Dressed As a Cannon Fodder For the Rich and Powerful

TL: Hua

The backstage of the show was in chaos.

From the time Qi Xiaoyu took the stage just now, it seemed like everything was in disarray.

The originally established distribution of votes was completely disrupted, and Qi Xiaoyu’s vote count increased wildly.

When the voting channel was finally closed, the director, Ma Guoguang, who was waiting by the side, had already rubbed his hands red, and the assistant director, Zhou Zheng, standing beside him, was also pacing back and forth nervously.

As early as the first few episodes, they had already negotiated with brokers from big companies and decided on the final top ten list. So they casually played out the parts that Dong Fan exposed about Qi Xiaoyu and highlighted his bad side. Anyway, Qi Xiaoyu was just an existence that sparked controversies and was sacrificed for the sake of popularity.

The situation now is absolutely unexpected.

The staff ran all the way to the printer to take out the voting results and send them to director Ma Guoguang.

Ma Guoguang only took a glance at it, then closed his hands and immediately covered it.

Assistant director Zhou Zheng leaned over to him, his face full of anxiety. “Old Ma, how is the ranking? Is he far from Yu Zhou?”

Ma Guoguang nodded expressionlessly.

Zhou Zheng clapped his hands, and his expression immediately changed from anxious to relaxed. “It’s enough as long as he’s far behind Yu Zhou. With Yu Zhou pressing them down, those behind him all have similar votes and can’t really make a fuss. Then, according to the previous plan, swap his votes with the ones behind?”

Ma Guoguang still had no expression on his face, but the air pressure around him had dropped significantly. “I mean, there’s a big difference between him and Yu Zhou. He has a higher vote than Yu Zhou.”

Zhou Zheng’s expression changed from surprise to horror. “What? It’s only been twenty minutes; how many votes can be cast for him?”

“Hmph, didn’t you see his performance on stage just now? Our vote pool is small, let alone twenty minutes, or even ten minutes; as long as someone is willing to vote, the ranking will immediately change dramatically.”

Zhou Zheng rubbed his hands and said, “Then, what should we do now? Shall we still follow the original plan?”

Ma Guoguang threw the piece of paper with the ranking to Zhou Zheng’s chest and patted it, saying, “Look at it for yourself. You’re the one who promised other people a debut spot.”

Zhou Zheng, “Old Ma, what you said is wrong. When Orange Juice Entertainment came to talk about the quota, you were also present, weren’t you? At that time, you were also afraid of the Xun family behind them, so you went along with it. If you take back your words now, aren’t you afraid of angering the Xun family?”

Ma Guoguang waved his hand irritably and asked, “Isn’t it all a bridge built by you? Now you have to solve this matter, but you must also think clearly about whether you can deal with the aftermath.”

*****

Qi Xiaoyu switched off his phone. He planned to stay in the dormitory tonight, but looking at the situation, he had to rush back to Xun’s house after the show.

Qi Xiaoyu felt a little indescribable.

It was one thing for him to know that Xun Qian was sick in the plot line before, but now that he is witnessing it, it is a completely different feeling.

It’s like reading other people’s stories before, but now it’s a personal experience.

There is also a little bit of guilt in it. Xun Qian was not that seriously ill when he left yesterday, so he should have reminded him to pay attention?

“Xiao Yu, what are you thinking?” Yu Xiaosheng patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s almost time to go on stage.”

Qi Xiaoyu came back to his senses, only to find that everyone else in the dressing room had changed their clothes and put on their makeup and was about to go back to the stage. Several of them looked at him with jealousy or envy.

Even Yu Zhou and Gu Lei, who usually dismiss him, looked at him strangely.

But no one spoke, and the whole atmosphere was tense.

The tense atmosphere continued all the way to the stage.

Everyone held their breath and waited for the host to speak.

The host, who was ready to announce the results with the script, wished to pause for two seconds after each word and dilly-dally for half a day without saying anything else but to report the number of votes for each person.

On the livestream channel of the show, the audience was still reminiscing about Qi Xiaoyu’s amazing performance. From top to bottom, there are overlapping barrages all over the place: “Was that really Qi Xiaoyu just now?”

“Oh my god, he’s making rapid progress. Is he singing for real?”

“With the mics turned on in the audience and the sound of the electric current, was he lip-syncing alone?”

“Whose fan said that this is lip-syncing? Please care about your brother’s out-of-tune issue first.”

“Is it too late to vote for him?”

“After watching several episodes of the show, I finally found my pick.”

“It feels like I’m in love again.”

“The look in those eyes—ahhhhhh, amazing.”

“Yes, brother, look at me.”

“Quick, quick, we’re about to see Qi Xiaoyu’s solo direct shot!”

“I want my brother to debut immediately!”

On Weibo, Qi Xiaoyu’s station sister posted a picture almost simultaneously: “Little brother is so beautiful, I don’t need to edit it.”

In the photo, Qi Xiaoyu either turned around, smiled, or pondered; every move and gesture had a natural temperament.

The following replies were all screaming “ahhhhhhhhhhh”.

There are also Qi Xiaoyu’s solo stage photos taken by a few fans. Although it was a bit shaky, Qi Xiaoyu’s fresh and not-cringy stage presence, plus his love-whisper voice, were quickly forwarded and became popular.

Various show-related discussion threads are grasping at straws to predict the outcome of the competition.

The predictions for the ranking are:

“If you don’t bet on the debut spot, you can bet on whoever ranks first. I bet it’s Yu Zhou.”

“I want to bet on Xiao Yu. After the performance, all the little sisters who watched the show with me in the same dormitory voted for him.”

“I’m also betting on Qi Xiaoyu. His performance tonight is really popular. The fan vote pool for this show is small, but the votes of passers-by are still considerable.”

There are also those who predict the debut position:

“Come to eat melons. The debut position has already been determined by default. The list of ten people has been exposed. There is no Qi Xiaoyu.”

“It would be too fake without Qi Xiaoyu. His popularity is not bad, and now his strength is visible to the naked eye.”

“Damn it, if that’s really the case, this list would be too fake. Gu Lei’s face and figure are so-so, but he made it? No wonder this show isn’t popular.”

The post that predicted Qi Xiaoyu’s extraordinary performance yesterday was also dug out.

It’s just that the message changed from “Landlord, beware of being slapped in the face” to “Landlord 66661Amazing, awesome, etc. Expression of approval.“, “Who exactly got slapped in the face”, and then the IDs of yesterday’s message were picked out one by one to ridicule.

Of all the people who followed this show, probably only Qi Xiaoyu was the most distracted.

So much so that after the entire ranking was read and the results were announced, he didn’t show any abnormality when the whole audience shouted “shady program”.

After that, everything developed even faster. The program group quickly cleared the venue, and the ribbons were thrown in the air to finish in a hurry.

Kang Qitao at the guest table secretly shook his head, said “What nonsense”, got up, and left first.

Ma Guoguang, who was behind the scenes, looked at the chaotic scene and turned to stare at Zhou Zheng.

In this program group, although Ma Guoguang is the director, the assistant director, Zhou Zheng, is the one who “brought capital into the group”.

The program’s largest titleholder, Golden Butterfly Wash & Care, is a daily chemical company under the Xun family. And Zhou Zheng’s younger brother is the general manager of that company.

Due to his background, Zhou Zheng’s backbone is stronger, and his voice even surpasses that of the director.

Zhou Zheng was holding a cigarette in his mouth, and the initial panic had passed. Now that he had figured out a way, he leisurely revealed a mouthful of yellow teeth: “Old Ma, don’t worry, Star Entertainment is just a small workshop, and this Qi Xiaoyu is without any background. He can’t make any waves. I have already made an agreement with Orange Juice Entertainment and asked my brother to help keep an eye on him. I will not let him have any exposure in the future. No matter how much trouble we have now, it’s just helping us stir up the topic. After a while, everyone will forget about this person, and everything will be calm.”

Ma Guoguang still frowned.

Zhou Zheng blew a mouthful of smoke out and said, “Old Ma, don’t worry, it’s not like you don’t know who’s behind Orange Juice Entertainment. No one dares to disrespect the Xun family.”

After a while, Ma Guoguang half-sighed and half-joked, “Old Zhou, don’t bully the poor youth.”

Zhou Zheng clicked his tongue and didn’t take it seriously.

****

In the dressing room, the top ten contestants were pulled to take group photos, while the others packed up their belongings and went home. There was a mess everywhere.

Yu Xiaosheng and Ren Fei surrounded Qi Xiaoyu and tried their best to comfort him: “Xiaoyu, it’s okay; you’ve performed well enough today.”

“It’s not like there’s no other way out if we leave this show. We can still attend other programs, and I’ll help you find the script.”

Ren Fei pulled away his dreadlocks and said, “Yes, it’s not a big deal. We can form our own group and make our debut. If you sing and I rap, we will definitely become popular.”

Qi Xiaoyu felt a bit helpless. Although he didn’t care about this matter in his heart, he still cooperated and showed some disappointment on the surface. “Well, I’m fine, just a little tired. I want to go home and rest first.”

Apart from the Xun family, no one else knew about him or Xun Qian.

He also didn’t want others to say it. After all, Xun Qian is the leading factor in this relationship. If Xun Qian didn’t say it, he would never say it. He still has such self-awareness.

Yu Xiaosheng quickly patted him on the shoulder and said, “Okay, you go first. Anyway, we don’t have anything to do here.”

Qi Xiaoyu squeezed through a bunch of people, and all the envious and jealous eyes that fell on him before turned into sympathy.

 

1Amazing, awesome, etc. Expression of approval.