Chapter 112

"Why are you here?" Xu Tian opened the car door and got in.

"I heard you were coming here to report for duty today, so I came specifically to find you."

Shang Yiran restarted the car: "Why did you get off work so late? Did Du Xiaowei deliberately find fault and make things difficult for you?"

"No." Xu Tian fastened his seatbelt and said with a faint smile: "He wanted to make things difficult for me, but unfortunately, he didn't have the chance."

"Hahaha, I actually didn't think you were the type to be bullied either."

Seeing Xu Tian's relaxed demeanor, Shang Yiran didn't press further about work matters.

Xu Tian, however, was somewhat surprised by Shang Yiran's leisure: "Don't you need to rush to promotional work these two days?"

As a popular star, Shang Yiran being this leisurely to pick him up from work was truly somewhat contrary to common sense.

Normally, the matter of Li Qiang's family framing Shang Yiran had been resolved, and during this period, the media should be scrambling to interview him.

However, apart from posting one Weibo message after the truth came out, Shang Yiran hadn't attended any events.

The studio hadn't released any schedule either, which had the fans who were always worried about him anxious to death.

"I pushed those promotional events away; I've been too tired lately and want to rest for a while."

Thinking of the framing incident, Shang Yiran's mood was still somewhat low.

However, he quickly adjusted and pulled a smile to his lips.

"Enough about me, do you have any plans for the evening?"

"It just so happens that I'm going to a private gathering today, and many people there are from the entertainment industry; I can introduce you to them."

Originally, Shang Yiran hadn't been able to muster any interest in anything lately, so naturally, he didn't want to attend any gatherings.

But Zhou Ping was worried that he would be left with psychological trauma because of the Li Qiang incident, so he often urged him to go out.

Coupled with the lack of activity from the studio recently, many people outside were speculating whether Shang Yiran would retire from the industry directly.

Zhou Ping wanted to clarify this rumor, so he ordered Shang Yiran to attend the gathering today, which was why he reluctantly went out.

Shang Yiran didn't want to go over too early; after driving around the streets twice, he somehow drove the car to the entrance of Qingguo Music.

It just so happened that he heard Xu Tian was working today, so he waited at the entrance for a while, not expecting that he would really wait for him.

Xu Tian knew Shang Yiran was helping him out of kindness; as a manager, one must have rich networking resources, and he was currently a total newcomer in this circle—apart from Shang Yiran and the employees of Qingguo Music, he knew almost no one.

"My girlfriend is away on a business trip, and it just so happens I have nothing to do today, so I'll go with you; thank you for arranging this for me."

"Why are you being so polite with me?"

Shang Yiran waved his hand dismissively and turned the steering wheel to drive toward the commercial district.

Half an hour later, Shang Yiran brought Xu Tian to a membership-based entertainment club.

After walking into the lobby, Xu Tian realized that his attire was completely out of place with the handsome men and beautiful women present.

It's just a private gathering, do they have to dress like they're about to walk the red carpet at any moment!

Looking at himself again, although he wore a suit to work today, it was a more casual style, which looked particularly abrupt in front of those grand and gorgeous gowns.

"Relax, look at those dressed so brightly and beautifully; most of them are artists."

Shang Yiran saw Xu Tian's embarrassment and lowered his voice to explain: "They come here mostly to pull resources, so naturally, they have to dress up."

"It's fine." Xu Tian nodded; fortunately, he didn't care about the strange looks from others, so he simply followed Shang Yiran inside.

"Hey, isn't that Shang Yiran?"

"He hasn't made a public appearance since that last incident, and I even heard rumors that he had retired from the industry; it seems the rumors are false!"

"How could he retire? You don't know how high Shang Yiran's popularity is right now; although he was everyone's target when the incident happened, after it was clarified, he gained a lot of pity and sympathy, his popularity soared, and many brands are fighting to cooperate with him—his momentum even overshadowed Xia Yuxuan!"

Previously, the incident where Shang Yiran was framed for molesting a minor girl caused a huge stir in the entertainment industry, and even people outside the circle were paying attention to the progress of the matter.

Now seeing Shang Yiran come to attend the gathering, most people shifted their attention to him.

Previously, many people felt that Shang Yiran wouldn't be able to turn things around this time; for something like molesting a minor, even if framed, as long as the plaintiff didn't let go, it was impossible to clear his name.

And it was also heard that Tian Feng Entertainment intended to spend money to settle privately and hush things up, which was equivalent to cutting off Shang Yiran's future performing arts career.

Who could have imagined that in just one week, the situation would have a 180-degree reversal.

Shang Yiran not only didn't become a pervert that everyone shouted to beat, but also gained sympathy and pity, and his popularity rose straight up.

The more intense the abuse toward him was before, the higher his popularity was now.

In the entertainment industry, the norm is to fawn over the powerful and follow the wind; previously, everyone couldn't wait to distance themselves from Shang Yiran immediately, but now times were different—after seeing Shang Yiran, they all flocked toward him again.

Xu Tian was standing right next to Shang Yiran, so naturally, he also received quite a bit of attention.

"Who is that handsome guy next to Shang Yiran? Is he also from Tian Feng Entertainment?"

"Haven't seen him before; is he an actor or a singer?"

Too many people were curious about Xu Tian's identity, so someone boldly came over to ask: "Brother Shang, who is this friend beside you?"

"His name is Xu Tian, he's my buddy."

Shang Yiran put his arm around Xu Tian's shoulder and introduced him to the people around: "Did your company sign a new artist? What route is he taking, acting or singing?"

"He's not an artist, he's a manager," Shang Yiran explained.

Xu Tian also took this opportunity to take out the business cards he had prepared in advance and distributed them to them.

"Hello everyone, my name is Xu Tian."

"You're a manager?" One of the middle-aged men looked at Xu Tian in surprise, thinking to himself that this was the first time he had seen such a handsome manager.

There are many handsome men and beautiful women in the entertainment industry, but you really don't see many managers who look better than the artists.

But why was Shang Yiran with a newly promoted manager?

He had been friends with Zhou Ping for many years, so it was impossible for him to suddenly change managers!

Xu Tian calmly finished greeting everyone amidst their various speculations, and then found an empty sofa with Shang Yiran and sat down.

As soon as they sat down, a waiter took the initiative to come up and ask what they needed.

"Want a drink?" Shang Yiran ordered a low-alcohol cocktail and then looked at Xu Tian.

"Give me a sparkling water." Xu Tian thought for a moment; although Tang Bingyan hadn't returned from her business trip, she certainly wouldn't want him to drink alcohol.

"What, is your girlfriend keeping you on such a tight leash?"

After the waiter left, Shang Yiran said half-jokingly: "You can't even have a glass of wine?"