Chapter 233

The two of them circled the residential complex twice before slowly heading back.

Cheng Hai had already left.

"He left?" Yan Liang asked with some surprise.

Li Zhibai nodded and said, "He left after finishing what he had to say."

Yan Liang asked, "He came to talk to you about that Zhou Ping'an matter?"

"Yeah, that's the only thing to talk about." Li Zhibai said, "He came to explain and apologize to me. I feel it's nothing."

Li Zhibai showed an expression as if he hadn't taken it to heart at all.

However, he must have been happy that Cheng Hai did this.

Lu Yan He didn't expose him, only saying, "Then what do you plan to do about Zhou Ping'an?"

"Let him hang for two days first, I'm so fucking annoyed by people like this." Li Zhibai immediately frowned, first retorting about Zhou Ping'an, then said: "The Ma Zhiyuan matter hasn't been cleared up with me yet, and now he's pulling this kind of thing, treating me like a fool to be fooled, and even calling it optimizing resource allocation. Optimize his ass, why doesn't he share his income with us?"

Lu Yan He laughed instantly.

Yan Liang: "Incisive."

He suddenly thought of something and said, "Should we clean the house in a bit? The show's crew is coming to film tomorrow. They'll start filming from the moment we leave, and they'll film the environment in our house, right?"

"What's there to clean? There's nothing shameful." Li Zhibai had a lazy temperament, "Don't be nervous. Anyway, after the show airs, everyone will know that the laziest person is me."

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang were between laughter and tears.

Li Zhibai being so self-aware left them with nowhere to say more retorts.

Unlike shows like 'City Travel Notes' and 'Small Song Gathering', 'Young Days' was the first reality show Lu Yan He participated in.

Reality shows have been booming for over ten years and have become the type of variety show that promotes actors the most.

Compared to shows like 'Small Song Gathering' that show off professional skills, or other shows that show off intelligence, acting skills, or other talents, reality shows show off yourself—every part of you.

Therefore, Zhou Ping'an asked Yan Liang to find a label for himself.

In reality shows, the easiest thing to go viral with is a label.

Foodie persona, physical strength representative, super intelligence, funny person, etc.

Having a distinct label is the only way to let many people recognize you at the first moment.

Lu Yan He didn't intend to say things like he wasn't participating in this show to become popular; that was too high-sounding and too unrealistic.

If you don't want to be popular, why be an artist?

It's just that Lu Yan He didn't know how to do it, because it was his first time.

Wanting to be popular is true, and not wanting to do anything just to be popular is also true. At nineteen, one wants to be popular in an upright way, to be popular uprightly.

"Are you guys nervous?" Lu Yan He asked the two of them, his gaze falling on Li Zhibai, seeing the latter had no reaction, "Li Zhibai isn't nervous, I know."

"Nervous." Yan Liang honestly admitted, "A bit afraid that I'll say something wrong, or that one move will be wrong, and then I'll make a mistake. I've seen many artists get scolded like this."

"It's fine, having people scold you is better than having no one know you." Li Zhibai's tone was very open-minded, saying: "Look at me, how many people scold me every day? Let them scold, the more people scold me, the higher my remuneration."

This is the double-edged sword of the traffic era—more pressure, but also greater monetization ability.

Compared to Lu Yan He who suddenly became popular, Li Zhibai, who has been popular for several years, clearly has more experience and insights in this regard.

He was already used to those voices on the internet scolding him.

Except for pain, what people are never used to are things that happen accidentally; sometimes, one even gets used to pain.

The luggage of the three people had all been packed.

Early the next morning, someone came to knock on the door.

Yan Liang and Lu Yan He had already returned from running.

Yan Liang had finished showering, and Lu Yan He was showering inside.

Yan Liang went to open the door, and as soon as he opened it, there was a camera filming him.

Several staff members of the show crew wearing work badges greeted him.

"Hi, hello, you guys came so early." It was only 7:30 in the morning, and Yan Liang had thought they would come at 9:00 or 10:00 at the earliest.

Yan Liang invited them in.

There were six people in total.

They were the PDs responsible for each of the three of them.

The other two groups asked about Lu Yan He and Li Zhibai as soon as they entered.

"Yan He is showering, Brother Bai is still... sleeping." Yan Liang felt somewhat embarrassed to say in front of the camera that Li Zhibai was still sleeping, as if exposing the fact of Li Zhibai's laziness. In fact, Li Zhibai himself said it didn't matter, and besides, it was only 7:30 in the morning, it was very normal to still be sleeping.

Yan Liang asked: "Have you guys eaten breakfast?"

The show crew staff all nodded, saying they had eaten.

Yan Liang was somewhat surprised, "Wow, you guys ate so early?"

At this moment, Lu Yan He came out after showering, and as soon as he came out, he was stunned.

There were actually so many people in the house, and several cameras.

As soon as he appeared, one was immediately pointed at him.

Lu Yan He's hair was still wet, and he asked in shock: "Did you come so early?"

"Yeah."

Lu Yan He scratched his head, looked at the T-shirt and big shorts he was wearing; he really had no image at all.

"Uh, I'll go change clothes and come out in a bit."

After saying that, he rushed into the room.

Fortunately, Chen Ziyan would regularly send him a batch of clothes, all sponsored by cooperative brands. Lu Yan He changed into a set before walking out of the room.

Facing this scene, both he and Yan Liang were somewhat at a loss.

Yan Liang was still working hard to find some topics to chat with them.

At this moment, a girl with a ponytail wearing white sun-protective clothing smiled at him and said: "Yan He, hello, I'm Chen Mo, your follow-up PD, and he is He Zhong, your follow-up cameraman. Please take care of me in the future."

Lu Yan He hurriedly greeted them, "Hello, I'm Lu Yan He."

His eyes turned with a social-anxiety-style restlessness, and he asked: "Do you guys drink beverages? Let me get you some drinks?"

"It's fine, no need." Chen Mo said, "Just pretend we don't exist and do what you normally do. We'll do a simple interview after your agent arrives."

Lu Yan He nodded, then looked at Yan Liang. Yan Liang knew what he meant and answered directly with his eyes: "Don't look at me, I don't know what to do now either."

Both of them were complete reality show novices.

The two of them were awkwardly silent for a while, then suddenly their eyes lit up at the same time.

They looked at Li Zhibai's tightly closed bedroom door simultaneously.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck—"

Li Zhibai sat straight up from the bed with a bird's nest of hair, and as soon as he opened his mouth, it was a series of "fucks" like a runaway train.

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang—one opened the curtains to let the summer sun shine in, and the other pulled off the blanket on Li Zhibai, at least closing the door from the inside so the photographers couldn't come in and film this scene.

The people outside heard Li Zhibai's roar inside the room, but unfortunately they only recorded the sound and didn't film the scene, and all felt it was a pity.

Five minutes later, Li Zhibai came out of the room with an angry look.

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang, on the grounds of "completely not knowing what to do," insisted on waking Li Zhibai up from the bed, letting this reality show veteran lead them.

The reality show veteran was very unhappy about being woken up, but because people had already arrived outside, the veteran was a veteran after all and didn't spit out foul language at this time, just went to the bathroom angrily, not even having time to say a greeting.

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang looked at Li Zhibai's self-absorbed appearance and nodded to each other.

"The arrogant brother is still the arrogant brother."

Li Zhibai went to the bathroom and washed his face; only then did he have the energy to greet the staff.

But it was just one greeting. Once the greeting was done, he acted as if they weren't there and lay down on the sofa again, looking like he intended to take a nap.

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang, of course, didn't intend to let him sleep through it again.

So, the two of them immediately sat down beside him, one pushing his head to the side, the other pushing his legs to the side, so that Li Zhibai's body, which was originally lying horizontally on the sofa, became an angle. Li Zhibai couldn't help but let out a violent roar, finally sat down, and looked at the two of them, "I fuck you two!"

The staff present silently thought to themselves, OK, it's just started, and it's already time to censor.

After Li Zhibai was gotten up by Lu Yan He and Yan Liang, he kept a straight face and sighed from time to time.

Lu Yan He looked at Li Zhibai's bird's nest and asked: "Do you want to go fix your hair?"

"It's already been filmed anyway, I'm too lazy to fix it, I'll fix it when the makeup artist comes." Li Zhibai said, yawning, looked towards the camera, and said to the show crew: "You guys are too unkind, launching a surprise attack early in the morning just to film our embarrassing moments."

His PD immediately smiled and said: "We don't have that intention."

"If I believe you, I'm a ghost." Li Zhibai curled his lips, "Where's Li Zhenzhen? Why didn't she come? Is she sleeping in herself, letting you guys run over to work early in the morning?"

"The director is waiting for you at your accommodation." The PD covered his mouth and smiled.

Lu Yan He was surprised by Li Zhibai's attitude of daring to say anything in front of the camera.

However, he instinctively felt that Li Zhibai's way was what reality shows should look like.

Compared to this, he and Yan Liang were too reserved.

Li Zhibai slowly woke up a bit, not so sleepy anymore, yawned, and asked: "Have you two finished running?"

"Yeah."

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang both shook their heads.

Both of them had just finished running and couldn't eat; they usually waited half an hour before eating.

Li Zhibai said: "Then let's go downstairs to eat breakfast."

Yan Liang said: "We've already bought steamed buns and soy milk."

"Oh?" Li Zhibai nodded, "Then we don't even need to go out, that works."

He yawned and said: "I'm going to brush my teeth."

Once Li Zhibai left, the living room became quiet again.

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang looked at each other, and the staff were also wondering if these two didn't have a very good relationship, why did they stop talking as soon as Li Zhibai left? But looking at them, it didn't seem like they didn't have a good relationship.

After a few seconds, Lu Yan He said: "Then should we eat here, or go to the dining table?"

"Let's eat here, otherwise they'll have to change camera positions again." Yan Liang pointed at the staff and said.

The staff really wanted to say that they didn't have fixed camera positions; they were all cameramen carrying cameras themselves, which could be moved flexibly. Li Zhibai's cameraman had followed him to film him brushing his teeth.

However, reality shows have always tried not to interfere with the lives of artist guests, filming their most real appearance. Therefore, as a principle for staff, it is to try not to interrupt if possible, and not to disturb them.

Unless it involves matters of principle, they generally don't speak.

Lu Yan He and Yan Liang went to get the steamed buns and soy milk, and without waiting for Li Zhibai, they started eating directly.

As soon as Li Zhibai came, he asked: "What kind of steamed buns did you buy?"

"Just from that steamed bun shop at the entrance." Yan Liang answered.

"Oh." Li Zhibai yawned again, sat down, and said: "I really admire you two, insisting on waking me up."

"It's our first time recording this kind of reality show, we have no experience, and with you not here, we don't know what to say."

"Then just say whatever you should say." After Li Zhibai finished speaking, he took a bite of half a steamed bun, eating it very deliciously.

Lu Yan He really envied Li Zhibai's spirit of being self-absorbed and treating the camera as if it didn't exist.

"When are Zhou Ping'an and Sister Ziyan coming?" Li Zhibai asked again.

"Around 8:30, they still have to do our styling." Yan Liang said.

"That's still a while away." Li Zhibai finished the steamed bun in his hand in a few bites and took another one, "The steamed buns at our entrance are quite fragrant, surprisingly delicious."

"It's okay, lots of meat."

Li Zhibai polished off three by himself, while Yan Liang and Lu Yan He only ate two.

After eating and drinking their fill, the first reaction of the three was to lie down.

"So full."

After Yan Liang lay down, he immediately realized there was a camera filming, felt this appearance was too lazy, and sat back on the sofa.

Lu Yan He also followed and sat up.

The image was indeed not very good.

Only Li Zhibai, not caring at all, continued to lie on the floor.

"How long are we recording this time?"

"We're recording for five days."

Li Zhibai said "Oh," and after a while, said again: "Then are we going to the house to eat lunch later?"

"Should be, it seems like they said they'd let us meet and get to know each other while eating lunch."

Li Zhibai: "Why do these reality shows like to play these mysterious games?"

He didn't even avoid the reality show staff when retorting, complaining to their faces.

Lu Yan He thought to himself, this is really the gap. How could he and Yan Liang never be as relaxed as Li Zhibai.

However, at this moment, Lu Yan He thought about it and felt that even if he wasn't relaxed, it didn't matter; it was also very normal, no need to deliberately pretend to be relaxed.

Lu Yan He figured this out and relaxed instead.

Having a few more people in the house filming you is always a bit uncomfortable.

After Lu Yan He and the others rested for a while, they started doing their own things.

Lu Yan He returned to his room, opened his laptop, and read the manuscripts.

'Jump Up' had released a call for submissions on the Ye Mai website and Jiang Yin Publishing House, and the submission email was managed by him and Chen Siqi together.

In fact, 99% of the manuscripts in the email couldn't be used, but they still checked the manuscripts received in the email every day.

The division of labor between the two of them was that whoever clicked on the read email was responsible for reading that manuscript. If there was one written well and they felt there was hope for publication, they would download it and upload it to a shared network drive.

The network drive was used by the two of them.

Lu Yan He read manuscripts every day.

Lu Yan He actually often had a feeling of being tired of reading. Reading books and novels used to be his hobby, but now it was a bit of a torture, because many articles were indeed not written very well.

For things like writing, the more one tries to use flowery language, the more literary it looks, but in reality, the more sincere it is, the more it touches people.

Yet, sincerity is too precious and hard to see.

Just at this time, Lu Yan He suddenly received a message from Jiang Yuqian: The article I promised you is written.

Lu Yan He's eyes lit up at this moment.

Finally received it.

Jiang Yuqian sent a document over.

Lu Yan He: Thanks, Sister Yuqian!

Jiang Yuqian: Don't come to me for this kind of work next time, I really can't write things.

Lu Yan He: Thank you, Sister Yuqian, for supporting me!

Jiang Yuqian: Just know it. Alright, I've finished the task, I'm going to sleep.

Lu Yan He was taken aback and asked: Sister Yuqian, why are you sleeping at this hour? Didn't you sleep last night?

Jiang Yuqian said: I pulled an all-nighter filming last night, just finished, and suddenly got the feeling, so I finished your article.

Lu Yan He: Then shouldn't I thank this all-nighter? Otherwise, Sister Yuqian, you wouldn't have been able to write it.

Jiang Yuqian: It's too torturous, going to sleep, bye.

Lu Yan He opened the article Jiang Yuqian sent with some excitement, and she had actually solidly written nearly two thousand words.

He immediately read it once. What Lu Yan He didn't expect was that Jiang Yuqian had actually written a letter to the character she played in 'Golden Age'.

Lu Yan He really hadn't expected this form.

However, after reading the manuscript, Lu Yan He was stunned. The content in this article shocked Lu Yan He.

"When I wrote this letter to you, it was in the gap of an all-nighter. The weather was very hot, I was sitting on the set, and only a small fan was blowing some wind."

"If I hadn't promised Yan He to write this manuscript, I might have needed a long time before I thought I could write this letter to you."

"Many fans think I am a particularly desperate and hardworking person, but I actually know myself that compared to you, I am far behind. When I was playing you, I often couldn't help but think, if I encountered the setbacks and difficulties you did in my life, could I hold on?"

"Seeing you holding your breath in such a difficult environment, refusing to give up, I often think back to when I was in school, and I can't help but feel some regret—regret that I didn't persist a little more and work a little harder like you."

"Do you know? My experience is really similar to yours, only I haven't achieved the success you have. I am not unhappy now, but like you, in my heart, lives someone I can no longer see and find hard to forget. So, after reading the script for the first time, I was thinking, perhaps meeting you is destiny."