章 2: Ch 2
To put it simply, this was similar to talents which were skills.
It was different from what Song Yucheng had imagined – the old Song Yucheng actually did have some skills. He was an emotionally weak person, but he had a pair of surprisingly brilliant, skillful hands.
Any object, no matter how unremarkable it was, would be given new life by the hands of the old Song Yucheng, and bestowed a new soul.
The old Song Yucheng was also very versatile in his talents, able to use more than the usual crafting techniques and dipping into crafts like traditional indigo-dyeing, embroidery, and weaving. He had a very solid foundation. After he became Xu Muzhi's thing, these skills became his main source of income and allowed him to support himself and pay for his living expenses. The new Song Yucheng checked the old Song Yucheng's online store and discovered that he was actually the owner of a certain handicrafts store which enjoyed some popularity.
So this meant that if nothing serious happened, these crafting skills would still enable him to live on even if he left Xu Muzhi. Unfortunately, after the filming of the reality show wrapped up, the old Song Yucheng's hands were crippled in an accident which had happened due to the deliberate arrangements of Secretary Yang and the school bullies.
The new Song Yucheng recalled the old Song Yucheng's memories of listening woodenly as the doctor gave him medical advice. The words "you don't need to work at all from now on" were full of scorn, and that contempt pushed the old Song Yucheng into the deepest depths of despair.
Hate deep enough to drown in let Song Yucheng immerse himself in the situation once more, and clearly feel the resentment of the old Song Yucheng.
Fortunately, the tragedy had not unfolded yet, and Secretary Yang had been taken down by his own folly. The old Song Yucheng's talent, too, was fully available to him because of the system cheat.
Song Yucheng thought about the programme's requirements and how it was set up, and had some ideas about what he could do.
Lazy, useless and ungrateful? No problem! One ungrateful Song Yucheng, coming right up.
With that thought in mind, he lay comfortably on the bed and got ready to go to sleep.
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Time passed quickly and it was filming day in the blink of an eye.
Xu Muzhi had taken care of everything. He wanted Song Yucheng to play the role of a second generation rich young master, so he had made sure that all details, big and small, matched the image.
Right now, there were people waiting outside though Song Yucheng had only just got out of bed. He glanced at them. There was a butler and a driver, and even the appropriate clothing had been prepared.
They made the trip in silence. Song Yucheng was the last to arrive at the filming site.
He greeted the director and walked straight to the van used for the filming. Chu Rong had arrived and he had easily made friends with the others. Song Yucheng's arrival effected an instantaneous, subtle change in the harmonious atmosphere.
There were some people who would become the centre of attention just by turning up, and it was obvious that Song Yucheng was one of them. Right now, for example, he was in haute couture casual wear which complemented and enhanced his beautiful looks; he was eye-catching. The unabashed conceitedness he exuded did not make others feel lowly or annoyed, but gave them a feeling that this was how he actually should be.
The young men in the van were dazzled – especially Chu Rong. Surprise was written all over his face at his first look at Song Yucheng.
Similar. This was Chu Rong's first impression of Song Yucheng.
Chu Rong found that this young man before him was just like his own brother. The way he walked, and some small habits were exactly the same. The difference between them was that Chu Rong gave off the impression of a warm person, while Song Yucheng gave off an impression of markedly higher aggressiveness.
Quite a few people greeted Song Yucheng as soon as he got on the van. Chu Rong, of course, held out his hand first and said, "Hello, I'm Chu Rong."
However, Song Yucheng wrinkled his brow and didn't even spare him a glance. He turned his head and pointed to a seat as he gave an order to his butler behind him. "Go in and clean it up."
That tone! It was like these people before him were empty air. How arrogant of him to take not the slightest notice of Chu Rong! Song Yucheng had to adhere to the guidelines in the script, so of course he had to be meticulous in its execution, otherwise the satisfaction he would get when the truth was revealed would be greatly diminished. These people had trampled all over the old Song Yucheng's reputation but claimed innocence. This time, the new Song Yucheng was going to stand up to these people and have a comfortable life while slapping these people's faces.
He had just made his first move, and it had already made a huge impact on these young men who were meeting him for the first time.
Holy sh*t! This guy's way up on his high horse!
The young men scheduled to film together exchanged glances with each other, incredulous. They could understand why Song Yucheng would look down on them, but Chu Rong was the heir of the Chu family. Even if Chu Rong was not willing to take over the family business and insisted on staying in the entertainment industry, he was still a man of status. What he said had clout, even in the innermost circles of Beijing. What was the background of this Song Yucheng? How dare he give Chu Rong this attitude?
Just as these thoughts formed in the minds of the young men, one of them, a person who knew about some finer details, couldn't help sneering as he blew Song Yucheng's cover. "A bunny rabbit raised by Xu Muzhi thinks he's a prince just because he's wearing princely robes."
The young man who had spoken was named Li Zhao. His family was, coincidentally, collaborating with Xu Muzhi on something right then. Li Zhao was also one of the princes of the entertainment circle, and he had agreed to be on the programme to accompany Chu Rong. This was why he was well aware of Song Yucheng's identity, and could not stand to see him putting on airs, so he exposed him right away.
The others were not fools either; the meaning of "bunny rabbit" was well known. There were subtle changes in their expressions when they looked at Song Yucheng again.
They were only surprised, but Chu Rong was hit hard by this revelation.
His first impression of Song Yucheng had been a very good one.
Chu Rong had no brother, so the similarities he had spotted in Song Yucheng made him feel like they would get along like brothers. However, once he heard that Song Yucheng was the substitute Xu Muzhi had groomed in his likeness, he was extremely disappointed; he felt sick.
Knowledge of the trashy things Xu Muzhi did was widespread in the entertainment circles of Beijing. Those truly in the know all knew that Xu Muzhi had groomed a whole bunch of playthings when his advances on Chu Rong had failed. There was no doubt that Song Yucheng was one of his playthings. Xu Muzhi sending Song Yucheng over was no different from openly slapping Chu Rong right in the face.
The feelings Chu Rong had about Song Yucheng grew worse at that thought. He could keep up his usual warm attitude no more, and he became cold.
Meanwhile, there was an explosion of comments coming from netizens watching the live broadcast.
"This newcomer is a bonehead! Does he have no basic courtesy?"
"Pfft, so what if he's a rich kid when he acts like that. Even my 2 ½ year old niece knows to greet people."
"Mind. Blown. He even brought his butler. He thinks he's some British royal on a tour to see the common folk or something?"
Comments instantly flooded the bullet screen of the live broadcast, all complaining about Song Yucheng. Every comment mocked his snobby attitude.
"Swapping Lives" was being broadcast in two ways – one free, one paid. The free version was broadcast on TV after editing, and the paid version was streamed live on the internet with no cuts.
What the young men had said earlier had not all been broadcast because their voices had been low, so the viewers easily misunderstood when they saw the change in the situation. They thought that Song Yucheng had angered the other young men because of his overbearing arrogance.
Even if the viewers discounted the other cast members, Chu Rong was famous for his good manners and ability to talk to others in the entertainment world. If even Chu Rong was being cold to this guy, then this guy must really be hated.
However, this was just the beginning. What happened next was a grand performance of outrageousness.
Song Yucheng seemed not to care that he would ruin his own life. What he did next exemplified one concept – the prettier the exterior, the viler the core.
No one expected that Song Yucheng would take up the entire backseat of the van for just himself. There were two girls in the group, and they got nauseous sometimes because the van was crowded and there was no air conditioning. Song Yucheng was actually so horrible as to put his luggage on the seats because he didn't want them to get dirty, and he refused to change seats with others.
This wasn't just arrogance anymore – it was maliciousness!
There was no need for the people in the van to say anything. The viewers went wild in the comments.
"Nope, I can't stand it no more. No matter how arrogant a person is, he still has to have some basic empathy. Those two girls are suffering! Is he blind? Does he not see them?"
"It's the fourth season of 'Swapping Lives' and this Song Yucheng guy is the most despicable and shameless one I've seen."
"His cockiness is astounding and he keeps putting on some plummy accent. Looking at him makes me want to hurl. It's a good thing he's not changing seats because anyone he sits next to will be so disgusted that he'd vomit even if he isn't carsick."
The viewers said everything negative they could think of. A so-called "experienced" person raised a doubt, saying, "The old-fashioned type of van used on the programme actually has very bad ventilation in the back, and is especially bumpy. If those two girls were already carsick, they would probably throw up right away if they sat there." However, this was quickly drowned out by other sarcastic comments like "Would that retard Song Yucheng know how to worry about others?"
Things got even worse when the group arrived at the filming location.
It was a small county town.
It was interesting. Song Yucheng and the others were given a period of three days to adapt before they entered the town. However, these three days were not easy. The participants were given ten yuan each, but this ten yuan was all the cash available for them to spend in the town for the next three days.
"This is no big deal! We can just have plain buns for our meals for the next three days." The young men, including Chu Rong, felt like this was not a problem, and thought that this task was a little too simple.
They had already checked the prices in the town beforehand because they knew they were coming to film here for the programme. They could survive quite well on five yuan each too.
However, they realised that they had been duped when they entered the pension lodging. They actually had to pay for their lodging too! A room cost ten yuan per day, and water was free but they had to figure something out themselves for electricity.
They were dumbfounded. The production crew all withdrew and the participants were left to their own devices. This drove home the fact that this was not an act, and that they really would not receive any external help. If they could not get money, then they would have to live on the streets the next day, much less think about eating buns.
Wh, what were they to do?
The young men panicked at this sudden development. Only Chu Rong kept calm. He had participated in other reality shows and he knew that the production crew would not really be so ruthless; he quickly came up with an idea.
"Don't panic. Let's pool our money and rent two rooms. One room for us guys, and one room for the girls. This means we'll only need 60 yuan for three days. As for the problem of getting fed, let's think about a solution when we've settled down. Let's see if we can find some job to do in the town. Even if we only earn two yuan a day each, we can still afford buns and pickled vegetables for our meals if we share our money."
"What a great idea!" The viewers praised the idea right away. However, they did not expect that Song Yucheng would actually refuse to cooperate. To add insult to injury, Song Yucheng looked at the others like they were idiots.
This was just unbearable. Conflict broke out. Li Zhao took a step forward and grabbed Song Yucheng violently by the collar.
"You lookin' to get thrashed or something?!"
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