Chapter 71: The Music Curse
The second public performance of “Shining Boys” would determine the 35 trainees who would advance from the current 45.
Only ten people would be eliminated, but no one dared to be complacent, thinking that the 1/4 probability wouldn’t fall on them.
The further the competition progressed, the more dedicated the fans became. Initially, they would split their votes among the trainees they liked. As the competition intensified and the number of spots decreased, they would concentrate their votes on their favorites, ensuring their debut.
Therefore, the overall ranking underwent a major reshuffle. Rong Xingyi, initially at a high rank of 19th due to his popularity with passersby, had dropped to 28th, narrowly avoiding elimination.
“This is a wake-up call for the fans, they’ll focus their votes next time, he’ll definitely be safe.” Min Zhi said, “This is a good thing, don’t worry.”
Xi Leng’s frown eased, and he smiled, gently biting his lip, “It’s fine, I know, these debut spots are all bought.”
“Not really.” Min Zhi didn’t hide it. “At most, two spots are sold, four or five are reserved in advance, and one or two are based on actual skill.”
The seemingly fair public voting system had long been manipulated, a well-known unspoken rule.
The companies that secured spots in advance would receive more screen time for their chosen trainees from the beginning of the show, their storylines and growth arcs carefully crafted, not even on the same starting line as the other ordinary trainees.
The independent trainees who rose to prominence and successfully debuted were only Liang Huai and the current national center.
Min Zhi suddenly asked, “Will Ren Xu debut?”
Xi Leng was stunned by this unexpected question, then truthfully answered based on his past life’s memories, “No… He should be ninth, just missing the cut.”
Min Zhi readily accepted his prediction, then frowned slightly, “That’s not good, Huoshu Entertainment is determined to have one of their trainees debut.”
Xi Leng said frankly: “I don’t even remember the names of their other trainees.”
Those two were even further from the debut spots than Ren Xu.
Currently, although Rong Xingyi was ranked 28th, Liang Zhun, whom he was close to, was surprisingly in 12th place. Rong Xingyi had both gained sympathy from fans and befriended the increasingly popular Liang Zhun, making it to the finals shouldn’t be a problem.
The eight debut spots were still being fought over by several companies, and these two independent trainees were unexpected dark horses, even forcing the competing companies to temporarily put aside their internal battles and join forces against them.
Ren Xu, currently ranked 11th, just outside the debut spots, was in a bad mood. He received a call from his manager in the evening, informing him that the company had already started buying votes, but unfortunately, his fan base wasn’t strong enough. He was then told to tone down his arrogance.
“You’ve seen those novels and dramas, right? The ‘beautiful, strong, and miserable’ type, young girls love that.” The manager said. “Ye Xingyi accidentally mentioned his family situation in a chat, saying something about never having been to an amusement park, having mice at home… Although it’s a bit melodramatic, you have no idea how much fans eat that up.” The manager continued. “And your CP thing with that guy is a bit much, too much of a good thing is a bad thing. The activity in Ye Xingyi and Liang Zhun’s CP super topic is three times higher than yours… We’ve arranged a ‘fight’ scene for you…”
Ren Xu was annoyed.
“And there’s good news.” The manager changed the subject. “Ye Xingyi is a stage name, his surname is Rong. It’s quite interesting, he only changed his surname after joining the show. We also found out he goes to Haining International School, those sob stories of his are probably all fake.”
“Anyway, focus on your training, perform well, you’ll definitely debut. It’s best if he’s eliminated early, if not, we’ll just wait for the final live broadcast…”
“Shining Boys” was still a huge hit, every episode trending, its popularity unprecedented.
Rong Xingyi’s Weibo, created just before joining the show, already had two hundred thousand followers, a surprising number.
Since his phone was confiscated, his only Weibo post was from the day he created the account, which had become a gathering place for new and old fans, with hundreds of thousands of comments.
@YeXingyiyeahV: My gege took this! [Picture]
The photo was him holding Ban Li, who had rapidly gained weight after being spayed. To hide Min Zhi’s apartment, Xi Leng blurred the background, focusing on the boy and the calico cat.
In the comments section, fans were still persistently trying to uncover the identity of this mysterious older brother.
【I’ve checked all the male celebrities with the surname Ye… are there any other male artists who look like Yi Bao? Aaaaah, so curious!!】
【With his visuals, it would be a waste if his ge didn’t debut】
【His gege must be handsome and kind, Yi Yi is so attached to him, always calling him, mentioning him constantly… please program team, return Yi Yi’s phone so he can post some photos of his handsome gege, okay?】
【I heard slsn is spending a fortune to invite the trainees’ families to the finals, his ge should be coming, right???】
…
Time flew by, and as Rong Xingyi prepared for the third public performance, December was coming to an end.
Another phone call session. Rong Xingyi excitedly told Xi Leng the good news: “Ge! I heard the winning team for the third performance gets to perform at the KBN New Year’s Eve Gala… Are you going?”
Xi Leng chuckled and asked, “Are you that confident you’ll win?”
“Yes! You have to set a goal first to achieve it!” Rong Xingyi was full of confidence, then asked, “So are you coming?”
“So casually asking your ge to spend money now?”
“Didn’t I say I’ll repay you double when I’m rich?” Rong Xingyi mumbled. “Or you can find someone else to pay.”
With Rong Xingyi’s personality, unless something catastrophic happened, he would never have a worse life than him, Xi Leng couldn’t help but think.
After chuckling and listening to another round of rambling, Xi Leng offered a few words of concise encouragement and hung up.
Speaking of which, the KBN New Year’s Eve Gala.
This was an important plot point in the novel, but it happened over three years later, six months after his death.
At that time, the protagonist gong and shou were already in the ambiguous stage, just a thin layer of paper separating them. The obsessive and possessive villain gong, driven mad by unrequited love, drugged the protagonist shou, but due to an unexpected turn of events, it inadvertently benefited the protagonist gong instead.
Recalling this plot now, Xi Leng could no longer be a detached observer, his frown deepening.
A tightness in his chest, a feeling of unease.
He grabbed the innocent Ban Li and petted her repeatedly, but his mood still couldn’t calm down.
He trusted Min Zhi but wasn’t sure if Min Zhi would be controlled by the world’s rules. Min Zhi had told him that every time he asked Qiao Yusen to pursue Luo Jiayan, he would get a headache, and his heart also felt uncomfortable the first few times he kissed him.
Xi Leng, holding Ban Li, returned to his room. While he was on the phone, Min Zhi was also busy, invading his studio in the loft, but politely only using scrap paper to doodle.
Xi Leng walked up, feeling somewhat helpless, “There’s a whole stack of drawing paper here, why use my discarded drafts?”
Min Zhi excitedly showed him his latest masterpiece, “Look.”
On the drawing paper was a sketch Xi Leng wasn’t very satisfied with, a drawing of Min Zhi, the main problem being the slightly off composition.
However, Min Zhi had added something to the large blank space.
Unable to break free from his Old Man Ding framework when drawing people, he switched to penguins, a cute and clumsy penguin vividly drawn on the paper, with a childlike quality, its head leaning against the stick figure Min Zhi beside it.
“If I release another album, I’ll use this as the cover, what do you think?”
Xi Leng, his expression calm, looked at the excited Min Zhi: “Are you planning to make music again?”
Min Zhi’s excitement instantly vanished. He looked at the drawing in his hand and murmured “that’s true,” seemingly wanting to crumple and discard it, but after hesitating, he carefully folded it instead.
“The music curse.” Xi Leng asked seriously for the first time, “Why?”
December 31st, New Year’s Eve.
In the past few years, besides working and shopping, Xi Leng rarely went out, and he especially avoided going out during holidays, the more lively the outside world, the more bored he felt.
But this year, he was invited out by his energetic neighbor, even asked to bring a change of clothes.
Xi Leng, puzzled, complied.
He was now very familiar with riding in Min Zhi’s car, fastening his seatbelt, he suddenly asked, “Your last concert, wasn’t it three years ago today?”
To be precise, it was exactly three years to the day since Min Zhi gave up on music.
Min Zhi hummed in agreement and said, “We’re going to City T today.”
Xi Leng responded, then asked, “Can we listen to your music on the way?”
“That’s a bit strange.” Min Zhi’s tone wasn’t as secretive as before, replying playfully to Xi Leng’s polite request, “I’m right here, listening to my old songs in front of me, what’s the point?”
“…” Xi Leng had figured out how to interact with him, “Then sing live?”
Min Zhi chuckled, pretending to be humble: “No, I’m out of practice.”
“Besides—”
Xi Leng had a bad feeling.
As expected, Min Zhi continued, “Didn’t you try it this morning? The tongue stud I’m wearing today is too big, it affects my vocalization.”
Xi Leng: “…”
Speaking of which, Min Zhi’s tongue stud and the “keep silent” tattoo on his finger both appeared after that New Year’s Eve concert.
Trying to figure out what happened to Min Zhi at that public concert, like, he had enough of singing, this line of thinking was wrong from the beginning, only leading to a wrong conclusion, interpreting the tongue stud and tattoo as a romantic declaration of giving up on music.
In reality, they were warnings to himself.
He used this method to remind himself, don’t sing anymore, your music is a curse.
The car drove down the highway, arriving at City T, a neighboring city, to an old, self-built house in the suburbs.
The walls were gray and peeling, weeds overgrown in the corners, only the stone path leading to the house was clean, seemingly frequently used, unfortunately, due to a busy schedule, not for long periods.
Min Zhi spoke as they walked, “My mom passed away when I was seven.”
This was a plot point Xi Leng already knew from the novel’s outline, but it was his first time hearing it from Min Zhi himself.
Min Zhi continued, “Sudden death from overwork, she was working the night shift at a convenience store, stocking shelves, when she suddenly collapsed.”
“I started becoming interested in music when I was about three, she worked tirelessly to send me to piano lessons, one lesson cost three hundred yuan, that’s three days of her work.”
Xi Leng stood beside him, listening silently.
“My grandmother felt sorry for her, always saying, forget about it, but my mom refused to give up, they had a huge argument.” Min Zhi said. “And then, early the next morning, my grandmother left, she used all her savings to pay for my tuition, so my mom wouldn’t have to work so hard.”
Xi Leng listened attentively, a thought slowly forming in his mind, although poor, Min Zhi grew up surrounded by love, no wonder he became the person he was today.
“My mom is here.” Min Zhi turned a corner, walking towards the backyard, pointing at a small mound among the weeds, “Just take a look, no need to bow. We’ll go visit your mom tomorrow?”
Xi Leng nodded softly, “Okay.”
Entering the house through the less secure back door, the two looked like sneaky thieves.
But there was clearly nothing to steal in this house, just like the place Xi Leng used to live.
“Later, I went to the Jiang family, then I debuted, but my grandmother didn’t want to come to Beijing with me, insisted on living here alone.” Min Zhi continued. “I couldn’t persuade her, so I just let her be, she didn’t like having strangers at home, so I arranged for a housekeeper to come every day to make her meals, she lived in the small house next door, very close, so she could also keep an eye on her.”
As he recounted his past, his tone calm and indifferent, his hand, however, restless, playing with the soft, curly ends of Xi Leng’s hair.
The following story was beyond Xi Leng’s imagination.
It even made him question, was this world really just a novel?
The parts not described in detail, like his own dark and miserable childhood, Rong Xingyi’s shattered dreams.
It was all terrifyingly real, cruelly real, even Min Zhi, one of the protagonists, couldn’t escape it.
The New Year’s Eve concert on December 31st, three years ago, was a grand event, a year in the making.
Unfortunately, his grandmother was old and couldn’t handle the noise and crowds of a concert, her health wouldn’t allow it.
The concert wasn’t broadcast live, but Min Zhi wanted her to see his performance, so he specially arranged for a cameraman to live stream it exclusively for her.
The housekeeper made dinner for his grandmother in City T, helped her set up the computer Min Zhi bought her, then returned to the house next door, waiting for the concert to start at eight o’clock.
It was a passionate and earth-shattering rock concert.
The elderly woman didn’t quite understand this type of music, but she could see that the stage was large and beautiful, her grandson performing, shining brightly, proud and charismatic.
She was proud of him.
Min Zhi had always been concerned about her health, not even daring to take her to the concert venue. However, despite all his calculations, he never imagined that the intense rock music would trigger a stroke.
She might have tried to call for help, but Min Zhi didn’t know, because his music drowned out all other sounds, including his grandmother’s desperate cries and her last words to him.
His concert lasted until past midnight. The housekeeper living next door told him that the old lady, hard of hearing, turned up the volume so loud that she could hear it next door, even having to wear earplugs while sleeping.
The next morning, when the housekeeper came to make breakfast, she found the elderly woman’s cold body.
…
Xi Leng didn’t know how to respond to Min Zhi’s past, his already limited vocabulary now frozen, like icicles hanging from the eaves.
“I’ve told you everything now, only you.” Min Zhi’s expression was serious. “You said I’m the protagonist, but I indirectly caused the death of the two people who loved me most.”
“So, I think, this world, including yourself, might not be what you imagine.”
After a long while, Xi Leng finally spoke: “Sudden death and stroke, those are accidents, no one could have predicted them.”
Composing himself, Xi Leng said slowly and clearly,
“Until her last moment, your grandmother was watching you, the shining you on stage. Listening to your voice, your favorite music.”
“If death is a dream you never wake up from, then all her dreams from now on will be of you.”
Those gentle, hazel eyes captivated him.
Min Zhi thought, he could never escape now.
His voice was soft, like falling snow, its touch like feathers, gentle, light, and slightly ticklish.
“Her grandson always by her side, she must have felt very happy. Min Zhi, don’t you think so?”
