Boss, He Is Chasing Stars Again Chapter 16
byChapter 16 The Second Half of the First Public Performance…
The second half of the first public performance was released, and fans of all contestants were glued to the rankings and voting.
Jian Xingzhi checked his vote count and found that it had increased from before, but not by as much as the last time. He estimated that the fan hadn’t cast as many votes this time.
That said, the votes cast by this fan were still a drop in the ocean compared to the top contestants’ numbers. Jian Xingzhi felt a little disappointed but quickly cheered up.
He had initially feared being eliminated in the first round, so having fans vote for him was already a pleasant surprise.
More than the votes, what made Jian Xingzhi happy was that the interstitial advertisement he had filmed earlier was finally airing!
Although it only aired during the break in the middle of the show, he was still delighted. After all, this was the first advertisement he had shot since his debut, and it was for a mobile phone brand under Chengtian. The previous intended spokesperson for this brand was the lead actor of a massive hit drama.
Jian Xingzhi’s parents also watched Starlight Training Camp in their free time. When they saw the advertisement Jian Xingzhi filmed, they specifically shared it in the family group chat to help him solicit votes.
When Jian Xingzhi discovered it, his uncles, aunts, and cousins had all seen it. The group chat was buzzing with discussions about Jian Xingzhi’s performance, making him too embarrassed to speak up for a long time.
Not only did his enthusiastic family members agree to vote for Jian Xingzhi together, but Jian Xingzhi also saw his aunt share the episode of Starlight Training Camp he appeared in directly on her Moments. Many people liked and replied to it. Besides the mutual friends Jian Xingzhi knew, he guessed that many of his aunt’s own friends had also seen it.
Jian Xingzhi felt a little awkward. It was fine when his fans voted and commented for him, as fans were strangers he had never met, but he saw these relatives every year.
However, since his relatives meant well, Jian Xingzhi could only curl his toes in embarrassment and pretend he hadn’t seen it.
It was almost time to choose the songs for the second public performance. After this performance, another batch of people would be eliminated. The cruel competition system made many contestants nervous. Even Xie Jinhan, who was usually quite confident in the dorm, quietly increased his training intensity.
While the contestants trained diligently inside the camp, fans outside the camp were doing their best to vote.
Jian Xingzhi returned from his business trip, and the first thing he did after putting down his luggage was check the fan group for the latest updates, especially the aftermath of the previous incident.
Jian Xingzhi eagerly opened the fan group, skipped past the messages of fans trying to solicit votes, and scrolled up. After flipping through an unknown number of pages, he finally found the message he wanted to see:
“Ahhh, it’s finally clarified! Little Starlights, charge! Go like and comment!”
“I knew those rumors were fake!”
“Exactly! If Xingzhi had backing, why would he be in Class B?”
“And those spreading malicious rumors, can the company do something useful and sue them?”
“And this Jin Yan, jumping out so eagerly to gain attention?”
Jian Xingzhi found the name Jin Yan a little unfamiliar. After searching, he realized this was the person Jian Xingzhi had borrowed notes from. Judging from his profile, he seemed to be signed to the same management company as Jian Xingzhi.
Jian Xingzhi frowned. Someone jumping out to gain attention at this time was usually ill-intentioned. He scrolled down and saw that this Jin Yan had been posting photos and snippets of his life related to himself, so it seemed he hadn’t been unprepared.
The mud slung at Jian Xingzhi was clarified, and Jian Xingzhi also breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed his judgment was still sound, and now he could report back to Jian Lezhi.
Jian Xingzhi had already watched the live recording of the first public performance, so he casually opened the first episode to take a look. Suddenly, he saw the mobile phone interstitial advertisement Jian Xingzhi had filmed, so he clicked on it to watch carefully.
Jian Xingzhi was very photogenic. He was calm and natural while holding the phone and introducing it, speaking every word clearly. Jian Xingzhi, dressed in a suit, further highlighted the business attributes of the phone while introducing it.
Jian Xingzhi was very satisfied. He hadn’t expected the investment he made in Starlight Training Camp to result in Jian Xingzhi filming the interstitial advertisement. This could be considered fate.
Jian Xingzhi’s performance was excellent, and Jian Xingzhi suddenly became interested in seeing how the advertisements filmed by the other contestants were. Muyuan Dairy also arranged for interstitial advertisements, which aired alternately with Chengtian’s phone ad.
A few contestants performed quite well, but one contestant, perhaps too eager to show his face, kept facing the camera throughout the entire advertisement, making the phone in his hand a mere prop. He was somewhat overshadowing the product. Jian Xingzhi wondered how this advertisement was approved.
Jian Xingzhi searched by name and found that he was the contestant ranked first in fan votes for Class C. While disappointed, he roughly understood the reason for the contestant’s actions—he simply wanted more screen time to avoid elimination.
He calculated the time. The second public performance should be recorded soon. Once Director Qi finalized the songs, they should be announced.
The second public performance was different from the first. The order in which contestants chose songs would be determined by the live audience votes from the first performance and the fan votes from outside the venue. Theoretically, Class S contestants could end up in the same group as Class C contestants.
Of course, this was only theoretical. After all, the votes for most Class S contestants were several times, or even more, than those for Class C contestants. As expected, most of those eliminated in the first public performance were Class B and Class C contestants.
Thinking of this, Jian Xingzhi immediately opened the voting rankings to check Jian Xingzhi’s votes. Although they had increased compared to before, Jian Xingzhi and his group’s stage presence was excellent, yet the increase in Jian Xingzhi’s votes was similar to other contestants, or even slower. He estimated that it was still affected by the negative trending topics to some extent.
Since Jian Xingzhi’s negative trending topics had been clarified, Jian Xingzhi felt that Jian Xingzhi should be different from the previous celebrities he had followed. He immediately opened a shopping app and bought more for the company. Whatever couldn’t be drunk would be left for the employee cafeteria to consume.
He had been silent in the fan group for a while. When he saw the “sisters” in the group shouting, “Little Starlights, charge!” he couldn’t resist posting a screenshot of his order to show that he had contributed.
After posting, Jian Xingzhi felt a rare moment of guilt, but then he comforted himself, saying he only voted a little, and it should be fine. Didn’t Jian Xingzhi turn out okay last time?
Who called him the Medusa of the entertainment industry? Haters, speak up!
Director Qi posted the latest recording information in the group chat. The content was similar to what had already been announced, concerning the competition system and the songs. It explained to all contestants that the songs would be changed and adjusted.
There was only one day left until the results of the fan votes outside the venue for the first public performance were finalized, but which contestants were about to be eliminated was almost a foregone conclusion. The remaining time was mostly just a formality.
The production team had been delayed by the temporary song change, so the contestants were under a tight schedule after the songs for the second public performance were announced.
For the second public performance, all contestants would be divided into eight groups for the competition. Two groups would compete for each song, and the group with fewer votes would still be eliminated. Since the song selection order was determined by the contestants’ ranking on the overall leaderboard, the variables were greater this time.
Jian Xingzhi checked his ranking, which was roughly in the lower-middle range of the fifty or so contestants, looking somewhat precarious.
He sighed, looking at his ranking, feeling that he would probably be selecting a song in a later position this time. Brother Long’s suggestion for him to push into the third public performance was likely impossible.
Jian Xingzhi temporarily put the ranking issue aside and carefully looked at the songs Director Qi had just released.
This time, the Dance Group, Vocal Group, and Creation Group each still had one specific song. If they encountered problems, they could consult with the teachers in their respective groups. If the first three groups were already full, the remaining contestants would automatically go to the last group. The song for the last group would be randomly drawn from three specific songs, which carried great uncertainty.
To ensure the recording progress of the second public performance, they had to pre-record a song-drawing segment. Jian Xingzhi barely made it to the tail end of the sixth group, meaning he only needed to consider the first three songs.
Jian Xingzhi estimated that he couldn’t squeeze into the Dance Group, and the Vocal Group was also a bit risky. If he couldn’t get into the first two, he would have to go to the Creation Group to sing rap, which was his weakest skill.
Jian Xingzhi felt troubled looking at the three announced songs and could only temporarily prepare for both songs.
At this moment, Jian Xingzhi was rare in that he somewhat envied Huo Yan and Xie Jinhan. With their vote counts, they could stably choose the songs they wanted, unlike his current predicament.
Huo Yan saw how troubled he was and said to Jian Xingzhi, “Actually, you don’t need to be so worried.”
“Why do you say that?” Jian Xingzhi looked up at Huo Yan, wondering why he said that.
Huo Yan said, “I’m going to the Creation Group. Bai Jiayan and Xie Jinhan both want to go to the Dance Group. If you want to go to the Vocal Group, at least the three of us won’t be going. As for the others…”
Huo Yan thought of Xiang Hanyu and gave a meaningful laugh. “It’s hard to say about him, but I think he might not go to the Vocal Group.”
Jian Xingzhi didn’t understand Huo Yan’s meaning, but hearing him say that made him relax a little. He then asked about another matter: “By the way, what was that issue you mentioned about the production team’s songs? It looks like it’s been resolved?”
After speaking, he remembered Xie Jinhan’s suggestive comment about Huo Yan having connections and quickly added, “It’s okay if you can’t talk about it, I just asked casually.”
Huo Yan smiled and said, “There’s nothing I can’t say. Someone in the production team wanted to use the ending theme of City West Past, but Chengtian vetoed it later, which is why they ended up with a three-out-of-one song selection.”
City West Past? No wonder Chengtian wanted to change the song. Jian Xingzhi thanked Huo Yan. Seeing that he had time now, he asked him for some rap tips and then ran off to the practice room to put in extra practice.
Xiang Hanyu disliked his manager for being useless. Ever since he connected with CEO Chen, he had harbored thoughts of replacing him.
After the manager told him that the production team would select the ending theme of City West Past as one of the songs, he lost the desire to practice. He turned around, greeted his manager, and went to accompany CEO Chen, causing him to miss his manager’s phone call.
Xiang Hanyu only managed to return the day before the recording. Seeing that none of the first three groups had been selected, he confidently waited for the ending theme of City West Past to appear. However, when he heard the director say they would randomly draw one song from three options, he finally froze, staring at the big screen in disbelief.
Wait, where was City West Past? Where did that huge ending theme go!