Chapter 1967 — Hiring a Star to Perform

"For the freshman gala, he actually went and hired a celebrity as the lead singer. Sure, she's a newcomer who only debuted recently, but she's already fairly well known in this country. With a star as the headline act, the student council will probably have to give them some face no matter what and award their class a ranking." Bai Weituo spoke dejectedly. "A star, condescending to come to our school for a freshman gala — and still not getting a ranking? That'd be a slap in the face, plain and simple..."

"So what if she's a star? Can you rank just by singing badly?" Wei Zhao, who was not particularly impressed by celebrities, said with a hint of disapproval.

Xu Shilan, compared to her, was nothing much either — in Wei Zhao's eyes she was just a pretty girl who could sing and dance, hardly even as alluring as the young mistress and Xiaoshu, let alone some modestly famous celebrity.

"Never mind that Zhang Duopan's class is singing this star's signature song — they've got a natural edge to begin with. Even without that, the student council wouldn't offend a celebrity over such a trifle!" Bai Weituo had been knocking around the school for years and knew the ways of the place well. "The student council organizes charity events now and then and invites celebrities along to draw a crowd. They're always looking for ways to cozy up to those stars — why would they refuse to give her even this much face? Zhang Duopan must have had someone clever coaching him from behind the scenes to come up with this move! Setting aside the fact that my singing's mediocre and unremarkable, even if I sang beautifully, I'd still be no match for a star!"

"Oh, so what you're saying is, anyone who's a star gets a ranking?" Wei Zhao had caught Bai Weituo's meaning.

"Naturally... well, not the utterly trashy kind..." Bai Weituo said. "The ones who got famous by being disgusting don't count..."

"Then let's hire a star too," Wei Zhao said.

"Brother, come on — stars aren't that easy to hire! Zhang Duopan's a rich kid, his family's rolling in cash, his old man's a big boss with serious connections. Finding a celebrity is nothing for him, but us..." Bai Weituo shook his head. "Even if we throw money at it, we might not get one!"

"Oh, leave it to me. I'll give it a try." Wei Zhao thought for a moment, then asked, "If we hire someone even more famous than the star Zhang Duopan hired, will our ranking be higher?"

"Definitely! When the time comes, all the student council members vote and score — sure, there's the celebrity effect, but the more famous the act, the more votes they get!" Bai Weituo said.

"I understand." Wei Zhao nodded.

"Boss, you're really going to hire a star?" Bai Weituo stared at Wei Zhao in surprise. He hadn't expected Wei Zhao to agree to it so readily, so matter-of-factly, as if celebrities were easy to hire.

"Of course not!" Bai Weituo shook his head without a second thought.

"Then there you have it — if I don't hire one, haven't you lost?" Wei Zhao said.

"You really can get one?" Bai Weituo looked at Wei Zhao, half believing, half doubting.

"Don't know. I'll make a call and ask," Wei Zhao said.

"Uh..." Hearing that Wei Zhao planned to just make a call and ask, Bai Weituo's spirits sank at once. "The star Zhang Duopan hired is Cheng Yiyi, that Coffee Girl. She only just got popular recently, but they say she's a junior disciple of the big star Xu Shilan. With Xu Shilan backing her, I'm afraid it'll be hard to steal her thunder! And He Meiyue's idol is Xu Shilan — love me, love my dog — so naturally she likes Cheng Yiyi too. This time Zhang Duopan is clearly trying to curry favor with He Meiyue... Ugh!"

"Oh, a junior disciple? Then let's just hire Xu Shilan herself. That way we'll outshine her, and she can't complain," Wei Zhao said. Hearing Bai Weituo's words actually put him at ease — if it was Xu Shilan's junior disciple, then there was even less chance of her surpassing Xu Shilan.

"What? Hire Xu Shilan?" Bai Weituo's eyes went wide. "Brother Lin, you're not joking with me, are you? Xu Shilan! She's never even held a concert in Donghai City — you think she'd come to our school for a freshman gala?"

"Don't know. I'll ask and see," Wei Zhao said, pulling out his phone and starting to scroll through his contacts.

Bai Weituo, Zhao Shengji, and Song Xiaodao all stared at Wei Zhao in disbelief. They simply could not figure out how Wei Zhao knew Xu Shilan.

Or was it that he knew someone else who knew Xu Shilan?

He dialed the number. On Xu Shilan's end, no one picked up for a long while, and a recording kept repeating, "The number you have dialed is temporarily unanswered." Wei Zhao shook his head and hung up.

"Brother Lin, how'd it go?" Bai Weituo hadn't held out much hope, but he couldn't help asking anyway.

"No one answered," Wei Zhao said.

"Eh!" Bai Weituo had never really believed Wei Zhao could reach Xu Shilan anyway, so hearing no one had answered, he wasn't surprised. If just anyone could get through to a big star's phone, she wouldn't be a big star. "It's fine. If it really doesn't work out, I'll just give up. There are plenty more fish in the sea..."

Seeing Bai Weituo like that, Wei Zhao shook his head and said, "Never mind, I'll try calling once more."

With that, Wei Zhao picked up his phone again, ready to dial — but his ringtone sounded first.

Looking at the caller ID, Wei Zhao smiled faintly and answered.

"Wei Zhao, you were looking for me?" Xu Shilan's sweet voice came through from the other end. "I was busy just now and my phone was with Sister Wang. She told me you'd called, so I called back right away."

"Oh, I was just about to call you again," Wei Zhao said flatly.

Xu Shilan's enthusiasm met with a few indifferent words from Wei Zhao, leaving her a little put out. She was a big star, after all, and what she'd just said was meant to earn a bit of credit from him. With anyone else, she wouldn't have bothered calling back — yet Wei Zhao seemed not the least bit flattered!

Then again, whenever she went to his house, Wei Zhao basically just greeted her and then went off to his room without another word to her. It made Xu Shilan feel, every time she saw him, that her charm had somehow diminished.

"Is something the matter...?" Xu Shilan asked, somewhat helplessly.

"Do you have any free time lately? Come over and do me a favor," Wei Zhao said.

"A favor? Sure — even if I didn't have time, I'd make time for you." Xu Shilan was deeply grateful to Wei Zhao. He had cured her headaches, and he had seen through the Medicine King's conspiracy — if she had actually taken the Medicine King's potion, the consequences would have been unthinkable.

"Oh, our school has a freshman gala. Come over and put on a performance with my classmates. That's all," Wei Zhao said.

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