Chapter 43: Is it hype?
Shen Xingzhi: Come out, I’ll wait for you in the stairwell.
The text message showed that it was sent 10 minutes ago. Since Ren Limeng had not responded yet, Shen Xingzhi just sent another "?". Ren Limeng suddenly smiled, and the depression she had just felt while chatting with Xu Chichi was swept away.
It was almost midnight, how could he be so confident that she would go out to see him?
She didn't reply, and he didn't call to urge her. It was just a question mark. Was he sure that she had seen him but didn't go out?
It was the middle of the night and there were many staff members staying in the hotel. It was a big risk for her to meet him secretly, so it was normal for her not to want to go out.
In the room, Ren Limeng turned off the screen of her mobile phone, stood up, picked up the bottle of mineral water on the table, unscrewed it and took a sip. She took a deep breath, and gently stroked the black screen of her mobile phone with her right fingers. After a long time, she finally picked up the room card in her bag.
After all, she was still eager to make a move. Chen Xingzhi was the captain of the first stop. Ren Limeng smoothed her slightly frizzy black hair on both sides with her palms, took a picture of her face with the screen of her mobile phone, and walked towards the door while preparing to put the phone in her trouser pocket.
The soft cotton felt a bit surprising to her. Ren Limeng looked down at her cute pink pajamas, hesitant for a moment. As she walked past the bathroom, she said to Xu Chichi, "Sister Chichi, the production team just sent me a message. I need to go out for a while."
Xu Chichi had just opened the mask package when she saw Ren Limeng standing at the door. She frowned slightly and said, "It's so late. What's going on with the production team? Why don't you wait and I'll go with you?"
"Forget it."
Ren Limeng glanced at her phone. It was already past 11 o'clock. "Let's meet at 10 o'clock tomorrow. You've already taken off your makeup. Don't bother. Wash up and go to bed first. Thank you, Sister Chi Chi!"
"Okay, then be careful!"
"Uh-huh."
Ren Limeng closed the door calmly and walked to the dark staircase. She pushed open the fire door and was about to turn on the flashlight on her mobile phone when suddenly, the light in the stairwell came on, and the dim orange warm light illuminated the surroundings.
"Ren Limeng, you're really slow."
The stairwell at night was filled with a quiet and depressing atmosphere, with a faint smell of smoke in the air. Shen Xingzhi changed into a black short-sleeved shirt, with his right hand in his pocket and wisps of smoke curling around the fingertips of his left hand. A touch of scarlet light was faintly visible in the haze. Shen Xingzhi stood on the side step of the stairs, half leaning against the cold concrete wall, his focused eyes shifting from his fingertips, looking at Ren Limeng inquiringly.
"This isn't the time to leave you a cigarette."
In the silent stairwell, Ren Limeng reflexively let go of her hand, and the fire door was closed with a "click", which startled her suddenly.
Ren Limeng seemed to be able to hear her own heartbeat suddenly speeding up. She stared at Shen Xingzhi's left hand, trying to act calmly, and continued, "When did you learn to smoke, senior? Don't you singers need to protect your voices? You have to perform on stage on Sunday, senior, are you too stressed?"
"Are you concerned about me?"
Shen Xingzhi's figure looked particularly slender under the light. He raised his eyes slightly and looked at Ren Limeng. His gaze paused for two seconds on her pajamas. His slender fingers slowly put out the cigarette butt. His cold voice was slightly hoarse, but it added a bit of magnetism.
“School girl,” Shen Xingzhi chuckled, “I smoked in college.”
Chen Xingzhi stared at Ren Limeng's fair cheeks, not missing any change in her expression at the moment, like a focused cheetah, staring at its prey intently.
Ren Limeng's breathing quickened slightly, and her hands, hanging at her sides, were clenched into fists, but her face showed no obvious change in expression. She said calmly, "Oh."
A soft sound seemed to echo over and over again in the empty stairwell. Ren Limeng avoided Shen Xingzhi's oppressive gaze and tried to keep her tone calm and nonchalant. "Senior, you're quite impressive. You've been smoking for so many years, and you're still studying broadcasting in college. It doesn't affect you from being a singer now. I'm impressed."
It was difficult for Ren Limeng to describe the complex feelings in her heart. It was like a ripe tangerine, no matter how sweet it was, it couldn't suppress the bitterness. But she had to control her emotions. Ren Limeng straightened her back and tried her best to make her voice less sarcastic and not reveal more of her thoughts.
This is not only the host's professional quality, but also her stubbornness when looking back on the past.
She thought she knew him very well in college, but she had no idea he smoked in college. Was it because the filter of her secret crush back then was too strong, making her always feel that he was clean and refreshing, or... did she not like him as much as she thought?
Why did Shen Xingzhi suddenly mention it?
"Chen Xingzhi, stop gossiping. Why did you ask me out? You don't want to reminisce about college with me, do you?"
Hearing Ren Limeng's slightly cold voice, Shen Xingzhi suddenly stood up. He slowly took half a step forward and looked at Ren Limeng's eyes that were like two sharp swords shooting at him, as if it was a silent contest.
"Did you watch the show that aired today? We're trending again, junior."
The deliberately lowered call was somewhat hoarse in the dead of night, and each call seemed to have an accelerating effect. Ren Limeng could hear her own heartbeat that was still beating violently. She took a deep breath, trying to let her reason drive away everything.
"I saw it."
Her mind raced, trying to rationally analyze Shen Xingzhi's intentions at the moment. From the moment Shen Xingzhi called her "schoolmate" when he formed a team, he should have been able to predict the hot searches at this time. Even she, a host of an agricultural channel, had anticipated this. He called her out late at night just for the hot searches.
Ren Limeng felt her head was a little fuzzy, and she couldn't understand the logic behind Shen Xingzhi's behavior at all.
She thought that they had already reached a tacit understanding and recorded "Twenty Changes of Mountains and Seas" well.
"Shen Xingzhi, stop beating around the bush. Just say what you want to say. It's so late. You can smoke to refresh yourself. I'm so sleepy that I don't have time to play with you."
The ubiquitous cameras and unavoidable interpersonal relationships in reality shows keep Ren Limeng on edge all the time. Now that the recording is finally over, she just wants to take off her makeup and lie down on the bed. During this period, she really has no energy to think about anything other than "Mountains and Seas". All she is worried about now is her future.
"Are you hyping up a CP? School girl."
Noticing that Ren Limeng suddenly frowned, turned her body slightly, and grabbed the fire door with her right hand, Shen Xingzhi gently raised his left hand, stepped forward and gently pulled Ren Limeng's wrist, preventing her from turning around and leaving.
"Sister, don't be anxious. Think rationally. If you continue recording like this, are you sure you can achieve what you want?"
Ren Limeng paused and gently closed the fire door. She turned her head and her eyes fell on the place where their skin touched. Just as her right hand was raised, Shen Xingzhi had already retracted his left hand. She stared at him, signaling him to continue.
She had no interest in being on the hot search list to hype up their CP, but Chen Xingzhi did point out her top priority. With the basic intuition of a media person, Ren Limeng could clearly perceive that the focus of Lin City's recording revolved around Yan Baiwei. Yan Baiwei frequently had contradictions, which also created highlights.
However, in variety shows like "Shan Hai", no matter how outstanding the performances are, they are not as memorable or influential as the reality show itself.
The first season of "36 Changes of Mountains and Seas" has proved that the audience does not care so much about the final champion. The program "Mountains and Seas" became popular because the audience gossiped about the love, hate and grudges between celebrities. The most viewed videos of the entire season were not the competition stage, but the ambiguous clips with great chemical reactions between male and female guests.
Frankly speaking, Ren Limeng had thought about hyping up the CP, but this plan was too risky. It seemed like a shortcut to the competition but was actually easy to fail. She had never been involved in CP marketing before, and she was afraid that the effect would be counterproductive.
Therefore, before coming here, Ren Limeng set a goal for herself: to be a champion team, to strive to complete every performance, and to impress the audience with her diligence and strength. After all, no audience can deny the value of hard work, and such a character at least can't go wrong.
"Junior, I know you want to rely on yourself, but everything requires method and approach. In variety shows, choice is more important than hard work."
"Is hyping up a CP with you a good idea?"
Are you good at flattering yourself?
Ren Limeng looked carefully at the handsome face beside her, and she really couldn’t tell when Shen Xingzhi’s face was so big. She admitted that he was not so ordinary, but he was really a little confident.
"At least it's better than now. Why not give it a try? There's no harm in it."
Hearing Chen Xingzhi's answer, Ren Limeng remained silent. She did not accept the use of hot searches for marketing, which was missing the point. However, if she could just vaguely stir up a CP and turn the audience's attention to herself, it might be an opportunity.
On top of that, she relied on her performance results to stand out, making efforts in both directions. Indeed, she did not lose out.
Ren Limeng looked at herself in Shen Xingzhi's eyes. She had delicate makeup on, and her snow-white shirt was decorated with a few small pearls at the collar. She looked elegant and calm, but the unfashionable pink pajamas made her look a little more disheveled, just like her current career, which was a mess inside.
From the moment she made up her mind to wade into the muddy waters of the entertainment industry, Ren Limeng knew that she couldn't just stay out of it, and that she would have to give something. At 32, she was no longer at the age where she could just dream of reaping the rewards of her hard work. She believed that hard work would pay off.
Since she came to "Shan Hai" with the mentality of taking a gamble, she had no choice but to give it a try. If she cannot raise her popularity, where will she go after the agricultural channel is revised?
Her family had never supported her career as a host. Even if she couldn't return home with wealth, she didn't want to see her parents' disappointed eyes again. She had already experienced enough of their silent or fierce condemnation.
"Chen Xingzhi, I thought you were only focused on your own work, why did you suddenly change your mind? You have so many fans, how can there be no harm in hyping up a CP with you?"
Even though her heart was in turmoil, Ren Limeng remained calm. Her shoulders suddenly relaxed, she chuckled, and took the initiative to move closer to Shen Xingzhi, "Aren't you afraid that I'll pester you again?"
Half a step away, so close, she could see each of his long eyelashes, like delicate butterfly wings, gently covering his eyes, dancing with the arc of his blinking.
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