Chapter One Hundred and One: An Actor’s Self-Cultivation, a Scoundrel Who Even Tricked the System

Only children make choices; adults know they can’t handle it all. It’s exhausting!

Yet Bai Ling was actually eager to challenge her own weaknesses.

When Bai Ling voiced this thought, Sister Ge’s expression turned a little strange. She scrutinized Bai Ling repeatedly, trying to figure out just what wind this girl was catching. Was it the cold wind of poverty?

“The last time you acted like this, you wanted to donate to your school. Why are you so enthusiastic now?”

Bai Ling answered with sincere earnestness, “Is it possible that after weathering enough storms, I’ve come to appreciate how precious life is—and how much more precious the appearance fee?”

Sister Ge narrowed her eyes. “How did you know the offer for these two shows was so high?”

Bai Ling’s eyes lit up with surprise, “Really? How much?”

Sister Ge looked at Bai Ling’s unseemly excitement. “Given your current market value, of course the price is extravagant.”

“The singer show is just a one-off, so it’s four million.”

“But the acting program...”

Bai Ling’s eyes were practically replaced by dollar signs. “One episode, one song, four million...”

“Heh!”

Sister Ge was interrupted, but she didn’t seem annoyed.

“If your status were a bit higher, they might even triple it. But they want you to sing a new song.”

“After all, you’ve only sung two songs so far, and written the lyrics and music for one.”

“They’re offering this price because they want to hype up your new song. Of course, the copyright remains yours, but if you’re willing to license it, they might even double the offer…”

Bai Ling calmed down after hearing this.

“So that’s how it is!”

As for the copyright—it was, of course, something she had to keep firmly in her own hands.

Both “Under the Sea” and “Invisible Wings” were still steadily earning her money.

But even without giving up the copyright, just providing them with a promotional angle could net her four million.

It had to be said: being a celebrity really was a lucrative business.

Of course, compared to true capitalists, there was still a gap.

At best, she was the ultimate, top-tier wage earner.

But income still depended on the person.

Bai Ling’s current fame could already rival that of some well-established, first-tier singers, perhaps even surpassing them and reaching the level of the top stars.

That’s the only way she could command such an appearance fee.

If she weren’t still a newcomer, not yet famous for long, that four million might easily have been multiplied several times over.

Even so, Bai Ling was already quite satisfied.

As for writing a new song...

Wasn’t she practically a prodigy in the karaoke system world? Copying a few songs would be a breeze.

“As for that acting program, you’ll need to participate from start to finish—ten episodes in total, a package deal: fifteen million.”

“The per-episode rate isn’t that high, but it’s still quite good.”

Bai Ling fell silent.

If she, alone, was being paid fifteen million, and the show invited a dozen or even dozens of artists, then—

“Wow, the production team must be loaded. Where does all that money come from, the wind?”

“I don’t envy lovebirds or immortals—I envy being rich every single day!”

Truth be told, Bai Ling was still waiting for her dear brother Bai Zihao to support her in her old age.

She wondered how Bai Zihao was doing lately.

When Bai Ling ran into trouble, Bai Zihao had called and messaged to comfort her, but Bai Ling always acted indifferent, as if nothing had happened.

He probably spent quite a while on edge, too.

But that was all in the past.

Bai Ling didn’t want to dwell on it.

After a detailed discussion with Sister Ge, they settled on the schedule for the two variety shows, with Sister Ge responsible for contacting the production teams to finalize the dates.

Meanwhile, Bai Ling began preparing for the shows.

First, she had to choose the song she’d perform.

Second, she needed to familiarize herself with the world of variety shows here, so that she’d have a better sense of what to expect.

The entertainment industry was small, but the rules were many.

With such a mixed crowd, people’s motives were the hardest to predict.

Caution was always the best policy.

In the end, once Bai Ling had chosen her performance piece, she mostly treated watching variety shows as light entertainment.

Most of the clips released were heavily edited, with plenty of added entertainment effects.

Trying to actually learn something from them wasn’t really feasible.

As for dedicating time to improve her acting, Bai Ling had considered it.

Sister Ge had even suggested helping Bai Ling find a coach—someone from one of the top drama schools, with solid theoretical training.

Even a professor.

Such teachers were happy to coach artists for some extra income.

But to be honest, Bai Ling didn’t put much stock in them.

After all, those with real talent usually acted themselves, unless their appearance was truly unsuited for the screen...

But then again, if their looks were so poor and they had no particular traits, they wouldn’t have made it into those schools, let alone become teachers.

So, really, those teachers probably lacked the ability to make it as actors themselves.

Of course, there were always exceptions—Bai Ling believed there were certainly some who were truly capable but still passionate about teaching.

It was just that such people either wouldn’t take her seriously, or she couldn’t find them.

Most importantly, Bai Ling felt that following their guidance would never improve her acting as much as the rewards from the system.

She even spent her own money on books about acting, clutching “An Actor Prepares” every day, hoping the dog system would mistakenly think she was working hard.

Truth be told, at first, she did manage to snag two acting training cards.

But after that, the system only handed out ordinary blind box rewards.

Sometimes the blind box just produced two acting textbooks, which left Bai Ling cursing the wretched system’s stinginess.

As time passed, Sister Ge had already smoothed out Bai Ling’s schedule so the two variety shows wouldn’t clash.

Contracts were signed, and the next step was cooperating with the production teams on publicity and promotions.

This, of course, was no trouble at all—Miao Miao handled everything.

Once Bai Ling had secured both shows and started promoting them, launching her double-pronged approach, her fans threw their full support behind her.

To be honest, Bai Ling’s popularity was astonishing.

Under the two promotional posts, comments and messages quickly surpassed ten thousand.

And this was just for the announcements, not even an actual trending event.

Having such engagement put her on par with the very top stars who didn’t inflate their numbers.

(End of this chapter)