Love Variety Show: The despised me exploded in popularity

Outside the door, the sound of Lin Chuan's voice arose.

The volume was neither loud nor soft, just enough to give people inside the private room a heads-up.

"Do you need to get a computer for your major as freshmen?"

In the room, Jiang Ling, hearing the commotion outside, became restless once again. The opportunity was evidently only this once; once Lin Chuan and the others came in, the conversation would have to be interrupted.

She raised her eyes to look at Xu Qingyan, who was seemingly oblivious to her surroundings.

She could no longer count on anyone; Cloud Wing Entertainment had entirely shifted its focus to artist management. They heavily promoted young idol boy bands, Lu Tingshi, Yu Nian; the names more flowery than romantic novel leads.

The music division was completely neglected, the management relationships complex, workplace infighting severe, and the allocation of project funds for song invitations unclear.

They did not care about the singers' futures at all; their only thoughts were on implementing reforms and preparing data reports. They used all sorts of fabricated data to please the higher-ups.

Under these circumstances, it's obvious that even if Cloud Wing Entertainment were to fulfill the promises of the contract, what they would offer would be worthless goods.

Finding songs on her own was like finding a needle in a haystack. If good songs could simply be bought with money, she wouldn't have ended up in her current predicament.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Even if she found a wealthy backer willing to propel her, pouring money into it would inevitably yield some response. Buying songs, planning events, increasing exposure with variety show appearances, acting, and sweeping up awards.

But such fame came at a price, internal ruin and decay.

The footsteps outside suddenly pressed upon her heart, Jiang Ling felt a smoldering fire stifled in her chest. It was constantly squeezing and consuming the oxygen, flickering and struggling.

"Xu..." She couldn't help but speak up.

"Let's exchange contact information, I might be quite busy during this period," Xu Qingyan said thoughtfully, his gaze far-reaching, "I hope we have a chance to collaborate in the future."

"But like I said before, I don't want to work with someone from Cloud Wing Entertainment."

Ten seconds later, the door to the private room was gently pulled open.

Li Yang walked in, Lin Chuan then released the door handle, glancing first at Jiang Ling.

She was leaning back in her chair, her previously tense shoulders had relaxed. There was no sign of dejection on her face; she appeared very composed, presumably because the conversation had made substantial progress.

Once he sat back down, Lin Chuan's topics of conversation differed from the casual chitchat at the start. He first talked about his recent situation, then lamented his own predicament.

"I've been preparing a new song recently, to be honest, I personally feel the quality is not bad, and I'm quite confident, but right now I truly lack a song that could break through," he said.

"Lin Chuan, you have some signature songs, so there's no need to be overly anxious," Jiang Ling said to him, noticeably more relaxed, "Not many well-known singers have songs that broke through."

"Ling, it's true what you say, but I still need that one unique song," Lin Chuan sighed, "no flower blossoms for a hundred days, and even the stage requires competition."

His mention of competition on the stage silenced Jiang Ling as well.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say she had no breakthrough songs either, but then she thought of Lin Chuan, who was currently on the rise, and herself, a singer falling out of favor, even to the point where brands were unwilling to lend her clothes.

After over a decade in the industry, she had ultimately become just another speck of dust on the path of stardom.

While deep in thought, Lin Chuan's next comment sent shivers down Jiang Ling's spine.

"Speaking of which, the songs that Brother Xu wrote for Sister Pei and Lin Xiaotian, though they were meant to be challenge songs, I feel they're enough to serve as breakthrough hits," he said.

At those words, she turned sharply to look directly at Lin Chuan.

Breakthrough hits, are they really so exaggerated?

After observing Lin Chuan, she then turned her gaze to Xu Qingyan at the center of the table. His expression remained unchanged, as if he'd just heard something utterly mundane.

"Not so exaggerated, they can't be considered breakthrough works," Xu Qingyan said as he sipped his tea, casually adding, "It was just good luck, a fluke. A friend of mine gave me some inspiration."

Jiang Ling suddenly felt somewhat relieved that she had made the right decision to look for a new agency behind Sister Hong's back.

After the dinner, Xu Qingyan dropped Li Yang back at the school, with no intention of staying longer.

"Take the fruit with you, call me if you need anything."

"Okay."

She looked at the bag of fruit, feeling a slight numbness in her heart. Her toes curled inside her shoes, her cheeks flushed for a moment, and she no longer harbored any thoughts of wasting time distributing flyers or any other part-time jobs.

"Li Yang," Xu Qingyan called her name, to emphasize the gravity, "study hard."

She stood under the streetlight some distance away from the dormitory, holding the heavy bag of fruit, her slender frame seeming as if a gust of wind could scatter her.

The whole person resembled an insect that had drifted from a small town into the city, insignificant and unnoticed.

At the moment she heard "study hard," she was somewhat confused. The phrase coming from the mouth of Xu Qingyan, who was only a few years older than her, was spoken with such seriousness and brevity.

"Yes, I will," she replied.

After Xu Qingyan drove away, Li Yang stood there watching for a good while before carrying the heavy fruit upstairs. With each step regretting her decision to go in the first place.

Returning to the dormitory and pushing the door open, her two roommates were sitting and watching a drama series or variety shows. Seeing Li Yang walk in with fruit, they couldn't help but be a little stunned.

"You're back?"

"Yes," Li Yang replied. She wasn't foolish; the amount of fruit she had was clearly not meant for one person.

Find your next adventure on empire

Although Xu Qingyan hadn't said anything, having lived in a boarding school during high school, she knew how to get along with roommates. Without asking them if they wanted any, she simply washed the fruit and offered what she couldn't eat to her roommates.

Even if there was only one package on the desk for the four of them, the roommate who hadn't returned yet also had a portion on her desk.

"Thank you, Li Li," they said.

The simple offering of fruit brought them much closer together in the dormitory. The dynamics within a girls' dorm could vary greatly. If you're lucky enough to have all reasonable roommates, university life tends to be quite smooth sailing.