Zhou Keke was so nervous during her first visit that she wrote everything she wanted to say on her palm beforehand, fearing her mind would go blank once she went up. However, she underestimated how fast her heart would beat, and the sweat on her palm blurred many of the words. She could only recite from memory what she had written.
"...I attended your first public performance and fell for you since then. Later, when I learned you were going to be on a show for a competition, I asked... asked all my friends to help me vote for you."
She was so emotional that her words were unclear, and she didn't dare look at Chi Qiao's face, keeping her eyes fixed on her palm.
Seeing her about to cry, Chi Qiao looked down and took two tissues from nearby, handing them to her. He then reached out to hold her fingertips, wanting to see what she had written on her palm.
Before the event, staff had mentioned that because the kids were still minors, physical contact like handshakes or high-fives was prohibited. Zhou Keke had been adhering to this well, but it was Chi Qiao who approached first.
His fingertips were slightly cool, and when he held her fingers, she could feel that coolness, like an electric shock. Zhou Keke's brain completely shut down, and her pupils constricted.
Chi Qiao tried to decipher the writing, but still couldn't see clearly. He looked up at her, intending to ask about the content, "I can't quite see..."
Before he could finish, he saw the person opposite him with a red face, tears filling her eyes. With one blink, those tears fell.
"Don't cry, don't cry. You're all dressed up so prettily, it won't look good if you cry," Chi Qiao panicked and quickly grabbed more tissues.
The staff standing behind were also startled and thoughtfully brought over a pack of tissues from elsewhere for her to wipe her tears.
With such a commotion on stage, the audience naturally noticed. Phone cameras that were originally focused on the popular members now turned to Chi Qiao's side.
Zhou Keke was crying so hard she could barely breathe, wanting desperately to finish what she was saying, but her words were hard to make out. She cried so much that even the staff behind felt too sorry to remind her to move on to the next person.
Pei Luming next to her also started handing over tissues, looking panicked and curious, wondering what was said to make her cry like this, and worried that she might have trouble breathing from crying so hard.
Eventually, seeing that the time had already gone far over, the staff urged her to move positions. Zhou Keke finally managed to say the most important sentence, "You have so many fans, don't be unconfident. We'll always stand by your side."
At these words, Chi Qiao, who had sensed something, instantly felt a lump in his throat. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he also reddened. He nodded heavily, "Mm!"
After moving to Pei Luming's side, Zhou Keke looked up to see Pei Luming with his arms crossed, looking tsundere and jealous, "Fine then, I'll be second!"
His playful attempt to cheer her up successfully made Zhou Keke laugh through her tears.
It only took a few minutes for one person to go through all five members, but after Zhou Keke came down, she felt deflated. Her behavior up there had been too embarrassing.
"..."
This feeling of embarrassment followed her back to her seat. Zhou Keke used the album to cover her face, afraid that others would notice and point at her.
But she couldn't avoid it completely. The moment she turned to sit down, she made eye contact with Liu Yue in the row behind. She gave Zhou Keke a thumbs up, and Zhou Keke closed her eyes upon seeing it.
She felt she wouldn't be able to escape this joke for the next few weeks.
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"Chi Qiao: Today was our first public signing event, and so many fans came!"
"Chi Qiao: Thank you everyone!"
"Chi Qiao: Today, there was a sister who cried really hard, but she told me that many people like me and that I shouldn't be unconfident."
"Chi Qiao: Thank you all so much!"
"Chi Qiao: I almost cried too at that moment, but a man shouldn't shed tears easily, so I held it in!"
In a private room at the company cafeteria, while the others were hurriedly eating as they still had homework to do later, Chi Qiao was typing while eating, and even took a photo of his dinner to share with fans.
Every time after a signing event, his emotions would be particularly turbulent. Hearing those fans say they liked him and wished him well would surge him with unlimited power, feeling like he could easily run a marathon.
Chi Qiao chatted with fans while eating, reading almost every message they sent.
"Move in a bit." Sang Mo came in carrying a plate.
Chen Wu followed behind, also holding a plate. The two squeezed in next to Chi Qiao's seat. As soon as they sat down, they handed their books to Chi Qiao, "Put these inside, or they'll get dirty."
Chi Qiao took them and glanced at the names on top, "Strange Occurrences in a Small Town?" He just looked once before placing them on the table.
"What's that?" The ever-curious Pei Luming straightened up to look, even flipping through it a couple times, "Too many words, not reading it." But he only flipped through it briefly, none of the content actually entering his brain.
Sang Mo looked over and said, "It's a script, for class use."
Mentioning scripts led them to talk about their acting classes. Recently, they had all been assigned acting classes, with much more intensive content than before. Their teacher was even a specialist who taught this at university level, and they had even started taking dialogue classes.
Talking about this inevitably led to the topic of college entrance exams. Gao Xiayu would be starting his final year of high school this September, needing to consider which direction to take in the future.
But once they started on this topic, they all got headaches, worried about not getting into university.
"To be honest, it's been a year and a half since I entered high school, and I've only just started going to school recently. I still need to make up for military training in September," Sang Mo was the one with the biggest headache. He hadn't managed to study much or even debut properly. His family was in Tianjin and his high school was there too, so after training he could only come on weekends.
Yao Shuo also said, "Who isn't worried? I'm really scared about taking the college entrance exam."
Pei Luming was the one who couldn't laugh, "...I almost forgot I have the high school entrance exam in June."
"You have entrance exams for international high schools too?"
"Of course we do!"
Ye Xing finished his last few bites of rice and collected his tray, "Let's not talk about this anymore, I'm going back to do practice papers."
The others: "..."
-
Pei Luming mentioned that recently at school, his group of friends had all become extremely serious. It turned out they were preparing for the high school entrance exams. Those who were still playing happily were the ones going abroad, naturally without much burden.
In the new week, Pei Luming also tried to be serious for once, but having not attended school for a year and a half, he found it difficult to absorb knowledge.
At 6 PM after school, he walked out with his backpack, stopping halfway by the roadside.
"Hello? Mom, I did a set of practice papers today and found my abilities have declined quite a bit. Can you get me a tutor?" Pei Luming said while kicking at the grass by the road, in no hurry to walk towards the school gate.
Due to the time difference, it was still early morning on the other end, "...Alright, I'll ask Sister Xiaoqi to arrange it for you. Mommy can only come back next month, so be good with Zhizhi, don't fight, okay?"
"Who's fighting with her..." Pei Luming mumbled quietly.
He bent down to pluck a blade of grass, pinching it with his fingernails, "Okay, I won't say more, you go to sleep. Remember to tell dad to bring my shoes when he comes back next week, don't let him forget again!"
"Mm-hmm, bye-bye."
"Bye-bye, Mommy. Oh, and Pei Zhiping's shoes too, otherwise she'll complain about me again!"
"Got it."
After hanging up, Pei Luming thought about the life he was about to face, "...Why can't I just be 25 already? Can I skip straight to 25? This is so annoying!"
Just then, Pei Luming received a message from his manager saying they were already waiting at the side gate of the school.
He readjusted his backpack, put the blade of grass in his pocket, and ran towards the side gate.
Since their debut, their popularity had increased several times over, but the troubles that came with it also grew exponentially. Every day after school was like fighting a tunnel war, with different times and gates for leaving to avoid being recognized. They didn't even dare use their usual van, instead being picked up one by one in small cars.
When Pei Luming ran to the side gate, he found a few fans there. He put on his cap, got into the car as soon as he exited the gate, not even waving or greeting them. His manager, noticing he had closed the door, immediately stepped on the gas and drove away. The whole process took less than thirty seconds.
After getting in the car, Pei Luming's first words were, "Brother, do we have a lot of activities scheduled for the coming days? I have my high school entrance exam in June, and my family has hired a tutor. I was hoping to get some extra studying in."
"Hmm... This week is not good, but next week should work. Starting next week, you'll only have scheduled activities on weekends. You can use your afternoons as you like, but you can't go off on your own. If your tutor needs to come for lessons, they can come to the company. We'll arrange a small conference room for you."
Pei Luming nodded, not noticing anything amiss. "Alright, I'll let my family know."
He sat in the back seat, and just as he leaned back against the car seat, he suddenly remembered something odd. "I thought our schedule was empty this week." He took out his phone to double-check.
As soon as he opened the company app, he saw that the previously blank spaces were now marked with [Filming] for several consecutive days. There weren't even any details about what kind of filming it was.
"Huh? I could have sworn there was nothing scheduled when I looked earlier... What's this filming for? An advertisement? Or a variety show?" Pei Luming noticed that the filming was scheduled for several days.
The manager at the wheel scratched his head. "...It's not clear? I'll ask about it in a bit."
Just as Pei Luming was about to ask more questions, the car came to a stop. Suddenly, the doors were flung open, and several burly men in uniforms surrounded the vehicle. One of them held up a small badge and announced, "Hello, we're from the Time and Space Management Bureau."
"..." What?
Before Pei Luming's brain could even process what was happening, the men outside the car grabbed his legs and lifted him out of the vehicle. They covered his eyes with a blindfold and even put noise-canceling headphones over his ears.
His world plunged into complete darkness—
Pei Luming: What on earth is going on??
-
There will be another chapter before midnight~
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