AHFAFTGTTT Chapter 4
by VolareHao Yun leaned close to Xu Chengyue and said, “Ye Xiao, what did you go do? You didn’t even tell us.”
“It’s a secret; I’ll give you all a surprise later.”
Besides the two sentences he said to Xu Chengyue, the voice on the other end of the phone was mostly vague, and he even hung up after only a few words, using the excuse of a bad signal.
Fu Yang noticed that since Ye Xiao answered the phone, Xu Chengyue’s expression had been somewhat indifferent, and even the small red mole between his eyebrows had become serious. He seemed unwilling to say more to Ye Xiao and even directly threw his phone to Hao Yun.
Regardless of the truth of the lyrics distribution incident, it seemed that their discord was real.
Most of the viewers in the live stream were waiting for Ye Xiao to connect. As soon as Ye Xiao hung up, half of the fans left. After Xu Chengyue officially went through a few procedures, the live stream ended.
Fu Yang was extremely curious.
The online rumors of bullying didn’t seem fake. On the surface, the members of the Flop Band seemed to have a good relationship, but the relationship between Xu Chengyue and Ye Xiao was indeed a bit delicate.
Ye Xiao’s words even carried some flattery, while Xu Chengyue’s “pretended” good temper wasn’t even acted out with Ye Xiao; he just showed a cold face.
He probed without revealing his thoughts, “Captain, are you and Ye Xiao having a conflict?”
The live stream was already over, and the staff was packing up the equipment.
Hao Yun and Zhou Qingqing seemed to have a genuinely good relationship, running to the back to play with the decorative balloons, leaving only Fu Yang and Xu Chengyue on the sofa.
“You seem very concerned about your Ye Xiao today.”
Xu Chengyue slightly raised his eyes, scrutinizing Fu Yang, making him feel a little uneasy. Before he could answer, he saw Xu Chengyue smile, “That’s good; it should be like this. You were too isolated before. Since we’re a group, we should be united, friendly, and move forward together.”
Hypocritical.
Fu Yang silently rolled his eyes in his heart. As expected of a deeply hidden smiling tiger; the live stream was over, so who was he putting on an act for?
Xu Chengyue’s words were truly impeccable, skirting around the issue for a long time without answering a single word of his question.
Li An answered a phone call and returned to the living room in a fit of anger. After looking around, Hao Yun and Zhou Qingqing, who were playing with balloons, happened to be caught in the crossfire.
“Playing, playing, all you know is playing! Do you have any idea what a mess you’re making of the new album’s dance? Talent shows are all the rage now, and younger boys are emerging one after another. What about you? You haven’t achieved anything after three years since your debut. Albums aren’t selling, you’re not getting gigs, and you can’t even gather enough people for a live stream. Are you still floating? Balloons can float, but can you?”
The balloons, struck by the roar of the lioness of the east, fell to the ground dejectedly. Hao Yun and Zhou Qingqing instantly shrank their necks like quails, not daring to speak.
“Shangguan Yaoguang, you come out with me.” Li An called out a name like a head teacher.
Having just transmigrated, Fu Yang was dealing with a lot of things, his mind in chaos as he slumped on the sofa with his legs crossed. He had finally finished the live stream and was resting when he was inexplicably lectured. Now, hearing this commanding tone, he was even more annoyed.
Xu Chengyue took the lead in standing up from the sofa, perhaps due to the angle, seemingly blocking Fu Yang. “An-jie, why don’t you talk to me first?”
From Fu Yang’s upward perspective, Xu Chengyue, who always showed a gentle and kind side, was now slightly displaying some aggressiveness.
The two left the living room and went outside.
Before long, the people in the living room heard the sound of shattering cups and arguing.
“Aww, so scary…” The youngest, Hao Yun, instantly collapsed on the sofa like a deflated balloon. “It’s all your fault, Zhou Qingqing, for insisting on playing with balloons.”
Zhou Qingqing was speechless. “Who was it who wanted to play?”
The two were about to start bickering again. Fu Yang, feeling bored, wanted to go to the door to hear what Xu Chengyue was saying, but Hao Yun stopped him. “Hey, don’t go over there. The captain rarely gets angry, but when he does, even An-jie isn’t his match. It’s super scary. The last time was a year ago with that incident…”
“A year ago?” Fu Yang seized the key word, suddenly thinking that Xu Chengyue’s biggest scandal was the assault incident a year ago.
“It’s that thing you know about.” Hao Yun shrugged.
Fu Yang: …He didn’t know; could they stop speaking in riddles?
“Hey, actually, An-jie isn’t having an easy time either. A year ago, that incident… she probably didn’t know about it. But today’s matter, I think she knew about it. What do you think, Teacher Zhou?”
Hao Yun made a gesture of holding a microphone with his fist and handed it to Zhou Qingqing’s mouth.
“I think it’s better to ask the person involved directly.”
Zhou Qingqing played along with him, making a microphone gesture and handing it to Fu Yang’s mouth.
Fu Yang: …Give me a break; could they stop speaking in riddles?
Fu Yang was forced to think again. Were they talking about Shangguan Yaoguang’s participation in the production of the main track?
Recalling the room full of musical composition books in Shangguan Yaoguang’s room…
Xu Chengyue probably wasn’t deliberately digging a hole for him during the live stream, but was really helping Shangguan Yaoguang.
But if “Po Jun” was really composed by Shangguan Yaoguang, why wasn’t he credited? If Shangguan Yaoguang could really compose music, how did Xu Chengyue know? And what good would it do for him to say it? What was his purpose?
Hao Yun collapsed on the armrest of the sofa, still trying to hit the balloons.
“Fourth Brother, we just found out that you composed ‘Po Jun.’ Were the previous albums also composed by you?”
Zhou Qingqing mercilessly stomped on the balloon Hao Yun hit over, completely different from his outwardly gentle and scholarly image, and gave the little red-haired guy a provocative gesture, then said:
“‘Po Jun,’ Yaoguang… I see. Fourth Brother, who’s threatening you? Tell us, and we and the captain will help you.”
“You mean Xu Chengyue is arguing with Li An now to stand up for ‘me’?” Fu Yang pointed his index finger at himself.
“Otherwise, would he be arguing with An-jie over such a small matter as me and Zhou Qingqing playing with balloons?” Hao Yun spread his hands.
Was he so kind?
On the first day of transmigrating into my bias’ group, the pretty vase’s smiling tiger was actually a responsible captain who cared about all the members?
The cold-faced monster of a useless prince was actually a poor wretch with creative talent who was being suppressed?
Fu Yang still found it difficult to change his stereotypes.
Was this right???
No, even Xu Chengyue said that Shangguan Yaoguang was aloof. Standing up for Shangguan Yaoguang might just be to win over allies while Ye Xiao wasn’t around and jointly bully Ye Xiao.
If that was his purpose, it made sense.
After all, it seemed that Hao Yun and Zhou Qingqing were on Xu Chengyue’s side.
And Xu Chengyue and Ye Xiao were openly at odds, leaving only Shangguan Yaoguang who hadn’t taken sides.
Xu Chengyue’s move was really clever. Seemingly thinking of Shangguan Yaoguang, he was actually trying to expand his own power.
His cousin said that boy groups were like palace dramas. He didn’t believe it before, but now he only felt that Xu Chengyue’s level was really profound.
If it were really the original Shangguan Yaoguang, he might really fall for it.
It seemed that even Heaven couldn’t stand Xu Chengyue acting so high and mighty, so he, Fu Yang, came to Spark to save his idol.
Now, Ye Xiao only had him. He must not defect! He must not fall for Xu Chengyue’s conspiracy, Fu Yang secretly encouraged himself.
“No, I just think the captain is such a good person, but he got two trending topics because of the uneven distribution of lyrics. I feel it’s not worth it for him.” Fu Yang probed without revealing his thoughts.
“Exactly!” Hao Yun was quick-witted and didn’t notice that the topic had been diverted, echoing, “The lyrics thing was originally because Ye Xiao wasn’t willing to record, so the captain had no choice but to save the day. I really don’t know what these fans are doing, constantly scolding the captain. But the public relations team should be handling it, right? It’s okay; it’ll calm down in a few days.”
Sure enough, they were starting to smear Ye Xiao. Fu Yang understood and watched their performance with a sneer.
He didn’t expect Ye Xiao’s living environment to be even worse than the rumors said. No wonder he was unwilling to participate in group activities and would rather work hard alone outside.
He must find more powerful evidence of Xu Chengyue bullying Ye Xiao and then make it public.
The arguing at the door slowly stopped. After a while, Xu Chengyue took the lead in pushing the door open, his face not looking good, his cheeks slightly red, carrying the remaining heat of anger.
Afterward, Li An, with even more irritation between her eyebrows, came in after blowing in the cold wind and finishing her last cigarette.
“I’ve always been doing this for the good of the team.”
Li An started with this old saying, and the others’ expressions showed that they were used to it.
“Since your debut, I’ve been the one leading you. The company wanted to cut this group, but I turned the tide and persuaded them to give you another chance. I want to see you become popular more than anyone else.”
Hearing this ideological education comparable to a head teacher’s, Fu Yang numbly said, “An-jie, can you say something practical? If there’s nothing else, I’m going back to sleep.”
“Shangguan, I’ve tried my best to persuade the higher-ups to add your name to the songs you wrote.”
Li An said a few more “heartfelt” words, and everyone knew the truth: the company was really preparing to cut their group to promote a traffic singer.
Shangguan Yaoguang was the first to know about this news and negotiated with the company, offering to write songs for the traffic singer for free, which meant being a ghostwriter. Only then did the company postpone the plan to cut the group.
Xu Chengyue overheard Shangguan Yaoguang’s conversation with Li An and learned about this matter. Just like Li An said, she had led the Flop Band for three years, and the members all trusted her. However, she pushed people into the fire pit, so Xu Chengyue was so angry after knowing that she was involved in this matter.
After listening, Fu Yang only felt that this group was completely brainwashed. Galaxy Entertainment wouldn’t cut the Flop Band. Although the Flop Band was a flop, the costs were low. From a businessman’s perspective, a group that could make money would never be cut.
Shangguan Yaoguang was definitely deceived. The company valued his talent and set up a trap, waiting for him to jump in and be a ghostwriter for the traffic singer they wanted to promote.
As for Li An, she was the one who handed the knife. Only Xu Chengyue was smart enough to use the same method to deal with the person, not revealing the secret but directly pointing out this scandal in the live stream. With the fans’ abilities, they should soon be able to find out who the traffic singer was, forcing the company to write Shangguan Yaoguang’s name in the composition.
First, he won over Shangguan Yaoguang.
Second, it was also a show of force to the company, resisting the company’s excessive control over the team.
Putting aside everything else, Xu Chengyue was quite responsible as a captain in handling this matter. He really valued this group.
Fu Yang looked at the person in front of him, his slender spine straight, looking like he would fall over with a gust of wind, but at this moment, he was as steady as a divine needle.
No wonder Hao Yun and Zhou Qingqing admired him so much.
Fu Yang suddenly realized how he had started praising this annoying guy again. No, no, he must not defect. It was just superficial work. Ha, Xu Chengyue was really good at doing the face-saving work, impeccable.
“Spark doesn’t need anyone’s sacrifice.”
A voice sounded in his ear.
“Ye Xiao can’t, and Shangguan can’t either.” Xu Chengyue’s voice was gentle but firm. “An-jie, you don’t want the things from a year ago to repeat themselves, right?”
Fu Yang slightly tilted his head, his eyes narrowed.
What did Xu Chengyue mean by saying Ye Xiao couldn’t?
Could it be that Ye Xiao had also made some kind of sacrifice like Shangguan Yaoguang?
It seemed…this group had a lot of secrets.
Fu Yang became curious.
His gaze shifted from that slender spine to Li An. She was wearing bright red lipstick, her aura strong, but after hearing what Xu Chengyue said, her eyes flickered, looking slightly guilty.
Li An forced a cold snort, “If you have time to meddle in Shangguan Yaoguang’s business, you should call Ye Xiao back quickly.”
“I can’t control him now.” Xu Chengyue turned his head, adopting an evasive posture.
“If you can’t control him, no one can.” Li An frowned again. “Next week, Cherry Terrace has a music show stage for you to promote ‘Po Jun.’ You have to prepare well, especially the dance you haven’t familiarized yourselves with. You need to practice it more.”
Mentioning business, Xu Chengyue nodded, “Understood.”