Chapter 18: A Test of Sincerity
On Yu Shuling's end, the message "The other party is typing..." appeared for a long time before disappearing again. Jiang Zhou didn't know what she was thinking, but the arrogance in her words seemed to be pressing down on her head, leaving Yu Shuling unable to refute it.
If she can clearly understand the current situation, that would be fine. But if her rapidly increasing, superficial number of fans makes her arrogant, Jiang Zhou wouldn't mind giving this inexperienced young girl a good talking-to.
Yu Shuling was not the first artist he managed. There were some pretty actresses with good popularity and promising futures before, but under his iron-fisted rule, they still had to obediently go and drink with those people and sell smiles.
It's too easy for an agent to ruin an artist who hasn't yet made a name for themselves, just like clipping the wings of a fledgling eagle that's just learning to fly. Although fans may call someone "brother" or "sister" affectionately on the surface, they can also forget about them very quickly.
In this era of massive entertainment traffic, it's easy to elevate someone, but even easier to destroy them. Right now, it all depends on Yu Shuling's choice. He had previously recommended Zhao Cheng to her, but unfortunately, Yu Shuling didn't cherish it. Giving her another chance is already Jiang Zhou's bottom line.
Are you sure?
After thinking for a while, Yu Shuling finally typed out just those three words. Jiang Zhou, perhaps angered by her attitude or something else, made a voice call, but quickly hung up.
"Whether you come or not is up to you. The terms you signed at the time stipulated that you must obey the company's arrangements and attend announcements during the contract period. You can refuse to come, as long as you can afford the penalty for breach of contract."
She's currently filming in the countryside, without her manager or assistant. Jiang Zhou's sudden appearance would be too conspicuous, making a face-to-face meeting difficult. A seasoned manager wouldn't resort to direct threats; chat logs and voice calls are the best leverage.
But the penalty for breach of contract is three times the amount received, which is clearly stated in the terms. Yu Shuling was silent just now because she was recalling the events.
In the book, her character is portrayed as being in a state of "family bankruptcy," with her parents impoverished and relatives indifferent. Naturally, her haters spare no effort to make her suffer as much as possible. If Yu Shuling doesn't want to run these useless gigs, she has to pay three times the amount she earned in the first phase, which not only prevents her from repaying her loan on time but also puts her in debt again.
Yu Shuling ignored Jiang Zhou for the time being. After waiting a while and seeing no response, Jiang Zhou tried a half-hearted approach, offering a carrot and a stick:
"I'm doing this for your own good. Isn't Chen Qiyang pretty good? If you don't like him, Cheng Ge is also okay. As for women, no matter how career-oriented you are now, you still have to get married and have children eventually."
You know Zhu Yao, right? She was a top-tier singer, but after marrying her boyfriend, she retired from the entertainment industry to stay home and raise her children. Now she's preparing for her second child. Her husband dotes on her, so she doesn't have to work hard outside.
Cheng is handsome and young, and he knows how to make girls happy. After marriage, you won't have to take care of the kids, do laundry, or cook. You don't need to worry about conflicts, and he won't hit you. Or, if you think the sudden change is too strange, we can take it slow. You'll be reluctant to leave, right? We'll leave a cliffhanger for the second season. It's not like you have to completely confirm your relationship to be in the second season.
In Jiang Zhou's short essay, her future plans were described in a very "clear" way, as if a girl could get a huge bargain by marrying a rich, non-abusive man and living off his kindness.
Yu Shuling couldn't help but think of that scoundrel emperor.
She married the scoundrel emperor because she couldn't disobey his orders, not because she truly wanted to entrust her life to this useless man. The emperor praised her abilities, yet he wanted to break her pride, so that after he had used her, she would cling to him like a parasitic plant for survival.
She chuckled softly, poured herself a glass of water, and typed with one hand:
"Thanks for the advice, Brother Zhou. I'll also give you a suggestion in return."
Jiang Zhou, who was quite pleased with Yu Shuling's sudden enlightenment, immediately replied: "What?"
"It would be easier for you to climb into Cheng-ge's bed yourself than to run around trying to persuade someone else."
**
Yu Shuling got up early today, around 5 a.m. when it was still light. She went for a morning run and then went back to make breakfast.
It seems the production team won't be taking care of their meals for the next three days. Fortunately, the refrigerator has everything they need. Yu Shuling fried eggs for everyone, heated up the toast and frozen steak she bought from the town supermarket, and finally cooked red date and millet porridge in the pressure cooker and heated up some instant buns. It was a nutritious and varied meal combining Chinese and Western elements.
The filming of the dating reality show is nearing its end, and so far, the only couple that seems to be on a stable footing is Lin Mucai and Tan Xiu.
This morning, Tan Xiu was startled by a staff member dressed as a ghost when she just woke up. She was then groggily pulled into Lin Mucai's arms as he came out from another door, which excited the audience so much that they screamed.
Upon seeing Yu Shuling's breakfast, Chen Qiyang looked surprised and tried to help her untie her apron, but she subtly avoided him.
Previously, viewers also favored Chen Qiyang and Yu Shuling, but unfortunately, although the two had been choosing each other for two days, their interactions became increasingly lukewarm.
Chen Qiyang's enthusiastic flirting with Yu Shuling went unnoticed. That alone was one thing, but even fans like Zhao Xiaoyuan, who had feelings for Chen Qiyang, felt that his reactions were sometimes rather subtle...
It's like an exaggerated performance where the male actor tries his best to embody his "persona," only to be met with boos from the audience.
He clearly hadn't realized this yet, and every day during the live stream interactions, he would blush from being teased by the audience, subtly confessing his feelings for Yu Shuling. Huang Dingyu and Zhao Cheng, who had been teased once before, had learned their lesson; one ate in silence, while the other fawned over Du Xuan.
However, due to yesterday's conflict, Du Xuan's impression of Zhao Cheng plummeted, and she was no longer as receptive to his advances as before. Seeing that this couple was likely to have a bad ending, most people's discussion shifted to Chen Qiyang, Yu Shuling, Zhang Deqi, and Lu Lingling.
One of them had been tied up before, but they had become familiar with each other in the past two days. When Lu Lingling was having breakfast, she hesitated whether to eat the tender steak that was cooked to perfection. Zhang Deqi cut it in half and put it on her plate with serving chopsticks. Lu Lingling did not refuse and quickly pulled out a shy smile.
Another story involves a younger man pursuing an older woman relentlessly, whose thoughts are unpredictable and hard to fathom.
In fact, besides some people feeling that Chen Qiyang was overly enthusiastic, some people also didn't understand why Yu Shuling didn't like Chen Qiyang. He clearly had such a handsome face and was almost completely obedient to her. Many girls exclaimed that they would never have the heart to reject such a cute younger brother as Chen Qiyang.
After breakfast, all the guests gathered together to listen to the director announce the tasks for the penultimate day.
Surprisingly, today's tasks had to be carried out separately.
"The recording of the first episode of 'Heartbeat' is nearing its end. I believe that after spending this time together, everyone has found the answers they need. I'm sure everyone will be very careful when it comes to their future partners. We'll be setting up a mystery segment today to ensure that the guests are truly sincere with each other."
Upon hearing this, the guests all showed puzzled expressions, and the viewers in front of the screen began to discuss it. Although some of them had participated in dating reality shows before, this was the first time they had encountered such a segment, so they were understandably very curious.
But Yu Shuling, who was recalling the plot, was slightly taken aback, and her feelings became complicated.
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