Chapter 63: You Sure Are Popular
The atmosphere was somewhat heavy, so in the end, it was Ji Yan who broke the silence first.
He looked at Dou Yu, who was making the final preparations on stage, and lowered his voice. “Brother, wanna play a game?”
Xie Xizhao asked, “Hm?”
“It’s just a ranking game,” Ji Yan explained. “Let’s see who guesses more correctly. If I lose, I’ll give you my private contact info. If you lose, you give me yours.”
Xie Xizhao: “…”
Was there really any difference?
He agreed anyway. Ji Yan looked smug, as if his plan was going perfectly.
Xie Xizhao found it amusing, and the sudden wave of melancholy from earlier was largely dispelled.
After thinking about it, it made sense.
With modern technology being so advanced and them being in the same industry, there was no reason they wouldn’t cross paths again in the future.
With that thought, he stopped dwelling on it and focused on analyzing the current ranking situation.
Soon, everything was ready.
The rankings from 21st to 24th were announced first.
Ji Yan’s ranking in the first public performance was 23rd, but in last week’s latest update, he had dropped to 26th. Technically, he still had a chance to debut. However, given his continuous decline in rank, both Xie Xizhao and Ji Yan himself knew the odds were slim.
The main issue was that his company was strong and had a clear strategy for him. In such a situation, it was difficult for fans to feel a sense of urgency and fight for him.
Despite having no real presence in either of his public performances, he still hovered around the twenties in rank—partly thanks to CP fans of him and Xie Xizhao giving him a boost.
Sure enough, when the ranking reached 21st place, Ji Yan’s name was still not called.
A look of acceptance had already settled on his face.
He said, “1:1. Brother, you’ve got to keep up.”
At this point, both he and Xie Xizhao had guessed two rankings correctly—Xia Xize at 24th place and Yang Yinping at 21st.
Both of them were Xie Xizhao’s teammates, and both had jumped from the thirties into the twenties. Aside from the extra votes they received, their performance on Boundless Sea had clearly given them an even bigger boost.
The two were thrilled, especially Yang Yinping.
After the controversy about being suppressed had made waves, both of them had learned their lesson. Instead of saying much else in their thank-you speeches, they simply expressed gratitude to their fans and then used every remaining opportunity to thank Xie Xizhao. If even one sentence made it into the final edit, it would still be a contribution to Xie Xizhao’s presence.
The other trainees looked on with envy.
That was just how people were.
At the beginning of team selections, few wanted to be in Xie Xizhao’s group—mostly out of fear of being overshadowed or due to his reputation for having strict standards.
But now, seeing the results, they felt like these two had benefited from being associated with Xie Xizhao.
The cameras captured the reactions in real time.
Ji Yan suddenly remembered something. “Didn’t your group have two more members?”
Xie Xizhao lowered his voice. “Yeah. They probably won’t make it.”
He paused before adding, “They both came to see me two days ago. Told me that even if they didn’t debut, it had nothing to do with me, so I shouldn’t feel guilty.”
Their exact words had been: ‘Even if you had let us sing the entire song, it still wouldn’t have gotten us 200,000 more votes. So please, don’t dwell on it.’
Xi Kai and Mu Wen.
Compared to the sensitive and slightly naive Yang Yinping or the excitable, easily influenced Xia Xize, these two were actually more mature and thoughtful in their actions.
But audience favor had always been a mysterious thing.
Their words were blunt, but that was because they had gotten familiar with Xie Xizhao and knew his personality. They were afraid he might overthink things.
“Well, at least they’re reasonable,” Ji Yan commented.
He had originally planned to comfort Xie Xizhao in the same way.
Xie Xizhao caught onto his meaning and said helplessly, “I’m not that emotionally fragile, am I?”
One after another.
Everyone acted like he was prone to overanalyzing everything.
Ji Yan coaxed him offhandedly, “Yes, yes, brother, you’re super cool and detached.”
Xie Xizhao: “…”
He let out a resigned smile and continued listening.
—
There were even more familiar faces in the 11th to 20th ranking segment.
Calling it a ranking guess was really just for fun. Aside from rolling dice, even with Xie Xizhao’s understanding of the show, he could only estimate a general range.
He found using dice pointless, so he left them to “sleep” in his pocket and played the game properly with Ji Yan instead.
The result?
They both completely failed this round.
Xie Xizhao did slightly better—his guesses were at least in the right ballpark. Ji Yan, on the other hand, was just throwing out random names.
This segment was mostly filled with trainees from big companies or those with strong individual appeal. Shenghong had one spot, Wenyao had one as well, but the biggest surprises were Zou Yi climbing from 19th to 11th and Liu Xuning dropping from the top 10 to 12th.
The former’s rise wasn’t unexpected, though it still sparked some discussion.
As for the latter, when he stepped on stage, he seemed quite anxious. However, when facing the camera, he managed to keep his emotions in check.
Ji Yan glanced at him sympathetically.
Then, at last, his excitement started to build.
“Guess who’s in 10th place,” he said. “I’m betting on Lu Xing.”
Lu Xing had been ranked 8th last week. He and Yun Pan had a similar style, and Ji Yan—viewing things through his own biased lens—was always hoping Lu Xing would drop a little further.
But Xie Xizhao clearly didn’t agree.
“He should’ve ranked higher,” he said. “I think it’ll be Shi Song.”
Shi Song was considered one of the more popular contestants.
However, unlike the top-tier trainees, his ranking had always been quietly stable, consistently hovering between 6th and 10th since the show began. His presence followed the same pattern—never particularly eye-catching, yet never ignored.
He was the designated vocal, but whenever people discussed the main vocalists, his name rarely came up.
At the same time, his dancing wasn’t bad enough to be criticized either. So no one really singled him out for mockery.
In short, as Ji Yan put it, he was like a contestant living peacefully in a parallel universe.
But landing in 10th place was anything but peaceful.
Especially since Shi Song had been ranked 7th last week.
Shi Song had delicate features, almost androgynous, with crescent-shaped eyes when he smiled.
As he walked up to the stage, Ji Yan noticed the slight redness at the corners of his eyes and clicked his tongue in amusement. “No way, is he actually crying?”
He was clearly enjoying the drama.
Xie Xizhao said, “…Maybe.”
He had actually seen Shi Song in the bathroom earlier, staring indifferently into the mirror while forcing himself to tear up.
Uh… well.
It was… impressive, in a way.
Even though this was a survival show, it somehow gave contestants a taste of the acting industry as well. Quite entertaining.
Xie Xizhao hadn’t thought much of Shi Song before, but this moment made him find the guy somewhat interesting. After all, competition was competition—as long as someone’s actions weren’t malicious, he had no reason to judge.
Shi Song finished his “crying” and stepped down.
Which made things a little awkward for the 9th-place contestant, Ye Yiyang.
As a dance-focused trainee, Ye Yiyang had hesitated backstage, debating whether to bring a tissue. In the end, he was so distracted that he nearly forgot his own speech.
Then, the rankings moved on to 8th place.
Last week, Lu Xing was in 8th place, but since Xie Xizhao had predicted he would move up—and his vague predictions were usually right—Ji Yan decided to be a little sneaky.
“I’m guessing Wen Ze,” he said with a sly chuckle.
Fu Wenze had delivered an outstanding performance last week.
His group’s total votes ranked just behind Ai Qingyuan’s, but his individual score was the highest within his team.
He also had a special advantage—his main competitor, Qiao Ye, had suffered a major setback last week. With that contrast, Fu Wenze’s popularity had surged.
Ji Yan made his guess first, and Xie Xizhao didn’t argue. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I’ll go with Panpan.”
Yun Pan had ranked 11th after the first performance and 9th last week.
The vote gap in the top 10 was big, so Xie Xizhao figured he’d probably stay around the same position.
But neither of them had expected that both of their guesses would be completely wrong.
—
When Dou Yu announced Guan Heng’s name, even Ai Qingyuan, who had been zoning out, snapped back to attention. He turned to Guan Heng in disbelief. The other man noticed his gaze, paused for a moment, then gave him a reassuring look.
After that, he didn’t look at Ai Qingyuan again. Instead, he walked straight onto the stage and began his speech.
The room fell into stunned silence.
Ji Yan finally came to his senses and murmured, “…How?”
Xie Xizhao didn’t say anything.
He had expected Guan Heng’s ranking to drop—but not this fast.
Then again, thinking about it carefully, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
Last week, Guan Heng hadn’t been the center of his group’s performance, and his stage presence wasn’t particularly strong. Unlike Ai Qingyuan, who already had an established fanbase and a structured fandom, Guan Heng was still just an unknown contestant.
And up to this point, although he had screen time, he had no storyline.
No standout highlight moments. No dramatic, tear-jerking scenes.
Nothing.
This meant that Guan Heng’s high ranking wasn’t due to having a dedicated fanbase. In reality, most of his popularity came from Shenghong’s title and his CP pairing with Ai Qingyuan.
And that was extremely risky.
This week, something unusual happened—Xie Xizhao’s ranking had risen to third place.
At first glance, this didn’t seem related to Guan Heng. But many people started speculating that Xie Xizhao was aiming for the center position. This put Ai Qingyuan’s fans on high alert, making them frantically push for more votes—not just among his solo fans, but also within family fans and CP fans.
When solo fans push for votes, they use every possible excuse to rally support. Meanwhile, family fans and CP fans share one common trait: they sympathize with the “weaker” one.
Before, the “weaker” one had been Guan Heng, since his vote count was always relatively low. But in this tense situation, the vulnerable figure became Ai Qingyuan, whose center position was now in jeopardy.
So, Guan Heng’s ranking was bound to drop.
But for it to drop this much—that was beyond Xie Xizhao’s expectations.
Even after Guan Heng stepped down from the stage, Xie Xizhao still hadn’t fully processed it. It was Guan Heng who first noticed his expression. As he passed by, he reached out and patted Xie Xizhao on the shoulder.
Xie Xizhao heard him say softly, “Let’s have dinner tonight. Bring Xiao Yan along.”
He had clearly thought about Ji Yan’s ranking too and wanted to send him off properly.
Xie Xizhao steadied himself and said, “Alright.”
After Guan Heng left, Ji Yan asked, “What did Brother Heng say?”
“He said to have dinner together tonight,” Xie Xizhao replied.
Ji Yan was briefly surprised. “Ah…”
Then he paused. Xie Xizhao heard him sigh lightly.
Xie Xizhao’s fingers froze for a moment.
There were some things that everyone understood without saying, yet speaking them aloud wouldn’t change anything. It would only make things more awkward.
Meanwhile, the ranking announcement had moved on to seventh place.
—
Seventh place went to Yun Pan.
The kid was visibly excited, his eyes shining as he delivered his carefully prepared speech.
How did Xie Xizhao know it was pre-written?
Because he had seen Yun Pan write it in their dorm, scribbling it down with the same level of concentration as an elementary schooler doing homework. The speech covered everything—from his fans to his teammates—but, of course, the main focus was Xie Xizhao.
For what felt like the hundredth time today, Xie Xizhao received heartfelt gratitude from a direct competitor. At this point, he was almost numb to it.
The surrounding trainees were now looking at him as if he were some kind of deity. After this ranking event, his team for the third public performance was guaranteed to be a hot pick.
Good thing the third performance’s group selection was based on fan votes, Xie Xizhao thought.
Because he truly hated making multiple-choice decisions.
As soon as Yun Pan stepped down, another name was called—sixth place went to Fu Wenze.
Xie Xizhao figured that, finally, this one had nothing to do with him.
But at the end of Fu Wenze’s speech, he casually added, “Xie Xizhao.”
Xie Xizhao: ?
Fu Wenze continued, “I’ll be waiting for you on stage. Don’t be late.”
Xie Xizhao: “……”
From the side, Ji Yan said in a sour tone, “Brother, you sure are popular.”
Xie Xizhao: “…”
Heaven knows—he was completely innocent!
