Chapter 67: This is Flirting
The last recording of “Unlimited Escape Room” ended smoothly.
Their relationship seemed to have returned to normal, and they went home together again.
But the journey was silent, what happened wasn’t so easily forgotten.
Late at night, lying on the spacious double bed, in the quiet, high-ceilinged room, Xi Leng couldn’t help but think, this ending wasn’t bad, as long as they could maintain a superficial peace.
But he also unconsciously touched his lips, kissed only by one person, looked at the ugly scar on his neck that only one person cherished.
Unable to sleep again, he painted all night.
So he immediately saw the message Min Zhi sent in the middle of the night.
Zhengzhu (Idol): 【Am I easily fooled?】
Xi Leng finally found an opportunity to reply, quickly typing two words.
Leng: 【No】
The next second.
Zhengzhu: 【I’m not easily fooled】
Xi Leng: “…” Correct answer. He breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhengzhu: 【Because I like you, that’s why I was fooled by you】
Xi Leng’s breath hitched.
He immediately opened the input box, typed one character “I,” then froze.
Without needing his reply, Min Zhi continued his barrage of questions.
Zhengzhu: 【Will you trick me into going to Myanmar to have my kidneys harvested?】
Zhengzhu: 【If my kidneys are harvested, it won’t benefit you either, right?】
Xi Leng switched to the browser, searching for “kidneys.” The first related result: Are kidneys useful for male function?
“…?”
While Xi Leng struggled to deal with his eccentric neighbor, on the other side, on the tropical island with its eternal spring, the Shining Boys were excitedly preparing for their first performance.
Rong Xingyi, having advanced to Class A through the theme song evaluation, had priority in choosing songs. He remembered Min Zhi’s advice, his tone was good, but his vocal technique was lacking. He had been practicing his vocals recently, but his focus was still on his weakness, dancing.
The first performance was an individual skill evaluation, one song each for dance, vocal, rap, and a comprehensive category, divided into groups A and B. He chose a song from a senior boy group, “Shining,” for the dance category.
He was the first to choose “Shining” Group A. However, after a long while, no one else joined him.
In a live performance, excellent live vocals were far more appealing than dancing. The dance for “Shining” was difficult, and none of the other Class A trainees specialized in dance, they all chose the comprehensive category Group A, forming a death group that deterred others.
It wasn’t until Class B’s turn that someone finally joined him, Ren Xu from Huoshu Entertainment was the first, choosing “Shining” Group B under everyone’s watchful eyes, becoming his opponent. He even smirked at Rong Xingyi, clearly antagonistic.
The next Class B trainee, like Ren Xu, specialized in dancing, his dance skills definitely Class A level.
After hesitating for a moment in front of the two, he chose Group B, where Ren Xu was.
The remaining trainees whispered among themselves, “Ren Xu is forming an Avengers team…”
Rong Xingyi’s heart also sank. He hadn’t expected that challenging his weakness might put him in the danger zone.
At least one person would be eliminated from the losing team. Among the 88 trainees, a few had secretly kept their phones, aware of the current online trends, Rong Xingyi’s popularity high enough that he wouldn’t be eliminated in the first round, but if they chose to be on his team, they would only be dragged down, putting themselves in danger…
Rong Xingyi could only watch as “Shining” Group B filled up.
Then it was Class C’s turn, and someone finally walked towards him, another independent trainee, Liang Zhun.
“Um… I’m not very good at dancing, will you accept me?”
Rong Xingyi could only sigh at him helplessly: “Join us if you’re not afraid of dying.”
Liang Zhun, however, was delighted, “Who’s afraid! Let’s do this!”
Their greatest advantage was probably their positive attitude and good teamwork. Three more trainees joined them voluntarily. The remaining six were Class F trainees, who had no other choice.
Ever since Rong Xingyi joined “Shining Boys,” Xi Leng had been actively participating in online discussions, his understanding of fan terminology improving rapidly, becoming a true dedicated fanboy.
Honestly, if his fake fan identity had been exposed a bit later, he might have survived that interrogation.
He scrolled through the posts, seeing the latest leak, the team formations for the first performance, the most noteworthy one being the “Avengers” dance team Group B, and the obviously doomed “flower vase” led Group A, destined to be sacrificed.
The “flower vase” was Rong Xingyi’s nickname, Tian Jiu (Sweet Wine), because of his dimple and cute appearance, a nickname even his older brother approved of.
Finding “Sweet Wine” in the underdog group, as the leader nonetheless, Xi Leng’s mood soured.
As he was brooding, a call from Min Zhi came in.
Min Zhi usually contacted him through messages, so this sudden call made him so nervous he pressed the wrong button twice before finally answering.
“…Hello?”
“I’m in Nandao.” Min Zhi got straight to the point, announcing his whereabouts.
Xi Leng was stunned: “At the training camp?”
“Mm-hmm, I’m currently… guiding them.” Min Zhi’s abuse of his position was brazen, not only revealing the situation at the training camp, but even asking, “Do you want to talk to him?”
Xi Leng was silent for a moment, suppressing his excitement and thinking carefully before replying, “…There should be cameramen filming, right?”
Min Zhi didn’t hesitate: “Mm-hmm, they’re right here, wondering who I’m talking to.”
Xi Leng didn’t say anything more.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to talk now.” Min Zhi’s voice was tinged with a smile, “I heard they’ll have a chance to use their phones before the official performance, to call their families.”
Cameraman: “！！！”
What did he just hear?? The amount of information in this call was far more than he had imagined…
“Okay, see you.”
Min Zhi hung up the phone, looking calmly at the stunned cameraman, casually asking: “What?”
“Min-laoshi!” The cameraman hurriedly followed him, “If you don’t mind me asking, who were you talking to just now?”
Min Zhi feigned mystery: “I’m not telling you.”
But he didn’t ask the cameraman to keep it a secret. Although he didn’t say anything directly, he had essentially said everything!
After filming, the cameraman excitedly went to find the director, waiting anxiously until the next day. Min Zhi didn’t ask them to edit out that part of the call.
The director pushed up his glasses, entering deduction mode, “So, Mentor Min is really in love? Damn, I didn’t expect such a big scoop to fall into our laps.”
Another person, after checking the footage, joined the discussion: “Judging by his words, his partner is a trainee’s relative? This is explosive… our ratings are going to go through the roof!”
“So who is it? Aaaaah, does anyone have any guesses?” Someone asked, their curiosity piqued.
“Trainees with relatives in the industry… just this one.” Someone quickly found the trainees’ personal information. “But it wasn’t publicly released, and we were asked to keep it confidential. Liang Zhun, he’s Liang Shu’s nephew, that drama actor, Lin Yanran’s rumored boyfriend…”
One explosive piece of gossip after another, the staff were dumbfounded.
“But that seems to have nothing to do with Mentor Min?”
“Mentor Min’s partner should be an ordinary person, right? A trainee’s ordinary person relative… this is like finding a needle in a haystack, how can we even guess? No wonder he didn’t mind us filming! If it wasn’t an ordinary person, he would have announced it already, he wouldn’t be so secretive, and we wouldn’t be involved.”
“Anyway—this has to be aired! Guaranteed to be a trending topic!” The director slapped his thigh. “Right, during the phone call segment, pay close attention, if you find any suspicious trainees, let me know.”
…
Two days before the official performance, after a long day of practice, the trainees returned to their dorms and received unbelievably good news.
The heartless program team finally showed some mercy! They were allowed to use their phones for an hour! To call their families!
However, the phones were provided by the program team, old-fashioned landline phones, to prevent them from searching online for audience comments and trainee rankings, to ensure fairness.
Ren Xu, who had secretly kept his phone, knew very well that although there weren’t many skilled dancers in Rong Xingyi’s group, their popularity was incredibly high, the lowest ranked among them being 39th in the theme song fancam views, all eleven of them above average.
The performance results were based on audience votes, and popularity was a huge factor, his “Avengers” team wasn’t guaranteed to win.
Ren Xu was irritated, staying in the dance studio with his two teammates from the same company to practice, when a staff member came looking for them, bringing the good news about the phone calls, asking them to go to a small room arranged by the program team, to use the phones provided.
“Phone calls?” Ren Xu frowned, thinking that the available time was limited, they would have to take turns in groups, so he said, “Let the others go first, we’re practicing.”
But the staff member scratched his head, “Only the dance group is left, and Group A is also practicing, there are more people there. Why don’t you stop for a while and make your calls first? It’s fine if you don’t want to, but you won’t get another chance, think about it…”
“…What?” Ren Xu’s eyes widened in disbelief. He rushed past the staff member to the door of another dance studio.
The door was slightly ajar, a sliver of bright white light within.
He could hear the sounds of young voices, the loudest one Rong Xingyi’s, shouting the beat and constantly encouraging his exhausted teammates.
Ren Xu froze at the door.
His two teammates also caught up, just as they asked, “What’s wrong?”, they both gasped, exclaiming, “Their whole team is practicing overtime? How is that possible?”
Ren Xu’s face darkened. He couldn’t help but mutter, “Those with weaker foundations have to work harder, let’s go.”
After the three of them finished their calls, the staff member finally came to the dance studio where Group A was practicing.
The teenagers, previously exhausted and sprawled on the floor, upon receiving this unexpected surprise, all jumped up, eager to make their calls.
Rong Xingyi, as the leader, let his teammates go first, taking the last turn himself.
It was late, and the other teammates finished their calls quickly, within ten minutes.
Liang Zhun, dejected, came out after just a moment. Apparently, his parents were early sleepers, impossible to wake once they were asleep, he couldn’t reach either of them.
It was already past midnight. His mother, Ye Nan, had to work early in the morning and was definitely asleep.
Rong Xingyi initially also wanted to call Xi Leng.
The cameraman, seeing his hesitation, asked: “Who are you calling?”
Rong Xingyi picked up the phone, a sweet smile and a dimple appearing on his face: “My ge!”
“Ge!”
A familiar voice, full of energy, came from the phone with the unknown number.
At that moment, the quiet apartment seemed to come alive.
Xi Leng had already received insider information from Min Zhi, but he wasn’t completely sure and asked, “Xiao Yi?”
“Mm-hmm, the program team is letting us call our families, we can talk for an hour, but we don’t need that long, do we…” Rong Xingyi was excited, his words rapid-fire, pouring out everything he wanted to say. “Right, are you at home?”
“Yes, Ban Li is here too.”
Receiving an affirmative answer, Rong Xingyi was actually a little disappointed.
“I thought you secretly flew over already…” Rong Xingyi mumbled. “The performance is the day after tomorrow. Ge, are you coming?”
Xi Leng deliberately teased him: “Guess.”
“You’re making me guess? You’ve changed, ge.” Rong Xingyi said matter-of-factly, “Who have you been hanging out with recently?”
He was only joking, but Xi Leng fell silent.
“Don’t tell me it’s really…”
He knew it, ever since those four little braids appeared in Xi Leng’s hair, something felt off!
He was at school every day; he didn’t know what his frigid brother was up to behind his back.
Rong Xingyi, having received some media training recently, remembered to cover his mouth and glanced at the camera above.
“I don’t have a ticket.” Xi Leng had to tell the truth, he wasn’t sure if Min Zhi would suddenly give him one.
Rong Xingyi, for once, was on the same wavelength as him, but looking at the camera above, he swallowed back the words “Min Zhi-gege.”
Only saying: “Then why don’t you fly over? It shouldn’t be hard to get a ticket, you can always buy a resold one…”
“You want me to buy a scalped ticket?” Xi Leng chuckled. “Will you reimburse me?”
“Tch…”
Xi Leng, worried about his loose lips, reminded him first, “There are cameras everywhere in the training camp, you can’t just casually mention Min Zhi.”
Rong Xingyi, surprisingly reliable after not seeing him for a while, said: “Of course, I know that.”
Xi Leng then continued: “I’m not sure if he’s still angry with me…”
Xi Leng used “he” as a pronoun, briefly explaining the situation to Rong Xingyi.
And casually glossed over Min Zhi’s subsequent reactions, like playing with his hair, forcing him to wear flowers during filming, etc.
“If he’s not angry anymore, even if he doesn’t offer a ticket, he should at least ask if I’m going to the performance, right?”
As they say, one is often blind to their own situation. Although Min Zhi had just called him two days ago, asking if he wanted to talk to Rong Xingyi, that could have simply been Min Zhi caring for Rong Xingyi, his true fan.
Xi Leng was used to being alone, living alone, dealing with difficulties alone.
Late at night, he couldn’t help himself, and during this rare phone call, confided in his younger brother, six years his junior, even seeking his advice.
He rubbed his temples, realizing he had overshared.
Rong Xingyi, however, seriously considered his words, letting out two “hm?”s with different tones.
“Ge… although I’m not 16 yet,” Rong Xingyi finally spoke, “but this doesn’t seem like… fighting.”
Xi Leng hurriedly asked: “Then what is it?”
Rong Xingyi narrowed his eyes, clicking his tongue with a look of disdain.
“This is clearly…”
Rong Xingyi couldn’t quite say it, hesitating, avoiding the camera and covering his mouth, before finishing his sentence in a mosquito-like voice,
“Flirting, okay!”
