As the focus of most attention on “NS,” even if Liao Fei and others had not deliberately publicized it, the news of Quentin’s birthday on October 21st had spread far and wide.
The public performance had just ended two days ago, with several days left to prepare for the random dance challenge. The production team had not assigned any other tasks, so aside from attending classes, the trainees unexpectedly had some free time.
The idea of “celebrating Quentin’s birthday” popped into many people’s minds, especially among the trainees closest to him in Class A.
They had no ulterior motives, they simply wanted to throw a party with Quentin. Boys at this age are restless and love excitement.
However, saying it was easier than doing it.
First of all, how could a birthday celebration be complete without gifts?
Their luggage had been strictly inspected on the first day of recording. All snacks, toys, and game consoles had been confiscated, leaving only basic changes of clothes and daily necessities. What could they possibly give Quentin?
If one really wanted to be strict about it, gifts weren’t that important; the thought counted. Quentin knew the situation at the base, and with his personality, he wouldn’t care about such things anyway.
But without gifts, there had to be some activities for the birthday party!
A quick-witted boy took the initiative to ask the production team for help. It was impossible for the director to reject a suggestion that has the potential to bring about a buzz and popularity.
Everyone could gather to play some multiplayer board games like UNO, Werewolf, Monopoly, Truth or Dare etc, and as they played, the atmosphere would liven up, which in turn improves the show effect.
Even if each round had only seven or eight participants, others could watch while snacking on melon seeds, chatting, or playing cards.
Or they could set up an activity room, put out some melon seeds and snacks, bring in a karaoke speaker, and there…the party was ready!
Wasn’t this more interesting than the pranks and horror games the production team came up with for the spin-off episodes? They might as well record all future spin-off games in the activity room, playing tabletop games happily together instead of resorting to scary stuff.
Director Wang initially thought the kid’s idea wasn’t bad, but the more he listened, the more suspicious he became…
Hah, are you here to debut or to vacation? Your skills aren’t great, but you know how to dream big. Get out of here, go, go, go!
On hearing the director’s objection, the boy quickly changed his approach: “Then we won’t make it so complicated. Could you help us order a cake? It doesn’t need to be big, just big enough for eight people.”
That wasn’t difficult.
Director Wang thought for a moment and said, “Alright, go back. I’ll have someone order one and deliver it tonight.”
“Thank you, Director Wang.” The boy added cheerfully, “I’ll come pick it up tonight. I’ll transfer the money for the cake to you after I’m eliminated, or you can give me my phone now, and I’ll send you a red packet.”
Director Wang waved him off disdainfully: “Go, go, get lost. Stop rambling, I have work to do.”
“Alright!” The boy left happily.
“……Brat.” Director Wang stared at the door that slammed shut with a bang, muttering under his breath, “Putting on airs in front of me now.”
In fact, even if no one had said anything, he hadn’t planned to ignore the topic of “Quentin’s birthday.”
It was one thing if the trainees at the base didn’t know about Quentin’s online popularity, but how could he, the director, not know?
Judging by the number of views on the “Black Umbrella” stage video and the hot searches across various platforms, Quentin was on the verge of a massive breakout success.
Before the fourth episode aired, the vote counts between Quentin and Wen Xinyi weren’t too far apart, while Qi Yang, whose skills were often criticized, was slightly behind.
But just three days after the episode aired, the official vote rankings on the “NS” website had undergone a drastic transformation.
The second round of voting would close tomorrow at noon, and Director Wang had no plans to manipulate the rankings. As he watched the string of numbers behind Quentin’s name skyrocket, he went from shock to a calm, indifferent acceptance.
Tsk, who still remembered that Quentin was an amateur who dropped in out of nowhere? Anyone who believed he was a “pure amateur” was truly foolish to the extreme.
Director Wang was well-informed. He had noticed last week that the bio on Quentin’s forum account had quietly changed, adding a line…”For collaboration inquiries, please contact [email address] or @QuentinStudio.”
What about the claim of not having signed with a company or having a manager?! Even a studio had been set up so quickly… No, maybe it had been prepared long ago, just not announced until now!
After a brief investigation, Director Wang discovered that this studio was affiliated with an entertainment company registered not long ago, and Quentin was the only artist publicly listed under that company.
Thinking about Quentin’s sudden appearance, his all-around ACE skills, and the high school he graduated from…
Heh, he estimated that this so-called “Ideal Entertainment” was probably a company created just for Quentin alone.
Whose young master was this, boldly venturing into the entertainment industry and following the trope of the “Ten-Mile Sword God”; diligently leveling up his singing, dancing, and rap to the max before coming to debut in the novice village. It’s really bullying the noobs!
No wonder Quentin had so many wealthy fans, and his fan club was so well-run.
Fan photographers specializing in taking and delivering photos, top-tier editors with excellent video editing skills, dedicated fans specializing in anti-black fan PR… Talents like these, which required time to accumulate, had all emerged within just one month. How could it not have been arranged in advance?
It was 2025; did anyone still believe in heavenly-descended superstars in the entertainment industry?
Director Wang, who was convinced he had seen through everything, couldn’t help but suspect: “Quentin… might have the deepest background among these trainees.”
What a “pure amateur”.
Quentin’s vote count might become even more outrageous when the second public performance is aired next week.
Now, Director Wang could no longer tell whether Quentin’s massive popularity was due to timing, location, and people, or if someone was behind it, pushing the waves.
Everything happened too fast and too naturally, flowing so smoothly that there were no leaks to grasp.
Originally, following last year’s tradition with the girl group survival show, the final debut lineup required negotiations and a game of capital among various companies.
In other words, if a company wanted to fight for a higher debut position for its artist, it could proactively carry out a deal with the show’s side. Perhaps the production team would slightly adjust the vote counts.
Of course, those who should debut would still debut; only the rankings might change.
But strangely, the popular contestants in this season’s boy group survival show seemed to lack powerful backers.
Even those from big companies were no exception; Xinda and Wanming hadn’t approached the “NS” production team or Galaxy Entertainment to discuss rankings. Perhaps they believed Wen Xinyi and Qi Yang could maintain their positions, aiming for second while competing for first?
As for BKL, there was nothing to say. No one would help them with vote manipulation; they could stay on the sidelines and fend for themselves.
However, BKL was more concerned about their artists than the other two companies, and they had engaged in all kinds of tactics online.
Marketing hype, buying hot searches, deploying water armies…the same old tricks. While they didn’t use them on Yan Qiao, they managed to pull the relatively unnoticed Lu Kui from the middle ranks into the top ten.
It seemed they were aiming for two debut spots.
Two… That was fine, not excessive.
Sitting in front of his computer, Director Wang couldn’t resist pulling up the voting page again. He stared intently at that exaggerated number, repeatedly clicking to refresh and murmuring, “Really no manipulation?”
If things continued like this, barring any other accidents, Quentin’s undisputed number 1 would likely persist until the finals.
*
“Tsk, it’s already evening, and people are still coming specifically to wish you a happy birthday…” A boy looked toward the practice room door and muttered, “Quentin, since when did you become so popular? Have you even talked to them before?”
Quentin thought for a moment: “I’ve greeted them all at some point.”
Xue Mingzhu nodded knowingly: “So it’s just the kind of greeting you exchange when you pass by on the road. That’s what I thought. I’m with you every day in class, and I haven’t seen anyone else around you. So why are they suddenly so enthusiastic toward you…”
At this point, his voice trailed off, and he glanced warily at the door: “They wouldn’t be trying to win you over to be on their team for the next public performance, would they?”
Yan Qiao, who was organizing a storage cabinet nearby, shot him a glance: “You’re only realizing this now?”
“What?” Xue Mingzhu frowned, “So they’re indeed aiming to team up with Quentin? No wonder they’re so eager.”
Yan Qiao smirked: “Are you really this stupid or just pretending? Their eagerness isn’t something that started just today. Haven’t you noticed that most trainees are particularly proactive toward Quentin? You only guard against me, not others, huh?”
Xue Mingzhu genuinely hadn’t noticed this.
He looked fierce and was quite domineering to those he wasn’t familiar with. After staying by Quentin’s side all day, he had unknowingly shielded Quentin from many people’s approaches.
As for why he only guarded against Yan Qiao, wasn’t that obvious?
Yan Qiao felt very weary, but he had grown accustomed to it: “Putting aside other things, didn’t you sense something off about what Tang Heng said on stage during the last ranking announcement? Wasn’t his behavior obvious enough?”
Having been roommates with Xue Mingzhu for over a month, Yan Qiao had finally figured out a bit of his thought process.
When he learned that Xue Mingzhu was guarding against him so diligently because he feared he would corrupt Quentin… He was truly speechless.
You can’t communicate with someone missing a screw in their head 🙂
Xue Mingzhu said strangely: “What was wrong with those words? Weren’t they praising Quentin? They were right, weren’t they?”
Yan Qiao smiled: “What if I told Quentin I really like him, want him to remember me, want to team up with him…”
Xue Mingzhu narrowed his eyes fiercely: “You’re dreaming.”
Seeing that these two were about to start bickering again, Quentin got up from the floor, shook his legs, and let his pant legs, which were rolled up to his knees, fall back down.
“It’s getting late, let’s head back to the dorm first.” He looked at Xue Mingzhu, “As for that dance of yours… If you really can’t capture the style of the original video, don’t force it.”
Yan Qiao didn’t hold back, adding bluntly: “You’re just not cut out for it. Have some self-awareness; no one wants to see your belly.”
Xue Mingzhu’s face darkened, and he muttered gloomily: “I know. I’ll record the video tomorrow and not waste any more time.”
It was better to spend the effort learning a few more dances; there were plenty of the 50 boy and girl group dances for the random dance challenge.
It was now 10 PM. For some reason, everyone had returned to the dorms early today, and only the three of them remained in the Class A practice room.
Quentin quickly gathered his things, turned off the lights, and walked back to the dormitory building with the other two.
About ten minutes later, they reached the third floor of the dormitory.
“Go back and shower first. I’m going to hang out in Room 303 for a bit.” Xue Mingzhu said casually, draping an arm around Quentin.
Yan Qiao ignored him, lazily yawning: “I’m not tired. I’ll go check out Room 303 too.”
His eyes drifted toward the door of Room 303 not far away.
Zhou Zilin and the others had returned earlier than usual, especially Wen Xinyi. This person usually stayed in the practice room until the last group left, but today he left early, which was unusual…
Could it be that they prepared some birthday surprise for Quentin in Room 303?
Yan Qiao was about eighty percent sure he guessed right, but he couldn’t figure out what kind of surprise could be conjured up in this godforsaken place.
Everyone knew each other’s situations; their pockets were as empty as their faces. Unless they went out to buy gifts on the day of the random dance challenge, no one had anything to offer.
After yawning, he secretly glanced at Quentin, thinking, ‘Even Xue Mingzhu hasn’t noticed, so Quentin probably hasn’t sensed anything either.’
Yan Qiao had always felt that Quentin didn’t pay much attention to the people or things around him, and his emotions were indifferent. Only someone as thick-skinned as Xue Mingzhu could quickly become close to him.
He thought that perhaps Quentin hadn’t even noticed that people in the practice room had left early. He seemed indifferent to his own birthday.
In fact, he couldn’t be further from the truth.
“Host, host, guess what they prepared for you?”
The system asked curiously in Quentin’s mind.
“A cake, probably. They might have asked the production team to help buy it.”
Quentin said leisurely: “You told me about this in advance. How am I supposed to act surprised later?”
“Huh?”
The system was stunned for two seconds: “I didn’t tell you! Host, you clearly figured it out yourself long ago!”
Quentin blinked: “Oh? It seems so.”
The system felt like the host was much more lively today…
The system snorted: “Why a cake? Just because humans eat cake on birthdays?”
“Of course not.” Quentin explained, “Because today someone asked me what fruit I liked, whether I enjoy cream, if I like chocolate, how I celebrated birthdays in the past…”
Moreover, each question was asked by a different person, so it was most likely orchestrated by someone behind the scenes. He wondered which big brain was behind this, making it so obvious? Were they afraid he wouldn’t catch on?
While chatting, Quentin reached the closed door of Room 303. As he reached out to grasp the doorknob, he suddenly paused, thinking: “Should I let Xue Mingzhu open the door?”
It was so quiet behind the door…something was definitely up.
…Forget it, let’s not tease him.
Without changing his expression, Quentin pressed down the handle, and pushed the door open.
“Bang!”
Several muffled popping sounds overlapped, and colorful smoke mixed with gold and silver confetti came fluttering toward the boy.
Like clusters of blooming flowers, they rushed to bloom before him.
The sound of the blooming was somewhat noisy and clamorous, mixed with shouts and yells of “Happy Birthday!”
Although a bit cliché, within the enclosed recording base, this was already a very surprising scene.
However… even with everything prepared, there was still an accident.
According to the original plan, Quentin would stand at the dormitory door while the others crowded by the bathroom door, pulling the party poppers.
The sprayed colorful mist and streamers would form several beautiful arcs, descending like a heavenly maiden scattering flowers in front of Quentin.
The distance was just right, allowing him to enjoy the small-scale fireworks without being directly hit by the mist.
However, Quentin had two people following behind him.
Leaving Yan Qiao aside for a moment, Xue Mingzhu’s first reaction upon hearing the popping sound was to recklessly push the door open and rush inside.
This push caused Quentin to take two steps forward as well.
The boy standing at the center of everyone’s gaze had his eyes closed. His hair was covered in golden streamers, red and blue foam was smeared on his left and right cheeks respectively, and a dot of red was splattered on the tip of his nose.
If even his face had suffered such a fate, one could imagine the fate of his clothes. A perfectly good white T-shirt was now a splattered canvas of red, blue, green, and purple ink, and the wrists extending from his sleeves were also stained messily.
Fortunately, only two party poppers were aimed at his face. If all four colors had mixed on this small, palm-sized face, it might have immediately become a pitiful painter’s palette.
The dorm room fell deathly silent; even Xue Mingzhu didn’t dare make a sound.
Quentin slowly opened his eyes, silently looking at the group of people either standing or crouching by the bathroom door.
His calm stare made everyone feel uneasy.
These party poppers were originally designed and manufactured by the factory for prank games at birthday parties, but no one had intended to prank Quentin. What if Quentin got upset?
“So… how did things end up like this?”
“Hmm… does Quentin have OCD? Probably not. He seems to like piling all his clothes on the bed, but he’s usually very tidy too.”
“It’s over, it’s over…will Quentin think that we deliberately planned a prank to mess with him…”
“This is embarrassing. Is there any tofu around for me to smash my head against?”
“This isn’t the scene I imagined…”
…….
Countless chaotic thoughts flashed through the minds of Wen Xinyi and the others, but their bodies remained completely frozen, stuck in place and shutting down.
The Class A trainees, usually regarded as big bosses by others, stared blankly at Quentin, watching as he raised his hand with his usual expression and wiped his cheek. The blue foam attached to his skin smeared and melted into watercolor paint, spreading across his palm.
And his face, naturally, became even more smudged the more he wiped.
Quentin looked at his palm, raised an eyebrow slightly, then lifted his gaze to the little friends who had prepared the surprise for him. “Why is everyone so quiet?”
Wen Xinyi quickly stood up and took two steps forward, looking ashamed. “Quentin… I’m sorry, we messed up. You… maybe wash your face first? Or use a tissue?”
“It’s okay. It’s quite fun.”
Quentin’s expression was remarkably composed, seemingly completely unaffected. The multicolored paint splattered on him instead made him appear vibrant and bright.
Like a boy picking flowers in a field and getting his body covered in petals by a strong wind. All the flowers in the field lean toward him, surrounding him in the middle.
The boys put down their “tools of the crime” guiltily, trying hard to explain their plan and attempting to divert Quentin’s attention to the cake the last person was holding.
“Actually, this washes off easily and won’t stain clothes permanently, but you need to scrub it with laundry detergent for a while. Quentin, I’ll help you wash it later.”
“I have tissues here, Quentin, wipe your face. Oh, your hands are dirty too…do you want me to help you wipe them?”
“Um… Quentin, look…ta-da! Chocolate strawberry cake! It’s the flavor you like! Come try it!”
“Uh, maybe let’s blow out the candles first? How about you make a wish first?”
Quentin knew they hadn’t done it on purpose. He looked at the cake, then at the person holding it…it was that Class C boy who was the first to say “Happy Birthday” to him this morning.
…He still couldn’t remember his name. The cake was probably prepared by this person, right?
Seeing that the boys were growing more and more uneasy as they spoke, Quentin opened his arms and said with a smile, “Thank you for preparing so many surprises for me. Want a hug?”
It seemed he had never smiled so softly and brightly in front of them before.
His face was still smeared with smudged paint, his features were makeup free, and his lips were a light color, yet he shone more dazzlingly than those meticulously made-up superstars. Over the past month, they had seen this face every day, yet each time it still left them dazed. At this moment tonight, they were completely mesmerized, and their eyes couldn’t move away from the boy walking toward them with a smile.
Quentin hugged them one by one, holding on tightly and without any sense of distance. Yan Qiao and Xue Mingzhu, who were standing at the door, watched this scene and, for once, shared a rare, tacit silence.
On his birthday, friends secretly prepared a surprise. Although there was a minor mishap, the birthday boy was still moved and happily gave out hugs…. wasn’t it heartwarming? It was very heartwarming. It would have been even more heartwarming if Quentin hadn’t rubbed against them so vigorously, leaving a blue handprint on each person’s back.
The two silent observers secretly grumbled in their hearts, but smiles unconsciously surfaced on their faces. Their eyes followed Quentin, and their heads turned in the same direction, like twin-headed Pea Shooters planted at the door.
Only five people had prepared the surprise in the dorm room. Four were their companions from Class A, and the fifth was the unknown trainee holding the cake. This person had been holding the cake the whole time, not even touching the party poppers, so the paint on Quentin was certainly not his fault. Yet, he had already set the cake down on the nearby table and stood obediently in place, as if waiting for Quentin to come hug him.
On the other side, Fang Xu looked down at his own clothes, now covered in red, blue, green, and purple, feeling like he’d been scammed by a mischievous cat. He sighed helplessly, a faint, unconscious smile touching the corners of his mouth.
Seriously… even his mysophobia was cured by him.
Fang Xu turned his head inadvertently and happened to notice the expression on the Class C boy’s face as he stared at Quentin. His eyes paused and his smile faded slightly.
‘Hm? What kind of look is this? It seems a bit odd.’
His mind raced, carefully replaying the day’s events. He remembered this person, he was a trainee from Class C named Shen Zhao. His abilities were average, and his ranking was neither high nor low…he seemed to be a broadcasting major university student.
Before today, Shen Zhao had no connection with Class A. He had actively approached the Class A trainees, claiming he had a way to buy a birthday cake for Quentin and inviting them to prepare a birthday surprise together. The reason he gave was… well, he never actually gave a reason.
After all, aside from Shen Zhao, no one else could conjure a cake within the base. But everyone wanted to celebrate Quentin’s birthday, so they naturally gathered to discuss the plan. Fang Xu stared at Shen Zhao’s bright, intense eyes and his nervous, excited body language, inexplicably picking up a familiar scent.
Yes, there was no mistake. It’s the smell of a “licking dog”.
No way… another Tang Heng?
