Chapter 140: Explanation and Cover-up
Unexpectedly, their mission to uncover industry gossip turned into a "secret romance," much to the delight of this group of paparazzi whose main business is entertainment gossip news—the explosive news of a popular superstar and a rising star's secret relationship! And it was even revealed to the public by the superstar's former manager!
Even if this is fake news fabricated by Lei Jun to attract attention, as long as they seize this opportunity to write about it first, they can still increase their newspaper and magazine sales by several percentage points!
The article was written in great detail, and even before evening, the evening paper was already being rushed out at stalls of all sizes throughout the city.
Its front-page headline was undoubtedly the "relationship report" between Ling Chen and Li Sishi – "The underground love affair between the Heavenly King and the Jade Girl is exposed!"
What about love at first sight, falling in love again upon meeting, feigning one thing while secretly doing another, and leaving clues all along... The exquisite and wonderful writing, and the twists and turns of the stories, make it seem as if the reader can transform into "Lei Jun No. 2" hiding under the bed to spy on other people's lives through these eloquent words, satisfying all the gossip psychology of the audience at once.
In short, it can be concluded that these two definitely have a one-legged relationship.
This bombshell revelation, dropped by their agent in the early hours of the morning, is truly exciting. Coupled with the foundation of last year's anniversary drama "Mr. Morning," and the fact that their joint advertisement for Lo Kee Telecom earlier this year was all over the internet, this news has attracted considerable attention not only from CP fans but also from many casual observers.
Li Sishi, who was practicing swimming at the swimming pool, was urgently called back to the TV station by a series of urgent calls. She had already arrived at the office in the early hours of the morning.
Looking at the large stack of colorful newspapers that Lu Yiting had brought out, Li Sishi frowned and flipped through them before saying with a mix of helplessness and grievance, "I didn't know he could make up something like this..."
“Not just you, none of us could have predicted this.” Zhuang Menghua made a slight gesture, indicating to Li Sishi to calm down.
Because the concert in the early morning was a collaboration with TBL, the concert was not produced as a DVD in the traditional way, but was stored in TBL's video archive for television broadcast. Therefore, after Zhuang Menghua and Lu Yiting discovered the news of the "secret love between the king and the jade girl", the first thing they did was to pull up the videotape of the last concert in the early morning.
After reading the contents, the two of them only vaguely felt something was amiss when Li Sishi, who had mingled into the audience, suddenly sang for Ling Chen.
However, at the scene, the two of them, besides
Aside from holding hands and singing together, there were no other intimate gestures. Moreover, Li Sishi quickly glossed over her sudden appearance as a deliberately arranged guest appearance, so this approach was basically fine. Even if someone deliberately made a fuss, it could definitely be explained away with the excuse that "a good friend came to support her" and wouldn't escalate to the point of "exposing their secret relationship."
It wasn't until further investigation revealed that the rumor of this "underground affair" was actually a publicity stunt orchestrated by Lei Jun that Zhuang Menghua became truly enraged. She arranged for people to deal with Lei Jun and negotiate with various media outlets, while also quickly recalling Li Sishi to discuss a suitable follow-up plan as soon as possible.
Therefore, when Li Sishi rushed back, she received two initial follow-up plans: one was to ride the wave of this "heat" to create a rumor that the two of them were actually dating; the other was to agree to deny the rumor at the same time and insist that the two of them were just close friends who were more than friends but less than lovers.
"Leo is more inclined towards the second option, May, what do you think?" Lu Yiting asked softly.
Upon hearing this, Li Sishi couldn't help but glance at Ling Chen sitting next to her: What... does he mean?
He was the one who expressed his feelings for the other person first—now that he has the opportunity to make the mistake go further, he chooses to deny it instead?
As if sensing the doubt in Li Sishi's eyes, Ling Chen took a deep breath.
He spoke up, saying, "The reason I prefer the second option is because the first option is a bit unfair to Ah May. I don't want her to 'make the best of a bad situation' because of me..."
"I admit I have feelings for her, but that's precisely why I can't accept the first option." Even though the first option might have given him a lot of help, what he wanted wasn't this kind of opportunistic exploitation, but a genuine and heartfelt response.
Especially since it was the first time he had ever liked a girl so much.
Looking into his clear and earnest eyes as he spoke, Li Sishi suddenly felt that she hadn't misjudged him after all.
She actually preferred the second option.
Perhaps not only Zhuang Menghua and Lu Yiting would choose the second option first if given a choice.
After all, while the first option could capitalize on this buzz and portray the "golden couple who have proven their love in adversity," admitting to a secret relationship would mean falling into Lei Jun's trap and adding another layer of trouble to their lives.
The less-than-glorious "dark history"—even though most of the most ardent fans at midnight have already accepted the "Chen Shi" CP.
However, some people will still feel resentful that their idols hide their relationships.
Moreover, this means they also have to "go over their stories" and memorize the "love story" from when they first met to when they fell in love...
Don't assume that telling too many lies will always lead to someone believing them. In fact, telling too many lies makes it easier to expose loopholes and the truth.
If it's revealed that this was just a publicity stunt, even if they later develop real feelings for each other, it will still leave an indelible shadow on their relationship.
Therefore, it would be better to reveal the true similarities and deceptions from the beginning, allowing those who enjoy shipping to follow the clues and fill in the gaps in their imaginations, while also allowing those who don't enjoy shipping to continue enjoying their own unique perspectives.
Seeing that the two agreed on the second option, Zhuang Menghua and Lu Yiting exchanged a glance and could see the same relief in each other's eyes.
Although they had previously said that they wanted Li Sishi to experience love as much as possible and enrich her life experience, they were certainly reluctant to let Li Sishi fall into such a complicated situation in her first love, given that she was almost forced into this situation.
The only problem is that, given Huang Qianyan's experience, they can't use force to break up the couple. Therefore, they can only offer two different solutions and let the two young people caught in the storm choose for themselves.
After all, although Li Sishi has always acted as if her career is more important than anything else, she admitted before going to the midnight concert that she had a good feeling about midnight. This kind of hazy good feeling of a young girl with a dream is particularly fragile yet particularly tenacious. The more forceful the means, the more intense the resistance will be. Only a gentle approach can be used to appease and guide her.
Given the lesson learned from the past when "Da Bao" became more rebellious the more he was suppressed, Zhuang Menghua naturally showed more patience and favoritism towards Li Sishi, who had always been obedient and compliant.
She even considered how to plan the follow-up strategy if Li Sishi chose the first option before Li Sishi returned, and how to give that handsome guy who seduced the naive girl in the early morning a good warning and lecture...
Fortunately, Li Sishi was more rational and better able to distinguish between the important and the trivial than she had expected.
Now that both of them have chosen the second option, everything else will be much easier.
Following her appearance as the Fairy of the Cloud Cliff in the tracking interview segment of the "Hong Kong City Chase" program, Li Sishi once again appeared in modern attire.
Together with Ling Chen, they appeared on the interview segment of "Hong Kong City Chase".
"Hong Kong City Chase" is an information program launched by TBL at the end of last year, which mainly discusses current events and entertainment news. The two have been making a lot of noise about their recent scandal. Rather than letting the paparazzi benefit, it's better to benefit their own people.
Of course, the most important thing is that Zhuang Menghua must have informed them in advance that the show would not cause any trouble for the sake of hype, but would instead focus on protecting Li Sishi and Ling Chen.
The host this time was none other than the passionate and unrestrained Wang Yang, a playful old man who was always "chivalrous towards women." After briefly asking Li Sishi a few questions, he focused his firepower on Ling Chen: "Alright, alright, you don't need to explain anymore. Just answer me one question honestly—why do all the female artists you work with get rumored to be dating you?"
After listening to the jeers from the audience in the studio with a mix of amusement and exasperation in the early hours, he looked at the camera with utmost seriousness and explained, "I think it's probably our appearance and performance on camera that resonated with the audience..."
"This sense of resonance can make the audience very engaged," Ling Chen said seriously. "So I think this is a very important point. If the audience isn't engaged, how can they be convinced?"
"Then this brings us back to the question you asked me: if we're not fully engaged, how can we convince the audience?"
So what you mean is...
"Is all of this acting?" Wang Yang pressed.
"Acting skills are subjective. The most crucial issue right now is that as soon as I have any contact with a girl, even if it's just a chance encounter and we have lunch together, the next day's newspapers and magazines will be writing about my sweet date with my 'secret girlfriend'..." Ling Chen spread his hands helplessly. "Honestly, I have to work every day and I don't even have enough time to sleep. Where would I find the time for any sweet dates?"
"It's no fun if things are too rushed. If I like a girl, I hope I can see her every day, 365 days a year... But I'm too busy now, it's impossible for me to do that."
"What about Ah May? What do you think?" Wang Yang turned to Li Sishi and asked.
"For me, if two people like each other, it's better not to see each other every day and give each other more private space." Li Sishi smiled. "At this stage, I still hope to achieve something in my career so that I won't let everyone down or go against my own requirements."
"So what are your thoughts about each other?" Wang Yang continued to ask.
“Leo and I are very good friends, and of course he’s also famously handsome. It’s only human nature to be attracted to good looks…” Li Sishi pondered for a moment, then added, “However, we haven’t reached that rumored stage yet.”
“If I’ve truly decided on someone, I’ll choose a suitable time to announce it to everyone.” Li Sishi laughed again, self-deprecatingly adding, “Because I’m actually quite ‘petty.’ When I meet that person, I hope to hold on tight and mark the spotlight clearly, making it clear that this place is taken and no one else can covet it…”
"Wow, I really don't know whether to envy the person you've chosen or pity them." Wang Yang turned to look at Ling Chen, "Leo, did you hear that? These days, girls may be pretty, but they can be really wild. They want their own space on one hand, and they want to mark their territory on the other..."
"For me, this isn't barbarity, it's romance." Ling Chen shook her head with a smile, "The magic of love is very powerful. If I could meet this person, I think I would go forward bravely, give everything for her, and not let her suffer the slightest grievance."
"Because that's the kind of person I am, I also hope that the other person can hold me tight, while also shattering the fans' fantasies."
"Celebrities aren't saints. We also have daily lives, and like ordinary people, we might like someone at some point. So I hope my fans can extend that love to my partner as well..."
"I believe my fans can do it and won't do anything foolish because of this..."
Regarding his remarks in the early hours of the morning, some people think that he is just being straightforward and speaking his mind, which is a true expression of his personality; others think that he is shameless, that an idol should not expect fans to accept his relationship - how many fans behind celebrities in this industry are just wishful thinking husbands and wives?
I guess he's been through too much trauma this year, so he's just given up on himself.
Although both of them denied the "secret relationship" on the show, they did not hesitate to express their affection for the other person during the recording of the show - especially what they said in the early morning. Compared to Li Sishi, who is younger than him but speaks in a formal yet witty manner, he did not seem to be giving an interview, but rather he was telling everyone his inner thoughts.
I wonder how many fans he'll have left to stick with after this show airs—
Before long, those who were waiting to see a good show were stunned by the increasingly enthusiastic fans of the Chen Shi CP, who were wailing: "As the saying goes, explanation is just a cover-up, and a cover-up is the truth!"
They dare not speak for others, but every time reporters ask them about the rumors before midnight, their responses are always the same three cold statements: "Fake," "No," and "None of your business!"
But what about this time, he's rumored to be dating Li Sishi?
Although he went on a show to clarify that it was because his manager had betrayed him and caused a huge uproar; although he tried to explain that he was too busy with work to date; although he calmly tacitly agreed with Li Sishi's statement on the surface, acknowledging that it's inevitable for handsome men and beautiful women to have feelings for each other while working together, but that it was an "official declaration" of being more than friends but less than lovers...
However, those comments about "dedication", "romance" and "shattering fans' fantasies" seem to follow Li Sishi's words perfectly – just based on this tacit understanding, who would believe that the two of you are not one-legged?
They've reached the stage where the wife leads and the husband follows!
As for why the two of them still had to explain and cover up in front of others?
It must be because of that damned Lei Jun who exposed things too early, making it difficult for Ling Chen and Li Sishi, who originally wanted to find a good opportunity to officially announce their relationship, to back down now. So they can only give everyone a heads-up in advance and wait for a suitable time.
Human thought is just that complex. When someone admits something, they desperately nitpick and try to find evidence of "faking it"; but if someone consistently denies it, they feel that any explanation is just a cover-up...
So, after watching this episode of "The Chase in the Port City," the fans who had decided on the CP (couple pairing) in the early morning were: "I can't take it anymore! The more I think about it, the angrier I get. I need to find someone to go and stake out Lei Jun again, and team up to trap him in a sack to vent my anger!"
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