“Brother Han, you were amazing! You’re a genius!”
“You’re definitely going to blow up across the entertainment industry and become a top star! Hahahaha!”
Inside the car, Chen Zhao’s imagination had already taken flight. Yue Han looked at him with mild surprise, as though puzzled by how Chen Zhao could possibly be this excited.
Suddenly, Yue Han’s phone screen lit up. The number on it felt unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar.
After a moment of silence, Yue Han answered.
Yue Han shifted slightly to the right and lowered his head, bringing the phone closer. His tone was even softer than usual. “Hello.”
Chen Zhao was still sitting there grinning stupidly when Yue Han ended the call.
“That fast?” Chen Zhao was startled, then generously waved a hand. “Brother Han, barbecue skewers are on me tonight. We’re celebrating finally opening for business! We finally have work!”
The joy came so sincerely that no one had the heart to ruin it. But Chen Zhao also noticed that Yue Han’s expression was wrong.
Too calm. A bad premonition sprouted like a new shoot.
At certain moments—such as his ability to foresee bad news—Chen Zhao was always frighteningly accurate.
Yue Han said, “We lost the job.”
Chen Zhao stared. “W-what?!”
Not wanting to see disappointment in his eyes, Yue Han lowered his gaze in confusion.
This screen test had gone unexpectedly well. He did not know whether it had anything to do with that strange voice, but it truly had been one of the rare times he had acted naturally in public.
There had been no stage fright. No retreat. No hesitation.
It had been a free, exhilarating performance, a portrayal that came from the heart.
Unfortunately, it still hadn’t mattered.
Soon, Chen Zhao’s phone rang. He answered, his expression turning from joy to worry, and finally to anger.
“Got it,” Chen Zhao said quietly. The person on the other end said something else, and Chen Zhao sneered. “Take your fucking ‘sorry’ and shove it. Get lost.”
With that, he viciously hung up.
“Chen Zhao.”
“Mm?”
“Ask the company to assign you to another artist.”
“…”
“I’m too useless.”
“My little ancestor.” Chen Zhao crouched down and looked up at Yue Han seriously. “Don’t say things like that again. It hurts me.”
When Yue Han had been at the height of his career, with popularity at its peak, Chen Zhao had chosen him despite being a complete unknown. Now that Yue Han had fallen on hard times, Chen Zhao would never abandon him.
“Then…” Yue Han lifted his head, a small flame suddenly lighting his dark eyes. “Take that variety show for me. The one you mentioned last time. Down to the Countryside.”
Down to the Countryside was a variety show where guests experienced rural life. Since the director wasn’t famous and the budget was meager, it had always hovered in that awkward state between dying and not quite dying.
In that sense, it matched Yue Han perfectly. Neither side could claim the other was marrying up.
Since the show involved going to the countryside, farm work was unavoidable, and farm work inevitably meant getting dirty. There might even be mosquitoes, insects, and wild boars. Celebrities weren’t willing to participate in something like this, and even if they did, they demanded outrageous fees.
From the very beginning, Down to the Countryside had a clear target demographic for its cast: good-looking, dirt-cheap eighteenth-tier gutter celebrities. They couldn’t afford big stars, so they settled for chasing attractive faces.
Modern viewers had a bit of a mean streak anyway. They loved nothing more than watching handsome men and beautiful women make fools of themselves. That was one of the show’s selling points.
The production team was terrified Yue Han would suddenly regret it. They hurriedly prepared a contract and even raised the fee at the last minute to demonstrate sincerity, leaving both Yue Han and Chen Zhao not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
They were in a poor period, but Chen Zhao feared Yue Han was too delicate to survive rough country life. He forcefully stopped Yue Han from signing for an entire season. In the end, they signed only a one-month contract.
Down to the Countryside released one episode every half month. Normally, filming took only two or three days.
Even so, Chen Zhao still felt they had signed for too much. He looked at Yue Han with tear-filled eyes as though his precious jewel were about to be sent off to feed pigs.
The production team provided a bus for transport, with cameras filming the entire journey. Chen Zhao still couldn’t stop worrying. “You’re not going to make my Brother Han feed pigs, are you?”
“Ahahaha, secret!~”
Chen Zhao panicked. There couldn’t really be a pig-feeding segment, could there?!
Yue Han remained calm and pressed down Chen Zhao’s arm. “It’s fine. I know how to feed pigs.”
Chen Zhao: ?
Yue Han: “Feeding pigs. I’m very experienced.”
Chen Zhao: …?
The cameraman laughed. “Young people really love joking these days.”
The directors didn’t believe him either. Yue Han didn’t care and turned his head to look out the window.
At some point, the scenery outside had changed from skyscrapers to lush green trees, the asphalt road giving way to gravel and dirt. Birds occasionally swept across the sky, crying toward the woods, creating a scene full of poetic charm.
Chen Zhao became distracted staring at Yue Han’s profile. He couldn’t resist pulling out his phone to snap a picture. One didn’t feel like enough, so he took several more.
He lowered his head and fussed with the album. Every shot was satisfying, every shot handsome, every angle flawless. As expected of his artist.
Delighted, Chen Zhao posted a nine-photo grid of Live Photos without so much as touching an editing app.
[Awooo, our son finally posted selfies!! That face!! I’m licking the screen!!]
[Mommy loves you!!]
[Did Brother Chen take these again? Brother Chen’s photography skills are pretty good. Of course, the main thing is still that our Hanhan is as beautiful as a flower~]
Chen Zhao read the fans’ comments below and smiled in satisfaction.
Yue Han did in fact have a group of loyal face-fans. From the day he debuted, they had never changed their original principle: worship the face, ignore everything else.
More than half a year had passed and traffic stars came and went, yet they simply could not abandon the divine face of his artist.
These loyal face-fans had supported Yue Han while being cursed by the entire internet. As a result, they had trained themselves to type at god-killing, Buddha-killing speed. They were the very definition of modern keyboard warriors.
When the Down to the Countryside production team announced its confirmed guests, the entire internet was shocked. Naturally, they weren’t shocked by Yue Han, but by the other guests.
[Oh my god? My idol is going too??]
[I’m definitely watching this episode! It’s my idol’s first variety show!!]
[They even got my goddess!!]
Down to the Countryside was filmed in a mountain village called Red Orchid Village. According to rumor, the village was very, very rural.
When they arrived, Yue Han stepped off the bus just as another group of guests arrived.
Director Zhang Deyi paused when he saw Yue Han’s expression and comforted him. “The environment is a little rough. Bear with it. Thanks for the trouble.”
Yue Han’s eyes were exceptionally sincere. “The environment is very nice. I like it.”
Zhang Deyi: “…” Are you sure you’re not being sarcastic?
“Brother Han, watch what you say on the show. Don’t be as blunt as before.” That was Yue Han’s problem. Ask him anything and he would answer honestly; he couldn’t even bring himself to lie. Chen Zhao said, “I’m not telling you to lie. Just polish things a little. Viewers will like you more that way.”
“Brother Han, I secretly stuffed some food in your things. I’m really afraid you won’t get enough to eat or enough clothes to keep warm. You still haven’t recovered.” Chen Zhao sounded grave, his eyes red. Anyone who didn’t know better might have thought he was attending a funeral. He wiped at his tears, then pulled out a stack of disposable heat packs. “Hide all of these. Don’t let the production team find them. This crew is outrageous—they even confiscate your phones!”
“Everyone, come hand in your phones!” Zhang Deyi roared with abnormal excitement.
The permanent guests on Down to the Countryside were a middle-aged married couple.
Li Weiwu was a retired director, while his wife was an ordinary person outside the industry. They had fallen in love in their youth and remained inseparable in middle age. Many people watched Down to the Countryside precisely because of them.
Beside Li Weiwu’s wife, Song Cui, stood a young girl with a childish face. She didn’t look very old and wore an extremely aggrieved expression.
No matter how unwilling she was, she still had to drop her phone into the basket.
Another young man and woman put their phones in one after the other. Yue Han followed, taking his phone from his pocket and carefully placing it inside.
Zhang Deyi coughed. “No turning in backup phones!”
Several gazes shot over with expressions of sudden enlightenment that said, You can do that?
Why hadn’t they thought of it?
An old-fashioned keypad phone rested quietly in the basket. It looked like a simple design from ten years ago, small and neat with a square screen.
It was actually kind of cute.
“No, Director.” Chen Zhao looked slightly embarrassed. “That really is Brother Han’s phone…”
The guests froze. A pretty young woman asked in surprise, “Yue Han, you normally use this?”
Everyone looked as though they had discovered a new continent. Yue Han nodded blankly. “Is that strange?”
…Of course it was strange.
That phone could probably only make calls and send texts. It didn’t even have smartphone apps. These days, even phones made for senior citizens came loaded with entertainment functions.
What young person used a phone like that?
After repeatedly checking, the production team confirmed Yue Han truly had no other phone. They did, however, confiscate plenty of snacks and heat packs.
Under Chen Zhao’s heartbroken stare, all of it was seized.
The guests could not use phones during filming, which meant they would spend three days and two nights like primitive humans. They did have a walkie-talkie, but it stopped working beyond a hundred meters.
The environment really was harsh. The young man already couldn’t resist kicking a chair over. The production team smiled in satisfaction.
Their variety show was indeed unpopular, which meant they needed exposure all the more. If the celebrities lost their tempers or erupted into conflict, that was basically free promotional traffic.
Yue Han glanced at the young man. He remembered this person.
His name was Lu Huiqing, a talented singer. Although he was a newcomer, he was extremely popular. Even Yue Han—a caveman who paid no attention to entertainment-industry news and lived disconnected from the outside world—knew him. That alone showed how strong Lu Huiqing’s momentum was.
He really was a very talented singer.
But why was Lu Huiqing here?
No matter how Yue Han looked at Down to the Countryside, the production team did not seem capable of affording Lu Huiqing.
“Everyone, come draw room cards. I’ll briefly explain the rules.”
“There are six room cards in total, numbered zero through three. Each number corresponds to a room. Only zero is a single room. One and two are doubles. Number three means an outdoor tent.”
“Hint: If both parties agree, you may exchange cards among yourselves.”
Lu Huiqing was already irritable. The instant he heard someone would have to sleep in a tent, he exploded. “In weather this cold, you want us sleeping in an outdoor tent?”
“Huiqing, what are you getting worked up about? Aren’t you always lucky? Relax, you won’t draw three.” Lin Xinran beside him smoothed her hair, her gaze drifting toward Yue Han. “Besides, didn’t they say we can exchange cards?”
Lu Huiqing had been irritable since the moment he got off the bus, his entire face covered in storm clouds as though he could swallow the production team whole if he opened his mouth.
As it turned out, he really did want to swallow them whole.
Lu Huiqing was the first to charge forward and draw a card. When he saw the number, the look he gave the staff was the look one reserved for the murderer of one’s father.
The camera zoomed in. On the card, in big shameless print, was—3.
Lin Xinran gloated. “Hahaha, now I can relax.”
The two of them knew each other and never held back when joking. Lu Huiqing glared at her. His eyes turned, and he smiled darkly. “I’m definitely going to be a zero today.”
The production team keenly sensed that the crucial part had arrived. Just how was Lu Huiqing going to become the holder of the zero room card?
Lu Huiqing walked back while shouting loudly, “Anyone got zero? Anyone got zero?”
“Is there a zero?”
Lin Xinran was stunned: …
Another young girl passed with a card in hand and raised her eyebrows. “I think Yue Han has zero.”
Lu Huiqing didn’t even have time to throw out a thank-you before hurrying toward the bench.
Under a snow-dusted dead tree ahead, Yue Han was dressed rather lightly, sitting properly with both hands neatly folded on his thighs.
His head was slightly turned, the smooth, distinct curve of his exquisite profile as if outlined with fine brushwork.
The cameraman following Lu Huiqing couldn’t help aiming the lens at Yue Han.
Lu Huiqing also stared for a moment. For some reason, it felt as though an unseen hand had plucked one of his heartstrings.
But his fierce desire to win quickly brought him back to himself.
Lu Huiqing sat beside Yue Han just as Yue Han turned his head to look at him.
Thick, curled lashes fluttered like butterfly wings. His dark pupils were clear and bright, purer than a pool of winter ice melting into water.
Lu Huiqing suddenly forgot what he meant to say. Then he noticed the graceful, clean line of Yue Han’s neck, like a pale crescent moon.
A cold gust blew by and snapped him back to his senses, but Yue Han did not move in the slightest, as if he couldn’t feel the cold wind.
What was wrong with this person?
Wearing so little?