Quentin always believed that no one would approach him for no reason.
If Xue Mingzhu was attracted by his voice, and Yan Qiao was attracted by his appearance and strength, then where was the difference between Zhong Qu and the former two?
It was obvious. Xue Mingzhu and Yan Qiao wanted to be teammates with him; Zhong Qu wanted to create a CP with him.
Selling BL…this kind of tactic was a common occurrence in entertainment circles across various countries, but it was very unfamiliar to the solitary and aloof Quentin.
In his previous life, he had heard a little about the popular cp pairs in the circle; 90% were playing along according to circumstances, and the remaining 10% were fleeting affairs. Among them, there were also those who moved from a cp relationship to becoming close friends within the circle, which was the dignified ending cp fans were most happy to see.
But how much of a role could a cp relationship play in a boy group survival show variety program?
The answer was…very big.
A group of young, handsome boys were eating, living, and sharing hardships and joys together in a training camp with limited space, and becoming teammates with tacit understanding through fair competition.
The elimination system rules were like a guillotine hanging over everyone’s heads. For cp pairs, it was the death line lying before the two people.
All close relationships had a time limit. This time limit made the connection between them seem precarious like a spider’s thread.
With each public performance vote and the departure of a companion, the sense of crisis in their hearts is gradually strengthened, thus forming a suspension bridge effect.
Desires and bonds such as “I want to become your teammate”, “I want to debut with you”, “I can’t bear to leave you” etc. naturally arise.
Regardless of whether these feelings were real or fake, the audience eats them in mouthfuls.
Good-looks plus mutual attraction and the desire to advance together hand in hand were necessary conditions for a popular cp to arise. And in a boy group survival show, cp pairs satisfying these necessary conditions were simply too many.
Summarizing from the materials provided by the system, there were three types of common popular cp relationships.
One, a debut-position contestant with high popularity is bound to a contestant with low popularity and at risk of elimination at any time.
Two, two contestants hovering around the debut positions are shipped together.
The first is used to save people, while the second is mutual protection.
The third type of cp was the gathering place for those who admire the strong. The top most popular of the debut-position contestants, even if they weren’t familiar with each other, couldn’t avoid being forcibly paired up. And if their relationship was good, it would become even more uncontrollable.
Cp fans are obsessed to the point of ecstasy, while solo stans are fighting each other fiercely. Chaos and noise is the norm in a fandom circle.
Using the previous girl group survival show as a reference, all eight trainees who finally formed the group had their own popular cp pairs.
The most popular cp was commonly called “MeiDi” (American Emperor).
These two ranked 1 and 3 respectively, and were hailed as “double power couple” by their cp fans.
Based on the existing clues, Quentin inferred that in the original plot where he did not appear, the cp partner Zhong Qu chose should have been Yan Qiao. After all, they were the leader and vice-leader of the same initial stage team who both advanced to Class A simultaneously.
However, judging from the current rapid increase in the redemption progress bar… this cp pair likely had an extremely negative impact on Yan Qiao’s future career development, even a destructive blow.
It has only been a few days and it has already risen by 10.7%. Quentin had not done anything yet, he just accommodated Zhong Qu’s approach and simultaneously said one sentence to Yan Qiao…. and he had cut off this cp’s process just like that? Was it that simple?
Quentin, whose understanding of “cp hyping” was still theoretical, didn’t know how strong his CP chemistry with others was.
It was so strong that one exchanged look could make his cp with Xue Mingzhu leap up, overthrow “MeiDi” and sit steadily as the top CP. So strong that just casually shaking hands with Yan Qiao automatically made him Yan Qiao’s most popular cp partner.
So strong that the standoff scene of the three of them at the top of the pyramid was carefully savored and scrutinized by countless “microscopes that became spirits”, who edited it into cp-oriented videos of various flavors, which then directly broke out of the fandom circle in the forum’s video section and racked up over a million likes. Even a passing dog would be fiercely kicked by the “Big Triangle Shura Field”.
So strong that even when he had no interaction with other debut-position trainees, he was still forcibly paired up crazily based on his face, strength, personality, and other factors. Both gong and shou fanworks were being produced, yet every pair looked so good to ship.
Who among the future multitude of survival show fans didn’t know that [Next Stage]’s Quentin was the fully automatic “gossip-and-CP machine” that was born with explosive charisma. Any random interaction could make cp fans’ hearts thump, their little mouths squeal and drool.
What Xue Mingzhu, Yan Qiao, Wen Xinyi, Cui Yan or Cheng Shaozhi……take them all! Take them all!
As for Zhong Qu?
Sadly, because his gentle, science/engineering guy appearance lacked sexual tension, he was ruthlessly kicked out of the competition ranks by the vast army of picky cp fans who didn’t lack food. He only occasionally appeared as a passerby cannon fodder who couldn’t get any meat in all-orientation smut fanfiction.
The entire initial stage rating assessment lasted from morning till night for nearly nine hours.
Quentin watched the entire process attentively. Even though there was a system chattering in his head and a Xue Mingzhu babbling in his ear, he still managed to divide his attention three ways and come up with a strength evaluation ranking for the 100 trainees.
Although strength wasn’t the only standard in a boy group survival show, and off-stage popularity was the decisive factor influencing the final outcome, the stronger one’s ability, the higher the possibility of entering the debut positions.
Moreover, as main characters of a book, even if the initial strength wasn’t apparent, they were most likely stocks with potential, right? No author would set their entertainment circle protagonist as a waste mocked by everyone, right?
During these eight hours, the seven chairs of Class A gradually filled up.
After that, five other trainees who were also rated A by the four mentors challenged the trainees at the top Class A to a battle one by one.
The battle rules for “NS” were that both sides performed their pieces, and the four mentors and the host simultaneously held up score cards.
Among them, vocal pk was taking turns singing, while dance and rap both involved on-stage freestyle.
Quentin silently recorded the battle results.
Cheng Shaozhi vs Yan Qiao = 2:3, battle failed, Yan Qiao won.
Bi Xiao vs Xue Mingzhu = 1:4, battle failed, Xue Mingzhu won.
Yan Wenbing vs Zhong Qu = 3:2, battle successful, Yan Wenbing won.
Cui Yan vs Wen Xinyi = 1:4, battle failed, Wen Xinyi won.
Fang Xu vs Wu Qichang = 3:2, battle successful, Fang Xu won.
The four mentors’ rating results coincided with Quentin’s internal judgment.
Regardless of the outcome of the battle, these 12 trainees who received an A rating from the mentors were undoubtedly the top 12 in comprehensive strength ranking among the 101 trainees present.
Quentin thought: “The six main characters…will probably be chosen from among these 11 people, right?”
Perhaps after the popularity vote rankings from the first public performance were announced, combining the two sets of data for analysis would be more convincing.
However, throughout the entire intense battle process, no one ever chose Quentin as an opponent. Zhou Zilin, another senior in Class A who had debuted years ago, was also not chosen by anyone.
The system sighed: “Host, this is what humans call, how lonely it is to be invincible, right.”
Quentin, who had been sitting on the first throne for eight hours, had calmly watched the comings and goings on the path before him, and every person who passed by didn’t forget to greet him.
Quentin felt like the stone lions at the entrance of a scenic spot; visitors entering and exiting all liked to reach out and touch them. Those with lively personalities would even come close for a photo.
It was so lively, not lonely at all.
**
“Then, the initial stage rating assessment ends here.”
Qin Miao stood in the center of the stage, smiling at everyone: “Everyone must be tired, right? The program team has already helped everyone transport their luggage to the downstairs of your dormitory.”
She looked at the pairs of eyes that suddenly brightened, dragged out her tone, and said slowly: “Now…let’s go together to see the collective dormitory where we will be living together for the next three months.”
“Quentin!”
Xue Mingzhu suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Quentin’s wrist. His eyes were burning and his tone was forceful and vigorous: “Roommate! Ok?”
He saw the bewilderment on Quentin’s face and immediately raised his other hand, using both hands to tightly grasp the boy’s hand and wrist respectively. He widened his eyes, trying to persuade the other party with a firm gaze.
But because his expression was too fierce, he looked like a bully forcing a young master from a good family.
Quentin: “…”
A hand reached over from behind and pressed on Xue Mingzhu’s shoulder. Simultaneously, a familiar voice came from above.
“You two…… count me in?”
Yan Qiao was half-squinting lazily, appearing sleepy. Before Quentin could answer, he suggested with a smile: “There are 7 people in Class A, so not all are two-person dorms, right? How about we form a three-person room?”
Xue Mingzhu felt like cursing, but held back due to the cameras: “…… Aren’t you so sticky!”
Yan Qiao, as if not hearing Xue Mingzhu’s gnashing teeth, calmly pressed and pinched the latter’s shoulder a couple of times, the corners of his mouth holding a faint smile: “Don’t be stingy. It’s boring for two people to sleep together, three people is more lively.”
Xue Mingzhu: “…Damn it, are you a pervert?!!”
Quentin tried to pull his wrist out of Xue Mingzhu’s grip. He pulled, but failed to pull it out, so he gave up.
The steady 25-year-old adult decided to use his mature heart to tolerate his two young companions.
He stood up, and said calmly: “Let’s go to the dormitory building first. If there are multi-person rooms, we can live together.”
Xue Mingzhu tsked and suppressed the displeasure in his heart. He also stood up, raised his hand and hooked Quentin’s shoulder: “Let’s go, let’s two walk faster.”
He pulled off the mic clipped to his collar, casually stuffed it into his pocket, and said in a low voice: “Let’s not live with him. That guy looks like he has bad intentions!”
Quentin was silent for a few seconds: “…… What exactly do you mean by having bad intentions?”
Xue Mingzhu: “He was staring at you as soon as he came up! He almost grew his eyeballs on you!”
Quentin was only 17, a minor who just finished the college entrance exam, and his grades were so good. He must have been so focused on his studies before that he didn’t care about those kinds of things.
Xue Mingzhu thought to himself, ‘that guy Yan Qiao clearly isn’t a decent person. I better not let him corrupt a top student from Yanhai University.’
Quentin was puzzled: “Is it strange to stare at me?”
Xue Mingzhu turned his head to look at the handsome face close at hand. With 5.0 vision, he could almost count Quentin’s eyelashes, and could even see his own reflection in those light green pupils.
The words of refutation got stuck in his throat. He held back and held back, before barely mustering his rapper’s verbal skills to answer: “It’s not strange, he is the strange one!”
He whispered rapidly: “Don’t you think his looks and temperament are both very…flirty? I’ve seen this type of person a lot when I recorded shows before. They are all nightclub veterans, uh, you know what nightclubs mean, right… Anyway, they’re not good places! Those people smoke, drink, race cars, and pick up girls from middle school and high school. A good student like you definitely wouldn’t understand!”
Quentin observed Xue Mingzhu’s expression and discovered that the other party was actually serious.
Inexplicably, he felt like the other party was very gullible, and had no idea how to judge people.
And, “minors smoking, drinking, racing cars, picking up girls”? Apart from drinking, the other few things were not uncommon in the US.
Although he had excellent grades in his previous life and was a genuine high-achieving student who got into New York University, he absolutely was not a clueless, well-behaved child.
But from Xue Mingzhu’s tone, why did it feel like the other party regarded him as an innocent and naive child, living in an ivory tower and had never been out in society?
Even if the identity the system arranged for him easily led people to have misguided first impressions, Quentin didn’t feel at all that his temperament matched the description of a “good student”.
His agent in his previous life had once lamented that he had a face that looked very cold, stubborn, not easy to cheat or provoke, and looked like he would be ruthless in a fight.
He also said that in one MV where he wore a leather jacket and long boots, he looked very similar to a Western gunslinger who would pull out a gun and make a head shot the next second. If he was more muscular and his looks a bit more rugged, he would definitely be very popular with action film directors.
Even if his agent was exaggerating and joking, Quentin’s poor reputation in the European-American entertainment circle was enough to confirm how unwelcome he was.
Quentin thought, it was fortunate that the one standing here now was the 25-year-old him.
If it were the real 17-year-old Quentin……when someone stared at him, he would probably coldly pull out a knife and threaten to dig their eyeballs out if they looked again.
As for Yan Qiao, he at most just looked like a playboy. Perhaps he was the true focused and diligent good student.
