Chapter 30
Zong Mo thought to himself, An Lan must be the most deeply hidden wingman in this novel.
In the book, the original Zong Mo, in his third year of being sponsored, was attacked by the entire internet after accidentally leeching off the film emperor’s fame. But the film emperor himself knew he was innocent. Out of sympathy, affection, and a bit of captivation by his beauty, he gradually unfolded the cool story plot where the main shou lay back and won, leeching his way to the top.
As for the first two years, the original Zong Mo had been accumulating the netizens’ resentment from the “meals” his sponsor had forcibly fed him, waiting for it to erupt at a certain point in the future. This part of the plot was not given much ink by the author.
For example, this variety show, Field Diary, which was a month earlier than the main plot, Zong Mo had never seen it in the book.
But when he saw the list of proposed guests, his pupils trembled violently.
This was some mysterious force, thinking his plot was moving too slowly, and had come to give it a push.
The agent of the Heavenly Dao was An Lan.
Among them, the most dazzling name was, of course, Lu Bo.
With only a month left before the recording began, four of the six guests had already been decided, and two were still empty.
It was also because the recording was about to start that they had approached the recently popular Ruan Chi and Zong Mo. It could both boost the show’s popularity and help solidify their sudden fame.
A win-win.
Having had the experience at the Chasing the Light Boy set, An Lan explained with great perceptiveness, “The guest list is just proposed. Maybe Lu Bo will bail at the last minute?”
“Heh,” Ruan Chi was displeased. “What does his participation have to do with me?”
An Lan could only look at Zong Mo and found his expression strangely indescribable.
A mix of distortion, a hint of terror, expectation, and a resigned sense of acceptance.
?
Zong Mo almost couldn’t catch his breath.
On a thin piece of paper, he had seen Gongs #1, 3, 4, and 5 all at once.
Zong Mo’s desire to become the ultimate top had not yet been completely extinguished.
The premise was, if he didn’t have this physical relationship with Ruan Chi, if he hadn’t discovered that Ruan Chi treated him as a toy.
And if, the force of the main shou‘s fate of being topped was not so strong.
He was quite willing to participate in this show. After all, he had a huge cheat code. He knew the personalities, hobbies, weaknesses, and future destinies of these five gongs like the back of his hand. Was he still afraid he couldn’t conquer them?!
But first, he disappointedly discovered that he didn’t understand Ruan Chi at all.
Mainly because the novel, in order to preserve the overbearing CEO’s cool factor, never described his inner world, leaving it for the readers to imagine.
Anyway, the Ruan Chi Zong Mo had once imagined was definitely not like this.
He composed his expression and gave a tactical yawn. “Aren’t you busy with work, CEO Ruan? This variety show requires staying in the countryside for a week without leaving… and I just finished filming. I want to rest for a while.”
Ruan Chi smiled nonchalantly and said, “This show looks like a vacation.”
Zong Mo said with a straight face, “It’s very tiring!”
Then he quickly flipped the document to a certain page and continued, “Look, CEO Ruan, this show gives us nothing. We have to farm and do agricultural work ourselves. We also have to feed pigs, chickens, ducks, and fish. If we want to eat meat, we have to kill it ourselves! I’m afraid…”
Ruan Chi: ?
Zong Mo: …
The more he explained, the more suspicious Ruan Chi became.
Does his CEO Ruan also know the script and is deliberately sending him to the love battlefield?
“You don’t want to go because of Lu Bo?” Ruan Chi asked.
Zong Mo was stunned for a moment. Hearing only Lu Bo’s name, he was inexplicably relieved and nodded vigorously. “Mm!”
It seemed Ruan Chi hadn’t recognized the remaining guests as Gongs #3, 4, and 5.
Ruan Chi’s brows furrowed, and he pressed, “Why?”
What other reason could there be? Because Lu Bo was both his sponsor’s white moonlight and his own fated main gong*.
But he could only say, “I, I’m sour!”
Ruan Chi sneered, clearly not believing him, and added, “Actually, you don’t want me to go?”
Zong Mo: …
How did the explanation get more and more unclear?
He looked through the variety show document from the beginning again, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
“This variety show will be live-streamed while recording. It’s not convenient to do business.”
Ruan Chi: “Hmm?”
Zong Mo: …
Before Zong Mo could say any more nonsense, Ruan Chi made the final decision. “We’ll take it.”
As for what Zong Mo was really concerned about, wouldn’t he find out once they were there?
The more Zong Mo revealed a hint of unusualness, the darker Ruan Chi’s face became.
Zong Mo had no choice but to agree. He went back to his room for a moment and came back down, saying seriously, “CEO Ruan, we are both public figures now. To avoid any unexpected situations, it’s best if we sign an agreement first.”
Ruan Chi smiled, looking as if he hadn’t expected the word “agreement” to come out of his golden canary’s mouth.
“Mm, you say?”
Zong Mo knew this kind of thing had no legal effect—at least not on CEO Ruan. All that mattered was CEO Ruan’s mood.
No matter what, he still had to state his position. He slapped the A4 paper he was holding onto the table.
It was very simple, with only a few lines of words.
Agreement for Participating in the Variety Show Field Diary
Zong Mo’s demands on Ruan Chi:
Article 1: Follow the arrangements of the program team.
Article 2: No sex during the recording period.
Writing such a demand, Zong Mo also felt embarrassed, but he had to insist. “Do you agree, CEO Ruan? You can also make demands. If you don’t agree, then…”
Then forget it!
Ruan Chi’s demands on Zong Mo:
Ruan Chi didn’t hesitate much to take the pen and wrote two words elegantly under this line:
Be obedient.
Zong Mo: “…That’s it?”
Ruan Chi: “Mm.”
Zong Mo was a little suspicious. “What if the thing you tell me to be obedient about is… is doing it?”
Ruan Chi added a sentence: The above three articles shall take effect simultaneously. He then said, “What if you’re the one begging me to do it?”
“Impossible!” Zong Mo said righteously. “We also need to sign!”
Ruan Chi cooperated extremely well and signed his name, handing the agreement back to Zong Mo.
Zong Mo had been a low-level worker before and had no experience in negotiating contracts.
He thought for a moment and asked, “What if there’s a breach of contract?”
Ruan Chi clearly found it amusing but was happy to play along with his performance, adding another line: For each breach of contract, the breaching party shall compensate the other party one million yuan.
Zong Mo: …
How did it feel like this agreement was only effective on him?
“I can’t afford to pay that at all!” he said.
“Then don’t breach the contract,” Ruan Chi said frankly.
Zong Mo continued, “But you can afford to breach it.”
Ruan Chi was unconcerned. “Is that enough?”
Zong Mo: …
Ruan Chi: “Control your lower half. Don’t come begging me then.”
Zong Mo: “Absolutely impossible!!”
Besides, although Ruan Chi could afford to breach the contract, a breach also required compensation, to him!
Wasn’t that a great thing?
Zong Mo’s mood suddenly improved, and he became incredibly expectant.
However, in order to participate in the semi-enclosed variety show a month later, Ruan Chi once again began to work overtime like crazy, even busier than before the New Year.
Zong Mo just wanted to say one thing: What’s the point?
And the recording location was not only outside City A but also in the deep mountains and old forests of the Jiangnan water towns.
Heh, CEO Ruan still thinks farming is a vacation. Don’t regret it and want to leave because you can’t acclimate to the new environment.
Once you’ve entered the den of thieves, you can’t just leave!!
…Wait a minute.
Zong Mo looked at the program document again. As expected, it was hard to go from luxury to frugality. He actually felt that this penalty fee was nothing.
It couldn’t hold CEO Ruan back at all, only his golden canary.
Zong Mo: …
As for the damage to his reputation from breaching the contract, his CEO Ruan was even less afraid. Not to mention that he was just playing around in the entertainment industry. With his protection, the original Zong Mo with his terrible acting skills could still share the stage with veteran actors.
Field Diary was going to record a pilot episode two weeks in advance, both to announce the guests and for promotional warm-up. Otherwise, by the time the official live broadcast began, it would be so obscure that even their own mothers wouldn’t recognize it.
Zong Mo felt that a farming variety show, even just a live broadcast of the main show, was incredible. Wouldn’t it really bore the audience to sleep?
And every celebrity had a bunch of unspeakable secrets. With a long live broadcast, if they accidentally slipped up, there would be no chance for editing to save them.
Unreasonable, but very reasonable in the world of a novel.
It was the drama he could foresee.
To adapt to the variety show live stream in advance, Zong Mo had recently changed to calling Ruan Chi “Ruan-ge.”
But Ruan Chi would say from time to time, “Call me big brother.”
Zong Mo: ?
Occasionally letting “CEO Ruan” slip was no big deal, since fans also called him CEO Ruan.
But if he were to call out “big brother” in a live stream, he wouldn’t be able to clear his name even if he jumped into the Yellow River.
Zong Mo decisively refused, “No! What if I slip up and say it on the show? It would be very strange!”
Ruan Chi: “You’ve only called me that a few times. And I’m older than you anyway. What’s so strange?”
“I’m not calling you that!” Zong Mo said. “Teacher Lu is also older than me, and he even played my ‘big brother’ in the movie, but I only call you big brother. Isn’t that very strange?”
Ruan Chi’s face darkened. “So you’re going to call him big brother?”
Zong Mo: …
Wait, that’s not what he meant.
Compared to calling Lu Bo “big brother” and actively accepting the teasing, he would rather call his CEO Ruan “big brother” a hundred times.
And, every time he called him “big brother,” Ruan Chi would become very easy to talk to.
Zong Mo was just not used to calling others “big brother,” not that he was really resistant. He immediately changed his tune, “Big brother~ I want to sleep in tomorrow morning, okay?”
The next morning, Zong Mo didn’t set an alarm, and Ruan Chi didn’t forcibly wake him up.
But because of his damn biological clock, Zong Mo woke up, full of energy. He picked up his phone and saw it was only seven-thirty.
Zong Mo: …
A few days later, for the filming of the pilot episode of Field Diary, the program team would come to the house to pick them up. Although they had given notice in advance, the participants needed to pretend they didn’t know and were being suddenly captured.
Therefore, even though they had invited the Film Emperor Lu in advance, the program team stubbornly kept the guests a secret and didn’t announce them beforehand, full of unknown surprises.
Zong Mo: …Can the audience really believe this?
He couldn’t question the program team’s arrangements and could only resign himself to waiting to be captured. There was another more important matter. He, a dignified golden canary, had nowhere to go except his sponsor’s territory.
The dog photos Ruan Chi had posted on Weibo years ago had already exposed some of the villa’s interior decoration. Plus, Ruan Chi treated the villa as his home and not just a property. So, the one who had to leave was, of course, Zong Mo.
Zong Mo left the villa and temporarily moved to the large flat apartment where he had live-streamed cooking. He laid out his luggage piece by piece, pretending he had been living there all along. The next day, when the director team came to pick him up, he would pretend to be packing, putting the things he had laid out back one by one.
Why does even filming a variety show start with acting? Why does he have a bad feeling?
That night, Zong Mo first received a call. The director team explained that they would come to his door tomorrow to capture him and take him to the countryside, telling him to be prepared in advance.
Zong Mo had a good night’s sleep alone in the apartment. The next day, he got up early and had packed half of his luggage, on an empty stomach without breakfast. Because of the program team’s request, he had to wait for them to come and capture him before performing the act of cooking on the spot.
The program team wanted to create an image of a hardworking and uncomplaining chef for Zong Mo. It was a bit tiring, but very positive. Of course, he was willing to act.
Further consolidating his image as a good family man, gaining a large batch of wife fans was just around the corner!
Half an hour past the appointed time, no one had come yet. Zong Mo was starving and wanted to call and rush them, when he happened to receive a call from a staff member.
An anxious female voice shouted:
“Um, Zong Mo, we were supposed to pick up Ruan Chi first, but his phone is off, and we can’t get through his front gate… We really are program staff! A legitimate program! Haven’t you heard of Field Diary?! Hey, why are you getting physical? Wait, wait, don’t call the police, we’re leaving…”
Zong Mo: ??
After another long while, the person on the other end of the line continued, out of breath and full of helplessness, “We were chased away by the security guards. We’ll come and pick you up first. Get ready.”
Zong Mo: …
As expected of his CEO Ruan. He added drama wherever he went.
He hadn’t even appeared yet, and he had already maxed out the variety show effect.
