PLT | Chapter 17

As If Standing at the Edge of an Abyss

After seeing Weibo, Yan Chao’s first reaction was to call Zhou Chenyu.

It rang for a long time before someone finally picked up. The place on the other end was noisy and bustling, there were probably a lot of people gathered around him.

Zhou Chenyu’s lazy voice came through the phone. “Hello?”

Yan Chao said, “It’s me. Is this a convenient time for you?”

The moment Zhou Chenyu heard his voice, he answered crisply, “Yeah, it’s convenient. Go ahead.”

Just as he was speaking, someone on the other end seemed to shout, “Who is it?”

Zhou Chenyu answered in his usual broad, careless way, “Your shisao!”

A burst of hooting immediately erupted on the other end.

Yan Chao: “……What kind of nonsense is that?”

Zhou Chenyu: “Go on, shao-nainai, this servant is listening.”

Yan Chao tried hard to suppress the urge to curse him out and said seriously, “Why were you commenting on a marketing account when you had nothing better to do?”

“So it’s because of that,” Zhou Chenyu gave a snort. “They were already spreading rumors right onto Grandpa’s head, and Grandpa can’t even curse them a couple of times?”[2]

Yan Chao said, “Wasn’t it you who said that if they want to say things, then just let them say them?”

Zhou Chenyu said briefly, “They can curse me. Spreading rumors that I don’t get along with you, no.”

More than half of the anger Yan Chao had been holding in instantly faded for no reason at all.

He sighed. “I know you don’t want to watch them spout nonsense, but there’ll only be more and more nonsense like this in the future. You can’t possibly reply to every single one, can you? Haven’t you seen that a lot of people are already saying you’re deliberately selling CP?”

Zhou Chenyu had stepped in to defend him, yet he was the one calling to criticize him. The more Yan Chao thought about it, the more he felt that what he was doing was not very decent.

Afraid Zhou Chenyu might get angry, he hurriedly added, “I’m saying this for your own good too.”

There was a brief silence on Zhou Chenyu’s side before he said, “Got it. There won’t be a next time, okay?”

Still uneasy, Yan Chao reminded him, “Next time you post a Weibo related to the two of us, remember to tell me beforehand.”

Zhou Chenyu said, “You won’t even let me post on Weibo now? Aren’t you controlling things a little too broadly?”

Yan Chao tried to reason with him patiently. “I didn’t say you can’t post. I just mean, let me know first, so I can at least be mentally prepared.”

Zhou Chenyu said, “Got it, shao-nainai. Everything will be done according to your wishes.”

Yan Chao: “……”

After hanging up, the laughter of those shidi around Zhou Chenyu still echoed in Yan Chao’s ears.

In another two days, he was going to follow Zhou Chenyu to the theater. He simply had no idea what face he was supposed to use to meet them.

At this moment, Yan Chao felt as if he really were an unmarried shisao.

Suffocating.

He had just been about to open Weibo again for another look when his phone rang once more.

That name he did not want to see abruptly appeared on the screen.

Yan Chao picked up. “What is it?”

The other person asked him, “Where are you?”

Yan Chao said, “Home.”

“There are a few major investors inviting people to dinner tonight. I want to bring you along and let you get to know them.”

Yan Chao refused instinctively. “Not going.”

The other person said, “It’s just getting acquainted, that’s all. I’ll be there, so what are you afraid of?”

Yan Chao said coldly, “Why do I need to get acquainted with them?”

“Xiao Chao, do I really need to explain who these people are to you? They’re all the satellite TV channel’s financial backers. If you don’t spend more time building connections with them, how are you going to bring in sponsors for your next show? Who’s willing to invest in you?”

The moment he brought up that issue, Yan Chao could not say anything.

Seeing that this line of persuasion was effective on him, the other person continued, “We can also mention The Second Role to them today and have them take extra care of it. Get ready, I’ll be downstairs at your place to pick you up at six, hm?”

Yan Chao gave a reluctant “Mm,” then hung up irritably.

At six in the evening, Yan Chao went downstairs on time. A silver-gray Rolls-Royce was already parked outside his building.

When he saw him, the other man immediately rolled down the car window and waved to him.

The middle-aged man sitting inside the car was none other than Wang Hui, the chairman of Huanyu Media, the company Yan Chao worked for, and also the largest shareholder of Huanyu Satellite TV, the famous Wang Hui.

Yan Chao was still wearing a crisp suit and looked thoroughly businesslike. He nodded to Wang Hui as a greeting, then skillfully opened the front passenger door and got in.

Wang Hui started the car and asked, “Has recording the show been going smoothly? I’ve really been too busy lately, I haven’t had time to pay any attention to you.”

Yan Chao said flatly, “It’s been pretty good. No need for you to trouble yourself over it.”

Wang Hui seemed already used to this attitude of his and continued, “I saw the hot search today. That kid doing the show with you, he seems pretty straightforward.”

As he spoke, he pointed at his head. “It’s just that this part doesn’t seem to work too well.”

Yan Chao gave a cold snort. “You haven’t even met him, and you already know that this part of his doesn’t work too well? Chairman Wang really does have sharp eyes and keen judgment.”

Wang Hui glanced at him. “You’re already speaking up for him this quickly? I thought it was pretty much like what people online were saying, that you didn’t get along with him and the two of you couldn’t play together.”

Yan Chao said, “He’s a good person. He has no scheming mind.”

Wang Hui laughed. “That’s great, then. People with no scheming mind are the kind I like best. Easy to control.”

Yan Chao sneered. “Right. When you get to know someone, the very first step is checking whether they’re easy to control, isn’t it?”

Wang Hui did not get angry. Instead, he smiled even more proudly. “Can you really say that this ability of yours to see through other people at a glance wasn’t inherited from me? You’re still young right now. Later on, you’ll know to thank me.”

A trace of frightening coldness instantly surfaced in Yan Chao’s eyes. “Fortunately. If I were like her, then by now who knows who I would’ve been tricked by, maybe I’d have even lost my life.”

That one sentence choked Wang Hui into silence. Then, when he caught Yan Chao’s gaze in the rearview mirror, he only felt that in that instant, the coldness in those deep eyes made it seem as though he had fallen into an ice cave. That ruthless aura, completely different from anything before, simply did not seem like something a young man in his early twenties should possess.

For a time, Wang Hui could not say another word. Only after quite a while did he finally speak again cautiously. “When I called you that day, I’d had a little too much to drink, and I couldn’t help thinking of you, thinking of the suffering you went through when you were little……”

Yan Chao’s expression darkened, and he cut him off at once. “I don’t need your pity.”

Wang Hui’s words stalled. After a long pause, he used a rare, appeasing tone. “I’m sorry, Xiao Chao, I……”

Yan Chao interrupted him again. “Don’t call me that anymore.”

Wang Hui was instantly speechless. The air inside the car froze solid once more.

After a long while, Yan Chao suddenly sighed and said in a low voice, “When I went back to Xinjiang, I dreamed about her again. For a moment, I really wanted her to take me with her.”

Wang Hui moved his lips, but did not know what to say. After a while, he finally asked stiffly, “Have you been having nightmares again? Lately, do you want me to help you get in touch with a psychologist?”

“Don’t bother with me.” Yan Chao raised a hand and pinched the bridge of his nose, then suddenly revealed a self-mocking smile. “Do you know? Every time I talk about this with you, it makes me feel especially disgusting.”

As they spoke, the car had already arrived at the hotel’s underground parking garage. After Wang Hui parked the car securely, he let out a long sigh. “……I’m sorry.”

Yan Chao sneered. “If apologies were any use, the dead could come back to life.”

After saying that, he pulled open the car door. The moment he stepped out, the gloom on his face vanished in an instant, replaced once more by a flawless, perfectly proper smile.

Wang Hui brought him upstairs, turning here and there through several corridors, until they entered a resplendent luxury private room.

Inside sat a group of pot-bellied men. The moment the two of them entered, every one of them greeted them with smiling, ingratiating faces. Of course, Yan Chao knew very well that those smiles were for Wang Hui’s sake and had nothing at all to do with him.

After Wang Hui introduced the various presidents and chairmen to Yan Chao, the two of them finally sat down. Wang Hui explained, “I was just discussing work with Xiao Yan, and by the time we finished, it was already this late, so I brought him along on the way.”

The old men all wore lascivious smiles, as though everyone present knew perfectly well what the two of them had really been doing.

Yan Chao felt utterly disgusted by these familiar obscene and sordid expressions, yet he still had no choice but to keep smiling.

Reality was not an idol drama. A domineering CEO did not mean someone who could control everything.

In fact, even a chairman-level figure like Wang Hui still had to socialize with the big bosses on the funding side in order to pull in investment. He did not need to humble himself, but at the very least he still had to drink and make merry with them.

The financial backers chatted about all sorts of things, and Yan Chao could not get a word in edgewise, so he simply drank his wine in silence by himself.

As they talked, Wang Hui deliberately steered the conversation toward recent programs, and at last the evening’s real topic came up: “Our Xiao Yan’s new variety show, The Second Role, has only just started airing. In the future, we’ll be relying on all of you to take extra care of it.”

On the surface, that line was asking them to take extra care of it, but in reality it was equivalent to staking a claim. The meaning could not have been clearer: The Second Role was a key variety show that Huanyu Satellite TV intended to focus on, and Yan Chao was someone Wang Hui intended to push hard. Whatever little conflicts of interest those financial backers had within the industry, none of it was to touch them.

The financial backers immediately understood, but before long one troublemaker said, “If you ask me, Xiao Yan, that big traffic star you signed before at least counted as some guarantee for the ratings. But now you’ve brought in a xiangsheng performer, he won’t amount to much.”

Someone immediately chimed in, “Exactly. What kind of people are xiangsheng performers? Lowly entertainers. Xiao Yan, don’t keep hanging around with them all the time.”

Yan Chao did his utmost to suppress the urge to flip the table. Smiling, he said, “No matter what, xiangsheng is still part of our traditional culture, so how could it have no value in being promoted? I’m still very confident in this variety show of mine. If you bosses don’t believe me, then why don’t we wait and see?”

The old men at the table all burst into laughter. “Our Xiao Yan, so young, yet his tone certainly isn’t small.”

Someone said to Wang Hui in an ambiguous tone, “Of course. Otherwise how could he become that soft bit of flesh right on Chairman Wang’s heart?”

Wang Hui frowned. “What kind of way is that to talk? Who doesn’t know Xiao Yan is the pillar of Huanyu?”

It was obvious that none of them took that pale explanation seriously. Instead, they all clamored for Yan Chao to drink with them.

Yan Chao had always held his liquor well. A few drinks meant nothing to him at all, but the attitudes of the people in front of him made him feel deeply disgusted and nauseated.

And yet Wang Hui shot him a look and said, “Xiao Yan, all these bosses are giving you face. Why don’t you give everyone a toast?”

Wang Hui had already put it that way. For the sake of his show, for the sake of Huanyu Satellite TV, Yan Chao had no choice but to drink this toast.

So Yan Chao smiled as he stood up, deftly poured the drinks, and in an elegant, graceful manner toasted the whole table. “For our station’s new program, I hope all of you bosses will take extra care of it.”

He had barely managed to force himself to swallow that mouthful of alcohol through sheer disgust when his phone abruptly rang.

He glanced at the caller ID, and for some reason, just those simple three words instantly gave him an immense sense of reassurance.

After greeting the people at the table, Yan Chao quickly took his phone and stepped outside.

The familiar voice on the other end came carrying a smile. “Shao-nainai, are you free tomorrow? I’m inviting you to come to the theater and listen to xiangsheng.”

Yan Chao answered readily, “Sure.”

It was rare for him to agree so quickly, and the other side immediately sensed that something was off. “What’s wrong with you? You’ve been drinking, haven’t you?”

In all his years in the entertainment industry, Yan Chao had attended plenty of drinking banquets, and he had never once gotten drunk. But once people drank, whether they were actually drunk or not, they probably all became emotional and lost their reason.

“Zhou Chenyu,” Yan Chao’s voice suddenly lowered. After a long pause, he said abruptly, “Thank you.”

Even if you may never know it, thank you, for in those moments when I stood close to the dark abyss, using your brilliant light to illuminate me.

Footnotes:

[1] 师嫂, shisao, literally means the wife of one’s senior martial brother or senior fellow disciple. Here Zhou Chenyu is jokingly using it to call Yan Chao the spouse-equivalent of their shixiong, which is why everyone around him starts hooting.