Soon, the day for the official MV shoot arrived.
At 8 AM on September 25th, while the sunlight wasn’t too harsh yet, the program team led the 101 trainees by bus to Deville International High School once again.
Three black and gold buses slowly drove into the campus and parked in sequence by the red brick square in front of the teaching building, stirring up a flurry of early autumn leaves.
A well-fed orange cat strode elegantly through the lush bushes. Pale yellow petals from the osmanthus trees drifted down, and sparrows perched on the branches chirped noisily, arrogantly provoking the fat cat below.
In the very center of the square stood a large fountain about twenty meters in diameter. A tall, imposing humanoid sculpture stood within it, holding a book in one hand and a teaching pointer in the other, bathed in brilliant, grand sunlight and gazing calmly and steadily towards the direction of the sunrise.
This was the recording site for the theme song “Next! Next!” MV.
The executive director for this shoot was very demanding, resulting in dozens of NG takes midway through.
The late-September sun was strong, and the uniforms the trainees wore were quite thick, leaving everyone sweating profusely as they danced under the scorching sun.
Fortunately, the makeup artists didn’t apply their makeup too heavily; otherwise, the camera would have shown a bunch of unbearable painted faces instead of the current vibrant, youthful and energetic scene.
Today, the number of teachers and students gathered around the square was several times greater than a few days prior.
Heads popped up densely from the teaching building in the distance. High school students crowded the corridors, holding up their study tablets and openly filming the red brick square below.
Children from the neighboring middle and elementary school sections, who were having P.E. class, gathered by the wire fence of the basketball court, raising their smartwatches with serious poses, very much resembling the detective elementary school kids from a certain anime.
The repeated warnings over the campus broadcast couldn’t suppress the students’ enthusiasm for fun. It wasn’t until the grade level directors patrolled the teaching buildings with stern faces that these energetic kids were finally herded back to their classrooms.
The students left dejectedly, but the teachers were still observing with great interest.
The curtains in the teachers’ office were all drawn open, and the window panes were pushed halfway.
The air conditioner inside hummed away working hard. Young teachers who happened to have no class stretched their necks, squinting against the glaring sunlight to look towards the square.
“Wow, they’ve been dancing for over an hour, right? Their stamina is so good, I’m tired just watching.”
“The key thing is the sun… Aren’t they celebrities? Aren’t they afraid of getting tanned? And won’t they get heatstroke if they keep dancing like this?”
“They’re all young people, tall and strong. It would be too weak if they couldn’t even last an hour.”
“Hey, Teacher Lin, I heard that Quentin was a student in your class before?”
The only teacher sitting at her desk was overwhelmed with grading exam papers for the new first-year students. She suddenly heard a colleague call her name and looked up in bewilderment: “…What?”
“Oh, Teacher Lin,” the foreign language teacher leaning against the windowsill couldn’t help shaking her head and sighing, “your news is really a bit outdated.”
“These past couple of days, students in our school have been discussing that survival show in the group chat. Many people are asking which class Quentin was in before, who his homeroom teacher was, who his subject teachers were… None of the kids in the class you’re teaching now dared to ask you directly?”
Even she had gossip thrust upon her by her own class representative. How could Teacher Lin, Quentin’s homeroom teacher for three years of high school, know nothing about it?
“…Quentin?”
Teacher Lin gradually came to her senses and suddenly understood: “You mean that child… You all know? Didn’t he refuse to be interviewed?”
The foreign language teacher was stunned: “…Huh? Know what? What interview?”
Were they talking about the same topic?
Teacher Lin smiled helplessly: “It’s about Quentin’s college entrance exam results. Didn’t he rank 87th in Science in Yanhai City and get early admission to Yanhai University’s experimental class? During summer break, I asked him if he was willing to do a media interview, and he refused.”
She sighed: “Mainly, this child never came to school for classes throughout high school. He didn’t come for regular monthly exams either, you only saw him during midterm and final exams… Frankly speaking, his results have little to do with our school. Since he wasn’t willing, we didn’t publicize it externally.”
Otherwise, how could it be that almost no one knew that Deville International High School produced a study god who got into Yanhai University’s experimental class?
“…”
The office fell into silence.
The teachers who had been gossiping leisurely stared at the middle-aged woman sitting behind the desk with dumbfounded expressions, their brains repeatedly crashing and rebooting.
“…The Quentin you’re talking about, and the Quentin from that survival show, are they the same person?”
The foreign language teacher asked dryly.
Teacher Lin frowned: “What survival show? I only know one Quentin.”
“Wait, let me calm down…”
A student who got into Yanhai University’s experimental class joined a boy group survival show?!
What kind of plot twist was this? The key point was that this matter hadn’t leaked online at all?
With that soaring popularity, if you added the study god label, wouldn’t he reach the heavens?!
Academic grades weren’t a necessary condition, and fan circle fans wouldn’t care about their idol’s grades anyway, especially with China’s universal nine-year compulsory education.
Even entertainment companies like BKL, which specifically sign kids, hire tutors for their trainees to avoid having illiterate leaky fish.
But fans not caring didn’t mean it wasn’t important!
Just think about the importance of the college entrance exam engraved in the bones of Chinese people, and the East Asian drive to overachieve in studies is world-famous.
The “top student” label might not necessarily help a celebrity attract loyal fans, but it definitely broadens their appeal to the general public. With just a bit of marketing, trending on hot searches and breaking out to increase fame would be as easy as flipping their hand!
If what Teacher Lin said was completely true, without any exaggeration, then Quentin was neither a “fake top student” muddling through the entertainment industry, nor a common ordinary top student…getting an early admission for Yanhai University’s experimental class absolutely, definitely made him a study god! Ah!
The foreign language teacher calmed her emotions, turned her head to look at the blurry, dark mass of figures on the distant square, and sighed faintly in her heart: “Some people are truly heaven’s favored darlings.”
However, the matter of being a Yanhai University top student actually confirmed Quentin’s “beautiful vase” attribute. Obviously, there couldn’t be someone in the world who could balance singing, dancing, and academics simultaneously, right?
But given the circumstances, even if Quentin was a singing and dancing waste, it wouldn’t affect his ability to attract fans like crazy. This kid’s conditions in all aspects were completely ideal for the growth-type idol trope!
Just the student ID photo circulating wildly in the NS groups alone had attracted countless mom-fans. Once the college entrance exam results get out, mom-fans from all over will come kissing.
And then think about that official promo-photo poster that trended on the hot search…
Ah, one could already foresee the future scenario of countless people repeatedly jumping between being mom-fans and girlfriend-fans.
Quentin was completely unaware of the discussions happening outside.
After finishing the theme song MV recording, Director Wang waved his hand grandly and gave the sweat-drenched trainees half a day off.
The boys’ cheers were deafening, even making the bus driving on the road vibrate twice. The driver clicked his tongue in amazement at how energetic these young people were.
Only Quentin, who was sitting in the very last row of the bus, silently melted into a puddle of slime, gazing vacantly at the red ribbons dancing in the wind from the air conditioning vent on the ceiling.
Sitting on his left and right were Zhong Qu and Xue Mingzhu respectively. The latter was dozing against the seat, while the former was persistently trying to make conversation with Quentin.
Although Zhong Qu really wanted to get familiar with Quentin quickly, he remembered he had a considerate persona to maintain.
He couldn’t bring himself to actively disturb Quentin’s rest, so he could only subtly shift his shoulders closer to Quentin’s seat.
Then he said softly: “Quentin… if you’re tired, you can lean on me and sleep for a while. We still have half an hour on the bus.”
Zhong Qu noticed Quentin’s half-closed eyelids trembling slightly, and a hint of light green showed through his eyelashes.
When his gaze turned towards him, he unconsciously held his breath and straightened his back, as if undergoing inspection by a superior officer.
Those eyes held an entire Lake Kanas, beauty and mystery hidden in their depths, silently and soundlessly devouring the souls of passing travelers.
Zhong Qu stared at him in a daze.
A few seconds later, he heard a hoarse, muffled “thank you” by his ear, like a coin falling from up high, its jingling sound startling him and calling back his lost soul as well.
However, the moment he came back to his senses, Zhong Qu instantly froze, and his legs snapped together and crossed unnaturally. He crossed his legs nonchalantly, using the long robe draped over his shoulders to cover his lap.
He fumbled around for a full three seconds before barely managing to curl the corners of his mouth and reply in a dry voice: “Ahem… it’s nothing.”
“…”
Zhong Qu watched as Quentin closed his eyes again. The breath he was holding in his throat was finally released softly. Looking down, he found that his palms were damp and hot, and his pulse was throbbing intensely with his heartbeat.
He cursed himself for being useless in his heart, but couldn’t suppress a feeling of regret.
If only… he and Quentin hadn’t met in a boy group survival show.
Previously, Zhong Qu only wanted to create a CP with Quentin and sell fanservice, not actually get involved with him for real.
Not to mention whether it would succeed, the key point was that a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass near its own burrow. Even if he was a pure gay, he understood that you shouldn’t gay your teammates.
But the problem was, Quentin’s attraction was too strong for him, and it was a sexual attraction that perfectly punctured his preferences.
Everyone else was sweating profusely under the blazing sun, taking off their suit jackets, unbuttoning shirts, grabbing their ties to fan themselves, irritably wiping sweat and shaking their legs in the stuffy bus, looking completely disheveled and without any sense of aesthetics.
But these actions, when performed by Quentin, became unrestrained and very… sexy.
The well-tailored white shirt clung to his skin, his chest rising and falling with his breath.
The slim-fit suit pants completely outlined the curves of his hips and legs. His slender ankles, encased in black socks, looked like one could just “explode’ from being stepped on by him.
His shoulders were broad enough to carry the suit and white shirt, while his waist and hips were narrow enough. A light cinch of the belt naturally transitioned to his long, straight legs, a true golden ratio found only in top male models on international runways.
They say suits are the cheongsam for men. Quentin’s existence made this saying more concrete.
He just sat there, doing nothing, yet intangible hormones radiated from him, seducing every male-oriented person around him.
His entire being was a symbol of sexiness.
Zhong Qu could get off on just fantasizing these scenes in his head. He absolutely didn’t dare to imagine how he would feel if he actually slept with Quentin.
…It would be worth it even if he got fucked to death on the bed.
Unfortunately, Quentin never leaned on his shoulder before the bus arrived at the filming base.
Zhong Qu sat in his seat and only stood up after Quentin did.
He had just taken a step to follow closely when someone who had been sitting in the front row cut in, almost causing him to bump directly into that person’s back.
‘Is this person in a hurry to be reincarnated? Rushing like this…’
Zhong Qu frowned and looked up ahead, only to meet a pair of gloomy, deep-set eyes.
The person had pale skin and dark circles under their eyes. Their appearance wasn’t particularly outstanding, but this kind of half-dead melancholic temperament was inexplicably appealing.
—It was Fang Xu from Class A, Quentin’s roommate, and Cui Yan’s teammate from the same company.
Zhong Qu’s frown relaxed, and he said with a smile: “Fang Xu? What’s up?”
Fang Xu gave him a lifeless glance, his tone indifferent: “Nothing.”
Before Zhong Qu could figure out what that meant, and when he had just stepped off the bus, the assistant director, who was waiting by the roadside, called out to him.
“Zhong Qu!”
The young woman wearing a khaki vest waved her hand, her expression serious and rarely unsmiling.
In front of all the trainees, she raised her voice and said: “Come over here for a moment, there’s something we need to talk to you about.”
