“You… all heard that?”
Wen Xinyi looked at the two figures standing before him, one in black and the one in red, silently comparing their figures to the remaining trainees in his mind.
However, the more he observed, the more familiar they became. Especially the one wearing the red Hanfu, whose presence made his heart beat faster, and he almost couldn’t maintain the smile under his mask.
It couldn’t be such a coincidence. Speak of the devil and he appears, was this Quentin?
His attention was mainly on the red fox, but it was the black fox beside him, with a high ponytail and lazy, carefree demeanor, who spoke first to answer him.
“We heard it. We didn’t mean to eavesdrop.”
The tone was lazy, carrying a hint of amusement. “We just happened to come over to see if there were any souvenirs, and ended up hearing our names… What’s this about ‘real or fake’? What about me and Quentin?”
Wen Xinyi recognized his voice and quickly recalled Yan Qiao’s teammate in his mind. Then, he realized helplessly and unfortunately that he hadn’t guessed wrong…this red fox was probably Quentin himself.
The delicate scholar dressed in a blue robe wanted to raise his hand to cover his face, but stopped halfway, remembering he was wearing a mask, and let his hand fall back down.
However, even with the fierce demon mask, it couldn’t hide his gentle, non-aggressive temperament. Standing face to face with the other two, he looked like a poor scholar being hunted by fox spirits.
He sighed, feeling ashamed. “Just now… it was my younger sister asking about some things related to the show. She just started middle school, she’s young, and tends to believe everything she sees online easily.”
Wen Xinyi glanced at Quentin, hesitated for two seconds, then decided to just come clean directly. “You know what CP means, right… My sister is obsessed with shipping CPs from our show, to the point her head’s all muddled. She believes this stuff is real and asked me about CPs. I told her they’re all fake. I used you two as an example while I was at it.”
Yan Qiao sighed: “How cruel. Little sister’s mental state must have crashed, huh.”
Wen Xinyi felt like he could hear the little girl’s wails in his ears again. He found it both confusing and a bit troubling. “I don’t know why she got so agitated. I was just stating facts. When she gets a bit older… she should be able to tell what’s real and what’s fake.”
Yan Qiao inwardly mourned the collapse of a young girl’s fantasy for a second, then asked with interest: “If you don’t mind me asking, which CP does your sister ship?”
“…”
Wen Xinyi fell silent, unsure if he should answer.
Not answering might make him look guilty. It’s just CP, it’s not real, it’s just stuff the production team made up for hype.
He and Quentin were just innocent roommates and friends. Even if netizens paired them together as a CP, it was no big deal. This was an inevitable path for male idols.
Thinking this, he cleared his throat lightly and said: “It’s nothing, just me and Quentin. Probably because we’re roommates, plus the editing guidance from the production team in the early episodes… that’s how this CP came about.”
Quentin listened attentively. He originally wanted to understand the reason for the fluctuation in Wen Xinyi’s “plot progress bar,” but didn’t expect to hear gossip about himself.
Well… actually, this wasn’t really gossip, nor was it a scandal. As Wen Xinyi said, it was probably just a CP hype by the production team.
But Quentin found it quite interesting. In his past life, no one had ever paired him up in a CP.
For an original solo singer like him, apart from occasionally cooperating with other artists on brand-designated projects, the rest of the time, he only had competitive interest relationships with other singers.
He had no kindred spirits who deeply appreciated each other, no friends he clicked with immediately, no friends for online interaction. Not one. If fans wanted to ship CPs, they could only do so through forced pairing.
But thanks to Quentin’s face, sometimes when he attended award ceremonies, or even just walked a red carpet, if he happened to meet eyes with someone during the process, a small batch of CP fans struggling to survive in the cracks would still emerge.
The thing was, those green eyes seemed to look at everyone with deep affection, yet also coldly and indifferently. He seemed fickle towards everyone. A single glance would have fans conjuring up a whole lifetime of love and hate.
Unfortunately, this group of CP fans had too weak a presence in front of his fierce solo fans, so weak that Quentin didn’t even know these CPs existed. Thus, he never discovered the essence of his CPs.
Yan Qiao was also very curious about this topic. Hearing Wen Xinyi’s explanation, he couldn’t help but press further: “You and Quentin? Is your CP popular online? Does your younger sister ship it because of you or because of the CP itself?”
Wen Xinyi was a bit stunned by the questions and answered uncertainly: “Whether it’s popular or not… I’m not sure either. It should be okay, I guess? Judging by her tone, it’s probably one of the more popular CPs?”
“As for why she ships it…” He thought for a few seconds and smiled. “It shouldn’t be because of me. I feel like she cares more about Quentin.”
Yan Qiao thought so too, because from the phone call he overheard, all the examples Wen Xinyi gave were related to Quentin.
He always thought only one or two CPs were popular. He didn’t expect Wen Xinyi to spill so many. Were they random examples, or did his little sister really ask about all of them?
“”Actually, whether it’s the talent show itself or the future boy group, the popularity of CPs…”
Yan Qiao reminded him: “I don’t know if you’ve looked into it, but I’ve heard a lot at BKL. Once the group officially debuts, we’ll probably have to discuss it.”
He hadn’t originally planned to say this before the show ended, but since they happened to be on this topic, a few words wouldn’t hurt.
After all, among the three people present, whether it was Yan Qiao himself, Quentin, or Wen Xinyi, they all knew they were destined to debut.
Yan Qiao had signed with BKL at 12, and he had a deep understanding of the development path for male idols.
In the early days of idol culture, BKL focused more on cultivating the group’s actual skills. In terms of album sales and…
Back then, male and female groups were like all-around special forces soldiers…every member was an all-A trainee, and each generation produced a genuinely talented top tier group of idols.
However, as times developed, BKL became more and more adept at using marketing tactics. The idol industry became highly commercialized. Companies pursued quick returns and profits, leading to a significant compression of trainee training cycles, resulting in insufficient time for training of basic skills.
In the early days of boy bands and girl groups, there could still be some talented and brilliant “artists.”
But in recent years, companies have tended to view idol groups as commodities for quick cash conversion. The core competitiveness shifted from the “hard power” of good singing and dancing to “soft power” like looks, persona, variety show sense, buzz, and fan management capability.
In the company’s view, as long as they could attract fans and generate traffic and sales, singing and dancing skills weren’t important. Even if they were strong, it was at most a bonus; even if they were weak, fans would still willingly pay up.
BKL summarized the development experience of generations of boy bands and girl groups and ultimately found that rather than investing time, energy, and resources into honing trainees’ skills and relying on music show stages and work quality to become popular, it was faster to achieve viral fame through shortcuts like variety shows, TV dramas, social media marketing, fashion resources, or even scandal hype.
So, regarding the online comments that “BKL boy groups crush talent show groups,” Yan Qiao didn’t agree and even felt like sighing.
Of course, the old boy groups could crush them, but the new generation boy groups, specifically BKL’s 7th generation…were really about the same.
If Yan Qiao hadn’t proactively withdrawn to sign up for the boy group talent show, then he would have been the member with the longest training time and the most solid basic skills in the 7th generation group.
It was no exaggeration to say that with his skills, he would be the best in that group.
If it were according to BKL’s old development roadmap for boy group members, the group’s core concept and resources should tilt towards Yan Qiao, because he was the strongest, with the most outstanding qualities in all aspects.
Unfortunately, times had changed.
No one could resist the tide of the times. The resistance he had imagined in the past was just a mayfly trying to topple a tree, an egg striking a stone. Now, all one could do was comply with the trend.
Yan Qiao said in a low voice: “Before coming to the show, I inquired about some information on Galaxy Entertainment. They have nothing but money. To put it bluntly, they’re just a makeshift operation.”
“I was thinking, the first thing after we debut should be to have a meeting with Galaxy’s boss. We can’t just let them arrange all the group’s development plans.”
He tentatively gave an example: “For instance, before we officially debut, we shouldn’t rush to take on bookings. We go into training for a while first, to improve everyone’s chemistry and average skills as much as possible. Otherwise, our singing and dancing abilities will always be attacked and judged.”
If Galaxy Entertainment, eager to capitalize on the finals’ buzz and make quick money right after the talent show, rushed them into intensive bookings, it wouldn’t actually benefit the group’s future development. Fans’ expectations and tolerance would eventually run out.
Although big companies didn’t value group members’ skills as much as before, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse; even the weakest 7th generation group could still crush a newly debuted talent show group.
Yan Qiao knew BKL’s sharp and ruthless marketing inside out. He knew the talent show group’s weakness in skills would inevitably be compared to the 7th generation group. They could be weak temporarily, but not forever.
So, after the finals debut, they would need time to build chemistry. They should spend at least three months living, eating, creating, and training together.
From Galaxy Entertainment’s perspective, they certainly wouldn’t approve of such a gap period. It would be wasting precious resources, squandering the enormous buzz from the show finals!
However, if this show could produce a potential top star with overwhelming popularity and a terrifyingly fast-growing fan base, then this so-called gap period could instead be turned into hunger marketing.
Of course, this was all talk for later. Even Yan Qiao hadn’t thought this far, after all, they were still cut off from the internet. Who knew how popular the show was, or if any trainees had broken out?
Seeing that Quentin and Wen Xinyi hadn’t interrupted and seemed to be listening carefully, he continued: “For example, regarding the CPs we just talked about, we could also utilize them early on. I originally thought the most popular CP right now should be Quentin and Xue Mingzhu, but from what you’re saying, that’s not the case?”
Wen Xinyi didn’t expect Yan Qiao to start discussing future matters already. He tilted his head slightly, looking at the other masked trainees not far away. Estimating silently, he realized that both of their groups actually consisted of debut group members.
However, the rankings of the others weren’t as stable as theirs. Qi Yang’s popularity was stable, but he hadn’t been in the music scene before.
He withdrew his gaze, stopped paying attention to others, thought for a moment, and countered: “Why do you think the most popular CP is Quentin and Xue Mingzhu?”
Yan Qiao raised an eyebrow: “Isn’t that obvious? Quentin is popular, Xue Mingzhu isn’t unpopular either, and they’re glued together every day. During the recording of ‘Game Party’, they sat on each other, there was the princess carry on stage during the second performance… These things don’t mean much to us, but for CP fans, they’re huge sweet moments. Who else can compare to them?”
“…” Wen Xinyi was momentarily speechless. “You really understand this…”
Can you just say these things openly? He hadn’t been exposed to this before, so he had no experience.
Seeing that Wen Xinyi had nothing else to say, Yan Qiao guessed he probably hadn’t talked in depth with his younger sister.
As for Wen Xinyi saying he really understood the CP concept…well, he indeed understood quite a bit, all learned at BKL.
But if you asked who understood it best, he thought it was Quentin.
He hadn’t thought about it carefully before, but after Wen Xinyi rattled off that long list of CPs, he realized Quentin had a lot of CPs.
Although he didn’t know how many were highly popular, it was enough to show that Quentin really knew how to create them.
Yan Qiao pondered, looking at the red-haired boy beside him. He thought: “Quentin’s situation is special. He doesn’t need to cast a net; others will proactively swim into his fish pond. But for a CP to truly become popular, it can’t be one-sided.”
Like Quentin and Xue Mingzhu, there was a bit of a mutual attraction feel to it. Quentin and his two roommates… probably also had a good relationship.
As for Yan Qiao himself and Quentin, he didn’t know. Although he really wanted to build a good relationship with Quentin, he wasn’t good at socializing, so progress was unremarkable so far.
Yan Qiao didn’t think he and Quentin could have many CP fans, because in his view, their interaction was perfectly natural.
They had an open and honest friendship. Not like Xue Mingzhu, who kept touching and grabbing all day, and yet he had the nerve to suspect him of leading Quentin astray. He should look at himself first, he was getting more and more gay by the day.
To be honest, Yan Qiao found Xue Mingzhu quite annoying. If that guy’s CP with Quentin really became popular, he would be quite unwilling to accept it.
…Never mind, no rush. CP promotion can be discussed after debuting.
He knew a lot of tricks too. Wasn’t it just promotion? If a popular CP involved him, he could cooperate with anything.
Based on Yan Qiao’s estimate, the most popular CP would certainly involve Quentin. Having two CPs become popular would be very good; he wouldn’t ask for more.
Quentin, who was standing nearby listening quietly, felt Yan Qiao’s occasional glances but didn’t pay much attention.
His focus was on Wen Xinyi’s progress bar, which had increased to 25%.
Originally, the growth had fluctuated between 0.01% and 10%, but ultimately it had definitively grown by 5%. What was the basis for that?
Wen Xinyi’s younger sister, the so-called CPs they discussed, the progress bar that had inexplicably grown to 20% before, and the original plot that couldn’t be unlocked without contacting key figures… What connected these things?
Could this younger sister be that key figure?
*
As the sky darkened, pumpkin lanterns along the ancient town’s streets lit up one by one. Tourists in exaggerated costumes… ghosts draped in white cloth, witches holding broomsticks, the Grim Reaper carrying a scythe…began wandering the roads.
“Tongtong, are you serious? Do you really think ‘NS’ is filming in the town?”
The girl in the ghost bride’s dress looked around, both expectant and doubtful, whispering: “You mentioned the fox in red Hanfu. I searched on the forum and found him. Besides him, there’s a black fox and a white fox. Did you really see the red fox’s face clearly? Is it really Quentin?”
Mi Tong sighed helplessly: “You’ve asked me that many times. I’m not sure. There were too many people at 1605, I didn’t react in time and didn’t see clearly. If I had to say… it’s just intuition.”
Wei Man muttered: “Intuition… okay, intuition is fine. If we reverse deduce based on the outcome, it actually makes sense.”
“So many masked young men…it would be fine if they were park NPCs, but they’re not. Instead, they claim to be staff for the random dance challenge. As if I’ve never participated in a random dance challenge before.”
She narrowed her eyes: “This kind of open random dance challenge is different from those competitive ones. Why would they need so many dressed-up staff members? Hmph, something’s definitely up.”
Back when random dance challenges first became popular, the gameplay was far less varied than now. They focused more on competitiveness.
The core rule was playing snippets of random songs; participants had to quickly identify the song and perform the corresponding choreography. Those who danced wrong or reacted slowly were eliminated. The last one standing won.
But the one held today in Lulin Ancient Town was different. An intense, nerve-wracking elimination challenge wasn’t suitable for this kind of setting.
To lower the barrier to entry and let more dance enthusiasts and tourists participate, the “NS” production team chose an open random dance challenge, returning to the original intent of “random dance,” emphasizing improvisation, emotional resonance, and sharing a love for dance, not competition and victory or defeat.
Of course, that was the official promotional line. Actually, it was just for filming convenience.
The talent show itself was an elimination competition; there was no need to go through the trouble of setting up another competitive event involving outsiders. They planned this segment merely for buzz.
For example, the three masked fox spirits became a topic on forums even before they started dancing.
For example, Xue Mingzhu and his two companions, who proactively asked the production team for staff passes and wanted to play the role of atmosphere boosters, their makeup and costumes actually came from ghost stories in “Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio”.
Each group assigned by the production team had corresponding marketing topics, but their highest hopes were still on Quentin’s group of three.
They originally thought they’d have to wait until this episode aired to rely on Quentin’s popularity for further exposure.
But now, it seemed they might not have to wait until that day.
Perhaps, these three would continue to bring them pleasant surprises.
