CH 79

Lu Dan, her manager, had been single for a long time, running around every day for her artists' matters, with no thoughts of considering men.

When Wen Li asked her this, she was taken aback.

"Just, post something on Moments to hint that you hope to receive surprises on your birthday. Like that?"

Wen Li understood and immediately took out her phone to post on Moments.

In just a few minutes, she received many likes and comments.

Among the comments were from friends in the industry, and a few familiar producers, but there was no like or comment from Song Yan.

Lu Dan said, "Teacher Song is probably busy."

"I guess so."

Wen Li didn't think Lu Dan was just brushing her off. Song Yan was genuinely busy.

The day after they finished filming the second day of the ninth episode of [In This World With You], Song Yan rushed to Bin City without a break. Wen Li had planned to go with him, but the official announcement for the game endorsement couldn't be delayed any longer. The endorsement photoshoot and promotional video shoot were scheduled recently. She had no choice but to finish her current work first.

She apologized to Director Qiu for this and Director Qiu didn't mind. He explained that they hadn't started filming yet and this trip was just to get a feel for the city in advance. Due to script issues, they needed to use several special locations, so they had to make advance arrangements with the local government. This trip wasn't mandatory for the actors.

Song Yan went there because it was his personal habit. He liked to prepare in advance for every role. Since this movie was being filmed in Bin City, he went with the crew to familiarize himself with the city's rich history and local customs, which would benefit his character.

His success within a short span of ten years was not without reason.

In an era where the entertainment industry was becoming increasingly fast-paced, "short" was the unanimous pursuit of all capital parties for entertainment products. Time was more valuable than anything else. In the eyes of some capital parties, given the same time period, it was more profitable to spend time and energy polishing a movie with a 50-50 chance of success than to invest in several fast-food movies that would make money even if they failed.

Those who still persisted in the former category in the industry were truly fueled by passion. As for fame and fortune, it wasn't their concern. They simply loved their profession and loved their work. Or, they were like Director Qiu, already standing at the pinnacle of the industry, with a reputation and a solid foundation. Their movies had no trouble attracting advertisers, so they could afford to take their time to polish the details and strive to deliver a perfect movie to the cinema audience.

Collaborating with a director like Director Qiu, even if the preparation period was long, it was worth it for the actors.

Compared to shooting several forgettable fast-food types of movies in a year, most ambitious actors hoped to have at least one movie per year, a movie with a strong team, high in quality, and with a deep impact that would provide stable long-term benefits.

Wen Li's two regular variety shows would finish recording in a month and there would be no more variety show schedules afterward. Non-essential business activities would also temporarily be put on hold. At that time, she would focus on filming the movie together with Song Yan.

It's okay. Song Yan was working hard, and she was working hard too. Besides, her birthday was still a month away. She could remind him later.

Just then, the photographer called Wen Li to take a look at the photos. She put away her phone.

Wen Li turned to Lu Dan and said, "Since the game company has invited me, let's celebrate my birthday at their event. The team is busy this month, so it saves time for preparations. By then, Sister Dan, please help me ask the company for some tickets for the fans."

This was the best choice and Lu Dan liked it the most. It saved the team's time, promoted the game company, and the fans wouldn't have to prepare for support at the event.

Lu Dan nodded and asked, "What about Teacher Song?"

"If he's busy, then forget it," Wen Li smiled, "Didn't I miss his birthday because of work before? He didn't even have a fan meeting. The brand celebrated on his behalf. I still had fans with me. It's fine. Besides, Sister Dan, you know that it's not just this birthday we're celebrating together. There will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Just then, the photographer urged, "Miss Wen! Come over here!"

"Coming."

Wen Li lifted her skirt and ran over.

Lu Dan watched her artist's back and suddenly had a feeling of "my girl is growing up".

After thinking for a while, seeing how considerate her artist was, as a manager, she also needed to be considerate.

Wen Li's words about wanting to celebrate with Song Yan were definitely sincere. Lu Dan smiled and took out her phone to call Song Yan's manager and discuss with their team. At the very least, they should reunite the long-distance couple on Wen Li's birthday.

——

Did Song Yan see Wen Li's Moments post? Wen Li doesn't know, but she knows that her family saw it.

Xu Shimao was still overseas and it wasn't convenient for him to call her, so he sent her a WeChat message asking what birthday gift she wanted.

In terms of material things, Wen Li didn't really lack anything, and there wasn't anything specific she wanted.

「Dad, taking care of yourself out there is the best gift you can give me.」

Her mom was already gone, and if her dad's health wasn't good either, Wen Li wouldn't be able to wholeheartedly focus on her work these past few years. Fortunately, Xu Shimao's health was still good. Over the years, he had gradually moved on from the sadness of losing his wife. Although the father and daughter rarely saw each other, they didn't need to worry about each other.

Perhaps that was the most comfortable relationship between parents and children – always missing and caring for each other but not disturbing each other's lives.

After waiting a while for her father's response, but there was none. So Wen Li sent another message:「Where are you?」

「I'm here.」

「Thanks for your concern, my dear daughter.」

「This year, Dad will still send you a birthday greeting card.」

Wen Li agreed.

After that, the father and daughter didn't chat anymore. After about ten minutes, Xu Shimao's assistant sent her a WeChat message, politely explaining that the teacher had been feeling sentimental recently and that although he couldn't come back to celebrate her birthday due to being overseas, he hoped his daughter could understand and not argue with the teacher.

Wen Li was confused. She hadn't argued with her dad.

The assistant was also confused.

「Why did Teacher Xu cry then? = =」

Wen Li: "..."

Help! Why did all the men close to her become crybabies lately?

In addition to Xu Shimao, there was also her uncle, Wen Yan, who asked her how she planned to celebrate her birthday.

Seeing her reply that she would celebrate with her fans, Wen Yan responded:「Do you remember your own surname?」

Wen Li:「I don't remember. I have amnesia.」

Wen Yan: "..."

Wen Yan:「Come home on your birthday, your family will celebrate with you.」

Wen Li was still angry and replied stubbornly:「No, I had decided not to go home until the Lunar New Year.」

Wen Yan:「Are you cutting ties with me because of Song Yan?」

Wen Li:「No, I'll come back to wish you a Happy New Year after I get a new hairstyle in the Lunar New Year.」

After a few seconds, Wen Yan replied:「Are you cursing me?」

Even through the screen, Wen Li could feel Wen Yan's cold aura.

Well, what could he do to her through the phone? Wen Li responded arrogantly:「Congratulations, Uncle, you got it right. 」

She even added:「This curse only works on the eldest uncle, it doesn't affect the younger uncle. I hope for my little uncle to live a long and healthy life.」

After a few seconds, a furious voice call came in.

Wen Li hung up directly and temporarily blocked Wen Yan.

Feeling refreshed, even during the recording of [For You To Debut] in the following days, Wen Li found Xu Li's annoying face from the past particularly pleasing to the eye.

The first three performances of [For You To Debut] had already been recorded. Through these three performances, Xu Li's popularity had been rising rapidly. Finally, in the last ranking announcement, he secured the final spot in the debut group.

Regardless of whether he would eventually debut, at least Xu Li's management company made the right move. Even if he doesn't debut on the final night, after the program finishes recording and while the program's popularity is still high, Xu Li can release an album as a solo singer and shouldn't have to worry too much about sales.

The fourth performance was a special stage recording where the mentors and trainees collaborated on a performance. Due to Wen Li's viral dance video in the first episode, which had already surpassed ten million views, the program wanted her to have another stage performance. As a result, the judge, Wen Li, was also arranged to perform.

The trainees chose their preferred mentor based on their rankings.

Inside the studio, the program was being recorded, and the trainees before Xu Li had already chosen their mentors. Now it was his turn.

He didn't want to team up with Wen Li. The last time when he had a private conversation with her in her car, he felt like Xu Xingyue saw them. However, it had been a month since then, and they had already recorded two or three episodes of the program, but Xu Li hadn't seen any sign from Xu Xingyue. Xu Li wasn't sure if she had seen him in Wen Li's car that day.

Xu Li wanted to choose a vocal mentor, but his sister took him to the side and ordered him to choose her group when the program started recording.

At that time, he disdainfully replied without even lifting an eyelid, "Why should I?"

Wen Li said, "You dare not listen to your sister? Do you want to die?"

Xu Li laughed, "Am I afraid of you?"

"Fine, you don't have to choose me," Wen Li nodded, "After all, with your current status, you're just a rookie who hasn't debuted yet. Your life and death are not in my hands, right?"

"..."

After threatening him, Wen Li changed to a friendly smile and asked, "Are you scared?"

...

Thinking about this, Xu Li took a deep breath. Under the gaze of everyone, including the camera, he reluctantly said, "I want to choose Teacher Wen."

Then he looked at Wen Li, his sister truly lived up to being an actress. Her surprised and unexpected expression was so genuine that if he hadn't seen her true face before, Xu Li would have believed it.

"Wow, I really didn't expect you to choose me. Thank you, thank you," Wen Li said.

After all the trainees had chosen their mentors, they entered their respective exclusive practice rooms.

There were four other trainees with Xu Li, all of them were Wen Li's fans. As soon as they entered the practice room, they couldn't stop calling out "Teacher Wen" excitedly.

"Teacher Wen, for the male-female dance part in the bridge, you have to choose one of us to perform with you. Who do you want to choose?"

This song was a cover version of an overseas song, originally a pop duet. The program bought the rights and translated it into Chinese lyrics and then rearranged the choreography based on the original dance. It became a group dance with one female and five males, but the bridge part remained true to the original, with a male-female duet, and it was a close and passionate dance.

The mentors knew their performance songs in advance, but the trainees didn't. They only found out what they would be performing with the mentors after choosing them.

Xu Li suddenly had a very bad feeling.

Sure enough, Wen Li pretended to struggle and said she didn't know who to choose. So she decided to prepare slips of paper and whoever's name she drew would be chosen to perform with her in the C-position for the bridge hot dance part. And she happened to draw a slip of paper with Xu Li's name on it.

The other trainees innocently thought it was a random draw and immediately became excited and envious, hugging Xu Li.

"Xu Li, you're awesome!"

"You're so lucky, dude!"

Xu Li twitched his mouth. He didn't know how Wen Li manipulated it, but his current mood was very complicated.

After the drawing, they began practicing. After a few months, Xu Li, who had zero dance foundation, had accumulated some dancing skills. He also had a bit of talent for dancing, and with his dedication to practice, even though he started relatively late, his skills gradually caught up.

The previous practice was alright, but when it came to the dance part with Wen Li, he became stiff all over, and his expression was very uncomfortable.

Xu Li was originally fair-skinned and had a handsome and gentle face. When he was nervous and anxious, he looked particularly innocent. His four teammates thought he was just shy and tried to comfort him, asking him to relax.

"Shy my ass. That's called stomach discomfort," Xu Li said with frustration.

Only Wen Li knew what was going on with him. During the break, she pulled him into a resting room without a camera to talk.

Wen Li didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "We used to fight more intimately when we were kids. You would ride on me and I would ride on you. We were born from the same womb. What's with your pretentiousness now?"

Xu Li gritted his teeth and said in a deep voice, "Childhood is childhood, now is now. We're both in our twenties. Are you doing this to anger Grandpa and Uncle after the program airs?"

"They won't watch the talent show, don't worry."

"What about Brother Ah Yan?" Xu Li asked again.

Wen Li hesitated for a moment, then smirked and said, "You don't understand a thing. I didn't choose anyone else just for him."

Xu Li was speechless.

"If you can't perform well," she suddenly became annoyed, "we'll change partners. When that happens, Teacher Song will blame you for making me angry."

Xu Li sighed with frustration and said, "Moral blackmail."

"When you release your solo album, I'll directly buy tens of thousands of copies to support you, how about that?" Wen Li winked at Xu Li.

"Don't look at me with that disgusting look," Xu Li clicked his tongue, "Fine, fine, let's dance. I'll just consider myself taken advantage of by a pig."

Wen Li narrowed her eyes and smirked, "If you weren't my brother, would you have such a great opportunity to dance hotly with me? Dream on."

Xu Li immediately retorted, "If it weren't for the bad luck of being born from the same womb as you, do you think I would care?"

Wen Li angrily laughed and raised her hand to hit him on the head.

Xu Li grabbed her wrist and held it down. Wen Li struggled for a while but couldn't break free. Then he flicked her forehead.

Wen Li winced in pain, "You brat!"

"You really think I can't beat you now?" Xu Li smirked lazily, "I'll let you off."

Then he let go of her. Wen Li immediately seized the opportunity to tiptoe and fiercely flick his forehead.

Xu Li clicked his tongue and had no intention of fighting back. He rubbed his forehead and asked, "What gift do you want for your birthday next month?"

Wen Li, not in a good mood, said, "Let me beat you up without you fighting back."

"Not possible, say something that's possible."

"Then just anything," Wen Li said, "If you can successfully debut and not trouble me for resources and promotion, that will be a birthday gift."

Xu Li was slightly stunned, then suddenly laughed, "Even without your support, I've made it this far. How do you know I can't do it?"

"You? You can't," Wen Li said with certainty, full of self-love, "You don't have the charm I have."

"..."

Wen Li patted his shoulder and said, "Let's go, back to the practice room."

"Dad will paint a picture for you every year," Xu Li stopped her and said, "I can't paint, but I can write songs. How about I write a song for you as a gift?"

Wen Li instinctively asked, "You won't charge me royalties, right?"

Xu Li was defeated by her way of thinking and sighed deeply, "You're beyond help," Then he tugged at his lips and said coldly, "Fine, royalties, one billion."

"...Then I don't want it."

"If you say you don't want it, then don't. But once I write it, you'll have to pay."

"You're extorting me with a moral high ground. What's wrong with me extorting you?"

They argued for a few more words and then came out of the resting room, one after the other.

When Xu Li came out, he subconsciously looked around but didn't see anyone, so he relaxed and thought he was being overly suspicious.

Walking through the corridor, there was only one route from the resting room to the practice room, as all five practice rooms were located in this corridor. Xu Li saw Xu Xingyue just coming from the other side of the corridor, and when she saw him, she smiled and greeted him.

"..."

Xu Li, who often played games, always felt that Xu Xingyue's smile was like she was holding back some big move.

——

Siblings danced closely, with their faces pressed together, at first feeling uncomfortable, but as they continued dancing, they became accustomed to it.

It's better to cooperate with a familiar artist. Apart from avoiding suspicion, if any scandal arises, it would be difficult to provide strong evidence for clarification.

Fortunately, most of the CP fans were sensible and understood the boundaries. Wen Li and Xu Li also had CP fans, but the fans were well aware that Wen Li was already married. They ship the couple in their own little world and never cause any trouble.

After the official Weibo account of [For You To Debut] released a preview of the next stage performance, the comments were all controlled and positive. Fans expressed gratitude to senior artists for their guidance and expressed anticipation for the full episode. The comments section was harmonious.

It wasn't until the leaked information about the performance stage collaboration between the fourth round mentors surfaced on the forum.

「WNCT, leaked information about the mentor collaboration performance stage. I bet Xu Li will be one of the hottest topics in your region.」

0L:「Just finished recording on-site. I watched all five stages. Yanzhun's group was the most explosive, with the mentors overshadowing the trainees. I could clearly hear the rap lyrics from Icy's group, which were written by the trainees themselves. Qi Sihan and Xu Xingyue's groups were okay. Good-looking guys and beautiful girls. Maybe the female mentors wanted to avoid suspicion, so their interactions with the trainees weren't as explosive. But the highlight was Wen Li's group. The duet in the middle of the bridge gave me goosebumps all over, the whole audience screamed. People in your region used to mock her acting skills, but if she had debuted as an idol, she would have been at the top of the idol industry. Both fans and haters can see that. See the pictures in the comments.」

1L:「[Pictures]...」

The pictures showed the stage performance of Wen Li's group. The user captured the part where they were dancing together. Blonde-haired Wen Li leaned on Xu Li's shoulder, lazily placing her hands on his chest, while Xu Li's hands were wrapped around her waist. They were very close, their eyes locked.

10L:「Wen Li looks so good with this exaggerated hair color.」

12L:「It must be a wig. She's already filming with the group, so how could she have dyed her hair?」

15L:「Sorry, but I have to say that the age difference is so charming! A stunning and outgoing senior x a pure and innocent junior, I love it!」

27L:「Since the first episode, when Wen Li was dancing, I noticed that gaze. She's truly a visual queen. It's a pity she's straight and already married.」

35L:「I have a feeling that once the full episode airs, the fans of this CP will go crazy...」

Since the full episode had not yet aired, there were only simple leaked images of the performance stage. However, some privileged individuals, such as family members, had the privilege of watching the stage performance in advance.

Wen Li quickly edited the footage of her dancing into a short video and sent it to Song Yan, who was in Bin City.

Wen Li:「What do you think?」

Wen Li:「Did you like the siblings' performance?」

After a few minutes, Song Yan called her directly.

Wen Li asked eagerly, "Did you watch it?"

"I did," Song Yan's tone was low, "Did you dye your hair?"

"No, it's a wig," Wen Li felt he was focused on the wrong thing, "Why are you concerned about the hair? I asked you how my performance was."

Song Yan humbly replied, "That's not my area of expertise. I can't give a professional evaluation."

"I didn't ask for a professional evaluation. Just tell me if it's good or not."

"It's good."

Wen Li was dissatisfied, "Just 'good'? That's all you can say? The live audience had a much more enthusiastic reaction than that."

However, Song Yan diverted the topic, "Did you do it on purpose? You know I can't come back from Bin City for now."

Wen Li didn't understand. She just thought the stage effect this time was great, and since it was a sibling collaboration, she wasn't afraid of Song Yan getting jealous. So she sent him the video as soon as she got it.

"What? Don't change the subject. I asked if it was good or not."

He sighed, and his voice sounded hoarse, "It's so good that I wish I could come back from Bin City immediately, tie you to the bed, and spend three days and nights with you. Is that an enthusiastic enough answer?"

"..."

Wen Li's mouth hung open. Even through the phone, Song Yan's words stirred up heat throughout her body. It felt like thousands of ants were crawling on her scalp, making her feel embarrassed and unsure of how to respond.