After Being Hopeless at Singing and Dancing, I Exploded in Popularity Due to My Appetite (GL) - Chapter 2
In the noodle shop, Tao Nian opened her mouth wide and stuffed in a mouthful of noodles, getting sauce all over her chin and the tip of her nose.
She chewed while watching the content Liu Xiaobai had just filmed.
Master said not to let others discover that she wasn’t human…
“Good,” she thought. Although she didn’t know why she was in that “square block” (the phone screen), if people only looked at this square block, they definitely wouldn’t realize her true form wasn’t human.
So, with her mouth full of sauce, she nodded to Liu Xiaobai: “Post it.”
Liu Xiaobai was a little happy. She tentatively asked Tao Nian, “Do you want me to blur your face?” (Lit. “mosaic”)
While logically, she felt that ordinary people should have their faces blurred, emotionally, Liu Xiaobai didn’t really want to blur Tao Nian’s face. After all, Tao Nian’s appearance and her actions were contradictory, and this contradiction would make the whole thing more interesting and attractive—well, actually, the main reason was that Tao Nian’s looks were genuinely exquisite. Those innocent, round eyes, cheeks still carrying a hint of baby fat. Although her overall outfit… was a bit hard to describe, people weren’t blind, nor were they like the busy commuters on this street who had no time to notice what people around them looked like. If they were casually scrolling on their phones in their free time and saw such a video, taking a second look, they would definitely be able to see this person’s stunning face through the messy clothes.
“Blur her face” (Lit. “Dab blur”)…
This was another new term for Tao Nian.
She swallowed the noodles in her mouth, then looked longingly at someone nearby eating wonton noodles, absentmindedly answering Liu Xiaobai: “No, you can’t hit. Master said no fighting or killing, or else I’ll be caught and locked in a dark room for re-education.” (Misinterpreting “blur” as “hit/fight”)
Liu Xiaobai…
Suddenly, she wanted to know where Tao Nian came from. Could she be a little princess who secretly ran away from a castle, naive to the ways of the world?
The little princess looked at the wonton noodles on someone else’s table, and that longing expression appeared on her face again.
Did this little princess escape from a refugee camp? Had she not eaten enough for days?
Or was she just silly, unable to distinguish between hunger and fullness? Her stomach would explode if she kept eating, right?
Liu Xiaobai thought this, then glanced at Tao Nian again.
She was almost blinded by the light in Tao Nian’s eyes.
She instinctively raised her hand and asked the waiter for another bowl of wonton noodles.
Tao Nian looked at Liu Xiaobai gratefully: “Thank you!”
Liu Xiaobai murmured, “It’s nothing… once you’re full, don’t keep eating. Just being full is enough, don’t force yourself.”
Tao Nian wanted to tell Liu Xiaobai that she wasn’t full yet. But seeing Liu Xiaobai looking at the small square block again, she decided not to play for sympathy. She just told her: “This food costs money, right? I’ll pay you back when I have money.”
Master had said not to casually ask for things from others; when you’re out alone, you must be polite.
Liu Xiaobai felt a little embarrassed: “No, no, you don’t have to. If you’re really willing to let me post this video, I should be giving you money. It’s such great material.”
So, she could actually be helpful.
Tao Nian happily took a big mouthful of wonton noodles: “Then post it.”
After finishing the wonton noodles, Liu Xiaobai wanted to find a quiet place to discuss the post-editing of this material with her team. Looking at Tao Nian, who was still diligently drinking the soup with a spoon after finishing the wonton noodles, an idea struck her and she asked, “Do you want to come along?”
Tao Nian put down her spoon, looking at Liu Xiaobai, confused.
Liu Xiaobai had already waved for the waiter to come settle the bill.
Tao Nian watched Liu Xiaobai pull out the square block and tap it a few times. Then, a strange sound suddenly came from the noodle shop: “WeChat Pay received, twenty-eight yuan.”
Tao Nian could understand the words “received.”
Tao Nian, bewildered, followed Liu Xiaobai to a coffee shop. She watched Liu Xiaobai go to the counter to order something, pulling out that square block and tapping it a few more times. She looked up at the menu hanging above the counter and was shocked by the prices.
She knew she had taken a banknote with a “5” from the old man and bought two pan-fried buns. She had just eaten two bowls of noodles at the noodle shop, including Liu Xiaobai’s, for twenty-eight. Now, this tiny cup of water costs thirty-four?
Tao Nian thought of her appetite, feeling a little restless, and pulled out her own dark square block, wanting to know how much money Master had given her.
Liu Xiaobai had noticed her fiddling with her phone earlier. Now, seeing her pull it out again, she leaned over to look: “What’s wrong?”
Tao Nian showed her her dark square block: “It’s black.”
Liu Xiaobai took it, looked at it, and plugged in a charger for her: “It’s out of battery. It’ll be fine after it charges for a bit.”
Tao Nian didn’t understand, and continued drinking coffee, wondering how she would survive down the mountain.
She had realized after walking for a day down the mountain yesterday. It wasn’t as good as Master had described at all. She couldn’t eat this, couldn’t eat that. Even the fruits by the roadside were bitter and astringent—though she could eat them; the little taotie was so hungry she wasn’t picky at all. But just as she put one in her mouth, an old woman slapped the fruit out of her hand, earnestly advising her: “You can’t eat the fruits by the roadside, dear. They’re full of car exhaust, not safe at all. You’ll end up in the hospital if you eat them…”
It seemed that everything really did cost money.
But she had no money.
So, when Liu Xiaobai finalized the editing direction and briefly wrote a script, she looked up and saw Tao Nian’s troubled face.
Tao Nian sipped her drink, which cost enough for fourteen pan-fried buns if she added one more yuan. Seeing Liu Xiaobai looking at her, she asked sadly: “Can I earn money if I ‘enter a factory’?”
That’s what those people said when they were scolding the old man. “Entering a factory to screw bolts” should earn money, right?
Why did the little princess suddenly think of this? Liu Xiaobai nodded: “Yes, you can.”
“Can it keep me full every day?”
Liu Xiaobai looked at Tao Nian, then thought about everything she had eaten today. Can you earn five thousand a month by “entering a factory”? But with her eating habits, the money she earns might not even be enough for food… Liu Xiaobai hesitated and said, “However, some factories provide food and accommodation.”
Tao Nian’s eyes immediately lit up: “Then do you know which factories do?”
Liu Xiaobai frowned and thought for a moment. She suddenly remembered that a few days ago, a certain large “talent show factory” had sent her an email, inviting her to participate in a talent show. She rapidly typed on her computer, found an email: “Ah, this ‘factory’ is looking for people now. It provides food and accommodation, and you even get four thousand yuan a month!”
Tao Nian’s eyes widened. She followed Liu Xiaobai’s finger to look at the words on the larger square block, staring for a long time but unable to make sense of the characters that she recognized individually but didn’t understand when put together. So she turned her head to Liu Xiaobai again and asked, “Can I go?!”
If she went, she could earn money! Earn money to buy food!
Liu Xiaobai pondered for a moment, then patiently explained to this naive little princess: “You know about the show ‘Idol 101,’ right?”
Tao Nian shook her head innocently.
“This show finds 101 beautiful young women to compete in singing and dancing, and finally selects nine girls to debut as idols. The show was indeed fresh at first, but this is already the fifth season. They can’t find good talents anymore, and netizens aren’t really looking forward to it. This year, they’ve even started inviting small influencers like me to participate, it doesn’t look very promising.”
Liu Xiaobai knew in her heart that she wasn’t good at singing or dancing. Even if she went, she probably wouldn’t be able to debut, and might even be maliciously edited by the production team to attract hate, so she had never planned to go. But if it was this young lady… maybe she could try? With that face, cleaned up, her looks alone could guarantee a stable debut.
However, Liu Xiaobai was still a bit hesitant. After all, these unpopular, cold production teams loved to cause trouble. And this little princess did seem a bit naive and silly. What if she wasn’t actually short on money at all and just ran out to play, and by some twist of fate, she was sent to a talent show by Liu Xiaobai? Liu Xiaobai would be in trouble. She looked at Tao Nian and asked, “What’s your family situation? Are you really that short on money?”
Upon hearing this, Tao Nian’s eyes reddened: “I just came of age, and my master said he had accumulated a lot of debt raising me all these years, so he heartlessly kicked me out.”
Liu Xiaobai immediately panicked and quickly said: “It’s okay, it’s okay. Then you should give it a try. If you really can debut, you can even pay off the debt.”
She had originally thought that if Tao Nian was a rich family’s princess, she wouldn’t have to show her face in the entertainment industry and suffer grievances. But given the current situation… it seemed she was very short on money!
But then she thought about how much Tao Nian could eat in one meal, and a faint feeling crept in: could the debt really be from buying her food?!
Liu Xiaobai felt sorry for Tao Nian and wanted to help her. So, she quickly contacted the production team and told them she had an amateur to recommend.
Two hours later, Tao Nian, with a clean face and a full stomach, happily set off to find the “big factory” that provided food and accommodation, holding the address Liu Xiaobai had given her.
Meanwhile, Liu Xiaobai stood bewildered outside a buffet restaurant, carrying her laptop bag and camera, questioning her life choices.
A flimsy piece of paper lay on the coffee table in the living room. The woman on the sofa had wet hair, but she paid it no mind. She just sat there, occasionally glancing at the paper, sighing, then desperately looking up at the ceiling. She’d look again, sigh, look at the ceiling…
After a long time, the phone beside her rang. Lin Qianman answered.
“You received Feng Jun’s letter, right?”
Ever since receiving this letter yesterday, countless people had called Lin Qianman, opening with that exact sentence.
Lin Qianman looked at the letter and nodded. Then she remembered the other person couldn’t see her, so she softly hummed in affirmation.
The person on the other end fell into a long silence, then despairingly asked, “So what are we going to do? Is that one someone we can look after?”
Lin Qianman rubbed her temples, her hand brushing over a faint scar above her eyebrow, making her feel even more despair. But she said: “Feng Jun has helped us so much. This is the first time he’s asked for our help. It’s a debt of gratitude, and we cannot not repay it.”
“I don’t owe Feng Jun a debt of gratitude yet. Can I not get involved?”
“If Feng Jun asks you for help, what else can you do?”
“I’m scared.”
The hottest rising star in the music industry, Huang Li, her voice began to tremble: “It could eat two hundred of me in one bite.”
“Huang Li, don’t panic,”
Lin Qianman’s heart was also pounding, but she forced herself to be brave: “You are all in human form now; it can’t eat you.”
Huang Li, the entire bird, was not well. Even though she was in human form now, she still felt all her feathers bristling: “But it’s still a taotie! The first time I saw it, its mouth was so big, it swallowed me whole. If Feng Jun had been a moment later, I would have been eaten.”
Lin Qianman remained silent.
Huang Li sighed: “After all, you are a qilin. Your size is similar to a taotie, so you don’t understand the panic of us little creatures…”
Lin Qianman touched the scar on her eyebrow again, firming her resolve: “I understand.”
The two people on opposite ends of the phone, thinking of a certain individual, sighed in despair together.
Finally, Lin Qianman spoke first: “Feng Jun said he sent her down the mountain this time because he wants her to learn restraint… We still don’t even know where she is.”
“I don’t know either. Anyway, I’m going to record the show in half a month. If I don’t know, I’ll just ignore it for now.”
Someone on the other end seemed to call Huang Li’s name. Huang Li answered and hung up the phone.
Lin Qianman looked at the paper again, thought about the help Feng Jun had given her, and then thought about that taotie cub that almost bit her to death. She had a terrible headache.
Orange Entertainment Company.
Huang Li, her makeup done, was still the “iron-voiced sweet girl.” Wearing sunglasses, she followed her manager inside, not really listening to what the manager said, just nodding repeatedly: “Okay, okay, any job is fine. Just don’t let me be idle.”
If she was idle, she might be called to look after that insatiably hungry taotie.
Suddenly, she heard a commotion nearby. The large training room, which was usually empty, now had people standing outside it.
Huang Li looked a few more times and saw a back figure peeking through the window.
Even though she was in human form, Huang Li recognized the massive creature beneath that human guise at a glance…
Huang Li was startled, and her high heels wobbled. She awkwardly knelt on the ground.
Her manager panicked and immediately rushed to help her up.
The sound she made wasn’t very loud, but the person who had just been looking out the window had now turned around.
Tao Nian looked at the person who had fallen to the ground, tilted her head, remembering how others smiled, and smiled at the person sitting on the ground looking at her.
Eight clean, white teeth showed in a perfect smile.
Huang Li, however, was not just weak in the knees anymore. She instinctively wanted to flee.
Her manager saw Huang Li staring in that direction, thought she was curious, and whispered to her: “What’s wrong? This is the show you’re going to record in half a month, ‘Idol 101’.”
Huang Li, with trembling hands, called Lin Qianman again.
“Help.”
Author’s Note:
Huang Li: I was that close to dying on the spot.