Chapter 78
There was no doubt that Zhou Zili’s situation had completely dominated Weibo’s trending rankings over the past few days.
His issues with his younger brother and sister, his entanglement with the Heng family twins, and his frank decision to voluntarily withdraw from the competition all sparked heated discussion across the internet.
And the “collapse” of Heng Group had clearly pushed the whole matter to another level.
From the moment Idol Star Dream officially started airing, Lin Chen had been keeping a close eye on the show’s progress. Among everyone involved, there were three people he paid the most attention to: mentor Su Jia, contestant Ming Ye, and Zhou Zili.
All three of them were in excellent form. Their perfect performances and the popularity they attracted had allowed Mingguang Entertainment to recover a little.
The negative impact brought by the earlier string of trainee scandals, as well as the later wave of mass contract terminations and trainees jumping ship, seemed to be slowly fading away. The three of them, shining brilliantly on Idol Star Dream, had practically pulled the company back up.
During this period, even the number of new trainee applicants coming in for interviews—and successfully signing—had increased quite a bit compared to before.
Lin Chen was very satisfied with this.
Su Jia’s performance was as steady as ever. Ming Ye, though a new face in the eyes of netizens, had attracted quite a few fans who were obsessed with shipping CPs through his initiative in playing up a CP with Su Jia.
But the one who surprised Lin Chen the most was undoubtedly Zhou Zili.
From the outstanding professional ability he displayed the moment he first stepped onto the stage, to his “unclear entanglement” with the Heng family twins, to the later revelation of his former marriage with the Heng family’s eldest young master, and then the faintly revealed, heart-wrenching hidden troubles in his family background…
Every single one of those things brought in the kind of heat that made Lin Chen overjoyed inside.
This was basically someone born with a trending-topic physique!
For an idol star, the scariest thing was not having dirt exposed—it was standing under the spotlight and still receiving no attention at all.
With that kind of natural constitution, Zhou Zili had no reason not to become popular. And as long as he could become popular, Mingguang Entertainment had no reason to worry about not climbing out of its current slump!
As expected of Mubai—even a “future rising star” hidden in the crowd like this could be discovered by him so effortlessly!
Lin Chen had no idea how many times he had already praised his perfect younger brother.
He had just finished work and, as usual, opened his phone. Unsurprisingly, the first thing he saw on the home screen was a Weibo push notification—
#Idol Star Dream First Elimination Round#
Lin Chen tapped into the trending topic full of confidence. He was absolutely certain that both Ming Ye and Zhou Zili would advance, and that their vote counts would surely be far ahead of the others, firmly planted in the top five.
The reality was exactly as he had imagined. Aside from Cheng Xia and Ji Ran, who were firmly holding first and second place on the popularity rankings, Zhou Zili and Ming Ye occupied third and fourth, and there was a huge gap in votes between them and the fifth-place contestant behind them.
Lin Chen’s already decent mood instantly became even better.
But that good mood lasted less than three seconds.
He scrolled to the comments and, at a glance, saw the most-liked comment pinned right at the top—
‘Zhou Zili is honestly born to be an idol. He’s talented, hardworking, naturally appealing to audiences, and his character is beyond criticism. If he hadn’t withdrawn, there definitely would’ve been a debut spot for him this time.’
Lin Chen’s brain immediately crashed.
Zhou Zili… withdrew…?
The next second, his assistant knocked and entered, handing him a stack of documents. “President Lin, these are the termination requests we received today.”
On the very top application form, the name written clearly on it was Zhou Zili.
Lin Chen’s vision went black. Without even thinking, he said, “Reject Zhou Zili’s. Do not approve it.”
“But, President Lin…” The assistant hesitated, then finally pushed a phone in front of Lin Chen.
Playing on the screen was today’s livestream replay from Idol Star Dream.
Ji Ran’s voice came from the phone: “The Ji family will provide lifelong assistance…”
The assistant said softly, “That’s exactly how things are, President Lin.”
Lin Chen: “……”
With the Ji family backing Zhou Zili, and the whole internet as witness, there was only one choice left in front of him.
He had no choice at all.
This heartfelt public confession from Zhou Zili not only caused the heat Mingguang had practically already gotten its hands on to run away, but even stomped on the company on the way out. The little warmth the company had finally managed to regain dropped back down again.
Lin. Zhi. Qiao!
Sure enough, as long as he was around, nothing good would ever happen!
Lin Chen signed the approval on the termination application with a dark face, and could only comfort himself in his heart: even without Zhou Zili, he still had Su Jia and Ming Ye.
With the heat those two carried, Mingguang still had a chance to turn things around!
*
After the elimination round ended, the number of remaining trainees at the base dropped sharply by twenty, leaving only thirty people.
Lin Zhiqiao felt like even the air at the base had become fresher.
It was not because there were fewer people, but because those annoying twins were finally gone.
Although Zhou Zili had already withdrawn from the competition, Lin Zhiqiao and the others had not cut off contact with him. They even pulled him into their little group chat, where they chatted and hyped each other up whenever they had time.
But Ji Ran, who was usually the chattiest one, had instead been so busy these past few days that he had no time to even touch his phone.
The survival show had already entered its second stage. Even though Ji Ran’s ability and audience appeal were beyond question, he still threw himself fully into training, only looking at his phone during breaks.
The pressure on both mentors and contestants was heavy. Everyone was busy in their own way, and even the assistants were tense enough not to dare look too relaxed.
That night, after Lin Zhiqiao finished checking the dorms, he passed by an empty classroom on his way back to the dorm and once again noticed light spilling through the crack in the door.
Without even pushing the door open, he already knew that Xie Qingchi had to be inside.
Xie Qingchi was still leading Class C. In the last evaluation, a full ten people from Class C had pushed into Class B, and Xie Qingchi had clearly contributed greatly to that result.
Lin Zhiqiao hesitated at the door for a moment, but in the end chose not to disturb them and did not push it open.
Still, he poked 888 and casually opened a few gossip blind boxes.
[Xie Qingchi used to love cream of mushroom soup the most. After eating it for one full week in a row, he successfully got sick of it and has never touched it since.]
[Xie Qingchi hates scallions, but loves scallion oil noodles…]
They were all little bits of gossip like that, so Lin Zhiqiao could only leave regretfully.
He was very curious about what had happened between Xie Qingchi and Su Jia back then, but perhaps because the two of them deliberately avoided each other and almost never interacted, Lin Zhiqiao had still not managed to open a blind box related to their shared past.
According to his past blind-box-opening experience, the more interaction there was, the greater the chance of opening related gossip.
If Xie Qingchi and Su Jia kept up this mutually ignoring attitude until the end of the show, then wouldn’t that mean he would never get to eat their gossip at all?
Lin Zhiqiao was a little troubled.
But not long after, he got his chance.
Director Xu started stirring things up again. Classes A, B, and C were going to have a one-day “mentor exchange” task, allowing the contestants to experience the teaching styles of the other mentors.
This time, Xie Qingchi drew Class A, which had originally belonged to Su Jia. Su Jia went to Class B, while Zhu Ge took over Class C.
This task was held in one large classroom. The three mentors and the contestants from all three classes were all in the same room.
Xie Qingchi and Su Jia were standing quite close to each other. Lin Zhiqiao sat to the side with the other two assistants, his inner little person rubbing his hands together in eager anticipation.
Training proceeded in an orderly manner. After a while, Xie Qingchi suddenly called for a stop.
Almost everyone’s eyes turned to him.
Xie Qingchi walked over to one of the trainees in Class A. “Do that movement again. Let me see.”
The trainee looked confused, but still did as told. However, he only got halfway through before he was interrupted again.
Xie Qingchi adjusted his movement and lightly tapped the side of his waist with a finger. “The way you’re using force here is wrong, and the point you’re using is wrong too. If you keep using this area to exert force over a long period of time, it’ll be very easy to get injured.”
The trainee tried the method Xie Qingchi had taught him, but perhaps because he was not used to it, a movement that had originally looked quite standard now became badly distorted.
After several tries like that, the trainee started getting irritated. When Xie Qingchi asked him to try again, he finally could not help snapping back, “I’ve always used this part to exert force. It’s been years and nothing’s ever been wrong. Using your method actually feels more tiring and uncomfortable to me.”
He curled his lips and glanced at Su Jia nearby, unable to stop himself from muttering, “Brother Jia never said there was anything wrong with my movement.”
‘Exactly. Ningning’s been following Brother Jia for so long without any issues, so why does it suddenly become a problem the moment it gets to you?’
‘He’s obviously just nitpicking on purpose. Bringing personal feelings into work—classic Xie Qingchi [eye roll.jpg]’
‘Well… but Xie Qingchi corrected Class C trainees like this before too, so it probably isn’t intentional nitpicking, right? (Not a Xie fan, just a passerby [hiding behind pot lid.jpg])’
‘I’m dead, stop pretending to be a neutral passerby. Are you so scared to admit your fan identity?’
Su Jia, who had suddenly been dragged into it, froze for a second. Sensing eyes falling on him, he put on his signature smile and began smoothing things over. “It depends on personal habit. No matter where you use force, there’s always some injury risk. Just pay more attention during regular training.”
Xie Qingchi frowned. “But the place where he’s using force carries a relatively high injury risk. If it’s a risk that can be avoided, why not avoid it beforehand? Why wait until someone is injured before regretting it?”
Su Jia’s expression shifted slightly, but he quickly regained control and smiled. “Everyone’s physical condition is different. You can’t generalize.”
After saying that, he even winked at the trainee and comforted him, “Mentor Xie is a bit stricter, and he speaks pretty directly. Don’t take it too much to heart. Train however you normally train.”
The trainee smiled, and the frustration around him immediately disappeared.
Xie Qingchi pressed his lips together and said nothing more, but anyone could tell he was unhappy. The look he cast at Su Jia seemed to say, too irresponsible.
Training continued, and that trainee went back to using his original method, clearly having already thrown Xie Qingchi’s words out of his mind.
Xie Qingchi glanced at him, then quickly looked away without saying anything, though a trace of disappointment flashed through his eyes.
‘Suddenly I remembered—doesn’t Xie Qingchi have a waist injury?’
‘So what if he has a waist injury? Just because his own waist is messed up, he thinks everyone else is the same as him?’
‘I think Brother Jia was right. It depends on the person.’
‘As expected, my Brother Jia really does have the bigger picture in mind. I don’t even want to look at Xie anymore. I get annoyed the moment I see him.’
The livestream comments were fighting like crazy.
Lin Zhiqiao knew nothing about all that, but he certainly did not miss the first direct clash between Su Jia and Xie Qingchi since the start of the show.
[Little System quick quick quick!] he said excitedly, unable to stop frantically urging. [Hurry up! If we miss this chance, there won’t be another one!!]
888 immediately opened the blind box at top speed—
[Good, good, good—Su Jia’s gossip! Let me see, let me see… holy shit?!]
A scream suddenly sliced through the air, breaking the peace in the room.
Lin Zhiqiao sucked in a sharp breath: [Su Jia has been lying about his age this whole time. His real age is actually three years older than the age he reported!]
[So he’s actually not the youngest maknae in the group at all—he’s actually one year older than Xie Qingchi, which makes him the oldest one instead?!]
[So Su Jia was actually the eldest brother of the group all along!]
