Su Ximu didn’t expect a few energy bars could make Wang Xingxing remember for so long. Feeling Wang Xingxing’s genuine emotion at that moment, he smiled somewhat embarrassedly.
The two chatted like this, and time flew by. The boat that had just left the shore was already preparing to dock at the Small Island Dock.
After the people disembarked, Wang Xingxing obediently returned to the staff’s side on his own. He cooperated with the staff’s directions, striking poses by the seaside for several photos.
These were all for the program group to post on their official account later.
After finishing the photos, Wang Xingxing prepared to head back to the dorm. Su Ximu happened to be thinking about his potted plant, and the trainee dorm was the closest, so he decided to check it out first.
The two set off together once more.
Compared to before, with no trainees coming and going, the entire small island felt much more desolate now.
They walked like this for about twenty minutes until a familiar dorm building gradually came into view in Su Ximu’s sight, drawing closer from afar.
At this point, there were only twenty-one trainees left on the whole island. Quite a few of them were still holed up in the practice rooms, even on the eve of tomorrow’s Grand Performance.
As a result, Su Ximu entered the dorm building and went up to the Third Floor with Wang Xingxing without running into any other trainees along the way.
The Third Floor dorm corridor remained as clean as ever. Su Ximu stood in front of his dorm door when Wang Xingxing, who had already returned to his own room, suddenly poked his head out. “Supervisor Su, we’ve been wiping your dorm door for you all this time. But we couldn’t go inside the dorm itself.”
“If you want to clean your dorm later, just call me. I’ll help you out.”
To be precise, it wasn’t that they couldn’t go in—they just didn’t dare.
This seemingly ordinary little dorm probably looked no different from a morgue in the eyes of those weirds constantly lurking around the dorm building.
Wang Xingxing had seen it with his own eyes: the short, fat associate director would rather take a long detour than pass under the dorm building.
Peng Jia had wanted to risk going in earlier to see if there was anything to gain, but Rao Fei talked him out of it. After all, they needed to play it safe throughout this dungeon—no reckless moves until the very last moment.
“Mm, thanks. I’ll head in and check my dorm first.” Su Ximu thanked him for the kind offer.
He had his dorm key on him. Gazing at the door panel polished to a mirror shine before him, then at the eerily quiet Third Floor dorm, a belated pang of regret and melancholy stirred in his heart.
Su Ximu still remembered what the trainees had told him during that chat.
Trainee No. 44 Liu Jie’s words stuck with him the most.
Trainee No. 44 said he had been a trainee for over seven years.
He said his dream since childhood was to debut—to stand on that stage. He said he had the resolve to be a good idol and would never betray a single fan’s love.
He said his family was poor, his father had terminal cancer, and the old man’s dying wish was to see him debut on the show.
He said if he couldn’t make it this time, he’d probably leave the stage for good.
He had poured so much determination and effort into it, yet when Wang Xingxing mentioned the trainee rankings earlier, Su Ximu hadn’t heard Trainee No. 44’s name.
He had been eliminated in the 45 to 21 Round.
Su Ximu reflected that he had actually interacted with Trainee No. 44 quite a bit before this.
In every evening prank trainee segment, he was always the first to fake sleep and signal him, the one who ran fastest when chased, screamed loudest, and put on the most dramatic show.
But now, he was gone.
Su Ximu realized upon careful thought that he didn’t have any of the trainees’ contact info.
The program group didn’t allow trainees to bring phones.
Chasing dreams in the entertainment industry was a cruel affair.
The youth seemed to gain some insight. He turned the key lightly and opened his dorm door.
He hadn’t brought much luggage to begin with, and his habits leaned toward neatness and cleanliness, so even after nearly a month away, the small dorm didn’t look cluttered at all.
Before leaving last time, afraid the sun would be too fierce the next day for him to return and harvest the mushrooms in time, Su Ximu had specially brought the potted plant back and placed it on the table by the window.
Now, seeing the large and small mushroom potted plants before him, Su Ximu hurried over to inspect them.
Fortunately, the Tourist Garden mushrooms seemed to be some drought-resistant breed with far stronger vitality than regular ones.
Nearly a month without water or care, and the mushrooms in the pot were still thriving.
Su Ximu reached out and measured against the cap of the pale green little mushroom. It seemed this little mushroom had grown a bit taller.
The same went for the mushrooms in the big potted plant. The red mushroom right in the center was nearly squeezed out of space by the other overgrown blue mushrooms.
Speaking of blue mushrooms, he made another surprising discovery: some of the larger ones in the pot were changing color.
Round cyan patterns had begun appearing on their caps.
Noticing this, Su Ximu instinctively looked toward the opposite window.
He used to Share these daily trivialities with Blue 242 Leader.
Now…
As the thought crossed his mind, a pair of hands slowly pushed open the window of the dorm across the way.
A long clothes-drying pole extended over, a small bag dangling from it as usual.
Looking further up, Su Ximu blinked and called out softly, “Big Brother.”
In that instant, the figure of the big brother who had held him close since childhood, patting him to sleep whenever he cried, seemed to merge with Blue 242 Leader’s silhouette.
In a daze, Su Ximu recalled that he had called Blue 242 Leader “big brother” before this too.
Just like before, he reached out to take the item from the drying pole. The youth leaned over the windowsill, nearly half his body sticking out.
He asked, “Second Bro, why do you have two different appearances?”
Su Wuzi smiled. “When did you figure it out?”
“Just felt really familiar.”
The previous Blue 242 Leader had been too good to him—good enough to make him uneasy. Did he really make such a great friend so quickly in this world?
But if that great friend was Second Bro, was Big Brother, then he felt no unease at all.
Because he believed Second Bro was supposed to love him.
Just as he loved Second Bro.
Su Ximu took Blue 242 Leader turning into Second Bro remarkably well.
He pressed on. “Second Bro, were you the one who got that leave for me before?”
Su Wuzi nodded.
Emboldened, Su Ximu leaned even further out—secure in the knowledge that Second Bro wouldn’t let him fall.
He took the initiative to invite him. “Second Bro, then let’s go cancel our leaves with the director together. Wang Xingxing said they’ve got their final Grand Performance tomorrow, and the whole program group’s swamped right now.”
Once the program’s final Grand Performance wrapped, his second summer gig would be done too. A proper start and finish.
“Sure, I’m heading downstairs now. You come down too.” Su Wuzi had only taken the job because of Xiao Xi, so of course he agreed.
After settling it with Second Bro, Su Ximu pulled his upper body back inside and turned to examine Second Bro’s gift.
Red little stones in a glass bottle, as always.
He opened the drawer and added the new little stones to the old ones, planning to count exactly how many were in the bottle later.
Blue 534 had been riding high lately. The Director Shi lording over him got unlucky—one slip-up and a weird turned him into a potted landscape.
Investors pulled out left and right. Everyone thought the show was doomed, but then the Su Consortium spotted the potential and pumped a shot of adrenaline into the program group.
With the Su Consortium on board, other investors smelled profits and flipped their attitudes, pouring money back in.
The biggest sugar daddy sponsor had deep pockets and stayed hands-off, barely meddling in program affairs. Blue 534 had already been running things as associate director while the real one was missing; now he outright claimed the director’s seat.
Best of all, that ruthless weird treating the dorm like a morgue had been on leave for nearly a month!
With the show on the verge of a perfect close and no life-or-death threat overhead, Blue 534 was already mulling over a second season.
Timeline? Next month.
Lost in these thoughts, the short, fat man with the beer gut casually glanced toward the door—then his pupils shrank, as if he’d spotted something utterly horrifying.
Not far off, Su Ximu noticed the director’s gaze and politely waved in greeting.
Once he and Second Bro reached the director, Su Ximu noticed sweat beading on the man’s forehead. Clearly, as Wang Xingxing said, the program group was slammed.
Blue 534 barely registered what this “grandpa” was saying with his flapping mouth. Whatever it was, he nodded along sagely.
At that communication speed, Su Ximu had been there less than three minutes before he successfully canceled leaves for himself and Second Bro.
From behind, watching the two figures arrive and depart, Director Blue 534 let out a breath and wiped away the cold sweat that had broken out.
He couldn’t fathom it—did all the big shots play like this now?
Clearly a ruthless weird.
Yet pretending to be some polite, mild-mannered little white rabbit.
Who was he fooling?
Or was he just waiting for blind weirds to stumble in, adding more “bricks and mortar” to that potted plant?
Dark! Too dark!
No wonder the guy pulled off hanging corpses on display—total psychological deviant.
“The director was way too polite. Even gave me tickets.” During the leave cancellation, the director had stuffed several tickets into Su Ximu’s hands. Now he wondered if his nepo status had leaked again.
He hadn’t pulled strings for the job at first, but with Big Bro now bankrolling the program group, yeah—he kinda was a nepo hire by extension.
Su Wuzi suggested, “Since he gave them, why not call Big Bro and Jiang Lou to watch the Grand Performance tomorrow?”
“Sure.” Su Ximu was always game for family bonding activities.
Following Second Bro’s lead, he added, “Then after the Grand Performance, we can all grab a meal.”
“Oh, right—Second Bro, why does one of my blue mushrooms have cyan patterns starting to show?”
Su Wuzi held his little brother’s wrist as the two strolled slowly back toward the dorms.
Hearing the question, he explained, “Because you raised that mushroom so well, Xiao Xi. That’s why it changed color.”
“Will it turn fully cyan later?”
“After enough time.”
“Then after cyan, can it change to other colors?”
“It’ll turn green. Then yellow, orange, red.”
“Green? So the pale green little mushroom I’m raising—will that slowly turn yellow too?”
Su Wuzi shook his head at the question. “Not for now.”
The mushrooms in the big potted plant had essentially been forced back to their original form.
But that little mushroom was different.
It hadn’t been forcibly reverted by Tourist Garden staff.
It was the asexual offspring of that green mushroom.
Su Wuzi didn’t see the big deal, though. Once the little green mushroom was properly raised, if Xiao Xi liked it, they could keep it for amusement.
If not, just give it back to the green mushroom.
He’d find other fun things for Xiao Xi.
