Chapter 201: The Entertainment Circle

The first day of the Lunar New Year.

Huhai.

Around Xinpu Road, traffic control started at 5 pm, and only cars with permits could pass through.

The Jinling Road pedestrian street was already packed with people.

In front of the century-old Shanghai Grand Theatre, a hundred-meter-long red carpet stretched to where the pedestrian street met Xinpu Road. On walls on both sides hung massive posters of “Meet the Best Youth.”

When Gao Jing walked from the Shangri-La Hotel to the Grand Theatre and saw Zhong Yunxiu, who was smiling very brightly in the center of the poster.

He felt a little strange.

The lights were all blazing, and the neon signs glowed brightly. Both sides of the red carpet were already filled with citizens and reporters watching the scene.

Camera flashes kept going off, and security guards looked on high alert.

“Ah! It’s Li Bing!”

“Wu Haoyu!”

“Heaven! Fan Jingjing is here too!”

“Zhao Ge, I love you!”

Surprised shouts and screams broke out now and then from the crowd, especially from young girls who saw their idols. They all got so excited that their faces turned red.

Tonight, the movie “Meet the Best Youth,” made by Brilliant Films, had a grand premiere at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. The red carpet was full of stars. Most guests were famous people and celebrity idols from the circle.

The Shanghai Grand Theatre has very high standards. You can’t just hold big events here even if you’re rich.

A youth film with new actors could actually have its premiere at the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

And so many stars and big names came to show support. That made the reporters think about what was really going on.

Brilliant Films had only been around for two years. Before this, no one in the circle really knew about it. Then suddenly, they made such a huge move.

It was clear they were putting all their effort into supporting a first-year student at Huying University.

Tonight’s top stories were sure to happen now!

As a guest with an official invite, Gao Jing could have walked on the red carpet along with the other stars.

But he wasn’t interested in drawing that kind of attention at all. He went straight through the VIP entrance into the Shanghai Grand Theatre.

Then Gao Jing found his seat in the front row, as written on his invite.

He found out that Fan Jingjing was actually sitting on his right.

Fan Jingjing is one of the most popular female stars in the country right now. She’s a double Best Actress winner and the queen of Weibo, with close to a billion fans!

Tonight, this big star wore a very striking big red evening dress. She looked around with charm, and the diamond necklace around her neck shone like jade under the light.

It made Gao Jing take a second look.

Don’t get it wrong; he was just looking at the diamond on the necklace. It must have been at least 10 carats.

His eyes definitely did not get stuck on the deep valley below.

Then Gao Jing also discovered that Li Bing was sitting on his left.

Though Gao Jing didn’t know much about the entertainment circle and rarely checked up on gossip.

He still knew Li Bing, who is a top male star in the country.

He even knew that for a while now, gossip about Fan Jingjing and Li Bing had been hitting the top spots on Weibo.

Because so many people were following it, the Weibo servers broke down for a bit!

This gossip was super hot.

Even Gao Jing accidentally heard a lot about it.

The problem was, why on earth did they put him sitting between this pair who were all over the news for their rumored love story?

What was that supposed to mean?

What made Gao Jing even more speechless was that Wang Baoshi was sitting right next to Li Bing!

This son of the former richest man had been very quiet lately. He didn’t even update Weibo any more, and you hardly ever saw him in the news.

Coming to the “Meet the Best Youth” premiere tonight? That was sure to put him right back in the top stories.

What’s more, Wang Baoshi had said out loud that his favorite female star was Fan Jingjing!

Of course, Fan Jingjing never responded to his shows of love.

Truth is, any female star with career goals wouldn’t want anything to do with Wang Baoshi, who changed girlfriends faster than clothes. If people thought she was after marrying into money, her popularity would drop for sure.

She might also get called a stamp trick.

Everyone knows Wang Baoshi’s hobby for collecting those stamps!

Wang Baoshi sitting next to Li Bing felt like the hosts were trying to shake things up.

Proof enough was how often the cameras in the place pointed their way.

Actually, at that moment, Gao Jing didn’t know that the girl next to Wang Baoshi wasn’t his new fling.

That girl was another pretty big female star.

She was Li Bing’s ex-girlfriend!

So when pics from the event got put on Weibo, fans lost their minds.

Jokers of all kinds jumped online, and instantly shot it straight to the top story.

Gao Jing got talked about too—people wondered who he was.

Why was he put between Fan Jingjing and Li Bing?

Fan Jingjing was also a little curious.

Gao Jing was a stranger to her. She didn’t remember him. But sitting next to her? He must be someone big.

And judging by Gao Jing’s vibe and style, he was no ordinary guy!

But even with that curiosity, meeting someone that high up meant she kept quiet and didn’t start chatting with Gao Jing.

Li Bing was also curious about Gao Jing’s background.

He actually wanted to say something to Gao Jing.

But Gao Jing seemed to be in a deep calm state, like he barely noticed the big star there.

Li Bing felt too shy to start a convo.

In that a-bit-shifty mood, the premiere of “Meet the Best Youth” got started.

Like always, the host gave a talk and thanked everyone who came. Then they began playing the movie.

“Meet the Best Youth” was a typical youth movie. It told the story of the main female character’s life from high school to college and then work—that clash of friendships, love, and career.

The story was pretty uplifting. No dumb love triangles, abortions, breakups, or terminal illnesses. Parts made you laugh and cry, and the filming and all the cuts were done really well. This was no mess of a flick.

As the lead in this, Zhong Yunxiu’s acting completely surprised Gao Jing.

He hadn’t guessed this little girl could be so good. She was a bit rough around the edges, but that heart-touching youth vibe was just pouring out.

Gao Jing’s outside opinion was that Zhong Yunxiu could definitely blow up big with this movie!

Later, when the movie was almost ending, he got up softly and walked out to the restroom.

After using the restroom, he took a smoke and didn’t head back to the hall. Instead, he stepped onto a balcony outside.

He stared into the night view of Lujiazui in the distance, lighting up a cigarette and puffing slowly.

Some scenes from the movie had brought up old memories for Gao Jing by accident.

Creak~

Before he even finished his smoke, the door from the balcony to the hallway got pushed open. A figure in red flashed out.

Hearing the noise, Gao Jing turned—and saw it was Fan Jingjing.

She clearly didn’t think he’d be out here and seemed startled for a second.

But Fan Jingjing calmed down fast, gave a smile, and said, “Can you spare me one?”

Interesting.

Gao Jing nodded, took out a cigarette and a lighter, and lit one for her.

He at least had that good manners thing down.

“Thanks.”

Fan Jingjing took a deep drag, happy, and held it elegantly.

She held the tip between her thumb and finger, her big eyes running with a dreamy shimmer. Curiously, she asked, “You’re not in the circle, right? I don’t remember ever meeting you.”

Gao Jing kept cool and replied, “Yeah, someone gave me an invite, and I’m just along for the fun.”

“I bet…”

Fan Jingjing flicked her eyes around: “You’re friends with Zhong Yunxiu.”

If it were some other man, she wouldn’t have asked for a smoke, and she sure wouldn’t have started chatting.

But Gao Jing made her feel mysterious and like she was safe around him.

It was kind of out of nowhere, but Fan Jingjing trusted her gut on this one.

Gao Jing grinned: “You’re bang on.”

Fan Jingjing let out a soft laugh.

She took another drag, breathing out, and said, “There’s no comparing different folks.”

What Fan Jingjing said sounded like nonsense out loud.

But Gao Jing got it—Fan Jingjing was setting herself up against Zhong Yunxiu.

That double Best Actress winner, that super A-list star, had envy in her voice you couldn’t mist, plus a pinch of jealousy!

Creak!

Right then, the balcony door got pushed open again.

Who came? It turned out to be Li Bing.

Seeing Gao Jing and Fan Jingjing exchanging words.

He looked stunned, then embarrassed: “Sorry for the interruption.”

With that, he left right away.

“That guy.”

Fan Jingjing shook her head with disdain.

Gao Jing thought she and Li Bing weren’t tangled in romance stuff at all. If anything, they might seem like they’d fallen out bad.

The water in the entertainment world is murky as deep sea for sure.