Hearing the suggestion, the other four teammates all wore different expressions.
In the end, they agreed to the second proposal—fair competition for the Center Position.
Other than Ye Zexi, all four remaining team members competed for the Center Position.
Ye Zexi gave his only vote to Jiang Ran.
Jiang Ran felt completely bewildered by everything that had happened today. How had he suddenly gotten the Center Position? And become the captain?
Then he looked at Ye Zexi, who had actually chosen the part with the fewest lyrics!
Was there really a contestant in this world who did not want more screen time?
Something was definitely strange. After a full day of training, Jiang Ran stayed alert with every ounce of his focus, afraid Ye Zexi would catch even the slightest flaw and use it as an excuse to demand a change of Center Position.
Yet after two consecutive days, Ye Zexi had consistently cooperated with the team's training. Still, wasn't his attitude a little too lax?
If not for Ye Zexi's eye-catching pink hair, Jiang Ran would have suspected that Ye Zexi had not actually sung a word during practice.
In the blink of an eye, it was Sunday.
On Friday, the day of the live performance broadcast, Era Idol had already become popular. By the next day, the official account was flooded with viewers and fans demanding an update.
On Saturday night, the first edited episode went online. By midnight, its total views had already surpassed ten million.
After viewers clicked play, the production team first briefly reviewed the program's preparations, then introduced the one hundred carefully selected trainees in a single continuous shot.
"Holy shit, how many times did the production team rehearse that one-take shot?!"
"The boys are all so handsome!"
"Tang Jing! Tang Tang, charge for Mommy!"
"Ye Zexi's pink hair is way too eye-catching!"
Amid the barrage of cheers, the scene changed, and the timeline returned to a week earlier—the main episode officially began.
Over the hour-and-a-half-long episode, viewers and fans watched the mentors and contestants chat, train, and exchange threats.
As the days passed, it was soon the final day before the live performance.
The camera swept over every contestant, and each one spoke to the camera about how nervous he was.
Until the camera stopped in front of Ye Zexi—
The background music stopped, and a staff member's clear voice came through. "Ye Zexi, tomorrow is the first live performance. Is there anything you'd like to say?"
The young man in front of the camera wore headphones and occasionally nodded along to the rhythm.
Noticing the camera suddenly move closer, Ye Zexi removed one side of his headphones. His peach-blossom eyes curved slightly, and a pleasantly surprised smile spread across his lips. "What? What do I want to eat? I want hotpot. Can I have some?"
Comments:
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HOLY SHIT!"
"Fucking hotpot!"
"I heard the staff member laugh! Hahahahahaha, oh my god!"
"Ye Zexi is seriously killing me!"
After the staff member explained, Ye Zexi finally understood that he had misunderstood the question.
The curve of Ye Zexi's lips vanished at a visible speed. His face showed undisguised disappointment, and his tone became especially flat. "Oh, the live performance. Then good luck, everyone! I wish you all the best!"
The scene changed again, and a preview for the next episode appeared on screen, announcing the end of this episode.
The comments exploded with laughter again.
"That change of expression was way too fast!"
"Why does he look so disappointed whenever the live performance is mentioned? lol."
"By the way, was Ye Zexi listening to Is This Heart Fluttering just now? He really does learn slowly, hahaha!"
"Speaking of that, there was footage of Ye Zexi singing during practice around the thirty-minute mark. It was really awful! Ah, I'm actually just a casual fan—I don't mean Ye Zexi sings badly! My survival instinct!"
"The comment above is killing me! But Ye Zexi's improvement really is obvious!"
"I'm starting to look forward to tomorrow's edited live performance!"
"Someone who already watched the livestream here to shout that it's absolutely worth watching!"
The show's Saturday viewership was impressive, and when the edited version of the first live performance went online on Sunday, its buzz soared even higher.
That night, multiple Era Idol topics dominated the trending searches. Besides topics related to the three mentors, several contestants' names were also on the list.
This was the perfect opportunity for promotion and marketing. No agent with a brain would let it slip away.
But Ye Zexi could not understand it. He had not even spent money—so why was his name on the trending list again?
Chapter 8
When Ye Zexi received Wei Lifei's call, it was already midnight. He had just finished training for the day and was on his way back to his room.
Wei Lifei's voice trembled faintly over the phone. "Ye Zexi!"
Ye Zexi stopped walking and asked in confusion, "What happened?"
Wei Lifei's pitch suddenly rose. "You're trending again!"
Ye Zexi was stunned. "What? Why am I trending again?"
"I sent it to you on WeChat. Go look!" Wei Lifei sounded extremely excited.
Ye Zexi quickly opened WeChat. Wei Lifei had sent him a string of links.
When he opened one, he found a post on a well-known domestic anonymous forum.
The title was highly eye-catching—"Let's dig into the rich second-generation heir in the variety show that blew up these past two days."
"Camping."
"The variety show that blew up these past two days? Blind guess: that boy-group survival show?"
"Looks like it. But honestly, this boy-group survival show has way more class than the others. At least the contestants are good-looking and can sing!"
"A rich second-generation heir? Do you mean Tang Jing or Cui Yi?"
"Where's the OP?"
The post had nearly fifty replies, yet the original poster had not appeared. For a while, every reply was urging the OP to show up.
OP: "Stop rushing me. I'm here."
OP: "Cui Yi? Tang Jing? Sorry, but if not for this boy-group survival show, Cui Yi probably wouldn't even have been able to worm his way into their circle."