16: Chapter 16 "A Lonely Season"

The group chatted animatedly, and after finishing dinner, they stayed until past nine in the evening before Lin Chuyan and his companion finally returned home.

Ding!

[Congratulations to the host for completing the task: Apprenticeship]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving the reward: Treasure Chest (Silver)]

On the way home, Lin Chuyan couldn't wait to open the chest.

[Congratulations to the host for receiving 8 basic attribute points (can be freely allocated)]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving 4 special skill points (can be freely allocated), unlocking the special skill: Five-Step Fist]

[Congratulations to the host for receiving the complete Songwriting for "lonely season"]

What a great song.

And, did the system know his level wasn't up to par, so it arranged this one? After all, he really couldn't sing many of Tao's songs at his current stage; there were too many falsettos, high notes, and intricate vocal transitions...

Hmm, he would register the copyright as soon as he got home.

However...

Lin Chuyan looked at the newly unlocked special skill and silently cursed "WTF" to himself. Five-Step Fist, really...

The Five-Step Fist from his previous life seemed to be a very basic martial art, and he didn't know what the situation was like here.

Could he become stronger by putting points into it? Was it too late to start learning martial arts now?

He planned to start practicing when he got back.

He glanced at his phone, and on WeChat was a message Ruan Xingyu had replied to him in the afternoon.

Xingxing: "Good luck!!!"

He replied casually.

Lin: "Assessment passed, congratulations to myself."

However, another message left him unsure how to reply.

What had to come had finally arrived.

It was a message from his predecessor's mother: "So busy these days?"

He knew that his predecessor used to talk to his family on the phone every week.

After thinking about it, he decided to call back—he had to face it eventually, didn't he?

Besides, regardless of everything, he felt he had the obligation and responsibility to take good care of his predecessor's parents.

"Mom."

Calling out this word, Lin Chuyan felt a bit emotional.

It seemed... it wasn't that hard to say after all.

"Have you eaten?"

"What time is it now? Of course I've eaten."

"Are you busy lately?"

"Busy, I've started getting work again recently, so I'll probably be busy for a while."

"Really?"

Lin Chuyan was a bit amused: "Lying to you won't get me a raise."

"That's great! Being busy is a good thing. You're still young, you should fight for what you want. However... if you really can't make it, it doesn't matter. At worst, we'll just change how we live. It's nothing to be ashamed of. We just need to live for ourselves; there's no need to care about what others think."

Lin's mother naturally knew her son's personality, so she would counsel him from time to time.

"I know... I even found myself a teacher today and am getting ready to start learning Acting. It's Teacher Li Mujian; you should know him."

Lin's mother certainly knew Li Mujian; he was a veteran actor even older than her.

"...Would he actually take you in?"

Truly his own mother.

"I think I'm alright..."

"I'll believe you for now. You must study hard and don't let your teacher down."

"I know, I know. How's Dad?"

"He's doing well. After he got off work, he frowned and finished the food I cooked, and now he's gone to watch TV."

Lin's father was a chef. After his illness was cured and he recovered for a while, he went back to work. However, no matter how good his own cooking skills were, he still had to brace himself and eat his wife's cooking when he got home.

Lin's mother had chosen to quit her job to take care of him when he was sick, and she hadn't gone back to work since.

The two chatted for a while longer. Lin Chuyan spent most of the time listening and agreeing to everything.

The conversation was nothing more than telling him not to worry about home and that as long as he was doing well, that was enough. Before hanging up, she even asked if the tuition was expensive and if he needed help, only dropping the subject after hearing Lin Chuyan say he still had some money.

After hanging up, Lin Chuyan sat in the car in silence for a long time.

In his previous life, his parents had passed away early, and family affection was something far removed from him.

That was why he had only thought in terms of "obligation" and "responsibility."

But listening to the heartfelt concern from the other end of the line, everything seemed so natural. Why was his heart feeling all warm?

Lin Chuyan suddenly felt very at peace.

It was as if he had a home again.

...

Returning to the apartment and coming out after a shower, he finally received Ruan Xingyu's reply.

Xingxing: "Congratulations! Why so late?"

Lin: "Finished dinner with my teacher and chatted some more. I learned a lot and even met a very impressive senior fellow apprentice."

"What a hardworking and motivated idol."

"No choice, if I don't work hard, I'll only be able to get kept by a rich woman."

Hearing him being so narcissistic, Ruan Xingyu couldn't help but tease: "How much?"

Lin Chuyan felt like he was being teased.

"Almost forgot that you're a rich woman too."

"Hahahaha!"

"You seem to be in a good mood."

Ruan Xingyu shared her daily work with him: "The pre-rehearsal progress was good today, one step closer to recording the new song [Victory]"

"Congratulations!"

"Half of this medal of honor belongs to you."

"How are you planning to thank me?"

"Treat you to a meal?"

"Sure, no rush. Let's wait until your new album is released."

"It's a deal~"

...

In truth, Lin Chuyan didn't really want to meet with Ruan Xingyu.

Last night, one thing led to another and they somehow ended up making plans for a meal. To be honest, he regretted it a bit the next day.

First, he was afraid of exposing his secret, and second, he didn't really have any ulterior motives toward her.

She was a big star, and he was still Acting in web movies; the gap in their status was a bit large.

It wasn't that he felt inferior—after all, he was someone with a system—he just really didn't want to be wishful thinking. At this stage, working hard and making a name for himself as soon as possible was the right path.

More importantly, there were always rumors in the industry that Ruan Xingyu was a lesbian. Coupled with the fact that she didn't seem to have had any dating rumors with men, this matter became increasingly confirmed.

Lin Chuyan didn't want to hit a wall there.

Being friends was still nice; from chatting over the last two days, she felt like a gentle girl.

He went to follow her Weibo. A big star's Weibo was different from his; the daily content was varied and colorful.

Brand endorsements and other commercial activities, personal interviews and other promotional work, rehearsal and Acting daily routines, and even personal time during breaks... with all kinds of nine-grid beautiful photos, Lin Chuyan was simply dazzled. However, her image was quite different from the feeling he got when chatting.

Tsk tsk, she was truly the famous "lesbian heartthrob," both beautiful and cool.

Of course, what made him envious was the number of comments and reposts, basically in the hundreds of thousands...

Damn, are these fake, right?! If this were real, and with a system on top of that... he didn't dare to think about it, he really didn't.

Lin Chuyan had another matter to attend to immediately today.

In the morning, Wu Yue had a phone call with Li Mujian to ask about tuition, but unexpectedly, Li Mujian clearly expressed his desire to take Lin Chuyan under his wing.

For Lin Chuyan, this was a huge blessing, the kind where you are walking down the street and get stunned by a pie falling from the sky.

Wu Yue called him and told him to rush over to Li Mujian's house again, giving him a thousand instructions on what to say and what not to say, fearing that Lin Chuyan might make a mistake.

Lin Chuyan agreed to everything one by one and happily carried some gifts to visit.

He respectfully kowtowed and bowed, called him teacher, sat with the old man for a while, and even went out to the wet market together.

While haggling with the vegetable vendor, Li Mujian instructed him on the necessity of observing life and also told him to take two books from his home to read carefully.

One was called "Passionate Illusions," and the other was called "Six Lectures on Acting: Creating the Soul of a Character."

Before he left, he set a requirement: every time he came over, he had to bring questions from the books to ask, and he wasn't allowed to be lazy.

Just like that, a few days passed, and a call came from Director Zhang Qian—the editing work for "seven days of pursuit" was finished, and he needed to cooperate with the post-production dubbing.

This was also part of an actor's work.

The ideal situation was, of course, to record the actor's Lines directly on set; this way, the most natural voice and emotion could be captured, and the final presentation would be more realistic and infectious.

But sometimes, due to environmental noise or the actor's own issues, post-production dubbing of Lines was always necessary.

Fortunately, the parts he needed to dub weren't much, and it was finished in half a day.

Before leaving, he asked the director, "When will the film be available to watch?" Good heavens, he didn't expect it to be on the platform in just one month.