Chapter 41

Wei Ming.

He could hardly be blamed for being petty.

After all, their fans had snatched away an artist he had been about to sign just two days ago. It was only natural that he felt a little sore about it.

But Gu Zhijing thought about it a little more and realized there was more to it.

They said the groups would share a lounge, but in reality, they had already arranged rooms for all the senior traffic stars. Only after counting through them and realizing they had nowhere to put Color4 did they start asking around to see if anyone would share.

There was nothing to get angry about.

It was just a little awkward.

None of the four members of Color4 dared say a word. Fei Yue spoke up first. "It's fine if there isn't one. We can go back to the styling room and stay there."

Aside from being a little noisy and having all sorts of people passing through, it was still a place to rest.

Color4 had been through harder times anyway. This little problem really was nothing.

"I'm so sorry."

The staff member apologized repeatedly. "There's no need. I'll just go ask the other artists. Please wait a moment."

She was bowing apologetically, her face full of embarrassment, when someone passing by stopped at her words. "What's going on here?"

After hearing what had happened, he smiled. "That's all? My lounge is still empty. Why don't you use mine?"

The speaker was Yi Xiao.

He was the special guest judge from Starlight Show.

Ever since their first performance on Starlight Show, he had held them in high regard. Now that he had happened to run into them, he readily helped them out.

Inside the lounge.

Jiang Yu worked up the courage to speak to the senior. "Teacher Yi, are you here for the awards today too? What a coincidence."

"No."

Yi Xiao said, "I'm on the judging panel this year."

Color4: "..."

Was it too late to cling to his thigh now?

Besides, how old was Teacher Yi Xiao? Weren't there certain qualifications required to be a judge?

Only Fei Yue remembered.

The definition of an idol was rather vague in the domestic entertainment industry.

It was only in the past two years, when CMJ added more awards, that it introduced the best singing and dancing artist of the year, an award for idols who went solo.

But even before that, Yi Xiao had won singer-songwriter of the year for two consecutive years. With his other various musical accomplishments, he had been appointed as an exception, becoming the youngest judge in CMJ history.

It took Gu Zhijing a moment to belatedly realize.

They were using a judge's private lounge!

"Don't worry, have a seat. I'm not using this lounge anyway."

Yi Xiao seemed to see what they were worried about. He smiled, then glanced at the time. "I have some personal business to take care of in a bit. If nothing unexpected happens, I won't be back. This lounge is just right for you."

He stood up and looked at them again before leaving.

The members of Color4 were sitting up straight, but they were all huddled together, like four little rice balls stuck to one another.

They were really close.

Perhaps suddenly remembering the days when he had been in an idol group himself, he smiled again. "Do your best at the awards tonight, little brothers."

At four in the afternoon, the CMJ Music Awards livestream began on time.

Color4 was scheduled to appear fairly early. After waiting only about half an hour, it was their turn to walk the red carpet.

The fans who had been waiting by the livestream for most of the day instantly grew excited.

The four got out of the car and walked onto the red carpet with their heads held high, cameras clicking and lights flashing from the media on both sides.

They were a dark horse that had risen unexpectedly among the domestic entertainment industry's traffic stars this year.

Some people dismissed them, certain that their popularity would be short-lived.

Others questioned how quickly they had become popular, wondering if someone was pulling strings behind the scenes.

But regardless of the rumors outside, they never stopped moving forward, carrying the confidence and boldness unique to young people in their twenties.

Color4's average height was over 1.8 meters, and the four of them walked the red carpet like male models on a runway.

Even under the harshest, most unforgiving camera angles, there was still no way to get a bad shot of them.

Especially Gu Zhijing.

When he came out onto the red carpet, his delicate face seemed to have the words written all over it.

Born a star.

Whether it was his features, bone structure, or proportions, there was nothing to find fault with.

Even in the entertainment industry, where beautiful people were everywhere, his looks were undoubtedly among those at the very top.

On top of that, he wore a suit today, along with a pair of non-prescription gold-rimmed glasses. The elegant, refined air he had possessed as a wealthy young master returned to him.

He stopped on the stage and waved at the media cameras below, the faintest hint of a smile on his lips.

In an instant, the fan forums erupted.

[Fruit Jam, is that really still you!!! Boohoo, Mommy loves you!]

[I can't call him my daughter today!! What kind of young nobleman is this!!! Big brother, I'm yours!!]

[So superior, he's just too superior! Who says we can't call him our daughter? With that face, figure, and bearing, he looks even better on camera than actresses, okay!]

[It's good to be young. Mommy really is old.]

After they finished walking the red carpet.

Media press releases flew out, and Fei Yue's side arranged publicity at the same time.

Color4 continued inside.

The first floor of the venue held the seats for all the stars.

The second floor was for fans. There were very few seats, and while they were supposedly sold to the public, in recent years, to keep scalpers from driving up prices, they had been handed directly to the traffic stars' fan clubs, with the whole arrangement handled automatically.

A few days ago, Gu Zhijing had seen fans complaining while scrolling through Weibo.

Color4's fans hadn't gotten a single ticket. The fansite photographers couldn't get in, so there probably wouldn't be a single photo.

Gu Zhijing sighed silently to himself, but before entering, he still instinctively glanced up. He suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Every group of fans had hung a banner along the second-floor railing.

They were all clustered together, making for a lively sight.

There were banners for Shooter, Light, Comet, Wei Ming, and so on.

Then, in a very, very small space in the corner, hung a little colorful banner that stood out among all the monochrome ones.

It read:

Color4 boys, keep moving ahead.

The Vegetable-Selling Girls are right behind you.

The colors were tacky, and so was the slogan.

What little text there was had been squeezed onto a small banner, making it look quite crowded.

It was downright tacky, clumsy, and gaudy.

Yet it carried the girls' sparkling, fervent sincerity.

It had traveled through a sea of people, just to be delivered to you.

The author has something to say: I happened to see another line today that suits the relationship between fans and idols.

When you have the strength and want to burn and shine.

Love is us watching the beautiful light you give off.

-

Thanks to the little angel who gave a landmine: Shaqiqi, 1;

Thanks to the little angels who gave nutrient solution: Saye, 3 bottles; Sweet and Sour Fish and zh1806, 1 bottle each;

Thank you, darlings!!

Chapter 42

Seeing Gu Zhijing stop in his tracks.

His other three teammates followed his gaze upward and all froze.

Jiang Yu lowered their head and silently rubbed their nose before saying softly, "What kind of support slogan is that? It's so silly."

Xu Linyuan smiled. "You're lucky there's one at all. Be grateful."

Sheng Chi said nothing. He just stared at the banner for a long time before saying, "Let's go."

The CMJ Music Awards had no official rules about seating people according to seniority, but as young newcomers who had only recently debuted, they had still been placed fairly far back.

That worked out nicely, though. From these seats, they could see the banner their fans had hung for them just by turning around.

And the cameras rarely swept over this area, so they could sneak a look at their messages.

Gu Zhijing admired the banner for a while, then swiped his phone screen and refreshed his feed.

[Did I see that right?! When the camera swept past the second floor just now, did I see our Vegetable Girls' name?! #Debut, Vegetable-Selling Girls! (No)]

[I saw it too! But didn't all our fan clubs say they hadn't been allocated any tickets?]

[Who took it in for you? Your Vegetable Girls have some connections.]

Before long, someone in the fan club who knew the inside story came forward.

[We asked someone from Light's group fan club to take it in for us! But in exchange, we have to complete xxx extra batches of votes for Starlight Show this week.]

[PS: Their fans helped make the banner too. It has that old, laid-back fan style to it, so make do.]

[Got it. So we traded the hair of us voting laborers for it.]

[A trade's a trade. My hair isn't worth much. As long as the boys can see that there are fans supporting them, I'm satisfied.]

When Gu Zhijing read that, he couldn't help smiling. He turned back for another look.

That tacky banner, as he saw it now.

Had been pieced together strand by strand from his mommy fans' hair.

How could he not treasure it and look at it a few more times?

At six in the evening.

Everyone had finished walking the red carpet and taken their seats.

The awards ceremony was about to begin.

CMJ had always presented awards for works before artists, and individuals before groups.

Although the award they wanted was only a rising star award, it was still placed fairly late in the ceremony.

As Gu Zhijing listened to the host speak, he counted their competitors in his head.

Rising group of the year could only be awarded to a group that had debuted that year.

And he had already looked into the situation over the past few days.

Two had debuted at the beginning of the year. One had never won first place, so they could be passed over.

Talent shows had not done well this year, but they had still produced one boy group and one girl group.

During the July summer break, a five-member group whose members were all eighteen had also debuted.

There were at least four competitors.

Although their traffic and popularity had been strong since their debut, they had ultimately released fewer albums and performed on fewer stages than the others.

CMJ's judges did have their own undisclosed scoring criteria.

But no matter how they scored them, it had to be tied to their accomplishments over the past year.

Besides, the public's opinion of them was still mostly that they were a new traffic group that had blown up overnight and could very well fade just as quickly.

People had heard their name but weren't familiar with them.

They couldn't even count how many members the group had, let alone form an objective view of their abilities.

As Gu Zhijing counted, his eyebrows drooped, and he grew terribly anxious.

He feared they would be letting down the fans who had bought those millions of albums.

He thought of the fans who had no time off at the end of the year and were still voluntarily following their idols on a 996 schedule, working hard at their stalls in the digital album square, selling vegetables and giving away albums.

Gu Zhijing lowered his lashes and let out a small, unconscious sigh.

Sheng Chi's ear twitched. He turned to look at him and asked softly, "Why are you sighing?"

"Did I?"

Gu Zhijing hadn't even noticed. He lowered his head and picked at a fingernail before whispering, "I'm just a little nervous."

"Don't be nervous."

Jiang Yu chimed in from the side, joking, "Brother Fei said that if we win an award, he'll treat us to a meal when we get back. If we don't, he won't dock our pay either."

Gu Zhijing: "..."

He was just about to say something to Jiang Yu when Sheng Chi suddenly reached over, took his wrist, and placed his fingertips against it.

Gu Zhijing instantly stiffened.

"Your heartbeat is a little fast."

After holding his fingers there for a while, Sheng Chi said, "Relax."

Gu Zhijing: "!"

Xu Linyuan grew curious at that. "Captain, you know how to take a pulse and diagnose people?"

"No."

Sheng Chi let go, the corners of his lips suddenly lifting. "Just kidding."

He looked at Gu Zhijing. "You're not nervous anymore, are you?"

Xu Linyuan: "..."

Jiang Yu: "..."

As expected of Sheng Chi.

Even his jokes were that cold.

The two of them rolled their eyes inwardly at the same time and turned back.

Gu Zhijing, however, immediately pulled his hand back. Then, as if possessed, he pressed it to the spot on his wrist where Sheng Chi had rested his hand.

Brother Chi couldn't read a pulse.

But he was a prophet.

His heart was indeed beating a little too fast now.

Before long, the awards ceremony entered its second half.

An hour and a half in, the female host still maintained the same