Volume One, Chapter Sixty: Feasting

Her parents didn’t know she had broken up with Jiang Yu, which was understandable. But why were they praising him so much now? They hadn’t thought much of him before—why the sudden change in attitude? Puzzled, Zhao Yiyi dialed her mother's number.

“Hello, Mom?”

A woman’s voice answered on the other end. “Yiyi! Oh my, I haven’t heard from you in a month! How are you? Is the show exhausting?”

“Not at all!” Zhao Yiyi replied with a smile.

“How are things between you and Jiang Yu these days? I saw him on TV. Both of you are on TV now—how wonderful.”

“These days, I see news about Jiang Yu online every day, even more than about you. Who would’ve thought he’d become such a big star?”

Zhao Yiyi froze at her mother’s words. On TV? What on earth was her mom talking about?

“Mom, I’m a bit busy here, I’ll call you back later,” she said abruptly.

Zhao Yiyi found it hard to process. Jiang Yu—a superstar? What kind of superstar could he possibly be?

After hanging up, she quickly pulled up a news app and tapped the search bar to look up Jiang Yu’s name. To her shock, his name was already trending, marked with a red “hot” icon.

She knew exactly what that meant. With trembling fingers, she tapped it.

A flood of headlines and shocking achievements filled her screen.

Zhao Yiyi was dumbfounded, her mind a blank. She couldn’t believe it was real, but the internet never lied. Unwilling to give up, she opened Jiang Yu’s Weibo page.

The familiar profile picture remained, but the follower count had changed.

—3,456,700.

Her hand shook as she held her phone, the other covering her mouth, eyes wide with disbelief at the number of fans. She stood there, unable to recover for a long while.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yu was sitting in Su Muyu’s car, on his way back to Huayue Entertainment.

Today was the day he was signing his contract!

“Ahhhh!”

As soon as they entered Su Ling’s office, a howl erupted.

The staff nearby couldn’t help but laugh, though none seemed particularly surprised. After all, this was a regular occurrence.

Su Muyu smiled behind her hand. “Don’t mind her, my aunt’s always like that.”

“Jiang Yu, you’re amazing! ‘Rivers and Mountains’ stunned all those shareholders!”

“Did you know, tons of people are calling Su Muyu, trying to buy the rights to cover your song!”

Jiang Yu looked at Su Muyu in surprise.

She smiled, nodding. “A lot of producers have contacted the company, hoping to meet you, commission songs, or buy cover rights.”

As they spoke, Su Ling pulled out two documents.

“Here’s your contract. See if there’s anything you want to change?”

Jiang Yu took the contract, leafed through it, and, with a faint smile, signed his name without hesitation.

“All right, leave the rest to me!” Su Ling said excitedly, clutching the contract.

“You’re not even going to read it first?” Su Muyu scolded him. “Always read a contract before signing.”

“If my aunt drafted it, I trust it’s fine. Besides, even if I did fall into a trap, I have the skills to get out!” Jiang Yu grinned.

In truth, he had already read the contract thoroughly when he flipped through it. Before the system left, his skill tree had been maxed out—including observation and memory. One quick read was all it took to grasp the full content.

Besides, a little bit of flair never hurt.

But he had to admit: Su Ling’s contract was honest and generous.

An S-level signing, with a three-year term.

At this, Su Muyu’s ears reddened.

“Can’t you two spare me the flirting?” Su Ling said with mock annoyance. “Anyway, to celebrate this double good fortune, let’s go out for a feast! My treat. Xiao Jiang, what do you want to eat?”

That stumped Jiang Yu.

He’d only been here for less than two months, mostly eating street food. He genuinely had no idea what counted as a feast.

“What about you? What do you want to eat?” he asked Su Muyu.

She shook her head. “Today is your celebration—whatever you want, that’s what we’ll have. Don’t worry about saving my aunt money!”

“Exactly! Don’t you dare try to save me money!” Su Ling shouted toward the microphone.

“Then I’ll be bold,” Jiang Yu ventured. “How about we go for a buffet?”

Hearing this, Su Muyu burst out laughing.

Su Ling looked at him with mock exasperation. “You’re a celebrity now—can’t you pick something grander? Think bigger!”

“Bigger, got it!” Su Ling said immediately.

“Bigger!” Jiang Yu took a deep breath. “Let’s go for a seafood... buffet?”

“Can you drop the ‘buffet’ already?” Su Ling groaned, holding her head in her hands. “At least pick a place with private rooms. You don’t want to spark a riot in the restaurant, do you?”

“I... uh, I’ll be right back. Bathroom break,” Jiang Yu muttered, scratching his head as he hurried off.

He honestly didn’t know which restaurants were good. Before crossing over, he mostly ate street food and barbecue. Since arriving here, he’d done the same.

But wait—if he didn’t know, the internet surely would!

Jiang Yu pulled out his phone and logged into Weibo. On his main account, he was about to post directly, but paused—if he asked, the two outside would never let him live it down.

After some thought, he decided to use his alternate account.

“Turkey-Flavored Rice Crackers”:

“They say ‘Above, there’s Heaven; below, Jiangxia’—but is Jiangxia really a food desert? Why is the top-rated place McDong’s?”

At this hour, netizens were at their most active. As soon as he posted, replies started pouring in.

“Dog author, you’re in Jiangxia?”

“Who said there’s nothing to eat in Jiangxia? There’s vinegar fish—author, want to try it?”

“Please, that vinegar fish is a crime—I tried it once and pitied the fish!”

“Really? The vinegar fish I had was delicious.”

“Which restaurant did you go to?”

“XX Bay.”

“Local here—that place’s only been open three years, run by out-of-towners...”

The debate in the comments heated up.

“Author, in Jiangxia, eat hotpot or barbecue. Or go for sashimi or steak—I know a place with great tomahawk steak, worth a try. They have seafood too.”

One comment in particular caught Jiang Yu’s eye.

Hotpot and barbecue were always options, and he couldn’t stomach raw food like sashimi. But tomahawk steak sounded promising!

Even better, it was only a few hundred meters from Tangong—he could walk there.

“Thanks, everyone! I know where to eat now. See you, mwah!”