Male Sing and His Pet Owner: Chapter 113

“Hello everyone, I am Yu Zhengfeng, the actor who plays Chen Che in the drama.”

In the video, a middle aged man with a somewhat haggard complexion, wearing hospital clothes, sat leaning against the bed with a hint of a smile, greeting the camera: “I am deeply sorry that I cannot come to the event in person for this Sword of Justice promotional activity.” He laughed awkwardly and added: “The organizer only notified me about this event at the last minute. I didn’t bring any clothes or makeup tools to the hospital, so everyone will just have to make do with this old face of mine.”

He spoke as if he didn’t care at all, yet the audience present all somehow felt an indescribable sadness. Gradually, whispers spread through the crowd.

“So Chen Che was played by him?? I thought he looked familiar!”

“Yu Zhengfeng? Is he the one who acted in City Ring? Was that uncle in it him?”

“I remember he used to mostly act in martial arts films. You kids at your age probably don’t know him.”

“I have some impression, it should be him.”

“Anyway, he does look a bit familiar…”

“Is he sick?”

In the video, Yu Zhengfeng continued: “I was very happy and excited to receive Director Ren’s invitation. During filming, I vaguely sensed that this was a good drama, even though my screen time was very little, just that tiny bit.” He gestured with his hand and smiled: “With a good script, a good director, and a good team, the quality of this drama certainly won’t be bad. But I really never expected it would blow up to this extent…”

He rambled on about some small anecdotes from the set, explaining to everyone what a lovely person a certain actor was in private, drawing laughter from the audience below.

So someone else sighed: “The acting skills of a veteran actor really aren’t for nothing. His scenes were just that few and they still made me cry.”

“Yeah, he’s still cooperating with the production team’s promotion even while sick. So hardworking…”

Then someone said coldly and sarcastically: “How do you know he isn’t deliberately filming this video in a hospital gown to hype himself up and put on a show for you?”

The moment these words were spoken, they immediately drew disgusted looks from several people around, staring at that person until they didn’t dare speak again, only muttering in their heart: a bunch of idiots, this trick is something our idol already used up and moved on from, and you’re still falling for it.

Backstage, Zhan Hang hadn’t left yet. He sat in his exclusive guest room and silently watched Yu Zhengfeng’s VCR segment.

In the adjacent room, two people were talking. One of the female voices was quite sharp, saying flatly: “If those few couldn’t be invited, there was no need to drag Yu Zhengfeng in to fill the numbers, and record such a long one…”

The other person said cautiously: “Don’t talk nonsense.”

“It is what it is.” That female voice said carelessly: “He has so little screen time, and the episodes with him in them finished airing these past two days. He couldn’t even ride this wave of popularity if he tried hard. Isn’t he just making a fool of himself?”

Zhao Kaile frowned deeply as he listened, but Zhan Hang put on his sunglasses, tilted his head toward him, and signaled that it was time to go.

The moment they stepped out, the person in charge at the door immediately greeted them with a beaming smile, asking repeatedly if anything was wrong and if they needed help. Zhan Hang didn’t answer. He led Zhao Kaile to the door next door, pushed it open with one hand, and the two girls who had been whispering inside both jumped in fright, staring at the visitor in shock.

This was originally a small break room. When things got busy, it would also pile up with some supplies, and those who wanted to sneak in some slacking off would duck in here to rest.

The person in charge was also surprised, looking at Zhan Hang blankly, not knowing what had upset this big shot again.

Zhan Hang pointed at the two girls with his finger and asked him: “These two are also your staff members?”

“Yes, yes, they’re interns here for this break period.” The person in charge said fawningly: “What’s wrong, Teacher Zhan Hang? Did they cause you some trouble?”

“I was listening next door just now. One of them, I’m not sure which, you’ll have to ask yourself.” Zhan Hang said politely to him: “Someone who gossips about special guests behind their backs, this kind of person can’t be kept around.”

Zhao Kaile watched with his mouth hanging open, silently giving Zhan Hang a thumbs up in his heart.

The two girls still hadn’t quite understood what was happening. They stood there trembling. Hearing this, one of them immediately jumped out to defend herself: “It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me!”

The other one had an ugly look on her face. She had never expected there was someone next door, and that her conversation with her friend had been heard clearly from start to finish. Her lips trembled, and she couldn’t get a single word of defense out.

The person in charge understood upon hearing this, and said to Zhan Hang in a fawning manner: “Oh my, it’s a good thing you caught her red handed. Otherwise, if she went out and spread rumors like this, our small team would be in chaos.” After saying this, his face changed, and he scolded that girl harshly: “Hand over your work badge. You don’t need to come in tomorrow.”

“It’s a good thing the person who ran into this today was me.” Zhan Hang said leisurely: “If it had been someone else, who knows how they might have badmouthed you behind your backs. Then the entire promotional event would have suffered, and what would that have been about.”

The person in charge said: “Yes, yes, yes… are you leaving now? Shall I see you out?”

“No need, I’ll go out myself.” Zhan Hang patted his shoulder and smiled: “You go about your business.”

The person in charge: “Alright, alright, please take care.”

After saying this, he also called over the several staff members lined up on both sides to help send them off. The group understood, escorting Zhan Hang and Zhao Kaile out of the guest exclusive passage, bowing and scraping all the way to the car.

Zhao Kaile was overwhelmed by the favor. They had never enjoyed this kind of treatment before, so when someone smiled at him, he instinctively smiled back, being extremely polite. As a result, the moment he got in the car, Zhan Hang lectured him.

“Zhao Kaile, do you still think you’re the assistant of some no name D lister??” Zhan Hang poked his forehead, saying seriously: “Can you act like you have some status?? Don’t smile back at everyone who smiles at you. You are a person of standing now. Pay attention to your words and behavior.”

Zhao Kaile said speechlessly: “Okay…”

Please, you look like a nouveau riche right now!!

Zhan Hang added: “People being polite to us is only natural. I didn’t force them to do it. They want to do it themselves, understand?”

Zhao Kaile gave an “oh,” thinking to himself, yes, yes, yes, currying favor with the powerful, avoiding harm, and clinging to big thighs are all human nature.

Zhan Hang seemed extremely vindictive. Wearing his sunglasses, he said fiercely: “Everything develops too fast these days. Being popular because of one drama doesn’t last more than a few years. If I don’t start throwing my weight around now, am I supposed to wait until I’m cold and forgotten? Damn it, look at how fawning they all are, handing me things like they want to crawl over holding them above their heads.”

Zhao Kaile couldn’t help but laugh, saying loudly: “You’re right! How about we drive over to Qihua’s front door right now and take a spin around! Let’s see how Sun Yimin reacts!”

Zhan Hang: “……”

“Just kidding.” Zhao Kaile laughed heartily: “Brother Hang, you are really too funny.”

Hearing this, Zhan Hang gave a pleased “mm”: “Drive properly. I’ll take you to ACT for dinner tonight.”

Zhao Kaile let out a whoop, stomped on the gas pedal, and overtook the car next to them, scaring Zhan Hang out of his wits. His angry roar could faintly be heard on the road.

That night, the topics still trending on Weibo’s hot search were several Sword of Justice related ones. But the one climbing the fastest was a topic about Yu Zhengfeng recording a promotional video while sick.

The top liked comment was a sarcastic comparison between a veteran actor being gravely ill with no one caring, versus a young fresh face getting a scrape and being carried away on an ambulance. The replies were full of haters tagging the person they wanted to bash, along with some fans who arrived too late to steer the narrative.

Netizens had long suffered under the sickness of fandom culture. This hot search topic seemed to strike a deep chord with certain viewers’ sense of injustice. So the original post immediately spread at a rate of several hundred reposts per minute, likes skyrocketing, with related posts appearing on all major platforms.

The first artist to repost it on Weibo was Zhan Hang. He even specifically tagged Yu Zhengfeng in his repost content, sending a smiling emoji and saying that when the opportunity arose, he would film another drama with him again.

After his repost, Zhang Wenqian, Yao Min’er, Song Yiming, Deng Xiaoran, and others all reposted one after another. So for a time, the name Yu Zhengfeng spread across the entire internet again at an unimaginably rapid speed. The original video and related scene clips also surged in popularity, view counts rising by thousands and hundreds. One website even nearly crashed from the traffic.

The last time this website had nearly crashed was because a certain young star with the surname Li had cheated on multiple people. Who would have thought that after several months, there would actually be a rare event with such positive influence that reached number one.

In the living room, Zhao Kaile was sitting in front of the TV, watching today’s broadcast of Sword of Justice right on time. Zhan Hang generally had no interest in dramas he had acted in himself. He lounged on the sofa looking at his phone, only giving perfunctory “mm mm” responses when Zhao Kaile turned to discuss things with him. When he saw Zhao Kaile wasn’t happy, he would put on an act of glancing at the TV, then go back to staring at his phone screen once Zhao Kaile got absorbed in watching again.

During the commercial break, Zhao Kaile could finally give his brain a rest. He turned and leaned over next to Zhan Hang, curiously looking at what was on his phone screen. At one glance, he saw five extremely eye catching words: “Yu Zhengfeng’s comeback.”

“!!!” Zhao Kaile’s eyes widened in shock. He looked at the screen, then looked at Zhan Hang.

Zhan Hang hooked the corner of his mouth at him: “That surprising? Didn’t you yourself say before that he would definitely have a chance to blow up?”

Zhao Kaile was practically incoherent: “No, no… I didn’t expect it to be this fast! This shouldn’t be some marketing account talking nonsense, right?? You, you, show me again…”

Zhan Hang obliged and reopened the previous page, pointing things out to him one by one: “He originally didn’t use these apps. This is one his company just had him register. Look at his current follower count. And this, this… this is a drama he starred in before. This morning the rating was still around five point something. Now the new fans he just gained have directly bumped it up to seven point something. This number is definitely not small.”

Zhao Kaile: “Holy crap…”