Chapter 7: Socially Anxious Star 07
Jinghe Law Firm?!!!!!!
Brother Wen pulled up the hem of his shirt to wipe his screen, then opened the business card to examine it in detail, suspecting that Jiang Kong had been scammed.
A Jinghe lawyer!
A lawyer from Jinghe, whom rumor had it you needed to book at least six months in advance to get a consultation!
Half-believing and half-doubting, Brother Wen added the contact—
Half an hour later.
With trembling hands, Brother Wen shakily sent Jiang Kong a message.
【Jiang Kong… Don’t take out loans!!!!!!】
【I didn’t take out a loan.】
Coming out after taking a shower, Jiang Kong saw Brother Wen’s message and couldn’t help pursing his lips into a smile.
【Someone hired him for me.】
Brother Wen: …Someone?
His heart skipped a beat.
Damn it! Didn’t he block all those rich sugar mamas? How did someone still get through directly to Jiang Kong?!!!
Brother Wen panicked and placed a call right away.
“Kong, you’re just starting out in your career. You can’t be getting involved in those shady industry things.”
Jiang Kong didn’t understand. “What?”
Brother Wen gritted his teeth and asked directly, “Is this lawyer hired by some rich sugar mama?”
Jiang Kong paused slightly. Looking at the message his sister had sent him, he couldn’t help breaking into a laugh. “Yeah, a little rich sugar mama.”
Hearing Jiang Kong admit it, Brother Wen’s heart sank instantly.
Hesitating and stammering, he didn’t even know how to put it into words. In the end, he gritted his teeth and said:
“This isn’t moral. You’d better break it off as soon as possible. We don’t want the lawyer; we’ll hire one ourselves.”
Only then did Jiang Kong realize what his manager was talking about.
“My sister hired him. You’ve got it all wrong.”
“If anything comes up in the future, just go straight to Lawyer Ji. The fee is already paid.”
“Jiang Yi?”
Brother Wen froze for a moment, speaking instinctively.
“Who else?” Jiang Kong countered.
A surge of warmth instantly flooded Brother Wen’s entire body, his mouth grinning so wide it nearly reached his ears.
“So it was… rich older sister! Say hello to Sister for me.”
“Get out, get out, get out. She’s my sister.”
Brother Wen hung up the phone. Looking down at the messy remarks on Weibo, he suddenly didn’t find the noise fussing at all.
He opened WeChat and typed away:
【Send a lawyer’s letter to everyone whose post gets over a thousand likes and retweets!】
Heh! So satisfying!
Meanwhile, another person staying up late alongside the online chaos was Director Shen Ping, who couldn’t fall asleep.
He hadn’t been this angry in a long time. Scrolling through his phone only made him angrier by the second.
Jiang Kong: Disrespecting seniors, putting on airs, snapping at people randomly…
Shen Ping felt he could list a whole mountain of Jiang Kong’s shortcomings. At 12:30 AM in the middle of the night, he touched the top of his head, forced himself to put down his phone, and turned over.
Sleep, sleep!
In the show crew from now on, he was resolutely going to ignore Jiang Kong!
Perhaps knowing that she had stayed in this villa for a while as a child and that it was her home, Jiang Yi surprisingly suffered no insomnia in this new environment.
At six o’clock in the morning, the villa was dead silent.
Having washed up, Jiang Yi softly pushed open her room door, stepped out, and headed downstairs to the villa’s garden.
None of the other guests were up yet.
Jiang Yi wanted to take advantage of this time to move her morning exercise routine up early.
Her daily routine could go out of order, but workout and health preservation couldn’t be skipped.
Jiang Yi still had a slight memory of the garden’s layout. Following her recollection toward a deserted corner, she rounded a turn and suddenly bumped into Shen Xiangcheng, who was walking out from another turn.
Under the morning light, both of them were startled by the encounter.
Jiang Yi took a step back in particular, her body stiffening as she raised her hand and gave a little wave as a greeting.
Shen Xiangcheng didn’t step forward, maintaining his distance as he waved back.
“I’m looking for a place to practice my basic skills. Could you keep it a secret for me?”
Jiang Yi lowered her hand and nodded repeatedly. The sense of awkwardness dissipated a little at his words.
After offering a gentle thank-you, Shen Xiangcheng pointed in a direction and took the lead to leave.
Jiang Yi watched his figure disappear before picking a different direction.
She was keeping the secret for Shen Xiangcheng, so Shen Xiangcheng probably wouldn’t talk about her coming out in the morning either, right?
Following her usual routine of light jogging and a round of Baduanjin qigong, Jiang Yi timed it carefully and started heading back.
Passing by a small path, she heard a section of melodious Peking Opera lyrics from afar.
“Pear blossoms bloom, carrying the spring rain—”
“Pear blossoms fall, entering the spring mud. In this life, I only live for one person.”
She chanted along with two lines of the opera lyrics without looking in that direction, accelerating her pace to return to her room.
She made it back right at seven o’clock.
Half an hour later, faint sounds began echoing downstairs.
Someone was up.
At eight o’clock in the morning, accompanied by light background music chiming inside the villa as a reminder, the cameras officially turned on.
Jiang Yi’s spine stiffened slightly as her mind rapidly went over the camera locations.
She tried her best to remain calm, but both of her ears uncontrollably began turning slightly hot, and she felt somewhat restless.
Looking at Following the Wind in her hand, Jiang Yi stayed in her room for less than ten minutes before finally being unable to resist leaving.
There were cameras in the hallway too, but she had a higher tolerance for cameras in open spaces.
After a moment of hesitation, she walked forward slowly, still debating whether to knock on Jiang Kong’s door, when a greeting sounded from right above her head.
“Good morning.”
Jiang Yi looked up to see Pei Wusi smiling at her from not far away.
He wore a floral short-sleeved shirt today. The pattern on the shirt was mottled yet far from cluttered—very summery. Paired with a head of short white hair, it radiated an uninhibited, handsome charm.
“Good morning.”
Jiang Yi returned the greeting, her eyes having nowhere to settle comfortably.
Looking elsewhere felt rude, yet meeting his gaze made her fear triggering further conversation.
Before she could think about her next move, however, Pei Wusi took the initiative to ask, “Calling Jiang Kong?”
“Ah, mhm.”
Jiang Yi nodded, stepping forward to knock on Jiang Kong’s room door.
Half a minute passed with no response.
Through her peripheral vision, Jiang Yi noticed that Pei Wusi hadn’t left yet, making her feel as though needles were pricking her back.
Knock, knock, knock.
She knocked on the door again, but there was still no answer.
Jiang Kong probably wasn’t in his room.
But…!
Why was Pei Wusi still standing in place? Was he waiting for her?
Jiang Yi stalled as much as she could before finally turning around.
“Jiang Kong doesn’t seem to be in.”
Watching her hesitant, sluggish movements, Pei Wusi curved his lips into a slight smile. “Oh, okay. Then do you want to go grab breakfast together?”
“…Okay, thank you.”
Jiang Yi answered with difficulty, instantly regretting it the second the words left her mouth, yet she still walked over to his side to head downstairs together.
Fortunately, Pei Wusi didn’t try to strike up a conversation to fill the silence along the way.
The distance wasn’t far either.
Quite a few people had gathered in the dining room.
Luo Xia, Shen Ping, Shen Xiangcheng, and Chang Ximing were having breakfast, while Luo Jiajin was serving herself plain rice porridge.
Adapting to local customs, today’s breakfast carried a strong Beicheng style with heavy flavors; the only lighter option was the plain rice porridge.
Jiang Yi glanced around, suddenly understanding why Jiang Kong hadn’t been in his room.
Taking out her phone from her pocket and pressing it awake, she indeed saw a message sent by Jiang Kong ten minutes ago, saying he was stepping out to buy her breakfast.
Jiang Yi instinctively looked toward the entrance, catching sight of Jiang Kong walking in carrying breakfast bags right at that moment.
“Sis!”
Jiang Kong raised the breakfast bags in his hand and took large strides over to Jiang Yi.
“There’s lotus seed porridge and small steamed soup dumplings.”
He handed them carefully to Jiang Yi.
Jiang Yi took the bags and took a peek—they were all tailored to her taste.
Jiang Kong said happily, “I took a look down here and knew these breakfast options probably wouldn’t suit your appetite, so I went out to buy some. I was super fast.”
As he spoke, he pulled Jiang Yi to sit down at the dining table, served himself a bowl of spicy soup, and sat down beside Jiang Yi.
Opposite them, Shen Ping’s brows were furrowed tightly, his eyes practically rolling up to the sky. Just as he was about to speak, he heard Luo Jiajin beside him speak first:
“Jiang Yi, do you have extra breakfast? The breakfast here isn’t quite to my taste either.”
Jiang Yi looked at Jiang Kong and nodded at him, whereupon Jiang Kong immediately stood up and said:
“Yes, I bought two portions. I’ll get it for you.”
He had thought of this when buying breakfast—if he bought only one portion, given his sister’s personality, she’d definitely be too embarrassed to refuse if someone asked. So he simply bought two portions.
Any extra, he’d just finish eating himself in the end.
Luo Jiajin took a portion of lotus seed porridge and small steamed soup dumplings, expressing her thanks to the two of them.
Shen Ping swallowed his words back again, focusing on eating his breakfast in silence.
After breakfast concluded, everyone gathered in the living room, where the show crew staff began reciting long promotional copy.
Only when it approached nine o’clock did they announce today’s task.
“The Strikingly Different Us, First Task: Let’s earn our living expenses together!”
Similar to the tasks in most lifestyle variety shows, the first task of Different was also earning money.
“Would the four groups of guests please step forward to draw a work location. At your drawn work location, do your absolute best to earn money through compliant means~”
“The money earned will need to cover your lunch, dinner, and subsequent expenses for today, okay?”
“The timeframe starts at 9:00 AM this morning and ends at 5:00 PM this afternoon. Good luck, everyone!”
The moment the livestream room opened, viewers heard these few sentences from the staff member.
【AAAAAH I’M HERE!!!】
【HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Earning money again, I’m already all too familiar with the routine】
【Kongkong is so handsome, younger brother Kongkong I love you!】
【Drawing work locations, curious!】
【Are they separated? Are they separated? Hope Old Pei stays far away from the Jiang sibling duo!】
【They should be separated, everyone rest easy for now and don’t pay attention to Jiang Kong, or wouldn’t that just be giving clout away for free?】
【Jiang Kong’s trash agency can only come up with these low-class tricks for their artists.】
【AAAAAAAH Old Pei is still so handsome today, handsome yet giving major playboy vibes, help! Ever since I watched him act as Song Yan, I occasionally feel like he’s a playboy】
【HAHAHAHAHAHAHA sister above I get you, me too!!!! Especially after Old Pei dyed his hair white this time, he gives off even more of a handsome playboy vibe.】
【Looking forward, looking forward, looking forward!】
…
After the staff member finished the introduction, a small opaque box was brought up.
The box wasn’t large, featuring a circular hole at the top that allowed a single arm to pass through.
The guests exchanged glances, letting Chang Ximing from Pei Wusi’s group step forward to draw first.
What was drawn out was a paper ball.
The second to draw was Luo Xia.
Then Shen Ping.
Jiang Kong was last.
There were more than four paper balls in the box—about five or six. Jiang Kong picked a random one from the middle and handed it to Jiang Yi to open.
“What is it?”
He asked Jiang Yi.
Jiang Yi unfolded the slip of paper, only to see the words “Hotel” written on it.
Their work location was at a hotel.
Pei Wusi was the first to announce their group’s drawn work location to the camera and everyone: Park.
Luo Jiajin and Luo Xia’s work location was a nearby restaurant.
Shen Ping’s group’s work location was an amusement park.
“Park… so hard,” Luo Jiajin sighed with a frown.
The other groups’ work locations had work that could be seen at a glance: a restaurant could use waiters, an amusement park allowed part-time work in mascot suits, and a hotel had dishes to wash. Only a park made it difficult to think of a reasonable money-making channel right off the bat.
Chang Ximing burst out laughing. “We’ll know when we get there, let’s head over to the park to check it out first.”
“Little Pei, wouldn’t you say so?”
Pei Wusi nodded.
Shen Ping nodded repeatedly. “We can only draw conclusions once we arrive at the location.”
“No time to lose, let’s prepare to head out.”
The group nodded one after another, taking the maps provided by the staff members to pack up their things and get ready to leave.
Meanwhile, the bullet comments began discussing the draw results.
【The hotel one is the most tiring, followed by the restaurant, then the amusement park. The park probably isn’t tiring, but it likely won’t earn much money either.】
【They’re all tiring okay? I feel like none of them are easy.】
【Washing dishes at a hotel is definitely the most thankless, high-effort task.】
【YESSSSS! CEO Jiang washing dishes, he deserves it!】
【Not with Old Pei! Production crew, you actually still have a bit of a heart!】
【Hotels might not necessarily be hiring dishwashers though HAHAHAHAHAHA wish Jiang Kong earns zero money and ends up in last place!】
【Wait, do some Pei fans have an issue? What on earth did Kongkong even do? He didn’t do anything, why are you mindlessly smearing him?】
【Pei fans must all be delusion-clout-chasing artists, huh?】
【Kong fans sure have a huge face, take a good look at the status gap, who is clout-chasing whom? Floppy top-tier!】
…
The livestream chat fell into a squabble, but it quickly came to an end—
Because the guests split up, the livestream was also divided into four separate channels. The viewers in each stream were almost exclusively fans, and the bullet comments instantly became clear and bright.
【Time to pack up and head out!】
【HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Is Kongkong taking his sister to wash dishes now?】
【HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Weirdly looking forward to it!】
【Probably don’t need to pack much, right?】
Jiang Yi was slightly hesitant, following behind Jiang Kong. While she was still mentally preparing herself, she heard Jiang Kong say, “I can just go out and earn money, you wait for me at home.”
“I’ll go back to my room and change into a suit first.”
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