A Part-Time Idol’s Guidebook

Jiang Lechen: the idol who’s best at slaughtering pigs, and the veterinarian who’s best at singing and dancing. As a little-known member of a trainee-built boy group, Xiao Jiang feels less like he’s chasing his dreams in show business and more like he’s being put through military training. Monday to Friday, he struggles through eight a.m. university classes, fighting tooth and nail to keep up his attendance and grades. As soon as class ends, he rushes to the company for dance, vocal, and acting lessons. On weekends, he stays in the dorm, waiting for a stage opportunity that may never come. He sees himself as an idol on the side. Other people might give up their lives for a chance to perform, but he just wants to collect his guaranteed 2,000-yuan paycheck. His friends tell him that the termination fee isn’t high anyway, so if things don’t work out, he can leave the group and go back to being an ordinary person! Jiang Lechen: “No! I think I can keep struggling a little longer. The master at the temple said I was destined to become famous!” Unexpectedly, his prediction came true. Jiang Lechen... actually did become famous! But now that he’s famous, why do the domineering CEO, the top-tier star senior, the aloof roommate, the younger groupmate, and the famous director (the cast list is alphabetized by pinyin initials) all want to invite him over late at night to read scripts by fluorescent light? “If you like sitting at the entrance to an alley on a summer evening, wearing flip-flops and watching people hurry home from work in the dusk; if you like offering advice to old men playing chess in the park, and earnestly greeting every little dog that passes by; if you like pulling a bottle of orange drink out of the fridge at a roadside shop, downing it in one go, and letting out an orange-flavored burp... ...then you’re sure to like Jiang Lechen.” The endgame couple in this story is Gui Guizi. Theme: Study hard. Don’t strive to join the elite; be a clear stream instead.