Chapter 11

"But come to think of it-"

Jiang Yu leaned against the wall and recalled the last thing she had heard. Suddenly, she looked at Gu Zhijing. "I think it was because of you."

Gu Zhijing froze and pointed at himself. "Because of me?"

Xu Linyuan seemed to realize something. "I thought it was strange too. Sheng Chi isn't usually the type to hit people, unless Qi Wang really said something way out of line..."

He glanced at Gu Zhijing, then suddenly paused and deliberately changed the subject. "I'm a little worried about Sheng Chi now."

"Brother Fei has always liked him, but Qi Wang's brother is a shareholder in the company."

"If this really blows up, Sheng Chi might... have to leave."

Gu Zhijing went rigid.

He had chosen to give up so the future debut group could debut smoothly and Sheng Chi could fulfill his dream.

Yet somehow, he might have ended up destroying Sheng Chi's dream anyway.

Gu Zhijing walked out in silence, his mind full of scenes from his argument with Sheng Chi the night before.

Only he knew how little he had meant the things he had said then.

At first, he really had known nothing about being an idol.

Later, he had started learning and training, and he had seen countless people shine onstage.

He remembered when Fei Yue had picked him up. He had mocked himself for being good for nothing, unable to do anything, and just freeloading off the company.

But Fei Yue had looked at him with a serious expression.

He had said, "Don't belittle yourself, and don't give up."

"You're the ideal visual for a boy group, as far as I'm concerned."

His days as a trainee had indeed been exhausting and dull.

But he had never once wanted to leave.

How could it not have been his dream?

It had long since become his dream through every practice, every evaluation, and every stage performance over the years.

Gu Zhijing wandered aimlessly down the hallway, his head buzzing in confusion.

He remembered a lot of things.

He remembered the night Sheng Chi had had a nightmare and told him about his past.

He also remembered Sheng Chi shining onstage during the evaluation at the end of July.

He remembered training day and night in the practice room, his bruised knees, the sweat he had shed, the planks he had done, and every dance he had painstakingly worked through.

Finally, he remembered the young man who had stood before him and asked if he wanted to debut.

If he were asked again,

this time, he would say it without fail.

Of course.

I want to debut with you.

After calming down and thinking everything through, Gu Zhijing decided to do two things.

First, he would send his family a message.

His family had yet to drag him home by force for two reasons. First, Gu Zeduan was too stubborn and strong-willed to resort to such a despicable tactic. Second, they thought he would eventually yield to reality and come home to admit he was wrong.

They hadn't expected the young master, whom they had thought incapable of enduring hardship, to hold out.

That left them with no choice but to eat away at his future.

They would make him realize that without the Gu family, he was nothing; not only would he accomplish nothing, he would also drag down the people around him.

Their plan was well thought out.

But they didn't know that Gu Zhijing had ideas of his own.

He tapped the screen and pressed send.

The text was for his older sister.

[Blacklist me all you want. I'm not afraid, and neither are my teammates.]

[But if you really do it, all I can say is that if this is what you're like as parents, I'll be ashamed of you for the rest of my life, and ashamed that I was born into the Gu family.]

It wasn't a particularly clever threat.

But Gu Zhijing knew his sister would pass the message on to their father.

His family knew him.

And he knew his father.

Gu Zeduan was a middle-aged man who would fly into a rage when someone saw through his intentions, and might even do the exact opposite.

Calling out what he was doing so frankly would instead make him disdain to act.

At the very least, he would put on airs and scold him: You ungrateful little brat. Does he really think he can debut and become a hit if I don't interfere? Impossible. Let him go in and get a taste of how brutal the entertainment industry is. This time I won't lift a finger. Let's see how he fares.

Gu Zhijing had imagined it all quite well.

What he didn't know, however, was this:

When Gu Zhixing passed the message on to Gu Zeduan as he had hoped, Gu Zeduan did indeed stay angry for a long time, but in the end he said only one thing.

"Forget it. Let him do as he pleases."

"Zhixing, come here."

"Are you interested in learning management?"

The second thing was to make up with Sheng Chi.

But compared with the first, this seemed harder to do.

Gu Zhijing was usually extremely well-behaved. He was quick to admit fault, and acting sweet to plead for leniency came naturally to him.

But when he really had a fight with someone, he also found it hard to swallow his pride and make peace.

When he heard Sheng Chi had been called to the office for a talk, he sneaked over, intending to eavesdrop and see what Sheng Chi had to say.

Inside the office.

Fei Yue put down the file in his hand and rubbed his temples, looking rather troubled. He looked at the person standing before him. "Tell me, what happened?"

Sheng Chi's expression was still cold. "There's nothing to say."

He bowed slightly and offered an insincere apology. "I shouldn't have hit someone at the company. I'm sorry."

"Forget it, forget it."

Fei Yue waved his hand and sighed. "I know you. As for Qi Wang, I can pretty much guess what nasty things he might have said. Forget it, I'll go talk to him too-"

"No."

Sheng Chi suddenly raised his eyes. "If it were just an ordinary provocation directed at me, I wouldn't care."

"But if he's spreading rumors and slandering another artist at the company, I don't think that's something I can tolerate."

"Given his personality, he'll definitely cause more trouble in the future."

"I don't want rumors of bullying within the debut group down the line."

Sheng Chi spoke with utmost seriousness.

Fei Yue frowned at once. "What exactly happened?"

Sheng Chi looked a little uncomfortable. After a moment of silence, he still refused to say.

Seeing him like that, Fei Yue made his own plans. He took note of the matter and said, "I understand."

"Oh, right. The final debut evaluation at the end of August is coming up soon."

"With your ranking, you can take either the center or leader position. You can choose for yourself."

"The top few are basically settled. Now it's just the last spot."

"Several people are very close in the rankings for that spot. Although the final ranking is the main consideration, when we pick someone, we mainly consider the group's overall lineup. Do you have any thoughts?"

Outside the door, Gu Zhijing abruptly held his breath, then lowered his eyes dejectedly.

Before, Sheng Chi would have said his name without hesitation.

Now he had ranked near the bottom twice, and even Brother Fei was disappointed in him, let alone Sheng Chi, who had just had an argument with him.

"Actually, I originally had someone in mind-but forget it. I respect his wishes."

"As things stand, Wang Jue and He Yangming seem to be the best options."

"The group already has a main vocalist and a main dancer. One of those two can rap, and the other can be a sub-vocalist. Who do you think would be more suitable?"

Leaning against the wall, Gu Zhijing listened in and gave the question serious thought himself.

Wang Jue was a little more skilled, but he was close to Qi Wang.

If he were Sheng Chi, he would probably choose He Yangming-

"Gu Zhijing."

Gu Zhijing nearly slid down the wall. He froze.

Fei Yue was also stunned. "What?"

Sheng Chi's voice was as calm and even as ever, but it carried his own unmistakable resolve.

"I choose Gu Zhijing."

Chapter 12

The air conditioning in the office was set a little low.

Fei Yue raised the temperature by two degrees, paused, then sighed. "I understand what you're thinking."

"To be frank, if he hadn't deliberately made a mistake in the last evaluation, he would have been my first choice for that spot."

If they really had to say what role the group was missing, it wasn't missing anything.

It had people who could sing and dance, and people who could command the stage.

What it lacked was someone like Gu Zhijing.

Gu Zhijing was good-looking, highly talented, well-behaved, and knew how to win people over. He was great at attracting fans, and in every respect, he was the type anyone who signed him would like and promote.

But Fei Yue had seen his mistake in yesterday's evaluation perfectly clearly.

The kid himself didn't want to debut.

So Fei Yue could only respect his wishes.

Fei Yue shook his head. "Besides, with his current ranking... he'd have to place second in the final evaluation to close the gap."

"As you know, with you, Qi Wang, and Jiang Yu ahead of him, that's practically impossible."

"..."

Sheng Chi was silent for a while, then suddenly returned to the earlier question. "Is Qi Wang on the list of people who have to debut?"

Fei Yue looked up at him.

"It wouldn't be suitable for him to stay in the group. It would be bad for the debut group's unity in the future."

Sheng Chi said calmly, "I think it would be better to free up his spot and give it to someone else."

Given his position, it was actually quite presumptuous of him to say that.

But Fei Yue didn't get angry. He tried to reason with him calmly. "I know there's conflict between you and Qi Wang."

"But first, he hasn't committed any serious offense so far. Second, his evaluation ranking has consistently been in the top three. There's no reason to remove him at the last minute and stop him from debuting."

"...Even if he doesn't change his ways in the future and continues to spread rumors and slander people at the company in private, even his future teammates, that doesn't matter?"

Fei Yue froze, instinctively sensing something was wrong. "What did you say?"

Sheng Chi fell silent for a moment, but still didn't answer directly. "I can put up with it, but keeping someone like that in the group would definitely be a hidden bomb."

"Brother Fei, I hope you'll give this serious thought."

Fei Yue looked at Sheng Chi.

He still wore no particular expression, and his manner as he said it was proper. He really did seem to have no personal interests in mind, as if he were planning ahead for the future debut group.

Fei Yue tapped his fingertips on the desk. After a long while, he said, "I understand."

"You can go back first."

"I'll give this more thought."

Gu Zhijing stood outside the door in a daze.

He had come to eavesdrop and find out what Sheng Chi thought, but the instant he heard his own name, his mind went blank. He barely took in anything they said afterward.

Unexpectedly, the office door suddenly opened.

Gu Zhijing turned to look and met Sheng Chi's eyes squarely. His heart jumped. He quickly straightened up and called softly, "Brother Chi."

Sheng Chi: "..."

He glanced at him and understood almost instantly what was going on. After shifting his gaze away awkwardly, he asked, "Did you hear everything?"

Gu Zhijing nodded, then said quietly, "Thank you for still being willing to fight for me."

Sheng Chi said, "You don't need to thank me."

His tone was still cold. "I wasn't showing you favoritism. I genuinely think you're the most qualified of the people left."

"Even if you don't want to debut yourself, I still wanted to tell Brother Fei that. That's all."

"I do want to debut!"

Gu Zhijing hurriedly denied it, then looked up at him, his peach-blossom eyes shining. "I've thought it through. I was wrong before."

"But I've made up my mind now. I'll work hard! I'll fight for that debut spot!"

Sheng Chi was silent for quite a while, then suddenly smiled.

He said, "You found your dream again?"

His tone was relaxed, with a hint of a smile, as if he were teasing Gu Zhijing about the harsh words he had said during their argument.

With those words, the cold war between them was completely over.

Gu Zhijing understood and smiled too, shaking his head. "No."

"But I have a new dream."

"Brother Chi."

His eyes curved as he spoke with the relief of having finally let it all go and with determination, his voice especially earnest. "I want to debut with you."

Sheng Chi looked at him for a while, his heart feeling as though something had sent a steady tremor through it. After a long moment, he nodded. "Okay."

He turned and walked toward the dormitory. "Let's go back."

Gu Zhijing relaxed completely and followed Sheng Chi.

"Oh, right."

Sheng Chi suddenly spoke up. "Eat less junk food from now on."

Gu Zhijing said, "Huh?"

Remembering the trash can full of wrappers he had seen when he went out that morning, he frowned and said, "What kind of idol eats that many snacks?"