Chapter 14
A few days later.
Shen Wu successfully signed an acting contract with the Racing Heartbeat crew.
The entire drama was expected to wrap up in March of next year. The second male lead’s main scenes would be filmed around the New Year. After that, he might need to shoot a few more scenes with the main characters, but it would be no later than February at the latest.
The new F1 season would begin at the end of March, and this would be his first F1 race.
In the novel, he wouldn’t die in a car crash until the year after next.
But in next year’s F1 season, due to various accidents, he failed to get the points he deserved in several races. These accidents also affected his mentality, and he failed to perform at his true potential.
In the final rankings, he was twentieth out of twenty drivers.
As the proud young master of the Shen family and a highly anticipated genius driver, his fate was that of a cannon fodder on a downward spiral.
The decline in his career was more crushing to his pride than any voice of doubt.
In any case, compared to the novel, reality couldn’t be any worse.
His mentality was quite relaxed.
Playing the driver Yan Chuan in the drama, stepping into another person’s life in the story, it was as if his own life had a different way of being written.
He got on Yan Chuan’s motorcycle and sped wildly on the closed-off streets.
Two weeks ago, Qi Shijun had met Fang Ci on set and given him a bottle of wine, learning that there were still two guest spots open for the upcoming Wonderful Adventure.
Qi Shijun figured that his own spot was pretty much secured, and besides, there was still time to find an opportunity to talk to Fang Ci again.
But just a few days later, the official Weibo account of Wonderful Adventure unexpectedly released the promotional poster for the second season and announced the guest list.
Wonderful Adventure Official Weibo: The second season of Wonderful Adventure will premiere on January 1st! Spend a wonderful winter with everyone… @Actress Lin Yanran @Actor Liang Shu @Eighteen Xia Fanxing @Driver Shen Wu @Nan Dengwei
There will also be a sixth mysterious guest parachuting in, please look forward to it!
Before long, the hashtags #Wonderful Adventure Guest Official Announcement# and #Wonderful Adventure Mysterious Guest# climbed to the top of the trending list, ranking first and second.
The guests who were tagged all posted on Weibo to promote the show.
@Actor Liang Shu: #Wonderful Adventure Second Season Official Announcement# Long-awaited.
@Actress Lin Yanran: #Wonderful Adventure Second Season Official Announcement# This wonderful adventure is for you.
@Eighteen Xia Fanxing: #Wonderful Adventure Second Season Official Announcement# Looking forward to it! Xiao Xia’s first experience as an adventure warrior [cool]
@Nan Dengwei: #Wonderful Adventure Second Season Official Announcement# Yay! I also received the admission notice from the Wonderful Adventure Team~
@Driver Shen Wu: #Wonderful Adventure Second Season Official Announcement# Valiant and heroic, unafraid of difficulties, I am driver Shen Wu. On December 31st, let’s start the adventure together!
The entire internet was in an uproar.
Among the five announced guests, the actor Liang Shu and actress Lin Yanran, as well as the boy band idol Xia Fanxing, were all popular artists.
Xia Fanxing was often active in various variety shows and was known for being the “dumb but funny” one, a guarantee for viewership ratings.
As for Shen Wu, he had trended for the first time a month ago. At that time, with his handsome appearance and achievements in the racing world, he had gained a lot of fans. Unfortunately, the barrier to entry for watching racing was too high, and most netizens were deterred.
Not long after, a behind-the-scenes photo from Racing Heartbeat trended. However, the production process for a TV drama was too long. It would be at least a few months before fans could see Shen Wu on TV, and their appetites were thoroughly whetted.
Now, the news that Shen Wu would be participating in the second season of Wonderful Adventure satisfied the eagerly waiting fans, who all reposted and commented, looking forward to his appearance.
The fans accumulated from the first season of Wonderful Adventure and more casual onlookers, intentionally or unintentionally, clicked into Shen Wu’s Weibo and went through a similar mental journey as his existing fans.
Comments fawning over his looks flooded the screen, the momentum even greater than before. The scene of “pants flying everywhere” was unprecedented.
A large part of the reason why the first season of Wonderful Adventure was so successful was due to the choice of guests.
Fang Ci had carefully selected top performers from various industries, such as actors or singers, who were focused on their own careers and rarely appeared on variety shows, as well as a non-celebrity guest.
Nowadays, many variety shows featured the same familiar faces over and over again. The audience knew their personas inside and out, so there wasn’t much expectation. The same people coming and going also didn’t create any new sparks.
Fang Ci’s secret was a certain level of fame and a certain level of mystery.
He looked at the feedback from netizens on Shen Wu’s side and couldn’t help but stroke his chin smugly. He had indeed made the right choice with Shen Wu.
Furthermore, thanks to Shen Wu, Meng Huaizhi’s first experience on a reality show in his six-year career would also be in his hands.
What an honor.
In this industry, when it came to fame and mystery, if Meng Huaizhi claimed to be number one, no one would dare to claim to be number two.
He refused to believe that the second season of Wonderful Adventure wouldn’t be a huge hit.
There were also some speculations online about the mysterious guest.
[Why is there a mysterious guest this season? Fang Ci, if you have the guts to keep us in suspense, you should have the guts to tell us who it is!]
[Even the Film Emperor Zhao from last season didn’t get such a grand treatment. So who is the mysterious guest? Does anyone have any guesses??]
[If it turns out to be some obscure celebrity when it’s announced, Fang Ci, won’t you be embarrassed!!]
[Fang Ci, you’re good at hunger marketing. You think I’ll fall for that?]
[If you’re a man, tell me who the mysterious guest is now! What’s with all the secrecy!?]
Fang Ci: “…”
I’m not telling.
While Weibo was in a frenzy, Qi Shijun was at a bar. He only found out about the news when his anxious manager called him.
“…Didn’t you say that one of the two spots was definitely yours? What’s going on? And Nan Dengwei??”
Qi Shijun’s mind went blank, and he hurriedly took a taxi back to the company.
“Nan Dengwei… Fang Ci probably chose him because he’s young and still in university, so he counts as a non-celebrity. There was a university student guest last season too. His spot might not conflict with mine,” Qi Shijun managed to analyze calmly.
“That mysterious guest, I have no idea who it is… And Shen Wu, it must be him. He’s the one who took my spot,” Qi Shijun grew angrier as he spoke. All the vague little details from before connected in his mind. “A few days ago, Fang Ci came to the set with someone else, but I don’t know who it was. Fang Ci probably decided on him then.”
Shen Wu was a race car driver, a newcomer to the industry. He had no conflict with Qi Shijun and was less annoying than Nan Dengwei with his pretty face on set.
The more Qi Shijun thought about it, the angrier he got. “He must have gotten the second male lead role in Racing Heartbeat through his sugar daddy’s connections.”
He said it with certainty, but there was a hint of doubt in his heart.
Wen Qiehua was famously demanding and dedicated, the most difficult type of person to bribe, yet he treated Shen Wu differently.
Qi Shijun’s mind raced. Rather than admitting Shen Wu’s excellence, he preferred to attribute everything to that mysterious sugar daddy. “I knew it. Shen Wu is definitely not a newcomer with no background.”
“He is indeed good-looking,” the manager commented and analyzed fairly. “The ‘Racing God’ trending topic is hard to say, but that video of him blocking the drink at the KTV was clearly bought by someone first and then released by an entertainment reporter.”
A sugar daddy, who doesn’t have one?
Qi Shijun’s sugar daddy was the producer and financier of Racing Heartbeat. While Director Hong and some other directors acted tyrannically on their own sets, the highly skilled Wen Qiehua could only work for him here.
That day on set, Shen Wu had stood up for Nan Dengwei in front of so many people and embarrassed him. Because he didn’t know Shen Wu’s background, he hadn’t bothered with him for the time being.
Later, he was busy filming, and plus he thought he had secured a spot on Wonderful Adventure, so he hadn’t paid Shen Wu any mind.
But now, the official announcement of the guests for Wonderful Adventure was like rubbing his face in the dirt.
Qi Shijun was so angry he nearly ground his teeth to dust. His rationality shut down, and he directly opened his phone to contact a familiar marketing account.
