Chapter 002: The Eldest Grandson’s Wife of the Lu Family! (Please add to your collection)

The live broadcast for the Center Position Girl Group is scheduled for this Saturday.

With the premiere of the first episode approaching, there is much to prepare. Today, Su Yunjin was summoned for a meeting, primarily for the five mentors to meet and get acquainted. However, upon arrival, they discovered the meeting room was occupied, which led to her earlier wait with Zhang Zhichang.

“Producer Zhang, let’s begin the meeting,” Su Yunjin suggested, clearly uninterested in discussing Chen Lu any further. In her position, blacklisting a celebrity like Chen Lu would be effortless. The reason she chose not to act was, firstly, because she simply didn’t care—just as she had thought earlier, Chen Lu was likely nothing more than a pawn and hardly worth the effort. Secondly, she had no intention of giving Zhang Zhichang an opportunity to curry favor.

After all, Qizong Mountain owed its current status and reputation not only to the talents of the seven elders but also to their unwavering principle: always repay kindness. In descending the mountain this time, she stood with the full backing of her elders. As their cherished granddaughter, if Zhang Zhichang intervened, it would be tantamount to him currying favor with her elders. In the future, should the matter be brought up, her elders might find themselves indebted to someone on her account.

Therefore, unless absolutely necessary, Su Yunjin preferred not to owe anyone any favors. On the other hand, if Zhang Zhichang acted against Chen Lu of his own volition, she would not stand in his way. In short, whatever Zhang Zhichang chose to do was his own business—he was not to drag her into it. She was indifferent and disinclined to intervene.

With a chuckle, Zhang Zhichang replied, “Yunjin, you truly embody the bearing of the head of Zong Mountain—so magnanimous for someone so young. It’s truly admirable.”

Recognizing her unwillingness to continue the conversation, Zhang Zhichang could only praise her dryly. While he hadn’t planned to use this as a way to gain favor, he did wish to grow closer with Qizong Mountain. But with Su Yunjin’s polite rebuff, he had no choice but to acquiesce.

“Thank you for the compliment, Producer Zhang. I believe anyone would have done the same,” Su Yunjin replied with a faint smile, making it clear she wanted no forced familiarity.

Zhang Zhichang could only smile wryly to himself and say, “Let’s head to the meeting room, then.”

“Alright,” Su Yunjin agreed, following Zhang Zhichang to Meeting Room Two.

Upon entering, Su Yunjin quickly assessed the space—less than twenty square meters by her estimation. The room held several small rectangular wooden tables and a few chairs, making it quite cramped after the previous meeting. But since today was simply a meet-and-greet for the five mentors, the space sufficed.

She set her backpack on a chair. With nothing more to discuss with Zhang Zhichang beyond online matters, she took out her phone and began to amuse herself. While at the sect, her elders had forbidden wasting time online, so her phone had seen little use. Now, having left the mountain, Su Yunjin realized just how primitive her phone was compared to others. Still, it was a first-generation smartphone—a relic, but functional enough.

She opened her music app and typed in “Big Fire.” That was her online moniker ten years ago—the same alias that once dominated global music charts. Back then, her name appeared everywhere: on every leaderboard, every search bar, always on the home page. Now, a decade later, she had to manually search for her own pseudonym.

“Big Fire? Yunjin, do you like Big Fire too?” Zhang Zhichang suddenly approached, glancing at her screen.

“Yes, I used to enjoy listening to her music,” Su Yunjin replied mildly, sounding like any ordinary fan.

“To be honest, I’m a fan too. Ten years ago, I was one of Big Fire’s biggest supporters. It’s such a shame she vanished from the industry. If she were still around, I’d do anything to collaborate with her,” Zhang Zhichang said.

Su Yunjin smiled faintly but didn’t respond. She was quietly pleased to have old fans like Zhang Zhichang, but as for collaboration… Even a decade ago, people had offered astronomical sums for her to appear. She refused then, and felt even less inclined now.

As she listened to Zhang Zhichang reminisce about his admiration for Big Fire, she scrolled through the music app’s playlists:

[500 Classic Old Songs]
[20 Legendary Old Singers: How Many Do You Remember?]
[The Dawn of Online Singers: Big Fire’s Album—Do You Still Remember Him/Her/It?]

Su Yunjin couldn’t help but find it amusing. It was one thing for her songs to be categorized as “classic oldies” on every major platform, but what was with the “him/her/it” nonsense? In the “legendary old singers” section, the others were all uncles and aunts in their forties and fifties—she was only twenty-two! Was this really appropriate?

While Su Yunjin found this both funny and exasperating, elsewhere in the same building, on the thirtieth floor, a strikingly handsome young man was gritting his teeth as he stared at a résumé.

On the far right side of the résumé was a passport-sized photograph. The young woman in the photo had fair skin and delicate features; even without makeup, her brows exuded an otherworldly grace. In an industry teeming with beauties, such looks were rare. Yet at this moment, Lu Yiqing’s expression was contorted with frustration.

It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate beauty, but the woman before him was named Su! Yun! Jin!

For Lu Yiqing, the matter of who served as a mentor for the Center Position Girl Group was trivial. He hadn’t launched this show to make money; rather, he hoped the talent search and mentor selection might help him find the online singer “Big Fire,” who had restored his younger brother’s consciousness a decade ago. He wished she would finish the song that had awakened his brother.

But instead of finding the person he sought, the one he’d been trying to avoid had been invited by Liu Zhichang, that meddling producer.

Su Yunjin—the sole successor of Qizong Mountain, the childhood fiancée chosen for him by his unreliable grandfather, his nominal fiancée, and the woman the Lu family had accepted as their future eldest granddaughter-in-law.

He had seen plenty of pretty faces, but even he had to admit that Su Yunjin was exceptionally beautiful, exuding a purity untouched by the mundane world—any man would be moved by her presence. Yet, as the Lu family’s eldest grandson, this sort of arrangement was not unfamiliar to him. The very idea of a childhood betrothal gave him a headache.

If not for his younger brother’s early kidnapping and subsequent accident—which had left him comatose—he would have called off the engagement with Qizong Mountain long ago. For years, he’d insisted he would not consider marriage until his brother recovered. Partly, he genuinely hoped for his brother’s recovery; partly, it was an excuse to avoid the engagement.

Even when the famed doctor from Qizong Mountain came down to provide acupuncture and therapy for his brother, he did his best to avoid any contact, fearing that even a brief encounter would bring up the matter of the engagement.

Yet, despite all his efforts to avoid her, Liu Zhichang had delivered her right to his doorstep—as a mentor, no less, and in the center position. It was as if fate insisted he face what he had tried so hard to avoid.

“Pei Xuan, come to my office!”

Clenching his teeth, Lu Yiqing pressed the intercom button and summoned his assistant with a stern command.