Chapter 79
Just a few short lines, yet the amount of information they contained was enormous.
The trainees, who had been practicing in an orderly way just moments ago, almost all froze at the same time. Their attention was instantly wrecked, and no one could keep focusing on training anymore.
Director Xu, who had originally been about to leave, changed direction and returned to the practice room instead. She even sat down beside the three mentor assistants.
No one knew where she pulled out a small bag of sunflower seeds from. As she shook it, it made a soft rustling sound. “Want some?”
Naturally, none of the three had any reason to refuse.
Lin Zhiqiao accepted the seeds and instinctively asked, “Wouldn’t this be kind of inappropriate?” Yet his actions were very honest as he quickly tossed one into his mouth.
It was watermelon seeds with preserved plum flavor.
He loved those.
Director Xu smiled. “It’s fine. I’m the one handing them out, so if anyone wants to complain, they can complain about me.”
Besides, if nothing unexpected happened, the audience’s attention was definitely not on them right now.
The livestream comments had already exploded. A wall of synchronized “Holy shit” swept across the screen. The number of comments spiked in a short time, and the multicolored bullet comments almost completely covered the display.
‘No, wait, Melon King, you, me, you… am I really about to see another idol collapse? [cat screaming.jpg]’
‘How many years did you say? Say it again? He lied by how much exactly???’
‘Three years… honestly, I weirdly feel like I can accept that. [quiet muttering.jpg]’
‘The point isn’t how many years he lied by. A persona is one thing. The real issue is that he deceived his fans!!!’
‘I don’t believe it. Is there proof? If there’s no proof, it’s just baseless slander QAQ’
‘This is the Melon King we’re talking about. Even if you don’t want to believe it, you have to. Because everyone who didn’t believe him before eventually… well, never mind. [advice from someone who’s been there.jpg]’
‘Wait, I just thought of something. If Su Jia’s real age is actually three years older… then when the “Blue Enchantress” incident happened, wouldn’t that mean he had already turned twenty and met the age requirement to enter Blue Enchantress?!’
‘Holy shit, I think I just discovered something huge. [pupil quake.jpg]’
Xie Qingchi heard Lin Zhiqiao’s inner voice too.
In that instant, his heartbeat abruptly sped up. The pounding sounded right against his eardrums, making his brain feel faintly dizzy from lack of oxygen.
But he quickly got his emotions under control.
Xie Qingchi turned his head slightly toward the side of the classroom. His gaze stayed on Lin Zhiqiao for less than a second before shifting away again.
“What are you all standing there frozen for? Have you already mastered that movement just now?”
His tone was as strict as usual, as if the sudden inner voice had not affected him in the slightest.
Only then did the trainees snap out of it and throw themselves back into practice, though their concentration was clearly somewhat scattered.
Su Jia knew nothing about any of this. Seeing how stern Xie Qingchi looked, he even laughed and said, “Don’t be so fierce. Everyone’s been training all morning already. It’s fine to relax once in a while. You get better efficiency when there’s a balance between work and rest.”
This time, Xie Qingchi did not even spare him a glance.
‘Brother Jia, you… forget it, I’m lighting a candle for you.’
‘Can I still hope for a reversal? QAQ If not, then I’ll light a candle for myself too. [cat in tears.jpg]’
Not far away, Lin Zhiqiao cracked open two watermelon seeds, then immediately opened the next blind box.
From the moment Su Jia joined Faraway Youth, he had been lying about his age the whole time, all for the sake of setting up the image of the pampered youngest member of the group.
The age he claimed made him the youngest in the group. He was good-looking and had a sweet mouth, so he made all the others very happy. Everyone doted on him, and his youngest-brother persona was set solidly in place.
At the time, Xie Qingchi was the oldest in the group. He had the steadiest personality and was the dependable big brother of the team, so of course he took especially good care of Su Jia, the so-called youngest.
Even though Xie Qingchi had a sharp tongue and liked wearing a cold expression, Su Jia was also very clingy with him. If anyone spoke badly of Xie Qingchi, Su Jia would defend him, and he had even confessed to Xie Qingchi before… huh???
Lin Zhiqiao practically acted out a full-on pupil quake on the spot. Wait, what kind of development is this? Su Jia used to like Xie Qingchi? Or does he still like him now? Love-hate? Or love turning into hatred?
‘I’ve gone stupid. [blank stare.jpg]’
‘So Su Jia and Xie Qingchi actually had this kind of history. If this got exposed back then, all the Su-Xie ship fans would’ve gone insane.’
‘Right now I only care about one question: who exactly was the one who went to Blue Enchantress back then? Su Jia or Xie Qingchi?’
‘After all these years, do I really get to wait for a reversal? [melon-eating raccoon rubbing hands expectantly.jpg]’
But Xie Qingchi rejected Su Jia’s confession. He said they had only just debuted and were still in the rising stage of their careers, so they needed to focus on work and couldn’t afford distractions. He also said Su Jia was still too young and might not be able to tell the difference between dependence and love.
Lin Zhiqiao could not help complaining, Xie Qingchi, do you even realize that the person you said was “still too young” was actually one year older than you?
Beside him, Ji Yuan almost laughed. She immediately stuffed a small handful of seeds into her mouth, forcibly suppressing her amusement so the people around her would not notice anything strange.
This was the first time in Su Jia’s life that anyone had rejected him. He had been good-looking since childhood. It had always only been other people chasing him and getting rejected by him — never the other way around.
So Su Jia held a grudge and decided that sooner or later he would find an opportunity to take revenge.
Lin Zhiqiao had only six dots to offer in response: “……”
Wait, what kind of logic is that? Just because someone rejects your confession, you start hating them? Then how many people are you going to hate in this lifetime? Is this some real-life version of a petty psychopath??
‘Fuck, this just reminded me of that girl who got acid thrown on her for rejecting a confession QAQ’
‘I’m done for. I really feel like this is officially a collapse-in-progress…’
‘This kind of person is the scariest. You never know when you might offend him, and the moment he gets a chance, he’ll retaliate like crazy. Absolutely disgusting. [don’t ask, I’ve experienced it.jpg]’
‘I’ve got a really bad guess. If it’s true… then Xie Qingchi is way too tragic.’
Su Jia’s gossip still was not finished.
Through his manager’s connections, Su Jia got to know quite a few big shots. One of them took a strong liking to him, and before long the two exchanged contact information. They not only kept in frequent private contact, but their relationship also developed very quickly.
Lin Zhiqiao did the math on the timeline. Wait, when Su Jia confessed to Xie Qingchi, he had already been getting involved with that big shot for quite a while, hadn’t he? So what, was he planning to fool around with the big shot while also squeezing in a relationship with someone else on the side?
He went silent for a moment, wanting to say something but then deciding against it. Forget it. Too gross to comment on.
With a backer behind him, Su Jia’s resources quickly opened up a huge gap between him and the rest of the group. Everyone else in the group knew some big shot was backing Su Jia. Except for Xie Qingchi, all of them thought that since Su Jia had latched onto a powerful thigh, the whole group could ride the wave too and rise with him.
Only Xie Qingchi found a chance to talk to Su Jia privately. He was worried Su Jia was too young and might not be able to resist temptation, and end up straying down the wrong path.
But Su Jia thought Xie Qingchi would become an obstacle on his career path, so he didn’t give him even a shred of courtesy.
Great, great, great — so it turns into a real-life version of the farmer and the snake again, huh? Lin Zhiqiao was so angry he cracked the seeds so hard they made loud snapping sounds. You’re already this old and still can’t tell good intentions from bad ones? Do you not understand who is genuinely trying to help you? Were your eyes smeared shut with dog sh— [beep] ?
‘Developing a relationship with a big shot? Being lovey-dovey? Do I mean what I think I mean? [eyes lifeless.jpg]’
‘Be more confident. Yes, it’s exactly what you think. [tired smile.jpg]’
‘Haha, another one bites the dust. [laughing wildly.jpg]’
‘Another one has gone insane. Drag him away.’
Su Jia played very wildly. Besides the big shot, he often joined the big shot’s friends and other little celebrities like himself in group games.
That wild, huh? Lin Zhiqiao curled his lip. No pictures, no video. Bad review.
888 hugged itself tightly and did not dare make a sound.
The big shot had a thing for all kinds of gay bars and often brought Su Jia along to play. Staying out all night was common. Everyone else in the group, plus the manager, would help cover for him so that the clueless Xie Qingchi would not catch on.
But Xie Qingchi still noticed something was wrong. The next time Su Jia slipped out late at night, Xie Qingchi secretly followed him and saw him get into the big shot’s car and be taken into the famous gay bar Blue Enchantress.
Su Jia was experienced. He did a full disguise in the car, while Xie Qingchi, who had made no preparations at all, ended up being photographed by paparazzi instead.
Xie Qingchi wanted to bring Su Jia back, but Su Jia naturally refused. The two argued inside Blue Enchantress, and the commotion was pretty big. In the end, the big shot stepped in and got rid of all the photos and information that would have been bad for Su Jia, while Xie Qingchi became the sole “protagonist” of the Blue Enchantress incident.
Too tragic. Seriously way too tragic. Lin Zhiqiao let out a long sigh. Not even a scapegoat gets treated this miserably.
