Chapter 70

Chapter Seventy

Actually, Chi Tuo’s reflex arc still hadn’t fully come back. On the first day An Ye said she’d try, Chi Tuo, with the turtle drawn on his face, kept nagging at An Ye until he eventually fell asleep without even realizing when.

An Ye didn’t really remember either.

After saying she’d try, she only had a fleeting romantic thought when she pressed her finger against his face; after that, she relaxed, chatting randomly and aimlessly. Later, Chi Tuo began telling her about legal knowledge, explaining whether things signed in writing while drunk had any legal effect.

It turned out to be quite complicated—they talked back and forth for over an hour.

Then An Ye fell asleep.

She woke again because her watch kept vibrating. She glanced at the time—just past eight in the morning. The incoming call showed Qi Wei.

Chi Tuo lay beside her, before sleeping last night probably half holding her, and all night hadn’t moved. Meanwhile, An Ye’s sleeping posture was average—her head already about eight hundred meters away from him, legs still resting on his.

He was sleeping very deeply, completely relaxed.

Watching him, An Ye remembered how last night he had been afraid she’d deny everything after sobering up, and her heart softened again.

The watch vibrated again.

An Ye quietly slipped out of bed, tiptoeing out of the room while holding her breath.

Chi Tuo let out a very soft snore; when An Ye closed the door, the corner of her mouth was smiling.

“Hello.” She walked to the balcony and answered the call.

“Ancestor, finally you answered!” Qi Wei almost shouted, “I’ve been calling you for ten minutes!”

“What’s up?” An Ye wrapped in a blanket sat in the rocking chair Chi Tuo had placed on the balcony.

This guy really knew how to enjoy himself; there was even a small tea table on the balcony.

“You know the show ‘Star Treasure Hunt Stage,’ right?” Qi Wei spoke very fast. “Damn, Huan Zhou really doesn’t act like a big company. Your contract still lacks two variety show appearances—one is a season-long resident reality show, the other is a guest spot. I was planning to find you something related to movie promotion after you finished filming, but Huan Zhou called me this morning, asking you to come as an emergency.”

An Ye was stunned: “What?”

‘Star Treasure Hunt Stage’ is a celebrity quiz show on Bai Gang Satellite TV, airing weekend afternoons, simulcast online and on TV. Because the director insists on no scripts for the stars and it’s live, the questions aren’t very professional—mostly common knowledge like national capitals, or showing photos of celebrities to instantly name them, or basic everyday questions like the multiplication table or chemical formula for water. The highlight is the stars’ live reactions. Many celebrities with ‘intellectual’ or ‘scholar’ images have flopped on this show.

An Ye normally wouldn’t accept such an unscripted variety show.

Her live responses were always terrible, usually just “oh, hi, thanks, really?” with some chuckles.

“This afternoon’s Lantern Festival special, they want you as a challenger guest,” Qi Wei continued at lightning speed. “This is my fault. I’m downstairs in Chi Lawyer’s underground parking lot. Come down directly, we’ll talk in the car.”

Before leaving, An Ye sneaked a look at Chi Tuo—he was still sleeping soundly. Afraid he’d wake up and think she’d run off, she left a sticky note on the fridge saying she had filming this afternoon.

This sudden variety guest spot was strictly speaking a mess left by Yan Wan that Qi Wei hadn’t caught. She had never managed a star of An Ye’s level before. Previously, their cooperation was mainly PR work, and only this month had she gradually begun taking on job bookings.

‘Treasure Hunt Stage’ was originally booked by Yan Wan for Qing Ze, who had studied world geography for a month for the show. But his own travel variety show got delayed a week due to a resident cast member’s appendicitis, making it impossible for him to come back in time for the filming, which was at the finale stage.

‘Treasure Hunt Stage’ was live, so no blank spots were allowed. The production pressure went onto Huan Zhou.

Their request was reasonable—since Qing Ze couldn’t participate, Huan Zhou just needed to find someone with a similar schedule and star level to replace him.

If An Ye hadn’t terminated her contract, they wouldn’t have asked her.She made Huan Zhou unhappy. Huan Zhou couldn’t do much openly, but secretly throwing obstacles at her was just a matter of raising a hand.

Huan Zhou reported An Ye’s name.

And only after the show’s mysterious guest silhouette announcement was released did Qi Wei get notified.

Qi Wei held this already settled variety show invitation, with only two choices: either find a celebrity of similar level to An Ye to fill in, or have An Ye take the spot herself.

The satellite TV director team wasn’t someone their still-immature star studio could afford to offend.

Qi Wei had no other option.

After all, An Ye’s contract was still with Huan Zhou, and they had indeed agreed that before leaving she would participate in two variety shows, with the revenue split still following the original contract.

Qi Wei was especially busy in the nanny van. She received this news just after 7 a.m. today, with only six hours until the live broadcast. She had to use every minute wisely, and also explain the entire show process to An Ye.

“Your common knowledge is fine. If you get the capital or celebrity guesses wrong, it’s whatever—anyway you’re not selling a genius image. Just remember, if you mess up two times in a row, just give some wildly wrong answers to make the show interesting,” Qi Wei repeated. “Xiao Lan, have you contacted the external experts?”

Xiao Lan was calling through a list, sweat beading on her temples: “Lantern Festival... so far I’ve only reached one agriculture expert...”

“Then it’s the agriculture expert,” Qi Wei decided immediately. Then she instructed An Ye, “You’ve seen this show, right? The only somewhat professional questions come with a chance for external help. If the agriculture expert is reachable, I’ll report an agricultural question to you...”

“Don’t be too nervous,” An Ye felt Qi Wei’s speaking speed was almost rapping, and patted her hand. “It’s just a twenty-minute challenger live broadcast, with six main question categories. I’m not planning to win and become a regular. Worst case, they just call me an idiot. That image won’t affect my acting jobs.”

She really wasn’t nervous at all: “I remember only four or five guests won the challenger match in a year. It’s fine, I won’t get any attention from this kind of show.”

Her knowledge reserve was mediocre; if asked how to kill someone, she might even answer more smoothly.

Being able to quickly dodge one variety show, she felt quite lucky—it was better than being forced to climb or dive in the dead of winter.

Still, watching Lan Yifang sweating profusely trying to contact an agriculture expert, she felt a little uneasy. This was Lan Yifang’s first time doing this kind of task, and she was so rushed and flustered. Every time this girl took on an emergency job, mistakes happened.

But An Ye resisted the urge to tell Qi Wei to keep a closer eye on Lan Yifang.

They all had to move forward; everyone needed to grow. Lan Yifang shouldn’t just be her personal assistant.

If mistakes happened, she would find a way to cover them.

“Sister An,” just before going on stage, Lan Yifang ran over, sweat pouring down her face, “That expert’s last name is Liu. You can call him Professor Liu. I’ve got the phone contact, the director has been informed, everything’s ready!”

She was proud to have completed a task independently for the first time.

An Ye smiled at her and ruffled her hair.

Earlier in the makeup room, she had seen her former stylist Xiao Yang, a Yan Wan person. After their eyes met, Xiao Yang gave a rather awkward smile.

“Why is Xiao Yang here?” An Ye quietly asked Qi Wei.

Qi Wei was communicating with the new stylist about how An Ye’s performance outfit was too big, and paused when she heard the question: “She left Huan Zhou, it’s pretty tight. Yan Wan originally assigned her to Qing Ze, but the transfer order never came through, and Yan Wan disappeared. Qing Ze refused to take anyone from Yan Wan, so she lost the job.”

An Ye glanced again at Xiao Yang’s back but said nothing.

She knew Xiao Yang secretly informed Yan Wan about her on set, and that Yan Wan had a bunch of photos of her acting on set, all taken by Xiao Yang.

Later Xiao Yang left, probably thinking An Ye was truly crazy.

An Ye smiled.

Thinking back before Chi Tuo came along, she really had been living quite passively.She actually knew everything she needed to know, she was just too lazy to act on it. If it weren’t for Chi Tuo printing all of it out into a thick stack and throwing it at her, she really wouldn’t have realized that enduring once, twice, over five years would pile up into something so thick.

“What’s wrong?” Qi Wei finally finished discussing An Ye’s styling issues with the stylist and nervously looked down to ask.

“Nothing.” An Ye shook her head.

The backstage of a live broadcast always felt like a battlefield; now she couldn’t even see Xiao Yang’s shadow.

“Teacher An, it’s your turn.” The show assistant came over and whispered, “I’ll take you over.”

An Ye stood up.

“Tell Xiao Lan to stop spinning around.” An Ye handed her phone to Qi Wei, watching Lan Yifang behind her spinning like a top. “It’s only twenty minutes, but she’s about to burn a hole in the floor with her feet.”

Xiao Lan laughed softly from behind and took An Ye’s phone to keep spinning.

Before going on stage, An Ye cheerfully gave her a victory sign.

An Ye smiled as she walked onto the stage. Amid the applause from the live audience, she thought about Lan Yifang, who always awkwardly smiled—when did she start becoming this hardworking?

These past few months, with Chi Tuo returning and the contract termination beginning, many things had quietly changed.

The emotions suppressed for ten years were also quietly breaking through the surface.

An Ye gave the host a standard smile, looked at the answer card the host held, and took a deep breath.

Second to last.

She told herself.

After finishing this one, she would only have one last variety show related to Huan Zhou left.

This was truly a countdown full of hope.

There were six main categories. An Ye really answered just as she had discussed with Qi Wei in the nanny van—mediocre performance. She solved simple mental arithmetic questions within the standard time, got one capital city question wrong—but cleverly so, the kind of mistake everyone easily overlooks. For the celebrity guessing questions, she recognized all the collaborators, but missed one singer and one host. She smiled on camera, stood up, bowed, and thanked the two teachers perfectly and formally. The live broadcast effect was very standard and proper.

Qi Wei bit her nails, watching the live comments.

Huan Zhou would definitely have someone manipulate the show’s rhythm, and she already had a contingency plan for that. But when the comments really started criticizing An Ye for being too fake, she began to feel anxious.

After all, the name An Ye appearing in public view was really quite fake.

Especially so standard and proper.

No buzz, no quick wit.

The commercial value would be relatively low.

If she only relied on acting skills, she was always worried that An Ye’s method of immersing herself in roles was too draining.

An Ye had already moved on to the idiom word-chain game, but at first, she made a mistake—a mistake with no real effect.

It wasn’t even funny.

Qi Wei kept biting her nails.

She wondered how to shape An Ye’s public image—would she resist showing too much in front of the camera?But with this kind of show performance, from now on, the only way to get variety shows is really to build fame through acting skills.

“What’s going on?!” Suddenly a shout came from backstage. “How can such a thing be messed up! Are you a newbie?!”

Qi Wei turned her head.

The director’s assistant was wearing an earpiece and furiously scolding Lan Yifang.

“Can’t get through!” The director was collapsing. “The phone number you gave doesn’t connect! Don’t you have any other backup plans?!”