On the Craft of a Variety Show Star

Announcement: This story will be reverse VIP on Friday, November 22. The reverse-VIP chapters are 24 through 39, so please don't buy them again if you've already read them. Three chapters will be posted when it goes VIP. Thank you for all your support. Love you!

Blurb 1:

Pineapple TV recently launched a new show, Actors 101.

Shi Xingzhou didn't want to go at first, but the reward was just too tempting...

When viewers heard Shi Xingzhou was joining Actors 101, objections flooded in. "A variety-show celebrity trying to act? Ha. Go home and take a break, will you?"

After the show aired,

viewers covered their faces, red from being slapped: ...So good!

Ordinary viewers: (slamming the table) Get a drama lined up for our Shishi, right now, immediately!!!

CP fans: (wiping their nosebleeds) Help me up, I can still ship them...

On the show, Shi Xingzhou breezed through every challenge, leaving his fellow contestants to resort to petty tricks behind his back. Even then, they couldn't get him eliminated.

Shi Xingzhou: What? You say I'm here to coast on a cheat code? Wrong. I'm here to fall in love.

Blurb 2:

Two years after debuting, Shi Xingzhou gained millions of fans by showing his face on variety shows. The whole internet mocked him as a pretty vase. Then one day, everyone discovered that this vase could not only act, but also sing opera. Most terrifying of all, he was a master of Peking opera too... Later on, everyone also found out that he was yet another ultra-rich second-generation kid who would go home and inherit a fortune worth billions if he couldn't make it in show business.

Tang Rongxuan had this to say: Heh. Good thing you're all blind.

Fans: ...

A soft and sweet top-tier star bottom X an old rogue movie emperor top

Notes:

Shi Shi is lovely, soft, and angelic most of the time. When enraged, he's nasty, hard, and demonic.

The old rogue is always an old rogue.

The old rogue is Shi Shi's bright moon and the mole in his heart.

They have a mutual crush.

The variety show in the story is inspired by the format of Produce 101, with some original changes.

No real-life person is the basis for the characters.

Advance blurb

New story: The Whole World Is Waiting for Me to Release a New Product

The online buzz has been strange lately. Lots of people are enthusiastically recommending a domestic skincare brand called Treasures Studio, claiming it can do everything from clear acne and whiten skin to remove wrinkles. Before long, well-known film stars from the entertainment industry have joined the chorus of praise, repeatedly taking the top spot on trending searches.

Curious netizens: [Tsk, tsk, tsk. They've sold their dignity for money!]

When Treasures Studio won a national innovation award and was featured on the famous Seven O'Clock News, the curious netizens couldn't sit still.

Half a month later,

netizens clutching Treasures Studio products: [We'll go crazy for you, lose our minds for you, and bang our heads against the wall for you!]

Fruit and vegetables that can increase Dao power and Buddhist power?

Monks and Daoists: Heh. Keep blowing your own trumpet.

After taking a bite of Treasures Studio fruit,

the monks and Daoists declare solemnly: [Your boasts lack imagination. Let us show you how it's done!]

Duan Heze: ...

About the CP:

Qin Lu originally just wanted to buy some fruit. He never expected to end up getting himself involved!

Theme: Show off acting skills and fall in love