Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

Late into the night, Lin Wanzhou suddenly developed a high fever, scaring Qi Ting out of her wits.

Fortunately, it turned out to be nothing serious, just a false alarm.

The next day, after hearing about it, Xu Qingyan made a special trip to visit. Seeing Lin Wanzhou cooped up and bored, the three of them went to a nearby park for a walk, where he and Qi Ting secretly fished for an entire afternoon.

Lin Wanzhou quietly squatted to one side, holding a small transparent bucket, counting how many fish each of them had caught.

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"Hey, Teacher Xu, hide it a bit, if the security guard notices, he'll kick us out," whispered Qi Ting, holding a transparent fishing line in her hand.

The legendary rodless fishing technique—hand fishing.

"What's there to hide? There's no rod, how would they notice?" said Xu Qingyan nonchalantly, "the park is so big, the security won't be patrolling intensely."

"Besides, if we get caught, you can just act cute and we'll be off the hook."

"Favoritism, why don't you ask Sister Zhou Zhou to do it?"

"Of course, because you're prettier."

Qi Ting: "... Teacher Xu, it's not without reason that you have few friends."

Stealing some peaceful moments, Lin Wanzhou covered her mouth and giggled foolishly on the side. A gust of wind blew, rustling the trees and smoothing the expression on her face.

The afternoon sun filtered down bit by bit from the shade of the trees and seeped into her body.

Neither Xu Qingyan nor Qi Ting treated her as if she were ill. They just enjoyed their own little fishing game, giggling away and hardly talking to her.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

But she didn't feel ignored; instead, she felt relaxed.

Her best friend and the person she liked were healing her in their own way. All she had to do was sit by their side, bask in the sun, yet she could feel an inexplicable warmth.

Having someone to keep her company, frolic, and do meaningless things felt refreshing. At that moment, she seemed to understand why he chose to give her the song "Fragrant Rice."

Sometimes, the value of a gift lies not in the object itself. Just like a talisman can't truly ensure safety, it's the person giving the gift who wishes you well.

"Damn, got a big one!"

"Hey, Teacher Xu, don't come over here! The lines are getting tangled!"

"Damn, I'm not coming over, or this hand is gone," Xu Qingyan shamelessly declared, "So what if it's tangled, move aside, I'm a rapper!"

"I can't take it, you're not allowed to insult my hobby."

"Who's insulting your hobby? I'm seriously a rapper!" he darted along the shore, back and forth reeling in the fish, "If the fish gets away today, I'll just become a water ghost rapper."

.....

Peaceful days went by for two or three days, and "Fragrant Rice" had indeed lukewarm sales, hovering around thirty thousand in the charts.

Leng Qi was like that, even with the backing of the recommendations from two pop divas. But the audience was ultimately small, and most people just watched the excitement and left without clicking through.

After the hot search incident, he had managed to list himself, but unfortunately, there were no good resources available.

At first, there were quite a few people inviting him to sing, but the terms they offered weren't appealing. Some wanted to buy the rights outright, others sought custom-made songs, and some proposed profit-sharing deals.

To put it bluntly, these people belonged to the type who would take a chance with or without prospects. If they could get him, great; if not, no loss—primarily aiming to accomplish much with little investment.

Xu Qingyan was in no hurry, preferring to take time to consolidate his base.

Pei Muchan was planning to write new songs, so he spent time chatting with her. Even though direct songwriting might be more efficient, in the long run, it didn't benefit him at all.

When Lin Wanzhou fell ill, he set aside time to visit her. Even if it seemed like a waste of time, being there in person was different from sending a message or making a video call.

Once he sorted these matters out, he turned his attention back to work.

Friday had already passed, and "Love Hunter" had finished airing its sixth episode. It was the episode in which Bai Jinze left, meaning there was only one final episode left to reveal the identities.

The popularity of the reality show was high, but it was almost exclusively the female guests who were on fire. The male guests, headed by Chen Feiyu, were embarrassingly unpopular, each engulfed in scandals.

The TV station had given up and decided to plow ahead regardless, since it was the last episode, and they had to finish it regardless.

Xu Qingyan didn't like dating reality shows, but he made an exception to watch the "I Am the Song King" semifinal, where the production team brought back the lowest-ranked Wen Shuanghua for a revival match as a substitute.

The four of them sang energetically onstage, but among them, Wang Yu and Hou Xueheng were clearly the strongest contenders. Both were long-established veterans with undisputed talent.

Truth be told, Jiang Jingsheng might not have made it into the top two.

And so, the production concocted a sly strategy, changed the scoring system, and introduced a duo performance to secure Jiang Jingsheng's advancement alongside Hou Xueheng in third place.

To silence the critics, they also arranged for Wang Yu to enter a revival round.

Wang Yu had one more chance to perform in the finals, but he had to compete against two other singers on the basis of reduced scoring weight—in other words, as cannon fodder.

There was no way he could win if he went, but he could make easy money.

How could a celebrated singer, known for sentimental ballads, refuse the money for the sake of pride? What else to do but take the money and forgive the production team?

As for the foreign participant, Wen Shuanghua, besides showcasing her low-cut outfits and high notes during the semifinals, didn't gain anything—it was like she was used and discarded.

He also watched a segment of their stage performances, a crowd-pleasing cover that was met mostly with criticism in the comments below.

Of course, the production team didn't respond. The TV station's approach had always been to bully the weak and fear the strong. It was the way at the station from top to bottom, and the culture hadn't developed overnight.

After vanishing for three days, Chen Ling finally called, saying she had good news as promised within three days, even though four days had actually passed.