Chapter 13

"Damn, I'm a Tang Tang fan too, but Ye Zexi really won me over this time!"

"There are stars in Ye Zexi's eyes when he dances!"

No one knew who shouted "Ye Zexi" first, but soon the entire venue joined in, countless voices converging into one name—

"Ye Zexi! Ye Zexi! Ye Zexi!"

Amid the cheers of the entire audience, Ye Zexi bent over and gave a deep bow.

"Ahhhhh—"

The shouting immediately grew even louder.

Even Xi Shu stopped in his tracks. At this moment, the stage could belong only to Ye Zexi.

Two minutes later, the countless cheers for Ye Zexi gradually began to die down.

He Jinyun was the first to rise to his feet. He said nothing, merely brought his hands together and began to applaud.

Prompted by him, Shan Zeyu and Qu Xiao stood and applauded as well, and the audience erupted into cheers again.

"Ye Zexi," He Jinyun was also the first to speak once the cheers subsided. His deep eyes were filled with admiration. "You've amazed me once again."

The smile on Ye Zexi's lips did not fade as he thanked him with a grin.

Admiration was fine, but filming dramas was absolutely out of the question!

Ye Zexi gave He Jinyun a look that said, you know what I mean.

He Jinyun could not hold back his smile. The corners of his lips curled up as he helplessly shook his head.

Qu Xiao heaped praise on him. "Ye Zexi, you asked me before whether I liked you. Now I'm going to answer seriously. I really do like you!"

"To receive Teacher Qu's affection, my life is complete!" Ye Zexi blinked and dramatically clutched his chest.

Laughter rose from the audience.

Quite a few audience members had yet to emerge from Ye Zexi's performance just now, but this immediately made them laugh.

"Ye Zexi is seriously so annoying! I was still moved, and he actually made me laugh again!"

"I'm moved too, so I'm begging online for a recording! I want to watch Ye Zexi's performance again!"

"Watch it again? You're not going to keep watching the livestream?"

"What's there to watch? Do you think a Ye Zexi like this could still be eliminated?"

That was the truth.

Ye Zexi advanced without any suspense. His vote count was even the highest in the entire venue, sending him straight from the losers' bracket into the top twenty-five and knocking Tang Jing out of first place.

He was unquestionably number one.

Tang Jing could not sit still, but he had to admit that Ye Zexi was strong. He was like a king of the stage; merely standing there was enough to put pressure on others.

If he had been the one facing Ye Zexi in a PK just now, Tang Jing would not have been absolutely confident that he could advance.

Toward someone like Ye Zexi, Tang Jing felt both unwilling to concede and full of admiration.

Especially when he saw Ye Zexi walking toward him with a warm smile, Tang Jing even began to feel inferior.

That feeling was terrible. It made Tang Jing panic and feel somewhat helpless.

Until Ye Zexi waved at Tang Jing. "I'm back!"

Tang Jing froze in place, staring blankly at the smiling man before him.

"I really want to hear you congratulate me on advancing," Ye Zexi said.

Tang Jing pressed his lips together and looked at Ye Zexi in confusion.

The smile on Ye Zexi's lips deepened. As if he had seen through Tang Jing's doubts, he explained, "After all, everyone wants to be acknowledged by someone outstanding."

An unsettling emotion flowed through Tang Jing's heart. This was not how he had hoped things would develop.

Yet he could not persuade himself to stay silent. Everyone admired the strong, and Tang Jing was no exception.

What was more, such an outstanding Ye Zexi had called him outstanding too.

After a long while, Tang Jing's eyes grew slightly moist. Smiling, he said, "You're excellent. Congratulations on advancing, Ye Zexi."

The smile on Ye Zexi's lips widened further as he said sincerely, "Thank you."

Looking at Ye Zexi's handsome smiling face, Tang Jing's ears reddened slightly, and he awkwardly looked away.

Humble and outstanding.

Someone like Ye Zexi would definitely become popular, Tang Jing thought.

That night's trending searches were the best proof.

It was just that Ye Zexi never expected this to make him the contestant on Era Idol with the most male fans.

Yes, male fans! Not female fans!

Chapter 13

Not long after Ye Zexi finished performing that night, a high-definition fan recording of Ye Zexi's "Gurenge Gokuraku Jodo" was uploaded online.

Compared to livestream recordings, the fan recording was far clearer, and the frame contained only Ye Zexi from beginning to end. There were no camera cuts from the livestream; it recorded all of Ye Zexi's stage performance in its entirety.

It was more direct and more breathtaking.

Ye Zexi's exquisite features were magnified, and even the beads of sweat sliding down his forehead could be seen clearly.

Whether it was his looks or his dance moves, every single frame could be screenshotted and saved as wallpaper or an avatar.

Ye Zexi sang and danced at the same time, staying perfectly on pitch throughout, while every dance move landed precisely.

Less than half an hour after the video was posted, its likes and comments had both surpassed ten thousand. It quickly made it onto a certain site's homepage recommendations.

Countless fans went to check in and rewatch it, while countless anime-loving men and women among the general public were drawn in as well.

His low voice combined with his energetic dance steps was not inferior to any girl's performance, making quite a few anime-loving men's hearts skip a beat.

The bullet comments were all:

"I'm losing it! Why is my heart beating so fast?! I'm a guy!"

"Sure enough, only men understand men! I love this shoulder shake so much!"

"awsl."

Even some straight men said outright:

"Ye Zexi, bro, I hereby declare that you have one more male fan from now on!"

"Wait for me, person above! New male fan reporting in!"

"Male fan +1."

"+10086"

"For this dance alone, I'm voting for you to debut in the center position!"

More and more people liked, voted for, and shared the video. Within a day, it surged into the site-wide top five rankings, while the tag #YeZexiGokurakuJodo# remained on that day's trending list.