Those were a pair of very familiar eyes.
But what felt familiar to Quentin was not the eyes themselves.
He stood in the gap between the edge of the stage and the front row audience seats, and the only light source around him came from the stage. In such an environment of alternating light and shadow, it was hard for him to clearly see the faces of the nearby audience.
Moreover, the man staring at him not far away wore a mask and glasses, his eyes hidden behind the thin lenses. He could only tell that the man had three-dimensional eyebrows and eyes; all other details were completely blurry.
What made him feel familiar?
Quentin did not avoid the man’s gaze; the shadow cast by his hood concealed the direction of his eyes, and neither the staff nor the surrounding audience noticed their eye contact.
Was it two seconds? Or four seconds?
How was he able to perceive such quiet yet intense emotions from the man’s eyes in such a short time?
Just like those devoted and nostalgic fans who had loved him for so many years in his previous life, looking at him from afar, persistently.
Their gazes were not heavy, nor were they considered frenzied, they were filled with the most devout longing and wishes.
If he hadn’t recognized him as Jin Sui beforehand, Quentin would probably have only thought the man was a loyal fan of his, never associating him with his childhood playmate.
In the instant of a few seconds, Quentin had already left this area with the staff’s directions. He did not look back, yet he seemed to still feel the gaze fixed on his back.
He arrived at the position he had rehearsed countless times before Cheng Shaozhi went on stage and waited, surrounded by the cameramen.
The assistant director, who should have been in the control room, came personally to accompany the most popular candidate on their show for the center position, afraid that something unexpected might happen during Quentin and Yan Qiao’s grand finale performance.
Quentin did not mind how many people were around him. He divided his attention, paying attention to the situation on stage while still thinking about matters concerning Jin Sui.
To be honest, Quentin had never seriously thought about the reason Jin Sui appeared in this world.
The direct reason should be the same as his. He died in his previous life and by chance, was reincarnated and transported to a different world by a twist of fate.
The fact that such a classic novel plot could happen to two people at the same time, especially since they knew each other as children, was truly… outrageous.
As for systems and missions, Quentin could not arrogantly assume he had special treatment, but he also couldn’t just assume that Jin Sui was also bound to a system and had transmigrated into a book to do a redemption mission like him.
Because of these factors that were hard for him to verify on his own, there was no point in thinking about it any further. The most direct solution was to get in touch with Jin Sui as soon as possible.
As for the relationship between him and Jin Sui, in the previous life, they were childhood playmates who had not seen each other for many years. In this life, he was a benefactor suspected of raising him… that was how he had originally defined it.
With those clips in the growth movie, Quentin did not think Jin Sui was completely unaware of his transmigration. Therefore, he had not been overly worried about their future relationship before.
But that look just now… it didn’t seem like a childhood playmate who hadn’t seen each other for nearly twenty years… right?
Quietly suppressing the urge to look back, Quentin hesitated and wondered whether he could use this to infer that Jin Sui in his previous life was his… fan?
This wasn’t a question of self-confidence. It was mainly a faint sense of absurdity, yet it still made sense.
Meticulously raising a childhood playmate he hadn’t seen for many years from his previous life was a bit strange, but raising his idol from his previous life was very reasonable.
The assistant director beside him inadvertently turned her head to look over. Amidst the flickering lights, the blonde young man’s profile suddenly caught her attention.
Although the hood blocked the view of his striking eyes, the bridge of his nose, peeking out from under the brim of the hood, curved smoothly, leading to the full arc of his lip shape and slightly protruding chin, to the jawline turning near his earlobe…
— Undoubtedly a perfect handsome face! Even AI couldn’t generate such a handsome man with such standard yet distinctive features!
Thinking that such a person had a jade-green sea of support throughout the entire venue, the assistant director couldn’t help but sigh with emotion. The waves of the Yangtze River behind push on those ahead. Even with so many celebrity guests invited, it couldn’t suppress the momentum of this person reaching the top.
But since the main person was this handsome and had such charm on stage, it was reasonable for his fans to be a little crazy, right?
Thinking this, the assistant director cautiously looked around and saw the girls holding green fan signs either engrossed with watching the stage, looking down at their phones furiously typing, or whispering with fellow fans…
In short, no one noticed that the little trainee they liked was hiding right under their noses.
Thanks to the cameramen being tall and sturdy, they blocked Quentin, who was over 180cm, relatively well. Otherwise, a single cloak wouldn’t have concealed his presence.
The assistant director was considering whether to have Quentin squat down and stand up only when Yan Qiao appeared when her phone in her pocket rang a few times. She casually took it out to look, and her expression immediately froze, her eyebrows furrowing together, her face full of disbelief.
Whether it was because the expression on her face, looking as if the sky was falling, was too conspicuous, even Quentin looked over and subconsciously asked, “What’s wrong?”
“No, nothing.” The assistant director barely suppressed the frustration she couldn’t express anywhere, took a deep breath, and said, “The director is looking for me about something. You…”
Quentin very understandingly shook his head: “I’m fine. You go ahead with your work.”
Before leaving, the assistant director paused, whispering a reminder: “Quentin, let’s focus on the stage first. Don’t worry about any other gossip. Even if you hear something, don’t mind it. These things have nothing to do with the finals. You just…”
Quentin didn’t understand why, but he could sense the assistant director’s good intentions, and nodded, promising, “Okay, don’t worry. No matter what happens, I won’t let that stage get affected.”
Due to their height difference, the young man lowered his head slightly as he talked.
Under the large hood, his superior eyebrows and eyes were covered in a layer of shadow. The swaying stage lights refracted in his eyes, and the deeper green made the fragmented light in his gaze even brighter.
Thump, thump, thump…
The assistant director silently covered her chest.
Having been in the workplace for so many years, she had seen countless handsome men and beautiful women. There were also moments when she was dazzled by the beauty of domestic entertainment and her heart fluttered like a deer.
But that didn’t mean she could accept her heart swaying for a young man more than ten years younger than her!
She calmed her heartbeat first, then looked back with composure: “Not bad. Keep this mindset. I have a lot of confidence in your performance.”
“However, as a friendly reminder,” she smiled and teased, “you should try to avoid looking girls in the eyes when you talk in the future. You are young and your career is at its peak, so try not to attract too many romantic interests. Falling in love too early isn’t good…of course, fans are an exception.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she realized the ambiguity in her words and quickly added, “I don’t mean you can date fans. What I mean is that you should still look fans in the eyes when you talk to them. It’s called using your personal advantages. A little tip for charming fans over.”
In fact, the brief accelerated heartbeat from before had indeed affected the assistant director a little. At least she usually didn’t say this much to trainees.
Quentin calmly accepted the suggestion, moving his gaze from her eyes to her nose: “Mm, I understand.”
He watched the assistant director walk away hurriedly, curious about what had made her change her expression so drastically. Was it related to the finals live broadcast? Or was it related to the show or a particular trainee?
However, as the assistant director had said, the most important thing right now was the finals stage. Quentin didn’t want to spend any more energy paying attention to other irrelevant matters.
On stage, Xue Mingzhu’s solo rap had already ended. The atmosphere of the entire venue was ignited by him alone to a climax, and countless red support sticks were scattered in all directions like sparks of fire.
The young man wearing a bright red headband held the microphone high, and with the clusters of light of the audience in the background of the 360-degree stage, he looked like a king holding a torch. The Bking aura was so explosive it made people’s scalps tingle.
Xue Mingzhu liked to run all over the stage when rapping, occasionally interspersing many improvisations. This was considered an occupational hazard for many rappers.
He had to build up the atmosphere, right? If he didn’t run a marathon across the whole stage, how could he take care of so many audience members?
But whether it was coincidence or not, the place where the young man stopped at the end of his performance was very close to where Quentin was waiting, only a distance of three or five steps.
Thunderous applause filled the venue, and the hands Quentin had hidden inside his cloak also silently applauded the young man on stage.
Xue Mingzhu had deliberately left a few seconds in his two-minute solo segment to thank the audience. Of course, it wasn’t a long tirade. He stood ramrod straight like a soldier and bowed ninety degrees, turning to the front, back, left, and right respectively.
Four deep “thank yous” almost made the fans holding support light sticks burst into tears. Following a budding rapper to this point had been quite an experience, full of twists and turns, and finally had come to fruition.
Quentin saw that after Xue Mingzhu bowed to the east audience seating, which was exactly where he was, he seemed to be searching for something under the stage as he straightened up.
Soon, the young man’s eyes paused, meeting Quentin’s gaze from within the camera crew.
Perhaps infected by the atmosphere of the finals, Xue Mingzhu’s entire face was flushed with excitement.
He had fair skin to begin with. When the makeup artist did his stage makeup, they usually applied a thin layer of foundation, making it hard for his makeup to completely cover up the blush in his cheeks.
When he looked at Quentin, he didn’t make any silly face or teasing looks. He simply and directly stared at him with his sanbai eyes, all the words he wanted to say in his eyes.
For an ordinary person a few meters away, reading any message from his fierce little eyes would probably be quite difficult.
Fortunately, Quentin was perceptive. This kind of baffling eye contact could still work for him.
—Come on, I’m waiting for you to be my teammate. Let’s form the group and debut together.
Quentin easily interpreted what he wanted to express and nodded slightly in response.
In the close-up shot on the large screen, Xue Mingzhu’s expression visibly changed from tense to relaxed and satisfied. Even his eyes seemed less fierce.
[I’m laughing to death, this expression change is literally me when I get off work]
[Everyone is really nervous, even Xiao Xue has been keeping a straight face]
[Help, his fierce expression is innate… he’s not even doing it on purpose. This is just his rap style. Don’t overinterpret, everyone!]
[Is that the direction of the mentors’ seats? It’s off, right? It feels like his gaze just now was searching for someone under the stage [scratching head]]
[+1, his expression changed after he found the person, right [smirk]]
[?]
[You’re overthinking it, you micro-expression experts. Please, have mercy. Can you leave our naturally grumpy-faced, small-eyed, fierce looking Xiao Xue alone?]
[He probably isn’t used to wearing colored contacts. His eyes are probably uncomfortable.]
[Stop talking about this, focus on the stage okay? The next performance is about to start]
[Who’s next? The wait is so long. When will my bias come out [wilted] [wilted]]
[It seems like Lu Kui…]
[Him???]
[Uh…]
[Heh!]
[What happened? Why are there so many question marks?]
