Gu Tang came home with her belly completely stuffed.
Standing in the elevator, she held her lower back and looked as though she were several months pregnant.
Originally, neither she nor Xu Piaopiao had planned to eat that much.
Halfway through their meal, however, they received a message from the Dream Girl Group production team. It contained the program schedule.
They skipped over most of the other details, but their sharp eyes immediately spotted one item:
“All meals will be arranged by the production team.”
That was when the two of them began their final feast.
They had to eat enough to make up for their food allowance for the next several days.
After getting out of the elevator, Gu Tang entered the password and pushed open the door.
The lights were on.
Had Gu Fugui finally had time to come home today?
Gu Tang changed into her slippers and shouted,
“Dad!”
At the sound of her voice, the footsteps coming from the kitchen paused in a slightly strange way.
Gu Tang didn’t notice anything unusual.
After changing her shoes, she walked over to the small table in the living room and saw some papers on it.
They were printed copies of the Dream Girl Group program schedule that the production team had sent them.
Someone had made annotations on them in red pen.
It couldn’t have been Gu Fugui.
His handwriting wasn’t this good.
She began trying to remember whose handwriting it was.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer.
She looked up.
Yin Fan was dressed casually in home clothes today. His hair was slightly messy, casually pushed back with one hand, revealing his smooth forehead. His familiar gold-rimmed glasses remained unchanged.
She stared at Yin Fan.
Yin Fan stared back at her.
She was still standing there with one hand supporting her lower back and the other resting on her stomach.
Noticing his gaze, Gu Tang slowly lowered her hands. Her confidence began to falter.
“Hahaha… The production team said we’d all have our meals arranged from now on, so tonight was our final chance to go all out.”
The last few sounds of her laughter were awkward, each one forced out with difficulty.
They had both received the same program schedule.
One person had printed it out and carefully analyzed it.
The other had simply thought about having one last huge feast.
Gu Tang suddenly experienced the shame of a poor student who had just realized someone else had actually done their homework.
“Mr. Gu gave me the password. I knocked, but you weren’t home. It didn’t seem appropriate for me to wait outside, so I let myself in.”
Yin Fan explained why he was in her house.
“Gu Fugui can even get things like this?” Gu Tang picked up the printed pages, once again experiencing the privileges that came with being a billionaire.
“I have a friend who also works on the production team.” Yin Fan answered, then looked at Gu Tang. “Can you still sit down?”
Gu Tang obediently held her stomach and sat down.
“You have a friend there? Is he a screenwriter?”
Yin Fan did not answer that question. He adjusted his glasses and said, “ZE Entertainment, which is organizing the girl group project, is keen on promoting artists through the popularity-driven route, and they are also willing to give newcomers opportunities. This is a good opportunity for you, and…”
“And?” Gu Tang tilted her head at him.
She was wearing a loose white T-shirt. Her proper posture had lasted less than two minutes before she had already slumped sideways against the sofa as if she had no bones, yet even like this, she still looked effortlessly attractive and languid.
He knew very well what it meant to have a face like hers in the entertainment industry.
Opportunity and danger.
ZE Entertainment had no reason to overlook her, and with Gu Fugui supporting her from behind, a smooth road to success was almost within reach.
“And you’ll succeed.” Yin Fan looked at her and smiled. “Keep it up.”
Gu Tang held the program schedule in her hands and looked over his annotations. Her gaze briefly passed over his face. Yin Fan was smiling, but the smile never reached his eyes.
Gu Tang blinked.
When she looked at Yin Fan again, he had already returned to his usual expression.
“You have to learn the theme song and choreography in just three days.” Gu Tang’s attention returned to the program schedule, and she felt like crying as soon as she saw how difficult the task was.
“The twenty-five contestants who are selected will be divided into three groups, A, B, and C, with five, ten, and ten people respectively,” Yin Fan continued for her. “After the groups are formed, you’ll learn as teams. Then, based on the online fan voting rankings, roughly the bottom ten will be eliminated. The process repeats for two more rounds, and that will be enough to leave four people.”
“So after three rounds of performances, the girl group members will be decided.” Gu Tang stared blankly at the schedule. “That’s so cruel.”
“It won’t be too difficult for you. You’re naturally good at attracting people’s attention. As long as you stay active in front of the camera and your other abilities aren’t too poor, getting into the top four in online votes won’t be a problem.” Yin Fan was more confident in her than she was in herself. “You’ll gain fans quickly. That gives you a major advantage in this kind of competition.”
He made it sound as though he had already seen the future.
“What about you?” Gu Tang asked him. “Didn’t Gu Fugui invest in your company? What are you planning to do?”
Yin Fan gave a faint smile at her innocence.
“I want a good script. Good scripts are hard to come by, and even if you find one, there’s no guarantee I’ll be the one who gets the role.”
“Should I ask Gu Fugui?” Gu Tang suggested.
“ZE Entertainment’s goal isn’t entirely about forming a girl group.” Yin Fan turned the conversation back to the main topic. “They want to create a star-making dream, to capture the feeling of ordinary people becoming famous through you girls.”
“We’re…?” Gu Tang pointed at herself.
“You’re the topic. The traffic.” Yin Fan’s smile remained calm and unruffled. “Not having a foundation is actually an advantage. It’s quite fortunate that you’ve managed to catch this opportunity.”
…What did he mean by “not having a foundation”?!
Gu Tang’s short temper immediately flared.
“Don’t judge me by how I look!” Gu Tang slapped the file down on the table with tremendous force. “My professional skills are excellent in our class! I’m one of the top students in the acting department! I’m an outstanding talent who can get into a crying scene faster than anyone else in the entire class!”
“Oh?” Yin Fan had already figured out her pattern. “Cry, then.”
Gu Tang: ???
“Right now. Cry.” Yin Fan’s lips curved upward, his expression extremely cooperative. “Give me a demonstration?”
…What kind of jerk was this?
Where was the gentle and refined white-moonlight male lead she had been promised?
Where was the sweet school romance between an aloof, abstinent teacher and his adorable student?
Gu Tang wiped her face.
Yin Fan still had that expectant expression, clearly not believing she could actually cry on command.
The more he looked at her like that, the more determined Gu Tang became to prove herself.
“Father!”
With an emotional cry, Gu Tang rushed forward and grabbed Yin Fan firmly by the shoulders, shaking him with all her strength as if she wanted to turn his brain into porridge.
“My beloved old father! Your daughter was only gone for ten years, so why have you become so old?! And so ugly!”
Gu Tang really did have quite a bit of strength.
When she suddenly threw herself at him, Yin Fan had to put effort into catching her. Then she immediately began shaking him back and forth. She deliberately shouted at the top of her voice, making his head ache.
Seeing that she had successfully stunned Yin Fan, Gu Tang suddenly no longer felt stuffed or sleepy. She put even more strength into her hands and shook him harder.
“Father! Why aren’t you saying anything, Father? Have you forgotten that you have a beautiful daughter named Wang Cuihua?!”
Yin Fan was shaken so hard that his glasses became crooked.
She was still busy adding more details to the story.
“You can’t forget your daughter just because you’ve developed Alzheimer’s! Modern medicine is so advanced, I…”
Yin Fan grabbed the back of her neck with one hand and abruptly lifted her upward.
The rest of her words were swallowed back down, and she obediently froze in place.
She had finally calmed down.
Yin Fan frowned and stared into her eyes.
Her eyes fluttered rapidly, lively and full of energy.
“Dear Father, you’ve returned to your youthful and handsome self again. This truly is the power of modern medicine, the power of technology!”
She had actually managed to patch up the ridiculous plot she had just invented.
Yin Fan’s lips twitched.
She really was good at adapting to circumstances.
“Gu Tang, where are your tears?” Yin Fan asked.
The smile that normally seemed permanently attached to his face had disappeared. He even looked somewhat serious.
Gu Tang blinked, putting on a pitiful expression.
“This is what you call good professional ability?” Yin Fan remained unmoved. “Are you perhaps a little too optimistic about yourself?”
There was a brief silence.
Gu Tang’s eyes met Yin Fan’s.
She saw the seriousness in his eyes.
Her mind paused for a moment as she realized something.
At this point, Yin Fan was still very young.
Although he had lowered his head because his career had only just begun, there were still things he refused to compromise on.
Acting was one of them.
When she had suggested that Yin Fan become her teacher, she hadn’t actually intended to learn very seriously. It had merely been a way to give herself a graceful way out.
But Yin Fan was serious.
A strict teacher and an unmotivated student, however you looked at it, were a terrible combination.
If Gu Tang expressed that she didn’t really want him to teach her, it would seem as though she were trampling on that pride.
Gu Tang knew that she couldn’t force the issue right now and could only try another approach.
Yin Fan reached out with one hand to straighten his glasses, which had been knocked crooked from all her shaking, but Gu Tang suddenly clasped both of his hands tightly.
Her hands were delicate and smooth, carrying a slight coolness.
“Yin Fan,” Gu Tang blinked twice again. She seemed hesitant, and when she finally spoke, there was a trace of uncertainty in her voice. “Do you look down on me?”
Yin Fan’s attention was drawn to those hands, along with Gu Tang’s soft yet sharp question. His eyelashes trembled slightly.
“Do you think I’m a rich second-generation daughter who relies on her dad? That I have no ability, no skills, and don’t work hard, yet you still have to come and help me, so you feel really angry?”
A glimmer of tears appeared at the corners of Gu Tang’s eyes.
Her dark eyes, glistening with moisture, rippled with emotion. She withdrew her hands and covered her eyes.
Yin Fan couldn’t see her expression. He could only see her slightly trembling body.
After all, she was a girl, so naturally her feelings were sensitive.
Yin Fan pressed his lips together, his gaze becoming more subdued, and reached out to touch her shoulder.
Tears seeped through her fingers, and Gu Tang’s voice remained trembling.
“But I’m really just this kind of idle rich second-generation daughter. And I’m so pretty, too!”
His arm had only extended halfway in an attempt to comfort her when Yin Fan realized that something was wrong.
“Sometimes I can’t sleep at night, and I question Heaven, asking why it has treated me so well, why!”
Gu Tang cried as though her heart were breaking, yet every word was pronounced exceptionally clearly, as if she were afraid he might not hear her.
Gu Tang turned sideways and rolled halfway across the sofa. Her performance continued.
“Whenever I think about this, I can’t help laughing out loud under the covers.”
Yin Fan remained silent and downed the entire glass of plain water in one gulp.
Gu Tang climbed up from the sofa and pulled out a tissue to wipe her tears herself.
“How was that? I cried, didn’t I? Did I scare you?”
Yin Fan poured himself another glass of water.
When Gu Tang saw his thoughtful expression, she suddenly burst out laughing again.
“I was so scared you’d realize I was actually smiling. I was laughing so hard that I was trembling, but I didn’t even dare lower my hands.”
Yin Fan’s patience finally reached its limit.
“You can fool me convincingly enough. Don’t become timid the moment you see a camera.”
“Heh.”
Gu Tang also drained the water in her glass in one gulp. She was brimming with confidence, and although she was only drinking water, she somehow felt a little intoxicated by it.
“I’m not bragging, but when I see a camera, it’s like seeing my own older sister. I can sit there and chat with the camera by myself for three hours, no problem.”
She was so confident that Yin Fan was completely speechless.
Gu Tang stared at Yin Fan’s fingertips as he rubbed the bridge of his nose, then fearlessly poked him again.
“Hey, Yin Fan.”
Yin Fan was still unhappy.
“What?”
“You look much more genuine when you don’t smile.” Gu Tang said, “It’s just the two of us here, and there’s no unhealthy transaction going on. You don’t have to keep smiling all the time.”
After hearing her words, Yin Fan took a deep breath.
“Are you asking me to be genuine? You’re the one who made me angry!”
Gu Tang: …
On a spring morning, birds sang and flowers bloomed, a gentle breeze brushed against the face, faces were ashen, people were fierce on the outside but weak inside, weak and helpless…
Sitting on the pink bus, Gu Tang had never realized that her vocabulary of Chinese idioms was actually so extensive that she could even play an idiom-chain game by herself.
The first task of Dream Girl Group was for everyone to take a bus to the shared apartment, where they would begin three days of singing and dancing training.
After bragging in front of Yin Fan that she would treat the camera like her own older sister, Gu Tang was particularly timid when faced with the camera.
The music randomly playing through her earphones happened to be a song called When Dreams Wake Up.
“T-that camera isn’t filming us, right?” Gu Tang stammered as she asked Xu Piaopiao. “D-do we need to hide a little? I’m kind of nervous.”
Xu Piaopiao looked completely bewildered.
“Girl, those girls over there are practically shoving their flower-covered faces into the camera, and you’re telling me that we should hide?”
Gu Tang silently lowered her head, becoming extraordinarily gentle and demure.
“Skill is everything. We shouldn’t do all that superficial stuff. That’s not good, not good.”
“Oh?” Xu Piaopiao raised an eyebrow, looking as though she’d just discovered a whole new continent. “Girl, you got selected because of your skills?”
Gu Tang lowered her head even further, utterly ashamed of herself.
“Ah!”
A crisp voice came from behind.
Gu Tang turned around and, sure enough, saw Lin Yueyue, who had accidentally fallen from her seat into the center aisle.
Amazing! Lin Yueyue! You actually managed to fall into the aisle while wearing a seat belt!
Lin Yueyue lay on the floor, looking up with an innocent little face.
It was the same familiar formula, the same familiar flavor.
Xu Piaopiao clicked her tongue twice.
“Why does she always use the same routine? Can you actually take off if you do this move often enough?”
Gu Tang was the closest to her and was the first to extend a hand to help Lin Yueyue up.
“I’m really sorry. My sense of balance is especially poor,” Lin Yueyue said shyly. “I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
Looking at the girl’s pitiful face and remembering that she had just rescued her from an awkward situation, Gu Tang suddenly felt much closer to Lin Yueyue.
“It’s fine. You fell at exactly the right moment.”
Gu Tang sincerely praised her.
Lin Yueyue: ???
Author’s Note:
Little Theater:
Yin Fan shook his wrist.
“Gu Tang’s strength is unexpectedly great.”
Gu Fugui, proudly:
“When Gu Tang was in high school, she was the school’s champion in the triathlon.”
Yin Fan’s smile froze as he looked again at the arm Gu Tang had squeezed red.
“…Gu Tang was holding back.”