Gao Xiaolan’s message could not be left unanswered.
“I was busy just now. I only just got back.”
“What are you thinking? I’m already awkward enough, and dating my ex-girlfriend? How could that be possible?”
Li Lu opened her Moments. He didn’t use it himself, but looking at someone else’s wasn’t too much, right?
Mostly because he hadn’t seen her in years and wanted to see how her life was going.
Sure enough, it was set to be visible for three days, with only a few scattered posts.
『No matter what, I never regretted liking you.』
『Liking you turned out to be something I did all by myself.』
『I miss you, like I miss a summer that comes too late.』
……
There were hardly any pictures, just random snapshots of scenery.
He even wanted to see what she looked like now. After so many years, they still hadn’t met in person.
These sentimental lines from a young girl really made his teeth ache.
No wonder she was so resistant to a blind date with him. So she was a simp.
Then again, what really mattered about a girl was inner beauty.
There are too many superficial people in this world. How many men with depth like him can there be?
Too bad he was her good brother. Some topics just weren’t easy to talk about with her.
Beep, beep, beep…
A message came back very quickly from the other side.
“So, how was it today? You must have been thrilled, with all five ex-girlfriends confessing their love to you.”
“Haha, not bad, not bad, really not bad.”
In front of his bro, Li Lu had nothing to hide.
The vulgar side of human nature was laid bare.
Even though he had never wanted any further entanglement with them and had always tried to act confused… no, calm… when he really found out he had gotten five votes, he was still thrilled inside.
Back when you said you wanted to break up, then break up it was.
Now you want to win me back? Ha ha ha.
“Smug little punk.”
“Heh, this damn charisma.”
“Quit being disgusting. But your new song really does help.”
Gao Xiaolan’s earphones had been looping the song he had just sung during the live stream, “Someone Like Me.”
At first she had not planned to pay any more attention to that huge jerk, but she still could not help wanting to watch his new show.
From the initial awkwardness to Zhang Wenbo’s aggressive pressure, she felt heartache, worry, nervousness, and anger for him.
By the time he started singing, everything was different.
It turned out he was so lonely and so melancholy.
The joking and fun were just a disguise. What he wanted was simply to find someone like him.
Someone bewildering. Someone who understood him.
He was still him. She had been late, but it should not be too late.
“Did you fall for me too? Looks like I’ve got another little fangirl now.”
Li Lu had just been complaining about wasting an opportunity, and now he thought it wasn’t too bad.
The chance to exchange resources from the system could wait. But showing off… no.
Being cool lasts a lifetime.
How could a literary girl like Gao Xiaolan, all melancholy and sentimental, resist that?
“Go die. You only performed well in this show.
Before that, you were very ordinary, very plain.”
Gao Xiaolan laughed and cursed him, still catching her breath.
“Comrade Gao Xiaolan, you probably haven’t seen your brother at his peak.”
Li Lu felt it was necessary to give this little girl, who had just returned to China and had not seen much of the world, a quick lesson on his glorious past, so she would stop looking down on him all the time.
“Back then, I walked around with my hands in my pockets and never even knew what an opponent was.”
“Speak properly.”
“Back then, I took part in Idol Has You. I killed gods when I met gods, killed Buddhas when I met Buddhas.
I bulldozed my way through everything and took first place.
Back then, countless girls cheered me on. Support texts cost ten cents each, and I alone received tens of millions of them.”
Li Lu talked about those glorious years with real nostalgia.
Of course, it did not last long.
The entertainment industry loves the new and hates the old. Thanks to one brilliant maneuver after another, in just over three years he had already passed his prime.
But saying he had once been the dream of millions of girls was not an exaggeration, right?
“Hehehe, yes, yes, you’re great.”
Thinking back to how excited she had been seeing him online back then, Gao Xiaolan felt happy.
Yes, back then he was full of spirit and really handsome.
“You have no idea how crazy my fans were. One brain-dead fan alone spent over a million votes on me.”
Just thinking about it still gave Li Lu lingering fear. All that voting on phones back then — he wondered whether her fingers were still okay.
“You’re the brain-dead one.”
Gao Xiaolan fired back instantly, then sent an emoji of someone punching him away.
Then she immediately added another line.
“I’m going to expose you right now and tell everyone you called your own fans brain-dead.”
“No, no, sis, I was wrong.”
An emoji of kneeling and begging for mercy.
“I was just worried about her fingers, afraid she’d swollen them from clicking too much.
Fans like that who don’t take care of themselves and waste money… I, as a positive-energy artist, had to stop them.”
Li Lu naturally knew she was joking, but fans like that were indeed pretty brain-dead.
“Tch. Going to sleep. Good night.”
Ungrateful wretch, Gao Xiaolan cursed him a few times in her heart.
That fool probably didn’t know that back then you could do bulk operations on a computer. Her delicate hands were perfectly fine.
“Aren’t you coming to have some fun? The scenery here is really nice.”
Li Lu waited a long time and got no reply, figuring she really had gone to rest.
He had invited her twice so enthusiastically, and she had actually ignored him.
He would never ask her again. Even if they were bros, he could not keep indulging her.
Lying in bed, Gao Xiaolan felt a little down. What would I go there for? To watch you fall in love?
It was obvious that his ex-girlfriend Lin Lin still had feelings for him. Later, the fans also thought they were a great match.
And there were also the other female guests.
Maybe because she knew they had all had something with him before, she was already biased and felt they all had impure motives.
Otherwise, how could they all have chosen him?
How had he suddenly become so talented? So annoying. It was better when he was useless.
Besides the live stream, the Heartbeat show also had a highlights version.
The highlights version simply compressed and edited the day’s live-stream content, added richer subtitles and BGM, and aired it on video sites.
Viewers who did not have time to follow the whole thing could just watch the highlights version when they had time.
After the broadcast ended that day, the diligent behind-the-scenes staff had already quickly put together the first episode.
『What is going on? What kind of top star is Li Lu?』
『The lead of the first episode is actually Li Lu? Is there some conspiracy?』
『I glanced at the introduction. The first couple is actually Li Lu and Lin Lin. Are they recycling an old CP?』
『Watch before you comment. Haters, stop forcing it. Just search “Someone Like Me” on short video.』
『I am so looking forward to tomorrow’s show. I don’t care about anything else. I want to watch the exes make up.』
『The ex storyline is too addictive.』
『I found a treasure of an artist, Li Lu. I have to recommend his new song to you guys.』
『He turned things around. Another former hot star making a comeback through a variety show.』
……
Within one night, the buzz around the two words “Li Lu” shot straight up.
He was already a top star before, and now that name had suddenly started being mentioned again. More and more curious people clicked in.