For the general public who are passive observers on the internet, their impressions of celebrities only come from trending topics. Whatever marketing accounts say, that's what they remember.
For example, at the beginning of the year, there seemed to be some kind of talent show, and when it reached the finale, the trending topics were completely dominated. Scrolling down the list, no one recognized any names, but several exploded in popularity, seeming to be very hot.
After that, fans were always being reposted by marketing accounts, and other shows tried to ride on someone's popularity but did it too obviously and were discovered by the public, also becoming popular for a while. Those few copycat talent shows were mocked by the public for a couple of days.
And now, those names that dominated the rankings at the beginning of the year are back again.
#YeXingReturnsToChina#
#RandomEntertainmentTrainees#
#ReturningForMiddleSchoolExams#
#CharteredFlightHome#
#SangMoReadingAtAirport#
These seemingly unrelated trending topics are actually all about the same thing - the Random Entertainment junior high trainees who were training overseas have returned to China because they need to take their middle school exams.
These trending topics occupying top positions attracted many casual observers, all asking who they were.
"Speechless, you'd think they were some important figures if you didn't know better."
"It's laughable that returning for middle school exams is worthy of a trending topic."
"The Chinese entertainment industry has really gotten boring if anything can trend."
"I must be getting old, I don't recognize any of them."
But most celebrity followers know who they are, after all, they've been constantly breaking out of their "circle" since last year, making it hard not to know them.
In the topic threads, casual observers are criticizing with hands on hips, saying all sorts of things. Only the fans are acting humble, apologizing in the comments that don't understand, hoping people will be understanding, and also stating that the fans don't know why it's trending either.
On their own Weibo accounts, the fans are saying all sorts of things.
"What happened, damn, what happened, Lucky baby! How did you grow so tall?! We couldn't tell from the behind-the-scenes footage at all!"
"I almost didn't recognize you... Handsome guy, who are you?"
"Wow, how did they all change so much?"
"I almost didn't recognize Yao Shuo..."
Random Entertainment updates end-of-month evaluation videos and some behind-the-scenes footage every month, but you can't tell much from the evaluation videos, and the behind-the-scenes footage is delayed. Currently, it's only updated to when the trainees were notified they would be going to Coachella after their second monthly evaluation.
Just yesterday everyone was sighing that they could finally see the videos of them going to Coachella, but today they've already come back.
Because they came back on a chartered flight, they used a different passage, and the fan site photographers could only take pictures from hundreds of meters away.
At first when the preview photos from the airport were released, no one dared to recognize them. They were all wearing hats and masks, and despite it being the height of summer, they were bundled up in windbreakers.
The first one to come out was Yao Shuo, but everyone thought it was Sang Mo. The fan site photographers shouted for a long time, and it wasn't until Yao Shuo took off his mask that everyone recognized it was him.
Afterwards, no matter who came out, they all looked like Sang Mo, but none of them were. Sang Mo came back on his own flight the next day and was even greeted by fans at the airport.
Because they didn't greet Sang Mo on the first day, fans started checking flight information, and then found out that Sang Mo was on a flight arriving in Beijing at 2 pm the next day.
Fans arrived at the airport early in the morning to wait, all unsure to what extent Random Entertainment's protection would go. It was possible that they might have a brain fart and buy a VIP passage for the trainees.
But when everyone saw Random Entertainment's manager standing at the arrival gate, they knew it was settled.
Everyone knows Random Entertainment opposes the culture of greeting and seeing off at airports, so the fans didn't dare to be obvious. They even disguised themselves, casually writing a name on their greeting boards and holding them like that.
Cameras were hidden again and again, afraid of being discovered by the staff.
Those livestreaming for hire didn't care about these things. Fans are afraid of being blacklisted, but they're not.
Early in the morning, they set up their cameras, aimed at the exit, waiting for Sang Mo to return.
Sang Mo, who had just gotten off the plane and was waiting for his luggage, was looking at his error correction book, while beside him, Jiang Juyou was handling "official business".
"Jiang Juyou: I can't do it, teacher, I really can't."
"Jiang Juyou: Teacher, I have social anxiety."
"Jiang Juyou: Teacher, I really can't do it, don't report my name, please."
Jiang Juyou, whose thesis was approved, faced her defense last month. Someone even secretly filmed her defense, but it happened to be the end of spring at that time, and Jiang Juyou had a severe cold. She looked so haggard that it actually resonated with college students.
"Yes, I was just like that during my defense, wishing I could bash my head in."
"I had the flu during my defense, the night before I was still searching if I could blow my nose during the defense."
"After I finished my defense, my advisor messaged me saying I sounded like a singing water buffalo."
Outsiders don't know who she is, but celebrity followers do, especially her group of fans. Seeing the frail-looking Jiang Juyou, they felt even more love for her.
Jiang Juyou was tortured last month, and now it's happening again this month.
After the defense was over, Jiang Juyou was asked if she could give a speech at the college's graduation ceremony. Jiang Juyou refused citing social anxiety, but the teacher only said they'd discuss it further, not giving up.
Now with a week left until the award ceremony, the teacher is tormenting Jiang Juyou again.
"Banban Teacher: Oh come on, what are you afraid of, are you socially anxious at your company too? That's not possible, right? Just treat them like your company employees, or if that doesn't work, treat them like trainees. There's nothing to be afraid of."
Seeing this message, Jiang Juyou held her head in her hands and sighed. Sang Mo next to her heard the sound and looked over. He didn't see the content on the phone, only saw Jiang frowning, looking frustrated and troubled.
Seeing this scene, Sang Mo quietly took out his phone and sent a message to their trainee group chat: "Who understands, I'm really suffocating."
"Pei Luming: ?"
"Yao Shuo: You're off the plane?"
"Gao Xiayu: Hang in there! Don't be nervous!"
"Chen Wu: We don't have our middle school exams until the day after tomorrow!!!"
"Ye Xing: Sang Mo is with Jiang today, right... He's been with Jiang since leaving the dorm, I'd be suffocating too if it were me."
"Pei Luming: That's why I told you to come back yesterday, this is karma for missing your flight yesterday."
"Chen Wu: Hahahahaha it's funny too, how can someone forget the date to return to the country."
"Sang Mo: ..."
"Chi Qiao: I see people online are asking the company why Sang Mo came back separately."
"Pei Luming: Because Sang Mo got the return date wrong and went to the practice room to practice by himself!"
"Sang Mo: ..."
Sang Mo put down his phone and sighed as well.
Jiang Juyou beside him put away her phone, looked at the sighing Sang Mo, patted his shoulder and said, "Study hard, do well on the exam."
She had more to say, which was not to choose a major carelessly like she did.
But this sentence had a different interpretation for Sang Mo. He thought it meant that if he didn't do well on the exam, he wouldn't be able to debut in the future, after all, Random Entertainment places quite a bit of importance on academics.
Sang Mo, whose shoulder was patted, stiffened for a moment. The words turned in his mouth several times, but in the end, because he couldn't pick out appropriate ones, he only nodded.
After the luggage came out, Jiang Juyou pulled up the suitcase and said to Sang Mo, "There are staff waiting outside, they'll send you back in a while. I'll go first, good luck."
"Goodbye, Jiang." Sang Mo, who had kept his mouth shut for several hours, finally opened it. He bowed stiffly.
Sang Mo, who was afraid of teachers, even stood in place pretending to be busy for a while after getting his luggage to keep his distance from Jiang Juyou, estimating that Jiang had walked far away before going out.
He thought there might be fans waiting at the airport, so Sang Mo even tidied up his hair before going out, but when he went out, he didn't see anyone, not even noticing anyone with a camera.
"..."
Meanwhile, Jiang Juyou, surrounded by livestreamers, fans, and onlookers:
"Jiang jie, can I join Random Entertainment when I graduate next year?"
"Hahaha Jiang jie she's Sang Mo's fan, remember her face and don't let her in!"
"Get lost!"
"Jiang jie, I'm not asking for much, just a three-month internship is fine, even a position where I can't see the artists is okay, I really need an internship certificate!"
"Then I'll apply for a cleaning job, I saw online that Random Entertainment's cleaners get a monthly salary of 5000!"
They were all questions for Jiang Juyou, but they didn't leave her any room to interject. Jiang Juyou opened her mouth several times but couldn't successfully say anything.
There were too many people surrounding her, and it seemed even those chasing Sang Mo had come to her. Jiang Juyou really wanted to tell them that Sang Mo was behind them, to disperse the attention, but for the sake of protecting the trainees, she forcibly swallowed her words.
The trainees had just returned, taken a test, and after staying for only two days, they went back to training.
Meanwhile, Jiang Juyou, who remained in the country, became a source of entertainment for fans to pass the time.
"Title: Gossip Discussion / Tomorrow Hangover Cure will be giving a speech at their school, is anyone going?"
"As the title says ~ I want to go, I've already borrowed a student card from a friend, planning to go see Hangover Cure tomorrow."
Comments section:
"I always forget that Jiang Juyou is a university student."
"Can you ask her if Random Entertainment is hiring interns? Please, I really need it!"
"Ask her when they're going to start filming the debut battle!!!"
"Can we do this? I also have a friend who goes to the same school as Hangover Cure. Wait, I'm going to borrow a student card too!"
"I'm in the same college as Hangover Cure, who understands my feelings."
"There are so many people in our group who can be connected to Hangover Cure in roundabout ways, like my ex-boyfriend dated the senior of her roommate."
Jiang Juyou, sitting in the car, skillfully opened her social media platform and browsed through the hot posts that appeared on the forum last night.
Seeing her nickname, Jiang Juyou could even manage a calm smile, and mused to herself: I've really grown, I don't even shake when reading these kinds of posts anymore.
"Would you shake at this one?" The usually quiet system suddenly spoke up, not only speaking but even displaying text in front of Jiang Juyou's eyes.
Jiang Juyou stared at the words "Cong Lixia" for a few seconds, then looked at the text beside it: "What?"
She opened the file sent by the system, which seemed to be a contract.
The content of the contract was blurred, but above it appeared a text panel, asking her: [Do you want to take over Random Entertainment?]
[Yes] or [Think about it]
"What does this mean?" Jiang Juyou said this, but her hand was already moving towards [Yes].
In the past, she would have waited for the system to explain before making a choice, but now she had become unconditionally trusting of the system.
At the same time, someone who happened to be checking Random Entertainment's corporate information noticed something different from usual.
They immediately opened a new thread on the forum.
While waiting for the system's answer, Jiang Juyou casually refreshed the page and saw a new post with no responses at the top:
"Title: Gossip Discussion / Holy shit Random Entertainment's equity has changed!!! Jiang Juyou has become the absolute controlling shareholder!"
Jiang Juyou: ?
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