The Long-awaited Mr Han

Many new fans who hadn't managed to say anything were all really surprised too. No other fandom had ever been so logical and reasonable.

Even though the fandom was calm and peaceful, the netizens who weren't fans were still the majority.

They weren't a fan of anyone and were all just neutral. Of course, there were also haters mixed among the crowd.

All of them kept raising their questions on the internet, guessing at why Lu Man and Li Zeyu would choose not to join.

"If only one of them left and chose not to participate, then that's fine. But now that two of them aren't joining, do you think there's nothing fishy going on? I don't believe it."

"Li Zeyu has come out to explain."

All the netizens flocked to Li Zeyu's Weibo to read his explanation.

They weren't Li Zeyu's fans. Besides, they were just interested in watching things unfold and didn't mind blowing the situation up even more.

Many of them said, "This reason won't convince me."

"Everyone says that Li Zeyu is the type who is very serious, focuses on his acting, very wholesome and caring, and morally upright, but I don't believe in this type of character set-up. There definitely must be something fishy going on."

"Either they couldn't agree on the contract or they couldn't come to a consensus on the pay."

"Looking at the guests invited to The Performer, just based on how high-ranked they are, many celebrities are fighting so hard trying to find a way to take part in it, why would Li Zeyu reject it just because he thinks his own acting skills weren't good enough? Then why did he work so hard to get into the finals back then?"

"Only his little fans would believe his explanation."

Just as more and more speculations started spreading on the internet, it gradually started becoming disadvantageous to The Performer as well.

The production crew of The Performer had an urgent meeting.

"How exactly did you talk to them?" the executive director of the production team, Ge Guangzhen, asked Xu Yaojie.

"What other way could I talk to them? I just passed them the contract and asked them to sign it. Originally, they were all prepared to sign it, but who knew that that troublemaker Lu Man would keep harping on the conditions in the contract and insist that we give them an explanation? If we didn't and if we did not agree to change the contract, then she wouldn't sign it." Xu Yaojie complained, "What rights do they have to ask us, the production team, to change the contract for them? Them getting to participate is their honor. I wouldn't agree to it, so Lu Man refused to sign the contract. She even encouraged the others not to sign it either."

Xu Yaojie added fuel to the fire by saying all these things.

Because of the incident about the contract, Lu Man had completely offended him.

He gave Lu Man a contract to sign only because he thought highly of her. And she actually thought that that gave her the right to talk about conditions with the production team?

If not for Lu Man's questions, the others also wouldn't have hesitated when signing the contract. Li Zeyu also wouldn't have followed Lu Man and would have signed the contract.

However, Xu Yaojie didn't dare to tell Ge Guangzhen that he had told Lu Man and the others that the production team had already decided on who would win or lose each round of the competition.

Back then, it was because he was feeling very superior and good about himself. He was too smug and complacent and had carelessly revealed it.

But who asked Lu Man to keep harping on one condition in the contract and refuse to let it go?

She just kept insisting on getting an explanation.

Anyway, even if Lu Man signed the contract, she would have found out about it sooner or later.

Even if he said it out, it shouldn't be a big deal either.

Even if Lu Man wanted to spread the information, she wouldn't have any proof anyway.

"Director Ge, from the start, before they even signed the contract, Lu Man already looked like a disobedient kid to me. If we got her to join the production team, it might cause even more trouble. There are so many people dreaming of joining our show but can't. Do we still have to beg a couple of students to do so?" Xu Yaojie said.

Hands behind his back, Ge Guangzhen paced around. "Hurry up and release a statement or something, telling everyone that them not joining the show has nothing to do with any behind-the-scenes dealings. Stop letting the netizens speculate."

"Li Zeyu has already come out and explained," Assistant Director Wang said. "Should we contact Lu Man too and also get her to explain so the netizens would stop speculating? It's not doing well for our show's reputation."