Page 10

In real life, Lai Yudong was easy to get along with. Though he wasn't as outgoing and forward as a social butterfly like Liu Qichu, he was cheerful, easygoing, and friendly. People often came to him with their troubles, and his friends all agreed he was their "emotional radio station."

Cold and aloof?

How could he be? Those words had nothing to do with him.

If his status as an overseas contestant hadn't held him back, he would have struck up a lively conversation with Liu Qichu long ago.

As for why he had left that impression on the audience, it wasn't entirely because Lai Yudong was a man of few words. Otherwise, the bullet comments wouldn't have been calling him a "cool guy" and a "big shot" the moment he stepped onstage—descriptions that couldn't have been further from the truth.

Much of it was because of his face.

Yes, Lai Yudong had a face that kept people at a distance.

He had the classic eyes of a red phoenix, with hooked inner corners and upturned outer corners. His long, narrow eyes shone as he looked around, while the brows that sat slightly low over them made him look even more striking and cool. Together, his brows and eyes made even the simplest glance seem full of aggression.

The styling that had come with his transmigration sharpened that edge. His flaxen platinum hair made his skin glow white, complementing his primrose-colored contacts and adding an eye-catching touch of sophistication.

The moment he appeared on-screen, Lai Yudong looked just like a character who had stepped out of a novel.

On top of his looks, his nervous, unsmiling expression, his tall, slender figure with its excellent proportions, and his poised bearing all became evidence that he was "cold and aloof."

In short, a cool, cold-faced guy had burst onto the scene.

Did this count as fraud?

Lai Yudong muttered to himself.

If Lai Yudong had been a seasoned veteran of the entertainment industry, he would have been overjoyed.

The reason was simple—

A label could make a contestant more memorable to viewers.

Though the cold, aloof vase persona was a little clichéd, it was distinctive and easy to remember. It beat the generic words often found in classmate yearbooks, like hardworking, gentle, sincere, kind, helpful, down-to-earth, and so on.

It wasn't that those words were bad, but in a talent show where a hundred flowers bloomed, they would make someone "fade into the crowd." At least eighty of the 101 contestants could fit those descriptions, and even for those who couldn't, fans wearing the strongest rose-tinted glasses would force them to fit.

To debut, the key was to be seen.

Even taking ten thousand steps back, the label he had been given wasn't a persona Lai Yudong was putting on. He was being his true self every second; the audience had simply misread him through a strange twist of fate.

Looking even further ahead, people nowadays loved a gap moe, and it might even bring some unexpected results.

Unfortunately, Lai Yudong, who knew next to nothing about the idol industry, couldn't think that far ahead. His only goal was to scrape through one round at a time.

[Am I the only one who thinks this is pretty funny? Hahahahaha]

[I envy little brother Qichu's personality. He's not afraid of an awkward silence at all]

[No, no, no! If you met someone like that in real life, you'd know how scary a person who acts like you're already friends can be!]

[Why do I feel like You Shu isn't cold and aloof...]

[You Shu looks really awkward]

[Putting myself in his shoes, I'd feel awkward too]

[Me talking to my normie roommate be like:]

"—Huh!?"

Just as Lai Yudong was absorbed in the bullet comments, a sudden force struck his shoulder. A startled cry rang out beside his ear, and he jumped in fright, sliding right off his seat.

Luckily, he caught himself with his hand in time. Otherwise, he might have rolled onto the contestants in the row below.

He didn't want to go viral because of a livestream mishap!

"You Shu!?" Liu Qichu scrambled to help Lai Yudong up, his face full of apology. "Sorry, sorry! I got too excited!"

"Did you sprain anything?" The brown-haired boy in the row in front turned around and fussed worriedly. "If you sprained your ankle over something so minor, what would you do about the upcoming Theme Song Assessment? It would put you at a real disadvantage."

He delivered a gentle stab: "Though, with your dancing skills, it probably wouldn't make much difference whether you sprained it or not. Still, getting hurt is never good."

"...I'm fine," Lai Yudong said woodenly.

"Really? Don't push yourself if you're hurting."

"Mm."

Lai Yudong looked perfectly calm on the surface, but inside he had already shattered into pieces. Luckily, hardly anyone in the bullet comments seemed to have noticed the little incident. He had embarrassed himself far too many times today; at this rate, he'd be trained to have a thick skin.

He secretly glanced at the brown-haired boy's name tag. His name was Liang Zhisheng, and he didn't have a grade sticker, so it seemed he hadn't gone onstage yet.

"You're too enthusiastic. You'll make people uncomfortable." Liang Zhisheng turned sideways. "See? You scared him, didn't you?"

Liu Qichu scratched his head sheepishly. "Sorry. My friends all say I get a little carried away around people... I'll be more careful next time!"

"It's fine."

To be fair, Lai Yudong didn't dislike enthusiastic people like Liu Qichu. In a place where nobody knew each other, it was lucky to meet someone who took the initiative to be friendly.

Lai Yudong hesitated, then asked quietly, "What were you going to say just now?"

So far, this was the first question he had asked as a contestant.

"Oh, oh! You mean that!"

Liu Qichu perked up at once.

He tugged on Lai Yudong's sleeve, looking as excited as a cute puppy wagging its tail nonstop. "It's Jiang Yangfan! Jiang Yangfan in the flesh! He's probably the most popular of all the contestants, right? I watched him in 'Soft Words'!"

Jiang Yangfan?

Lai Yudong blinked and looked at the three-man group in the middle of the stage.

The boy in the center was particularly good-looking. His hair was dyed a soft-looking milk-tea gray-brown, and a faint smile played on his lips. He had the quintessential boy-next-door air, like the second male lead audiences loved most in TV dramas.

The other two weren't bad-looking, but they paled slightly beside the center.

[\Jiang Yangfan/ \Jiang Yangfan/ \Jiang Yangfan/]

[Why is Brother Fan in a group? Who are the other two?]