EFB Chapter 31 A deep-seated hatred of the rich
Chapter 31 A deep-seated hatred of the rich
Zhang Haoming was practicing in front of the mirror how to subtly catch the camera's eye when he heard this, and leaned closer: "Really? Yuji Entertainment is really gone?"
"See for yourself!" Li Xuan shoved the phone in front of him.
That was a screenshot of Zhou Yuji's WeChat Moments. I don't know who took it and posted it in a "Former Yuji Artist Rant Group"—although most people have left the group, there are always a few people who like to watch the drama and are still lurking around.
The accompanying photo is a selfie of Zhou Yuji at the airport, wearing a burgundy jacket and a hiking backpack, laughing carefree.
The message was just one sentence: "Goodbye, everyone. The world is vast, and I want to see it. Rain Girl Entertainment is officially disbanding. Thank you all for your support over the past three years. See you again someday."
Below are a bunch of comments, including sincere blessings from former employees, polite attempts by business partners to retain them, and a few from unknown minor celebrities who posted crying emojis.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Zhang Haoming shook his head, his tone dripping with sourness, "Look at their lives. Even if their company goes bankrupt, they can still travel the world in style. Why? Because their dads are rich! Ordinary people like us would jump off a building if we lost a few tens of thousands of yuan."
Li Xuan scoffed, "She doesn't run a company. She's just playing house! She lost money for two and a half out of three years. If I hadn't run away and signed with Starlight, I'd be starving by now."
He completely forgot that when he said this, Zhou Yuji had never been late with his salary at Yuji Entertainment. In fact, when he proposed to terminate the contract, she even gave him an extra month's salary.
"But speaking of which," Zhang Haoming stroked his chin, his eyes flickering, "what about Wang Bo now that she's gone?"
"Wang Bo?" Li Xuan exclaimed as if he'd heard a joke. "That nobody, the one who sang 'Summer Bubbles'? He's probably worried about next month's rent. With Zhou Yuji gone, who cares about him!"
As the two were talking, Zhang Haoming's phone suddenly started vibrating incessantly—it was one of the entertainment gossip groups he was in.
Upon clicking, I found that it was all about discussions related to the centennial celebration of the provincial university.
"The song 'Once Upon a Time' made me cry!"
"Who is Wang Bo? Is he a newcomer? This scene is amazing!"
"Please dig into Wang Bo's background! How come I've never heard of him before?"
"I need all the information about this man within ten minutes!"
Li Xuan and Zhang Haoming exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes.
"Wang Bo? Is it someone with the same name?" Li Xuan said uncertainly.
Zhang Haoming has already opened the live video shared in the group.
When Wang Bo appeared on screen holding a guitar, both of them widened their eyes simultaneously.
When the first line of "The You of the Past" was sung, Li Xuan dropped the cigarette in his hand onto his thigh, burning him so badly that he yelled and jumped up.
When the video ended, seeing the screen filled with "god-level performance," "song of the year," and "Wang Bo is awesome," and then looking at the radiant Wang Bo standing on stage, so different from the quiet, unknown singer they remembered who always sat in the corner...
The rented room fell into a deathly silence.
After a long pause, Zhang Haoming chuckled twice and said, "This... the audio editing is pretty ruthless."
Li Xuan didn't say anything, but quickly clicked on the trending topics on Weibo.
#TheYouOfThePast# Explosion
#Who is Wang Bo?# trending
#AmazingScenesFromTheProvincialGrandCelebration#Hot
Clicking on the topic reveals a plethora of live videos from various angles, with music critics praising the performances and netizens moved to tears.
Some people are even digging into Wang Bo's past, unearthing his previous songs like "Summer Bubble" and "Midnight Whirlwind"—of course, the comments are unanimously, "Is this really the same person?", "The company is wasting talent!", "What kind of rubbish did he sing before?!"
"This..." Li Xuan stared at his phone, his expression shifting rapidly. "This kid... he's really famous?"
"He just got lucky," Zhang Haoming said sourly. "It's just one song. How long can it stay popular? Three months? Half a year? Once his next song flops, he'll be back to square one. There are plenty of people like that in the entertainment industry who are only famous for a short time."
Despite saying that, he still secretly saved the high-definition photos of Wang Bo performing on stage. After looking at them carefully, he saw that Wang Bo was dressed in a white shirt and black pants, simple and clean, but damn handsome.
Looking at his sallow face in the mirror, ravaged by sleepless nights and anxiety, Zhang Haoming felt an even stronger sense of imbalance.
"You know," Li Xuan suddenly thought of something, his eyes lighting up, "if Zhou Yuji knew that the only artist in her company who didn't run away became famous right after she left... wouldn't she be furious?"
Zhang Haoming perked up: "Definitely! Doesn't she pride herself on being a talent scout? Turns out, a real gem was buried under her watch for three years, and she didn't even realize it! By the time the talent became famous, her company had already closed down. What do you call that? You're blind to talent, you're just unlucky!"
"Yes, yes, yes," Li Xuan rubbed his hands excitedly, "She's just unlucky. She squanders her own money and brings bad luck to the company. Look at us, it was the right thing to leave her early. What future could we have staying in that lousy company?"
The two got more and more excited as they talked, as if by belittling Zhou Yuji and questioning Wang Bo's rise to fame, they could prove how correct their "wise choice" was.
"Wang Bo's current popularity is just that," Li Xuan confidently stated. "Once the hype dies down, he'll have to go back to singing mindless pop songs. Without a team or resources, how far can one person go?"
"Exactly," Zhang Haoming agreed, "And I heard his family isn't well-off. If he becomes famous now, who knows how many bad gigs he'll take to make money, which will only deplete his popularity and make him disappear even faster."
As they talked, they continued to browse various news items about Wang Bo.
Looking at all the praise, seeing Wang Bo shining on stage, and hearing news that "multiple companies have contacted Wang Bo, and a talent war is about to break out"...
The jar of old vinegar in their hearts was completely overturned.
"Why should he..." Li Xuan muttered under his breath, "When he was at the company, he was clearly much worse than me. At least I could dance, what could he do besides sing?"
"And he's not clever either," Zhang Haoming added. "He doesn't know how to get along with people, doesn't know how to flatter his superiors, and doesn't know how to build relationships. How could someone like that become famous? He must have gotten incredibly lucky."
Even so, the two of them coincidentally started following Wang Bo's Weibo account—his follower count was skyrocketing.
Their own Weibo accounts, one with 30,000 followers (29,000 of whom were bought) and the other with 50,000 followers (48,000 of whom were faked), haven't seen any growth in six months.
Lin'an.
Wang Bo has just finished his second commercial performance of the day.
This was the opening ceremony of a local building materials market. The stage was set up in an open-air parking lot, and the sound effects were impressive. Half of the audience consisted of elderly people who came to watch the excitement, while the other half were employees who were asked by the boss to come and make up the numbers.
But Wang Bo sang very seriously.
When the intro to "Once Upon a Time" started, the audience was still making a ruckus, with older folks busy grabbing the small gifts given out during the opening ceremony.
But as his voice came through the dubious sound system, the room gradually quieted down.
Some people put down their plastic bags, some stopped whispering, and some took out their phones to record videos.
By the time the second chorus was sung, quite a few people in the audience were already humming along—even if they were singing off-key, their enthusiasm was genuine.
The performance lasted forty minutes, including two songs and various segments in between.
The organizer, a middle-aged man with a beer belly, warmly shook Wang Bo's hand: "Teacher Wang, you sang so well! My wife was crying in the audience just now. We'll definitely invite you again for our company's annual party!"
"Your wife is thinking about her first love, isn't she?" Wang Bo smiled politely, took the bottled water his assistant handed him, and sipped it to moisten his throat.