Chapter 12: Xing Tan (lit. Star Scout)

Back in my past life, while I had completed writing a few stories, there were many other exciting and enthralling plot ideas that I had no choice but to throw to the wayside. These stories had so much potential to be developed into full-fledged novels, but unfortunately, I did not have the time to write them.

One such story, which I had in my previous life painstakingly plotted, planned and researched for weeks, was preliminarily titled "Lost in the Flurry of Time". It was at its core a rebirth and revenge historical novel, encompassing the usual tropes of such stories. In 2022, rebirth and revenge novels and dramas were almost a staple of most people's reading lists or watchlists; but this may not necessarily be the case right now when we were ten years into the past.

Based on my brief reading of other web novels today, the existing trend of novels contained the classic themes of "dominant CEO and Cinderella", "rich man, poor woman" or "gender-bender/cross-dressing", coupled with usual tropes of "enemies to lovers", "amnesia", "green tea second female lead" and "second lead syndrome". As such, my analysis was that rebirth-revenge stories and romantic tragedy xuanhuan or xianxia stories relating to reincarnation and soulmates searching for each other across time and multiple lifetimes would be considered fresh and original in the present.

Perhaps, it was because of the free food and drinks supplied to me by my "cousin" or the cosy environment of the café or my excitement of writing a novel while physically present in Beijing, that I was able to finish writing six chapters of Lost in the Flurry of Time in a span of five days. It was not my style to write hundreds of chapters. Thus, six chapters out of an average of forty chapters was a considerable achievement. Of course, it helped that this was a story that I had previously done plenty of planning for and research on.

It was a Friday afternoon and the café was quiet—apart from a foreign couple, who looked like tourists, there was only one other older lady enjoying a cup of hot coffee while reading a book. Yu Sifan guessed that it was currently the examination season, which was why his regular customers didn't appear.

His guess was actually correct. My WeChat group chat with Tan Qing and Du Shanshan was full of lamentations and complaints about the finals that was taking place this week and full of excitement about their plans post-exams. One such plan was visiting Yu Sifan's café. Since hearing that my friends were interested in dropping by, Yu Sifan had been trying to use me to get Tan Qing's band to perform at his café. This was the reason for the free bento lunch sets over the past few days that I had been writing in the café.

The mouthwatering bento lunch sets came from "Dusk Bistro & Bar", the asian-fusion restaurant just down the street, which by night would morph into a casual pub. Today's set came with short grained white rice, topped with a piece of grilled salmon filet with teriyaki sauce that was encircled by edamame beans, buttered corn and roasted cherry tomatoes.

Just as I was about to get started on the third paragraph of my seventh chapter after shoving a spoonful of rice, fish and corn into my mouth, I noticed a familiar looking youth on the street outside with a guitar bag slung over one shoulder. He stood in front of the glass folding doors and seemed to be staring at a sign that was affixed on the glass. As I was sitting right by the glass folding doors today, I was able to get a clear view of his face.

Scrutinising his appearance, doubts surfaced in my heart. It couldn't be so coincidental that I had run into the nation's prince of OSTs, could it?

A tall, lean and athletic build. A slim face characterised by a sharp jawline, slender monolid eyes and high nose bridge. He had a unique look that was not only captivating but also very memorable. I couldn't be wrong. It was definitely him—Deng Zixuan.

I first took notice of Deng Zixuan when I was watching a drama in which he had acted as a supporting character. It was only when I searched his online profile that I discovered that he was actually a professional singer. Although he was still a rising star, he was already well-known for singing drama OSTs. In fact, there was even a saying going around social media that as long as Deng Zixuan sang for a drama, that drama would become popular.

Later on, I stumbled upon many short clips of him on variety shows and videos of him interacting with his cast members behind the scenes on the drama set, and felt that he had an easygoing and friendly personality, which easily drew people in. While I was not considered a fan, I did have a good impression of his persona. It was rare to find such a down-to-earth and honest artiste in the industry. Perhaps, it was because he had humble beginnings and had worked diligently to reach stardom.

The Deng Zixuan who was stepping foot into the café right now looked like he was at the stage of "humble beginnings". I didn't research much into his background, but I had seen videos where it was mentioned that right after graduating from high school, Deng Zixuan started out his career as a bar singer. After years of hopping from bar to bar, he suddenly gained fame on the internet after videos of him singing trended on social media. Apparently, a fan of his had been regularly uploading high quality videos of him performing, and over a few months, netizens started taking notice of him. Deng Zixuan was soon invited onto a singing competition variety show, where he came in third place; but he had sufficiently made a name for himself as he received offers from agencies and record companies wishing to sign him on as their artiste. Since then, his popularity only soared.

Standing by the entranceway, the present Deng Zixuan looked around the café carefully as if he was searching for something or someone. Spotting Yu Sifan who was wiping dry bone china tea cups behind the counter, he strode over and bowed slightly to greet him. I straightened up in interest at the exchange happening before me and perked up my ears to listen in on their conversation.

"Hello, my name is Deng Zixuan. I saw the sign outside saying that you are doing walk-in interviews for full-time service staff? I'm just wondering if now is a good time?"

"Ah, are you looking to work here as a waiter?"

"Yes, but I didn't bring along a resume or anything. I have my identity card though. If you need me to submit a resume, I can come back another day for an interview."

Yu Sifan paused for a moment as he studied Deng Zixuan. Suddenly his eyes seemed to light up as he gasped: "Hold on, aren't you the singer from the Dusk place down the street? I feel like I've seen you before when I pass by that place."

Looking embarrassed, Deng Zixuan lowered his voice. "Yes, I was; but not anymore. They are closing down next week, so they terminated me today."

Raising his brows in surprised, a speechless Yu Sifan placed the cloth and cup in his hands onto the countertop as if afraid that he would drop them in his state of shock. Mirroring him, I also lowered my plastic utensils and stared regretfully at my half-eaten lunch.

"Oh," said Yu Sifan after coming back to his senses. "This is a music café, you are a talented singer—why are you applying to be a waiter here?"

"Oh, are you hiring performers?" asked Deng Zixuan, his eyes looking in the direction of the small stage behind me. "I saw that the sign only said that you are looking for full-time or part-time service staff."

"Uh—that depends," Yu Sifan trailed off and crossed his arms while looking deep in thought. Although I had only known him for a few days, I already knew from the calculating look in his eyes that he was weighing the costs and benefits in his head.

How much would it cost to hire Deng Zixuan as a waiter? Would he be able to exploit the youth by making him perform during his shift? Would it be cheaper to employ Deng Zixuan for only a couple of hours daily to perform or to employ Deng Zixuan as a service staff and allow him the same couple of hours daily to perform?

"Do you have experience in waiting tables?"

Deng Zixuan shook his head. "But I'm a fast-learner."

"Alright," said Yu Sifan as he held out an open palm "Let me see your identification card. When is the earliest you can start?"

"I can start any time!" Deng Zixuan fished out his wallet from his pocket and handed his identification card over eagerly.

Nodding as he checked the information on the card, Yu Sifan responded, "OK. Give me your contact details first. I'll contact you again on the details of your shift and remuneration. Oh yes, please send me a copy of your resume by email."

As Deng Zixuan left the café and disappeared down the street, a smug smile spread across Yu Sifan's face. While returning to his task of wiping cups, his eyes swept across the café and met mine in the middle. I smiled at him knowingly with one raised eyebrow—but it was lost on him and he only looked at me incredulously before busying himself again.

Seeing that the eventful moment of the day was over, I too returned to my work. I extended my arms in front of myself and stretched out an ache in my neck, readying myself to sprint towards the finishing line to complete writing two more chapters before heading home for dinner. Positioning my fingers on my keyboard, a short silent laugh escaped my lips as I was struck with amazement.

Shen Yan must have been blessed with some sort of special constitution. Not only did she have the fate to be friends with Cheng Yujin when he was still a college student, but she was also able to cross paths with Deng Zixuan pre-debut when he was barely starting out on his singing career. Shen Yan would have been able to become a successful star scout. As someone who could effortlessly encounter talented people, all she needed to do was to recognise talent and offer them an opportunity to become a star—one that shines brightly in the night sky for all the world to see.

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