"Damn, wouldn't that make them rivals meeting with eyes red from jealousy? I don't believe Ye Zexi had really let it go!"
As the livestream drew near, the atmosphere backstage suddenly became 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 with his back to him.
"Still reading the script?" Shan Zeyu handed him a cup of coffee.
Only then did the man look up. Warm yellow light spilled down from above, softening his originally sharp features. His heroic eyes narrowed slightly as he recognized the person before him.
He Jinyun's thin lips curved faintly. He accepted the coffee without comment. "Filming starts in a month."
Shan Zeyu naturally knew his friend had come to Era Idol to cast for a role. Raising an eyebrow, he 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, "There's one candidate, but the chances aren't high."
Shan Zeyu was intrigued. "Oh? There's actually someone who would refuse your invitation?"
He Jinyun gave him a name.
Shan Zeyu's expression instantly turned meaningful.
There was no other reason—this person was currently the hottest topic across the internet.
Half an hour before the livestream, Era Idol's official channel opened. Countless viewers flooded into the stream at once, and the comments became exceptionally lively.
Quite a few fans were cheering on their own idols, while plenty of others had come just to look at handsome guys.
But those were the minority. Most of the comments were there to watch Ye Zexi make a fool of himself.
After another day of spreading, news of Ye Zexi lip-syncing during rehearsal had reached nearly everyone. Tang Jing's fans, eager to vent their anger for their little brother, had gone all out spreading claims that Ye Zexi had lip-synced.
The comments might not have been a bloodbath yet, but the air was certainly thick with an approaching storm.
At nine in the evening, the livestream officially began.
Vocal mentor Shan Zeyu and dance mentor Qu Xiao were the first to appear before the audience.
Good lord. Shan Zeyu had won Best Male Mandarin Pop Singer for three consecutive years, while Qu Xiao was the captain of the nation's top girl group. When had they joined Era Idol?
Why had there not been a single word about it!
Countless fans had only just received the news and hurried over immediately.
The comments erupted into a frenzy of spam.
But that was not all. When three-time Golden Award Best Actor He Jinyun appeared as a guest mentor, the livestream nearly crashed.
Best Actor He, who practically never appeared on variety shows, had joined a boy-group survival show the moment he did!
His fans were losing their minds!
Fortunately, the tech staff had been guarding the stream and quickly turned the tide. The lag affecting some viewers was soon resolved as well.
After all that star power from the veterans, the atmosphere had warmed up. It was time for the newcomers to take the stage. The mentors did not waste words and directly announced tonight's first performance—"Is This Heart Fluttering."
Sharp-eyed viewers noticed that the first performance was actually Tang Jing and Ye Zexi's!
Should they say the production team was bold, or simply fearless? They had started with a bang!
The comments began flying by even faster.
"Damn, I just finished admiring my king'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 better. I want to see how Ye Zexi lip-syncs today!"
There was no shortage of people eager for drama. Just then, the camera turned and settled on Ye Zexi's face.
Light makeup adorned the young man's fair face. Under the lights, his peach-blossom eyes looked even more dazzling. 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!"
"Is he singing first?"
As the intro ended, a clear male voice with a faint magnetic richness seemed to cut through ten thousand miles of dark clouds, ringing out distinctly—
"The wind chime on the street corner rings dong-dong, ding-ding in the breeze."①
The comments went blank for a moment, only to be flooded by exclamation marks the next second.
Huh?
Why did that 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 be lip-syncing? How..."
A comment drifted past, 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 discussion in the comments grew even more heated.
"Damn, now that you put it that way, that really is possible?"
"But he only sang two lines. It's too early to jump to conclusions. Let's keep watching."
Many viewers shared that attitude and continued watching. Even quite a few fans who had been about to leave paused with their hands over the button to close the stream.
If they could pass the time listening to singing of this caliber, that did not seem so bad.
A song only lasted a few short minutes, so naturally each trainee had few lines. As the comments continued discussing, the camera moved across several more trainees before finally stopping on Ye Zexi and Tang Jing again.
"Here it comes!"
"Ye Zexi and Tang Jing are singing together! Damn, Ye Zexi's voice really is so nice! He sings really well!"
"One is bright and clear, the other deep and low. Their voices go so well together!"
"It unexpectedly sounds amazing!"
The accompaniment reached the chorus, and the camera shifted again.
This was a chorus by all ten contestants. Ten distinct vocal tones 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 beautiful eyes at the camera as brilliant lights swept across his handsome features.
The lights suddenly went out, plunging the stage into darkness.
In the darkness, a beam of light fell on Ye Zexi at center stage. He asked playfully, "Is this heart fluttering? Ahem, ahem—"