Wednesday passed in a tense race against time during training.
All seven members of the team were working tirelessly, pushing themselves to the limit.
The wooden floor of the practice room occasionally glistened with bright water reflections. Soaked training clothes clung to their skin, and the sound of metal chairs being dragged across the floor was dull and grating.
A chair dance routine that severely tested waist strength and core stability was repeated no less than fifty times, and not a single person dared to slack off early.
Other trainees in the base gradually heard about what happened in Quentin’s team.
When they learned that Quentin had suddenly decided to drastically change the lyrics and choreography the day before the public performance, almost everyone thought he was crazy.
But the seven people involved had no time to spare for other people’s shock or curiosity.
They recited lyrics even while eating and showering, and would casually gesture some dance moves while walking. Their intense and focused expressions made trainees from other teams hesitant to approach.
And the hard work paid off.
That evening, the final rehearsal before the public performance was finally successfully completed.
Quentin’s group was still the last to take the stage for rehearsal. One day of preparation was too rushed; inevitably, there were parts of their performance that weren’t polished enough. But under the guidance of the on-site director and the coordination of the lighting crew, these minor flaws were quickly addressed.
The seven boys, dressed in stuffy clown costumes, collapsed unceremoniously below the stage. Their faces that were streaked with sweat were full of exhaustion, and their eyes reflected the bright lights from the ceiling.
They tilted their heads slightly, seeing the shining light in their teammates’ eyes. Their taut nerves relaxed a little, and they couldn’t help but smile at each other.
Director Wang who was sitting in the control room couldn’t hold back a laugh at this scene: “Yo, these kids are quite impressive. Tired as they are, they actually managed to pull all this off in one day.”
“After all, it’s the team with the strongest overall skills: two A-class, four B-class, and one F-class. Except for Liao Fei, the others all have solid singing and dancing foundations.”
The assistant director couldn’t help but sigh: “Of course, the most impressive one is still Quentin. Not only did he rewrite all the lyrics overnight, but he also worked with Cui Yan and Fang Xu to refine the choreography. These three boys only slept for two hours last night, and immediately went to discuss details with the choreography teacher early this morning… How can someone’s energy be so abundant?”
A staff member nearby added quietly: “It’s not so much abundant energy, more like they can just endure it.”
Just look at Quentin lying under the stage now, his eyelids were drooping so much it looked like he could pass out on the spot any second.
This was the number one early bird in “NS”; he had never been seen staying up late before. Suddenly pulling such an intense all-nighter, the fresh, tender little cabbage was about to be exhausted into pickled salted vegetables.
Director Wang stared at the green-eyed boy on the screen and let out a long breath: “Forget about changing lyrics and choreography for a moment. The rarest thing about this kid is probably his decisive leadership and execution…”
As soon as he realized the rehearsal effect wasn’t satisfactory, he immediately gathered his teammates’ opinions and sought help from the relevant staff.
When seeking help yielded no results, and his teammates were complaining and venting their dissatisfaction, he alone pondered deeply to devise a solution. He laid out the specific plan methodically and assigned tasks reasonably to the entire team.
Quentin had an aura that could command the scene, invisibly making everyone unconsciously follow his instructions.
The key point was, he wasn’t the kind of leader who only had presence but no brains.
At least from the events in their team over these past two days, this 17-year-old kid was full of attractive qualities.
“Director Wang, um… how do you think we should edit Quentin’s team’s storyline?”
A staff member from the editing team came over: “Previously, we set Quentin’s persona as a dark horse amateur trainee. But his performance in this team collaboration could go two extreme ways. One is the more traditional ‘first suppress, then uplift,’ focusing on shaping Quentin’s leadership and the team’s unity. The other is to change Quentin’s persona to… something like a big demon king?”
He cleared his throat: “Ahem, because judging from the trending posts on the forum, Quentin seems quite good at attracting hate. Logically, with his visual position in our show, he shouldn’t have any rivals, but now… it seems like all the popular contestants are his rivals.”
This kind of hate-attracting constitution is great for stirring up topics. A little malicious editing and the popularity would soar!
Director Wang rubbed his chin thoughtfully: “Big demon king… sounds quite suitable for him. How do you want to shape him in that direction?”
“Oh, that’s too simple. First, delete those highlights, like him going to the costume/props team for help, quickly coming up with a new solution after failing to get help, assigning tasks to his teammates properly, and leading the team to rehearse a new routine within a day.”
The editor continued: “Remove all these shots that demonstrate his leadership and teamwork abilities, only keeping the segments that show his song arrangement skills. This way, a sharp contrast can be created, shaping a team leader who has outstanding personal skills but isn’t good at leading a team, giving fans something to praise and anti-fans something to criticize.”
“Oh, right, we can also make out a story of him giving the costume selection opportunity to the rival team.”
He became more enthusiastic as he spoke: “Didn’t Liang Yao complain last night? We can edit these two parts together, guiding the audience to think that Quentin was overly confident, and gave the rival team first pick without consulting his teammates, which led his team into a predicament.”
The editor carefully recalled the footage they had just received: “And the part where Quentin assigned parts to his teammates…he was the only one among the 14 team leaders who assigned parts directly without any discussion with his teammates! Their team didn’t even have a center selection process. Isn’t this just textbook dictatorship-style big demon king!”
The assistant director listening nearby was increasingly amazed.
Not amazed by this editing technique, that wasn’t unusual. It’s a common editing approach to cut and highlight certain labels of an artist for more dramatic storylines.
It’s just that she had never imagined Quentin’s persona could be deconstructed from this angle before. A domineering, arrogant, super-strong big demon king… so cool.
Of course, this was merely her personal preference.
If they really edited it this way, once this episode aired, Quentin would definitely be cursed until he had no intact piece of skin left.
Thinking of this, the assistant director frowned slightly and looked at the director with some worry.
Director Wang did consider it seriously for a moment, but ultimately shook his head: “Forget it, no need. Let’s go with the normal approach.”
As a veteran variety show director, he had done this kind of thing of taking things out of context for sensationalism to gain popularity many times. In their line of work, who would let go of readily available popularity because of some insignificant cyber conscience?
After a round of malicious editing, the audience vents their emotions, the program team gets their performance bonuses, the celebrities achieve their hot search KPI, and even the marketing accounts make a full pot of profit.
See? This is a win-win.
But this time… it was different.
Perhaps it was because most of these hundred-plus trainees participating in the survival show were very young, just graduated from high school or currently in university. In Director Wang’s eyes, they were undoubtedly a group of greenhorns.
They had some cunning, but not much, and were full of drive, daring to fight, dare to charge, and willing to work hard.
They were different from the artists in other variety shows who earned money easily.
In just half a month of recording, the medical room had already received no fewer than 40 people. The two professional massage and physical therapy masters were often overwhelmed with work. Every time he passed by the medical room door, he could hear gritted teeth and suppressed groans of pain.
Some were due to muscle strains from high-intensity training, some were due to insomnia from excessive psychological pressure, and a small number were inevitable bumps and bruises during training.
Moreover, most trainees wouldn’t actively go to the medical room to lie down. They asked the program team to purchase medicated oil and patches for them. After spending the day in the practice room and returning to the dorm, they would hastily massage their lower back muscles or apply patches in front of the mirror before bed, then endure the physical discomfort and fall into a deep sleep.
Regardless of whether these young men would be eroded by fame and fortune in the future and forget their original intentions, the efforts they were currently putting in were real.
Perhaps initially, some only wanted to show off in front of the camera. However, surrounded by a group of excellent and hardworking peers, not keeping up meant falling behind.
In the “Next Stage” filming base, there are seniors older than you who are more excellent, peers your age who are more excellent, and minors younger than you who are also more excellent.
The key is, those more excellent than you are also working harder than you!
Who wouldn’t keep up? Otherwise, should they just wait to be mocked online and eliminated in the first round?
In short, Director Wang, who monitored the real-time dynamics within the filming base day and night, was rarely touched by these kids who grew more passionate the more they competed.
Perhaps reaching middle age makes one prone to nostalgia.
Although Quentin’s refusal to sign a personal contract had caused him quite a bit of trouble, Director Wang himself was also a rebellious artistic type with personality and guts during his youth, and thought he was the best in the world and unmatched.
He wouldn’t favor Quentin under pressure from investors, but he also wouldn’t deliberately delete scenes or distort facts to please the investors.
Just… let things take their course.
*
October 2nd, the day of the first public performance.
The filming base was some distance from the recording studio where the official public performance stage was located. The trainees still set off by bus, and fortunately, there was no traffic jam on the way.
With the airing of the “NS” first main episode, its online popularity kept rising. These three black and gold buses painted with the “Next stage” cursive letter graffiti became known to more and more people.
While waiting at a red light, the three buses stood out conspicuously among the many small cars.
“Eh?!”
A boy sitting by the window suddenly exclaimed, pulling the curtain fully open and pointing at the glass: “Look there! Look at that car!”
His chattering companions around him turned to look upon hearing this.
A completely black Rolls-Royce Cullinan crouched quietly in the leftmost lane, its body clean and spotless, reflecting a mirror-like luster under the sunlight. A small silver metal logo stood on the front, occasionally flashing with sharp, gleaming cold light…simple, grand, and undeniably luxurious.
But what was most eye-catching wasn’t the car itself, but the numbers on its front license plate.
“YAN A”, followed by five repeating digits.
The boy who noticed the car first was a car enthusiast. His eyes shone as he stared at the car separated from them by one lane, unable to hold back his excitement as he chatted about this car’s model, performance, and market price.
The others echoed in amazement. Although they were more dazzled by the astronomical figure…hundreds of thousands or millions were far beyond their reach.
It was so distant it was hard to imagine, so it was difficult to feel stirred. At most, they’d echo with a few “ohhs” and “ahhs” before forgetting about it.
As for discussing luxury cars with the car enthusiast?
Hah, they’d rather use the time to review their performance lyrics a few more times.
“YAN A11111?”
Lu Kui muttered: “Such a domineering license plate. What level of big shot must be sitting inside?”
“It’s definitely some high-ranking old man,” his teammate beside him shrugged. “Is this kind of license plate something ordinary people can suppress?”
Qiao Xue, who was sitting in the seat in front of them, looked at the license plate in confusion, finding it somewhat familiar for some reason.
He turned his head towards Qi Yang and said quietly: “Ah Yang, look at that car… is it our boss’s family car? I remember President Jin has a car with five 1s.”
Qi Yang glanced: “Hmm, it probably is.”
“Wow, running into the big boss on the way to the public performance,” Qiao Xue joked with a smile. “Does this count as a good omen?”
The boys in the bus more or less glanced a few times at the luxury car that other vehicles were giving a wide berth.
Coincidentally, the person sitting in the black SUV they were focusing on was also discussing them.
“Look, Xiao Ke, I didn’t lie to you. I told you I encountered the ‘NS’ bus on the road. Their bus is so eye-catching, how could I possibly mistake it!”
A girl wearing a Hanfu dress held up her phone with both hands, filming the black and gold bus across the lanes through the car window.
She muttered and complained to her friend on the video call: “You stood me up just to watch their performance? We agreed to travel during the National Day holiday over a month ago!”
“Ah, sorry, Xiu Xiu, be magnanimous, please forgive this little woman for momentarily losing her mind.”
Jiang Ke on the screen grinned cheekily and made a pleading gesture with one hand: “Who knew ‘NS’ would schedule the first public performance during the National Day holiday? Anyway, it’s only today. Our travel plans can still proceed normally, just delayed by one day at most~”
As she spoke, she zoomed in on the video call interface as much as possible, trying to make out the people sitting inside the bus windows from the blurry image.
“Xiu Xiu, can you film it more clearly? Is QT on this bus? Where are you now? Looking at the background, is it near the Lianzhong Building? Ah, I’ve been waiting at the first public performance recording studio entrance for half an hour already, my legs are sore…”
“How can I film it more clearly? We’re waiting at a red light on the main road. Do you want me to get out and run over to film for you? There are two more buses behind. Who knows which bus your QT is on.”
Qu Xiu pouted: “We’re almost out of the industrial park. There’s no traffic jam here, and it’s just ten minutes from your location. Just behave yourself and prepare your camera to take beautiful photos of QT.”
Jiang Ke chuckled: “Alright, thanks Xiu Xiu. I’ll share the pictures with you as soon as I have them~”
Qu Xiu: “Hmph.”
“Ai? By the way, Xiu Xiu, whose car are you in right now? Didn’t you say you booked an online-celebrity photographer to take artistic photos today?”
Qu Xiu mumbled vaguely: “That was the original plan… but my sister wasn’t comfortable with me meeting an online friend offline. She told me to go to Wanming Media to take photos.”
Jiang Ke blinked: “Wanming Media? Isn’t that the Jin family’s business? Oh, I get it, you’re taking your brother-in-law’s car to Wanming.”
“What? No, not at all!”
Qu Xiu quickly glanced at the young man sitting in the back seat and whispered: “Who said Wanming Media is the Jin family’s business? Think carefully about who the boss of Wanming is.”
Jiang Ke pondered for two seconds, then had a sudden realization: “You mean Jin Sui? You’re in Jin Sui’s car?! Wait, no way…Jin Sui returned to the country?”
The girl with purple hair on the video call instantly widened her eyes, her face full of the curiosity of someone eating a melon. She leaned her head close to the phone, looking as if she wanted to crawl out of the screen.
She pressed on eagerly: “Really? For real? So, how is he? Is Jin Sui handsome in real life? Is it as exaggerated as the rumors say?”
“The photos on Wanming Media’s official website are too official. Even old cadre tea parties and system-internal photos aren’t as old-fashioned as theirs.”
Jiang Ke chewed her gum, making a slight smacking sound: “Didn’t people say Jin Sui is the most handsome young master among the younger generation of our families? I even specifically searched for photos to look. In the end… Sigh, just so-so.”
She propped her chin and continued: “Maybe the official website photos are just average? But you can’t find many pictures online. The clearest photo is that terribly tacky official group photo… how to put it, he’s okay-looking, but definitely not as fantastically exaggerated as they make him out to be.”
Although Qu Xiu was wearing earphones to talk with her friend, there were only three people in the car besides the driver: herself, Jin Sui, and an assistant.
The latter two weren’t making a sound, each more focused than the other on working on their laptops.
In the quiet car, only the clatter of keyboard typing could be heard, which of course couldn’t cover Qu Xiu’s voice.
It was fine when they were talking about “NS” earlier. Someone like President Jin, who was extremely busy, wouldn’t have the mind to pay attention to the daily star-chasing lives of young girls like them.
But now they were talking about Jin Sui himself… she couldn’t help feeling a sense of guilt, like she was gossiping right in front of the person involved.
Fortunately, she had put on Bluetooth earphones beforehand, so he couldn’t hear what Jiang Ke was saying.
“Uh-huh, handsome, of course handsome.”
Qu Xiu looked out the window seriously, pretending to be chatting with her friend about celebrities: “Super handsome, okay? If he wasn’t handsome, how could there be so many rumors? Just based on that face, even placed in the entertainment industry, he’d be a famous handsome guy…umm, only slightly less handsome than your QT.”
Jiang Ke didn’t believe it at all and laughed: “Are you daydreaming? Can just any random guy be compared to Quentin now? What has your sister been telling you that gave you such a thick filter for him?”
Qu Xiu rolled her eyes: “Ha, what filter could I possibly have? Haven’t I eaten enough gossip over the years? Just based on the amount of information my sister has complained to me about these past few years, any filter, no matter how thick, would shatter into pieces!”
“Ahem! Ahem!” Jiang Ke almost choked and her eyes shifted in curiosity: “So… those rumors about Jin Sui are true?”
Qu Xiu didn’t react immediately: “Huh?”
The girl on the screen had an excited gleam in her eyes, she even stopped chewing her gum, barely maintaining a reserved expression.
She lowered her voice, but her tone couldn’t help rising: “Xiu Xiu, did Jin Sui really relentlessly pursue a man? And he secretly loved him for many years, sought but could not obtain, yet still remained deeply infatuated….”
“Even came out publicly at a family banquet?”
