Bai Zhiyi sat back down. After Xu Jiaqiao and Yu Zeqi glanced at him several times, even the tips of his ears turned red, and he gestured for them not to be so obvious.
There were cameras around, and Shang Shujue's attention was on him and Zhang Zhichen, too.
The two understood his gesture and unconsciously withdrew their gazes, the corners of their lips lifting in smiles they could not suppress, tinged with goodwill.
Bai Zhiyi tactically sipped his water in his seat. He could feel Zhang Zhichen looking at him.
He had genuinely never imagined he would date a man in this lifetime... Yet in the future, not only did he date one, but it seemed to be an angsty romance?
Shang Shujue had no idea what Bai Zhiyi was thinking. After noticing that Zhang Zhichen did not seem particularly interested in Bai Zhiyi, he stopped concerning himself with it, propped his chin on one hand, and focused on the performances.
Lei Linya hosted from the stage, inviting the next trainee up to perform. The person coming up now was Zhou Zheng, whose gossip they had already feasted on.
The viewers and fans in the livestream, unaware of the truth, were still cheering wildly in the comments.
Most had been blown away by Bai Zhiyi's performance just now, and thoroughly infuriated by Shang Shujue's ridiculously arrogant expression.
[Bai Zhiyi's expressions were absolutely priceless. Even with his manhood injured, our Ball-Tugging Brother is still invincible throughout the universe, hahahahaha...]
[Tsk, why do I have to see Shang Shujue's miserable face when I'm having such a good time? Who does he think he is? Acting all high and mighty like everyone owes him money!]
[Exactly, what the hell is he so proud of? If he's so capable, he should go dance himself! I heard he's a tone-deaf piece of trash who can't coordinate any of his five limbs!
[Even someone as outstanding as Su Youchuan has shown his disgust for him, yet he still dares to declare his affection for him in public. As if he's worthy!]
[Shang Shujue, get out of showbiz. May all the capitalists die off! You've already sold your ass to Song Yanqing, so who else are you coming into showbiz to ruin? Please just get the hell out already. I can't stand another second of this!]
[Don't be so blatant, commenter above. Watch out or your account will get banned. My friend's account got banned just for saying Shang Shujue wasn't good enough for Song Yanqing... Be careful.]
Song Yanqing leaned back on the sofa with his legs crossed, his gaze sweeping over the aggressive, insulting comments one by one. His brows knitted tightly as his slender fingers unlocked his phone and saved the evidence, but he did not have anyone take action.
Rather than having him handle all this public opinion behind the scenes, Shang Shujue would probably prefer trading insults with them online. All he needed to do was send him screenshots.
Shang Shujue could handle something this minor. After all, he had once gone live alone to furiously take on eighty thousand haters.
He was a ruthless character who had verbally shredded every last one of them until they lost it. That mouth of his was so poisonous that one lick could poison him to death.
Thinking of Shang Shujue's past exploits, Song Yanqing could not help smiling. Whenever this guy insulted someone, he always delivered a killing blow. He had no idea how that mouth had come to be.
His lips were full and beautifully shaped, rosy and healthy. What would kissing them feel like? Would they be soft as clouds, or sweet as jelly?
Meanwhile, Shang Shujue had turned his attention to Zhou Zheng's performance. He was doing street dance, full of power and technique. Shang Shujue watched with relish and felt a little tempted to try it himself.
[Zhou Zheng's finished. Who's after him? Bai Xiaoze withdrew, so the person coming up is... Yu Zeqi? We've already gnawed this kid's gossip to shreds...]
Yu Zeqi: Emmm... Is that my fault?
[Nuomi, moments without gossip are so hard to endure... If I can't dig into the trainees' gossip, can I dig into someone else's? Like the staff, or the host...]
Shang Shujue swept his gaze around the studio before fixing it on Lei Linya, who was hosting onstage. After a short while, he looked away again, making everyone nervous as hell, especially Lei Linya, whom he had stared at for a while.
*[I can't? ε=(´ο｀*))) Sigh, what a shame... Oh, speaking of which, did I submit my performance song to the production team?]*
It seemed Nuomi had refused Shang Shujue's request for gossip right now. Then, perhaps after counting the number of people left to perform, he remembered that he did not seem to have submitted his song to the production team. His eyes suddenly looked utterly clear.
Hearing Shang Shujue's inner voice and realizing that his attention had shifted, Lei Linya instantly sighed in relief. She smiled as she invited Yu Zeqi onstage to perform, maintaining excellent control over her expression.
Only upon hearing this inner voice did the staff member who had been busy enjoying the gossip remember that they had yet to coordinate this matter with him. For a moment, it felt as though the sky had fallen.
I'm done, I'm done. My job?!
Halfway to the stage, Yu Zeqi heard Shang Shujue's thoughts and nearly tripped over his own feet just like Bai Zhiyi.
Seriously, Brother Jue, did you really come on this show just for the gossip? I thought you had everything figured out!
*[Eh, forget it. I'm just singing anyway. I can go up and sing while playing the piano... Hm? What if the mentors ask me to dance? Then I'll do "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star"...
[What if I get eliminated? I'll promote myself straight to investor, take a seat with the mentors, and I'm back again. Kekeke... If I don't piss the netizens to death, I'll write my name backward!]*
The staff member: Does this mean my job is safe?
Yu Zeqi: I worried for nothing...
The mentors: You're a real handful...
Everyone: Bro, stop yapping in your head. You're really making us envious, jealous, and hateful. Keep going and we'll find someone to deal with you! ꐦ≖ ≖
Shang Shujue's slightly wicked and overly lively inner voice left everyone speechless. For a moment, they did not know what expression to face this situation with, because it was far too melodramatic.
The netizens truly wished they could kill Shang Shujue right now. If they knew he would not have to leave the show even if he was eliminated, they would probably really be infuriated to death.
For the next stretch of time, unable to enjoy any gossip, Shang Shujue rambled incessantly in his head like a chatterbox, a stark contrast to the serious expression he maintained on the outside.
One moment, he praised his own heavenly beauty, narcissistic as hell; the next, he assessed how well the person performing onstage danced...
Then he started paying attention to the people around him, leaving everyone tense, even more nervous than when they performed onstage, afraid he would suddenly call them out and expose their gossip in public.
An hour later, fourteen people had performed. Among those fourteen were Bai Zhiyi, Yu Zeqi, Zhou Zheng, Jian Yichen, and Zhang Yunchen, the five whose gossip had already been revealed and who had learned their futures. All of them advanced.
Of the remaining nine, eight were eliminated, with only Xu Zhichen advancing. Those eight eliminated contestants would have to leave this stage after today's livestream ended.
They all looked a little unhappy, but they also knew that their abilities were not good enough yet. Staying really was not that easy.
But before leaving, they wanted to learn something, too. They also wanted to know whether their future lives would be as miserable as those of the others whose gossip had been revealed.
Yu Yang probably understood what they were thinking, so before Zhang Zhichen went onstage to perform, he sent a staff member over to speak with the trainee scheduled to perform last, who had not yet competed.
They wanted him to swap number tags with Shang Shujue, giving the reason that Shang Shujue had not prepared his song yet and needed some time to prepare or something. Qin Shuzhou, the trainee they approached, understood what they meant.
And so he became the person who would perform after Zhang Zhichen. After receiving his brand-new number 98 tag, Shang Shujue blinked several times and went offstage with the staff member to submit his song.
[Oh my, these staff members have sorted things out pretty quickly. This is great. I can keep enjoying gossip while I record a song. Nuomi, bring on the gossip!]
As though Nuomi knew those eight people wanted to know their own endings, Nuomi deliberately steered Shang Shujue's thoughts toward them.
And so, sitting at the piano, writing sheet music as he played, Shang Shujue naturally dug into their gossip...