Chapter 10: Dorm Room (2)
Teach him to dance? What kind—like the Nth set of national broadcast gymnastics for primary and middle school students? Even if the system didn’t say it was ridiculous, he himself now felt it was totally absurd.
To avoid misleading others, Shen Xiu took a deep breath, paused his unpacking, stood up, turned around, and looked seriously at Qin Hua: “Do you have some kind of misunderstanding about me?”
Qin Hua was confused. “Huh?”
Shen Xiu sighed. “Don’t believe or spread rumors. I absolutely don’t —”
Before he could finish, a breathless voice came from the door: “Shen Xiu, hurry up and come with me, the director’s waiting for you. Quick, quick.”
Shen Xiu turned and saw a staff member wearing a badge, leaning against the door frame, panting as they looked at him.
Confused—what did the director want with him?
Qin Hua urged Shen Xiu, “Go on, I won’t hold you up.”
The director’s looking for Shen Xiu? Just how many big shots in the industry does Shen Xiu actually know? Qin Hua was amazed.
“Mm.” Shen Xiu had no choice but to pause his unpacking and follow the staff member out.
The livestream viewers who had been watching the entire interaction were practically scratching their heads in curiosity.
[What comes after “I absolutely don’t…”?!]
[Whatever it is, it definitely isn’t “dance.” With the way Big Brother Xiu moved and carried himself when rapping, there’s no way he can’t dance.]
[Given Big Brother Xiu’s cold and cool personality, I bet the “misunderstanding” he meant is “I’m actually not as approachable and gentle as you all think.” What he wanted to say was probably: “I absolutely don’t teach others. Even if I did, you wouldn’t be able to keep up or grasp it.” Yup, that must be it!]
[You didn’t say much, but I’m convinced you’re right. With Big Brother Xiu’s 1.89-meter height and “I’m the coolest in the room” aura, he’s clearly an all-around ACE. His comprehension level is on another plane. Even if he did teach others, they might not be able to learn it. To spare himself the frustration and spare others’ feelings, he might as well refuse to teach at all.]
The viewers in the livestream room felt they had uncovered the truth and rushed to like those few comments.
Each day, the livestream selected the ten most-liked comments to pin at the top, which also helped boost the popularity of the trainees involved. As a result, Shen Xiu’s popularity rose to another level.
Meanwhile, Shen Xiu—who had been called away by the director to film a short promo as a reward for being the “King of Popularity”—had absolutely no idea that, despite only knowing how to sing two and a half songs at best, he had already become the audience’s all-around ACE in their eyes.
The promo was shot quickly. When Shen Xiu returned to his original dorm room, he unconsciously slowed his steps at the door, ears perked to listen for any movement inside.
Only after confirming that the room was quiet and completely still did he speed up and step inside.
Qin Hua, unsure of when Shen Xiu would be back, had gone off to visit his previous roommates, so he didn’t catch Shen Xiu in the act.
Shen Xiu (relieved): No one’s here. Perfect!
To avoid the awkward situation of being invited to demonstrate broadcast calisthenics again, Shen Xiu quickly packed up all his things from the old dorm room. He rolled his suitcase out at lightning speed, like he was being chased by a ghost.
The promo shoot that Shen Xiu participated in as the “King of Popularity” had been done in a closed set and wasn’t livestreamed to the audience. It was meant to be a surprise reveal during the first theme song evaluation.
So, from the livestream viewers’ perspective, it looked like Shen Xiu had gone off for a secret meeting with the director.
[It’s confirmed—Big Brother Xiu totally knows the executive director.]
[Ugh, what happened to the 24-hour nonstop livestream? Why are there secret meetings I, a premium VIP member, am not allowed to witness?!]
Shen Xiu had thought that being alone with Qin Hua in the dorm had already maxed out the awkwardness scale. But when he pulled his suitcase into the elevator and went from the fifth floor to the sixth, he realized what real awkwardness actually meant.
The production team was extremely lavish—just like everything else about the show, even the temporary dorms for the trainees were on another level. They had rented out an entire twelve-story building: the first to sixth floors served as living quarters for the trainees, while floors seven through twelve were designated as their training areas.
With the initial evaluation and class placements announced, trainees were busy moving their luggage to their assigned dorm areas. People were going up and down floors, visiting friends in other classes, checking out the different training modules upstairs—the elevators were packed.
As the elevator doors opened, Shen Xiu was caught completely off guard by the sight of eleven trainees inside, all turning to stare at him in perfect unison.
Facing those eleven pairs of eyes, Shen Xiu thought: …If I’ve done something wrong, can I be punished in a different way? Please stop making me go through these public moments of embarrassment!
Could he turn around and run now…?
Of course not. Running would just make it even more awkward.
The eleven trainees inside hadn’t expected to run into the “Shura Field” big shot of the trainee world in the elevator either.
Especially not like this: a towering guy like Shen Xiu, standing at the elevator entrance with a black suitcase of an unidentifiable brand, cold-faced and exuding chill vibes. When the doors opened and they met Shen Xiu’s indifferent gaze and aloof expression, all of their brains seemed to freeze.
So cool. So arrogant. So cool!
Just standing next to him made it hard to breathe—is this what people mean by a true alpha aura?
No one in the elevator said a word. The silence dragged on awkwardly, and with everyone just staring at each other, Shen Xiu finally decided to bite the bullet and break the ice: “Oh. What a coincidence.”
The moment Shen Xiu’s brief greeting landed, all eleven trainees thought the same thing: Even his voice is cold—it gave me chills in the middle of summer.
Trying to ease the awkwardness, the trainees scrambled to respond.
“Haha, yeah, seriously!”
“What a coincidence—you take elevators too, huh?”
“Cough, cough…”
What kind of line was that—“You take elevators too?” It gave off the same awkward energy as telling a big shot “You use the bathroom yourself?”
The atmosphere grew even more awkward.
Shen Xiu forced himself to step into the elevator under the collective, synchronized gaze of the others. He turned around, pressed the close-door button and the one for the sixth floor, keeping his back to them.
He stared fixedly at the floor number display, not daring to let his eyes drift even slightly. One accidental glance could lead to a mutual “you’re awkward, I’m awkward” situation.
The eleven trainees inside the elevator no longer chatted away as casually as before Shen Xiu entered. It now had the same vibe as employees suddenly quieting down when the boss walks in—everyone silently stared at Shen Xiu’s back.
Shen Xiu: “…”
So quiet. Why isn’t anyone saying anything?
Could it be they also, like him, found being crammed in an elevator with a bunch of people unbearably awkward?
But… please, people, if it’s awkward, look at your shoes. Or the floor. Or the ascending floor numbers.
Why are you all staring at me?!
Standing at the very front, with the entire elevator behind him watching his every move, Shen Xiu felt like he was sitting on needles.
‘If I had known, I would’ve just taken the damn stairs through the emergency exit!’
Right now, Shen Xiu was filled with regret. Intense, soul-deep regret.
Ding!
Shen Xiu had never found an elevator’s arrival chime so heavenly before. Nor had he ever realized how agonizingly long one single floor could feel.
As soon as the doors opened, he all but fled the elevator, walking off in quick strides without daring to look back. Heaven forbid he turn around and lock eyes with any of those eleven people—who wouldn’t be scared?
Once Shen Xiu was gone and the elevator doors slid shut again, the suffocating silence instantly broke.
“Whew… Did you guys feel that? When the elevator doors opened and I locked eyes with Shen Xiu, my heart legit turned cold.”
“I feel you, for real. Shen Xiu’s presence is way too overwhelming—just standing next to him makes it hard to breathe.”
“Xiang Yueting said Shen Xiu is cold on the outside but soft on the inside, super easy to get along with. Yeah, right. I actually believed that nonsense.”
—
On the sixth floor, the door to Class A’s dorm was firmly shut. Shen Xiu raised his hand and knocked.
Knock knock knock…
Shen Xiu knew that once this door opened, he’d have to face a new batch of roommates who—aside from Xiang Yueting—were basically strangers to him. That meant going through the same painfully awkward silence he’d already endured with his old roommates.
Still, it beat just standing in the hallway staring at the door like a coward, while the livestream audience watched and mocked him for being too scared to go in.
Between two kinds of awkward, Shen Xiu decisively chose the slightly less painful one.
Click…
The off-white door opened a small crack, revealing Xiang Yueting’s familiar face.
“Shen Xiu, you’re finally here! I’ve been waiting here all alone, it’s been so hard!”
Shen Xiu: “!”
Alone?!
At those words, Shen Xiu’s eyes practically lit up.
If the dorm only had Xiang Yueting right now—someone he was relatively familiar with—then, rounding up, that was basically the same as not having to walk in and face five towering, 180cm-plus guys while everyone stood around in dead silence trying not to die of secondhand awkwardness.
At this moment, Shen Xiu decided this was the most beautiful thing he’d heard all day.
But before he could fully bask in that joy for more than three seconds, Xiang Yueting suddenly flung the door wide open, stepped back, and shouted loudly:
“Ta-da! Surprise! Bet you didn’t expect this! Try not to cry from happiness!”
The door swung open completely—and Shen Xiu was met with the intense stares of the Four Heavenly Kings standing behind Xiang Yueting, glaring right at him with intimidating energy.
Jiang Yanxi, arms crossed: “We’ve been waiting a long time—what took you so long?”
Zhuang Yi, raising an eyebrow: “Yo, finally showed up, huh? Had us waiting forever.”
Song Chengwang, fists clenched so tight they cracked: “What’s with all the stalling? Don’t wanna live with us or something?”
Shang Yu, with a slight smile: “Didn’t get the chance before. Now that you’re here, I finally have one. Let’s go to the practice room to battle.”
