Big Shot Ch.81.2

Chapter 81.2: Finals (1)

The rest of the group, seeing their own questions voiced by others, simply stayed quiet and perked up their ears to listen.

They had turned in their phones after returning to the dorms, and at that time, Shen Xiu hadn’t come back yet. Naturally, they hadn’t seen the Weibo posts Shen Xiu had made.

So they had no idea where he had gone.

Shen Xiu realized that, without noticing, he had already grown used to the way everyone talked. After they finished speaking, he continued calmly, answering one by one.

“Professor Jiang Jinya—Professor Jiang was my university teacher.”

“Director Shi’s surname really is Shi. It seems he was also one of the teacher’s students. The teacher invited both of us over as guests.”

When they heard he had gone to a teacher’s home—a real professor—the academically struggling Xiang Yueting shivered.

“That’s terrifying!”

Only warriors dared to step into a teacher’s home!

Also academically weak, Song Chengwang was both timid and curious:

“Mind if I ask… what did you guys do at your teacher’s house?”

Just imagining it—eating at the same table with a professor, constantly at risk of being questioned, accidentally making eye contact and sitting awkwardly the whole time—

Even the thought made Song Chengwang feel like he couldn’t breathe.

Shen Xiu answered honestly:

“I watched a movie and wrote an analysis to turn in to the teacher. As for Director Shi… I didn’t really pay attention.”

In his memory of today, Shi Buwen had entered and left the teacher’s home alongside him—but aside from that, there was nothing particularly memorable.

As he finished speaking, Shen Xiu seemed to recall something. He moved his hand from the doorknob and held it up in front of him.

When he saw the black ring on his index finger, he murmured, “Oh… I forgot to return the ring to Director Shi.”

Wait… why did Director Shi have him wear the ring today in the first place?

Shen Xiu couldn’t figure it out and frowned slightly in confusion.

Hearing what he said, Jiang Yanxi gasped.

“Director Shi gave Shen Xiu a ring!!!”

Mu Zhenchu looked stunned.

“What kind of plot twist is this?!”

Song Chengwang added,

“The entertainment industry is… is so messy!”

Hearing the commotion, Shen Xiu looked at his teammates.

“Hm?”

His chilly gaze swept over them, and the softly drawn-out “hm” in his cool voice clearly carried a threatening undertone.

The others immediately jumped to respond.

“I don’t know anything!”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take it to the grave!”

“Xiu, I have a secret to tell you—I’m actually deaf.”

“For god’s sake, what do you guys even know, and why are you acting so secretive about it? Are you trying to drive me mad?” Xiang Yueting exploded.

Shang Yu raised his hand to cover his face.

“Are you guys done messing around?”

That ring—which had no real design to speak of—and the fact that Shi Buwen had deliberately asked Shen Xiu to wear it… Shang Yu quickly pieced together the situation.

But since Shen Xiu hadn’t said anything, he pretended not to know either.

Shen Xiu didn’t understand what his teammates were doing, but their familiar antics made him feel warm and happy. He said, “I’m going to wash up.”

He took off the ring, placed it in a drawer, grabbed his pajamas, and headed toward the bathroom, thinking to himself—

‘It’s already late. I’ll give the ring back to Director Shi next time.’

Once Shen Xiu’s figure had disappeared from sight, Xia Wenhao finally spoke up:

“With Shen Xiu’s whole look today—plus that ring on his index finger—there’s no way he just went to visit a teacher.”

Zhuang Yi nodded in agreement.

“Shen Xiu’s outfit today wasn’t ordinary—and the fact that he went with Director Shi makes it even less ordinary.”

Previously, when he had suggested they all visit his home together, Shang Yu had already decided to try being more open with the group.

So he didn’t hide anything and said, “It’s probably about a brand endorsement.”

After a pause, Shang Yu added, “Since Shen Xiu hasn’t mentioned it, let’s just pretend we don’t know.”

Upon hearing the word “endorsement”, everyone was stunned for a moment.

After a few seconds, Song Chengwang spoke with sudden understanding:

“Given Shen Xiu’s personality, if it were a big deal to him, he would’ve told us. But he hasn’t mentioned it since he came back—so in his mind, the endorsement probably wasn’t that important.

What was important to him… was watching a film and writing an analysis to hand in to Professor Jiang.”

Jiang Yanxi chimed in, “Sounds solid to me—can’t argue with that logic.”

Ning Sinian nodded firmly.

“That has to be it!”

Zhuang Yi added, “All I can say is—classic Shen Xiu. Never lets anyone down.”

“A perfectionist like Xiu who insists on doing everything flawlessly… terrifying!”

When Shen Xiu came out of the bathroom after washing up, he immediately felt the scorching stares of his teammates fall upon him—and his scalp tingled.

‘What on earth is going on with them now?!’

—

The next day.

At 7 a.m. sharp, all nine of them woke up as if by unspoken agreement. By 7:30, they had finished breakfast and were gathered in the practice room.

On the day the second stage performance songs were announced, they had already looked into “Eternal Starlight” and assigned each member their part.

So over the next three days, all they had to do was rehearse and refine their performance again and again.

There was still no livestream for the training sessions. Inside the practice room, the trainees repeated the same dry drills over and over.

…

Meanwhile, fans who couldn’t see inside the training room stayed huddled around the hallway livestream feed, chatting in the bullet comments.

[Sisters, did you see the new promo pics one of the studios released?]

[If it’s the character played by DMF… all I can say is, just eat something good and move on.]

[+11111, I really don’t get it. That character talks back to teachers, bullies the new transfer student, gets into fights at school, and cracks lewd jokes at passing girls from the rooftop. He’s always pushing his tongue against the inside of his cheek—who on earth actually likes that kind of street urchin? Respectfully, but also laughing at you.]

While the trainees were practicing “Eternal Starlight”, Duan Mingfei’s fans, under the lead of a major fan account run by his studio, kept sending promotional photos of Duan Mingfei to the VG email inbox.

There were so many emails that Kaiser’s assistant, who had previously connected with Duan Mingfei’s assistant, recognized the campaign as fake grassroots promotion and informed Kaiser about it.

After looking at Duan Mingfei’s photos, Kaiser frowned. “Tell them to stop sending DMs.”

He had already asked his assistant to let them know that a suitable candidate had been selected. Why didn’t anyone believe it?

…

Three days later, the practice for “Eternal Starlight” concluded.

On the fourth day, the finals began.

At 6 PM, in the now-familiar venue.

The final hadn’t officially started yet, so the audience wasn’t fully seated. Only a few people who had eaten early and arrived ahead of time were scattered throughout the venue.

As time passed, the seats gradually filled up.

But no matter how many people showed up, those who arrived early were surprised to see that the first two rows remained completely empty.

“Huh? Why are the first two rows empty?”

“Those front rows… they’re probably reserved for people from the industry, or for the families of the trainees. The trainees must have been given tickets to give to their families.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

Backstage, the nine trainees were nervously preparing. Fearing the production team might pull some tricky stunt during the finals again, they stayed in the rooms assigned to them by the show, using the time to double-check that everything they needed for their first stage performance was ready.

They had no time or interest in the happenings inside the venue.

Inside the venue, as almost all the seats were taken by ticket holders, a group of familiar faces entered.

Seeing them, the gossiping audience members widened their eyes in surprise, some covering their mouths in disbelief.

“Ahhh, it’s them!”

“The production team actually invited all the previously eliminated trainees to come!”

“I don’t know why, but seeing everyone gathered together on the night of the finals suddenly makes me feel really touched!”

“That’s Lin Jiashi, right? Why is he wearing a mask?”

“Definitely him. Regardless of who Lin Jiashi really is, you can’t deny that his pink-white hair really stands out among all the usual black hair. But seriously, Lin Jiashi slacked off so obviously—why would the production invite him?”

“Well, they’re all participants from the show. The production has to treat everyone equally, or they’d be accused of being petty. I thought Lin Jiashi wouldn’t come—tsk tsk, his mindset is something else.”

…

Amid the gossip and chatter, the nine trainees walked toward the front two rows reserved for them by the production team.

As the most popular among the eliminated trainees, Lin Jiashi naturally headed straight for the center seat in the first row.

But when he was only about a third of the way there, someone rushed up from behind and plopped down in the very seat he intended to take.

“Hey hey, we’re sitting here!”

Zhou Tong excitedly grabbed Ke Zi’an and sat down: “From here, we can see them better!”

“Alright.” Ke Zi’an went along and sat down, and Lu Qian and Jiang Yuheng also squeezed in close beside them.

In short, the group took over the entire middle section.

Ke Zi’an tried to get Lin Jiashi’s attention, but Lin Jiashi didn’t respond once. Meeting again today, Ke Zi’an didn’t dare to get close in front of him.

In the end, Lin Jiashi could only sit down on the side, feeling frustrated and unfairly treated.

…

At 7:30, the finals officially began.

He Ting stepped onto the stage: “Let’s give a warm round of applause to welcome the nine trainees!”

The nine trainees stood in a straight line on the stage amid the audience’s applause and enthusiastic cheers.

Seeing the familiar faces in the first two rows, the nine on stage showed expressions ranging from surprise to being deeply moved.

Shen Xiu also felt surprised deep inside when he saw the familiar trainees. He recognized all their names, but when facing a crowd, people’s eyes instinctively look for the ones they know best.

So, the moment Shen Xiu saw everyone, he subconsciously scanned the crowd, searching for the friends who once fought alongside him.

Because the familiar faces were scattered around, Shen Xiu scanned both front rows carefully.

Noticing Shen Xiu’s gaze, Lin Jiashi hadn’t even had time to take off his mask before Shen Xiu’s eyes slid past him and landed on Ke Zi’an instead.

Lin Jiashi: “…”

“Although the Boss Xiu looked at us without any emotion and with a cold expression, I know he has us in his heart. Otherwise, why would he scan us all one by one from start to finish!”

“As a newly minted Xiuologist, you’re right!”

“Wuwu, I never got to work with Boss Xiu even once, but he still noticed me—so touching!”

—

On stage.

Seeing the staff carrying a black box approach the nine trainees, He Ting said, “Now that we’ve reached the finals, I’m sure our dear audience is familiar with the show’s process. So, I won’t waste any more time. Trainees, please draw lots, and perform on stage in the order of the numbers on the slips.”

Hearing the words “draw lots,” Shen Xiu couldn’t help but silently pray based on past experience.

‘Please, let me go last. Give me a little more time to pray!’

That way, he’d be more likely to dodge the unlucky streak.

Just as Shen Xiu finished the thought in his mind, the staff carrying the box walked right over to him.

Shen Xiu: … shut down.

The staff stopped in front of Shen Xiu, who was standing at the far left. “Please draw your lot.”

Shen Xiu: “… Okay, thank you.”

Number 1 meant performing first, and the first round of voting would only start after the ninth trainee finished their performance.

This meant that those who drew early numbers might be forgotten by the audience before voting began, which was a big disadvantage for the first round.

Weighing the pros and cons, Shen Xiu reached into the box and prayed silently—

‘Just don’t let me get number 1!’

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