Chapter 5

“Shen Mingyou just moved into the Jiaxi Road Mansion yesterday.”

“Are you sure?”

Feng Jingze, standing by the fountain in Shen Mingyou’s garden, was on the phone with a friend.

Feng Jingze has been a leader at Orange TV for years and is well-regarded. Even famous stars are polite to him. However, Shen Mingyou’s politeness seemed indifferent and slightly mocking, which Feng Jingze disliked.

Feng Jingze had a low opinion of female stars like Shen Mingyou, who were only beautiful but not talented. He believed Shen Mingyou’s attempt at a comeback was likely to fail.

But now, Shen Mingyou lived in a mansion on Jiaxi Road. Houses there are rare and expensive.

Feng Jingze started to worry if he had underestimated Shen Mingyou and if she might actually be influential.

Feng Jingze, who avoids offending wealthy people, asked friends to find out more about Shen Mingyou’s background.

“Yes, they moved in yesterday,” his friend said. “They probably rented it just for the show. They’ll likely move out after filming.”

“Shen Mingyou wants to make a comeback. She might be pretending to be wealthy for the show,” the friend suggested. “There was a case recently where a low-tier star pretended to be rich, but it turned out most of her luxury brands were fake. It’s not uncommon in the industry.”

“True, but…” Feng Jingze was cautious and asked, “Did you find out about Shen Mingyou’s husband?”

Shen Mingyou might not come from wealth, but her husband could. It’s common for celebrities to marry wealthy individuals.

“No,” the friend replied. “If he were really influential, we’d know. He’s probably just ordinary.”

“I don’t believe Shen Mingyou’s husband’s family is rich,” the friend continued. “If he were, Shen Mingyou could have started her own entertainment company instead of being tied to a small studio like Xingchen Entertainment, where she can’t even end her contract.”

Feng Jingze thought his old friend made a good point but still wondered, “Why was she able to rent a mansion on Jiaxi Road so easily? Houses there are usually hard to rent.”

“Well, you probably don’t know this. Xingchen Entertainment’s boss Geng Feng is a second-generation rich man. Even though his family doesn’t support him and he’s lost money running his company, it’s not hard for him to rent a house using his connections.”

With this explanation, Feng Jingze felt reassured. After resolving his doubts, he hung up and checked Shen Mingyou’s live broadcast room. Over an hour had passed since the broadcast started, and there were only tens of thousands of viewers and a few comments. He snorted, gave instructions to the staff, and left.

By nearly eleven o’clock, the number of viewers in Shen Mingyou’s live broadcast room had reached 200,000. Many viewers, initially clicking out of curiosity, ended up staying because of the broadcast’s appeal.

[What is this little girl doing? Why isn’t she destroying the house?]

[My heart is bleeding. A camera worth tens of thousands of dollars was destroyed by a naughty kid.]

[Is this Shen Mingyou, the female star who retired from the entertainment industry for five years and made a comeback? She is so beautiful.]

[The book Shen Mingyou is reading seems to be “The Structure of Film Stories”. Can Shen Mingyou understand such a professional book on film?]

[It’s so funny. Shen Mingyou didn’t think she could improve her acting skills by reading books. Is this what they call “not having good acting skills but making up for it with theory”?]

[How did Shen Mingyou’s daughter manage to remain silent? She looked a little silly, just tearing things apart.]

As more people joined the live broadcast room, the comments quickly increased but were soon balanced by the regular viewers.

[Those who don’t like Shen Mingyou’s live broadcast room please leave!]

[Reject old-fashioned and exclusive verbal attacks, please leave if you don’t like it!]

[I won’t leave! Although I really want to leave, I just can’t move my eyes away. What should I do?]

[Not leaving +1, what’s the point of letting me leave? If you have the ability, you can make Shen Mingyou not be so beautiful!]

[Don’t leave +10086. To be honest, after watching the four live broadcast rooms, Shen Mingyou’s is the most pleasing to the eye. The beautiful mother and the beautiful baby, they just sit there quietly, it’s like a perfect movie scene.]

Director Wu Li knew how to use the camera well, choosing the best angle with the garden outside the French window as the backdrop. Shen Mingyou, in home clothes, sat on a rocking chair by the window, while Jiang Niannian played on the carpet at her feet. The white curtains fluttered in the breeze. Shen Mingyou read for a while and then looked at her daughter…

It looked like a scene from a beautiful movie, warm and captivating, making it hard to look away.

Director Ji Qing and other staff watched the data from the live broadcast room.

Ji Qing blinked in disbelief.

“Director, director, look at this! It’s increasing so fast,” she said, grabbing Wu Li’s arm.

Wu Li, lost in his thoughts about how to make the broadcast look better, asked, “What’s increasing? Did your stocks go up?”

“Oh, no.” Ji Qing showed Wu Li the background data, “Look!”

Wu Li’s eyes widened as he saw the number of viewers rapidly rising.

Two hundred thousand, three hundred thousand, five hundred thousand, eight hundred thousand…

The growth rate slowed only after reaching over 800,000 viewers.

This number of viewers was not unusual for other live broadcast rooms, but it was significant for Shen Mingyou’s room, which had only a few thousand viewers in the first ten minutes and tens of thousands in the first hour.

**

It was almost lunchtime, and the mothers in the live broadcast rooms began preparing lunch for their children.

Gu Aifei is a good cook. She finished preparing three dishes and a soup in less than an hour. The twins were eager to eat and praised their mother’s cooking.

[Aifei is really amazing. The food she cooked looks delicious, nutritious, and tasty. The twins are so happy to eat it.]

[The twins are great. My relative’s four or five-year-old still needs to be fed, but these two little ones can eat by themselves.]

[Although having a secret marriage and children is wrong, Gu Aifei is still a great mother.]

While Gu Aifei and the children enjoyed lunch, Fang Tang and her son Jiang Xu had a chaotic time in the kitchen.

Fang Tang doesn’t know how to cook. After almost blowing up the kitchen, she made two bowls of noodles. Jiang Xu, complaining about the food, got a hit on the forehead from his mother and had to eat the noodles with reluctance.

[Fang Tang can’t actually cook. Haha, the kitchen exploded.]

[Xu Xu felt so wronged. The food was terrible, but why couldn’t he say anything?]

In Zhong Yao’s live broadcast room, her son Zhao Yiyang helped her cook, and they received many praises from viewers.

The last one was Shen Mingyou’s live broadcast room.

Shen Mingyou’s live broadcast room… remained very quiet.

After Wu Li ordered takeout, he looked at the mother and daughter in the living room. Shen Mingyou was still reading a book, while Jiang Niannian had completely dismantled a camera.

Seeing Shen Mingyou wasn’t planning to cook, Wu Li asked from behind the camera, “Our staff has already ordered takeout. You and Nian Nian must be hungry too.”

Wu Li wished Shen Mingyou would start cooking soon. After nearly three hours, the live camera had only shown the living room. Although the number of viewers was increasing, people would get bored if nothing happened.

It would be interesting to show Shen Mingyou cooking on the live stream.

But Shen Mingyou surprised Wu Li by saying, “Nian Nian and I have ordered takeout. It will be delivered later.”

Wu Li was surprised and asked, “You don’t cook for yourself?”

“Can’t we order takeout?” Shen Mingyou seemed puzzled. “The program’s contract doesn’t say we must cook ourselves. The staff didn’t mention that we can’t order takeout during filming. The mothers are supposed to cook, but since I don’t cook, I ordered takeout.”

The program has a rule that mothers must take care of their children alone and cannot use a nanny, assistant, or agent. Since Shen Mingyou doesn’t cook, she relies on takeout.

Wu Li said, “It’s not impossible.”

However, this is a variety show where all the mothers have cooked for their children, regardless of their cooking skills. The audience has always seen mothers cook on the show, and Shen Mingyou’s decision was unprecedented.

[Why doesn’t Shen Mingyou cook for her children? Ordering takeout is unhealthy.]

[I feel like Shen Mingyou doesn’t care much for her child. She hasn’t interacted with her daughter all morning, and now she’s giving her takeout. She must be even worse privately.]

[Do mothers have to cook? If they can, why not buy food? As long as it’s clean, it’s not a big deal. Mothers get tired too, and some don’t like cooking.]

[Celebrities usually have nannies who cook for them. How many cook for their children themselves? Shen Mingyou’s choice to order takeout shows she is genuine.]

The takeout ordered by Shen Mingyou and the program crew arrived almost at the same time.

Hearing the doorbell, Shen Mingyou finally got up, put on slippers, and went to the door.

Wu Li took the opportunity to use his camera skills, capturing Shen Mingyou and the villa, including the garden with the fountain.

The staff first took the lunch boxes from the delivery person. Then, a handsome man in a suit arrived with two elegant lunch boxes, smiling professionally: “Ms. Shen, your takeout has arrived.”

As Shen Mingyou placed the lunch box with Yushiju ^[1]is a high-end restaurant in City A. printed on it on the table, her live broadcast room erupted with excitement.

[Oh my god! What kind of wealthy lady is Shen Mingyou? Her villa is so huge!]

[Look at that garden with the fountain! It’s so beautiful!]

[Shen Mingyou ate at Yushiju. It’s a super high-end restaurant in City A, only serving one table of guests a day. The prices are extremely high, and they don’t deliver!]

[Who is Shen Mingyou’s background? Did she marry into a wealthy family?]

[Among the four groups of guests, only Shen Mingyou’s husband hasn’t appeared. Who is he?!]

In the Xingchen Entertainment office, several people watched Shen Mingyou’s live broadcast on a tablet.

The number of viewers kept rising, and the barrage of comments was too fast to read.

“I knew Shen Mingyou would be a hit. She’s our lucky star!” Boss Geng Feng was excited, almost in tears. “This is just the beginning. Shen Mingyou will become very popular and lead Xingchen Entertainment to the top.”

Yu Zhen ignored the excited boss and told Xiao Xi to monitor trending searches and report if Shen Mingyou’s name appeared.

Sister Zhou from the Finance Department began posting job openings on recruitment platforms, knowing that the company needed more staff as Shen Mingyou’s fame grew.

The office was buzzing with energy, except for another artist in the company, Zhong Xinghe.

Geng Feng noticed Zhong Xinghe’s concern and said, “Xinghe, don’t worry. Xingchen Entertainment will keep improving, and so will you. Follow Mingyou, and you’ll have chances to shoot movies and go on shows.”

Zhong Xinghe is the only other artist at Xingchen Entertainment besides Shen Mingyou. Despite his two years in the industry, he’s only had small roles due to limited resources. He has a clean and refreshing look, perfect for costume dramas.

“No, Brother Gengfeng, I’m worried that setting up Sister Mingyou as a wealthy lady might backfire,” Zhong Xinghe said.

Geng Feng: “…”

***

Also, don’t forget to check out Vyl’s other projects!

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