Chapter One: Unfulfilled Ambition

  "She suddenly stopped and looked at Lin Xiao, saying 'To be honest, I'm surprised that you can maintain such a good lifestyle now.'"

  Lin Xiao smiled but didn't speak, he naturally knew what to do and what not to do. Daily exercise was a must to maintain his physique, greasy, spicy food were rarely eaten. A cup of milk in the morning was an unbreakable rule, even CAMI was surprised after knowing his daily habits, this kind of self-awareness was rare for someone who had been in the entertainment industry for several years.

  "But I always feel that what you just said to Zhao Wei has a deeper meaning."

  "You guessed it, but there's no prize." Lin Xiao laughed and said "Master Xing will probably have a big-screen work that he writes, directs, and acts in next year. Zhao Wei is likely to be his female lead."

  "What?!" CAMI and Li Hao both exclaimed in surprise. Chow Sing Chi, known as the King of Chinese Comedy, is undoubtedly a superstar. Even Hong Kong cinema has had a "Chow Sing Chi year". The extent of his influence can be seen from this.

  "Is this true?" CAMI asked hastily, her keen sense of smell picking up a whiff of opportunity.

  Lin Xiao nodded "One hundred percent certain."

  Cami's expression turned serious, and she thoughtfully said, "No wonder... I initially thought it was about reporting Zhao Wei's leg. But the other party's attitude clearly didn't allow for that opportunity. Who would have thought... there was another layer of relationship in between."

  "What's the big deal?" Li Hao asked in confusion, "Sister Cami?"

  "You don't know that." CAMI sighed and explained, "Self-written, self-directed, and self-acted, it means that Brother Star has completely broken away from his golden partnership with Wang Jing since '99. Unlike his debut work, Domestic Ling Ling Qi, this is a complete shift towards independence. And now, what he lacks most is... a partner!"

  Her eyes lit up, "Maybe Wu Mengda will continue to cooperate with him, but I heard that the relationship between the two is not very harmonious now. Star Master himself can be considered a guarantee of box office, but one movie, relying solely on him alone is not enough."

  No wonder he's a gold medal broker, it only took him an instant to understand his idea. Lin Xiao secretly praised and continued "So, he is now eager to cooperate with new actors. Because this cooperation has the hope of becoming a fixed partner like Ge You and Feng Xiaogang."

  "And if it's true what you said, he chose Zhao Wei as the lead, obviously with the mainland market in mind. This is a great opportunity!" CAMI excitedly stood up "If we can become Brother Wong's regular crew, I'm afraid no actor would refuse!"

  It goes without saying that Lin Xiao didn't say a word, he knew that the subsequent efforts of Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons were a huge success, and even the poorly received CJ7 also took in a lot of box office revenue.

  CAMI suddenly stopped talking and looked at Lin Xiao with a strange expression. "Unexpectedly, you knew this news and yet managed to keep your cool. If I didn't have enough experience, I probably wouldn't be able to see that you're in control of the atmosphere. Now I'm really wondering, are you a newcomer?"

  "My resume, CAMI sister is still unclear?" Lin Xiao said with a half-true and half-false smile.

  CAMI gave him a glance, looked at his watch "Alright, it's 11:30, I have something to do tomorrow and might need to go back to Beijing. You don't have any other appointments for now, after finishing this episode, head back to Jiangxi first. I'll take care of you and Li Hao, I'll come over as soon as I'm done with work in Beijing."

  "Good night, sister CAMI."

  Three people parted at the hotel entrance, Lin Xiao returned to his own room, he carefully read the script again before going to bed.

  Two days later, it was the recording time of this issue of Happy Camp. At 6:30 in the evening, he received a call from the production team.

  "Switch to simultaneous playback?" he raised an eyebrow and asked.

  "Yes, because Hunan TV has a special report tomorrow and they changed the schedule. We just received the news too." The voice on the phone also sounded helpless "Originally wanted to prepare for a few more days."

  "It's nothing, I'm fine."

  "That's good." The other party hung up the phone, he tidied up his clothes and went out. Whether or not in sync, using 2013's "Xiao Guo" to deal with a 2000-year-old variety show, he wasn't worried at all.

  More than ten minutes later, he arrived at the foot of Hunan TV Tower. He went straight to the floor where Happy Camp was located and when the elevator door opened, Li Xiang was already waiting at the door.

  "Hurry up and come in to make up." Li Xiang said as soon as she saw him, "It starts at 8 o'clock, one hour. The other two people will arrive at 7:30. You can start making up during this time."

  Lin Xiao nodded and smiled, saying "At this time, shouldn't you tell us who the other two mysterious guests are?"

  "Tian Guang's Zhao Qingya, and there is another one that we don't know." Li Xiang frowned in distress, opened her mouth, but didn't say anything.

  Lin Xiao guessed her thoughts. Zhao Qingya, a domestic three-stack first-line red star. Although she is already over 30 years old, she is still in the limelight and has a self-willed personality. She said that she wants to promote new people, probably meaning that if they don't agree with her, they won't come. And as for Li Xianghe, the host, she doesn't even look at them, who does she want to promote, do they need to be told?

  No wonder Li Xiang is dissatisfied, if any host were treated with such disdain, anyone would be angry.

  "It's daytime." He muttered to himself, smiled slightly, and followed Zhao Qingya into a dressing room.

  The dressing room in the background is not large, just a mirror with several lamps placed at different angles around it. The domestic variety shows have not been developed yet, even if they are currently good variety shows, TV stations do not have too much budget for them.

  "First, get him made up. Zhao Qingya and the others will arrive at 7:30 sharp. This makeup room still has to be given to them." Li Xiang said as she entered, speaking to the three stylists inside. Then she turned her head again to apologize to Lin Xiao, "Sorry, it's not our idea to change to a live broadcast version at the last minute. We just found out too."

  "It's okay, don't worry." Lin Xiao said with a smile.

  "OK, Xiang Jie." The three stylists didn't waste any words either. After Lin Xiao sat down, one of them started working on her hands, another did her hair, and the third picked up makeup tools to start applying makeup.

  Lin Xiao swept a glance, they were all domestic brands, but most of them belonged to the economical and practical type. It seemed that several makeup artists still had an eye for it and didn't blindly believe in big brands.

  He closed his eyes, and despite the itching on his face, he could only endure it. As an artist, every time he went on stage, he had to be in top condition, especially when trying to make a name for himself.

  Time passed minute by minute, and all he could hear was the rustling sound. He didn't even open his eyes to see how his makeup looked. Occasionally, he heard a few makeup artists exchanging necessary conversations.

  "Seven twenty." Finally, a makeup artist let out a breath and turned back to shout "Eyebrow pencil."

  Just then, the door was suddenly pushed open with a "bang".

  "Who are you?! Who allowed you to put on makeup here?!" A thin, sallow-faced middle-aged man had just walked in and saw Lin Xiao putting on makeup, immediately shouting loudly.

  Everyone in the room stopped involuntarily. The three makeup artists looked at each other, and Lin Xiao took a look, apparently they didn't know this person either.

  "It was Xiang Jie who made me..." he began to explain.

  "I don't care who you are." The lean man rudely interrupted him. "I am the agent of Tian Guang Zhao Qingya, and now Miss Zhao needs to use this dressing room. You all get out immediately. We have our own makeup artist."

  A burst of anger suddenly erupted from Lin Xiao's heart. It seems that the saying "like master, like servant" is true after all. I've long heard that Zhao Qingya, although a first-line star, is arrogant and unreasonable, self-centered, but I didn't expect her agent to be just as bad!

  "Mr. Lin... or else..." A makeup artist hesitated, looking at Lin Xiao, in just a few minutes, not even ten minutes, his makeup would be done. He couldn't believe this agent didn't see the situation, but instead gave them no leeway and was about to rush them off!

  "What are you still doing here?! Don't you know Miss Zhao's identity? Can you afford to be responsible for delaying her makeup?! The thin man waved his hand impatiently "Hurry up! Miss Zhao will arrive in a few minutes, and take those things with you, go out and make up for it casually."

  "Sir, let's do things in order, shall we?" Lin Xiao nodded to the makeup artists to continue. "We'll be done in about five or six minutes at most. By then, Miss Zhao should arrive around that time."

  "What?!?" The lean man looked at Lin Xiao in disbelief, and even several makeup artists were stunned. This person was just a minor role, how dare he say no to a domestic first-line star?! Did he still want to mix in this circle in the future?!

  "Hey kid, don't you know who Zhao Qingya is?" The thin man was used to being arrogant and bossy under the name of Zhao Qingya. When had he ever been treated with such disrespect? But this foolish young man, although his words were polite, not leaving immediately meant not giving him any face!

  "Of course, I know." The makeup artist didn't dare to continue drawing. Lin Xiao sighed and stood up. He had experience of rebirth and the Star Willingness System's great killer move, so he wasn't afraid, but he couldn't force others.

  "Last year's Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress, 'Rose' sold nearly five platinum records."

  "Fine." The thin man's furious expression suddenly turned into a cold smile. "It seems that you are destined to not get along with us, Tian Guang and Miss Zhao Qingya? Which company are you from?"

  "Hua Xia Film and Television." Lin Xiao said indifferently.

  A lean man sneered and said, "So it's the company of Chu Dajin, who can't even protect himself. No wonder they taught such a junior who doesn't respect his seniors."

  He turned his head and shouted at a makeup artist, "What are you looking at?! Go get your producer and host over here right now! Can't you see that no one is letting Miss Zhao get made up?! Will you be able to take responsibility if this gets out?!"

  "What's going on?" Just then, a female voice came from the doorway. Next, a woman wearing a casual T-shirt, with a hat on her head and oversized sunglasses covering half of her face, appeared at the door.

  At the same time, the system in Lin Xiao's mind went crazy again.

  "Warning, warning, golden threat, destructive level star. Name: Zhao Qingya, Height: 170, Acting skills: 800, Singing skills: 800, Dancing skills: 800, Intelligence: 800..."

  Through his understanding of the times, he already knew that the maximum limit of the system might be 999. However, Zhao Qingya's acting and singing skills had not broken through to the ?? level, but were all valued at 800.

  However, his gaze did not fall on the other person, and the voice in his mind did not affect him at all. Because behind the woman, two fiery gazes shot over like a knife.

  "Song Qingming!"

  Lin Xiao almost gritted his teeth as he said the name. Tian Guang, newcomer! He never thought that he would run into Song Qingming here! The person Zhao Qingya wanted to promote was actually him!

  "Lin Xiao!"

  Song Qingming also let out a cold hum, his gaze passing by without a hint of familiarity.

  "Oh?" The woman's mouth slightly curved upwards as she casually took off her sunglasses "Acquaintances?"

  Under the sunglasses, there was a pair of piercing eyes. Lin Xiao couldn't help but sigh in admiration - she was indeed a beauty. With a standard oval face, big eyes, double eyelids, every feature was perfectly proportioned, and time had left no mark on her face. Moreover, this woman was not just a pretty face. Her acting skills were impressive, as well as her singing talent, with album sales of over 5 million copies. She could be considered the most successful entertainer in mainland China.