Asteroid

Chapter 3: What did you say his name was?

 

Xu Tangzhou was brought upstairs by Huang Qian.
They were not in a hurry to enter the venue, rather they went to a temporary dressing room to change clothes and for a quick touch-up.

 

Huang Qian was very considerate and prepared a suit in advance for him.

The stylist specially selected a neck ring for him.
The neck ring was made of high-tech materials imitating the texture of lace, perfectly fastening around his neck over the glands.
It was light as a feather, but still sufficient to protect the glands from any damage.

Xu Tangzhou simply did his hair and didn’t put on any makeup.

With just this simple makeover, he attracted the gazes of many people the moment he arrived at the hall.

 

The entertainment circle wasn’t lacking in exquisite people.
Even more so at the Xing Jing annual party where everyone was dazzling with all types of beauty present.

 

Omega artists have become even more distinguishable.
Even though they used all types of pheromone blockers, each and every one of them wore a nick ring – at a public party with alcohol, It’s illegal for Omegas to attend without a neck ring.
Roughly speaking, there aren’t a lot of Omegas in the company, with Beta and Alphas making/covering the majority.

The times are changing, determining a person’s worth by their pheromone rank has long passed.

But the appearance of Xu Tangzhou still made everyone feel the difference.

 

In contrast to the sweet beauty of most Omegas, even if everyone couldn’t smell Xu Tangzhou’s pheromones, from his appearance alone, he must be on a different level from them.

Xu Tangzhou simply stood there and did nothing, which made people unable to ignore him.

The formless and pure coldness seemed to radiate from him.
People couldn’t help but look at him, but they didn't dare to speak with him.

 

Xu Tangzhou already was used to this type of gaze.
He took a glass of champagne from a waiter’s plate and followed behind Huang Qian to observe his surroundings.

Ah, it seems that Ling Che really didn’t come.
He thought indignantly: What a pain.
There were so many reporters and protesters downstairs.
Ling Che couldn’t come even if he wanted to.

 

Huang Qian seemed to enjoy this type of attention.
He brought the “wanting to be popular” Xu Tangzhou around and spoke to many people with a smile, introducing him from time to time.
Aside from a few well-known artists, Xu Tangzhou didn’t remember their names.

The annual party hasn’t officially started, and everyone was guessing what good omens the boss was preparing as a surprise.

While speaking, a colleague came over and quietly said something to Huang Qian and called him away.

 

Xu Tangzhou stood by himself at the original location, feeling like the phrase…… as lonely as snow

(TN: 寂寞如雪 is from a poem )

He was definitely not an expert in human interaction.

 

“Are you Xu Tangzhou?” A black-haired and round-faced Omega took the initiative to greet him.
He seemed to be a youth and looked familiar.

 

Xu Tangzhou quickly remembered that the other person was the second male lead in a web series recently.
It seemed their name was Lu Jia.
At that time, they were popular for a while, but it seems they laid low during this period.
He didn’t expect that he was also an artist in Xing Jing.

 

As expected, the other person introduced himself: “My name is Lu Jia, I saw your advertisement.”

Lu Jia amicably stretched his hand out.

 

Xu Tangzhou remembered what Huang ge told him, so he shook hands.
And with professionalism, replied: “I have also seen your web series.”

“That’s ancient history.” Lu Jia said sheepishly as a dimple revealed itself while he smiled, “It can’t be compared to your advertisement.
I heard that because of this advertisement, Mist’s new product had good sales.
Huang ge’s eyesight is very sharp, no wonder everyone within the company couldn’t compete with you.”

 

Xu Tangzhou didn’t even know that this event occurred: “Internal competition?”

“Correct.” Lu Jia didn’t mention anything else and clinked their wine glass together.
“Your luck is this incredibly good, you became popular the first time you appeared on camera.
Congratulations.”

Xu Tangzhou could only reply politely: “Thank you.”

 

Lu Jia is an outgoing person, not putting on airs like a senior.
After greeting him, he didn’t leave and began to chat with Xu Tangzhou.
From time to time when an artist or colleague passed by, he told Xu Tangzhou who the other person was as well as some of their minor gossip and whatnot.
It was more effective than Huang Qian’s superficial introductions.

The two people chatted for a bit and Lu Jia suggested taking a selfie with Xu Tangzhou.
After taking a few pics, he chose one and sent it on Flow.

 

Lu JiaV: Because of the advertisement, I love Mist.
Because of Mist, I met Xu Tangzhou.
Love you @XuTangzhouzz

 

“…..” Xu Tangzhou understood.
Lu Jia was expanding his network.

Most of the artists like to do it this way regardless of whether they were familiar or not, “act first, think later”.
It had the same logic as Huang ge saying “Newcomers making an artist friend is useful.”

 

“Follow me back.” Lu Jia didn’t feel embarrassed in the slightest and pressed follow for Xu Tangzhou.
He then quietly exclaimed, “You have a lot of fans.
And I said that I’d help you gain fans.
It seems it’d be of no use.”

 

After the simmering of the events last night, Xu Tangzhou was already a blogger with over a hundred thousand fans.
As soon as Xu Tangzhou followed Lu Jia, Huang Qian returned.

 

Huang Qian looked ecstatic, even his hands were shaking: “Zhouzhou, come with me.”

Xu Tangzhou with the halfway completed mission to make an artist friend: “What happened?”

 

Huang Qiang was preoccupied with dragging him away, walking as he excitedly said: “I said I’d find a person to bring you earlier, I didn’t think this opportunity would come so quickly.
It’s so amazing, I didn’t even dare to think about it.
It’s simply a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! Let’s go.”

Xu Tangzhou was befuddled: “Now?”

Huang Qian’s chubby face revealed a mysterious grin: “Guess who?”

 

*

 

“I won’t agree.”

Ling Che lazily spoke at the same moment from within the soundproof room of Fisher Hotel.

 

The shadows of the crowd downstairs could clearly be seen outside the French windows.

No matter how the reporters and protesters downstairs tried to block the person, they couldn’t have imagined that Ling Che had already entered the hotel long ago from under their noses.

Ling Che was indeed unwilling to attend occasions such as the company’s annual party.
But this time, he created a small disturbance and he still has to give the boss some face.
Who would’ve thought that after he arrived they would push him to take on work.
He didn’t believe he was wrong, and he was even more unwilling to back down.

 

Situ Ya stressed: “Then what do you want me to do? Do you still want your March concert?! I don’t want everyone to return their tickets at that time!”

 

Ling Che fiddled with his cap, his long legs resting on the tea table, his irises turning dark brown under the light: “There won’t be such a thing.”

 

Xiao An didn’t dare to say a word.

Situ Ya is a golden agent who had mixed in the circle for many years and was always accurate in predicting the thoughts of the public opinion.

First was Ling Che’s slip of the tongue, then Ling Che skipped the New Year’s Eve gathering.
She fully understood the reason behind famous people attracting criticism.

 

“What ‘there can’t be such a thing’”? Situ Ya patiently said, “You’re right, no one would reject your concert, but what about afterward? If you don’t explain or show up, this stain would never be washed clean.
Every time you stand on the peak in the future, there would be someone who would drag this matter out to diss you just like a fly that would stick to you no matter where you went.
No matter what achievements you have, they would still haunt you like a shadow.

Ling Che: “I don’t care.”

 

Situ Ya had no choice but to say: “If only you had to bear the consequences, that’s fine.
But did you know that Bao Fenni was also affected?”

 

Bao Fenni is Ling Che’s Alpha mother, Ling Zhi, heart and soul.
As a luxury jewelry brand, their target consumer group was all Omegas.

Ling Che was already Bao Fenni’s spokesperson for three years, his huge posters could be seen all around the store.

After the spread of Ling Che’s “Omega discrimination” words last month, Bao Fenni’s performance visibly plummeted.
After the fermenting of the events at the New Year’s eve gathering last night, the downtown stores were graffitied by people.
Pure strangers accused Bao Fenni as an unscrupulous brand.

Ling Che didn’t pay attention to the news, and Ling Zi would naturally not tell this type of event to her son, so he still didn’t know about this.

 

He looked over the newspaper article Xiao An handed over to him.
The news exaggerated the events, but Bao Fenni’s store truly had already been defaced until they had to stop business.

Ling Che instantly lost his confidence to refute: “……”

 

No matter how rebellious Ling Che was, he wasn’t willing to implicate his family because of his own matters.

His bottom line was here.

 

Situ Ya naturally knew this, so she struck the iron while it was hot: “This matter isn’t that easy to resolve.
Ling Che, I won’t force you to apologize, otherwise, I wouldn’t agree to let you skip the New Year Eve gathering last night.
I only want you to participate in a variety show.
It would clear your name, while also increasing some good feelings, it wouldn’t hurt you.”

 

Ling Che had never participated in a variety show.

He was too proud, he could never put up a pretense.

Moreover, he doesn’t need to participate in the show at all to accumulate popularity.
He himself is the embodiment of popularity.

 

“Reality show, no script.” Situ Ya urged him, “Aside from not quitting halfway, you can do whatever you want and it is only for a week.”

Ling Che was skeptical: “This simple?”

“It’s just this simple.
If you go, the show group should be thankful.
Who would dare to make you follow a script?” Situ Ya continued to say, “I have already chosen your partner, I guarantee they’re a blank paper, completely clean.”

Ling Che understood and said with a sneer: “Most importantly, he is an Omega.
You have planned this well.”

 

If he attends the show with an Omega, it would already attract attention.
Coupled with the amazing (synonym) back-end post-editing effects, even if the two of them don’t interact at all, Ling Che didn’t need to think to know what the effects of the show would be when it broadcasts.

 

Having her goal easily guessed by Ling Che, Situ Ya clammed up, and finally said speechlessly: “You wouldn’t want to throw caution to the wind, and let them misunderstand that you truly discriminate against Omegas?”

 

Ling Che suddenly reeled in his temper and fell silent.

 

A while later, when Situ Ya truly thought he would say some shocking words, he raised his eyebrows and said lightly: “How could I? I have no complaints about omegas, let alone discriminate against them.
I won’t carry the blame.
I said the meaning of that sentence very clearly.
I only said they couldn’t choose if they were marked or not.
Isn’t this the truth?”

 

On the basis of their physiology, it was a fact that Omegas were naturally weak and easy to lose control.
So once two people were in love, most people would choose to immediately fully mark and spend the rest of their lives together.

But there were still people who were fully aware that their body is weaker than Alphas, but still, in order to seek immoral stimulations, would take big risks- This was the opinion Ling Che made about the affair after he got tired of being asked.

Some news purposefully exaggerated his opinions, misinterpreted his original meaning, and inflated it into an AO human rights dispute.
Ling Che couldn’t explain it clearly now.

He wasn’t a man of many words and wouldn’t make this type of mistake again.

 

Situ Ya wasn’t sure why Ling Che would think this way, nor where this way of thinking came from.
She only knew that when Ling Che just debuted, he seemed to have been in a relationship.
However, that was already four years ago.

Afterward, there was a period of time where Ling Che suddenly became very gloomy.

Every day, he would stay at the studio overnight, his inspiration squeezed dry, grasping the paper and forcing himself to write something.
Ling Che was an extremely talented person.
After being disheartened, he exploded in popularity.
In the period of time when he was no longer distracted, his works suddenly began to emerge.
His albums one after the other was incredibly popular, his live concerts came one after the other as if he were a never-tiring perpetual motion machine, establishing his place in the music world.

From then on, Ling Che was the music world.

 

Glory was close to him.
As long as a perfect person has a slight blemish, it would be magnified to the extreme.

Perhaps Ling Che completely didn’t understand how serious this incident was.
Although it wouldn’t immediately destroy his position in the music world, it could destroy his music.
From prejudice and rumors, impurities would slowly seep into his talented compositions until those works were no longer perfect creations.

 

Situ Ya let loose a sigh of relief: “Whether it’s the truth or not, it’s fine as long as you discriminate.
I wanted to arrange an Omega for you, otherwise, what’s the point of you attending this show? But don’t worry, I didn’t mean to make you build hype with him.
I just hope that through this program, people would clearly understand your attitude towards this group.
As long as there are no problems, the public relations department could naturally take care of the rest.”

 

Ling Che seemed to still be considering.
The side of his handsome face was against the light, making people unable to guess his thoughts.

Perhaps he simply doesn’t know how to get along with Omegas.

 

“Don’t just consider it for yourself, but also for President Ling.” Situ Ya took a step back, “Then what about this, you don’t need to decide now.
I just talked with Huang Qian and he said he would bring the person over for you to look at.
This kid was signed by Huang Qian not long ago, called Xu Tangzhou.
He just shot a Mist advertisement, and the response was not bad.
Just treat it as helping the company bring new people.”

 

Ling Che suddenly froze.

Instantly, he turned his head.
Staring until Situ Ya felt a bit uneasy, he slowly spoke: “What did you say his name was?”

 

Situ Ya puzzledly said it again: “He’s called Xu Tangzhou, Tang from Haitang, Zhou from Pianzhou.”

(TN: Haitang is the Chinese Flowering Apple or the Malus spectabilis, and pianzhou is a small boat)

 

 

 

The author has something to say:

Ling Che hatefully said: “They dare touch Bao Fenni?”