Chapter 2: Pay Back

Lu Xu counted his belongings carefully. He could now confirm that the Lu Xu who shared his name had absolutely no financial skills.

During the Verse period, although the agency’s commission was frighteningly high, because the four members’ earnings were split evenly, Lu Xu actually made quite a bit of money.

Some of that money was spent, and some was lent out.

When he was still with Verse, the group’s business and activities were quite intense, and their income back then could easily cover the original owner’s high consumption. However, with the disbandment of the group, the earnings steadily declined, and the original owner’s savings dwindled, while his living situation shifted from a large house to the small one he was in now.

Lu Xu tidied up the room carefully, finding over a hundred pieces of clothing that had barely been worn or had only been worn once or twice, along with several high-end shoes and bags. The original owner hadn’t bought a house, and there was only one car. Even if he sold all these clothes and bags, it probably wouldn’t cover the penalty fees for the “My Baby Prince” drama.

Moreover, he couldn’t quickly sell all of this.

As for the loans—

Lu Xu had never seen anyone with such a soft spot for others!

The original owner had been generous and open when lending money. Anyone who asked could borrow from him, and he even lent out eight-figure sums without a second thought!

He had been so generous with his loans, but now, when he was down on his luck in the entertainment industry and needed help, those people ignored him. Some even disappeared from his friend list entirely.

At first, Lu Xu wasn’t too angry. He had studied the original owner’s chat logs and social media accounts and had already prepared himself for the original owner’s soft-hearted, overly friendly personality.

People with this kind of personality were bound to be stepped on in the entertainment industry.

But as soon as he opened Weibo, the top trending topic was #Yao Yuan Calls Xie Qingyang His Best Friend in the Entertainment Industry#.

Lu Xu knew Yao Yuan. He was one of the few friends the original owner had in the entertainment industry.

Although their contact had gradually decreased over time, this year, despite his own mediocre situation, the original owner still sent Yao Yuan a gift for his birthday. He couldn’t afford such expensive gifts himself anymore, but he didn’t want Yao Yuan to worry or for himself to appear too shabby in front of his friends.

Verse had always been more successful, and though Yao Yuan had also followed the idol path, his fame came later. Only in the past six months had he started to gain recognition, thanks to a popular national variety show.

When Yao Yuan’s father fell ill, the original owner had lent him some money, never asking for repayment because he considered Yao Yuan a friend.

But now, during an interview where they were discussing friends, Yao Yuan didn’t mention Lu Xu at all.

He only spoke about how Xie Qingyang had helped him, and how their chemistry on a certain variety show was perfect.

[YuanYang CP, I ship it so hard!]

[He’s obsessed with it! He can’t stop mentioning Xie Qingyang!]

[What YuanYang CP? This is more like a pair of lovebirds!]

[LOL, Lu Xu used to always say Yao Yuan was his best friend, acting like he didn’t want to make friends with anyone else from Verse. But in reality, Yao Yuan didn’t even consider him as a friend, okay?]

[It was always Lu Xu mentioning Yao Yuan first. Yao Yuan was never really his friend. Don’t stick to first-tier idols if you’re not a famous person, thank you.]

The reporter did mention the variety show that Yao Yuan and Lu Xu had participated in together—at that time, it was Lu Xu, as a member of Verse, who had strongly recommended Yao Yuan, giving him the opportunity to appear on camera.

But now, when asked about it, Yao Yuan smiled and said, “That was a long time ago, I can barely remember it now. I have a stronger impression of Fog Level.”

Fog Level was the variety show Yao Yuan had participated in with Xie Qingyang.

[YuanYang is the real deal!!]

[Their chemistry is off the charts, their CP vibe is perfect!]

After Verse disbanded, it wasn’t just Yao Yuan who stepped on the original owner. The original owner was soft-hearted, always hiding his grievances. But Lu Xu wasn’t like that.

The original owner might have been struggling, but there was nothing he owed Yao Yuan.

At that moment, Lu Xu was grinding his teeth while staring at his Weibo account.

He finally understood the purpose of all those clothes in the wardrobe—they were bought for selfies.

Unfortunately, despite the rather handsome face, the original owner always wore a vacant, dazed expression in every selfie, and the filters were so blurry that they distorted what should have been a normal jawline into a sharp, cone-shaped one.

When he saw those photos and videos from the Verse days, Lu Xu immediately realized something was off.

Without a doubt, the original owner had the most outstanding face in Verse, but after debuting, the outfits he was assigned were always the least flattering. His styling never highlighted his strengths, almost as if they were deliberately trying to downplay him for the sake of the other members.

In addition, filters only help to conceal imperfections on the face. If someone’s looks are already striking enough, the filters will only make them appear odd and unnatural. As a result, whenever there was a group event with Verse, the photos released by the agency always made the original owner look the most awkward. External photos had to go through the agency’s approval, meaning they were always reviewed before being posted.

So, during the original owner’s years in the industry, his visual advantage was never fully realized, and the photos taken of him were always of poor quality.

But!

The photos released by the agency were a hundred times better than his own selfies!

Lu Xu truly couldn’t understand the original owner’s obsession with his sharp chin and tilted head.

In the past year, with his workload sharply reduced, the original owner had ten times more free time than before, and his Weibo account was filled with selfies showing his tilted head, lip-licking, sharp chin, and seductive eyes!

At least, he hadn’t gone as far as getting plastic surgery.

Lu Xu: “…”

Every time he looked at them, he couldn’t help but shudder.

In his past life, he had been solely focused on acting and wasn’t interested in managing social media accounts. After all, actors need to maintain an air of mystery, whereas idols are closer to their fans.

But… this was really ugly.

Lu Xu took a deep breath and began deleting the photos.

There were so many photos on the original owner’s Weibo account that Lu Xu didn’t even pay attention to anything else while deleting them. After an hour of deleting pictures, he only then realized that he had trended on Weibo.

#Lu Xu Deletes Photos#

#Lu Xu Clears Weibo#

#Lu Xu Suspected to be Leaving the Entertainment Industry#

[Is someone really going to quit the entertainment industry?]

[If it’s fake, I hope it’s real. If it’s real, I hope it happens tonight.]

[Hurry up and quit, stop using Verse’s name to scam people. I’m so ashamed I once supported him as part of the same group.]

[I’m afraid he’s just using this as a way to hype himself up. Ahhh, Lu Xu, please leave Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin alone!]

[Knowing Lu Xu like I do, he’s probably planning some kind of stunt again.]

Lu Xu kept deleting posts, and the hashtag #Lu Xu Clears Weibo# slowly climbed up the trending list, even surpassing the #YuanYang CP# tag.

*

Yao Yuan threw his phone onto the couch. “What’s he up to now?”

Was it easy for him to get into the top ranks of trending last time?

After much effort, he had finally convinced Xie Qingyang to agree to the CP hype, and after struggling hard, they had climbed to a higher position. But just when he was enjoying the heat, Lu Xu’s trending topics had overtaken his.

This week, there was no hit drama or big event, and other agencies weren’t buying trending spots as actively. Yao Yuan had waited for a long time to get this opportunity.

He had to admit that, although Lu Xu had faded into obscurity, he had once been part of Verse, and the attention Verse had accumulated was something Yao Yuan could never match.

In Yao Yuan’s view, Lu Xu was inferior to him in both ability and fan engagement. Lu Xu had only debuted thanks to his good looks, and even after, he rode on the coattails of the group to gain a large following.

Why should he have all that?

Lu Xu didn’t deserve it!

Even though Lu Xu had helped him get on a variety show before, bringing him a lot of attention, Yao Yuan never respected Lu Xu.

If it weren’t for that face, where would Lu Xu have fit into the entertainment industry?

Now that Yao Yuan had finally become popular, Lu Xu had sunk to the depths of obscurity. Yao Yuan just wanted to cut ties with him as soon as possible. The more he thought about how much effort he had put in to become famous, while Lu Xu had seemingly gotten everything he wanted with so little effort, the more frustrated and resentful he became.

What’s worse, even though Lu Xu had faded into obscurity, he still made it onto trending with ease!

As he watched the hashtag #Lu Xu Clears Weibo# climb higher and higher, Yao Yuan began to suspect that Lu Xu was really going to quit the entertainment industry.

The entertainment industry wasn’t easy to break into, and with no management company, no business opportunities, and no variety shows, the only resource Lu Xu had left was that terrible, low-budget web drama. Yao Yuan couldn’t think of any reason for Lu Xu to continue lingering in the industry.

He understood Lu Xu’s personality well enough—he didn’t belong in the entertainment world.

Once Lu Xu had cleared his Weibo, Yao Yuan was certain a statement would follow.

Yao Yuan kept an eye on his phone while asking his manager to monitor the situation. If Lu Xu really posted a statement about leaving the industry, Yao Yuan felt he should leave a supportive comment. This would allow him to show his fans his good character as an idol.

After all, Lu Xu’s reputation had been tarnished, and very few people in the industry were willing to associate with him. At this point, if Yao Yuan could show even a little concern for Lu Xu, his fans would naturally see him as brave and kind-hearted.

This was the basic quality of being an idol.

Yao Yuan didn’t have to wait long before his manager’s call came through. “Lu Xu @’d you on Weibo.”

“@ me?”

“We’re not sure what’s going on yet, but I’m keeping an eye on it. By the way, he @’d also Qiu Qi, Ning Weiran, Zhou Zhaoyi, and Yi Quan.”

Yao Yuan felt confused.

The people his manager mentioned were all idols with a similar level of popularity to him. Recently, his own fame had surpassed theirs by quite a bit.

“Is he trying to ride the coattails of our popularity?” Yao Yuan asked.

“That’s definitely a possibility.”

Lu Xu’s Weibo post only @’d people but didn’t say anything else.

[Isn’t riding Verse’s popularity enough? Now he wants to latch onto others’ too?]

[Can’t he leave Yao Yuan alone? The kid’s finally gained some popularity.]

[…Why @ him? This is so bad luck!]

[Faded star, stop tagging! Get lost!]

Fans were all thinking Lu Xu had gone mad, desperately trying to attach himself to anyone with attention. But then, in his next post, Lu Xu @’d Yao Yuan and the others again.

This time, however, he included images, and the caption was just two words:

【Pay Back!】

The images included over a dozen photos, all records of Yao Yuan and the others borrowing money from him.

[One… ten… hundred… thousand… million… so much money!!!]

<< TOC >>

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