Chapter 136: After Drinking Chicken Soup, You Must Work Hard

Is Chen Ziyan's interview about to start?

The news Yan Liang told him made him fall into deep thought.

Li Zhibai had told him before that according to the termination agreement he signed with Zhou Ping'an, as long as he changed to another manager and this manager was willing to lead him, the termination agreement would not take effect, because the agreement content stipulated that the premise for it to take effect was that the company still wanted to terminate the contract with Lu Yan He at that time.

In this matter, the one representing the company's attitude was the manager.

Jiang Yuqian had also told him that he could consider fighting to change managers. If he could get Chen Ziyan's favor, the negative effects Zhou Ping'an brought to him would disappear.

Lu Yan He walked towards the bus stop in deep thought.

The morning wind wasn't strong, but it wasn't gentle at all. Any little bit that blew up made him feel cold.

It was only November.

He didn't know how cold it would be when midwinter arrived.

"Beep beep—" The car horn sounded familiarly.

Lu Yan He looked up, and sure enough, it was Qiu Ling's car.

He could hitch a ride with Qiu Ling a few times almost every month.

"Morning, Sister Qiu Ling," Lu Yan He sat in the car and showed a bright smile.

Qiu Ling gave a long yawn, looking exhausted; it was clear she had pulled an all-nighter.

"Didn't sleep yesterday?" Lu Yan He asked.

Qiu Ling said: "Can't say I didn't sleep at all, I slept for half an hour."

"Why did you pull an all-nighter again?"

"Work, confidential nature, don't ask," Qiu Ling said, then glanced at Lu Yan He. "You kid slept quite well yesterday, look at how refreshed you are."

Lu Yan He nodded, his state was very refreshed, and said: "I had a full sleep yesterday."

"Yo, what time did you sleep?"

"Twelve o'clock."

Qiu Ling looked over with disdain, "You call this a full sleep?"

"It's alright, I slept for six hours," Lu Yan He said. "Mainly because time is too precious now. If my foundation were better, I wouldn't have to work so hard."

"Take it easy."

"It's fine, no matter how much I pull all-nighters, it will end by next June. Sister Qiu Ling, you should take it easy. I'll be done with the exam next June, but you won't change jobs next June."

Qiu Ling: "That's the nature of this job, no way around it. But we're okay, we can sleep very well when we're not busy."

After saying this, Qiu Ling felt quite bitter; why did this sound so miserable?

Lu Yan He said: "Sister Qiu Ling, the weather is so cold, let's go eat spicy hot pot after you're done with this busy period."

"Sure," Qiu Ling saw the joy on his face, "Why, any good news?"

"Hmm," Lu Yan He nodded, "Thanks to what you told me last time, it made me change some of my practices. I didn't expect to really get some unexpected rewards."

"Yo, congratulations."

"I finally won that play *The Golden Era*," Lu Yan He said to Qiu Ling. "After the college entrance exam is over, I will join the crew to film and officially become an actor."

"Yo," Qiu Ling laughed, "Okay, waiting for this play of yours to air. I'll cheer for you then."

"Hmm, thank you, Sister Qiu Ling."

Qiu Ling dropped Lu Yan He off at the gate of No. 13 Middle School and stopped by the side of the road.

"We're here."

"Bye-bye."

When Lu Yan He got out of the car, Qiu Ling suddenly said "Eh."

Lu Yan He saw Qiu Ling looking forward with some doubt. He followed her gaze and saw Su Su.

"Oh, Teacher Su," Lu Yan He stood outside the car door and asked, "Have you met Teacher Su again later?"

"Chatted on WeChat, but neither of us had that intention, so we didn't make an appointment," Qiu Ling said. "The world is quite small, he actually became your history teacher."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"Then I'm leaving, bye-bye." Lu Yan He closed the car door and walked towards the school gate.

Su Su looked over and saw him.

"Yan He, you're here so early," Su Su greeted him with a smile.

"Teacher Su, you're also very early."

"I live nearby, so I came over as soon as I woke up," Su Su asked. "I organized the wrong questions from your recent quizzes and found that your understanding and reserve in the official system of various dynasties are very insufficient. Once the questions become flexible, you will get them wrong."

"Yes, indeed."

Su Su said: "You should organize the content in this area yourself. Next time you come to explain this content to the classmates in the class, I will listen below. Don't be afraid if you explain it wrong; I will correct it one by one."

"Ah?"

"Afraid of losing face?"

"That's not it, but I really feel I don't have that ability and am afraid of saying it wrong."

"How good, exactly. You explain it, and let the classmates in the class pick out the mistakes. See who picks the most and the most accurately. This way, your subjective initiative can also be mobilized. Compared to passively listening to me, this method is more likely to arouse your interest."

"Alright then."

Lu Yan He quite liked this teaching mode of Su Su.

He often used this method to drive everyone to be more active in familiarizing and accumulating knowledge.

Everyone is working hard, but passive effort and active effort have completely different effects.

Letting that group of people in the class listen to his lecture certainly wouldn't be of much interest, but if it were to pick on him, the interest would come immediately.

The evil of human nature.

Lu Yan He laughed while once again rejoicing that he could meet these teachers.

Everyone's characteristics are different, and their teaching methods are different, but they all put their minds into helping everyone improve their grades.

Moreover, what surprised Lu Yan He the most was that they never looked up to the high and stepped on the low, nor did they give up on any student.

Until now, Liu Qin was still saying: "It's still not too late to start working hard from now on. Everyone must understand one truth: miracles don't happen for no reason. Miracles happen in your own hands. The harder you work, the greater the miracle."

Lu Yan He quite liked listening to Liu Qin tell these chicken soups, because the boring, hard-working time was too long, and he needed some chicken soup to make up for it and boost his spirit.

At noon, many students in the classroom were sleeping on their desks.

Lu Yan He felt a bit dizzy from reading, feeling that the doors and windows in the classroom were closed, not ventilated, and stuffy, so he put on his headphones and prepared to go to the playground to stroll around and get some air.

"Where are you going?" Li Pengfei, who was struggling with a math problem, saw him put on his headphones and was about to go out, and asked.

"Going to the playground to stroll around and get some air," Lu Yan He said.

"Oh," Li Pengfei grabbed his head in pain, "I feel like my brain cells are about to die. Let me think again. Why don't you go to the small shop and help me bring back a bottle of Red Bull."

"Alright," Lu Yan He nodded.

He came to the playground.

Usually, there were quite a few people on the playground at noon, and many people liked to come for a stroll.

But recently, because the weather was relatively cold, there was almost no one on the playground.

Today was the same.

The reason it was said to be almost was because Lu Yan He still saw one person.

From afar, he saw her circling on the playground, head down, hands in her pockets, her figure very silent.

It was Xu Zijun.

Ever since she failed the exam last time, Xu Zijun had become even more silent in class.

Usually, Li Xiang had a close relationship with her, but now they almost didn't speak.

She didn't speak, and everyone was afraid to talk to her. Dropping dozens of places in the grade ranking at once, for Xu Zijun, was the degree of falling from a top university to an ordinary 985.

Lu Yan He walked into the playground and walked forward clockwise with Xu Zijun, in the same direction.

He didn't go to greet Xu Zijun, nor did he foolishly or chuunibyou-ly go to cheer Xu Zijun on.

Although he didn't have much contact with Xu Zijun, Lu Yan He had an impression of Xu Zijun, an impression of a blade of grass, simple, looking inconspicuous, without such a beautiful appearance, nor a prominent family background, but growing stubbornly in a corner where no one paid attention.

Xu Zijun's grades slipping so much was definitely not a problem of effort, but a problem of state.

She only needed to adjust her state, and her previous grades would naturally be regained.

Xu Zijun walked two laps and left the playground.

Lu Yan He didn't know if she had seen him, because she always kept her head down. If she didn't raise her head to look far, she might not have noticed there was another person on the playground.

Lu Yan He only hoped she would quickly find her state back.

In the following days, whenever Lu Yan He felt a bit stuffy at noon, he would go to the playground to stroll around.

He often ran into Xu Zijun.

She was always head down, alone.

December, the fourth monthly exam.

On the day of the exam, it just happened to snow.

Lu Yan He saw a woman riding an electric motorcycle fall while turning on the bus. Just looking at it made him feel pain.

But fortunately, someone passing by helped her up.

When the weather gets cold, people's movements become clumsy.

When Lu Yan He took the Chinese subject exam, he almost didn't finish the essay.

His fingers were a bit stiff from the cold.

As soon as the Chinese exam was over, Li Pengfei greeted him: "Shall we go buy a drink? It's so cold, damn, I'm about to be frozen numb, my two feet are ice cold."

Lu Yan He nodded.

He was also cold.

Sitting for two hours, there was no heater in the classroom, and it was exceptionally cold.

Li Pengfei said happily: "I think the essay I wrote today is not bad, it should be able to get over 48 points."

Although the date of the college entrance exam was approaching, Li Pengfei didn't show any nervousness and was still a member of the optimistic school.

The small shop was overcrowded, all buying snacks.

Probably all hungry.

It was only eleven o'clock, and the cafeteria hadn't opened for meals yet.

Li Pengfei finally grabbed two bottles of hot milk tea and squeezed out of the crowd.

"Damn, the Spring Festival travel rush train wouldn't be much more than this, right?" he said.

"You actually know about the Spring Festival travel rush?"

"News is broadcast every year, I'm not blind."

There was no place to stand in the small shop, so they could only return to the classroom.

"Old Lu, seriously, which university is your target?" Li Pengfei asked.

Lu Yan He looked at him and said: "Already said it, Zhenhua or Yuming."

"..." Li Pengfei rolled his eyes at him speechlessly, "You still won't tell the truth until now."

"This is the truth, really," Lu Yan He laughed, "Why can't I get into Zhenhua and Yuming?"

"Look at your current grades, do you think it's realistic for you to say you want to get into Zhenhua and Yuming?"

"There are still six months left, we can continue to work hard," Lu Yan He raised his chin, "Don't you plan to work hard?"

"Joke, your Brother Fei is now studying with great enthusiasm, you know?" Li Pengfei immediately said without showing weakness, "Let me tell you, this exam will definitely exceed that idiot Luo Zicheng."

He was quite vengeful, still remembering to exceed Luo Zicheng.

Lu Yan He was between laughter and tears, saying: "What if you don't exceed him?"

According to Li Pengfei's usual character performance, he would definitely make a bet.

As a result, he now said: "If I don't exceed him, I'll exceed him next time."

"Boring."

"Hehe, little guy, still want to trick me into betting again."

After the last subject of the monthly exam was over, Lu Yan He still followed the usual practice, didn't stay at school for evening self-study, but went back.

He would sleep earlier at night to give himself a little more rest time.

But at nine o'clock in the evening, Lu Yan He received a call from Zhou Ping'an.

Zhou Ping'an brought news that was not too good.

"This time it's not me obstructing, someone has set their sights on that role of yours," Zhou Ping'an said. "You know him, Chen Ziliang."

Lu Yan He opened his eyes wide suddenly.

"Ah?" He didn't react for a moment, "Isn't he a singer?"

Zhou Ping'an: "Crossover, this is nothing strange. How many singers have come to be actors."

Lu Yan He said: "Did Luo Dao tell you he wants to replace me?"

"That's not it, your acting agreement has already been sent over, they haven't passed the legal department yet, and they will only return two copies after signing and stamping," Zhou Ping'an said. "Even if the contract is signed, there are people who get intercepted, let alone this kind of situation where the contract hasn't been fully signed yet. Forget about others, Chen Ziliang's popularity is much higher than yours. He is willing to guest star in such a role, which is a win-win business for this play. The rumors I heard are that the investors and the broadcast platform are more inclined to use him."

Lu Yan He asked: "Then generally, how should this situation be handled?"

"First of all, let me make it clear to you, I won't take action on this matter, but I can tell you a few ways to do it. Whether you can do it depends on your own ability," Zhou Ping'an said bluntly. "First, find his black material, splash dirty water on him, and make the production side afraid to use him. Second, you bring out something that can move the production side more, making the production side voluntarily give him up. Third, handle Luo Yuzhong and Jiang Yuqian. As long as the director and the lead actor decide that this role is for you to play, then the investors and the broadcast platform can be made to change their minds."

Lu Yan He said "Okay" after hearing Zhou Ping'an finish.

"But let me tell you a word from the heart, don't toss around. This circle is like this: the popular ones are pampered, and the unpopular ones are stepped on. If you want to arm-wrestle with Chen Ziliang, you must first sit at the same table with him," Zhou Ping'an asked. "Do you think you can sit at the same table with him?"

Lu Yan He was silent for a moment and said: "Why not? I got this role by auditioning, he relies on popularity and fame, so let's rely on our own abilities."

Zhou Ping'an gave a "Heh," "Your spirit is quite high."

Lu Yan He thought to himself, it wasn't that his spirit was high, but because he only had this one opportunity.

How could he obediently hand it over to others just because Chen Ziliang wanted to grab it.

Hanging up the phone, Lu Yan He took a deep breath.

Why did Chen Ziliang want to play such a role? This question popped up from Lu Yan He's mind first.

A singer with such high popularity should just sing well in his own track. Why bother to act? Even if he wanted to develop across circles, he could go to play a more important role, instead of a role in *The Golden Era* that might not even appear for three episodes.

The scene of him and Jiang Yuqian meeting Chen Ziliang by chance in a morning tea restaurant appeared in Lu Yan He's mind.

Was it for her?

"Are you sure you want to play this play?"

In the dressing room, Yan Wei looked at Chen Ziliang helplessly, the implication actually being that he didn't support Chen Ziliang's decision.

But what Chen Ziliang wanted to do, even if he, the manager, opposed it, it would be useless.

Just like last time Chen Ziliang stopped recording, no matter what he said, he couldn't persuade this person to change his mind.

Chen Ziliang sat in front of the dressing table, looked at himself in the mirror, and asked the makeup artist: "Do I look worse than those actors?"

The makeup artist praised very diligently: "How could that be, you look very handsome and have a very recognizable look."

Chen Ziliang curled his lips and glanced at Yan Wei.

"What's the point of singing all the time? The fans are tired of listening. I'll go act, it'll be fresh, isn't it?"

"You have never acted before," Yan Wei still tried his best to persuade, "What if you mess it up and get mocked by the internet later? It won't be good for you."

"I haven't even acted yet, and you know I'll mess it up?" Chen Ziliang immediately frowned, "That Lu Yan He has never acted before either, why does he dare to act?"

Yan Wei thought to himself, that person got the role through a proper audition, he must have some skills, it's completely different from you grabbing the role by relying on popularity, okay.

But there was no way to say this to Chen Ziliang, otherwise he would perform a fire-breathing dragon transformation on the spot.

Ever since he became popular, Chen Ziliang liked hearing these unpleasant words less and less.

Yan Wei could only say: "Lu Yan He acting is also just waiting to be scolded. He is just an idol artist, besides having a good-looking face, he knows nothing."

Chen Ziliang heard Yan Wei say this, and only then did he listen a little bit.

"Oh, anyway, that role doesn't have many scenes. If it really doesn't work, I'll go find an acting teacher and learn it well," Chen Ziliang said, "But this role is Yuqian's first love in the play, of course I can't let others play it."

... Yuqian.

Yan Wei thought to himself, if Jiang Yuqian had even a little bit of interest in you, she wouldn't be in this attitude now.

"Especially Lu Yan He." Chen Ziliang suddenly thought of something, and a flash of malice surfaced on his face again.

Yan Wei knew that Chen Ziliang didn't welcome Lu Yan He, and even hated him. Ever since they became enemies at *Small Song Gathering*, Chen Ziliang had regarded this young idol as a thorn in his side.

Unable to persuade Chen Ziliang, Yan Wei could only say: "If you want to play this role, you need to get Luo Dao Yuzhong's consent. I heard that he had already promised to give the role to Lu Yan He before, and both sides are going through the contract. If Luo Dao doesn't nod, it's useless for the investors and the broadcast platform to favor you."

"I heard that Luo Dao likes Mr. Zhang Shansan's paintings very much. Didn't I bid for one of his paintings at the charity gala last year? You make an appointment with Luo Dao, let's meet, so I can talk to him face to face."

Chen Ziliang had already thought about how to publicize Luo Yuzhong, even knowing whose paintings he liked.

As soon as Yan Wei heard it, he knew that Chen Ziliang had made up his mind to grab this role from Lu Yan He.

Lu Yan He didn't go to find Luo Yuzhong and Jiang Yuqian immediately.

People hadn't said anything, and you rushed to find them. They might even think you didn't trust them at all and listened to the wind and rain.

Lu Yan He seriously searched for Chen Ziliang's information on the internet.

What could he do?

Without the power of a company and a manager, he was just an ordinary third-year high school student and could do nothing.

But it was better than doing nothing.

Because he was thinking about this matter in his mind, when he came back to his senses, he found that he had been in a daze for almost half an hour.

The monthly exam results came out.

Lu Yan He improved again this time; he improved to 165th in the grade.

Before it was announced, it had already caused heated discussion in the teachers' office.

"That Lu Yan He in your class is a bit divine. In just a few months, he went from outside the top 500 in the grade to 165th. If this continues, I'm afraid he might be able to get into the first-tier university line in the end?"

In the office, other teachers said to Liu Qin.

Lu Yan He's continuous progress also made Liu Qin pleasantly surprised.

She knew Lu Yan He worked very hard, and she often said that as long as you are willing to work hard, it's never too late to start, but in reality, those words at the back were to encourage students. Is it really not too late? Liu Qin also knew it was completely unrealistic.

Working hard from the first year of high school and working hard from the third year of high school are completely different foundations.

Except for a very few gifted students, the gap in grades is opened by the differences accumulated over time.

The higher the ranking, the harder it is to improve, and there will even be a bottleneck period. After all, while you are improving, others are also improving. It's not that you alone work hard to brush questions and read books, and you will improve endlessly.

Lu Yan He being able to maintain this trend of progress is a small miracle that is unimaginable.

Liu Qin also wanted to know to what extent Lu Yan He could improve.

At the same time, there was a slight regret in her heart. If Lu Yan He had switched tracks earlier and shifted his focus to reading, it would have been good.

Some people are born with a sense of responsibility, and Liu Qin is such a person.

She chose to be a teacher because she loves helping these young children take a step up.

She doesn't want to give up on anyone because she always thinks about doing her best not to let anyone's life have regrets.

The fact that Lu Yan He has achieved progress in grade ranking for four consecutive exams has spread throughout the grade.

A person completing the leap from over 500th in the grade to over 100th in four months, according to previous years' grades, is completing the leap from a vocational college to the second-tier university line, which is simply a distance like a natural chasm.

This degree of progress, in the hearts of many classmates, he is almost becoming a god.

Lu Yan He hadn't even seen his grade ranking yet, and he had already heard about his grades from others.

When Liu Qin brought the class grade sheet over, the whole class knew that Lu Yan He had taken 165th place in the grade this time.

Li Pengfei was so envious that his eyes were red.

"You animal, how can you improve every time?"

Lu Yan He was still thinking about how to solve the matter of Chen Ziliang grabbing his role, but when he came back to his senses, he saw everyone looking at him with envious, jealous, and hateful eyes.

According to previous years' grades, their school's first-tier university line is generally around 120th in the grade, so being able to take 165th place is almost at the level of being able to choose a good school among second-tier universities.

Lu Yan He smiled at Li Pengfei and said: "Then you should work hard yourself too."

"I will definitely work hard!" Li Pengfei said, then sighed again, "Why hasn't our class's grade sheet been sent over yet?"

As soon as the voice fell, Liu Qin walked into the classroom with their class grade sheet.

A very bright smile appeared on Liu Qin's face.

"Everyone did well in this exam." ===== CHAPTER 137 =====