Chapter 3: The Rougher the Waters, the Pricier the Fish! (Please keep reading and add to your collection!)
[Male Talent Proficiency Panel]
Strength: 1.1
Speed: 1.1
Endurance: 1.1
Memory: 1.1
Skill Points: 0.11
[Public Speaking (Beginner) Proficiency lv1: 1/20]
The next morning.
The sunlight was lovely.
Su Mu woke from his dreams. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the updated panel. Last night at the celebration banquet, through his relentless toasting, he notched up ten consecutive victories, and finally managed to boost his proficiency, successfully advancing to (Public Speaking lv1: Entering the Hall). He had also accumulated 0.11 skill points.
His lips nearly wore out from all that talking.
But judging by the pace, accumulating a full skill point of 1.0 wasn’t as complicated as it seemed. As long as he gathered an audience of three or more, he could babble on about anything. Opportunities were plentiful.
...
Ding dong.
Just then, the doorbell rang. Su Mu glanced at the time—it was already ten in the morning.
He quietly opened the door and looked up at his visitor.
“You’re here.”
“Yes, I’m here.”
“Alone?”
“Yes, alone.”
“Where’s the stuff?”
“In the bag.”
Su Mu nodded, then glanced around. After confirming there were no paparazzi lurking, he let his little assistant inside.
His assistant was adorable. Her real name was Fan Xiaojv. She had no special talents and was obsessed with chasing stars. Her family must be well-off; otherwise, who would want to be a celebrity’s assistant? Even a dog wouldn’t take the job.
Of course, the star Xiaojv liked wasn’t Su Mu, but someone else. Her original dream was to be that person’s assistant, but due to a twist of fate, the company assigned her to him instead.
Fortunately, Su Mu had enough personal charm. In the end, he won her over, and she settled down as his assistant. In truth, though, the real reason was... her idol’s reputation had recently collapsed, and he had completely withdrawn from the entertainment industry.
Xiaojv was heartbroken for a whole day.
But the next day, when the second season of “Idol Training Camp” premiered, she quickly fell for another cool young contestant.
Su Mu finally understood: chasing idols was the same everywhere in the world.
At this moment,
Xiaojv carefully placed the KFC family bucket on the table and nervously said, “Boss Qian said you’re not allowed to eat this high-calorie stuff—it’ll ruin your looks. If he finds out I bought it for you, I’m dead! Please don’t let it slip.”
Su Mu grabbed a piece of fried chicken and stuffed it in his mouth, mumbling, “Relax, Xiaojv, don’t you know me by now? Loyalty is everything to me! We’re both struggling under his tyranny, so we have to stick together. I’d never sell you out.”
Xiaojv gave a wry smile, “Even you probably don’t believe your own words, do you?”
Su Mu replied, “Whether I believe it or not isn’t important—what matters is that you believe me.”
Xiaojv retorted, “Believe you? Last time you played King of Glory, you raged at your teammates with voice chat and nearly got recognized and trending. In the end, you made me take the blame and got me chewed out by Qian Jida.”
Su Mu coughed, “That was just an accident. The bottom lane was a disaster—could you have handled it?”
Xiaojv pressed, “If you were the one mouthing off, why did I have to get scolded?”
Su Mu put on a dramatic tone, “Xiaojv... you’ve changed. You’re not the Xiaojv I once knew. Remember when we first met? You’d rather go hungry and gave me your fries. But now...”
Xiaojv snorted, “Wasn’t it just you being greedy and insisting on eating more even if it made you sick?”
Su Mu fell silent.
Xiaojv said, “Alright, hurry up and eat. Otherwise, if Qian Jida comes, he’ll start yelling again.”
With that, she happily sat on the sofa and began watching her new favorite—those cool boys from Idol Training Camp.
Su Mu shook his head and sighed.
Raising an assistant was like raising a daughter; in the end, you were raising her for someone else.
He had actually talked with Fan Xiaojv about this before.
Honestly, wasn’t he good-looking? Right in front of her was one of the most popular leading men, yet she didn’t fangirl over him.
Fan Xiaojv had given Su Mu an irrefutable answer:
Yes, you’re handsome, but you don’t have that little brother charm.
You don’t have that little brother charm.
No little brother charm.
No brotherly allure.
That brotherly allure.
...
Su Mu munched on his burger and opened his phone.
He habitually glanced at Weibo.
[Su Mu V / Followers: 11 million]
The comments on his most recent post had skyrocketed by forty thousand overnight!
Su Mu’s eyelid twitched.
Something was definitely wrong.
Normally, his posts topped out at twenty or thirty thousand comments. Jumping to over sixty thousand overnight—something major must have happened.
He quickly tapped into the trending topics. Sure enough:
Trending #1: Star-Studded Awards Ceremony Yesterday
Trending #2: Bad Boy Super Topic
Trending #3: Battle Through the Heavens—Medusa Scene Cut...
Trending #4: Su Mu Is Really Confident?
Trending #5: Director Zhang’s New Film—Su Mu Applies for a Role Live at Awards!
Trending #6: The Roles Played by Su Mu
Trending #7: Famous Idol Caught in New Romance
Trending...
“...?”
Su Mu stared at the trending list, a vein throbbing on his forehead.
Who was so malicious as to buy him three trending slots in a row?
So, his slip of the tongue last night had really blown up?
He randomly clicked into one of the trending topics about himself and read through the comments.
[Go Su Mu! Your acting is the fattest!]
[How much did that marketing account above get paid? Still trying to spin this?]
[Lol, to be fair, I acknowledge Su Mu’s acting, but only in brainless idol dramas.]
[Come on, anyone can do those expressionless idol dramas. Who can’t just stand there like a log?]
[I used to love Director Zhang’s films, but if Su Mu joins, it’s doomed!]
[One person’s lousy acting, needing a bunch of veteran actors to save the show? Does he have any shame?]
[He actually dared to say at the awards that he’d compete in acting with veterans? Where’s that confidence coming from?]
[I’ll say it now—if he lands a role with Director Zhang, I’ll wash my hair standing on my head!]
The online ridicule had already begun.
Su Mu turned off his phone.
The hallmark of a top star was the ability to ignore online comments and remain calm.
Besides, he had lived two lives.
What storms hadn’t he weathered? The more heated the controversy, the more he needed to stay composed. Any publicity was better than none.
As Gao Qiqiang once said: The bigger the wave, the more expensive the fish.
...
Juxiang Media Tower.
Inside the office.
Qian Jida was furious. “I just want to know: who bought those trending topics? We’re all in this business—don’t think I can’t tell. Buying one, fine, but three or four at once? You’re setting Su Mu up to be roasted. What’s the operations department playing at? Or are you using Su Mu as a shield for someone else, to divert attention?”
“Don’t be upset, Boss Qian. Even if we didn’t operate, he’d still get flamed for what happened yesterday. We’re just doing someone a favor.”
“A favor? Based on what? Su Mu is my guy!”
“Boss Qian, there are only two years left on the resource performance contract. Seven hundred million is a tough target. You’ve seen the numbers this year—the data doesn’t lie. Su Mu’s popularity and his new drama’s ratings have already declined. The next two years, with no new works, he’ll definitely lose fans. There’s no way his career will rebound. So, we need to be realistic.
The company’s stance is to allocate more resources and energy to younger, more promising newcomers. The recent trend is all about younger idols, preferably ones groomed from an early age.
As for Su Mu, his current schedule remains, but new resources will be adjusted. If, when the contract ends, he doesn’t meet the revenue goal, we’ll enforce an extension. The company loses nothing.”
“That’s the boss’s decision?” Qian Jida’s eyes blazed with anger. “This is underhanded! If you do this, what celebrity will ever want to sign with us again?”
“Sorry, Boss Qian, this is the company’s position.”
“...”