Chapter 6: He Was the Unwitting Victim
Chen Wei shook his head at him.
This was Zhou Sijin’s territory. Once the police were involved, Zhou Sijin would inevitably be alerted.
Zhou Sijin was a man who had always loathed trouble.
Chen Wei had self-awareness, so he never used Zhou Sijin’s influence to stir up trouble outside.
Chen Wei explained kindly, “You’re overthinking it. At most, I’m just a worker taking money to do a job.”
His intention was to tell the other party that they were both just laborers, and there was no need for one worker to make things difficult for another.
Chen Wei’s expression was sincere. “I never thought about fighting you for the main feature, nor did I have any intention of trying to replace anyone.”
Having said that, he nodded slightly to Finn to express both his gratitude and his apologies:
“First of all, thank you for your high regard. Secondly, Xin Xing’s achievements in the entertainment circle recently are obvious to everyone. Therefore, whether in terms of name recognition or popularity, Xin Xing is more suitable to be the main feature for this season than I am.”
As a rising star with massive traffic, Xin Xing had a huge fan base. Having him as the main feature would inevitably bring considerable revenue to A-L.
Meanwhile, he had been in the circle for years and remained lukewarm. He knew his fans’ purchasing power couldn’t compare to Xin Xing’s.
Chen Wei believed Finn could understand the meaning behind his words.
As expected, the moment he finished speaking, Finn nodded at him thoughtfully.
At this point, Chen Wei finally breathed a sigh of relief.
After handling these matters and giving instructions to Han Chi, Chen Wei turned to follow the assistant to see what was going on.
To his surprise, he had only taken two steps when the manager’s relentless, angry curses reached his ears.
“What do you think you are? Why do you need to act like a ‘good Samaritan’ and give charity to things that already belong to our Xin Xing? Do you want to use this to make our Xin Xing feel indebted to you? It’s broad daylight—what kind of pipe dream are you having?”
Chen Wei stopped in his tracks and turned back around.
He believed that in this matter, his way of handling things was beyond reproach. After all, from beginning to end, he was the unwitting victim.
Everything stemmed from Finn’s spontaneous idea and had absolutely nothing to do with him.
They couldn’t possibly pin all the blame on him just because he made the clothes look good, right?
He had already said he had no such intention, but the other party clearly didn’t plan to accept his kindness and even took the opportunity to spin a conspiracy theory about him.
With that thought, the smile on Chen Wei’s face vanished.
He walked toward Finn.
Ignoring the surprised looks on Xin Xing’s team’s faces, he gave a shallow nod to Finn and said:
“Hello. Since you intend to make me the main feature this time, I think the photos we just took might need some more refinement and supplementary shots, don’t they?”
Changing the main feature was the brand’s idea; Chen Wei was, at most, an executor.
In any case, their contract terms stated very clearly:
[Party B must obey Party A’s arrangements and leadership at all times and in all places, cooperating with Party A in all promotional and preparatory work.]
[Party B must be mindful of their conduct and words at all times and must not engage in any behavior or speech that defames the brand. If the brand’s image is damaged due to Party B’s own reasons, Party B must compensate Party A ten times the endorsement fee.]
Every rule in the so-called “bully clauses” was written clearly, so Chen Wei wasn’t worried that Xin Xing’s team would spread nonsense after they left.
Unless Xin Xing didn’t want his career anymore, no one would risk offending a brand by pulling such petty moves in the dark.
Meanwhile, the brand could easily use “unethical conduct” as a reason to immediately terminate all cooperation with an artist without having to pay any liquidated damages.
No one present expected Chen Wei to suddenly pull such a move.
Xin Xing’s manager’s face darkened several shades because of Chen Wei’s words.
In contrast, Finn’s eyes brightened when he heard Chen Wei was willing to cooperate as the main feature.
No longer caring about Xin Xing’s side, he excitedly pulled Chen Wei to the clothing rack, constantly holding up clothes against him to compare.
The situation had developed far beyond everyone’s expectations.
The expressions on the faces of Xin Xing’s team were beyond ugly.
Especially Xin Xing—no one knew how much he had sacrificed to get this resource.
Yet now, the resource and the spotlight he had in his hands were being snatched away just like that.
The expression on Xin Xing’s face was becoming hard to maintain.
What kind of thing was Chen Wei?
After being in the circle for so many years, did he have a single famous work to his name?
Why should he, a top star with tens of millions of fans, serve as a foil for someone like Chen Wei on the promotional posters?
Did he even deserve it?
Xin Xing grabbed his things and stood up to leave.
Even if he was blacklisted by the brand, he would absolutely not play a supporting role to an unranked, thirty-eighth-tier minor character like Chen Wei.
The manager hurried to stop him.
Xin Xing hadn’t been debuted for long, and A-L was the first domestic light luxury endorsement he had touched.
If the response was good, it could open the door for more domestic and even international high-end luxury brands for him in the future.
So, this endorsement was actually very important to Xin Xing.
He didn’t know what the background of this designer, Finn, was, that he could casually say things like replacing an artist or the main feature to the brand’s spokespersons.
In the argument just now, he had intentionally dragged Chen Wei into it.
After all, who didn’t know that Chen Wei was a famous “Mr. Nice Guy” in the circle? He figured that to clear his name, Chen Wei would definitely say those words about having no intention to compete.
Once Chen Wei stated his attitude, the designer would have to reconsider their Xin Xing.
As for the last few sentences he spoke, they were meant to tell everyone present that this endorsement qualification originally belonged to Xin Xing and wasn’t something Chen Wei was kindly giving to them.
But he had completely failed to expect that an honest person like Chen Wei would flip his lid because of it.
Xin Xing’s manager was so choked up by Chen Wei’s operation that he couldn’t even let out a breath.
“Brother Yu.” Xin Xing, held back by his manager, was somewhat indignant.
“At worst, I just won’t film this ad. What right does Chen Wei have to make me his foil?”
Although the manager was also angry, he still patiently coaxed Xin Xing:
“Don’t worry. The contract states clearly that we are A-L’s official spokespersons this time.”
As he spoke, he picked up his phone to contact the person in charge of the event.
While dialing, he didn’t forget to comfort Xin Xing:
“Rest assured, no one has the right to make you a foil. A-L’s official spokesperson can only be you alone.”
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