Chapter 30: Poaching
People always subconsciously want others to agree with their viewpoints regarding the things they like, which is why the behavior of “sharing” exists. In the online world, this naturally manifests as reposting, and people will not be stingy with their praise.
In fact, it wasn’t limited to Weibo; WeChat, Baidu Tieba, and other large online communities gradually began to see related content appearing.
Gold will always shine unless someone buries it under thick sand forever; otherwise, wanting to shine and radiate heat is a very simple matter.
This incident was like a ripple in water. The initial disturbance in the middle was quite small, but as long as it could spread out ring by ring, the range would grow larger and larger. The final result would undoubtedly be astonishing; sometimes, the ripples caused by even a small splash should not be underestimated.
Many people asked for the Male God’s Weibo in the comments. Those who were self-reliant or impatient simply searched for it directly, while some kind souls provided explanations in the comments. The number of followers on Xiahou Qian’s Weibo increased rapidly, and the follower count of the official Qianchen Media Weibo also grew steadily, though not as quickly as Xiahou Qian’s personal account.
Xiahou Qian’s Weibo was very quiet. He had few followers and followed few people, and he posted even less. Aside from that reposted Weibo, he had only made one post when he first opened the account. Xiahou Qian’s Weibo homepage was also very simple, with light colors and the default skin. Even so, everyone played there with tireless enjoyment.
As for Xiahou Qian, the person involved, he didn’t pay any more attention to the matter after reposting because he received a phone call.
The call was from Mo Yu, that silver-medal agent from Tianheng Entertainment. Xiahou Qian hadn’t expected that he would contact him again after such a long time. Although the other party said he hoped to meet and chat last time, Xiahou Qian hadn’t taken it seriously at all. Even if the things he wanted to understand were inseparable from Tianheng, Mo Yu hadn’t contacted him for so long that Xiahou Qian thought the other party had just let it go.
When Mo Yu asked to meet him, Xiahou Qian did not refuse. However, he didn’t mention that he had already signed a contract. His reason for agreeing to meet was simply to find out who exactly insisted on having him sign with Tianheng. He felt this person must have a myriad of connections with the person who harmed him, and might even be that “black hand” itself.
When Xiahou Qian took the call, Chi Shaochen was right beside him. Both were sitting on the bed because Xiahou Qian’s home was too small.
“Someone from Tianheng?” Chi Shaochen asked.
Xiahou Qian nodded. He remembered telling Chi Shaochen at noon that he would tell him some things after returning, but he had forgotten until Mo Yu’s call reminded him again. Chi Shaochen seemed to be the same. Xiahou Qian had intended to ask Chi Shaochen for help with the investigation, so he spoke up directly.
“I truly don’t know much, but we can start investigating from Tianheng. In my past life, Tianheng only had a rookie agent contact me. I had no experience and signed directly. After entering Tianheng, I was suppressed in an irrational manner. This time, I refused that rookie agent, but it drew in a silver-medal agent instead. And since once wasn’t enough, he actually came back. They shouldn’t know much about me—at least, it’s impossible that they’ve taken a fancy to my talent. I feel the other party’s purpose for having me enter Tianheng is simply to suppress me. In other words, the other party must have a certain amount of say within Tianheng.”
Once there was a lead, the investigation shouldn’t be too complicated; the Chi family was far beyond what Tianheng could compare to.
“Alright. When you meet tomorrow, you can also try to see if you can fish anything out of him.”
Chi Shaochen didn’t object to Xiahou Qian meeting that silver-medal agent. The other party wasn’t bold enough to do anything to harm Xiahou Qian in broad daylight.
“I understand.” This was also Xiahou Qian’s plan.
Once the serious business was finished, Chi Shaochen set the book in his hand aside, flipped over, and pinned Xiahou Qian down. Due to the confession today, the worries in Xiahou Qian’s heart had vanished, while Chi Shaochen felt both heartache and guilt toward Xiahou Qian. In the end, all of this transformed into unbridled passion…
The next day, the two woke up together. Before leaving, Chi Shaochen said to Xiahou Qian, “Move into my place. It’s not safe here.”
“Okay.”
Xiahou Qian didn’t act pretentious. Although Chi Shaochen put it simply, he understood his worry. He had already entered the entertainment industry, which meant becoming a public figure. As his fame grew, more people would want to pry into his privacy.
This small apartment was already too small for two people to live in. Chi Shaochen had gone from occasionally staying over to simply being here every day. Since things were out in the open, Xiahou Qian felt it was the same wherever they lived. It hadn’t been easy for Chi Shaochen to huddle here with him for so long; he wondered how a man accustomed to living in a large house could get used to this place. What was Chi Shaochen’s residence like? Come to think of it, he hadn’t been to Chi Shaochen’s place yet.
Xiahou Qian planned to go to the company after meeting Mo Yu. Wen Xiao was waiting outside early in the morning, just like before. Xiahou Qian felt the home was too small and had nowhere to receive guests, so he didn’t invite Wen Xiao in to sit. He freshened up and went straight out, taking Wen Xiao to the cafe where he had agreed to meet Mo Yu. On the way, Wen Xiao was still the one driving.
“Are we coming here to eat?” Actually, Wen Xiao had been curious for a long time, but Xiahou Qian didn’t like her talking while driving, so she had endured until now.
“To meet someone. Later, no matter what I say to him, don’t speak.”
Xiahou Qian didn’t plan to explain to Wen Xiao why he knew a silver-medal agent from Tianheng Entertainment. It was troublesome. Anyway, after he talked to Mo Yu, Wen Xiao would be able to figure out most of it.
“Understood.” Although Wen Xiao was young, she wasn’t stupid.
“Have you had breakfast?” Xiahou Qian asked Wen Xiao after they sat down.
“I have.” She had bought breakfast downstairs at her own place before taking the bus to the Male God’s home. Every day, she reported directly to the Male God’s home rather than the company. Anything she did was arranged directly by the Male God. When the Male God was free, she could take a day off or go to the company; her working hours were relatively flexible.
Xiahou Qian summoned the waiter to order breakfast for himself, and Wen Xiao followed suit by ordering a drink, even though she wasn’t thirsty at all.
Wen Xiao began scrolling through Weibo while she had nothing to do. A moment later, she looked up in surprise and said, “Male God, your Weibo followers have exceeded 500,000!”
Actually, for an artist, 500,000 followers really wasn’t much; a popular internet celebrity would have more than that. However, Xiahou Qian had fewer than 20 followers before that Weibo post yesterday. This meant that in a single night, he had attracted 500,000 fans based solely on one Weibo post!
And these were all genuine fans; they hadn’t spent a single cent to buy followers. One could see how high the enthusiasm of these fans for Xiahou Qian was from the comments section below his Weibo, which was nearly exploding.
Xiahou Qian was somewhat surprised. After opening Weibo on his phone, the first things he noticed were the massive number of private messages and @ mentions, followed by the newly added followers. His Weibo privacy settings weren’t very high before; he had only blocked advertisements, but private messages could be sent by anyone who followed him.
There was all sorts of nonsense in the private messages. He didn’t plan to be an approachable idol, so he returned directly to the main page and didn’t check a single @ notification.
The events of his past life had indeed dealt him many blows, but he remained confident in his musical talent. Now, with the addition of his golden finger and the fact that his foray into the entertainment industry had no back-end worries thanks to Chi Shaochen’s protection, he had long anticipated his success in music. He even felt that this was a normal development.
Even when he first uploaded his songs to Tianlai, Xiahou Qian hadn’t truly been anxious. His popularity back then really wasn’t great, but he believed that as his works increased and time passed, his songs would eventually be known to everyone. What he truly feared were the schemes and suppression within the entertainment industry. Public opinion was sometimes fatal to artists unless he planned to be an online singer who never exposed his true identity for his whole life; however, even so, there was no guarantee that determined people wouldn’t find out his identity through various channels.
Now with Chi Shaochen, he could sing purely and unscrupulously without having to worry about anything else.
Not long after the two’s snacks and drinks arrived, the cafe door opened again. Xiahou Qian looked up. Although he hadn’t seen Mo Yu in person before, combined with the rumors, Xiahou Qian quickly determined that the man entering was the person he was waiting for.
Wen Xiao and Xiahou Qian were sitting in the same row. After Mo Yu entered, he sat down directly opposite the two and ordered a Blue Mountain coffee.
Mo Yu was shocked upon seeing Xiahou Qian. Although he had heard that Xiahou Qian looked good, he never imagined he looked good to this extent. Based on this appearance alone, even if Xiahou Qian were a total empty shell, he could still become popular in the entertainment industry. It wouldn’t matter if his acting was terrible; after all, many people only cared about looks. Moreover, acting skills could be learned. While faces could also be surgically altered, no matter how well it was done, the expressions would be unnatural and there would be a heap of sequelae.
Of course, even with surgery, it was absolutely impossible to look as good as Xiahou Qian.
Although Xiahou Qian had become popular on Weibo last night, Mo Yu hadn’t noticed it yet. However, given the current trend of development, he would likely discover it before long.
“Hello, Mr. Xia.” Mo Yu smiled, appearing as gentle as jade, just like the rumors said.
Hearing Mo Yu’s form of address, Xiahou Qian remembered that he hadn’t corrected Mo Yu before. He smiled and spoke up, “My compound surname is Xiahou. Xiahou Qian. Mr. Mo can call me by my full name.” Being called Mr. Xia always felt a bit strange.
“…” Mo Yu felt quite speechless. He had always thought Xiahou Qian’s surname was Xia, and had called him Mr. Xia during both phone calls. Xiahou Qian had never explained it either. Should he blame his own poor language skills? It must be because there were simply too few people with compound surnames around him that he hadn’t thought of it for a moment!
Even though Mo Yu was complaining internally about having made a fool of himself, the smile on his face never changed. He bypassed the topic and spoke up, “Apologies. I asked you out this time to confirm—do you truly not plan to consider signing with Tianheng Entertainment? I currently only have one first-tier artist under me, and he no longer needs me to worry too much. If you come, I can use the resources in my hand on you.”
This temptation really wasn’t low for a newcomer who had just stepped into the entertainment industry. If it weren’t for experiencing his past life and having Chi Shaochen around now, Xiahou Qian would likely have agreed without a second thought. Unfortunately, no such possibility existed. Even if he weren’t with Chi Shaochen now, he would absolutely never choose Tianheng in this life.
Holy crap!
Someone is actually trying to poach the Male God from his own company!
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