A Natural-Born Idol

"Since Teacher Jiang put it that way..."

The staff member responsible for contacting Bai Youlou clearly wasn't as firm in his position as he had appeared.

Or rather, he was only firm when facing Bai Youlou.

The moment Jiang Yuanchu spoke, his position swiftly changed. "Teacher Jiang is right. I hadn't thought of that. I'll register this contestant first."

Long Ziqiang said, "Thanks!"

That thanks was actually directed at Jiang Yuanchu, but she didn't respond. Her attention remained fixed on Bai Youlou.

Damn! Is our director really tangled up in scandals? Another one?!

But Jiang Yuanchu merely gave Bai Youlou a light nod before turning and walking away.

The two of them hadn't exchanged a single word.

Long Ziqiang was completely stunned. "Old Bai, what's going on?"

"We used to work for the same company. She just gave me a hand." Bai Youlou explained it casually.

"So that's how it is. I thought she was your old flame~"

"You don't recognize her? She's very famous."

"Uh, I was just distracted by how pretty she is. She looks like a doll. Is she a singer or an actress?"

"An idol."

"Then I really don't know much about her." Long Ziqiang answered honestly.

Before Bai Youlou took the fall and got condemned by the entire internet, Long Ziqiang hadn't even known much about him. After all, he had once been an idol too.

"Wait, if she's an idol, hasn't she already debuted? Why is she here?"

"Is your brain broken? She's obviously a mentor."

"A mentor this young? How old is she?" Long Ziqiang clicked his tongue in amazement.

How old? She was two years younger than Bai Youlou. But Jiang Yuanchu had started training overseas at thirteen, debuted before she was sixteen, and shot to fame the moment she debuted. She had officially returned to China to develop her career at eighteen and had remained a top-tier star in the industry ever since.

Her popularity was comparable even to that of An Luning, the National First Love. If not for the entertainment industry's hierarchy of contempt—with pure idols practically at the bottom—Jiang Yuanchu would have been considered a chosen one who had reached the summit at a young age.

An idol of her caliber appearing as a mentor or judge on a variety show was perfectly normal.

Of course, the most important point was that this girl had once had an ambiguous relationship with Bai Youlou.

It could only be called ambiguous. After all, they had never confirmed any relationship.

At the same time, after Bai Youlou's scandal broke out, Jiang Yuanchu had quickly cut ties with him. She had even deleted all their ordinary interactions on Weibo from the past.

That was reasonable.

After all, in Bai Youlou's impression, this girl was practically an idol at the level of "preserving heavenly principles and eliminating human desires."

Since her debut, she had never had a single scandal. In public, she wouldn't even chat with male entertainers for more than a few sentences. She always kept at least eighty centimeters of personal space from them. She also desperately controlled her weight, studied all kinds of photo poses, and even specially practiced her smiles.

The old Bai Youlou had merely benefited from being in the same company as her, which made them somewhat more familiar. They occasionally attended events and performed onstage together.

As they collaborated more often, the two grew increasingly familiar and frequently chatted.

On their phones.

But even when chatting by phone, the girl was extremely restrained in the way she spoke.

Perhaps that was also because Bai Youlou hadn't "awakened" back then, so he had been equally restrained.

In any case, no matter how one looked at their chat history, it was impossible to see anything particularly problematic.

In short, she was a "tough girl" who was so cautious that she even paid attention to her chat history, strictly upheld the standards of an idol, worked hard to remain disciplined, watched every word and action, always stayed polished and radiant, and could even control her expressions perfectly.

So it was entirely normal for her to "cut ties" with Bai Youlou immediately after his scandal.

It would have been stranger if she hadn't done so, or if she had secretly helped him.

As far as Bai Youlou was concerned, the appearance of his "ex-girlfriend" on Tomorrow's Star Show wasn't anything worth caring about.

Because even if they were "acquaintances," she would definitely act as if she didn't know him at all.

That girl's defenses and vigilance were probably already at full capacity.

She would definitely guard against the production team using the fact that she and Bai Youlou had once worked for the same company and were acquaintances to create some sort of entertaining segment.

Bai Youlou reckoned she was probably going to stand in front of a mirror and practice her expressions right now.

So Jiang Yuanchu's appearance had no effect on Bai Youlou. He simply continued doing what he had to do.

But the appearance of another person was going to make things damn interesting!

Bai Youlou had to run through so many programs that he couldn't be bothered to pay attention to who each show's mentors or judges were. It didn't matter. They would all pick at him anyway and eliminate him.

So he had never expected that one of Tomorrow's Star Show's mentors would be the biggest victim of his "hairdressing" incident.

Of course, Bai Youlou hadn't discovered that yet.

"Teacher Zhen, hello."

"Ah, Xiao Jiang, hello. I hope we'll work well together."

Jiang Yuanchu stood, gave a slight bow, and shook his hand before sitting back down. Her expression remained unchanged.

Yu Zhan, the other judge who had arrived earliest and was sitting nearby, marveled inwardly. It had been more than ten minutes, yet the girl's posture hadn't changed at all. Her back was perfectly straight and her bearing was dignified. She hadn't touched the back of her chair once, and even her smile had never faded. Her expression was always warm and approachable.

Someone like this was simply a natural-born idol.

But there was no time to marvel at Jiang Yuanchu, because Zhen Dongjun, who had just arrived, was an even bigger deal.

Because his wife was Dong Lu.

And Dong Lu was the woman involved in that earth-shattering scandal with Bai Youlou!

Yu Zhan, who had arrived earliest, was the show's main mentor. He was the only pure singer among the three. He had also debuted through a talent competition in his early years, gaining widespread attention with a highly popular song. He had once been famous and had later faded from the spotlight, but had recently risen to fame again. He was doing fairly well in the music scene and was also considered a first-tier singer.

But all this first-tier singer could think about now was gossip. His mind wasn't really on the show, and he was only waiting for Bai Youlou to come onstage.

He couldn't help sighing inwardly at how damn devious the production team was!

They had secretly invited Bai Youlou to stir things up, yet hadn't told Zhen Dongjun.

They were clearly planning to make big news.

Come to think of it, he was also a little curious. After Jiang Yuanchu saw such an explosive scene, would she still be able to keep her expression under control?

It was all too damn entertaining. Hurry up and start!

Production team: You might not believe this, but Bai Youlou came on his own. We didn't pay to invite him.

Still, after Bai Youlou signed up, they had indeed concealed that fact and hadn't told Zhen Dongjun.

The reason was simple enough: Zhen Dongjun wasn't famous enough and was somewhat past his prime.

He had once been popular, but he had never reached first-tier status. At present, he was at best a second-tier celebrity. For an entertainer of this standing, the production team's "malice" came without warning.

They simply wanted to find a topic at your expense. If you didn't like it, breach the contract.

Case solved. Tomorrow's Star Show's seemingly decent attitude toward Bai Youlou was actually hiding something huge. They were just waiting for him to go onstage and have a one-on-one battle between men with Zhen Dongjun.

Of course, they had to save the big event for later.

For this recording, Bai Youlou was scheduled to appear last.

He was a little worried that he wouldn't make it in time for the high-speed train, because once the recording ended, he had to immediately head to the next location with Long Ziqiang. He would also officially be reunited with Zhang Xiaorong then.

They hadn't seen each other for several days. He missed her~