Rejected for Being Ugly by a Boy Band, I Became Everyone's Favorite

[I see there are still readers waiting for updates QAQ. I'm not sure if I can still do this story justice. Once I finish the one next door, I'll come back and see if I can get my writing groove back and try to fill this hole.]

Li Yixue came across a popular post on a major gossip forum in his social media feed: "The Year's Biggest Winners in the Entertainment Industry and Their Foils":

The foil: Li Yixue

A trainee for five years, ugly and so forgettable among all the beauties in the entertainment industry that no one could remember his face.

His group debut teaser livestream was met with a united fan backlash, and on the eve of their debut, the company kicked him out of the boy group SPAN.

A rich heir parachuted into the group and took his debut spot, then dragged Li Yixue's looks to boost his own popularity on the trending lists.

Now the company has shelved him, and he's been blacklisted across the internet.

They say he's given up on his dream of performing and returned to school, where he's dating a mechanic and thug.

The entertainment industry's most miserable nobody of the year.

The year's biggest winner: the virtual idol Bai Niao, a beautiful young boy

With perfect modeling, dazzling effects, and star-level talent, he won countless fans the moment he debuted!

He shared a stage with top-tier star boy group SPAN, outperformed the entire group, and became an overnight sensation!

An accident during a performance unexpectedly projected a real person from the motion-capture room onto the big screen.

The virtual idol was maliciously doxxed in public. Everyone expected his fans to be disillusioned and abandon him in droves.

But...

On the big screen, the beautiful boy was panting heavily, dressed in a black bodysuit with fluorescent blue trim, his skin glowing white.

Ten minutes later, that GIF had reached number one on the trending list!

After being doxxed, the real person also shot to fame. People dug up his perfect resume: stunning looks, a prestigious university, a wealthy family, and a top-tier star career, among a host of other advantages.

They say a certain powerful man with the surname Jiang, whose name must not be spoken, is pursuing him relentlessly. The phrase "biggest winner in life" might as well have been coined just for him!

Li Yixue, former boy-band reject, current top-tier virtual idol: ...

You might not believe this, but the year's biggest winner and his foil are both me.

*

Li Yixue dreamed of debuting, but was blacklisted across the internet. He put on a virtual avatar and became Bai Niao, a popular virtual idol and beautiful young boy.

From then on, he was an ordinary college student by day and a top-tier virtual idol with tens of millions of fans by night.

Until someone maliciously doxxed him, sending him to the top of the trending list, where the whole internet mocked him for drumming up publicity and being an ugly guy who still wanted to debut in real life.

--Li Yixue was surrounded outside the school gates.

He took off his mask in front of the cameras, revealing a face of breathtaking beauty.

The entertainment reporter who had demanded to know if he knew people online were calling him ugly: ...

The fans who had sincerely said they didn't care about his looks and loved his soul: ?

His wealthy biological parents, who arrived with bodyguards to protect him: !

With his peerless beauty, Li Yixue lowered his eyes before the cameras:

"I'm sorry. I'll leave the industry."

The haters who had been yelling at Li Yixue to get out of the entertainment industry: Absolutely not!

*

When Li Yixue visited Jiang Wen's home again, he discovered that all the creepy-crawlies he'd been afraid of were gone. Jiang Wen said he'd given them to a friend to look after.

Li Yixue's eyes lit up, then quickly dimmed.

Li Yixue: "You don't have to do that. I can try to like the things you like."

Jiang Wen touched the back of his neck.

"Then you have to learn to love yourself."

"Because you're the only person in this world I love."

1. A pure, melancholy beauty of a shou x a cold, jaded gong. No real-life inspirations.

2. The gong spoils the shou. Older gong +

3. The shou gradually becomes more beautiful after his genes awaken.

Theme: Don't lose heart when life hits rock bottom. Every step after that takes you uphill. Strip away the empty shell of the body, and someone will love your soul.