Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

The road outside the alley was wide enough for two people to walk side by side, but now, under an umbrella, they could only walk one behind the other. Pei Muchan suddenly turned her head to look at him, and half of her face peeked out from under the umbrella.

"Where is it in front? I don't know the way, so why don't you lead?"

Xu Qingyan hesitated for a moment and shook his head, "It's just ahead. There are a few forks in the road, and I'm not comfortable with you following behind. We'll have to walk like this; otherwise, we won't fit under the umbrella side by side."

Pei Muchan blinked, seemingly wanting to say something.

"What's wrong?" he asked, puzzled.

"Nothing... nothing." She actually wanted to ask if they should share an umbrella, but she felt that would be too intrusive on personal boundaries, and besides, he hadn't mentioned it.

She had met many people but had never thought about dating—not due to a lack of emotion but rather because she wanted simply to focus on her career, and partly because she felt it wasn't necessary.

To her, persistent entanglement and tender flirtatious words held no appeal.

Adults do not fall into the shallow trap of ambiguous flirtations, especially since watching her friends fall in and out of love was exhausting enough.

Yet, she never expected that one day, she would encounter Xu Qingyan.

The sign of the private restaurant hung over the entrance, made of pine wood and bearing no name like "xxx Restaurant" or an elegant name like "Lou." It only had a single character in the middle, "Food."

A small light bulb hung next to the word "Food," with black letters on a yellow signboard, instantly setting the private dining tone.

Walking in, they were greeted by a uniformed man standing there, polite and composed.

"Hello, how many in your party, sir? Do you have a reservation?"

After giving the mobile number, the host led them upstairs to a private room. The second floor had windows through which they could see the wooden arches in the rain-screen. It was a rare old building that one couldn't spot from outside.

There was no need to order the food, as it had already been reserved; they merely sat and waited.

A building that had stood for a century was hidden in this old town, housing a restaurant, which indeed had a romantic air.

The wind mixed with the rain tinkled the bells hanging under the eaves, producing a series of clear sounds.

Pei Muchan stared at the recently turned-on street lamp outside the window that seemed to be coated with a halo of light, gold threads fluttering continuously, then suddenly looked up and said.

"Is the second episode airing tonight?"

"What second episode?"

"Heartbeat Photo Shoot," besides that, what else could be airing its second episode?" She rolled her eyes at Xu Qingyan, "You don't seem to care about the show at all?"

"The show's done, and caring won't help; you'll get criticized anyway." He picked up the hot tea to scald their bowls and chopsticks, scalding Pei Muchan's as well.

Although it was not very useful, it provided psychological comfort.

"Taking money to do the job can't be helped, but there won't be any problems with your aunt, right?" She asked with concern, "Didn't your mom just have surgery?"

"It's been a while, and she's recovering quite well." Xu Qingyan replied, "She's already gone back to the local hospital for convalescence, with relatives helping to take care of her."

"That's good. My mom and them don't go online, so it should be fine. Besides, 'Heartbeat Photo Shoot' doesn't have much influence, it's not a nationwide reality romance show."

"Relatives?" She asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, they won't let me take care of her. It wasn't long after the surgery. They sent me away, telling me to go about my business and not be affected." Xu Qingyan looked rather helpless.

Hearing this, Pei Muchan gave a simple reply. She noticed that Xu Qingyan only mentioned his mother and never his father, but that was his family affair.

"It's true about parents; they fear being a nuisance and also fear not being needed."

"Yeah." Xu Qingyan sighed.

"If you get scolded again today, do you want me to run some interference for you?" She asked.

"No need, just ignore it." Xu Qingyan maintained his previous attitude. He recalled what he did the second day after the reality show; well...

He argued with You Zijun early in the morning, had breakfast with Shen Jinyue, shot for Heartbeat Photo Shoot. Then, eating and washing dishes, he hadn't done anything particularly outrageous in front of the cameras, so he probably wouldn't get bashed.

Before long, the food was served.

Both of them were really hungry, so they started eating in silence. Not until they were almost full did Pei Muchan begin to talk about more serious matters while sipping hot tea.

"I really like those few stories of yours, whether it's Lin Yueru and Ling'er, or Dragon Hollyhock, or even Tang Xuejian's story, they're innovative and enjoyable."

"But right now, our funds are not exactly abundant. If we shoot a music video for the lead single, we might not have enough for the album. So... the script for this MV will have to be simple, and we can try to shoot it again later when we have more money."

"There's no need for that, not many people really care about shooting MVs seriously these days," Xu Qingyan also put down his chopsticks, "After all, most people listen to the song, the MV is just a side dish."

"Forcing an MV shoot would mean we'd have to add special effects and condense a long fantasy story, which is not only expensive but also a thankless task."

"Hmm." Her gaze slightly lowered, and she looked quite regretful.

Xu Qingyan, on the other hand, didn't feel any regret. Spending lots of money on an MV was optional. The script wouldn't disappear; there would be time to explore how to replicate the television script later.

There were many unresolved matters; he had only mentioned it in passing at the time, so there was no need to ponder it too much for now.

Outside the small window on the second floor, the night was dark and stormy, the wind blew hard, and rain brought a chill in the air.

Xu Qingyan had just barely shut the window when he suddenly heard Pei Muchan speak with a hint of hesitation.

"There's also something else. I might need to go on a TV show in a little while. It might require traveling for a period of time. Do you want to... come with me?"

"What show?" His hand trembled imperceptibly as he picked up some food.

"'I Am the Singing King', a singing competition show, the kind where you fight for a position," Pei Muchan said with a small sigh, leaning on the table, "They've been contacting me about it for half a year, and recently they offered a high price."

"Because of the popularity of the love reality show?"

"Not sure, it might be related, but probably not only because of that," Pei Muchan shook her head, "They usually offer celebrities a performance fee between five hundred thousand to one million, but this time..."

"How much did they offer to make you unable to refuse?" Xu Qingyan asked curiously.

"Two million two hundred thousand," she pursed her lips and said, "... per episode, with five million for the champion, which is probably pre-decided. If I parachute in midway and stick it out till the end before getting eliminated, that's six million."

Xu Qingyan felt somewhat numb, wondering how there could be such a coincidence in the world.

Could it be that the show's producers, having seen the popularity of the love reality show, decided to ride the wave by first inviting Lin Wanzhou and then Pei Muchan, using two stars to challenge and boost their ratings?

"Are you going?" Pei Muchan asked, "It would be a good opportunity for you to visit Jianye and have some fun. As for the album, I feel like we can put it on hold for now."

She had her own little scheme—since Lin Wanzhou was in Xinghai, she didn't want to give her the chance to poach.

The outstanding lyricist and composer she had found couldn't just be handed over to someone else.

"I'll think about it. I've been busy transcribing scores lately," he said, looking down.

"Oh." Pei Muchan's gaze fell, and she fell silent.

Xu Qingyan didn't know how to respond and decided to fob it off for now. Both stars flying to Jianye soon, and he should follow? Just thinking about the scene made his scalp tingle.

After dinner, he glanced at the time; it was 7:40 PM.

The second episode of "Hunter of Love Reality Show" was to air at 8:05 PM, but he had no interest in watching. Most of it was staged anyway; why would he watch himself being criticized by netizens?

No need; what the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve over.

As they left, the rain was still falling. The two walked one after the other along the cobblestone path, sharing an umbrella, with Pei Muchan lagging slightly ahead.

She was dressed in an office lady's suit, with the grace of a Kunqu beauty, but in high heels and black tights.

Xu Qingyan remembered how occasionally, a theater troupe would perform in his village when he was younger. The crowd would gather, listening to the "Startling Dream" in the watermill singing style without knowing why.

The elderly said that the lead actress's eyes needed to be classical almond-shaped, pointed at both ends and round in the middle. When the eyes moved, they would be ineffably beautiful, like rippling water.

He was lost in thought when he suddenly realized Pei Muchan had stopped walking. Under the spinning umbrella, in the narrow alleyway, she turned and looked back at him, her phoenix eyes slightly narrowed.

"I'm... a little scared walking in front by myself. Maybe we could share an umbrella?"