Ch23 - Xu Ge, You're Trending

Ji Xiunian had experienced many, many different things throughout his life, but being pranked by a ghost was a first.

From the way people were passing around him it was obvious no one else could see the ‘ghost’ that had suddenly appeared.

Ji Xiunian had no experience interacting with ghosts. He originally thought about just leaving, but it never even crossed his mind that the fellow would not only block his way, but would also call his companions over. “Hurry up and come over here to greet Instructor Ji!”

“Ai? Can Instructor Ji really see us?”

“Coming coming!”

As the other three walked over, they didn’t forget to check each other’s appearances, stepping over in a uniform manner.—

“Instructor Ji, can you really see us?”

“Hello Instructor Ji, my name is Tao Yingbo, I’m a songwriter.”

“I’m your fan, Nian ge. Can I get an autograph? You can just burn it for me after you write it.”

The four ghosts gathered together, bowing towards Ji Xiunian and greeting him. Their attitudes were incredibly enthusiastic. They were completely different from the ghosts that were featured in horror movies; their appearances were clean, polite, and gentle.

As they stood in front of him right now, other than their out-of-place clothing, they didn’t appear to be very different from the other trainees.

Ji Xiunian hesitated for a moment, then still decided to say, “Hello.”

!!!

“Fuck fuck, Nian ge really spoke to us.”

“Right right, and it’s a living Nian ge!”

The four ghosts were so excited they were about to scream on the spot.

Ji Xiunian was afraid he would attract the attention of others and raised his hand to rub at his nose as a cover. “It’s not convenient to speak here, let’s wait until we find somewhere without any people and we can talk then.”

It was indeed strange for a living person to be talking to the air. He Xinghua and the others completely understood and immediately nodded their heads. “Okay okay, we will follow what you say!”

Ji Xiunian nodded slightly and couldn’t help but readjust his clothes before joining the other mentors in the conference room first.

He Xinghua escorted Ji Xiunian out the room, then immediately rushed over to Lu Xu’s side. “Aaaaaa Master Lu Xu, you’re too impressive!”

If it had not been for Lu Xu’s advice, He Xinghua would have really believed Ji Xiunian couldn’t see them. A human had seen him and he was even a mentor. He Xinghua was beside himself with happiness.

“Do you think Ji Xiunian would agree to giving us an evaluation?”

Debuting was the biggest dream for the three of them, but they didn’t know if Ji Xiunian would agree.

“He will.” As he thought of Ji Xiunian’s brief moment of bewilderment just now, Lu Xu inexplicably felt that this person was a little cute.

Many people who had Yin Yang eyes, or those who were on their deathbeds, could see ghosts. Most of these people’s first reaction was to panic. Only Ji Xiunian remained calm and used his excellent acting skills to turn a blind eye, even fooling the ghosts themselves.

Lu Xu crossed his arms over his chest, his fingers tapping at his forearms as the corners of his lips raised involuntarily. How interesting.

After the recording ended, the dorms of the trainees were adjusted based on the results of the second evaluation.

Because all the members had gotten A-rank in both evaluations, Lu Xu’s dorm was the only one that didn’t have any changes.

“Leader, you also saw Lan Gaojie’s haughty attitude just now. Why didn’t you let me speak up against him?”

Lu Xu had just pushed open the door when he saw Xu Haoming pacing by the bed, clearly very angry.

“That’s enough, Haoming. Don’t say so much.” Thinking of how the cameras in the dorm faithfully recorded everything, Song Zhe was very afraid Xu Haoming would do something bad on an impulse.

Lu Xu didn’t understand what was going on and narrowed his eyes as he immediately asked, “What happened?”

Xu Haoming’s stomach was full of flames but he subconsciously lowered his voice when he faced Lu Xu. “Isn’t it because that Lan Gaojie has been provoking things…”

After the second evaluation, all five BTT members had come back together to the dorms.

Coincidentally the production team had sent out a notice that stated the dorms would be reorganised according to the results of the evaluation.

Before Chai Siyuan had even moved out, Lan Gaojie had arrived with his luggage, directly telling the BTT member in the lower bunk that he was going to sleep there.

According to Lan Gaojie’s reasoning, everyone was in A-rank, so why did he have to sleep in Chai Siyuan’s upper bunk?

“I think he’s deliberately causing trouble , but my group members wanted to maintain a good relationship with him and gave him the lower bunk.” Xu Haoming fumed in rage, his little universe on the verge of bursting. “When he left he even said he wanted the bed this time, but the next thing he wants is center position. He even said he was going to step on and grind BTT against the ground. How can I not be angry?”

“Oh, Lan Gaojie is that confident in himself?”

Lu Xu smiled and shook his head as he listened, as if he had just heard a funny joke.

Seeing this reaction, Xu Haoming couldn’t help but ask, “Xu ge, he even said he was going to steal your center position. You’re not angry at all?”

“He can say whatever he wants to say.” Lu Xu shrugged carelessly. “Anyways, we’re not competing over glib talk.”

After he finished speaking, Lu Xu went off to do his own business, clearly not taking Lan Gaojie seriously.

Xu Haoming suddenly realized, right, no matter how much that person spoke what did it have to do with him? Being angry all by himself basically meant he was paying attention to him. Why should he bother with such a person?

Song Zhe had originally wanted to calm him down a bit more, but saw that Xu Haoming had quenched his anger after talking with Lu Xu. He even told Lu Xu he’d wash the fruit for him if he wanted to eat any.

Han Tianyu watched the two of them interact with his hand supporting his cheek as he smiled meaningfully. “Haoming, your bias is too obvious. Leader and I have known you for so many years but you only ask Xu ge if he wants fruit.”

Xu Haoming turned around and rolled his eyes at his groupmates. He whined, “I don’t need to ask you guys. Xu ge is small so obviously I have to take care of him more!”

“I’m not small.” The Lu Xu who had suddenly been mentioned abruptly turned around, his expression earnest as he clarified.

“Pft…”

The other three couldn’t help but glance down. Han Tianyu covered his mouth as he laughed. “Right right right, not small.”

Xu Haoming understood in a flash, and laughed as he explained, “Aiya, I’m talking about age.”

Lu Xu cleared his throat solemnly. “I’m also talking about age.”

Sometimes the happiness of men was both mysterious and simple. Even Song Zhe couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

The four of them laughed together;

At this moment, big news was suddenly announced over the radio.

The first episode of ‘Birth of an Idol’ would air tonight on Dongcheng TV, and there would even be the first online popularity vote.

“Eh hey? It’s airing tonight?”

“Then can we watch it? It’s the first time being on TV after all. Just thinking about it is exciting.”

“Can we request to use our mobile phones? I have to tell my parents to be in front of the TV at that time. I don’t have much screen time, I’m afraid they might miss it, hehe…”

After learning that the show would begin its broadcast, the trainees were excited and nervous to the point that they wanted to hug the TV while waiting for it to air.

The production team understood everyone’s feelings, and very humanely returned their phones to them temporarily, also indicating that they would organise a viewing for everyone to watch the show together.

As youths of the modern age, everyone was basically addicted to their phones.

Although they had only been separated from their phones for a few days, they seemed to be more excited to see their phones than they would to see their lovers.

After thinking about the online voting that would take place after the show aired, all the trainees  called their family and friends to express their hope that they would show support.

Lu Xu always kept his work phone with him, so it didn’t affect his business.

So when he got his spare phone back, he copied everyone else and also turned it on.

Coincidentally, just as the phone connected to the signal, Bai Ze called. “I heard you got the center position in the MV, that’s great.”

As his manager, Bai Ze did not hesitate to praise Lu Xu.

“Thanks.” Lu Xu held his phone in one hand as he walked out the door, thinking about sending Xie An another message about the next order.

“Don’t worry about the popularity votes, the company will help you out with those…”

Lu Xu immediately refused as soon as he heard those words. “There’s no need for that. Once I collect the order, I’ll back out of the competition. There’s no need to waste resources on this.”

“All right.” Bai Ze didn’t say anything else, he simply respected Lu Xu’s opinion.

At exactly 8 P.M., ‘Birth of an Idol’ officially aired.

The trainees took a rare break and sat together to watch the broadcast.

The show began with the introductions of the four mentors. Just one look at the lineup was enough to know that they cost a lot of money.

“Nian ge is so handsome aaaaaa!”

“Female goddess is so beautiful, how is it she’s so beautiful!”

“This editing is so high-end, like our show is about to get really famous…”

Once the trainees thought about their participation in the show, they couldn’t help but get excited.

Very soon, the trainees appeared on screen in a group shot, their pictures flashing by before reaching the evaluation segment.

“Oh god, we forgot that we were the first ones, hahaha. I feel like the camera makes me out to be a lot fatter than I am in real life, ai.” The members of the very first group who had appeared on stage were excited and a little shy, touching their necks and starting to complain about themselves.

The members of the first three groups all said that the camera made them look bad, feeling that their looks on camera were a lot worse in comparison to what they looked like in real life.

However, the moment that Lu Xu entered the frame, everyone felt like their eyes had lit up––

Even just a casual smile was so unbelievably handsome. That young and fresh look made even their hearts shake.

The F4 were squeezed in the middle of a group of trainees and were extremely excited when they saw Lu Xu, occasionally screaming out “hit call”. This time, no one heard the ghost cries and wails, because everyone else was more excited than they were.

“Everyone got the same camera shot, how come Xu ge looks so naturally beautiful?”

“I’m in love, I think I’m about to pass out from Xu ge’s handsomeness.”

“Haha, Xu ge is about to pull off his F-rank show…”

Xu Haoming looked around at everyone’s reactions, and couldn’t help but sidle up to Lu Xu. “I feel like after the first episode goes out, you’ll be super popular.”

Not two minutes after he had said those words, someone in the group cried out in shock. “My god. Xu ge, you’re trending!”

Tofu: “Although they had only been separated from their phones for a few days, they seemed to be more excited to see their phones than they would to see their lovers.” – mood