Ch106 - I'm Here

“Good morning, Nian ge.” Lu Xu and the others walked forward, raising their hands to greet Ji Xiunian.

“Good morning.” Ji Xiunian looked up at Lu Xu, the corners of his lips unconsciously moving up.

The person facing away from Lu Xu turned around. When he saw him, he couldn’t help raising his brows and smiling, his gaze sweeping through the group before finally still landing on Lu Xu’s body.

“Heavens, I didn’t see wrong, right!” When he saw the person’s face clearly, Han Tianyu was the first to shout out of surprise, “It’s actually Tang Yanqing!”

Song Zhe was also a bit surprised. He replied softly, “Yup, it’s really him.”

Xu Haoming clucked his tongue and couldn’t help saying, “The program staff really do value us. They even fork out the money when inviting directors.”

Lu Xu nodded at the side, his mind automatically flashing with information about Tang Yanqing—

Before, in order to understand more about Ji Xiunian, he had thoroughly memorised all of the information regarding Ji Xiunian. This naturally included his relationships with other people. As a standard workaholic, Ji Xiunian’s friend circle was very simple. There were not many people who call themselves his friend. Tang Yanqing could be considered one of them.

Tan Yanqing was older than Ji Xiunian by three years. He just turned thirty this year.

As a science student, he hadn’t even graduated before already completing his first documentary film, which immediately won the national best documentary award that year. Since then, he had made a movie every year, winning the box office rankings multiple times. He had collaborated with Ji Xiunian on a movie called ‘The Sacrifice’, which had helped Ji Xiunian win a foreign award based on its quality and made him the youngest Film Emperor in China.

The two of them were similar in age and collaborated well. Tang Yanqing could be considered one of the few good friends within Ji Xiunian’s circle.

Overall, Tang Yanqing was considered one of the very popular young directors in the country. Along with the fact that he was tall and handsome, there were many people who liked him. Many people even believed that Tan Yanqing had become a director because he didn’t want to steal resources from other male actors.

It was rather unbelievable that someone like this had come to be a director for ‘Birth of an Idol’.

Out of courtesy, Song Zhe took the lead in greeting Tang Yanqing out loud. “Hello Director Tang, are you our new production director?”

“Yes.” Tan Yanqing’s smile was bright, and there was a hint of distinguishment within his eyes. It had to be said that his appearance was really decent.

“It’s actually true!” Han Tianyu only felt like this turn of events was a dream. For this director to be their program director, he could just imagine how hot the news would be once it got out.

Originally, they had been worried that Fan Zeng’s hospital admission would impact the show ratings, but now that Tan Yanqing had been invited, he would automatically bring in popularity. Now they could finally compete at ease.

When the other trainees heard this news, they were also very excited. They watched Tang Yanqing from afar as they discussed. But because he was such a well-known figure, they didn’t dare to come up and greet him for now.

Song Zhe and the others expressed their welcome to Tang Yanqing. The other side nodded his thanks and then looked towards Lu Xu. “Lu Xu, I watched your public performances, not bad.”

“Thank you.” When he spoke, the other side looked at him with a look of expectancy. Lu Xu pretended he didn’t notice it, and didn’t mind.

Tan Yanqing suddenly smiled as he stood by Ji Xiunian, and said, “I’ve heard Xiunian mention you before. Anyways, good luck.”

Was this to express that he had a good relationship with Ji Xiunian?

Lu Xu only now raised his head to sweep his gaze over Tan Yanqing. He smiled, and didn’t say anything.

The other trainees continued to enter the space. It wasn’t good for them to block the entrance.

The three other dormmates entered first. Lu Xu followed closely behind them. It was just that when he passed by Ji Xiunian, his wrist was suddenly grabbed. “When you have time later, come see me. I have something to say to you.”

“Okay.” Lu Xu smiled at Ji Xiunian. The two of them spoke in familiar tones, their relationship noticeably very good.

Tang Yanqing’s gaze landed on the hand Ji Xiunian had placed on Lu Xu’s wrist. He couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows, his mind filled with thoughts.

He lowered his eyes and smiled, and didn’t say anything else, only saying to Ji Xiunian as he smiled, “Xiunian, we should also enter.”

Only then did Ji Xiunian let go of Lu Xu’s hand before nodding. “Let’s go.”

Even though they had just learned who the new director was, the trainees still couldn’t help but let out shrieks of surprise when they saw Tan Yanqing in the classroom.

“Aaaaaa it’s Yanqing ge!”

“My male god, I love the ‘The Sacrifice’ collaboration he did with Nian ge.”

“Wuuuuuu, I want an autograph and a picture together, I don’t know if I’ll get the chance.”

It was clear that Tang Yanqing was very popular. Almost all the trainees around Lu Xu were deeply moved.

Xu Lele was too; he first followed everyone else in calling out Tang Yanqing’s name, and then said to Lu Xu, “How come I feel like Tang Yanqing wasn’t invited by the program group, but came because of Nian ge?”

“Hm?” Lu Xu glanced at Xu Lele; he didn’t quite understand. “What do you mean?”

Xu Lele had a keen sense for gossip. When he saw that no one was paying attention to them, he suppressed his voice and said quietly to Lu Xu, “I once heard a friend say that Tang Yanqing came because he likes Nian ge, but I don’t know if it’s true or not…”

Tang Yanqing was handsome and talented, and was also a famous director. Because of these reasons, there were many artists who tried to rub off on his popularity, men and women alike.

But he hadn’t had an official boyfriend nor girlfriend until now, and the only person who was rather close to him was Ji Xiunian. It was also because of this that many people thought that Tang Yanqing had feelings for Ji Xiunian.

Xu Lele became excited the moment he gossiped. He looked at Ji Xiunian and Tang Yanqing, and said emotionally, “Actually, I don’t think that rumour came out of a wind from nowhere. You’ve seen how many times Tang Yanqing has already looked at Ji Xiunian while he was standing on the stage for the past few minutes. Also, see how Shen ge and Ruowei jie are standing next to him, but his body is obviously tilted towards Nian ge. From a psychological aspect, it’s obvious he’s closer with him…

Xu Lele had a lot to say, but some of the things he said really did have a few points of logic behind them.

Lu Xu couldn’t help glancing at Tang Yanqing, and their two gazes coincidentally happened to meet.

Tang Yanqing raised his eyebrows at Lu Xu, his smile not reaching his eyes.

Xu Lele was still talking at his side. “If it’s true, do you think Nian ge will consider him?”

“No.” Lu Xu replied without any hesitation, instinctively feeling that Ji Xiunian didn’t see Tang Yanqing like that.

Xu Lele was merely asking casually, and didn’t think Lu Xu would answer so firmly. He could only echo, “I think so too, Nian ge looked at you three times, but didn’t look at Tang Yanqing at all.”

Lu Xu didn’t understand this logic of his, and didn’t say anything else, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Speaking of which, the program group had gathered all of them together in order to give a welcome party for the new director Tang Yanqing.

Because he had been entrusted with an emergency task, Tang Yanqing basically didn’t have any time to rest; he had to immediately begin recording.

His personality was very direct, and he was also very direct about work matters. He immediately announced the next steps for the recording.

The show had already finished recording six episodes, and there were still four more before it ended. The remaining trainees truly didn’t have much time left.

A second ranking elimination was scheduled for the seventh episode. Afterwards, 36 candidates would be promoted.

Right after that would be the third public performance. Apparently the program staff were already starting to invite backup guests, but who these backup guests were was unclear.

In order to reduce the cruelty of the elimination, the program staff decided to add some more dorm life details into the seventh episode.

Each dorm had a recording camera. When the time came, they could edit the footage and use it.

There would be many trainees eliminated after the rankings were announced. There would only be 36 candidates remaining on the stage afterwards. No one knew who would remain on the stage, and it was inevitable that they would have to say their goodbyes ahead of time.

Last time before the elimination, the program staff had arranged activities at Devil’s Bay. This time, they didn’t have the option to go out and travel.

Up until today, everyone had been under restrictions in the program buildings for a long time. They couldn’t leave in the middle of recordings, nor could they contact their family members. Now that they finally had a hard-earned opportunity for a short break, the program staff gave everyone time to call their families.

Everyone remembered that during the first phone call session, everyone else had called their families, but Lu Xu had called Ba Mei.

When the fans found out that Lu Xu only had a cat as a family member, they were very heartbroken, but also felt very warm from this detail.

One person and one cat always interacted warmly with each other; there were even countless fans of Ba Mei.

This time the program staff had once again prepared a phone call, but Ba Mei was already in the dorms, carried by Lu Xu every day. There was no need for him to make a phone call.

The little assistant looked at the monitor and couldn’t help but feel heartbroken. “Ai ai ai, if only this event hadn’t been part of the program structure since long ago, I really didn’t want to raise such a sad thing for Lu Xu.”

Everyone else in the dorms made their phone calls; only Lu Xu was carrying Ba Mei as he rested. He really looked somewhat bitterly lonely.

Tang Yanqing watched the Lu Xu in the camera lens and couldn’t help asking the assistant out of curiosity, “Does Lu Xu not have family members?”

The little assistant felt very sour when she thought about Lu Xu’s information. “No, he’s been by himself since he was very young. Good thing Ba Mei is here.”

“It’s like this, ah.” Tang Yanqing nodded, and mentioned Ji Xiunian. “His circumstances are a bit like Xiunian’s.”

It was not a secret within the entertainment circle that Ji Xiunian’s parents had both died while he was still a child.

The little assistant couldn’t help but sigh when she thought of this, then evaluated, “Yes, good thing the two of them met each other. They can at least be friends who understand each other.”

“Oh?” Tang Yanqing pursed his lips, and pretended to be casual as he asked, “Is the relationship between the two very good?”

“It’s very good.” The little assistant responded with certainty, a hint of a smile on her face. “Nian ge takes care of Lu Xu a lot. The two of them have a very close relationship.”

The little assistant had spent a lot of time with Fan Zeng, and would sometimes see Ji Xiunian interact with Lu Xu and Fan Zeng.

It was difficult to conceal human emotions. Even if Ji Xiunian hadn’t said anything, his chemistry with Lu Xu was incomparable.

“So it’s like this.” Tang Yanqing merely nodded his head, and didn’t continue the subject.

The Lu Xu in front of the camera lens carried Ba Mei all by himself. He didn’t choose to call anyone else, and didn’t think much of being able to call less.

But while he himself didn’t think there was much of an issue with it, the others didn’t think so.

The Xu Haoming at his side said a lot to his mother, then suddenly got up and walked up to Lu Xu, and handed the phone out to him. “Xu ge, my mom has something to say to you.”

“Ai?”

Lu Xu felt that this was somewhat strange, and raised his hand to take the phone. “Hello, auntie.”

“Hello hello hello, Xuxu you’re good too…” Haoming’s mother on the other side of the phone had a gentle tone; she sounded like she had a good personality. She very gently asked Lu Xu if he was tired from filming, then wished him good luck.

Not long after Lu Xu hung up the phone, Han Tianyu and Song Zhe both individually had their family members speak with him.

In addition to this, other members of the dorm like Xu Lele and the others also took their phones to find Lu Xu. Their family members’ personalities were all extremely great, and each of them wished Lu Xu good luck.

No matter what attitude each trainee’s family members used when facing their own child, they were very warm towards Lu Xu. It was evident that they really liked this ‘lucky’ but obedient child.

Everyone was on the same page about not mentioning Lu Xu’s background, only wishing him luck like he was their own child.

Lu Xu wasn’t a very emotional being, but he was still moved when faced with this scene.

He patiently thanked every single ‘family member’, his eyes twinkling with his smiles.

At this point, he didn’t have any family members, but everyone had become his family.

Lu Xu’s phone calls became the longest with all these family members, but no one thought that this was a problem.

Not long after the many family calls finished, Lu Xu’s phone suddenly rang.

Seeing the familiar number on top, Lu Xu’s eyes flashed with surprise, but he still chose to answer it. “Hello, Nian ge, why did you suddenly call me?”

After learning about the calling home activity, Ji Xiunian’s first reaction was to think of Lu Xu. Although he already knew Lu Xu’s real identity, Ji Xiunian still felt that he deserved to have what others had.

“I just wanted to let you know.” The call had connected but he had to think for a while before saying, “You’re not alone. No matter what, I’m here…”