Sheng Yuanxu had not originally paid attention to the man sitting behind Quentin, thinking he was the stylist doing Quentin’s hair.
Compared to a meticulous stylist, Quentin’s new look was clearly more appealing to the lens of his camera.
But when his eyes met the face of the “stylist” when he turned around, even when half-hidden by sunglasses, it looked so familiar that he couldn’t help but look a couple more times involuntarily.
“Teacher-TeacherJi?!”
Sheng Yuanxu was stunned. He remembered the celebrity guests’ lounge was on the other side of the hallway. Ji Sheng should be with He Shuyi. Why had he come here to bother Quentin?
Ahem, no, it couldn’t be called bothering. Maybe they had a good relationship… He had almost forgotten. Cat and Mouse Game had released the preview for its new season pilot film two days ago, and the guest list included Ji Sheng and Quentin. They knew each other.
As for why their relationship was good…wasn’t that only natural?
Sheng Yuanxu had never met anyone at the filming base who didn’t like Quentin after teaming up with him. So what if he was a great senior? Their team leader was considerate and reliable, capable of handling any problem perfectly. Once you worked with him, you would unconsciously gravitate towards him, rely on him, trust him, and become unable to leave him.
Maybe Quentin and Ji Sheng were on the same team in the Cat and Mouse Game. Who wouldn’t want a teammate like Quentin?
Ji Sheng calmly looked over: “Yeah, you guys go ahead and film. I need to get back and prepare for tonight’s stage too. I’m off. Let’s have a meal together later.”
He said the last part while patting Quentin’s shoulder, and Quentin nodded in agreement.
Sheng Yuanxu and the others silently stepped aside to make way for Ji Sheng. In the male idol domain, this big brother was indeed an outstanding great senior. In Ji Sheng’s eyes, they were probably just newly sprouted bean sprouts, invisible unless he looked down carefully, easily blown away in one breath.
So even though they really wanted Ji Sheng to appear in their vlogs, they forcefully restrained that impulse, honestly shut their mouths like quails, and didn’t dare to shamelessly get close to him.
But after Ji Sheng left, Sheng Yuanxu took a step and sat down in the chair Ji Sheng had originally occupied, leaning forward to ask Quentin: “Quentin, you met Teacher Ji on Cat and Mouse Game, right?”
Quentin looked at the curious young man behind him through the mirror: “Yeah.”
Having been tempered under the care of Team Leader Quentin for a period, Sheng Yuanxu had some understanding of the latter’s personality. He wouldn’t mistake Quentin’s short reply for coldness or resistance; he knew Quentin was easy to talk to.
So he joked in a teasing tone: “It’s more than just knowing each other, right? It feels like you two have a pretty good relationship. Are your personalities compatible?”
Generally, when asked about seniors in front of the camera, new idols would answer cautiously. Even if they had a good relationship with that senior privately, they would mostly praise and flatter them publicly.
Unless the senior first showed friendliness and closeness in front of the camera, to avoid being labeled as “desperately clinging to a senior” or “having too many schemes,” the best choice for a newcomer was to keep their distance and pretend not to be familiar.
Trainees from big companies should know these common sense things inside and out, but Quentin wasn’t one, and neither was Sheng Yuanxu.
The former wouldn’t care about such unspoken rules of interaction between seniors and newcomers. The latter, as a lifestyle content creator, knew even less about the intricacies of the entertainment and idol circles.
As Sheng Yuanxu asked the question, the blonde young man in the camera lens showed a confused expression, then said: “I don’t know if we’re compatible or not. You’d have to ask him.”
“Does that even need asking? Teacher Ji is such a big name, and you say that? He’ll be heartbroken!”
Sheng Yuanxu smiled and said: “I bet you and Teacher Ji had a really great time working together on Cat and Mouse Game. I watched his group’s variety show back in middle school. I remember he was a cool guy who didn’t talk much, but sitting here just now, he didn’t seem like that at all.”
Whether he talked little or was cool or not, he didn’t know, but… did they get along so well?
Quentin’s only impression of Ji Sheng was that he was “bad at games but loved to play them.” As a cat, he could be pinned down by a mouse; as a mouse, he would confidently walk into a trap.
Looking at it that way, Ji Sheng seemed like a pretty interesting person. He was almost thirty but still had a childlike heart.
He casually said: “Maybe he used to be a cool guy who didn’t talk much, but he’s not anymore.”
Sheng Yuanxu, however, took it seriously and said with sudden understanding: “Right, that makes sense. After all, I watched that variety show back in middle school. His personality would definitely change over so many years!”
Behind him, Zhuang Nuo couldn’t listen anymore. He raised his hand and heavily patted Sheng Yuanxu’s shoulder twice, whispering, “That’s enough. Do you want to get this whole segment cut?”
Was an idol’s age something they could casually talk about? No one dared to mention it except the idol themselves and their fans. Didn’t he know that in fans’ hearts, their gege was forever a boy?
Sheng Yuanxu: “Oh…”
The few people who came to film the vlog were all wearing the uniforms from when they recorded the theme song MV, and so were the 20 trainees sitting at the makeup tables. Together, they couldn’t tell who had been eliminated and who was still on stage.
After the trainees’ individual solo stages came the theme song group dance, so they first wore the suit uniforms. The outfits needed for the solo stages would be changed into later.
Although there was nearly an hour between the two stages, considering that the live broadcast would occasionally switch to backstage lounge shots, and the live audience and fans across the entire internet all wanted to see their own bias’s face, the time the production team planned to leave them for changing clothes was very short.
This wasn’t a hardship for trainees or idols. Changing performance outfits in an extremely short time for the sake of stage effect and audience experience should be a necessary skill.
Quentin and the others had already adapted during these days of on-site rehearsals. The production team gave them enough say over the solo stages, and things like styling were for them to choose themselves.
For example, Wen Xinyi’s outfit was very similar to the white suit he wore during his initial stage performance, only the texture was smoother, leaning towards silk.
He wasn’t entirely satisfied with his personal performance during his time on NS. Based solely on the program’s song selection and the cooperation of some of his teammates, it wasn’t enough to show the upper limit of his ability. Therefore, he opted for a similar makeup and styling to his initial solo stage, and coupled with the highly challenging song “The Moon in the Water”, he hoped to present the most authentic and complete Wen Xinyi to the audience through the final stage.
Take Yan Qiao and Quentin, for example. When choosing outfits, they specifically discussed it privately. For the sake of the overall harmony in the visuals during the transitional duet interaction, regardless of the style, at least the color scheme should be consistent.
But quite unfortunately, the backgrounds of their songs had nothing in common.
Yan Qiao chose an ancient style dance piece, while the song Quentin wrote for the debut boy group was called “Fairy Tale DLC”, which clearly had no connection whatsoever to ancient style.
In the end, the two put their heads together and decided to put on a “Fusion Of The East And West” type of duet dance.
Simply put, Yan Qiao with his black hair and eyes, dressed as a wandering swordsman from a wuxia film, while Quentin, with his blonde hair and green eyes, wore the attire of a bard from Western fairy tales.
The commonality between the two was that both had trailing capes and tailored trousers for ease of movement, and both would wear suede boots covering half their calves, with their trouser legs tucked into the boot shafts.
Apart from the differences in Chinese and Western styles, there were quite a few similarities in the clothing composition.
As for the colors, both mainly used green and khaki, distinguished by the depth of the colors: one used dark green and grass green, the other used dark brown and light camel.
Sheng Yuanxu did an interview segment on Quentin and the others’ styling concepts. He had done his homework beforehand, asking questions that the production team’s behind-the-scenes interviews hadn’t covered, successfully digging out the styling concepts of these two popular trainees clearly and thoroughly.
Time flew by, and soon it was 8 PM. The entrance to the live stream room was pushed to the front page of Youth TV. Countless viewers swarmed in, and the online viewer count in the top left corner of the live stream room skyrocketed.
[It’s starting, it’s starting ahhh!!!]
[F*ck, my heart is beating so fast. It’s the finals already?]
[Watching the live stream doesn’t mean you shouldn’t vote, babies. I suggest opening three screens: watch the live stream on your tablet, vote with your phone and computer.]
[Help, they just officially announced the identity of the surprise guest. Am I going crazy or is this world upside down? They actually invited Inferno to the finals? The production team is this generous, bringing a competing product right to your own boy group’s debut night… amazing.]
[Inferno is here, Aurora is here, ECHO is here too. Add the boy group debuting tonight, and this is almost as lively as BKL’s company annual meeting.]
[Don’t bring up ECHO. The bitch Ice Cola won’t let them go. My group still only sent the leader and the main dancer. I hope ECHO terminates their contracts soon, and all members escape this bitter sea [prayer]]
[Has anyone seen the front row of the audience? It looks like all the eliminated trainees came. Everyone is wearing the uniform!]
[I’m curious, did QY come too? Will this brother still play dead during the finals? [smirk] I wonder if there are still any of his fans at the venue. They’ve probably all run away by now [grin]]
[Whether he came or not is none of your damn business. Don’t assume fans will unfollow just like that.[middle finger]]
[Wow! It’s starting right away? This familiar music… Our gorgeous yet rustic-themed song is here again, twice, thrice~]
[ps: The ones who are gorgeous are the people, the song is rustic :-)]
On stage, countless lights converged at the center.
Under the spotlight, the 20 trainees were positioned in an inverted triangle formation. Standing at the tip of the pyramid was undoubtedly Quentin, firmly at number 1.
Compared to the theme song MV and individual cams from three months ago, the trainees’ performances were increasingly proficient and natural.
The familiar song, familiar uniforms, familiar positions, and familiar people.
The camera panned across the young, handsome faces, occasionally landing on the eliminated trainees sitting in the front row of the audience raising their hands. The lights also fell on their faces.
Some had reddened eyes, some secretly lowered their heads to wipe away tears. At that moment, the envy and melancholy in their eyes resonated with many viewers in front of the screens.
For the successful trainees, debuting as a group was only a matter of time. But for those who regretfully left the stage, the once heavy fantasies and expectations had already turned into bubbles, and the word “debut” had become distant and unreachable.
Unfortunately, in a survival show, popularity was everything. Only a few scattered comments expressed regret for them. In fact, most of their names were barely even remembered by the audience.
The four-minute group dance ended amidst the grand applause and cheers of the entire venue.
Next up was the hostess Qin Miao, wearing a black fishtail dress. Amidst her warm-up remarks and announcements, the four mentors took turns performing one after another.
The mentors’ fans were also very supportive. The online viewer count didn’t fluctuate too much, but to ensure ratings and show effect, the director team inserted special interview segments between each performance.
The “special” part lay in the fact that the questions for the interview would be selected from netizens’ suggestions.
At the moment each performance stage began, the official NS account would post a question solicitation post. Netizens could leave the person they wanted to ask and the content of their question in the post.
When the stage ended, the top ten questions with the most likes would be printed out and placed in a lottery box. The hostess and the stage performer would jointly draw three questions to be asked during the live broadcast at the venue.
Although forum netizens supervised the process, and the content of the questions was genuine, if there were unsuitable questions or too many repetitive questions directed at the same person, the staff would quietly skip them, as if only nine questions had been drawn.
After all, netizens couldn’t open the lottery box and count the number of paper balls one by one anyway. This approach was much more conservative and decent than reading from trending topics.
It should be known that the production team had originally arranged to conduct interviews based on trending topics, but considering that someone might maliciously buy negative hot searches at this critical juncture, why make everyone unhappy for the sake of generating buzz on the debut night of their boy group? So the production team quickly rejected the idea after it was proposed.
However, this plan was recorded in the computer by the employees of Galaxy Entertainment present. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t used for the finals; they could use it for their future group variety show.
Responding to trending topics and such has always been a timeless hot topic in the entertainment industry. Black or red hot searches were both OK!
After Mentor Yang Xu’s stage ended, the hostess recited a string of sponsors and briefly introduced the rules of the interview segment. During this time, the staff prepared the question slips, put them in the lottery box, and delivered them to the stage together.
After Qin Miao finished explaining the rules, she smiled and took the lottery box from the staff member: “…So now, let’s please have Teacher Yang come over here. We’re going to draw three slips together. How about rock-paper-scissors? The winner draws first?”
Yang Xu, who had just finished his energetic dance, was sweating on his forehead but wasn’t out of breath at all as he smiled and responded: “Alright, let’s do it.”
Qin Miao: “Rock, paper, scissors…ah, looks like I won. Sorry about that, then I won’t hold back.”
Yang Xu considerately held the lottery box for Qin Miao. She made a gesture of rolling up her sleeves, grabbed around inside the box with a serious expression, and finally pulled out a blue paper ball.
“Hmm? Blue, that means the question is directed at our trainees.” Qin Miao explained. “If it were red, it would mean the question is for our four mentors and the invited celebrity guests.”
“Without further ado, let’s turn the camera to our backstage lounge and see if the trainees are mentally prepared to receive the netizens’ ‘interrogation’?”
The large screen at the venue and the live camera simultaneously switched to the trainee lounge. The twenty young men had already changed out of their suit uniforms, each sitting on scattered small sofas, looking calmer than the next, even having the leisure to wave at the camera.
Qin Miao then laughed and said: “Oh my, it seems our trainees aren’t the least bit worried about the netizens’ questions. The audience in front of the screens needs to work harder. Opportunities like this are rare. Whether you can dig out their little secrets depends on your performance.”
[I just realized I don’t follow the official NS account… The question solicitation post wasn’t pushed to me at all aahhh!]
[+1 [crying], I quickly clicked follow, although my question might not be selected…]
[Don’t think too much. The top voted questions are basically for the same few people, and the content is mostly fans and CP fans fighting each other. My bias didn’t even make the list… so sad [wiping tears]]
[Has anyone taken a screenshot of the top ten questions? The like counts change every time you refresh. The comments have more likes than the post itself]
[? You can’t post pictures in the comments either. Go to the forums, baby.]
[I remember a question with a high number of likes was asking Quentin what his favorite color is.]
[Ah? Such a boring question can get many likes??]
[Don’t doubt the power of his fans… This kind of live interview is clearly designed to make things hard for the trainees for the sake of generating buzz. As fans, we definitely want to give our gege harmless questions]
[In this kind of segment, only black fans and casual viewers enjoy it, right]
[No, I’m a fan and I enjoyed it quite a bit]
[CP fans are even more over the moon hehehehehe]
Qin Miao’s voice rang out in the live stream room: “Alright, now let me see, who is the lucky first one to receive a question…”
She unfolded the slip of paper and raised her slender eyebrows slightly: “Mm, congratulations to our rap teenager Xue Mingzhu. He has received a question from netizen ‘3A Attractions Keeper.’ This question received a staggering 79,000 likes within five minutes. Let’s see what she asked?”
“Hmm, it’s a very interesting question.”
She smiled, looking at the trainees on the big screen: “Xiao Xue, please listen to the question. If you were to improvise a classic scenario of ‘a domineering CEO saving a white lotus framed by his fiancee’, how would you assign the roles and act it out?”
