The next morning, Tui Buliu arranged a meeting with Zhou Mu Yang’s manager, Meng Lingya.

At ten in the morning, a woman in an off-white suit entered the Wutong Square Café. She paused for a moment when she saw the handsome man by the window. “It’s you?”

Tui Buliu looked up, a bit surprised. “Meng, do you know me?”

“Not exactly,” Meng Lingya sat down in front of Tui Buliu, casually pushing her curly hair behind her shoulder, and said lightly, “But given how famous you are online, it’s hard not to know of you.”

Tui Buliu didn’t mind the sarcasm in her words and remained calm. “I trust you won’t be swayed by outside rumors.”

“Go on,” Meng Lingya crossed her arms, seemingly uninterested in small talk. “You went through all this trouble to meet me, what’s the matter?”

Tui Buliu said, “I saw Zhou Mu Yang on set yesterday. He seems easygoing, sunny, confident, and very talented.”

“Of course,” Meng Lingya’s eyes showed obvious pride. “Mu Yang is new to the industry, but he’s excellent in every way. Our company has high hopes for him.”

Tui Buliu nodded and continued, “He even asked me to vote for him, saying he must debut in the C position in the competition.”

“That’s just like him,” Meng Lingya chuckled, her tone full of confidence. “Since Mu Yang is in the competition, he must aim for the best.”

“Oh?” Tui Buliu raised an eyebrow, finally getting to the point. “But I’ve heard that the C position is already predetermined.”

Meng Lingya’s face darkened. “Who told you that?”

“Who said it isn’t important. What’s important is whether it’s true.” Tui Buliu raised his hand slightly. “If you don’t believe it, you can verify it through your channels.”

Meng Lingya took out her phone and stepped aside to make a call.

As the call continued, her expression grew increasingly grim, and her brows furrowed.

After hanging up, Meng Lingya sat back down, the chair scraping loudly against the floor.

Tui Buliu: “Confirmed?”

Meng Lingya took a deep breath, and when she looked up again, her eyes were serious. “What do you know?”

“I know a lot, but I can’t tell you everything.” Tui Buliu looked up, speaking slowly. “I want to talk to someone who can make decisions.”

Meng Lingya frowned for a while, then got up to make another call. Before long, she seemed to have reached an agreement and handed the phone to Tui Buliu.

Tui Buliu took it, and a young, cool voice came through.

“Hello, I’m Zhou Jue, Zhou Mu Yang’s uncle, and the president of Zhou Entertainment.” After a two-second pause, the voice continued, “Do I qualify to talk with you?”

“Of course,” Tui Buliu laughed. “It’s an honor to speak with President Zhou.”

“Great, I’ll have my secretary arrange a time.”

Zhou Jue was efficient and immediately scheduled a lunch meeting, which Tui Buliu accepted. It was well-known that the Zhou Group cherished Zhou Mu Yang, and now it seemed true.

The lunch was set at a private restaurant, and when Tui Buliu arrived, Zhou Jue was already there.

In a Chinese-style private room filled with ancient charm, a young man in a gray suit was making tea. He wore gold-rimmed glasses, holding a purple clay teapot, his features hidden in the white mist, calm and elegant, like a classical painting.

The man looked up at the sound of movement and naturally handed over a cup of tea. “This is a new Min You Oolong from my tea garden this year. See if you like it.”

Tui Buliu took the teacup, sniffed it, and took a sip before saying, “The tea is golden, smooth, with a sweet aftertaste and a rich floral aroma. It’s good tea.”

“If you like it, I’ll have my assistant pack a box for you to take home.” Zhou Jue waved his hand, and the assistant left to get the tea, leaving only the two of them in the room.

Tui Buliu didn’t bother with small talk and went straight to the point. “You agreed to meet me, so you must have some clues.”

Zhou Jue didn’t fall for it and pushed the question back. “It’s not about clues, but I care about this matter.”

Tui Buliu raised an eyebrow.

“Mu Yang is the youngest in our Zhou family and has been spoiled since childhood,” Zhou Jue spoke slowly, with an obvious affection. “But he’s young and simple-minded. Now that he’s in a talent show, as an elder, I naturally have to handle things outside the competition for him.”

Tui Buliu: “Outside the competition?”

“Isn’t that why you’re here?” Zhou Jue looked up, smiling slightly. “Rumors can’t convince me. I need substantial evidence.”

Tui Buliu was silent for a moment before saying, “I have a recording.”

Zhou Jue raised an eyebrow, his expression becoming serious.

Tui Buliu played a recording on his phone, and Xu Zhitang’s voice came through.

[It was Lin Zheng who instructed me! He told me to find someone to teach Hui Ji a lesson! Why? Because Hui Ji was blocking Lin Su’s path… The boss invested billions in the variety show and must have the young master debut in the C position.]

After the recording ended, Zhou Jue’s smile remained, but his eyes grew colder. “Is this all?”

Tui Buliu: “You can verify it. The speaker is Lin Zheng’s driver, Xu Zhitang.”

“Why are you telling me this?” Zhou Jue looked at him, eyes full of inquiry. “What’s your purpose?”

“Lin Zheng had my artist beaten up, so naturally, I don’t want them to get away with it.” Tui Buliu said directly, “But my personal ability is limited, so I’m looking for someone powerful to deal with him.”

“So you came to me?” Zhou Jue looked at him for two seconds and then laughed. “But how can you be sure I’ll deal with Lin Zheng?”

“Everyone knows ‘JUST ME’ has two major advertising sponsors. Your company and the Lin family both invested billions, but now the program group is secretly setting the C position for Lin Su. Doesn’t that seem unfair? If you’re willing to accept it, then why did Zhou invest in the first place? To make a wedding dress for someone else?”

“Moreover, how is Zhou Mu Yang any less than Lin Su?” Tui Buliu’s tone was sincere. “Zhou Mu Yang’s efforts are evident to everyone, but in the end, he’s pushed aside by someone predetermined. He must feel regretful, and even more so, his family, who could have helped him.”

“Who said I won’t help him?” Zhou Jue put down the teacup, his expression turning stern. “No one bullies someone from the Zhou family.”

Tui Buliu slightly bowed. “I wish you success.”

With the Zhou and Lin families competing against each other, they would naturally be less focused on others.

Although the goal hasn’t been fully achieved, at least now Hui Ji won’t be as besieged by the program group as before.

Meanwhile, at the ‘JUST ME’ recording site, the host’s voice came through the microphone.

“Now that each group has selected their performance songs, and the mentors are in place, the performance will take place in three days. I hope everyone achieves their desired results.”

As the words fell, the contestants scattered to find practice rooms.

Hui Ji chose a song with a relatively fast rhythm, and the choreography was moderately difficult, not very friendly to C, D, and E level contestants.

When first assigned to this group, many were a bit afraid of him as the leader, and the atmosphere in the practice room was quite tense.

Hui Ji didn’t mind. He wasn’t there to make friends, as long as his team members did their jobs.

As the leader, Hui Ji was responsible for breaking down and teaching the dance moves. Although there were mentors, they were in charge of two groups at once and couldn’t always be present, so most of the work fell on Hui Ji.

After four hours of training in the afternoon, Hui Ji’s T-shirt was soaked with sweat, revealing his well-defined muscles.

Hui Ji lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face and said, “Let’s take a one-hour break. Teacher Mia will be here for class in the evening, so don’t eat too much.”

“Ah, finally over!”

“Oh my god, I’m exhausted!!”

“I’m so hungry I could eat a whole cow!”

“So tired, let’s rest a bit first.”

Cries of exhaustion echoed as the team members collapsed on the floor of the practice room. Hui Ji picked up his phone and headed to the cafeteria, leaving a tall figure behind.

“Hey, don’t you think,” someone left in the room chatted, “the leader just looks fierce, but he’s actually easier to get along with than we thought.”

“Yeah,” another person nodded, “even though he looks stern, he’s very patient during practice and doesn’t get mad if we learn slowly. Instead, he helps us break down the moves and teaches us the key points.”

“Right,” the person nodded, leaning in mysteriously and whispering, “Sometimes I think he even dances better than the dance teacher.”

“Shh—don’t say things like that. If someone hears, it’ll be trouble.”

“Hmph, look at you bootlickers.” A mocking voice came. “Do you think sucking up to Hui Ji will help you debut?”

The other two looked up, their expressions complicated when they saw the newcomer. “Jiang Yitian, Hui Ji is your senior brother…”

“So what if he’s my senior brother? I’m not relying on him to debut,” Jiang Yitian raised his chin, dismissive. “I just had bad luck being placed in B grade this time, but in the future…”

He wanted to say more, but when he turned around, he found the practice room empty, leaving him talking to himself.

Jiang Yitian: “…”

An hour later, the team members gathered in the practice room again. Hui Ji looked up and noticed someone was missing—Jiang Yitian was absent.

The mentor in charge of them was a bit displeased and told Hui Ji to go find him.

A team member spoke up for Hui Ji, “Mentor, class is about to start…”

“Class or not, he has to go,” the mentor crossed his arms, looking stern. “Hui Ji is the leader and is responsible for the whereabouts of the team members.”

“Okay.” Hui Ji turned and left, searching for Jiang Yitian outside.

He searched around and finally found him in the cafeteria, sitting with Lin Su, a stark contrast to his cold demeanor in the practice room.

“Jiang Yitian,” Hui Ji walked up to him, speaking in a deep voice, “it’s time for class.”

Jiang Yitian glanced at him, speaking sarcastically, “Oh, the leader is here~”

Hui Ji didn’t want to waste words with him. Seeing his lack of cooperation, he directly grabbed his arm. “Let’s go back to class.”

Jiang Yitian pushed him back, and before Hui Ji could react, a smiling person blocked his way.

Lin Su stood in front of Hui Ji. “Isn’t it a bit much to be so hands-on?”

Hui Ji glanced at him, his gaze cold. “Move.”

Lin Su remained unmoved and asked, “I heard your manager is Tui Buliu?”

Hui Ji didn’t respond, but Jiang Yitian eagerly chimed in, “Of course, it’s a perfect match of a rotten pot and a rotten lid. The person you didn’t want, he picked up and treats like a treasure.”

“Don’t say that,” Lin Su frowned, looking a bit worried. “Being managed by someone like that, Hui Ji must have it tough.”

Then, Lin Su changed his tone, speaking slowly, “But Hui Ji, with your potential, you deserve better development. If you’re willing, I can introduce you to a more suitable manager…”

“No need,” Hui Ji interrupted him, his attitude cold and almost merciless. “Tui Buliu is my manager. No matter how lacking he is, it’s not your place to criticize.”

With those words, Lin Su’s smile completely froze.

“And Jiang Yitian,” Hui Ji looked down at him, his tone icy, “if you don’t come back for class, you’re out of my team.”