At nine in the morning, Yan Xi and Zhou Qingyu arrived at Hai City Airport.
The other three groups of guests had already arrived at the international terminal. Nearby, fans who had come to see them off were being held back by the show's security team.
After joining the main group, Director Yu first asked the guests to introduce themselves in the order they arrived.
The first to arrive were Ye Luoyi and Su Lingling.
"Hello everyone, I'm actress Ye Luoyi. I'm so happy to meet everyone on this show~"
Ye Luoyi smiled and greeted the camera, introducing her petite friend Su Lingling beside her. "This is my best friend Su Lingling. We've known each other for many years~ Now we're participating in the 'Journey' show together~"
Su Lingling also smiled and greeted the camera, "Hello everyone, I'm Su Lingling~"
[Ye Luoyi's best friend! She looks so cute!]
[Of course, beautiful people always hang out together~]
[Her friend looks rich! I just scanned her dress with my phone—it costs 70,000 yuan!]
[You can tell by the fact that they eat at Yanshanju together. Su Lingling must be loaded too~]
Su Lingling was the typical rich girl—naive, somewhat spoiled, and clearly doted on by her family.
She only wore designer clothes when going out, and they had to be the latest season's latest styles. Comfort didn't matter; looking good and fashionable was all that counted. To Su Lingling, the clothes sold on online shopping platforms for a few hundred yuan were trash. She couldn't understand why anyone would wear such things.
This kind of personality created a sense of distance in the entertainment industry, but fortunately, Su Lingling was a wealthy heiress with no ties to showbiz.
Compared to Su Lingling, Ye Luoyi was much more down-to-earth. She rarely wore designer brands on camera, preferring niche labels instead. This was also part of Ye Luoyi's public persona—she cultivated an image of being "calm and unassuming, neither competitive nor aggressive." Despite being a rich second-generation, she was approachable, a persona that easily won over fans.
The second group to arrive was director Jiang Tao and screenwriter Xiao Yu, a married couple.
Facing the camera, both seemed a bit nervous. After all, they were behind-the-scenes workers and rarely appeared in front of the camera.
Jiang Tao and Xiao Yu were somewhat well-known in the industry. Three years ago, they collaborated on a TV drama that became a massive hit, winning numerous awards both domestically and internationally.
With such a high start, their careers should have been smooth sailing. Unfortunately, after the success of that project, they became entangled with capital and began chasing mainstream market trends. As a result, their subsequent works became formulaic, and they flopped three times in a row, leading netizens to mock them as "talentless."
Right now, Jiang Tao and Xiao Yu were at a low point in their careers. The only reason they could join this variety show was because of Jiang Tao's good relationship with Director Yu—they had been bunkmates back in the day.
Yan Xi knew that Jiang Tao and Xiao Yu's slump was temporary. Talented directors and screenwriters were like pearls covered in dust—their current struggles were merely paving the way for future glory. After participating in this show, a male supporting character who liked Ye Luoyi would star in their next project, bringing them funding and reviving their careers.
Later, Jiang Tao and Xiao Yu would direct a movie starring Ye Luoyi, marking her transition from TV dramas to films. That low-budget movie would become a box office hit, winning numerous awards, and Ye Luoyi would successfully claim the title of Best Actress.
So, while Jiang Tao and Xiao Yu seemed like insignificant side characters in the show, they were actually tools for the protagonist's rise to fame. Their appearance in the program was simply a plot device to give Ye Luoyi this opportunity.
The third group to arrive was actor Qin Li and athlete Kang Boye, who were cousins.
Qin Li was one of the male supporting characters in the novel. This story had a "harem" tag, and many of the male characters were infatuated with Ye Luoyi—Qin Li was no exception.
On this show, Qin Li would meet Jiang Tao and become the male lead in Jiang Tao's next project. After the drama's success, Qin Li would rise to fame and frequently interact with Ye Luoyi. They would even co-star in Jiang Tao's movie.
Their frequent interactions would often make Pei Yubai jealous, indirectly advancing the relationship between Ye Luoyi and Pei Yubai.
As for Kang Boye, he was even more of a background character than Yan Xi. The novel barely mentioned him, and Yan Xi only knew that he was an impressive swimmer who would later win two gold medals at the Olympics.
After the first three groups introduced themselves, it was finally Zhou Qingyu and Yan Xi's turn.
Zhou Qingyu rarely appeared on variety shows and had no sense of how to entertain on camera. Facing the lens, she mechanically introduced herself, "Hello everyone, I'm actress Zhou Qingyu. This is my best friend Yan Xi. We're here to participate in the show together."
As an outsider to the entertainment industry, Yan Xi had even less of a flair for variety shows. After Zhou Qingyu introduced her, she awkwardly faced the camera and said, "Hello everyone, my name is Yan Xi. I'm a student."
[Zhou Qingyu is as boring as ever! Her face looks like the show owes her millions!]
[If she's so reluctant, why even join the show? She should just quit!]
[Zhou Qingyu's friend looks really young. Is she even an adult?]
[She's probably a newbie Starlight Entertainment wants to sign. With her lack of charisma, she's even worse than Zhou Qingyu. Does she really think she can be a star? She should quit now!]
Some viewers in the live stream were confused by the comments:
[The girl didn't even say much. Why is everyone so mean to her?]
[Don't you get it? They're not targeting Yan Xi—they're targeting Zhou Qingyu!]
Apart from the netizens, Ye Luoyi was also intently watching Yan Xi.
Sun Qi was right—who wouldn't want to be a star? Yan Xi had left Sun Qi to join Zhou Qingyu, clearly having already latched onto Zhou Qingyu as her ticket to fame.
She looked innocent and young, but she had managed to outmaneuver Xu Yangyang and manipulate both Ye Luoyi and Sun Qi. She was definitely not as simple as she seemed.
But Ye Luoyi believed Yan Xi's good days were numbered. Zhou Qingyu had a domineering personality—arrogant, dismissive of others, with a long list of scandals about her diva behavior. Teaming up with Zhou Qingyu on the show, Yan Xi was destined to be nothing more than a sidekick, likely to be mistreated by Zhou Qingyu.
And as soon as Zhou Qingyu started mistreating Yan Xi, their fake friendship would be exposed, perfectly highlighting the genuine bond between Ye Luoyi and Su Lingling!
After the introductions, the guests fell into an awkward silence, with no one initiating a new topic.
After all, the news of Zhou Qingyu slapping Ye Luoyi had trended on social media the day before, and everyone at the scene was aware of it, making the atmosphere incredibly tense.
Zhou Qingyu, thinking about how Pei Yubai had demanded she apologize to Ye Luoyi the previous night, was extremely irritated.
She couldn't stand Ye Luoyi's face—how could she possibly apologize?
But without an apology, the stalemate would make it difficult for the show to continue.
As both sides remained silent, Kang Boye, the social butterfly of the group, was about to say something when suddenly, a burly man walked past the group of guests and charged straight into their midst!
He was carrying luggage, so everyone assumed he was just a passenger preparing to board. No one paid him any attention.
But the moment he entered the group, he dropped his luggage, revealing a bucket of red paint, and without hesitation, threw it at Zhou Qingyu!
"Zhou Qingyu, you bitch! How dare you bully Ye Luoyi!"
