Chapter 52: Cold Salad (About 30% Forum-Style)
In the end, Xie Xizhao gave the recording spot to Yang Yinping.
No one had any objections.
Yang Yinping’s excitement was evident on his face, but when he thought about the things he had done in the past, he couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed.
After everyone dispersed to the cafeteria, he stayed behind.
Xie Xizhao was looking down at the DV camera in his hands, while Yun Pan silently tidied up the table beside him.
Yang Yinping hesitated for a second before joining in. The two of them restored the theater to its original state. When Xie Xizhao looked up and saw him, he was momentarily stunned.
Then he said, “Let’s go eat.”
On the way, Yang Yinping found a topic to start the conversation. “Speaking of which… Xizhao, why are you recording us? This isn’t just behind-the-scenes footage, is it?”
Behind-the-scenes clips were usually filmed by the production team.
He doubted such a long recording would make it into their segment’s extras.
As expected, Xie Xizhao replied, “I just thought it’d be nice to leave you all with a keepsake. After all, it’s an experience.”
Yang Yinping fell silent.
In that instant, he had a strange feeling.
He had always believed that time was fair to everyone. People were swept forward by its relentless current, with no exceptions. But Xie Xizhao seemed to exist outside of time.
Was it because… he had experienced life and death, making him more indifferent to it all?
He didn’t know.
He only realized he had zoned out again.
By the time he snapped out of it, Xie Xizhao had already walked ahead.
He quickly took a couple of steps forward, caught up with him, and together, they headed toward the cafeteria.
—
The following days became much more intense.
With only a few days left, everyone threw themselves into rigorous rehearsals.
Thanks to Xie Xizhao’s “coaching,” their overall state visibly relaxed. As Xia Xize put it, “I’ve never looked forward to a performance this much.”
For that, he earned a light tap on the forehead from Xie Xizhao.
While everyone else was busy, Xie Xizhao, on the contrary, had it easier.
He didn’t have to worry about getting into the right mindset—he only needed to maintain his daily proficiency.
So, over the past few days, he focused on adjusting his daily routine.
With follow-up checkups and a scientific approach to training, his physical condition visibly improved.
That day, as he returned from the gym, Ji Yan stepped out of the dorm and called out to him. Understanding the cue, Xie Xizhao followed him inside.
“Your manager sorted it out,” Ji Yan said. “What do you think? Should I lend you the backup phone?”
Xie Xizhao replied, “No need.”
“I just need a quick look,” he said.
Opening the file Fang Qingqing had sent over, he scanned through it swiftly.
The information was more or less what he had expected.
At the moment, Wenyao’s focus was split roughly 70-30—70% on Xia Ruiyan and 30% on Yun Pan. Additionally, the company seemed to be gradually separating the two’s CP pairing, likely because they noticed Yun Pan’s rising popularity.
Beyond that, Wenyao had also invested in a fair amount of marketing tying him to Xia Ruiyan.
This included, but was not limited to, pushing a CP narrative between them, publishing comparison articles that subtly discredited one in favor of the other, and using paid fan accounts to manipulate public opinion. Common and predictable tactics.
Xie Xizhao didn’t see a single thing that surprised him.
Ten minutes later, he handed the phone back to Ji Yan. “Thanks.”
“No problem,” Ji Yan said as he took back his phone.
He hesitated, as if he wanted to say something.
Xie Xizhao: ?
“It’s like this…” Ji Yan took a moment to organize his words. “Brother, I know Panpan’s situation is important, but this is something that’ll come after the second public performance. Do you realize that lately, you’ve been dragged into quite a mess online? Uh, what I mean is… maybe you should focus on yourself first?”
Xie Xizhao was momentarily stunned.
Seeing his reaction, Ji Yan immediately knew that Xie Xizhao had once again been completely detached from the outside world.
In the past couple of days, Xie Xizhao’s situation had caused quite a stir within the Super Rookie circle. Even outside, Ji Yan had overheard other trainees with internet access whispering about it. But since Xie Xizhao had been preoccupied with rehearsals, Ji Yan hadn’t found the right moment to bring it up—until now.
Unlocking his phone, Ji Yan logged into a certain forum and opened a trending post.
After scrolling through the thread, he selected a specific post and handed the phone to Xie Xizhao.
Taking the phone, Xie Xizhao’s gaze landed on the thread title:
[Discussion: Based on the recent exposé, is it true that every top contestant I support falls victim to the “Second Public Performance Curse”?]
OP: As the title suggests, I’m kind of losing it right now.
1L: Uh, OP, are you talking about that exposé about top contestants forming cliques to exclude their teammates? Am I late to the drama? Wasn’t that debunked already?
2L: Nope, there was a twist.
Turns out the original poster actually had some solid info.
And their latest post specifically called out Creation Group A.
3L: ??? No way!
That’s Xie Xizhao’s group?!
4L: Just came from that thread—totally get why OP is freaking out.
It’s pretty shocking, honestly.
Like, you’d never expect Xie to be that kind of person just from watching the show.
5L: Wait, what do you mean “that kind of person”? Don’t scare me like that. I’ve always been neutral toward Xie Xizhao—can someone bring the tea over? I need to see this for myself.
6L: It’s the “Second Public Performance Curse.”
As everyone knows, the first public performance is all peace and harmony, and the third one is based on fan votes, but the second one is contestant-chosen. So every season, the biggest drama always happens during the second public round.
Apparently, in another thread, someone spilled that things got really ugly in Creation Group A.
Specifically, high-ranking trainees were b*llying the nobodies, the leader was being a dictator and stealing the best parts, and the whole group knew about the mess.
And in the latest episode, they revealed that Xie Xizhao was the leader. So—
7L: Wait, wasn’t Xie Xizhao supposed to have a delicate, innocent persona?
8L: …In your dreams. Go watch the practice room footage and wake up.
That persona is outdated, sis.
We’re in the era of the ultimate boss who dominates both on and off the stage.
9L: Honestly, his poor health and misleadingly soft looks really add to the confusion. Oh, and his CP with Xia Ruiyan—Xia Ruiyan is basically the president of the Xie Xizhao fan club.
Dude even joked in a game that Xie Xizhao was like the Princess and the Pea.
How is that something a person says?!
10L: Ai Qingyuan literally rolled his eyes at that.
11L: Their trio dynamic is actually hilarious.
Xia Ruiyan treats Xie Xizhao like he’s in some kind of romance drama, while Ai Qingyuan keeps trying to drag him into a hot-blooded youth drama.
No wonder people are shipping the love triangle so hard.
12L: …Am I the only one who thinks this whole thing is just manufactured fan service?
13L: +1
14L: Wenyao, is that you?
Stop pushing it. Can’t you see that Xie doesn’t even want to play along?
Honestly, I feel like Ai Qingyuan wasn’t rolling his eyes out of jealousy—he was just a fed-up friend who couldn’t stand how cringe this whole forced narrative was.
15L: Great take, upstairs.
But, uh… haven’t we strayed from the main topic?
16L: Xie Xizhao’s feelings about people are super easy to read. It’s hard to tell who he actually likes, but it’s crystal clear who he doesn’t.
Like, take Xia Ruiyan and Ni Xin.
He doesn’t even bother pretending to be polite—just pure, ice-cold indifference.
CP fans still out here talking about “divorce” like they were ever “married” in the first place. LMAO.
17L: So, was there actually a clique ganging up on someone? This is important to me.
18L: One thing’s for sure—he’s not soft-tempered.
He’s been team leader for both the first and second public performances, and his ability to control the group is way too strong for someone “soft.” You can’t be a pushover and lead properly.
As for the rumors… I’m skeptical. The first public performance had fair part distribution.
19L: Honestly, the show barely gives him any screentime.
Back during the re-evaluation, he was the initial center, but they skimmed over that part like it was nothing. They didn’t even mention how a total unknown like him managed to get so many votes.
Then, in the first public performance, even though he was the leader, the practice footage got edited into an Ai Qingyuan highlight reel. Like, sure, Ai Qingyuan was the center, but this level of erasure is ridiculous. Are they really that scared of giving him visibility?
It’s so bad that people barely have any idea what his real personality is like.
20L: Bingo. That’s exactly what’s happening.
But you can still piece together his personality from spin-off content and fancam videos from fan sites.
21L: Tbh, I think part of the reason he has so many fans is because of the mystery factor.
Uh… hope the show doesn’t end up outsmarting itself with this strategy.
22L: There might be some truth to the clique thing.
Like, that whole situation where Yun Pan insisted on being in Xie Xizhao’s group?
Kinda felt like it broke the rules a little.
23L: So if there’s a clique, would it be Yun Pan, Zou Yi, and Xie Xizhao?
But honestly, none of them seem like the type to exclude others. If anything, they look like the ones who’d get excluded…
24L: Lmao, for real.
25L: Who knows? You can never truly tell what people are like inside.
…
217L: HOLY—!! The show just dropped a new preview!
Creation Group A actually fought?! This is gonna be wild!
—
From this point on, the thread was entirely focused on dissecting the latest preview.
Xie Xizhao glanced at it.
After a moment of thought, he asked, “Is there a new preview out?”
Ji Yan replied, “Close the thread and check the media section. Someone must’ve re-uploaded it.”
Xie Xizhao looked at him. “Idols should keep a healthy distance from fan discussions, Ji Yan.”
Ji Yan looked up at the ceiling.
But he caught something in Xie Xizhao’s tone. A hint of something—
And sure enough, after watching the preview, Xie Xizhao didn’t say a word. He just handed the phone back.
Ji Yan asked, “Brother, you’re not worried? The show’s totally setting you up with an evil edit.”
He had already seen the preview earlier.
To be honest, he had heard whispers about some tension between Xie Xizhao and his teammates.
But given how close-knit Creation Group A seemed now, no one with a brain would actually believe they had serious beef.
And yet, in the preview, the atmosphere in Creation Group A was so stiff it made Ji Yan secondhand embarrassed enough to want to close the video.
What was even more jarring—
The version of Xie Xizhao shown in the edit felt almost unfamiliar.
The most ironic part?
This time, he actually got plenty of screentime.
The one-and-a-half-minute preview for the next episode dedicated a full third of its runtime to Creation Group A. Of that, 80% was focused on Xie Xizhao. He issued every command with chilling precision, exuding the cold authority of a tyrant.
The remaining 20%? That was just close-ups of his teammates’ uncomfortable expressions.
If Ji Yan hadn’t spent the past few months being influenced by Xie Xizhao’s unnerving sense of calm, he might have thrown his phone across the room after watching it.
But now, his tone remained steady as he asked,
“Brother, what’s your plan?”
Xie Xizhao replied, “Cold salad.”
Ji Yan: …
“Telling outdated cold jokes makes you sound like an old bureaucrat, brother,” he said.
Xie Xizhao blinked. “Huh?”
“That’s outdated?” He paused. “My bad.”
Ji Yan: “…”
Ji Yan found him adorable.
Grinding his teeth, he barely resisted the urge to pounce on his brother and ruffle his hair. Instead, he just gave a serious reminder, “Brother, this kind of thing is really hard to clear up on your own. You should at least come up with some kind of plan.”
Xie Xizhao paused for a second.
“I know,” he said.
—
That was the only comment Xie Xizhao ever made about the situation.
And his comment was simply: “I know.”
On one hand, Ji Yan felt that his brother’s ever-unbothered attitude was—well, as always—cool as hell. On the other, he couldn’t help but worry.
For the next few days, the concern ate away at him, until one day, Ai Qingyuan happened to walk by and gave him a strange look.
“You seen a ghost or something?” he asked.
Ji Yan: “…”
Screw off!
He ended up explaining the situation to Ai Qingyuan, who merely scoffed and said,
“You’re worried about Xie Xizhao?”
“You’d be better off worrying about not cracking your voice on stage tomorrow than worrying about Xie Xizhao,” Ai Qingyuan said. “You’ve known him for so long, worried about him so many times—have you ever seen him actually take a loss?”
Ji Yan’s expression slowly went blank.
Ai Qingyuan had seen through it from the start. “That guy isn’t even human. It’s not our place to worry about him. Do you see him panicking? If he hasn’t come running to us, begging, ‘Brother Qingyuan, please help me,’ then don’t even bother. For all we know, he’s already dug a pit for the show to fall into.”
Ji Yan couldn’t help but protest, “You can’t just say that—”
Halfway through his sentence, he hesitated.
Thinking back on the past two days, he had to admit—Xie Xizhao was eating well, sleeping well, and even had the energy to ask why he looked so tired.
Ji Yan’s mouth twitched.
Half a second later, he snapped back to reality. “Wait—Ai Qingyuan, what the hell are you even saying?!”
Ai Qingyuan shot back, “Dude, he’s not even your real brother, what are you being such a damn bro-con for?!”
And just like that, the two of them were at each other’s throats again.
—
Xie Xizhao and Yun Pan happened to pass by.
Yun Pan blinked at Xie Xizhao.
Xie Xizhao said, “See that?”
“If you don’t train properly, all that extra energy turns into this.” His tone was serious. “Looks pretty dumb, doesn’t it? Don’t copy them.”
Yun Pan: “…”
He took the lesson to heart, mentally labeling Ai Qingyuan and Ji Yan as idiots.
The two of them strolled past the battlefield, unbothered.
Meanwhile, online, the latest episode preview had already set off a storm of heated debate.
**TN
Cold Salad (凉拌) in Chinese slang translates to “whatever” or “it’s too late to do anything about it” in English, essentially meaning you should just accept a situation as it is and not worry about changing it.
