My Landlord is an Idol Singer - Chapter 170

“I didn’t expect this! You actually advanced! I thought when you called me to pick you up, it was just so you could throw the revival round and slack off.” Lai Jingming chuckled. On his way over, he had been listening to the livestream on his phone, and when they announced the seventh name advancing, it turned out to be Gu Zhinan!

“Do I look like the kind of person who slacks off? I took it very seriously, okay?”

“Zhinan, let me tell you about the production crew’s progress—”

“Next time. I’m going to sleep first. Wake me when we get to the company.” Gu Zhinan was utterly exhausted.

“Honestly, you’re someone who claims to hold the sun and moon, pluck the stars, strut around arrogantly, so why do you look so weak? Did you go out and do something shady?” Lai Jingming was speechless at this nonsense.

“Get lost!” Gu Zhinan couldn’t be bothered with him.

By the time they got back to Natural Entertainment, it was already 10 p.m.

Chen Yuze and Meng Xingye, the two guys on door duty, spotted Lai Jingming’s car from a distance and rushed over to greet them. Chen Yuze was even holding a package.

“Director Gu! Director Lai!” They both called out.

“Congratulations on advancing, Director Gu!” Meng Xingye grinned. “Shouldn’t we celebrate with some late-night snacks?” 

Gu Zhinan glanced at him coolly. “You’ve been with the crew for almost a month, and you’ve already gained weight. Tomorrow, carry more props to slim down a bit. Don’t turn into another Fatty Lai.”

Meng Xingye’s smile froze. He’d gained weight? He turned to look at Chen Yuze, and Chen Yuze, rarely, actually nodded.

“Yeah, I think so too. Xingye, you eat too much every day and then just go to sleep. Back at Film Academy at least you exercised sometimes. Keep this up and it won’t end well.”

After saying that, Chen Yuze suddenly remembered the package in his hand. He quickly handed it over to Gu Zhinan.

“Director Gu, this package was delivered by a courier about half an hour ago. The recipient’s name says you. No idea what it is.”

“Huh?” Gu Zhinan took it, a little surprised. Who would be sending him something by express delivery? He opened it in front of the three of them, inside were throat lozenges!

“Throat lozenges? Who sent these?” Lai Jingming frowned. Very few people even knew their company’s address.

“Go eat supper. We’ve got filming tomorrow.” Gu Zhinan didn’t explain. He simply unwrapped one and popped it in his mouth. A cool, refreshing sensation shot straight up to his head, and his throat, which had been a bit uncomfortable, felt immediately soothed.

Lai Jingming took Chen Yuze and Meng Xingye off to the food stalls nearby for a late-night bite.

Gu Zhinan, meanwhile, pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number. After more than ten seconds, the landlady’s voice came through, languid and sleepy. She was probably already in bed. 

“What is it?” Whenever the Landlady was drowsy or feeling wronged enough to cry, her voice would turn all soft and delicate like this.

“Thanks for the lozenges.”

Xia An’ge hadn’t even opened her eyes, the phone just pressed against her cheek. Her voice sounded like she was drifting back to sleep. “Oh.”

“Then, good night.” Knowing she was about to fall asleep, Gu Zhinan didn’t intend to say much more.

“I want to hear Lime.” Xia An’ge suddenly spoke.

“Weren’t you sleepy?”

“I’ll fall asleep listening.”

Gu Zhinan was speechless, but he still agreed. Xia An’ge half-closed her eyes, placed her phone by the pillow, and tapped on the speaker.

Gu Zhinan took another lozenge and began singing softly. When the song ended, the only sound on the other end was steady breathing, she had clearly fallen asleep. Gu Zhinan chuckled quietly, not wanting to hang up. Somehow, this version of the landlady was rather endearing.

That afternoon she had asked him for the company’s address, and now lozenges had been delivered. He immediately guessed she was the one who’d ordered them. After all, only a singer would understand another singer.

Sigh… singing really is simple stuff.

The filming of A Little Thing Called First Love was already nearly halfway done.

At dawn, Lai Jingming and Situ Hongwei organized the crew and rushed to the set again, another day of intense production.

Gu Zhinan reviewed the scenes filmed during his absence and felt even more reassured about Lai Jingming and Situ Hongwei’s abilities. They were even able to optimize details further based on his script, which made him quite pleased.

He didn’t bother checking the online speculation about Masked Singer, nor the fact that his performance had hit 10th on the trending searches.

His song Give Me a Song’s Time had been uploaded to a special Masked Singer playlist on the KuLe Music platform. Even though the sound quality wasn’t great, listeners kept pouring in.

After hearing it, most felt it was a pity, because it was clearly a great song! But Gu Zhinan had “butchered” it. Listeners flooded the comments urging “Bro Frog” to re-record and officially release it, not let such a good piece go to waste.

His frog headpiece had also been humorously nicknamed “Brother Sun-and-Moon-Frog” by netizens, naturally inspired by his arrogant verse, ‘Hand clasping the bright moon, plucking down the stars, there’s no one like me in the world!’

Arrogant, brash youth, what a sight!

His frog persona’s popularity remained sky-high. Even in the second recording session, where ten contestants competed for eight spots, no one could reach his level of popularity. But information was scarce. Even the experienced judges couldn’t guess at Brother Sun-and-Moon-Frog’s real identity, and netizens were even more at a loss.

When Gu Zhinan updated Legend of Sword and Fairy that day, he noticed a few book comments bringing it up.

“Yesterday’s Bro Frog, his build looks a lot like those leaked photos of Straight Man, even the comparison to his appearance at the New Song Awards looks similar.”

“Could it actually be Straight Man? He’s both a poet and a musician, after all!”

But other readers shot that down quickly.

“You all know Straight Man’s temper. Remember when he went to the New Song Awards? He skipped updates for two days. If he were on Masked Singer, in Legend of Sword and Fairy Li Xiaoyao would still be stuck at the inn for half a month by now!”

“Don’t guess wildly. Isn’t Straight Man a poet and kind of a musician too? Sun and Moon Frog flat-out denied both those professions on stage!”

“I think the problem is with the questions the judges asked!”

“??? Are you just spouting nonsense?”

As the discussion spread, some readers got nervous, flooding the comments to beg Gu Zhinan not to mess around. The new characters Tang Yu Xiaobao and Ah Nu had just appeared, and their bickering was hilarious!

Plus, Ling’er’s true Nuwa heritage was beginning to surface. Readers felt the story was reaching a climax between Yue Ru’s entanglement with Li Xiaoyao, and Ling’er’s relationship with him, everyone was desperate to see what would happen next.

Opium wasn’t even this addictive!

Wang Lang, the wealthy Young Master Wang, had even rewarded another 50,000 two days ago. Though Gu Zhinan had said rewards weren’t necessary, how could Wang Lang possibly listen? A small breakfast’s worth of money for one new update instead of an ad? Totally worth it!

So today he threw in another 50,000, leaving a comment.

“I watched Masked Singer. That’s not Straight Man’s temperament. If he had joined, he’d have long since stopped updating. I will hold all of you accountable, join me in urging more updates! I need to know whether Li Xiaoyao marries one or two!”

“If I weren’t broke, I’d toss in tens of thousands to urge updates with Young Master Wang!”

“I’ll take them all, damn it!”

“Hahaha, damn! Young Master Wang is awesome!”

“I’ll follow your lead. Straight Man better not let us down!”

“Don’t forget, Straight Man hasn’t used ‘muah~’ in his posts for a long time. Don’t push him! You have to coax him!”

“Oh, Young Master Gu, I’m here in black stockings waiting for an update~”

“Mask Singer’s nothing compared to updates! Bro Frog can’t be Straight Man. Just look at how much he updated yesterday!”

Reading these, Wang Lang grinned with unabashed delight. For the first time in his life, he was wildly chasing a novel. Aside from the tedious hour of daily work, he spent all his time gaming, clubbing, or refreshing for updates. Life was lonely as snow!

“I’ll handle the rewards. You guys just keep pushing for updates!”

With another grand flourish, he dropped 30,000 more in rewards!

“Thank you, everyone!” Gu Zhinan was both thrilled and anxious seeing all this. Were these people prophets in disguise?

And how did Young Master Wang know he was strapped for cash right now? If only someone could toss him a hundred or two hundred thousand! Maybe he should write a whole novel starring Young Master Wang, the extraordinary life of a rich, eccentric genius!

On Masked Singer, he hadn’t revealed much. It was just people guessing. Not really a big deal.

The next round was a week away anyway. For now, he needed to keep an eye on A Little Thing Called First Love’s progress.