Chapter 7: Entertainment Industry Pure Beast of Burden!

"What is going on with the production team? Everyone else had post-show interviews, so why didn't we?"

Chu Luanyu and her team members left, and then Chi Ye's team walked in.

Upon learning this news, Keke looked displeased.

"Even Lin Jingyi got that treatment, and Brother Chi's status is much higher than hers!"

"Lin Jingyi came with Mr. Huang..."

"Anyway, it's best not to participate in this show again in the future. It's so infuriating!"

The team members were indignant, but Chi Ye himself didn't have much of an opinion.

His attention at this moment was entirely on the system.

The Favorability Value had risen from just over ten thousand at the start to just over thirty thousand.

Over the course of one variety show livestream, it had increased by about twenty thousand.

Chi Ye didn't have a concept of this growth yet, but he felt he should study this system properly.

As the group walked out of the studio, Chi Ye asked, "Where is the car? When are we going back to rest?"

"Uh..." The team members were stunned, and Keke blinked: "The car will probably take a while... Brother Chi, we aren't staying at a hotel tonight; we still have eighteen engagements to run."

"How many?!"

Chi Ye was dumbfounded: "Eighteen?!"

"Yeah." Keke looked at him in confusion: "Time is tight; we have to finish them in three days."

Chi Ye felt as if the sky had collapsed.

He hadn't had time to "inquire" about the original owner's upcoming work schedule.

What does this mean?

Eighteen engagements in three days?!

I thought I was reborn as a 208W-earning celebrity who would be drinking pure milk every day, but you're telling me that not only can I not drink pure milk, I have to be a pure beast of burden?!

A pure moo-moo-moo?!

"Who arranged this workload? A living King of Hell?"

Eighteen in three days, six a day—even a wedding officiant would have scheduling conflicts!

Keke glanced at Chi Ye cautiously, mumbling and not daring to speak.

Seeing her like this, Chi Ye understood immediately.

Fine, the company arranged it.

Who was it that said I was royalty just now? Have you ever seen royalty this "hardworking"?

"The company really loves to exploit people."

Chi Ye lost interest and turned toward the lounge: "Let's go, let's just go to the lounge and wait for the car."

The team members exchanged glances and hurriedly followed.

Arriving at the lounge, Chi Ye chose a comfortable spot to sit down and began to check the system shop.

The main function of the Favorability System was to use Favorability Value to redeem rewards in the system shop.

He had scanned it briefly before, but hadn't looked closely.

At this moment, clicking into the system shop, Chi Ye discovered the items inside were very singular.

There was only one type—[Copy Scroll].

Divided into five levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, Master, and Perfect.

Chi Ye clicked on the Beginner Copy Scroll, and the item description appeared.

[Copy Scroll (Beginner)]

[Function: Select a target to randomly copy one of the target's beginner-level skills/talents.]

Select a target and you can copy it directly?

Chi Ye was stunned.

This function... is a bit of a bug.

In the half-day since his rebirth, Chi Ye had already briefly thought about his future prospects.

After all, he was a beast of burden in his past life, and due to his personality, after quitting to do self-media, he was just a bigger beast of burden, far from achieving financial freedom, so of course he had to care about his future.

But after summing it up, combined with the information he gathered from people around the original owner and his own online research, Chi Ye only reached one conclusion—no future!

This is no joke.

First.

The original owner's professional competence was worrying.

Aside from a badass face, it was just smoke into the lungs—pure lung fog!

Secondly, although Chi Ye possessed the memories of his past life and worked in self-media, familiar with many hit movies, dramas, and songs.

But he was just a self-media worker in his past life; like the original owner, his professional ability was non-existent, just like 100-degree boiling water—another useless thing.

You want him to be a singing god, a movie star?

He simply doesn't have that ability, you know?

Therefore, Chi Ye's predicament can be summarized in one sentence.

The newly paved road is flat—not a single pebble!

No pebbles, brother!

But if the system shop can redeem Copy Scrolls...

Then the key to opening the treasure trove of Earth and showing off in front of others, isn't it here?

If that "King of Pretending" Ye can do it, and that Xiao can do it, why can't I, Chi, do it?!

Chi Ye's thinking gradually opened up, suddenly enlightened, and he looked at the price of the Copy Scroll.

Then, the excitement that had just ignited to 50% wilted slightly.

The redemption price for a [Copy Scroll (Beginner)] is 10,000 Favorability Value.

Intermediate is 100,000, Advanced 1 million, Master 10 million, Perfect 100 million...

With the Favorability Value he currently possessed, he could only redeem three Beginner Copy Scrolls.

"Three Beginner Copy Scrolls..."

"Fine, since I'm starting from a negative base, it seems enough for now."

"Then... who should I use it on?"

Chi Ye thought, feeling a bit unwilling.

The only valuable people he could come into contact with right now were the few guests participating in the show today.

Lin Jingyi is out of the question.

A girl who loves to eat "history" (shit), her luck won't be bad, but her acting and singing skills are both terrible.

Mr. He... Mr. Huang...

If he could, Chi Ye would really like to copy Mr. Huang's skills.

Although Mr. Huang likes to play "Breaking Bad" in the entertainment industry when he has nothing to do, you have to admit his acting skills from teaching at the Beijing Film Academy for over a decade.

It must be better than his.

But this also presented a problem—Mr. Huang's acting skills can't be called the top in the industry, but they certainly aren't beginner-level.

If he used the scroll on Mr. Huang, there's a high probability he'd end up with "poisonous green bean cooking techniques."

So, the only suitable target left seems to be...

Chi Ye glanced sideways at the lounge door.

Chu Luanyu, wearing a beige trench coat, humming a tune from her hometown, passed by the lounge, then walked backward, looking at Chi Ye in surprise: "You haven't left yet?"

Chi Ye was quick-witted, redeemed a Beginner Scroll, and casually threw it at Chu Luanyu.

[You will randomly obtain one beginner-level skill from [Chu Luanyu].]

[Randomizing...]

[You obtained [Chu Luanyu's Divination Technique] (Beginner)]

[Chu Luanyu's Divination Technique: Fortune and misfortune, the Ziwei star descends! Chu Luanyu divines for herself every dawn to test if she will be the next Ziwei star of the entertainment industry!]

[Learn?]

"Huh?"

Hearing this prompt, Chi Ye was instantly dumbfounded.

Divination technique?

Divination???

You're an actress who has been acting for seven or eight years, why are you doing divination!

Seeing the description of this skill, Chi Ye almost vomited blood, but he clicked to learn it anyway.

"You can do divination?"

Chu Luanyu, who had already walked in, was startled, her baby face full of surprise: "How did you know?"

"Um..." As she spoke, she suddenly realized, shaking her head a bit coyly: "Just... I know a little..."

Seeing her like this, Chi Ye already understood something.

Also, with her being such a top-tier jinx, it's inevitable she would have self-doubt...

"Then what do you divine every time?"

Chu Luanyu shook her little head like a bobblehead, unwilling to say.

Chi Ye was truly curious, so he rephrased the question: "Then what was the result? I don't know the problem, but what was the result?"

"..." Chu Luanyu thought for a moment, feeling that this was nothing, and her eyes became bright and sparkling: "The most promising year!"

Chi Ye: "...Is it like that every time?"

"Yeah..." After saying this, Chu Luanyu suddenly realized the problem, and her face turned ashen.

Chi Ye: 6.

Taking advantage of this moment, he had already thrown out a second replication scroll.

Perhaps because Chu Luanyu really didn't have many primary skills, the second one was actually hit accurately by Chi Ye.

[You have obtained [Chu Luanyu's Acting Skills] (Primary)]

[Chu Luanyu's Acting Skills: Acting skills honed diligently and painstakingly by Chu Luanyu over seven years in the industry.]

[Learn?]

"Yes."

Chi Ye chose to learn, then looked at Chu Luanyu with a complex expression.

"What's wrong?"

Chu Luanyu was still immersed in an ocean of sadness and didn't notice Chi Ye's strangeness.

"Nothing." Chi Ye paused and sighed.

Both are losers, both are bottom-feeders, who is there to laugh at whom?

With Chu Luanyu's acting skills honed over seven years, he shouldn't have his facial features flying all over the place or his lines sounding weak and breathless anymore, right?

At the very least, acting in a standard idol drama should be no problem now.

That is enough.

You have to eat a meal one bite at a time; being able to perform steadily in an idol drama is already enough to qualify as a slacker.

"I'm leaving first, let's meet again if there's a chance."

Chu Luanyu walked away dejectedly, as if she had lost some kind of dream.

"Brother Chi, what's wrong with Sister Yu?"

Keke was very confused.

"It should be that the heart that was hanging has finally died."

Chi Ye shook his head and asked: "Has the car not arrived yet?"

"Let me check..." Keke patted her head, opened WeChat to ask a few questions, then raised her hand: "It will arrive downstairs in five minutes."

"Then let's go too."

Chi Ye took a deep breath.

The life of a beast of burden after rebirth, here I come!

Chi Ye had thought that running eighteen gigs in three days would be tiring, but he hadn't expected it to be this tiring.

Setting aside the time spent on the road, he didn't even know what he had experienced during this period.

The company annual meeting near the end of the year was still manageable—going up to sing—the hardest part was the socializing at the dinner table.

Besides that, he actually ran to a wedding venue and acted as the emcee!

And twice at that!

Of course, compared to the work above, the truly hellish part was yet to come.

Helping a pig farm cut ribbons, a rich second generation's birthday party, and even officiating at a funeral...

Yesterday he was in the Northeast, tomorrow he was in the South; weddings, funerals, and celebrations were all covered, leaving Chi Ye with a sense of being torn apart.

This was completely different from what he had imagined and understood about running gigs!

What happened to the promised variety shows, press conference recordings, and annual galas of major platforms and satellite TV stations?

Of course, those existed, but Chi Ye's status wasn't high enough, and there weren't that many jobs he could take.

And there was one more important point—the money wasn't much.

The reason for taking the above gigs was even simpler—the money was good.

They paid too much!

According to Chi Ye's estimation, he could earn at least over a hundred thousand for one gig in these places, and sometimes even as much as five hundred thousand.

Singing a few songs, drinking a few glasses of wine, and letting people save face was enough to earn this money.

In less than three days, he alone had earned nearly five million in gig fees!

This level of money-making made Chi Ye feel like a real "208W" celebrity.

—He was only a second-tier celebrity!

Of course, the exhaustion was also real.

After running these gigs, Chi Ye, who had been carsick and airsick N times, had lost a significant amount of weight.

And... the first two days of normal gigs were fine; although tiring, at least the sponsors' businesses were legal and compliant.

By the third day, when Chi Ye checked the schedule, he discovered three or four borderline sensitive gigs in a row.

"What's going on with the company? If we take these kinds of gigs and they get dug up later, it'll all be black material."

Just as Chi Ye was wondering, the bedroom door was knocked on.

Keke walked in holding a tablet: "Brother Chi, next week's gigs are arranged. The number is a bit smaller this time, thirty in total..."

"There's more?! Isn't today Sunday?"

Chi Ye was stunned.

Keke lowered her head, not daring to look at him, her voice as soft as a mosquito: "W-wasn't it always arranged like this before..."

"Wait a minute."

Chi Ye frowned and interrupted.

In fact, while running gigs these past few days, he had realized a problem.

—This way of running gigs—crazily grabbing money, without any screening, going wherever pays the most—isn't that killing the goose that lays the golden eggs and overdrawing his own commercial value?

To put it seriously, the way of eating was too ugly; if he continued to run like this, his career would be ruined.

"What do you mean it was always like this? Running like this does make money, but after this wave is over, I'll be finished!"

Chi Ye waved his hand without hesitation: "Stop all these gigs, I'm not running them."

"Ah?"

Keke looked at him with extreme surprise, then thought of something, her face turning pale: "But... Brother Chi, let's just run them... otherwise you'll be scolded by Sister Ge again..."

Sister Ge was Chi Ye's agent at Yuenar, also one of the famous big agents in the industry, and she was very aggressive in her actions.

"It's fine, just report it to the company like that, I'll handle the rest myself."

Imperial family?

Is this all the imperial family is?

Chi Ye's current feeling was very bad.

Even if Sister Ge was a big agent, she couldn't be this disrespectful to his wishes.

The original owner's status wasn't high, but at least he was a known name in the domestic entertainment industry; was the company really this aggressive?

"...Alright then."

Keke was his personal assistant, basically equivalent to Chi Ye's actual "agent," but she didn't have the treatment or authority of an agent.

Hearing this, she sighed, thinking to herself that Brother Chi was at it again... every once in a while, he would throw a tantrum.

Thinking of this, the look she gave Chi Ye already faintly revealed some pity.

Chi Ye noticed the look in Keke's eyes before she left, and his heart became even more uneasy.

Not long after, it must have been Keke notifying the company, and Chi Ye's phone rang.

Chi Ye looked at the caller ID [Sister Ge] and answered: "Hello?"

"I don't have time to mess around with you now. Many of these gigs have already received payment; you must finish them, do you understand?"

A low, female alto voice came from the other end of the phone.

Chi Ye refused without hesitation: "Not running them."

There was silence on the other end for a long time before a slightly uncertain voice came through: "Are you crazy? Do you know who you're talking to?"

Chi Ye paused: "Are you the one who's crazy? If you want to do this, I'll terminate the contract."

"..."

Another silence, and the person on the other side finally spoke, seemingly having figured something out, her tone flat: "I suggest you calm down first, and then communicate with me."

After saying that, the phone hung up.