Chapter 25

r, of course, had no idea what his human was babbling about today and happily focused on eating lunch.

But someone else understood.

The dorm door opened.

Sheng Chi asked in an even tone, "What, have you gotten tired of me?"

The author has something to say: Brother Chi: ...

Brother Chi: ...Looks like I need to find a chance to throw this cat out.

Our international superstar Color-zi (shedding tears): That's not right, because I'm just a little kitty.jpg

Thanks to the little angels who threw landmines: Qi Zui, 8; An Xixi, 2; Reqing Xiao Jiji, Youzi, Weiming, and Lüle Pei Tingsong, 1 each;

Thanks to the little angels who supplied nutrient solution: Qi Zui, 62 bottles; Lüle Pei Tingsong, 22; Alie, 20; A Shi He Yin, Chang'an Yijiu, and Helan Dao, 10 each; Yi'an, 8; Muhezi Miao, 5; Reqing Xiao Jiji, 4; Yufeng Peace and QAQ, 3 each; Tangcu Yu and wenjiu., 1 each;

Boo-hoo, you darlings are so enthusiastic! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I'll keep working hard from now on too!!

Chapter 27

Plop.

Startled, Gu Zhijing dropped the bag of cat food in his hand.

In a flash, he quickly recalled what he had said and, certain he hadn't revealed any crucial information, immediately denied it. "Of course not."

"You won't believe this."

He started spouting nonsense with a perfectly straight face. "Color started it. He said he wanted to ride our coattails and become a big star."

Sheng Chi: "..."

Sheng Chi chuckled, walked over, and bent down to ruffle his hair the way Gu Zhijing usually petted the cat. "Feeling better?"

He could even stand here talking nonsense with him now.

It looked like the negative impact the sasaeng had on him had mostly faded.

Gu Zhijing's body stiffened abruptly.

His peach blossom eyes lowered slightly. A moment later, he stuffed the bag of cat food he had picked up into Sheng Chi's hands. "Brother Chi, I just remembered I have to go out for something. Can you feed Color for me?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Gu Zhijing made a quick escape.

That left Sheng Chi and the cat staring at each other.

Sheng Chi: "..."

Sheng Chi didn't like cats.

Especially a cat that ranked above him in Gu Zhijing's heart.

Could this cat dance? Could he sing? Could he rap?

How had he become the perfect idol in Gu Zhijing's heart?

He fed the cat with a cold expression, mentally labeling him as he did so.

Lazy.

A big eater.

Unambitious.

Unable to sing or dance.

Sheng Chi competed with the cat in his head for a long while. Finally, certain he had won in every respect, he said expressionlessly, "Tell me, what does he like about you?"

Color: "...Meow?"

Gu Zhijing went out and washed his face. After silently repeating "idols can't date" ten times, he took a deep breath by the sink and calmed down.

He was no longer a naive, panicking little boy who had just discovered his sexuality in puberty.

But he might as well have been.

At least then he could have fooled himself.

Gu Zhijing irritably pushed back his soaking wet bangs and finally decided to fight poison with poison.

Just as not every fangirl's ultimate goal was to sleep with her idol.

Gu Zhijing decided to follow the current trend in the fandom and redirect his feelings of affection-

He would become a mom fan of his own teammate.

He put his plan into action right away.

Gu Zhijing immediately changed the pinned description of his fan identity to:

My only son, Sheng Chi.

Only after changing it did Gu Zhijing realize something was off.

No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like he was taking advantage of his teammate.

If Sheng Chi accidentally saw it someday, would he think Gu Zhijing wanted to be his dad?

Gu Zhijing: "..."

He was speechless for a moment, then deleted the line after all.

But he couldn't think of any other way to redirect his feelings on short notice, so he could only set the matter aside for now.

There was plenty of time ahead, anyway.

Maybe, as time wore on, the fluttering in his heart would disappear?

In the end, Leap Entertainment issued a formal statement about the sasaeng incident, clearly defining the boundaries between fans and idols.

After he posted it, he had thought the fans would all condemn the sasaeng together. Instead, when he refreshed the page, he saw rows upon rows of posts telling the company to protect xxx and demanding to know whether Leap Entertainment's security was useless to have let something like this happen.

Fei Yue was troubled too.

Sasaengs were stubbornly unrepentant everywhere and difficult to deal with.

Some of them were extreme fans who simply couldn't be reasoned with, while others were professional sasaengs who even felt happy and honored to be publicly called out or scolded by their idols.

What they did wasn't serious enough to warrant calling the police.

Besides, even if the police were called, they would only be detained for a while, and after they got out, they would only pursue the idols more aggressively.

So when dealing with sasaengs, all one could usually do was take precautions; there was no way to eliminate the problem entirely.

Fortunately, Leap Entertainment's offices and dorms were in the same complex, and the group was busy preparing their first album these days, so they hardly left the company.

Even if they had to leave the company for something, they were accompanied by newly hired assistants and security guards.

Preparations for Color4's first full-length album were gradually picking up.

At the same time, their debut song had leaped into the top ten on Music Show's music promotions chart.

For a rookie group that had only just debuted, that was already an excellent result.

Fei Yue was waiting for their first album to come out so he could capitalize on the buzz from Starlight Show and try to boost its performance even further.

But to his surprise, the recording for Starlight Show came around faster than expected.

Apparently, preparations had gone much more smoothly than the original organizers had anticipated, and there was also a great deal of demand on Weibo. So after settling on a basic format, they immediately sent recording invitations to the various groups.

As for Color4, although their first album was about to enter its final stages, there were still a series of miscellaneous matters left to handle.

On top of that, Fei Yue had originally planned to release the album first, have them perform on a couple of music shows, and then send them to compete on Starlight Show.

But unexpectedly, the schedules clashed. Judging by the timing, it was very likely their album still wouldn't have been officially released when the show aired.

In the conference room.

After listening, Sheng Chi frowned. "It is a little rushed." He thought for a moment, then added, "But it's not impossible. Besides, if we release the album while the show is airing, the buzz will rise accordingly. We won't lose out."

"It's not that simple."

Fei Yue sighed. "Things aren't like they used to be. Starlight Show isn't the only program you'll be recording during that period."

"The company is placing a lot of importance on this first album, so you'll definitely have to appear on other music shows too. A press conference, interviews, album signing events-all of those will be scheduled."

"That'll put a lot of pressure on you."

"And I've received word that, although the rules haven't been fully decided yet..."

Fei Yue sounded worried. "Starlight Show will most likely be broadcast live."

Sheng Chi's eyelid twitched. "Live?"

Beside him, Gu Zhijing had been leaning back in his seat, listening to them talk without much concern. At that, he sat up straight and said happily, "Isn't that a perfect opportunity landing right in our laps?"

A live broadcast depended most on how well they performed on the spot.

And while Color4 didn't have much else to boast about, their live performance skills were what they could boast about most.

He had originally worried that, given their popularity, they might be eliminated in the first round if they ran into a hugely popular group.

But if it was live, that would undoubtedly give them an advantage.

"We can promote our new song and ride the wave of attention."

Gu Zhijing's eyes lit up. "There's no better opportunity than this."

Fei Yue waved a hand, signaling him to calm down. "I know."

"But you need to think it through. There's one episode a week, which means you may have to put together a new performance every week to compete against your opponents."

At the same time, Color4 would still have to keep up with their other commitments.

The burden on their shoulders was simply too heavy.

If anything went wrong during a live broadcast, the good reputation they had worked so hard to build would go up in smoke.

No one wanted to be labeled a train wreck of a group right after debuting.

After a brief silence in the conference room,

Sheng Chi was the first to speak. "I'm fine with it."

Gu Zhijing glanced at him and followed. "I think it's worth a try too."

Jiang Yu tapped the table, a confident smile in his eyes. "Isn't it just a little more pressure, a tighter schedule, and a few more working hours? What haven't we Color4 been through? Why would we be afraid of this?"

Xu Linyuan smiled. "Let's give it a shot. Besides, we might not necessarily make it to the end."

"Why wouldn't we?"

Jiang Yu protested, "Even if Color4 fights all the way to the last minute and second of the final match, I can hold out. I'm not scared."

Looking at the expressions on the four young men's faces, Fei Yue suddenly breathed a sigh of relief, though he didn't know why. "You said it yourselves?"

He confirmed it one last time. "Then it's settled?"

As the leader, Sheng Chi made the final decision. "Settled."

This was Color4's second do-or-die battle.

The first had been their performance on Music Show.

They knew that if they couldn't break out through that performance, they might very well remain forever unknown in the entertainment industry.

So that was their first performance, and possibly their last.

Then they used that stage to become the Color4 they were today in one stroke.

This time was the same.

If they could really withstand the pressure of a live broadcast every week,

Then they would very likely

Create another new miracle.

Starlight Show was an original online variety program that wouldn't air on satellite television, but its streaming platform was Conch Video, said to be the wealthiest in the country and to have the largest general audience.

It really was an ideal opportunity for Color4 to raise their profile.

A few days later, the preliminary rules were released.

As Fei Yue had said, the competition would be broadcast live once a week. The results would be decided by online viewers voting in real time. Voting would continue for a week, and the list of eliminated contestants would be announced before the next week's recording.

Eliminated teams would temporarily enter a reserve bracket and wait for the revival round.

It looked relatively fair.

But whether the votes would be manipulated was, of course, still up to the organizers.

Besides, with online voting lasting a week, it was a competition between fandoms no matter how one looked at it.

After reading the rules, Gu Zhijing once again felt that their chances of advancing were indeed slim.

Today, they had come to record the show's introductory episode.

The introductory episode would mainly introduce the participating idol groups and familiarize viewers with their faces, after which lots would be drawn to decide the groupings for the first competition.

Since the introductory episode wasn't an official competition, the organizers weren't providing makeup, hair, or styling, and had told them before they came that casual clothes were fine.

But as soon as they got out of the car and entered the recording venue, Gu Zhijing was stunned.

Hadn't they said they only had to dress casually to record an introductory episode?

At a glance, all the other groups' idols looked beautiful and dazzling, while compared to them, their own group-

Indeed.

Only Color4 had truly managed to dress casually.

Because Leap really was poor.

Color4, from their humble little workshop, trembled as they went over one by one to greet their seniors.

There were more idol groups here than he had expected-a full sixteen. One could say the show had dug up practically every somewhat recognizable group in the domestic entertainment industry that was still active.

First came the recording of each group's self-introduction and pre-competition interview.

When it was Color4's turn,

The young woman across from them asked with a smile, "We all know Color4 is a very popular rookie group right now. Of all the groups here, which opponent are you most afraid of or least willing to face?"

"Well... there really isn't anyone we don't want to face."

Sheng Chi gave a conventional answer. "Facing any of our seniors is an opportunity to learn. We're looking forward to interacting with them."

His three teammates beside him nodded earnestly, looking as though they wholeheartedly agreed.

But later, in private, with no cameras around, as they prepared to draw lots,

Jiang Yu clasped his hands in prayer. "Please don't let it be Shooter."

Xu Linyuan clasped his hands in prayer too. "Please don't let it be-"