Chapter 53: Pacification

"Then let's sign the contract." Zhao Xin took out two copies of the contract from her bag with a beaming smile.

Lin Yi:......

He suddenly felt like going back on his word.

However, compared to total social ruin, Zhao Xin's condition was actually quite favorable.

Besides, how could one become a superstar so easily? Did she think superstars grew on trees?

After carefully reviewing the contract, well, the two parties were on equal footing with no subordinate relationship, and there were no ambiguous clauses. It simply outlined the rights and obligations of both sides.

After reading it twice, Lin Yi finally signed his name in the bottom right corner of the contract.

Seeing Lin Yi sign his name, Zhao Xin wore the triumphant smile of a cunning fox.

"All right!"

"Well, I'll come looking for you in a few days." Zhao Xin put away one copy of the contract and prepared to leave.

"Wait, let me ask you a question."

"Go ahead." Zhao Xin stopped in her tracks and looked back at Lin Yi.

"Do you own any companies?"

"Yes, about a dozen or so. Two of them went bankrupt. Any other questions?"

"No."

The company he was in during his past life was most likely founded by her. No wonder the company boss respected her so much.

Looking at Zhao Xin's retreating figure, Niu Junjie looked envious. Why didn't such a great opportunity of becoming a big star fall on him?

"Lin Yi, you're going to be a big star from now on. You mustn't forget about me!" Niu Junjie sidled up to Lin Yi, throwing an arm around his shoulder and laughing.

Lin Yi turned to look at Niu Junjie. "Do you want to be a big star?"

"Of course! With everyone adoring and surrounding a big star, who wouldn't want to be one?"

"Is that so? But once you become a big star, you lose all your freedom. Wherever you go, people follow you. When you go to the bathroom to pee, the person standing right next to you might just be a paparazzi using a tiny hidden camera to secretly photograph you."

"Is it really that terrifying?" Hearing Lin Yi say this, Niu Junjie was instantly terrified and chilled to the bone. Secretly photographing people while they pee? That was going way too far!

The thought of becoming a big star vanished completely at that moment.

<div>"Would I lie to you?" Lin Yi still remembered in his past life when a female celebrity died, those reporters and paparazzi actually sneaked into the morgue just to get first-hand material. If people could do things like that, what else couldn't they do?

If they wouldn't even spare the deceased, let alone someone who was still alive—wouldn't it be even worse?

"This is way too terrifying! Lin Yi, you've practically thrown yourself into a furnace," Niu Junjie said, lingering fear in his heart.

Just imagining the scenarios Lin Yi described made his hair stand on end!

Lin Yi was completely bewildered. That wasn't right—how did the conversation turn back to him?

What he said was just meant to tell Niu Junjie a fact: being a big star wasn't actually as wonderful as it looked on the surface.

Seeing the worried expressions on his parents' faces, Lin Yi quickly said, "Actually, it's not that serious. Those are just isolated cases. Besides, the contract I signed with her is for a term of three years. Have you ever seen anyone become a big star in just three years?"

Niu Junjie was about to say he had, but under Lin Yi's glaring stare, he swallowed the words back down.

"Once the contract term is up, I won't have to fulfill my obligations anymore. I can do whatever I want then."

"Is that true, son?"

"Here, take a look with Dad." Lin Yi handed the contract from the coffee table to his mother.

Wang Xin read every single word carefully, and upon confirming that what her son said was true, her hanging heart finally settled.

Meanwhile, shortly after leaving Lin Yi's house, Zhao Xin received a phone call.

"Hello, Master."

"Xiaoxin, how did things go?"

"It's done. South Korea's KeyEast company has been acquired by me. Master, why did you want to buy that company?"

"The model in South Korea is worth learning from. Acquiring it will be beneficial for me to send artists there for advanced training and dispatch senior executives to learn from their experience."

"So that's how it is. Master, I'd like to ask you for a favor."

"Go ahead."

"I have an artist..."

"No problem."

...…

Banana Playful Entertainment Co., Ltd.

The handsome young man Gu Jing looked at the feedback on his screen, a trace of gratification flashing across his face. No one who made him angry ever had a good life!

He was going to slowly, slowly watch this stinking rat Lin Yi become a street rat that everyone beat, and eventually perish on the streets.

Just as Gu Jing was feeling smug, a woman pushed the door open and walked in, saying directly to him, "Let's put an end to this matter."

"Why, Mom?" Gu Jing looked at his mother in disbelief.

Didn't his mother always dote on him? Why would she say something like this? Did she stop loving him?

"No why!"

"Tell me the damn reason, Mom. Did something happen?" Gu Jing grabbed Lin Qingying's arm directly and growled in a low voice.

"That woman made a move. Your father and I can't beat her, okay?" Lin Qingying wore a gloomy face, shook off her son's hand, and walked out of the room.

"Which woman?" Gu Jing looked at his mother's retreating figure, his eyes bloodshot, and asked unwillingly.

"Wang Jinghua!"

Hearing this name, Gu Jing turned as pale as a sheet and slumped heavily to the floor.

How could it be this woman?

How did Lin Yi know her?

"Impossible, simply impossible. Lin Yi is just a poor student; how could he know such a big figure? Impossible..."

Netizens suddenly discovered a strange thing: the article they were just browsing had suddenly vanished.

Lin Yi's trending popularity plummeted, dropping from the number one spot on the hot search to outside the top twenty and fifty.

While the netizens were puzzled, the celebrities who had previously posted on Weibo to curse Lin Yi hurriedly deleted their posts and came out to apologize.

This bizarre maneuver left the netizens completely dumbfounded. Just a moment ago they were irreconcilable enemies with Lin Yi, and in the blink of an eye they came out to make up and apologize.

Were they just playing with them for fun?

Lin Yi saw this scene, and Tong Liya, Zheng Kai, and Peng Yuyan saw it too.

While feeling shocked, Peng Yuyan and the others were also secretly guessing what kind of relationship Lin Yi actually had with Sister Hua.

Could it be... Sister Hua had taken Lin Yi under her wing?

"Lin Yi, how do you know Sister Hua? She actually stepped up to help you!" Tong Liya asked curiously.

"It's a long story. It happened like this..." Lin Yi glanced at the power outlet. The charging cable was long enough and wouldn't get disconnected, so he set his mind at ease and explained.

"So that's how it is." Tong Liya smacked her lips.

Sister Hua's disciple wanted to mold Lin Yi into a superstar!

Lin Yi had truly met his benefactors!

Even she couldn't help but envy Lin Yi.

The resources in Wang Jinghua's hands were abundantly overflowing; would her disciple lack resources?

And to think that blockhead Lin Yi actually thought he could just coast through it!

Ha.

"What are you laughing at?" Hearing the demonic laughter from the other end of the phone, Lin Yi asked curiously. What was so funny about this? Why couldn't he get the punchline??

"Laughing at your good luck, Lin Yi. You've struck gold, did you know that?"

"Really?" Lin Yi touched his head. Come to think of it, he really had lucked out. If no one had come out to help him, he, Lin Yi, would have been ruined.

For the rest of this life, he would have carried an undeserved "stigma."

PS: The last update for today! Happy Qixi Festival to all the singles!