Chapter 1: We've got some work to do!

Jin He, who had been unemployed for three years, suddenly received a job offer today. He was still in shock when the staff brought him the contract.

"What does this mean?" Jin He asked incredulously, holding the contract. "I'm already such a failure, and I still have a job!"

"Ah, the production team of this show is top-notch, and it has the potential to become a huge hit."

Jin He flipped through the contract, her eyes instantly locking onto the two large characters on the cover: "Talent Show?! You want me to go to a talent show?! Me! Me!"

"I'm Jin He! My former super idol!" Zheng Yang silently completed the second half of the sentence in his mind.

"I'm already twenty-five. You want me to jump around like that? I'll kill myself..."

Jin He's face was ashen; she seemed to have lost all will to live.

It's not like he hasn't been trained. When he was eighteen, he could work all day without rest. He would participate in variety shows in the morning, familiarize himself with the script in the car at noon, and then go to a music show with his team in the evening. If he was sleepy, he would just take a five-minute nap in the car. He could still hop around and catch an early morning flight to go abroad to participate in fashion week.

But he's 25 now. Putting aside his physical condition, if this death-defying journey goes smoothly, he can just drop dead.

"What are you thinking? You really think you can still become famous?" Zheng Yang interrupted his fantasy in time. "Your contract with the company is about to expire?"

"Yes, next year."

“Then this is probably your last job,” Zheng Yang explained. “The original choice wasn’t you, but a nineteen-year-old kid, but he broke his leg a couple of days ago and can’t participate in the show. He’s the best-looking and most talented prospect in our company, and the boss plans to use this show to make him famous.”

"That's such a pity."

"But as you know, we don't have that many trainees. Besides him, there are just some mediocre kids. Now, so many entertainment companies are competing for those few debut spots. Sending them up would just make them background figures."

"And then you chose...me?"

Jin He rolled her eyes inwardly; it definitely wasn't that simple.

"Yes, even though you sing off-key."

Jin He coughed.

"Her dancing is terribly ugly."

Jin He cleared his throat forcefully.

“But at least you have a good-looking face, and you’re also a lot of topics.” Zheng Yang seemed oblivious to his unpleasant expression, and every word he said hit him right in the heart. “The former teammate of the Golden Dove Award master, the third place winner of the World Rapper Competition, and the TV King, is now participating in a talent show as a comeback contestant. What a hot topic that is! You can easily become famous by just touching on any of your former teammates in the trending searches.”

Jin He: "..."

They're the ones who get popular, so I'll just have to take the criticism!

Is having a twice-cooked pork vase such a glorious thing?

"Can I refuse?"

“Your contract expires in a year, and you don’t have the right to refuse during that time,” Zheng Yang said. “You should know that your penalty for breach of contract is very high.”

Jin He choked for a moment. Well, he never had that right.

As expected, signing the contract was just a formality; it was just to inform him.

He picked up the pen, signed his name, and pushed it forward: "That's it."

That night, Jin He opened his Weibo account, which he had deleted long ago. He hadn't been on Weibo for a long time. Ever since the team's incident, opening Weibo had basically been met with a barrage of insults. He was in a terrible state at the time, and seeing it would only affect his mood, so he decided not to look at it.

But he never expected that he would have the opportunity to reappear in the public eye. After all, that incident back then was so ugly that the company would have preferred to hide him away as soon as possible to prevent him from causing any more trouble.

He opened Weibo, which he hadn't used in a hundred years, and quickly scrolled through it. Sure enough, some people had been logging on every day for the past three years, cursing his entire family and wishing Jin He a terrible death.

Moreover, as soon as the company announced that he was going to participate in a talent show, it indeed garnered a lot of sarcastic and cynical comments.

Go ahead and curse, it won't hurt you.

Jin He, feeling somewhat resigned to his fate, rolled over and crawled into bed. He noticed that his fan group was still flooded with messages, and for a moment he wondered if the anti-fans had infiltrated the fan group.

[I can't believe my eyes, Xiaohe is actually going to participate in a talent show!]

Good heavens, is this insane? Teammates are mentors, juniors are coaches, and our Xiaohe is a student!

I can't even imagine how badly Xiaohe must be being scolded right now!

But Xiao He disappeared for two whole years! I thought something had happened to him.

Yes, that scared me to death. Xiaohe's health didn't seem to be very good before she left the team.

Yeah, yeah, no one expects Xiao He to become a big star anymore. Just being alive is good enough, just being alive is good enough.

Jin He looked at them and sighed. Now, apart from his sister, these few people were probably the only ones who cared about him like this. For three whole years.

These silly girls.

Sisters! I noticed that Xiaohe seems to have just been on Weibo!

I noticed it too! His status shows he's online! Online!!!

Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap!

Holy crap! Xiaohe posted on Weibo!! I'm so moved! I haven't seen my man post on Weibo in three years!

Waaaaaah! Quick, control the comments! Don't let Xiaohe see those bad remarks, hurry!

Jin He: Everything is fine, don't worry. [Image]

The photo shows a bare ceiling, the warm yellow light casting a cozy glow on the walls. Against the blank background is a hand, outstretched in a peace sign. It's as if someone who's been missing for a long time has come out to let us know they're safe.

Some people are destined to be sleepless tonight.

Participating in the show was much more rushed than he had imagined. The second week after signing the contract, at eight o'clock in the morning, while he was still asleep, Zheng Yang opened his door with the key to his apartment. At that time, Jin He was wearing an eye mask and earplugs, sleeping like a log in the quilt. It was Zheng Yang who shook him awake.

Jin He pulled down her blindfold and looked at Zheng Yang with a resentful expression.

"Don't look at me like that, you should get to the set." Zheng Yang yanked open the curtains, muttering, "Why are you wearing an eye mask when the curtains are so dark?"

Sunlight streamed into the room, making the gray sheets feel warm and cozy. Jin He reached out and touched the warm sheets, unconsciously sliding into the covers.

"You have one hour left. The production team requires you to be in the studio by 10 o'clock to take your headshots."

It feels like a death knell, a familiar feeling.

Jin He rolled over and struggled to get out of bed, like a large, dark worm crawling around.

“You…” Zheng Yang looked at him with disgust: “You have to live under the camera for three months. Don’t do anything that will ruin your image.”

"Right now, in the eyes of the audience, my image is more disgusting than maggots crawling in the dark, so why care so much?"

"While that's true, don't forget, is this face your own?"

"No..." Jin He replied listlessly while brushing her teeth, "This face belongs to the company, it belongs to everyone~"

He carried a small backpack, and Zheng Yang watched as he filled his thermos with warm water, threw in two goji berries, rummaged through the coffee table to find a box of nutritional supplements, took out a few berries and put them in a small bottle. Once everything was ready, he got on the bus like a student going on a spring outing.

"Good afternoon, Teacher An." The assistant director handed him a glass of iced Americano. He gently swirled it and could hear the ice cubes hitting the sides of the glass, making a rattling sound that was a little annoying.

An Yi glanced at it, then took it: "Thank you."

It was freezing to the touch; I really don't understand why that guy liked it so much. He took a sip, and the icy coffee flowed down his throat and into his stomach.

"Look at these kids, so enthusiastic! You were just as lively and energetic when you first debuted, weren't you?" The director stood next to An Yi, smiling as he watched the young people trying to pose for the camera. "This is great. You just came back to China, so you don't know, but in the last two years, the entertainment industry hasn't seen any kids as talented as your generation."

“Hmm,” An Yi responded, “They’re living too comfortably right now.”

He then added, "So naive it's almost foolish."

"You're talking about them, aren't you just as naive and silly back then?" The director couldn't help but laugh as he talked about it. "You forgot your first time on the show? I was just an assistant director back then, and I watched you argue with what I call Jin He from your group in front of the camera. After that episode aired, there was a huge uproar on Weibo. Oh, speaking of Jin He, he was on the show too, you know?"

"He's here too?"

An Yi raised an eyebrow: "What's he here for? To be a mentor?"

"He's not here as a mentor, he's here as a student."

"A student?!"

"Yeah, he hasn't been in the spotlight for the past two years, and most of his fans have left. But it's understandable. All he has to offer is his face. There's never a shortage of good-looking people in this industry. Without any work, he'll fade into obscurity sooner or later."

An Yi's expression suddenly turned ugly, so the director shut up. It seemed that the relationship between the two was not as bad as he had imagined, so he decided not to say anything more.

“He…no matter what, he is…” An Yi took a deep breath, feeling completely distraught, the veins on his forehead throbbing, “How could he possibly come here and hang out with these young kids?”

Won't I get scolded for this?!

"Teacher An Yi." A young boy carefully approached with a notebook in his hand. "Could you please sign my autograph? I really love your songs."

As long as it doesn't involve work, An Yi is quite approachable. In addition, he has become much gentler than he was when he was younger as he has grown older. He smiled and said, "Sure, are those kids behind you here with you for autographs? Would you like to take a picture with them?"

"Is that alright?" The person's eyes lit up immediately. "Thank you, Teacher An! Thank you!"

As they were talking, another person came into the tent. The person who had been the subject of the earlier conversation was wrapped in a coat and carrying a small backpack. He was all alone. He first asked a staff member where the dressing room was. When he looked up, he saw An Yi standing next to the director, surrounded by everyone.

Jin He unconsciously fell into deep thought. When was the last time they met? It was a brief encounter at the company. The two of them didn't say anything and have been like strangers ever since.

No, or maybe it was on TV yesterday, the entertainment news put him on the front page, reporting things like "Young and promising! Returning home in glory!"

One is a promising new generation singer, and the other is a struggling celebrity with a lot of scandals.

Jin He hid behind the crowd, her eyes fixed on that person, separated by a group of lively young students, a group of staff carrying cameras, and over a thousand days and nights in between.

He looked down and clutched the hem of his gray shirt, his palms damp with cold sweat, leaving a handprint on his clothes.

An Yi looked in his direction, and Jin He just nodded at him, his head down so his emotions were hard to read. But when he looked up, he had a flawless smile on his face. He always smiled like that; An Yi had seen it many times before.

An Yi withdrew his gaze and said to the other trainees, "Everyone will be undergoing three months of closed training here. Have you prepared warm clothes? There is no heating in the south."

"Ready!"

"Ready, Teacher An!"

"Remember to prepare several pairs of comfortable training shoes." An Yi reached out and patted the shoulder of the trainee closest to him. "Train hard. I asked someone to buy you some coffee. Good luck tonight, everyone."

"Yay!"

Wow! Teacher An is treating us to coffee!

"Teacher An is so generous!"

An Yi smiled as he looked at the group of students surrounding him. He looked up and subconsciously searched for that familiar figure, but his eyes darted around the crowd several times without finding her. Jin He, who had been standing behind the crowd, seemed to have vanished in an instant, like a shadow.

More than ninety students were taking their headshots here tonight. They were all wearing gray academy uniforms and white sneakers. They stood in the tent, looking around curiously. Jin He stood behind them with a thermos cup in her hand, feeling more and more like an old man who had wandered into a gathering of young people.

"Sigh." He sighed and blew on the steam from his thermos. Young people are always curious when they first enter the industry. It's good to retain that curiosity and enthusiasm, since audiences still like to see this kind of energetic idol.

They can't possibly come to see this old man's bones.

I'll retire after I finish this job.

He sat comfortably on a small stool, holding his thermos, waiting for his staff.

"Brother Xiaohe, don't you want some coffee?" Song Bai saw Jin He sitting there all alone, looking a bit lonely, so he went to ask a staff member for a cup of coffee and brought it to him. "Are you not feeling well? I got you a hot one, would you like to see it? Otherwise, we'll get tired if we film too late."

The young man was fair-skinned and looked quite young. Jin He always spoke softly to such well-behaved newcomers, so she shook her head and said, "You drink it, I don't drink coffee."

"Oh, I see." Song Bai's eyelids drooped. "Alright then."

"Thank you." Jin He smiled, her eyes crinkling as she held the thermos. "You should drink something hot too; iced drinks aren't good for your stomach."

“But iced Americano is good for reducing swelling.” Song Bai sipped his coffee, shook the ice in his cup, and sighed, “Senior, why isn’t your face swollen? I’ve been here for so many days and I’ve never seen your face swollen before. Is it natural?”

Jin He leaned against the wall, her down jacket wrapped tightly around her, and exhaled a breath: "I guess so... Let's not call me senior here, we're all the same."

"That won't do. You debuted several years earlier than me."

“Yeah, I’ve been in the industry for so long, and I’m still participating in talent shows. It sounds really bad to people,” Jin He said. “I have my pride, you know. Don’t call me that.”

His eyes were lowered, and his long, thick eyelashes cast shadows under his eyes, blending with his bluish eye circles. For some reason, Song Bai always felt that this person was "very tired," and he always subconsciously wanted to take care of him.

Perhaps only Song Bai thinks this way.

"You didn't tell me Jin He would be participating in this show too." An Yi vented his anger in the dressing room. "He used to be my teammate, and now you're letting him come back as a recycled character! Has his manager lost his mind?! No matter what, you can't let me be his mentor."

"Young Master, have you forgotten? Jin He hasn't had a manager for a long time." Sister Na sat on the sofa, arms crossed, her high heels clicking on the floor. "He's been out of the spotlight for the past few years, and most of his fans have left. You know how fast the entertainment industry changes, right? What will happen if he doesn't participate in this?"

"It was decided by the company's top management again?"

An Yi clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "What did they decide? To squeeze every last drop of blood out of him, and then kick him aside."

Na looked at him with icy eyes: "You'd better watch out. You're not teammates anymore. Who are you, and who is he?"

"So what does that mean now?"

"What do you mean? Jin He brought this on himself, and now he's reaping the consequences..."

Before he could finish speaking, An Yi jumped up as if something had stepped on his tail, pushed open the door, and walked out. He gritted his teeth and said, "Fuck you, you brought this on yourself!"