After Transmigrating as Cannon Fodder, I Became the Darling of the Variety Show - Chapter 6

 

An Rao woke up very early and went upstairs to wake Chu Guannan.

Chu Guannan had been resting at home for the past few days. He seemed to enjoy sleeping naked; several times when An Rao entered, he had not seen him wearing clothes.

An Rao thought for a moment, then suddenly walked toward Chu Guannan.

His long legs, lacking pajama pants, draped over the waist of the other man. His knee lightly nudged the small of the back of Chu Guannan. “Hubby, did we not agree that you would buy me clothes? Hurry up and get up. I have prepared breakfast for you.”

Hearing the word “breakfast,” Chu Guannan slowly sat up. “No need. I do not have the habit of eating breakfast.”

“That will not do. How can you grow tall if you do not eat?”

An Rao also felt that his tone was truly disgusting, but he had no choice. Money was more important. With his current reputation, he could not get endorsements or scripts. The only way to get money quickly was to get a divorce.

After washing up and going downstairs, Chu Guannan took a deep breath as he looked at the two bowls of unidentified white substance on the dining table. He stood up to leave.

Although the talent of An Rao in cooking was a negative number, he was addicted to it. He enjoyed the process of cooking very much. Today, he followed a tutorial to learn a specialty rice noodle roll. Although the appearance was not great, the taste was even worse.

He knew Chu Guannan despised his cooking, which made him want to force him to eat it even more. It would be best if he got so angry that he would immediately write a divorce agreement.

He picked up a piece of the unidentified rice noodle roll and brought it to the mouth of Chu Guannan, saying with a smile, “Hubby, try it. It is definitely so delicious that you will lick the plate clean.”

Chu Guannan kept his lips tightly shut and silently moved his head away.

“Come on, come on. Do you want me to chew it and feed you?”

Chu Guannan was like a statue, not moving at all. After a silence that lasted half a century, he finally spoke slowly, “I am sorry. My stomach hurts.”

“Then I will make some porridge for you.”

“No need.”

“Egg drop soup?”

“No need.”

Chu Guannan stood up. “Eat it yourself. Prepare to go out when you are finished.”

Before leaving, An Rao found a hat and put it on. As soon as he went downstairs, he saw Chu Guannan leaning against the door with his arms crossed. A measuring tape was hanging from his finger, spinning in a circle.

“Come here,” Chu Guannan said coldly in a low voice.

An Rao did not understand. As soon as he stepped closer, he was pulled over.

Chu Guannan pulled out the measuring tape, pressed it against his shoulder, and pulled it down to the hem of his clothes.

Fifty-seven centimeters.

Chu Guannan retracted the tape, tucked it into his pocket, and opened the door without a word.

An Rao thought: Is there something wrong with him?

As an artist, even an obscure one, one must be prepared for the camera of the paparazzi, especially when accompanied by a superstar. It was not a fear of being photographed, but the trouble caused by a commotion of passersby.

Self-recording was a different matter, however.

These past few days, An Rao had truly mastered the current code for making money: live streaming, short videos, and Chu Guannan.

In the car, Chu Guannan saw An Rao fiddling with the filming software on his phone, filming him constantly. He raised his hand to block the lens and pushed the hand of An Rao down. “Do not film randomly.”

An Rao did not comply and held up his phone. “Then it is okay if I film myself, right?”

Chu Guannan was silent for a moment, his voice turning cold. “You cannot film yourself either.”

“Hubby, you are so strict. What is wrong with me filming a daily vlog to post online and earn some small money?” An Rao pouted and complained.

Chu Guannan glanced at him, started the ignition, and stepped on the gas. The car roared out of the underground garage.

“Hello everyone, I am An Rao. Today I am going out to buy clothes. The weather is very good and there are no clouds. You cannot feel it sitting in the car, but it is actually very hot outside. Summer is about to pass, so babies, you should prepare your autumn clothes as soon as possible.”

An Rao had already begun to chatter about small matters in life.

The sunlight hit his face, brushed over his fluttering eyelashes, crossed the tip of his exquisite nose, and landed on the corners of his pale lips. He looked like a berry just picked and still covered in water droplets, delicate and charming under the sun.

While waiting for a red light, Chu Guannan glanced at him from the corner of his eye. It was originally just a casual glance, but suddenly he could not look away.

He rubbed his fingers together. He did not notice the green light until the car behind him honked loudly.

His mood felt a bit strange.

To avoid unnecessary trouble, Chu Guannan drove straight to the shopping plaza in the city center and headed for the men’s clothing section.

Although he was fully armed with a mask and sunglasses, he still attracted many curious gazes.

After all, his height of over 190 centimeters stood out like a crane among a flock of chickens. His temperament was extraordinary; an ordinary person would likely find it difficult to train to his level.

Chu Guannan sat down on a nearby sofa. A saleslady immediately came up to ask for his needs. An Rao said he would look for himself and would buy directly when he found something.

The saleslady quietly appraised him and whispered to her colleague, “Do you not think he looks like a certain celebrity?”

The colleague asked, “Who?”

“Lin Jingxi.”

The colleague looked him over and shook her head. “I have seen Lin Jingxi in person. He is the delicate type. This person is over 180 centimeters, right?”

The gaze of Chu Guannan lingered on a row of formal and conservative clothes. When he turned his gaze, however, he saw An Rao picking out hats.

He picked up a baseball cap, quickly pulled off the one on his head to try it on, was dissatisfied, then picked up a beret to take a look.

Just as Chu Guannan was about to remind him to prioritize buying clothes, his phone vibrated.

It was a call from the director, likely about some business.

Chu Guannan took his phone and walked out of the store, finding a secluded corner to answer the call.

An Rao tried on hats one by one. He did not care much about the opinion of Chu Guannan, but since he had to act the part to the end, he turned back. “Hubby, look at me wearing…”

The sofa was empty.

It was just as well that he was not there, as An Rao could try on the hats he liked to his heart’s content.

The only hobby of An Rao was collecting hats.

He had a three-meter-high cabinet at home, filled with hats of various styles, brands, and prices. He felt that if it were not for these hats, he could have saved even more money by graduation.

But without a hat, he would lack a sense of security, and it would often cause a lot of trouble.

An Rao casually put on another baseball cap and turned his face toward the mirror to see the effect.

Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a dark shadow flashing by out of the corner of his eye.

He looked around, but there seemed to be no one else besides the dazed saleslady.

He quietly took off his mask to check the effect, felt it was okay, and carried the dozen hats he had selected to the counter in one go.

“Hello sir, the total is 8,532.” The saleslady began to prepare the packaging bags as she spoke.

Chu Guannan had not yet returned. An Rao had not actually intended to let him pay. Divorce compensation was one thing, but they currently had no real relationship, so Chu Guannan should not pay. After all, the offer to buy clothes did not include hats; he had to keep that distinction clear.

An Rao checked the balance of his mobile wallet. Between the income from videos and the tips from the last live stream, he had 8,400 left after subtracting the cost of the computer. He was a bit short for the hats.

“Do you have any discounts or offers here?”

The saleslady smiled awkwardly. “I am sorry sir, but because you selected new seasonal items, they are not eligible for discounts.”

There was no other way. He could only painfully part with one of them.

Just as An Rao picked up one of the hats to put it back, a slightly unfamiliar voice sounded beside him.

“Use this card.”

An Rao turned back in surprise to see a man in a suit smiling at him, holding a bouquet of red roses.

The saleslady reached for the credit card, but An Rao took it back.

He looked at the stranger who seemed somewhat familiar and asked in a low voice, “Who are you, and why are you paying for me?”

The man became excited upon hearing this, his cheeks turning red. “You did not have enough money. You can continue to pick out things you like. I am willing to buy them for you no matter how much they cost.”

How strange. Who was this person?

An Rao put one hat aside and pointed at the rest. “Please wrap these up for me.”

“Do you not remember me?” the man asked with some disappointment.

An Rao had met countless people; his brain would explode if he remembered every one of them.

“You went to Times Computer City to buy a computer. I am that store manager.” The man was clearly anxious, and veins popped out on his neck.

An Rao remembered. There seemed to be such a person.

What happened in the next second, however, left everyone present speechless.

The man suddenly held the roses in front of An Rao and knelt on one knee with a thud.

“An Rao, I especially like you. I feel that I might never marry anyone but you in this life. Please marry me!”

The name “An Rao” attracted the attention of countless people. Both the saleslady and the guests passing by the door stopped what they were doing to gather around curiously.

An Rao frowned. “Do you even know what you are saying?”

Here it goes again. How many people has it been now? Does this book world have such a buff?

“I am your fan. I have liked you since you first debuted. I did not expect to meet you in person. I have already abandoned my boyfriend of seven years. I must marry you, or I will have nothing!”

The man spoke as he tried to shove the roses into the hands of An Rao.

An Rao suddenly thought of that man on the plane who was just like this. Meeting him once made them desperate to marry him.

An Rao pushed the roses away. “You are overthinking it. I am already married.”

“I know, Chu Guannan. I might not be as successful as him, but my love for you is real. I can swear I definitely love you more than he does. Please marry me!”

As the man became more worked up and the crowd of onlookers grew larger, An Rao lowered his voice.

“I will ask you a few questions now. Think them over carefully before you answer. If the answers satisfy me, I can allow you to continue pursuing me.”

The man nodded frantically, his eyes sparkling.

“First question: Do you think what you are doing is worth it?”

The man nodded forcefully. “It is worth it! As long as it is for you, anything is worth it!”

An Rao took a deep breath. “Second question: If I had never appeared, would you still have abandoned the lover you have been with for seven years?”

The man was stunned. He did not expect An Rao to ask such a question. He thought it over carefully and hesitated as he spoke.

“Perhaps not.”

“Third question: What is the most moving thing your lover has ever done for you?”

The man suddenly fell silent. The time when he first lived with his lover seven years ago suddenly popped into his mind.

His major in university was not good, and he could not find a suitable job after graduating. He was extremely insecure during that time, hiding at home every day and not daring to meet people. For a long time, he could only be a useless person with nothing to do.

But life had to continue. His lover worked in an office building during the day and went out to sell small accessories at a stall at night. After he had been negative for a long time, his lover gave him a bank card.

There was 120,000 inside. It was all the savings his lover had accumulated while working and running the stall after graduation. At that time, his lover was like he was now, not knowing what the future would hold, but still diving into this relationship.

Later, he used the 120,000 of his lover to rent a storefront in the computer city and started a computer business. Life got better day by day, and he now had savings of nearly one million.

But after seven years, his lover still insisted on working and running the stall every day, regardless of the weather. He had once asked him why he still lived so tiredly since they had money. His lover just smiled and said:

“The essence behind love is still bread. No one can say what the future will be like. Perhaps one day you will need money again, and then my efforts will be worth it.”

The man was silent for a long while, his lips tightly pressed. Eventually, he suddenly and slowly put down the roses in his hand.

“The most moving thing is that he made me feel like a person again.”

An Rao nodded and leaned down with a smile. “Now think about the first question again. Is everything you have done for me worth it?”

The man remained silent.

An Rao picked up the roses from the ground, his fingertips lightly brushing the petals. He said, “Roses will fade over time. But if you run fast now, it might still be in time.”

He returned the roses to the hands of the man.

The man clenched his fists and slowly climbed up from the ground.

He looked at An Rao. His gaze was no longer as fanatical as it was at the beginning. Instead, it was as calm as if he had met an old friend.

“The first question you asked me: I can answer you clearly now. It is not worth it.”

A burst of warm applause suddenly erupted from the crowd. Tears silently crossed his cheeks.

Perhaps this farce reminded them of the mistakes they had made due to a momentary impulse.

The flowery world is dazzling, and one only cares about pursuing excitement while forgetting the mundane life far away. But after returning to life, one finds that all passion will eventually turn into plain daily necessities. One must cherish the person in front of them.

The person who accompanied them through the wind and rain, slowly walking toward peace.

An Rao smiled and opened his payment code. “Hello, I will take one less hat. I will pay.”

When Chu Guannan returned, he saw a circle of people gathered at the entrance. A few young girls were squeezed outside the crowd, standing on their tiptoes and trying to look inside. They shouted excitedly:

“Wow, it is An Rao himself! He looks so good!”

“His values are so right. I originally thought he would definitely scold that man and tell him to get lost. A few words saved a couple and a family. Wow, brother, I love you!”

Under normal circumstances, encountering such a neurotic person who is persistent or even stalking, anyone would be scared and tell him to get lost. But An Rao solved the problem with absolute calmness and his superb persuasion skills.

Moreover, the ending was happy for everyone.

Chu Guannan did not know what had happened. He only saw so many people gathered and subconsciously leaned back behind the wall.

When An Rao finally squeezed out of the crowd, his mask had already been pulled away by someone as a souvenir.

Chu Guannan gazed at him quietly. He suddenly realized that even when squeezed into a crowd, he was still shining.

He thought of that oil painting hanging on his bedroom wall that he liked very much:

In a dark blue room, on a mottled bronze table, a pink rose with full buds was inserted into a broken goblet, attracting a black butterfly.

After picking out the clothes, An Rao came to the counter.

Chu Guannan pulled out his measuring tape.

An Rao got into the car with Chu Guannan, carrying large and small bags. Looking at the expensive luxury packaging bags, An Rao blinked playfully. “Hubby, thank you for buying me clothes. To express my gratitude, I have decided that I will take over dinner tonight.”

Chu Guannan suddenly looked up. After a long while, he said in a low voice, “Prepare your own. I am going to the bank.”

When An Rao finished the last bite of his meal with great difficulty, Chu Guannan returned home very punctually.

The timing was just right. He suspected Chu Guannan did it on purpose.

An Rao immediately stood up. “Hubby, you came back too late. I have finished eating. I will make some for you again.”

Chu Guannan walked upstairs. “No need. I have eaten outside.”

Except for the necessary greetings during three meals, Chu Guannan and An Rao communicated very little.

After saying this, he went straight upstairs.

Chu Guannan came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, wiping his wet hair and picking up his phone.

He had a Weibo account, but he hardly used it. Now the account was fully managed by his assistant, Chen Keke. Today, he suddenly had a whim to take a look.

The assistant had posted a Weibo congratulating Lin Jingxi on his birthday and had specifically followed Lin Jingxi.

Chu Guannan frowned slightly and unfollowed the account.

Suddenly, he remembered the scene of An Rao filming a vlog in the car during the day.

His movement of wiping his hair slowed down. Then, his finger clicked on the home page of An Rao.

He only had five million followers, which was not even as many as a small influencer.

His home page was managed very carefully. The background image was a cartoon of a small earth, with various national landmarks drawn around it.

He only followed about a hundred people. Scrolling through, eighty percent were travel bloggers and the rest were art bloggers.

The first post on his Weibo was the daily vlog filmed this morning.

Chu Guannan usually had no interest in such daily videos. Generally, he would swipe past them when he saw them.

He swiped his finger, and the vlog slid up.

He paused, then slowly swiped back.

After hesitating for a long time, he clicked on the small triangle in the middle.

The boy in the video smiled very cutely, and there were two small dimples at the corners of his mouth. The breeze and the sunlight blew the hair at his temples, and there seemed to be a galaxy in his eyes.

Chu Guannan originally wanted to close the video, but his finger paused on the exit button and he failed to press it.

He waited until the video of more than three minutes finished playing, then he immediately clicked replay.

There was a very small, barely noticeable smile at the corners of his mouth.

He did not know how many times he cycled through it. After he saw the corridor lights outside go out, he closed the video and went out to check.

An Rao had already fallen asleep on the sofa, clutching his quilt.

Chu Guannan stood upstairs and looked down, his gaze lingering on the quiet body on the sofa.

After a long while, he suddenly leaned over, crossed his arms against the stair railing, and stayed there for one minute, two minutes, half an hour.

Early in the morning, An Rao received a call from Zhang Zean, who said the boss invited him to the company. Whether he went or not was up to him.

If the boss says go to the company, just go to the company. There was no need to add the phrase “whether you go or not is up to you.” An Rao suggested Zhang Zean buy some disinfectant to wash his mouth.

The company where the original body worked was a standard star-making factory. The original novel described the boss, Song Weichuan, with very few words. To summarize in one sentence, he was a smiling tiger with a black core.

An Rao originally thought the other party would be a middle-aged or elderly man with a big belly and no hair. But when he pushed the door and entered, he saw a man of only about thirty years old sitting there.

His skin was white and fine like that of a young girl. He had been smiling since An Rao entered the door.

An Rao had an impression of this character. Every time a classmate mentioned him, they would say: “Hahaha, it is him! He added bricks and tiles to the road of the cannon fodder getting slapped in the face!”

“Our future top-tier Xiao An has arrived?” Song Weichuan stood up to get a glass of water for him and personally brought it to him. “Please sit.”

An Rao observed him imperceptibly, holding and rubbing the water glass in his hand.

“There is no need to be so guarded against me. I called you here for no other reason. You have been on the hot searches frequently and your fans are growing fast. The company believes you still have a lot of cultivation value.”

Song Weichuan pushed the iPad over. “Look at this video.”

The content of the video was the series of events that occurred when he met the man from the computer city while looking at hats at the mall yesterday. It was filmed by onlookers and uploaded to the internet. This time, An Rao was truly famous. It was not a black-red kind of fame; it was true popularity.

【People who were at the scene can clearly tell you that this brother is really, especially good.】

【I would definitely have told that man to get lost, but An An did not. He used wisdom to resolve the trouble and made me a fan.】

Of course, there were also a few different voices:

【The people saying this must be new, right? Who does not know that he followed Xi Bao back then and scared him so much that he called the police? Perhaps the stalker and the follower resonate with each other.】

【I am laughing so hard. Is a friend in the same group following you called stalking? A person like you probably has no friends in reality.】

【That is to say, is there a possibility that An Rao directed and acted this out himself to create a persona?】

【Creating a persona for you? Are you starting to talk nonsense in broad daylight again?】

Song Weichuan smiled like an old fox. “Given your recent strong momentum, the company decided to strike while the iron is hot and has fought for a popular variety show for you.”

If An Rao remembered correctly, the original body began to be slapped in the face by the protagonist group in this variety show, which led to a series of miserable experiences later on.

Therefore, after traveling through the book, he sought divorce compensation and stayed away from the poisonous protagonist group.

An Rao smiled faintly. “Can I refuse?”

“You can.” Song Weichuan did not make things difficult for him and seemed very generous.

He pulled a document out of his drawer as if he were prepared. He pushed the document in front of An Rao. “Sign this.”

An Rao picked up the document and took a look. It was a compensation letter.

The content was that because An Rao did not follow the management of the company and refused the resources the company had fought for, he caused economic losses to the company. He needed to compensate for all losses and the breach of contract fee, totaling thirty million.

Seeing An Rao hesitate to write, Song Weichuan secretly smiled, as his goal had been achieved.

He cleared his throat, looked at An Rao with interest, and smiled. “I know you do not have that much money. After all, you have a bloodsucker in your family.”

A bloodsucker? What did that mean?

Back then, his classmate did not waste much time talking about this cannon fodder. Most of it was skipped in one sentence, so he knew nothing about the life of the original body.

“You do not have to sign. How about this: sleep with me for a year, and we will settle this debt. When I signed you, I took a fancy to your face. Looking at it now, I still like it very much.”

Song Weichuan straightened up, his hands against his chin, his eyes narrowing into slits as he smiled.

So, this variety show was something he could not avoid even if he tried.

An Rao did not want to struggle anymore. “Send me the announcement.”

“That is right. You should know how many artists want such a popular variety show. I would not give this opportunity to others even if they wanted it. Speaking of which, if you become famous because of this variety show, would you have to thank me properly?”

An Rao raised his eyes, his pale smoke-gray pupils staring at Song Weichuan without moving. After a long while, he raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Then how should I thank President Song?”

“Kiss me?” Song Weichuan thought this person was quite sensible.

An Rao stood up calmly, leaned forward slightly, and slowly approached the cheek of Song Weichuan.

Song Weichuan closed his eyes enjoyably. His nose was filled with the pleasant scent of laundry detergent on the clothes of An Rao. In a daze, he seemed to feel the soft sensation of lips landing on his face.

An Rao stopped his movement, his lips brushing against the ear of Song Weichuan. He whispered, “I have rabies.”

Song Weichuan snapped his eyes open. The smile that had been hanging on his lips since he entered the door vanished instantly.

An Rao straightened up, his smile clear. “Then I will leave first, President Song. See you later.”

After half a century, Song Weichuan finally had a reaction.

Damn it, I was almost fooled by him.

Recipe of An Rao for today: Stir-fried meat with dried bean curd.

First, cut the dried bean curd into segments. When the pot is hot, put them in directly. Then carefully add six spoons of salt.

Huh? There is oyster sauce at home? Add it. And chicken essence? Add it. And the god of seasoning, Pixian bean paste? Add it, add it.

Taste it. It is still a bit bland. Dark soy sauce. Pour in a little to adjust the color. No color? Add more.

As for the meat, do not cut it. It is too much trouble. Put the whole thing in to braise.

After taking it out of the pot:

An Rao: I have to work hard to earn money. I want to order takeout!

Are you a fan of cooking stories, or do you find the “cooking fails” in stories like this particularly funny?