#Lu Mingzhe & Wan Yurou Sweetness#
Late at night, this hashtag rose to the top of the trending list, surpassing the one about Xie Xi and Ye Qiusuo.
Netizens thought the two looked particularly sweet standing together singing a duet with deep emotion. The marketing accounts made excellent GIFs, which spread extremely widely for a time.
"It looks like Lu Mingzhe's side bought the trending spot," Mo Hong said in a good mood, scrolling through the hot search list.
"What's his background?" Wan Yurou sat in front of the mirror, carefully smoothing eye cream with her slender fingers, and asked her agent.
"It's still not very clear yet. It's said he has some connections behind him. It would be best if you could build a relationship with him." Mo Hong scrolled through her phone and suddenly smiled mockingly. "It seems Xie Xi and his team haven't been having much luck lately."
Wan Yurou gave her agent a strange look, not understanding why she was so focused on Xie Xi. Their two teams shouldn't have had any contact.
"There's a banquet. You should attend. I heard Lu Mingzhe will be there. Take the chance to chat with him more," Mo Hong instructed.
Wan Yurou turned her head and asked, "He's going too? Has he already signed with a company?"
"Xinyou has already signed him to a five-year contract, with two solo albums to be released." This information wasn't hard to find out.
Wan Yurou turned back to patting essence onto her face, but she now had a new impression of Lu Mingzhe.
Getting a champion's contract before even winning the championship? Who would believe he had no background.
It seemed this connection was worth holding onto carefully.
Wan Yurou gave her reflection in the mirror a soft, charming smile.
...
In one evening, Sister Wei visited every well-known musician in the industry she could. She wanted to know if there was really a problem with the accompaniment track.
The show had already aired. Sister Wei had someone clip the video of Lu Mingzhe and the sixth-place contestant singing "Color Grid" and took it to various top musicians for comparison, including the original singer.
It was proven that the accompaniment at the time was indeed half a second too fast.
Some musicians didn't notice it at first but realized it after slow-motion playback.
"You could call this amount of time an error, but the accompaniment technicians for "Star of Tomorrow" are considered top-tier in the industry," a musician privately told Sister Wei. "The possibility of tampering is greater."
Since it wasn't Xie Xi's fault, Sister Wei had even fewer reservations.
At 6 AM sharp on Sunday morning, nine top musicians from the industry jointly issued a statement saying the contestant's accompaniment on "Star of Tomorrow" had problems.
"It's rare to see Xie Xi comment on the accompaniment. I listened repeatedly to the song the two contestants sang yesterday and found the accompaniment indeed had a problem. The melody is the core of "Color Grid"; once the accompaniment is off, it greatly affects the contestant."
This was from a renowned musician in the industry with absolute pitch.
Several others who followed said similar things.
Early in the morning, there weren't many people online for the gossip, but by 10 AM, the matter swept through the entire music circle like a whirlwind.
The hashtag criticizing Xie Xi hadn't even faded when a new one with his name popped up again.
Netizens were shocked. These big shots usually stayed out of sight; it was the first time they appeared together in front of the public, and all for half a second?
[Xixi is in trouble, help comes from all sides, hahahaha.]
[Actually, their rigorous attitude is exactly the hope for the music scene.]
[So just because it was half a second fast, Lu Mingzhe couldn't advance in the competition?]
[How is that possible? Later, Lu Mingzhe directly challenged the first place and took their spot. Being eliminated earlier was purely an accident; he has the strength to win the championship.]
[Then what's there to discuss about this half-second? Can't there be an error?]
[The accompaniment technicians hired by "Star of Tomorrow" are touted as the best in the industry. Half a second is a mistake. That means the sixth-place contestant's individual performance was flawless; he lost because he didn't mesh well with his guest singer.]
[Speaking of which... I always felt that guest female singer in the first round was particularly sweet and put in a lot of effort, but seemed a bit perfunctory in the later round.]
[Same feeling.]
There were all sorts of comments mixed in, but the overall direction was the same: they believed Xie Xi was overly diligent, and the reason he didn't say more comforting or encouraging words on the show was just because he was frustrated by the lack of effort.
Of course, there was team manipulation involved; otherwise, public opinion couldn't have been reversed so quickly.
The funniest thing later was that the eliminated sixth-place contestant, after seeing the news, suddenly came out himself to subtly imply the program team had a mishap, causing him to not perform to his full potential.
But that's a story for later.
"How many favors do I owe now?" Xie Xi had been catching up on homework until 1 AM yesterday and didn't get up until 11 AM. Hearing his assistant read the Weibo posts from those musicians, he turned to ask his agent.
Sister Wei pushed a glass of milk towards him: "A few are repaying favors from before. Old Rong wants you to collaborate on a song with him. The rest don't have any requests for now."
"Got it." Xie Xi picked up the milk and drank it in one gulp, then stood up to have his assistant help him change clothes.
"Going to Professor Ye's place this afternoon?" Seeing him nod, Sister Wei said, "I'll go with you to record the show tonight. With this blow-up, their accompaniment technician will probably have to be replaced."
Sister Wei didn't stay long. After seeing Xie Xi get up and finish his meal, and giving a few more instructions, she left.
After changing, Xie Xi didn't see his agent: "Sister Wei left?"
"Something came up at the company. Xixi, when are you going to see Professor Ye?" asked his life manager, Sister He.
"Still early. Zhang Dong, remember to put my homework in the car." He had stayed up late to finish it and was even a little proud; he couldn't forget to bring it.
After saying this, Xie Xi curled up in front of the TV to play games again. He particularly liked brightly colored games.
...
"Professor, are you in a hurry?"
Ding Hong stayed in the lab all weekend. Today, he had a question he didn't quite understand, so he sent a message to his advisor. Unexpectedly, the professor asked if he was in the lab and came directly to answer his question.
He had been at Huajing University for a few months, but this was the first time he received such detailed guidance. He couldn't help getting excited and poured out all his doubts. Professor Ye answered each one carefully and even helped him shore up some basics.
Even during the meal, Ding Hong kept asking questions. After returning to the lab, Professor Ye was still willing to guide him. However, after 1:30 PM, Professor Ye glanced at her watch several times while speaking.
"I have an appointment at two, I need to leave. If you have any more questions, send an email." Ye Qiusuo looked down at her phone and discovered Xie Xi had actually sent a voice message.
"Okay, thank you, Professor." Ding Hong called out "Professor" with genuine respect this time, his earlier forced advisor-change resentment completely gone.
Ye Qiusuo only opened that voice message after leaving the lab building.
"Professor Ye, I finished my homework!"
Professor Ye: "..." What's so special about finishing it?
Clearly, Professor Ye, who was accustomed to completing tasks ahead of schedule from a young age, didn't quite understand the joy of procrastinating on homework, let alone the pleasure of finishing it right at the deadline.
Ye Qiusuo pushed open the classroom door. This time, Xie Xi wasn't buried in a game. Instead, he sat up straight, his eyes shining brightly as he looked at the door. As soon as he saw her, he immediately stood up, holding his homework notebook.
"I finished this week's homework."
"Hmm."
Hmm? He stayed up late to finish his homework and all he got was a 'Hmm'?!
The big star Xie was internally indignant. Just as he was about to speak, a look from Ye Qiusuo made him quiet down immediately.
Ye Qiusuo picked up his homework notebook and slowly flipped through it, her gaze stopping on the last page. After a long moment, she looked up. "Did you write these six pages all in one go?"
Xie Xi felt a bit guilty. "No."
"They get messier towards the end."
"That's because I... wasn't feeling well." Xie Xi lowered his eyes halfway, putting on a 'heartbroken' expression. "Everyone online is attacking me."
That incident from the show? She hadn't paid attention to the trending searches these past couple of days, but with the male and female leads starting to collaborate, according to the plot, Xie Xi getting targeted was normal.
"Did you cry?" Ye Qiusuo turned a page back, pointing at a circular stain on it.
Xie Xi stole a glance. That was from last night when he accidentally dripped some juice on it.
"Professor." Xie Xi, wearing a look of 'enduring grief,' pulled the notebook back. "I need to start my homework now."
If he didn't start writing soon, the fruity scent still clinging to the notebook would give him away.
Ye Qiusuo frowned, watching Xie Xi return to his seat and start copying with his head bowed. Was his psyche this fragile?
Could it be that he left the entertainment industry later because of psychological issues?
For a moment, Professor Ye felt some sympathy for Xie Xi. He hadn't done anything wrong, he was simply blocking the male lead's path and didn't like the female lead, and was thus sidelined.
Since he was already her student, Ye Qiusuo thought perhaps she could attend more psychology-related courses herself.
"Last week you said you wanted to listen to me read?" Ye Qiusuo asked, pulling out Xie Xi's homework notebook.
"Professor Ye, if you read, do I still have to do the copying today?" Xie Xi's first thought was to reduce his homework load.
Ultimately, the student's mental health was more important.
"You don't have to write today." Ye Qiusuo found an inspirational essay on her computer and prepared to read it to Xie Xi.
Xie Xi immediately straightened his posture, ready to listen earnestly to whatever obscure, difficult book the PhD professor was about to read.
"One must learn to be open-minded and let go. If online gossip is troubling, unplug the network cable and seek your true self. Here is a short story..." It was Ye Qiusuo's first time reading this kind of chicken-soup-for-the-soul article.
As Professor Ye continued reading, Xie Xi's spine gradually relaxed more and more, until he finally just slumped over the desk, his mind filled with nothing but 'Is this it?'
"Professor Ye, could you switch to something more interesting?" Xie Xi said, then covered his mouth with his slender fingers to stifle a yawn.
"You don't like listening to this?"
What normal person would enjoy this? Xie Xi looked Ye Qiusuo up and down. Who would have thought a respected PhD would actually like this kind of inspirational fluff.
"What else do you PhDs usually read besides this stuff?" Xie Xi was very interested in the life of a doctoral student.
"Research literature."
Those two words alone sounded incredibly boring.
Xie Xi pressed on. "And what else? What leisure reading do you usually look at?"
"I don't read for leisure." Professor Ye's time was precious; she wished she could split every minute in two. Where would she find time for leisure reading?
Such an old fuddy-duddy.
"Next week, I'll bring a book, and you can read that?" Xie Xi wasn't very interested in being read to; he just wanted to slack off and write one less page of homework.
"We only agreed on reading for this session. Next week you continue writing." Clearly, Professor Ye wasn't taking the bait.
Seeing that Ye Qiusuo had stopped reading and was about to make him start writing again, Xie Xi quickly said, "Professor, please read that story from just now again. I feel I've gained some insight."
Ye Qiusuo looked up at him, repeating, "You've gained insight?"
"Yes!" Xie Xi said firmly. "It made me think about my own situation."
After listening to this story, he could coast through this week.
Ye Qiusuo said okay, feeling that perhaps it had started to have an encouraging effect on him.
Two hours passed quickly. Before leaving, Ye Qiusuo looked deeply at Xie Xi and encouraged him, "Lu Mingzhe doesn't sing as well as you do." The author is purely writing nonsense.
Xie Xi: "?"
