According to the audience’s assumptions, this haunted house segment was originally supposed to be “Xue Mingzhu opens the door and sees the chair → lights off, door closes, Xue Mingzhu explores the room along the walls or hides in a corner to observe → NPC opens the door, sits on the rocking chair → next interaction.”
But then, with Xue Mingzhu’s stroke of genius move, the NPC’s chair was gone!
The style was forced to shift from “ghost appearing on chair” to a dispute over the chair. There wasn’t a trace of horror or suspense left!
No matter how eerie the paintings on the wall were, no matter how creepy the faint red glow and red paint by the walls were, the barrage was gradually taken over by “hahahaha.”
Some sharp-eyed viewers vaguely noticed the identity issue of this “NPC.” But before they could wonder for too long, the camera quickly switched to another perspective and started a flashback of Quentin receiving his mission card a few minutes earlier.
[Hey, Quentin is coming too!]
[I’m curious about his reaction when he enters the room and sees Xue Mingzhu fighting a ghost for the chair…]
[Ah… you guys still haven’t noticed? Are you that slow?]
[Why, does QT’s mission also require fighting for the chair? Is the chair that sought after?!]
[Chair: Fight for me! Fight for me!]
[So originally it should have been Quentin fighting the ghost for the chair, but Xue Mingzhu took it?]
[I suddenly have a wonderful idea. Don’t you guys think Quentin’s back looks really familiar? [scratches head]]
[Wow! Where’s the ghost? Where’s the NPC?]
In the show, Quentin calmly pushed open the door. There was no sound in the pitch-black room. Looking in from the doorway, relying on the faint light, he could only see a figure sitting on the chair in the center of the room.
As for the “NPC” that had drawn sympathy and laughter from the audience earlier, from Quentin’s perspective, there was no such person.
Instead, in the night-vision footage, as the door to Room 205 closed, Quentin’s back gradually overlapped with the “NPC’s” from a few minutes earlier…
Thus, the identity of this “NPC” was unexpectedly revealed.
The barrage hesitated for a moment, then suddenly burst forth with even more question marks and exclamation points.
Ji Xu’s phone screen seemed to have become a message board for the audience. No one was fighting, and there were few meaningless comments. He and Jian Yu just watched everyone discuss enthusiastically.
[Oh my God, mom. Xiao Xue, you cowardly did quite a few bad things. If I were Quentin, I’d definitely be cursing you in my heart.]
[Putting myself in Quentin’s shoes, the production team gave him a huge problem. He’s probably questioning his life right now. Didn’t they say he was supposed to sit on the chair and be a mannequin? Why is someone else fighting him for this gig? [laughing crying]]
[The key is, not only is someone fighting him for it, but he can’t win… that’s really frustrating.]
[What’s going on? Knowing the NPC is Quentin makes me want to laugh even more orz]
[So the clip I saw in the CP video on the forum, where QT is holding Xiao Xue’s face like he’s about to kiss him in the next second, came from here… If they had cut one more second, it would have been exposed [facepalm]]
The barrage gloated for a while. Seeing that Quentin’s attempt to open the other’s eyelids was unsuccessful, he lowered his hand, straightened up, and paused in place as if sighing.
The way the young man looked down with lowered eyes, paired with his handsome face that even the night-vision camera couldn’t obscure, was quite pitiful.
Soft-hearted fans suddenly started feeling guilty and ashamed for all their “hahahaha” comments.
Before they could send a few comforting words to make up for it, they saw the young man on the screen, who had been exuding a sense of fragility, walk two steps in front of the chair, turn his back to the person sitting on it, and sit down without hesitation.
Fans: !!!
What “pitiful”? What “fragile sense”? The filter was too thick; it never existed!
Look at Xue Mingzhu, he was knocked backward, even his expression twisted. Although the recliner tipped forward because of the center of gravity, the whole scene made it look like Xue Mingzhu had been sat upon so hard he was spitting blood.
The post-production editing directly photoshopped an X-ray of a fractured spine on Xue Mingzhu’s back, complete with a thunderbolt sound effect, vividly displaying the sudden impact he received while keeping his eyes tightly shut.
[Critical hit from a teammate! K! O!]
[How is this not a pair of mutually sabotaging best friends?]
[What I admire most is that these two have really managed to not speak until now…]
[Quentin is doing it because of the mission requirements. But why is Xue Mingzhu?]
[I guess it’s because he wants to save face and doesn’t want to make a big deal by yelling. But I can’t rule out that he’s too scared by the ghost to make a sound.]
[Come to think of it… These two haven’t made a sound. Does that mean neither of them knows who the other is and thinks the other is an NPC arranged by the production team…]
[The person above, you’ve hit the truth.]
The barrage discussing the show accounted for two-thirds, while the remaining one-third were CP fans howling with joy.
— Sitting on a lap! This VIP money was well spent. This is what “esteemed” annual members should be watching!
The two of them sat awkwardly… one with a straight back on the lap, the other stiff and pressed against the back of the chair. The distance between them was quite far. Their reluctant, awkward manner… it was even sweeter, okay?
It’s so sweet it’s cloying!
CP fans who had already watched to the end deliberately acted nonchalant, sneakily leaving hints…Don’t be too happy too soon, there’s more to come~
Logically, such blatant CP fans would likely face criticism and attacks from solo fans. However, the solo fans of both sides tacitly ignored this scene, each praising their own things, presenting a clear picture of “well water not interfering with river water.”
Well, of course there was a reason.
Quentin’s fans mainly had a “too many lice don’t itch, too much debt doesn’t worry” hands-off mentality. To put it plainly, their little trainee had too many CPs; they couldn’t manage them all anymore.
Moreover, the intensity of the arguments among various CP factions was no less than that between solo fan groups. So they simply divided the battlefield, non-interfering. As Quentin’s solo fans, they were too busy. As the critical debut period approached, no one wanted to waste time arguing aimlessly.
As for Xue Mingzhu’s fans… ahem, how to put it? Their current mentality was probably akin to “eating soft rice but acting tough”?
They knew very well how much traffic this Xue-Que CP brought to their bias, and how many fans it attracted. But the solo fans just stiffened their necks and refused to admit it. At least on the surface, they couldn’t admit it. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to act tough in future fan wars.
Anyway, they, the solo fans, didn’t ship CPs and didn’t beg others to ship CPs. All that was done by CP fans; it had nothing to do with them.
As for whether any solo fans secretly liked comments like “Xue-Que is the best,” “Xue-Que is the most popular CP on ‘NS’,” “Xue-Que 666”… who knows.
“Hey… what’s there to ship about this?”
Jian Yu stared at the increasingly rampant barrage, genuinely confused: “I don’t get what these comments are discussing. Isn’t it just sitting down? Chen Xiyang and them often sleep in the same bed, but I’ve never seen anyone ship them like this.”
Ji Xu also had a contemplative expression. As if answering Jian Yu’s question, or muttering to himself, he said: “Quentin… and Xue Mingzhu. Ever since their show’s second public performance aired two weeks ago, this CP has been very popular. It’s now almost breaking into the forum’s top twenty celebrity CP rankings.”
He said uncertainly: “It should be because of that dual-rap performance earlier, so no matter what they do, CP fans ship them?”
Their group had actually discussed the topic of CPs internally. The official CPs currently promoted are mainly “Ji Xu x Jian Yu” and “Chen Xiyang x Mo Qing.” The former was ace and visual, the latter was main dancer and main vocal. Both were members with the most popularity within the group.
Since Inferno currently didn’t have anyone with a significantly higher popularity gap, the company hadn’t implemented any anti-popularity measures. After all, no one had exploded yet.
Since everyone hadn’t become popular yet, there were no “rich driving the poor” CPs. It was better to put the members with highest popularity together first, and wait until the CPs gained traction before talking.
Unfortunately, it was unknown if it was because their debut time was too short or the official CPs didn’t match. Anyway, these two CPs the company vigorously promoted were currently lukewarm. Compared to Quentin’s situation, it was like heaven and earth.
Although Ji Xu wasn’t elected as the leader due to his young age, he was the ace. He would also help offer opinions on matters the leader should consider.
He looked at his phone screen, thinking absently: “Why do so many people ship their CP? Why does Quentin have so many CPs? Just because he’s good looking?”
“I remember these two were quite popular even before the public performance aired. That dual-rap segment you mentioned just added fuel to their CP’s fire at most.” Jian Yu muttered quietly, “There must be other reasons…”
Ji Xu was immersed in his own thoughts and initially didn’t pay attention to Jian Yu’s retort. But the next second, he was interrupted by the other party’s words.
“Hey, Ji Xu, how about next time we record MV behind-the-scenes, we try this lap-sitting move too? Maybe we’ll become popular?”
Ji Xu: “…Pfft, ahem, ahem, ahem!!”
He covered his mouth and coughed, his eyes widening. He almost choked and threw his phone away.
Ji Xu silently moved his upper body to the right, widening the distance between him and Jian Yu. He held back for a moment, then said: “Don’t be like that… Can you be natural? That’s too gay.”
Jian Yu rolled his eyes: “Tch, you think I want to? It’s still the company’s arrangement. You’re already promoting a CP and still so uptight.”
Ji Xu was mentally exhausted: “I didn’t mean that…”
“Alright, alright, don’t say it. I know what you mean. You mean these interactions can’t be arranged in advance, they need to be natural enough.”
Jian Yu complained: “But the problem is, our relationship hasn’t reached the level where we can naturally do these things. So how exactly do men promote CP with men? What are fans shipping? I don’t get it.”
“What’s with ‘these things’ and ‘those things’? It’s as if Quentin and the others did something big.” Ji Xu held his forehead. “I also want to know what fans are shipping. Don’t be so impatient. Let’s observe more.”
Even if they wanted to learn from others, they couldn’t just learn the surface.
He didn’t think CP fans were shipping so happily just because Quentin and Xue Mingzhu were close. If that were the case, was Quentin close with everyone?
He knew the forum said Quentin had a “CP physique.” But there had to be a reason for this. It couldn’t be that someone was born suitable for being a CP with others!
Appearance, temperament, personality, IQ, EQ, attitude towards life, way of interacting with people… There had to be something he could try to analyze and learn from.
Ji Xu was quite confident in his thoughts. However, after watching the entire episode of “NS-Game Party,” he began to waver a bit.
What happened? Quentin… seemed to be really close with everyone?!
Ji Xu knew in his heart this was about doing missions. But was he seeing things through BL-colored glasses, or was there something wrong with this group of people on “NS”? Why did he also start feeling their interactions were a bit strange?
He never shipped CPs before. Had he been led astray by the barrage?
Even Jian Yu, who had been sitting next to him complaining non-stop, unknowingly closed his mouth at some point. If there were a mirror in front of them, they would have discovered that at this moment, their expressions were surprisingly unified.
Subtle, wanting to watch but also embarrassed to watch too much…
Suspicious whether they were overthinking, yet their gazes couldn’t help but converge on Quentin, who was tightly hugged by Xue Mingzhu.
The expressions and dialogues of these people in the show were very natural, but, but that didn’t stop the audience from overthinking!
Especially the barrage, it was full of absurdities, making Ji Xu and Jian Yu feel uncomfortable all over.
Ji Xu suddenly remembered the post he had seen earlier. At the time, he didn’t understand the meaning of the title. Now, looking back, he suddenly understood.
>Topic: [Help! Is this episode a haunted house challenge or a dating variety show? My dear Quentin… Listen to mom, boys must protect themselves well outside, okay? (Tearful eyes)]
