Quentin’s hair was cut during the OW eyeshadow advertisement shoot. At that time, after finishing the advertisement, he left Nancheng and encountered a group of fans picking him up at the airport. Many of them took photos of his new haircut.
However, at that time, he was still wearing a baseball cap. The shortened blond hair was almost completely hidden under the brim, with only the light-colored sideburns revealing the details.
The fans who came to pick him up all knew about Quentin’s schedule in Nancheng. Whether they noticed the change in his hair color on the spot, or sensed something was off after returning home and reviewing photos and videos.
After thinking it over, they all guessed, without prior agreement, that it was a new temporary look done for the advertisement shoot.
Regardless, the fact was…Quentin had returned to blond hair!
The fans happily and joyfully uploaded the airport pickup videos to the forum, which indeed sparked a small-scale discussion within the fandom.
But after all, the OW advertisement had not yet aired, and Quentin’s blond hair look had not made an official public appearance. Therefore, most fans still did not know about his haircut at this point.
At this very moment, the fans on the same road as the trainees leading to the entrance of the public performance venue, amidst the exclamations of companions around them, turned their heads one after another to look at the seven young men.
The next second, they were forcibly drawn to the blond youth walking at the very front, their full attention captured.
Let alone Quentin’s own fans, even fans of the other trainees could not help but glance at him repeatedly several times.
The shock and amazement on their faces were impossible to hide. Some even had twisted expressions, looking… a little on the verge of collapse?
Black fans from rival fandoms: Fuck, which bastard dyed Quentin’s hair? Was that really necessary! Truly leaving no room whatsoever for others to stand out?!
Dyeing his hair was like becoming a whole different person, and the key was he looked even more dazzlingly handsome. Eyes were going to be blinded… Their mentality had collapsed.
The distance of over a hundred meters was walked in just two minutes. Perhaps because they were caught off guard by the sudden appearance and could not react in time, the fans did not end up crowding around them.
They watched the tall backs of the trainees, feeling a sense of loss.
“What should we do… I want to break in and snatch someone.”
“Me too. I want to too. Does anyone want to form a group? I’ve even got the sack ready.”
“Huff… Damn it. Just the time it took to cross the street, and they’ve already vanished without a trace… So angry!”
“Seriously, did you guys take photos just now? That blond one, was that really Quentin?”
“Apart from Quentin, is there a second green-eyed mixed-blood in this show? Accept reality, sis. He is our ‘NS’s’ most indisputable face of the group.”
“I remember that was his natural hair color originally… Heaven is truly unfair.”
The girl wearing the chick hair clip let out a long sigh. The entrance of the venue within her line of sight no longer held any trace of that group of boys.
Neither the young rapper she had liked for three years, nor the blond mixed-blood who was so good-looking that it made her repeatedly swivel her camera lens over.
She lowered her head to look at the minute long video saved in her phone’s photo album. The automatically displayed cover image was unexpectedly a side profile of Quentin.
She knew without even looking that Quentin featured at least half of the content in this video.
Recalling that just a few days ago, in a certain argument thread on the forum, she had furiously lashed out at those idiots who used Quentin’s rap to belittle Xue Mingzhu. During the quarrel, from time to time she would, due to emotional agitation, badmouth Quentin a few times. The wording was not necessarily vulgar, but it was definitely ill-intentioned.
Now, the very person she had badmouthed behind his back had appeared, and had seized the majority of her attention during filming, throwing her into such a fluster she didn’t have time to properly look at her own bias.
Sigh, there was nothing to be embarrassed about. She had simply been hooked by his face.
She did not feel guilty either. At most, her feelings were a bit complicated. Because she thought, her Xiao Xue also seemed to have been captivated by Quentin. Did this count as another form of “fans follow their idol”?
……
>Topic: [Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh….!]
>Content: [Help! Fellow fans who haven’t arrived at the scene yet, do you know what you have missed?! QT came early to rehearse ahhhhh!!!]
1L: [At this time? It’s just past eight o’clock. Even if Quentin came early to rehearse, so what? The venue doesn’t allow audience entry yet, and OP can’t watch their rehearsal either [scratching head]]
2L: [Upstairs, you don’t understand. Not seeing the rehearsal is fine. There’s always a stretch of road from getting off the vehicle to entering the venue, right? [evil grin]
The fans waiting outside the venue at this time were definitely few. If it’s not crowded, maybe you could get close, chat with Quentin, and ask for an autograph. A heaven-sent opportunity!]
3L: [Jealous… I want an autograph too [crying loudly]]
4L: [For this kind of thing, just post on Moments. OP, we’re just netizens. You really don’t need to let us know everything. It’s too presumptuous T v T]
5L: [Let me see who clicked in. Hahaha, so it’s me, who didn’t even win a ticket. Hahahaha]
6L (OP): [Ahem ahem, you guys seem to have misunderstood. I’m not saying you missed Quentin’s rehearsal…
Let me break the news…
November 10th, 8:23 AM, a champagne-colored commercial vehicle, following behind a certain variety program’s motorcade, quietly pulled over at the roadside.
Subsequently, seven figures got out of the vehicle and walked toward the public performance recording studio a hundred meters away.
What made the scene go quiet?
What made the girls anxiously run toward the crosswalk?
What made those on this side of the road speechless, only lifting their hands to take photos?
OMG! An SSR-level blonde Quentin card!
Wow! Golden legend!]
7L: [What are you mumbling about… Wait, am I seeing things?]
8L: […OP you better be joking [kitchen knife]]
9L: [I can’t take it. I’m still in the taxi, five minutes away from the public performance site. Why let me know this news at such a happy moment… Broken defense [going crazy]]
10L (OP): [[covering mouth laughing]]
11L: [Dear fellow fan: By the time you see this letter, I am already on my way to the scene. Please forgive me for following you. I know, if I saw you in person, I would definitely not be able to resist a throat lock, a leg sweep, an Ora Ora Ora…K! O!]
12L: [OP, you’re dead.]
13L: [Hehe, OP, hand it over. You’ve already shown off, how can you not include a picture?]
14L (OP): [[video.mp4]]
15L: [!!!!]
16L: [OP is generous!]
17L: [OP is generous!]
……
35L: [OP is gener… Wait, stop flooding the thread hey! No one’s complaining about OP’s potato-quality video? How far away were you filming? Don’t tell me that blurry blonde head is Quentin?]
36L: [Ahem, well, other hot threads already posted high-def close-up face videos long ago, taken by other families’ fansite masters [fingers touching]]
37L: [Emm… Actually lots of families’ fans took videos and posted them all. Your news is too slow.]
38L: [Blonde hair really makes skin look fairer. Such a light hair color, like a manga character.]
39L: [This subject wishes to report the production team for mistreating the unlucky….!!!
I want to see Quentin at the scene too wuuuu production team you deserve to die, what’s with the lottery, can’t you give back to members and fans wuuu, or atleast put up a link to sell tickets [crying][crying]]
40L: [My bias always has new tricks every time. Missing any one time would be such a pity. Thankfully I went to the first public performance, at least saw Mr. Clown, hehehe]
41L: [Don’t show off. Unlucky person warning…Keep rubbing it in and I’ll curse you not to win the finals ticket!]
42L: [I’m sorry, sis…]
*
While Quentin and the others were diligently and earnestly rehearsing, the matter of their early arrival quietly bubbled up on the hot search list.
Other audience members who had originally been lingering at the hotel, upon receiving the news, rushed over to the scene in droves.
This wave of heat was a complete pie from the sky. The production team learned about it even later than the fans.
Director Wang, who was still filming the other trainees boarding the bus, secretly rejoiced. Fortunately he agreed to Quentin’s request. He knew it. This kid was destined for stardom. Whatever he did, there would always be plenty of people paying attention.
To conserve energy, the trainees only rehearsed from beginning to end twice, then reorganized the details once more.
After confirming there were no issues, they gestured to the staff below the stage to signal the end. Then they walked off the stage, picked up towels, wiped their sweat, and thanked the staff.
“Phew.. it’s so hot. I’m so thirsty…”
Wen Xinyi stood near the fan, using his hand to fan himself: “Do you guys want ice water? There seems to be some selling ice water across. Do you want to go check it out?”
Xue Mingzhu found it strange: “Across? You mean across the street? Isn’t that a park? Where would there be people selling ice water? You don’t mean fans, do you?”
“Why wouldn’t there be people selling ice water at a park? On such a hot day…”
Wen Xinyi raised his hand to wipe the bridge of his nose, gathering a palmful of sweat. He sighed: “Fans would be fine too. Actually, I want to eat ice cream. I remember during the second public performance that fans set up an ice cream truck across the street. We couldn’t get any at the filming base.”
Quentin had a towel draped around his neck, the back of his head leaning against the wall, eyes closed as he recovered his energy. He spoke slowly: “You should know, you can’t eat that kind of thing before singing. It coats your throat.”
Wen Xinyi licked his lips and said quietly: “I know… But there’s still over three hours until the public performance starts. Just a little… should be okay?”
He looked tentatively at Quentin, his eyes containing a plea and expectation that he himself was unaware of.
Quentin sensed the overt and covert glances around him. He opened his eyes and met several pairs of clear, foolish eyes. After two seconds of silence, he spoke: “No ice cream. Ice water is allowed.”
Xue Mingzhu sprang up from the floor with a whoosh, waving his hand excitedly: “Then what’s there to say? Let’s go. Go out and buy water, and along the way let me take a good look at all the stuff our fans set up!”
Qi Yang quietly reminded: “There should be a lot of people outside now. Going out might result in being surrounded.”
“So what if we’re surrounded? Fans are quite easy to talk to. It’s no big deal to chat a bit.” Xue Mingzhu glanced at him. “Qi Yang, could it be you’re socially anxious?”
Qi Yang: “…No.”
A staff member nearby who overheard their conversation interjected in time: “There are indeed a lot of people outside. The fact that you guys came early was posted online so many audience members set off early. If you go out now, you’ll definitely get blocked.”
Yan Qiao looked at everyone’s attire. It was still that sportswear, just looking more disheveled than when they first arrived. After all, the amount of singing and dancing in today’s adapted song was quite big.
They had originally planned to rest well before going for makeup and styling. But now they wanted to go out to buy ice water. They could not possibly wait until after makeup and styling to go out. That would be too late.
He thought for a moment and proposed: “How about changing clothes? We can wear the production team’s uniform vests? Then put on a hat.”
Quentin kicked his leg slightly. The loose pant leg swayed twice against his calf: “The main thing is changing pants. The red pants are too conspicuous.”
The staff member smiled and said: “Changing pants is fine. There are extra vests in the makeup room. You can also directly wear the pants you’ll use for the performance later. But then you’ll have to be careful not to get them dirty.”
Xue Mingzhu made an OK gesture: “Alrighty, got it!”
No one thought of troubling the production team to help buy water. They were much busier than the trainees. How could they impose?
No one mentioned having staff take them out either. After all, they were all adults. How could they get lost just going out to buy water?
So, seven young men wearing hats, black pants, and black vests sneaked toward the entrance, hugging a few empty cardboard boxes.
The cardboard boxes were for disguising themselves, making people subconsciously think they were staff moving things to the vehicles.
As for why only hats and no masks…of course it’s because wearing a mask in hot weather was even more suspicious!
“The seven of us walking together is too conspicuous. Let’s split up.”
Cui Yan carefully peeked outside the door while gesturing to his teammates in a lowered voice: “Me, Xiao Fang, Quentin, together. Xinyi, you go with Ah Yang. Yan Qiao with Xiao Xue. How about that?”
Xue Mingzhu paused and blurted out: “What the heck?”
Wen Xinyi coughed: “This grouping is too obvious. Let’s mix it up. Me, Xiao Xue, and Xiao Fang as one group. Then Lao Cui you and Ah Yang. Then it’s…Quentin and Yan Qiao. This way it shouldn’t be noticeable.”
Cui Yan did not understand the difference, but did not object. The others didn’t care either.
After hiding by the side of the main gate and observing for a moment, they divided into temporary groupings. With their heads lowered and hugging boxes, they quietly made their way out.
Quentin could see the nervousness in their hearts. But, more than their nervousness, there seemed to be a certain eagerness to try.
It was unclear whether these guys were looking forward to being recognized by fans, or found the thrill of hiding their identities and blending into the crowd under everyone’s watchful eyes exciting.
Quentin was the most natural performer among this group. Mm, he had done this kind of thing a lot of times in his previous life.
Ask any world-class superstar if they had experiences of being blocked and chased by enthusiastic fans?
Pretending to be a passerby and casually strolling out of the crowd…in his past life, this move would never have fooled the sharp eyes of die-hard fans a hundred percent of the time.
But in this life, Quentin had not yet had many opportunities for offline meetings with new fans. The audience members attending the three public performances were all different. The official backend settings would not allow the same person to win tickets multiple times.
He pulled his hat brim down low, not letting a single strand of hair show outside. At the same time, he closely followed behind Yan Qiao, using Yan Qiao’s height to shield himself…
Mm, how had he also gotten competitive? It was all his teammates’ fault!
