Chapter 234 The Will of Heaven
The two of them strolled around the neighborhood twice before leisurely heading back.
Cheng Hai has already left.
"He's gone?" Yan Liang asked, somewhat surprised.
Li Zhibai nodded and said, "Then he left."
Yan Liang asked, "You came to talk to me about Zhou Ping'an's matter?"
“Yes, that’s the only thing I need to talk about,” Li Zhibai said. “He came to explain and apologize to me, but I don’t think it’s a big deal.”
Li Zhibai appeared to be completely unconcerned.
However, Cheng Hai must be happy to do this.
Lu Yanhe didn't expose him, but only asked, "So what do you plan to do about Zhou Ping'an?"
"Let's leave him hanging for a couple of days. This kind of person is so damn annoying." Li Zhibai frowned immediately, first complaining about Zhou Ping'an, and then said, "We haven't even sorted out Ma Zhiyuan's matter with me yet, and now he's doing this kind of thing. Does he think I'm an idiot being fooled? He even calls it optimizing resource allocation. What a load of crap! Why doesn't he share some of his income with us?"
Lu Yanhe smiled instantly.
Yan Liang: "Spot on the mark."
He suddenly thought of something and said, "Should we clean the house later? The production crew will be here to film tomorrow. The cameras have been rolling since we left, and they'll probably film the inside of our house."
"What's so interesting about it? There's nothing shameful about it." Li Zhibai exuded a lazy air. "Don't be nervous. After the show airs, everyone will know that I'm the laziest person."
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang were both amused and exasperated.
Li Zhibai's self-awareness leaves them with nowhere to voice their complaints.
-
Unlike programs like "City Travelogue" and "Little Song Gathering," "The Days of Youth" is Lu Yanhe's first reality show.
Reality shows have been booming for over a decade and have become the most popular type of variety show for promoting actors.
Compared to shows like "Little Song Gathering" that showcase professional skills, or other programs that showcase intelligence, acting skills, or other talents, reality shows are about showcasing yourself, showcasing every part of yourself.
Therefore, Zhou Ping'an asked Yan Liang to find a label for him.
In reality shows, the easiest way to go viral is through labels.
A foodie, a physical powerhouse, an exceptionally intelligent person, a comedian, and so on.
Having a distinctive label is essential for people to recognize you immediately.
Lu Yanhe didn't intend to say that he participated in the show not to become famous; that would be too high-sounding and unrealistic.
If you don't want to be famous, why be an artist?
However, Lu Yanhe was a little unsure of what to do, as it was his first time.
It's true that I want to be famous, but it's also true that I don't want to do anything for fame. At nineteen, I want to be famous honestly and openly.
"Are you nervous?" Lu Yanhe asked the two of them, his gaze falling on Li Zhibai. Seeing that the latter had no reaction, he said, "I know Li Zhibai isn't nervous."
"I was nervous," Yan Liang honestly admitted. "I was a little afraid that if I didn't say a word or did something wrong, I would make a mistake. I've seen many artists get scolded because of this."
“It’s okay. It’s better to have people scold you than to have no one know you.” Li Zhibai said in a very open-minded tone, “Look at me, how many people scold me every day? Let them scold me. The more people scold me, the higher my reward.”
This is a double-edged sword in the era of traffic – the pressure is greater, but the ability to monetize is also greater.
Compared to Lu Yanhe, who suddenly became popular, Li Zhibai, who has been popular for several years, is obviously more experienced and has more insights in this regard.
He's become so used to the criticism he receives online.
Aside from pain, what people are never used to are things that happen by chance; sometimes, they even get used to pain.
-
All three of them had their luggage packed.
The next morning, someone knocked on the door.
Yan Liang and Lu Yanhe have already run back.
Yan Liang finished taking a bath, and Lu Yanhe was taking a bath inside.
Yan Liang went to open the door, and there was a camera filming him.
Several crew members wearing name tags greeted him.
"Hi, you're here so early." It's only 7:30 in the morning. Yan Liang originally thought they wouldn't arrive until 9 or 10 in the morning.
Yan Liang invited them in.
There are six people in total.
They are all PDs who are responsible for each of the three of them.
The other two groups immediately asked about Lu Yanhe and Li Zhibai's situation upon entering.
"Yan He is taking a shower, and Brother Bai is still... sleeping." Yan Liang was a little embarrassed to say that Li Zhibai was still sleeping in front of the camera, as if it exposed Li Zhibai's laziness. In fact, Li Zhibai himself said that it didn't matter, and it was only 7:30 in the morning, so it was perfectly normal for him to still be sleeping.
Yan Liang asked, "Have you had breakfast?"
The crew members all nodded, saying they had already eaten.
Yan Liang was somewhat surprised, "Wow, you guys are eating so early?"
At this moment, Lu Yanhe came out after taking a shower, and was stunned as soon as he came out.
There were many more people in the room, and several video cameras.
As soon as he appeared, a camera immediately pointed at him.
Lu Yanhe's hair was still wet. He asked in shock, "You're here so early?"
"Um."
Lu Yanhe scratched his head and glanced at his T-shirt and shorts, realizing he had absolutely no image to maintain.
"Uh, I'm going to change my clothes, I'll be out in a bit."
After saying that, he rushed into the room.
Fortunately, Chen Ziyan would regularly send him a batch of clothes, all sponsored by partner brands. Lu Yanhe changed into a set before leaving the room.
Both he and Yan Liang were somewhat at a loss when faced with this scene.
Yan Liang was still trying hard to find topics to chat with them about.
At this moment, a girl with a ponytail and wearing a white sun-protective clothing smiled at him and said, "Yan He, hello, I am Chen Mo, your PD, and this is He Zhong, your videographer. I look forward to your guidance from now on."
Lu Yanhe quickly greeted them, "Hello, I am Lu Yanhe."
His eyes darted around nervously, a hint of social anxiety in them, and he asked, "Would you like some drinks? Shall I get you some?"
"It's okay, no need," Chen Mo said. "Just pretend we don't exist and do what you need to do normally. We'll do a quick interview when your agents arrive."
Lu Yanhe nodded, then looked at Yan Liang. Yan Liang knew what he meant and answered with his eyes, "Don't look at me, I don't know what to do either."
Both of them were complete novices when it came to reality TV.
The two remained silent for a while, feeling uneasy, when suddenly their eyes lit up simultaneously.
They both looked at Li Zhibai's tightly closed door.
-
"Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap!"
Li Zhibai, with his hair a mess, sat bolt upright on the bed and immediately launched into a string of "Holy crap!"
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang opened the curtains to let in the summer sun, while Lu Yanhe lifted the blanket off Li Zhibai. They managed to close the door from the inside, preventing the photographers from coming in and taking pictures of the scene.
Those outside heard Li Zhibai's roar inside the room, but unfortunately they only recorded the sound and didn't capture any footage, which they found regrettable.
Five minutes later, Li Zhibai came out of the house looking angry.
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang, claiming they had "absolutely no idea what to do," insisted on waking Li Zhibai from his bed so that this veteran of reality shows could guide them.
The reality TV veteran was annoyed at being woken up, but since people had already arrived, he didn't utter a curse. Instead, he stormed off to the bathroom without even saying goodbye.
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang nodded to each other as they watched Li Zhibai act as if no one else was around.
"The arrogant guy is still the arrogant guy."
Li Zhibai went to the restroom and washed his face before he finally had the energy to greet the staff.
But after just one greeting, he acted as if they weren't there, and lay down on the sofa again, seemingly planning to take a nap.
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang certainly didn't intend to let him fall asleep again.
So the two of them immediately sat down next to him again, one pushing his head to the side and the other pushing his legs to the side, so that Li Zhibai's body, which was originally lying horizontally on the sofa, was now at an angle. Li Zhibai couldn't help but let out a furious roar, finally sat down, looked at the two of them, and said, "Fuck you two!"
The staff present silently thought to themselves, "OK, this is only the beginning, and we're already going to mute it."
After being provoked by Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang, Li Zhibai kept a straight face and sighed from time to time.
Lu Yanhe looked at Li Zhibai's messy hair and asked, "Do you want to get your hair fixed?"
"Anyway, we've already filmed it, so I'm too lazy to fix it. I'll wait for the makeup artist to come and do it." Li Zhibai said, yawning. He looked at the camera and said to the crew, "You guys are so unfair. You pulled a surprise attack so early in the morning just to film us looking ridiculous, didn't you?"
His PD immediately laughed and said, "We didn't mean that."
"You'd be a fool to believe you." Li Zhibai curled his lip. "Where's Li Zhenzhen? Why didn't she come? Is she sleeping in? Why did she make you guys come to work so early in the morning?"
"The director is waiting for you at your accommodation." The PD covered his mouth to hide his laughter.
Lu Yanhe was surprised by Li Zhibai's attitude of daring to say anything in front of the camera.
However, he instinctively felt that this was the best part of the reality show.
In comparison, he and Yan Liang were far too reserved.
Li Zhibai gradually became more awake and less sleepy. He yawned and asked, "Have you two finished running?"
"Um."
Have you had breakfast yet?
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang both shook their heads.
They had just finished running and couldn't eat, so they usually waited about half an hour before eating.
Li Zhibai said, "Then let's go downstairs for breakfast."
Yan Liang said, "We've already bought steamed buns and soy milk."
"Oh?" Li Zhibai nodded. "Then we don't even need to leave the house. That's fine."
He yawned and said, "I'm going to brush my teeth."
After Li Zhibai left, the living room became quiet again.
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang exchanged glances, while the staff members were also wondering if the two of them didn't get along well. Why did they stop talking as soon as Li Zhibai left? But they didn't seem to have a bad relationship.
After a few seconds, Lu Yanhe said, "Shall we eat here, or go to the dining table?"
"Let's eat here, otherwise they'll have to change camera positions again," Yan Liang said, pointing to the staff.
The staff wanted to say that they didn't have fixed camera positions; the cameramen carried their own cameras and could move around flexibly. Li Zhibai's cameraman went over to film him brushing his teeth.
However, reality shows always try to avoid interfering with the lives of celebrities and guests, and to capture their most authentic selves. Therefore, one of the principles for staff members is to avoid interrupting or disturbing them as much as possible.
I generally don't speak unless it involves matters of principle.
Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang brought over the steamed buns and soy milk, and without waiting for Li Zhibai, they started eating right away.
As soon as Li Zhibai arrived, he asked, "What kind of steamed buns did you buy?"
"The steamed bun shop right by the entrance," Yan Liang replied.
"Oh." Li Zhibai yawned again, sat down, and said, "I'm really fed up with you two, you had to wake me up."
"This is our first time filming a reality show, we have no experience, and without you here, we don't know what to say."
“Then we should just say what we need to say.” Li Zhibai said, taking a big bite of half a bun and eating it with great relish.
Lu Yanhe truly envied Li Zhibai's nonchalant attitude and indifference to the camera.
"When are Zhou Ping'an and Sister Ziyan arriving?" Li Zhibai asked again.
"Yesterday they said it would be around 8:30, and they were going to do our hair and makeup," Yan Liang said.
"There'll be a while." Li Zhi quickly ate the bun in his hand, then grabbed another one. "The buns at the entrance of our store are quite fragrant and delicious."
"It's alright, lots of meat."
Li Zhibai took on three by himself, while Yan Liang and Lu Yanhe each only took on two.
After eating and drinking their fill, the first thing all three of them did was lie down.
"I'm so full."
After Yan Liang lay down, he immediately realized that there were cameras filming him. He felt that he was being too lazy, so he sat back down on the sofa.
Lu Yanhe also sat down.
His image is indeed not very good.
Only Li Zhibai remained unconcerned and continued to lie on the floor.
How long will we be recording this time?
"It will take five days to record."
Li Zhibai said "Oh," and after a while, he said, "Then shall we go to the house for lunch later?"
"It should be, I think it's about letting us get to know each other during lunch."
Li Zhibai: "Why do these reality shows always like to play these kinds of mysterious tricks?"
He didn't even complain behind the back of the reality show staff; he just vomited in front of them.
Lu Yanhe thought to himself, this really is the difference. Neither he nor Yan Liang could be as relaxed as Li Zhibai.
However, at this moment, Lu Yanhe thought about it and realized that it was fine even if he wasn't relaxed; it was normal, and he didn't need to pretend to be relaxed.
Once Lu Yanhe understood this, he relaxed.
-
It's a little uncomfortable to suddenly have several people taking pictures of you in the room.
After resting for a while, Lu Yanhe and the others started doing their own things.
Lu Yanhe returned to his room, turned on his laptop, and began reading the manuscript.
"Jump Up" was published on Yemai.com and Jiangyin Publishing House, and the submission email address was managed by him and Chen Siqi together.
Ninety-nine percent of the manuscripts in their inboxes are actually unusable, but they still check their inboxes every day.
Their division of labor was that whoever clicked on the email that they had read would be responsible for reading the article. If it was well-written and had a chance of being published, they would download it and upload it to a shared cloud drive.
The cloud storage is used by just the two of them.
Lu Yanhe reads the manuscript every day.
Lu Yanhe often felt a sense of weariness. Reading books and novels used to be a hobby of his, but now it was a bit of a torment for him because many of the articles were indeed not very well written.
Words may seem more elegant and sophisticated when they are elaborately chosen, but in reality, the more sincere they are, the more touching they are.
Sincerity is such a precious and rare thing.
Just then, Lu Yanhe suddenly received a message from Jiang Yuqian: the article I promised you has been written.
Lu Yanhe's eyes lit up at that moment.
I finally received it.
Jiang Yuqian sent me a document.
Lu Yanhe: Thank you, Sister Yuqian!
Jiang Yuqian: Don't ask me for this kind of work next time, I really can't write.
Lu Yanhe: Thank you, Sister Yuqian, for supporting me!
Jiang Yuqian: Good to know. Okay, I've finished my task. I'm going to sleep now.
Lu Yanhe was taken aback and asked, "Sister Yuqian, why are you sleeping so early? Didn't you sleep last night?"
Jiang Yuqian said: I stayed up all night filming yesterday, and just after I finished, I suddenly felt inspired and finished writing this article.
Lu Yanhe: Should I thank this all-night shoot? Otherwise, Sister Yuqian, you wouldn't have been able to write it.
Jiang Yuqian: This is too torturous. I'm going to sleep now. Bye-bye.
Lu Yanhe opened the article sent by Jiang Yuqian with some excitement. She had actually written a solid two thousand words.
He read it over immediately. To Lu Yanhe's surprise, Jiang Yuqian had actually written a letter to the character she played in "The Golden Age".
Lu Yanhe really hadn't expected this situation.
However, after reading the entire article, Lu Yanhe was stunned. The content of the article shocked him.
...
"I am writing this letter to you during a break in a night shoot. It was very hot, and I was sitting on set with only a small fan providing some ventilation."
“If I hadn’t promised Yan He to write this article, it might have taken me a long time before I thought of writing this letter to you.”
...
"Many fans think I'm a very hardworking and dedicated person, but I actually know that compared to you, I'm far behind. When I was playing you, I often couldn't help but wonder if I could overcome the setbacks and difficulties you faced in my life?"
"Seeing you holding your breath and refusing to give up even in such difficult circumstances, I often think back to my school days and can't help but feel a little regretful that I didn't persevere a little longer and work a little harder like you."
“You know what? My experience is really similar to yours, except that I haven’t achieved what you have. I’m not unhappy now, but like you, there’s someone in my heart whom I can no longer see but can’t forget. So, after reading the script for the first time, I thought, maybe meeting you was fate.”
(End of this chapter)
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