Jing Lu said, "My dream is to sing. Is that okay?"

The director shook his head, and the producer thought for a moment before saying, "Do you have anyone you miss, or any special experiences as a struggling artist in Beijing? Our program aims to evoke emotions as much as possible, allowing the audience to empathize. You are a key focus of your company's promotion, unlike Xiao Yi, who is a freelance singer-songwriter..."

Xiao Yi stood up, walked out into the corridor, took out his phone, and sent a message to Lu Zhou on WeChat. These days, every night before bed, he would send Lu Zhou a goodnight message, and in the morning, he would send another message saying, " Zhou ge, I'm up."

[Zhou ge, I'm participating in a talent show.]

Xiao Yi took a photo of the misty view outside the French windows in the corridor.

[How are you doing in Canada? Can you receive channels from back home?]

Lu Zhou still hadn't replied. Xiao Yi went back inside, and Jing Lu's video had already been roughly decided.

Three days later, it was the mentors' meeting. Four mentors were present, while contestants waited outside to be called in. After Xiao Yi entered, he exchanged glances with Qi Quan.

Xiao Yi had known that Qi Quan would be a judge. Qi Quan smiled awkwardly, holding a pen by his mouth. The situation was quite embarrassing, considering there was some enmity between them. However, with Lu Zhou and the company parting ways, Qi Quan couldn't say much.

"Is this Xiao Yi?" A middle-aged man stood up. He was the music producer Wang Jing. Xiao Yi immediately went to shake hands with him. Wang Jing smiled and said, "Director Guo mentioned you to me."

Xiao Yi didn't expect that his acquaintance with Director Guo, just a few months old, would still be remembered. He felt quite touched for a moment. Wang Jing then said to the other two female singers, "One of the insert songs in 'Li' was written by Xiao Yi."

Xiao Yi nodded and said, "Please guide me, four mentors."

"You used to be Lu Zhou's assistant, huh?" a Hong Kong singer, Fat Girl, asked.

"Yeah," Xiao Yi returned to the centre of the room and said with a smile, "I used to be."

Another mentor was an ethnic singer. She smiled and asked, "Why isn't Lu Zhou taking any roles lately?"

"He's resting because he got injured during filming," Xiao Yi replied. "He needs some time off."

"Let's begin," Qi Quan's expression was a bit grim. Xiao Yi took a deep breath, thought for a moment, and started singing his chosen song.

Midway through the song, Xiao Yi glanced at the expressions of the four mentors. They all seemed rather bored. Qi Quan was picking his nose, Fat Girl was playing with her phone, Ethnic Singer was taking off her high heels and rubbing her feet under the table, while Wang Jing was fixing his hair in the mirror.

Xiao Yi stopped singing.

"Not bad," Fat Girl put away her phone and said, "Much better than the previous few."

"I sing classical music," said the mentor named Ji Zi. "It's not very discernible here, but the effect on stage might be better. What do you think?"

"Okay," Wang Jing said. "Let's go with this. I'll give you the green light. What about the other three?"

Fat Girl gestured to Xiao Yi and said, "Keep it up, you'll be fine."

Ji Zi said, "I'm okay with it."

Qi Quan chuckled and said, "Then I'll accompany everyone and give you a pass."

Xiao Yi nodded. Since he was going to be eliminated anyway, it didn't matter who gave him the pass. Just as he was about to thank them, Qi Quan suddenly said, "Xiao Yi."

Xiao Yi looked at Qi Quan with a smile.

Qi Quan mentioned, "You're also half a celebrity in the industry."

Qi Quan squinted and smiled at Xiao Yi, while Wang Jing added, "Your songs are pretty good. Director Guo has always liked them."

Xiao Yi smiled and said, "Unfortunately, I haven't gotten the broadcast license yet."

Qi Quan added, "Sister Xinran was talking about you the other day. Lu Zhou and Huaxing terminated the contract. I wonder where you'll go next..."

Xiao Yi said, "I'm still serving the company."

Fat Girl said, "Looking forward to hearing more of your songs! I'll listen to them later!"

Xiao Yi smiled and replied, "Sure."

Qi Quan said, "Do you have time for dinner?"

Xiao Yi answered, "Sure, my treat."

Xiao Yi thought to himself, I won't dine with you... As he walked away, he heard people across the corridor murmuring softly. Although their voices were low, Xiao Yi heard them.

"That idiot Lu Zhou, who else will he cling to? He's practically turned into an idiot..."

Xiao Yi immediately looked up, and the entire corridor fell silent in an instant.

Xiao Yi stood up and approached the person speaking, asking, "Excuse me, which company are you from?"

The person glared at Xiao Yi and said, "It wasn't me."

Xiao Yi recognized the voice—it was clearly the same person who had spoken earlier.

"Are you free? Let me explain to you, don't misunderstand," Xiao Yi said sincerely. "We're all here to compete together..."

The people around, all familiar faces, looked around and smiled.

"You asked for it," the newcomer replied, "It's nothing."

Xiao Yi thought for a moment, then punched the newcomer in the face.

The entire corridor instantly erupted into chaos. It was a complete uproar. Five or six people rushed over to restrain Xiao Yi. Xiao Yi had been in fights with Du Ma before, paying no attention to others while attacking his main target. However, this fight lasted less than a minute. Xiao Yi's head was buzzing as he was pulled away by security. Both sides were taken to the office.

Xiao Yi's face was bruised and swollen, while the new contestant was even worse off, his face covered in blood. When Jing Lu saw Xiao Yi had been beaten, he actually went up and punched the other guy a few times too. The director, producer, and manager were all infuriated.

Du Mei personally came over and talked to the other party while Xiao Yi waited in the next room. He said to Jing Lu, "Next time something like this happens, don't intervene. I'll handle it. If you hear anyone talking behind our backs, let me know."

Jing Lu replied, "They've been saying things for days, but I didn't dare to tell you at first."

"Sing well," Xiao Yi said to him. "You'll become famous. Then you can step on him."

Jing Lu nodded.

After Du Mei finished talking, she and the producer came over, surprisingly cheerful. They were chatting and laughing behind Du Mei as they walked.

"Alright," the producer said. "Shake hands and let's forget about this."

The show's producer was a big shot. Neither Du Mei nor the other party's agent dared to offend him. After exchanging a few pleasantries, Xiao Yi, with a bruised face, smiled and reached out his hand to the newcomer. They shook hands, and Xiao Yi said, "Sorry, don't worry about it." Then Xiao Yi took the initiative to hold his hand and gave him a hug. The newcomer whispered to Xiao Yi, "F*** your mom."

Xiao Yi didn't say anything. He knew this guy had offended the producer and was sure to face consequences. Many people heard that remark. The producer's expression immediately changed, but he didn't explode. The other party's agent immediately took him away.

"Du Mei," the publicist asked, "How should we write the press release?"

"Portray it as a love-hate relationship," Du Mei said. "When we get back to the office, we'll discuss it further and try to appeal to the BL fans."

"Okay," the publicist agreed.

Xiao Yi thought, Du Mei, did you learn these skills from Li Ye? You can hype anything. After they left, Xiao Yi drove them back. Du Mei said, "The newcomer today is from Guanghua, the former agency of Wu Henggu. You beat him beautifully."

"Oh?" Xiao Yi said. "Anyone else I need to beat?"

"No more," Du Mei glanced at Xiao Yi and added, "You should go back and take care of yourself. Don't bring injuries to the show later."

Xiao Yi knew everything was fine now and relaxed.

That day, the publicity came out, and it was all over Weibo. Xiao Yi was already used to this kind of hype and didn't care to manage it. The show even posted pictures of the two of them together.

When Xiao Yi had written songs for Lu Zhou before, he had gained some online popularity. When people heard he was going to participate in the talent show, his fans grew. It even brought back old news from last year, stirring up the past. Reading the comments from fans, Xiao Yi felt both bitter and touched. Surprisingly, many people still remembered the songs he had sung before.

One comment said: "I really like you. I know you'll become famous."

When Xiao Yi saw the title of the song, he almost cried. The snowy nights at Houhai, the lively nights in Lijiang, the bars in Guangzhou...

It was more of a memory than a song.

Xiao Yi's Weibo had never been so busy as it was that day. His inbox overflowed with messages, and he was overwhelmed trying to respond to them all. Just as he finished replying to a few, more messages flooded in. It was like a snowball rolling downhill, growing bigger and bigger.

Xiao Yi almost begged his fans to stop. It was late, and he didn't have to go to class the next day. Finally, unable to keep up, he stopped responding.

However, as he scrolled through the messages, one caught his eye.

I am Genius Lu Zhou: "What's the name of the guy who hit you?"

Xiao Tzuki: "I'm the one who hit him."

I am Genius Lu Zhou: "Are you kidding me?! stop talking nonsense, what is that person's name ?"

Xiao Tzuki: “It was really me who beat him up. “

 

I am genius Lu Zhou: “Are you an automatic replying bot?!

Xiao Tzuki: " Zhou ge, where are you? I miss you so much. How could you do this? How could you abandon me like this? How could you bear to do it?"

I am Genius Lu Zhou: “Don't make jokes. I'll find out on my own."

Xiao Tuzi: "Have you returned to the country?"

Lu Zhou stopped responding. Xiao Yi sent a bunch of messages, but Lu Zhou had blocked him.

Xiao Yi: "......"

Xiao Yi screamed, tossing and turning with Lu Zhou's doll. Eventually, he lay on the doll, picked up his phone, and called Lu Zhou's phone, but it was switched off.

Then he completely lost it, ranting in his heart. Did you have to make me threaten you before you respond?

Xiao Yi sent a bunch of messages to Lu Zhou's WeChat, but Lu Zhou didn't reply. Xiao Yi didn't dare to say anything random on Weibo, afraid that fans would dig up something and he'd be in trouble again. He had to create a new account to send private messages to Lu Zhou but found out he didn't have enough permissions, so he gave up.

In the middle of the night, he got up, checked Lu Zhou's Weibo, and saw the same posts from before the New Year. Lu Zhou seemed to have stopped promoting altogether. There were a few persistent fans asking under his Weibo where the god went, asking him to come back soon, saying they would love him no matter what he became.

As Xiao Yi scrolled through, he suddenly realized he wasn't blocked anymore, so he quickly sent a message to Lu Zhou.

Xiao Tzuki: "If you don't talk to me, I'll expose your scandals on Tianya."

I am Genius Lu Zhou: "Dare you? I'll have someone deal with you and Kuang Yan together."

Xiao Tzuki: "Who's Kuang Yan???"

Xiao Yi: "？"

Lu Zhou blocked Xiao Yi again, so Xiao Yi had to stay quiet.

Xiao Yi stared at his Weibo. Sure enough, not long after, Lu Zhou unblocked him again, so Xiao Yi immediately sent him a private message.

Xiao Tuzi: "I love you so much. How can you treat me like this?"

I am Genius Lu Zhou: "Get lost."

Blocked again, Xiao Yi had no choice but to continue scrolling. He started watching an American TV series while keeping an eye on his status. At three o'clock, Lu Zhou unblocked Xiao Yi again.

Xiao Tzuki: "Can I sing you a song? If you listen to me sing, you'll know I'm the one who loves you the most..."

I am Genius Lu Zhou: "Are you done yet?!"

After being blocked by Lu Zhou this time, it seemed Lu Zhou didn't intend to unblock him again. Xiao Yi had to get ready for bed. When he woke up the next day, he found his Weibo name had been changed to "Maso Xiao Tzuki."

Xiao Yi: "......"

Under his Weibo, a group of fans exclaimed how cute he was. Xiao Yi knew Lu Zhou must have changed his name on his Weibo. He called Lu Zhou, but his phone was off.

*

Today, the program team notified them to record in batches. Xiao Yi got on the bus and greeted the other contestants. No one dared to gossip about him privately anymore. Xiao Yi learned that the guy from yesterday was named Kuang Yan.

Xiao Yi never expected that one day, he would be followed by cameras himself. He familiarized himself with the simple script, then they went filming in several places in Beijing. That day, they returned to the program team's office for dubbing work. After passionately reciting the script, he watched his short film.

"Can I take a copy?" Xiao Yi asked.

"The show hasn't been recorded yet," the editor said. "You can have it after it airs."

Xiao Yi nodded. These days, he had been calling Lu Zhou, and looking for him on Weibo, but Lu Zhou hadn't responded at all.

The show was set to start recording on April 1st, and it would premiere on April 5th. It was only the preliminary round, and all selected contestants would appear. The program team received applications from contestants all over the country and selected sixty-four people. Among these sixty-four, thirty-two would be eliminated after the preliminary round.

There were many people sent in by various film and television companies. Even those without contracts would be approached by sponsors from the program team after the preliminary round to sign with their companies. Of course, if they didn't sign with any company, it was impossible to advance to the finals just by singing.

In fact, even the program director was complaining that too many people without contracts had entered this round. There were nearly fifteen of them.

To make the show seem more authentic, they had to make do with it.

On April 1st, the audience was all set. The program team gave Xiao Yi plenty of tickets to invite friends, but who could Xiao Yi invite?

He had to say, "I don't have any friends. I don't need them."

Du Mei called and Xiao Yi explained the situation. Du Mei said, "How can you say you have no friends? You... wait."

So that day, Du Mei brought a group of fans to the scene for Xiao Yi. Most of them were paid to come and filled up a few rows.

Xiao Yi sat backstage, waiting for his turn to go on stage. The makeup artist was still doing makeup for others. Xiao Yi couldn't help but remember the first time he participated in such a talent show. He was so nervous he almost wet himself. That year, Du Ma and the others were there to cheer him on. Xiao Yi kept urging the makeup artist to hurry up until three minutes before he went on stage, when his makeup was finally done...

Now Xiao Yi wasn't in a hurry at all. He sat on the side, scrolling through Weibo.

"Jing Lu," Xiao Yi smiled, "Good luck. You'll make it."

Jing Lu looked a little nervous and nodded at Xiao Yi.

Xiao Yi set his private messages to filter out messages from people he didn't follow, making his world a lot quieter. But after a few scrolls, he found a message from an unknown user.

lz009: "Hey, bro."

Maso Xiao Tzuki: "?? Who are you?"

lz009: "I'm your fan. Remember when you followed me last time? Forgot already? [Heart]"

Xiao Yi: "......"

Xiao Yi didn't remember following this person at all. He investigated a bit and found it was a newly opened Weibo account.

lz009: "Bro, are you participating in 'Silk Voice'?"

Maso Xiao Tzuki: "Yeah, are you coming today?"

lz009: "Not today. Good luck. I love your songs the most."

Maso Xiao Tzuki: "Thanks."

Xiao Yi smiled and started browsing this fan's Weibo. He found that it was filled with recent complaints, some of which were quite funny.

lz009: "Brother, when you become famous, can you give me an autograph?"

Maso Xiao Tzuki: "I won't become famous, but even if I don't, I'll still give you an autograph, okay?"

lz009: "You will become famous! I really love the MVs you did before [smiling face]. Since the first time I saw your work, I knew you would become famous!"

Maso Xiao Tzuki: "Thank you."

Xiao Yi remembered that when he was scrolling through Weibo that day, this person mentioned him, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Maso Xiao Tzuki: "You too, keep fighting."

lz009: "Yeah, you go and compete! Kisses [heart]."

Maso Xiao Tzuki: "Ki."

Maso Xiao Tzuki: "Sses."

Xiao Yi was speechless. It had been many years since he had chatted with fans in this tone. Now that he had seen it, the entire melody of "kisses" kept echoing in his mind. Xiao Yi almost started singing along with the tune.

"Number 7," the makeup artist said.

Xiao Yi went over to get his makeup done and saw that the other contestants in his group were also receiving gifts from fans.

"You look so handsome," the makeup artist said with a smile.

"Thank you," Xiao Yi replied.

In front of the mirror, he miraculously looked even more handsome than before. During the time he spent with Lu Zhou, he was forced to run, exercise, maintain a regular schedule, and go to bed and wake up early every day. Lu Zhou was like a person with endless energy, and now Xiao Yi looked as he did when he had just graduated from college.

Various melodies of "kisses" echoed in his mind. Xiao Yi realized a serious problem: he couldn't get this word out of his head.

"Okay," the makeup artist said with a smile. "Good luck."

"Thank you," Xiao Yi said. He took the initiative to hug the makeup artist. When he was on the set, he saw that every time Lu Zhou finished his makeup or hair, he would thank the staff. Compared to many actors who left immediately after finishing their makeup, Lu Zhou was more likable.

Lu Zhou had also taught Xiao Yi that no matter what, he should always be polite to makeup artists and hairstylists. Your head was in their hands, and if they really had a grudge against you, they could easily mess things up for you.

Xiao Yi stood backstage, took a deep breath, and exhaled.

Jing Lu was still on stage and had finished singing.

"I'm from Shenyang, Little Shenyang's Shenyang," Jing Lu said. "I've always wanted to sing duets since I was a kid..." (NT: the raws mention Er Ren Zhuan, a folkloric type of song-and-dance duet from the North Est of China)

There was laughter from the audience below. A chubby girl said, "Not bad! What's a duet?"

So the mentors explained what duets were to each other and laughed for a while. Wang Jing said, "Have you graduated from university?"

Xiao Yi looked at his own script and knew that after going up, he would have to follow the script again. There wasn't much room for improvisation, but Xiao Yi was still a bit nervous.

"Cut!" The director shouted from the front of the stage.

"Fix up your makeup, there's too much sweat." The director told Jing Lu.

Qi Quan comforted with a smile: "Don't be too nervous."

Jing Lu nodded his head. The makeup artist went up to fix the makeup, the judges drank water, and then filming continued after a while.

"Ready?" the host asked Xiao Yi.

"Ready," Xiao Yi replied.

The host said again, "Don't be nervous. If you make a mistake or forget the lyrics, you can redo it. We're recording."

Xiao Yi hugged the host and prepared to go on stage.

The TV screen on the stage started playing Xiao Yi's video.

"My name is Xiao Yi."

In the spring of Beijing, flying catkins were flying in the air.

"I'm from Hubei. Including the four years of studying in Beijing, I've been a drifter for nine years."

The bustling crowd, and Xiao Yi carrying a backpack, walking on the street, looking up at the camera in front of the China Central Place Building.

"No car, no house, just confusion," Xiao Yi's voice said in the video. "I work as a post-production artist. I love music, MVs, and everything that brings people a good feeling. I want to be an ordinary person. If I can advance smoothly and stay on stage, then I..."

The camera shifted to the slowly setting sun, and Xiao Yi's lonely figure walked on the roads of Beijing.

"I want to tell someone one sentence."

A beautiful scene. However, at this moment, for some reason, when Xiao Yi heard the phrase "tell someone one sentence," he automatically added the brainwashing phrase "kisses!"

The stage lights went completely dark, and the host whispered, "Go, the microphone is on. Don't try the mic."

Xiao Yi was speechless. The melody of "kisses" kept echoing in his mind as he walked onto the stage.

He held the microphone, standing in the darkness, taking a deep breath.

 

Translator : DarNan