>Topic: [Who happened to meet Quentin and also got an autograph + photo? Hehehe turns out it was me [proud][hands on hips]]
>Content: [[Photo.jpg]*2]
1L: [???]
2L: [What the hell, this was photoshopped, right :)]
3L: [360 degrees without a dead angle, but OP found the 361st, still very handsome, but a reminder to OP, this handsome guy doesn’t look good with beauty mode and filters, the original camera looks better [chin in hands]]
4L: [AI!! Definitely AI!!! OP is delusional! Quentin wasn’t wearing this outfit today, plus he came for rehearsal early, how could he be out and about being bumped into at this hour!]
5L: [Wait a minute everyone, did no one notice that the photo doesn’t only have Quentin? It also has my Brother Qiao… Damn it, Yan Qiao hasn’t even had a single photo with his own fans yet!! He was beaten to it by a rival’s fan!! Damn it [irritated][flip table]]
6L: [Upstairs…you talk as if QT has had a photo with his own fans either… Why don’t you check OP’s homepage first, they’re a fan of Cheng Shaozi…]
7L: [Pfft, it’s actually Cheng Shaozi… Let me interview you, Yan Qiao fans, how do you feel, your bias’s first fan photo was stolen by a rival fan hhh]
8L: [What’s even more disheartening is that OP didn’t even put Yan Qiao’s name in the title, oh, also didn’t put Yan Qiao’s tag]
9L: [Emm… Standing from Xiao Cheng’s fan perspective, I totally understand OP not including YQ’s name, it’s bad luck [mugwort leaf][mugwort leaf]]
10L: [Stop stop stop, go fight outside if you want to fight, I only want to know where OP took the photo now!!]
11L: [+1+1, OP don’t play dead, give us a straight answer!! Quentin snuck out? Where is he? Where is he?! I’m so anxious I’m spinning in circles outside the performance venue gate [frustrated][frustrated]]
12L: [The background looks a bit familiar… It feels like the park across the street, and there’s that lake, next to it is a convenience store, right? Is there any sister in the park who knows the convenience store’s location?]
13L: [I think I know, this is the road I came from, but this convenience store is a distance from the venue gate. When Quentin and Yan Qiao sneak out, did they come out to buy something? Is it just them?]
14L: [This photo looks like it was just taken, that cloud in the sky looks exactly the same as what I’m seeing now [photo.jpg], trust me, Quentin and them definitely haven’t gone far!]
15L: [@Cheng the heaven-sent main dancer, OP come out quickly, whether we can catch them today depends on you!!!]
16L (OP): [You scared me, I just posted, how come so many people showed up [shocked]]
17L: [OP haven’t you seen the trending topics? Quentin is still on the charts, word has spread that the high-popularity trainees came for rehearsal early.
Now many people suspect the production team is rigging, deliberately putting the debut group together in one team, if this keeps up it’ll be another trending topic… But OP’s post will probably blow up too. I’ve reserved a spot ]
18L (OP): [I hadn’t even noticed Quentin was on the trending topics… He was wearing his hat too tightly… Also his eyes are too distracting, his eye color is really green!!
This is my first time seeing such green eyes in real life! And he’s so good-looking!! A hundred times better looking than on the show!!! Seeing him actually makes my mood better!]
19L: [Another little girl charmed by Quentin~~~]
20L: [I suddenly discovered that OP’s homepage has reposted a video of the red fox version of Quentin dancing to “Lust,” OP was actually a Quentin looks fan already, right]
21L: [I also discovered OP liked some Quentin and Cheng Shaozi cp videos… OP’s fandom identity is complicated]
The girl walking on the park path stared at her phone with a red face, her fingers deleting and editing in the input box, momentarily unsure how to reply.
For the first time, she experienced the feeling of being surrounded and noticed by so many people. Posts she had casually published in the past were being looked through by countless strangers over and over. The constantly rising “visit count” on her personal homepage and the increasing number of little red dots in her private messages caught her off guard.
Even the negative posts she had published earlier complaining about trivial life matters had people leaving comments.
Even though these activities started because of a photo, because of the person in that photo, the feeling of being noticed, of being cared about, still soothed the dryness, irritability, and resentment in her heart like gentle water.
It also made Quentin, hiding next to a certain iconic sculpture across from the park, hear the progress bar increase notification again.
20.5%, 20.7%, 21.3%… Cheng Shaozi’s progress bar finally stopped at 22.5%.
By then, Quentin had already located the post the girl published through the system. The popularity of the post was climbing rapidly. The fans gathered outside the venue were spreading the word, and more and more people knew that a few of them had snuck out of the venue.
The reason he and Yan Qiao had stopped to rest was because the boxes were too heavy.
He looked around vigilantly. Pairs of eyes were shining bright like searchlights, and the scene was more thrilling than the previous two public performances.
It made people clearly feel that blazing, fierce, indescribable “love.”
Although the idol worship culture in this world was even more exaggerated than in Quentin’s previous life, he had experience from his past life, so he was adapting well to the fans’ enthusiasm. He could still think about the plot and the progress bar.
But Yan Qiao was still a bit shocked and at a loss, though his confusion was hidden under his nonchalant appearance. At first glance, he just seemed distracted. His healthy complexion was reddened by the sun, and sweat wound down his forehead.
Quentin could not help but look at him a couple more times, silently handing over a bottle of ice water: “If you’re hot, you can use this to cool your face.”
Yan Qiao: “…Thanks.”
If Yan Qiao was just confused, then the emotions of Cui Yan and the others in the distance were much more intense. There was a bit of fright, and also some undeniable self-doubt and fear of gain and loss.
At least Yan Qiao came from the country’s top idol training company and had seen many scenes of seniors interacting with fans, so he had mentally prepared himself in advance.
But Cui Yan and Fang Xu, who came from small companies, were the ones most unprepared for fans’ affection.
Which trainee hadn’t dreamed of standing in the spotlight, the center of attention? Which trainee hadn’t imagined being surrounded and confessed to by countless fans? But when all this actually happened, they were both pleasantly surprised and couldn’t help doubting themselves…
Why were they so enthusiastic? Why were they willing to travel so far just for me?
Why did they like me? Compared to the more dazzling others in the show, what was special about me?
Do I… deserve this affection?
The impact of the photo was much greater than imagined, because the tall and sneaky Cui Yan was the first to be discovered by everyone, and Qi Yang, who was with him, could not escape either.
Fortunately, Cui Yan had a steady personality. Even if he was very flustered inside and a bit clumsy when handling letters handed to him from all directions, at least his appearance was very imposing.
Qi Yang did have enough experience dealing with fans, but he personally did not really like this kind of situation.
He had a bit of a stalker fan attracting constitution. This kind of thing was quite mysterious; some celebrities were just prone to attracting the attention of stalker fans.
It was not just because he was handsome, but also because he naturally gave off a boyfriend feel, and the young general role that became hugely popular last year was loyal and tragic, earning him a lot of affection and tears from the viewers.
Most of his fans liked him because of that young general role, and inevitably projected the character’s persona onto Qi Yang himself.
Qi Yang had not been on any variety shows. As a freshly graduated actor, he still maintained an air of mystery before the public. What his personality was really like, even his long-time fans did not really know, let alone those stalker fans who equated actors with their characters.
A certain stalker fan who had followed him from school, to the film set, and even to the “NS” filming base kept using terms like “General Guan” or “Gege” in the notes she wrote for Qi Yang, causing Qi Yang to now instinctively resist similar words.
Qi Yang could no longer clearly distinguish his feelings toward fans. His feelings were completely opposite to Cui Yan’s inner surprise and caution.
Perhaps it was because he had not mentally prepared himself, or perhaps he was put off by the stalker fan, or perhaps he originally did not like being surrounded by a crowd…
While cooperating with Cui Yan to calm the fans, he thought to himself, ‘I need to hurry up and withdraw from the competition.’
He really was more suited to being an actor, letting fans focus on the characters, not him personally.
During this period as a boy group trainee… he always felt like he did not deserve the position. This was not a field suitable for his development. Just trying to keep up with his peers was already very difficult.
After Cui Yan and Qi Yang were discovered, the surrounding fans did not pester them excessively. Everyone behaved relatively restrained. It was just that because of the crowds, it was inevitably a bit difficult to move around freely.
In fact, most of the people nearby were not fans of the two of them. They heard people asking “Is Quentin here?”, “Where did Yan Qiao go?”, “Who else came out?”
They also heard people complaining “It’s so crowded and too noisy”, “So annoying, why didn’t I run into Quentin”, “Too many people, I can’t get an autograph or photo at all, what a waste of time”.
Fortunately, these fragmented murmurs were buried in the noise at the scene. What they heard more were those overwhelming confessions of love.
“…This is too scary.”
Xue Mingzhu, hiding in the park bushes, looked at the sea of people in the square not far away and grimaced with empathy: “So many people, I can barely see Old Cui and Qi Yang anymore.”
Wen Xinyi, who was squatting beside him, was counting the drinks in the box and comforted him, “It’s okay. Once the bus comes, everyone’s attention will shift. Plus, you just see a lot of people. If they wanted to leave, they definitely could. They’re probably just too embarrassed to run off like that.”
Fang Xu looked at the neatly stacked support props divided into sections around the square and quickly noticed the banner with his own name on it.
It was dark green, like moss. He had not expected his support color to be green. Quentin’s was also green, but a different shade.
“With so many people taking photos, the forum must be in an uproar by now,” Xue Mingzhu complained. “We’re really in big trouble now. How many people have ever snuck out and got surrounded by fans when filming variety shows before? Probably not many.”
Wen Xinyi: “…There have been. This kind of thing happens often, right? Celebrities are people too; they can’t stay cooped up all the time. Going out together for shopping or meals is very normal.”
Like when they went out to buy drinks, the production team had not stopped them either.
Cui Yan and Qi Yang got blocked purely because the public performance was imminent, there were enough audience members to watch, and their emotions were very stirred up.
Plus, with the consecutive hot posts and trending topics on the forum affecting things, everyone’s emotions were now extremely worked up. Everyone wanted to be the next lucky person to have an encounter.
If Xue Mingzhu and the others had phones, they would see endless related topics on the homepage recommendations.
>Topic: [Hey hey! Caught a Cui Yan! And caught a Qi Yang!]
>Topic: [I deeply suspect that this whole group that came for rehearsal early all snuck out. Sisters on site, activate your eagle eyes! Hunt them down!]
>Topic: [Requesting all fans on site to maintain order! Pay attention to park hygiene! Be sure to look at traffic lights when crossing the street! Use crosswalks! Don’t crowd or shove! People with no manners are just embarrassing their own idols!]
>Topic: [It’s so lively early in the morning, I haven’t seen this kind of excitement in a long time, the trending list is going to be dominated orz]
>Topic: [This is the famous “NS”… Trainees going out causes this big of a stir, OMG, the domestic entertainment industry really is getting a sudden rising star [shocked][shocked]]
>Topic: [Our group hasn’t even debuted yet and they’re already so popular it’s making my scalp tingle. Finally someone is coming to end the reign of Ice Cola!! Seventh generation! Your king is here!!!]
