Chapter 30
Before Fu Chongshan met Lou Ting, he had heard a lot about the current Lou Ting from Lou Yu. Lou Ting was described as sharp as a knife, so when Fu Chongshan talked to him, he couldn’t help but be a bit reserved.
However, at this moment, seeing the abrupt change in Lou Ting’s expression, he suspected that Lou Ting might have been angered by Lou Yu. That’s why he acted that way towards him. In essence, Lou Ting was still the same Lou Ting, without any changes.
As for Lou Ting’s performance on stage during this period…
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Qlv bkp yvvldvksd? Rv oyp fwpv vbyv bkp ralhkswpzu sclekldv xsdlu cyt alqwple vs nssrlayvl, yde Nsw Zw oydvle bkx vs iwknjzu qsaj shla vbl xsdlu.
“You’re right; we’re brothers after all. I really… shouldn’t have treated him that way,” Lou Ting said softly, head lowered.
Seeing this, Fu Chongshan smiled with relief. “Don’t worry too much; kids’ tempers come and go quickly. He’ll be fine in a moment, and he’ll cry out for his big brother to come.”
Lou Ting nodded, feigning affection without saying a word.
“Oh, by the way, why did you remove the disguise on your face recently?” Fu Chongshan asked.
—Here it comes.
In that instant, Lou Ting’s mind flashed with this thought.
This question was probably one that Fu Chongshan had wanted to ask from the moment he saw him, but he didn’t want to cause a rift between them and had been holding back until now. It was quite difficult for him.
However, Lou Ting was prepared for this question a long time ago. He maintained a gentle and soft appearance and said, “This variety show is different from the previous ones. The talent show doesn’t require me to deliberately look ugly, so…”
“Lou Ting, you’ve got it wrong. Those trainees in the talent show are either popular and powerful individuals, or they have the skills but lack popularity and want to become famous. There’s also a category of those who lack both popularity and skills but are good-looking and want to find a way out. But you came here for the money,” Fu Chongshan said with a serious tone. “Only when you have high popularity, can you make money. Think about it, among the group of handsome men, if you appear on the show looking ugly, won’t your screen time be higher? This kind of difference in appearance will be more shocking to the audience. Do you understand?”
Understand?
Understand, you idiot.
Lou Ting whispered, “But my popularity is quite high now.” He pointed at his phone and said, “I’ve made it to Weibo’s trending topics several times.”
“And did you get the money?”
“…”
Lou Ting’s silence made Fu Chongshan laugh, treating him like a disobedient child who wanted to be independent. “You see, all this popularity is fake. Only when you get the money, it’s real.”
“Let’s go back to the ward first, so that Lou Yu won’t worry.” Saying this, Fu Chongshan walked towards the hospital room.
Lou Ting stood in place, furrowing his eyebrows slowly.
Fu Chongshan seemed to have deceived the original host like a fool.
His way of talking wasn’t even sophisticated; some telephone scammers could make more convincing arguments than him.
But unfortunately, the original host believed him blindly.
The missing memories of the original host kept Lou Ting’s understanding of this matter confined to the content of the book he read before transmigrating.
Why did the original host trust Fu Chongshan so much?
Lou Ting speculated that at that time, the original host had hit rock bottom. His younger brother was seriously ill, his parents were pressuring him for money, and he had no friends who could help him. In that predicament, only Fu Chongshan stepped forward to offer advice—that was one reason.
Indeed, the variety show earned money quickly, and the salary was directly deposited into his account without any delay. That was the second reason.
It was like a closed trap, wrapping the original host layer by layer.
Although the money ultimately didn’t end up in Lou Ting’s hands.
Some went to his parents, and some were used to pay for Lou Yu’s medical expenses, taking up the majority of Lou Ting’s earnings.
Otherwise, the original host wouldn’t have been living such a difficult life in that shabby rental house.
Fu Chongshan had already entered the hospital room. Seeing that Lou Ting didn’t follow, he leaned in and asked, “Lou Ting? What are you doing? Why haven’t you come over yet?”
Lou Ting replied calmly, “I’m coming.”
At that time, Lou Ting couldn’t say for sure about the specific situation. Everything could only be determined after the original host’s memories were fully restored.
Thinking about this, Lou Ting felt somewhat strange. When the original host hit rock bottom, he was completely blacklisted online. His advertisements, songs, and even dance videos were all deleted. If it weren’t for some fans who remembered there was such a person as Lou Ting, he would have felt as though he had never debuted.
Then… why did his recent online antics cause such a huge sensation, making it to the trending topics multiple times, without anyone coming forward to suppress him?
Lou Ting’s lips pursed slightly. He decided to put these doubts aside for now. The key to all this lay with Fu Chongshan, and Lou Ting could only tolerate him for the time being.
Inside the hospital room, Lou Yu was half-lying on the bed, having his meal.
Upon seeing Lou Ting entering, he directly snorted and turned his head away.
“Don’t be too much, Lou Yu,” Fu Chongshan couldn’t stand it anymore and warned him, “Your brother has been working non-stop to earn money for your treatment. He’s exhausted, and you’re still throwing a tantrum. That’s enough!”
Lou Yu glanced at him with displeasure and said softly, “I’m sorry, big brother. I didn’t mean to throw a tantrum. I just miss you too much.”
Lou Ting remained expressionless throughout the whole scene. The original host was deceived by your back-and-forth performance. I am not the original host; shedding a few crocodile tears won’t make me rush over to hug you.
Feeling disdainful, Lou Ting replied, “It’s okay, I don’t blame you, little brother.”
Seeing the two brothers reconcile, Fu Chongshan smiled and said, “Oh, Lou Ting, I went to your agency earlier, and your manager said he gave you several variety show scripts, but you didn’t go. So, I brought them back for you. You can take leave during the break of ‘Youth Returns” and go shoot these shows. After all, it’s all money, and you won’t use it. Lou Yu needs the money urgently.”
With that, he handed Lou Ting several contracts from the folder. “Just sign them, there are dates on them, and then you can go for the recordings as arranged by the company.”
Lou Ting didn’t hesitate and politely accepted them, saying, “Okay, thank you.”
Fu Chongshan said, “There’s no need for thanks between us brothers. As long as you’re doing well, I’ll be relieved.”
“Alright, it’s about time. With me here to take care of Lou Yu, you don’t need to worry. You should go back and sign those contracts and prepare. Pay attention to your appearance; you must make sure to maintain the previous look; otherwise, it will be considered a breach of contract, and you’ll have to pay a hefty penalty.”
Lou Ting accepted the contracts without immediately saying whether he would go or not. But since he didn’t refuse, Fu Chongshan assumed that he had accepted the offer.
“I’ll go now. If anything happens to Lou Yu, remember to notify me,” Lou Ting said, still concerned about the discounted urn. It might be sold out if he delayed.
Seeing Lou Ting’s concern for Lou Yu, Fu Chongshan smiled with satisfaction. “Don’t worry.”
Lou Ting nodded, took the contracts, and left the hospital room.
After Lou Ting left, the smile on Fu Chongshan’s face suddenly disappeared. He glared at Lou Yu fiercely. “Idiot, you almost revealed everything!”
Lou Yu felt wronged. “I didn’t see him coming in.”
Fu Chongshan coldly snorted and interrogated him, “Did Lou Ting change his attitude towards you because he found out that you were adding something to his food? You better tell me the truth!”
Lou Yu hurriedly said, “No, he suddenly threw a tantrum, and I don’t know why.”
“It better not be, or else…” Fu Chongshan warned with a stern voice, “you’ll have a hard time.”
Lou Yu was scared and involuntarily shrank his neck. Fu Chongshan slammed the door shut with a loud “bang.”
Shortly after, a nurse came in and said, “Lou Yu, please go downstairs to make the payment.” It had been quite some time since the surgery, and he still hadn’t paid. The private hospital was not a charity, and they had already given him quite some leeway by waiting for so long.
Lou Yu was taken aback and unconsciously blurted out, “Why the hurry? My brother will take care of it.”
“Your brother? Mr. Fu Chongshan, who signed on the surgery consent form?” The nurse said, “He has already left.”
Lou Yu naturally didn’t mean Fu Chongshan. He quickly asked, “What about Lou Ting?”
The nurse looked puzzled. Lou Yu hurriedly clarified, “The one who came in just now to visit!”
“He has left too.”
Lou Yu suddenly stopped and struggled to sit up, reaching for his phone to make a call.
But as soon as he dialed the number, it went straight to voicemail—he had been blocked!
Damn it, how dare Lou Ting block me?!
“Beep, beep, beep.”
He didn’t even have a chance to leave a message. Lou Yu was infuriated and got a headache.
The nurse seemed to sense something and made a call to the security office. Then she said, “Please make the payment.”
Lou Yu was a carefree spender. He spent whatever money he got from Lou Ting without a thought, leaving him with no money to pay for medical expenses. After much contemplation, he decided to call his mother who was far away on another star system.
“Hello, Mom! Lou Ting is bullying me!”
—
Lou Ting took a day off and didn’t go to the practice room. He went straight back to his dorm to rest. He had seen those contracts before. Without exception, they all followed the old path. Lou Ting couldn’t be bothered to cooperate with them, especially since Fu Chongshan’s words were just empty promises. Appearing in a few variety shows as a guest might not be a problem, but if he participated in shows like “Youth Returns,” it would definitely affect his screen time later on.
Moreover, if the directors found out he was shooting their show while appearing in other variety shows randomly, they might put him on their blacklist.
Seeing that he finally had some popularity, Fu Chongshan tried to use this method to make him offend the directors.
Lou Ting shook his head and casually tossed the contracts aside, showing no intention of signing them.
One of the variety show contracts even specifically mentioned that he had to act ugly on stage. He couldn’t fathom whose brainchild this clause was.
After tossing the contracts aside, Lou Ting didn’t bother with them anymore.
He blocked Lou Yu’s number directly, and he didn’t have Fu Chongshan’s contact information in his phone’s address book. Apparently, Fu Chongshan and the original host used to contact each other through their managers, and they hadn’t exchanged contact information. They could call themselves good brothers; he found it laughable.
But he was glad that they weren’t bothering him. Lou Ting continued training as usual, and soon it was time for the stage competition with Le Chengzhe for the C position.
This scene needed special focus. While getting his makeup done backstage, Yan Zige leaned against the table and talked to Lou Ting. “Do you have confidence?”
“Of course,” Lou Ting never doubted his own abilities, “but…”
He paused, raising an eyebrow and smiling, “Do I need to hold back a bit so as not to cry away and spoil the ending?
*********
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