Chapter One: Renaissance—What Year Is It Now? (Please add it to your favorites and follow along.)

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“I don’t get it, Teacher. Why did you invite Xu Xiu to join Peach Blossom Dock? He’s just a trainee who couldn’t debut. There are countless people more famous than him, and every one of them is better!”

“A-Wei, how many times do I have to tell you? When we’re outside, address me by my title. Call me Director Gao! Use your brain for once. The people more famous than him—are any of them as handsome? And which demographic is the easiest to monetize?”

The Xu Xiu they were discussing was currently standing there with half a watermelon cradled in his arms. He wore a white T-shirt emblazoned with the words:

“Don’t cry before my grave; you’ll dirty the road of my reincarnation.”

His ripped jeans bore another slogan on one leg:

“If you love, love deeply.”

And on the other:

“If you don’t love me, don’t hurt me.”

A “shamate” wig sat atop his head, its slanted fringe covering one eye. He wore flip-flops, and every two steps he gave his bangs an exaggerated toss.

When this image appeared on camera, the audience was instantly dumbfounded.

“Holy crap! Where have you brought our guy? Is this even still our country?”

“It’s back! It’s all back! My DNA is tingling. One person crying, true love invincible! If I weren’t bald, I’d absolutely get this haircut to match the occasion.”

“Wait, bro, are you really this abstract? I thought the performance art in the first season was abstract enough, but this rookie is a walking piece of abstract art!”

“Trash! Another attention seeker. What are you trying to accomplish dressing like that? The people in the entertainment industry are so desperate for fame they’ve lost their minds!”

[Ding! The host’s abstract behavior has attracted exposure. Exposure value +69… +69…]

Hearing the system’s notification, Xu Xiu flicked his slanted fringe aside, then scooped up a chunk of watermelon with a spoon and put it into his mouth.

The watermelon was sweet, but his heart was bitter.

It wasn’t as if Xu Xiu wanted to be abstract. What decent person would willingly take the abstract route?

At first, he had planned to be a quiet pretty boy—or perhaps someone who looked cool and effortlessly handsome.

But you never know whether a surprise or a disaster will arrive first.

A week ago, Xu Xiu received notice that his company was dissolving, along with an invitation from the Peach Blossom Dock production team. Arriving with them was the Abstract System.

The day he received the dissolution notice happened to be the day he completed two and a half years of training in this world.

Yes, Xu Xiu had transmigrated here—and he had brought his entire body with him.

No one had told him transmigration was going to happen. If he’d known, he would at least have memorized a few lyrics. Then he wouldn’t have ended up in this world as nothing more than a trainee.

After finally enduring two and a half years of training, he had thought he could astonish everyone and soar straight to the top.

He never expected a single document to put a halt to every audition-based idol program.

Then came the notice that his company was dissolving.

The two devastating blows dragged Xu Xiu straight back to reality.

Just as he was utterly disheartened, Director Gao Liang of Peach Blossom Dock somehow spotted him.

To Xu Xiu’s surprise, he actually invited him to appear on the variety show Peach Blossom Dock.

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Xu Xiu knew perfectly well why the director had chosen him. Director Gao had seen through his outwardly tough disguise and realized that, beneath it all, he was a sensitive young man~

In plain English: he was handsome!

It couldn’t possibly be because Xu Xiu had helped an elderly man with mobility problems carry some things at the supermarket, could it?

It had certainly been a very wholesome act—but while carrying the man’s belongings, Xu Xiu had misspoken and said, “Old thing, let Grandpa help you carry that!”

“…”

At the time, quite a few people had turned to stare at Xu Xiu, making him so embarrassed he wanted to disappear.

He was an honest, harmless young man. What bad intentions could he possibly have~

*

After receiving the production team’s invitation, Xu Xiu had nearly said to Director Gao, “If you don’t despise me, I’m willing to acknowledge you as my adoptive father.”

The future looked bright!

Even if he couldn’t debut as part of a group, he could still use his looks to attract a huge number of female fans through variety shows.

What was the most important thing for an idol?

Female fans!

With female fans came a solid foundation. As long as he had female fans, Xu Xiu could keep milking them indefinitely. After all, their spending power was number one!

Before he had much time to celebrate, however, the system came looking for him.

Ordinarily, Xu Xiu should have been delighted to receive a system. After all, having a cheat system meant he could bulldoze his way to the top!

But… the system he had been bound to was an Abstract System.

Only when Xu Xiu’s abstract behavior gained exposure would he receive rewards such as singing ability, acting skill, and access to Earth’s entire music library.

If all he had to do was act abstract, Xu Xiu might have gritted his teeth and accepted it. But why did his behavior have to attract exposure?

Who came up with something like this? Wasn’t it simply bullying an honest man?

Did it mean people had to see him—preferably as many people as possible?

What did the system want him to do?

Perform circus tricks for everyone like a monkey? Didn’t a monkey’s life matter too?

At first, Xu Xiu had firmly and vehemently refused.

He was going to become a top-tier idol!

Asking him to discard his idol’s dignity, take that face—handsome like Louis Koo, Daniel Wu, Hu Ge, Yu Yan, and even the reader—and use it to act like a fool… wasn’t that making things unnecessarily difficult?

If the system hadn’t appeared, perhaps he might have done it anyway. But now that it had arrived, if he chose that path, wouldn’t the two and a half years he had endured have been for nothing?

Yet after trying it twice… and experiencing the system’s rewards, Xu Xiu realized that perhaps it wasn’t entirely unacceptable after all.

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What was so difficult about acting abstract? He loved acting abstract!

System, you really know me~

He swore it truly wasn’t that he wanted to become an abstract man. The system was simply offering too much!

Looking cool was important, of course, but how could that compare with Earth’s entire music library? And the occasional boosts to his singing and acting skills were even harder to resist.

So what if he acted abstract on a variety show? As long as the rewards were generous enough, they didn’t even have to treat him like a person!

He was only trying to make money. There was nothing shameful about that!

Besides, wasn’t it better than refusing to act abstract, finishing the show, and then vanishing from the entertainment industry without a trace?

And besides, how long could a variety show possibly take to film? Nor was it certain that anyone would pay attention to him even if he behaved this abstractly. Who would go out of their way to follow an abstract man?

He believed that if he held on a little longer, gritted his teeth, and finished filming the program, hardly anyone would remember him. Then he could simply start over and become a new man.

“Director Gao, I understand what you’re saying, but… isn’t he being a little too abstract? Can he really attract female viewers dressed like that?” Qi Wei looked at Gao Liang.

Gao Liang didn’t answer. He was staring at the number of viewers displayed on the large screen.

It had already reached five hundred thousand.

If he remembered correctly, there had been only three hundred thousand viewers a moment ago. The instant Xu Xiu appeared, the number had risen by two hundred thousand!

Gao Liang had no idea why Xu Xiu had started acting so abstract, but the viewer count didn’t lie.

At that moment, the number of viewers was climbing in a straight line. Gao Liang knew exactly what those figures meant.

He had made the right choice in inviting Xu Xiu to his variety show!

The program seemed tailor-made for the boy. He was practically born to be a variety-show sensation.

So what if he was a little abstract? It was wonderful!

“A-Wei, look at you panicking again. I’ve told you to stay calm when handling things. Look at how jumpy you are every day. Where’s the composure you had in your younger days?”

“You can’t judge a matter by its surface. You’ve only noticed that he’s acting abstract, but you haven’t seen how sharply our viewer count has risen. Look at it now. How many people are watching?”

“Director Gao, the number of viewers has reached seven hundred thousand.”

“How many?!”

“Seven hundred thousand.” Qi Wei scratched his head.

He couldn’t understand why his teacher was so excited.

Hadn’t he just told Qi Wei to remain calm? Why was he the one getting worked up now?

Besides, Qi Wei didn’t think he was panicking. He simply wanted to improve too badly…