Huayu: This top star doesn't play by the rules.

The room fell silent again. Chen Chao sat back down in his chair, looked at the cooperation agreement on the table, and glanced down at the ever-increasing number of followers on his Weibo account.

In just one afternoon, the number of fans has exceeded one million, and fans have spontaneously created a super topic community, with the number of posts constantly increasing.

From Chen Chao's rebirth to signing a cooperation agreement with Weibo, being recognized for his potential, and officially joining the Celebrity Power Ranking, it has only been a little over a year. He has already taken the most important first step towards his envisioned path to becoming a top star.

Just as he was deep in thought, his phone suddenly vibrated. It was a WeChat message from Meng Ziyi, containing a photo of a hot pot restaurant followed by a series of voice messages: "Chen Chao! Is your interview over? We found a Northeastern-style sauerkraut and pork hot pot restaurant near the hotel. If it's ready, hurry over!"

With a smile and a shake of his head, Chen Chao replied, "I'll be right there," then grabbed his coat and went out.

Inside the private room of the hot pot restaurant, steam filled the air. Meng Ziyi was selecting ingredients from the menu, while Li Yitong sat beside her, offering her advice. Chen Xingxu, meanwhile, was quietly preparing the dipping sauce.

"You've finally arrived!" Hearing the sound of the door opening, Meng Ziyi subconsciously looked up and saw Chen Chao walking in. She immediately smiled and patted the seat next to her, gesturing for him to sit down next to her. "Sit down, sit down."

As soon as Chen Chao sat down next to Meng Ziyi, Chen Xingxu pushed a bowl of dipping sauce towards him. Looking at the bowl, he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow: "Thanks, but Xingxu, you're practically becoming our personal seasoning chef now."

"It's nothing." After giving a nonchalant reply, Chen Xingxu pushed the two dipping sauce bowls to Meng Ziyi and Li Yitong, but a smile couldn't help but creep onto his lips.

"How did the interview go? Did it go smoothly? Did you sign the contract?" Li Yitong asked with a smile as she poured Chen Chao a cup of barley tea.

"It went quite smoothly. I just signed a cooperation agreement with Weibo Music." When asked, Chen Chao took a sip of hot tea and didn't hide anything, casually saying, "Also, Weibo Entertainment invited me to join the Celebrity Power Ranking, and I accepted."

"The Celebrity Power Ranking?!" Upon hearing Chen Chao's words, Meng Ziyi's eyes widened in surprise, forgetting to chew the blood sausage she had just eaten. "That's the authoritative celebrity ranking in the Chinese entertainment industry? My god, Chen Chao, you're amazing! You've only been in the industry for a short time, and you've already made it onto this list!"

She entered the industry earlier than Chen Chao and knew all too well what this invitation meant. Many artists struggled in the industry for years but could not make it onto the Celebrity Power Ranking, while Chen Chao had only filmed his first movie, which had not even been released yet, and he had already made it onto the list. This was simply a chosen one.

"That's great." Li Yitong was also a little surprised, then smiled and nodded. "If Weibo helps control public opinion, you'll avoid a lot of detours when 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes' airs and when you audition for 'Princess Agents,' no matter what the outcome is."

"However, after you join, you need to pay more attention to the operation of your Weibo account. You can't go on like this, not posting a single Weibo post for more than half a month. Also, with more followers, your every word and action will be magnified, so you need to be a little more careful about your words and actions." As if she had thought of something, Li Yitong added in a serious tone.

"For managing your supertopic and fan groups, if you don't plan to hire a management company, it's best to find an agent or assistant to help you with it." After Li Yitong finished speaking, Chen Xingxu, who had been listening quietly, suddenly spoke up.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Chao smiled and nodded slightly: "I understand, I'll keep an eye on it."

The pork belly and pickled cabbage in the pot were bubbling and churning. Meng Ziyi kept putting pork belly and his favorite pickled cabbage on Chen Chao's plate. She was also busy talking about how the interview was going to be released tomorrow and how she was going to get her friends and family to help share it so that Chen Chao could reach the top spot on the celebrity popularity chart.

Seeing Meng Ziyi's even more enthusiastic expression than his own, Chen Chao felt a warm glow in his heart and readily chimed in with a few words from time to time.

And so, they ate hotpot until late at night before walking back to the hotel, chatting and laughing. Meng Ziyi, walking beside Chen Chao, tirelessly shared her experience and tips on Weibo operation with him.

Although her fans number less than a tenth of Chen Chao's, and most of her content and techniques are hearsay, Chen Chao couldn't say anything when he saw her serious expression, and could only listen attentively.

Upon arriving at the hotel, Li Yitong and Chen Xingxu went upstairs first, while Meng Ziyi lingered, standing under the streetlight, looking up at Chen Chao, her fingers gently twisting the hem of her clothes, and whispered, "Chen Chao, you're going to Hengdian for an audition the day after tomorrow, right?"

"Yes, I've already asked Director Jiang for leave. I'll take the high-speed train to Hengdian the day after tomorrow, stay overnight, and then go to the audition the next day." The warm yellow light fell on her face, and seeing her slightly flushed cheeks and the worry in her eyes, Chen Chao smiled and nodded gently.

"I was thinking of going to cheer you up, but Director Jiang wouldn't approve my leave!" Meng Ziyi's voice lowered a few decibels, her cheeks puffed up with anger, making her look like a swollen little pufferfish.

Seeing her like this, Chen Chao's smile widened even more, and he couldn't resist reaching out to poke her puffed-up cheek: "It's okay, it's just an audition, I can go by myself. When I get back from the audition, I'll treat you all to a seafood feast!"

"Then you'd better hurry up and prepare these next two days. Don't let your guard down. I'm still looking forward to your seafood feast." After being poked like that by Chen Chao, Meng Ziyi immediately deflated and could no longer put on that sullen look. After pausing for a moment, she stared into Chen Chao's eyes and said seriously.

"I understand." Looking into Meng Ziyi's eyes, Chen Chao responded earnestly, "Thank you, Ziyi."

"Why are you being so polite with me?" Seemingly unable to bear Chen Chao's attitude, Meng Ziyi's cheeks flushed even more. She quickly waved her hand, turned around, and ran towards the hotel. But after taking a couple of steps, she turned back, waved at him, and said, "I'm going up first. You should get some rest too! No staying up late to study the script, okay?"

Watching Meng Ziyi's figure disappear into the distance until it was completely out of sight, Chen Chao finally let out a soft breath, looked up at the starry sky, and the smile on his lips lingered for a long time.