Chapter 12: Unexpected Gains

Seeing the staff who were checking for the accident come to handle the scene, Li Sishi calmed down and realized that the two of them were in a half-hug, half-embrace position, which seemed a bit too intimate.

So she quickly stood up straight and gestured for Ling Chen, who was holding her, to let go: "It's okay... thank you."

Reminded by Li Sishi, Ling Chen also noticed the problem and immediately let go of her hand: "I'm sorry."

"Leo, could you sign this for me?" Li Sishi remembered her "mission" and handed over the poster she was holding.

“Okay.” He picked up the poster and started writing, while giving Li Sishi a very serious look.

After handing the autographed poster back to Li Sishi and hurriedly saying, "Remember to contact me if anything happens," he then walked quickly to the other side of the stage in the early hours of the morning, urged by his staff.

"Leo!" The fans who remained behind shouted a few times but failed to bring their idol back. So, many clever people turned their attention to Li Sishi, who had just "benefited from the misfortune," and secretly "indirectly groped" her as she squeezed out...

This girl was just hugged in the early morning—although she was only saved because the railing broke in the early morning, she did indeed get a hug from her idol!

While the moment is still fresh, go and "get close" to this girl; in a way, they've felt the warmth of their idol!

As Li Sishi squeezed her way back to her seat, she understood the thoughts of these young women. Considering the hands that had tried to catch her when she stumbled forward, Li Sishi could only sigh inwardly. On her way back to her seat, she endured countless indirect groping and unwanted advances...

Even Zhou Huichang couldn't resist giving her a hug when she returned to her seat.

"Alright, alright, you've had your fill of taking advantage of me. Sit up, the show is about to start." Li Sishi finally managed to push away the reluctant Zhou Huichang, and then stuffed the rolled-up poster into her arms.

Zhou Huichang chuckled a few times while holding the poster. Just as she was about to unfold it to admire her idol's autograph, she suddenly caught a glimpse of Ling Chen already performing on stage. So she quickly turned her attention back to the big stage in front of her.

After helping Zhou Huichang, who was staring intently at the stage ahead, put away the autographed poster, Li Sishi felt relieved and began to watch the first performance of the four Heavenly Kings together with a feeling and gaze that she couldn't quite describe.

to be honest

Limited by the level of development at that time, and because she was looking at it with the eyes of someone who had experienced all kinds of magnificent stages in later generations, she felt that... the current stage setup, program arrangement and other things were undoubtedly quite rudimentary.

However, both the performers and the audience are excessively energetic, so the performance at this time is actually much more effective than it will be later—before smartphones, computers, and other things enhance people's daily entertainment, such a performance is already a rare feast.

Rough, wild, and natural, it has a unique, unadorned flavor.

“Look, Cheng Erjian is here!” Zhou Huichang pointed to the location of a group of backup dancers.

"Mmm," Li Sishi replied perfunctorily, then quickly covered her ears and endured the rooster-like chorus of the fan club next to her in the early hours of the morning.

Unfortunately, this is one of the downsides of going to a live performance: overly excited fan groups will belt out a song and sing along to show off their idol's popularity during the performance... It's become a common practice.

Moreover, this is a privilege only the most popular celebrities can enjoy; others would love to have it but can't.

After the opening parade ended, in the small backstage dressing room, Lei Jun, the manager, was quite satisfied with the fan group's performance that night: "Tonight, you were the only one with a fan group singing along, not bad, not bad... Hey, are you even listening to me?"

Looking exhausted, Ling Chen rubbed his temples and said, "Sorry, I was thinking about something just now, but I heard it. It's because my fans are so supportive that I feel so happy tonight."

"Yeah, during the last part, you were having so much fun that you just ran off to play with the long line of backup dancers!" Lei Jun scolded him sternly. "It's not that I'm criticizing you, but you need to remember, your role is that of a young girl's prince charming, her dream lover, not some comedian. Sometimes you need to be mindful of your image..."

Just thinking about how he used to help other singers "dance" on stage when it wasn't the early morning performance time, but because there was no rehearsal, he ended up with a jarring, unrecognizable dance style... gave Lei Jun a headache.

He put so much effort and thought into shaping him into a prince charming, but in the early hours of the morning, this guy just couldn't control his goofy nature!

It's fortunate that the main theme of this stage performance was "enjoying life with the people," otherwise, with this guy going so wildly and bringing along two other collaborating singers, leaving only the one with the best singing skills still singing... I guess...

This is driving the other two agents crazy, and they might even come to confront him and demand an explanation.

"Alright, alright, I'll try to be more careful in the future," Ling Chen quickly assured him.

"It's good that you're so observant!" Lei Jun rolled his eyes at him, then said earnestly, "If it goes any later, the station will probably 'bundle' you with three other people to form a young but powerful idol group to counter the impact from Taiwan... This is a great opportunity for you, you must seize it!"

"Just like how I used to call myself one of the 'Three Musketeers' with Huazai, Hanyou, and the others?" Ling Chen suddenly realized.

"Almost, but this time we added one more person, making it four." Lei Jun explained, "The station's initial choice for the fourth person was Li Dewen, but unfortunately, his image and performance were a little lacking, and his career path overlapped with Hanyou's, so in the end, we chose Huo Gucheng."

"His dancing is truly first-rate." (He nodded in the early morning.)

"He was originally a dancer for a TV station, so of course he can dance. He just had bad luck here and didn't become famous. Then he happened to have good luck in Taiwan and returned home in glory. He has good looks and popularity, so this opportunity was his turn."

Lei Jun glanced at Ling Chen again as he said this, "If you two work together often in the future, you should learn more from others. You'll be at a disadvantage if you don't have some singing and dancing at your concerts. You know that you're not very agile except when you're playing around..."

"I was pretty agile just now! A girl was holding onto a railing that broke and she was falling forward, and I managed to catch her in time!" Ling Chen immediately retorted, then looked a little worried, "I wonder how she is, she hasn't even called..."

"Why are you so worried... Wait, what you're saying means you gave your phone number to someone?!" Lei Jun's expression immediately changed upon realizing this.

"She's my fan, and she got into this accident while trying to get my autograph. How could I feel good if something happened to her?" Ling Chen said matter-of-factly.

Besides, that girl is indeed very pretty, but her white T-shirt is obviously made of cheap material and has a cheap cut.

It's rare for a beautiful girl to emerge from a humble abode, and if such a young and beautiful girl were to meet with an accident, not only would her family be heartbroken, but outsiders would also feel it's a pity.

Poor people are used to not taking minor bumps and scrapes seriously in order to save money, but if something involves them, they should also take some responsibility.

"You..." Lei Jun gritted his teeth.

After a moment of hesitation, she finally succumbed to Ling Chen's innocent expression and said, "Forget it, I'll handle this. Don't worry, she'll definitely call you if anything happens."

Even if that girl doesn't have a mobile phone like the one the brand endorses, most families these days have landlines, so if they really want to contact each other, they'll get in touch sooner or later.

I just hope that girl isn't the type to take advantage of me...

While the agent was still struggling with the decision in the early hours of the morning, Zhou Huichang, who was walking back with Li Sishi while unfolding his autographed poster, stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

"What's wrong with you?" Li Sishi immediately noticed Zhou Huichang's unusual behavior.

"N-nothing..." Zhou Huichang forced down her excitement and pulled Li Sishi to a corner before whispering in her ear, "Besides the signature, there's a phone number on this poster!"

"You mean...?" Upon hearing this, Li Sishi immediately recalled the words she had spoken to her before leaving in the early morning.

If you need anything, please contact me...

Based on what she had heard in the industry before, the fact that he left her his phone number in the early hours of the morning was not necessarily due to lust, but more likely out of his care for his fans.

"Maybe he saw that I seemed fine on the surface, but he was still worried because I hadn't gone to the hospital for a checkup, so he left me his phone number," Li Sishi said after thinking for a moment.

"Cousin, do you feel unwell anywhere?" Zhou Huichang asked with concern.

"No, I didn't fall, he caught me." Li Sishi shook her head, "There wasn't a single bump or bruise."

"Then this phone number... After confirming that Li Sishi was really alright, Zhou Huichang couldn't help but look back at the string of numbers next to the signature."

"If you'd like, you can give it a try. There's no harm in trying," Li Sishi said with a smile.

Zhou Huichang's gaze lingered on that string of numbers for a while before she finally hugged the poster tightly: "No, that's too abrupt. Let's not bother him unless it's absolutely necessary..."

Li Sishi glanced at Zhou Huichang, who seemed to have the desire but not the courage, and smiled even more broadly: "Then it's up to you."

Unbeknownst to the two, elsewhere, the agent in the early hours of the morning was also experiencing incredibly mixed feelings, worrying about the arrival of the phone call while simultaneously worrying that it hadn't come.

Several months later, following a high-level decision, the four astronauts were officially announced.

With Wang's establishment, agent Lei Jun plunged headlong into more work arrangements in the early hours of the morning, no longer having time to think about that phone number.

At this moment, Li Sishi, amidst everyone's anticipation, officially submitted her application for the subjects she would choose for the high school entrance examination.

"Ten subjects? Are you sure?" As the homeroom teacher, Miss Huang was quite surprised after receiving Li Sishi's subject selection application form.

“That’s right, I think I’m pretty confident.” Li Sishi nodded. “Besides, we can only register for a maximum of ten subjects now, and we’ll only take the best score. It’s better to register for more than less. Even one more point can eliminate a lot of people.”

"Your idea certainly shows great ambition, but given the number of subjects, how about this: the school will give you some extra intensive training recently and arrange a private car for you to pick you up and drop you off..."

▍

Principal Jia was quite concerned about Li Sishi, this unexpectedly outstanding student.

He had witnessed Li Sishi's academic performance over the past two years firsthand. It was in no way inferior to the top students from prestigious schools. Moreover, she had such high goals and drive. If the school gave her a push from behind... perhaps she could really bring back the honor of being a top student among the top ten.

No, even if you're not a "top student" with all ten A's, as long as you can get five A's with half of your subjects at the A level, that's enough to withstand the storm from the school board.

This would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it could potentially determine Zeng Dingbaosu's future life or death!

Thinking of the board's dissatisfaction with the school's performance over the years, Principal Jia gritted his teeth and said, "Let's register according to Li Sishi's wishes!"