I Rely on My Versatility to Reach the Top of the Entertainment Industry [Ancient Times to Modern] - Chapter 30

Fans were heatedly discussing, while on the other side of the screen, Sheng Xiaguang furrowed his brows.

Although Sheng Xiaguang belonged to the singer circle, Lu Yuzhi’s name was too prominent in the entertainment industry, and he had heard quite a few stories about Lu Yuzhi.

Taking care of juniors was one thing, but he had never seen Lu Yuzhi go as far as posting about it on Weibo.

Thinking back to Lu Yuzhi’s usual attitude toward Jing Yi, Sheng Xiaguang suddenly felt something was off.

Could it be?

……

The female lead of Xie Qiyun arrived at the set on the fourth day.

She was a signed artist under Galaxy Entertainment named Zhao Mengyu. Though not as big a star as Wang Yiyue, she was still a rising young actress with a strong fanbase.

On her first day on set, she enthusiastically greeted everyone she met and bought drinks for the entire crew.

Jing Yi received a cup of taro bubble milk tea.

The milk tea was truly delicious! Unfortunately, treating the whole crew would have strained his budget.

After some thought, Jing Yi decided to repay Zhao Mengyu’s kindness in another way. So when work ended early, he declined Lu Yuzhi’s invitation to return to the hotel together.

“Sorry, Mr. Lu, I have something to do today and need to go out.”

“No problem. Where do you want to go? I can give you a ride,” Lu Yuzhi asked.

Jing Yi’s routine on set had always been a simple two-point line: returning to the hotel at night to either read or meditate. This was the first time he had taken the initiative to go out.

“Patron Zhao treated me to milk tea, and I want to return the favor.”

As he spoke, Jing Yi looked at Lu Yuzhi with pure, innocent eyes.

Truthfully, he had also been wanting to give Lu Yuzhi something to repay his kindness, but Lu Yuzhi never seemed to show any particular preferences.

“Have you decided what to give her?” Lu Yuzhi asked, then recalled Zhao Mengyu and Jing Yi’s interactions over the past couple of days. Confident that nothing was going on between them, he felt slightly relieved.

“Yes, I noticed Patron Zhao really likes rabbits,” Jing Yi replied, then naturally followed up, “What do you like, Mr. Lu?”

The intention behind the question was too obvious.

Lu Yuzhi curved his lips into a smile: “Do you want to give me a gift too? You already treated me to milk tea before.”

A bit embarrassed, Jing Yi said, “Mr. Lu helped me with my fitness routine, and I never properly thanked you.”

In fact, there were many other things too—like recommending him for the audition or cooking for him.

Had he unknowingly accumulated so many favors?

Jing Yi’s face slowly turned red.

Seeing the blush spread across Jing Yi’s cheeks, Lu Yuzhi couldn’t resist teasing him: “What I like is right in front of me.”

Jing Yi tilted his head slightly, his eyes filled with confusion.

Under that gaze, Lu Yuzhi quickly corrected himself: “I’m just joking. Actually, since I saw you carve that ocarina and flute last time, I was wondering—what else can you carve?”

Relieved to hear it was a joke, Jing Yi relaxed: “I can carve anything I see. What would you like me to carve, Mr. Lu?”

Lu Yuzhi: “Anything from you would be fine.”

Jing Yi nodded: “Alright, I’ll buy the materials later then.”

He remembered the place he bought them from last time.

The two left the studio one after the other. Sheng Xiaguang emerged from his hiding spot, his brows tightly furrowed.

He didn’t know why he had been hiding there, nor why he was so deliberately observing Jing Yi and Lu Yuzhi’s interactions.

How strange!

Sheng Xiaguang silently returned to the hotel.

……

Zhao Mengyu loved the rabbit figurine Jing Yi gave her.

Relieved, Jing Yi began carving Lu Yuzhi’s gift in return.

He had already decided—he would carve a small Buddha statue.

Lu Yuzhi would sometimes accompany him in meditation, still showing great interest in Buddhism.

Carving Buddha statues, being human figures, required more time compared to animals like rabbits. Unknowingly, the filming came to an end during the carving process.

It was already January, and the weather had turned cold.

On the day of the wrap-up, heavy snowflakes drifted down from the sky.

The architecture of the filming base was already in an ancient style, and with the snowfall, it felt very much like the world he had come from.

“Do you like snow?” Lu Yuzhi asked the child who was lost in thought.

Jing Yi snapped out of it and smiled. “Yes, it reminds me of the times I practiced concentration in the snow.”

Lu Yuzhi asked, “What did you practice?”

“Meditation.”

Jing Yi replied to Lu Yuzhi with a smile.

Lu Yuzhi was taken aback, then remembered Jing Yi’s martial arts skills.

Perhaps the meditation Jing Yi mentioned was for training purposes, not the Buddhist practice he had imagined.

Gu Guochang specially organized a wrap-up banquet.

Most of the attendees were male actors, and since no one had other commitments, Gu Guochang was in high spirits and inevitably asked the action director and a few younger actors to drink with him.

Jing Yi didn’t drink and stayed quietly to the side.

The banquet table was lively, but he sat there obediently by himself.

Lu Yuzhi also stopped drinking and asked Jing Yi if he would return to his hometown for the New Year.

Jing Yi thought about the original body’s relatives and shook his head. “I won’t go back.”

In another world, he couldn’t return either.

Seeing the trace of loneliness in Jing Yi’s eyes, Lu Yuzhi realized he had asked an inappropriate question. He carefully tried to make amends, “How about spending the New Year with me?”

Just as Jing Yi was about to respond, Lu Yuzhi’s phone rang.

Lu Yuzhi apologized, answered the call, and left the private room.

Jing Yi overheard Lu Yuzhi’s family asking him when he would return home and smiled.

When Lu Yuzhi returned, Jing Yi politely declined, “I’ve already troubled you for a long time with the fitness training before. I really can’t impose on you any further.”

Hearing this, Lu Yuzhi felt a slight regret.

He had thought that if Jing Yi agreed to spend the New Year with him, he might as well skip going home this year.

But since Jing Yi had refused, the matter was settled.

After the wrap-up banquet, everyone returned to the hotel together.

Jing Yi gave Lu Yuzhi the finished and packaged carving.

Lu Yuzhi accepted it with a smile. “I’ll cherish it.”

Since Lu Yuzhi was heading directly back to his hometown, they were not going the same way.

Jing Yi took a car by himself and spent half a day returning to his apartment.

The film was finished, and half of the acting fee had already been paid. As the lead actor in a National TV movie channel production, the pay was relatively high—three million after taxes.

1.5 million was already a lot. After repaying some bank loans, there was still plenty left.

Jing Yi found an adult university enrollment online and decided to take the entrance exam to study at the school.

Since the exam content was closely related to high school knowledge, Jing Yi had to find school textbooks and sign up for online courses to catch up.

The memories of the original body were insufficient to cover this area.

However, school textbooks were not available in bookstores.

Jing Yi found a seller on a second-hand website and bought all the books from elementary to high school.

During his secluded study period, fans would occasionally send him messages.

“Yizai, we’ve seen the official stills from ‘Xie Qiyun’! You look so ethereal.”

“The drama is finished, but you still haven’t signed with an agency. What have you been up to lately, Yizai?”

“Please share photos and daily updates!”

Since no one was available to help take photos, Jing Yi had no choice but to share pictures of the elementary school textbooks on his desk with his fans.

“…Elementary Chinese? Fifth grade?”

“And are those elementary English and math books next to it? What is Yi Zai doing with these?”

Jing Yi replied, “I’m reviewing to apply for adult college.”

Adult college?

Fans quickly recalled the previous criticism of Jing Yi’s education level on Weibo. It turned out Jing Yi wasn’t indifferent—he had long been determined to work hard quietly!

When fans asked which university he planned to apply to, Jing Yi thought of Ganlan Temple being in Ningcheng and replied, “Ningcheng University.”

“Reporting to Yi Zai—I graduated from Ningda!”

“Ningda is pretty good, it’s a well-known undergraduate institution.”

As fans were eagerly discussing, someone suddenly commented, “So it’s confirmed he was expelled from school? How laughable—having to start learning from elementary school level. Just how poor were his grades back then?”

Jing Yi’s fans were furious at this comment: “Our Yi Zai is only 19! Isn’t he allowed to start over and turn over a new leaf?”

“Yi Zai is doing great now! Haven’t you seen how all the directors and actors he’s worked with praise him?”

“What’s past is past—I support Yi Zai’s decision to apply.”

The commenter remained unfazed by the fans’ retorts: “All the actors he worked with praise him? Have you forgotten Wang Yiyue? Who knows if the Wang Yiyue incident was just his deliberate publicity stunt!”

Wang Yiyue was currently still serving her sentence.

Generally speaking, well-known actors have their ways—such situations could usually be avoided.

But Wang Yiyue had indeed been imprisoned and was sentenced to two years.

Fans were aware of this and had quietly speculated that it must have been Actor Lu who intervened, especially since he had famously taken down several toxic celebrities in the entertainment industry years before.

Actor Lu came from a powerful family background and seemed to have connections everywhere.

Wang Yiyue had brought this upon herself—her outcome was completely deserved.

“Are you a fan of Wang Yiyue? She clearly ended up in prison because she framed our Yi Zai.”

“Exactly—what kind of celebrity, what kind of fans. Your words and actions reek of the same toxicity.”

The commenter seemed to grow agitated and began engaging in a heated argument with Jing Yi’s fans on Weibo.

Jing Yi frowned and replied to the Weibo account with the numeric ID: “Swearing only adds to your negative karma. Please stop, benefactor.”

Instead of heeding Jing Yi’s reminder, the numeric ID mocked: “What’s wrong? Is the failure thinking of calling the police again?”

“The police don’t handle this kind of matter.” Jing Yi typed seriously, then navigated to Weibo’s reporting center, screenshot the numeric ID’s inappropriate comments, and reported them.

Soon, the Weibo account disappeared.

Fans then began asking Jing Yi where he was spending the New Year, and Jing Yi answered truthfully.

“Yi Zai must be so lonely, spending the New Year alone at home.”

“How about going live these next few days? We’ll keep you company.”

Everyone started making suggestions, and some even proposed sending Jing Yi videos of their own family celebrations to help him feel the festive atmosphere. However, this idea was quickly dismissed.

Wouldn’t making Jing Yi watch other families’ joy only make him feel lonelier?

After much back-and-forth without reaching a conclusion, everyone could only offer their comfort to Jing Yi.

Seeing his fans’ concern, Jing Yi smiled and said, “Then tomorrow, on New Year’s Eve, I’ll go live and celebrate the New Year with everyone.”

The next day, Jing Yi started the live stream on Weibo as promised.

He had always been a free agent, unbound by any company contract, so starting a livestream was a straightforward decision for him.

Fans were accompanying their families to ring in the New Year while watching Jing Yi sit in his small apartment, reading a book.

On screen, the young actor’s hair had grown to the perfect length, his dark locks a striking contrast against his fair skin, making him appear even more endearing. His expression seemed perpetually serene, with a calm and peaceful aura radiating from his eyes.

As they watched, fans eagerly introduced their family-oriented, zen-like idol to their parents.

“He’s kind-hearted—he saved a female artist from an injured, frenzied tiger and rescued another by gripping the steel wire of a safety harness.”

“He’s always responsive to requests—if we ask him to go live, he goes live.”

“And he’s hardworking! While everyone else is celebrating on New Year’s Eve, he’s studying alone because he knows he needs to improve his grades.”

Parents glanced at the screen and nodded in approval.

The young man on screen, around the same age as their own children, indeed had an honest and well-behaved appearance.

They stopped questioning why their kids were glued to their phones.

Unexpectedly, as midnight approached, their children suddenly burst into excited squeals.

Parents asked, “What’s going on? Why are you making such a fuss now?”

Fans: Can you blame them? Jing Yi had just answered a phone call, and after the livestream reconnected, there was another voice in the room!

“Please have a seat, Mr. Lu.” Jing Yi pulled out a chair for Lu Yuzhi. “It’s so late… What brings you here?”

Lu Yuzhi replied calmly, “I had a bit of a disagreement with my family.”

It was indeed just a minor conflict—his family had called him crazy for rushing out on New Year’s Eve.

But after seeing the chat logs between Jing Yi and his fans, and Jing Yi’s obedient decision to start a solo livestream after 8 p.m., he simply couldn’t resist.

How could he let Jing Yi spend New Year’s Eve alone?

Fans watching on their phones squealed even more excitedly.

Who else could “Mr. Lu” be but the acclaimed actor Lu?

Lu Yuzhi had actually rushed all the way from his hometown to Jing Yi’s side on New Year’s Eve! This was true love!

In an instant, the number of viewers in Jing Yi’s livestream skyrocketed on this festive night.

Everyone perked up their ears, eager to catch every word of the conversation between Jing Yi and Lu Yuzhi.

“How could you have a disagreement with your family?” Jing Yi’s tone was disapproving, even slightly angry. “This kind of behavior is not appropriate, Mr. Lu.”

“I… Well, it’s nothing.” Lu Yuzhi’s voice was filled with resignation. “Anyway, the disagreement has already happened, and you’ve let me in. Surely you won’t send me away at this hour?”

Jing Yi looked at the man before him—his features refined, yet his eyes deep and mature with age—and suddenly felt as if he were facing Lu Yi throwing a tantrum.

He pressed his lips together. “Of course, I can’t send you away, Mr. Lu. But you must go home tomorrow morning and apologize to your family.”

Jing Yi’s tone was firm.

Lu Yuzhi had no choice but to nod in agreement.

The small apartment had only one bed. After a moment’s thought, Jing Yi said, “You can sleep here tonight, Mr. Lu. I’ll go outside to meditate.”

Fans were stunned by his words.

Meditate? The acclaimed actor traveled all this way to spend New Year’s Eve with you, and you’re going to meditate outside?

What kind of logic is that?

Had they been mistaken? Was this not a mutual romance, but a one-sided infatuation on Lu Yuzhi’s part?