“Huh? I don’t need to buy clothes…”
“The sleeves don’t fit. Didn’t you notice?”
Huo Ting glanced at Yu Mian’s slightly disheveled appearance and reminded him with a hint of helplessness.
The sales assistants nearby couldn’t help but smile upon hearing this. They found this duo shopping together rather intriguing.
Especially Yu Mian, who seemed to rely entirely on his looks to pull everything off.
“Besides, aren’t you planning to do a live broadcast?”
Huo Ting, now increasingly familiar with Yu Mian’s temperament, mentioned something related to writing, immediately snapping the slightly indifferent Yu Mian back to focus on its importance.
“You’re right, come to think of it, I should get a few well-fitted outfits.”
Otherwise, wouldn’t it look weird on camera?
If Fish Soup Noodles seemed too shabby, readers might collectively accuse Huanyu of pocketing royalties, and Editor Shaxs would definitely come crying again…
Although Huo Ting clearly wasn’t very skilled in shopping either, his experience accompanying the female elders in his family gave him a slight edge over the perpetually homebound writer Yu Mian.
Thus, after earning a considerable amount of star coins from his royalties, Yu Mian experienced for the first time the joy of spending money. It was addictive.
He even picked out a small formal suit for Huo Yan, saying it was for future banquets.
“These cufflinks are so sparkly and beautiful…”
Ever since becoming a mermaid, Yu Mian found his resistance to these glittering trinkets displayed in glass cabinets significantly weakened.
Huo Ting watched this mermaid go on a full out shopping spree. He hesitated for a moment, but didn’t intervene.
When they returned home, Yu Mian handed over a pile of colorful toys to Huo Yan, who had just finished a day’s worth of homework, leaving him on the verge of shouting “long live!”
“Brother Yu Mian, wuuuu… If only you were my real cousin!”
Huo Yan could hardly imagine how happy he’d be.
“Shh, what nonsense are you spouting!”
Yu Mian pinched Huo Yan’s cheeks immediately upon hearing that, afraid Huo Ting might be unhappy.
Huo Ting didn’t seem to care at all, merely casting a calm glance at Huo Yan, who was making silly faces.
“Here, this is for you. You have a gift too.”
After the satisfied Huo Yan was led away by Qiao Ni, Yu Mian lightly tugged at Huo Ting, then handed over a small box.
“It reminded me of the color of your eyes, so I couldn’t help buying it.”
When Huo Ting opened the box Yu Mian handed over, inside was a pair of obviously expensive men’s cufflinks. The obsidian-like cufflinks shimmered with a deep, serene glow under the light.
“…I’m going to deliver Grandpa’s gift now.”
After all, with Grandpa Huo treating him so kindly, it only made sense to remember him when buying gifts.
Yu Mian looked at Huo Ting and subconsciously found an excuse to slip away.
Suddenly, he felt his explanation was a bit odd.
It made it seem like he had been staring at Huo Ting’s eyes for a long time, which was why he chose those cufflinks…
”
After this in-person meeting, the derivative variety show competition from “Reborn” quickly gained momentum.
Apart from the Central Star’s audition location, additional sub-contest locations were opened, even responding to fans from outside the star system by establishing off-world venues.
Initially, most of the people paying attention to “Heavenly Voice: Rising Star” were fans of “Reborn” and Fish Soup Noodles’ books.
However, under the planning and operation of the genius producer Otek, the relevant audition videos were edited to be both witty and engaging, and the first batch of live broadcast videos sparked a strong response after they were released.
Several particularly outstanding contestants quickly stood out, gaining large fan bases at an unexpected pace.
Interestingly, a certain little crab felt so jealous that he wanted to join the audition and compete with a batch of amateurs for the opportunity to perform the theme song. However, he was eventually dragged away by his agent and the show’s production team to serve as a judge instead.
As a result, in his vow to find the perfect singer for Fish Soup Noodles’ “Eternal Night Rose”, Ernis’ critiques on the show were incredibly sharp and precise, which inadvertently turned into a hot search topic for the variety show.
“Huo Yan, is it true that “Heavenly Voice: Rising Star” was planned by Teacher Fish Soup Noodles who’s staying at your house? Do you know if Guske, whom my sister and I support, will make it to the top eight?”
“Our family supports Lierte!! Do you know Lierte’s vote count, Huo Yan?”
The show became so popular that many young fans would finish their homework and then watch the related videos, each having their favorite contestants.
As a result, Huo Yan became widely recognized at school as the one with insider connections. His classmates wished they could ask him eight hundred times a day.
After all, hadn’t Teacher Fish Soup Noodles said he was temporarily staying at Huo Yan’s cousin’s house?
“Ah, stop asking me! This is Yu…uh, this is Teacher Fish Soup Noodles’ business. How would I know so much? Plus, the production team signed confidentiality agreements! Don’t you get it?”
Huo Yan felt both sweet and pained at this.
The sweet part was that he had watched the show himself and had a favorite contestant, while the painful part was that even Brother Yu Mian couldn’t casually spoil anything for him this time.
“After all, this isn’t a novel. Producer Otek is in charge of the show. The contract has strict confidentiality clauses, so the vote count can’t be leaked.”
Faced with Huo Yan rolling around and acting cute for spoilers, Yu Mian couldn’t easily give him backdoor spoilers like he did for novels.
“However, for “Heavenly Voice: Rising Star” final qualifying rounds and grand finale, I can ask Producer Otek to get a few front-row tickets for you. Then you can invite your classmates and friends to go together.”
Looking at the extremely depressed Huo Yan, Yu Mian couldn’t help but smile and comfort him.
Huo Yan: !!!
“Ahhh, really!”
‘Doesn’t that mean I’ll become the most revered figure in the whole class?!’
‘No! It should mean that Brother Yu Mian was simply his god!’
“And the contestant I like really likes Brother Yu Mian too. He even said he’s read “Eternal Night Rose” so many times! But when can I turn 21 and finally read this book myself…”
Due to the 21+ age restriction, Huo Yan still hadn’t been able to read “Reborn” or “Eternal Night Rose”.
“Ahem, you’re still too young. You’re absolutely not allowed to read those yet.”
Yu Mian’s face turned a little red when he realized Huo Yan wanted to read those books. Without hesitation, he issued a ban.
As for those contestants who said they liked the author, well, that was normal. After all, they all aimed to win the championship prize and sing the theme song of “Eternal Night Rose”.
It couldn’t be taken too seriously.
Those contestants didn’t even know what he looked like or what kind of person he was.
“Then who do you like best, Brother Yu Mian? They’re all so good-looking and sing so well…”
Huo Yan eagerly held up a poster and squeezed next to Yu Mian, urging him to pick a favorite from the 24 contestants who had made it through the preliminaries.
To be fair, the 24 contestants who passed the selection were indeed handsome men and beautiful women.
“Umm…”
Just as Yu Mian was lost in thought, Huo Ting beside him glanced over.
Having been involved in the initial stages of the contract signing for this program, Huo Ting was well aware of the overwhelming popularity of the show since its launch.
Even when Qiao Ni was taking a break, she’d open her light-brain to watch a segment and cast a vote for her favorite contestant.
“Young master, look at this one, he’s handsome and even said he likes Young Master Yu Mian, haha.”
Qiao Ni couldn’t help but share a video clip, which featured one of the current most popular contestants expressing his admiration for the author and his works during an interview.
“…”
Recalling that morning’s scene, Huo Ting’s expression turned blank as he looked at Huo Yan, who was enthusiastically singing praises about one contestant’s looks and voice.
“I can’t show favoritism. If I do, as the author, it might stir public opinion. Don’t make me mess up.”
In the end, Yu Mian lightly knocked on Huo Yan’s head, causing him to run off in dejection while clutching his head.
Damn it! He’d been caught!
His plan was to subtly raise Brother Yu Mian’s impression of his favorite contestant. Maybe if Brother Yu Mian casually mentioned the contestant to the producer or director, they’d give him more opportunities!
“Do you like this type?”
To Yu Mian’s surprise, Huo Ting was examining the poster in front of him.
“I don’t like him!”
Producer Otek had made the program too popular. Maybe that wasn’t entirely a good thing… [Fish collapses to the ground.jpg]
However, from a promotional perspective, “Heavenly Voice: Rising Star” had undoubtedly played an all-round role in promoting the works under the pen name “A Bowl of Fish Soup Noodles”.
The theme song reward for “Eternal Night Rose” aside, the serial data for “Reborn” saw an unprecedented surge in readership during this period.
This kind of momentum hadn’t been seen in a long time.
After all, before this, traffic for A Bowl Of Fish Soup Noodles had already reached a saturation point on the Huanyu platform. This new wave of readers clearly came from outside the existing fan base.
Many netizens who hadn’t read novels previously became highly interested in the author serving as the program’s creative consultant after watching “Heavenly Voice: Newcomer”.
Not to mention “Reborn”, with its plot resembling the variety show’s structure, it became an irresistible read once they searched for it on the Huanyu Reading Platform.
What’s more, the current plot of “Reborn” had reached a critical juncture.
On the eve of the finals, Pei Yan’s identity as a “fake young master” was exposed. However, thanks to timely assistance from movie empress Fei Wen, Pei Yan ultimately won the championship prize: the leading role in an S-level production.
The Pei family then began investigating the source of the leaked information, only to discover that there seemed to be another mastermind behind the runner-up who leaked the information.
Pei Yan immediately recalled the mysterious manipulator from his past life, who had tried to destroy both the Pei family and the Lingchuan Group. He quickly calmed down and pieced together clues from his previous life. Finally, he chose to entrust the evidence to his younger brother, Pei Shen, for further investigation.
After all, in this life, Pei Yan refused to let himself be used as a pawn. He worried that the hidden manipulator might target Pei Jianchuan Luan Yi in other ways.
At the very least, before he left, he had to help his family unmask this threat.
“Why don’t you investigate it yourself instead of letting me do it, Big Brother? Father would be very happy if you cracked this case. Considering how much he loves you, even as an adopted son, he’d definitely share his wealth and resources with you.”
Faced with Pei Shen’s question, Pei Yan remained silent.
In this life, he no longer desired or sought things that weren’t his. Handing over the evidence to Pei Shen was undoubtedly the best decision.
Faced with Pei Yan’s silence, Pei Shen finally used these clues, without knowing how his brother Pei Yan got them, and successfully found the mastermind behind the scenes.
To the shock of countless readers, the mastermind turned none other than Father Pei Jianchuan’s old comrade-in-arms on the board of directors who had always been the most supportive of Pei Jianchuan!
When Pei Jianchuan learned the truth, he was stunned, staring at his longtime friend in disbelief.
[Oh my god, it wasn’t the troublemakers…it was the good guy?! This is just despicable…]
[Argh, this twist! That old guy had been comforting Pei Yan so many times in earlier chapters, even praising him during family visits. And now he turns out to be the villain?!]
[Thinking about how this old man orchestrated everything in the previous life, I desperately need Pei Shen to ruthlessly take him down this time!]
In fact, it was precisely because of the insatiable greed that this former comrade saw the cracks in the Pei family’s foundation.
After all, the well-meaning but misguided actions of Pei Jianchuan and his wife had undoubtedly led to countless criticisms and tests for the two “young masters”, Pei Yan and Pei Shen.
This time, he had hoped to stir up discord again, but he found that Pei Yan was completely unfooled. Instead, he was wholeheartedly taking care of Pei Shen, the adopted son.
This enraged the villain, who, while cursing Pei Yan for being foolish, eventually chose to destroy Pei Yan directly and thus create a rift between Pei Shen, who had been “unjustly” called an adopted son, and his parents.
The opponent’s tactics were nearly flawless, but what he failed to account for was that Pei Yan had been reborn and had obtained materials that he should never have had, in a way that could be described as “cheating”.
After the old comrade was investigated, he was found guilty of various crimes such as corruption and money laundering and was thrown into prison. The hidden danger of this life was finally eliminated, and for the first time, Pei Yan felt that perhaps he could really start over in this life.
However, just as Pei Yan decided to start anew, Pei Shen unexpectedly regained memories from his past life…
[Ah!? What, he’s regained his memory now! My brain just shook, Teacher Fish Soup Noodles…]
[Help, help, help, how did the plot suddenly become so intense? Just when I thought it was a sigh of relief, there’s another huge twist!? Can you update 30,000 words every day straight to the end? [Tears]]
[Every day, I read the book updates of “Reborn”, and vote crazily for my favorite contestants in “Heavenly Voice: Rising Star” outside the book… okay, okay, I’m completely under Teacher Fish Soup Noodles’ control!]
For the big plot development in “Reborn”, countless readers naturally wished that Yu Mian would release chapters nonstop until the story was finished!
However, Yu Mian was quite delighted by his own recent discoveries.
“This is chili, it’s super delicious! How could this be poison!?”
Not long ago, Yu Mian had solved the issue of the new book’s live broadcasting equipment through Producer Otek. He had bought a bunch of it, and neatly arranged it in the old house’s kitchen.
He quickly went to the research institute and met the Uncle Harrison that Huo Ting had mentioned earlier.
Unexpectedly, Yu Mian really found a lot of new book materials among the various ingredients in the research institute.
