Chinese Entertainment King: Starting as a Fat Boy and Becoming a Singing King

"Sister Lin."

Xu Yao spoke, his tone calm, each word clear and firm.

"I want to fight for justice."

Sister Lin's smile froze on her lips before it could fully bloom.

She stared blankly at Xu Yao, as if she hadn't heard what he had just said.

"What did you say?"

Sister Lin found it hard to believe; the company had already made concessions, yet he still said such a thing.

"Sister Lin, in the midst of the everyday life, there are always a group of kind-hearted people around us. They are used to compromising and are good at digesting all grievances with words like 'never mind' or 'it's okay,' as if they were born with a kind heart that can forgive."

"And this seemingly magnanimous kindness often becomes a weakness that others repeatedly exploit."

"Whether it's the company or social relationships, if you forgive them the first time they bully you, they'll think you're easy to manipulate. If you forgive them again the second time they bully you, they'll think you can't live without this job. The third time, the fourth time... until you're hurt all over, all they need is a casual 'sorry' to make you forget all the injustices and learn to be magnanimous and considerate."

Xu Yao flipped the room card between his fingers, looked up at Sister Lin.

"Sister Lin, I want to prove that this isn't kindness, it's cowardice. This isn't tolerance, it's self-deception. True kindness should have edges and bottom lines. Kindness without bottom lines is indulgence. Some people are so unscrupulous because they know honest people won't fight back."

"Honest people may indeed have no background or power, but because they have nothing, they can sometimes be fearless."

Sister Lin's eyes finally changed.

"Xu Yao, what exactly do you mean?"

It wasn't the gentle, pleading tone from before; instead, it sank deeper and deeper, as if something unbelievable was pulling at it from within. Anger began to surface, and the person froze on the spot.

"What I mean is..."

Xu Yao placed the room card on the door lock, and with a beep, the green light turned on.

He pushed open the door, stood at the doorway, and turned his head to the side. The light from the corridor shone from behind him, dividing his profile into light and shadow.

"There are too many nice people and honest people in this world. I don't want to be one. Call me ungrateful or selfish if you will, I just want to do what I want. From the moment the company disregarded the future, interests, and mental and physical health of us trainees, our separation was already inevitable. We have different paths, so we cannot work together."

After he finished speaking, the door slowly closed in front of her, the latch clicking shut.

Only Sister Lin remained in the corridor, along with the supplementary agreement in her hand.

She stood there for a few seconds, then slowly bent down and picked up one or two documents that were scattered on the ground.

When she picked up the last one, Sister Lin's hand paused.

The voice recorder in my pocket was still lit up, its indicator light glowing a pale green, like a cat blinking in the dark.

The next morning, Xu Yao was still in the rehearsal hall with Na Ying discussing the new arrangement of "Silk Road" when his phone started vibrating incessantly.

First came a string of question marks from Zhou Shen, followed by Xu Jianqiu's message, "Brother Yao, your Weibo got flooded with comments??"

Then came Bai Lu's message, "Xu Yao, are you there? Are you alright?"

Then there were Zhang Bichen, Chen Yongxin...

Finally, a text message came from an unknown number. It contained nothing but a link.

He clicked on the link.

It's a Weibo account belonging to an entertainment marketing account, and it has a video pinned to the top.

The cover features a side profile screenshot of him standing in a hotel corridor, with the title written in bold black letters on a yellow background: The Voice of China champion Xu Yao personally admits to being ungrateful, selfish, and only seeking personal gain.

Xu Yao turned the volume down by one notch.

In the video, most of Sister Lin's voice was cut out, leaving only the last few sentences.

Those questions about reconciliation, complaints, and "what else are you dissatisfied with?" were cut into pieces.

And his voice, every word was amplified.

The line "I don't want to be a pushover" was extracted and played out again.

The line, "Call me 'crossing the river and burning the bridge,' or 'selfish,'" was given an echo effect, making it sound like a movie line that had been repeatedly polished in a recording studio.

In the last few seconds of the video, the image freezes on his profile as he pushes open the door to enter the room, and black text with red lettering slowly appears: "Champion's own recording, the biggest ingrate in the history of The Voice of China."

Xu Yao scrolled through the comments section, and the latest one read: "If he hadn't let the truth slip out, how could he have spoken so confidently?"

This comment has already received over two thousand likes.

As you scroll down, a line of insults—"disgusting," "ungrateful," "who would know you if you didn't have a good voice"—rushes up, occasionally interspersed with a few defending him, but these are quickly drowned out by the overwhelming barrage of abuse.

He turned off the video and placed his phone screen-down on his knees.

In the rehearsal room, Nayoung was still flipping through sheet music on the piano bench, humming the melody of the chorus.

My phone vibrated again; it was Liu Yifei.

"Xiao Yao, what happened to the video? How did you get recorded so carelessly?"

She spoke very quickly, clearly very worried.

"Tell me what happened. I'll help you issue a statement and find you a lawyer. Don't bear this alone."

Xu Yao replied with a smile, "Sister Qianqian, it's alright. Don't worry, let things play out for a while."

He had just hung up on Liu Yifei when his phone started vibrating incessantly.

Bai Lu had already received four missed calls, with the intervals getting shorter and shorter. Just as he was about to call back, the fifth call came in.

"Xu Yao!"

Bai Lu's voice was noticeably more nervous than Liu Yifei's.

"I saw that video. Why have you never told me about these things? Did they bully you? Are you very upset? I saw those comments, they're infuriating! Don't be afraid, netizens don't understand you. I can post on Weibo to prove you're a good person. I..."

"Bai Lu".

Xu Yao interrupted her.

"what?"

"I'm really fine."

He spoke seriously; he wasn't just giving her a perfunctory answer.

"Really?"

"Really. Just focus on filming and don't get distracted. I'm not that easily defeated."

Bai Lu asked a couple more questions, which he calmed down one by one before finally hanging up the phone.

Xu Yao had just hung up on Bai Lu and was about to go to the restroom when Na Ying's caller ID lit up again.

"Xiao Yao, should I step in and talk to the production team?"

"Thank you, Sister Na. I can handle it myself."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

Then Nayoung's voice changed; it was no longer the gentle concern she had just given, but rather a sense of alertness, as if she had discovered something.

"Xu Yao," she called him by his full name, "you scheming fatso, are you plotting something again?"

Xu Yao held his phone, but didn't say anything.

"If you don't deny it, then you're admitting it."

Nayoung's voice held a hint of exasperation mixed with amusement.

"Did you deliberately let the company record those words?"

Xu Yao did not deny it: "Sister Na, how could she possibly secretly turn on a recording pen in front of me without me noticing at all?"

There was a silence of about three seconds on the other end of the phone.

Then Nayoung sighed and shook her head, but the corners of her mouth were turned up.

"Forget it, I'm not going to bother with you anymore. You've got a lot of ideas, kid. But are you really sure you can pull it off? There are a lot of people criticizing you online right now."

Xu Yao glanced down at the Weibo message notifications still flashing on his phone screen, then set his Weibo account to "visible only to myself".

"Sister Na, didn't you say that there are thousands of contestants on The Voice of China, but only one Xu Yao? Let's take a good look at how this Xu Yao becomes the first singer in the history of The Voice of China to release his first original album within a year."

Nayoung was silent for two seconds, then smiled.

"Okay, I'll wait."