Peninsula: From Water Injection to Stardom

Chapter 115 Buying the "World's Most Handsome Man"

"Oh my, if oppa had gone, we could have gone shopping together at night in Hong Kong."

Yoo Jeong-yeon said with a regretful expression that she had previously thought Jiang Yan would go to MAMA.

"Why don't you just let Jackson show you around? He's a local from Hong Kong. Even if I went, I wouldn't know anywhere like you guys."

This year's MAMA is being held in Hong Kong. Even if Jiang Yan goes, and just like Yoo Jeongyeon said, he takes TWICE out shopping, he'll be completely clueless about where to go.

Moreover, he doesn't speak Cantonese, so asking for directions there in Mandarin might be less effective than speaking Korean.

Yoo Jeongyeon nodded as if she understood, then turned and asked, "If oppa isn't going, does he have other schedules to attend?"

"It's hard to say, we'll see if the company will assign me a business development role at the last minute."

Jiang Yan wasn't sure where he would be during those two days; he might just be holed up in his apartment watching the MAMA live stream.

Ment TV station sent him an invitation to attend a couple of days ago, but Jiang Yan hasn't given a clear reply yet. He plans to have Jiang Zhennan find a reason to decline in a couple of days.

There's really nothing worth going to. You'll just be sitting in the audience, clapping the whole time without winning a single award. What's the point of going?

The only advantage is that it leaves behind a stage for performances.

But this performance isn't very useful to him now, because just a few days after MAMA ends, his recording of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show will premiere globally.

After a while, the two walked with Yoo Jeongyeon to the vicinity of TWICE's dormitory in Cheongdam-dong and then parted ways.

The next day, at nine o'clock in the morning, Jiang Yan arrived at CUBE's studio again.

After staying inside for two and a half hours, there was a knock on the door from the outside.

Jiang Yan stopped what he was doing and said, "Please come in," then looked towards the door.

The person who came in was Jiang Zhennan. After finding a chair next to him and sitting down, he said directly, "Mango TV has agreed to the spot. UNIQ will be traveling with us. However, they have contacted us to try and arrange a collaboration stage for you."

"A collaboration stage? With whom?" Jiang Yan asked, somewhat surprised.

"A South Korean celebrity you know, you've even worked with him." Jiang Zhennan spoke cryptically, not telling him directly.

"The one I've worked with—U?" Jiang Yan answered casually.

"As expected of you, you reacted so quickly."

"Is it possible? I've only ever worked with two Korean artists. Do you think it could be the other one?"

"Yeah, that friend of yours is definitely unlikely."

"So Hunan TV wants to set me up with IU?"

Jiang Yan asked again, as if to confirm, because in his memory, shouldn't this be something Zhang Jie did?

"Well, I heard that Hunan TV originally had another candidate in mind, but for some reason, they decided to change the person after internal discussions." Jiang Zhennan shared some inside information he had gathered.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Yan's first reaction was, "Could it be that Aunt Zhang is jealous because she knows her husband is going to collaborate with Li Zhi'en?" That's why she's making her move.

This was the only possibility he could think of for the time being, after all, Aunt Zhang had a strong addiction to being a sister-in-law.

However, Jiang Yan wasn't too concerned about what had happened; he had another, more important matter to confirm: "Does this collaboration count as one of my three songs?"

"That's natural."

"That's good, I have no problem on my end."

Jiang Yan agreed readily, because in this case, he was the one who benefited.

Originally, it was supposed to be one person singing three songs, but now it's like only singing two and a half songs.

"Okay, I'll contact them later."

Jiang Zhennan nodded, and after finishing that topic, he changed the subject: "President Du asked me to ask you. The company has received two guest slots for the iQiyi Scream Night, one of which is going to be given to UNIQ. Do you want to go?"

"What number?"

"The 5th of next month."

"Hmm—let me think about it and decide tomorrow."

Jiang Yan hesitated for a moment, but did not refuse directly.

This iQiyi Scream Night invites many popular figures from mainland China as guests each year, making it a popular event in China with high audience and buzz, and it's a natural trending topic.

If Jiang Yan remembers correctly, the main guests at this year's Scream Night were the male and female leads of the two hit dramas, "The Journey of Flower" and "Nirvana in Fire".

The invited South Korean artists include EXO, Super Junior, Girls' Generation, Infinite, and f(x), all of which are currently top-tier K-pop groups.

"Then think it over carefully, and just send me a message when you've made up your mind."

"Yes, is there anything else?"

"There's something not very important. CUBE received an email from an American website called TCCandler, saying that they will be including you in this year's list of the 100 most handsome faces in the world."

Jiang Yan was stunned for a moment when he heard Jiang Zhennan say that.

The 100 Most Handsome Faces in the World? Isn't that just that legendary unofficial list that selects the "world's most beautiful woman" and the "world's most handsome man"?

Why is it called an unofficial ranking? Because even someone like Kim Namjoon could become the "world's most handsome man" in the future.

To put it bluntly, this is a leaderboard where you can "spend money" on it.

Especially later, TCCandler introduced an annual membership voting mechanism on top of the original selection rules, making its ugly and greedy behavior even more obvious.

However, after thinking about it for a moment, Jiang Yan suddenly had an idea. He said, "Contact the business department of this website and ask them how much they charge for first place."

Jiang Zhennan looked somewhat surprised and asked, "Huh? Can this ranking be bought?"

"Why do you think it's wrong? If music charts can be manipulated by inflating numbers, then this kind of thing can certainly be done too."

"What you said makes sense. I'll try to contact them later." Jiang Zhennan nodded, agreeing with what he said, but he still asked, somewhat puzzled, "But what do you need this first place for?"

"I'll buy it to play with, and while I'm at it, I'll ask Yuehua Entertainment to put it on the trending topics list for me."

Jiang Yan had already made up his mind that as long as he could spend money to take the top spot on this list, he would immediately ask Yuehua Entertainment to put the hashtag "[World's Most Handsome Man]" on Weibo's trending topics.

"What if the first prize is too expensive?"

"Then let's not buy it. Since we're not number one, there's no need to buy it."

"Okay, I understand."

After finishing this matter, Jiang Zhennan had nothing else to say.

After chatting with Jiang Yan for a few more minutes, he quickly left the studio to attend to his own business.

Then, around noon, Jiang Yan went downstairs to a nearby restaurant for lunch, and then returned to her studio.

However, in the afternoon, he unexpectedly received a call from Park Jin-young.

Park Jin-young asked him on the phone if he was free these past two days, saying he had something to talk to him about.

Jiang Yan couldn't guess what it was about, so he just said that he was currently in CUBE.

Upon hearing this, Park Jin-young immediately suggested that they meet now, as he was also at the company.

Jiang Yan readily agreed, mainly because he was also curious about what Park Jin-young wanted to see him about.