Chapter 65
Su Jia suspected the production team had done it on purpose, but he had no proof.
Not only did he have no proof, he could not show even the slightest sign of unwillingness, in case people noticed his guilty conscience.
Su Jia secretly took a deep breath, then spread his hands toward the others and said, “Oh dear, sorry everyone, Little Qiao belongs to me now.”
His tone sounded helpless, yet there seemed to be a trace of smugness and showing off hidden underneath.
‘Brother Jia’s smug little expression is impossible to hide hahaha’
‘Whoever gets the Gossip King gets the world. I hereby declare Brother Jia has already won. Please let Brother Jia ascend on the spot with the Gossip King in tow. [universal celebration.jpg]’
Zhu Ge shrugged regretfully. “Oh, what a pity.”
Xie Qingchi still showed no major reaction. He only glanced at Su Jia indifferently, pressed his lips together slightly, but said nothing.
“Nothing to pity. There’ll be chances later,” Director Xu spoke again. “The current pairings are only temporary. They may be adjusted later depending on the situation. Everyone will have a chance.”
Hearing that, Su Jia secretly let out a sigh of relief.
Good, good. It was only a temporary pairing, not a full-program pairing from start to finish. For him, that was good news.
Lin Zhiqiao was quietly thrilled as well.
A flexible, non-fixed partner arrangement was obviously much friendlier and more suitable for someone like him who wanted to eat gossip.
The more people he came into contact with, the wider the range of gossip he could open up, and naturally, the greater the chance of landing a truly big one.
As expected of Director Xu, Lin Zhiqiao thought. The mentor assistant position really was his exclusive gossip-eating seat!
After a short five-minute break, the first major event of Idol Star Dream finally officially began.
After layer upon layer of earlier selection rounds, a total of fifty yet-to-debut trainees had ultimately made it onto the survival show stage of Idol Star Dream.
To heighten the show’s air of mystery, during the entire promotional period Director Xu had not revealed any detailed lineup information to the public, naturally including the trainees participating in the survival competition.
Thus, aside from Ji Ran and Cheng Xia, who had already “spoiled” themselves to Lin Zhiqiao in advance, Lin Zhiqiao did not know the specific trainee list either.
According to the production team’s plan, on the first day of the show, the trainees would perform their first mini-stage in the program.
The three mentors would each score every contestant, and in the end the fifty contestants would be divided into Class A, Class B, and Class C according to their results, then assigned to three different mentors.
After the first class division, Class A would be led by mentor Su Jia, Class B would be under Zhu Ge, and Xie Qingchi would be the mentor for Class C.
The role of mentor was obviously extremely important. Not only did they need to score the contestants, but during ordinary training they also had to analyze each trainee’s specific strengths and weaknesses and set up targeted training to improve them.
The mentor assistant’s tasks, on the other hand, were relatively much simpler. They were mostly miscellaneous chores, like recording the trainees’ daily training data, gathering the trainees’ needs and thoughts, helping communicate the mentor’s task requirements, and so on.
Of course, any other more specific work would be flexibly arranged by the mentor according to need.
After hearing Director Xu’s explanation, Lin Zhiqiao understood.
[Got it. Basically I’m the errand runner and general helper.] he concluded. [Very good. This kind of work that doesn’t really require much brainpower is perfect for slacking off and eating gossip!]
‘LMAO, Little Qiao’s whole face is screaming “I’m very satisfied” hahaha’
‘If it were me, I’d be happy too. This is basically the perfect gossip seat!’
Lin Zhiqiao was given an assistant notebook and sat down beside Su Jia.
He did not know whether it was just his imagination, but the moment he sat down, he felt that Su Jia seemed to shift slightly to the side, as if subconsciously wanting to widen the distance between them.
But very quickly, Su Jia turned his head, wearing his usual sunny smile, the one his fans adored so much.
“Nervous?” he asked.
Lin Zhiqiao shook his head sincerely. “No.” He blinked. “To be honest, I’m not the one who should be nervous.”
Lin Zhiqiao was not nervous at all. On the contrary, he was extremely expectant.
Very soon he would get to eat all sorts of colorful gossip. For a dedicated gossip spectator, there was nothing more worth looking forward to than that!
“You’re right,” Su Jia said with a smile. “Your work later will be very simple. Just help me record…”
He briefly gave a few instructions. Lin Zhiqiao nodded, and very soon the music on set started. The first group of trainees entered the stage.
There were fifty trainees in total, coming from fifteen different groups.
The first group to appear was a three-member team. Lin Zhiqiao gripped his pen and stared at the stage ahead, his expression extremely solemn and battle-ready.
Su Jia secretly glanced at him from the corner of his eye.
He looks pretty serious, Su Jia thought.
Little did he know that Lin Zhiqiao was already frantically poking 888. In the short span of three minutes, he had already speed-opened several gossip blind boxes.
[Contestant number two is pretty handsome! Today’s styling suits him so well—cool, arrogant, and super eye-catching!]
[What? He secretly put on four-inch height-increasing insoles?] Lin Zhiqiao’s pupils shook violently. [How much? Four inches?! With insoles that thick, he can still dance this steadily? How can that not count as a kind of raw skill?]
The next second, contestant number two onstage swayed slightly, one dance move deforming for a split second, before he quickly stabilized and rescued it.
Lin Zhiqiao clicked his tongue inwardly. [Whew. He twisted his ankle. That looked painful.]
Time was up, and the three contestants on stage finished their performance.
The three mentors quickly gave their scores and offered live commentary on the three contestants’ performance.
Lin Zhiqiao swiftly wrote down the key points. He did not know if it was only his imagination, but when the three contestants were leaving the stage, he distinctly felt that contestant number two seemed to glance in his direction, his eyes carrying an indescribably resentful look.
Lin Zhiqiao’s face was full of capital-letter confusion. [Why is he looking at me?]
‘Why would he be looking at you? You really have no idea? [doghead.jpg]’
‘Number Two: Couldn’t you at least wait until I was done dancing before commenting, damn it? [grumbling furiously.jpg]’
‘My god! With four-inch insoles, I’d twist my ankle just walking, let alone standing straight. How is he still dancing this fiercely? [dumbfounded.jpg]’
‘Setting aside everything else, Number Two is really hardworking and dedicated. I’m going to temporarily stan him for three minutes.’
Each group had three minutes of stage time. After their stage ended, the mentors would comment and assign classes on the spot.
After several groups had gone by in a row, Lin Zhiqiao still had not seen Ji Ran or Cheng Xia. He had not even seen a single familiar face.
[Contestant number eight’s voice is so stable. My ears are going to get pregnant, sob sob.]
[He looks so delicate and refined, but his voice is so deep and magnetic. Is this what people mean by contrast charm? I’m in love, I’m in love!]
[Hahaha help! Number Eight, you even wore blessed koi fish underwear! Nine pairs of koi fish underwear! What kind of new luck superstition is this? Can nine koi fish summon the dragon of good fortune?]
[Huh? There’s actually a matching “fortune-blessed get-rich underwear” sold online? They say it’s super effective. If you wear it for eighty-one days in a row, you’ll get rich on the spot…]
Lin Zhiqiao was shamelessly tempted.
‘I can understand reposting lucky koi fish, but koi fish underwear… so what’s the name of the matching online shop? Don’t make me kneel and beg you. [super loud.jpg]’
‘I think I found it. Not sure if it’s this store.’
‘Damn damn damn, I hesitated for three seconds! When I clicked back in, it was already sold out!!!’
‘I successfully grabbed nine pairs of get-rich underwear. I’ll come back in eighty-one days to fulfill my vow. [expectant face-holding.jpg]’
‘What a tiny little shop. The seller probably never imagined they’d one day have demand so high they couldn’t keep up hahaha’
‘I already don’t want to talk to any of you people who don’t own get-rich underwear anymore. [heehee.jpg]’
When this group of contestants left, Lin Zhiqiao once again received a resentful and complicated look.
During the intermission, Lin Zhiqiao secretly pulled out his phone and tried to buy the same underwear, only to see the glaring red words Sold Out.
[No wonder they say these blessed underpants are super effective. So they’re really this popular!]
Lin Zhiqiao felt a little regretful. He could only add the item to his wishlist and wait to buy it when they restocked.
888 muttered softly, [Host, even if you don’t have get-rich underwear, you have me. I’m definitely more effective than get-rich underwear!]
It was jealous.
Lin Zhiqiao hurried to soothe it. [That’s right, that’s right, 888 is the most amazing!]
After the short break, the livestream quickly resumed.
[How did contestant number sixteen manage to make such a sexy dance look so upright and righteous? He’s practically dragging his teammates off-course hahaha!]
[Good heavens, he really did serve in the military. No wonder his gaze is so determined it looks like he’s ready to join the Party!]
Lin Zhiqiao could not help sighing in admiration. [Have the standards for becoming an idol become this insanely competitive now?]
‘True righteousness incarnate.’
‘So is contestant sixteen’s storyline actually I debuted as center through sheer righteous energy?’
‘Oof, kind of delicious. Can some talented writer please feed the child? [hopeful eyes.jpg]’
‘Please give us more quality idols like this, thank you very much.’
A few more groups went by. Lin Zhiqiao’s notebook was already filled with several pages.
In the trainee seating area behind them, half the seats were already occupied, but Lin Zhiqiao still had not seen Ji Ran or Cheng Xia.
According to Director Xu, the trainees’ order of appearance had been randomly drawn. There was no fixed sorting standard.
Lin Zhiqiao could only keep waiting.
[The later you appear, the greater the pressure. Ji Ran and Cheng Xia can’t be unlucky enough to end up in the very last group, right?]
[Though with their skill level… even going last shouldn’t be too much of a problem.]
‘???’
‘Holy crap? So Cheng Xia and Ji Ran are also taking part in Idol Star Dream?!’
‘Another day of getting blindsided by spoilers.’
‘Ahhh, I’m so looking forward to it!’
‘Even though I don’t know how many debut spots there are in the end, our Ran baby and Xia baby definitely deserve one spot each!!!’
‘Quietly saying this, but if Ji Ran and Cheng Xia know the mentor assistant, won’t that be unfair to the other contestants…’
‘You’re overthinking it, right? The mentor assistant doesn’t participate in scoring or voting, so it won’t affect anything.’
‘It’s a full live broadcast. Is there a fairer format than this? It’s definitely more fair than other shows with their messy editing.’
The next group of contestants quickly stepped out.
“What’s coming up next is the group FOUR from Mingguang Entertainment—”
The moment he heard those familiar words, Lin Zhiqiao—who had been getting a little tired—instantly perked up.
Mingguang Entertainment?
Wasn’t that the company of his unlucky big brother Lin Chen?
If Ji Ran and Cheng Xia had not jumped ship back then, when they appeared later, they would definitely have come out under the Mingguang Entertainment name as well.
Lin Zhiqiao quietly sat up straighter.
The group FOUR, as the name suggested, had four trainees in it.
Although he really disliked everything related to the Lin family, Lin Zhiqiao had to admit that Mingguang Entertainment’s standards for choosing trainees were still pretty good.
After FOUR came onstage, Lin Zhiqiao’s attention was instantly captured by one of them.
Contestant number thirty, Ming Ye.
He looked somewhat unfamiliar. Back when Our Life had been filming at Mingguang Base, Lin Zhiqiao was certain he had never run into him.
As the stage music started, the trainee named Ming Ye’s features were sharp and sturdy, but unlike that earlier contestant full of righteous energy.
There was something strangely flirtatious mixed into Ming Ye’s ruggedness.
After remaining silent for a long time, 888 suddenly spoke up. [Host, he feels a bit strange to me.]
Lin Zhiqiao asked, [Does he also have a system?]
[Probably not a system.] 888 thought for a moment. [But he should have… what you people call a “golden finger.”]
Lin Zhiqiao pressed, [What kind of golden finger? Can you sense it?]
888 replied, [It’s called “The Mysterious Crown from the Sea.”]
Lin Zhiqiao: […System dear, speak human.]
888: [In simpler terms, “player.”]
