Fubai’s worry over Jiang Heng’s hospitalization news.

Even a picture of his dinner ignited discussions about the carbohydrate contents. It wasn’t that Shen Fubai ate less; he was an uncommon blatant over-eater. How could he possibly eat such voluminous amounts while maintaining that terrific figure? It must be a staged photograph or perhaps Shen Fubai had a surfeit identity.

To that, Shen Fubai could only smile back: Do you believe so little in the existence of humans who eat endlessly without gaining weight?

Regardless, the ways Shen Fubai trended were varied and bizarre. A person getting too much attention should logically irritate the masses, but for Shen Fubai, this was an exception.

Because he was good-looking.

Even if the haters berate him as a mere flower vase, it’s still an unconscious admission of his dashing looks. If someone said he wasn’t good-looking, the haters would promptly lash out and say “Please get your eyes checked.”

But Shen Fubai had few rumors linked to him.

Shen Fubai did have a handful back in his earlier years, involving several actresses. The media loved sensationalizing everything, and with him being a potent stock, several actresses were willing to tag along and use him for publicity. After enduring for a while, Shen Fubai, who had just made his debut, was stuffed to the brim with zeal, and he bounced back with a post on Weibo: “If you’re not prettier than me, don’t claim to be my girlfriend—I wouldn’t give you the privilege to stand by me.”

It was a clear backhanded slap in the face, a bold statement_units>, well played.

After Shen Fubai’s popularity soared, no one dared to engage in public stunts with him. Mostly female fans followed Shen Fubai, coupled with a forced romance with him would not only be laughed out of everyone’s sight but later end up cooling down. Anyone with a clear vision wouldn’t take the risk.

People who lacked foresight would never come close enough to have the opportunity to get involved with Shen Fubai—

Jiang Heng instantly spotted the top three sees trending topics. He clicked on the first one, then the original Weibo post from Shen Fubai appeared.

Shen Fubai V: First day on set.

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Jiang Heng enlarged the photos, they were selfies taken by Shen Fubai, looking bone-tired on a recliner. To make matters worse, they were makeup-free, unedited, and devoid of selfie filters. The downward angle of the camera shot further stared its death eyes at him. But even then, the effect was remarkable. The youth’s features were refined, his skin as pale as snow, and his eyes were bewitching.

At the thought of Shen Fubai now being in the adjacent makeup room, Jiang Heng’s heartbeat quickened, and he saved all nine photos.

Then, he proceeded to the second hottest topic.

As soon as he read the title, Jiang Heng felt a stab of vexation, and when he read the content, his brows tightened.

“Nonsense,” Jiang Heng scoffed.

How could he have any discontent over Shen Fubai? Would Shen Fubai have any misunderstanding about him after reading the news? And when did Shen Fubai arrive two hours late? Jiang Heng waited on him by the tick of seconds, in reality, it was just nineteen minutes and twenty-six seconds… The Beijing early morning traffic, arriving at that hour was completely normal.

.” Utter gibberish,” Jiang Heng was shaken with rage. “Xiao Zhang, where is my PR team? Ask them to take down this trending topic right now.”

Xiao Zhang: ???

Were they going to be working as a PR team for someone else?

Xiao Zhang gave him a kind reminder: “Please face the facts. At the end of the day, a bootlicker will be left with nothing.

Jiang Heng: “Shush. Just do what I say.” He then resumed reading the comments.

The undercurrent stirred, a swelling tide of comments emerged, they were a wide mix of voices—some were criticizing the flowery fresh-faced stars for lacking professional ethic, others just became an all-out war between rivaling fans. The comment section was filled with foul-tempered air, Jiang Heng kept away from the disturbance by shutting down the page.

He browsed Shen Fubai’s latest posts. Underneath the gallery of nine photos, there were indeed many haters who feasted on the wrong notion to defame him. Jiang Heng felt anxious as he clicked into Shen Fubai’s avatar, intending to send a private message to offer some consolation, only to retrieve his hand in horror when he realized that he was using his main account.

He was so used to sending Weibo posts from his fan account that he nearly forgot about it.

He used to take a different route than Shen Fubai in the circle, the two of them hardly had any intersection, he had no guts to even follow his idol on Weibo, lest it would be cooked into media phenomena. But now that they were both in the same production team, following one another on Weibo should certainly be a no-brainer no?

With that thought in mind, Jiang Heng with a whimsical heart and ponderous emotions, followed Shen Fubai using his main account.

There was no need for a dedicated Weibo post to clarify utter hogwash. This single follows ended the rumors of his not being well disposed towards Shen Fubai? Jiang Heng thought.

Being able to follow his idol genuinely with his main account, Jiang Heng felt ecstatic for a moment, his hands trembled and landed on a fan’s page.

Did Wine Get Heng’s Attention Today: You have started shooting ‘Pear Blossoms’ today, best of luck! I heard that your partner is a fresh meat, I wonder what he’s like.

Jiang Heng, after scanning through it once, recalled the rumors about Shen Fubai and felt the need to make a statement clearing him of the charges.

Jiang Heng: Thanks, he’s great.

After he posted that, Jiang Heng switched back to his fan account, planning to console Shen Fubai.

Amber: Don’t pay heed to the words on the web, we all have faith in you. Cheers!-

In another makeup room, Shen Fubai went from a zombie-like state into a sudden recovery: “Ah!”

Xiao Lin: “Didn’t you claim to be climbing to heaven?”

Shen Fubai: “I think I should be able to be recovered.”

Amazing! What did he discover! The idol had followed him!

Although it’s highly probable it’s just an official politeness exchange because their productions were intertwined, but from this moment, he was also someone who had been followed by the idol, truly!

Carried away by boundless excitement, Shen Fubai solemnly clicked and followed back, then clutched the phone in ecstasy.

From today onwards, he and his idol had followed each other!

Shen Fubai immediately switched to his fan account, intending to share his overwhelming euphoria through a thousand-word long essay.

Yet, as soon as he logged on, he unexpectedly received a remote reply. Taking a quick glance, Shen Fubai was stunned.

Fuck!

Jiang Heng: Thanks, he’s great.

Fan account replied!

Not only had he got the badge of favor, Brother Meng had even praised him!

What an extraordinary day! The main account was followed, the fan account was favorited by his idol! Oh! My! God!

Argh! Argh! Argh! He had to write a ten-thousand word paper, ten thousand words!