Adopting and Raising the Male Lead and the Villain

by Usui Takumii

not mine, new novel . org

9. 161 to 180

Chapter 161 – Sleeping In (1)

When Huo Chengming returned to the Zhong's mansion, Zhong Yuhuan had already fallen asleep on the couch while clutching onto a big, thick blanket.

Huo Chengming was thinking more clearly now. He walked over to the couch.

Zhong Yuhuan's eyes were shut tightly. One of her hands clutched a corner of the blanket tightly, making her look even more petite.

Huo Chengming shook his head a bit.

Suddenly, he felt that his mind wasn't that clear after all.

He bent down and carried her in his arms, then he turned and headed upstairs.

Luckily, his steps were still stable.

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Only after he had carried her to the third floor before he recalled that there was an elevator inside the mansion.

Silly him.

Huo Chengming frowned as he put Zhong Yuhuan down on her bed and pulled the blanket over her, before he quickly retreated back to his own room.

He didn't even bathe or clean up before he crashed onto his bed.

Perhaps, his mind would be cleared after a night's rest.

Wearied, Huo Chengming closed his eyes.

Zhong Yuhuan was woken up by a call from Yang Sen. He asked when's the next time she wanted to go take a racing lesson again.

This was the subject that Yang Sen wanted to teach the most. He only wished he could teach her day and night and pass onto her everything that he knew about car-racing.

Car-racing was fun, but after she had gone home and a night's rest, she was tired.

She thought about it for a bit and set the next time to be ten days from now.

Yang Sen acknowledged happily and then reminded her, "Don't forget about the contract!"

"Don't worry. I won't forget."

After she had ended the call, Zhong Yuhuan tossed her cellphone aside and got out of her bed to get ready.

After she was dressed and was checking herself out in the mirror, she suddenly remembered that she fell asleep on the couch downstairs last night. So who carried her upstairs?

Zhong Yuhuan pulled open her bedroom door and walked over to Huo Chengming's room and walked inside of it. Even though the mansion now belonged to her, both Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan insisted stubbornly on keeping the room on the third floor as their bedroom.

Her footstep got closer and closer, but the man in the bed didn't wake up. He was still sound asleep.

Zhong Yuhuan called out to him softly, "Huo Chengming?"

The man in bed did not respond.

Zhong Yuhuan sat down on the edge of the bed and pinched his nose.

Huo Chengming's eyes opened wide immediately, and he also grabbed onto Zhong Yuhuan's wrist reflexively. His eyesight became clearer by the second and finally made out who was sitting on the edge of his bed. He was about to bring his hand back but his hand, touching Zhong Yuhuan's soft and smooth skin, lingered on her wrist.

"What time did you finally get home last night?" asked Zhong Yuhuan.

With her sitting on the edge of the bed and him lying down, she was sort of looking down at him from a higher place.

From Huo Chengming's angle, her neck was pale and slender, her chin was beautiful, and that smile on her was also charming…

She had always been a pretty girl.

Ever since the first time she had walked inside that Welfare Service, she was pretty enough to have stunned every kid there.

One would think that he'd have gotten used to her look by now, but at this moment, Huo Chengming reflexively looked away from her. He didn't know why he did what he did. It was like an instinct that was telling him that he couldn't spend too much time staring at Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan, unaware of Huo Chengming's odd reaction, repeated herself again softly. "Chengming-gege, what time did you get in last night?"

She thought perhaps he only didn't respond to her because she didn't address him as big brother?

Huo Chengming recollected himself and said, "I think around 1:30 or so."

Chapter 162 – Sleeping In (2)

He didn't recall the time he walked inside of the mansion, nor the time he returned to his bedroom. He only remembered glancing at the time when he was dozing off on his way home and Zhong Yuhuan was reading to him Li Jinyuan's Weibo posts and that was 1:30 AM.

"That late?" Zhong Yuhuan looked at the clock on the wall. "It's only 10:43, no wonder you couldn't wake up. You get some more sleep then."

Huo Chengming opened his mouth a bit and finally said, "Okay."

He was too tired.

He felt that one's life was very limited. And he wanted to accomplish as much of his work as possible during his limited life. And if he could have extra time to spend with her, that would be great too. Although Huo Chengming had no idea what he'd get from spending time with her.

Comfort, perhaps? Or satisfaction?

Huo Chengming shut his eyes again.

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But Zhong Yuhuan's look, from the angle that he was looking at her, appeared in his head again.

Zhong Yuhuan got up and walked out of his room slowly. She went to give Li Jinyuan a call.

Li Jinyuan had just deboarded the plane.

Zhong Yuhuan asked him, "Do you have time today?"

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "Yes, I do. What's the matter? Do you need my help with something?"

"Yes. I need you to be at Sanweixuan Private Home Cuisine at 7 PM tonight to have dinner with Huo Chengming and I. Yang Sen asked me to bring over a contract to you. Will that be alright? Will Wei-ge be offended by that?"

"No, Wie-ge will be fine with contracts coming from you. Just give it to me tonight."

"That's good to know. See you tonight then?"

"See you tonight," said Li Jinyuan softly.

Li Jinyuan only had his assistant check his schedule after he had hung up on the phone.

"You have a banquet with Boss Jin tonight," said the assistant, troubled.

"Who's Boss Jin?"

His assistant was in shock. "Don't you remember your call with Boss Jin just a few days ago? He's the primary producer of the show!"

"Oh," said Li Jinyuan calmly. "I will need to reschedule it. I will give him a call myself."

"Ugh. Is that okay?"

"Why not?" Li Jinyuan smiled. He didn't seem to be bothered at all.

This was when his assistant slowly realized that the Li Jinyuan that she had been seeing all the time, every day, might not truly be the real Li Jinyuan.

Even though Li Jinyuan had just entered into this circle, he has already had very good relationships with people in the circle. Almost no one could pick any faults with him.

Nevermind about Boss Jin, there was also Boss Wang, Boss Zhao… all of them raved about Young Master Li and wanted to sign contracts with him. Young Master Li had always been getting along with everyone.

It was only now that his assistant noticed that Young Master Li didn't care much about these bosses. Whilst any other newbie would be treading on thin ice right now, none of those seemed to have bothered him at all.

Li Jinyuan went to attend an activity first.

During the activity, he gave Boss Jin a call on his way. Sure enough, Boss Jin wasn't bothered by it and the incident was taken care of.

Even the assistant was bothered by it.

Was that really worth it?

To turn down an opportunity to network with so many others just to have dinner with that secretive older sister of his.

Chapter 163 – Sleeping In (3)

Li Jinyuan napped for three hours at the break room after the activity, and it was already 6 PM when he woke up.

The organizer was very generous and let him rest in the room without rushing him. After he was done resting, Li Jinyuan changed into a suit which made him appear much more vibrant.

"Let's go," said Li Jinyuan, "To the restaurant."

The assistant was even more baffled.

The way he was dressed didn't look like he was about to have dinner with his older sister. He was dressed more formally than when he attended banquets!

Huo Chengming had put his phone on silent mode, so he didn't get out of bed until Zhong Yuhuan went back into his room and pinched his nose to wake him up again at 6 PM.

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He freshened up and changed.

He took his suit off and changed into a simple, white turtle-neck sweater with a short, down jacket, immediately converting himself from an elite businessman into a wolf pup of his age.

Zhong Yuhuan, on the other hand, put more effort in her outfit.

She had on a long white dress with a red peacoat. She wasn't as tall as Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan, but she wasn't short either. With her 5-cm heel, she seemed even more tall and slender and did not have to worry about her dress being dragged on the ground.

Her facial features had grown out even more and with the red peacoat on her, her features stood out even more. She has the vibrancy of a young girl and reminded others of a blossoming peach.

She went downstairs after she walked out of her room.

She chuckled when she saw Huo Chengming. She pointed at him then at herself, "Do we look like a rich woman and her boy toy?"

Huo Chengming's lips moved, and he said to her, "Yes."

Zhong Yuhuan walked out of the door after she had said that.

The car was parked out front, and the bodyguards had already opened the doors for them. Zhong Yuhuan got inside the car with her purse in her hand.

Huo Chengming fell behind. A simple joke like that from her had made him think of so much more.

Following behind her, he climbed into the car and closed the door behind him.

"Let's get dinner and you can get some more rest after we get home. Then you can start your day afresh tomorrow," said Zhong Yuhuan.

Huo Chengming nodded his head and did not object to any of what she had said.

When Zhong Yuhuan's car arrived at Sanweixuan, Li Jinyuan had arrived at the same time.

Sitting on the side closer to the sidewalk, Huo Chengming opened the door first and got out of the car.

Zhong Yuhuan's cellphone started ringing almost immediately. She looked at it. Seeing that it was from Li Jinyuan, she picked it up right away.

"Huanhuan, where are you now? Have you left yet?"

"I am already in front of the restaurant."

"Me too," said Li Jinyuan. Then, after a slight pause, he said, "Okay, I see your car now."

"Oh, yeah?" Zhong Yuhuan stood next to Huo Chengming and looked around. She saw a black nanny van parked near the right-hand side of the restaurant. Standing next to the car, there were Li Jinyuan, Wei Jie, and a woman who looked like an assistant.

Huo Chengming looked over as well and saw Li Jinyuan at the same time that Li Jinyuan spotted them.

Their eyes met in a peculiar way midway, and they both checked out how each other was dressed.

Li Jinyuan found the way Huo Chengming dressed laughable. Huo Chengming had already been hanging out with Chen Mingye for a good part of the year and had been knee deep on the villain side for the most part. Now, he dressed all innocently as soon as he stepped out of the office, thinking that nobody would be aware of that.

Huo Chengming also found Li Jinyuan's outfit laughable. He was the younger one but always insisted on wearing suits in front of Huanhuan trying to pretend to be an adult. Well, even so, Li Jinyuan would never be the older brother or replace him.

And that's when Li Jinyuan started walking toward them.

"Huanhuan," said Li Jinyuan softly when he finally got in front of her and at the same time, he pulled her into his arms.

He was tall. A swift hug from him and Zhong Yuhuan's head was buried into his chest.

"Alright, alright. That's enough. I can't breathe anymore," said Zhong Yuhuan as she quickly pushed him away.

Li Jinyuan finally let go of her.

As soon as he let go of her, Wei Jie and Li Jinyuan's assistant also walked up to them.

Wie Jie hadn't seen Zhong Yuhuan for a while now. When he saw her again, he was happy. At the same time, he was stunned by her beauty. "Miss Zhong, long time no see. You are certainly becoming prettier and prettier!"

"Hi, Wie-ge. How have you been?"

"Same ol', same ol'," said Wie Jie as he waved his hand.

Li Jinyuan's assistant was finally able to take a good look of Li Jinyuan's sister.

She was young and looked to be even a little bit younger than Li Jinyuan from her looks alone. And, just like Wie Jie said, she was "pretty". Very pretty, matter of fact.

The word "pretty" alone wasn't enough to describe her.

The young girl standing in front of her has outstanding disposition and was eye-catching. Better than many actresses, if she may add.

Chapter 164 – Sleeping In (4)

"Join us for dinner, Wei-ge?" asked Zhong Yuhuan with a smile.

Wei Jie shook his hand. "Nah, I am going to go eat with the other workers."

Zhong Yuhuan didn't push the subject. "That works too. Come in with us anyway. I will have the servers set up a separate table for you. My treat. I should be treating you to dinner anyway. I want to thank you for taking care of Li Jinyuan this whole time.

Li Jinyuan stood to one side and smiled. In fact, he was smiling so much that one could barely see his eyes.

He enjoyed how thoughtful Zhong Yuhuan was toward him. He enjoyed the feeling that he was loved and cared about. That feeling was intoxicating and difficult to stop.

Wie Jie nodded and said, "Okay, we will be in in a little bit. We will just give them your name."

Zhong Yuhuan didn't say anything else but turned and walked inside with Huo Chengming, with Li Jinyuan tagging along behind them.

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The assistant couldn't help but look in Huo Chengming's direction and thought to herself that he, too, was very good looking. Was that the older brother?

The entire family was so attractive!

If people like them didn't join the entertainment circle, then who should join the entertainment circle?

It was only after they had all walked away that the assistant dared to ask Wei Jie, "Wei-ge, do you know Young Master Li's sister from before?"

Wei Jie smiled and said, "Yeah, for a few years now. Miss Zhong is very nice. Born to a good family. She is pretty, has good temperament, and good with people… she is just all round good."

The assistant couldn't help but grumble to herself; can someone really be that perfect?

"Then, who's the other one next to Miss Zhong?" asked the assistant again.

"Oh, that's Young Master Hao. Miss Zhong's older brother."

The assistant was baffled now. "Ugh… why do they all have different last names? Are they cousins?"

Wei Jie tightened his lips and his smile lessened. "Young Master Hao and Young Master Li were adopted by Miss Zhong's family."

The assistant opened her mouth slightly.

She could tell that Wei Jie wasn't too happy. Probably because she had asked too many questions.

She decided to keep her mouth shut.

Except that she couldn't help but thought to herself…

If they were adopted, they weren't related by blood, right?

That meant… they could be in a romantic relationship, right?

But nobody could read the assistant's mind.

Zhong Yuhuan walked inside the private room with Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan before Huo Chengming said, "I see that Huanhuan had asked you to join us."

Li Jinyuan nodded and said, "Yes. I just finished work and have some free time to have dinner with Huanhuan."

Having said that, he looked over at Zhong Yuhuan and said, "Huanhuan, did you bring the contract that you've told me about? You go ahead and order. I'll take a look at the contract."

"What contract?" Huo Chengming couldn't help but interject. He hadn't heard anything about a contract. That made him feel like he was being excluded.

That made Huo Chengming very unhappy.

"Yang Sen asked me to bring over a contract to Li Jinyuan," said Zhong Yuhuan as she pushed her cellphone over to Li Jinyuan. "Here, you look at the PDF version first. I left the paper copy at home." She left in a hurry today and wasn't able to find a purse that could fit the contract in before she ran out the door.

Instead of the paper document, Li Jinyuan much rather be reading it on Zhong Yuhuan's cellphone.

He smiled and nodded at her. "Okay. Not a problem. This is fine."

Zhong Yuhuan, the menu in hand, leaned toward Huo Chengming and asked, "What do you want to eat?"

Huo Chengming took a look at the distance between the two of them before he finally felt better. With one hand on the menu, he said, "Let me see."

The two of them ended up ordering around ten different items. Each plate was not very much at this restaurant, so they ordered quite a bit.

After placing the order and the menus were handed back over to the server, Zhong Yuhuan started asking Huo Chengming about his trip to Dubai.

Li Jinyuan, still holding onto Zhong Yuhuan's cellphone, was a little distracted.

He wanted to join into the conversation as well.

But he knew very well that it was more important for him to finish reading the contract. He forced himself to focus on finishing reading the contract.

Before long, the server knocked on the door to bring the food in, and Li Jinyuan had also finished reading.

He gave the cellphone back to Zhong Yuhuan and said, "It's fine. I can take this. Do you have Yang Sen's WeChat information? You want to start a group chat with us?"

Zhong Yuhuan nodded, took the phone over, and worked on it quickly. "Okay, I made a group chat. I am going to have him drag his sister in as well."

"Okay."

Huo Chengming was unhappy again.

That feeling of being left out had returned.

Chapter 165 – Off to a Reality TV Show (1)

After she had started the group chat, Zhong Yuhuan put her cellphone aside and didn't look over at it again. She picked up her chopsticks and started on the scrumptious food in front of her.

Yang Sen's sister quickly added Li Jinyuan through the group chat.

The first thing that Sister Yang did was to send a friendly message.

[I don't know if Yang Sen had mentioned, we don't just want to invite you onto the reality TV show, we would like to invite Zhong Yuhuan to join you as well. We need regular people on the show as well and we plan to invite normal people from different professions…]

Sister Yang sent a long message, but Li Jinyuan didn't finish reading the entire thing.

Starting at the characters "Zhong Yuhuan" for a while, he responded back: [I quite like that idea. I think it's interesting.]

The "typing…" from the other side paused for a little.

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And then it resumed: [Thank you so much! I am sending big red packets to both you and Zhong Yuhuan! Thank you thank you thank you!]

Li Jinyuan and Sister Yang chatted for a little bit more before he put away his cellphone.

Figuring out that he was most likely chatting with Yang Sen's sister earlier, Zhong Yuhuan looked up and asked him, "How did it go?"

Li Jinyuan stopped what he was doing and said, "It went well."

"Good, then. But don't accept their invitation if you're uniterested just for my sake."

"Of course not. This is a pretty good reality TV show," said Li Jinyuan.

He was doing it for Zhong Yuhuan's sake.

Except it was on a different level than what Zhong Yuhuan was referring to.

Huo Chengming, eating quietly to one side, suddenly felt a strong sense of loneliness.

After chatting for a while with Huo Chengming, now Zhong Yuhuan started talking with Li Jinyuan on and off about his oversea trip to save the day.

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "Haven't you watched the video already? It's quite embarrassing for me to recount it."

"Your telling me in person is totally not the same as watching it in a video."

"Well, it wasn't much…" Having said that, Li Jinyuan still told Zhong Yuhuan about the entire events in detail, leaving out no anecdotal stories.

Huo Chengming felt that his stomach was hurting.

Compared to Li Jinyuan's stories, he felt that what he had said earlier were dry and boring.

Was it because he had always done poorly in literature classes?

As they were chatting and eating at the same time, chatting became their primary activity and eating the secondary. The meal took them some three hours; they even swapped out all the dishes halfway through.

Yet Zhong Yuhuan had a good time. She looked to her left and right. Both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming seemed to be quite happy as well, so she grabbed her purse and walked out with them.

Wei Jie and the crew had already finished eating and had taken off on their own.

Li Jinyuan returned with Zhong Yuhuan to the mansion.

After resting at the mansion for a night, Li Jinyuan brought the contract with him when he took off the next day. Huo Chengming had also returned to work as normal.

On the other end, Yang Sen was still chatting with his sister. "Really, sis, I am serious. Huo Chengming is a very interesting character as well. The three of them together are very interesting. Plus, Huo Chengming draws a lot of attention as well. Don't you remember that all three of them were up on the most trended list a while back? There aren't a lot of people out there that are more attractive than actors."

His words definitely put ideas in her head.

Nevermind about anything else, just from the fact that Huo Chengming was on the top trended list a while back, he was most certainly a young and handsome version of a domineering CEO in real life!

He'd attract so many fans!

Who'd have thought that someone like that would walk out from a book into reality?

That would most certainly draw a lot of people to the reality TV show!

Chapter 166 – Off to a Reality TV Show (2)

Sister Yang immediately had her subordinate reach out to Huo Chengming.

They went the proper route this time to deliver the contract to him, but Huo Chengming's secretary received only too many contracts every day. A contract like this would only be viewed as a prank and would never make its way to Huo Chengming.

Those over at the Yang's didn't know that. They just assumed that the contract had, indeed, reached Huo Chengming. They started waiting for his response.

On the other hand, Li Jinyuan had also called up Zhong Yuhuan and asked her to also go onto the reality TV show.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't really care about it one way or another, she yawned drowsily and agreed, "Sure."

Others might care about fame, but not her.

She already has enough money to last her a lifetime. As long as the female lead didn't show up to meddle with her, everything would just be perfect.

Going onto a reality TV show was nothing but an experience to her.

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Before Li Jinyuan's current show was over, the filming for the reality TV show had already begun. After all, it was best for this reality TV show to start immediately after the conclusion of the talent show. That way they could just ride the wave of popularity.

The Yang's never received a response from Huo Chengming. Having no other options, they started considering other candidates. But from the standpoint of young, rich, and handsome, there just weren't a lot of options.

The Yang's were very troubled by this.

The weekend came quickly and Huo Chengming made a trip back to the mansion. He saw Zhong Yuhuan directing the servants around to help her pack.

Huo Chengming paused for a second and asked, "What's going on? Are you moving somewhere?"

"No, not moving, but I will be gone for a little while," said Zhong Yuhuan while shaking her head.

"Where are you going?"

"Thailand."

"For fun?" asked Huo Chengming, perplexed. He recalled her saying that it wasn't fun over there just a year ago.

Zhong Yuhuan sank into the couch and said in a lazy tone, "Not exactly. Going there for filming purposes to be precise."

"Filming?" Huo Chengming wasn't on the top of his game today.

"Yeah."

Huo Chengming finally processed what she had just told him. "Why… why are you filming all of a sudden?"

"Oh, the contract that they gave to Li Jinyuan last time. The reality TV show? They wanted to invite regular people on there as well. Yang Sen asked me and I don't have anything important going on recently so I agreed to it."

The contract from last time!

The reality TV show!

If Huanhuan went to film for that show, wasn't that an equivalent of her going on a trip with Li Jinyuan just the two of them?

Huo Chengming felt that he was punched in his guts.

"Oh… is that so…" He said in a low voice.

Having said that, he was worried that he seemed too unhappy about it. But there was no way he could get himself to say "Oh, that's so awesome!" to her cheerfully. Huo Chengming would rather kill Li Jinyuan a hundred times over before he could say such a thing.

Zhong Yuhuan patted the spot next to her and said to him, "Are you tired today? Want to chat?"

Huo Chengming walked over to where she was. He walked almost all the way to the couch before he realized his hands and legs were not coordinated.

Sitting down on the couch, he asked in a low voice, "… how many regular people did they invite onto this show?"

"Eh? I don't know. I didn't ask." And Zhong Yuhuan, indeed, didn't really care much about that. She was just there for headcount purposes. As to how the show went, how others are doing, etc., she didn't feel that she needed to be concerned about them.

Huo Chengming, "Oh."

It didn't take long for Zhong Yuhuan to be packed.

Looking at the luggage piled up by the front door, there was a sense of loss in his heart that he couldn't quite explain.

Chapter 167 – Off to a Reality TV Show (3)

It had always been Li Jinyuan and himself who had always packed for her in the past. Now that this task was taken over by someone else, instead of a sense of relief, Huo Chengming felt more at a loss, like a chunk was missing from his heart.

He felt that Zhong Yuhuan needed him less and less.

A crazy idea flashed past Huo Chengming's head. He licked his lips and tried very hard to suppress the frustration between his brows. He gave Zhong Yuhuan a smile and said, "I suddenly remembered that I still have something that needed taking care of at work. Let me go finish it up. I will be back to have dinner with you and take you to Thailand afterward."

Zhong Yuhuan nodded. "Okay, drive safely."

Huo Chengming wasn't there for too long before he turned and left.

Zhong Yuhuan slid down slowly and ended up laying down on the couch before she fished out her cellphone and started playing games on it again.

Thinking that she was about to leave town soon, she gave Grandpa Ding a call and set a dinner date with him that night.

When Huo Chengming returned to his office, he immediately had his secretary reach out to the Yang's.

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The secretary stared at the Yang's homepage for a while, frowned, and said, "… I think we have some kind of work relationship with this company?"

Huo Chengming asked, "What kind of work relationship?"

The secretary was baffled as well. The Yang's was a media agency and their own company was in the industry area. The two of them didn't seem to have anything in common. So how could they possibly have a work relationship? Had they hired one of their actors as a spokesperson in the past?

And… no, that wasn't it either.

But the secretary just felt that their name looked very familiar.

"Hang on. Let me go check the log and documents at the secretary department."

"Mmm," said Huo Chengming.

The secretary returned a little over 10 minutes later with a contract in her hand.

"You were in a meeting when they sent this over last time, so those from the secretary department sent them on their way. The Yang's never did follow up since they had dropped the contract off, so this fell through the crack and never made it to you…" The secretary went on and went explaining about what had happened.

Huo Chengming stopped listening to her.

He opened up the contract and saw on the cover "Project Time Travel"…

This was exactly what he was looking for.

Huo Chengming flipped over to the contact number right away and dialed their number.

The Yang's were just about to contact another Second Generation Rich, who was also a friend of Yang Sen, but they received the call from Huo Chengming before they finished negotiating with the other candidate.

Yang Sen's sister has been so stressed out that she was about to pull out all of her hair. She couldn't help but grumble to Yang Sen, saying that it was all his stupid idea. Low and behold, she excitedly slammed down the phone after the call with Huo Chengming.

"If this show fails, I'll twist my own head off! This better become a sensation!"

Huo Chengming quickly signed a contract with the production team. He thought about it for a little while and decided against telling Zhong Yuhuan about it. He gave her a call and told her that he has to go on a business trip overseas. Then, with the production team's itinerary in hand, he arranged a different flight for himself.

Chapter 168 – Off to a Reality TV Show (4)

On the eighth season of the talent show, all of the guests boarded a plane and headed toward Bangkok.

Li Jinyuan went over from his other filming location, so Zhong Yuhuan did not go there with him.

Zhong Yuhuan wasn't an actress, so all she had with her was a secretary and two bodyguards. By then, Zhong Yuhuan already had her microphone on and the filming had started.

Li Jinyuan reached out to Zhong Yuhuan after they had deboarded the plane. He waited by the exit with Wei Jie and the other crew members. They headed out only after he had met up with Zhong Yuhuan.

Nobody had expected that there'd be fans waiting for Li Jinyuan at the airport even in Thailand.

Caught off guard, they quickly took a detour and used a different exit.

By the time they got into the filming crew's car, their pictures had already been posted online.

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"Miss Watermelon: Per one of the fans, when she was waiting for Li Jinyuan at the airport in Thailand, she saw him walking out with a girl affectionately. The two of them have the same style of sunglasses, and they were laughing and chatting. There were bodyguards and other workers around them. Didn't Li Jinyuan go to Thailand for the filming of his newest show? Why did he bring someone with him? Did he bring his girlfriend with him? If I am right, Li Jinyuan is still pretty young, no? [Picture] [Picture]…"

The comment area blew up immediately.

"If you knew he was going there for filming purposes, then isn't this obvious? Of course the girl was just another guest on the show! That's some imagination that you got there. Are you trying to say that my 'son' has a girlfriend?"

(T/N: In China, there are different types of fans. There are "Mom fans", who think of the celebrity as their "child", or "wife fans" or "girlfriend fans", who sees the celebrities as lovers.)

"For sure that's a female colleague. Was it necessary to create rumors? Can't you just wait for the new show to start? If you have so much free time on hand, why don't you go watch 'Son of Stars" Season 8? Li Jinyuan is a very good boy!"

"…. Emmmm. What I was trying to say was Li Jinyuan has been in this field for very long. And it so happened that he knew someone on the show? How else would they be chatting and laughing, and looking very affectionate with each other? If they had just met on the show, they sure had cozied up to each other quickly. So is Li Jinyuan one of those who are very friendly to everyone immediately?"

…

Regardless of all the discussions online, the van of the filming crew had already arrived at the hotel.

They would be filming a travel show. Individuals of different professions and different ages would be assigned onto one team and would be allowed to be themselves and relax and see how they would interact with each other…

After they had arrived at the hotel, the guests all gathered in the lobby for a round of self-introduction.

Li Jinyuan and Zhong Yuhuan stood next to each other. Quickly, five more guests came downstairs.

Among them, there was a person that looked very familiar. Zhong Yuhuan's eyes contracted when she saw her.

Ling Zhilan, the original female lead of the story. She was probably invited as a regular person as well.

Of the remaining four people, there were Ge Mei, a close to 40-year-old celebrity in the entertainment circle; Wen Yongchen, a 30-something actor who was very popular recently; and Gu Yuling, an up-and-coming young popular actress with plenty of followers.

Zhong Yuhuan had seen all of them on the television in the past, and she more or less knew their names.

The very last one has misty brows, a Korean-style straight nose, an oval face, and a pointy chin. Her round eyes and curly eyelashes made her look cute and delicate, but the signs of plastic surgery were a bit obvious.

Zhong Yuhuan figured that she was a regular person as well.

And just like that, half of the crew were regular people.

Boy, oh boy!

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but lament.

Ge Mei, Wen Yongchen, Gu Yuling, and Li Jinyuan introduced themselves first.

"Hi, everyone. I am Yin Qiqi, a contract model with Yueli Co.," said the regular person with the oval face.

Yin Qiqi was an outgoing one who didn't seem a bit intimidated in front of all the celebrities. Even so, her disposition was still a bit lacking. Even Ling Zhilan has more presence than her.

When it came to Ling Zhilan, she was ever more poised. Without any particular intentions to be showy, she said, "Hi, I am Ling Lan, a contract channel master of Douxie TV…"

Sure enough, after she lost in that female talent show, she went to become an internet influence and made a name for herself. She even dropped a character in her name and went from Ling Zhilan to Ling Lan. Her new name was much more modern than her original one.

Finally, everybody looked over at Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan smiled slightly and said, "Hi, everyone. I am Zhong Yuhuan."

Ge Mei, Gu Yuling and the others had noticed Zhong Yuhuan for a while now. The disposition coming from Zhong Yuhuan was too unique. It made them feel both familiar and strange at the same time.

They were very curious about her.

That included Yin Qiqi as well.

As soon as Zhong Yuhuan finished with her self-introduction, Yin Qiqi was the first to ask, "What do you do, Zhong-jiejie?"

(T/N: Jiejie means older sister.)

Zhong Yuhuan thought she was being a little ridiculous.

Yin Qiqi obviously looked older than her and she has the guts to refer to her as "jiejie"? But Zhong Yuhuan didn't bother correcting her. Wasn't it better to be the "older sister" anyway?

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "Oh, nothing much, just do something for fun here and there."

She had put it simply, but some of the others started second guessing and felt that perhaps there were more to her than she wanted to share. At the same time, they also thought that perhaps she just has a regular job and regular family and was only picked because of her pretty look, which was why she didn't want to divulge more about herself.

"Should we go get some rest first or eat first?" asked Yin Qiqi.

Suddenly, the filming crew interrupted them and said, "Hang on, there's one more guest coming."

"More?" Ge Mei blurted out in surprise.

Yin Qiqi looked curious. "Who is it?"

As they were talking, the front door of the hotel was pushed open and a young man in a trench coat walked inside. His luggage dragged behind him, he looked weary from his travel.

Everybody looked over in his direction.

Yin Qiqi said loudly, "Oh! I know him!… I have seen him on the most trending searches list. Isn't he that very young and very handsome CEO?"

She was done talking, but nobody responded to her.

Huo Chengming handed his suitcase to his secretary and walked over quickly. "Huanhuan."

Zhong Yuhuan: "?"

Ugh, was this going to turn into a family/sibling fraternity show or something?

Chapter 169 – We were filming right now. Wake up, Li Jinyuan! (1)

While Zhong Yuhuan was still in her dazed state, Huo Chengming had already pulled her into his arms.

The director reminded him awkwardly from one side, "Self-introduction, Boss Huo. Self-introduction!"

Huo Chengming finally let go of Zhong Yuhuan and the smile on him disappeared in a second or less. He said nonchalantly, "Hi everyone. I am Huo Chengming."

Yin Qiqi was the first to ask, "What do you do, Huo-ge?"

Huo Chengming casted her glance and replied in the same nonchalant tone, "I am in the industry."

Having heard that, Yin Qiqi acknowledged him and felt a slight disappointment. She only knew that recently the fields of real estate, IT, and film investment were the most lucrative and most prestigious. She hasn't really heard of industry before. It seemed like only entrepreneurs in the past would go into industry.

Disappointment aside, she still gave Huo Chengming a few more looks.

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He was handsome indeed, more so than many actors nowadays. Not to mention that being a member of the Finance Association, he must be fairly wealthy?

All the others were also secretly checking out this newest guest.

In front of the camera, Li Jinyuan also said, "Welcome, Huo-ge."

The media was going to find out about their relationships sooner or later. It'd be too odd to pretend to be strangers in a reality TV show. Plus… that would make Huanhuan unhappy?

After Li Jinyuan had spoken, everybody else was even more surprised. So they all knew each other?

The director didn't leave them with too much time to speculate. He quickly said, "What you all need to do now is to vote for your tourist guide for your first destination. This here is the voting box."

There were no scripts in this reality TV show. That, too, was part of Sister Yang's plan. Too many variety shows nowadays have scripts, and they were too cliché. She wanted to have something that would stand out!

The voting box was placed under the camera, and pens and paper were handed out to everyone. Everyone gathered around the corner of the lobby, sat down on the couch, and started filling out names on the paper in their hands.

The camera panned up close to everyone.

Every time the camera panned in, a guest or two would say something.

For example, Yin Qiqi stuck her tongue out briefly and said, "This is too hard to choose. I like everyone!"

Quickly, everybody filled them out and put them into the voting box one after another. Then, they filmed another part where everyone analyzed who'd be picked as the guide.

"I think Ge Mei-jie? I have seen Ge Mei-jie's interview in the past. She is very good with itineraries," said the popular star Gu Yuling with a smile.

Yin Qiqi said, "Maybe Chen-ge? Male guide seems more powerful. Plus Chen-ge just looks so mighty! Well, I voted for him anyway…"

"Okay, we are going to review the votes for the tour guide," said the director.

Ge Mei has the most seniority among them, so the voting box was pushed in front of her to have her read the names out loud.

She unfolded the first piece of paper and read, "Wen Yongchen."

Yin Qiqi smiled immediately, "That must be my vote!"

Second one, "Li Jinyuan."

Gu Yuling smiled and said, "That was me. I have seen Jinyuan's shows in the past and I have always seen his fans bragging about his boyfriend potential. Now I am curious to see his boyfriend potential when he's our tour guide."

Ge Mei smiled too. "I am looking forward to that as well. Haha."

From the few, short dialogs, it was obvious that Ge Mie had high hopes for the new and rising Li Jinyuan. Gu Yuling was even more direct. She wanted to have a good relationship with Li Jinyuan. Perhaps, later on, when this bit was edited and aired on the show, she might even be rumored as a couple with Li Jinyuan.

Ge Mei quickly unfolded the third piece of paper and she did a good job at suppressing her surprise before she looked up and read out the name, "… Zhong Yuhuan."

Zhong Yuhuan, who was cued all of a sudden: "?"

Now, everybody turned and looked at her.

Zhong Yuhuan could do nothing but stealthily give Huo Chengming a kick.

It was probably him.

Ge Mei pulled out another piece of paper. "Eh? How come this is blank?"

Chapter 170 – We were filming right now. Wake up, Li Jinyuan! (2)

Wen Yongchen smiled and said, "I didn't write anything down. I didn't know who to pick."

"You can always pick yourself, Chen-ge," said Gu Yuling.

Wen Yongchen smiled and shook his head. "That will be quite embarrassing."

The few of them teased him a little bit before the fifth piece of paper was pulled out.

Ge Mei's action obviously paused for a brief second in midair before she read it out, "Zhong Yuhuan."

Zhong Yuhuan: "?"

That was for sure Li Jinyuan.

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Zhong Yuhuan gritted her teeth and kicked Li Jinyuan.

Ge Mei couldn't help but look over at Zhong Yuhuan and smiled. "Looks like many of you have voted for Yuhuan."

Zhong Yuhuan put on a dazed look. "Eh?"

Ge Mei quickly pulled out the sixth piece of paper. "Ling Lan."

Perhaps, because she had already read out Zhong Yuhuan's name earlier and was no longer surprised that a regular person would receive votes, she seemed much calmer this time.

The camera panned onto the original female lead, who smiled with poise and said, "Thank you. I don't know who voted for me, but I am certainly happy that I received one vote!"

Zhong Yuhuan didn't say anything.

She was the one who voted for her and that was only because she didn't want to vote for any stars and become ammunition when their fans started to fight. She didn't have much feelings toward Yin Qiqi either, so she figured she'd just vote for the female lead.

Then, it was the seventh and the eighth votes.

The third one went to Wen Yongchen; it was from Ling Lan. And the eighth one went to Gu Yuling, from Ge Mei. Ge Mei would not vote for a male actor because she didn't want their fans to gang up on her and she also didn't want any gossip. She was already well-known in the circle and didn't need to have gossip to boost. Relatively speaking, she was more worried about attracting negativity. It was the safest for her to vote for a female actress that was her junior.

After they had counted all the votes, the situation was a bit awkward.

This was the consequence of not having a script. Everybody had their own agenda, so the votes would scatter all over the place. Huo Chengming and Yin Qiqi had no votes at all. All the others each have one vote each. Zhong Yuhuan with her two votes stood out even more.

Zhong Yuhuan:

She only came to the show for headcount purposes and had totally planned on just eating, drinking, and enjoying the travel. Really just a change of scenery.

She really didn't care whether she had a lot of screen time!

Yin Qiqi couldn't even maintain her smile anymore.

She had figured that there were a total of four regular individuals, so most people would probably vote for a star. That way, even when none of the regulars have any votes, nobody would feel embarrassed. She never would have guessed that even Ling Lan has a vote but not herself. Not to mention that Zhong Yuhuan has two votes herself.

Gu Mei has a hard time believing that as well, but she just looked over in Zhong Yuhuan's direction with a natural look, smiled, and said, "Well then, I guess you will be our tour guide!" Having said that, she looked over at Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming and asked, "Were those your votes?"

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "Yes."

"Yes," said Huo Chengming.

Zhong Yuhuan just wanted to cry.

You weren't supposed to vote for who you like, okay? The purpose of it was to pick out a tour guide! One that would be responsible for the itinerary!

Gu Mei turned and looked at the director. Seeing that the director had no intention of calling it a stop, she knew that the filming would carry on.

That was probably something that would rarely happen in a reality TV show, and it just might become a selling point. Gu Mei figured out that that was probably the intention of the production crew and stopped hesitating. She was the first to pull out the money that was given to her earlier by the show for the trip and handed it over to Zhong Yuhuan. "We will now hand our budget over to Yuhuan for her planning."

Chapter 171 – We were filming right now. Wake up, Li Jinyuan! (3)

Zhong Yuhuan was still crying inside but she put up a slightly shy look on the front and said, "Okay, I will do my best."

Best, my ass! Zhong Yuhuan shrieked inside.

"Well, then, from now on, we will follow the arrangement of our tour guide," said Wen Yongchen with a smile.

Gu Yuling too looked at Zhong Yuhuan and nodded. "Yes, we will wait for your arrangement, tour guide!" Having said that, she, too, handed over her money.

All the others also pulled out their money. Before long, there was a small pile of cash sitting in front of Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't feel too happy.

She was already very rich!

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She didn't need these at all!

Unfortunately, she would not be able to shoot the self who had decided on coming onto this show, so she had no choice but to force herself to calm down and take on the role as the tour guide.

She looked down at her cellphone and said, "It's getting late. I am sure everyone is tired and hungry. Let's go get some dinner first. I will plan our itinerary over dinner."

"Then let's eat at the hotel," said Yin Qiqi as she let her tiredness show. "I am tired and hungry."

Zhong Yuhuan quickly counted the cash. "We have a total of $4,000 USD… not great for 7 days in Thailand." Zhong Yuhuan looked at the hotel restaurant behind her. "The food here is mediocre. There's a Chinese restaurant not too far from here that is pretty good. Why don't we go there instead?"

"Shouldn't we have Thai food here?" Yin Qiqi interjected.

"We will have plenty of opportunities for Thai food in the next few days. You will get tired of it," said Li Jinyuan.

Gu Yuling nodded. "That's great if there's Chinese restaurant. I worried that I would get tired of Thai food and even brought hotpot soup base and snacks with me…"

Seeing that the others have chimed in, Yin Qiqi knew when to stop.

Everybody, just like Zhong Yuhuan had said, went to have Chinese food.

The truth was, they had just arrived and were tired and hungry. It was much easier to get the satisfaction to have home cuisine and it would also be easier on their stomach. There would be less of a chance to get an upset stomach from the change in diet.

After dinner, Zhong Yuhuan distributed the itinerary to everyone through the WeChat group chat prepared by the production team.

"Take a look and let me know what you think."

Gu Mei smiled and said, "Yuhuan is really quite good at this."

Yin Qiqi couldn't help but ask, "Little jiejie used to work in this field?"

Zhong Yuhuan looked up at her and said, "I have travelled alone in the past."

Yin Qiqi finally kept her mouth shut.

Nobody had any objections to Zhong Yuhuan's arrangement, so then everybody went back to the hotel for some rest.

Homestay didn't start till the second day. There were plenty of rooms today, so there was no hassle in splitting rooms.

Zhong Yuhuan was never the petty kind. Now that she was scr*wed over by Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming, it was what it was. Not a big deal.

She was rich. She could always call it quits if she wanted to.

That was what went through Zhong Yuhuan's mind when she happily applied her mask before crawling inside her bed and falling asleep.

Everybody got up early the next morning.

Zhong Yuhuan hadn't been up so early for a long time. She couldn't help but yawn as she walked downstairs.

The men helped load the luggage into the car, and then they drove toward the next homestay location that was over an hour away.

Zhong Yuhuan, Li Jinyuan, Huo Chengming, and Ge Mei were in the same car.

Huo Chengming was the one driving and Ge Mei in the passenger seat with Zhong Yuhuan and Li Jinyuan in the backseat.

Seeing how Zhong Yuhuan was yawning nonstop, Li Jinyuan said to her softly, "Lean on me and take a nap?"

Zhong Yuhuan woke up immediately.

No, wait, we were filming right now. Wake up, Li Jinyuan!

Chapter 172 – Sharing a cabin with the female lead (1)

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't share what she truly felt in front of the camera, so she docilely laid her head on Li Jinyuan's shoulder.

Ah well, guess she'd just be scolded by the fans after season 1.

Sooner or later, they would find out that she was his sister. Then nobody would scold her anymore.

Just when Zhong Yuhuan was about to close her eyes, Huo Chengming suddenly said, without even looking back, "You will catch a cold if you sleep like that."

He stepped on the brake and brought the car to a step before he quickly released the seat belt, took his jacket off, and tossed it over to Zhong Yuhuan. "Sleep with this on."

Zhong Yuhuan: "…"

Both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming have done this before. They grew up together and were used to being affectionate with each other. Naturally, nobody thought twice about a gesture like that.

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But Zhong Yuhuan, inevitably, gave this more thought under the scrutiny of the camera.

She licked her lower lip and grabbed the jacket. She could also see all the comments flying through the screen when season 1 went on air. What would they call her? Flirtatious or shameless?

As Zhong Yuhuan was thinking about all sorts of crazy things in her head, she held onto the jacket, closed her eyes, and dozed off.

Ge Mei, sitting in the passenger seat, turned around and took a look. She had been in the entertainment circle for many years, was sensitive, and had a very high EQ. She immediately noticed the unusual air inside the car.

After travelling for a little while, the car went onto a somewhat bumpy road. As they were getting farther and farther away from the city and into the countryside, quite a few mopeds and tricycles had passed them by. They drove for another 10 or so minutes before they finally came to a stop.

Everybody looked outside and saw a patch of banana trees before they spotted the buildings for the homestays where they would be staying.

Zhong Yuhuan opened up her eyes groggily and looked outside. The passengers from the car ahead of them had already gotten out.

Zhong Yuhuan gave Li Jinyuan a push and said, "Let's get out."

Li Jinyuan nodded and opened up the car door.

Everybody gathered around quickly.

Yin Qiqi said, Big sister Yuhan, why did you arrange for us to stay here for the next two days?"

Li Jinyuan interjected, "The first place we stay at was arranged by the production team."

Yin Qiqi shut her mouth right away.

Zhong Yuhuan said in a low voice, "Let me go check with the owner and make sure this is the right place."

"I'll go with you," said Li Jinyuan immediately.

"Me too," said Huo Chengming without missing a beat.

"I'll go with you. It's helpful to try to figure something out if there's communication issues," said Wen Yongchen with a smile.

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but said, "We really don't need that many people to…"

"Then let's all go inside together," said Gu Yuling with a smile.

"Sure." Ge Mei nodded.

Gu Yuling even took the opportunity to flatter her. "I recall that Gu Mei-jie's English is very good."

"Right. Ge Mei-jie's last role needed to speak English. She did that part herself without needing dubbing," said Wen Yongchen.

Having said that, everybody went inside together.

When the owner to the place showed up, everybody was dumbfounded. The owner didn't speak English at all, at most, he spoke some Italian with a very heavy Thai accent. After some struggling and gesturing, the owner had given up and switched to all Thai.

That's when Zhong Yuhuan finally chimed in and spoke to him in Thai.

"Yuhuan can speak Thai?" said Ge Mei, surprised.

Zhong Yuhuan nodded and said, "When I came here by myself before, I stayed for quite a few days and learned some Thai from the locals."

Chapter 173 – Sharing a cabin with the female lead (2)

Now everybody got it, but nobody added more flattery. After all, knowing Thai didn't have the same status as knowing English or French. Many celebrities were talented in languages and were fluent in English. Being fluent in Thai? Not so much. After all, the status of knowing Thai didn't measure up to the status of being fluent in English or French.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't really care if they were impressed or flattered her.

Having communicated with the owner, she turned to them and said, "This is it. There are a total of three cabins. One of them is next to the banana field, two of them are by the beach. We can take a look at the rooms first before we decide how to divvy them up."

Zhong Yuhuan had lived in all sorts of places before, so she wasn't in any hurry right now. She walked slowly behind everyone. By the same token, Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming weren't picky either, so they trailed behind everyone in the back.

The other girls were somewhat excited and went to check out three sets of rooms.

This homestay didn't look too appealing from the outside and the walk over was a bit rough, but the interior modeling was quite nice. The only drawback was that the cabin next to the banana field probably has a lot of mosquitos at night.

Everybody quickly picked the rooms that they liked. Gu Yuling, Ge Mei, and Yin Qiqi picked the one by the beach.

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Wen Yongchen looked over at Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming and said with poise, "Let's take the one by the banana field. We are men, a few mosquitos won't bother us too much."

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming both turned and looked at Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan,"?"

You are kidding, right?

Did they want to stay in the same cabin as her?

Zhong Yuhuan just stared back at them.

Seeing that, Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming both reined it in and nodded. "Okay."

Li Jinyuan even added, "We'll do as Chen-ge said." To show his respect for his senior.

Now came the next question.

That meant Zhong Yuhuan would be in the same cabin as Ling Lan.

Zhong Yuhuan: "…." What kind of luck was that?

The itinerary for the first day was mainly to visit the tourist spots, do a few assignments to earn some capital, eat some drink some, tour the night market, and then they would be able to return to the hotel. The itinerary was not packed and the location for lunch has been predetermined. It was to be a somewhat relaxing day.

After the first day, everybody was still in the process of getting familiar with each other, so nobody stood out as particularly attention-grabbing.

The only part worthy of mentioning that day was that when they visited Doi Suthep Temple, Yin Qiqi missed Zhong Yuhuan's reminder and wore a pretty dress there for the purpose of taking pictures. Just like any other internet influencers, they needed to check into every place that they have visited. She dressed the exactly same way she did when she visited a year ago. It was fine a year ago, but this year she was spotted by one of the monks and was asked to leave.

Yin Qiqi felt embarrassed the entire afternoon, but she was smart. She didn't look too upset and didn't throw a fit. She just sat there with a very pitiful look. She even waved her hand when she was having lunch and expressed that she didn't have any appetite.

Naturally, she looked very pitiful on camera.

With such a drama queen with them, they shouldn't have to worry about the rating, thought Zhong Yuhuan to herself.

Yin Qiqi was upset the entire time until they got back to the homestay. Zhong Yuhuan did not do what a good tour guide would do; she didn't comfort her.

They were but a group of strangers put together; who'd want to spend the time and effort to comfort someone else?

She didn't even care to put up a front.

She wasn't an actress. She didn't need to worry about what her fans would say or do about every action of hers.

Chapter 174 – Sharing a cabin with the female lead (3)

Ge Mei acted more like a big sister and comforted Yin Qiqi a little. Nobody else made an effort to comfort her besides Ge Mei. Ling Lan had probably already seen through what kind of a person Yin Qiqi was and had no intention to be close to her. Wen Yongchen did not want to have any scandals, and Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming acted like total straight boys, who didn't know how to pamper women.

When everybody was touring the night market, Yin Qiqi followed behind Li Jinyuan at a curious distance.

When Li Jinyuan squatted down and asked about the prices with the stall owner, the stall owner pointed at Yin Qiqi and said in very broken Chinese, "Good. Pretty, on her."

Yin Qiqi's distressed look finally improved a little.

She glanced over at Li Jinyuan cautiously and tried to put on a shy look. However, she wasn't an actress after all, so she overacted when she tried to put on such a subtle look. The camera had faithfully recorded it all.

Li Jinyuan, too, smiled and said, "Then I don't want it."

Yin Qiqi: "…"

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Zhong Yuhuan, who wasn't too far behind them: "…"

Li Jinyuan was so blunt and straightforward!

Yin Qiqi knew that she didn't stand a chance with Li Jinyuan, so she turned her attention over to Huo Chengming. She had a pretty good idea that someone like Wen Yongchen might chat with her from time to time regularly, but if she was to follow behind him, he most certainly would not want anything to do with her.

So, in Yin Qiqi's mind, if Li Jinyuan was a no go, and Wen Yongchen was also a no go. Then perhaps she has a chance with Huo Chengming?

During dinner, when Yin Qiqi went to pick up her own food, she purposefully dropped her spoon next to Huo Chengming when she walked past him.

It was so obvious that even Zhong Yuhuan could tell.

She almost wanted to laugh.

This was definitely the first time she saw such a warrior who'd immediately turned her attention to Huo Chengming after she had failed with Li Jinyuan.

As for Huo Chengming.

He didn't even bother moving his foot, let alone bending over to pick the spoon up.

His hands, though, remained active. He first poured a glass of water for Zhong Yuhuan, then he took away the cola from her and said, "Drink this first."

Yin Qiqi froze and finally said in a soft voice, "Big Brother Chengming, can you please pick up my spoon for me?"

She really liked to pretend to be the younger one wherever she goes.

Ge Mei was Big Sister Ge Mei, Gu Yuling was Big Sister Yuling. Even Zhong Yuhuan was one of her victims. Naturally, Huo Chengming wouldn't have been able to avoid that.

As soon as Zhong Yuhuan heard that, she felt oddly unhappy about it.

She might not refer to Huo Chengming as "Big Brother" anymore, but she still wouldn't allow others to address him that way.

Huo Chengming's face dropped. He made no effort to hide his displeasure. Turned around, he said to her, "Don't you have hands?"

Ge Mei and the others all have a peculiar look on them.

Being in the entertainment circle, who could be so blunt? Their personalities were all a front that they put up. Huo Chengming's words were both refreshing and oddly satisfying.

Yin Qiqi was stunned too.

But she still softened up her voice and said, "I have food in my hand. I worry that I'll spill them if I bend over to pick up my spoon."

Huo Chengming, acting 100% like a straight male who didn't know how to woo a woman. Somewhat rude, he said nonchalantly. "The table is right in front of you. Is it difficult to put your plate down first? And, don't just refer to anyone and everyone as big brother."

Having said that, Huo Chengming quickly glanced over at Zhong Yuhuan as though he worried that she was upset.

"I have a younger sister," said Huo Chengming coldly.

Yin Qiqi's look just froze on her face completely.

Biting her lip and looking like she had enough, she put her plate down, picked up her own spoon, and went back to her seat.

Li Jinyuan smiled and said, "That's right, we've just met today. It's not a good habit to just automatically refer to someone like that. Not to mention that our Huo-ge has bad temperament."

Even at times like this, Li Jinyuan hadn't forgotten to knock on Huo Chengming and give people a bad impression of him.

Chapter 175 – Swimsuits (1)

Ling Lan, as the female lead, was better at containing herself and wouldn't stoop to Yin Qiqi's level of pulling that type of stunts. Zhong Yuhuan and Ling Lan were amicable with each other the first night. The next morning, they got ready and left their cabin on their own. There were no greetings of any sorts as though they were just strangers.

When Yin Qiqi showed up again, she had already returned to her usual state. Probably because she knew fully well by now that no matter how much she feigned to be weak and delicate, to the extent that there was no script to work with, nobody was silly enough to fall for it.

The filming on the second day was at a beach front.

Zhong Yuhuan had on some sun-proof clothing with a white knee-length skirt underneath. It was a very plain-looking outfit as she wasn't there to compete or outshine anyone. Her swimsuit was inside of her backpack.

After she had gotten out of the car, Li Jinyuan reached out his hand and said, "Let me carry that for you."

Huo Chengming reached out his hand almost at the same time, "Let me have it, Huanhuan."

All of the others looked over to them almost simultaneously.

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Nevermind about the others, even Ge Mei and Gu Yuling, who were seasoned veterans in the entertainment circle, couldn't help but look over with curiosity. Zhong Yuhuan, Huo Chengming, and Li Jinyuan knew each other from before the show, but exactly how well do they know each other?! What kind of relationships did they have with each other? Everything just seemed so odd right now!

Being gazed by everybody, Zhong Yuhuan quickly held on tightly to her backpack and shook her head. "It's not heavy at all. I don't need any help with it. Let's go, let's go. The sun is beating down too strongly. I want to go sit under the shade."

That's when Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming finally retrieved their hands.

But both of them had a look of regret that flashed across their faces.

When they arrived at the private beach, the beach chairs and umbrellas were already all set up.

There were even fruits, snacks, and beverages.

Those were ordered by Zhong Yuhuan.

When Yin Qiqi saw those, she immediately had some thoughts. Finally, she looked over at Zhong Yuhuan and asked, "Are these expensive? Did we spend a lot of money on them?"

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head and said, "Not too much, they gave us 50% off."

Now Yin Qiqi felt even more dubious. "How is that possible? I have never heard of anything like that."

Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, "The hotel wanted to offer them to me for free initially."

Yin Qiqi chuckled, obviously thinking that Zhong Yuhuan was just joking.

"It's okay if we overspent, we can always do some assignments to earn some extra money," said Ling Lan all of a sudden.

Zhong Yuhuan looked over at her after she heard that. For a while there she wasn't sure whether Ling Lan was agreeing that she had overspent or that she was defending her.

Such was the profoundness of the Chinese language! Thought Zhong Yuhuan to herself but quickly got over it.

"We are here to have fun. We should be able to enjoy ourselves. We can always make more if we run low. That will be fun too," said Ge Mei with a smile.

Wen Yongchen chimed in. "Mei-jie is right."

But Zhong Yuhuan wasn't kidding at all.

She wasn't a fan of Thailand, but Han Yingying was. When Han Yingying found out that she'd be going to Thailand for filming, she shoved her a bunch of cards and begged her to use them and enjoy herself as much as she could.

One of them happened to be the SS VIP card of this hotel.

This was a global hotel chain and stressed very much on customer experience. They offered many promotions for their VIPs. After all, it didn't matter if their customers cared about the perks, it was still important that perks were offered.

Zhong Yuhuan didn't plan on using the cards. After all, the show has explicit rules against using personal items including cellphone or wallet, which included the cards in one's wallet.

But when Zhong Yuhuan was pulling out the communal budget to pay for the bill, the hotel staff spotted the VIP card immediately and wanted to wave the cost. Had it not been the production crew's obvious displeasure, they wouldn't even accept 50% of the payment.

Chapter 176 – Swimsuits (2)

The topic with Yin Qiqi was over for the time being.

The group hung out on the beach for a while before they walked a few steps into the water. Then they all agreed that they wanted to change into their swimming suits and go for a swim, so they all went to the little mansion behind them to get changed.

Zhong Yuhuan quickly changed and walked out. She had on a one piece swimsuit. Her neck was covered but her shoulders, her back, and her pair of long and slender legs were exposed.

The swimsuit was black, a drastic contrast to the little white dress she had on just a moment ago.

She was the first to walk out.

Zhong Yuhuan wasn't shy. She walked up slowly with a surfboard in her hand.

Naturally, the men changed even faster.

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Li Jinyuan, Huo Chengming, and Wen Yongchen were all on the beach already. When they noticed that the door was opened, all of them turned their attention to Zhong Yuhuan.

Zhong Yuhuan had been practicing ballet during her free time. Never mind fencing and free combat training that she had before. She also visited the gym periodically. Her body was very perfect; there was no extra fat around her waist or stomach.

Her legs were slender. Not so much the type that looked like bamboos, but a smooth, well-balanced type of beauty.

With her neck wrapped in black fabric, it seemed even more long and slender. It'd make one wonder how pale was the skin under it and how the bit of pink would peek through it.

Zhong Yuhuan walked closer to them.

Her hair was tied up and her straight back was exposed for all to see.

When a man appreciates a beautiful woman, they'd inevitably check out her body.

Bosoms, waist, back, bottom, and legs.

With her background in strength training, even the muscles on her bottom were firm. Her bosoms were perky but not overly so.

The very conservative swimsuit was well filled out after it wrapped around her body.

Her tightly wrapped S-shaped body made her look even more irresistible.

Wen Yongchen was stunned by her momentarily.

Huo Chengming, his face taut and his lips shut tight, immediately wanted to take off his jacket and put it over Zhong Yuhuan.

And that's when he realized that he had already changed into his swimsuit and didn't have a jacket on him.

Huo Chengming stared intensely at Zhong Yuhuan, and his heartbeat quickened and felt completely out of control. At the same time, there were tingling sensations that were bombarding his heart.

He was not able to divert his gaze from her at all, even though his mind kept on reminding him that it was very rude to stare like he was doing right now.

At that very instant, an idea finally formed gradually in Huo Chengming's mind.

That Huanhuan was all grown up.

Li Jinyuan too was nailed to the same spot.

His smile lessened for a second, and there many other ideas coursed through his eyes. Gently, he looked over Zhong Yuhuan's neck, bosoms, waist… she had always looked good no matter what she put on.

But when she dressed like this in particular, the impact was indescribable.

He felt as though he was washed over by a big wave that had pushed over some door inside his heart.

The men didn't stay in that mindset for very long.

The door was opened again. This time, Yin Qiqi walked out and said loudly, "Okay. I am ready!"

She had on a pastel color, two-piece swimsuit with frills. As it was pastel colored, the style had a junior look to it. It looked like a kid's swimsuit at first glance. But her body was not that of a child at all. Her top was barely doing its job of carrying the weight and her breasts looked like they'd bounce out at any given point.

Yin Qiqi was totally oblivious about that. She waved and greeted everybody. As she walked closer, her eyes lit up. She checked out the male guests.

Chapter 177 – Swimsuits (3)

Huo Chengming was well-built and muscular.

Zhong Yuhuan had already verified that earlier!

Li Jinyuan still has a bit of a juvenile look on him, but still has a muscular and impressive abdomen.

Both of their bodies have very taut-looking muscles. Even with just one look, they conveyed the kind of power that was hidden behind them.

Wen Yongchen was also an actor so he, too, has a pretty well-maintained body. His muscles, on the other hand, were obviously buffed up like the outcome of many trips to the gym.

Zhong Yuhuan couldn't help but take a couple extra looks. It was quite pleasing to the eyes. As she couldn't look at Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming, she turned to look at Wen Yongchen.

Yin Qiqi blushed a little and she praised softly, "Chen-ge's body is so good!"

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Yin Qiqi was disappointed when she saw Wen Yongchen quickly turn away.

She had put a lot of thought on her outfit, but it did not have the intended effect like she had anticipated at all.

Wen Yongchen, on the other hand, couldn't help but give Zhong Yuhuan a look.

Zhong Yuhuan was pretty from head to toe.

Her hair was pretty, as was her eyes and brows. Her aura, too, was pretty and outstanding, as was the contour of her body.

She seemed to be perfect from head to toe. She would be the representation of any man's dream.

The kind of beauty exuded from her was closer to something that one's instinct just could not resist. Who didn't like appreciating something beautiful?

When Zhong Yuhuan met Wen Yongchen's eyes, she gave him a light smile.

All of a sudden, Wen Yongchen didn't know what to do with himself.

When Yin Qiqi saw that, she turned to studying Zhong Yuhuan closely. With that one look, she felt distressed all over again.

By now, Gu Yuling, Ge Mei, and Ling Lan all walked out one after the other.

Ge Mei, too, had on a one-piece swimsuit, but she gave a very different feeling than Zhong Yuhuan. Each motion of hers was sophisticated in an elegant and intellectual way. Zhong Yuhuan was more between a young adult on her way to becoming a mature woman. The feel that was between the two stages made her more appealing and irresistible.

Gu Yuling too, has a slim waist, but she was close to flat-chested. Her skinniness was already quite appealing for an actress. As of late, actresses only need to be skinny. But standing next to Zhong Yuhuan, the difference between them was obvious.

Lin Lang, on the other hand, had on the same style of swimsuit as Yin Qiqi. Her body was quite shapely as well. With long legs and sizeable chest.

Yin Qiqi gave Lin Lang a look and felt even more defeated.

Zhong Yuhuan was the most eye-catching one of all.

Zhong Yuhuan herself, however, didn't care much about that.

She tossed down the surfboard in front of her and said, "Who wants to use this? Anyone seen any swimming rings? I can use one."

She couldn't swim very well. Huo Chengming had tried to teach her a couple of times, but it had been on hold because he had been too busy.

"I will take it," said Wen Yongchen as he took away the surfboard.

Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming both frowned almost unnoticeably.

"I'll go look for a swimming ring for you," said Huo Chengming softly as he walked back over in the mansion's direction.

Li Jinyuan's eyes sparkled. He walked in front of Zhong Yuhuan and said, "Huanhuan needs a swimming ring?"

"Yeah."

"What's the fun in that? Why don't I teach you how to swim?"

Zhong Yuhuan shook her head.

But Li Jinyuan already wrapped his hand around her wrist and started taking her toward the direction of the ocean.

Yin Qiqi gritted her teeth when she saw that.

"But Huo Chengming had already gone looking for a swimming ring…" said Zhong Yuhuan as she tried to break free from Li Jinyuan's grasp.

Who cares about that guy? Thought Li Jinyuan to himself.

Chapter 178 – There's no need to act any differently in front of the camera (1)

Zhong Yuhuan didn't end up using the swimming ring after all. Nor did she try to learn how to swim from Huo Chengming. She rented a water scooter herself and played around for half a day with the trainer.

Zhong Yuhuan had it all thought out.

She didn't need any screen time; she would be much more relaxed and have more fun being by herself.

But after she left on her own, those who were left behind felt even more awkward.

After all, there was no script. And once they were off script, all of them were distant people. So now they couldn't possibly use the I-am-afraid-of-water-and-afraid-of-water-scooter-I-would-suck-at-it-but-I-finally-overcame-my-fear-and-went-into-the-water-and-learned-to-master-the-water-scooter-after-several-fail-attempt-type-of-chicken-soup trope.

So the rest of them had no choice but to either put on their swimming rings or go swimming. Others pretended that they were still a child at heart and played with the sand on the beach, while others chitchatted awkwardly.

Ge Mei and Wen Yongchen sat around and chatted with each other. Gu Yuling, Li Jinyuan, and Huo Chengming all went into the water.

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Yin Qiqi thought about playing in the sand with Lin Lang so she wouldn't appear too odd, but Ling Lan gave her a look, walked over to one side, and asked for a diving suit from the trainer.

Both Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming could swim. They were, in fact, and very good at it. They had completely given up on the swimming rings and turned into fish once they hit the water. Their motions in the water were both elegant and full of power.

Gu Yuling purposefully moved toward Li Jinyuan's direction.

But, right at this moment, a wave splashed onto Zhong Yuhuan's water scooter. Almost everyone's attention was drawn right away. They looked toward Zhong Yuhuan.

By the time the wave had subsided, the water scooter came right out of it with Zhong Yuhuan riding steadily on top of it. Squinting, her entire body was wet and her hair stuck to her face. They accentuated the shape of her face even more, and the swimsuit fitted even more tightly over her body, making her look like a flower emerging from the water.

Naturally, nobody could turn their attention away from her.

Not too far away, Gu Lingyu wiped away the sea water that had splattered onto her face before she saw that Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming had already swam over to where Zhong Yuhuan was when the wave came and were already next to her by now.

Gu Lingyu oddly felt that if another wave came, the two of them would reach out their arms and lift Zhong Yuhuan off of the water scooter.

Once that thought had occurred to her, Gu Lingyu couldn't help but look over in their direction again. The more she looked at them, the more she was certain of it.

Zhong Yuhuan stayed on her water scooter and moved forward. Li Jinyuan and Huo Chengming just swam nearby.

The two men in the camera may look like they were just trying to look their best for the camera. When that footage aired, it would most certainly make a lot of young girls shriek at the screen. However, Gu Lingyu felt that she had seen the truth lying beneath all that.

The truth was, the two of them were like dolphins in the ocean, following the water scooter wherever it went.

Gu Yuling, "…"

When the filming was done, Zhong Yuhuan had her share of fun as well. She got off the water scooter, packed up, and was ready to go for lunch.

Big Sister Yang was part of the filming crew. After the filming had ended and everyone went to get their food, Zhong Yuhuan quietly disappeared from the camera.

Big Sister Yang avoided the other guests and pulled her over to one side, "This won't work."

Zhong Yuhuan, "Huh?"

"The reason that the show has no script was to allow the participants to truly be themselves. That's the draw of the show!"

Zhong Yuhuan was a little baffled. "What do you mean?"

Big Sister Yang said to her softly, "I mean, you can act naturally around Li Jinyuan and little Boss Huo. There's no need to act any differently in front of the camera."

Chapter 179 – There's no need to act any differently in front of the camera (2)

Zhong Yuhuan, "Are you trying to film daily family life? I thought it was a reality TV show."

Big Sister Yang, "Daily family life has its own draw as well!"

Zhong Yuhuan, "…. Okay, I guess."

She had already made promises. She should give it her best.

Worst case scenario, she'd be called green tea b*tch or white lotus or something along that line when the show was aired…

After she turned back around after the conversation, it suddenly dawned on her that weren't there also actor Wen Yongchen and actresses Ge Mei and Gu Yuling? Even Li Jinyuan was a very popular star as they speak.

Why did it fall on her to give the show selling points?

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Zhong Yuhuan turned around again.

And all she saw was Big Sister Yang Sen giving her a thumbs up.

Zhong Yuhuan, "…"

After lunch, the production team assigned them a money-making segment and asked that everybody to bike up the hill in the name of low emission greening effort.

At $50 USD per person, if all eight of them headed up, they would be able to make $400 USD. It's not a lot for a celebrity, but for someone who is in dire need of a touring budget right now, anything counts.

So, everybody rode their bikes up the hill huffing and puffing.

Everybody played another round of truth or dare after their bike ride.

On the third day, they went to an orchard to experience the joy of picking your own fruits.

After the three days of running around, Zhong Yuhuan was much more relaxed when it came to filming, and they finally had enough content for the season.

After the filming for the season was over, the celebrities all had other work to attend to and left one by one. Zhong Yuhuan, too, wanted to take off. Except that she wanted to pack up and take a trip to Egypt with some of her friends for a couple of days.

Zhong Yuhuan knew that Li Jinyuan for sure would have fans waiting for him at the airport. Wen Yongchen and Gu Yuling were also on the same flight as them. For sure, there would be their fans as well. Zhong Yuhuan didn't want to deal with the rowdiness, so she tugged slightly at Huo Chengming's sleeve and said softly, "Let's take off first after we get off the plane."

Huo Chengming couldn't have asked for more and nodded.

As soon as the plane had landed in City Hai, Zhong Yuhuan immediately put on a sweater and a down jacket on top of that. Her entire body was wrapped up like a ball, and she walked out with Huo Chengming first.

When Li Jinyuan and Wei Jie came out, they naturally couldn't rush out, so they just had to watch as Zhong Yuhuan headed downstairs.

After Zhong Yuhuan had deboarded the plane and just about to step onto the stairs leading out of the plane, Huo Chengming grabbed her wrist from the back.

"Eh?" Zhong Yuhuan turned around and looked at him.

"Be careful," said Huo Chengming softly and even reached out and adjusted Zhong Yuhuan's scarf for her.

Zhong Yuhuan would have to agree with him. She had wrapped herself up like a giant ball. Any mishap and she'd would roll all the way down

Zhong Yuhuan and Huo Chengming quickly got inside their car.

Li Jinyuan fell behind them and headed out of the airport with Wen Yongchen and Gu Yuling. All of their fans were already waiting for them. Wen Yongchen and Gu Yuling were both very popular at the time. Yet when they walked out, they could only hear one name being screamed.

"Li Jinyuan!"

"Li Jinyuan OOOOOOHHHHHHH!"

Looking over at the sea of fans, Wen Yongchen and Gu Yuling's fans were negligible.

This was their first official event of having fans wait for them at the airport, so there were quite a few fans there.

For most of the fans, it was a rare opportunity to be able to see their idol up close and personal. As they stared at Li Jinyuan in sheer joy, they noticed that their idol was looking left and right as though he was looking for something or someone.

But none of that mattered.

As Li Jinyuan walked further and further away, their screams were enough to flip the roof of the airport.

Zhong Yuhuan was not able to witness the spectacular event in person. She had headed back to the mansion already. Huo Chengming, on the other hand, took a detour to take care of some business.

Chapter 180 – There's no need to act any differently in front of the camera (3)

Once she was home, Zhong Yuhuan let out a sigh of relief and got some rest. The next day, she went with Yang Sen and Han Yingying to Egypt. Huo Chengming and Li Jinyuan, on the other hand, all went back to their busy days.

On the second day that she was at Egypt, Zhong Yuhuan received news from Ge Mei.

She was baffled.

Even if she had done really well during the reality TV show, there was still no reason for Ge Mei to look her up. Ge Mei is well-respected in the entertainment circle and had no reason to seek her out.

Zhong Yuhuan clicked open the message and saw that it was an invitation from Ge Mei to join the entertainment circle, preferably joining her studio.

Eight out of ten of those who went onto a reality TV show had the intention to join the entertainment circle, and the remaining two wanted to become an internet influencer. Ge Mei didn't know about Zhong Yuhuan's background, so her invitation wasn't unusual.

Zhong Yuhuan declined her politely immediately.

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But right after she had turned her down, Zhong Yuhuan received a new message.

This time it was a message from Wen Yongchen, also inviting her to join his studio.

Han Yingying happened to see the message and let out a "Hah!" "Our Yuhuan is popular everywhere she goes!"

Yang Sen chimed in as well and said, "I guarantee you that this guy has an impure intention behind his invitation. He wants to ask out Zhong Yuhuan."

Zhong Yuhuan rolled her eyes and walked over to one side with her cellphone, leaving the two where they were to argue about the truth of Yang Sen's statement.

Zhong Yuhuan put on her hijab and clicked open her Weibo.

That's when she noticed the official announcement on "Traveling Time". The reality TV show with a not-so-catchy name received quite a bit of attention by having Gu Mei and Li Jinyuan, etc. in the program. The regular folks who joined this show, naturally, also received a decent amount of attention as well.

Zhong Yuhuan's name could also be found within the official announcement.

Zhong Yuhuan clicked into her own Weibo from the announcement.

She had updated her Weibo in a while. The last one was still the one about her drinking black tea. She clicked into the comment area. Sure enough, there had been a visible increase in negative comments.

"Just because she had gained some fame from that one photo, now she couldn't wait to go onto a variety TV show? What? Was she planning on joining the entertainment circle? Such a bummer. Nowadays you can make quite a bit as an internet influence. Look at all the internet influencers who joined the entertainment circle, all of them ended up to be horrible flops."

"I came here via the official announcement. She drinks green tea too? Was she just being a copycat after seeing Li Jinyuan's interview?"

"Is the last poster an idiot? Look again. This Weibo owner posted her entry before Li Jinyuan's interview, okay?"

"Ling Lan had been in pageant shows before, and she is now a fairly popular channel master. Yin Qiqi is a model. Who is this Zhong Yuhuan? How is she able to get onto the show because of her one picture online?"

"Oh, c'mon everyone. Let's calm down a little. Is it really necessary to be so cruel to a female?"

"We are just saying that she shouldn't rush into the entertainment circle and end up being a nobody and gaining all negative publicity instead of positive… and many internet influencers are truly ugly once they step away from their makeup and pretty pictures. Let it be their body or look, even their temperaments don't remotely measure up to that of an 18th-tier actress. We only say that she shouldn't be on a show for her own good. All of her popularity that she had accumulated would be wiped out the minute she walked in front of a camera."