Dating My Drama Queen Girlfriend On A Slow-Paced Variety Show - Chapter 52

The entertainment industry is never short of topics, but netizens recently feel the “ocean” has been particularly turbulent. Even though summer has passed, it is a harvest season in the “melon fields” (celebrity gossip).

The livestream featuring Min Xueren and Zhong Jiaquan set the trending searches ablaze, just as they had hoped.

Unfortunately for them, the outcome differed from their expectations. The news of Li Yue becoming a permanent guest on Evening Home actually excited the public more. No matter the social media platform, the top entertainment search was: #Li Yue Evening Home.

#Li Yue Permanent Guest.

#Li Yue Joins Evening Home.

#On What Grounds Can Li Yue Become a Permanent Guest on Evening Home.

Luo Mingzi sat cross-legged, scrolling through her phone. Her face wrinkled as she saw that last one, and the banana in her mouth suddenly lost its sweetness. She thought, on what grounds can Li Yue NOT be permanent?

Before the fire in her eyes could erupt, she spotted a few more trending tags below.

#Li Yue Luo Mingzi

#Are Li Yue and Luo Mingzi Really a Couple?

“Hehe.”

She knew why those two tags appeared together, but seeing their names side by side made Luo Mingzi’s heart skip with joy. She felt her name was chosen so well, it was just meant to be paired with the name “Li Yue.”

“Yiyi,” Wu Xuezhen called from the side. “Have you rested enough? Let’s train for another half hour.” Ever since she learned Luo Mingzi’s nickname at home was Yiyi, Wu Xuezhen started using it too. After all, she was an elder a mother-in-law figure.

Luo Mingzi’s ears heard it, but her brain didn’t register it. Her eyes were still glued to the screen as she muttered two non-committal “mhm-mhm”s.

Wu Xuezhen spoke a few words to the physical trainer and walked over to confiscate the phone. Luo Mingzi hugged her phone tight, refusing to let go, whining loudly, “Just a bit longer! Two minutes! I promise, just two minutes!”

Unfortunately, Wu Xuezhen isn’t Li Yue, she doesn’t fall for Luo Mingzi’s acting. She strictly seized the device and said, “There’s nothing worth seeing. It’s all frustrating nonsense. Stop looking at it.”

“It’s fine!” Luo Mingzi followed closely behind her, her eyes darting around, looking for an opening to snatch the phone back.

Wu Xuezhen saw through her scheme and said dismissively, “With those skinny arms of yours? You want to steal this back from me? Practice for another two years first!” She and the fitness coach burst into laughter.

Feeling deeply insulted, Luo Mingzi threw her banana peel on the ground in a fit of pique.

Three seconds later, she whimpered and crouched down to pick it up. She felt so pitiful. Why was she so miserable? She had half a year to take classes and be lovey-dovey with her girlfriend, so why was her daily routine now just classes and exercise? Where was her girlfriend! Where! Those cursed villains, why won’t they leave this pair of lovers alone!

Early this morning, Wu Xuezhen had received messages from her assistants and others at the theater. Even Pi Dajun, who rarely cares about entertainment news while filming on location, had heard about the recent troubles facing Luo Mingzi and Li Yue. He told Wu Xuezhen to comfort Luo Mingzi and make sure she wasn’t sad. In their eyes, Luo Mingzi was a fragile, slender girl, they worried her emotions would make her ill.

But they were clearly overthinking it. Watching Luo Mingzi hop away to throw the banana peel, Wu Xuezhen thought that Luo Mingzi’s inner self was far stronger than her appearance suggested.

“A straight shadow fears no crooked light.” The previous rumors about offending people were baseless and could be laughed off. But the recent trending searches were clearly malicious and intentional. Strange people were spreading absurd rumors, and there were even “news” reports of physical altercations being widely circulated.

Many self-proclaimed “justice seekers” of unknown origin were attacking Li Yue and Luo Mingzi with vile language. Wu Xuezhen was fuming just looking at it, so she stopped letting Luo Mingzi go to the theater. Instead, she kept her at home to analyze films, rehearse scenes, and work out.

Yet, the daughter-in-law failed to appreciate the mother-in-law’s intentions, constantly trying to sneak a peek at her phone, leaving Wu Xuezhen sighing.

One extra hour of training today. Once she’s tired enough to shower and sleep, she won’t think about these frustrating things, the mother-in-law thought.

The daughter-in-law secretly planned: By the time my training is done, my girlfriend’s filming will be over, and we can video call. How exciting!

A pleasant atmosphere filled the gym.

Pan Shan City, Evening Home

Li Yue carried a bucket of feed, heading to the backyard to feed the animals. As she turned, two rows of people behind her reached out simultaneously.

“Teacher, I can do this.” “Teacher Li, please go rest.” “How could we trouble you with such a small task!”

Four handsome, top-tier Chinese idols spoke to Li Yue with utmost respect. Behind them was Yuo Yang in a wheelchair, anxiously craning his neck and shouting, “I have a vehicle! Let me do it!”

Li Yue’s eyelids flickered. She looked past the male idols toward the eight “monkeys” rushing in.

The “monkeys” were called so primarily because they weren’t great at talking. With cold faces and agile movements, they shoved the idols aside. One grabbed the feed bucket from Li Yue and balanced it on her head. Like a dragon that had snatched a princess, they cheered and “hoo-hooed” as they sprinted toward the backyard.

Among them, “Braids” patted her chest, guaranteeing she wouldn’t overfeed the “brothers and sisters” in the backyard because she used to herd sheep on a mountain as a child!

Li Shen (Li God) found Braids’ resume impressive and entrusted her with this heavy responsibility. Seeing the idols looking indignant after being pushed aside, she brushed the grass off her pants and said, “Get up. I’ll help you go through your new song.”

The idols’ eyes lit up instantly. They scrambled up from the ground, “hoo-hooing” as they escorted Li Yue forward. They even impatiently urged Yuo Yang to drive his electric wheelchair faster so as not to hold them back. They then asked if they could call her “Li Shen,” as the title felt intimate and without any barriers!

Li Shen tilted her head and smiled. Turning back, she said nonchalantly, “Sure, anything is fine.”

“Wait for me while I go up to get an instrument.”

The group leader clutched his heart expectantly. “Is it the 1.6 million ‘Pink Swan’?”

Li Yue thought for a moment. “That works.”

The idols: “Hoo-hoo-hoo!”

1.6 million!

The monkeys feeding chickens, ducks, rabbits, and sheep in the backyard pricked up their ears alertly.

The atmosphere on the filming set was excellent. Only outside the set did Yu Bilan, the great manager, smile broadly at the managers of the top-tier idol groups, saying flatteringly, “The kids in our house are a bit rowdy and don’t know their own strength. I’ll definitely give them a piece of my mind later!”

This morning, someone grabbed someone else’s foot and pressed it into cow dung. This afternoon, while fishing, someone was picked up and thrown into the river. And just now, someone was shoved onto the ground. Yu Bilan’s heart was racing; she almost asked the other managers if their boy groups had life insurance.

These are precious people in the industry! Can you monkeys afford the compensation if you keep pushing and throwing them!

The boy group manager also smiled warmly, saying, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing. We’re all friends.”

But inside, he was melancholy.

The company is splitting up and going bankrupt. The boy group is about to be blackballed. Who cares about being ‘precious’? Any chance to climb, take it! The tides turn every thirty years, these ‘owls’ and ‘monkeys,’ and that Monkey King over there, look like they have a great future. We must hold onto them!

The boy group manager looked composed on the surface, but his internal thoughts were a tangled mess. He kept glancing at Yu Bilan’s expression. Seeing her smiling so brightly, he felt suspicious. With the trending searches being so chaotic these past two days, why wasn’t Yu Bilan anxious? Why was she just watching the filming instead of handling the PR?

How could he know Yu Bilan’s philosophy of life? Online noise won’t cause bloodshed or loss of life. But if I don’t keep an eye on things here, someone might actually die!

Yu Bilan gritted her teeth secretly: And there’s that ‘Monkey King’ who looks reliable but isn’t reliable at all!

The Monkey King, wearing the long-sleeved shirt and pants bought by her girlfriend and slippers, came downstairs carrying the “Pink Swan.” She sat under the veranda and looked up.

The sky was high and the clouds distant. The sunset layered the clouds in delicate, undulating colors.

Li Yue’s gaze paused. Her eyes followed the sunlight into the small courtyard. The supplementary filming didn’t have the permanent guests present, only the posters from the show’s promotion pinned to a board. Luo Mingzi was in an off the shoulder pink dress, her hand slightly covering her mouth in a look of surprise, yet unable to hide the joy in her eyes. No matter when you looked at it, she was captivating.

Li Yue’s heart stirred. She subconsciously lifted her hand, her fingers falling onto the strings. The soft sound instantly cleared the noise of the courtyard and drifted outside.

The Evening Home courtyard gradually fell silent.

“I hear the wind blowing from the distant mountains, carrying the colors of the sunset into your embrace… A bit of wind, a bit of heartbeat, making me look back in countless memories…”

Her long, slender fingers pressed the silver strings of the pink guitar. Her clear voice made everyone hold their breath and sway gently with the music.

Li Yue looked up, gazing through the gaps in the crowd at the poster in front of the flower bushes. She whispered: “I miss you, so I ask the colorful clouds to send a greeting. Perhaps it won’t take long, if you hear it, turn your head, wave to me again, and say the wind today is still… very gentle.”

“…”

The sound of the guitar faded slowly. The sudden burst of cheers and applause snapped Li Shen back to reality. She turned to the group of monkeys crowding the front and asked, “Finished feeding?”

The monkeys raised their hands high.

Finished!

Not a single animal died from overeating!

Excellent!

The monkeys were excited. Led by Braids, they cheered, saying the ballad was wonderful and that Li Shen was truly a god.

“How about a rock version?” Li Yue said, holding the Pink Swan.

Only five people in the group actually belonged to the “Owl” band. The other three were unofficial members brought in as needed. One of the three loved the “melancholy” style and had been captivated by Li Yue’s voice since day one. He felt Li Shen could make the whole world feel heartbreak. It hurts too much! Let’s be heartbroken together! But because he was too timid to invite her to collaborate, he just clapped wildly, suggesting the song could be “more painful.”

Rock is fine. More painful is not.

Li Shen refused.

The refusal broke that monkey’s heart. He was coldly pushed aside by Braids, the lead singer of the Owl band, who said, “What do you know about music? This should be rock.”

“You should be the one rolling! Go rock yourself on a tree!”

The pushed monkey attacked Braids, and the two immediately began a fierce “skirmish.” It was a terrifying sight!

The top-tier idols, who had been pushed to the back since the monkeys arrived, clapped with trembling hands. “Why are they fighting again? Didn’t we say we’d go over the new song? The song Li Shen sang didn’t sound like our new song. What song is that? I’ve never heard it…”

The fighting “Owls” and the cheering “Owls” turned their heads in unison, presenting a united front. They signaled that the idols were ignorant, this was clearly a new song Li Shen wrote on the spot. For a musician, wasn’t the ability to identify a song instantly and write music on the fly a basic skill?

The top-tier idols: “…”

Dammit, this was the real reason they couldn’t compete with these monkeys! They felt inferior even while learning from Li Shen!

The idols bowed their heads.

“Once we become ‘powerhouse’ singers, we won’t be bullied by monkeys anymore…” one idol sobbed to himself, feeling dejected for the nth time today.

The leader sat on Yuo Yang’s lap, patting his thigh. “Once we’re powerhouses, we won’t be afraid of the company going bankrupt or the tuning engineer running away and threatening us with raw audio as blackmail!”

The idols nodded solemnly.

Only Yuo Yang’s face was distorted in pain as he told the leader to get off his lap. The company is gone, so if you don’t become an influencer, you can go be a baker. Stop using my injured leg as dough to knead!

The filming ended with a performance of the boy group’s new song. As soon as the clapperboard snapped shut, the photographers finished their work and handed the tapes to the editors waiting at the door.

“I won’t sleep tonight until I’ve edited this!” the post-production editor promised, patting his chest.

Director Liu was shocked. “You guys still want to sleep?”

“Thank you, everyone! Thank you! You’re free to go now!” a staff member said gratefully, bowing repeatedly to the artists who worked overtime.

Yuo Yang and the others waved it off. They had come to get lessons from Li Shen anyway, it was just a happy coincidence.

Because the recording was rushed, Yuo Yang only had his manager and assistant with him. The monkeys had almost no assistants, only the staff tidying up the courtyard.

A frustrated assistant director organizing cables said, “Why even pack up? We’re filming again in a few days.”

A staff member nearby asked, “What if it winds or rains? Director, are you in a bad mood?”

With the sudden rush to film, who could be in a good mood?

“It’s just how things are,” the assistant director shook his head. He thought of something and looked back.

The protagonist at the center of the storm was still sitting under the veranda after filming, holding the Pink Swan and focused on, scrolling through her phone.

#Luo Mingzi Bullying

#Luo Mingzi Physical Altercation

#Luo Mingzi and Li Yue Abusing Power

#Refuse Bullying, Luo Mingzi Leave the Industry

#Luo Mingzi Apology

A series of aggressive tags hung below #Are Li Yue and Luo Mingzi Really a Couple?

Clicking on any of them revealed a bloodbath of comments: skeptics, rational analysts, bold theorists, opportunists kicking them while they were down, and even fake fans “apologizing” on Luo Mingzi’s behalf.

Black and white, it was a chaotic carnival.