PERFECT SUPERSTAR

Chapter 123 - A Million

In August,Hangzhou became a hot city.

Just after alight rain, the sky became clear again. Under the scorching sun, the watervapor on the ground rises, bringing humidity and sultry at the same time, butalso gives people a feeling that the surrounding scene is not real.

Although theclimate is not so pleasant, West Lake is still crowded at noon. (TN: West Lakeinfo: Here)

As one ofthe seven ancient capitals, Hangzhou is also one of the most famous tourist scenicspots in China. It receives more than 70 million tourists every year. Especiallyon holidays, the major scenic spots are simply packed.

Crowded andbeautiful is Lu Chen's deepest impression of his hometown provincial city.

And here, hehas had countless good memories.

However, afterreturning to Hangzhou more than a month later, Lu Chen unexpectedly had a bitof a strange feeling.

Fortunately,he still remembered the way to the restaurant, otherwise he would have made afool of himself in front of his friends.

Across thelong alley, appeared in front of them is an old-fashion mansion, with whitewalls, green tiles, shaded trees, open lacquered doors, and four red lanterns hangingunder the eaves, each with four black characters on white background.

Egret Restaurant.

But therewas a pair of couplets on the left and right pillars in front of the door: Two yelloworioles sing in the green willows / A flock of white egrets surge up the bluesky.

"BrotherLu Chen, is this a restaurant?"

Mu Xiaochulooked at it curiously, and her eyes were full of surprise.

It's nowonder that she's surprised, because it doesn't look like a restaurant at all,but rather a garden house of the ancient gentry families, which was full of theaura of scholarly family. (TN: gentry = nobles/aristocrats)

Lu Chensmiled and said, "This used to be a Jinshi mansion, and it has been manyyears since it was changed to a restaurant." (TN: Jinshi - a successful candidatein the highest imperial examinations)

EgretRestaurant is a time-honored brand for hundreds of years. It features localHangzhou cuisine and has many branches in Hangzhou. (TN: Time-honored brand: Here)

But the mostauthentic one is the egret restaurant near West Lake, where the chef is first-class.

If one justcome here for a short time, one will never get a position. Lu Chen happens tohave a VIP membership card at Egret Restaurant, so he was able to book a box inadvance.

This was thefirst time he had come to eat at the Egret Restaurant since the accident athome.

In additionto Mu Xiaochu. There are also Li Feiyu and two members of the "SingingChina" tour team.

Zhang Junhuaand Lin Lang.

Zhang Junhuais two years older than Lu Chen. He graduated from the Department of ModernMusic at Northern Conservatory of Music. In the Beijing singing area Top 10competition, Zhang Junhua once ranked first in the overall score with hisoriginal work "Ocean of Love". Later, it was surpassed by Lu Chen.

Despite this,Zhang Junhua is also a talented young singer who is said to have signed up withan entertainment company.

Lin Lang isa contestant at the Shengjing singing area. In the first knockout competition,he defeated Zuo Qiuqing and joined the tour team.

Lin Lang andMu Xiaochu are of the same age. He is also a college student. He is lively andactive, good at rap, good at singing and dancing, and has his own originalworks, so he is very popular in the team.

During"Singing China" national knockout tour, from the original top 10 contestantsfrom Beijing, after the first stop in Shengjing, the second stop in Shanghai,and the third stop in Hangzhou, only Lu Chen, Zhang Junhua and Mu Xiaochu wereleft.

The top 10of the singing areas are not weak, so the competition is very cruel!

Last night,Hangzhou singing area competition ended. Today, both the program group and thetour team will stay here for a day, and will leave tomorrow for the next stop,Tianfu.

Therefore,as a native of this province, Lu Chen naturally wanted to do all the best asthe host and invited Zhang Junhua and Mu Xiaochu out to play.

After threeknockout competitions, the three people became familiar with each other, andcan also be regarded as ordinary friends.

Li Feiyu hasalways followed Lu Chen as an assistant.

As for LinLang, this guy has a good personality, and he seems to like Mu Xiaochu alittle, and has come along, too.

Lu Chendidn't care. Anyway, It's just an extra pair of chopsticks.

Aftershowing his VIP gold card to the waiter at the restaurant, the five quicklyarrived at the booked box.

The box is asmall one. The completely antique decoration is very elegant. If one push opensthe window, one can see the green bamboo forest and pond outside, the breeze isnot hot at all.

"BrotherChen, this place is really good!"

Lin Langexclaimed, "Did you come here often before? It must be expensive, right?"

When theycame out today, it was agreed upon that it was Lu Chen's treat. But no oneexpected that he would bring everyone to such a place.

Lin Lang isstill young, so he felt a little embarrassed.

Lu Chensmiled and said, "I have been here twice before. The membership card wassent by others. It's actually not expensive to spend here."

AlthoughEgret Restaurant is a century-old time-honored brand, but the level ofconsumption has always been very popular, as long as the main dishes are notordered. Even ordinary wage earners don't have any pressure having a meal, sobusiness is booming.

The price ofthis main store by the West Lake is slightly higher, but it is also within theacceptable range.

The key is that the Hangzhou cuisine here is the most authentic. And Lu Chen will naturally treat them to the authentic taste.

Lu Chen's VIP card was a small gift from a friend at the former Lu Qingsheng Company¹.

He used tobring his girlfriend here to eat several times.

Unfortunately,things are different now. His father died, and his girlfriend broke up with him.

Only thisegret restaurant hasn't changed.

Waving atrace of sadness in his heart, Lu Chen called the waiter to order.

Whilewaiting for the food to be served, Li Feiyu took out a digital camera and openedit, and then first aimed it at Lu Chen.

Li Feiyufollowed Lu Chen all the way as an assistant. His main task was to record andbroadcast Lu Chen's experiences at the knockout tournament to hundreds ofthousands of fans in [Whale TV].

For the fans,this is undoubtedly a very new thing. Every night, the audience waiting for thebroadcast in front of the computer is as high as 500,000+, so that Lu Chen canstill make a lot of rewards during the competition.

In fact, itis also possible to broadcast live with a mobile phone outdoors, but in orderto ensure the quality of the content, Li Feiyu is basically asked to record itduring the day, and then use the software for simple editing after going back.

If there istime, Lu Chen will personally host the live broadcast of the competition. If heis going to appear in the competition, Li Feiyu will take his place in the livebroadcast as usual.

Through suchinteractive exchanges, the number of fans is increasing, and the Lu Family Armyis growing.

Theseenthusiastic and lovely fans are undoubtedly one of the important foundationsfor Lu Chen to gain a foothold in the entertainment industry!

Therefore,putting aside the contract, Lu Chen will not easily give up the work of livebroadcasting.

He is alsoconstantly looking for better ways to interact live.

Li Feiyu,holding the camera, smiled and said, "This is a rare opportunity. Big Chen,you first say hello to everyone, and then I'll shoot some of your future starfriends!"

Lu Chensmiled and waved his hand and said, "Hello, everyone. I'm your anchor LuChen. We are now at the Egret Restaurant by the West Lake in Hangzhou. I'veinvited three friends from the touring team to have dinner together."

"Thisis everyone's favorite little sister!"

The cameraimmediately focused on Mu Xiaochu, who smiled shyly and waved: "Hello,everyone."

Today, MuXiaochu wore a plain white skirt, like a small white flower, a kind of softbeauty.

Lu Chen isvery fond of this shy girl, but it is not the feelings between men and women,but the kind of care that a brother has for his sister, so he often takes careof her along the way.

Mu Xiaochuwas shot, followed by Zhang Junhua and Lin Lang, both of whom also gave face.

After LiFeiyu finished shooting, Lin Lang asked curiously, "Brother Chen, are youshooting for publicity?"

Lu Chenexplained: "No, it is to be broadcasted to others at night. Do you know onlineanchor?"

Mu Xiaochu,Zhang Junhua and Lin Lang nodded at the same time.

Lu Chen saidwith a smile: "I am a signed online anchor, so I'm shooting the materialnow."

This is nota secret, and there's nothing wrong with it.

Lin Langopened his eyes wide in surprise. "Brother Chen, I thought you signed upin a big company! How could you think of doing this? Does it make a lot ofmoney to be an anchor?"

Although itwas unintentional, but when he talked about online anchors, his tone was stilla bit unpleasant.

Zhang Junhuaalso showed a look of disapproval.

Onlineanchor is a new profession that has emerged in the last two years. Due to thelow threshold of employment and fierce competition, there have been a lot ofnegative news in the industry, such as female anchors exposing flesh and chest.Sometimes things happen without a bottom line.

Correspondingmedia reports tends to be biased, which makes people inevitably have a badimpression on the industry.

Both of themdid not expect that Lu Chen's current career is actually a very grass-roots onlineanchor. With his strength and talent, he could sign a contract with a largecompany. There is no need to stoop so low.

Lu Chenlooked at their expressions and said with a smile: "I am an independentartist, and I don't intend to sign up with any entertainment agency. In fact,it is very interesting to be an online anchor. it is nothing more than playinginstrument, singing and joking, and I can make a lot of friends."

"If youhave a chance, you can try it, too."

Lu Chen hasno intention of reversing their prejudices, because there are some badphenomena in live webcasting.

It wasenough for him to have a clear conscience.

Zhang Junhuacouldn't help but say, "How much money can this make? I heard it blowspretty hard."

In fact,this man, facing Lu Chen, has always been a little unconvinced in his heart.

So, he tookthe opportunity to make a mockery of him.

Lu Chen saidlightly: "There certainly some exaggeration that is propagandized outside.But for someone like me, a fixed salary plus reward share, probably a million orso yuan a year."

He still saidless.

Pā dā!

Thechopsticks in Lin Lang's hand fell onto the table, and Zhang Junhua'sexpression suddenly froze.

A million? Amillion or so?

Seriously?

Mu Xiaochusimply worshipped: "Brother Lu Chen, you are really amazing!"

Thissentence sounds very ambiguous!

Lu Chencoughed and said, "The food is coming up. Let's get ready to move ourchopsticks and fill our stomach."

The sky isbig and the earth is big, but the food is the biggest.

It's justthat someone suddenly seems to have lost his appetite.

That'ssomething that Lu Chen couldn't control.

_____

TN: Not sure if I got this correctly as what I got is "from a friend at the former Lu Qingsheng Mall". I've rechecked from previous chapter and it wasn't mentioned what his father's specific business was, but it was stated that it was a company. And other translation for "mall" were market, bazaar, and emporium.¹