Pei Muchan glanced at Xu Qingyan and let out a soft sigh.
He genuinely didn't understand the unspoken rules of love-oriented reality shows, where if one male guest experienced a downfall in an episode, the rest of the guests would almost always be scrutinized by netizens.
She wasn't worried about herself; she'd been all work for the past few years, hardly appearing in public otherwise. Lin Wanzhou had a management team behind her, and Shen Jinyue probably had connections too.
Xu Qingyan, who was at the very center of the whirlpool, had nothing and was completely an amateur.
Once netizens pushed him into the spotlight, his entire past would be dug up and placed under the microscope for discussion. If someone were to add fuel to the fire, that would be even worse...
Lin Wanzhou, who was slow on the uptake, only understood the whole story after seeing it from Shen Jinyue's phone and was momentarily stunned.
Her instinctive reaction was to look for Xu Qingyan – finding him and a cameraman standing under a coconut tree as if they were a pair of Haier brothers.
Although she was a bit slow to react, Lin Wanzhou had considered the same things that Pei Muchan had.
Shen Jinyue was carefree and was currently scrolling through her phone with a nervous look, snacking on melon seeds, occasionally casting a glance at Chen Feiyu. The habit of feeling embarrassed for others struck again, and she had already started picking at the ground with her toes.
Despite feeling awkward, she couldn't put the drama down, sneakily scrolling through her screen like a little mouse, reading each and every Weibo post word by word.
She never paid attention to details when it came to exams, but when it came to gossip, she wouldn't miss a single word.
The reactions of the others varied; Liu Renzhi and Bai Jinze were only worried about being implicated. They weren't very interested in the gossip and merely glanced at it.
But whether it was Liu Renzhi or Bai Jinze, almost simultaneously as if driven by some demon, they turned their gazes toward Nian Shuyu. A love-oriented reality show was a war in itself – one less competitor meant a bigger piece of the pie.
With Chen Feiyu's fall from grace, apart from himself, the next most scrutinized was Nian Shuyu, who had been partnered with him as a sweet couple. It was inevitable that the cameras would be on Nian Shuyu, but there were no men by her side.
Although Liu Renzhi wasn't as clever as Bai Jinze, a thought still flashed through his mind – an opportunity to increase his popularity had come.
You Zijun was even quicker to act, seizing the advantage of proximity to gain favor. He proactively started chatting with Nian Shuyu, casting glances towards Chen Feiyu from time to time.
The cameras indeed locked onto Nian Shuyu, who appeared very calm and radiated an aura of sadness.
Bai Jinze gave a glance at the opportunistic You Zijun and cursed him as a fool in his heart. Then he slowly walked towards Chen Feiyu and began to feign ignorance as he asked.
"Chen Feiyu, is this Weibo post real or..."
The planned shooting schedule had almost come to a halt – if the recording had been done first and broadcast later, there might have still been a chance to remedy the situation. But this was live recording with post-production editing.
Lin Wanzhou stepped out to take a call, finding an empty room to quietly deal with Wen Yun.
"Sister Yun, I'm not joking."
On the other end of the phone, Wen Yun's breathing was a bit heavy, hesitating several times as if wanting to say something but stopping herself.
After a few seconds, she finally spoke.
"To be honest, Zhouzhou, 200,000 is nothing."
"Even if the company doesn't approve, it's no big deal for us to pay that money ourselves. But you need to have a limit in your heart, play around enough, but don't really get caught up in it."
"You've said it yourself, he's just an amateur, no matter how talented, it's impossible for him to write a song good enough to be a hit single. To be original in both lyrics and melody, even more unlikely."
"Calm down a bit, don't live behind a filter, I know he seems infallible in your eyes. But Miss, can we be a little more realistic?"
Outside the window of the empty room, there was a storm, with a big green tree swaying back and forth in the white blur of rain, a gray rain curtain in the distance. A spear of lightning fell from the sky without warning, and thunder exploded.
Lin Wanzhou's slender body shook, her fingertips holding the phone turning slightly white.
"Sister Yun, trust me, the song is really good."
"The music score? Send it to me for a look," Wen Yun asked.
"I don't... have it."
Wen Yun: "...."
"He... only has the lyrics and melody, but it's very nice. I've listened to it, it really is worth it, the music score will come later. Really, I'll send it to you to listen if you don't believe me."
"Zhouzhou, you...." Wen Yun stopped herself from saying more, "Never mind, the reality show won't last much longer anyway, just enjoy yourself. Once you're back, focus on writing songs, we need to get the album out by the end of next month at the latest."
"Oh." Lin Wanzhou hung up the phone.
She didn't send the recording of Xu Qingyan, instead, she made her own recording.
Alone in the room with the sound of the rainstorm outside, she tiptoed with undistracted focus and slowly began to sing.
"Why~ am I no longer your joy."