Boss, He Is Chasing Stars Again Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Brother Long looked at the reply and couldn’t help but feel confused. Shouldn’t people in the catering business have fixed suppliers?

In any case, it had nothing to do with him, as long as the big fan hadn’t wasted the milk.

Shi Xingze was still at the Starlight Training Camp filming location and only had time to check his phone after recording finished in the evening. His performance on stage today was good, so Brother Long thought about it and decided to tell him that someone was supporting him.

After the rating episode was filmed, Shi Xingze went to take a shower, massaging his sore muscles. When he came out, he happened to see the message from Brother Long. He smiled and replied: Really? I even had a male fan come to the venue to see me today. I’m so happy!

Brother Long was amused when he saw the reply: A male fan? What did he look like?

Shi Xingze thought for a moment, frowning as he replied: To be honest, I didn’t get a very clear look. That male fan was sitting in the first row, he was tall, but his hair was down and covered his eyes, so I couldn’t see what he looked like.

The first row? Brother Long thought this male fan must be quite wealthy. As far as he knew, the inner-venue tickets for Starlight Training Camp weren’t cheap, especially for the first row. You needed more than just money; you needed connections.

Thinking about the big fan who posted the screenshot today, Brother Long couldn’t help but feel suspicious. After replying to Shi Xingze and telling him to rest well, he opened the big fan’s profile picture again, only to find that the person had changed their avatar sometime recently, switching from the default image to a cartoon kitten.

Brother Long suddenly realized. This avatar confirmed his suspicion—this clearly looked like a fangirl who had switched allegiance from another idol, and she probably had nothing to do with that male fan.

As for the male fan, perhaps someone in his family was a fan and he occasionally came along to watch.

Jian Xingzhi was very satisfied with his newly changed avatar. No one seeing this picture would connect it to him.

Jian Xingzhi’s new avatar was stolen from Jian Lezhi’s Green Chat account. He couldn’t think of a suitable avatar himself, so he simply borrowed his sister’s.

There were too few people in Shi Xingze’s fan group, and his action of posting the screenshot could easily be linked to the big fan sitting in the first row. Since the fan group administrator had contacted him, he simply changed his avatar to avoid speculation.

It turned out that Jian Lezhi’s avatar was quite effective. Since he changed it, the administrator hadn’t contacted him again.

Generally, celebrity fan groups have fixed big fan administrators, but given the size of Shi Xingze’s fanbase, the administrator who messaged him was likely one of their staff members, not a big fan.

Jian Xingzhi looked at the chat content in the group. Almost everyone was praising Shi Xingze’s excellent facial expressions today, as well as the wink he gave during the ending pose. The fans in the group were spamming “Ahhh,” and some were still posting screenshots late at night.

Jian Xingzhi turned off his phone, a sense of pride swelling in his heart. He had watched the performance live, and from the first row of the inner venue, no less. Not to mention the wink Shi Xingze gave him.

After the first episode of Starlight Training Camp ended today, the official Weibo immediately updated with a post about the content of the upcoming first public performance stage. Jian Xingzhi clicked on it and saw that the process was similar to other idol survival shows.

According to the rules released by the production team, before the first public performance, the contestants would be divided into Dance, Vocal, and Creation groups. Each group would be given two songs. Within the groups, four smaller teams would compete in pairs, and the team with the lower vote count would be eliminated.

To make this season of Starlight Training Camp more engaging, Director Qi didn’t strictly fix the number of people in each team like in previous survival shows. Each team could have a fluctuation of 1-2 members.

Although this was a small change, by not limiting the number of people in each team, groups with more members would face issues with lyric and composition distribution. The lyrics of one song divided among seven people would certainly be different from nine people, and the average stage time for each person would also be reduced.

Especially the decisions about who to choose for each team and how to allocate stage time were all points that Director Qi could exploit for drama.

The songs for the first public performance had been released, and Jian Xingzhi could already imagine that the next episode would likely be highly competitive.

Jian Xingzhi tiredly pinched the bridge of his nose. Fandom was fun for a while, but having to take time out to deal with the work he hadn’t finished during the day made him feel exhausted. However, thinking that Jian Lezhi was also going through this grueling life behind his back, and with less pocket money than him, Jian Xingzhi felt a strange sense of balance.

The milk he bought had been delivered locally this evening. Jian Xingzhi grabbed two boxes, knocked on Jian Lezhi’s door, and tossed them to her while she was frantically hiding her phone. He instructed her, “Finish your homework and go to bed early. Don’t play on your phone too much.”

Jian Lezhi subconsciously caught the milk Jian Xingzhi threw, guiltily mumbling a few acknowledgments. When she saw the milk carton, she was confused: “Huh?”

Why was it Muyuan Milk? Wasn’t this the biggest sponsor of Starlight Training Camp?!

Jian Lezhi’s internal alarm bells went off, but fearing Jian Xingzhi would notice, she calmly poked the straw into the carton and slowly drank, asking casually, “Brother, doesn’t someone usually deliver our milk? Why did you decide to buy this brand?”

Jian Xingzhi narrowed his eyes slightly and deliberately said, “Oh, I’ve been following a variety show recently. I had nothing better to do, so I cast a few votes and bought some to supplement your nutrition. Don’t waste it.”

“Pfft!”

Jian Lezhi accidentally spat out some milk. She quickly grabbed a tissue to wipe her mouth: “No way, you’re following an idol again? Who is the unlucky one this time?”

Jian Lezhi regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth. Jian Xingzhi pinched the doll hanging on her school bag, feeling his teeth itch: “I’ll give you a chance to rephrase that.”

Jian Lezhi gave an awkward laugh. Ignoring the suspicion that her brother might have found out she was following Shi Xingze, she carefully pulled the doll out of Jian Xingzhi’s hand, watching her brother’s expression as she said, “I meant, Brother, you have excellent taste. Who is so lucky?”

Jian Xingzhi let go, glanced at the phone Jian Lezhi was hiding behind her back, and said lightly, “It’s nothing, just a minor celebrity.”

He wouldn’t tell Jian Lezhi that he was following Shi Xingze. If she knew that he had already discovered her following Shi Xingze and secretly voting, then Jian Lezhi would be the one causing him trouble.

He just wouldn’t say anything, letting Jian Lezhi rack her brains trying to guess.

Jian Xingzhi, in a good mood, went to the refrigerator and took a box of milk. It was indeed a well-established brand; the taste was good. It seemed their quality control was decent.

Jian Lezhi watched Jian Xingzhi leave without telling her who he was following, turning and returning to his own room. Suddenly, she couldn’t concentrate on her homework. She was worried about whether her pursuit of Shi Xingze would be exposed, and at the same time, she was intensely curious about who her brother was following, feeling an itch in her heart like ants crawling.

After starting high school, Jian Lezhi became busy. Jian Xingzhi knew how crazy Jian Lezhi could get when following idols, so he only allowed her to log into her Weibo and other platform accounts during holidays, and specifically forbade her from spending money on idols.

Jian Xingzhi didn’t know about others, but Jian Lezhi could secretly watch videos and chat in fan groups until five in the morning on weekdays, which he only discovered later when her dark circles became too prominent.

Therefore, he naturally confiscated Jian Lezhi’s social media accounts, only returning them during holidays for her to follow idols. So, during school days like this, Jian Lezhi could at most browse videos, and Jian Xingzhi had enabled parental controls, forbidding her from browsing too late.

Without social media accounts, Jian Lezhi naturally wouldn’t discover that Jian Xingzhi had borrowed her avatar.

Jian Lezhi was completely unaware of what Jian Xingzhi had done. She regretfully glanced at Shi Xingze, who was winking at the camera on her phone. If only she could have gone to the venue.

Shi Xingze, however, was a little troubled.

The production team had informed the contestants about the grouping and the songs, but Shi Xingze was conflicted about which group to choose. He felt his dancing and singing were both average. As for the Creation group, he had asked the staff and learned it leaned more towards rap, so he was inclined to choose between the Dance and Vocal groups.

Light faintly shone through the curtains of the other beds in the dorm, but Huo Yan seemed to be asleep.

Shi Xingze couldn’t sleep, so he quietly picked up his room card, tiptoed out of the room, and headed towards the practice room, thinking that if he practiced a bit more, he might be too tired to overthink things.

The practice rooms were open twenty-four hours during filming. However, when Shi Xingze arrived, someone was already inside.

There were too many contestants in the show, but Shi Xingze had remembered some people during the self-introductions and performances. The person in the practice room now should be Yue Lin, the contestant whose singing was the most outstanding during the initial stage and was recognized by all the judges.

Yue Lin was still practicing the theme song’s choreography, but he didn’t look much better than Shi Xingze. Seeing Shi Xingze approach, he stopped and nodded as a greeting.

Shi Xingze looked down at his phone. It was already 12:30 AM. Shi Xingze planned to exercise a bit and then sleep, but Yue Lin clearly wasn’t planning the same. The short-sleeved shirt Yue Lin was wearing, provided by the production team, was already soaked with sweat and stuck to his back, indicating he hadn’t just arrived.

Seeing that Yue Lin didn’t intend to chat, Shi Xingze didn’t disturb him. After practicing the theme song choreography a few times, he prepared to take a quick shower and go back to sleep.

Before leaving, Shi Xingze glanced at Yue Lin. Seeing that the other person still showed no sign of stopping, he thought for a moment, grabbed a bottle of mineral water from a nearby box, and handed it to him: “Have some water. You look like you’re exerting a lot of energy. You can’t skip replenishing fluids.”

Yue Lin hesitated, stopped his movements, and breathlessly took the water bottle Shi Xingze offered, quietly saying “Thank you.” His voice sounded hoarse.

It was too late, so Shi Xingze didn’t talk much with Yue Lin. He just said goodbye before leaving: “I’m heading back now. We have filming tomorrow, so you should go back and rest early too. Your voice sounds hoarse; it wouldn’t be good if it affects the filming.”

Hearing Shi Xingze mention his hoarse voice, Yue Lin’s expression immediately became tense. He subconsciously asked Shi Xingze, “Really?” As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew without Shi Xingze answering that it was true.

Shi Xingze had heard him sing backstage, so he smiled and told him, “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine after a night’s rest. The judges even praised your singing. It’s too late, I’m heading back now.”

Shi Xingze left after saying that. Yue Lin turned off the music on his phone and slumped on the floor, unceremoniously gulping down some water.

Earlier today, he had heard someone say that he was only good at singing, but his dancing was mediocre, and he didn’t deserve an A rating at all. He felt terrible hearing that, so he had been immersed in the practice room since dinner. But no matter what he did, he couldn’t make his movements as fluid as those contestants who had trained in dance for many years.

He was stuck in a rut and also felt discouraged. When he finally came back to his senses, he ran into Shi Xingze.

Yue Lin picked up his phone and clothes. Standing in front of the mirror, he realized how disheveled he looked, like a drowned rat just pulled out of the water. He decided not to practice anymore for now.

Shi Xingze was right. He couldn’t lose his advantage just because of a few words from others.