Chapter 9: Empty-Nest Older Cousin
The makeup artist provided the answer regarding the cafeteria’s location. It was on the 10th floor of the building, and one could use their ID card to get food.
The hip-hop bro told Lin Zhile that his name was Zhang Chengdong. He was a streamer, and he wasn’t participating in the show for anything other than to pad his resume.
Zhang Chengdong looked very cool when he wasn’t speaking, but the moment he opened his mouth… he was extremely enthusiastic. He talked a lot and at a rapid-fire pace, even inviting Lin Zhile to go grab food together.
Naturally, Lin Zhile happily agreed.
Unexpectedly, they ran into Luoluo on the way.
Luoluo still had her pink hair. Seeing him with his makeup done, she couldn’t take her eyes off him: “Wow, I almost couldn’t recognize you.”
Stage makeup was much heavier than daily makeup. The makeup artist had heavily emphasized his eye makeup and even stuck some small sequins on his face; the effect was incredibly striking. Luoluo said he was so beautiful he was practically glowing.
Zhang Chengdong chimed in from the side, playing along with a meme: “First of all, I’m a straight guy, but I have to say, who wouldn’t be moved seeing this? Secondly, I’m a straight guy, but I think I’d be down for this!”
Lin Zhile couldn’t help but laugh.
Because he looked too good, Luoluo grabbed him and took many pictures. Zhang Chengdong tried to photobomb but was ruthlessly swatted away.
As the three of them walked, they chatted about the other contestants.
Luoluo knew the most about the contestant information. She said, “It really feels like this show is a clash of titans. Even Teacher Dongjing and Teacher He Yixin are here.”
It was hard for Lin Zhile not to recognize these two names; he had just seen them on this year’s Spring Festival Gala.
Zhang Chengdong clicked his tongue in awe on the side: “Are they tired of doing national concert tours? They command tens of millions in appearance fees; why on earth would they come participate in this show?”
Luoluo replied, “They’re here to exchange musical ideas and support the younger generation, okay?”
She then waved her hand: “I better stop talking about this, lest it affect your morale. Zhile, do you have any musicians you like? You can use this opportunity to interact with them up close! I’ve already gotten Teacher Dongjing’s autographed photo.”
However, Lin Zhile slowly shook his head: “I think I’ll pass.”
Luoluo teased him, “What, are you shy?”
“That’s not it,” Lin Zhile said. “It’s just that my idol passed away eight years ago.”
Luoluo: …
Zhang Chengdong burst into loud laughter on the side.
After rapidly finishing their meal, Luoluo had other things to do. She helped point them toward the large rehearsal room where the first scene was going to be filmed.
When the time came, all the contestants would gather there to film the first segment: creator pairing.
This meant the contestants would each choose their own tags—either vocal or composition/arrangement. After choosing, they would freely pair up and then collaborate to rehearse for the first stage.
Currently, the rehearsal room hadn’t finished gathering everyone, so those who entered early could use this time to socialize a bit.
Walking past a corner, they bumped straight into four boys.
These boys were extremely polite, greeting every staff member they passed. They were dressed in the same color scheme, and Lin Zhile recognized them—they seemed to be the boy group VOXI.
The members of VOXI also saw Lin Zhile and greeted him in unison. The angle of the smiles on all four of their faces was exactly identical.
Lin Zhile also greeted them.
Afterward, VOXI walked ahead. Oddly enough, there was no communication between the four of them; they quietly walked into the rehearsal room.
Zhang Chengdong commented from the side: “So they haven’t disbanded after all.”
Knowing this boy group didn’t mean Lin Zhile liked them; rather, they were quite “infamous.”
VOXI was originally a five-member group that had taken first place in an idol survival show. Right when they were at the height of their popularity, the main vocalist suddenly went solo and stepped all over his former group members, claiming he had been bullied.
Lin Zhile didn’t know the exact truth of the matter. He only knew that afterward, the other four members of VOXI vanished from the public eye, while the main vocalist signed with a new company and his career flourished.
He didn’t expect to see them here.
Walking all the way to the door of the rehearsal room and looking at the tightly shut door, Zhang Chengdong asked, “Are you nervous?”
Lin Zhile placed his hand on the cold door handle. He hadn’t felt much earlier, but standing in front of this door right now, his heartbeat began to accelerate.
He carried his mentor’s expectations and his own dreams. Opening this door would be taking the first step.
“Of course.”
Zhang Chengdong wanted to ask if he meant ‘of course I’m nervous’ or ‘of course I’m not nervous,’ but he watched as Lin Zhile pressed down on the door handle. With a click, the large doors opened.
Unexpectedly, there weren’t many people waiting inside.
The rehearsal room was divided into four tiered platforms that served as seats. Opposite them were the staff members already filming.
At a glance, there were only about a dozen people, including VOXI. By some tacit understanding, the men and women were seated separately on the two sides. The moment the two stepped inside, they heard these people uniformly saying “Welcome.”
The atmosphere seemed very good.
Zhang Chengdong was a social butterfly. Before going in, he said he would cover Lin Zhile, but the moment they entered, he let go and disappeared.
Lin Zhile had no choice but to pick a spot and sit down alone. During this time, he attracted many people coming over to socialize with him.
Several people came up and asked if he was an actor right off the bat, but upon hearing he was just a music conservatory student, the enthusiasm in their eyes faded significantly.
The number of people gradually increased, but the space beside Lin Zhile remained empty.
Seeing that the cameras weren’t filming him, Lin Zhile stealthily took out his phone.
Little did he know, a camera in the corner also moved slightly, following him.
Surprisingly, there was a message from Gu Jingxiu on WeChat.
He asked how the recording was going and how he felt. It was sent half an hour ago.
He hadn’t changed the contact alias earlier. Now that there were cameras everywhere, Lin Zhile was afraid of being filmed. After thinking about it, he crowned Gu Jingxiu with the title of ‘Handsome Brother in His Thirties’.
Deleting and revising the words in the text box, Lin Zhile replied:
[The progress bar is stuck. We haven’t started recording yet. I just finished my makeup.]
Meanwhile, at the suburban villa.
Hearing the notification sound on his phone, Gu Jingxiu picked it up.
A red dot popped up on the chat box adorned with the stick-figure Xinlebi profile picture. Right then, it jumped again, and an animated sticker popped up:
[So many people.gif]
Gu Jingxiu smiled and typed on the screen:
[Then hasn’t your friend-making skills found a place to shine]
Over at the show’s set, sensing someone’s gaze, Lin Zhile hugged his phone and turned slightly sideways:
[Not at all, I’m secretly chatting with you right now]
Gu Jingxiu:
[I’m suddenly a bit touched that you haven’t forgotten your empty-nest older cousin. But what’s with the ‘secretly’? Did the production team make a rule that contestants aren’t allowed to chat with Gu Jingxiu]
Lin Zhile looked at the words ’empty-nest older cousin’ and twitched the corners of his mouth.
[…It’s just because there are a lot of cameras here]
Clearly, if this man wanted to build a nest, there would be plenty of people flying toward him, okay? Staying single this long was what was actually difficult!
However, during the few days Lin Zhile had lived there, it seemed the man truly lived alone; he hadn’t discovered a single trace of the opposite sex.
But then, Lin Zhile thought, perhaps his Ge liked men?
Lin Zhile had only seen same-sex relationships online and had never seen one in real life. However, he didn’t feel repulsed by it either.
Yet there didn’t seem to be any trace of a male cousin-in-law around either.
[What time do you wrap up?] Gu Jingxiu asked him.
How would Lin Zhile know what time they’d wrap up? He had no experience with this sort of thing and could only wait:
[I don’t know, but it definitely won’t be early]
Just as Lin Zhile replied to this message, a sudden commotion erupted in the rehearsal room.
“Ahhh, it’s Teacher Dongjing!”
“Are you serious?!”
The contestants swarmed forward. The cameramen hoisted their equipment and followed, completely blocking the doorway. Lin Zhile couldn’t see a thing.
“Let the teacher sit down first, alright?” The rehearsal room director saw the situation getting a bit out of hand and picked up a megaphone to shout.
The crowd finally dispersed, and a man walked out from the center.
Dongjing’s actual age was in his forties, but he looked very young, with a wheat-colored complexion and monolids. He wore a solid black T-shirt with a luxury brand logo on the sleeve.
Surrounded by people, he responded with smiles, looking very approachable.
“Teacher Dongjing, come sit over here!”
“Teacher, will you sit here, Teacher!”
Dongjing smiled and scanned the room. Finally, his gaze landed precisely on Lin Zhile.
“I’ll just sit over there!”
Lin Zhile: “!”
The rehearsal room fell silent for a moment.
The director stood below holding the megaphone: “Uh…”
He wanted to coordinate and have Dongjing switch to a different seat, but after looking at Lin Zhile’s face, he put the megaphone down.
Watching the man approach step by step, Lin Zhile stood up and proactively greeted his senior. The latter smiled and asked him, “You, what is your name?”
“Teacher Dongjing, my name is Lin Zhile.”
“Oh, oh.” The man nodded.
Then his gaze swept over him, and he suddenly asked, “Is Mei Yi doing well health-wise lately?”
Lin Zhile was slightly surprised. Mei Yi was his mentor’s name.
Did his teacher actually know Dongjing? For Dongjing to proactively come over and greet a student of his, it seemed their relationship was quite deep, yet he had never heard his teacher mention it.
“My teacher has been very well lately.” Unsure of the situation, Lin Zhile gave a simple answer.
Dongjing nodded and waited for a moment, only to see Lin Zhile offer a smile and then properly turn around and sit back down.
Dongjing: “…”
He had originally thought Lin Zhile would use this opportunity regarding his teacher to get close to him, but the youth didn’t seem to care much about him at all.
As expected, like teacher, like student!
Dongjing thought to himself indignantly.
Because of Dongjing’s arrival, Lin Zhile’s originally deserted spot gradually became crowded, and a camera was pointed directly at him.
Now he couldn’t secretly pull out his phone to text his empty-nest older cousin.
The long wait came to an end with He Yixin’s arrival. The director announced that everyone was present and issued the rules for the first segment.
Night quietly fell. At 7:00 PM, all the pairing results were released, and Lin Zhile’s partners were VOXI.
Zhang Chengdong had matched with an industry senior. The two walked out chatting, and Lin Zhile happened to be right in front of them.
He was surrounded by the members of VOXI. In just a few short hours, they had gotten along very well, talking and laughing.
They didn’t seem to be affected by the unexpected occurrences during the program’s recording earlier.
The senior took a step forward and noticed Zhang Chengdong hadn’t kept up. A bit impatiently, he said, “Stop looking, let’s go!”
Zhang Chengdong had no choice but to abandon the idea of going over to say hi.
Having finished a day’s recording, Lin Zhile’s brain was completely drained of energy. He didn’t notice at all, nor did he have the mind to—right now, he was “kidnapped” by the four members of VOXI into the center position. Eight eyes swept back and forth over his body, and with everyone talking over each other, they were close to questioning him clearly about exactly how many bites of food he had eaten for lunch.
He hadn’t expected that these boys, who looked quiet and disciplined on the outside, were so lively on the inside.
The relatively mature one was the leader and main dancer, Bai Yue. The rapper, Xie Ziqian, couldn’t be called mature; he was simply cold and cool. The maknae, Luo Ming, talked the most. The other was a white-haired foreign introvert who felt his Chinese was poor and rarely spoke, yet he surprisingly went by the name Leo.
Luo Ming squeezed between Lin Zhile and Bai Yue, his tone incredibly pitiful: “Think back to the days when we were also very popular, okay? I didn’t expect today to be so embarrassing. Not a single person chose us when we stood up there. I’m so heartbroken, Leader…”
Luo Ming hung off the leader’s neck, and immediately after, his true intentions were revealed: “So can I drink a small cup of milk tea today? Only sweets can soothe a broken heart.”
Bai Yue poked him away with two fingers: “No. Not even one sip.”
During the pairing segment earlier, VOXI took the stage twice and nobody chose them, producing the first major upset. And the second major upset was Lin Zhile.
Standing in front of the pairing machine, the crowd below was dead silent; Lin Zhile found it hard to forget that feeling.
Finally, the director smacked his forehead and simply grouped these unchosen people together. It saved trouble and generated traffic.
Bai Yue ignored the clowning Luo Ming and glanced at Lin Zhile.
The other’s expression looked a bit fatigued, but he couldn’t help but chuckle hearing their conversation. Some of his makeup had worn off, revealing the foundation of his bare face.
But he still looked very beautiful.
Bai Yue said, “It’s the exit right around this corner. Does Zhile-didi want to head back to the production team’s hotel together?”
Lin Zhile tilted his head to look at him, slightly stunned: “The production team has a hotel?”
Bai Yue was also stunned: “Yeah, didn’t the director tell you? It’s not far from here and quite convenient.”
Treating people differently based on their status was commonplace in the industry. Bai Yue thought to himself, Sure enough, their attitude toward amateurs really is terrible.
Lin Zhile, however, didn’t have that many complex thoughts. He was just thinking—if he could stay at a hotel, wouldn’t he no longer need to trouble Gu Jingxiu?
If that was the case, he wanted to stay at the hotel.
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