Chen Yiran didn’t know what the two girls were saying behind his back, he was still concerned about whether they had eaten enough and whether they wanted to order more dishes. “Linlin, do you want anything else? I heard you say Wu Hui isn’t letting you eat, so eat more now.”

Seeing that Li Linlin really wanted to continue ordering, Chen Xi quickly held down Li Linlin’s restless hand. “Just finish what’s in the pot. Brother Yiran, don’t spoil her. By the time she gains weight, she’ll have to lose them by herself!”

Li Linlin bristled in dissatisfaction and looked at Chen Xi. “Xixi, why are you gradually turning into Wu Hui’er?!”

Chen Xi raised an eyebrow, showing no mercy.

Chen Yiran said from the side, “Linlin is too thin, growing some meat is just right.”

“You don’t understand. People look fat on camera!”

Li Linlin was eloquent. “Don’t worry, I’ve recently learned a new way to lose weight. It’s very popular abroad!”

Chen Xi asked her, “What kind of weight loss method?”

Li Linlin said, “Put all the food in front of you and just smell it!”

Chen Xi: “……”

Wouldn’t that make people hungrier?

The honest man Chen Yiran asked sincerely, “Then what will you do with the food? Throw it away?”

Li Linlin shook her head. “Let it sit for a while before eating it.”

Chen Yiran: “……”

It’s called the air diet because it reduces loneliness.

Under Chen Xi’s insistence, Li Linlin was unable to order more dishes in the end. As if to appease her weak heart, Chen Yiran took out a beautifully packaged gift box. “Linlin, this my birthday gift to you. I’m worried I’ll be too busy on your birthday, so I’m giving it to you in advance.”

Li Linlin’s 20th birthday would be in a week, however, her parents were abroad and she’s also busy studying and working, so she didn’t plan to spend it grandly. Chen Yiran remembered her birthday every year and gave her gift all the time. Li Linlin happily took the small box from Chen Yiran’s hand, smiled at him and said, “Thank you, Brother Yiran.”

“You’re welcome.”

“I want to open it and take a look.” Li Linlin couldn’t wait to open the box. Inside was a pair of pearl earrings with a warm color and a full shape. The pearls were hung under a pair of bows, which were adorned with small sparkling diamonds.

“Wow, it’s so pretty. Thank you, Brother Yiran!”

“I’m glad you like it. I specially bought those to match with the dress Xixi will give you.”

“Brother Yiran, why did you tell her?! It’s Linlin’s birthday surprise!” Chen Xi made a dress for Li Linlin and wanted to give it to her as a birthday gift. She had done a good job of keeping it secret. Chen Yiran only took a look at the dress in order to buy Li Linlin a birthday gift.

She never expected that Chen Yiran would reveal the birthday surprise she had hidden for so long!

Chen Yiran was stunned. She looked at Chen Xi and asked, “Can’t we say it?”

Chen Xi: “……”

She was really going to be pissed to death by Chen Yiran, this steel straight man.

Li Linlin put her eyes on Chen Xi and took her arm. “It’s okay. I will pretend to be surprised when it’s my birthday!”

Chen Xi: “……”

Oh, ‘thank’ you then!

After finishing the hot pot, Chen Yiran drove the two girls’ home before returning to the company.

As the end of the year approached, the company had a lot of things to do. He’d made time today to watch Li Linlin’s performance, but still have to make up for the missed work.

Li Linlin was equally busy. In addition to two more performances, the final exam was getting closer and closer. Fortunately, Huanyu’s 《Fatal Heartbeat》 was scheduled to start filming during the winter vacation and wouldn’t coincide with her exams.

On the day she officially signed the contract with the crew, Wu Hui’s face was full of displeasure because Li Linlin was really determined to play Ou Jiaxu and wouldn’t change her mind!

“The producers have said that the role of Zhou Rongrong is more suitable for you. She’s a sweet and lovely female college student, a perfect match for you!” Walking into the elevator, Wu Hui was still complaining, “But you’re so blind and only want to play Ou Jiaxu!”

Li Linlin listened to her say these things that her ears almost grew calluses. “It’s useless for you to keep nagging, the contract has been signed. Don’t you think it’s annoying?”

Wu Hui: “……”

Heh!

“When the drama aired and all the viewers and netizens come to scold you, don’t cry to me!”

Li Linlin blinked. She wouldn’t. As soon as she decided to play the role of Ou Jiaxu, Brother Yiran came to watch her play and gave her a birthday present. After the drama aired, wouldn’t Brother Yiran come and confess his love to her?

Li Linlin laughed strangely at the thought.

Wu Hui’s heart trembled. “Why are you smiling so creepily?”

Li Linlin said, “Oh, I’m getting into the role of Ou Jiaxu early.”

Wu Hui: “……”

Why was she so dedicated to playing such a character that everyone dislikes?!

As a matter of fact, Li Linlin was more dedicated than she thought. Although she had intentionally took such an unappealing role as Ou Jiaxu, since she had gotten it, she would try her best to play her well.

The birth of a TV drama was the result of the hard work of many people. She only wanted to kill her career and didn’t want to implicate others.

In order to better understand the character, she specially read the original source material.

When everyone in high school was reading this novel, she was busy studying. Now after catching up on the novel, she had deep doubts about her high school classmates.

So they all like this?

In order to fully understand Ou Jiaxu, she insisted on finishing the book. Many of Ou Jiaxu’s actions in the original work were purely to advance the plot. In order to make her actions more logical, Li Linlin wrote her psychological journey and even invented some plots that weren’t in the novel.

A busy week passed quickly. If Li Linlin’s birthday hadn’t been a hot search, she would have almost forgotten that today was her birthday. Chen Xi gave her the prepared dress, and the three girls ate and drank together at home.

Li Linlin took photos of herself in the dress given by Chen Xi and posted it on Weibo to thank netizens for celebrating her birthday. Because turning twenty was considered a rather special day, support clubs in many places also organize offline birthday celebrations to gather fellow fans to together.

“Wow, Linlin, look, fans bought you giant screens! They’re in many places!” Chen Xi took out her phone to scroll through the topic of Li Linlin’s birthday and a lot of local tyrants came up. “Ostentatious!”

Wu Hui also held her mobile phone while scrolling next to her. “Hey, say, if they have the money, why don’t they call our studio directly?”

Chen Xi burst out laughing but Li Linlin ignored Wu Hui and was busy collecting red envelopes sent to her on WeChat.

The butler brought them some fruits and snacks. Li Linlin took advantage of the fact that it was her birthday and dared to eat snacks in front of Wu Hui.

“Ah!!!” Wu Hui suddenly shouted, scaring Li Linlin that she subconsciously threw back the bag of potato chips in her hand.

“What, what, I haven’t even eaten yet!” With chips crumbs hanging on her mouth, Li Linlin told a disingenuous lie.

Wu Hui didn’t care at all whether she had eaten something or not. “I don’t know who spread the news about you picking up Ou Jiaxu, but it’s now on the hot search!”

“Ah?” Li Linlin was at a loss. The drama was still in its preparation stage and the actors have not all been finalized yet, let alone do a publicity stunt. The person who she signed the contract with them last time also said that it would be kept secret for the time being and would be promoted in a unified way later.

“I don’t think it was officially released.” Li Linlin leaned over and glanced at Wu Hui’s mobile phone.

Wu Hui said anxiously, “Definitely not. This is obviously a hot search that someone bought to disparage you!”

Wu Hui had been following stars herself and this wasn’t the first time she had seen this kind of thing. But as a manager, it was the first time she had encountered it, and she was a bit overwhelmed.

“It’s over, it’s over! Our studio doesn’t even have a PR department. We can only temporarily find a PR firm to help us!”

Li Linlin looked sideways at her, as if she thought Wu Hui was being so dramatic. “No, I’m indeed playing Ou Jiaxu, how is it disparaging me?”

“Heh, you still have the nerve to ask? See for yourself how everyone is scolding you!”

Li Linlin took a look and netizens’ evaluations were indeed one-sided and unfavorable.

“But they seem to be mainly scolding you, saying that you’re rubbish. You can’t get me to be a leading lady, so I can only play this kind of garbage role.”

Wu Hui: “……”

Upon her honor, she had argued against it but still couldn’t stop the boss, Li Linlin ah!

Li Linlin scrolled through the comment section and her slender eyebrows furrowed. “They’re all saying that Ou Jiaxu is a garbage character. It’s really annoying.”

Wu Hui: “?”

Wasn’t it more annoying that Wu Hui herself was called trash? 🙂

“Is someone deliberately staining Linlin’s name? Everyone was happily celebrating her birthday but suddenly someone broke this news. It’s too coincidental.” Chen Xi said.

“Someone must have done it on purpose.” Wu Hui put her phone down on the table angrily. “But Linlin hasn’t officially entered the industry yet, someone wants to mess with her so soon?”

“Linlin shouldn’t have offended anyone, right? Besides, for the sake of Uncle Li’s face, most people won’t easily cross her.”

Both of them were frowning and only Li Linlin, the person involved, was very tolerant. “Don’t think so much about it. Isn’t negative publicity still publicity these days? Just let them be.”

Wu Hui: “……”

Li Linlin was definitely hiding something.

Chen Xi was silent for a while and then her eyes suddenly lit up. “Linlin is right, today is her birthday so let’s forget about these unhappy things. The evening has just begun, what activities should we organize tonight?”

“……” Li Linlin had a vague premonition. “You don’t want to—”

Chen Xi was all smiles. “Let’s go sing!”

Li Linlin: “……”

She didn’t go with Li Linlin and Wu Hui last time and Chen Xi seemed very regretful. Taking advantage of the excuse of celebrating Li Linlin’s birthday, she finally made up for that time.

The person on duty was still Manager Deng from last time. When he saw Li Linlin coming, he had a bit of a headache. “Three Little Sisters, are you here to sing?”

“Yes.” Chen Xi smiled and nodded to him. “Help me open the largest private room.”

“Okay, wait a moment.” Manager Deng asked the front desk to open a private room for them and personally led them there. “There are snacks and drinks in the store nearby and you can ask the waiter to bring whatever you want to eat. Just report the private room number.”

All three nodded and Manager Deng said with a smile, “Then I won’t disturb you.”

Chen Xi next to him was stunned. Wait, this was different from what was promised!

“Manager Deng.” Chen Xi called out to him. “You’re just…… leaving like this?”

Manager Deng turned around, still smiling. “Is there anything else you need help with? The equipment is adjusted, just put in the song.”

“No.” Chen Xi coughed lightly and blinked at him. “It’s just-, that-……”

“What?” Manager Deng feigned incomprehension.

Chen Xi coughed again and said softly, “We also want little brothers to accompany us.”

Manager Deng: “……”

If he wasn’t mistaken, this girl was President Chen’s cousin. 🙂

The last time Li Linlin came there alone, he had already been warned by President Chen. This time, his cousin was added to the mix. Their establishment wouldn’t be forced to close down, right?

Li Linlin and Wu Hui both stood nearby with blank expressions. They didn’t think that Chen Xi, who was usually such a serious person, was actually thinking about this kind of things.

Chen Xi looked at Manager Deng expectantly, who asked stiffly, “I wonder if you know anyone?”

Chen Xi turned to look at Li Linlin, whose eyelids twitched. Li Linlin tentatively said, “Ann?”

She had only been there once and the only people she knew were Ann and Nick. Considering that Nick might be on a business trip with Madam Qiu, she only gave Ann’s name.

Chen Xi waited for a while, and when she saw that Li Linlin had stopped talking, she said, “That’s it?”

“……That’s it.”

“……” Chen Xi revealed an expression that said ‘you’re too much of a disappointment to Grandma’ and turned around to tell Manager Deng, “How about this, call all the little brothers who are free right now and we’ll choose.”

Manager Deng: “……”

“All right, just a moment.” He went out with a head full of sweat. After a while, Manager Deng opened the private room door and led six young handsome men in.

“Excuse us.”

Tall and handsome little brothers walked in and Chen Xi’s eyes instantly lit up.

She turned her head and whispered to Li Linlin, “I finally experienced the joy of emperors flipping name plates in ancient times.”

Li Linlin: “……”

Manager Deng asked with a smile, “Who do you like better?”

Chen Xi looked at the six little brothers in front of her and said to Manager Deng, “Since they’re all here, then just let them stay, how disrespectful to make people go out again.”

Li Linlin: “……”

Xixi, please put on some clothes^[1]control yourself!!!

The sweat on Manager Deng’s forehead was literally dripping down. Fortunately, he was careful and selected a few of the most moderate guys to come over.

“Don’t persuade them to drink, understand?” Manager Deng whispered in Ann’s ear.

In their line of work, the commission mainly depends on the drinks ordered by the costumers. If the costumers didn’t drink, the commission they could get was actually very little. But Ann still nodded, indicating that he understood.

After Manager Deng exited, Li Linlin quickly put on a few songs and started singing with Wu Hui in order to avoid embarrassment. Chen Xi called the store and ordered a lot of food and drinks, choosing the most expensive ones.

“Is it true that the more we spend, the higher your commission will be?” Chen Xi asked the little brother next to her.

The little brother smiled, his voice particularly magnetic, “Even if you don’t spend money, I’ll be happy to accompany you.”

“Gee——” Chen Xi cupped her face. “Linlin, they have such sweet mouths!”

Li Linlin: “……”

She didn’t want to pay attention to Chen Xi.

Chen Xi went to ask the little brother next to her again, “Wouldn’t it be more expensive to order wine?”

Although she didn’t plan to drink, she could order some to increase the other party’s income.

Ann said from the side, “Henry had gastrointestinal bleeding recently and cannot drink alcohol.”

The little brother next to Chen Xi glanced at Ann and spoke, “Ann also had gastrointestinal bleeding and cannot drink alcohol.”

“……Ah, you should pay attention to your health.” Chen Xi dispelled the idea of ​​ordering some wine.

After Li Linlin and Wu Hui finished singing a song, Ann took the initiative to pick up the microphone and put in a happy birthday song for Li Linlin. The little brothers in the private room sang along with him and wished Li Linlin a happy birthday together.

Li Linlin’s heart was pounding. She’s really happy!

“Linlin, your phone’s ringing.” Chen Xi handed over Li Linlin’s bag.

Li Linlin took out her phone and looked at the screen, and immediately shouted, “Silence everyone!”

“……” The various sounds in the private room stopped abruptly and even the music was paused by Wu Hui.

“What’s wrong?” Wu Hui’s nerves were a little weakened as she was startled.

Li Linlin said, “Brother Yiran is calling!”