Chapter 5: Me and My Sister-in-Law? (Requesting Monthly Votes and Tips)

Qi Hao bought a house in the capital.

He’d been in the industry for years and never acted recklessly; spending his earnings on such a large apartment in the city center was perfectly reasonable.

At this moment, he and Lao Tian were eating spicy strips in the spacious living room.

You take one, I take one; you take a bite, I take a bite…

Though he harbored deep resentment toward Qi Hao and wished someone would kill him, Lao Tian still bought nearly every spicy strip product on the market.

He even hired a professional agency to conduct a hygiene evaluation.

Their goal was to find a spicy strip that was both hygienic and delicious, then film an advertisement and secure a short-term endorsement.

Qi Hao valued his reputation and wasn’t willing to earn just any kind of money.

These days, food endorsements are full of traps; one misstep and you’re endorsing garbage, damaging your own reputation and betraying your trusting consumers.

Whether it’s hygienic or not, professional evaluators will give their opinion.

But whether it’s tasty or not, you have to taste it to know.

They’d open a bag, each take one strip, eat it, then score it on paper.

After rinsing their mouths, they’d move on to the next bag.

“This one’s no good—it’s way too sweet.”

Qi Hao couldn’t finish half a strip and had to pause for a while before accepting the next product Lao Tian handed him.

“This one seems okay.”

“No, this one’s too spicy—you’ll probably have anal pain tomorrow.”

“Can you not say shit like that in my house? Someone might hear and think the worst.”

“Fuck, I’m willing to eat these strips with you—be grateful.”

“This isn’t fair to the later products—you’re full now, so nothing tastes good anymore.”

“What can we do? Hey, this spicy strip’s pretty good.”

“Give me one.”

Qi Hao tasted it—the flavor was genuinely excellent.

After already eating half a stomachful of spicy strips, the fact that they still thought this one—called “Xiao Fei Gun”—was good made it a true surprise.

“Should we eat the rest?”

Lao Tian looked at the huge pile of unopened bags on the floor; his stomach was starting to ache.

“I think we should give other brands a chance—at least be fair,” Qi Hao said, tearing open another bag.

“Fine, eat it yourself!” Lao Tian declared a strike.

“Cough, cough—I think Xiao Fei Gun is already great; there’s no need to test the rest,” Qi Hao began to headache over what to do with all the leftover strips.

If only he had a girlfriend.

She could serve as a trash bin—a garbage food digestor—when not in use.

“Let me find the inspection report for this one… wow, this is impressive—it’s one of the few products rated excellent.”

“Then this one. Go contact them—whether it’s an endorsement or not, the priority is arranging an ad shoot.”

Qi Hao checked the time—he had to go to China Film Building for the press conference of *The Promise*.

“Are you going alone?” Lao Tian wasn’t reassured.

Their team originally had five people, two of whom were from Ziwen; now that Qi Hao chose not to renew, those two were reassigned back.

One more was an original member who had joined Ziwen with Qi Hao.

But during the tug-of-war between Qi Hao and Ziwen, he sided with Ziwen and became a mole—Lao Tian kicked him out too.

Now Qi Hao had only Lao Tian beside him.

“I’ll wear my military coat!” After starring in *Blood Romantic*, Qi Hao had grown fond of wearing military coats in winter.

Add a hat and mask, and no one could possibly recognize him.

He even dared to take the bus dressed like this.

Lao Tian contacted the Xiao Fei Gun factory; they didn’t believe Qi Hao would endorse their product.

“Uh, do you know who our backer is?”

Are scammers getting this sloppy now?

Even a lesser-known celebrity might make them perk up.

Besides, stars rarely reach out to brands for endorsements.

“I don’t know your backer—I’m not a scammer. Let’s meet in person. Qi Hao is attending the *The Promise* press conference today; how about tomorrow?”

No amount of talk beats a face-to-face meeting.

“You mean the Qi Hao who played Yang Guo in *The Legend of the Condor Heroes*?”

Lao Tian’s confidence and insistence on meeting in person made the Xiao Fei Gun factory slightly lower their guard.

Though they didn’t understand why, they figured meeting the man couldn’t hurt—they’d see the rabbit before chasing the hawk.

But the issue wasn’t that simple—the factory manager hesitated, then muttered:

“Actually, our factory is about to go bankrupt.”

“What? Your spicy strips taste great—why go bankrupt? And didn’t you just say you had investors?”

Lao Tian, living daily with idiots, was utterly baffled.

“Our investor, China Resources, stopped funding us—that’s why we’re going under. Since the brand launched last year, we’ve been losing money every month. Why?…” The manager sighed helplessly. “We use real ingredients to make it tasty and hygienic—we can’t cut costs, so we can’t keep going.”

“Then what…” Lao Tian’s head ached.

He looked at the pile of spicy strips on the floor—he didn’t want to taste another one.

He never wanted to eat another spicy strip in his life.

“We’d already planned to shut down, but if Qi Hao really wants to endorse us… maybe we can still save the factory.”

Though the manager hadn’t fully dropped his suspicions, his heart was already convincing himself this was the factory’s last chance at survival.

Qi Hao debuted at fifteen or sixteen, beloved by mom fans for his high looks and sweet personality.

As he grew older, he expanded his female fanbase from octogenarians to elementary school dropouts.

If he truly agreed to endorse their spicy strips…

It would be a complete revival!

“Where’s your factory? Let’s set a time to meet.”

Lao Tian just wanted to satisfy Qi Hao’s ridiculous request—he felt like a domineering CEO doting on a delicate wife.

Just thinking about it made him nauseous.

“Tomorrow—tomorrow! We’ll come to the capital and meet you tomorrow!”

Qi Hao, driving himself, had already arrived at China Film Building.

The film *The Promise* was directed by Chen Kexin.

Produced by Media Asia, China Film Group, and Chen Kexin’s own company, with a 270-million-yuan budget, starring Li Lianjie, Liu Dehua, Xu Jinglei, Qi Hao, and a host of veteran actors.

Staff weren’t surprised to see him arrive alone.

Everyone in the industry knew Qi Hao came from humble roots and hated putting on celebrity airs.

That’s also why he often got kissed all over his face by female fans.

If the fan was pretty, he’d endure it silently.

If she was ugly, he’d struggle fiercely.

“Brother Hua, you’re here early!” The first person Qi Hao saw was Liu Dehua.

Qi Hao’s mother was a fan of Liu Dehua.

Qi Hao himself was a fan of Liu Dehua.

He never imagined he’d ever work with him.

“You’re here early too. That coat of yours looks great—it’s freezing today, haha.”

Liu Dehua wore a formal suit; seeing Qi Hao in a military coat made him feel even colder.

“It’s just like this in the capital—once the heating kicks in, it’s warm indoors. You should try buying a military coat like mine, Brother Hua—it’d look awesome.”

“Haha, really? Take it off and let me try.”

“This one’s custom-made.”

“No wonder it looks so cool… how’s it feel?”

“Holy shit, you look amazing, Brother Hua!”

“Hahaha, lend it to me.”

“No way—I’m cold!”

“You’re young—what are you cold for? Shake it off!”

When Liu Dehua first met Qi Hao, he’d been fooled by his cold exterior.

After months of filming together, day and night, he discovered Qi Hao’s goofy true nature.

Soon after, Vice General Manager Shi Dongming and Vice General Manager and Spokesperson Weng Li of China Film Group, as well as Yu Dong of Bona Distribution, arrived.

Li Lianjie didn’t come; besides Qi Hao and Liu Dehua, Xu Jinglei was the only other actor present.

This press conference mainly introduced *The Promise*’s submission for the Oscar Best Foreign Language Film category—it had little to do with Qi Hao’s supporting role.

Some reporters asked about his gossip with female stars, all of which Spokesperson Weng Li easily dismissed.

Qi Hao’s face showed nothing, but inside he was furiously ranting.

I just helped Old Xu up after he slipped—now they’re saying we were hugging and gazing lovingly on set.

Doesn’t your conscience hurt?

Moreover, in the film, she’s not just Second Sister-in-Law—she’s also involved with the eldest brother. I, as the third brother, would never do something so beastly.

Just thinking about the rumors that surfaced during filming, now set to be stirred up again with the movie’s release, made Qi Hao feel deeply wronged.

He didn’t know what had come over him.

Every time he shot a drama, even just an advertisement, rumors would spread about him and some woman.

If he really were a playboy, he’d accept it.

But the key point is, nearly all these rumors are pure fabrications.

It’s as if media professionals in the domestic entertainment industry, whenever they can’t find decent news, drag him out and force-fit him into their stories.

Fortunately, the spicy strip manufacturer arrived in the capital overnight.

That one day and night was enough for the factory to confirm whether the phone number contacting them belonged to Qi Hao’s agent.

After meeting Qi Hao in person, they were completely reassured.

The negotiations went very smoothly.

Mainly because the Xiao Fei Gun factory reported to Huarun that they had secured Qi Hao as their spokesperson.

Upon hearing this, Huarun immediately decided to increase their investment.

With increased investment, they could not only afford to sign Qi Hao as their spokesperson but also upgrade equipment and expand production.

Higher sales and greater output would further reduce costs, potentially increasing profits.

The plight of Xiao Fei Gun spicy strips was resolved.

The endorsement fee was seven million per year—a high price, since major stars typically don’t endorse such products.

They signed for only one year partly because Xiao Fei Gun wanted to observe the endorsement’s effectiveness, and partly because Qi Hao’s current contract was still with Ziwen; even endorsements he negotiated himself had to be shared with Ziwen.

“Mr. Qi, may our cooperation be fruitful!” The factory manager sighed deeply after the talks.

Life is full of ups and downs.

Yesterday he was despondent over imminent bankruptcy; today he’d signed a spokesperson deal with one of the Four Leading Men.

“You’re too kind. If possible, I’d like to arrange filming an advertisement within ten days.”

Qi Hao’s main goal was to complete his task.

Of those seven million, after taxes, after splitting with Ziwen, and after giving some to his agent Lao Tian, he wouldn’t end up with much.

Just about two million.

“Our budget is solid this time, Mr. Qi. Who would you like to film this ad with? Fan Xuexue, An Feng, Gao Yuanyuan, Sun Li…”

The factory manager rubbed his hands together, eyes full of anticipation.

“Better not. They probably wouldn’t do a spicy strip ad.”

Qi Hao had a task; these top-tier female stars didn’t.

“Oh come on, they wouldn’t normally, but I think if they knew they were filming with you, they’d definitely…”

“Stop!”

Qi Hao never expected this old man was also one of his online haters—knowing every fabricated rumor about his alleged romantic partners by heart.