Chapter 280: Chapter 280 - 280 - 200 Companionship is the Best Cure, Idle Talk During Military Training_2

She began with a sincere apology and then said that the program had already been approved. The station was preparing to shoot “Listen to Ling,” and they wanted to schedule an interview with Xu Qingyan for the first episode. Discover exclusive tales on empire

“Okay, let’s do it two days from now,” he gave a specific time.

Chen Ling agreed, but shortly after hanging up the phone, she called again. She apologized in a low voice and asked if the time could be moved up by one day?

Moved up?

He exited the call to glance at the calendar. In two days, it would nearly be the end of the month, the Mid-Autumn Festival. They probably wanted to rush the recording so they could finish production during the small holiday after Mid-Autumn.

Just so happened that the “I Am the Song King” grand finale was scheduled right after the National Day holiday.

No wonder they wanted to move it up; they were looking to clash.

However, Xu Qingyan didn’t mind this kind of clashing; it would be good to annoy the “I Am the Song King” crew a bit. Thinking that he could celebrate Mid-Autumn after recording the interview, he agreed.

What was left was the appearance fee, which Xu Qingyan didn’t fuss over too much.

The appearance fees for talk shows are generally not high; for the guests, it serves as a platform to speak out. The host asks questions on behalf of the audience, while the guests express their views outwardly.

Xu Qingyan needed to speak out. After skyrocketing to fame, he stayed inactive, waiting for such an opportunity.

As the ancients said, if the name is not correct, the words will not ring true. He needed to convey a message to the outside world, whether it was to explain or to overturn old impressions; he had to do something.

If one stays in an environment where they are misunderstood, if they just keep their heads down and work hard, trying to prove themselves through strength alone, they might get stuck in a rut.

Prejudice is a mountain, and he needed to break through this layer of prejudice.

The reality show crew had spent a million to saddle him with this mountain, and although it helped him overcome difficulties, it now became shackles, limiting him at every turn.

If he wanted to go further now, he needed to reverse this prejudice. He had signed a non-disclosure agreement and couldn’t mention the script, but whitewashing one’s image didn’t necessarily require clarification.

Self-deprecation, Versailles (an internet slang referring to boast disguised as humility), were all means to create a new impression.

The budget for the first episode of “Listen to Ling” was not high, but to show sincerity, they still gritted their teeth and offered tens of thousands of yuan. They would reimburse the travel expenses, and the recording location was set in Yangcheng.

Usually, hosts do not cross stations to host programs. Chen Ling belonged to a more particular category of people, starting as a journalist, then becoming a chief writer, before transitioning to a host.

With resources at hand, one might follow the production team. “Listen to Ling’s” positioning as a high-end interview program meant that it simply couldn’t survive in Chuzhou.

Essentially, Chen Ling’s work relationship had already semi-transferred to Yangcheng.

Xu Qingyan didn’t know how she managed it, but from the fact that she could get an interview with Lin Chuan, one could guess that she was no simple woman.

After setting the time, Xu Qingyan turned to organize his material.

Based on the conversation in the coffee shop a few days ago, he created an outline of responses. While preparing, he also listed some other possible questions.

It was agreed in advance that questions about the outlandish claims from the reality show would generally not be asked.

And so on and so forth.

At the same time, at Xinghai University.

The shadows by the roadside were cast over a group of new students in camouflage uniforms, who all huddled together like a fluid, naturally finding shade under the trees to block out the sun.

From a distance, they resembled a moving strip of greenery.

“When is this ever going to end?” a pale, chubby guy in the line fanned himself with his hat, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.

“Damn, we’ve been training for almost a month, and I’m about to get tanned into bird soy sauce,” he complained.

“Fatty, you’re whiter than a rabbit, soy sauce my ass!” a skinny guy retorted with a sneer, showing no mercy, “I’m the one who’s dark, damn dark.”

“Old Wang, cool it with the profanity, be civilized for all of us,” a tall, round-faced guy approached, “It’s still early; I bet we’ll have to wait until the end of Mid-Autumn Festival.”

“Water Brother, do you think Xinghai wants to train us into special forces or what?” the skinny guy shook his collar to create a breeze, “The military training at the school next door lasts twenty-one days, and ours is straight-up thirty days.”

“Hey, which girl in our class do you think…” The chubby student fell silent for a moment, then lowered his voice to a whisper to avoid social suicide, first scanning the line of students.

He made sure the girls were far away and the instructors couldn’t hear him before he cautiously asked.

“…..the prettiest.”

With military training nearing its end and having spent a month together as classmates, social circles had essentially started to take shape, and conversations became more direct.

The most obvious sign of this was…..the fat guy, Wang Chao, and the tall, round-faced Brother Shui, who was not in the same dorm, was mingling outside of dormitory groups, which showed they had really gotten to know each other.

“There aren’t any good-looking ones in our class, not like the upperclassmen,” Brother Shui quirked an eyebrow, “Yesterday I was walking down the road and saw a goddess.”

“How so?”

“She only had a scarf wrapped around her chest, damn, mom, so big!” Brother Shui smacked his thigh.

The fat guy: “….Brother Shui, your vocabulary is truly indescribable. I’m beginning to doubt whether you cheated your way into our school during the college entrance exam.”

The slim Wang Chao upon hearing this, couldn’t help but glance in the direction of the girls before turning back and lowering his voice,

“I actually think Li Yang from our class is pretty good-looking, just not very active.”

“You really are the silent type, huh? So this is your type?” The fat guy shook his head slightly, grinning mischievously, “In high school, I was a jerk known far and wide, I don’t like those with bad figures.”

“A jerk? I think you’re more like human trash,” Brother Shui patted his shoulder, “Fatso, with your zombie-like appearance, you could at least pass for a minor boss.”

“Heh.” A cold snort disrupted their mutual roasting.

All three turned their heads simultaneously, their gazes landing on a boy sitting nearby. Wearing half-rim glasses and possessing a somewhat handsome look, even in the standard military uniform he seemed cleaner.

“Du Yuhang, what are you scoffing at?” Brother Shui frowned slightly, thinking to himself that this guy must have spent his summer vacation practising his pretentiousness on an assembly line.

“It’s nothing, I just think it’s rude to talk about girls behind their backs,” the glasses-wearing boy, who wasn’t dumb either, also lowered his voice.

“What’s it to you, we’ve been talking for so long, and only old Wang mentioned a girl.” The fat guy said, “What, did we step on your tail?”

“Heh heh.” Du Yuhang chuckled and pushed his glasses up his nose with his middle finger without saying a word.

“Damn, I hate show-offs the most,” Brother Shui turned away, grumbling under his breath.

Wang Chao, hearing this, tugged at Brother Shui, telling him to ease up on talking. After living together for a month, most of the boys knew each other, and nearly all of them were aware that Du Yuhang was a rich second-generation kid.

Wang Chao was a boy from a rural family, raised with the notion to be kind to others. Taking a step back can open up a world of possibilities, so he naturally didn’t like conflicts with others.

Unperturbed by the earlier exchange, Du Yuhang took out his phone and checked a new friend notification. A girl’s profile picture paused there, followed by a grey “Waiting for verification.”

Unable to add her, he was inevitably a bit irritable.

Looking up towards the girls, he hardly needed to actually look; just a quick sweep was enough to spot that slender figure amidst the sea of green camouflage suits.

Even in camouflage, she stood out.@@novelbin@@

“Li Li.”

“Hmm?” Li Yang looked up when she heard her name, the military cap obscuring her face, her jawline looking snowy white and clean, “What’s up?”

At the sound, several boys glanced over.

Seeing Li Yang’s clean face, Mei Mengqi couldn’t help but sigh. The September weather was stuffy and hot, the sun both fierce and toxic. It didn’t matter much for the boys to get rougher.

Delicate girls carry sunscreen in their bag at all times, sometimes even tucked into their pockets to reapply whenever possible. Only Li Yang relied on the cheapest sunscreen to safely get through military training.

Look at her face, her neck, her hands, naturally fair skin that made people envious.

“Shall we go to the bathroom together?”

She hadn’t drunk much water that morning, and instinctively felt it wouldn’t be right to refuse Mei Mengqi. After a moment’s thought, she nodded her head.

“Sure.”

She got up, and Mei Mengqi pulled her to report to the instructor. As they passed by the boys’ ranks, she felt someone watching her and instinctively lowered her head, hurrying past.

Outside the bathroom, she sat in the shade of a tree, scrolling through her phone.

After hesitating for a long time, she still spent two bucks on “Fragrant Paddy.”