M country
During the winter break of the second semester of sophomore year, everyone was busy with something except for Xu Changjia.
She lay in bed all day, bored out of her mind, either reading or surfing the internet.
The phone rang; it was a link from Ou Liyao, who was already pursuing her dream on "Youth Dream Factory," asking for a vote.
Another message came in: Zhang Yuning had finished recording a program in Beiting and asked her to choose refrigerator magnets, which he brought back.
There's also Wenxue Chang and Yunhe. One of them has already completed his postgraduate studies in Nan'an and travels all over the country with his mentor every day to provide legal aid. The other has graduated from university and is traveling all over the world, ostensibly to find some inspiration for his paintings.
She finally thought of Zheng Ruoqian. She clicked into his WeChat Moments and saw that it was still blank, with nothing there. The only change was that his WeChat background picture had changed from a selfie in the practice room to his stage outfit for "Nine Stars and Moon".
After staring at it for a long time, I could vaguely make out that it looked like the stage at the beach bar last time. Did he crop out a solo photo of himself?
Before she could think any further, Zheng Ruoqian called. She lost her grip and the phone fell from the bed to under the desk.
Why do I feel like I've done something wrong?
She sat up in bed, picked up her phone, and pretended to be calm, saying, "Hello."
He didn't even pay attention to that; his excitement was palpable. Just eight words silenced both ends of the phone: "Xu Changjia, I'm going to debut."
In that one minute when time stood still, a thousand thoughts flashed through their minds, and both of them showed long-lost smiles.
"Congratulations, Zheng Ruoqian!" I also congratulate myself for being able to continue living.
He trained at YL Entertainment for four years and finally defeated his rivals in a recent internal competition to officially debut as a dancer in the 7-member boy group Champion.
Their debut stage will be in the capital city of M country, Jindu, where they will perform at the Imperial City Stadium, which is only open to the public during the Olympics. There are 3,000 to 500 tickets available for their debut concert, and they will go on sale tomorrow. The performance will be on March 15th, which is next month.
Her breath hitched, as if she understood the purpose of his call. "So, I can go see your first performance, your first stage that truly belongs to you, right?"
"Yes, Ms. Xu Changjia, may I have the honor of inviting you to the United States to be my sole guest?"
"Yes, I'd be a hundred percent willing."
After finishing the business, he sent a bunch of information about the boy group Champion. It seemed like they were going to make them a world-class idol group. They spent a lot of money on their first debut concert, which was held at the Imperial Stadium in the United States.
After reading the introductions of the individual members of the boy group, Hsu Chang-chia searched on Weibo and found that "[Champion Debut Concert]" was among the top three trending topics.
The crowd below was divided, with the majority of people not optimistic about the boy group. She even saw someone complaining, "That guy named Zheng Ruoqian's eyeliner is so long, you'd think he was auditioning for a vampire in Twilight."
Zheng Ruoqian probably never expected that the first time she would trend on social media would be because he was said to look like a vampire. She took a screenshot and saved it, but didn't share it with anyone else.
She zoomed in on the posters of the group members and looked at them closely. Indeed, they all had a dark vampire style. She started to worry about whether the 3,500 tickets would sell.
With this inexplicable worry in mind, Xu Changjia still waited by his phone on time the next day to see if anyone had tried to buy tickets.
Although Zheng Ruoqian sent her the tickets from overseas so she didn't need to buy them, she still wanted to see just how much charm this small boy band had.
One second, two seconds, ten seconds, a minute passed, and there were still tickets available.
She kept refreshing her phone, and another minute passed, and the tickets were sold out.
As a result, some people canceled their tickets, and the system continued to sell them.
In three minutes, all 3,500 tickets were sold out.
I don't know what level this is for a newly debuted boy group, but on second thought, even if they sell out, there are still fans willing to spend money on them.
When she shared this good news with Ou Liyao, she was struggling with her second qualifying match.
Originally, Ou Liyao thought "Youth Dream Factory" was just a small talent show and didn't need to prepare too much. After learning singing and dancing with a teacher at the Children's Palace for half a month, she felt relieved and went to work.
Who would have thought that after the first qualifying round, the production team would invite the godfather of the music industry and the king of Asian dance to oversee the competition? The remaining 120 contestants had to pull themselves together and give their all to prepare for every match.
Because this could very well be your last time singing and dancing on this stage.
In order to practice singing and dancing, Ou Liyao turned off her phone and threw it under the mattress—a place she couldn't see or remember.
After another long day of singing and dancing practice, she came home and rummaged through the crack in the bed to find her phone, intending to reply to messages one by one. She immediately saw, "Yaoyao, Zheng Ruoqian debuted!!!"
Those three exclamation marks also shocked her quite a bit.
Zheng Ruoqian, a multi-talented artist, has debuted! I really want to see him, but in the US, is Jiajia the only one who can go?
She sent a WeChat video call and saw a pair of eyes that were darting around intently, seemingly busy with something.
Upon asking, I learned that her best friend had infiltrated Champion's global fan club, which already had tens of thousands of fans, all of whom were real fans, not fake fans.
She lay in bed, listening to Jiajia talk in a daze, and fell asleep without realizing it.
“I saw it. Each of the seven of them has a different support color. Zheng Ruoqian’s is green. I’m planning to find a green dress to wear to support him. What do you think?”
There was no response from the other end of the line for quite some time after I finished speaking. I checked the phone and the screen was black. I could hear the even breathing of the other person.
It seems that practicing for more than eight hours a day is really tiring. Oh well, I'll show it to Yao Yao when the dress arrives in a few days.
Right now, she still needs to check the plane tickets to the US and convince her parents to let her go abroad.
She thought it would take a lot of effort, like the last time she went to H country, to pester her relentlessly. But her mother readily agreed with a simple, "You're all grown up now, it's good for you to see the world." The next second, her mother transferred 50,000 yuan to her for travel expenses, and she didn't even ask as many questions as Aunt Chen, who came to cook for her every day.
The situation in Country M was chaotic, and until she was about to board the plane alone, she received a constant stream of well wishes and concern from various relatives and friends besides her parents.
Yunhe somehow found out she was going to the United States, and after confirming the date with her, he booked a flight from Europe.
In short, I must see you in the United States.
She arrived in Country M two days early, carrying a camera she had borrowed from Ou Liyao, and took pictures wherever she went.
The old city walls still bear traces of volcanic eruptions, yet crowds of people in suits emerge from them, like old film reels being re-washed and transformed into vibrant modern art photographs.
So beautiful! No matter how many books I've read, when I see these picturesque places, all I can say is, "This is so beautiful!"
Yunhe wasn't going to see Zheng Ruoqian's concert; he was just stopping here for a couple of days as a transit point before heading south towards the Mediterranean. After all, the United States was located at the northernmost part of the country, facing Europe across the sea.
She sat in a coffee shop near the hotel with her camera, waiting for his arrival. As the appointed time drew closer, she couldn't help but start to overthink. Would this person, who had grown up with Xu Changjia in this life, notice that she was different from before?
If her differences are discovered, how should she explain herself?
If we meet later, what should she say? Should she still call him Brother Yunhe like she did when we were little? Why am I suddenly starting to have social anxiety?
She was flipping through the photo album unconsciously with her head down when there were three light taps on the table, "thump...thump...thump..." A tall figure blocked her view.
He's even better looking in person than in the videos. Hmm, looks like a handsome guy who doesn't photograph well.
"What? Can't you greet people?" Yunhe put his hands in his pockets, a handsome smile appearing on his lips, and casually sat down opposite her.
"Yun, Brother Yunhe."
He beckoned to the waiter, ordered an iced Americano, and livened up the atmosphere at the coffee table, asking about her recent life.
It felt like she was back to those days when she video-chatted with him every week. She gradually relaxed and let down her guard, telling him about her trip to the United States in detail.
Finally, she jokingly asked, "Brother Yunhe, you're so handsome, have you ever considered entering the entertainment industry?"
He clasped his hands together, casually placing them on his crossed legs. "Baby, are you trying to package me as a big star and launch my career?"
"It's not that it's impossible," she said with an awkward smile, as if she were looking forward to that day.
Yunhe didn't stay in M country for long. He didn't have the chance to take her to Hong Kong Island in H country, which they had agreed to visit before, so he took her to Pang Pang Pang Town, a famous filming location for many movies.
The novel experience of two days and one night allowed him to see the interesting soul hidden beneath the quiet exterior of this girl next door.
He always said that no girl is born quiet and reserved; it's just that the right person hasn't found the soulmate to connect with her.
Wouldn't the overturned palette between the Mediterranean Sea and the cliffs be a source of great fun for her?
When you get back, tell Uncle Xu and the others to let her out to play more often. After all, her older brother is there for her outside.
After leading Xu Meimei across the rainbow bridge behind the colorful wooden house, his short leisure time was coming to an end. He took her back to Jindu, said goodbye, and left in a hurry.
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