Chapter 64
By the time Su Jia returned to the recording room, the ten minutes were up exactly.
Zhu Ge turned her head and raised a brow at him. “I almost thought you weren’t going to make it back in time.”
Su Jia shrugged helplessly. “Sorry, sorry. Got held up for a bit.”
Zhu Ge smiled at him, and there seemed to be some unspoken meaning hidden in that smile, but she said nothing more.
Xie Qingchi, seated on her other side, never once looked up, as if Su Jia’s departure and return were of no interest to him at all.
Lin Zhiqiao looked left, then right, his gaze secretly drifting between Su Jia and Xie Qingchi before finally settling back on Su Jia.
He blinked, his eyes stopping at the top of the man’s head.
So he really had not seen wrong just now.
Although Su Jia had already decided to stay away from Lin Zhiqiao, his attention still kept drifting toward him on its own.
So he immediately caught the look Lin Zhiqiao was giving him, and his heart instinctively tightened. The calm he had only just regained began to ripple again.
What was he looking at?
Why was he staring at him instead of looking at someone else?
Had he noticed something?
Su Jia’s heart was thumping unevenly, and he felt so uneasy he could hardly sit still.
Lin Zhiqiao looked at the top of his head, withdrew his gaze, then could not help glancing again.
[Ah, Su Jia’s hairpiece really is showing… But we’re live right now, so how am I supposed to remind him without drawing attention?]
Lin Zhiqiao felt a little conflicted, then could not help sighing inwardly: [No wonder Ji Ran keeps crying about losing hair every day. The pressure of being an idol really is huge. Even Su Jia needs a hairpiece to hold up his hairstyle.]
The moment that thought came out, everyone present immediately focused their attention on Su Jia.
Su Jia could not hear Lin Zhiqiao’s inner voice, but he was extremely sensitive to people’s gazes and naturally sensed that something was off.
He grew even more nervous, but still forced himself to remain calm and asked, “What is it? Why is everyone looking at me?”
Zhu Ge, who was sitting closest to him, leaned toward his ear and lowered her voice. “Your hairpiece is crooked.”
Su Jia: “…”
He let out an “ah” and clapped a hand over his head, while inwardly releasing a fierce sigh of relief.
So it was just the hairpiece. Not the thing he had been worrying about. Thank god, thank god.
The cameraman very tactfully moved the camera away so Su Jia could find a chance to fix his hair properly.
‘I burst out laughing on the spot hahaha’
‘It’s funny but also kinda heartbreaking. Being an idol really isn’t easy. The pressure is way bigger than ordinary people imagine’
‘Alright, alright, more evidence that he’s a dumb handsome guy +1’
‘As expected, Brother Jia comes with his own comedy effect. Pretty and entertaining, give me more [furiously taking screenshots.jpg]’
Director Xu kindly gave Su Jia half a minute. Once he had tidied up his look again, she clapped her hands and said, “Alright, time’s up.”
Everyone came back to their senses and turned toward Director Xu.
“Now please reveal your preferred choice in order, and briefly explain why,” Director Xu said. “Let’s start with the assistants first. Tang Nan, why don’t you go first?”
Tang Nan sat in assistant seat number one, and at that, he raised the little white board in his hand.
‘Of course it’s our Brother Jia. Zero suspense there hahaha’
‘That’s why they call our Brother Jia the popularity king! If it were me, I’d choose Brother Jia too, no hesitation at all!’
As for the reason, Tang Nan’s explanation was simple and direct: “Because I’m Brother Jia’s fan.”
Across from him, Su Jia, seated in mentor seat number one, gave Tang Nan a warm and friendly smile.
Director Xu nodded. “Then next, Su Jia, please reveal your choice.”
On Su Jia’s white board, Tang Nan’s name was written in bold.
“My reason is simple too. Xiao Nan really looks pleasing to me. I have a feeling the two of us would get along well,” he said.
Director Xu smiled with narrowed eyes. “So it’s a mutual choice!”
Next was Ji Yuan. As expected, she had written Zhu Ge’s name.
But Zhu Ge, the one Ji Yuan had chosen, had Lin Zhiqiao’s name on her white board instead.
Lin Zhiqiao widened his eyes in surprise. He looked at Ji Yuan, then at Zhu Ge, his whole face screaming confusion, like someone who had no idea what was going on.
“To be honest, at first I did consider whether I should choose you,” Zhu Ge said, looking at Ji Yuan and spreading her hands helplessly. “But I struggled over it for a long time, and in the end I still chose Lin Xiao Qiao. After all, Xiao Qiao has a very popular nickname lately—Gossip King. You all know that, right?”
Everyone present nodded in perfect unison.
Su Jia had already gotten perfect control of his emotions again and even had the mind to join in: “Of course I know. Everyone says if you stick with Xiao Qiao, there’ll be gossip to eat. It’s pretty magical.”
Lin Zhiqiao smiled shyly. “Everyone’s just joking around. You can’t take it seriously.”
‘Gossip King? That’s way too modest’
‘How can it not be taken seriously? It’s real to the point it can’t get any realer!’
‘If the Gossip King can be fake, then there’s nothing real left in this world worth believing in [certain.jpg]’
‘A loyal disciple of the Gossip King reporting for duty [little civet sitting obediently.jpg]’
‘I’m betting one dollar that Idol Star Dream is eventually going to dominate the hot search entirely because of gossip [hehe.jpg]’
‘One dollar is way too restrained. I’m betting my entire fortune [dog head.jpg]’
“Exactly.” Zhu Ge smiled. “People say eating gossip is human nature. I’m no exception.”
“I get it, I get it.” Ji Yuan nodded repeatedly and admitted frankly, “Actually… if Xiao Qiao had been one of the people I could choose from, I would’ve picked him too.”
Tang Nan pushed up his glasses and nodded as well. “Same here, actually.”
Director Xu glanced at Xie Qingchi. “And you, Qingchi?”
Xie Qingchi held up his white board, and the three boldly written characters “Lin Zhiqiao” were crystal clear. “Yeah. Same.”
Ji Yuan covered her mouth and laughed. “Wow, our Xiao Qiao is really popular.”
Lin Zhiqiao looked a bit dazed and flustered. “Th-thank you?”
[Don’t look at me, don’t look at me. I just want to be a quiet little civet in the shadows, eating gossip in peace. You’re making me panic like this, wuwuwu!]
Everyone wore faintly amused smiles, each one carrying its own layer of meaning.
Only Su Jia, seated in mentor seat number one, silently lowered the little white board in his hand and felt just a little out of place.
He was the only one who sincerely did not want to choose Lin Zhiqiao.
But Su Jia knew he could not show anything unusual, much less let anyone see his guilty conscience.
So he could only pretend to be calm and tease in a breezy tone, “Good, good, good. So you all discussed this beforehand, huh?”
‘Xiao Qiao, you might as well just debut on the spot hahaha’
‘So can I vote for the mentor assistants too? Very urgent, serious question, waiting online [rubbing hands anxiously.jpg]’
‘Director Xu, broaden your thinking a little. How about expanding the voting list just a tiny bit? [civet stroking chin.jpg]’
‘You vote one, I vote one, and the Gossip King debuts tomorrow’
‘I’m dying at Brother Jia’s expression’
‘Brother Jia: I feel like I’ve been excluded [handsome guy sorrow.jpg]’
‘Brother Jia definitely didn’t expect everyone to love eating gossip this much’
‘Someone hug Su Jia, I feel like he’s about to shatter hahaha’
Director Xu gave a light cough and drew everyone back. “Zhiqiao, it’s your turn. So many people chose you. Who did you choose?”
Under everyone’s expectant and curious gaze, Lin Zhiqiao smiled a little awkwardly, then lifted up his white board—Xie Qingchi.
Everyone revealed expressions that were a little surprised, but also not that surprised.
Director Xu asked with interest, “Can you tell us why?”
[Obviously because Xie Qingchi looks like he’s got a lot of gossip to dig up!]
Of course Lin Zhiqiao could not possibly say the real reason out loud. He had already prepared an excuse: “Because we’re both sitting in seat number three, and I thought that was kind of fateful.”
As he said that, he gave Xie Qingchi across from him a shy little smile.
Everyone immediately showed expressions of sudden understanding.
Ji Yuan looked at Xie Qingchi, then glanced at Su Jia, as if thinking of something. A faint, nearly imperceptible excitement appeared in her eyes.
After following Lin Zhiqiao around and eating so much gossip, Ji Yuan had developed an extraordinary gossiping intuition.
That intuition told her Lin Zhiqiao’s choice was not simple.
‘Ah, I thought Xiao Qiao would choose Brother Jia’
‘Actually it’s not that surprising. Xie Qingchi’s gossip really does look tastier [dog head.jpg]’
‘In a way, this counts as another kind of two-way connection, hahaha’
‘What surprises me more is Xie Qingchi. He actually dared to choose Xiao Qiao? Doesn’t he know about Xiao Qiao’s Gossip King physique? [confused cat.jpg]’
‘Wasn’t his biggest scandal already exposed years ago? So maybe now he has nothing left to fear’
‘Xie Qingchi probably wants the Gossip King to expose more dirt on other people. Maybe he can even piggyback on it and wash himself a little cleaner [shrug.jpg]’
‘Wash himself clean? An idol who wasn’t professional and dragged down his teammates is permanently blacklisted for me, thanks [white-eye yellow-bean-head.jpg]’
‘If Xie Qingchi manages to clear his name, I’ll livestream myself upside down gnawing on a keyboard. I mean it’
The mutual-selection round between mentors and mentor assistants was now over.
At the moment there were two pairs of mutual choices: Su Jia and Tang Nan, Lin Zhiqiao and Xie Qingchi, while Ji Yuan and Zhu Ge had a small mismatch.
Given the two mutual-pick pairs, it seemed like the six people being split into those three groups had basically become a done deal.
But in the very next second, Director Xu suddenly turned on the small screen.
“Alright, the choosing round is over. Now it’s time to officially assign everyone their partners.”
The screen showed the six names. The top row had the three mentors, while the bottom row had the mentor assistants. Three lines were bouncing and shifting between the names on the two rows.
After a short silence in the room, Su Jia asked, “Random?”
Director Xu nodded, sounding utterly matter-of-fact. “Of course. Random. Isn’t it obvious?”
The silence in the room lasted for another moment.
Ji Yuan gave a helpless laugh. “Then what was the point of all those choices we just made?”
“Ice-breaking segment, of course. Everyone got to know each other a bit,” Director Xu said bluntly. “And besides… this should make for excellent program effect.”
‘Director Xu really is Director Xu. She’s experienced, no doubt [nodding.jpg]’
‘I knew it. Director Xu was never going to be that kind and let everyone really choose hahaha’
[What a marvelous “program effect.”] Lin Zhiqiao forced himself not to twitch at the corners of his mouth. [Director Xu, are you really not just padding the livestream runtime?]
Director Xu only smiled and said nothing.
After bouncing around for a while, the black lines on the screen finally stopped.
The final grouping went beyond everyone’s expectations.
Tang Nan was assigned to Xie Qingchi, Ji Yuan was paired with Zhu Ge, and Lin Zhiqiao was assigned to the only person who had not chosen him at all—Su Jia.
When Su Jia saw the result, the last bit of hope he had been holding onto finally died completely.
