Perfect Superstar.

You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon and I've also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/darkshadow6395

Although the name "Xueshi Mall" doesn't sound particularly fancy, it is a well-known brand around the university town.

The mall is spacious, featuring popular commercial facilities such as shopping centers, supermarkets, restaurants, cinemas, internet cafes, and game arcades. You could easily spend an entire day there without getting bored—there's food, drinks, entertainment, and plenty of fun.

Xueshi Mall has a clear business focus: it targets the tens of thousands of teachers and students in the university town, as well as ordinary white-collar and blue-collar workers from the nearby commercial areas. The mall doesn't carry luxury brands; instead, it mainly offers mid-range products.

Lu Chen had visited Xueshi Mall many times before, so he was quite familiar with the area.

He parked the car in the northern parking lot of the mall and then walked along the pedestrian path straight to the entrance.

Since it was the weekend, the mall was bustling with people.

"Let's eat first…" Lu Chen checked the time— it was already past 5 p.m.—and suggested, "The Yunjin Restaurant here has good food at reasonable prices."

Lu Xi replied, "That sounds fine. Two or three dishes will be enough. I can't eat much."

Lu Chen laughed, "I've been eating a lot lately; two or three dishes won't be enough. We should order at least five or six!"

Lu Xi reached out and playfully pinched his arm, saying, "You've gotten quite strong."

Such playful gestures were rare for her to show Lu Chen in the past.

Being in an unfamiliar city, with a shared goal, the gap between them was slowly closing.

Just then, four girls walked in from the front entrance and happened to bump into them.

One of them, a girl in a yellow shirt, froze for a moment, her face reflecting disbelief.

The girl next to her, dressed in white, turned pale!

It was Ye Zitong.

The four girls from their dormitory had decided to stay at school during the summer vacation in Capital City.

Tonight, Ye Zitong had come to the mall with Zuo Xingtian and two other roommates, but they never expected to run into Lu Chen at Xueshi Mall.

When she saw Lu Chen laughing and chatting intimately with the girl beside him, it felt like her heart had been pierced by a sharp blade.

Although Ye Zitong knew that she and Lu Chen hadn't officially confirmed their relationship, this scene still made her feel deeply ashamed, furious, and embarrassed!

Not only Zuo Xingtian but also the other two roommates were aware of Ye Zitong and Lu Chen's relationship.

"Lu Chen!" Zuo Xingtian was the first to shout, "How could you do this!"

She was ready to rush over to confront Lu Chen, but Ye Zitong stopped her, saying, "Forget about it…"

Zuo Xingtian was frustrated and scolded, "How can you just forget about it? You like him so much, and he's doing this…"

In Zuo Xingtian's view, Lu Chen was a classic example of a "heartless man," someone who had just gained a little fame and was already messing around, secretly dating another woman behind Ye Zitong's back.

This was unbearable!

What angered Zuo Xingtian the most was that the woman by Lu Chen's side wasn't even as good-looking as Ye Zitong.

"Ye Zi!" Lu Chen, equally surprised, quickly realized what was happening and didn't know what to say.

He hurried over and asked Ye Zitong, "You and Tiantian came to the mall too?"

Ye Zitong turned her head, ignoring him, but her eyes were red. "Tiantian, let's go."

Zuo Xingtian and the other two girls shot scornful glares at Lu Chen, their gazes sharp as knives!

Lu Xi watched the scene unfold with a smile that wasn't quite a smile.

Lu Chen quickly grabbed Ye Zitong's hand, afraid she would run off, and the misunderstanding would only grow bigger.

"Ye Zi, this is my sister, Lu Xi. She just arrived in Capital City today."

Sister?

The three girls were stunned. Only then did they realize that Lu Xi and Lu Chen really did resemble each other!

They were siblings!

What an embarrassing misunderstanding!

Zuo Xingtian wished she could find a hole to hide in, her face flushed like a ripe apple.

Ye Zitong tried to pull her hand away from Lu Chen, but hearing his explanation, she froze for a moment. The pale color of her face slowly turned faintly pink, and for a moment, she didn't know what to do.

This misunderstanding had spiraled out of control, and what made it worse was that she had no reason to feel jealous.

After all, they only had mutual feelings for each other.

At this moment, Lu Xi walked up with a smile and asked, "Hello, I'm Lu Chen's sister, Lu Xi. Are you his friend?"

Lu Chen let go of Ye Zitong's hand, awkwardly introducing, "Sister, this is Ye Zitong. She and her roommates are students at Jing Shi University. I met them here in Capital City."

Ye Zitong, holding back her shyness, gathered her courage and raised her head to say, "Hello, Lu Xi."

Lu Xi smiled warmly and said, "I'm glad to meet you. Your name is Ye Zi, right? I just arrived in Capital City, and I'm trying to buy some things but don't know where to go. Can you help me out?"

In front of Ye Zitong, Lu Xi appeared as a gentle and friendly older sister, and Ye Zitong couldn't help but nod in agreement.

After the misunderstanding was cleared up, Ye Zitong introduced Zuo Xingtian and the other two girls to Lu Xi.

The girls were not very far apart in age, so they quickly became familiar with each other.

In the end, however, Lu Chen found himself left out of the conversation.

At least it was time for dinner, and they all agreed to share a table at Yunjin Restaurant.

Lu Xi seemed to really like Ye Zitong, constantly engaging her in conversation.

She didn't even let up during dinner.

In the short time it took to finish the meal, the two women were already addressing each other as "Sister Xi" and "Zi Tong."

After this hearty dinner, Lu Chen paid the bill.

His generous sister didn't insist that he accompany the girls on their mall shopping spree, playing the role of "shopping bag holder." She said they would contact him once they were done.

It was bound to take a long time.

Lu Chen thought for a moment and decided to head to the internet cafe on the top floor of the mall to kill some time.

He registered with his ID and logged onto the internet, searching for relevant information about Singing China.

He found quite a few results.

As the number one ranked contestant in the Singing China Capital City region, besides the official Singing China website, Lu Chen's name hardly appeared anywhere else. A few small websites had reposted content about him, but those sites had little to no influence.

In some forums and online communities, there was quite a bit of discussion about Lu Chen, mostly focused on his original works.

In stark contrast, several other contestants from the same top 16 had far more visibility in search results. Headlines like, "Newcomer Zheng Kai stands out with his Tian Lai (Heavenly Sound) voice, conquering the judging panel and securing a spot in Singing China Capital City top 16!" were everywhere.

Lu Chen understood the reason behind this. These contestants had signed with entertainment agencies, with a team behind them promoting and hyping them up, which is why big websites published their promotional articles that appeared everywhere when searched.

Lu Chen didn't feel uncomfortable or frustrated about this. He understood that the entertainment industry worked this way. Without money to spend on promotion, it's hard to get noticed. Even without a hot topic, you still need to create one to grab attention. People like him, who rely purely on their own talent, were rare in the industry.

"You win some, you lose some," Lu Chen thought. "By giving up the superficial glitz, I gain independence and freedom."

Moreover, as the saying goes, gold will always shine. This was only the Capital City competition; when the regional competition and finals came around, his name would surely become known to more people. Even without spending money, he could still make headlines!

Additionally, Lu Chen was organizing his own team to improve his online presence.

He closed the news search and logged into his Wave Blog account.

Lu ChenFMX was registered two weeks ago, and it had already been verified as a personal "V" account, with more than 75,000 followers, most of them Fish Fans from Whale TV.

This was thanks to Li Bai's promotional efforts. Without his help, Lu Chen would not have grown this many followers on his own.

According to the wealthy Li Bai, growing followers was simple. You could easily buy millions of followers with a bit of money, and with some packaging, you could easily become a so-called "Big V" blogger— a celebrity in the blog world.

However, Lu Chen didn't care for such "zombie" followers. He didn't like deceiving others, nor did he want to deceive himself.

He updated two posts on his blog and answered a few questions from fans. Time flew by quickly.

Around 9 p.m., Lu Xi called.

They were finally done shopping.

Lu Chen logged off and paid his bill, then headed to the mall entrance, where he met Lu Xi and the four girls again.

Each of them was carrying large shopping bags, clearly having had a successful shopping spree!

After they met, Lu Xi said to Lu Chen, "Give me the car key and the house key. I'll take Tiantian and the others back to school first, then come back to our place. You stay with Zi Tong."

Lu Chen looked at her in surprise, then glanced at Ye Zi Tong, who blushed but didn't speak.

Naturally, she didn't object either.

Zuo Xingtian smirked and said, "You two have fun. It's fine if you're late. See you!"

She winked at Ye Zi Tong.

Ye Zi Tong's face turned even redder, and she shot Zuo Xingtian a glare.

Lu Chen felt a bit worried and asked, "Sis, do you know the way to Jin Cheng Yuan?"

He was concerned that Lu Xi might not find her way back.

Lu Xi replied confidently, "Even if I don't remember the route, I can still use my phone's GPS."

Lu Chen gave up and handed her the car key and house key.

After Lu Xi and the three girls left, only Lu Chen and Ye Zi Tong remained.

It had been a while since they last saw each other, since their ice skating trip. They'd only communicated through WeChat since then.

Seeing her again now, Lu Chen couldn't help but feel a sense of affection.

Maybe today's encounter was a coincidence, but it could also be a sign of fate between them.

He naturally reached for Ye Zi Tong's hand and said, "You must be tired from shopping. Let's sit at that ice cream shop over there."

Ye Zi Tong nodded gently.

After a small misunderstanding, their relationship had certainly progressed.

Although they hadn't explicitly defined it yet, this vague, blossoming affection was the most touching part!

...

At that moment, Lu Chen had no idea that a storm of public opinion related to him was about to sweep across the internet!

(End of chapter)