I Heard That I Am Poor

Chapter 97: I don’t understand the world of the rich

The day after the Golden Melody Awards ceremony happened to be the day of recording the fifth episode of “Let Me Sing.” Upon arriving at the recording venue, Yu Nian greeted the familiar staff one by one, and coincidentally, he bumped into Bai Yan.

Bai Yan was dressed in a short skirt and long boots, with big wavy curls cascading down, and her slender legs were elegant and straight. When she saw Yu Nian, she let out a long sigh, “Ah, some people not only look glamorous on the surface but also get to enjoy cake at home!”

Bai Yan’s assistant added in a low voice, “Sister Yan hasn’t touched any sweets for a month.”

Knowing that Bai Yan was referring to the photo he posted on Weibo last night, Yu Nian smiled and said, “Well, the cake was really delicious, and I can’t stop thinking about it.”

Bai Yan glared at him, “You’re killing me! Tonight, I’ll have two servings of…” She paused and lowered her voice, “…vegetable salad.”

Yu Nian chuckled without reservation.

After meeting up with Sun Mengze and the others, they each sat down at their respective makeup mirrors, chatting and gossiping as they were accustomed to doing.

Wei Lu laughed and said, “Nian Nian, after attending the awards ceremony, you become the headlines the next day. It’s either about you winning six awards or speculating whether you’re in a romantic relationship. But to be honest, I’m in awe of you winning six awards!”

Getting into the gossip, Bai Yan became excited, “Yes, yes! So many media outlets are making wild guesses and analyzing every female celebrity who has ever been seen with you except for Yu Qing. Even I wasn’t spared!”

Everyone burst into laughter, and Yu Nian became curious, “And then?”

Bai Yan said, “And then they found out that you’re too squeaky clean, and there’s no way to dig up any dirt! So, whether you’re in a relationship and who the other person is, it’s all a mystery!” She became curious again, “By the way, didn’t your manager explode after your antics at the awards ceremony?”

Yu Nian shook his head, “Brother Meng understands my decisions.”

Bai Yan made a sound of understanding and tapped the table with her freshly manicured fingers, “True, you’re not a typical idol, so it’s just a relationship, not committing arson or robbery.” She recalled something, “Speaking of which, Zheng Zhaoxi is really pitiful!”

Hearing that name, Yu Nian remembered the two pictures he had received twice and his expression didn’t change much, “What happened to him?”

After looking around the room to make sure there was no issue, Bai Yan lowered her voice, “Zheng Zhaoxi was first exposed for not being faithful and having multiple relationships. He’s following the marketing and popularity idol route, so a proper relationship might be okay, but getting involved in such scandals is terrible. Now, all his girlfriend’s fans have turned against him. Even worse, he was once kept by a wealthy woman.”

Sun Mengze also became interested, “What happened next?”

“I won’t mention the name of the wealthy woman, but her husband was aware of her keeping a young star. Now, the only son of the wealthy woman is fighting for inheritance rights against the son of the mistress kept outside. The son is upset that his mother’s affair is tarnishing his father’s image, so he can’t wait for Zheng Zhaoxi to disappear from the public eye.”

Sun Mengze nodded in realization, “No wonder I haven’t seen much of Zheng Zhaoxi lately.” As someone who had been in this industry for a while, he lamented, “Fans have short memories, and without any works or real talent, with even less exposure, in no time, only a few people will remember him. Being shelved all at once is one thing, but what’s really painful is slowly falling from the peak; it’s worse than death.”

At this moment, Wei Lu interjected, “Everyone, the script for this episode has marked a five-pointed star.”

Yu Nian was puzzled, “Does that mean there’s someone special we should pay attention to?”

“Yes, a contestant named Zhao Shuya. They want us to push her into the semi-finals.”

Sun Mengze rubbed his chin, “So, it means three of us among the four have to give her high scores to let her enter the top three, right?”

“Exactly, she’s from Fenghe Entertainment and is being groomed as this year’s main promoted newcomer to become a money-making tree,” Wei Lu said, flipping through the contestant’s information. He laughed, “And they even highlighted her family background, specifically to ask related questions. Her grandfather and father are both traditional Chinese painters, and her mother is a piano teacher. They’re building her image as someone from an intellectual family, huh?”

After understanding the situation, the four of them discussed, “What should we do? If we remind each other to give high scores, it will look suspicious. But we definitely can’t all give high scores; otherwise, it will be too fake.”

Bai Yan pondered and suggested, “How about this: among the four of us, two of us praise his strengths and directly give high scores. One hesitates and eventually gives a moderately high score. Another one also hesitates and gives a moderately low score. With this rhythm, his score will be enough for third place, and he will advance to the semi-finals. What do you think?”

After thinking it over, all four of them agreed.

During the actual recording, Zhao Shuya was the sixth contestant to perform. As soon as he stood on the stage, Bai Yan furrowed her brows slightly and glanced discreetly at Yu Nian.

Yu Nian, however, remained composed and carefully watched the contestant’s performance. When the dance music reached its climax, Zhao Shuya removed the mask covering his eyes, revealing his complete features.

During the evaluation segment, Wei Lu asked, “I noticed in your profile that both your grandfather and father are traditional Chinese painters, and your mother is a piano teacher. Given such a family background, what made you decide to enter the entertainment industry?”

Zhao Shuya held the microphone with both hands and spoke earnestly, “To be honest, it’s a bit embarrassing. I decided to enter the entertainment industry because I listened to Teacher Yu Nian’s songs. I hope that one day, I can write such excellent songs myself.”

Bai Yan lowered her head, and in a position where the camera couldn’t catch her expression, a hint of a cold smile appeared on her lips.

After Wei Lu’s question, Bai Yan gave her evaluation without leaving any room for doubt, “Your appearance is quite good, but your singing still has room for improvement. Particularly in high notes and transitioning between real and fake voices, practice more during your free time. Also, there are issues with pitch accuracy during the start of notes, so pay attention to that.”

When it was time to score, both Wei Lu and Sun Mengze gave 9.4, Bai Yan hesitated for a long time and gave 8.6, while Yu Nian directly wrote 8 on the scoring board. In the end, Zhao Shuya obtained a score of 8.85, earning third place in the fifth episode and successfully advancing to the semi-finals.

After finishing the recording and returning backstage, Bai Yan’s face turned serious, “What’s with that Zhao Shuya? Is he intentionally imitating you? He specifically placed a beauty mark below his eye like yours in ‘Sound of Nature,’ and when you covered your eyes with a sheer veil during the dance in ‘Sound of Nature’ he wore a mask to cover his eyes. And when asked why he entered the entertainment industry, he directly mentioned you!”

Sun Mengze was always the peacemaker, “Maybe he really is, admiring Yu Nian’s talent?”

Bai Yan replied disdainfully, “Hmph, I don’t believe it! Let’s wait and see!”

Sure enough, after the latest episode of “Let Me Sing” aired on the ninth, several marketing accounts released GIFs of Yu Nian taking off the sheer veil and Zhao Shuya removing his mask, asking, “Yu Nian and Zhao Shuya, who impresses you more?”

Even the press release was blatantly written, with titles like, “Zhao Shuya receives two high scores but fails to impress Yu Nian,” “Zhao Shuya confesses he hopes to work harder to earn a nine from Yu Nian,” or “Zhao Shuya is in the entertainment industry because of Yu Nian?!”

When Meng Yuan saw this, his face darkened, “What the heck! They want to piggyback on popularity, but they don’t consider their own weight!”

Shi Rou handed him the phone, “Brother Meng, there’s more. Zhao Shuya’s family background was ‘exposed,’ it looks like the team is trying to portray him as a refined and scholarly young man.” She stumbled on her words for a moment, “But some of the comments are… not great.”

Meng Yuan took the phone and saw several top-rated comments.

[All of Yu Nian’s fans are jumping up and down; did it hit your sore spots? Zhao Shuya is from a proper scholarly family background and indeed won’t try to imitate anyone just to gain popularity. He doesn’t need to spend 25,000 yuan buying fake goods and making a fool of himself to trend!]

[Aaaaaah, I really like Zhao Shuya on ‘Let Me Sing’! He has a literary air about him, but what’s wrong with Yu Nian? Is he afraid that Zhao Shuya will threaten his position, so he gave him an 8? Charity?]

[Thank you, Teacher Yu Nian, for your guidance. I will definitely work harder so you can willingly give me a nine [smile].]

After reading the comments, Meng Yuan’s expression darkened even more, “What kind of brainless comments are these? Stirring up public opinion like this? They really think that just because Nian Nian succeeded, can any random person after him replicate the same path to success?!”

Shi Rou was also indignant, “The team’s intentions are evident. They are using Nia  Nian as a stepping stone, first claiming that Zhao Shuya entered the entertainment industry because of Nian Nian, and then saying his goal is to receive a nine from Nian Nian. They’re linking everything to Nian Nian!”

Seeing Yu Nian in the back seat hang up the phone, Meng Yuan managed to suppress his temper, “Niannian, were you just talking about Doucai Chicken Stone-patterned chicken?”

Yu Nian nodded, “Yes, I visited a friend of my late grandfather, and he confirmed that the one I bought is indeed authentic. Just now, Xie You told me that the Viena Auction House under the Xie family will be holding a special event for antique porcelain in the next few days.”

Meng Yuan’s attention was drawn, “The Viena Auction House, one of the world’s top ten auction houses, is also under the Xie family?”

“Yes, Xie You’s father invested 70 million pounds years ago and integrated it into the Xie family.” 

Meng Yuan fell silent for a few seconds, “Rich people are indeed wealthy beyond my imagination!” He knocked his phone against his palm and then understood, “So the Doucai chicken cup will be featured in this special event?”

“Yes, it will be the closing item.”

On the evening of the fourteenth, Yu Nian and Xie You arrived at the top-floor box of the Viena Auction House. Today, Yu Nian was wearing a set of clothes tailored by Xie You, a slim-cut wine-red silk shirt that revealed a small part of his collarbone and delicate fair skin, making him look a bit more alluring than usual, with even the beauty mark appearing more charming.

After finishing his work and sitting down on the sofa, he couldn’t help but rub his eyes.

Naturally, Yu Nian leaned on Xie You’s shoulder, absentmindedly playing with Xie You’s fingers. “Brother Meng arranged four interviews and three magazine covers for me all at once, saying I’m very popular.”

Xie You lowered his head and sniffed, saying seriously, “Hmm, Yu Nian is indeed popular.”

Yu Nian made a soft “hmm” sound, feeling quite weak. Before long, his eyelids drooped, and he started to doze off. Xie You noticed that Yu Nian’s breathing became steady, maintaining his sitting posture without moving an inch.

After some time, Yu Nian suddenly felt a tingling sensation on his lips. He opened his eyes and found that Xie You seemed like nothing had happened, sitting up straight and whispering, “Yu Nian, the Doucai chicken stone-patterned cup has been auctioned.”

Yu Nian licked his lips with his tongue, slowly sitting upright and looking at the screen. As expected, the image and introduction of the Doucai chicken stone-patterned cup were displayed on the large screen in the auction hall.

Just as Yu Nian estimated, the starting bid for the Doucai chicken stone-patterned cup reached 170 million. Due to the extremely high starting price, the bidding only rotated among a few top-tier bidders.

With his fingertips tracing Xie You’s palm, Yu Nian listened to the bidding voices in the hall, waiting patiently without any sense of urgency.

“180 million!”

“190 million!”

…

“220 million!”

After a fierce eight rounds of bidding, the hammer finally fell at 260 million. With the commission included, the final transaction price reached nearly 300 million! The winning bidder for the Doucai chicken stone-pattern cup was the wealthy tycoon Chou Yanzhi from Yue City.

Yu Nian let out a soft sigh.

Not long after the auction ended, the news that “Yue City tycoon Chou Yanzhi won the Doucai chicken stine-patterned cup with a down payment of 300 million to sip tea” appeared on the headlines.

The next day, when everyone was expressing their amazement with comments like “I don’t understand the world of the rich” and “Isn’t this teacup too expensive?” The forum with the highest traffic posted a thread that quickly soared to the top.

[A treasure like the Doucai chicken stone-pattern cup, genuine, exquisite, and rare, has been passed down from the imperial court for hundreds of years, with less than eight pieces known to exist. Four are in museums, and four are circulating in the market. Therefore, it is not surprising that each time it breaks the auction record.

However, such treasures have always been handed down in an orderly manner. So, I checked the previous owner of the doucai chicken cup.

[Image]

That’s right, my friends, believe your eyes, you didn’t see it wrong. The previous owner was none other than the infamous ‘foolish’ Yu Nian, the one who was said to be an idiot for buying a broken bowl for 25,000 yuan, the one who trended on hot searches, and the one who countless netizens mocked for lacking culture and common sense, having too much money to spend, paying an ‘IQ tax,’ and ruining his image for the sake of a show…