Feng Xuanqi tasted a bite of each dish in the office, and unconsciously smiled. She picked up her rice and dragged several dishes in front of her to eat quickly, as if she were very hungry.
Xu Zifan knew what was going on when he saw this scene in the elevator. Feng Xuanqi was definitely a foodie. For a foodie and a CEO, it would be abnormal not to sign him. He just needed to wait for good news.
Xu Zifan returned home in a relaxed mood, only to receive a phone call informing him that he would be leaving the next day to film "Survival on a Desert Island," and that the shoot might be very tough, so he should be prepared.
The production team of "Survival on a Desert Island" now really likes Xu Zifan. After all, he is a guarantee of their show's ratings. They can't control the company's affairs, but their attitude towards Xu Zifan is definitely at the level of a top-tier celebrity.
As soon as the deal was settled, Chen Zaimin and Yi Xiao started sending messages like crazy in the group chat, asking for a good meal before they went to the island.
Xu Zifan finalized the menu with the two families and invited them over for a gathering.
This time, apart from the dishes for the children, everything else was spicy, including Maoxuewang (a spicy Sichuan dish), dry-pot pork intestines, stir-fried pork with vegetables, sliced beef and tripe in chili sauce, stir-fried eel slices, pickled pepper squid, spicy shrimp, and spicy lotus root. A large pot of rice was cooked, and there was also plenty of alcohol.
Chen Sao and the others knew that Xu Zifan was being bullied by the company, so they immediately took photos and asked Chen Zaimin and Yi Xiao to post them on Weibo. Anyway, neither of them were affiliated with Lihua Entertainment, so there was no need for them to hold back. What kind of friends wouldn't stand for it at a time like this?
After the two posted the photos, they quickly attracted a large number of fans who criticized them for posting the photos late at night, causing them to order takeout and blame it all on them for gaining weight! Because of the fans' spread, a large number of foodies were also attracted. Now everyone knows that Xu Zifan often cooks. When they saw this table, they all flocked to Xu Zifan's Weibo and asked him to make a video.
While Xu Zifan was eating, the number of comments on his previous Weibo post kept increasing. Fans knew he was going to a deserted island to film, and there was no news from him for several days. Chen Zaimin and Yi Xiao both posted photos, but he didn't make a sound. They started asking for videos, nine-grid photos, and giveaways, etc. Xu Zifan didn't appear, so his fan circle became lively.
Sister Yi finished eating first, and was shocked when she saw the Weibo post. "Zifan, you should go online and check! Your fans are going crazy! Don't you need to calm them down?"
Aunt Chen leaned over, glanced at the package, and burst into laughter. "Zifan, your fans asked you to do a giveaway! You got off to a good start last time, but now you're in trouble. You can't possibly remake all these dishes. How are you going to clean this up?"
Xu Zifan looked at his phone and laughed, "It's simple. Let them choose what they want to eat the most, and I'll make one and send it to three people."
Chen Zaimin nodded repeatedly, "That's a great idea. It interacts with fans and fulfills their wishes at the same time. Now I finally understand why I can't be an idol. You have a whole repertoire of ways to please your fans."
Xu Zifan laughed as he posted on Weibo, saying, "I call this spoiling my fans."
[Xu Zifan v: The dishes I made have all been eaten. Everyone, please vote for your favorite dish. In twenty minutes, I will be giving away three portions of the dish with the most votes through a retweet giveaway. Only fans of Xu Zifan will receive a share. Voting starts now! The winners will be announced in thirty minutes.]
He posted pictures of the food on the table and after it was all eaten. The fact that he ate so cleanly made people want to be chosen. The number of comments increased by a lot every second, and the number of votes also increased rapidly. Everyone liked every dish, and they were neck and neck. In the end, Mao Xue Wang (a spicy Sichuan dish) won first place by a small margin, and fans who don't eat spicy food wailed.
After seeing Chen Zaimin and the others off, Xu Zifan started cooking, packed the food in an insulated container, and shipped it out. He then posted a farewell message on Weibo.
[Xu Zifan v: The giveaway is over. Everyone, go to bed early. Early to bed and early to rise makes you healthy. Remember not to order takeout late at night. I'll be filming tomorrow and won't be online for several days. You can see me on the show. I'll do another giveaway when I get back. Goodnight~ [heart emoji]]
Fans accused him of making them drool but then not giving them anything in return, calling it cruel. However, all the comments were delivered in a joking and affectionate tone. In a short time, the initially small and unstable fanbase, consisting mainly of fans of his looks, has tripled in size, and their loyalty to Xu Zifan has become extremely high and their fighting spirit is incredibly strong. They've all truly become fans of Xu Zifan as an idol.
Fans were busy reminding him to be careful and take care of himself. The heat didn't subside until the early hours of the morning, and Xu Zifan even made it to the top of the trending searches again with the hashtag #IWantToEatXuZifan'sCooking#.
Xu Zifan has been frequently trending on social media lately, ranking first in terms of popularity in the entertainment industry, far ahead of the second-place candidate. Miraculously, he hasn't attracted much negative attention. This is because he was previously the subject of widespread online attacks and trending for several days, but it was later proven that these were baseless accusations against him, leading to a significant increase in public tolerance towards him.
He then trended on social media for various reasons, including his looks, brotherhood, TV shows, and food. This variety of trending topics is completely different from constantly trending for a single element. Instead of being disliked, it gives people the impression of being multi-talented, and he has a very good public image.
It might still come down to looks; people who are good-looking and have no solid scandals are more likely to be accepted and liked.
After finishing a business meeting, Feng Xuanqi returned home exhausted and lay on the sofa. After resting for a while, she got up and took two hangover pills. After taking them, she picked up her stomach medicine, but then paused, remembering that she had eaten before the business meeting and had eaten quite well, so her stomach didn't feel uncomfortable at all.
She remembered the four dishes and one soup that Xu Zifan had given her. She had only eaten a third of it because she was in a hurry to go to a social event, and then she put it in her car.
She glanced at the empty kitchen, got up, went to the garage to get a lunchbox, and went home; everything was hot.
Up, after taking a shower, everything was warmed up and ready to eat.
Although the leftovers weren't quite as tasty, they were still delicious, better than any restaurant she'd been to recently. Feng Xuanqi ate while simultaneously opening her phone and searching for Xu Zifan.
The search results left her stunned. Xu Zifan had actually done a giveaway for Mao Xue Wang (a spicy Sichuan dish), and she loves spicy food the most!
But the lottery draw happened an hour ago, and she missed it!
Frustrated, Feng Xuanqi secretly followed Xu Zifan and set his Weibo account as a special reminder. Then she went to check on the three people who had been selected. All three were from out of town; none of them were from the city. She couldn't possibly buy from them all.
Without the spicy blood curd, the food in front of her didn't seem so appealing anymore. For someone who loves spicy food like her, spicy and non-spicy are on completely different levels!
She watched all of Xu Zifan's food videos on Weibo as if torturing herself, which made her even hungrier. She ate all four dishes and one soup, and made up her mind to sign Xu Zifan.
She had noticed Xu Zifan before because of the crayfish he made. That day, she accidentally saw a fan's picture, and as a foodie, she could immediately tell that the fan was genuinely curious about what crayfish tasted like. Unfortunately, by the time she saw it, the giveaway had already ended, and she didn't win.
I can't believe I missed out again this time. It feels like I missed out on a fortune!
If we just sign Xu Zifan, it feels like we can freeload off him like Chen Zaimin and the others. Even ignoring that, Xu Zifan's looks and popularity are enough to make him a rising star. Signing him would definitely be a win-win situation, and it would also add a powerful asset to the company.
However, in principle, she would only give S-level contracts to a very small number of big stars at the level of Best Actor and Best Actress. As for Xu Zifan... considering the issue of wanting to freeload meals in the future, she decided to agree to his request and make an exception to give him an S-level contract.
Feng Xuanqi tidied up the dishes and turned on the TV to watch Xu Zifan's TV series. The first one was alright; it felt like he was playing himself. She skimmed through it and was fairly satisfied.
By the second part, she almost fell asleep after watching for a while, sighed, and went straight back to her room to sleep. Hopefully, Xu Zifan's claim that he learns everything quickly is true; this level of acting is really worrying.
The first task Feng Xuanqi gave the next morning was to have someone handle Xu Zifan's contract issue and poach him as quickly as possible.
Her team was incredibly efficient and immediately contacted Lihua's people to communicate.
Li Hua, of course, disagreed. Their decision to sideline Xu Zifan was the chairman's daughter's, but that didn't mean they couldn't see Xu Zifan's enormous potential. How could they let such a promising talent go to their rival? Wouldn't that just be asking for trouble?
However, if Xu Zifan breaches the contract and leaves Lihua, as long as he can afford the penalty, they can't stop him. The penalty stipulated in the contract is very high, but it's nothing to Shenghuang.
The director had no ill intentions and didn't want to be too harsh on Xu Zifan. He was also quite annoyed by Bai Xue's restrictions on his work, so he reported the matter to the vice president. The vice president heard that Tan Yi and Bai Xue were also involved, so of course he couldn't get involved casually and simply reported it to Chairman Bai.
Lihua and Shenghuang are currently in a crucial stage of competition. In the vice president's view, having another big-name artist could bring many benefits, such as securing major IPs and attracting more promising talents. This would have an impact on the company, and Bai Xue cannot be allowed to arbitrarily sideline Xu Zifan.
Chairman Bai listened to the director's account of Xu Zifan's attitude and was very concerned about Xu Zifan's statement that "Tan Yi is the future big boss." He wasn't love-struck, so he was naturally sensitive to his future son-in-law's character. When he heard that Xu Zifan and Tan Yi were friends, his suspicions deepened. He immediately ordered the director to find out whether Tan Yi was taking care of Xu Zifan or really intended to harm him.
There's no real evidence for this, and Tan Yi didn't explicitly ask anyone to put down Xu Zifan. He just kept telling people he'd help Xu Zifan get a gig. After investigating, all that can be confirmed is that seven or eight artists in the company did indeed put down Xu Zifan, and the shows Xu Zifan appeared on did have some editing that was unfavorable to him.
Although there was nothing that pointed directly to Tan Yi, Chairman Bai took the matter to heart.
He called Bai Xue and Tan Yi over to ask them directly. Bai Xue said nonchalantly, "Dad, you're just doing this for a minor celebrity? Whether he can become famous is just speculation. In the entertainment industry, who is guaranteed to become famous? You don't know how petty and vengeful he is. If he becomes famous, he will be our enemy and will not be able to make money for the company. It's better not to give him a chance and waste resources."
Tan Yi said a few good words for Xu Zifan, and then said, "Chairman, I'll talk to him when he gets back. He's a good person. He might have been thinking the wrong way because he was unsuccessful before. I'll advise him to forget those unpleasant things from the past."
Chairman Bai was suspicious of Tan Yi, but he couldn't leave a ticking time bomb. After careful consideration, he said calmly, "If Xu Zifan insists on terminating his contract, then let him leave the entertainment industry. We can't let him be poached by Shenghuang. That's all."