MAIR – Chapter 146 – Efforts

Pei Ran didn’t mean that, but when he saw Shen Huai’s earnest expression, his words changed. He smiled and nodded. “Well, then I’ll trouble you.”

Since Pei Ran said so, Shen Huai took this matter to heart.

Shen Huai had just returned to Zhongjing City, and there were many things that needed to be dealt with urgently, so he was busy for several days in a row.

Shen Huai did his job diligently in the past, but at that time, more out of curiosity, he casually bought a company, operated it himself in the dark and became an agent. But, he paid little attention to the company affairs.

But now it was different. Shen Huai sincerely regarded this as his own career. At present Morningstar Company was no longer the same. After Ye Cang, it gradually gained a reputation, and now the size of the company had gradually expanded.

In addition to Morningstar there was Yihang Studio, and Shen Huai had to be more cautious when managing it. Now it was still easy to invest in some small online drama, but it was because Shen Huai knew many big names in the industry and could occasionally co-invest with other companies.

By the time he finished this wave of work, the second episode of “National Idol” was also broadcasted.

During this period of time, Pei Ran gradually got accustomed to the current way of life. Especially after learning that his mobile phone could access Baidu, he would no longer bother Shen Huai and check everything on his own.

He knew that Tang Wanjun was reborn as Xia Shiyu and he also knew that she participated in the program “National Idol”, so he couldn’t help paying a bit more attention to it.

Thanks to the promotion of the program group, the popularity of “National Idol” was gradually increasing. In the first episode, Xia Shiyu became the hottest contestant because of her various coquettish operations and got more opportunities to perform than others.

Although there were still many people scolding her on various social platforms, more and more people didn’t really mind her. Besides, Shen Huai had always been very attentive to guiding public opinion. In addition, Huayue had been too busy recently to be settling scores and had no time to deal with Xia Shiyu, so Xia Shiyu’s image on Internet was alright at present.

In the trailer of the second episode of “National Idol”, all the contestants had to learn the theme song and dance and perform it within three days.

From the very beginning, the program group started playing it up. How difficult was it? The countdown was specially displayed in the practice room, which made it even more tense. There were many people who could learn to dance and sing. It was one thing to learn it, but it was not easy to practice until you went on stage.

All this attracted the curiosity of many viewers.

The video started with entering the dormitory and practice room where the contestant lived in the dim light.

The program team thoughtfully noted the time in the subtitles. It was 4:30 in the morning. At this time, there was already movement in the contestants’ dormitories. The lens was directed at the dormitory door, and the first person to come out was Xia Shiyu.

Xia Shiyu had already changed into her training clothes. Her face was clear and fresh with just simple skincare and no makeup, but she didn’t look tired, instead she looked refreshed.

When she saw the film crew squatting at the door of the dormitory, she was stunned for a moment before she responded and said hello to them.

When the director saw that she was carrying a bag, he asked curiously, “What’s in your bag?”

Xia Shiyu didn’t even try to hide it, but directly opened it and showed it to them. It was another set of training clothes.

Both the director and the audience seemed puzzled, but the program team didn’t immediately solve their doubts and continued filming.

From 4:30 on, the contestants continued rushing into the practice room, and it was 9:30 in the morning when the last overslept contestant rushed out of the dormitory.

The program team didn’t comment on this, but the netizens already had some ideas.

[Judging by the time they wake up, you can tell which ones are working hard and which ones just came to spend time here, right? ]

[Xia Shiyu is so good at acting! Did she know that the program group would be shooting at the door of the dormitory for a long time, so that’s why she got up so early]

[ no identification, not a fam. If Xia Shiyu really knew that the program team would raid the dormitory, how could she not put on any makeup? Even if you want to splash dirty water, you should use your brain]

[I see in the sidelights. They just finished the recording of the primary stage the night before. It said that it was recorded in the early morning. Even if she was able to get up at 04:30 for a show, her perseverance is admirable. Anyway, I couldn’t do it.]

[I’d like to make a digression. No one thinks that Xia Shiyu’s mental state is very good but somehow I envy her sleep quality a little… ]

 

 

Shen Huai just came back from the company, opened the door and heard the familiar BGM of “National Idol”. He was stunned, only to find that Pei Ran was watching “National Idol”.

When Pei Ran heard the noise coming from the door, he turned his head slightly and said, “Are you back?”

“Um.” Shen Huai answered and suddenly thinking of something added, “The property management told me that your lawn has been mowed, and you will be able to live there in a day or two.”

Pei Ran smiled. “Thank you.”

Shen Huai took off his coat and went back to his room to change into his home clothes. When he came out, he found that Pei Ran was still watching, and he looked like he was enjoying it.

Shen Huai previously heard Ming Wei report that Xia Shiyu’s ranking was third now, and it was still rising. It was expected to directly climb up to the first place today or tomorrow.

Shen Huai was very confident in Xia Shiyu’s strength, but did not expect that she would have such a good result. After all, idols and singers were still a little different. Idols were more like golden oil, a bit of everything just to become a little closer to the audience. So winning the love of the public was the most important thing.

Xia Shiyu had not such a good reputation before. Even if her strength was excellent, counter-attacking in only two episodes was impossible.

Although Shen Huai was a little curious, he was too busy to watch the second episode of “National Idol”. Today was just the right time, so he sat down directly on the other side of the sofa and watched it together with Pei Ran.

Compared with before, after entering the training stage, there were considerably less shots of Xia Shiyu.

After a period of training, many of the contestants fell to the ground exhausted, some were complaining that they were tired, some were making fun of the bitterness. Under the editing of the program group, they became very interesting.

Some contestants with a sense for variety shows, were obviously much better at this stage.

But Xia Shiyu was practicing silently. It would be good for her to learn fast, but dancing was her weakest point. It was difficult for her to achieve perfection in the same dance move.

As a hidden rule of the program, there would be many more shots of the upper circle than of the others, but even so, there were still very few shots of Xia Shiyu and most often she just appeared in the background of other contestants’ shots.

At 12 o’clock in the evening, even the contestants who had the most perseverance couldn’t stand it anymore. They went back to sleep one after another.

Xia Shiyu didn’t look as refreshed as before. She sat on the ground and rested for a while, then left the practice room with her bag.

The bag was like a big foreshadowing, attracting the curiosity of many audience members again. The program team typed “15 minutes later…” in the subtitles.

Xia Shiyu re-opened the door of the practice room. There were still a few strands of hair on her forehead stained with water. The sweat on her face was washed off, and she looked refreshed again. Moreover, the training clothes on her body were obviously changed. What she had just done was self-evident.

The music was turned on again and she started practicing in front of the mirror.

The recording was speeded up, and she could be seen practicing the theme song all night. She couldn’t hold it until 5:00 a.m. so she fell asleep on the floor of the practice room exhausted.

This shoot lasted for more than five minutes. It was all a single shoot of Xia Shiyu, but netizens no longer said that she had too much camera time.

[This is too hard….. ]

[I admire Xia Shiyu’s diligence and have become her fan. If I had made her efforts, maybe I would have been admitted to Zhongjing University. ]

[I used to have some prejudice in the past that idols were good-looking and sang and danced on stage casually and that there would be a lot of brain-disabled fans screaming, but after watching this program, I felt that I was narrow-minded. In no industry can you succeed casually. Come on, Xia Shiyu! The most hard-working little sister, come on! ]

[I remember that when I started my business that year, I worked restlessly for this goal in the same fashion. When I was tired, I would wash my face with cold water, and then come back to fight again. I used to be so tired that I would lay on the floor and have a nap for a while. I didn’t expect to see the same scene of a girl in her twenties. I felt a little bit…. ]

[sobbing, love Xia Xia…… ]

Shen Huai, who was facing the screen, was also in a complicated mood.

Compared with the audience who was touched by Xia Shiyu’s efforts and desperation, he felt it even more deeply because he knew whose soul was in this body.

Xia Shiyu’s desperate efforts were not impossible, but she had already been the top figure of the pyramid in this industry. She once stood on the summit, and now she started over again, but still worked so hard, which was the most admirable thing.

Shen Huai had seen too many people who worked hard before entering this circle, but when they really joined the profession, they were lost in this prosperous world and no longer refined their own talent, but started enjoying the pursuit of fans and the pleasure of getting rich overnight.

Compared with them, Xia Shiyu’s will was particularly valuable.

In fact, not only Xia Shiyu, Ye Cang, Chu Mei Bo, Guo Wenyuan and Pei Ran were all such people.

When Shen Huai thought of this, he couldn’t help taking a closer look at Pei Ran.

Pei Ran misunderstood him and said to him with a smile, “This is normal for Wanjun. When she was in the company in her early years, she often stayed up late to practice because she wanted to become a background dancer for her seniors.”

Shen Huai actually heard Tang Wanjun mention this at some point, but he didn’t expect Pei Ran to be so clear about it.

Speaking of, in the history of the entertainment industry in Hong Kong, the relationship between Tang Wanjun and Pei Ran was good. Tang Wanjun had always been very grateful to Pei Ran in public, saying that she achieved what she had today because of Pei Ran’s help, but they were in totally different fields. It had always been a mystery how they had met and how Pei Ran had helped Tang Wanjun.

As Shen Huai thought about it, he couldn’t help asking this question that he had been curious about for such a long time.

Pei Ran was slightly stunned, then his face softened. His eyes returned to the screen and to Xia Shiyu. As he thought of the past, he couldn’t help chuckling. “Actually, it wasn’t a big deal. At that time, Wanjun was still in the company as a background dancer for other people. At that time, the competition in the singing world was fierce, and it was difficult to stand out. Because she had a good image, her company intended to introduce her into acting, and specially give her a supporting role. Because I also took part in this movie, as a return of a favor I had a scene together with her…”

It was no problem. In fact, such operations happened everyday. Shen Huai thought it was because of this scene that Pei Ran saw Tang Wanjun’s efforts, which led to the later story.

He didn’t expect Pei Ran to turn it around.

“But she was too bad! The scene was very simple, but she still NG more than ten times, making the director’s face turn blue.”

“It’s not that she didn’t work hard, but some people are just born unfit to act. But I still thought she was suitable to stand on stage, without harming some film crew, so I found some connections to make her debut as a singer.”

Shen Huai: “…”

Pei Ran added with slightly curved brows, “Wanjun never learned the truth. Please keep it a secret for me in the future.”

Shen Huai: “…”

He suddenly felt that as a man, he should not be too inquisitive. Sometimes the truth of history was really not beautiful.


Edited by : LuLu

Proofreader: Taalia

Support translation:

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This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. evra

    hahaha… so that’s the real background story for Pei Ran helping Tang Wanjun to become a singer…

    1. nanairohana

      So it is to lessen the harm towards the film crew that he sent Wanjun to singing stage 🤣.

  2. elizxie

    Thanks for the chapter

  3. Thanks for the chapter! 😂 The truth can be a lot less glamorous, but a lot more fun or interesting, lol.

  4. Aeli

    Many thanks for the update XD

  5. T

    I love the characters so much 😭😭 all of them feel real and not just a bunch of side characters that get forgotten once the main characters show up !!

  6. Thea_Riddle

    I love the characters so much 😭😭 they all feel real and complex, not just a bunch of side characters who get forgotten as soon as the main characters show up.

  7. Tafyun

    “–he casually bought a company”

    Yeah because that’s totally normal

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