NOVEL NEXT Chapter 10
Chapter 10: Mu Sheng Sabotages the Talent Agent
Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Mu Sheng curled up on the couch and slept until the night since the temperature was perfect and the blanket was warm and made her sleepy.
Li Hanchen was sitting on the couch nearby looking at some documents.
In reality, he had another important meeting today, but he inexplicably felt reluctant to leave now that their room felt warm and pleasing.
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Mu Sheng moved on the couch and the wooden blanket slipped.
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Li Hanchen raised his eyes and glanced at her before lowering them again.
However, he stood up half a minute later to walk up to Mu Sheng and pulled up the blanket to place it on her.
Mu Sheng looked completely different when she was asleep. The coldness on her face had disappeared, and she looked soft and warm. Li Hanchen could not help looking at her flawless face.
Mu Sheng’s eyes moved, so Li Hanchen veered his eyes, put down the woolen blanket, and sat back down.
“What time is it?” Mu Sheng opened her eyes and saw Li Hanchen going through documents.
“It’s 8:00 pm.”
“I see.” Mu Sheng sat up with the woolen blanket wrapped around her shoulders. “Is there anything to eat?”
“Auntie Li saved you dinner.”
“Then I’m heading down to eat. I’m a little hungry,” said Mu Sheng as she stood up and headed out.
Li Hanchen’s hand moved slightly as he held a pen, but he ended up saying nothing.
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——
Ruan Yingying had been making headlines on Weibo these past two days.
Everyone looked forward to the program when they found out the feminine Ruan Yingying was unexpectedly a skiing expert.
Ruan Yingying was the main artist that Talent Scout Entertainment was marketing this year, and the company had hoped she would become a superstar.
A well-thought-out marketing strategy was done for the show. They started by promoting Ruan Yingying as a provincial athlete before using Mu Sheng to make Ruan Yingying look good. Finally, they would market Ruan Yingying as a kind and loving bandleader.
Ruan Yingying would end up becoming a ski expert who was good-natured and thoughtful to her band members.
They had spread the ski photos all over the internet in the last two days.
Tonight, posts would be made online to compare Ruan Yingying and Mu Sheng.
[Ruan Yingying is multi-talented and even won the role as the female lead in Director Yang’s latest project. I don’t understand why Sunny didn’t become a hit with such a brilliant bandleader.]
[Isn’t it obvious? Although Su Tao and Chen Jiao are average, they are passable. Look at Mu Sheng. She is burdening the entire band. The only thing she is good at is being bossy.]
Similar posts were made online everywhere, accompanied by screenshots of Mu Sheng doing badly on programs and burdening the band.
Since the paid posts were done by people with a lot of clout, they swiftly caused an online furor when they were released.
[Tsk tsk tsk. Even non-fans feel sorry about Ruan Yingying when it comes to Mu Sheng. What wrong did she commit in her past life to get dragged down by Mu Sheng? I hate to say this, but she should go solo ASAP.]
[No matter how talented Ruan Yingying is, she will get held back by Mu Sheng. Sigh. I don’t understand how someone like Mu Sheng managed to cheat her way into Sunny.]
[Sigh! I feel so bad for Yingying! Mu Sheng should leave the entertainment industry! She is ruining the band and I feel so annoyed just by the sight of her.]
Yang Tao kept monitoring the online comments. He was happy when fans started asking for Ruan Yingying to go solo and for Mu Sheng to leave the band.
Sunny was created by Talent Scout Entertainment last year, and the management had already decided to stop promoting the band and have Ruan Yingying go solo.
Since Sunny was created through fan voting, the fans would get upset if it was suddenly disbanded.
From the looks of it now, it was the perfect opportunity for Ruan Yingying to go solo without hurting the company now that her fans were demanding it.
He just needed Mu Sheng to take the fall.
However, Yang Tao could not help feeling guilty when he recalled Mu Sheng’s astounding performance at the ski track the other day.
Since the producer of the program refused to remove Mu Sheng’s shots, he could not force them to do it. He had no choice but to get Mu Sheng to do it.
Yang Tao pondered before he picked up the phone to call Mu Sheng.
The workers had installed the floor heating in Mu Sheng’s room earlier in the afternoon, so the room was now warm. Mu Sheng was dressed in her pajamas and sitting on the couch.
Mu Sheng was about to go to bed after applying a mask when the phone rang. She checked the caller ID and saw that it was Yang Tao calling.
Mu Sheng answered the phone.
Yang Tao’s attitude was poles apart from his usual behavior. “Hi, Sheng! Did you go to bed yet?”
“What’s up?” Mu Sheng sounded so cold that it left Yang Tao trembling a little.
“I have something to discuss with you.” Yang Tao smiled dryly. “The company wants to groom you and has made plans to promote you online.”
“So?”
“You are going to be a hit.” Just as Mu Sheng expected, Yang Tao cut to the chase. “But you made a mistake.”
“Go on.” Mu Sheng held the phone as she slid under the blanket. Now that there was floor heating in her room, it was nice and warm.
“The company wants to create a feminine image for you. You know how it is. It’s easier to promote you online with an image. However, the skiing you did on the recent program doesn’t fit the image, so I suggest you talk to the producer and request for your shots to get removed. That way, it will help with the image we want to create for you.”
Even Yang Tao found this a little farfetched as he spoke, but Mu Sheng was always stupid, so he could only hope that Mu Sheng did not understand what he was saying.
“Sorry. I had a bad signal earlier. What were you saying?” Mu Sheng recorded the conversation as she spoke.
Yang Tao could only repeat himself.
“Sure.” Much to Yang Tao’s surprise, Mu Sheng was incredibly decisive.
“Really?!” Yang Tao could not suppress his joy.
“Uh huh. I will do like you asked. Remember to promote me online.” Mu Sheng’s lips curved upwards slightly before she stopped the recording. “I really want to be famous.”
“Don’t worry! We have already come up with a marketing strategy to make you a superstar!” assured Yang Tao as he thought about what a fool Mu Sheng was.
Mu Sheng hung up the phone and saved the recording before putting her phone aside to turn off the lights.
Li Hanchen and Li An were already at the dining table when Mu Sheng went down the next day.
“Morning.” Li An smiled with his pearly whites showing to Mu Sheng.
“Hmm? Why are you up so early?” Mu Sheng was dressed in a black wool sweater which accentuated her fair complexion.
“Oh god.” Li An’s face crumpled. “I woke up because it was freezing. It feels as though the temperature got even colder today.”
“Didn’t we just install floor heating?” Mu Sheng felt puzzled.
Li An opened his eyes wide and looked at Mu Sheng before glancing at Li Hanchen speechlessly.
“Big Bro!”
Li Hanchen calmly set aside the newspaper. “We don’t have enough money.”
“Fine.” Li An knew that the Li family could not wait for them to die outside. Since they kept cutting their allowance, Li Hanchen barely had any money left.
Li An forgave his brother for being biased towards Mu Sheng. Since she was a woman, it was natural for Li Hanchen to prioritize the heating in her room.
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If Qin Kai was around, he would have looked at Li An with great pity.
After all, there would not be a single rich man on Earth if Li Hanchen was not considered wealthy.
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Li Hanchen did not install floor heating in Li An’s room purely because he did not want him to secretly play video games late at night. Considering how cold it was now, Li An would get cold after spending a few minutes in front of his computer.
Mu Sheng glanced at Li Hanchen when she heard this.
The Li family gave Li Hanchen a $20,000 monthly allowance, but he was willing to fork out money and install floor heating in her room, so Mu Sheng felt Li Hanchen did not look as uncaring as he seemed.
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Li An went to school after breakfast.
Just as Mu Sheng was about to go upstairs, her phone rang with a moving ballad as its ringtone.
Li Hanchen raised his head from the table to glance before veering his eyes somewhat coldly.
Mu Sheng was so disgusted by the ballad that she shuddered.
In her memory, the original owner of the body had written the song for Li Ming, so the lyrics were all about her relentless love for him.
Mu Sheng pressed answer and Li Ming’s voice came from the phone. “Sheng, what are you doing now?”
“What do you want?” Mu Sheng headed upstairs.
The temperature around Li Hanchen instantly turned cold as though he was surrounded by ice while he watched Mu Sheng leave, so Auntie Li did not dare to come close to the dining table.
Li Ming frowned with annoyance in his eyes. However, he pretended to sound gentle over the phone. “Sheng, you misunderstood me. Can you give me the chance to explain myself?”
Mu Sheng frowned as she listened to Li Ming’s pretentious loving tone. She found it unfathomable why the original owner of the body would fall for a b*stard like him. She was certainly a stupid woman who was blinded by love.
“No thanks,” Mu Sheng rejected decisively. “Also, stop calling me that. Strictly speaking, I am your sister-in-law. People might think you are ill-bred if you call me that.”
“Huh?” Li Ming wanted to say more but Mu Sheng had already hung up on him.
Li Ming frowned. “Damn it.”
Mu Sheng used to be a pushover. What had gotten into her now? Why did she refuse to listen to him?
He thought about the delicate, frail, and tearful Mu Xiao, and his eyes gradually looked merciless. Regardless of what Mu Sheng was playing, she was incapable of escaping him.
Although Mu Sheng had agreed to tell the production team to cut her from the show, Yang Tao was worried that Mu Sheng was lying.
He finally felt assured when he saw the preview on the program’s social media account.
Mu Sheng did not appear in a single frame.
The viewers instantly went into an uproar when they saw the clip.
After all, the clips of Ruan Yingying skiing were simply too exciting!