Chapter 349

The final episode of *Idol Era* in June was officially confirmed to be broadcast live on June 12th.

This sparked widespread attention.

Especially those fans who were busy boosting their idols' rankings were left stunned by this sudden news.

Previous episodes had all been pre-recorded; why the sudden switch to a live broadcast?

The key was that no one knew what the final result of this live broadcast would be. Although many fans were fans, they were well aware of their artists' actual professional capabilities; truly "blind" fans were in the minority. This made the fans of artists who usually relied heavily on post-production editing quite nervous.

Furthermore, *Idol Era* seemed intent on turning this episode into a "grand gala." Not only did they introduce a new live voting mechanism for the rankings, but they also officially announced eight guest performers to support the episode. Among them, Lu Yan He would not only have a solo performance but would also perform a trio stage with Li Zhibai and Yan Liang.

In the teaser image for their trio stage, the production team wrote the slogan: Classic revival, we're doing it for real!

Those four words immediately piqued everyone's curiosity about their trio stage.

Classic revival?

Just how popular was the show *Idol Era*?

Because of this show, Bingyuan Video had remained firmly at the top of the traffic rankings among all video platforms since the beginning of the year. It was because of this show that Bingyuan Video gained a steady stream of viewers every week, and the audience was only growing. Idol artists naturally held an appeal for young people, and more and more students and youths were drawn in, becoming fans of specific idols or the show itself, and starting to tune in every week.

On this show, nearly ninety percent of the performances were of that modern, hip-hop, high-energy variety.

The biggest difference between it and music variety shows was that *Idol Era* focused on the concept of stage performance.

Stage performance included singing, dancing, and other design elements. Therefore, one could see a richer variety of performance forms on this show.

The last time the three of them—Lu Yan He and the others—collaborated on a stage was in June of last year.

A whole year had passed, and now, finally, there was a new stage.

Lu Yan He's few "stage fans" and "group fans" all shed tears, as they hadn't expected to see such a day come again.

The person in charge of monitoring the various data for *Idol Era* sighed repeatedly: "It's bizarre. Lu Yan He is coming to perform on our show, and even though it hasn't aired yet, we've already hit two heat peaks of over ten thousand."

Others heard this and said, "He's popular."

"But generally speaking, an artist with such high heat should have very high fan stickiness, yet his fans, no matter which dimension you look at, don't count as first-tier; there's a huge gap compared to Li Zhibai and Ma Zhiyuan."

"He just has a lot of casual fans; he doesn't play that data-operation game with you."

"Mainly, he's no longer following the idol artist path, so he doesn't need fans with such strong stickiness."

"That's easy to say, but what star artist doesn't need fans?"

"Need them? Of course they do. But if an actor's fans are as crazy as Li Zhibai's or Ma Zhiyuan's, is that really a good thing? Every time one of Li Zhibai's dramas airs, his fans get into fights with other artists' fans, without exception. This doesn't leave a good impression on people. If Li Zhibai weren't so capable himself, he would at least be affected in terms of commercial endorsements. Absolutely no artist can ignore the impact of negative public opinion."

Xu Fanxing sat at her workstation, silently listening to the discussion without joining in.

She had actually been with the *Idol Era* show for a while now. After Chen Ziyan arranged for her to come here, she became a very ordinary artist liaison. Chen Ziyan hadn't said exactly what she hoped she would do here, only telling her to get familiar with the environment first.

When she first arrived, she was actually very unaccustomed to the environment. It wasn't that the work was too busy or tiring, but that many aspects of this place were very different from the world she had previously encountered. She had always felt that she wasn't afraid of hardship or fatigue, but upon arriving here, she realized that there were some places where being hardworking and diligent wasn't enough to survive.

No one taught her; for an outsider like her, everyone's attitude was to keep her at arm's length. They wouldn't offend her, but they wouldn't get close either. This wasn't the worst part; what gave her the biggest headache was the work content itself. Dealing with the artist side shattered her entire worldview.

The first time she dealt with an artist's team, before Xu Fanxing could even say anything, the other party's agent looked her up and down and walked away directly with their artist. Xu Fanxing didn't even know what she had done wrong, but the other party said nothing and just told the production team they wanted someone else to be their liaison.

After going around in circles, it wasn't until one day when Xu Fanxing heard others discussing it in the pantry that she realized the artist's side felt she was too pretty, so they didn't want to work with someone like that. Xu Fanxing found it bizarre and unbelievable when she heard it.

But after doing this job for a long time, Xu Fanxing slowly realized that there were many such incidents. Many artist teams minded if the liaison staff were pretty; female stars worried about being upstaged, and male stars worried about misunderstandings and rumors.

Besides these things, there were even more unbelievable occurrences. For instance, some artists' meal allowance was actually one thousand per meal. Xu Fanxing really wanted to know what they were eating. Gold? When she saw such news online before, she thought it was marketing accounts deliberately creating sensational headlines to grab traffic. That was until she encountered such demands herself while working as a liaison.

And this was still something relatively understandable; at most, one could say the artist was extravagant and wasteful. But there were things she couldn't understand even more, like not having mirrors in the hotel room, or requiring three pots of green plants in the hotel room, or even demanding the production team be responsible for the entire management team's food, housing, and transportation... Dealing with different artists meant encountering different demands, and even with the same artist, the demands changed every time.

Xu Fanxing often thought back to the past few years, working hard and earning a meager salary of less than three thousand a month, only to find that it wasn't even as much as someone else's meal for a single day. This contrast took her a long time to adjust her mood.

And having dealt with different artists and different teams, this time, when dealing with Lu Yan He, she suddenly felt like she had returned from a "fantasy world" to the "real world."

The person she dealt with on Lu Yan He's side was an assistant who had just taken over the job.

His name was Wang Biao.

She coordinated with Wang Biao on Lu Yan He's rehearsal time, food, housing, and transportation requirements, etc. Wang Biao quickly replied with a schedule, on which several time slots were already set for work: "Except for these time slots, the rehearsal time can be whatever works for Li Zhibai and Yan Liang. You just set the time and let us know."

Xu Fanxing was stunned when she saw this sentence.

These artists' schedules were the hardest to coordinate. Because artists already had many commitments and various requirements—some didn't want to rehearse in the afternoon, some didn't want to rehearse after nine in the evening, and some explicitly stated they couldn't stay up late and had to finish before twelve. Xu Fanxing always had the biggest headache with this timing and could only coordinate and communicate time and again. Many artists would say "it's fine, I'll cooperate," but once the time passed, there would be problems here and conflicts there, giving Xu Fanxing a headache.

Although she knew Lu Yan He and had dealt with him before, she had seen too many people whose on-screen image and private situation were inconsistent during this time. Xu Fanxing hadn't expected Lu Yan He to be so straightforward. She even wondered if it was because Wang Biao had just taken over the job that he was so easy to talk to.

Xu Fanxing confirmed other matters with Wang Biao regarding Lu Yan He coming to record the show this time. Confirming the specifications of the shuttle vehicle, the level of the hotel, the size and layout of the on-site lounge, etc.

Wang Biao replied: "Sister Fanxing, no need for such trouble. We'll come ourselves, and we won't stay in a hotel. We'll stay in Yuming ourselves; just help us arrange four boxed meals."

Xu Fanxing:???

She asked: "No need to prepare anything extra?"

Wang Biao: "I asked Little Brother Lu, and Little Brother Lu said no need for trouble."

Xu Fanxing was shocked.

However, when she reported the coordination situation on Lu Yan He's side, everyone else had no extra reaction.

Only one person said: "Tsk tsk, Lu Yan He is still Lu Yan He; reading more books really means having high character."

Everyone seemed to have become accustomed to such operations by Lu Yan He.

Xu Fanxing finally felt a sense of relief: no matter how many monsters and ghosts there are, there are still honest people in the world.

Lu Yan He's solo performance was rehearsed separately.

The rehearsal time was exactly three o'clock in the afternoon.

Lu Yan He went directly to the studio to test the sound and walk through the positions.

His appearance caused many people to gather at the scene.

This was Lu Yan He's first time coming to *Idol Era* to perform.

Lu Yan He also hadn't sung for a long time.

If one didn't evaluate Lu Yan He's singing skills from the perspective of a professional singer, it was of the very good kind. He indeed had a good voice that made people feel it was "pleasant to listen to," just not as outstanding as his acting talent.

The theme song of *Seventeen Layers* was a song full of a sense of destiny and resistance. There was a high note in the chorus, and Lu Yan He belted it out with ease.

Everyone at the scene was amazed.

Because they had all heard about Lu Yan He's positioning—why did Lu Yan He make acting his main career? Because his talent for acting was far higher than his talent for singing.

They all thought Lu Yan He was someone who sang very ordinarily.

As a result, belting out this song with such ease left everyone stunned.

"Yan He, you sing very well. Why don't you sing more often?" someone asked.

Lu Yan He stood on the stage, quickly waving his hands, saying: "It's just amateur-level pleasantness, I've embarrassed myself."

The director came over, eyes full of surprise, saying: "You really should come to our show more often; this song of yours will definitely be a hit."

Lu Yan He: "Thank you, Director, I hope your kind words come true."

The director added: "We've all heard the demo of the song you wrote for Li Zhibai and Yan Liang. You truly are the author who wrote *Memory*. Are you really not considering releasing more musical works in the future?"

Lu Yan He said: "If there's a suitable opportunity, of course I will, but I write songs very slowly. It's been so long, and I've only written these few songs."

The director said: "I have a premonition that these songs will all become hits, especially *Young Battlefield*, a battle song dedicated to high school seniors and middle school students. When I heard this song, I got goosebumps; it made my blood boil."

Lu Yan He smiled and said thank you.

Regardless of whether the other party was being polite, *Young Battlefield* was indeed written for students.

Lu Yan He remembered this song because during his own college entrance exam days, the school kept playing it, making him able to sing it from beginning to end.

The rehearsal ended smoothly, and the director said to him: "We want to put this song of yours in the fifth performance position. Do you think that's okay?"

"That's fine, I have no problem, I'm okay with anything. This performance itself is also to promote *Seventeen Layers*. Thank you, Director, for the stage."

Director: "I'm the one who should thank you for being willing to come to our show."

He personally escorted Lu Yan He out of the studio.

Lu Yan He said to him: "Then we'll see each other later."

At nine o'clock in the evening, there was also the rehearsal for *Green Apple Paradise*.

The director nodded.

Lu Yan He didn't wait here but went to a nearby bookstore. This bookstore was a partner bookstore of *Jump Up*, and he planned to go there to write the script.

Chen Siqi had always said that if he had the chance, he should show his face more at the partner bookstores of *Jump Up*.

Lu Yan He also kept this in mind.

Moreover, he also had to meet someone here.

The classmate recommended by He Jiang, Wang Dashan.

Wang Dashan was wearing a white shirt, black pants, and a pair of canvas shoes on his feet. He had a buzz cut and looked very spirited, but not at all like a star.

However, Lu Yan He's eyes lit up.

Because there was an inexplicable, very honest, and clumsy temperament about him, and this temperament was very fitting for the character Niu Geng.

He stood outside the bookstore waiting for him.

Lu Yan He was wearing sunglasses and a baseball cap. Wang Dashan probably didn't recognize him at first until he walked up to him.

"Wang Dashan?"

Wang Dashan reacted, "Hello."

He even used the polite "you."

"You're my senior, just call me Yan He," Lu Yan He said. "Finally met."

There was an inexplicable restraint in Wang Dashan's expression.

Visible nervousness.

"I, I..." his expression suddenly slumped, "I can't call you that. You're the producer, how can I just call you by your name?"

As his eyebrows and eyelids drooped like that, he drooped into a bit of clumsy frustration.

At this moment, Lu Yan He had only one feeling—

Heaven-sent Niu Geng.

Wang Dashan was very similar to Wang Baoqiang in some aspects, and very unlike him in others.

Lu Yan He subconsciously wanted to find someone who looked very similar to Wang Baoqiang, but seeing Wang Dashan, he realized that finding someone who looked similar wasn't the point at all.

After chatting with Wang Dashan for a while, Lu Yan He realized why he couldn't get roles in other crews.

He was quite stubborn and persistent.

For example, when Lu Yan He asked him if he would act if he were asked to play a role he didn't want to play, Wang Dashan shook his head and said he wouldn't.

Lu Yan He asked again, then what if he kept refusing to play roles he didn't want to play and had no plays to act in, what would he do?

He didn't say he would stop acting, but rather, he'd deal with it when the time came.

Lu Yan He was torn between laughter and tears.

Not every young actor who graduated would lower their requirements to fight for an opportunity, but such actors often ended up battered and bruised.

Reality is always cruel.

Lu Yan He originally thought that since Wang Dashan came from a township and had an average family background, he wouldn't have such lofty pursuits. He didn't expect him to have such high self-requirements.

"Do you know what kind of role I'm looking for you to play?" Lu Yan He asked.

Wang Dashan shook his head, "I don't know, but He Jiang told me it's to act with Teacher Jia Long."

"Yes, that's right."

"I watched *Friends*, your dialogue writing is amazing." Although Wang Dashan was nervous facing Lu Yan He, when talking about the script, he had professional confidence. Clearly saying Lu Yan He was amazing, he didn't have any intention of flattery, but rather spoke of it as if stating a fact, "The script you wrote must be very good, I really want to act in it."

Lu Yan He nodded.

"Whether you can finally be cast depends on the later audition. Teacher Jia Long will also come to see it in person. If Teacher Jia is dissatisfied with your acting, there's nothing I can do," Lu Yan He said.

"Hmm." Wang Dashan pursed his lips tightly and nodded.

"Do you know why I wanted to see you when I saw your resume?" Lu Yan He asked curiously.

Wang Dashan shook his head.

A look of sincere confusion appeared on his face.

A big star like Lu Yan He must be very busy usually.

Lu Yan He said: "Because when I was writing the character Niu Geng, I felt that he was someone so sincere that people around him would be willing to help him unconditionally. I met He Jiang actually to see him for another play, but he wasn't that concerned about his own affairs, yet he brought your resume to recommend you to me. I became very curious about you. Someone who could make his classmate do that made me feel at that moment that you might be very similar to Niu Geng." Wang Dashan revealed a look of sudden realization.

"He Jiang has always been a good person."

"Are you two very close?"

"Yes, very close," Wang Dashan nodded, "He is my best friend in college."

"No wonder," Lu Yan He smiled, suddenly remembering something, and asked: "Have you signed with an agency? Do I need to contact your company to cast you?"

Wang Dashan shook his head and said: "I haven't signed with a company, no good agency wants to sign me."

Lu Yan He revealed a look of realization.

"I see."

Wang Dashan nodded.

Lu Yan He said: "One more thing, if you end up acting in it, the pay we give you won't be very high."

"It's okay," Wang Dashan said, "If you are willing to have me act, I'm willing to act even without pay."

Lu Yan He: "We aren't heartless merchants, but I have to make it clear to you first. On one hand, our film's production budget is relatively tight, and on the other hand, because this is your first time acting, according to market rates, it won't be very high."

"I know," Wang Dashan nodded.

Overall, the communication with Wang Dashan was still very smooth.

Lu Yan He also had a very good impression of Wang Dashan. The main reason was that after chatting with Wang Dashan, Lu Yan He felt he was really suitable for playing Niu Geng. Sometimes Wang Dashan's words and reactions were exactly the same as Niu Geng's. This made Lu Yan He, who had been somewhat tense, relax.

To be honest, at this moment, Lu Yan He once again realized the preciousness of Wang Baoqiang as an actor. It wasn't that Xu Zheng didn't act well in the role of Li Chenggong, but if he didn't act, there would be other actors who could play it well. However, if Wang Baoqiang didn't play Niu Geng, it would be very difficult to find someone who could follow him to play Niu Geng.

This temperament of being honest, sincere, and not making people feel foolish or stupid is too precious.

Ordinary actors don't have this spirit, and actors who have this spirit can't make it. Like Wang Baoqiang, being able to become a big star of his level with this spirit, he is the only one.

After chatting with Wang Dashan, Lu Yan He started working in the booth of the bookstore.

He ordered a cup of coffee, with his back to the interior view of the bookstore, facing the floor-to-ceiling window outside.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window were green trees and walls. This angle was specially reserved for him by the owner, who knew his identity was relatively sensitive, so this position allowed him to have a relatively private place in this bookstore.

Of course, he would definitely still be seen by people.

Lu Yan He coming to this bookstore was also to be seen, and then, to drive traffic to this bookstore.

Chen Siqi said: "Bookstores are declining; if we can drive some customer traffic through you, that's also a good thing."

Now bookstores are all self-saving, wanting to survive as long as possible in this era.

Chen Siqi is also willing to help drive traffic to partner bookstores of *Jump Up*—so, writers going to various bookstores for signings or exchange activities is one thing, and Lu Yan He using his star effect to drive traffic is another.

Around five o'clock in the afternoon, Li Zhibai pushed open the bookstore door and walked in, carrying a large bag.

Although he was wearing sunglasses, the moment he entered, some people in the bookstore heard the movement, turned their heads to look, and then were shocked by the scene before them, completely captivated.

This scene was like a scene from a movie.

The sunset had already set, and the golden sunlight had turned orange-red at some point.

Outside the bookstore were high-rise buildings and bustling traffic, with white noise composed of human voices and other sounds.

Li Zhibai was wearing dark blue beach shorts and flip-flops, looking like he had just returned from the beach. But this casual, lazy sense of ease made his already somewhat rebellious temperament even more prominent.

Handsome, rebellious, with a sense of ease that transcended ordinary life.

This was the first impression many people had when they saw him.

Then, some people recognized him as Li Zhibai.

Screams rang out.

Li Zhibai looked towards the source of the sound and immediately made a shushing gesture to the girl who screamed.

The sound stopped abruptly.

He revealed a brilliant smile, a row of white teeth reflecting shining light under the orange-red sunset—so flamboyantly that the girls covered their rapidly beating hearts.

Li Zhibai turned his head and looked around, finding the person sitting in the corner, wearing headphones, and typing on the keyboard with full concentration.

He walked over.

Surprisingly, not a single person came up to ask for a photo or autograph.

The bookstore owner was shocked by this scene after Li Zhibai entered—even though he had to admit that Li Zhibai's star aura was much stronger than his partner's.

Truly, even without taking off his sunglasses, he was very dazzling.

Li Zhibai sat down beside Lu Yan He and put his bag on the table.

"Let's go eat."

Lu Yan He was startled by Li Zhibai, who sat down suddenly, "Why did you come suddenly?"

Li Zhibai said: "I saw Zou Dong's car in the parking space next to this bookstore, and I guessed you were inside."

Lu Yan He: "Your eyes are so sharp, why don't you become a detective?"

Li Zhibai: "Stop talking nonsense, I'm starving, let's go, let's go eat."

Lu Yan He scratched his head. He originally wanted to finish the script for this episode in one go, but being interrupted by Li Zhibai, his train of thought was broken.

"Fine, fine, let's eat. Where's Yan Liang?" Lu Yan He asked.

"He's still on the plane, he'll get off in an hour, it'll be almost eight by the time he gets to us," Li Zhibai said, "Let's just pack him something."

"Okay."

Lu Yan He packed his things and patted Li Zhibai on the shoulder, "Since you're here, that's perfect."

Li Zhibai looked at Lu Yan He with a puzzled expression, not knowing why he said it was perfect.

Then, he found himself grabbed by Lu Yan He as a mascot to take photos with the bookstore owner.

The bookstore owner's smile was as brilliant as a blooming chrysanthemum.

Once they finished taking photos with the bookstore owner, others in the bookstore also looked at them expectantly.

Lu Yan He waved his hand and said: "Shall we take a group photo together? Boss, could you help us take it?"

"Sure," the boss nodded with a smile immediately.

The boss used Lu Yan He's phone to take it.

Lu Yan He said: "I'll post it on my Weibo later, you guys can take it yourselves."

Everyone said okay in unison, very excited.

Lu Yan He and Li Zhibai said goodbye to them and left.

Li Zhibai said: "You're really amazing, being able to write a script safely in that bookstore without being disturbed."

"The boss found me a good seat," Lu Yan He said, "I'm not like you, like a peacock, unable to help but shake your tail and open your screen wherever you go."

"Open your grandfather," Li Zhibai retorted.

Zou Dong saw Lu Yan He coming out and got out of the car.

Lu Yan He asked Li Zhibai: "Shall we just eat nearby?"

"Let's just eat nearby," he said.

Lu Yan He told Zou Dong that they didn't need the car and would go eat directly.

Zou Dong and Li Zhibai's bodyguards followed behind them.

The foot traffic here was very high.

Lu Yan He and Li Zhibai walked on the street wearing sunglasses, and the head-turning rate was almost one hundred percent.

Mainly because both of them were tall and handsome; even if others couldn't recognize them as stars at first, they would be attracted by their image.

Then some people recognized who they were.

But perhaps their posture was too casual, and no one came up to disturb them.

They were just silently photographed by many people.

Lu Yan He rarely had the opportunity to walk on the street like this now.

He and Li Zhibai looked left and right and entered a barbecue restaurant.

"We have a rehearsal tonight, we need to replenish some protein," Li Zhibai said as such.

Ma Zhiyuan learned from the director's group that the trio stage of Lu Yan He and the others was rehearsing at night.

His program had already finished rehearsing in the afternoon, and the on-site effect was very good.

He spent a lot of money to hire a choreographer from South Korea, specially designed a brand-new dance for his stage, and made many cool designs.

During the rehearsal, although there were only staff members on site, everyone expressed that it was very explosive.

This effect made Ma Zhiyuan breathe a sigh of relief.

What he feared most was that he had prepared hard for a long time, only for the result to be unsatisfactory.

Now it depended on how the stage of Lu Yan He and the others would be.

Ma Zhiyuan knew that with Lu Yan He joining, their trio stage would definitely be the most popular program tonight.

After all, the last time the three of them were together was a year ago; just this topic and the appeal of the three of them combined was not something he could compare to.

Ma Zhiyuan still had self-awareness in this regard.

Ma Zhiyuan knew that he had to be even better than their program to have a chance to gain a clear advantage.

Coming out of the scene and returning to the lounge, the assistant asked him if he was going back now.

Ma Zhiyuan said: "Let's order dinner first, I'm a bit tired, let's rest for a while."

The assistant followed his words and prepared to find the production team.

"Don't look for the production team, let's order takeout ourselves," Ma Zhiyuan said.

The assistant was stunned for a moment upon hearing this and said: "But if we don't look for the production team, they won't be responsible for this cost."

Ma Zhiyuan said: "You order it, I'll transfer the money to you."

The assistant said "oh" and said: "Okay, then Brother Ma, what do you want to eat?"

"Just order the few things I usually like to eat."

"Okay."

Ma Zhiyuan took out his phone, preparing to browse social platforms for a while.

Unexpectedly, searching for real-time hot topics, he actually saw the names of Lu Yan He and Li Zhibai.

Many people posted real-time Weibo, which were photos they took of Li Zhibai and Lu Yan He.

Ma Zhiyuan only then saw that these two people had no pressure on the performance at all and could even eat dinner outside laughing and talking.

Ma Zhiyuan's heart was immediately covered with a layer of gloom.

In this matter, Ma Zhiyuan would never catch up with Li Zhibai, and he knew it himself. Li Zhibai's confidence in the stage and relaxed mindset were things Ma Zhiyuan could never achieve.

At this time, the assistant came over with his phone and asked, "Brother Ma, there is a barbecue restaurant nearby with a very high rating, do you want to order a barbecue for you? What did you want to eat?"

Ma Zhiyuan frowned immediately, turning his phone over, "Eat what eat? It's going to be broadcast live soon, you let me eat this kind of thing, what if I get acne later?"

The assistant was scolded for no reason and left silently.

Ma Zhiyuan's anger could not be suppressed—he knew he shouldn't, but there was no way, he couldn't control it.

He took a deep breath, telling himself, calm down, calm down.

Don't mess up your own pace.

After Yan Liang got off the plane, he opened his phone and saw Li Zhibai and Lu Yan He sending him messages in the group, saying they packed him food, including barbecue, grilled chicken legs, and grilled sausages.

Yan Liang was shocked and asked: "Eating so much greasy food, I'll get acne! It's going to be broadcast live tomorrow!"

Li Zhibai: "Ah?"

Lu Yan He: "Really? Eating barbecue will cause acne?"

Yan Liang: "Not necessarily, but it's possible."

Thus, before the rehearsal, Lu Yan He and Li Zhibai each poured themselves a large cup of chrysanthemum tea.