Chapter 96: Film Emperor (16)

Tong Jianxu was lying on the hotel bed, propping his chin on a pillow while scrolling through his phone.

The child, freshly bathed, in pajamas and with her hair a mess, sat on his back. She was using up the in-game currency she had gotten through cheats to do gacha pulls. After several rounds without drawing the pet she wanted, she started pounding away in frustration on Tong Jianxu’s back.

Ever since a certain filming session left him with a sore back, the Film Emperor Tong had given up on his massage device and instead asked the child to sit on his back and pound it for him. Later on, whenever the child saw him lying in that posture, she would instinctively climb on top of him.

The child probably thought it was some kind of interactive game.

She would use her little fists to thump him like this, or kick with her feet, and sometimes would suddenly “fall ill” and start bouncing and thrashing around wildly while sitting on him.

Assistant Tian Miao had witnessed it once and was so shocked she couldn’t help but ask with concern, “Boss, with Qian bouncing like that, is your back okay?”

Her boss, the Film Emperor, wore a fatherly smile and replied, “Qian’s giving me a back massage—so filial.”

A message came in from his agent Feng Yu. Tong Jianxu listened to the voice message and started replying with one of his own.

Just then, the child on his back drew a rare pet, and in her excitement, she started doing sit-ups on his back. The vibration distorted his voice recording.

The agent, hearing the wavy voice, replied with a sweating emoji.

She clearly understood what was going on and sent another message:

“If she likes bouncing so much, just buy her a trampoline. Stop sacrificing yourself. You’re not in your early twenties anymore—what if she really injures your back? You’ll have to go to the hospital.”

The chubby child on his back was still going wild, so Tong Jianxu could only type his response:

“Qian’s not heavy. Sis, you better come tomorrow and get Boss Zai and his assistant out of here ASAP.”

But Feng Yu didn’t respond for a while—she was probably caught up with something else.

Tong Jianxu switched apps and continued looking at children’s toys. Buying a trampoline didn’t sound like a bad idea; it looked pretty fun.

Halfway through browsing, a flurry of urgent notifications started coming in.

It was Feng Yu again, and she didn’t sound happy:

“Someone’s trying to stir up drama online. A big account on Weibo just claimed your child was born via overseas surrogacy. I’m so pissed I laughed. I couldn’t even find any info myself, but he’s talking like he saw it with his own eyes.”

“You know how things are these days. Surrogacy is a total red flag—if this sticks, it could be worse than any previous scandal. We need to clarify things immediately.”

That was the worst thing about showbiz—truth and lies were all up to whoever shouted louder. If enough people said something, even truth could be twisted into lies, and lies into truth.

“I think someone’s targeting us deliberately, and it’s not just one person. That big account is stirring things up about the surrogacy, and at the same time, some gossip pages released paparazzi photos of you having dinner with Boss Zai.”

“They posted your dinner pictures today, without giving us any heads-up. It’s obvious—they want to make a big deal out of this.”

Feng Yu sent over several Weibo screenshots. Glancing through, Tong Jianxu immediately caught keywords like “relationship,” “exposed,” “daughter,” “mysterious outsider partner.”

Frowning, he sat up, and instantly felt lighter—only to see that the child, who had fallen asleep on his back with the game tablet in her arms, had rolled off and fallen to the floor.

Thud!

Everything had gone quiet. Tong Jianxu had forgotten she was still on his back, and when he heard her little head hit the floor, he quickly tossed his phone aside and scooped her up from under the bed.

The dazed child looked confused. Feeling a sting on her forehead, she instinctively pouted, about to cry.

At that moment, if he tried to comfort her with “it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t hurt,” she would only feel even more wronged—and cry even harder.

Tong Jianxu reacted immediately. He lay down dramatically at the edge of the bed to divert her attention.

“Qian, look at me!”

Then he did a somersault and rolled off the bed with a thud.

The child, who had just started the “loading screen” to cry, sat on the floor holding her forehead, watching her dad roll off the bed—and her expression switched instantly to laughter.

“Hee hee hee hee hee!”

With a little red mark still on her forehead, she suddenly burst into giggles—adorably so. Tong Jianxu got up, picked her up, and tossed her gently in the air.

Once she was finally soothed and tucked back into bed, he shook out his sore arms and muttered to himself that the kid was, in fact, getting kind of solid.

His phone kept buzzing with new notifications. He picked it up and went through them carefully.

As soon as Feng Yu had mentioned the dinner photos, he had a sinking feeling.

Back when he had just debuted and was gaining popularity, he had stepped on some toes and gotten slandered about being overly close to a certain male director.

At the time, the entertainment industry still held deep prejudice against homosexuality. Any actor suspected of being gay would be blacklisted or sidelined. He, as a “suspected” case, had lost many good opportunities and only bounced back after landing a great role.

Maybe it was because his gender-bending role back then was too convincing, but since debut, he’d had constant rumors—both with men and women.

According to his assistant, on certain fan sites, he’d been edited into couples with just about everyone—he supposedly had chemistry with anyone he was seen with.

If he was photographed talking to a boss at a banquet, the media would suggest a sugar daddy. If he smiled at a female actor or brushed arms with her, they’d say they were dating. The wildest ones claimed he slept with both genders and had a messy private life. Even a photo of him going to the hospital had sparked rumors he was getting treated for AIDS.

All this nonsense, along with his unique health issues, had made Tong Jianxu extremely wary of the media’s gossip mill.

In recent years, with his rising status and consecutive film emperor wins, plus Feng Yu’s growing power in their company, they’d been able to suppress a lot of that talk.

But now, who knew what wild tale they’d spin again?

As he kept reading, his expression slowly shifted.

The rumors this time… actually weren’t that outrageous. The comments under the posts weren’t as bad as he’d expected either.

> “Film Emperor Tong’s secret lover exposed!”

> “Who is Film Emperor Tong’s mysterious wife?”

> “Sweet family moment: Tong, his wife, and daughter spotted out together—rumors she visited him on set in H City!”

The pictures accompanying those headlines showed Assistant Zhang holding Qian, with Qian puckering up to kiss her. The two looked very close and affectionate.

There were also photo sets of Tong Jianxu reaching out to pick Qian up, holding her hand, while Qian clung to Assistant Zhang’s neck, refusing to let go, until Tong Jianxu finally carried her away. With these photos, anyone looking at them would think they were a family of three.

With such “solid proof,” the comment section even had one or two well-wishers, and some were praising them as a beautiful couple.

Tong Jianxu: “…”

Agent Feng Yu messaged: “That fake surrogacy rumor is a bit tricky to handle. I have a suggestion—since we’ve always maintained that Qian’s mom is an outsider, I think Assistant Zhang fits the role quite well. This situation kind of fell into our laps. I was still worried about finding someone to pretend to be Qian’s mom. How about this: I’ll talk to Assistant Zhang tomorrow and see if we can spin it into a proper PR move.”

Tong Jianxu thought about it for a moment and had to admit—it might actually be a good solution.

In a way, the marketing account that tried to break the big news had accidentally crushed the other influencer’s fake surrogacy narrative.

On the other side, Zaiye, who wasn’t part of the entertainment industry and had a bit of an information gap, still had no idea what was going on. He was in the hotel working on his laptop, which Assistant Zhang had brought him.

It was Assistant Zhang’s phone that nearly blew up from messages. Quite a few friends were asking her if she was the mysterious wife of that Film Emperor. That’s when she learned about the storm on the internet and informed Zaiye.

“What is this?” Zaiye took her phone and saw the marketing post full of supposed “evidence” that Assistant Zhang was the Film Emperor’s wife, saying she and Qian were a family of three—and they even wrote it up like a short story.

“They’re doing creative writing based on pictures now?” Zaiye frowned and scrolled down, annoyed. “Wasn’t I right there too? Where am I?”

Assistant Zhang kept scrolling and pointed to a photo. “Boss, you’re here.”

Only two photos captured Zaiye at the scene. He was off to the side, dressed in black with a hat covering most of his face. He looked tall, intimidating, and distant. Practically everyone assumed he was a bodyguard.

There was even a comment calling him “the love bodyguard.”

Zaiye: “…” This is ridiculous!

“Send a lawyer’s letter to that marketing account. Make them delete it and issue a clarification,” Zaiye said.

As someone directly involved, Assistant Zhang asked calmly, “Given Tong Jianxu’s situation, we don’t know how their team is handling PR. Should we take action ourselves, or check if we should coordinate with them first?”

Zaiye: “…Get in touch with them.”

Tong Jianxu originally planned to let the situation simmer overnight and reassess in the morning. But since Assistant Zhang contacted them so quickly, they decided to have an online meeting first.

Four people, four windows—it looked like a corporate meeting.

Tong Jianxu’s camera pointed toward the bed. Zaiye saw that half of the child’s body was hanging out from under the blanket and immediately said, “You’re not even tucking her in properly. What if she catches a cold?”

Tong Jianxu replied, “The room has heating.”

Still, he got up and tucked the blanket in.

Zaiye, clearly dissatisfied, continued, “You don’t know how to take care of kids. You put her on the edge of the bed—what if she falls?”

Tong Jianxu gave him a look and moved two chairs over to block the bed’s edge.

While those two exchanged subtle jabs, Assistant Zhang and Feng Yu had already wrapped up pleasantries and were discussing the main issue.

Hearing their request, Assistant Zhang was a bit surprised.

Feng Yu said, “We’ll make sure this doesn’t affect your life. We don’t need you to make time for any promotions or public appearances. We only need you to not clarify or deny anything. Our PR approach is to keep it low-key—there won’t be any public announcements, just a statement that the Film Emperor’s wife is a non-celebrity who prefers to stay private.”

Assistant Zhang asked, “So basically, you just need someone to be this person?”

Tong Jianxu said, “Yes. We haven’t found a better candidate yet. If you’re willing to cooperate, we’ll compensate you for all potential losses, including reputational damage.”

Assistant Zhang said, “Although I’m not in the industry, quite a few people around me know I’m unmarried and don’t have children. There’s a risk I could be exposed.”

Tong Jianxu said, “Don’t rush to reject the idea. We’ve thought this through. Aside from the compensation, I’ll also pay you a salary while you act as Qian’s ‘mother’ in name.”

Assistant Zhang replied crisply, “Then let’s talk salary.”

Right in front of him, his capable subordinate started negotiating a side gig. Watching the other three talking enthusiastically, the completely sidelined Boss Zaiye fell silent—and even went back to working.

How did things end up like this?

Just as the harmonious conversation was wrapping up, Zaiye suddenly looked up from his work and said, “Since Assistant Zhang is going to be Qian’s mom, then in a while, let’s have the kid visit our company with her mom for a few days.”

The other three turned to look at him, silent.

Zaiye’s motives were written all over his face.