Being a gigolo was too much for him, so he had to become a music superstar.

"President Su, is your strategy... aimed at pushing Lin Buyi towards becoming a 'national-level player'?"

Su Nianwei held the coffee, her voice softening.

"It's not about pushing. It's about letting it grow to that position on its own."

She paused for a moment.

"My job is just to move the stones that are blocking the way."

……

At 2 PM, the program's official team announced the group assignments for the national competition.

The competition format has been upgraded.

The national competition is divided into two groups, A and B, for each round of competition. Contestants in each group perform one by one, and their scores are calculated by a combination of mentor evaluations and audience votes. The two contestants with the lowest total scores in each round are eliminated, while the rest can choose to join a mentor's team.

Lin Buyi was assigned to Group A.

Su Nianwei was drinking her third cup of coffee in her study when she saw the Group A list. She put down her cup and read through the list from beginning to end.

Group A: Chen Jiahao, Lin Buyi, Wang Ke, Shen Yihe, Zhang Mingyu.

Chen Jiahao's name was listed first.

Su Nianwei stared at that name for a long time without saying a word.

The last round was the "group of death," where he was paired with Zhou Qian. This round, he's been directly paired with Chen Jiahao.

Wang Shaohui's meaning was all too clear.

But this time the strategy has changed.

The last round involved underhanded tactics—blacklisting, lowering scores, and plagiarism. Those were dirty tricks, but we fought back.

This round is an open attack.

Chen Jiahao's performance, crafted with elaborate stage choreography and a professional team, outshone Lin Buyi on the same stage. It wasn't due to any behind-the-scenes manipulation, but rather a difference in skill.

This is a more sophisticated method of killing.

Lin Buyi lost, and everyone will just say: He was simply not as skilled as the other person.

No one questioned the cover-up. There wasn't even a reason to voice support.

Su Nianwei turned to a new page in her notebook and wrote a few lines. Then she closed the notebook and went downstairs.

The breakfast dishes had already been cleared away. She walked to the basement stairwell and knocked twice on the door.

"Come in."

Su Nianwei pushed open the door and went in.

Lin Buyi sat on the sofa with his phone on his lap, the screen displaying the group list.

He has already seen it.

Su Nianwei sat down in the chair opposite him.

"You saw it?"

"I've seen it."

Lin Buyi's expression didn't change much. He glanced down at the list, then put his phone aside and chewed on the apple slice in his mouth.

Su Nianwei looked at him. "Do you know what this means?"

"It means they want me to lose in a more respectable way."

Lin Buyi swallowed the apple slice in a flat voice.

"The last round was a sneak attack, this round is an open attack. They put me alongside their ace, making the audience think, 'Look, Lin Buyi is no match for Chen Jiahao.' Even if I'm eliminated, no one will think it's unfair."

Su Nianwei stared at him.

This person can always see through the situation immediately, and his calmness is unsettling.

"What are you planning to do?"

Lin Buyi thought for a few seconds.

"He plays his fancy game, I'll play mine."

He paused and looked at Su Nianwei.

"My next song is called 'One Meat and One Vegetable'."

Su Nianwei's fingers twitched on her knee.

She remembered the song she had heard at the stairwell last night. A small square table, a meat dish and a vegetable dish, a figure calmly and busily working.

Her throat bobbed slightly.

"That song..." She opened her mouth, then closed it again.

Lin Buyi looked at her.

Su Nianwei picked up the water glass next to her and took a sip, pretending she hadn't heard anything.

"Anyway, you can do whatever you want."

Lin Buyi did not press further.

He nodded, picked up his guitar, and strummed a chord.

Su Nianwei stood up and walked out. She stopped at the door.

"Shen Yihe is also in your group."

"I know."

"Be mindful of boundaries."

Lin Buyi paused for a moment while plucking the strings.

"Senior, it's just a competition."

Su Nianwei did not turn around.

I'm talking about 'measures,' not 'distance.' You decide for yourself.

After saying that, she went upstairs and closed the door.

Lin Buyi looked at the closed door and sighed inwardly.

Does this woman's jealousy jar have no lid?

But he didn't have time to think about those things. There were only three days left before recording. The polishing of "One Meat, One Vegetable" couldn't stop.

This song doesn't require high notes or elaborate arrangements; a guitar is enough. But it demands a high level of emotional control—singing too forcefully becomes sentimental, while being too restrained becomes bland.

He needs to find that perfect "degree".

Lin Buyi recorded it once, listened to it, and then deleted it.

I recorded it again, listened to half of it, but it still wasn't right.

He tossed his phone aside, closed his eyes, and started thinking about the song again.

In his past life, he heard Mao Buyi sing this song late at night while working overtime. It was 2 a.m., and he was the only one left in the company. He had finished his takeout, the box was on the table, and his coffee was half-cold. This song was playing randomly on his phone.

When he heard "a small square table, with one meat dish and one vegetable dish," he suddenly remembered something from a long, long time ago.

He remembered his grandmother's kitchen.

I remembered the bowl of soup that had gone cold on the dinner table when I got home from school.

He cried then. A man in his thirties, crying in his empty office in the middle of the night while looking at a takeout box.

Lin Buyi opened his eyes and picked up his guitar again.

This time he didn't record. He just sang.

From beginning to end, over and over again.

During this time, Shen Yihe sent a WeChat message.

"I heard you're in the same group as Chen Jiahao."

Lin Buyi replied with an "Mm".

Shen Yihe sent another message: "Be careful. His team is very strong, the kind that spends a lot of money on arrangements. You only have a guitar...Aren't you really considering adding something?"

Lin Buyi glanced at the message and replied, "No need."

Shen Yihe was silent for a moment, then sent a cheering emoji.

Lin Buyi turned the phone face down.

He knew Shen Yihe meant well. From an external perspective, his situation was indeed extremely basic—just a guitar, himself, and no one to tune his instrument before he went on stage.

But this song doesn't need those things in the first place.

Adding it would actually be a bad thing.

Su Nianwei would come down once a day, but she never went inside; she would just stand at the top of the stairs for a while. Sometimes, Lin Buyi would be singing and could sense someone at the door, but neither he nor she would speak.

Once, she brought the soup downstairs, stood at the door for a while and listened before pushing the door open and coming in.

Lin Buyi had his eyes closed, his hands on the guitar, and he was silently lip-syncing to the lyrics, chewing on each word.

Su Nianwei stood by the door, looked at him for a few seconds, put the soup on the table, and turned to leave.

Lin Buyi opened his eyes and said, "Thank you."

Su Nianwei paused for a moment.

Then she continued upstairs without looking back.

I just walked up the stairs a little slower than usual.

Lin Buyi picked up the bowl of soup and took a sip.

There was a very clear starting point between them—a deal where one party provided the money and the other provided the personnel.

Does he have feelings for Su Nianwei?

Have.

It would be a lie to say there is absolutely none.