Ning Xiaoyu didn’t think much about receiving an olive branch from Director Gong. As for how many people were jealous of her, she had no idea.

Shen Yueyue immediately congratulated Ning Xiaoyu.

It would be a lie to say she wasn’t envious, but Shen Yueyue has a good mentality. She adjusted her mood in time and made a summary of her previous performance in mind to avoid making the same mistake next time.

Because of this little episode, Xu Cheng and the other male guests were all eager to get into action and go all out. They hope that they could also be considered for a role.

Before the male guest could perform, however, the program director announced that Director Gong had ended his vacation and had gone back home with his family.

Right now, Director Gong was most likely already on the plane.

The director’s implication was that they had better not have too high expectations to avoid greater disappointment in the future.

Xu Cheng has the closest relationship with the director. He approached him privately and asked if they were lacking.

The director waved his hand and hastily explained, “Don’t overthink. I casually came up with the segment and had no idea Director Gong was watching our show, let alone that Xiaoyu would catch his eyes. It was her good fortune. It has nothing to do with me.”

Xu Cheng had thought the topic for the segment was given by Director Gong. It turned out it wasn’t the case and Ning Xiaoyu was just really lucky.

The setting for the character received by the male guests was, ‘In a social environment where 80% of people have superpowers, you are one of the 20%— a completely ordinary person. Please act out your daily life.’

Because two of the six male guests weren’t professional actors, there was no doubt whose performance received the most attention.

The actors and actresses who hadn’t worked with Lu Jingdu before have a clearer understanding of his professional ability because of this performance.

No matter how many roles they saw him play on screen, it still wasn’t as powerful as watching him play them in person.

Lu Jingdu’s character design was a university lecturer dedicated to the social advancement of ordinary people.

In a society where there’s a serious imbalance between the number of people with superpowers and ordinary people, discrimination and prejudice are very likely to be ubiquitous. Ordinary people were also highly likely to be suppressed.

Therefore, there’s something more thought-provoking behind the university lecturer character played by Lu Jingdu.

In every era, there were always people who were pioneers and did things that others didn’t want or dare to do.

The cold and handsome movie king was clearly suited to play the role of a dignified and elegant university lecturer with aspirations to elevate the social status of ordinary people as a lifelong pursuit.

———pr


After the performance, taking advantage of Lu Jingdu’s absence, the director said with a smile, “Jingdu’s birthday is tomorrow so you can choose your gifts today.”

Shen Yueyue had also mentioned this matter to Ning Xiaoyu not long ago. As one of the twelve guests, it would be awkward if she was the only one to not give any gift, so she specially saved up some friendship coins.

The program group stipulated that the gifts selected by the guests must be purchased with friendship coins and couldn’t be bought with real currency. The place was filled with a wide variety of things, the most valuable of which was a limited edition men’s watch priced at only 30 friendship coins.

Naturally, the things that would be given to Lu Jingdu couldn’t be too shabby.

In the gift area, there’s also a men’s suit priced at 20 friendship coins, a men’s tie priced at 15 friendship coins, a belt priced at 10 friendship coins, and cufflinks priced at 5 friendship coins……

In short, the price was the cost of a few meals and there’s no way for the guests to afford it. However, the truth was that the men’s suit priced at 20 friendship coins couldn’t be bought outside without a five-figure sum.

The program team used their own money to prepare these gifts.

Ning Xiaoyu looked around the entire place and finally pointed to one of the things, asking, “How much does this one cost?”

The staff was stunned for a moment. This…… doesn’t seem to be one of the birthday gifts specially prepared by the program team for Movie King Lu.

How did it get mixed up in there?

It was probably a mistake made by a staff member while working.

He froze and just when he was about to say that it wasn’t for sale, Ning Xiaoyu directly gave him five friendship coins and said, “I’ll take this.”

With that, Ning Xiaoyu held the thing and left with a contented expression, leaving behind a bewildered staff.

Ah, this……

Ning Xiaoyu wouldn’t use that as a birthday present, would she?

This…… Was it really alright?

———pr


Soon it was the next day.

It wasn’t only the day the program team was leaving the hot spring resort, but also the day when they returned to the capital for Lu Jingdu’s birthday party.

Lu Jingdu’s family booked the most luxurious hotel in the city.

Lu Jingdu was the only son of the second branch of the Lu family. At that time, the most influential figures in the capital would be present and the program team could join in the fun of the wealthy people.

Learning that they would be going to a hotel in the city, Ning Xiaoyu had an uninterested look on her face. She thought Lu Jingdu’s birthday would be over after eating a cake and lighting a candle. She had no idea that the Lu family would make such a big fanfare and that everyone knew about it.

Shen Yueyue was sitting beside Ning Xiaoyu. She has been getting along with her and has gained a general understanding of her personality.

Shen Yueyue said with a smile, “To be able to attend a birthday party of this size is an opportunity that many people can’t even ask for. Why else do you think the program team would have put so much effort into preparing those gifts?”

Ning Xiaoyu was spread out on the car seat.

The birthday party specially prepared by the Lu family for Lu Jingdu was, in Ning Xiaoyu’s view, tantamount to trouble. The large number of people attending the party meant there would be more friction and disputes. But because the attendees would all be influential figures, even if there was a conflict, it would be impossible to tear up each other’s faces on the spot. At most, they would remain friendly in appearance but estranged at heart.

However, Ning Xiaoyu was still worried it would affect her peaceful fish pond.

After all…… she’s bound to a love system that was keen on making trouble.

Love System: ……Innocent.jpg

It was five o’clock in the afternoon when the group arrived at Jundu Grand Hotel.

Near the entrance, there was someone specially assigned to help collect gifts.

The gift Ning Yuwei got for Lu Jingdu was the most expensive men’s limited edition watch. Xu Cheng spent 20 friendship coins to buy the men’s suit and other expensive items were also bought by other guests.

Therefore, when Ning Xiaoyu took out a small transparent glass jar, everyone turned their attention to her.

When they got a good look at the creature slowly crawling inside the glass jar, all the guests fell into silence.

Actually, Ning Xiaoyu really liked this birthday present herself. If it wasn’t the only one in the gift section, she would have wanted to buy another one for herself.

She pointed to the turtle in the glass jar and said, “Turtles symbolize longevity, and no matter what the turtle does, it’s always slow. Modern people’s life is too fast-paced. By giving this gift, I hope the movie king will live a long and leisurely life like a turtle.”

Who wouldn’t want to live as long and as leisurely as turtles?

Anyway, Ning Xiaoyu wanted to. She quite likes turtles. As the saying goes, a thousand-year-old turtle would live for ten thousand years.

Ten thousand years ah.

What a great symbolism.

The filming of the show stopped at the hotel’s entrance. Therefore, after the guests finished handing in their gifts, the staff wouldn’t be able to capture what was going on inside.

The audience originally thought there wouldn’t be anything worth seeing today, but they didn’t expect that Ning Xiaoyu would make such a big splash.

【Live like a turtle. Hahaha, what kind of ghostly sentence is this?!】

【If it’s someone else, I will wonder if the person is plotting something. After all, there’s a curse word called turtle bastard. However, since the person giving the gift is Xiao Yu, it’s okay. I’m sure she’s sincere! She just really likes turtles!】

【It’s a sincere wish!】

【Compared to the gifts from other guests, I feel that Xiao Yu gave the most special one.】

【That’s right, price is not the criterion for measuring the value of a gift. After all, the movie king doesn’t lack such things.】

【Same as Xiao Yu, I would like to wish the movie king a long and leisurely life like a turtle!】

【Wishing the movie king a long and leisurely life!】

【……】

The live broadcast room was suddenly flooded by these words.

The love system was greatly moved.

【Love System: In the original story, the movie king did not live to be twenty-nine years old.】

Ning Xiaoyu gave an “Oh”. She never believed that fate was unchangeable.

Neither she nor Lu Jingdu should be cannon fodder in their own lives.

As soon as she entered the banquet hall, Ning Xiaoyu headed straight for the buffet table. A banquet with a large number of people wasn’t very good but the food was indeed the best.

While Ning Xiaoyu was eating her salmon, she caught sight of President Shen and his current wife, Ms. Zhang.

It was impossible for the Shen’s to be absent on such an occasion.

Ning Xiaoyu had imagined many scenes of reuniting with her mother. The two of them might resent each other or they might get into an argument. However, she didn’t expect that when the day really came, her mood would be so peaceful. So calm that it was as if she was just facing an insignificant stranger.

Since the other party never appeared during the seven years when Ning Xiaoyu’s father was in a coma, there was no need for the other party to appear again in their lives in the future.

The moment the other party chose to leave, the mother-daughter relationship between them had disappeared.

Ning Xiaoyu and Ms. Zhang looked at each other in silence for three seconds, then, as if in tacit understanding, calmly moved their gazes away.

———pr


For this birthday party, the venue was lavishly decorated. But it seemed there was more exchange of interests and less warmth and human touch.

However, whether or not there was warmth has little to do with Ning Xiaoyu. She just needed to eat her food.

When Lu Jingdu took the stage to give a speech, she casually looked up. To her surprise, the couple standing next to Lu Jingdu had a significant age gap from him. Did his parents have him at an advanced age?

Ning Xiaoyu thought casually and quickly put the matter behind her. She picked up the soft drink she had set aside and took a comfortable sip.

Sure enough, soft drinks were really yyds^[1]yǒngyuǎn de shén – the best ever!

Ning Xiaoyu ate until she was half full. During the intermission, she chatted with Shen Yueyue.

The other party had a gossipy face as she quietly gave Ning Xiaoyu a lesson on ‘popular science’, “Did you see that lady over there? She’s President Shen’s third wife, beautiful and has extremely fatal tactics.

See that man over there? He has a whole lot of illegitimate children, but he’s a non-maritalist.

Oh, and that engaged couple, the younger sister snatched the fiancé from the elder sister. Extremely cunning.”

Ning Xiaoyu was forced to listen to the secrets of the wealthy. She wasn’t interested in these things. She had little desire for material things, not to mention they were from different worlds.

Just when she was about to find an excuse to hide in a quiet place, the angry voice of the love system suddenly sounded in her ears.

【Girl, the movie king’s father died early and his mother remarried, so he was brought up by his grandfather since childhood. Right now the one in charge of the Lu family is his uncle^[2]father’s elder brother. However, the old master intends to leave most of the family business to the movie king, so the uncle’s family regards the movie king as a thorn in their flesh, and the two families are barely able to maintain superficial peace.

The old master is getting older and hasn’t changed his will over the years.

The uncle is in a hurry. At this moment, he and Ms. Zhang have reached an alliance of interests, hoping to make ‘good things’ happen between the movie king and Ning Yuwei.

Their approach is simple and crude. Although it’s not reasonable, you must know that sometimes, the influence of public opinion isn’t small. At this time, you can—

A: No matter what Ning Yuwei wants to do, get ahead of her! Follow their scheme and leave them with no way to go!

B: Tell the movie king the truth so he can prepare early!

C: Act as a temporary couple with the movie king! Hold the movie king’s hand and appear intimately in front of the uncle and Ms. Zhang, making their plan go to waste!】

Ning Xiaoyu: “……”

Damn!

She really wanted to know.

What kind of prince in the run was Lu Jingdu?

Why does he always need her, this Sleeping Beauty, to save him?