Chinese Entertainment King: Starting as a Fat Boy and Becoming a Singing King

Chapter 94 Bai Lu and Liu Yifei, who should Xu Yao choose?

"After the contract is terminated, will you be very busy?" Bai Lu asked.

Xu Yao nodded: "I've fallen too far behind on the new album, so I'll definitely be very busy."

Bai Lu nodded and said nothing more. The water of East Lake in Wuhan was exceptionally still in winter.

The two rented a pedal boat. Bai Lu pedaled a few times and then complained that her legs were sore. Xu Yao took the pedals and slowly pedaled by himself, and the boat gently rippled in circles on the lake.

The phone rang, and Xu Yao freed one hand to see Yang Kun's name appear on the screen.

"Xiao Yao, how's the contract termination going?"

Yang Kun's voice was husky yet had a signature crispness, and in the background, there was the sound of a band tuning their instruments, with the bass strings being plucked and buzzing.

"Soon, Mr. Yang Kun. I'll come to report to you as soon as the contract is signed."

"Okay! The schedules of the mentors have all been arranged for you. All that's left is for you to arrive. Let's try to make it to the final recording."

Yang Kun chuckled and said, "The Voice of China champion that I mentored is now joining me on 'Sing My Song.' How could this wave of popularity be small?"

Moreover, it's mainly because it's so damn satisfying.

"Okay, Professor Yang Kun, I will definitely be there."

After hanging up the phone, Bai Lu took the oar and idly paddled the water.

She rowed for a while, then thought of the gossip about Xu Yao and Liu Yifei circulating online in East Lake, Wuhan, and suddenly turned to look at him.

"I heard you and Liu Yifei were getting very close in Beijing this time, spending a lot of time together?"

Bai Lu tried to keep his tone as calm as possible, as if he were talking about something insignificant.

Xu Yao nodded calmly.

"She's like my neighbor's older sister."

He briefly explained that the parents of both families had been colleagues at the Wuhan Song and Dance Theater, and that his cousin was slowly recovering.

The three of them grew up running around in the same courtyard. Back then, Liu Yifei wasn't some fairy-like beauty; she was just a little girl who would make him chase after her.

Later, they all went to Beijing, while he stayed in Wuhan for high school and university, and they lost touch.

After listening, Bai Lu remained silent for a while.

Isn't that a childhood sweetheart relationship?

She placed the oar across her knees, and the ripples on the lake spread out in layers, like a small knot in her mind as she pondered.

"Xu Yao, are you sure you'll never confess your feelings to a girl?"

Her voice was soft, but her question was unusually earnest.

This is not a matter of a whim.

Bai Lu recalled every moment they spent together and every WeChat conversation during those days.

He never seemed to send a message of greeting, nor did he ever respond to her attempts to probe, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

At first, she thought Xu Yao was just slow to notice. But ever since she saw him expressionlessly throw the note into the trash can in the rented room, this question had taken root in her mind.

In his career, he can take the initiative to plan, proceed step by step, rack his brains, make dozens of phone calls to build connections, and stay up all night to draw up roadmaps.

But in matters of the heart, that's not insensitivity, that's indifference.

Or perhaps, is this a self-preservation mechanism Xu Yao developed after suffering severe injuries?

A person who has been cruelly abandoned by someone will either become a crazy person desperately chasing after love, or a hedgehog who will never again put themselves in a position to be chosen.

He seems to be the latter.

"Yes."

Xu Yao nodded, his gaze falling on the sycamore trees on the shore, where a few withered leaves were drifting down from the branches and slowly landing on the water.

"Actually, I am a very proud person now, and I only want to focus on my career."

pride.

Bai Lu mentally went over this word several times.

It seems I guessed right after all.

He was talking about pride, not indifference or heartlessness.

Pride is a wall you build for yourself after you've been hurt; he built it very high.

"So after a breakup, you won't confess your feelings to anyone, and you'll never give anyone a chance to reject you again, right?"

Xu Yao turned his head and looked at her, without giving a direct answer.

When it comes to feelings, whether or not you can be together isn't something that can be decided by a few words of confession.

Love should develop over time, like a gentle stream, and it should happen gradually; you should meet the right person at the right time.

Whether that person is still by your side after a year, two years, or three years.

Confessing one's feelings is the least important part, especially in the entertainment industry.

A film crew met privately over several months, and regardless of whether they were single or not, they confessed their feelings to each other and ended up sleeping together.

After filming wrapped, their relationship came to an end.

What matters is never how you start, but whether you can keep going.

Bai Lu looked at his profile, took a deep breath as if gathering her courage, and then suddenly asked Xu Yao a question that caught him off guard: "If one day, both Liu Yifei and I confessed our feelings to you, who would you choose?"

Xu Yao was clearly taken aback.

The boat rocked slightly on the water, and he instinctively took his foot off the footboard.

He had never actually thought about this question; it wasn't that he was avoiding it, but he genuinely had never compared the two people.

In his heart, Sister Xixi is family, the one who used to chase after him and call him "sister" when he was a child, and the one who reached out to help him when he was at his lowest point.

But Bailu is a different kind of existence.

She was the girl who stood outside the TV station all afternoon on an empty stomach but didn't dare to approach him; she was the girl sitting next to him now, so nervous that she clutched the edge of her down jacket but still mustered the courage to ask him that question.

These two people are never in the same coordinate system.

He thought for a moment and answered truthfully, "I don't really like to ponder the answers to these kinds of hypothetical questions."

Bai Lu seemed unsurprised.

She didn't press further, but instead switched the oar to her other hand and asked again from a different angle, "Let me rephrase the question: if Liu Yifei and I both choose you, do I have absolutely no chance of winning?"

Before Xu Yao could speak, she glanced around at the shimmering lake and gritted her teeth, adding, "No refusing to answer. Otherwise—"

Bai Lu bared his fierce tiger teeth: "Otherwise, I'll just grab you and jump down with me."

Xu Yao couldn't help but laugh; this was the first time he'd heard such a threat: "Are you going to commit suicide with me?"

"Oh, tell me!"

Bai Lu placed the oar on the footboard, turned around to face him, her voice carrying a hint of coquetry mixed with a determined seriousness.

"I can work hard, just like I work hard to become a star. But when you work hard, you have to see some hope, right? You have to let me know if I'm heading in the right direction or the wrong one."

Xu Yao looked into her eyes. She asked very seriously, not like a girl whining and asking to be coaxed.

He stopped smiling, thought seriously for a moment, and then said, "You have a very good chance of winning."

Suddenly, a wild duck skimmed across the lake, its wings shattering the water's surface and splashing up a ring of fine silver beads.

Bai Lu's eyes shone so brightly in that instant that they seemed to reflect the entire East Lake.

"Really? Is his chance of winning even better than Liu Yifei's?"

"There's no way there could be anything between us, right?"

Xu Yao answered truthfully that Liu Yifei was indeed not on his list of potential future wives.

Bai Lu sighed, "Xu Yao, you don't understand girls' minds. You two are both incredibly proud people, and I'm very worried about you—"

At that very moment, in Area B of the Shanghai International Auto Show, the spotlight was shining directly on Kumho Tire's booth.

Liu Yifei wore a beige tweed suit, her slightly wavy long hair cascading over one shoulder, and her lips painted with a color she had chosen herself.

She tilted her head slightly and gave the camera a standard brand ambassador smile, as a barrage of flashes went off.

Then she suddenly felt an itch in her nose and sneezed twice.

The sneeze came unexpectedly, and she trembled slightly in front of the camera, instantly ruining her elegant swan neck.

She quickly covered her nose with her hand and rubbed the tip of her nose in annoyance.

What happened?

Who's been talking about me behind my back?

Could it be that Xiao Yao misses me?

He must be thinking about me, his older sister—yes, that must be it, who else could it be but him?

Thinking of this, the corners of her mouth suddenly turned up, and an uncontrollable smile, tinged with slyness and certainty, appeared on her face, completely forgetting that she was still standing under the spotlight.

The reporters at the scene were all instantly energized.

They were all seasoned veterans who covered the entertainment industry for years, and they had already sensed something unusual about Liu Yifei's demeanor today.

A reporter immediately stood up and asked first, "Sister Feifei, you sneezed and smiled so sweetly just now, has something particularly happy happened recently?"

Liu Yifei snapped out of her daze, quickly suppressing her smile and tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. Her tone was gentle yet impeccable: "Does sneezing mean I'm getting a cold? Next question."

Before she could finish speaking, another male reporter, whose microphone had been pushed towards him, quickly seized the opportunity: "Ms. Liu Yifei, there are rumors online that the powerful figure who helped newcomer singer Xu Yao secure a major supporting role in his new movie is you. Is that true?"

Liu Yifei's smile faded slightly. She turned her head slightly, and the sweetness in her eyes when she was staring blankly at the camera had vanished without a trace, replaced by a sense of inviolable boundaries.

"Whether it's true or not, if I tell you now, would you dare to tell anyone? So, what kind of answer do you want from me? Yes or no?"

She tilted her head and looked at him for a few seconds, then sighed softly.

"You seem quite young. Could you please use your brain a little when asking questions? Next question."

A female reporter wearing glasses stood up from the back row, confidently seizing the opportunity to ask a question with a recorder in hand: "Sister Feifei, your recent movie didn't do very well at the box office. Would you consider returning to television dramas?"

This time, Liu Yifei didn't retort. Her expression relaxed, as if she had finally been asked a question worthy of her serious attention. She adjusted her posture and gave the female reporter a rare smile: "That's a good question. Quickly spread the word that I, Liu Yifei, am returning to television dramas! Feel free to contact me anytime if you have a good script. As for the salary—"

She thought about it for a moment, then dismissed it.

"That's easy. The most important thing is whether the character itself is moving enough for me."

Just as the atmosphere on stage finally eased and the reporters lowered their heads to take notes, the male reporter suddenly raised his recorder. His voice wasn't loud, but it was enough to silence the entire booth instantly: "Ms. Liu Yifei, you have to come out and take on scripts on your own now. Is it because President Chen really doesn't care about the company's business anymore? Is that why you can't get good TV series projects?"

Are they only allowed to make co-production films?

Liu Yifei's smile vanished instantly. She didn't get angry, but her voice had turned icy: "Which media outlet are you from? Why do you keep asking me questions I don't like? If you keep talking nonsense, I'll complain to your editor-in-chief's office."

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