Chapter Sixty: The Second

"Good morning, Jianlu. This is Xu Jinglei."

"Oh, oh, hello there! Hey, I'm out buying groceries right now, it's pretty noisy, haha. Is there something you need?"

"Isn't that a bit too polite? You keep addressing me so formally, I hardly know how to respond."

"Ah, just a habit of mine. Is everything alright?"

"You're such a huge star, yet you still go to the vegetable market to buy your own groceries?"

"What else can I do? No matter how big of a star you are, you still have to eat!"

"Uh... well, I suppose. I just find it a little hard to picture you carrying a grocery basket."

"Nah, I don't have a basket, just a few plastic bags will do! Hey, hey... buddy, have some shame! Take that down for me, don't mess with me like that, we're all old neighbors here! Ah, there you go. How much? Two catties? Got it, one buck for you... Hello? You still there?"

"I'm here! You..."

"It's a bit chaotic here! Tell me what's on your mind!"

"Uh, so it seems you cook for yourself?"

"Oh, as long as it's edible! Cooking and eating by myself gives me peace and quiet. If I went home to eat, I'd just get nagged by my old mum! ... This fish right here! Yes, yes, that's the one! Alright, I'll take this one! ... Hey, hello, you still haven't told me why you're calling."

"Actually, no special reason. I heard a new café just opened in Jianguomen with a nice atmosphere. Care to join me for a cup of coffee?"

"Ah, coffee isn't really my thing, I wouldn't want to ruin your refined mood. Whenever I go to Taiwan or Hong Kong, people there love coffee and are always treating me to it, but I genuinely can't stand it—it's way too bitter! ... There you go, six bucks, keep the change! Hahaha, alright, here's your six! ... Me? I'm more of a big tea mug brewed with cheap tea-dust kind of guy!"

"Hahaha, you are so funny! Then... how about tea? I know two rather nice teahouses."

Damn it. It seemed impossible to refuse now.

He had no choice but to agree.

In truth, he wanted nothing to do with Xu Jinglei on a personal level.

For two reasons: first, she was already taken, and given his own striking appearance, getting involved privately could easily lead to misunderstandings—there was simply no need to invite unnecessary trouble. Second, deep down, Lin Jianlu preferred not to mingle too much with the so-called "Beijing circle."

He was a native Beijinger through and through. After rising to fame, he made plenty of friends, and on several occasions when dining with people from the film industry, he had come within a hair's breadth of sitting at the same table as Wang Shuo, but he had dodged it every single time.

He purely disliked that arrogant, superior attitude typical of the military compound youths.

Especially Wang Shuo—cynical, arrogant, and convinced he understood life better than anyone else. He couldn't stand him.

There was a similar parallel: when visiting Hong Kong, he had several opportunities to pay respects to the renowned White Dragon King there, but Lin Jianlu had always found an excuse to decline.

He disliked mystical, superstitious nonsense just as much.

Yet this time, it felt as though Xu Jinglei specifically sought him out for a reason. Since she had been so earnest, turning her down again would have seemed rather impolite, leaving him no choice but to agree.

After returning home and tidying up briefly, he took care of the fish by cleaning and marinating it first. Then he took a quick shower to wash off the sweat, threw on a pair of oversized shorts, a T-shirt, and sneakers, and drove out.

He drove to the address she gave and indeed found the teahouse she mentioned. Parking the car, just as Lin Jianlu walked through the entrance, he saw Xu Jinglei stand up from a table, smiling, waving, and walking toward him.

So, they drank tea and made casual small talk.

Unexpectedly, she had no ulterior motive whatsoever; it was truly just a casual chat.

However, he could sense that her mood was probably quite poor. Whenever she fell silent for moments at a time, a trace of melancholy would slip across her face—though Lin Jianlu neither cared nor pried.

After chatting for an hour or so—mostly her talking, while Lin Jianlu simply played the role of a listener and occasionally responded to her curious questions—the pot of tea was nearly empty. Without any self-conscious hesitation about turning down a beauty and offering to treat her to lunch, he tossed out a few cheerful remarks that made her laugh heartily, and then politely excused himself and left.

Once he had finished his lunch, he gave Zhang Yang a call and finally got a rough idea of what was going on.

Word had it that the previous night, Wang Shuo and Xu Jinglei had a massive falling-out with many people present.

The core reasons boiled down to two points: first, Wang Shuo was unwilling to get a divorce; second, Wang Shuo could no longer stay in the mainland, having been thoroughly vilified by various media outlets, with his films and book publications banned. He planned to leave for America, but refused to take Xu Jinglei with him.

Sigh... See? I've always said most people can't even handle two!

Look at me, I'm amazing—I'm planning to try four!

***

In the afternoon, he went out to look at courtyard houses.

He had appointments for three properties, but the first courtyard house left Lin Jianlu completely dumbfounded.

Fuxiang Hutong...

As soon as the property broker mentioned that Courtyard No. 6 on this very hutong had once housed so-and-so, Lin Jianlu turned right around and left.

Next, he looked at Nanchizi Hutong. It was genuinely a very nice property—a grand three-compound courtyard covering somewhere between one and a half to two mu of land. It clearly had been an official residence in the past and had been carefully maintained and repaired after the founding of the People's Republic. However, the landlord was asking an astronomical price of 3.6 million.

The third property was even more disappointing; the renovation permits for historical and cultural preservation buildings could not be approved.

Who would buy that, then!

His anticipated pleasant journey of carefree spending ended up completely fruitless.

By the time he arrived at Rock Records, a faint cloud of gloom lingered between Lin Jianlu's brows.

Xue Zhongding waved his secretary away, personally brewed a cup of tea, brought it over, and then cheerfully handed him a folder. "Take a look! After you see this, your mood is bound to improve!"

Lin Jianlu chuckled, took the folder, and asked, "What is this?"

"Backup dancers! I've already pre-screened them for you. Anyone who wasn't formally trained or wasn't pretty enough has been weeded out. The ones in here are 100% professional dance majors and gorgeous girls!"

Lin Jianlu burst out laughing.

Backup dancers needed to be recruited. Rolling Stone wasn't willing to foot the bill to keep them on the payroll, so Lin Jianlu had to support them himself. This was tied to the major business of going out on commercial tours to rake in cash—he couldn't pull it off entirely on his own, and without singing and dancing segments, the performance impact would suffer.

Besides, Ge Fuhong, Sylvia Chang, and the others were already in preliminary talks with promoters in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. They had discussed plans to launch simultaneous chart-topping campaigns and a tour right after the release of his second album. When that time came, backup dancers would be absolute essentials.

Well, when it came to making money, is there anything faster than a tour?

As a dignified Asian superstar, opening a four-sided stage right at the Hong Kong Coliseum for ten consecutive nights—now that was true prestige!

He opened the folder. Oh, wow, they really were quite pretty.

A graduate of the Beijing Dance Academy, specializing in modern dance, currently with the Beijing Opera and Dance Drama Theater.

Flipping to the next page: this one graduated from the Nanjing Arts Institute. Not ugly either, but she didn't belong to any state troupe—looks like she was a freelancer.

That wasn't surprising anymore, and it would likely become even less so further down.

If you don't freelance, what do you do? Starve!

Flipping again. Oh, an acquaintance—Liu Dan. When shooting the music video for *Brave Heart*, they had invited Xu Jinglei to be the female lead, but she hadn't deigned to come, so Zhang Zi'en had recommended this girl as a last-minute replacement.

Since they had already worked together, she had a great personality and was a very cheerful girl.

Round-faced and quite pretty.

According to her profile, she was 1.66 meters tall, which, in his memory, was about right.

A native of Heilongjiang, raised in Luoyang, started ballet at 12, joined the army at 17, and later discharged to study at the Central Academy of Drama, starting her career as an actress. Currently considered a Beijing drifter, she had previously played a small role in Director Zhang Zi'en's *Prime Minister Liu Luoguo*.

He pulled out his phone and called Zhang Zi'en. "Old Zhang, whose camp is Liu Dan in? Is she taken?"

Zhang Zi'en was clearly stunned for a moment, but quickly recovered. "Never heard of her! If she had someone backing her, this girl wouldn't be running around hunting for opportunities everywhere! But whether she has a boyfriend in private, I couldn't say for sure."

That settled it!

Whether she was in a relationship or had a boyfriend wasn't something Lin Jianlu cared about. As long as it didn't involve stepping on anyone's forbidden turf or other messy complications, it didn't matter.

He hung up and kept flipping through.

Oh well, what a coincidence—another acquaintance.

Li Xiaoran.

This girl had left an impression on him that was perhaps even deeper than Liu Dan's.

Her traits were far too distinct—fair skin, striking beauty, a slender waist with long legs, and an ample bust. She possessed every single one of them without exception. Moreover, she had that cool, aloof type of beauty.

Oh, right, the girl smoked.

As long as she didn't smoke on stage, it didn't matter; to each their own.

Her profile stated she was still with the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe, but during a brief chat they had while shooting the music video, business had been poor, and the troupe was preparing for layoffs. She had signed on in '93, but to this day, forget solo dances—she barely even got the chance to perform on stage. Evidently, she was right on the verge of being laid off, or perhaps already had been.

Take her.

He flipped another page. "What the hell... Old Xue, are you kidding me? Even she submitted a resume?"

Xue Zhongding leaned in to take a look and seemed very surprised. "Right? What's wrong? Oh, her age is a bit on the older side, but she's gorgeous! And in person, she looks very young! Besides, she is an actual, genuine solo dancer who has performed on stage! That's extremely rare. You know how the arts circle in the mainland is—solos are hard to come by! That proves her professional skills are top-notch. By the way, she's a state-certified National Class One Performer in your mainland!"

Uh... cough...

Damn it!

My Faye was found just like this, completely by accident!

Wait, though—how old was she this year? Probably not even ten years old yet, right?

***

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