CEO's Sweetheart is a Super Idol
Chapter 76 - 74: Understanding the Core

Chapter 76: Chapter 74: Understanding the Core

Three days later

"What? You’re going to participate in the talent show ’Natural Idol’?!" Yuwei looked at Lv Fangxin in disbelief.

"Yeah! Yuwei-jie, why are you reacting like this?"

Lv Fangxin looked at her in utter confusion. She couldn’t understand why Yuwei was so surprised.

"That’s a Penguin talent show. Countless people who’ve trained their whole lives still can’t get in."

At this moment, Yuwei’s emotions were like a bottle of mixed feelings being overturned.

She knew Lv Fangxin’s skill level like the back of her hand—someone who even messed up counting beats while dancing. Yet she was somehow selected by Penguin to join this program, which was supposedly aiming to form Huaxia’s strongest girl group.

Her own friends like Li Jiaqi, as well as Zhang Yu and Xu Mengchen from their group—weren’t all of them far more talented? And yet Penguin didn’t even spare Galaxy an extra spot.

Had Penguin lost their minds? Or gone blind?

Yuwei’s expression grew darker and darker, and the look in her eyes as she stared at Fangxin became increasingly fierce.

Lv Fangxin was so frightened she didn’t dare make a sound, trembling in her seat. She didn’t understand why Yuwei-jie, who was always so kind to her, now seemed like a completely different person.

"That face of yours is indeed beautiful. I bet guys love it," Yuwei suddenly said, her tone icy, but her gaze softened again.

"Yuwei-jie, d-did I do something wrong?" Lv Fangxin’s voice trembled, almost dissolving into sobs as her legs nearly gave way beneath her.

"You didn’t do anything wrong. The problem is me. I’m nothing but a joke." Yuwei gave a bitter laugh as she rose from her chair.

"Yuwei-jie, p-please don’t scare me..." A panicked Lv Fangxin was convinced that Yuwei’s mind must have snapped.

Yuwei ignored her and returned to her own room, locking the door behind her.

Her sharp mind immediately came to several conclusions.

1. The only reason Lv Fangxin got selected was her pretty face; there could be no other explanation.

2. The essence of this program was the same as Hanoi’s General Election—not about talent, but about viewer appeal. In other words, you had to get audience votes to succeed.

3. As for herself, her reputation in Hanoi was "infamous." Her hardcore fans were down to a mere handful. How could she compete for a debut spot like this?

4. Why was Lu Bingbing so nice to her? It was nothing more than manipulation. She understood that Bingbing only wanted her cooperation because she knew Yuwei would never secure a debut position.

5. With her current reputation, she’d only drag the entire show down. She was merely a chess piece in Galaxy’s plan to tarnish this program.

The more Yuwei thought about it, the more frustrated and desperate she became.

Back out now? Absolutely impossible. She’d already signed the contract.

"Damn it!" Yuwei raised her fist, poised to smash the wardrobe mirror in front of her. But in the end, she held back—if she injured herself, she wouldn’t even be able to participate in the show.

Calm down! Stay calm! There must be a way. Yuwei forced herself to regain composure.

"You’re not just facing Hanoi fans; you’re facing a national audience. The other girls competing don’t have Hanoi fans either. Does that mean they have no chance of debuting?" Yuwei’s mind worked rapidly.

"Where is the breakthrough point? Where? How do I grab the audience’s attention?" She racked her brain, walking unconsciously to her computer and pulling up the program’s schedule.

"If I follow this process, where can I stand out?"

She began reviewing it repeatedly, analyzing every single word in detail.

Soon, a smile began to form on her face. "There are only two places where I could shine."

"Why was Lv Fangxin chosen by the production team? Could it really be just because of her looks?"

"No, it can’t just be that. There are plenty of beautiful girls in Hanoi, but many of them end up fading into obscurity and leaving their groups. To become a top member of Hanoi’s lineup, you need a compelling trait to attract fans."

Yuwei mentally placed the program within the Hanoi framework. Intrinsically, the two were no different—one like a short film, the other like a serialized drama.

"What’s Lv Fangxin’s unique trait?" Yuwei pondered deeply, recalling every detail about the girl.

"Naive. She’s incredibly naive, simple, and pure—like an untouched flower." Yuwei suddenly had an epiphany.

Although not entirely certain, she felt her judgment was likely close to the truth.

Lv Fangxin was essentially the reincarnation of "Haiyan," one of their Hanoi seniors who had retired from the group.

Back in her day, Haiyan had risen to fame in just one year thanks to her innocence and sincerity, reaching the peak of her popularity.

"And what about me? What kind of image should I present to stand out among over a hundred girls?" Yuwei sat down and mentally filtered through all the people from Hanoi.

"It’ll be her... but it’s risky. If I fail, I’ll never recover." Slowly, Yuwei stood up from her chair, remembering the public hatred one of her seniors once faced.

"...It has to be this way. I have no other choice. I have no company backing me, no connections to fall back on. Instead, I have people actively working against me, desperate to see me ruined forever."

Yuwei, who had made up her mind, walked out and saw Lv Fangxin, standing dumbly with red, tear-swollen eyes.

"Fangxin, I’m sorry. The problem is with me. I’ve just been under a lot of pressure lately."

"Jie, can you talk to me about it? Maybe saying it out loud will help."

Looking at the cautious look in Fangxin’s eyes, Yuwei hesitated, then said, "I’m also participating in that program."

"Ah! Oh my god!" Lv Fangxin gasped, biting her hand in shock.

"My company wanted me to keep it a secret, but the production team is releasing the promo material today, so there’s no need for it anymore," Yuwei smiled as she explained.

"That’s amazing, Jie! We’ll be competing together!" Lv Fangxin joyously jumped up, her earlier teary demeanor completely gone.

But soon, her expression dimmed. "Jie, I’m going to be eliminated in the first round."

Yuwei grabbed her shoulders firmly and said, "Whether you get eliminated or not isn’t up to us. It’s up to the audience. Once you’re on that stage, you need to have the resolve to burn your bridges."

Startled by Yuwei’s intensity, Lv Fangxin nodded instinctively.

"Yuwei-jie, my boss told me to act cute as much as possible in front of the cameras so the audience will like me."

"No, your boss doesn’t understand the audience at all. There are already too many cute girls. The girls selected for this show are the cream of the crop when it comes to ’cuteness.’ You can’t win by acting cute."

"Then, then what should I do?"

Lv Fangxin genuinely wanted to do well in the show—but not necessarily for the purpose of debuting.

She didn’t even know what debuting truly meant.

She just felt instinctively that the longer she stayed in the competition, the more people would see her, and the more likely she’d become a star.

"Be yourself."

"Be myself?"

"Yes. Because being yourself is what will attract people the most."

At this, Yuwei sighed inwardly. Her own personality wasn’t likeable, or worse, it might just blend into the crowd. That was why she had to craft a whole new persona.

Lv Fangxin nodded hesitantly, half-understanding. But her intuition told her Yuwei wasn’t lying.

A person who had guided her this far and hadn’t abandoned her wouldn’t have bad intentions.

"Yuwei-jie, let’s work hard together! The competition starts next week."

"Yes, let’s work hard together." Yuwei smiled and high-fived her.