Chapter 1 Business Contract "From today on, I want you to open...

"I called you two here today because I have something important to announce." Qiao Ling tucked her long wavy black hair behind her ears and tapped the table in the conference room with her index finger with a silver ring, her face as serious as ever.

He Yan sat aside and felt that the strands of hair on his forehead were eye-catching. He brushed them away with his hand, then raised his eyes and glanced at the man sitting opposite him, who was playing with his phone boredly with a half-smile on his face.

Although He Yan looked normal, he felt uncomfortable when he saw the unfathomable expression on the face of the person opposite him.

Half a second later, he shifted his gaze, moved forward and stretched his legs, but the next second he was blocked by something. He gently stepped back a few centimeters and glanced down. It was Zhu Shengting's outstretched foot.

He stepped on it expressionlessly.

Aren't the legs stretched out so long just for people to step on them?

Zhu Shengting suddenly looked up at him, and He Yan stared back at him without giving in. His foot was still on the other's shoe, but he loosened his grip, like a piece of stubborn stone pressing on the other's shoe.

Zhu Shengting looked away but refused to retract his foot, which made He Yan even more annoyed with him.

"Bang--"

The sound of the phone falling on the table brought both of them back to their senses, almost spilling the tea on the table. He Yan touched the back of his head, subconsciously glanced at Zhu Shengting, and then looked in the direction of the noise. Qiao Ling threw the phone on the documents on the table and glanced sharply at the two people who were secretly competing with each other.

This under-the-table fight ended with Zhu Shengting withdrawing his foot as if nothing had happened, and He Yan also withdrew his foot as if nothing had happened.

"First of all, listen to me carefully. I don't know what your relationship is like in private. It doesn't matter whether you are ordinary colleagues, enemies, or friends. It is not within my consideration." Qiao Ling said without any doubt. She didn't care what the relationship between the two people was now, what their attitude was towards each other, whether they wanted to spit on each other or pretended to be indifferent.

She tapped the table again with two fingers of her right hand. Her tone was as calm as the surface of a frozen lake in winter, but her words were as biting as the cold wind, and the chill immediately penetrated He Yan's heart.

It was like a thunderclap, which made the banquet burnt on the outside and tender on the inside.

"From today on, I want you to start hyping up your CP."

For the first time in their history, He Yan and Zhu Shengting turned their heads at the same time in tacit understanding, looking in disbelief at the woman in front of them who had just said something that was no different from a work report.

Wait a minute, He Yan thought he had misheard. A hype couple? With Zhu Shengting?

Why did he suddenly not understand these two words together? The cold expression on his face cracked because of these words, and his face suddenly turned red and warm.

It's not shyness or embarrassment, but anger caused by something incomprehensible.

He might as well have been fired by Meng Chuan!

Seeing that Zhu Shengting on the opposite side also hesitated for several seconds, wanting to say something but stopping himself, then slowly blinked his eyes, closed his mouth, and swallowed what he wanted to say, he didn't look much calmer than He Yan.

Qiao Ling naturally noticed their subtle expressions, and she smiled suddenly.

"You two have been at the company for almost two years now," Qiao Ling said. "Before, one of you was an internet celebrity singer and the other a model. Meng Chuan has always been willing to invest resources in you. Of course, given that you're not professional actors, your acting skills are only passable. To be considered a popular star today is indeed quite good."

"But," Qiao Ling took out two documents and placed them in front of He Yan and Zhu Shengting respectively, "Boss Xu is not satisfied with you two remaining in your current positions. Dream Chuan hasn't produced a top star in almost two years. Among the current artists at Dream Chuan, he is most optimistic about you two."

"After a week of research and analysis on the artist market and the composition of your two fan circles, we came to an important conclusion, which is that the concentration and attributes of your fans have reached saturation." Qiao Ling turned her head and looked directly at Zhu Shengting.

"You, the fans you've attracted for your previous roles are mostly girlfriend fans, or what's commonly known as dream girl fans now," she turned to look at He Yan, "and you, too, have fans who were laid in the past, and are mainly girlfriend fans, with the occasional mom fans and boyfriend fans."

When He Yan heard the words "boyfriend fan", the corner of her mouth twitched and she felt her eyebrows jump. She raised her eyes and found that Zhu Shengting opposite her had that half-smile and annoying expression on his face again.

"It is undeniable that such fans have a high stickiness for a period of time, but except for mom fans and career fans, this type of fans are also easy to get bored and then 'fall in love with someone else'. At present, this type of fans has been saturated in your circle, and the risk of running away is not low. Therefore, we need to find another way. You need a group of fans with a completely new attribute, that is, CP fans." Qiao Ling analyzed carefully word by word.

"You should have seen that the boy group audition next door, Xunxing, is in full swing." Qiao Ling sat on the chair, crossed her legs and leaned back.

Xunxing is also one of the three giant companies in the domestic entertainment industry. It mainly produces idols and loves to hold talent shows. Recently, it is holding a new season of boy group talent shows. The market is huge and it has taken away a lot of popularity. There are indeed many female fans of their two idols who run away to chase those male idols. A lot of love is split into several parts and becomes multiple followers.

"The current top two and some of the male contestants in that talent show are only so-so," Qiao Ling commented mercilessly, "but their biggest fan-attracting weapon is their marketing of homosexuality."

"Market research shows that there are always a lot of people who love to support various couples, especially male-male couples. The benefits are huge, and the stickiness of these couples is very strong, just as strong as girlfriend fans. More importantly, they are also very willing to spend money. So," Qiao Ling habitually tapped the table with her index finger joint, her eyes gently sweeping over the two of them, "Now, Dream Transmission needs you to open up."

He Yan listened to what Qiao Ling said in silence. As the saying goes, old ginger is wiser. Qiao Ling's analysis was very thorough, but when he thought about the person he was going to do business with, he couldn't help but want to struggle again.

Why was it Zhu Shengting?

Why did Meng Chuan favor him and Zhu Shengting?

If it were anyone else, he wouldn't feel so uneasy.

"Sister Qiao, what if it backfires? What if we attract CP fans and drive away the sole fans? Wouldn't that be a loss? What's more... our two fan groups are..." He Yan didn't say the last few words, but the two people present understood.

Their fans are exactly the same as them. It can be said that they are incompatible with each other. When they meet, they will start to fight with each other. Anything can become the fuse of the war.

Qiao Ling had naturally thought about this question a long time ago. "You are just doing business, not an official announcement. Do you know why I'm looking for you?"

He Yan shook his head hesitantly.

"First, you're both now of equal stature, so there's no question of who's sucking the other's blood. This will avoid some trouble. Also, as rivals, you two can create dramatic conflict and attract a lot of passersby."

"Secondly, your appearance is very compatible. It's a classic CP pairing that the fan market loves nowadays: a handsome top and a beautiful bottom, with a size difference."

Hearing this, He Yan felt even more puzzled. No, how come he became the one below?

Let's take a step back and say that even if the business can't be done, can't he just kill Zhu Shengting?

When Zhu Shengting heard this, he looked up at him. Their eyes met in mid-air and paused for two seconds before they both consciously moved away.

"Third, you two are men. Just because you're both men, no one will truly believe you're real. If it were a man and a woman, the habitually conditioned fans would be more likely to flee. And even if some fans can't accept the fact that you're just being commercial, what will you do if you film romantic scenes with actresses they don't like, including kissing and intimate scenes? Won't you still be commercial?"

He Yan's mind froze. He had indeed only played the second or third male lead roles in various dramas before, and had never even filmed a kissing scene with a borrowed camera. Zhu Shengting... seemed to be in the same situation as him.

"So, regarding the issue you just raised, the conclusion is that your business has more advantages than disadvantages." Qiao Ling made the final decision.

He Yan was completely speechless. Zhu Shengting hadn't spoken a word from the beginning until now. The conference room suddenly fell into a subtle silence.

Qiao Ling looked at the expressions of the two people and couldn't help laughing.

"Being gay isn't prostitution; it's just a job." Qiao Ling threw a pen to each of them. "But originally, I wasn't discussing this with you, I was informing you."

He Yan slowly took the black pen and held it in his hand, with a mess of thoughts in his mind.

This was the company's arrangement. According to the contract, neither he nor Zhu Shengting could throw a tantrum and say no. Otherwise, being put on ice would be more trouble than it was worth. He hadn't yet achieved his real purpose of coming to Dream Transmission, and this incident couldn't hinder his path.

He Yan held the pen hesitantly, and saw from the corner of his eye that Zhu Shengting opposite him was also taking a long time to write. Qiao Ling didn't urge them.

"Your first business plan is to film a TV series." Qiao Ling shook her hair, not caring that the two hadn't signed yet, and she was already discussing the follow-up plans. "It's an original campus script. The director and screenwriter are both well-known figures. The two male leads have a romantic relationship. I've read the script in advance, and it has great potential to be a hit. The director has also discussed with us that we will adopt the popular short drama format, filming and broadcasting at the same time to ensure concentrated traffic."

As He Yan listened, he noticed that Zhu Shengting across from him had already signed his name. There was no reason for him to hesitate any longer. He had to sign sooner or later anyway, so he signed his name without hesitation.

Qiao Ling was satisfied and took back the contract neatly: "Okay, you can leave now. I will hand over the follow-up work to your respective agents, and they will inform you. Perform well and get to know each other better first. Don't let your business performance be worse than my familiarity with you personally."

Zhu Shengting stood up and bowed slightly to Qiao Ling. He Yan did not stay long and followed him to say goodbye.

Just as the two were about to walk out the door, they were suddenly stopped by Qiao Ling.

"Oh, I forgot to mention the last clause in the contract. Actors and actresses are not allowed to have any real relationship during the contract period."

He Yan subconsciously glanced at the man standing diagonally in front of him, who was almost a head taller than him, and rolled his eyes.

Who would actually fall in love with such a hypocritical and mean person?

Is he crazy? Is Zhu Shengting crazy?