Chapter 168 – Off to a Reality TV Show (4)
On the eighth season of the talent show, all of the guests boarded a plane and headed toward Bangkok.
Li Jinyuan went over from his other filming location, so Zhong Yuhuan did not go there with him.
Zhong Yuhuan wasn’t an actress, so all she had with her was a secretary and two bodyguards. By then, Zhong Yuhuan already had her microphone on and the filming had started.
Li Jinyuan reached out to Zhong Yuhuan after they had deboarded the plane. He waited by the exit with Wei Jie and the other crew members. They headed out only after he had met up with Zhong Yuhuan.
Nobody had expected that there’d be fans waiting for Li Jinyuan at the airport even in Thailand.
Caught off guard, they quickly took a detour and used a different exit.
By the time they got into the filming crew’s car, their pictures had already been posted online.
“Miss Watermelon: Per one of the fans, when she was waiting for @Li Jinyuan at the airport in Thailand, she saw him walking out with a girl affectionately. The two of them have the same style of sunglasses, and they were laughing and chatting. There were bodyguards and other workers around them. Didn’t Li Jinyuan go to Thailand for the filming of his newest show? Why did he bring someone with him? Did he bring his girlfriend with him? If I am right, Li Jinyuan is still pretty young, no? [Picture] [Picture]…”
The comment area blew up immediately.
“If you knew he was going there for filming purposes, then isn’t this obvious? Of course the girl was just another guest on the show! That’s some imagination that you got there. Are you trying to say that my ‘son’ has a girlfriend?”
(T/N: In China, there are different types of fans. There are “Mom fans”, who think of the celebrity as their “child”, or “wife fans” or “girlfriend fans”, who sees the celebrities as lovers.)
“For sure that’s a female colleague. Was it necessary to create rumors? Can’t you just wait for the new show to start? If you have so much free time on hand, why don’t you go watch ‘Son of Stars” Season 8? Li Jinyuan is a very good boy!”
“…. Emmmm. What I was trying to say was Li Jinyuan has been in this field for very long. And it so happened that he knew someone on the show? How else would they be chatting and laughing, and looking very affectionate with each other? If they had just met on the show, they sure had cozied up to each other quickly. So is Li Jinyuan one of those who are very friendly to everyone immediately?”
……
Regardless of all the discussions online, the van of the filming crew had already arrived at the hotel.
They would be filming a travel show. Individuals of different professions and different ages would be assigned onto one team and would be allowed to be themselves and relax and see how they would interact with each other…
After they had arrived at the hotel, the guests all gathered in the lobby for a round of self-introduction.
Li Jinyuan and Zhong Yuhuan stood next to each other. Quickly, five more guests came downstairs.
Among them, there was a person that looked very familiar. Zhong Yuhuan’s eyes contracted when she saw her.
Ling Zhilan, the original female lead of the story. She was probably invited as a regular person as well.
Of the remaining four people, there were Ge Mei, a close to 40-year-old celebrity in the entertainment circle; Wen Yongchen, a 30-something actor who was very popular recently; and Gu Yuling, an up-and-coming young popular actress with plenty of followers.
Zhong Yuhuan had seen all of them on the television in the past, and she more or less knew their names.
The very last one has misty brows, a Korean-style straight nose, an oval face, and a pointy chin. Her round eyes and curly eyelashes made her look cute and delicate, but the signs of plastic surgery were a bit obvious.
Zhong Yuhuan figured that she was a regular person as well.
And just like that, half of the crew were regular people.
Boy, oh boy!
Zhong Yuhuan couldn’t help but lament.
Ge Mei, Wen Yongchen, Gu Yuling, and Li Jinyuan introduced themselves first.
“Hi, everyone. I am Yin Qiqi, a contract model with Yueli Co.,” said the regular person with the oval face.
Yin Qiqi was an outgoing one who didn’t seem a bit intimidated in front of all the celebrities. Even so, her disposition was still a bit lacking. Even Ling Zhilan has more presence than her.
When it came to Ling Zhilan, she was ever more poised. Without any particular intentions to be showy, she said, “Hi, I am Ling Lan, a contract channel master of Douxie TV…”
Sure enough, after she lost in that female talent show, she went to become an internet influence and made a name for herself. She even dropped a character in her name and went from Ling Zhilan to Ling Lan. Her new name was much more modern than her original one.
Finally, everybody looked over at Zhong Yuhuan.
Zhong Yuhuan smiled slightly and said, “Hi, everyone. I am Zhong Yuhuan.”
Ge Mei, Gu Yuling and the others had noticed Zhong Yuhuan for a while now. The disposition coming from Zhong Yuhuan was too unique. It made them feel both familiar and strange at the same time.
They were very curious about her.
That included Yin Qiqi as well.
As soon as Zhong Yuhuan finished with her self-introduction, Yin Qiqi was the first to ask, “What do you do, Zhong-jiejie?”
(T/N: Jiejie means older sister.)
Zhong Yuhuan thought she was being a little ridiculous.
Yin Qiqi obviously looked older than her and she has the guts to refer to her as “jiejie”? But Zhong Yuhuan didn’t bother correcting her. Wasn’t it better to be the “older sister” anyway?
Zhong Yuhuan smiled and said, “Oh, nothing much, just do something for fun here and there.”
She had put it simply, but some of the others started second guessing and felt that perhaps there were more to her than she wanted to share. At the same time, they also thought that perhaps she just has a regular job and regular family and was only picked because of her pretty look, which was why she didn’t want to divulge more about herself.
“Should we go get some rest first or eat first?” asked Yin Qiqi.
Suddenly, the filming crew interrupted them and said, “Hang on, there’s one more guest coming.”
“More?” Ge Mei blurted out in surprise.
Yin Qiqi looked curious. “Who is it?”
As they were talking, the front door of the hotel was pushed open and a young man in a trench coat walked inside. His luggage dragged behind him, he looked weary from his travel.
Everybody looked over in his direction.
Yin Qiqi said loudly, “Oh! I know him!… I have seen him on the most trending searches list. Isn’t he that very young and very handsome CEO?”
She was done talking, but nobody responded to her.
Huo Chengming handed his suitcase to his secretary and walked over quickly. “Huanhuan.”
Zhong Yuhuan: “???”
Ugh, was this going to turn into a family/sibling fraternity show or something?