Chapter 8

At the suggestion, the other four teammates wore different expressions.

In the end, they agreed to the second proposal—fair competition for the Center Position.

Other than Ye Zexi, all four team members competed for the Center Position.

Ye Zexi gave his one and only vote to Jiang Ran.

Jiang Ran found the whole day utterly baffling. How had he suddenly gotten the Center Position? And become the captain, too?

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 unusual was bound to be suspicious. After a full day of training, Jiang Ran stayed one hundred percent alert, afraid Ye Zexi would catch even the slightest flaw and use it as an excuse to demand a change in Center Position.

But after two consecutive days, Ye Zexi had remained cooperative during team training. Still, wasn't he a little too laid-back?

If not for Ye Zexi's eye-catching pink hair, Jiang Ran would have doubted whether Ye Zexi had actually opened his mouth to sing during practice.

In the blink of an eye, it was Sunday.

On the Friday of the live performance, Era Idol had already become popular. By the next day, the official account was flooded with viewers and fans demanding updates.

On Saturday night, the first edited episode went online. By midnight that night, total views had already surpassed ten million.

When viewers hit play, the production team first gave them a brief recap of the show's preparations, then introduced the one hundred carefully selected trainees in a single uninterrupted 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 cheering comments, the scene shifted and the timeline returned to one 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 trade harsh words.

As the days passed, it was soon the final day before the live performance.

The camera swept over every contestant. Facing the lens, every one of them spoke about how nervous they were.

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 before the camera wore headphones, occasionally nodding along to the beat.

Noticing the camera suddenly move closer, Ye Zexi removed one side of his headphones. His peach-blossom eyes curved, and a slightly surprised smile spread across his lips. "What? Something I want to eat? I want hotpot. Can I have some?"

Comments:

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA holy shit!"

"Hotpot, my ass!"

"I heard the staff member laugh! Hahahahahaha, oh my god!"

"Ye Zexi is seriously going to laugh me to death!"

After the staff member explained, Ye Zexi finally realized 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 shifted 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, hahahaha!"

"Speaking of which, around the thirty-minute mark there's footage of Ye Zexi singing during practice. 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 is genuinely obvious!"

"I'm starting to look forward to tomorrow's edited live performance!"

"Someone who's already watched the livestream here to shout: it's absolutely worth watching!"

The show's Saturday viewership was impressive, and when the edited first live performance went online on Sunday, the buzz soared even higher.

That night, several Era Idol topics dominated the trending searches. Aside from topics related to the three mentors, there were also the names of several contestants.

This was the perfect time for promotion and marketing. Any agent with half a brain would not let such an opportunity pass.

But Ye Zexi never expected that without spending any money, his name would still appear on the trending list this time.

Chapter 8

By the time 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 slightly over the phone. "Ye Zexi!"

Ye Zexi stopped walking and asked in confusion, "What's wrong?"

Wei Lifei's pitch abruptly rose. "You're trending again!"

Ye Zexi was shocked. "What? How am I trending again?"

"I sent it to you on WeChat already. Go take a look!" Wei Lifei sounded extremely excited.

Ye Zexi hurriedly 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 particularly eye-catching—"Let's dig into the rich second-generation kid from the variety show that's blown up these past two days."

"Waiting."

"The variety show that's blown 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 kid? Are you talking about Tang Jing or Cui Yi?"

"Where's the OP?"

Nearly fifty comments had been posted in the thread, but there was still no sign of the original poster. For a while, every reply urged the OP to show up.

OP: "Stop rushing me. I'm here."

OP: "Cui Yi? Tang Jing? Sorry, but if it weren't for this boy group survival show, Cui Yi probably wouldn't even have made it into their circle."