“I think I’ll pass?”

Meng Fan heard this and felt his head swell. He smiled bitterly. “I already started a scandal going there with Shan Jin bro last time. If I go with you…”

“What, can the two of us not create a scandal?” Bai Zhi glared at Meng Fan and smiled. “Besides, isn’t this a good way to combat gossip? Everyone will know you’re a professional bodyguard.”

Meng Fan was speechless. “You can do that?”

Bai Zhi’s coquettish attitude was quite convincing. She was like a childish girl, shaking Meng Fan’s hand. “I haven’t shopped around a street food market in a long time, too! And I’m sad I didn’t get the championship, I just want to eat some delicious food to cheer me up. That’s not asking too much, right?”

“Hmm, how come I can’t see a hint of happiness from your demeanor?” Meng Fan smiled. Seeing Bai Zhi glare at him again, he quickly nodded. “OK OK OK, let’s go, let’s go.”

The two exited the Mango TV HQ. The crew and the other staff members were still not off work yet, and the directing group were in a heated meeting, nagging the staff to search through the clips and find what scenes needed to be filmed again before the celebrities left.

“Director Xu, Professor Di.”

After the meeting, Director Xu and Professor Di had been discussing some details that needed to be changed when someone entered through the door. It was a staff member from the production lounge, who was also the assistant manager of the TV station’s broadcasting department.

Director Xu stood up to greet him. “Manager Jin, what made you grace us with your presence today?”

This Assistant Manager Jin burst out in laughter and said a few jokes to retort. Then, he got to his point. “I heard this time your show invited the kid who beat that K-pop idol to be a guest? Meng Fan, was it?”

Professor Di had gotten up to leave, thinking they had some internal affairs to discuss. After hearing the words ‘Meng Fan,’ she stopped in her place.

Director Xu nodded. “Yep. Is there a problem?”

Assistant Manager Jin said solemnly. “Director Xu, you must think about this. Although this Meng Fan character had a reason for the fight, everyone, including me, had been rooting for him with our thumbs up. But still, a fight is a fight nonetheless, and it doesn’t look good. If he goes on a show, it might negatively impact your ratings. So I want to recommend inviting another guest in his place, and film the segment again. I already watched the ending, and Bai Zhi doesn’t win. When the time comes, all you’d have to do is fill in the ‘Classic Voice’ and the collaboration performance. The camera shots can be edited too, so it won’t impact the show in any way.”

Director Xu heard this and creased his brows. At this time, Professor Di stood up and interrupted him. “Manager Jin, have you seen his recording?”

“I’ve heard of him. I hear the results are very good, but I haven’t seen it firsthand,” he responded.

Professor Di suppressed her voice. “That’s the case. Manager Jin, maybe you should watch his clip before discussing this further.”

Manager Jin began to laugh. “Professor Di, even if the results were out of this world, would it affect the show in any way? This will not make the fight incident disappear! When the time comes, people will begin to gossip, saying Mango TV invited a violent man onto their show. Then, it would negatively impact us. Besides, he hit a celebrity too, and celebrities are bound to have fans. You also know that K-pop fans start the most drama. We’re trying to consider this from all perspectives.”

“Manager Jin!”

After Director Xu heard this, the atmosphere in the room began to drop. “It doesn’t impact our show. Our crew is very capable of managing ourselves!” He then smiled coldly. “Your so called ‘consideration’ comes from your advertising department’s ties to that K-pop idol’s endorsement agency, isn’t it?”

Having been discovered, Manager Jin couldn’t help but admit. “There’s already a foreshadowing that we might break apart, so I have to consider this aspect. After Meng Fan got in that fight, we weren’t the first people to invite him to perform. If he really makes it, don’t you think it’ll be difficult for us to get K-pop contracts in the future?”

Director Xu asked: “Everyone already knows about us inviting him to the show, and we’ve broadcasted the promotional material as well. We’re done recording now too, and you want me to find someone else? Then let me ask you, how will we explain this to the public? Tell them that you were worried the K-pop star won’t attend our shows because Meng Fan hit him? Isn’t that asking to be scolded!”

Manager Jin had made himself clear, yet director Xu refused to back down. His face began to darken. “It’s easy to find an excuse. Just say the results weren’t good, and he doesn’t fit the show’s requirements. It’s that easy! It’s not like he’s from the entertainment industry; this excuse will be perfect!”

Director Xu heard this and immediately asked for someone to bring the clip of Meng Fan’s voice acting, handing it over to Manager Jin. “Take a look first before talking.”

After watching for a while, Manager Jin’s expression looked unsettled. He could tell whether it was good or bad, of course, but this affected their company’s profits; it wouldn’t be dissipated that easily.

Back and forth, the two began to bicker.

Manager Jin did have a say-so in this matter, but Director Xu had control over his show, not to mention that Director Xu never liked to back down in matters of show quality.

“I will call Bao Zhi myself. If she agreed to shoot again, you’ll be okay with this, right?”

Without Director Xu’s agreement, he got Bai Zhi’s number and called. Bai Zhi, however, didn’t even give him a chance to argue.

“Replace him? Only if you replace me, too!”

She said and hung up.

Manager Jin’s expression was not pleased as he held the phone.

“I don’t believe this. This is part of my jurisdiction, I’m doing this!” Manager Jin became angry as the argument continued. The two decided to find someone at the production center to decide the matter.

Just as they prepared to leave, it so happened that before the production center sent anyone over, the channel GM arrived. He originally came to congratulate Director Xu for the successful recording of “Voice Legend” and its amazing footage, as well as taking the Strategist and others out for dinner. He came in time to see Manager Jin and Director Xu arguing.

“Meng Fan? Tell me what you all think.”

The channel GM heard the arguments as he sent a WeChat message.

“Lao Tao, was that person you mentioned Meng Fan?”

“Yes, what did he do now?”

“Nothing. I heard a guy did really well on the show, and the name sounds like this Meng Fan, so I just asked.”

“Don’t mess with him, or I’d get yelled at!”

The channel GM finished with his WeChat conversation and heard the argument, too. He put away his phone.

He spoke with an upbeat tone, “Lao Jin, Director Xu demands a lot from his program and we have to support that. Your considerations are careful and thorough. However, as TV industry people of Huaxia, we need to have our pride. We cannot lose our pride and sense of honor, we cannot blindly trust outsiders, we have to believe in our own people. Of course, I understand your dilemma. You must have been overworked lately; I’ll approve a long break for you. Get some rest.”

After he finished speaking, he ignored Manager Jin as he said to Director Xu and Professor Di, “Is Director Zhang still in the lounge? Let’s all head over.”

The three of them left, leaving Manager Jin with an ashen expression.

Pride, sense of honor cannot be lost… With words like these, Manager Jin knew he was finished!

…

“What’s wrong?”

Meng Fan looked curiously at an angry Bai Zhi, who just finished a call.

“Nothing. Just a stupid notice.”

Bai Zhi tamped down her anger; she didn’t want this to affect Meng Fan or ruin their mood. With Meng Fan acting as bodyguard, they had fun walking around and eating, not having any worries.

Maybe because she felt so safe, Bai Zhi was able to greet and even talk to fans and other people who recognized her along the way. The people were also able to keep a safe distance. Other than talking to her excitedly, none of them did anything over the line.

The scene made Bai Zhi look like a resident of this street food area, with the fans and pedestrians as her neighbors.

Bai Zhi enjoyed the time, which her fans loved to see. Of course, Bai Zhi also got to enjoy many delicious foods.

Who cares if she gained weight. She didn’t care about that now; she just wanted to enjoy the moment.

When they got tired, they found a small snack shop to rest and to keep eating.

Happy times always feel so short. After they finished walking the whole street food market, they had eaten everything and it was time to go.

“Little Fan, what if we walked back? It’d be a nice walk. You’re here to protect me anyway.”

Bai Zhi wanted to call Sun, but she decided against it. She wanted to walk back.

Meng Fan agreed as the walk wasn’t far.

…

“How nice!”

Bai Zhi hugged the jacket Meng Fan took off for her. She shivered as she said happily, “It has been so long since I walked like this.”

“That’s easy to fix. Come out and walk more.”

“It’s not that simple.”

“If you’re a homebody, don’t use the fans as an excuse. Are most people in your industry really homebodies?”

“A lot of them are. Other than work, they like to stay home.”

“It’s nice staying home, as long as you’re comfortable. Why do you have to go out? After walking around so much, you’ll realize staying home — playing games and being on the phone — is the most relaxing. Plus, you don’t have to wash your hair. That’s important for girls, right?”

“That’s true. They say you can tell a girl takes you seriously if she’s willing to wash her hair to come see you.”

“…”

The two of them chatted as they soon arrived back at the hotel. After Bai Zhi returned to her room, she took off Meng Fan’s jacket, carefully folded it, and called back Director Xu. Her expression was completely different now.

“Director Xu, now can you tell me what’s going on?”

…

The next morning, Meng Fan did his usual jog, then waited to have breakfast with Bai Zhi. He then left for the airport.

Bai Zhi wasn’t flying to Hu City; she was flying to Dian Province. Meng Caiwei was shooting a movie there, and she got a supporting role, which was no less important than the leads in some big productions.

Meng Fan flew by himself back to Hangzhou City. He landed around ten in the evening. He didn’t tell anyone he was back as he got a taxi to go straight to the dojo near Huanglong Stadium.