MBFAAO 3: Returning to the Survival Show
by starlightxelHis heart was like a tangled mess of hemp. What should he do next? Use this body to investigate the reason for his original death?
Completely unable to start anywhere, and not knowing who the person that murdered him was, even what that woman was named, where she lived—he was completely unaware. Those ridiculous words heard in the dream, was it because hearing that woman’s baseless words that produced associations?
The phone at hand rang. He lowered his head and swept a glance at the screen, the words “Manager Hu-geLiterally Brother Hu. It will be translated as Hu-ge in the whole book.” flashing.
“Xiao Cheng, I am at the hospital’s west gate.” A middle-aged man’s voice came over, speaking rather fast, chattering continuously, “There are no reporters around—be nimble and come out quickly.”
Chen Yan answered with a hoarse sound, “Thank you Hu-ge, I’ll come down right away.”
The memories of this body were mostly inherited. He knew that the caller was exactly Hu Fan, the manager of the entertainment company that Cheng Yan originally signed with.
That time, Yinxing1Literally Silver Star. Entertainment Company sent a total of four contestants to the Voice and Visual Idol program group, with this Hu-ge responsible for the daily affairs of three of the newcomers, while another popular contestant was led by a specialized manager, not under Hu-ge’s responsibility.
No matter what, from now on, he would have to live with this identity and start over.
Cheng Yan, carrying his small personal bag, found the nanny van2A highly common term in the Chinese entertainment industry. It refers to a customized, often luxurious minivan (like an Alphard or a converted RV) that celebrities use as a mobile dressing room, rest area, and commuting vehicle. at the west gate of the private hospital—a not-so-high-class small Mitsubishi minibus.
A man sat by the door, clearly already over thirty years old, yet his face was still popping out a few anxious pimples, restlessly tapping the armrest of the seat.
Their Yinxing Entertainment was a rather small-scale entertainment company in the industry. The newly signed artists every year were neither many nor few, and the ridiculously beautiful little boy in front of him was casually dug up from the streets by their scout.
This Cheng Yan had just turned eighteen. He just graduated from high school and was persuaded to sign a contract this summer vacation—he hadn’t had time to undergo any decent training before being hurriedly sent into the auditions of Voice and Visual Idol.
However, they really didn’t expect that—an extremely beautiful face was wasted, having a very pleasant speaking voice for nothing. This child, all over his body, there was not a single point related to performing, singing, and dancing!
Many ordinary people, with a little training, can more or less sing decently. As long as they are willing to package, throw money to edit and tune vocals, those are not issues at all. However, singing so terribly out of tune like this is also rare.
Not to mention moving the same hand and same foot when learning to dance—so stiff like a hopping zombie!
It would be fine if only his talents were lacking, but his personality was also unlikable, always having a gloomy “nothing left to live for” look on his face during the program, not even offering a smile to people.
Judging from the reports from the other artists in the same company, this child also seemed to have serious psychological issues. He was completely unable to integrate into the program group’s interpersonal relationships.
Whenever Hu Fan thought of this matter, he would panic from worry.
Signing this child, looking at it now, was truly a mistake.
Not all beauties are blessed with talent, not every ordinary person can bear the immense pressure; this entertainment industry being full of temptation is more likely to turn into a huge, man-devouring vortex.
The car door opened. Cheng Yan bent his waist and lowered his head, and got into the minibus. He politely nodded at Hu Fan, with a hoarse voice. “Hello Hu-ge, I’m discharged.”
Hu Fan’s gaze swept over him, revealing a trace of pity in his eyes.
It was just a simple low-priced brand white shirt and blue jeans, paired with silver-gray sneakers. Being worn on his body, it made his waist look slim, legs long, and frame well-proportioned, extremely pleasing to the eye.
Probably because he recuperated well in the hospital, the past gloominess and numbness disappeared from Cheng Yan’s entire face. His eyebrows and eyes unmatchably handsome, his posture relaxed and vigorous.
Even though he had gotten used to seeing this face, Hu Fan didn’t know why but he couldn’t help but turn his head and look at Cheng Yan again.
Beauty lies in the bones, not the skin3A famous Chinese aesthetic proverb. It means that true, lasting beauty emanates from a person’s underlying bone structure, innate temperament, and inner grace, rather than just superficial, skin-deep prettiness.—this child could already be considered to have extremely beautiful appearance normally, but he was just wooden. However, today’s him seemed to have something different?
Was it that pair of crystal-clear eyes that seemed to have become agile, or those relaxed and natural movements?
Cheng Yan probed cautiously, “Hu-ge, that person who was burned to death in the fire together with me, did the police come to ask anything?”
Hu Fan was startled. “What? Didn’t you tell the staff member that day that you were tired, and wanted to sleep inside for a while? As a result, you unluckily encountered a fire? What’s wrong, have you met him?”
Cheng Yan’s heart trembled: Not good, if a little bit of something wrong is revealed, this body won’t be able to escape involvement. He originally committed suicide, in case he gets suspected of taking pills and then committing arson to burn himself, then there will really be huge trouble.
Cheng Yan hurriedly nodded. “I was asleep at that time, and not long after being woken up by the smoke, the fire outside was already too huge.”
“You are truly lucky! That staff member was burned to death.” Hu Fan sighed with emotion.
Cheng Yan was silent for a moment, before asking in a low voice, “That person was cremated, right? Where is the cemetery?”
“I heard that person was even more tragic, someone without relatives or friends, but it seems a friend helped him handle the funeral arrangements.” Hu Fan was a bit suspicious. “What exactly is wrong with you, why do you keep asking about him?”
At this time, how could Cheng Yan dare to implicate himself, hurriedly covering up. “After all, we encountered this incident together—I just feel he is truly pitiful.”
Hu Fan sighed. “Who says otherwise, there are many pitiful people in this world. By the way, Xiao Cheng, Hu-ge hasn’t really come to see you these few days because I’m managing many people. I really couldn’t go there at all.”
Cheng Yan genuinely shook his head. “It’s quite good there, the doctors and nurses are all especially amiable.”
In the original body owner’s memories, this Hu-ge was genuinely busy. Among the three little artists he was managing, besides Cheng Yan who was newly signed, the remaining two had already been signed for a year or two, so there were always more or less some matters to handle.
The other boy who was similarly sent to the auditions was named Zhou Yunying. He also fought his way into the top twenty, with extremely high popularity.
Hu Fan signaled the driver in the front seat to drive, while speaking as he pondered.
“Xiao Cheng, tonight is the live recording of the advancement from the 20-to-10 PK competition.” He sighed. “I have already applied to the program group for your withdrawal from the competition.”
This sentence was understated, but the youth beside him suddenly raised his head.
He had just decided to inherit this bodily shell so he could return to the stage, and now they wouldn’t let him compete?!
In the enclosed cabin, his pair of deep eyes that usually appeared numb flashed with astonished light.
His throat was hoarse and unpleasant to hear, but he still articulated clearly word by word, urgently asking, “Why?”
Hu Fan almost rolled his eyes.
This child, sure enough, is a fool!
Still asking why, could it be he didn’t know he was relying on a large group of black fans wanting to see a joke be sent up to twentieth place?
He said with earnest and profound sincerity, “Look at this throat of yours, there is no way to open your mouth, right? I am thinking if we try shifting towards the film and television industry—singing and dancing are indeed not quite suitable for you. Hurry up and withdraw from this kind of singing and dancing competition where experts gather like clouds, so you can still save a bit of final face. In the future, you can mingle in the showbiz industry as a cutout little fresh meat4A highly derogatory slang term in the Chinese entertainment industry. “抠图” means to cut out an image (like masking in Photoshop or using a green screen). It mocks young, untalented, high-traffic actors who refuse to go on location for shoots. Instead, they act in front of a green screen in a comfortable studio, and post-production painfully “cuts and pastes” their faces/bodies into the actual scenes, often resulting in terrible visual effects., participate in some low-budget web dramas or something. Maybe you can attract a batch of face dogs!”5Internet slang. “颜” means face/beauty, and “狗” means dog. It playfully (or mockingly) refers to people who are total simps for good looks, blindly following and forgiving celebrities entirely based on how attractive their faces are.
Cheng Yan was silent for a while. Just as Hu Fan thought he had figured it out, he raised his head.
“Hu-ge, I want to sing.” His timbre, burned by the smoke and fire, was as hoarse as a leaking bellows6A vivid simile for a completely ruined, raspy, and airy voice, making it sound like an old blacksmith’s bellows that is broken and whistling out air., but as he sat there, his eyes were full of eager, bright light. “I want to try and see, and I will definitely do my best! Hu-ge, give me one chance.”
The massive fire was ruthless, but seemed to also know pity, not leaving any scars on his face or body. When pleading so eagerly like this, the youth’s facial features were as handsome as jade, his eyes passionate and vivid.
Hu Fan stared at him blankly. He was clearly used to seeing this face, but at this moment, facing these eyes flowing with brilliance, his heart suddenly skipped a beat, having a strange illusion.
This youth before his eyes, mocked by the entire internet, humiliated and ridiculed, seemed like a prince in distress—wearing torn and tattered clothes, he hesitantly walked through a market full of commoners, yet with a noble posture, not caring at all about outsiders’ gazes.
…
At the recording site of the latest episode of Voice and Visual Idol, under the guidance of the staff, six hundred young audience members who had passed through layers of screening were already seated in an orderly manner, eagerly awaiting the start of the program.
In the center of the stage, the gorgeous lights were already turned on, the professional audio equipment finished tuning, and the host was also already waiting below the stage.
The on-site executive director was walking hurriedly backstage, answering a phone call. “What? They said he was withdrawing from the competition in the morning, and now he changed his mind? The host’s transitional lines have all been aligned, and now changing it again—what kind of joke are you making!”
Star Two Channel’s variety show status among satellite TVs remained high; various entertainment companies really didn’t dare to act rashly. On the phone, Hu Fan was humbly pleading for leniency. “Director Lin, the child was just discharged from the hospital and hurried over anxiously, wanting to earnestly finish participating in this final competitive performance. Please, please, just treat it as having a beginning and an end.”
The executive director was just about to impatiently refuse but as he raised his head, he happened to see Cheng Yan running hurriedly from the end of the corridor.
His face carried a slight redness brought by the hot weather, a pair of long legs running like the wind. His gaze met Director Lin, so he braked his footsteps and smiled. “Director, I’m not late, right?”
Director Lin was startled.
There were too many participating contestants. He had a deep memory of the several hot favorites for the championship who had even more outstanding talents. He only had a slight impression of this little boy, only remembering his poor aptitude and many jokes on his body. Yet just now, with that smile—snow-white neat teeth paired with a clear and bright smile, it unexpectedly dazzled his eyes for a moment.
His words of dissatisfaction suddenly got stuck. As if he was pushed by demons and gods, he waved his hand at Cheng Yan. “Go quickly to the dressing room to prepare!”
…
The program was originally conducted in the main building’s broadcasting hall. The massive fire over a week ago burned that side into a complete mess, so the column group temporarily changed the recording site to the auxiliary building.
The backstage here was much smaller, and the dressing room appeared even more cramped. Twenty or so contestants were all squeezed into one large room, nervously lining up waiting for their final makeup.
There were two groups of makeup artists responsible—each group was a famous makeup artist in the station leading several assistants, separately responsible for the makeup of half of the contestants.
Cheng Yan rushed hurriedly into the dressing room. A boy sitting in front of a makeup mirror saw him, suddenly froze, and after hesitating, he called out.
“Cheng Yan, why are you here?”
The person who called him had a handsome face, with thin and curved eyebrow peaks, looking like the currently most popular flower pretty boy7A term originating from Japanese and Korean pop culture (Ikemen / Kkonminam), referring to young men who have soft, delicate, and almost feminine beauty (“pretty as a flower”).. He’s not peerlessly beautiful, but also beautiful and conspicuous enough.
Cheng Yan inherited the vast majority of the original owner’s memories, recognizing this youth was exactly that eye-catching newcomer from the same company as him. He signed into Yinxing two years earlier than him, and was already quite highly regarded by the company.
Zhou Yunying.
“I’m fine now, thank you for your concern Yunying-ge.” He smiled, also grateful for this obvious goodwill.
Zhou Yunying ignored the makeup artist who was applying loose powder on him. He quickly stood up and looked Cheng Yan up and down. “It’s great that you’re fine. I wanted to go see you these past few days, but the program group was rehearsing and wouldn’t let anyone leave at all.”
Zhou Yunying’s voice was loud. It had long since startled the group of youths in the makeup room, with many pairs of eyes all looking over in unison.
There was curiosity, there was disdain, but more of it was surprise.
Anyone could hear that Cheng Yan’s voice was terribly hoarse and unpleasant to hear. Being sent into the top twenty like a joke in the first place had already caused many talented contestants to feel contempt. Now that it was already like this, he still had the thick skin to come and piggyback8This is a very common Chinese internet slang term. It literally means to rub against something, but in showbiz or online contexts, it means to leech popularity, get free screen time, or mooch off an event/person for clout. a stage appearance?
Nearby, the interrupted makeup artist grew impatient. “Until when are you going to catch up on old times? Everyone is waiting to go on stage!”
He saw Cheng Yan at a glance, his brows simply furrowed. He reached out and grabbed him over, pressing him onto a chair. “You come, let’s do your makeup first.”
The youths stuck out their tongues, and sat down one after another. Zhou Yunying also sat down in the chair next to Cheng Yan, obediently letting a female makeup artist behind him continue to do his makeup.
“I heard from Hu-ge this morning that he helped you apply to withdraw from the competition, I was just feeling pity for you.” He said in a low voice, taking an exploring glance at Cheng Yan in the mirror, “Why are you?…”
In the bright, massive makeup mirror, that makeup artist was holding up an eyeshadow palette. Looking left and right, he picked an extremely thick, dark brownish-gold color, and swiped it onto Cheng Yan’s eyelids.
However, having just swiped it once, his hand was suddenly grabbed by Cheng Yan.
The youth’s wrist was slender and the strength used wasn’t great, but it was very resolute.
His bright and pitch-black eyes looked at the mirror, meeting that makeup artist’s gaze. With a hoarse voice, he said word by word, “Jimmy-ge, I don’t want this kind of makeup.”
In the makeup room, it suddenly became quiet in an instant.
The complexion of that makeup artist named Jimmy suddenly became gloomy.
He looked sideways, giving a cold sneer. “Oh my, which big star is this? I am the makeup artist appointed by the station and all makeup looks must be arranged uniformly. It must focus on the overall stage effect, do you understand?”
His specks of spittle were almost spraying onto the mirror surface in front of Cheng Yan. “You don’t want it? You still want to dictate it? In this whole room, you look—how many people dare to say they want to choose for themselves! At such a young age, without the fate of a big star, and yet you have the manners of a big star?!”
Cheng Yan looked at him quietly, not speaking, but his gaze grew colder and colder as he scrutinized.
Incorrect. In the memory of this body, all of his bizarre, clown-like, heavy makeup looks were done personally by this makeup artist named Jimmy. With that, there must be some problem!
The original Cheng Yan had a cowardly temperament. He completely didn’t dare to question, much less have the guts to challenge the authority of the TV station’s exclusive makeup artist. Just like that, he was forcefully smeared with such heavy makeup for exactly five episodes.
If they say that the bad singing and trash dancing were due to the original owner’s own lack of ability, then these obviously malicious makeup looks, how could they be normal?
The most important thing is that not a single other contestant was treated like this at all!
“Jimmy-ge, I am not picky about these things.” He was neither humble nor arrogant, his gaze unflinching. “For boys, wearing makeup or not actually doesn’t matter. You are in a hurry, so do the makeup for the other gege first.”
He lowered his head. His eyelashes was so thick that they were like two small fans that concealed the gaze that sharpened for an instant.
“I will go on stage bare-faced. Thank you.”
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