Chapter Forty

Li Nan frowned after reading the message, somewhat displeased. She realized that she too was caught in a whirlpool of emotions and couldn't escape it. Xu Weiwei had simply skipped the topic and started talking about other things without consulting her, acting on her own initiative. Li Nan felt this was disrespectful, so she didn't need to be so considerate or attentive to Xu Weiwei anymore.

Okay, I understand. I'm a little sleepy now and want to go to bed, so I'll stop chatting now and we can talk again tomorrow. Bye, goodnight, and sweet dreams.

Xu Weiwei had been hoping for a response to her words, but when she saw the reply, her heart sank. However, she eventually accepted the fact without complaining, since it's normal to want to sleep when you're tired.

Okay, goodnight, and may you sleep well.

Li Nan saw the message the next morning when she woke up. After all, she had sent the message the night before, and without waiting for Xu Weiwei's reply, she immediately silenced her phone, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.

The next morning, Xu Weiwei received devastating news: the variety show was originally scheduled to be filmed over five consecutive days, but they had only filmed one day. However, Lin Xiangshen was in a bad mood when he left work yesterday and simply refused to continue filming. He would have to wait for his salary to decide when filming would resume.

However, the staff and guests still received their salaries, which meant they were getting paid for doing no work. The staff praised Lin Xiangshen's wisdom, but Xu Weiwei was deeply saddened.

More than the so-called money, she wanted to see people. She had originally thought she could see people in real life for several days in a row, but now her hopes were dashed.

Li Nan frowned, her mood not very good either. She hated that her plans were disrupted, and that everything had to be done according to other people's wishes.

The recording schedule is uncertain. If you don't have time, you don't have to come, but you will still be paid. The production team is not worried about this at all. They said they would find many backup candidates. If you can't come, there are plenty of people who can. They act as if it doesn't matter who comes, but Lin Xiangshen is irreplaceable.

Jiang Su and Jin Jin were very happy. They liked this kind of job where they could get paid while lying down. Besides, there was an uncontrollable factor that happened to the guest who was going to be recorded. It was better if they didn't record. In addition, they had many alternatives. They could take advantage of this free time to do other work.

Xu Weiwei was in a bad mood and wanted to express her emotions by chatting. Coincidentally, she and Li Nan entered the same restaurant.

After they finished eating together, she took the initiative to approach Li Nan, wanting to chat, but Li Nan refused, saying that he was busy with other things and didn't have time.

Xu Weiwei was a little sad because this was the second time she had been rejected. She turned her grief into strength and started exploring restaurants, live-streaming, and chatting with people in the live stream.

Anyway, the person you're chatting with doesn't have to be someone in real life. Chatting online is pretty good too. Lin Mu only realized something was wrong after seeing Xu Weiwei's live stream.

Shouldn't she be recording a variety show? How come she has time for a live stream? Something serious must have gone wrong. However, she didn't rush her, but instead watched Xu Weiwei's live stream while contacting familiar staff members. After making inquiries from various sources, she learned the truth of the matter.

After Xu Weiwei finished her live stream, she immediately contacted her and made a phone call to comfort her, saying, "Weiwei, don't be sad. This was an unexpected situation. Anyway, the production team didn't fire you. We have plenty of time here."

No matter when the recording takes place, they can always find the time and cannot be replaced. This is normal; the recording schedule for variety shows is like this and can change at any time, depending on the schedule of the biggest star.

We, the minor celebrities—no, the guests with absolutely no status—can only obediently follow the production team's arrangements and cannot express our own needs.

However, the good thing is that the production team is really generous. Even if you don't film, you still get paid, which is fantastic. I wonder how many people yearn for this kind of life—the wonderful thing of getting paid without working. I don't think anyone would dislike it.

The only slight regret is that I originally thought you would receive a lot of follow-up work after this variety show recording, but now the time has been postponed.

At least you have to wait until the variety show airs, and people watch it and know about you before anyone invites you. But now, if the recording time is postponed, the broadcast time will inevitably be postponed as well.

But it's okay, good things come to those who wait. The extra time you have now is actually an opportunity for you to learn from your experience. After all, you've already participated in the recording, so you're not a complete greenhorn anymore.

Recording for one day is fine. A variety show's recording period is at most a month, a very short duration, especially the one you're recording for, which only lasts ten days. You've recorded one-tenth of that, which is already a significant portion.

Xu Weiwei remained calm and said, "I'm not sad. Anyway, there's still a chance. I just feel a little lost, but that's normal."

Loss is bound to bring negative emotions; I'm not a god, I'm just a human. Timing is also crucial; some things, once missed, can never be recovered.

Lin Mu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That's good. I'm glad to see that you're in a good mood and haven't broken down. Okay, you can play by yourself for now, we'll talk later. Goodbye. I called to comfort you. I feel much more at ease knowing that you're okay."

Xu Weiwei said coldly, "Goodbye."

The reunion had a much greater impact on Xu Weiwei than she had imagined. Her desire intensified; she no longer wanted to be in a relationship with Lin Xiangshen that would prevent them from ever meeting in real life again.

People are always greedy, and Xu Weiwei is no exception. It's like she's addicted. Just like when they parted ways in high school and never saw each other in real life again, she had already gotten used to the fact that she was destined to lose contact with Lin Xiangshen in real life. But then, she suddenly had hope again.

She was happy the first time, but then she wanted a second, a third, and countless more. She felt that every day she couldn't see Lin Xiangshen was extremely difficult.

And so, the painful days lasted for half a year. During this time, Xu Weiwei would wake up in the middle of the night almost every night. She was also like a woman under a spell, frantically watching variety shows and everything about Lin Xiangshen.

She stopped doing live streams altogether, essentially giving up on them. She stayed home every day, never going out, and ordered takeout for all three meals. While eating, she would watch Lin Xiangshen's variety shows on TV.

Lin Mu originally thought Xu Weiwei was in good spirits, but after a live broadcast and a phone call, Xu Weiwei changed and seemed to have suffered a major blow. Lin Mu was understanding; she probably did lose an important opportunity and felt regretful. Therefore, Lin Mu did not object to anything Xu Weiwei did.

She supports Xu Weiwei not doing live streams. After all, many streamers take a break to adjust their condition, which is a very normal phenomenon.

However, Lin Mu did not expect that Xu Weiwei's recuperation time would be so long, lasting for half a year. She became extremely anxious and even got stressed.

If Xu Weiwei doesn't start live streaming soon, all the popularity she's built up will vanish. But there's nothing she can do; she can't really pressure Xu Weiwei, so she can only worry about it silently.

Xu Weiwei is completely unable to do live streaming. She can't even speak normally and spends all her time in tears. She desperately wants to see Lin Xiangshen.

She practically lived on the sofa for twenty hours a day, and would wake up in the middle of the night to check her phone for gossip about Lin Xiangshen, his blog posts, and his conversations with netizens.

Just like a sponge, she kept absorbing everything about Lin Xiangshen. All the deliberate rational control she used to have suddenly became unbearable, and she just followed her feelings.

She practically read through everything about Lin Xiangshen online, even making backups, notes, and categorizations. She spent almost 24 hours a day, only six or seven hours sleeping, and the rest of her time on Lin Xiangshen.

While Xu Weiwei was washing up, Lin Xiangshen's variety shows would be playing on her tablet. This had been going on for almost half a year, so it was normal and reasonable for her to finish watching them all.

She was completely immersed in Lin Xiangshen's world, no longer following celebrities or shipping couples. She was actually a little confused about whether this was love or obsession.

If she truly loved him that much, why was she able to control herself before they reunited? It was only after they reunited that she started acting abnormally.

Things she could do before, she can't do now at all. She is truly certain that she loves Lin Xiangshen. After seeing him again, she is not disappointed, but rather very happy.

Like many people who dedicate themselves to charity, some people earn a lot of money but don't spend it on themselves; instead, they do it for public good. Xu Weiwei sometimes wonders, what truly determines the hardships in life?

Her first half of life was indeed terrible, a complete mess, but her second half was very lucky and went quite well. If she were truly an unlucky person, then her life should have always been terrible.

Another saying is that someone who is always extremely poor must have some problem, some heinous crime. Is that really true? Xu Weiwei thinks that some enlightened monks are also poor.

Xu Weiwei doesn't believe in Buddhism, but she thinks that enlightened monks are worthy of respect. Does his lack of money mean that the monk is bad? She doesn't think so.

Doing charity work is the same; it's always about helping people in need. But if these people who are suffering so much are truly guilty, then they're living such difficult lives.

So, can doing charity still be considered an act of kindness? It's like if you save someone who has done something wrong, is that still considered good? It's hard to say.

Some people don't earn much money themselves, but they're willing to donate half of their salary to charity. Then they find out that the person they helped bought an iPhone. How does that person feel? They must feel terrible, like they helped the wrong person.

But reality is often like this: the story of the farmer and the snake plays out countless times. Helping others doesn't necessarily bring good returns; it's already lucky enough if you don't get bitten in return.

Just like a real case that Xu Weiwei once saw, a 23-year-old girl stopped her motorcycle because of her kindness and helped an elderly man who had fallen off his bicycle. As a result, the elderly man started to take advantage of her.

The security camera here happened to be broken. The old man said that the girl bumped into him and tried to run away, but he held onto the girl's leg tightly to prevent her from leaving. The girl then turned around and hit him.

In the end, the girl was indeed framed because there were no security cameras and no one saw her help the person instead of hitting them. She ended up paying a large sum of money in compensation; you could say her good intentions backfired.

If you help the wrong people without screening them, you'll have to bear the consequences yourself.