Chapter 41

There were rumors before that Guatuan would be on the cover of V magazine, but no one believed it. He was also mocked for having a big face, saying that being on the inside pages would be enough, and how dare he dream of being on the cover.

Even the fans themselves do not believe this information, but Su Ning did have access to cover resources, but he has been hiding it and has not said it out. Keeping unconfirmed resources confidential to prevent changes is the basic quality of a mature agency team.

In fact, in addition to the cover of V magazine, he also had access to many subsequent resources from the team. However, serious business contacts take time, and the news had to be kept confidential first, so some people took advantage of the opportunity to say that Su Ning was not serious.

The dehydration data in the fourth picture is very good. Just looking at the internal fights among fans that can even become a hot search, you can tell that they are really popular.

It is not uncommon for a successful team to get access to extraordinary resources, but when it comes to getting them, Su Ning knows in his heart that it is not easy and that Mr. Shen has made a lot of efforts.

He only found out that Shen Mingzheng had finalized the resources when he got home tonight. It was like timely rain, so he sent out the itinerary immediately.

As soon as the news came out, the fans of the three who had left could not wait to speak out.

"What's the point of talking about personal status? Go back and shoot the cover of V magazine first."

"I just watched the live broadcast. Su Ning seems to be easy to talk to. There's no need to be so awkward with him."

"That's right, we can't lose the watermelon while picking up sesame seeds."

Some even expressed their doubts directly: "Our fan circle was established not long ago, and we don't have many big fans. Many of our fans are minors. You asked them to prepare money so directly, I think you really collected a lot of money."

The online war of words about Su Ning throughout the day had some twists and turns, with more and more people supporting Su Ning. However, Shen Mingzheng, who was keeping a close eye on him, still couldn't completely calm down.

He felt that it was more annoying than the person who was scolded on the Internet. But at the same time, he knew that Su Ning had his own arrangements and plans for this matter. Su Ning said it was okay, and it was common for fans to quarrel. However, he still secretly found some online media to say good things about Su Ning and praise him.

And those are not exaggerations at all, they are just the truth.

Shen Mingzheng was very confident about this.

When Su Ning returned home, he opened the door and saw him still sitting on the sofa looking at his phone. He was a little surprised. He looked at the time and saw that it was almost 1 a.m., so he asked, "Why aren't you asleep yet?"

"Waiting for you," Shen Mingzheng came over, took the coat he took off, handed him a glass of warm water, and said only one sentence, "It's done."

These few words made Su Ning feel at ease all of a sudden. He knew that it would be right to entrust this matter to Shen Mingzheng.

Shen Mingzheng was reluctant to mention those messy things on the Internet in front of Su Ning, so he decided to talk about something happy. So he briefly talked to him about the details of tomorrow's magazine shoot, and couldn't help but add, "How about I go with you tomorrow?"

He also had to contact the people at the magazine. He always felt that those people would make things difficult for Su Ning. He didn't think about what happened to Allen today, otherwise he would have definitely brought people and Su Ning with him.

Su Ning knew that he was worried, so he patted his shoulder with a smile and said, "What's that? Believe me. You have done more than enough."

Shen Mingzheng was a little unwilling to be rejected. He got up from the sofa and followed him like a clingy big dog. But after Su Ning took off his coat, he seemed to remember something and took something out of his coat pocket.

"I bought this for you."

Shen Mingzheng looked down and saw a small jar of mints.

"Today when I went to Xiangshan Villa, I saw this brand and thought of you, so I bought this candy for you," Su Ning said, "I saw you always have it in your car, and the clerk said it's a new flavor that just came out today, would you like to try it?"

He was kind of changing the subject, meaning to tell him not to worry.

Shen Mingzheng does have the habit of taking mint candies to refresh himself. He cannot touch smoking and drinking because they hurt his throat. This habit was formed in his previous life and he still cannot change it. Among so many brands, he has always been accustomed to the homemade xylitol mint candies from a store in Haicheng. They are cool enough, not sweet, and even have the natural bitter taste of mint. Not many people like them.

That store does have a small branch near Xiangshan Villa, but it’s not available online, only in the store.

This is a small habit, and Chen Tao knows it.

He is a qualified special assistant, so it is not difficult for him to order a mint candy on time. He knows Shen Mingzheng's preferences, so he always has the classic original flavor in the car.

Su Ning often rode in his car and then remembered it.

Knowing that he had no shortage of the classic original flavor, which was always in his car, Su Ning bought him a small jar of a new flavor, lime. When he held it in his mouth, it still had that bitter yet cool taste, but was a little sweeter than the original.

Shen Mingzheng: ...

He opened his mouth and wanted to say thank you, but the words did not come out.

The incident at Xiangshan Villa tonight was trending on the Internet, and Shen Mingzheng also watched it. He saw a lot of comments praising him, and he also knew that Su Ning had always been attentive, but what surprised him now was that this attentiveness was also directed at himself.

He couldn't help but think more.

Su Ning came back quite late. Considering the driving time, the store should have been closed. He must have seen it and bought it on the way there. When Su Ning was leading the group of little idols around, the small bottle of candy was always in his coat pocket, and he brought it back for himself.

He must remember me.

Shen Mingzheng thought.

Seeing him standing there in a daze, Su Ning lowered his head, opened a pill, put it in his mouth, and smiled: "I should give it to you tomorrow. How can you sleep after eating it so late at night? It's so cold."

When he said this, he was unbuttoning his clothes to go into the guest room to take a shower. When he unbuttoned the third button, the door was half-closed.

Shen Mingzheng: "...I want to try it."

Try something he has never tried before and see what it feels like.

He leaned against the wall and looked at the door. Su Ning did not close it tightly, leaving a gap. He felt that the mint candy was not so cold anymore. Instead, he felt a little warm in his heart.

Halfway through the candy, Shen Mingzheng suddenly received a phone call. He frowned, then walked forward and knocked on the bathroom door.

He remembered the time when Su Ning took a shower, and knew that he would be almost done by then. Sure enough, after knocking on the door, Su Ning soon came out in a bathrobe and asked, "What's wrong?"

"I just received a call from someone at Orange Video. It was Zhou Heng, whose phone was confiscated. He borrowed the phone of a young assistant in their company and called them. He didn't know our contact information, so he could only find the program team based on his memory. Then the people from Oupu found me," Shen Mingzheng said, "He said that he hopes you can pick them up. They didn't know their company would be like this, and now they just want to get back to the team as soon as possible."

The people at Orange Video said that the voices sounded quite scary. After all, they are all very young and they didn’t know that after becoming famous, many things would become beyond their control.

While talking about work, Shen Mingzheng's eyes were always on him, never moving away.

Su Ning listened silently and replied: "Very soon."

He was fully responsible for these matters, and Shen Mingzheng would not intentionally interfere, so he nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

However, the sugar smell was at its strongest right now, and he discovered that Su Ning in front of him also smelled the same, the same mint-lime scent of shower gel that he had smelled last time.

Shen Mingzheng looked at Su Ning, then slowly bit off the last layer of sugar shell with his teeth.

That night, the two of them naturally slept in separate rooms, but Shen Mingzheng kept his eyes open and did not fall asleep until very late.

The next morning, Shen Mingzheng listened to Su Ning very much and did not accompany him the whole time, but he still sent him off and directly sent him to the villa in Xiangshan Villa.

This place is already equivalent to a recording site.

When Su Ning got off the car, the four little idols had already woken up. The director team had already set up the camera and were filming the first scene of the first episode of the group variety show.

Yesterday’s live broadcast could only be considered a warm-up. Today is the official start of filming, so it is no longer a live broadcast, but just a recording.

It was still early and the four people were not fully asleep yet. They were woken up early in the morning. Li Chu was in the front, leading the four people to run around the villa, as if they were special forces training in the morning. According to the director, this was necessary physical training for today's group variety show shooting.

Although he didn't quite understand, he still obeyed. Li Chu ran several laps and felt a little sleepy. He heard Rui Song complaining breathlessly behind him: "Living in such a big place doesn't seem so happy anymore."

Li Chu wanted to laugh, but was too sleepy to do so.

Then he saw Su Ning getting out of Shen Mingzheng's car, and Mr. Shen didn't leave, but stood there talking to him, the two of them were quite close to each other. He was no longer sleepy, and couldn't laugh anymore, and he suddenly accelerated.

The person behind: Why is this person acting like a cannonball?

When Li Chu approached the gate, Su Ning had already come in, and their morning exercise was almost finished.

"It just so happens that I brought breakfast for everyone," Su Ning said, "Xiao Chu, come and help get it."

Li Chu obeyed and took it while panting. Everyone's breakfast was different. What Su Ning prepared was naturally what he liked. Knowing that the other party would remember it at any time, and that Shen Mingzheng's car and people had left, he felt a little happier.

Shen Mingzheng is just a driver, no big deal.

He comforted himself.

It’s a business marriage, a business marriage.

But some people don't seem to think so.

As the nanny car drove away, assistant Chen Tao, who was in charge of driving, felt something was wrong. He keenly noticed some changes in the car, for example, the small jar of mints had been replaced.

That was Shen Mingzheng's habit. He had just placed it randomly before, but now the small jar was placed very solemnly on the small shelf near the seat. The nanny car had a large space, so it could be placed steadily.

The packaging of that niche candy store was in a minimalist style, with simple and clean transparent jars, which were average. But perhaps because they were selling new products this time, they added a light pink silk bow as decoration. He didn't remember having such jars before.

Chen Tao took a closer look, but before he could ask, Shen Mingzheng seemed to have caught his movements immediately, and then he coughed lightly and said, "It was sent by Su Ning."

Assistant Chen:? I didn’t ask.

But as an excellent special assistant, he couldn't let his boss' words fall on deaf ears, so he responded, "Boss Su, that's thoughtful. Most people give gifts like cigarettes, alcohol, and tea, but you don't like them, so they're useless. But few people know you have this habit."

Shen Mingzheng nodded and said, "Of course he is different from ordinary people."

As if he felt that it was enough to talk to others here, Shen Mingzheng did not continue. Chen Tao looked at him through the mirror and only knew that he had a faint smile on his face all the way.

Is this the legendary business marriage?

I don’t quite understand.

After Shen Mingzheng left, everyone had breakfast in the garden at the group variety show shooting site.

It was early in the morning, with a gentle breeze and warm sunshine, which was a nice experience. When they were halfway through their meal, the group show director team officially announced the theme of this episode.

"I believe everyone should have received today's itinerary."

"In the afternoon, we are going to shoot for V magazine. The theme of the first issue is closely related to this shoot."

When they said this, the four people in front of the camera felt a little overwhelmed.

They knew about the photo shoot, and being on the cover of V magazine was of course a great thing, but at the same time they were also worried - they could have dealt with the lack of people for yesterday's interview, but now there were three people missing from the photo shoot, and they didn't know what to do.

If the resources the team is contacting are not complete, there will be problems.

But the director team continued to speak.

"Does everyone know what the theme of today's V Magazine photo shoot is?"

The four of them shook their heads honestly.

The director replied: "Hidden City."

"What a coincidence! This is actually the theme of our group show this time."

"Everyone should have noticed that our team is missing three teammates. Since yesterday, you must have been wondering where the teammates who should have returned to the team a long time ago have gone."

"This is exactly the game arrangement for this episode of our group variety show."

"Now, please four members accept the mission, complete the game to get clues and help, then arrive at the designated location, find and successfully take your teammates away, gather seven people into a group, arrive at the filming location on time, and complete this filming."

"The game officially begins!"

The four of them were stunned for a moment. Li Chu was the first to react and immediately took the game drawings from the director.

"Well," he said, "see!"

Others also reacted and came to his side one after another to look at the drawing handed over by the director team.

This seems to be a common way of finding people in outdoor variety shows.

Although this is what they said, almost everyone present knew that the three members who left were clearly deceived and taken away by their company and restricted, so they could not come back.

This is a breach of contract, but the person is in the other party's hands. Calling the police and alleging illegal detention is not good public opinion for a newly debuted idol and will have a huge impact on their image.

When encountering such a situation, the only option is often negotiation. However, it is unknown how much time and effort will be spent on negotiation and whether you can get the person back. This is what often happens in the business world - wrangling.

But Su Ning didn't have time to argue with them right now.

An idol team with incomplete members would be a joke if it was not running properly. He had already given them face. As he said, if they didn't come back on time, Su Ning would pick them up himself.

If the other person is shameless, don't blame him for being ruthless.

He knew very well where these three people were this morning. According to some fans, they were shooting a commercial in Haicheng, and Jianfeng had provided them with a short-term promotional resource.

This resource seemed good, as it was a well-known fast-moving consumer product of a major brand, with more money given for short-term promotion. However, it not only clashed with V Magazine's cover shoot, but also conflicted with the serious long-term endorsement of another brand that Su Ning was seriously negotiating for.

In fact, Jianfeng has no experience in operating idols. He habitually only looks at the immediate benefits and never considers the long-term income of the team. The reason behind paying a lot of money for short-term promotions like this is to quickly get the money back from the fans. This kind of behavior of cutting leeks is very depleting of popularity.

Su Ning couldn't just let them take over the resources against the contract line, because small profits would ruin the group's future, so he had to go and get them back today.

Picking someone up may not be the right word, snatching someone away is more appropriate.

However, if you really do this kind of work seriously, it is easy to get into unnecessary trouble.

If you use words, the other party will think you are a pushover. If you use force, now is a society ruled by law and you cannot rely solely on brute force, so you have to change your approach.

It would be better to package this matter, put it on the table, and film it seriously.

Under the watchful eyes of the public, being filmed by cameras, accompanied by serious teammates, planned by a serious management team, how can it be called stealing talents for a variety show?

Many variety shows also film survival on deserted islands and zombie crises, but that is just required by the plot of the variety show.

Su Ningzheng felt that the group variety show had to have something interesting and could not be done step by step. It also had to maintain the popularity of the idol group at all times, especially as the first episode of the show. Today's somewhat stimulating theme met his requirements very well.

This is truly a rare plan sent from heaven.

Perhaps, fans and even the general public know what he is actually doing, but it is clearly written in the signed contract that Su Ning will not harm them while they are in his operating period.

As I just said, this is a "hidden game".

He said this is a variety show, and this is a serious variety show.

So this morning, Zhou Heng, who was a little anxious after his phone was taken away and sent to the shooting location by Jian Feng, suddenly felt someone bump into him when he was in the dressing room.

When he turned around, someone stuffed a note into his hand.

The man who hit him was in disguise and his figure was unfamiliar, but he looked like an agent, wearing a mask and sunglasses.

Zhou Heng:?

Wait, what kind of weird movie plot is this?

He carefully avoided people and secretly opened the note. It said: "10 am, bathroom at the end of the second floor. We are here to rescue you!"

Signed: Phantom Thief.

Zhou Heng: ...

He could see that the name of this strange thief was Li Chu.