Abstract Art Award Winner

Zhou Le knew the importance of personal connections from a very young age.

He was in junior high school at the time. Because he hadn't grown very tall yet, and because he was quite handsome, he was often ostracized by the boys in his class.

Sometimes after school, they would be stopped by thugs from other schools or older students who would demand money from them.

One day after school, I was riding my bike home when I was suddenly stopped by a group of thugs.

They didn't actually do anything, but the other person said they would buy a pack of cigarettes for school tomorrow.

Back then, Zhou Le wasn't as tall as he is now, and he was quite afraid of these older delinquents.

It just so happened that Zhou Le's parents were away on business trips during those days, so Zhou Le would go to his uncle's house after school.

Zhou Le's uncle works for a public institution. It's hard to say exactly what he's in charge of, but one of his responsibilities is to confiscate counterfeit cigarettes, so his uncle's house is often filled with counterfeit cigarettes.

So the next morning, when Zhou Le left, he simply found a black plastic bag, filled it completely, and carried it to school.

Sure enough, they ran into those thugs again on the way. Originally, the other party only wanted a bag, but when he took the black bag that Zhou Le handed over, his eyes widened when he opened it.

His attitude immediately underwent a 180-degree change.

"Brother, your name is Zhou Le, right? I'll protect you at school from now on. If anyone bullies you, just mention my name. If they don't listen, just come back to me."

At that time, Zhou Le was indeed honest and timidly told the older delinquent, "Hey bro, this cigarette is fake."

To everyone's surprise, the older brother didn't seem to care at all: "It's okay, I can't pull it out."

As a result, Zhou Le enjoyed a very comfortable learning environment during his three years of junior high school.

No one dared to provoke him, and no one dared to bully Zhou Le anymore.

Some classmates even asked Zhou Le for help to settle things when they were bullied.

It was around that time that Zhou Le realized the importance of connections.

Even if it's just knowing each other.

Sometimes even a single mention can have a great effect.

Faced with so many celebrities he had never met in real life before, Zhou Le immediately started asking for their WeChat contacts.

"Mr. Wu Bai, would it be convenient to add each other on WeChat?"

"Ms. Liu Mintao, you seem even more elegant in person than on TV."

"Sister Wanqian, I heard you also love playing games. Let's add each other on WeChat and play games together sometime."

"Sister Liu Tao, it's me. We've added each other on WeChat before, so it's okay. I wish you stay young forever and a Happy New Year."

"Teacher Zhang Wei, Teacher Xue! I love watching your shows! 'Southern Xue and Northern Zhang,' I'm so glad to see both of you today!"

Da Zhangwei and Xue Zhiqian are indeed both very humorous and witty.

After hearing Zhou Le's explanation, Xue Zhiqian immediately asked, "What do you mean? Why is my name put at the end?"

Zhou Le naturally knew that the other party was not really trying to find fault with him, so he smiled and replied, "Teacher Xue, I usually sort them by the first letter of their names."

Xue Zhiqian's mind raced: "Then his name is Zhang Wei, which is Z. My X comes before his."

"Teacher Xue, that's not right of you. How could you remove the 'Da' from Teacher Da's name? Oh well, let's just forget about it. I can't explain it to Teacher Da anyway. Teacher Xue, please see how you can explain it to Teacher Da."

"Haha, it's okay, it's fine if I don't have that big. Anyway, it's three characters in my name, so removing one won't affect anything. Besides, it's not a problem if I don't add that big in front of Teacher Xue."

After Zhou Le inquired further, he discovered that the two of them were both born in 1983.

Even their birthdays are only a month and a half apart.

Xue Zhiqian was in mid-July, while Da Zhangwei was at the end of August.

"If you ask me, the three of us are all here today, so we've finally made it. There's Xue in the south, Zhang in the north, and Zhou Le in the middle... See? There's one in the south and one in the north, and you're in the middle, so you have to be in the center, right? Let's take a picture together and post it on Weibo later. I bet I'll gain a lot more followers."

Da Zhangwei is indeed a chatterbox. He speaks quickly and a lot, and he even has a Beijing accent, which makes it sound like he's reciting tongue twisters.

After taking the group photo, Zhou Le was finally free.

Then Zhou Le went to other people: "Would you like to add Teacher Wu Qingfeng on WeChat?"

"Teacher Wang Xinling, I can't take it anymore! It's actually Teacher Wang Xinling! I remember seeing you like this when I was little, how come you're still like this now that you're grown up? So sweet!"

Wang Xinling was also pleased by the compliment: "Oh, really? But you're very handsome too. You're the most handsome male celebrity I've seen today."

Zhou Le gasped, "Sister Xinling, if you put it that way, my brother Bo won't be happy."

Zhou Le immediately mentioned Huang Bo. Of all the people present, he had the best relationship with Huang Bo, so he didn't care what jokes he made.

“Exactly.” Huang Bo, who was not far away, naturally heard the conversation between the two and echoed his agreement.

"Sister Xinling, your concert tickets are so hard to get! Those domineering CEOs are just waiting for your concert tickets to go on sale. I bet their entire company is trying to help them snag them."

I really couldn't get any tickets. Could you give me two tickets for your next concert? I really want to go see it live.

"Great! I heard you can dance. I'll get you on stage then."

Hearing this, Zhou Le paused for a moment: "I think I shouldn't go up and dance. All I know is pole dancing."

"It's okay, I can be your steel pipe when the time comes."

Zhou Le: "."

"Forget it, I'll take the role."

Wang Xinling was indeed very easy to talk to. After chatting for a few minutes, she said that she would definitely get Zhou Le a few front-row tickets when she held a concert in Taiwan.

Zhou Le was just tentatively mentioning it, figuring Wang Xinling would probably agree anyway, since they were all in the same circle and once someone asked, they usually wouldn't refuse.

He thought he could just watch one or two shows in mainland China, but he never expected to be able to watch one in Taiwan.

It's important to understand that Wang Xinling's performances in Taiwan and mainland China are completely different concepts.

"Okay, I have to go then, but I went there for a film festival a few years ago, and it seems like they don't welcome me there anymore."

"It's okay, they may not welcome you, but I do."

"Sister Xinling is so cool. I'll go check on them over there first."

"Alright, go ahead."

Finally, Zhou Le added Mingdao on WeChat.

Although there were still a few people left, Zhou Le hadn't heard of any of them before, and none of them had offered to add him, so he didn't bother looking for them. After getting to know most of them, Zhou Le went to chat with Cai Xukun's group, but among these people, he was only really familiar with Cai Xukun and Wang Ziyi.

"Hey Xiao Wang, has anyone ever told you that you actually look a bit like Wang Dalu?"

I hadn't thought about it this way before, but today when I suddenly looked at them, I realized that these two people really do look alike.

"Haha, yes, yes, there's a program on Hunan TV that's planning to invite us both to appear on it."

"That would be great! We have WeChat, so remember to forward it to me when the show airs. I really want to see it."

"no problem."

"But Kun Kun, what are your plans for your next job?"

"Next, I mainly want to make songs and appear on Running Man. I'll think about the rest later. My main goal is still to make music."

"Why haven't you thought about making a few movies?"

"I filmed it many years ago, but it wasn't very interesting. I still think making songs is more fun. I guess I'll hold a concert or something sometime."

Zhou Le nodded: "That's good. But if you want to make music, then focus on making music. Whether it's something high-end or something more mainstream, the main thing is to develop your own style. Let me know when you release a song. Although with your popularity you probably don't need anyone to help promote it, I can still help you share it."

"Okay, thanks, Brother Le."

The others were indeed quite envious of Cai Xukun, but sometimes there was nothing they could do, since they couldn't compare in appearance or professional skills.

What's even more infuriating is that, even when it comes to abstract concepts, it still can't compare.

Back then, among the idol trainees, Cai Xukun is still in a class of his own in terms of abstract expression. Next is Wang Ziyi, who was born in 1996 and dreamed of becoming a rap leader.

The rest of the people couldn't even get a number in line.

In other words, Fan Chengcheng has better resources. With these resources, along with his cheerful appearance and hardworking persona, he has made a name for himself.

As for the others, although they also have many enthusiastic fans, they are simply no match for the previous ones.

At most, I'll appear briefly with other people at a shared meal.

Today's rehearsal is just a preliminary one. After the rehearsal, the official recording will begin tomorrow. Some people will be in the stadium, while others will be in the indoor studio.

After all, this program isn't live. After the recording is finished and post-production is done, it will be broadcast on TV on May 5th.

Zhou Le's two songs are both fine. Although he hasn't sung them much, Zhou Le's singing skills are definitely not a problem now.

After Zhou Le finished recording, he was thinking of waiting for the others to finish recording so they could go out for a meal together. But as he was waiting, he suddenly saw Ultraman on stage.

"Wow, Jiangsu TV even got Ultraman on the show."

Zhou Le was surprised, so he sat down and waited until the Ultraman stage play ended. Then he quickly went backstage and took a picture with Ultraman.

"I'm having trouble deciding who to focus on when writing the caption for my Weibo post. It's not appropriate to put some of the bigger names at the back."

Now we finally have the material.

Zhou Le then sent the photos back to the company and asked the company's graphic designer to help retouch them, so that if he posted the original photos later, it would attract other people's fans to come and scold him for being too hasty.

No sooner had I sent the image back than my colleague in charge of design and graphic arts at the company replied: "Brother Le, are we just going to give them approval based on your photo now?"

Zhou Le: "I didn't edit the photo. This is how it looks when taken with the original camera."

"No, Brother Le, you have a built-in beauty filter, don't you? Doesn't this make you look a little too handsome? I wanted to edit it myself, but after looking at it for a long time, I still can't find anything I can change."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Le immediately sent the other party a red envelope.

"It sounds nice, I like it, can you say more?"

But just a few seconds later, the other party replied with a thank you message.

"Thank you, Mr. Zhou, for the generous red envelope of 8.88 yuan. I'll have to add an extra chicken leg when I go downstairs for dinner tonight."

"Hahaha."

Zhou Le usually gets along well with his employees, but that's because he doesn't come to the company often, so there's no need to make things too dangerous. But since Guo Qiling lives at the company regularly, he can't act like he does; he has to be more serious.

It's okay to be gentle occasionally, but if you're too gentle and get along too well with your subordinates, it can actually be detrimental to leading the team.

That night, several older artists wanted to go home and go to bed early, but Zhou Le couldn't persuade them, so he gave up. At dinner, only Da Zhangwei, Xue Zhiqian, and Wang Xinling were there.

Because Cai Xukun and his team wanted to eat together, the younger members weren't familiar with the group, and the older members didn't want to go.

Zhou Le originally wanted to invite Li Yuchun, but Li Yuchun said that she wasn't feeling well lately and wouldn't stay up all night with them.

"It's okay, let's make it up again tomorrow at noon. We should be free at noon, we can chat after lunch and then go back to rest for a while."

The meal was filled with laughter and chatter. With Zhou Le, Da Zhangwei, and Xue Zhiqian around, how could the atmosphere possibly become dull?
Sometimes, when Wang Xinling said something, the three of them would even vie to respond.

"This meal was so noisy, it didn't stop for a single moment, and even my sister was tired of listening to it."

"Come on, don't give me that. What do you mean 'Sister Mind'? She's clearly everyone's Sister Mind, okay? Why is she just your idol?"

"Hey, Sister Xinling, can you invite me to be a guest at your next concert? I don't want any money, I just want to be there. After all, I like to ride the wave of popularity, so I'll follow you to your concert next time."

"Sure, I'm all set. Everyone come, I'll arrange the time, please don't stand me up."

"That's impossible. We'll go as a group then."

"Do we have to go in a group? If there are too many people, I might not be able to take care of everyone. I think it's best to go one by one."

"Okay, we'll do as Sister Xinling says. If she tells us to go one by one, then we'll go one by one."

After finishing their meal, everyone went back to rest.

Zhou Le waited until the next day to prepare for the official recording. He thought about it and felt that with the current lineup, Wu Qingfeng, Zhou Shen, Wu Bai, Da Zhangwei, Xue Zhiqian, and Wang Xinling would probably become famous. After all, tickets for these people's concerts always sold out instantly.

But until the recording officially started, Zhou Le only sang two songs on his own show; the rest of the time he was just an audience member.

After all the recordings were finished, Zhou Le immediately overturned his previous guess.

What about Zhang Wei, Xue Zhiqian, Zhou Shen, and Wang Xinling?

Everyone has to step back!

Putting everything else aside, this one performance alone will definitely make me, Teacher Liu Mintao, the sole trending topic.

No one else could make a difference! (End of Chapter)