Chapter 2: The Outstanding Picture
Chen Duo knew that Gu Yanqiu in the parallel universe was a minor celebrity, but the situation here was worse than she had imagined.
The so-called concert was held in a cafe. There was a stage about three meters wide, which was pitifully small. To save space, all the tables, chairs and benches were moved to the side.
Several girls arrived one after another, and by the time Chen Duo and the others arrived, there were less than twenty people.
Chen Duo had already recognized them along the way. The calm girl, whose online name was Yueliang, was the group leader of Gu Yanqiu's fan club. She was the one who had been following him the longest, having followed him since the draft.
Yueliang looked at the narrow stage and couldn't help but feel sad. "Qiuqiu paid for this stage himself. He has no business, no endorsements, no activities, and he hasn't had any money for a long time. This is his way of explaining to his fans."
As soon as these words were spoken, the sentimental girls nearby couldn't help but burst into tears.
It's really hard to see the boy who once shone on the stage no longer shining.
Chen Duo is different from everyone present. After all, she came from that world.
In the past, I couldn’t get a good position to take photos. Wherever big stars go, they’re always surrounded by people, right?
Now I can actually get close to him, the stage is only one step away from the audience. I can see the fans of big stars.
Chen Duo was very excited. In the past few minutes, more people came in one after another.
Soon, Gu Yanqiu arrived, not even wearing sunglasses. After entering the cafe through the main entrance, he greeted each fan one by one.
He is really handsome. Up close, he seems to be on a completely different level from the others.
The fans erupted in small screams.
When Gu Yanqiu looked at the moon, he even said something familiar: "Thank you for organizing so many people. I was worried that no one would come."
"How could it be? Everyone likes you so much." Yueliang said. She also introduced him: "This is Duoduo, a fangirl."
Gu Yanqiu looked at Chen Duo with a gentle smile: "Thank you for coming."
Chen Duo suddenly became excited. As a ten-year fan of Gu Yanqiu from another era, she was really excited at this moment: "I like you very much. Come on, I will always support you."
Because Gu Yanqiu has been an unknown figure for many years, his fans are restrained and calm. Suddenly faced with such passionate love, he was even at a loss for a moment: "Thank you." He didn't know what to say.
Chen Duo really came into her own this time. I even thought that if her idol-chasing sisters in another parallel world knew that she could get close to her idol, they would probably be jealous to death.
Only those who are fans of her idol know how lucky she is.
Gu Yanqiu quickly took the stage. "Thank you all for coming to my concert." He paused, unable to continue. The stage was a series of steps. Without a band, even the three-meter stage wouldn't be wide enough for him, the lead dancer.
There were only a few people in the audience, and he was embarrassed to say words like "concert" because it was too much of a compliment.
There wasn't even a staff member on the stage, and twenty pairs of eyes were watching him play the accompaniment tape.
It's really a makeshift troupe, cheap and shabby.
Chen Duo, who was below, could even see his awkwardness.
Soon the speakers started to play. He posed on the stage and then sang along to the rhythm.
This song "Heart" is a work that Chen Duo is very familiar with. It is the song that accompanied him through all the auditions.
Many people in the audience sang along. Since they didn't have glow sticks, they turned on the lights of their phones and swayed to the rhythm. Some people also took pictures of him with their phones.
Chen Duo has heard many versions of "Heart"—at a concert in a stadium with 10,000 people, at an Apple TV gala, and even on a travel variety show, with a guitar in hand. It's so spirited.
But he had never heard anything like it at this moment, sad and quiet, like the farewell song of youth. Perhaps Gu Yanqiu himself knew that even such a small-scale stage was not something he could covet.
Perhaps his era ended before it even began.
The performers on stage worked tirelessly, singing, dancing, and rapping with all their might. They sang song after song without a trace of fatigue. The audience enthusiastically cheered on, their voices echoing like a hundred, even though there were only twenty people. Even those passing by the café, hearing the buzz of excitement inside, would glance inside.
He sang everything he knew, as if to drain himself dry. He even asked for song requests during the performance.
Just when everyone was extremely excited, a coffee shop manager came out and said, "Sorry, we're out of time. Please hurry up."
This sentence was like a bucket of cold water. Gu Yanqiu, sweating profusely, felt a little embarrassed and asked on the stage, "Has it been two hours already?"
"Yeah." said the staff.
The people in the audience said, "How much is the extra time?"
"One thousand per hour." said the staff.
Fans in the audience spontaneously said, "Add two more hours. Yueliang, you pay first, and then the group will collect the money. Let's pool our money."
Yueliang hummed. They wanted to resolve this dilemma as quickly as possible. They didn't want to embarrass the people on the stage.
But most of the fans are students. Everyone has to chip in a hundred, which is all used for the fans' food expenses.
Gu Yanqiu was broke, but he couldn't bear to see his fans pooling money to help him fulfill his dream of performing on stage. Even though he hadn't had enough fun today, he had no choice but to say, "Let's just leave it at that. Maybe there will be another chance in the future."
As soon as Gu Yanqiu said this, he knew it was a lie. For a moment, he felt very sad.
Suddenly, the staff member came over and said, "The gentleman outside the door has paid for your entire night. It doesn't matter when you leave. He has also ordered coffee and snacks for each of you." After saying that, he pointed outside the door.
Xu Kaiming was eating ice cream outside, bored out of his mind. It was obvious that he didn't like noisy environments.
Yueliang recognized him immediately: "It's Duoduo's boyfriend."
Everyone said, “Thank you Duoduo!”
Even Gu Yanqiu showed gratitude: "Whatever song you want to hear, as long as I can sing it."
Chen Duo said, "Star Ship."
He was a little surprised: "How did you know I wrote this song?" Then he explained to everyone: "I haven't published it before. I'm singing it for the first time today."
Then he sat down and said softly, "Many years later, I still remember your encouragement, which guided me forward like stars..."
His voice was soft yet firm. He looked at the audience with tears in his eyes.
He's not an idol, but he's lucky enough to have so many people like him. And that summer he spent days and nights auditioning with everyone.
Although he was later framed for a scandal, who can deny that he once had a lively life in this world?
Suddenly, a flash of white light came to his senses. He hadn't known when a cannon-shaped camera had appeared. It was Chen Duo.
He remembered that this was a fan club member and her boyfriend had helped her solve the venue problem.
Chen Duo took a few more photos. She was very familiar with Gu Yanqiu, but she had never seen such a fragile yet strong look. It was so attractive that she raised her hand to take pictures.
Maybe everyone on the stage was a little bit "stage frightened" because he had already done a round of singing and dancing, but when someone took pictures, he perked up and started singing and dancing again.
Even Xu Kaiming outside was somewhat convinced. Being a star is not something that ordinary people can do. It is quite impressive to speak with the microphone for four hours.
When Gu Yanqiu was exhausted, he bowed and thanked everyone present one by one.
Even he was shocked when Chen Duo took out her giant camera just now.
Because it was so unexpected, he almost messed up a move on stage. Those fan cameras are expensive, and he'd seen other superstars photographed like this at the airport, and he'd been a little envious.
He became excited, as if a huge force had been injected into his body.
Re-doing something you've skipped a thousand times feels completely different.
After he finished, he returned to a van, sweating profusely, and went back to the company.
The only place he could call home in this city was the company's practice room.
The lights are on 24 hours a day. If you feel sleepy, you can just lie down on the floor and rest.
My body is extremely tired, but my spirit is very excited.
He actually completed a concert at his own expense. Although the venue was small, the audience in the audience was real.
It’s really enjoyable.
After a while, someone came over here talking and laughing.
The moment the other person opened the door, his voice suddenly stopped. Then, trainee Jin Yuchen said, "Brother Qiu, you didn't go to the concert like this, did you? This outfit is too low-brow."
He was wearing a trendy brand he'd bought himself. It looked nice, but the quality was average. He hadn't changed his clothes during the four hours of singing and dancing. The clothes were soaked with sweat, clinging to his body, and even had some color fading.
"This is the first time I've heard of a coffee shop holding a concert. It must be quite a crowd," a sarcastic voice said. It was Li Ziyue, who had originally been in the eleventh position to debut, but had been stuck at twelfth, unfortunately not making his debut.
But they happened to be in the same company, and after the one-year limited group ended, Gu Yanqiu had no follow-up resources and quietly disappeared. Li Ziyue, on the other hand, had guest-starred in a few web dramas and now has a film contract, which is better than him, who is not a big name.
Entertainment companies are truly places of fame and fortune. This practice room is clearly for dancing, but whenever Li Ziyue shows up, his assistant sends Gu Yanqiu away. They say they're rehearsing a new play, but even when they're out of the room, Li Ziyue just eats and drinks with the other trainees, carrying some barbecued skewers.
The trainee Jin Yuchen who had just made the sarcastic remark was one of his lackeys.
When Gu Yanqiu was in the group, he always greeted him morning and night, and was closer to him than his own brother. But now that he has fallen into obscurity, he immediately clung to Li Ziyue's thighs and became increasingly dismissive of him.
Gu Yanqiu was extremely annoyed by this so-called high EQ social interaction and turned to leave.
His tolerance seemed like a sign of weakness to others. Li Ziyue said, "So what if we debuted? We still don't have any performances."
Gu Yanqiu didn't want to talk to him, but today was the happiest day he had recently: "Don't force me to hit you on my happiest day."
His expression suddenly changed.
Gu Yanqiu is 1.85 meters tall and still very strong. He is not at the same level as those who have become too thin to be on camera.
Gu Yanqiu left after he finished speaking. The people who were just frightened by him immediately became unhappy. Who is he?
"Bah, what are you pretending to be? You really think you're a superstar. Look at how unlucky he is. He'll never be famous."
"Of course."
Chen Duo returned to the hotel and kept working on Photoshop in front of the computer. In another time and space, she also produced some amazing pictures in front of the superstar Gu Yanqiu.
Right now, her emotions were actually the most complicated. She had seen Gu Yanqiu's brilliant moments, and also his downtrodden but sincere performances.
All the thoughts and emotions are put into the photos.
And so, another image was born. A young man, his eyes blazing in the light and shadow, even in a coffee shop, even on a stage so shabby as to be impossible, still gave it his all. Light and shadow cast across his face, and for a moment, it even overlapped with Gu Yanqiu from another time and space.
Shining like that. Like a star that's out of reach.
I opened a website for him: Look at the Stars.
Then I uploaded a super large high-definition picture.
The Gu Yanqiu in this photo seems to be looking at the big star Gu Yanqiu in a parallel universe through time.
The camera shots of the fangirls are full of emotion and warmth. What's more, Chen Duo has been a fan of Gu Yanqiu for ten years.
After uploading it, she uploaded it again to her Weibo. She glanced at the time and saw it was already three in the morning. She was so sleepy that she fell asleep right after she lay down on the bed.
She had no idea what kind of shock the picture she just posted would bring to the night owls who were awake in the middle of the night.
"Fuck, who is this? I want all his information within ten minutes."
"I knew that staying up late at night would lead to a gift from heaven. So cool."
"Who understands, my family, I refreshed the screen and a handsome photo of my husband appeared out of nowhere."
"Such a great face, he can't be unknown. Find him for me."
"Oh my god. Has the domestic entertainment industry restocked again? I declare this my new favorite."
Chen Duo, the fangirl, fell asleep soundly. But Gu Yanqiu, the protagonist of the photo, was woken up by someone from the company.
Agent Chen A Biao's eyes were burning: "Do you know who took this photo?"
Gu Yanqiu was stunned after taking a look. This face, so familiar to him from looking in the mirror every day, actually glowed in the lens, full of star quality.
It can be seen that this is a photo full of love by the photographer.
Of course he knew that it was taken by a fan club member named Duoduo.
Gu Yanqiu came to his senses at this moment and looked at his agent warily: "Why are you asking this?" He actually looked protective.
The agent looked at him like he was an idiot and said, "You're going to be famous."
Then the agent's phone rang. At three in the morning, everyone in the company drove back to the office building. "Okay, okay, I'll take Gu Yanqiu to the conference room right away to discuss the next step in the packaging plan."
The internet is truly almighty. In less than an hour, all of Gu Yanqiu's information was exposed. Some public accounts even woke up late at night to work on it.
Those who stayed up late looked at Gu Yanqiu's information in confusion.
"So it was him."
A while ago, everyone was shouting for this little unknown celebrity to get out of the entertainment industry. How could he actually be so good-looking?
Many of his fans were a little confused: "He must have some difficulties."
"Hey, hey, hey, where is your justice?" The other passers-by couldn't stand it anymore.
Even his social media accounts were exposed, including his secondary account on Xiaohongshu, which was filled with nothing but dance practice. The intensity was so intense that even non-professionals gasped.
Even fans of Korean entertainment were shocked: "You always say there are no good idols in the Chinese entertainment industry. There are some, but you don't like them."
The meeting lasted until 6:30 a.m. Many people in the room were surviving on black coffee.
The marketing department compiled all the search data from the night before: "One hundred million page views!"
"Can you, the fangirl, contact her? She achieved our entire year's sales with just one picture."
After hearing this, Gu Yanqiu felt inexplicably proud.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
