After Being Hopeless at Singing and Dancing, I Exploded in Popularity Due to My Appetite - Chapter 59

Liu Xiaobai had been on a business trip for the past few days, with no time to surf the internet. To ensure she received messages from her team and clients, she didn’t even log into her alt accounts.

She just got back, slept soundly for a day, and woke up around 9 PM.

After waking, she took out her phone and refreshed, but no messages appeared. Disbelieving, she clicked to check and realized she was on her main account.

She switched to her alt account and refreshed again.

Ding, ding, dong, ding, ding, ding.

Her phone suddenly vibrated, but no messages appeared. After about two seconds, countless message pop-ups suddenly appeared, and countless apps instantly showed 999+ notifications.

Liu Xiaobai first opened a fan group and sent a Minion peeking emoji.

She had told everyone she was going on a business trip before, and now that she was back, she expected countless greetings.

Instead, the messages in the group scrolled past so fast that her message was quickly pushed up.

No one noticed.

She could only secretly lurk and watch everyone chat.

“It’s truly gratifying, that idiot even has haters now.”

???

“So touching, do you know how real their long Weibo posts are? I just went to see, and I almost unfollowed. It’s too real! I almost believed that idiot was a scheming person! Everyone, go check it out, learn this technique and writing style, this is also a skill!”

???

“But, how did you, on the verge of unfollowing, come to think that Tao Nian wasn’t a scheming person?”

“I didn’t think. When I was about to unfollow, I saw the black-and-white photos of Tao Nian she posted. They were even better than her main page’s refined photos. I just thought, it’s fine if Tao Nian has ulterior motives; pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger is quite appealing.”

“Seeing everyone, from being provoked into scolding that idiot at first, to now being unable to resist scolding her without any conflict, that feeling of having nurtured something, it’s really comfortable!”

???

“What’s the follow-up to ‘pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger’?! Are there any similar long Weibo posts for me to see?! I think this persona is pretty good; being clever and ambitious is much better than being a naive sweet girl.”

“No follow-up! I found that Tao Nian isn’t pretending to be a pig to eat the tiger, she’s just a super-eating piggy! She’s just a clumsy, naive sweet girl!”

???

Liu Xiaobai was confused.

I was only on a business trip for a week.

Everything was fine before I left. Everyone was waiting for fellow fans to produce content, lying flat like salted fish—although that state wasn’t ideal, back then, everyone was a genuine fan.

How did this group all turn into anti-fans as soon as I returned?!

Liu Xiaobai was very worried and logged onto Weibo to check.

She tried to understand the cause and effect, and then organize fans to fight back against the anti-fans.

Then, on a hot search screenshot from three days ago, she saw Tao Nian’s name three times.

Each one was linked to Lin Qianman.

????

Tao Nian did a not-so-simple calculation, compared the prices, and after figuring out that she still owed Lin Qianman a lot of money, her entire life seemed to dim.

Wrapped in a headscarf, she became withdrawn.

Xiao Yi watched Tao Nian’s back for a while, then couldn’t help but squat beside her and observe her. Seeing Tao Nian counting on her fingers and not looking at her at all, she excitedly and shyly told Tao Nian that old, stale joke: “Are you a mushroom too?”

Tao Nian shook her head: “I’m not, I’m a human.”

Xiao Yi: “…”

She gave up telling jokes to the comedian and asked: “Nian Nian, are you unhappy?”

Tao Nian turned her head to look and found she didn’t know this person. However, she had met too many strangers these past two days, so she was very calm and nodded.

“Why?”

Tao Nian then counted on her fingers: “Beef is five yuan more expensive per catty, fish is two yuan cheaper, vegetables are one yuan cheaper…”

“Why are you memorizing these?”

Tao Nian: “I owe Lin Qianman so much money!”

Lin Qianman?

Why would Tao Nian owe Sister Lin money? Isn’t she an artist from Sister Lin’s studio? Could Sister Lin, as a capitalist, have set up and framed Tao Nian? But Sister Lin doesn’t seem like that kind of person?

Xiao Yi trembled: “How much do you owe?”

Tao Nian continued to count on her fingers: “I stayed for five days, and Lin Qianman told me to give her five hundred yuan a day, but I eat a lot, and just buying groceries costs a lot of money.”

This sentence contained too many elements, each of which could be screenshot and analyzed in a fan group, leading to a ten-thousand-word essay. Xiao Yi was somewhat silent, and finally asked the question she cared about most: “How much do you eat?”

“Five catties of beef, four fish over five catties each, probably ten catties of pork and vegetables. And roasted chicken and duck legs. Lin Qianman doesn’t eat them, Auntie secretly made them for me, Lin Qianman doesn’t know, so she didn’t ask me for money.”

Xiao Yi fell silent again: “Ten catties of pork plus vegetables?”

“Ten catties of pork and ten catties of vegetables…”

“You ate so much in five days?” The fan’s voice began to tremble.

“That much in one day. I stayed for five days.”

Tao Nian counted on her fingers: “Lin Qianman asked for five hundred yuan a day, but today I went to buy groceries myself and found these things are so expensive.”

Xiao Yi looked at Tao Nian, her eyes filled with desolation.

There were so many “Sweet Peaches” in the group, and every one of them was excited when they saw Tao Nian eating, feeling the joy of “cloud parenting” a child. They even vowed that they could cook and wanted Tao Nian to come to their homes to eat.

••••

Who could handle her eating just one meal?

It’s hilarious, other idols go on diets and don’t eat, and don’t privately contact fans.

What about Tao Nian?

Fans can’t afford her.

Xiao Yi sighed to herself for a while, then seeing Tao Nian already picking at the moss in the corner, she changed the subject: “Nian Nian, this towel on your head?”

Hearing the question, Tao Nian adjusted the towel on her head, and happily asked: “Does it look good?! I went to buy vegetables, lots of them, and the grandma selling vegetables said she’d give me something, so I asked for this towel. It looks good, right?! Grandma wrapped it for me!”

Xiao Yi: “…”

The Sweet Peaches are all fake fans; if they saw Tao Nian asking this online, they would definitely, sincerely, say it didn’t look good.

But now she was face-to-face with Tao Nian!

Before, when looking at Tao Nian on screen, she already had a small face with delicate features, and eyes that were so clean, pure, and genuine that they evoked pity. Now, looking at her face-to-face, Tao Nian was wrapped in a comical headscarf, her forehead half covered by the towel, making her face even smaller. Her base makeup was clean and light, so close you couldn’t see pores or blemishes, and her eyes were sparkling, her eyelashes curled and long, like a dog carrying a dish to you, begging for praise.

Xiao Yi then very firmly said: “It looks good.”

That face is truly beautiful.

So Tao Nian happily stood up and posed for the camera, letting it take her picture.

In the evening, she sent it to Lin Qianman: “Look! The towel Grandma gave me!”

Lin Qianman looked at the big red headscarf and fell silent.

—Everyone who saw Tao Nian’s headscarf fell silent, but Tao Nian clearly didn’t understand the true meaning of their unspoken hesitation.

She was still beaming, not only sending photos of herself with the headscarf but also video calling her. She showed off her headscarf from all angles.

She wore the headscarf for a full day of filming, only reluctantly taking it off when she showered. Tao Nian held the headscarf by two corners, turning it around for Lin Qianman to examine closely: “Doesn’t it look good?!”

Lin Qianman remained silent.

Tao Nian, full of enthusiasm, ignored Lin Qianman and wrapped the towel around her head herself: “Grandma just wrapped it like this for me.”

She spoke while trying to wrap her head again.

She failed.

She clearly hadn’t mastered such a delicate technique. She could only haphazardly pile the headscarf on her hair, making it look like a large lump.

Tao Nian happily said: “It’s all good!”

Lin Qianman: “…”

You clearly aren’t all good like that.

But, as long as you’re happy.

The next day, when Tao Nian was getting her makeup done, she was still holding the headscarf, looking as if she really wanted to wear it again.

The makeup artist had already curled her bangs, with a few strands falling loosely on either side of her forehead, looking very beautiful and soft, making her face appear smaller. Now, looking at that headscarf, she felt a headache coming on. She managed to persuade Tao Nian to put down the large red headscarf with its brightly colored big flowers.

She found a mustard yellow hairband for her and braided it into a boxer braid with her hair.

It looked very good.

Anyway, Xiao Yi couldn’t take her eyes off Tao Nian looking like that.

She had been relatively calm when she met Tao Nian yesterday. But behind the scenes, she ditched her friends and postponed all her plans, deciding to wait until Tao Nian finished recording the group variety show before starting her fun travel life.

Her friends also knew about Tao Nian. They weren’t fans, just knew of her, often hearing about her from their friend, but their friend never had anything good to say. Occasionally, they’d scroll past Tao Nian’s videos on their phones, and they were always comedic daily routines. The comments below weren’t like those for other celebrities, constantly praising their looks or talent; everyone just laughed and told jokes.

Anyway, it left her friends very confused. They didn’t know what Tao Nian did, didn’t know Tao Nian’s representative works, they only knew Tao Nian’s jokes…

And Tao Nian’s CP.

Lin Qianman.

But after all, she was just a casual observer and didn’t know much about the entertainment industry. When Xiao Yi said Tao Nian ate a lot, she just listened, not really believing it.

Then yesterday, she had the privilege of witnessing Tao Nian eating.

A tiny figure, with a small face and small mouth, she looked like a super beautiful, super delicate doll.

She just sat there unmoving, eating and eating and eating. She ate everything.

Others were a bit picky.

For example, Xiao Yi didn’t like carrots, and her friend didn’t like onions herself.

Zhang Jingyue was even pickier; she didn’t like any strong-flavored foods, no scallions, ginger, garlic, or cilantro.

Tao Nian, no, she ate everything.

They were filming a variety show, and others were trying to find things to say so they would get screen time later. But Tao Nian didn’t; she just held her bowl and ate very seriously.

Her teammates were kind and actively threw out topics for Tao Nian to pick up.

Tao Nian would swallow what was in her mouth, say a sentence, and then continue eating.

…She was very devout to food.

Eight people at the table were girl group members, usually controlling their weight by not eating. And one girl group member ate from beginning to end. Everyone chatted for two hours; she ate for two hours.

When they returned to their room, her friend was dazed, asking Xiao Yi why she ate so much and was still so thin. How many marathons did she run every day?

Xiao Yi shook her head: “At least when she first formed the group, she didn’t have time to exercise.”

Her friend was even more dazed: “Then why?”

She was completely baffled, looking for all kinds of Tao Nian’s edited videos, determined to understand why this woman was so mysterious. Then she spent the whole night laughing, making it impossible for Xiao Yi to sleep.

Today, both of them woke up with dark circles under their eyes, wanting to have breakfast, when they saw Tao Nian, in full makeup, sitting in the living room, greeting new guests.

Yesterday, her friend had seen Tao Nian with a floral headscarf, her bangs flattened, and looking a bit disheveled from running around all day without time to touch up her makeup. But even then, she still thought Tao Nian was beautiful. Now, seeing Tao Nian like this, she was doubly amazed.

Her friend and Xiao Yi nudged each other and sat down next to Tao Nian.

Beauty!

She’s a beauty!

Who wouldn’t love a beauty?! No one!

Both of them looked at Tao Nian.

Her friend leaned close to Xiao Yi and whispered: “She’s a beauty indeed! She smells nice too!”

She had only meant it as a quiet exclamation, not intending for Tao Nian to hear.

But Tao Nian still heard it. She turned around very seriously and looked at the two of them.

Her friend was momentarily awkward and nervous, afraid Tao Nian would get angry. She had heard that some artists in the entertainment industry had terrible tempers; would she curse them out?

Then Tao Nian very seriously said: “I don’t smell nice, Lin Qianman smells nice!”

I know this! I saw the previous context yesterday!

Her friend and Xiao Yi simultaneously and quickly squeezed each other’s hands tightly, leaned back a bit, took a deep breath, and then looked at each other, identical smiles on their faces.

Love!

It’s love!

It’s a beautiful love!

Who can resist shipping “QianNian”?

No one!