Mo Yunyu felt a sense of unease and tried kicking his legs to break free from Zhou Xingyu’s grasp.
“Let me go!”
“I just want to warm the bed for you.” Zhou Xingyu’s hands gradually traveled upward, pinching the waist that had been encircled by him all night long.
Last night, the drunken young master had been completely unconscious, lying there on the bed and letting him fondle him at will. He could hardly remember how he had fallen asleep; he only remembered that face flushed crimson from his kisses, a beauty so breathtaking he could never bear to forget it for the rest of his life.
Yet he preferred the young master when he was conscious, watching him firsthand as he committed acts of insubordination. If the other person was willing, that would be even better.
Just thinking about it made Zhou Xingyu’s scalp tingle with excitement.
No one knew that Mo Yunyu’s waist was his weak spot, but Zhou Xingyu had managed to discover it. With just a light massage, Mo Yunyu lost all his strength in an instant.
Collapsing onto the bed, Mo Yunyu finally felt a hint of fear. “I am warning you, do not pull any stunts!”
Listening to the uncontainable tremor in the young master’s voice, Zhou Xingyu lowered his head with almost religious devotion and kissed his lips. “I have been kept by you, so I have the obligation to do these things.”
“I do not need it!” Mo Yunyu glared at the person in front of him, clearly catching the sound of the other chuckling. “What are you laughing at?”
Zhou Xingyu’s voice was very low, barely perceptible, but the night air was far too quiet, allowing Mo Yunyu to catch every single word.
“I wanted to climb into your bed for a very long time.” With that, he slipped under the cover and forcefully wedged himself into Mo Yunyu’s bed, pressing a gentle kiss amidst the other’s angry and tear filmed gaze.
“Goodnight, baby.”
The next day, 609 emitted a piercing shriek upon discovering that its host and the primary male lead were sleeping in the same bed. It simply could not understand: it had merely gone shopping with a colleague, so how on earth had the host ended up bullied onto a bed by the male lead?
“Host! This… this…”
Listening to 609’s mechanical stuttering that lasted for ages, Yunyu’s tone carried a mix of guilt and fright.
“What should I do? I think I have messed up the mission…”
Yunyu even put on a show of shedding a few tears, which instead caused 609 to start blaming itself.
“If I had known, I would not have gone shopping with my colleague. But since things have already turned out like this, we can just settle for the most basic character acting points, as long as we do not break character and reach the ending.”
Hearing this, Yunyu smiled with amused interest internally, while keeping his expression completely calm on the surface. Turns out 609 had no clue about the truth at all, which meant he was going to have plenty of fun with this.
“What if we cannot reach the ending?”
609 replied, “Do not worry, there will still be a guaranteed minimum score.”
With that, 609 immediately rushed back to the system center to pick out the script for the next world, making absolute sure it would be simpler than this one.
Yunyu cleared his mind and closed his eyes to doze for a moment. Even though he excelled at performing, wearing a mask for so long was bound to be exhausting. But within minutes, the alarm beside him went off, and Zhou Xingyu woke him up.
“Time to get up.”
Mo Yunyu irritably burrowed deeper into the covers. “Just five more minutes, literally just a moment.”
Watching the person beside him leave only a tuft of black curls exposed, Zhou Xingyu felt his heart soften completely. It was just like touching a kitten’s smooth fur for the first time, except this time he was touching it with his gaze alone.
Unfortunately, there was a strict arrival time to keep today, so Zhou Xingyu had no choice but to reach out and haul Mo Yunyu out from under the blankets. Of course, he could not resist pressing his own face against the other’s cheek for an affectionate rub along the way.
Mo Yunyu frowned in displeasure, but still kicked away the person beside him, put on his clothes himself, and headed to wash up.
If not for the momentary weakness in his legs the second he stepped out of bed, his facade of pride would have been maintained much better.
While regretting that he had not gotten to dress the other person himself, Zhou Xingyu caught him with quick reflexes. Before he could even say anything, he was met with a reproachful glare.
“It is all your fault for insisting on squeezing into my bed and leaving me with a sore back and waist!” Mo Yunyu’s face turned completely red, whether from embarrassment or anger, and he shoved Zhou Xingyu away, supporting his slightly aching lower back as he trudged toward the bathroom.
Zhou Xingyu laughed helplessly, following closely behind at a distance of a single short step.
Consequently, all the contestants today noticed that Mo Yunyu, who previously used to strut around with his chin lifted and have Zhou Xingyu lead the way, was now acting uncharacteristically by walking in front. His expression did not look as natural as usual either, and he displayed a full on attitude of rejection toward Zhou Xingyu’s approach.
Did they have a fight?
They speculated wildly among themselves, yet acted instinctively by walking toward Mo Yunyu, hoping to squeeze Zhou Xingyu out and become the young master’s follower instead.
“Congratulations to everyone for successfully advancing!” Orange popped out from a corner out of nowhere, holding a microphone with a sweet smile. “The first thing we are going to do today is draw blind boxes.”
“Inside the blind boxes are red, yellow, and blue ping pong balls. Each color represents a mentor and will divide the 48 contestants into three groups of 16 people each.”
“As for which mentor represents which color…” Orange blinked playfully and kept them in suspense. “We will reveal that later.”
“So let us start drawing the blind boxes now.”
Walking felt like stepping on cotton to Mo Yunyu, his feet feeling light and floaty, which made him the very first to step forward and pull out a ping pong ball.
Blue.
Clutching the ping pong ball, Mo Yunyu quickly walked aside and sat down, trying his best to keep others from noticing his abnormality.
Zhou Xingyu drew a yellow one. Although he usually only followed Mo Yunyu, he was not completely isolated from everyone else. He practically went around asking every contestant holding a blue ping pong ball, but obviously, not a single person wanted to trade with him.
There was no helping it; they all wanted to stay by Mo Yunyu’s side, even if it was just for a fleeting moment, and were not willing to hand that chance over to someone else.
After facing a whole circle of rejections and wary, displeased glances, Zhou Xingyu returned to Mo Yunyu’s side looking visibly wilted.
“I do not think I can be in the same group as you,” Zhou Xingyu said with a pitiful aggrieved expression, looking at Mo Yunyu like an owner whose pet was about to abandon it.
Though deeply dissatisfied with Zhou Xingyu’s insubordination from last night, Mo Yunyu’s heart ultimately softened. He turned his head and muttered casually before swapping his blue ball for the yellow one.
“There, happy now?” Mo Yunyu maintained an indifferent facade, but he could already sense the invisible tail behind Zhou Xingyu wagging with unbridled joy, which brought a trace of happiness to his own heart as well.
Of course, only a tiny bit, because his body was still deeply uncomfortable.
Having successfully won his master’s pampering, Zhou Xingyu shot a provocative look at those who had rejected him, slightly lifting the yellow ball identical to Mo Yunyu’s in his hand.
Wave after wave of dagger laced gazes locked onto him, but Zhou Xingyu paid them no mind, clutching the yellow ball with utmost devotion.
“Now, let us announce the mentor represented by each color!” Orange completely ignored the contestants’ ping pong ball trading. “Red represents our Teacher Mia!”
Mia made a graceful entrance in a red dress, her makeup stunning and fierce, instantly capturing the gaze of the entire room.
Zhou Xingyu did not pay special attention to any of that; he was simply looking at that red dress and letting his imagination run wild.
He is so fair skinned, a red like that would definitely suit him so well.
“Yellow represents our Teacher Shi Jingchi!” Shi Jingchi wore ordinary jeans and a white short sleeved shirt, layered with a brightly colored yellow shirt on top, making him look full of vitality.
A top star truly lived up to his name. Simply flashing a perfectly measured smile and waving a greeting was enough to spark an uproar of cheers.
“And finally, blue represents our Teacher Yin!” Teacher Yin shed his previously rigid and somber black and grey toned wardrobe, changing into a jewel blue suit that looked restrained and sophisticated.
“Since everyone has drawn their respective mentors, I should also announce the format for the next match.” Orange glanced down at her cue card. “The next match uses a round robin system. The 16 contestants under each mentor will be divided into teams of four, and they will PK against teams from other mentors in the next livestream.”
“As for the rest of the rules, we will leave that as a suspense.” Orange made an encouraging gesture. “The next livestream is set for a week from now. Time is tight, so everyone must work hard.”
As soon as Orange finished speaking, nearly every contestant wore a grave expression. Scheduled for just a week later, the timeline was genuinely too rushed.
With time pressing, everyone split up and followed their respective mentors to the practice rooms.
Looking at the sixteen people before him, Shi Jingchi clapped his hands. “The groupings can be made according to everyone’s own wishes, and you also need to decide on the songs you want. My job is simply to offer some suggestions.”
“We have reached this stage, so feel free to bring out your original works,” Shi Jingchi added, offering a timely hint. “That can certainly become a bonus point for you.”
“Alright, everyone hurry up and choose your teammates to finalize the performance program.”
Mo Yunyu did not really care about these details, but since Zhou Xingyu would definitely follow him, he could not just let any random person into their group to drag them down.
Thus, Mo Yunyu took the initiative to extend an olive branch to two contestants who had left a decent impression on him.
Naturally, the two chosen did not refuse, their faces blooming with an easily visible joy that drew plenty of envious and jealous glances.
Watching the two who maintained a natural, effortless intimacy despite the distance between them, Shi Jingchi, standing and watching from the side, lowered his eyes, blocking the overly exposed emotions hidden within.
Going from ten people down to a team of four meant rehearsals weren’t much different from before. Everyone utilized their own strengths, and the atmosphere remained quite harmonious.
Except for a certain someone who had tasted sweetness and, due to the overly tight rehearsal schedule failing to provide a chance to climb into bed, spent practically every day stealthily clinging to Mo Yunyu like a shadow.
Of course, all of this was observed by Shi Jingchi, who kept a close eye on them, but he said nothing, only silently plotting something in the shadows.