[04]

"Damn, wouldn't that mean rivals meeting with red in their eyes? I don't believe Ye Zexi had really let it go!"

As the livestream drew near, the atmosphere backstage suddenly grew tense.

The door to the mentors' lounge was pushed open from outside, and Shan Zeyu immediately spotted the tall figure of a man sitting on the sofa.

"Still reading the script?" Shan Zeyu handed him a cup of coffee.

Only then did the man look up at the sound. Warm yellow light spilled down from above, softening his originally sharp features. His handsome eyes narrowed slightly as he made out the person in front of him.

He Jinyun's thin lips curved faintly. He took the coffee without committing either way. "Filming starts in a month."

Shan Zeyu naturally knew his friend had come to Era Idol to cast for a role. He raised a brow and smiled. "Still haven't found your target?"

He Jinyun took a sip of coffee, his Adam's apple bobbing slightly. After a pause, he said, "I have one candidate in mind, but the chances aren't high."

Shan Zeyu was intrigued. "Oh? Someone would actually turn down your invitation?"

He Jinyun gave him a name.

Shan Zeyu's expression instantly turned meaningful.

There was no other reason—this person was currently being hotly discussed across the internet.

Half an hour before the livestream, Era Idol's official account opened the livestream channel. Countless viewers flooded in at once, and the barrage was already incredibly lively.

Many fans were cheering on their own idols, while quite a few others had come just to look at handsome guys.

But those were the minority. Most of the barrage had come to watch Ye Zexi make a fool of himself.

After another day of brewing, word of Ye Zexi lip-syncing during rehearsal had spread nearly everywhere. Tang Jing's fans, eager to vent their anger for their younger brother, had been loudly spreading the claim that Ye Zexi had lip-synced.

The barrage might not have been a bloody battlefield yet, but a storm was clearly brewing.

At nine that evening, the livestream officially began.

Vocal mentor Shan Zeyu and dance mentor Qu Xiao were the first to appear before the audience.

Holy hell. Shan Zeyu had won Best Male Mandarin Pop Singer for three consecutive years, while Qu Xiao was the leader of the nation's top girl group. When had they joined Era Idol?

Why hadn't there been any news at all?

Countless fans had only just received the news and hurried over.

The barrage erupted into a frenzy of comments.

But that wasn't all. When three-time Golden Award-winning Best Actor He Jinyun appeared as a guest mentor, the livestream room nearly crashed.

Best Actor He, who practically never appeared on variety shows, had joined one—and it was a boy-group survival show!

His fans were losing their minds!

Fortunately, the tech staff had been guarding the livestream room all along and quickly saved the situation. The lag some viewers experienced was soon resolved as well.

After the senior stars had built up the excitement, the atmosphere was thoroughly warmed up. It was time for the newcomers to take the stage. The mentors didn't waste words and directly announced the first performance of the night—"Is This Heart Fluttering."

Sharp-eyed viewers noticed that the first performance was actually Tang Jing and Ye Zexi's!

Should they call the production team bold, or simply fearless? They had opened with something huge!

The barrage flew by even faster now.

"Damn, I was just admiring my brother's gorgeous face, and now I have to watch these brats?"

"I'm leaving. I'll come back when Whale shows up!"

"Why leave? I think what comes next will be even more exciting. Let's see how Ye Zexi lip-syncs today!"

There was no shortage of people eager for drama. At that moment, the camera turned and settled on Ye Zexi's face.

The fair-skinned young man wore light makeup. Under the lights, his peach-blossom eyes looked even more radiant. He even gave the camera a quick wink with his right eye.

"? That's Ye Zexi?"

"Damn, he winked at me! I need to go wash my eyes!"

"He's singing first?"

As the intro ended, a clear male voice with a faint magnetic quality cut through ten thousand miles of dark clouds and rang out distinctly—

"The wind chime on the street corner rings dong-dong, ding-ding in the breeze."

The barrage went blank for an instant, followed by a flood of exclamation marks.

Huh?

Why did that actually sound kind of good?

"Wait! Did I hear that right? Was that Ye Zexi's voice just now?"

"He wasn't off-key."

"Fully live?! That's awesome!"

"To be fair, he sang pretty well."

"Wasn't he supposed to have lip-synced? Then how..."

A comment drifted by, finally clearing up the audience's confusion.

"Maybe Ye Zexi offended someone, and they bought trending searches to deliberately smear him?"

For a moment, the barrage's discussion grew even fiercer.

"Damn, now that you put it that way, that really is possible?"

"But he's only sung two lines. It's too early to draw conclusions. Let's keep watching."

Quite a few viewers shared that attitude and continued watching. Even many fans who had originally planned to leave paused with their hands over the button to close the livestream.

If they could pass the time listening to singing of this level, that didn't seem so bad.

A song only lasted a few minutes, so each trainee naturally had few lines. As the barrage continued discussing it, the camera moved across several more trainees before finally returning to Ye Zexi and Tang Jing.

"Here it comes!"

"Ye Zexi and Tang Jing are singing together! Damn, Ye Zexi's voice really is nice! He sings really well!"

"One is clear and bright, the other low and deep. Their voices match so well!"

"It unexpectedly sounds so good!"

The accompaniment reached the chorus, and the camera turned again.

This was a chorus by all ten contestants. Ten distinct voices blended together perfectly, bringing the audience another auditory feast.

As soon as the chorus ended, the shot returned to Ye Zexi. The pink-haired young man blinked his pretty eyes at the camera as dazzling lights swept over his handsome features.

The lights suddenly cut out, and the stage went dark.

In the darkness, a single beam of light fell on Ye Zexi at center stage. Ye Zexi asked playfully, "Is your heart fluttering? Ahem, ahem—"