AITFYMIBP Chapter 33.1

TL: Hua

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This time, each group had plenty of practice time. Coupled with Lin Yanran’s high efficiency, he managed to finish the song, dance, and rap choreography within three days.

Seeing that the trainees were practicing in an orderly manner under Qiao Ye’s guidance, Lin Yanran felt at ease and went to participate in the variety show Song Yingming had introduced to him two days later.

The show was called Incredible Journey, a travel reality show.

This program adopted the most popular format on the market: live streaming + edited broadcast.

During filming, the production team would open a main live stream channel and several individual live streams for the guests on the video platform that had purchased the broadcast rights.

The production team would then broadcast some of the footage in real time.

However, this show was a little different in that it didn’t live stream all the content. Only half of the last day’s recording would be shown to keep the audience in suspense, with the remaining footage edited and included in the final official broadcast.

The production team had scheduled the filming to start at 6 a.m.

After he had washed up and rechecked his luggage, and seeing that the production team hadn’t arrived yet, he took out his phone and opened the show’s live streaming platform.

The main live-stream and the five guest live-streams are now open. Although they are still completely dark, they have been labeled with the names of the respective guests, and a few bullet comments drift across the screen from time to time.

[Weren’t there six MCs? Why isn’t Lu Wei’s live-stream open?]

[He was injured a couple of days ago and is still in the hospital, so he can’t film this episode.]

[The production team found a special guest to fill in. I just saw them change Lu Wei’s live-stream to ‘special guest.’]

[Who is the special guest this time?]

[Don’t know, the production team hasn’t announced it. Their Weibo is being very secretive. I’m so excited!]

Lin Yanran glanced at the conversation in the bullet comments, then backed out and scrolled the page to the end.

Sure enough, the live-stream that originally belonged to Lu Wei was now labeled special guest.

The production team was building suspense and hadn’t revealed who the person was in advance.

Precisely because of this, the live-stream was constantly flashing bullet comments like [Tell me who the special guest is quickly!].

Even though it was still early morning, the total popularity of the live-stream was forced up to over 200,000 purely by the bullet comments.

After seeing this, Lin Yanran couldn’t help but silently give the director a thumbs-up.

Truly a good friend of Director Song. Whether it’s not showing the full live-stream or deliberately withholding the guest list, both of them are masters at stringing along the audience and have them completely hooked.

The production team staff arrived at the agreed-upon bus stop at 6:10 AM.

However, they looked around but didn’t see Lin Yanran.

The driver said, “Why isn’t he here yet?”

A staff member replied, “Not many celebrities are punctual, and today’s filming is early. Let’s wait a little longer.”

So, they waited on the spot for another fifteen minutes.

The driver checked the time and urged, “If he doesn’t come soon, we’ll miss the flight. Hurry up and call him.”

The staff member also frowned, starting to complain internally.

This Yanran isn’t very popular, but he acts like a big shot.

He’s only just regained some popularity a few days ago, and he’s already learning to act like a diva like the others.

With this kind of attitude and perspective, no wonder he was overshadowed by so much negative publicity for so long before.

Just as the staff member was thinking this, his phone rang.

“Hello,” a clear male voice sounded particularly pleasant in the silent morning.

“Hello…” the staff member replied.

The voice was nice, but seeing the name Yanran displayed on the screen, he frowned with slight displeasure.

“About how long until you arrive?”

Seeing that Lin Yanran was asking about the time, the staff member assumed he was going to say he’d be late again and complained unhappily, “We’ve been here for fifteen minutes already.”

The subtext was: We’ve been waiting for you for fifteen minutes, brother!

After hearing his passive-aggressive comment, the person on the other end said nothing. A few seconds later, he spoke again, still gently, “Okay, is it the third-to-last car? I’ll be right over.”

Upon hearing this, the staff member was immediately surprised and opened the window to look outside.

He counted, and his car was indeed the third to last.

When he turned around, he saw a gray figure across the road walking towards them, pulling a suitcase.

It wasn’t light yet, so visibility wasn’t great.

It wasn’t until Lin Yanran got closer that he saw what he was wearing.

Lin Yanran was wrapped in a light gray, long down jacket, and a large scarf covered his entire face, leaving only a pair of beautiful eyes visible.

He was pulling a suitcase with one hand and holding a thermos with a landscape painting on it with the other…

The staff member suddenly recalled that when they arrived, they had indeed seen this person at the bus stop across the street.

But his attire was so ordinary, and he hadn’t seen him clearly, so he thought he was an office worker waiting for the bus to work in the morning…

Therefore, he hadn’t realized that this was the celebrity they were supposed to pick up…

The staff member looked on, finding it increasingly hard to believe.

Shouldn’t young male celebrities in their twenties, even if the temperature is ten degrees below zero, be decked out in trendy brands, wearing ripped jeans, sacrificing warmth for style…

How could Yanran be wrapped up so thickly!

Now, from this close distance, looking at the beautiful eyebrows and eyes—the only part of him exposed and superior to ordinary people—he finally confirmed that the person wrapped up like a bear really was Lin Yanran.

“Teacher Yanran?”

Lin Yanran nodded, pulled down his scarf and mask, and smiled slightly at the staff member, “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

Upon hearing this, the staff member felt incredibly guilty.

He had just been passive-aggressive with him, when in fact the other party had already arrived and had been waiting for them.

And the person hadn’t lost his temper or blamed him…

Well, this isn’t acting like a big shot; he genuinely has a good temper.

Realizing his own mistake, the staff member was ashamed and remorseful and quickly apologized, “No, no, Teacher Yanran, I’m sorry, I didn’t see you just now…”

Lin Yanran didn’t blame him, nodding understandingly, “I must be wrapped up too thickly, but it’s genuinely cold outside.”

Just as Lin Yanran finished speaking, a gust of cold wind blew in through the open window.

The staff member, wearing only a jacket, felt it deeply and quickly closed the window.

After Lin Yanran got in the car, he saw the camera pointed at him and asked, “Has the live-stream started already?”

The accompanying PD shook his head. “Not yet, but we need to film some pre-interviews now, which will be edited into the main episode later.”

After that, he asked Lin Yanran a few questions.

An hour later, the car delivered Lin Yanran to the airport, and the group hurriedly boarded a plane flying abroad.

On the other side, the five regular MCs of Incredible Journey had also all arrived.

They had been arranged by the production team to arrive an hour early.

After the five people arrived together at the accommodation for this episode’s filming, they began to exchange greetings and pleasantries.

They had already filmed one preliminary episode together, so they were much more familiar with each other now.

Of course, this familiarity was only compared to the first meeting; they weren’t that close.

So, after a few simple conversations, seeing that there wasn’t much else to talk about, they all turned the topic to the new special guest arriving today.

The production team hadn’t revealed who the person was to them either, so they were all guessing wildly.

The director waited until they had guessed for a while before telling them.

“The special guest is very handsome, currently very popular, and talented.”

The official live-stream had already opened when the five MCs gathered.

Upon hearing the director’s description, the audience watching the live-stream instantly had their expectations maxed out.

[A handsome guy who’s currently popular! Shi Chuang?]

[The director also said he’s talented. He shouldn’t be an idol like Shi Chuang; maybe a singer?]

[Wuwuwu, could it be Gu Siyue?]

[Wake up, Gu Siyue isn’t currently popular; he’s been the ceiling of the entertainment industry since his debut!]

The audience in the bullet comments chattered, instantly pushing the popularity value of the special guest’s live-stream past one million.

The MCs present were as excited as the bullet comments.

After all, among the five of them, one was a national goddess who was popular across the country last century, one was a highly respected artist, one was the face of a popular girl group, and one was a national younger brother with a currently trending drama.

Even the least popular one, a new singer-songwriter, was a second-generation celebrity born with a silver spoon.

This configuration is considered quite high in this type of variety show.

So, hearing the director praise the person so much, they all defaulted to thinking that the new special guest would be no worse than the absent Lu Wei.

Just as they were thinking this, Fu Anqi, the girl group’s member, pointed outside the villa and happily told everyone, “They’re here, they’re here!! Our new guest is here!!”

The main door of the villa is some distance from the ground floor living room.

Everyone could only see the guest getting out of the car through the open door.

From a distance, with his height and long legs, everyone thought he must be a handsome guy, but because he was dressed so heavily and wearing a mask, they couldn’t clearly make out his face.

The younger ones quickly ran out but were immediately a little dumbfounded when they saw the person’s attire.

Let alone the staff, even they, the celebrities, hadn’t seen a celebrity dressed so warmly for a camera in a long time.

[Hahaha, who is this, wearing so much?]

[Is it that cold over there? A little exaggerated, right?]

[My son is dressed much more lightly compared to him.]

[Why are you all focusing on how much he’s wearing? The key is, who is this person?]

[@All fandoms, come out and claim him.]

Fu Anqi has an outgoing personality. After a small moment of surprise, she immediately raised her hand and greeted the person sweetly.

“Hi,” her bright eyes were full of expectation, “Are you the new guest?”

Lin Yanran stopped, pulled down his mask, and responded with a smile, “Yes.”

After speaking, he nodded slightly in greeting to Fu Anqi, “Hello, Anqi, I’m Yanran.”

The moment Lin Yanran’s identity was revealed, a few people who came out to greet him all showed a hint of disappointment in their eyes.

Especially Gao Zitai, the second-generation celebrity, who wished he could immediately turn around and pretend he hadn’t come out to greet anyone.

Of course, the disappointment of the other guests towards Lin Yanran was because they felt his popularity and status didn’t meet their expectations.

But his feelings towards Lin Yanran were more complex than that.

Everyone knew that Xia Xingxing had liked Lin Yanran for six years, ever since he participated in The Best Male Voice.

Gao Zitai was actually quite similar to Xia Xingxing; he had fallen for Bai Tianyu from the moment The Best Male Voice started.

Xia Xingxing voted for his idol, Lin Yanran; he voted just as much that year.

Xia Xingxing pursued his dream in Super Idol for his idol; he likewise pursued his dream in the entertainment industry for his idol, Bai Tianyu!

To this day, he hasn’t missed a single album or concert Bai Tianyu has released. His secondary social media account is even a top fan account within the fandom.

Therefore, as a staunch fan of Bai Tianyu, he naturally hated Lin Yanran, who once called his idol trash!

But who would have thought that he would casually join a variety show—and he had even specifically checked the guest list before agreeing to join—only for the production team to invite his nemesis in the very first episode!

Gao Zitai quickly withdrew his right hand, which he had extended halfway for a friendly handshake with Lin Yanran, and turned to walk back into the villa without a backward glance.

At this moment, the bullet comments exploded.

[Director, your definition of popular seems vastly different from everyone else’s.]

[Yanran’s Weibo followers haven’t even broken five million yet. That’s a comeback, not being currently popular.]

[Director, how is Yanran, this unknown celebrity, popular? Where is the talent? Are you a scammer?]

[My current mood is: “Give me back my money!”]

[??? Why are you all so angry? Who is this person? Why don’t I recognize him?]

Although Lin Yanran has recently gained some traction, he is still quite far behind these celebrities who frequently appear in public and have immense national recognition.

Not only were there viewers in the bullet comments who didn’t recognize him, but even a few of the guests didn’t recognize him either.

Especially Sun Yuetong, the national goddess who retired many years ago, and the artist Cao Zhengpeng, both of whom pay very little attention to the entertainment industry. When Lin Yanran stood before them, they could only offer polite smiles.

The bullet comments immediately provided a real-time interpretation of their expressions.

[The Goddess doesn’t know Yanran, right?]

[Teacher Cao also looks like he has something to say but holds back.]

[What should I do? Seeing that none of them know Yanran, my second-hand embarrassment syndrome is acting up again.]

Lin Yanran was well aware of his popularity and name recognition and naturally knew that the two senior artists didn’t recognize him, so he took the initiative to introduce himself.

He first politely bowed, extended his hand, and gently shook Sun Yuetong’s hand. “Hello, Goddess, I am Yanran.”

Then he shook hands with Cao Zhengpeng, saying, “Hello, Teacher Cao. I had the honor of attending your concert before. ‘Beacon Fire’ was truly astonishing.”

Beacon Fire was a piece Cao Zhengpeng performed using a cross-genre collaboration of piano and guzheng[mfn][/mfn] at a concert abroad before he became famous.

Very few people attended that concert at the time, and there were no related press releases online mentioning it.

Therefore, unless one was a die-hard fan or someone who closely followed the fields of piano and classical music, they wouldn’t know the specific content of that concert.

Upon hearing Lin Yanran immediately mention the performance he considered his most satisfactory, Cao Zhengpeng couldn’t help but feel a stronger liking for him.

This young man is different from those who claim to be his fans but only know that he plays the piano.

He has genuinely listened to his work.

So, Cao Zhengpeng, who had been largely expressionless, couldn’t help but show a kindly smile to Lin Yanran. “You actually heard that one? That’s very rare. It was about seven or eight years ago; you must have been only ten-something back then.”

As he spoke, Cao Zhengpeng gestured with his hand to indicate a height that only reached his ear.

The bullet comments in the live-stream had just been mocking Lin Yanran for being worthless, only able to state his name during the introduction and unable to name a single representative work.

Then, suddenly, they saw Cao Zhengpeng chatting warmly with Lin Yanran, with a look of immense kindness on his face…

[OMG, Teacher Cao is actually talking about music with Yanran… This is the first time I’ve seen him be so gentle with a junior.]

[Yanran must have deliberately done his homework beforehand. He’s so calculating just to win favor with the older generation.]

[Even so… there are no online reports about Teacher Cao’s Beacon Fire… I’m a fan of his, and I haven’t even heard of it. Where did he do his homework?]

[So Yanran is making it up?]

[Are you blind? Teacher Cao is talking to him about it, so it must be true!]

[???? So this isn’t just fake, commercial flattery, he actually heard it????]

[Yanran’s got something going on! He’s actually a die-hard fan of Teacher Cao!]

[Teacher Cao’s fans are ecstatic!!! Congratulations to Yanran for your star-chasing success!]

The audience in the bullet comments thought so, and so did Cao Zhengpeng.

After chatting with Lin Yanran for a while, he realized that the other person hadn’t just accidentally heard one song; he was very knowledgeable about his past experiences and music, and could engage in very professional conversation at every turn.

At this point, he was certain: Yanran was his die-hard fan!

Although he is a public figure, his profession is different from the other five guests. Because of this, he always felt a generation gap in terms of profession and age when interacting with others who were not familiar with his circle.

As a result, a fan of his suddenly appeared, and he, who was slightly afraid of socializing, suddenly found someone to talk to.

Therefore, for the first time, Cao Zhengpeng—who had always maintained a cold, artistic demeanor in front of all the guests—took the initiative to pull a junior to stand beside him, and without any pretense, offered him a bottle of water, asking if he’d like to drink some.

Lin Yanran took the cold mineral water and politely took a sip without refusing.

In fact, he hadn’t deliberately done any research to flatter Cao Zhengpeng.

He had heard Beacon Fire, and he was indeed present at that concert.

That was before he transmigrated into the book. Back then, whenever he had free time, his grandmother would take him to various concerts abroad.

At that time, Cao Zhengpeng hadn’t yet gained widespread fame, but his reputation in the classical music world was excellent, so he had accompanied his grandmother to many of his concerts.

Because he also played the guzheng himself, the piece Beacon Fire left an extremely deep impression on him.

Looking at Cao Zhengpeng in front of him, Lin Yanran couldn’t help but recall his former reality.

He had noticed more than once that the world setting of this novel was the same as the vast majority of things in his former real world.

Lin Yanran had occasionally stumbled upon some online novels that directly copied the real-world setting and true events in the entertainment industry.

So, he guessed that the author of this book likely followed the same pattern and hadn’t created a unique world setting for the novel, which is why there were so many similarities and coincidences that he had experienced.

—

Watching Cao Zhengpeng’s kind and senior-like expression towards Lin Yanran, the younger guests—who had interacted with him for one episode but hadn’t even managed to have a proper conversation—were once again dumbfounded.

Especially Gao Zitai. He couldn’t see the bullet comments, and no one was there to inform him. In his eyes, Lin Yanran’s earlier words were nothing but a calculating move to gain favor in front of Cao Zhengpeng after doing some research!

Just as he was thinking this, Sun Yuetong, who was sitting on the other side, suddenly clasped her hands gently in front of her, looking like she had remembered something important.

She looked at Lin Yanran, her gentle eyes curving slightly. “Ah, I know. The one with the over 3,000 times… right, Yanran?”

None of the people present understood what “over 3,000 times” meant, and even the bullet comments hadn’t registered it.

But Lin Yanran nodded to the senior. “Yes, you actually know about that?”

Sun Yuetong smiled and nodded. “My daughter has been watching your show. She really likes your group.”

It was only then that the bullet comments understood.

[Is this “3825 times” so widely known? Even the Goddess knows about it.]

[Looking at it this way, perhaps the director wasn’t wrong. Yanran’s meme is actually quite popular recently…]

[Damn, who was laughing just now that the two seniors didn’t recognize Yanran?]

[So, you can be remembered by seniors even without representative work. Yanran is impressive!]

[My heart aches for my Zitai. He gave a long, flowery introduction to Teacher Sun before, and she still couldn’t remember him.]

[Sigh, that’s everyone’s story, isn’t it?]

[If it weren’t for the fact that everyone looked so unfamiliar when they saw Yanran just now, I’d suspect the production team had given Yanran a script.]

Gao Zitai, standing behind Lin Yanran, was also speechless after hearing Sun Yuetong’s words.

He just couldn’t understand how all the seniors knew this jerk!

Furious, and annoyed by the sight of Lin Yanran’s face, Gao Zitai angrily turned around, grabbed his luggage, and headed upstairs, eager to claim a room.

The director’s voice, however, then rang out.

“Everyone please gather in the lobby. We will be conducting today’s first segment: a luggage inspection.”

The director’s voice echoed in the rooms three times. Hearing that they were going to inspect their luggage, Fu Anqi quickly hugged one of her cute suitcases. “Do we have to open all of them? Can we keep some more private items covered?”

Director: “Of course. Clothing and purely private personal items don’t need to be displayed, but everything else must be taken out. Otherwise, any hidden items will result in a penalty.”

Ye An immediately asked, “What is the penalty?”

Director: “Today’s food and accommodation will all have to be solved by yourselves.”

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