Chapter 76: Changing Rooms
Hou Yong first felt a moment of awkwardness and surprise. Then, he quickly stood up with a smile, walked over, and warmly welcomed Qiao Lin.
Hou Yong knew that he was now Su Jinli's manager, and as a member of Su Jinli's team, every word and action of his would be under scrutiny.
If they made any mistakes, the blame would fall on Su Jinli.
At the moment, Su Jinli was doing great, and they couldn't afford any slip-ups.
In the entertainment business, where deception is rampant, Hou Yong naturally wouldn't offend anyone. After all, if he caused any trouble, Su Jinli might suffer the backlash.
So, he feigned ignorance and cheerfully chatted with Qiao Lin as if they were old friends. His attitude was impeccable, but it irritated Qiao Lin.
"When can we have dinner together? I haven't seen you in a long time, and I miss you," Qiao Lin enthusiastically asked.
"Sure, that sounds great!" Hou Yong agreed immediately.
"Since you're Su Jinli's manager now, and I was brought up by the same person, why don't we invite him too? It'll be more lively if everyone gets together for dinner. I'll treat."
"You know, his competition isn't over yet, and there are many work arrangements after it. I'm afraid it won't be possible in the short term."
"It's okay, just contact me when you're free," Qiao Lin insisted relentlessly.
"If we're going to have dinner, it would be better to do it soon, while I still have some free time. After that, I'll really be busy as there are many tasks assigned by my superiors... I'm truly sorry, haha." Hou Yong continued on, with no intention whatsoever to bring Su Jinli along, showing no signs of wanting to offer even false promises.
Qiao Lin obviously didn't solely visit Hou Yong. She wanted to be friend with Su Jinli, and, if possible, spread some rumors would be even better. She presumed that could keep her on the headlines and trending topics for a few consecutive days.
Even if the rumors were cleared later on, any news about Su Jinli in the future could imply that she was his ex-girlfriend.
Without any leads, she would make her own.
However, Hou Yong wouldn't agree, maintaining a peaceful and polite demeanor, leaving her with no valid points to make.
So, Qiao Lin began to play the emotional card, "You're not still mad at me, are you? I was immature then and caused you trouble. At the time, that was the only way I could handle it, and I've always felt guilty."
"It's fine, it's all in the past," he replied.
"After you left, I didn't get much work. The company doesn't value me much. I'm having a hard time holding up..." As she spoke, she began to shed tears.
Hou Yong felt a little embarrassed, "How's your current manager?"
"You know her, it's Sister Jiao Jiao. She cannot compete with others for resources."
"Sister Jiao Jiao is a nice person."
"Hou Yong, could you give me some advice?"
Hou Yong pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Seeing De Ge strolling past the door once again, he finally asked, "How much longer is your contract?" He, being her former manager, knew the contract dates very well. It was a deliberate question.
"There's more than a year left."
"Consider switching to another company."
"Do you think Sejia Legend might want me?" Qiao Lin immediately followed up.
Hou Yong's studio had just been taken over by An Zhiyan a few days ago. Since he hadn't even visited the main company yet and was not in a position to discuss it, he told Qiao Lin the honest situation.
Qiao Lin was a bit disappointed. She had heard that Hou Yong met An Zhiyan frequently and had been promoted three levels, she thought he must be very influential.
Currently, Hou Yong was relying on Su Jinli, who in turn was gaining popularity.
Qiao Lin's visit ended without success. Once she left, De Ge came in and said to Hou Yong, "Why were you being so pleasant to her? It's clear she wants to use you."
"I didn't want to incur hatred for little Jinli."
"You should just be glad that your little Jinli is successful. Otherwise, you wouldn't have had a chance to turn things around. Isn't your current situation caused by her?"
Hou Yong wiped his sweat and sighed.
"The luckiest thing in my life was meeting Jinli," Hou Yong confessed.
"Thankfully, Jinli is not a green tea. He is Shen Cheng's brother. He could have gone to the Boruo Pineapple, but he decided to stay with us for another year. But after a year..."
After a year, once Su Jinli leaves the company, will their studio be left to fend for itself? Maybe they'll be assigned some strange jobs.
"Let's talk about it when the time comes. For now, let's focus on doing well this year," Hou Yong responded.
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Su Jinli stood at the bedroom door, watching Wu Yu packing his bags. He couldn't help but ask, "Is it because of Zhihan?"
"No," Wu Yu casually replied.
"It's nice when four people live together. We can look out for each other and even help wake each other up in the morning."
"I'm the one who wakes all of you up in the morning."
"But..." Su Jinli wanted to persuade him some more, but Wu Yu had already zip up his suitcase.
The day after the sixth round of the competition concluded, the final voting results were announced.
Although Wu Yu won first place on-site in the previous round, earning an extra 150,000 votes, he was still far behind Su Jinli in terms of off-site popularity. When the final vote count was announced, it was quite embarrassing; the second and third place combined didn't match Su Jinli's total alone.
The 150,000 votes were only 10,000 more than Su Jinli's 140,000.
However, Su Jinli's off-site votes amounted to a staggering 230 million!
A dramatic turn of events occurred when Chang Siyin's off-site votes fell short of Zhang Caini's, resulting in Zhang Caini clinching the ninth spot at the last minute to make it into the top nine, while Chang Siyin was eliminated.
Zhang Caini was quite surprised to hear the results; she thought her journey had come to an end, had packed her bags the day before, and was saying her goodbyes to the other contestants when she advanced unexpectedly.
And she advanced as the last qualifying contestant.
Even after being eliminated, Chang Siyin maintained a smile.
In his view, he still lagged behind the other contestants in terms of ability and needed to continue working hard.
He had managed to hang on thus far largely due to occasional help from An Zhihan and Su Jinli.
Zhang Caini felt a bit guilty, crying as she hugged Chang Siyin, who in turn comforted her, assuring her that it was all right.
At that time, An Zhihan whispered into Su Jinli's ear, "Among all of us contestants, Chang Siyin is the most suitable to be a boyfriend, as he's low-maintenance, can do housework, and is considerate. Wu Yu is the least suitable; apart from his good looks, he has nothing else to offer."
This time, Wu Yu didn't even bother responding to An Zhihan and just silently watched the results.
After this round of eliminations, a few bedrooms were vacant, leaving some without any contestants.
Wu Yu applied to the program staff to have a bedroom for himself, intending to focus on his practice, which was approved.
Upon hearing that Wu Yu was moving to another bedroom, Su Jinli felt reluctant and tried persuading him to stay.
Unexpectedly, at this moment, An Zhihan and Fan Qianting returned with newly purchased water. An Zi Han, seeing Wu Yu moving, couldn't help but laugh, "Is this necessary?"
Wu Yu ignored An Zhihan and walked out directly.
An Zi Han intentionally continued, "It's good that he's gone, Su Jinli, you can move to the lower bunk."
Su Jinli quickly pushed An Zhihan and told him to shut up, then chased after Wu Yu, asking, "Are you feeling upset?"
"No."
"When you're in a good mood, you'd argue with An Zhihan, but now you're ignoring him. You must be angry."
Upon hearing this analysis, Wu Yu couldn't help but pause, perplexedly turning his head to look at Su Jinli.
"What a curious way of thinking!"
Su Jinli continued to look at him nervously, his eyes filled with unmistakable concern.
Finding himself at a loss with Su Jinli, Wu Yu sighed and explained, "I've always been a loner; I prefer not to live with others. Initially, we had to live together out of necessity. Now that I have the chance, I want to spend some time alone to clear my head, find my focus and prepare for the final competition."
An Zhihan strolled out in his flip-flops, leaning casually against the wall. Overhearing part of the conversation, he chimed in, "It's futile. No matter how hard you try in the final round, you'll at best come in second. Su Jinli's popularity is now nearly unbeatable. There's no need to feel so disgruntled; after all, our competition wasn't expected to do well in the first place. The skills of the contestants who came are just so-so. If we had all the formidable ones here, you wouldn't even make the list."
Such blunt words truly hurt, and Su Jinli was so angry that he pinched An Zi Han.
Wu Yu set his suitcase down at the doorway of his new room and walked toward An Zhihan with a confrontational stance, "What would a spoiled brat like you know?"
"Seriously?" An Zhihan exclaimed, puffing up his chest as if ready for a fight.
"You may only need to ride on your family's coattails to get famous, but I'm different. The next competition might be my last performance, and I want to bring my best," Wu Yu retorted.
"Do you think the management is foolish? With your current popularity, when you return to the company, they will surely arrange work for you, unless they don't want to make money."
"Heh," scoffed Wu Yu, "things aren't as simple as you think."
After finishing his statement, Wu Yu pulled his suitcase into the bedroom.
Cherishing the opportunity of his next performance, he naturally wouldn't pick a fight with An Zhihan at this critical juncture.
Su Jinli quickly followed Wu Yu into his room, commenting, "Don't lower yourself to An Zhihan's level. He's just spouting off. Plus, with your talent and good looks, you're bound to shine."
"I hope so," Wu Yu replied solemnly, before starting to tidy up the bedroom.
"The reason I have the votes I do now is that I benefited from good luck. In fact, I used a little trick previously to grab attention by leveraging my name, which people associate with good fortune. That's how my popularity came about," Su Jinli trailed behind Wu Yu, sharing his thoughts.
He genuinely admired Wu Yu's abilities. However, he admitted that being a non-human being herself, having capabilities that eclipsed those of ordinary humans, was what made Wu Yu come in second.
Had Wu Yu been competing with a group of regular humans, he wouldn't have been so outclassed.
"Have you misunderstood, too?" Wu Yu couldn't help but let out a smile, replying, "I should be thanking you for generating buzz, drawing attention to this show, and by extension, to me. Apart from my singing ability, I'm not particularly funny or charismatic. I'm even somewhat dull, so the popularity I have now is pretty good."
"I also just lucked into it."
"And, I admire your talent," Wu Yu said, opening his suitcase, "This world is tough. Effort doesn't necessarily lead to success."
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Author's Note:
An Zhiyan had a dream in which he and Su Jinli were engaged in an intimate moment.
Just at the climax, Su Jinli suddenly said: "I'm afraid of pain, can we switch and I take the lead?"
In the dream, An Zhiyan abandoned all principles and actually agreed.
Then he saw Su Jinli’s manhood transform into gold and become covered in golden scales, ready to proceed...
An Zhiyan woke up terrified, smoked a cigarette in the deep of the night, and resolutely decided that there are some roles one must not reverse.
Afterward, he returned to his room and found Su Jinli, who was practicing martial arts in his sleep, and initiated another round of dream-like activities.
The clueless Su Jinli: ???
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