I Joined a Fake Variety Show (GL) - Chapter 3

The person who sent the message was named Zuo Yuan, now a minorly famous variety show personality.

However, Han Shutong didn’t stop because she saw Zuo Yuan, but because of the person Zuo Yuan had tagged in the message.

Zuo Yuan: [Video]

Zuo Yuan: [@Zhou Xi Guess what I stumbled upon today? Is the person in this video you? How did you end up like this? Going to collect recyclables? Tell me if you’re having any difficulties, we’re old classmates, how could I not help you? How about I lend you some money? Oh, you probably can’t pay back a loan, so I’ll just give it to you.]

Zuo Yuan: [How about I introduce you to a job? Our company still needs a cleaning lady. Want to try it? It’s better than collecting recyclables, right? /Mouth-covering smile]

Collect… recyclables?

Han Shutong’s expression shifted slightly. Her eyes quickly moved up to the video Zuo Yuan had posted.

The video hadn’t been clicked on yet, but the caption was clearly visible: Afternoon of the 16th, “Beautiful Recycler” appears on Heping Street.

Although the cover was just a blurry side profile, so much so that one couldn’t even clearly see the face, Han Shutong recognized it immediately: the person riding the vehicle was indeed Zhou Xi.

She tapped the play button. As the music started, Han Shutong saw Zhou Xi earnestly pedaling the vehicle.

Han Shutong frowned at the sight.

However, she quickly noticed something was amiss.

When collecting waste cardboard, people usually fold the boxes flat and secure them with ropes to maximize space in the cargo bed. But the boxes behind Zhou Xi were stacked in their normal shape, suggesting she wasn’t collecting recyclables, but moving things.

To confirm her guess, Han Shutong saw the uploader’s name at the end of the video, then logged onto the short video platform to search.

Sure enough, the comment section under the video was filled with people saying Zhou Xi was moving house. And their observations were affirmed by the uploader’s positive replies.

The anxiety in her heart eased slightly. Han Shutong exited the comment section and watched the video intently.

The video was only six seconds long and passed in a flash. Zhou Xi’s figure only appeared on screen for three seconds; the remaining three were blocked by the boxes.

In those fleeting three seconds, Zhou Xi’s skirt hem danced like a red phoenix butterfly in the wind created by her riding.

The image of her dancing skirt was engraved in Han Shutong’s eyes.

Zhou Xi never posted selfies or videos on her social media. This was the first time since graduation that Han Shutong had seen what Zhou Xi looked like in real life, usually only seeing her in the TV dramas she had acted in.

About three minutes passed.

Bai Mo, who had been talking to Luo Shuiqiu in the living room, asked as she neared the kitchen doorway, “Sister Tong, what’s wrong?”

Han Shutong looked at Bai Mo standing in the doorway. “What?”

Bai Mo glanced up at the phone in Han Shutong’s hand and gave an “uh” sound. “Nothing. I just heard the same music repeating on your phone, and I thought it was broken.”

Bai Mo then added, “Boss has more work for me. I’m going back to the living room.”

With that, Bai Mo returned to the living room, leaving Han Shutong alone in the kitchen.

After the music played through one more time, Han Shutong tapped the back button. But just as she was about to tap it a second time, her finger moved to the download button.

Only after seeing the message that the video had been saved to her album did Han Shutong exit the platform, lock her phone screen, and walk out of the kitchen.

In the living room, Bai Mo and Luo Shuiqiu were still on the call.

Seeing Han Shutong emerge, Bai Mo subconsciously called out, “Sister Tong.”

Luo Shuiqiu on the other end heard this and told Bai Mo to hand the phone to Han Shutong.

“But…”

Bai Mo hesitated. She knew Luo Shuiqiu would try to persuade Han Shutong to accept the variety show, but she also knew that what Han Shutong decided was not easily changed.

But to Bai Mo’s surprise, Han Shutong walked straight over to her and asked, “Is that Sister Qiu?”

Bai Mo nodded.

“Let me say a few words,” Han Shutong said.

Hearing this, Bai Mo quickly handed the phone to Han Shutong.

Luo Shuiqiu had already overheard their conversation. A few seconds after Han Shutong finished speaking, Luo Shuiqiu said, “Shutong, can you please reconsider? I’m begging you.”

No sooner had Luo Shuiqiu spoken than she heard Han Shutong’s voice from the other end: “I’ll accept.”

The two breezy words stunned both listeners.

Luo Shuiqiu: Since when did my ‘begging’ work so well?

Before Luo Shuiqiu could speak, Han Shutong added, “However, I have something I need to tell you.”

As long as Han Shutong agreed to the variety show, Luo Shuiqiu was willing to agree to anything now.

She said, “You don’t need to say it. I have no problem with anything.”

Zhou Xi had originally planned to continue looking for houses that afternoon, but when she contacted the agent, she realized her phone battery was low.

Thinking that this “eager-to-succeed” method of house hunting wasn’t working, Zhou Xi gave up and boarded the bus back to the motel.

Fearing that leaving her mobile data on would drain the battery quickly, Zhou Xi kept her network off until she returned to the motel.

Back at the motel, Zhou Xi lay spread-eagle on the bed. She had felt a sense of despair when the agent left at noon.

In this day and age, she couldn’t even afford to rent a room.

How was she supposed to live?

Now, she could only wait for her last paycheck before her contract expired to rent a cheaper place.

Thinking of this, Zhou Xi wanted to check the date and see how many days were left until payday.

Picking up her phone, she found it had died sometime without her knowing.

After plugging in the charger, before the screen could fully load, a call came in.

It was Qi Jie.

Answering the call, Zhou Xi greeted him listlessly: “Hi.”

Qi Jie was not as calm as Zhou Xi. His voice was excited as he yelled, “Sister Zhou! Why are you only answering now!!”

“Oh right! Then you definitely haven’t seen the hot search, right?”

“Hot search?”

Qi Jie: “Yes! Go check quickly! You’re on the hot search!”

Zhou Xi’s first reaction was not happiness, but confusion.

She wouldn’t be on the hot search for no reason; something must have happened.

Zhou Xi clicked into Weibo and scrolled through the trending topics.

Her eyes stopped at the 15th topic: #ZhouXiCollectingRecyclables#

“…?”

“When did I collect recyclables? Why don’t I know about this?” Saying this, Zhou Xi clicked into the hot search and saw that the top post was the video of her moving house two days ago.

“Sister Zhou, you’re missing the point,” Qi Jie said. “So many netizens are commenting about you, saying you’re beautiful and classy. I just checked, and you gained over twenty thousand followers.”

“…So what?”

Zhou Xi was currently flipping through the comments, but she didn’t see the discussions about her beauty that Qi Jie mentioned. Instead, everyone was asking who Zhou Xi was.

Qi Jie: “So, after today, you’re definitely going to be seen by many people! What if a big director sees you and asks to collaborate? You’ll be famous, Sister Zhou!”

The air suddenly went silent.

“Jie Jie,” Zhou Xi called softly.

Qi Jie thought he had said the wrong thing and was mentally reviewing his words. Hearing Zhou Xi speak, he quickly replied, “What’s wrong, Sister Zhou?”

Zhou Xi slowly said, “I won’t be with the company in half a month.”

Her contract would expire in half a month, and since there were no plans to renew, the company wouldn’t allocate her any resources at this time.

Qi Jie understood this. He hesitantly asked, “Can’t you… renew?”

“I’m not planning to continue in this industry.”

“Ah? Why? Didn’t you tell me that acting was the happiest thing for you?”

“But I have to have roles to act in,” Zhou Xi replied wistfully, then continued, “My top priority right now is to make money. After I make money, I’ll talk about ideals.”

Zhou Xi had already made up her mind on the bus yesterday.

Rather than letting herself live in such distress, it was better to change jobs and start fresh.

Qi Jie: “But can’t you just renew your contract?”

Zhou Xi smiled, saying nothing more.

Qi Jie knew Zhou Xi didn’t want to talk about it, so he didn’t press. Instead, he changed the subject and asked, “Have you found a place? Do you need my help looking?”

“Not yet. I’ll keep looking. I’ll ask you for help if I really can’t find anything.”

“Okay… Sister Zhou, there’s something I need to tell you.”

Hearing Zhou Xi hum, Qi Jie carefully said, “The role you auditioned for the day before yesterday? The director had already called me, but the boss recommended another rising star for the role instead.”

“Got it.”

Qi Jie: “You’re not angry?”

Zhou Xi expressed her understanding.

One was a rising star, and the other was a veteran about to leave the company. If Zhou Xi were to choose, she would also pick the former.

“What’s there to be angry about? Instead, why didn’t you try to fight for that role for the person under you?”

Zhou Xi’s question made Qi Jie suddenly realize his oversight. He had been so focused on Zhou Xi’s hot search that he forgot about the matter.

“Sister, I have to hang up now.” With that, Qi Jie hung up before Zhou Xi could reply.

While checking Weibo, Zhou Xi connected to the motel’s Wi-Fi, which immediately caused WeChat notification bubbles to pop up continuously on the screen.

Zhou Xi hadn’t paid attention to them earlier. Now, after hanging up the phone, she looked at the number of unread messages on WeChat, her expression momentarily freezing. It would be a lie to say she wasn’t surprised; she hadn’t received this many messages in a year combined.

Tapping open WeChat, Zhou Xi was slightly surprised to see that the chat at the top was the Dorm Group Chat.

Seeing that she had been tagged, Zhou Xi didn’t bother looking at the messages below but clicked into the group chat.

Then, Zhou Xi was amused to the point of laughter.

This wasn’t concern at all; it was clearly passive aggression.

Zhou Xi’s college dorm was a quad.

Besides her, there were Han Shutong, Zuo Yuan, and another person named Fu Ni Lai.

Among the four, her relationship with Zuo Yuan was the worst, and with the other two, it was merely an acquaintance.

When did she fall out with Zuo Yuan? It seemed to be in the second semester of her sophomore year.

After her sophomore year, Zhou Xi rarely stayed in the dorm. Not long after, a rumor circulated throughout the entire grade that she was being sugar-babied.

That was, of course, false.

The moment Zhou Xi heard the rumor, she started investigating who had spread it and eventually traced the start of the gossip to Zuo Yuan.

Zhou Xi didn’t swallow her anger. She confronted Zuo Yuan face-to-face about the matter, and Zuo Yuan didn’t hide it, admitting it directly.

Zhou Xi demanded that Zuo Yuan apologize publicly, but Zuo Yuan mocked her and refused.

Finally, Zhou Xi had to play the recording of their conversation on the campus radio station. The rumors stopped, and Zuo Yuan became unable to hold her head up in school, her dislike for Zhou Xi turning into hatred.

Since then, Zuo Yuan had tried to get back at Zhou Xi, but Zhou Xi had managed to thwart her every time.

She didn’t expect that even after all these years since graduation, Zuo Yuan still maintained this “enthusiasm.”

Zuo Yuan created the group chat during their freshman year.

The reason Zhou Xi never left the group was that she hadn’t saved it to her contacts, and since no one ever chatted, she never had the opportunity to leave.

So, she was surprised when the group chat popped up.

Looking again at the content Zuo Yuan posted, Zhou Xi typed back emotionlessly:

[I won’t trouble you for help. Last time I saw you inadvertently in a video, your face was so stiff you couldn’t smile. You should save your money for the hospital instead, or else I’m afraid your hyaluronic acid might accidentally fly out while you’re recording a show /Smile]