Ch80 - Seeing Ghosts

As the Charisma King of ‘Birth of an Idol’, Lu Xu drew attention no matter where he went.

Qu Dehui had watched the two episodes of the show, and naturally had an impression of the dazzling youth that Lu Xu was. Thinking that there was nothing to be lost from getting closer with him, he said jokingly, “Lu Xu, I saw that you don’t have any experience in composing. Why did you select the composition group instead of the vocal group when splitting into teams?”

Many people at the scene also didn’t understand, and they couldn’t help but look their way.

“No way Instructor Qu, Lu Xu has already chosen the composition group. Could you be wanting him to change his mind?” Gu Wenan didn’t have much of a good relationship with Qu Dehui. They were both in the same circle, and the two of them both walked the path of composition, so their interactions were even more numerous. It was just that all of Qu Dehui’s fans had raised him to the rank of a “god” like Zhang Jiamu, and would pull Gu Wenan out without reason to trample on him.

Gu Wenan’s remark was just to call him out; he didn’t think this question had any meaning whatsoever.

But Qu Dehui’s expression was completely relaxed and he casually replied, “Aren’t we not completely confirmed yet? If Lu Xu wants to change his mind right now, it’s still not too late. Our vocal group will be very welcoming, right, Manman?”

It was obvious that everyone had already been assigned to a group list. If Lu Xu wanted to change now, it wasn’t completely impossible. But it was just that these kinds of words implied that a member had to change places with Lu Xu. This kind of implication only gave the trainees even more pressure, even if it had little practical significance in itself.

Yu Manman pursed her lips, not in a hurry to answer.

Lu Xu hadn’t thought that he wouldn’t have needed to look for Qu Dehui; instead, he had already run into him.

“It’s because I know I don’t have much experience in composition, so I want to practise it, and that’s why I joined the composition group.” As Lu Xu spoke, he seemed to suddenly realise something, and continued, “So does Instructor Qu mean, a person should avoid his shortcomings by showing off his strengths, and avoid his weaknesses as much as possible?”

Qu Dehui didn’t think this was much of an issue and smiled without denying it. “Something like that, shouldn’t the fundamental point of artists be to display your best self to the audience?”

“So it’s like this…” Lu Xu nodded slightly as if he understood and raised his head to smile simply at Qu Dehui. “Then if it’s like this, I’m a little curious as to why Instructor Qu chose the vocal group despite being a composer. According to the saying of displaying your strengths and hiding your weaknesses, Instructor Qu should be more attuned towards the composition group, since you are a song god after all!”

Lu Xu’s words were said very naturally, as if he were only a curious child asking questions according to Qu Dehui’s logic.

When the other trainees heard this, they couldn’t help breaking into discussion—

“That’s right, Hui ge is a master of composing, I’ve bought every single album he’s released.”

“Actually I’ve also wanted to ask before, since Instructor Qu is so good at writing songs, he should go to the composition group. It’s not that the vocal group isn’t good, it’s just that his composition skills are so strong it’s a pity to not use them.”

“If Hui ge goes to the composition group, I bet it would fill up completely. I didn’t think much of it at first, but now that you guys have mentioned it, I also think Hui ge should go to the composition group.”

There was a great deal of discussion everywhere but all of them carried a bit of surprise that Qu Dehui hadn’t gone to the composition group.

As the person being talked about, Qu Dehui didn’t think his casual remark to Lu Xu would attract the topic of discussion to himself.

His facial muscles became a little stiff, but he had already faked his way through the entertainment circle for this long, so he very quickly put on a decent smile. “Actually, when I came here, the mentor spots were already filled up for the show. Anyways, our vocal group is also very good; with the goddess Manman and so many talented trainees, any group is very good.”

He was lying…

With every sentence Qu Dehui spoke, Ji Xiunian felt more and more speechless.

When he had gone to Fan Zeng to discuss this situation, Fan Zeng originally had hoped Qu Dehui would go to the composition group. But his manager’s attitude was extremely adamant in saying that he was interested in the vocal group.

In the end, Fan Zeng had to switch Gu Wenan, who was originally placed in the vocal group, to the composition group, before reaching an agreement.

No one would have thought that Qu Duhui would lie in front of so many people. The more one knew about the behind-the-scenes situation, the more one became terrified of this person’s hypocrisy. Additionally, Ji Xiunian saw Tao Yingbo standing next to him, his gaze never leaving Qu Dehui.

Lu Xu wasn’t in a hurry to expose Qu Dehui’s lies, and merely smiled wordlessly as he looked at him.

As a singer who once produced an award-winning album, Qu Dehui was long used to all sorts of gazes landing upon him. But for some reason today, he felt like there was someone staring at him with ill intent, making his back feel cold.

As Qu Dehui chatted with the people around him, he drifted away without changing expression to look around himself, but did not discover anything out of the ordinary. Having not recalled anyone he might have created bad feelings within this space, he suppressed the strange feeling.

Originally, the program had set up an audience vote that would allow the last three contestants to be revived; but they did not think that the last three places would have such similar votes.

With a margin of only a few hundred votes, reviving any of the contestants was a matter of controversy. Along with the consideration that these trainees’ skills were pretty decent, there were five trainees revived for the team performances in the second public performance in the end.

After the group sortings were over, the three groups of trainees went with their mentors to their individual practise rooms in order to begin preparing for the second public performance.

On the way back, Xu Lele was still sobbingly upset. “Wuwuwu, I almost got to be in a team with goddess Manman…”

Lu Xu turned back to look at him, and merely raised his brows. “What, you’re not happy being in a team with me?”

Xu Lele’s cute bun face looked crestfallen, but he didn’t want to hurt Lu Xu’s feelings either, and could only force a smile on his face as he nodded. “Happy, I’m so happy I’m going to cry.”

But if it were up to his own will, Xu Lele would still want to be with the goddess.

Who could resist a female singer like Yu Manman with her angelic face and heavenly voice?

Just as he was daydreaming about his goddess, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind him. “Xiao Xu.”

Xu Lele immediately turned his head around and reacted even faster than Lu Xu. As expected, the person calling out Lu Xu’s name was the goddess.

“Hello Instructor Manman!” Xu Lele’s mood became extremely great and he greeted Yu Manman with the utmost enthusiasm. “I really like your songs and I know how to sing all of your songs!”

It turned out he was a true fan.

“Hello Lele.” Yu Manman looked aloof on the surface, but her personality was actually quite nice. When faced with a fan’s confession, Yu Manman acted quite politely.

“My goddess knows my name!!!”

Xu Lele’s inner heart filled with joy, his head filled with this acknowledgement.

He had always been very insightful, and when he saw Yu Manman coming over, he understood that she probably wanted to come and talk to her junior for a bit, so he obediently pulled away from them.

Yu Manman then turned towards Lu Xu, and there was a kindness in her eyes.

Kindness?

When he saw this, Lu Xu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

However, Yu Manman didn’t notice that there was a problem. The youth in front of her had his hair slightly curled, his skin pale and his eyes shining, giving the impression of an obedient kid.

Since the establishment of Yao Guai Entertainment, from the boss to the janitor, every staff member has been a demon.

Lu Xu was the only human being signed onto the company, and everyone naturally took very good care of their new member.

As Lu Xu’s female senior, Yu Manman also wanted to take care of him a bit.

The other demons in the company knew that Yu Manman came to be Lu Xu’s mentor, and admired that.

Compared to the logistics team, they naturally wanted to be able to help on the frontlines. However, Lu Xu was training in a closed environment, and Yu Manman coming here to be his mentor, she was also carrying the entire company’s hope and adoration with her.

Yu Manman definitely cared for Lu Xu, and asked some questions about his life and the competition, like whether he was eating well, for example, could he handle the intensity of training and if he felt stressed.

Lu Xu answered them one by one, just saying that he was doing good.

Yu Manman nodded and laughed, and before she left she said, “I’ll be here the next few days for filming, if you have any problems just come look for me.”

Lu Xu nodded with an appreciative look. “Got it, thank you, senior.”

“All right, go and prepare for the competition.” Yu Manman said that, but her gaze floated towards Tao Yingbo.

That ghost had been standing by the composition group’s side since earlier, and had been staring at Qu Dehui next to her, not knowing what his origins were.

Ghosts were close to humans, it was just that they lived in their own societies, with both parties mutually not interacting.

Yu Manman rarely communicated with ghosts, but there were a lot of them, so it wasn’t strange to bump into one or two every now and then.

After observing the ghost for a long while, Yu Manman didn’t discover any malicious or violent tendencies, so she didn’t make any moves for now.

When she thought about how her junior was a normal human, she decided that she would avoid scaring Lu Xu for now.

As a normal human being, seeing ghosts would probably be a very terrifying thing.

As Yu Manman thought about this, she took out her phone and sent a message to the company group chat—

[Yu Manman: I saw xiao shidi]

[Front Desk Xiao Ai: !!! Awoo, pics or it didn’t happen]

[Secretary Zhang: I’m going to become a lemon on the spot, Manman, you’ve worked hard! How is Lu Xu doing, did he gain weight or did he lose weight, did you two talk?]

There were two company group chats, there was the one that Lu Xu was added to after he joined, and the other one was for the demons’ daily lives and communication, so as to not let Lu Xu discover their true identities.

Everyone was obviously very concerned about Lu Xu’s activities, thinking that since they couldn’t be there in person, then Yu Manman should tell them in detail—

[Yu Manman: I just saw a ghost hanging around behind our junior, but he didn’t make any moves.]

[Front Desk Xiao Ai: Aaaah, what’s happening, why would there be a ghost following our boy, it isn’t thinking of hurting my Xu, right? What should we do now, should we come together to send the ghost away?]

[Su Mubai: I know an exorcist, why don’t I contact them? If people are left as ghosts for too long, his yang energy will definitely weaken.]

…

It was rare for Bai Ze to get a moment’s peace, and when he picked up his phone he saw 999+ notifications.

He didn’t want to look at it, but he only glanced at it and saw that his staff were discussing how to avoid ghostly possession and self-protection measures.

The grim reaper being afraid of ghosts?!

Bai Ze was a bit confused, and just shook his head slightly.

According to their contract, when Bai Ze signed Lu Xu on to go for the show, he didn’t mention to anybody his identity.

In his employees’ eyes, Lu Xu was just a normal human being, just a little better looking than average.

It was hard for the company to have a human being, so they obviously treasured him.

Bai Ze muted the entire group, and sent a message-

[Bai Ze: There’s no need to overly worry about Lu Xu or interfere. He knows what to do.]