24 Chapter 34: Exclusive Personal Part 1

Ye Zhinian was a drama-school graduate with both the looks and the talent to back them up. Eight years after his debut, he had still flopped his way down to Third-Tier—and the very first time he joined a variety show, he was forced into the role of a Simp.

Just as his performance hit its stride and the Bullet Comments were warming up to feast, Top Star Lu Chen descended on the production out of nowhere. Every other guest rushed to welcome him in delight—only Ye Zhinian hid at the back of the crowd and fired off a WeChat message—

*If this gets exposed, you're sleeping on the sofa for six months : )*

~~~

Top Star Lu Chen had debuted overseas and returned home to build his career. A triple threat across film, television, and music, he reigned as a Top Star in a league of his own—a man of few words, aloof and refined, rumored to come from immense, generational wealth.

Because he had once admitted to having a secret crush, he had endured years of forced-shipping rumors. Half the guests on the variety show he was joining had been paired with him in CPs before, yet staring at the WeChat message he had just received, he replied, expressionless—

*Oh QAQ*

~~~

The livestreamed friendship variety show *Utopia* was stuffed full of drama from the moment it premiered.

A red-hot young actor and a bubbly idol were direct competitors; a trending young flower and a glamorous actress had been feuding for years; and the surprise-arrival Top Star Lu Chen had romance rumors with half the guest lineup!

The friendship show turned into an all-out warzone in an instant, and the gossip-loving public ate it up. But the longer they watched, the more viewers noticed something strange: the Top Star and that Flop Star had barely exchanged two words—so why did something feel more and more off the longer you looked?

The Top Star brought one can of beer too few for the other guests—as it happened, the Flop Star was allergic to alcohol;

He couldn't remember a single item his CP partner had asked him to bring, yet he had gone out of his way to buy yogurt for the Flop Star;

When the Flop Star mentioned his first love during a game, the Top Star nearly slammed the table and stormed to his feet;

Even with his back turned to the Flop Star, the Top Star could sense his every move, as though he'd grown eyes on the back of his head...

When the show ended, Lu Chen's forced CPs came unbound automatically, "Lu-Zhi Known to All" burst onto the scene, and Ye Zhinian shot to fame overnight.

The company refused to let go of this newly sprouted money tree, and coerced Ye Zhinian into renewing his contract—or else they would expose his secret marriage, break up his CP, ruin his name, and knock him down from grace straight to Eighteenth-Tier.

The very next second, Lu Chen posted.

@Lu Chen V: @Ye Zhinian From beginning to end, there was only you [Lu Chen and Ye Zhinian's childhood photo, taken alongside their Marriage Certificate.jpg]

~~~

When Ye Zhinian and Lu Chen's CP had first begun to stir, fans and netizens had mocked him without mercy for clout-chasing that reached for the moon.

But gradually, people came to realize that his gorgeous face and superb acting were merely the window God had cracked open for Ye Zhinian. The door that truly belonged to him had long since carried him onto the world's grand stage.