Chapter Forty-Nine: Half a Scholar

After tending to her wound alone, Bai Ling refrained from flitting around in front of the camera any further. Instead, she took the initiative to help the Zhou couple with preparing the ingredients. Compared to Wen Yan and the others, Bai Ling still preferred interacting with the Zhou couple—so much less hassle.

It was at this moment that a notification abruptly surfaced in her mind.

“Congratulations, Host, on successfully establishing a positive public image. Your popularity has soared.”

“System reward distributing…”

Hearing this, Bai Ling’s face showed a hint of surprise. In her view, her previous behavior was rather ordinary. She’d simply helped stop a runaway New Year pig—hardly worth making a fuss about. In fact, she thought everyone else’s reactions were rather exaggerated, as if they were performing for a variety show.

Taking advantage of a quiet moment, she surreptitiously checked her phone. The result astonished her. The live stream’s comment section was one thing, but her fan group was in an uproar, with fans animatedly discussing the recent events, leaving Bai Ling both amused and exasperated. As for her social media account, her follower count had skyrocketed. Since last time, her followers had reached about 3.5 million, nearly doubling. Now, it was already at 3.7 million—and only a few dozen minutes had passed. As more onlookers learned of the situation, her fan base was bound to grow even more rapidly.

This brought to mind an amusing matter: the agreement she’d signed with Spring and Autumn Entertainment. The contract stipulated that her followers would double within a year. What had seemed like a long and arduous journey—at least in the company’s estimation—was nearly accomplished in just two weeks. Who could make sense of such results?

Bai Ling could already foresee that, after this surge, countless artists would be green with envy, viewing her with increasing resentment. But she was unconcerned—she wasn’t Wen Yan, destined for stardom, so what could they do to her?

Of course, her hope to reach four million fans was only an expectation. In truth, her current popularity was tightly intertwined with the show “New Year at My Home.” It wouldn’t be long before her feat of single-handedly wrangling the New Year pig trended online. In fact, even now, the topic was approaching the top ten on the hot search list, climbing at a staggering rate.

Spring and Autumn Entertainment, recognizing the situation, was overjoyed and immediately launched a campaign to capitalize on it. There was no need to fabricate anything; simply operating by the book would yield ever greater exposure and results.

As the incident spread, many connected to Bai Ling quickly took notice. Ge Fenfen, after watching, was both anxious and amazed, worried that her precious Bai Ling might encounter trouble on the show, yet delighted that she’d finally broken out in popularity.

Wang Tianhai and Zhou Tai, however, had rather different thoughts. When sly Zhou Tai came across the news, his hands and feet went numb with dread. Thankfully, when Bai Ling had resisted him before, she’d only had a designer handbag, not a stick—otherwise, he might have been in serious trouble. Wang Tianhai felt much the same; he’d assumed she was a delicate beauty, never expecting her to be a hidden tigress. Terrifying!

But back to business—since the system was offering a reward, Bai Ling was more than pleased. If she hadn’t been helping with the meal prep, she would have been gleefully rubbing her hands together.

“Congratulations, Host, you have acquired the skill: ‘Brilliant Literary Talent!’”

“Hm? Is this pushing me toward the artsy route?” Bai Ling was both surprised and curious. She’d just revealed her “impressive martial prowess,” and now she was being granted a quintessential literary skill?

“System, you sure know how to play the game. Are you sure this is a good idea?”

Though she found it odd, system rewards were usually quite valuable, so Bai Ling examined the details with interest. As it turned out, this skill was indeed impressive.

“Brilliant Literary Talent” would first and foremost enhance her cultural literacy. The body’s previous owner hadn’t attended college, but had excelled academically in middle and high school. So, while she lacked advanced or specialized knowledge, she could still be considered somewhat scholarly.

This ability would greatly improve Bai Ling’s memory, allowing her to recall with clarity the poems, songs, and literary phrases from textbooks and extracurricular reading, and to use them skillfully. Of course, the knowledge she’d already acquired would be amplified and combined, allowing her to rise from being “somewhat scholarly” to a truly cultured individual.

But if that were all, the skill wouldn’t be called “Brilliant Literary Talent”—it would simply be “Enhanced Memory.” Its true value lay in improving Bai Ling’s creative abilities, granting her more refined expression and logical clarity in her work. In other words, even if she were to take on lyric writing, composing, or scriptwriting now, she could realize her ideas without any prior foundation—perhaps not a genius overnight, but at least guaranteed a solid baseline.

While this might not seem immediately crucial, in the long run, it was undoubtedly of immense worth. Bai Ling clicked her tongue and silently gave the system a thumbs up. Accepting the reward, she continued to help with the kitchen work.

Before long, people began to arrive at the village entrance.

“Oh, looks like the guests are all arriving together this time.”
“We’re finally moving into the second phase. I can’t wait.”
“I wonder which seniors are coming this round.”
“It’s not that I don’t enjoy watching the younger artists, but the elders’ conversations, their display of artistry—now that’s the essence of this show.”
“To each their own, of course, but there’s no harm in welcoming the new masters.”
“Wait, Cold Master is here? He actually came?”
“Didn’t he say he rarely participates in reality shows?”
“And others too—wow, all highly esteemed seniors.”
“This episode’s going to be fascinating.”
“These people are all worthy of being called ‘teachers.’”

As they arrived, Bai Ling, Wen Yan, and the others naturally went out to greet them and help with their luggage. This time, Director Wang did not make an appearance.

Yet as Bai Ling laid eyes on the new arrivals, she was a little surprised to spot two familiar faces among them. One was Cold Yan, a regular judge on “Girl Group Assembly.”