Backstage at the concert, in Feng Bingbing's dressing room.
"Feng Bingbing, what on earth were you thinking? Why didn't you tell me about this sooner?!"
A powerful woman with red, wavy hair and a black suit was yelling.
"Sister Wan Qing, didn't Little Bing say ages ago that she liked Senior Lin?"
A round-faced girl with a ponytail timidly reminded her.
"Shut up! Xiao Zhu, are you trying to rebel too?!"
Zhou Wanqing glared at the round-faced girl. The little assistant immediately covered her mouth with both hands, leaving only a pair of innocent, blinking eyes.
"Sister Wan Qing, don't scold Xiao Zhu. Confessing was my decision alone. I..."
Feng Bingbing drew up her legs and perched barefoot on the chair, hugging her knees. Her long, straight legs pressed against her chest, revealing a pale, jade-white valley.
The young Diva's long hair was a little mussed, and a mist veiled her star-bright eyes, but her face still wore a radiant smile.
"I hadn't made up my mind before, but when I sang You Don't Know I Love You, I just couldn't hold back anymore. But, Sister Wan Qing, I don't regret it!"
Zhou Wanqing looked at her stubbornly holding back her tears, and her heart softened. She sighed.
"But he didn't just fail to respond—he ran off. Your not regretting it was all for nothing. Why bother?"
Feng Bingbing raised a hand to wipe the moisture from the corner of her eye, then kept smiling.
"It wasn't for nothing. At least I did something I've wanted to do all these years. No matter what, I have no regrets about my youth!"
"Wow, Little Bing, you're so cool! I'm behind you!"
Xiao Zhu, the little assistant, clapped enthusiastically, only for Zhou Wanqing to glare her into silence again.
"Forget it. You don't need to worry about the cleanup. Hurry up and change. At least finish the concert!"
Zhou Wanqing waved a hand and sent Xiao Zhu out to call in the makeup artists.
Just then, the phone Feng Bingbing had left on the table vibrated. She picked it up and saw the "Goodbye" message Lin Mu had sent her on WeChat.
Across the road from Jiangrong Sports Center, inside an unremarkable black van.
"Feng Bingbing's back onstage. Holy crap, she's smiling so sweetly, like nothing happened. You'd never know her confession had failed!"
A chubby guy who was 170 centimeters tall and weighed 170 pounds was watching the concert livestream on his phone.
"Women in showbiz are all the same—heartless bitches and shameless performers!"
The tall, lean man in the passenger seat had handsome features and was better-looking than many pretty boys in the entertainment industry, yet he sported a full beard. He gave a cold snort.
The chubby guy corrected him. "Feng Bingbing's a singer, not an actress."
The bearded man's eyes turned fierce. "You looking for trouble?"
The chubby guy chuckled. "A Hen, your ex dumped you as soon as she became a celebrity. It's been a year. Still not over it?"
A Hen was the man behind "Slay All Unfeeling People." He and his girlfriend had been together since college, but after she became famous on a talent show, she entered show business and dumped him.
From then on, A Hen had hated women in the entertainment industry, vowing to ruin the reputations of all those "shameless performers and bitches."
So he'd thrown himself into the "noble" profession of paparazzi.
Hearing the chubby guy reopen his old wound, A Hen said icily,
"Fat Tiger, your sister sold your family's house to chase celebrities. Are you over that?"
The chubby guy's triangular eyes widened. "Holy shit, you pretty boy! Say that again and I'll beat the crap out of you!"
A Hen spread his legs and said coolly,
"Come on, then!"
The chubby guy immediately choked.
The chubby guy was Fan Circle Gecko. The name was a pun, originally meant to say "Fan Circle Must Perish."
His younger sister was a crazy fan. If he didn't help support her "giegie," she'd threaten to kill herself.
After that, the chubby guy had come to hate fan circles, so he'd named his WeChat account "Fan Circle Must Perish."
He loved digging up celebrities' dirt. Whenever he saw hysterical fans wailing and screaming after their idols' scandals came to light, he felt immensely satisfied.
After he joined Sky Curtain and started making a name for himself in the industry, his peers got into the habit of calling him Gecko.
So the chubby guy changed his nickname to "Fan Circle Gecko."
And because he was so fat, people who knew him called him Fat Tiger.
A Hen's words had hit Fat Tiger where it hurt, so he could only swallow his anger.
"Hey, hey, why's Brother Mu coming out?"
Fat Tiger pointed outside the window.
A tall, graceful figure emerged from the stadium, hurried across the road, and climbed into the van.
"Brother Mu, the concert isn't over yet. Why are you leaving?"
Fat Tiger and A Hen turned to look at Lin Mu, who had settled into the back seat, and asked in confusion.
Yesterday, Brother Mu had said he would use Feng Bingbing's trust to dig up a few big scoops.
Now a huge scoop was right in front of them. Why had Brother Mu left early?
Lin Mu raised a hand and rubbed his cheek, looking a little grim.
Fat Tiger and A Hen exchanged glances, not daring to speak.
After a long silence, Lin Mu finally looked up and said solemnly,
"Everyone, I feel like our business has hit a bottleneck. Shouldn't we calm down, take a good look at ourselves, and start over?"
Fat Tiger and A Hen: "?"
Seeing how bewildered they were, Lin Mu cleared his throat and put it in plain language.
"The paparazzi business is getting more cutthroat, too. Just staking people out and taking sneaky pictures is outdated. We need a whole new approach!"
"What 'cutthroat'?" Gecko and A Hen looked at each other in confusion.
Lin Mu slapped his forehead. This world didn't have the term "involution" yet. He fell silent for a moment and gathered his thoughts.
After sending Feng Bingbing that WeChat message, Lin Mu had left the stadium.
On the way out, he'd thought about a lot of things.
First of all, making money was still the top priority.
But he couldn't do it as shamelessly as the original owner had.
With so many classic entertainment works from Earth in his head, it shouldn't be hard to make money with dignity.
Second, he had to keep a low profile.
He didn't want to repeat the mistake of dying after someone confessed to him, but there was also his identity as a "paparazzo."
That was a huge stain on his reputation.
He didn't want to become famous only for someone to dig it up and bring his career crashing down.
So the best approach was to make money quietly from behind the scenes.
The problem was, he first had to persuade the two brothers who followed him.
Fat Tiger and A Hen weren't exactly good people, but they were wholeheartedly devoted to Lin Mu.
Once, when Lin Mu's mother had surgery, the two of them ran around taking care of everything and stayed up all night looking after her. They'd been more devoted than her own son.
Last year, when Lin Mu's younger sister went to college, they'd traveled a thousand miles to take her there and see her into her dorm. They'd even beaten up several guys who'd tried to take advantage of her.
Once, when someone splashed red paint on Lin Mu's older sister's shop, the two of them had gone straight to Hushang and doxxed the whole family of the culprit.
So Lin Mu wanted to help them change careers, too.
Wouldn't it be better if they didn't have to live like rats in a gutter, hiding in the dark forever? They could make an honest living without a worry.
Of course, the two of them were a little stubborn. If he suddenly said they were quitting the paparazzi business, they'd never accept it.
He had to take it gradually.
Lin Mu pulled out his phone and pointed to a webpage on the screen. The two of them leaned in to look.
"'Pure Voice' national preliminaries registration?"
"What's that?" A Hen asked, puzzled.
"You don't know that show? Last time we caught Liu Qiang's wife cheating, wasn't it because Liu Qiang had gone on the first season of Pure Voice as a mentor, and his wife hooked up with her grade-school classmate?"
Fat Tiger reminded him.
"Damn, right!"
Whenever the subject of women cheating came up, A Hen would grit his teeth. Gecko asked Lin Mu,
"Brother Mu, this is the poster for the national preliminaries of the second season of Pure Voice, right? Why are you showing it to us?"
"There's a preliminary round in Jiangrong the day after tomorrow. I'm planning to sign up."
Pure Voice was a talent show produced by Jiangrong Satellite TV, and it had one very special feature:
All contestants had to wear masks.
The show emphasized finding the purest, most beautiful voices. It didn't care about faces or looks—it only listened to the voice.
The format was perfect for Lin Mu. He could become famous and sell the songs he brought over for a high price, without showing his face and inviting trouble.
"What?!"
"Brother Mu, you're going to be a celebrity?!"
Fat Tiger and A Hen were both horrified.
A paparazzo becoming a celebrity?
That was completely ridiculous!
"No. I'm planning to infiltrate the enemy's ranks. That's the best way to get our hands on firsthand information."
The two exchanged bewildered looks.
"Comrades, although we're currently at the top of our industry, our competitors are catching up. If we don't innovate and adapt, sooner or later someone else will replace us!"
Lin Mu looked at them solemnly and spoke earnestly.
"The way the news about Feng Bingbing's confession unfolded makes it even clearer that we're falling behind in the timeliness and foresight of our industry intel.
"To make up for that weakness, I've decided to enter the entertainment industry as an artist and infiltrate the enemy's ranks.
"That way, we'll get the latest information as soon as it comes in!"
Fat Tiger and A Hen listened, dumbfounded. After a moment, they slowly shook their heads.
Lin Mu sighed softly, thinking that such a shoddy excuse couldn't fool even these two idiots.
Clap! Clap!
Clap, clap, clap!
Fat Tiger and A Hen burst into applause. The chubby guy praised him. "Brother Mu really does think ahead!"
A Hen murmured, "Infiltrating the enemy's ranks? Brilliant!"
Lin Mu froze and looked at them in disbelief. "So you two are willing to support me?"
"Of course!" Fat Tiger thumped his hefty chest. "Fly high, Brother Mu. Your brothers will always follow!"
A Hen's face filled with heartache. "Just thinking about how you're forcing yourself to enter a place like the entertainment industry for our sake makes me feel guilty. Brother Mu, we're sorry!"
Lin Mu steadied him. "It's not that bad. It's not that bad. For you two, I can put up with it."
"Brother Mu, what about the person Feng Bingbing confessed to?"
Lin Mu waved a hand. "No one can find out who it is. We don't need to worry about it."
Fat Tiger and A Hen exchanged glances. A Hen asked, "Brother Mu, why can't we find out?"
Lin Mu thought for a moment, then said, "Because even if that person stood right in front of you, you'd never guess who he was."
Thirty minutes after the concert ended, at ten that night.
Inside a van.
"Little Bing, if you're hurting, just cry."
"Bingbing, there's no one else here. Don't bottle it up. It's bad for you."
Xiao Zhu and Zhou Wanqing were both gently trying to comfort Feng Bingbing, who sat with her head bowed and said nothing.
Before going back onstage to perform, Feng Bingbing had received Lin Mu's "Goodbye" message. They'd both seen it and understood that it was a rejection.
They knew Feng Bingbing had been secretly in love with this senior for a long time. Today, she'd finally worked up the courage to confess during her own concert.
But she'd never expected things to turn out this way.
Yet Feng Bingbing had still gone back onstage, smiling and full of energy as she finished the rest of the show.
After the concert, she hadn't said a word from the moment she got into the van and left the stadium.
Zhou Wanqing and Xiao Zhu both felt sorry for her.
Maybe this is for the best. Whenever Bingbing tells this Senior Lin some industry secrets, they soon show up online. He may well have been using her.
Zhou Wanqing thought it was better to get over it quickly than to drag out the pain.
"Little Bing, please don't be like this! Waaah..." The emotional Xiao Zhu had already wrapped her arms around Feng Bingbing and started sobbing herself.
"What's wrong with you two? I'm really happy!"
Feng Bingbing suddenly looked up. There were no tear tracks on her face. Instead, her eyes shone brightly, and her smile was radiant.
"?" Xiao Zhu and Zhou Wanqing froze.
"Little Bing, did Senior Lin's rejection shock you so badly? Don't scare us!"
Feng Bingbing looked at them in surprise. "Rejection? When did Senior Lin reject me?"
She took out her phone, pointed to Lin Mu's message, and began interpreting it line by line.
"Look. Senior Lin apologized to me. That means he's always had feelings for me. He just couldn't be with me for now because he didn't want to hold back my career, so he painfully had to turn me down for the time being.
"When Senior Lin told me not to date and to focus on my career, he meant I should work hard to raise my status in the entertainment industry.
"Once I become a true Diva of the Music Scene, and a public relationship won't affect my career, then he'll be able to be with me.
"And this line: 'What happened before—I owe you. I'll make it up to you someday.'
"That's Senior Lin's hint to me. It means he'll make it up to me in love one day!
"Senior Lin is so considerate. I'm so touched!
"So from now on, I'm going to work hard on my career and put Senior Lin's worries to rest!"
The van fell silent when Feng Bingbing finished.
After a long while, Xiao Zhu slowly gave her a thumbs-up. "Little Bing, do you always get full marks on reading comprehension tests?"
Zhou Wanqing opened her mouth, apparently wanting to talk Feng Bingbing out of it, but then sighed and fell silent.
"Sister Wan Qing, what work do I have lined up lately?"
A fierce fighting spirit blazed in Feng Bingbing's pretty, radiant face.
"Uh, tomorrow you're going to Nanan to shoot a commercial for Defu Chocolate. The day after that, you've got a variety show on Shennan Satellite TV, and the day after that..."
Zhou Wanqing looked down at the schedule on her phone and pointed to one item:
"Next month, you'll be recording season two of Pure Voice on Jiangrong Satellite TV. You'll be a mentor. They're still negotiating, but if it's confirmed, it'll be your most important job in the near future."
Feng Bingbing raised both hands and clenched her fair fists, brimming with enthusiasm.
"Okay, I'm going to Nanan tonight! I'll work hard! I can do this! Senior, just you wait!"
"..."
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