Boss, He Is Chasing Stars Again Chapter 6

The next day, Jian Xingzhi woke up and checked his reflection in the mirror. After confirming he looked well, he immediately rushed to the recording studio for the day’s session.

Today’s recording involved grouping based on initial ratings and public votes. The selection of groups and songs would start with the S-rank contestants, and the internal song selection order within each group would then be determined by the public voting results.

Shi Xingze couldn’t rap, so his choice was essentially between the Dance and Vocal groups. However, there were S-rank and A-rank contestants ahead of him. If a song group reached its maximum capacity, others would regrettably have to join groups that hadn’t filled up yet. Shi Xingze felt the probability of him getting into the Dance or Vocal group was still quite high.

One hundred contestants sat in the studio, watching the host introduce the song choices for each group.

The Dance group had two songs: Hot Ice and Summer Letter. The former was released by a famous international boy band, with fiery lyrics and a sexy style that was very eye-catching. Its relatively fast rhythm heavily tested the dancers’ skill. Conversely, Summer Letter was full of youthful energy and had a cheerful rhythm. They were two songs with distinctly different styles.

Shi Xingze shifted his attention to the Vocal group. Their two songs were Seven O’Clock Rain Tonight, the ending theme song of a recently popular idol drama, and Ordinary Boy, a song composed many years ago by judge Liao Minghua. He leaned more toward the former. As for the Creation group, Shi Xingze didn’t pay much attention.

Shi Xingze’s rating was the lowest in his dorm, giving him fewer choices compared to the others. If he wanted to quickly attract the audience’s attention on the show, a fast-paced, catchy dance track was naturally the first choice.

Shi Xingze had become a little more familiar with his roommates over the past two days. Huo Yan saw Shi Xingze silently brooding and assumed he was worried about the song selection, so he casually offered a few words of comfort: “S-rank and A-rank only add up to thirty people. The probability of you choosing the song you want is still very high. Plus, there are still fan votes, right?”

Xie Jinhan had just finished showering and came out of the bathroom. Hearing this, he let out a meaningful snort of laughter. “We are all newcomers, not even celebrities. Where would we get so many fan votes? Or are you very confident in the fan voting segment?”

Huo Yan had sensed Xie Jinhan’s subtle antagonism from the beginning, but out of respect for their shared roommate status, he hadn’t said anything.

Now, a casual comment he made was being twisted by Xie Jinhan’s sarcastic tone, and Huo Yan immediately became displeased. “Whose fans aren’t accumulated little by little? If we’re not confident, should we just quit the competition? Why not withdraw now?”

Xie Jinhan’s face flushed red, choked by Huo Yan’s retort. Huo Yan, however, simply told Shi Xingze that he was going to sleep, put on his earplugs, and turned over to prepare for bed.

Shi Xingze hadn’t expected that doing nothing would accidentally make him the fuse between the two. Seeing Xie Jinhan standing awkwardly in place, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and mediate. “Everyone is tired from the recording today. Let’s all get some rest early.”

Feeling snubbed, Xie Jinhan huffed and returned to his own bed. It was only then that Bai Jiayan returned. Sensing the strange atmosphere in the room, he thought about it but decided not to ask anything. He was never good at handling such situations.

Shi Xingze wasn’t actually very worried about not getting the song he wanted; he was just a little conflicted.

He was B-rank anyway, and it was clear he wouldn’t debut in the end. As long as he wasn’t eliminated in the first round, that was the best outcome for him. Every extra episode he recorded with the production team was a bonus.

Xie Jinhan wasn’t wrong; a contestant like him, who was practically an ordinary person, didn’t have many fans to begin with.

However, thinking of that rare male fan who was willing to come to the front row to see him live, Shi Xingze felt a sense of self-consolation mixed with inevitable happiness. Regardless of the number, he was a person with fans now.

At Chengtian Group company.

Huang Fei yawned, took his cup, and headed to the pantry to make coffee. He suddenly noticed that the pantry had new milk. Huang Fei curiously picked up a carton of milk. It was from Muyuan Dairy, an old domestic brand.

He glanced curiously at Lian Xinyan, who was opening a carton of milk, and asked her, “Did our company switch beverages again recently?”

It was no secret that Chengtian’s pantry often changed beverages irregularly; long-time employees knew this. Recently, for some unknown reason, it had switched back to milk.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet?” Lian Xinyan looked around to ensure no one else was in the pantry, then lowered her voice and whispered, “This is a sponsor of the Starlight Training Camp. Just like that orange juice last time, it’s either sponsoring a hit drama or a survival show. I’ve long suspected that someone in procurement is secretly using company funds to chase celebrities!”

Huang Fei usually didn’t watch many variety shows or dramas. His hobbies at home, besides fitness, were playing games. He was somewhat incredulous now. “That can’t be right? I heard Chengtian has a pretty good atmosphere. Surely no one would do something like that?”

“Why not? I noticed it a long time ago, but no one would believe me if I said it. See, you don’t believe me either.” Lian Xinyan felt bored after saying this and sighed, preparing to return to her desk. Huang Fei called out to her again, “Why are you only taking milk today? Should I make you a cup of coffee?”

Chengtian’s benefits were quite good. Drinks and snacks in the pantry were regularly supplied, and employees could take them without anyone commenting.

Lian Xinyan, sporting a pair of panda eyes, waved her hand. “Don’t even mention it. I stayed up late chasing a variety show yesterday. If I drink coffee today, I’ll probably drop dead from exhaustion. As a corporate drone, I’m not going to whip myself today. You go ahead and drink it.”

She had been busy with a project when Starlight Training Camp first aired a couple of days ago. She had planned to catch up on the auditions and the first episode yesterday, but staying up late felt good for a moment, only to make her miserable at work the next day. She decided it was better to catch up on the show slowly from now on.

Huang Fei watched Lian Xinyan’s retreating back as she carried the milk, suddenly finding his own coffee less appealing. He thought for a moment and also grabbed a carton of milk to take back.

Jian Xingzhi sat in his office while his assistant reported, “CEO Jian, the milk you purchased has been fully distributed to the company pantries, and it has also been sent to the employee cafeteria.”

Jian Xingzhi nodded, then thought for a moment and told the assistant, “Come find me when the milk is running low.”

The assistant nodded and left. Jian Xingzhi closed the report on his computer and immediately opened Weibo to check the latest updates from the Starlight Training Camp official account. The first performance was coming up soon, and he wondered which group Shi Xingze would choose.

Jian Xingzhi looked at the rapidly increasing votes for the top contestants and compared them to Shi Xingze’s lukewarm, small number of fans in the middle ranks, feeling a little worried. Shi Xingze was only B-rank. What if he couldn’t choose the song he wanted?

He had followed quite a few celebrities and shows and deeply understood that, besides company backing, the contestant with the most fan votes was king. He opened Shi Xingze’s fan group on Weibo and fell silent, looking at the few hundred newly added fans.

Jian Xingzhi’s finger hovered over the payment page, hesitating whether he should vote more. Finally, he convinced himself: Jian Lezhi was also following Shi Xingze, and as his older brother, he couldn’t let Shi Xingze get eliminated in the first round. So, casting a few more votes was reasonable, right?

However, he had just personally paid for a batch of milk for the company, and he had even bought some for home. It wouldn’t look good to buy more for the company. He needed to think of a plausible reason.

The recording of Starlight Training Camp didn’t happen every day; it had to align with the schedules of the judges and host. Furthermore, many contestants were already debuted artists who had other recording commitments besides Starlight Training Camp.

Not everyone had a recording task today. While Shi Xingze was cooperating with the production team to film daily practice room routines, he heard Liu Mu next to him quietly sigh, “High popularity is great. Look at those contestants with high fan votes; they all went to film commercials today.”

Shi Xingze was also a little envious. “Yeah, but many of them aren’t rookies debuting for the first time. We definitely can’t compare. By the way, are they filming a phone commercial or a milk commercial today?”

Liu Mu was sitting on the practice room floor, scrolling through the Starlight Training Camp official updates on his phone. He opened the latest one and showed it to Shi Xingze. “Milk. Our sponsor. I heard it’s Duan Jingyan.”

“Duan Jingyan?” Shi Xingze remembered he was an S-rank contestant, so it wasn’t surprising that he was filming a commercial. “That makes sense. With such a high rating, he must have a lot of fan votes.”

Liu Mu nodded along. Since Shi Xingze had stood up for him last time, the two had become closer and were now friends. Liu Mu pointed to a news article and said to Shi Xingze, “See how good it is to be rich? We’re here fighting for ratings, and others are buying so much of the sponsor’s milk to do charity.”

The news reported that Chengtian Group had purchased Muyuan Dairy’s milk and donated it to impoverished mountainous areas.

Shi Xingze didn’t know much about Chengtian Group, so he took out his phone and searched for it. He clicked on Jian Xingzhi’s profile on the official website, looked at his photo, and said enviously, “The boss of Chengtian isn’t much older than us. Not only is he young and accomplished, but he’s also willing to do charity.”

“Tell me about it,” Liu Mu said, sounding a bit down. There were too many excellent contestants among the hundred, and he wasn’t particularly outstanding. He figured the song selection segment would be risky for him.

Shi Xingze, who was also B-rank, could only comfort him. “It’s okay, I’m here to anchor the bottom.”

He was open-minded. Being able to participate in the first performance was already great, so he wasn’t overthinking things. Besides cooperating with the cameraman for daily filming, he focused on practicing dancing and singing. His overall state was surprisingly relaxed.

Huo Yan watched him with curiosity and teased him, “You really aren’t worried at all. I see the practice rooms lit up like daylight these past two nights, almost as crowded as during the day.”

Shi Xingze had guessed that many people would be practicing desperately lately, probably as crowded as the library during their school’s finals week, so he hadn’t bothered to join the rush.

On the day of the first performance, as expected, most S-rank contestants chose fast-paced dance tracks. Compared to the other nervous contestants in the waiting room, Shi Xingze was still interested in guessing the content of each song. He was sitting in his seat, eagerly waiting for others to choose, until the host’s voice rang out:

“Next, let me announce the contestant with the highest off-site voting rate in Group B, and the first contestant to choose a song: Shi Xingze!”

The air in the waiting room suddenly went silent. Everyone’s eyes simultaneously shifted to Shi Xingze. Shi Xingze stood up, bewildered, and pointed at himself, asking the host, “Huh? Me?”