Chapter 73
Ming Ye, of course, was not about to disappoint everyone.
The moment Su Jia stepped in front of him, he spoke up. “Brother Jia, this move always feels a little off when I do it.”
Su Jia said, “Show me once.”
So Ming Ye did as told. On the surface, the move did not seem to have any obvious problems, but if one looked closely, there were actually plenty of little flaws hidden in it.
Lin Zhiqiao stroked his chin and declared inwardly, [He’s doing it on purpose! He was clearly doing it perfectly just now!]
‘Xiao Qiao is basically working in his area of expertise here. I trust Xiao Qiao on this one. [nod.jpg]’
‘Brother Ming’s little scheme… is he trying to get Brother Jia to teach him hand-in-hand? Hehehe.’
The problems in Ming Ye’s movements were all in the details, the kind that were hard to explain precisely with words alone, so Su Jia could only correct him physically.
With one hand, he grabbed Ming Ye’s wrist. With the other, he lightly tapped Ming Ye at the waist and lower abdomen, saying in a low voice, “Here. Tighten this.”
Lin Zhiqiao’s eyes widened. [Ohhh, hands-on correction! Hands-on correction! The placement of that hand is very suggestive already. If it were just a tiny bit further to the side, it’d be even better. Hehe!]
The next second, borrowing Su Jia’s guiding force, Ming Ye tried adjusting his posture. After a moment, he tilted his head slightly and asked softly, “Brother Jia, like this?”
Because they were already in physical contact, the two of them were standing extremely close. When Ming Ye turned his head like that, his lips were practically brushing Su Jia’s ear, and as he spoke, they almost grazed the edge of Su Jia’s ear.
Lin Zhiqiao sucked in a sharp breath. [Good, good, good! Now that’s the atmosphere! As expected of a man with the “Crown of the Deep Sea”! You really know what you’re doing!!!]
‘Who’s losing their mind taking screenshots? Me!!!’
‘If you want to see real flirting, you’ve got to watch Brother Ming. This scene is insane. Everybody, start shipping hard! [slurp slurp.jpg]’
‘Our Brother Jia is being completely handled, hahaha.’
‘Rather than being handled, I’d say our Brother Jia is such a dense straight guy that he still hasn’t noticed anything. He probably still thinks Ming Ye is just sincerely eager to learn. [laughing crying.jpg]’
‘Well, he is a handsome fool. Being a little slow on the uptake is only natural. [doghead.jpg]’
‘Doesn’t that just make them even better to ship? Experienced flirt versus dense straight guy — it could not be more delicious!!!’
Completely absorbed in gossip and sugar, Lin Zhiqiao did not notice that everyone else in the practice room had also turned their attention to Ming Ye and Su Jia because of his “screaming.”
Zhou Zili glanced over at the two of them, then withdrew his gaze, only to sneak another look in their direction not long after.
Ji Ran was standing right beside him. Noticing Zhou Zili’s behavior, he leaned in closer and whispered, “So? How does it feel?”
Zhou Zili was slightly startled. “F-feel how?”
Ji Ran lowered his voice even further. “Following Xiao Qiao around while he eats gossip.”
Zhou Zili fell silent for a moment, then replied quietly, “…Not bad.”
“Only not bad? Isn’t it amazing?” Ji Ran blinked at him. “Gossip is really good for improving your mood. Don’t you feel a lot better now?”
Zhou Zili thought about it. “Yeah.”
He really did.
Ji Ran smiled. “Then make sure you stick with Xiao Qiao more in the future. You’ll be even happier.”
Cheng Xia also leaned over and said, “I can confirm that’s true.”
Zhou Zili met each of their gazes in turn, then lowered his eyes to hide the faint flicker of light in them. “Okay. Thank you.”
“No need to be polite.” Ji Ran patted him on the shoulder and grinned. “We’ve been there.”
It sounded like an oddly incomplete sentence, but Zhou Zili understood what he meant. He knew exactly what those so-called “people who’ve been there” referred to.
Back when they were still at Mingguang’s training base, Ji Ran and Cheng Xia had already been famous figures there. Forget everyone — almost over ninety percent of the trainees either knew them personally or had at least heard of them.
And after those two incidents that had shaken the entire internet, Ji Ran and Cheng Xia’s fame had risen even higher.
Though Zhou Zili had only been a little nobody at the base back then, he had also heard about their story and knew about their relationship with Lin Zhiqiao.
His situation was somewhat similar to theirs, but also… not exactly the same.
Zhou Zili pressed his lips together, complicated thoughts churning in his heart before finally settling into a silent but heavy sigh.
Several days later, the contestants quickly reached their first official stage performance.
This was the first time all the trainees, in their identities as contestants of Idol Star Dream, would officially meet their fans.
After the performance, the fans on site and the viewers in the livestream would vote for the fifty trainees. In the end, thirty contestants would successfully advance, while the remaining twenty would be regretfully eliminated.
For the trainees participating in the survival show, the importance of this official stage went without saying.
This time, not only were the mentors and contestants too busy to breathe, even the assistants were unusually swamped.
The three assistants moved back and forth between backstage and the dressing rooms. Even when they passed each other, they barely had time to exchange a greeting.
Only when the official stage began did Lin Zhiqiao finally sit down in the audience and manage to catch his breath.
The three mentor assistants were all seated in the front row of the audience section. On Lin Zhiqiao’s left sat Ji Yuan and Tang Nan in that order. On his right sat a boy and a girl who looked about the same age and very alike — apparently a pair of twins.
The boy seemed slightly older; Lin Zhiqiao heard the girl call him “older brother.”
Lin Zhiqiao took one glance at them and then looked away, assuming they were just ordinary audience members who had bought tickets.
Ji Yuan suddenly poked him and said in a mysterious whisper, “I accidentally overheard Director Xu say she wants to give all the contestants a surprise.”
Lin Zhiqiao’s interest immediately shot up. “What surprise?”
“I think she’s inviting the contestants’ relatives and friends to come watch their official stage,” Ji Yuan said. “I didn’t hear clearly. I only caught a few keywords, so I’m guessing.”
Lin Zhiqiao gave an oh, feeling that she was probably right.
Given Director Xu’s personality, it really did sound like something she would do.
If that was the case, then the pair of siblings sitting to his right were very likely the family members of one of the contestants.
He just did not know whose.
Unable to help himself, Lin Zhiqiao sneaked another glance at them, trying to spot which contestant they resembled, but failed.
On stage, after a few groups had gone by, it was soon Ji Ran’s team’s turn.
Each team had five people. Cheng Xia and Zhou Zili were both in Ji Ran’s team this time, and all five performed extremely well. Every single movement was practically flawless.
When the music ended, Lin Zhiqiao and the other two clapped furiously. Ji Yuan even cupped her hands around her mouth like a loudspeaker and shouted toward the stage like a fangirl, “Xia-baby! Li-baby! You’re the absolute best!!!”
Lin Zhiqiao’s palms were red from clapping. “Only Cheng Xia and Zhou Zili? Not Ji Ran too? Aren’t you afraid Ji Ran will come offstage later and cry to you about it?”
“He? Cry to me?” Ji Yuan rolled her eyes so hard they nearly went to heaven. Her expression was full of reluctant resistance, but she still added toward the stage, “Good good Ran-baby, you were super amazing too!”
Ji Ran on stage had clearly heard Ji Yuan’s voice. His mouth twitched twice, and he only barely managed to hold back the giant eye roll that almost escaped.
Lin Zhiqiao covered his mouth and snickered. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the twin siblings seated to his right, and suddenly realized that their reactions were oddly out of place compared to everyone else’s.
Almost the entire venue was shouting and cheering, yet these two were completely different: one had his head lowered, playing on his phone, while the other had a stiff expression and was chewing noisily on snacks, seeming utterly uninterested in what was happening on stage.
Was it because their family member had not gone on stage yet?
Lin Zhiqiao was not sure. But soon the next group came up, and the two instantly did a complete one-eighty, becoming just as excited as everyone around them.
In that group, the twin brothers Heng Yang and Heng Xing were indeed among the performers.
The two of them did fairly well too. Lin Zhiqiao heard the siblings beside him screaming the names Heng Yang and Heng Xing.
So they were the twins’ family members.
Lin Zhiqiao muttered inwardly, [A pair of twins whose family members are also a pair of twins… in a way, that’s kind of reasonable.]
Ji Yuan, beside him, turned her head and glanced past him to the other side, then quickly withdrew her gaze with no apparent interest.
Once all the contestants had finished — ten groups total, with two groups performing at the same time — the official stage came to an end.
After the stage came the voting, but that was for the audience and fans to handle. For the trainees, who had finally finished performing, what came next was the last period of relaxation before the elimination round arrived.
The production team had secretly prepared a banquet for all the contestants.
Once everyone was seated, Director Xu took control and quieted the room. “Besides the banquet, I also prepared another surprise for all of you.”
She paused, deliberately building suspense, then said, “Some of you may already have noticed that familiar faces appeared in the audience today.”
“That’s right. They were also invited by the production team — your family and friends.” Hearing the small ripple of commotion below, Director Xu smiled. “I thought perhaps you would also want the people closest to you to witness your very first official stage performance.”
The buzz of surprise rapidly spread. Director Xu signaled with her eyes to the staff member standing by the door.
When the door opened, the people waiting outside walked into the banquet hall.
The contestants who had already been seated all sprang to their feet and rushed toward their families and friends. The scene instantly became chaotic. Director Xu made no move to stop it; instead, she and the rest of the crew retreated to the side, yielding the space to the true main characters of this moment.
Ji Ran and Cheng Xia’s parents had naturally come as well. Father Ji and Mother Ji had even brought gifts in advance to celebrate the two of them advancing.
Even Lin Zhiqiao and Ji Yuan each got one.
Ji Ran accepted the gift and could not help muttering, “Bringing gifts already? Aren’t you afraid we might actually get eliminated this round?”
“Oh, please. Do you think I don’t know the two of you? You’re definitely safe this round.” Mother Ji waved her hand. “Besides, even if you really were eliminated, couldn’t we still give you gifts? Gifts are something your parents can give whenever we want.”
Listening at the side, Lin Zhiqiao felt deeply moved. [Uncle and Auntie really are such good parents.]
‘I knew it. If Ran-baby and Xia-baby have such great values, then their parents must have great values too.’
‘I don’t even dare imagine how happy I’d be if I were born into a family like this. [covering mouth, crying.jpg]’
‘Who’s peeping at someone else’s happy life through the screen? Me. [turns out the clown was me.jpg]’
‘Please let Uncle and Auntie appear more often so I can learn from them. I want to be parents this amazing in the future too!!!’
While he was still sighing over that, Lin Zhiqiao suddenly noticed that the pair of twin siblings who had been seated to his right during the official stage had also come, and were standing not far away.
But what surprised Lin Zhiqiao was that standing before them were not Heng Yang and Heng Xing, but Zhou Zili.
They were not from the Heng family at all. They were the younger brother and sister Zhou Zili had mentioned before.
Zhou Ming and Zhou Yu.
