After Joining the Same Variety Show as My Arch-Nemesis - Chapter 8

When her thigh finally came online, Gu Jingxi immediately sent an invitation. The thigh accepted without another word.

With a thigh carrying her, Gu Jingxi once again experienced the joy of ranking up as easily as drinking water. In less than an hour, she successfully advanced.

This moved her beyond words, and she could not help blaming her own itchy hands.

Seriously, why had she randomly queued by herself for no reason? She had lost several stars for nothing.

Xixi: Thank you, big shot.

Watercolor: You’re welcome. It’s noon now, so let’s stop here. Go eat first.

Xixi: Okay.

After closing her phone, Gu Jingxi moved her shoulders. The auntie downstairs was calling her to eat, so only then did Gu Jingxi go downstairs.

The dishes on the table were all dishes Gu Jingxi liked. This made Gu Jingxi think of the day she had come back, when Tang Yun had only half-fried tomato scrambled eggs for her.

Gu Jingxi could not help throwing herself onto the auntie and crying pitifully, “Zhang Ma, you’re still the best to me. You have no idea what my mom made for me the day I came back. She made tomato scrambled eggs, and even ran off halfway through making them.”

Zhang Ma could not help laughing, then said, “Madam still dotes on you. Miss, hurry and eat.”

Gu Jingxi hummed and whined, then obediently sat at the table to eat.

Tang Yun and Gu Feng did not come back for lunch at noon, so she ate lunch alone. After eating and resting for a while, she went to the gym.

Fu Wen had strict control over her figure standards. If Gu Jingxi dared to indulge her body just because she was resting for a few days, Fu Wen would absolutely press her head down and drag her to the company gym, then have a professional trainer supervise her workout.

She was simply a demon!

The following days were no different from usual for Gu Jingxi. She ran around everywhere shooting endorsements. Fu Wen was helping her look for scripts. After winning the Golden Spirit Award, the road ahead became even harsher for her. The quality of a script, the configuration of the director’s team—all of these would affect whether Gu Jingxi would soar straight to the clouds from here on, or fall from the altar.

In the end, Fu Wen kept two scripts and called Gu Jingxi to discuss them.

“Ah? Scripts? Okay, Sister Fu, just send them to my email. I’ll find time to take a look.” Gu Jingxi was wearing a formal gown and standing outside the photography studio, holding her phone as she talked to Fu Wen.

“Mm. There’s no need to rush either. Both of these will start filming after you finish recording the variety show. Take your time choosing. Go with your feeling,” Fu Wen said.

“Okay, Sister Fu.” Gu Jingxi answered obediently.

“Sister Gu!” From a distance, Mu Yu called out to her.

“Teacher Gu, we can start now,” the director’s assistant also called.

Gu Jingxi made an OK gesture at them, then said to Fu Wen, “Sister Fu, I’m going to shoot first.”

“Mm, go. I’m getting busy too,” Fu Wen said.

After hanging up, Gu Jingxi jogged over and apologized repeatedly. “Sorry, sorry. I held things up.”

“It’s fine, Teacher Gu. Let’s begin,” the director said with a smile.

“Okay.”

…

Gu Jingxi wore a black backless gown. The hem of the dress trailed across the carpet, and her snow-white back was exposed beneath the cold light. The two fluttering butterfly bones seemed as if they might transform into a pair of pitch-black wings at any moment. Her deep red lipstick made her appear cold and ruthless, while the upturned corners of her eyes carried countless charms. With just one glance, people could not help falling into her spell.

She was like a captivating yet dangerous beauty snake.

This was an indoor photography studio. In the post-production room, a woman in a small white suit stood with her arms crossed, looking at the image being transmitted from the camera. In the dim light, her gold-rimmed glasses reflected an unreadable glow.

“She’s so beautiful!” Beside her, a blond man exclaimed.

“Jian, your taste really is excellent!” the man said excitedly. “I have never seen such a stunner before.”

The man gazed at Gu Jingxi’s enchanting, graceful figure on the monitor and could not help sighing in admiration, his eyes filled with amazement and envy.

“Jonathan.” Jian Lan lightly tapped her knuckle against the tabletop, and the clear sound of knuckle striking wood echoed throughout the post-production room.

“I need to remind you to be a little careful.”

Hearing this, Jonathan smiled awkwardly. “You know, Jian, this is only my admiration for a beauty.”

Jian Lan said nothing. She only asked calmly, “Then, did she pass?”

Jonathan shrugged. “I only took a glance. Although she is indeed stunning, she still needs to be assessed.”

“Mm.” Jian Lan merely answered, then got up and walked toward the back door of the post-production room.

Jonathan glanced at the monitor, then at Jian Lan, and finally chose to quickly follow her.

“Jian, who is that person to you? This is the first time I’ve seen you care so much about someone else’s business.” Jonathan followed behind Jian Lan and questioned her.

Jian Lan curved her lips, then said, “My person.”

Jonathan froze. Looking at Jian Lan’s back, he did not quite react for a moment.

“It’s only a matter of time. Let’s go. I still have other things to handle,” Jian Lan said without turning back.

Jonathan whistled on the spot. This was big news. Then he quickly leaned closer and said, “Who would’ve thought, Jian, you actually…”

“Jonathan, I hope you can keep your mouth shut,” Jian Lan said lightly, glancing at him.

Seeing this, Jonathan sensibly made a zipping motion over his mouth.

“Don’t worry. As a friend, I will definitely keep my mouth shut.”

“Alright, stop joking around. It’s rare for you to come to China, so I’ll take you to eat some local specialties at noon. But afterward, you’ll have to wander around by yourself. I still have things to do,” Jian Lan said.

“Got it, got it!” Jonathan smiled and left with her.

Gu Jingxi naturally knew nothing about any of this. After finishing the endorsement shoot, she was politely seen off by the other party.

“Aiya! It’s finally over!” As soon as she got into the car, Gu Jingxi stretched without the slightest concern for her image.

These past few days, she had truly been running around nonstop for endorsements. This well-known domestic gown designer was originally based in M City, so Gu Jingxi had thought she could get it done on the first day. Unexpectedly, the other party had never had time, so they had scheduled it after she finished running through everything else. But that was fine too. At least she now had an afternoon to rest and relax properly. After all, tomorrow was the day Fu Hang’s variety show would begin filming.

She had never filmed a variety show before, so she was a little nervous. When she asked Fu Hang about it, Fu Hang only told her one sentence.

“There’s no script. Just follow your heart, but don’t follow it too much.”

This made it hard for her to grasp the right approach. She even exchanged experiences with other female artists in the company who had been on variety shows before. But in the end, what they summarized was basically similar. However, many variety shows still had scripts to look at. Once it came to Fu Hang, there was simply nothing at all.

In Fu Hang’s words:

“How can this kind of variety show have a script? Of course you have to perform as yourself. Xixi, don’t worry. I have high hopes for you.”

Gu Jingxi could only give up on getting any clues from him.

Fortunately, although Fu Hang looked unserious, he was still fairly reliable. Adding in the relationship between their families, he should not dare trick her.

So Gu Jingxi thought.

At this point, she had not yet realized just how terribly wrong she would be.

Early the next morning, when she went out, she saw a camera-carrying cameraman standing beside Mu Yu.

At that moment, she had a suitcase in one hand and two sandwiches made by the auntie at home in the other.

“Sister Gu.” Mu Yu quickly stepped forward to help her take the suitcase.

Gu Jingxi hurriedly adjusted her facial expression and smiled at everyone. After getting into the car, Gu Jingxi handed one sandwich to Mu Yu.

“Zhang Ma made it. Try it.”

Mu Yu obediently took it and thanked her. As Gu Jingxi ate, she looked around. Very good. They were people from the production team. One of them was even Fu Hang’s assistant.

“Where is Director Fu planning to drag us?” Gu Jingxi asked with a smile.

The young assistant smiled shyly. “First, we’re going to the gathering point. After all the guests meet up, we’ll set off.”

“Then did he reveal to you what we’re going to do?” Gu Jingxi looked at him and blinked as she asked.

The young assistant awkwardly touched his nose. “Teacher Gu, please don’t ask me. This counts as a production secret. If I reveal it, Director Fu will fire me.”

Gu Jingxi patted his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look before saying nothing more.

It did not take long. The car stopped at a plaza in the west of the city. A bus was already parked in the plaza, and there were even people sitting and chatting under a temporary canopy not far away.

“Teacher Gu, we’ve arrived. From here on, you can only go by yourself. Also, phones are not allowed.” As the young assistant spoke, he indicated that Mu Yu could not follow.

Gu Jingxi expressed that she understood. After handing her phone to Mu Yu, she got out of the car and took the suitcase the staff helped remove, then walked toward the canopy.

Under the canopy, a tall man was saying something to a delicate-looking man. Then the delicate-looking man turned his head and waved at Gu Jingxi when he saw her.

“Teacher Gu! Over here!”

Gu Jingxi looked closely. Alright, they were all acquaintances. And just as Fu Hang had said, they were all people with clean backgrounds.

The tall man was Fang Zixu, a well-known martial arts action film actor in the industry.

The delicate-looking man was Luo Wentao, an idol singer.

Gu Jingxi had worked with both of them before. She had filmed a movie with Fang Zixu, while Luo Wentao had sung the theme song for a television drama she starred in.

“Brother Fang, Xiao Luo.” Gu Jingxi smiled and greeted them, then said, “Don’t call me so formally.”

“Okay, Sister Gu.” Luo Wentao smiled, revealing a pair of adorable little canine teeth.

“When my manager told me you were coming too, I was shocked. What’s this? Not focusing solely on acting anymore?” Fang Zixu asked with a smile.

“Occasionally, it’s good to change things up,” Gu Jingxi replied with a smile.

“Hey!” Just then, they heard a loud shout. The few of them turned around and saw two more familiar faces walking over side by side.

The slightly lively boy walking in front waved at everyone, then pushed the gentle-smiling man beside him forward.

“Look who I brought!”

The slightly lively boy was Lu Bin, a famous young actor in recent years. He had filmed quite a few television dramas and was currently transitioning into film. As for the man he pushed over, that one had quite the reputation.

A leading figure in the domestic music industry, Owen.

“Teacher Owen!” As a musician, Luo Wentao regarded Owen as practically a godlike existence.

Owen smiled gently and said, “As a special guest, I originally wanted to give everyone a surprise. I didn’t expect Xiao Lu to discover me.”

Lu Bin chuckled, then looked at everyone and said, “Is it just the five of us?”

“No, there’s one more.” Owen smiled. “She’s different from me. She is our special permanent guest.”

The others were dumbfounded. Owen’s status only made him a special guest, so who could possibly be the special permanent guest?

Just then, a black nanny van stopped not far away. Gu Jingxi subconsciously looked over.

She was full of anticipation, wanting to see who else Fu Hang could have invited. But when she saw the person getting out of the car—

Her whole body cracked apart.