Everyone Spends Money to Make Me Debut as Center (GL) - Chapter 5

“Chi Rui… did you really retire? Is it truly impossible for you to make a comeback? Actually, I still really want to see you on screen. The anti-fans who call you untalented are just bitter; don’t take it to heart. I feel so happy every time I hear you sing! Please don’t give up, okay…”

Chi Rui thought for a moment. Since participating in a survival show wasn’t exactly a shameful secret, she decided to tell You Xiaotao.

“Ah! Really?! You’re going to join National Girls!”

“Shh, a little too loud.” Chi Rui made a shushing gesture and winked at her.

You Xiaotao immediately covered her mouth. Chi Rui speaking to her in a low voice felt like they were sharing a little secret. Up close, her face was so exquisite! Heavens, am I dreaming? I feel like I’m going to faint!

“I will definitely work hard to vote for you!”

Chi Rui originally thought this was just a small interlude. However, that night while she was showering, the intermittently active system suddenly popped up.

[Detected: Target You Xiaotao’s Spending Index has increased by 5,236. Congratulations! Please keep up the good work, Host!]

“What did you say?” Chi Rui nearly choked on the shower water.

Didn’t she specifically tell that girl not to waste money this afternoon? Why had another 5,000-plus RMB been spent on her out of nowhere?

Meanwhile, You Xiaotao, who had just ordered fifty physical albums: Spending money makes me happy! AHHHH! I am definitely not leaving the fandom of such a wonderful Chi Rui! Once my client pays the final installment, I can spend enough for a hundred more albums!

Chi Rui, unaware that her words had backfired, asked the system to list You Xiaotao’s detailed information.

Chi Rui: “Remember to remove the private info like her measurements.”

System: “Roger that!”

Because You Xiaotao was an A-grade target, the information provided was very thorough. Just browsing through the dense text, Chi Rui could imagine the girl’s unreserved love for the original owner. Buying albums and snatching concert tickets were just standard operations; the bulk of You Xiaotao’s free time was spent boosting data and controlling the narrative on Weibo.

Perhaps because Chi Rui was slightly older, she found this inexplicable passion a bit puzzling. Her biggest confusion was: Is the current me worth this?

As she delved deeper into the records, Chi Rui suddenly recalled her own past experience as a fan—though it was a completely different style of “stanning.”

The orphanage occasionally received volunteers, mostly university students. They helped with cleaning and cooking, and some donated supplies. Chi Rui was used to that. But one weekend, the director gathered all the children, had them change into clean uniforms, and the cafeteria menu featured chicken legs and fish soup—luxuries usually reserved for New Year’s.

A young Chi Rui grew curious about that day’s volunteer. During nap time, she snuck out of the cafeteria and hid in the bushes to watch.

The visitor was said to be a very famous celebrity. A flashy car, a beautiful woman with long hair, and the director’s fawning smile—all of this was foreign to her.

“Little one, why aren’t you eating?” Even years later, Chi Rui could still feel the warmth of that woman’s palm on her cheek.

Looking at a face that usually only appeared on a screen felt surreal. Strangely, while she rarely initiated contact with anyone besides the director, that woman was an exception.

When the woman was leaving, Chi Rui ran out from the line, slipped past the tall bodyguards in black suits, and grabbed her skirt. “Sister, will I see you again?”

Thinking about it now, the answer was obviously “no.” But at that age, Chi Rui was obsessed with the answer she wanted, so much so that she ignored the director’s attempts to pull her back and stared fixedly at the smiling woman.

“You will.” The woman didn’t get angry. Instead, she knelt down and rubbed Chi Rui’s head. “As long as you want to.”

That woman was the first and only “star” Chi Rui ever followed—the light in her life.

Years later, when she grew up and was lucky enough to get a ticket to a film festival from a senior at the company, she finally sat in the audience and watched that woman accept a trophy with a confident, elegant smile. When the woman said, “Thank you to my fans for always accompanying and encouraging me,” she seemed to lock eyes with Chi Rui. That tacit joy made them feel less like fan and idol and more like old, kindred friends.

She is excellent, so I choose to follow her, not the other way around. This was the motto Chi Rui kept in her heart. That was why she ignored all discouragement and trained relentlessly, just to one day fulfill that promise that “I can see you as long as I want.”

But times had changed. The internet amplified both praise and malice. Nighttime fame via “black box” operations was common, and “bad money” often drove out the good. This atmosphere had leaked into fan circles; “freeloading” was seen as a sin, and love for an idol was measured in money.

System: “Host, a reminder: You Xiaotao is a freelance illustrator and a former employee of a famous animation company. Her annual income is over two million. Besides, it’s her money; she can spend it how she likes. Why don’t you… worry about yourself first?”

Chi Rui: “What’s my annual salary?”

System: “Have you forgotten you are currently unemployed and homeless?”

That stab went deep. Even as strong as she was, Chi Rui felt her eyes sting.

Just as she was mentally drafting a comeback against the system, the bathroom lights went out. She noticed no light was coming through the door gap. A blackout?

The power was out, but the water wasn’t. In the pitch black, the warm water washed over her skin. Chi Rui felt a sudden sense of suffocation, like she was sinking to the bottom of a lake. Fear set in.

She quickly turned off the water and wiped her face. Her eyes stung, but she forced them open—she suddenly remembered ghost stories she’d heard as a kid about ghosts watching you in the bathroom at night.

Since she didn’t bring her phone, she had no light. She grabbed a bath towel from the rack to cover herself and tiptoed toward the door. She remembered emergency items like flashlights and candles were in a cabinet by the shoe rack.

Just as she was creeping toward the door at a snail’s pace, the front door lock clicked. Someone pushed the door open.

“Who’s there!” Chi Rui’s voice was tight.

In this situation, it was impossible not to be scared. The room was dark, and she was in an extremely vulnerable, undressed state. But then she thought—the security here was top-notch. You had to register license plates, and there were fingerprint locks. Even delivery drivers couldn’t get up without her opening the door. What thief was this skilled?

“It’s me.” Bai Chang clearly didn’t expect to be questioned like a thief when she returned home to pick up forgotten items. Noticing the darkness, she asked instinctively, “Power outage?”

Chi Rui finally exhaled. “Yeah. I think the circuit breaker tripped.”

Bai Chang nodded and took out her phone to use as a flashlight to change her shoes.

The moment the light hit Chi Rui, Bai Chang froze. Her first thought was: When did Chi Rui dye her hair red? It suits her. Then she realized the other woman was in an “inconvenient” state for conversation.

Although they had been “together,” they had never been truly intimate or seen each other like this. Seeing Chi Rui in this state made even the calm Bai Chang’s ears turn red.

“Why did you come out without clothes? Aren’t you cold?”

“I couldn’t see anything in there. I came out to find a flashlight.”

Chi Rui had grown up in an orphanage where girls showered together; she didn’t find anything wrong with being like this in front of another woman. Plus, she was holding a “modesty cloth,” and in the dim light, she didn’t notice Bai Chang’s unusual expression.

Seeing the other woman standing still with her head down, Chi Rui urged, “Since you’re standing right there, hand me the flashlight from the cabinet.”

“Huh?” Bai Chang responded softly, a bit dazed. “The… the flashlight?”

It was strange. To her fans, this woman was like an immortal with few worldly desires, yet encountering Chi Rui made her almost stammer.

Bai Chang reacted quickly before Chi Rui could complain. She pulled open the cabinet and handed over an object by feel. “Here.”

Chi Rui squinted as she took it. “Ms. Bai, did you forget your glasses? If you changed your mind and decided to give me a candle, you might as well give me a lighter too.”

Only then did Bai Chang realize she had handed her a candle. She quickly found the flashlight, licked her dry lips, and handed it over while looking away.

Chi Rui noticed her series of unnatural movements and found it odd. When did this ‘plague’ become so thin-skinned?

She only understood once she was back in the bathroom with the flashlight. Looking in the mirror, she had to admit—the “Little Princess” was young, but her body was well-developed. Slender waist, long legs; she looked thin, but she was curvaceous in all the right places.

By the time Chi Rui was dressed and came out, the power was back on, and Bai Chang’s high heels were gone from the entrance.

It seemed she really had just come for something and left immediately, with no intention of reminiscing with her soon-to-be ex-wife.

Chi Rui didn’t mind. She locked the door from the inside, hopped onto the bed, and dropped into a side split to stretch while she rested.

After the system activation, hundreds of thousands of personal profiles appeared in the database. They were sorted by grade; those in gray represented fans who had left the fandom.

Chi Rui scrolled through. Good lord, it’s a sea of gray. Nine out of ten remaining fans were only there for her looks. It seemed the Little Princess had truly succeeded in driving everyone away.

System: “The hosts I’ve managed before could find a B-grade fan just by walking down the street. That’s the popularity a top-tier star should have. You are truly ‘nugu’ (flop).”

Chi Rui: “I know, I know. It took a month just to find one You Xiaotao to activate you. That was hard enough.”

Chi Rui asked the system to filter for those who hadn’t left yet. She planned to read their profiles before bed. Reading hundreds of thousands was unrealistic, so she’d pick a few. If they had already left, the chance of contact was small, so she could skip them for now.

System: “You don’t need to do homework. Like this afternoon, I’ll automatically transmit data when you meet a target.”

Chi Rui: “It’s fine. I just want to understand them.”

Actually, with the residential recording date approaching, Chi Rui was nervous. She could fake her way through a mall performance using her past experience, but she had never faced reality show cameras.

She wanted to look at these profiles to understand the journey they took with the original owner and their unreserved love. Staring at those numbers and feeling the weight of the hope placed on her shoulders made her feel like she wasn’t fighting alone.

She placed a piggy bank next to her. For every profile she read, she dropped in a coin. By the end, she had saved 108 yuan. She shook the jar, listening to the crisp clinking. This was her alarm clock; every day from now on had to be more diligent than the last to make these coins worth it.

That night, You Xiaotao immediately logged onto her long-abandoned fan account and posted the edited photos and the autograph.

[Peach Loves Beauty Rui]: AAAAHHHH! My luck today was insane! I went to the offline event, got a photo AND a personalized autograph, and she even encouraged me! She actually remembers every gift I sent; she was even familiar with the contents of my letters! Also, a teaser: the gorgeous fancam of Rui from this afternoon is uploading. Her professional skills are insane! She sang and danced with a handheld mic and wasn’t out of breath at all! Waaaah, our Rui is really practicing hard, I’m so moved! [Image] [Image] [Image]

You Xiaotao’s account had nearly 80,000 fans. Even though it hadn’t been updated in a long time, the post garnered many comments.

“Doesn’t Rui hate taking photos? How did Peach get the chance!”

“Red-haired Rui is top-tier! My mom asked why I’m drooling at my phone!”

“Rui-宝 actually went to a mall performance?”

Of course, professional anti-fans also swarmed in to argue. Because they were numerous, they quickly buried the few compliments.

“She already retired, and the big fans are still trying to manufacture hype? Everyone knows Chi Rui is a dance-idiot who can’t even remember moves. Talking about ‘professional skills’—do you think netizens have no memory?”

“Memorizing fan letters? Chi Rui? You’re joking. Suddenly starting this exaggerated ‘fan-loving’ persona… Is she making a comeback? She was so ‘principled’ when she retired, and now that she’s ruined her own career, she wants to come back for a meal?”

Soon, You Xiaotao’s fancam finished uploading. The cover shot of Chi Rui tossing her hair was incredibly alluring. Even non-fans couldn’t help but click.

Once the video played, forget the anti-fans—even the old fans were left wide-mouthed. Has Chi Rui been in secret training during this year of disappearance? How can her skills have improved this much!

Only one thought remained in their heads: “Goddess, who are you?”