Chapter 030 Chapter 30
The day before the first performance of Star 101, many people had already gathered in Huashang Times Square.
People passing by Huashang can take a quick look inside and see a group of people in colorful clothes busy in the square.
Since it was the first performance, many fans of the trainees came. They wore clothes with the same colors as the trainees they supported to show their support.
Zhou Xiao and Qi Sisi were also among the busy crowd, searching for a spot to cheer. Ultimately, they unanimously decided on a landmark in Huashang Times Square—a white statue of a young woman surrounded by fountains, which at night would activate its musical fountain mode, creating a breathtaking spectacle.
However, because Huashang Times Square hadn't opened yet, Zhou Xiao had only seen it on the official Huashang Times Square website. There was no water in the fountain yet, which was why Zhou Xiao chose this spot.
Zhou Xiao took a picture of the statue, made a small map and sent it to Ji Shao's national fan club. This time he was able to reserve a spot in advance because of the club's request.
Ji Shao's fanbase is no longer just a handful of fans. While his fanbase is still small, his current fanbase ranks in the upper middle range among trainees. Zhou Xiao isn't worried about this, especially since the last press conference, where her confidence in Ji Shao's abilities has only grown.
The stage can break everything. No matter how many story lines and shots the program gives, they cannot compare to the stage of a talent show.
At first, Ji Shao's national fan club specially invited Zhou Xiao to join. Although Zhou Xiao declined, he also added their contact information.
Now they have a special fan group among themselves, including some big fans, fan club members and station sisters like Zhou Xiao.
When the first public performance was announced, one of the fans club members secretly messaged Zhou Xiao, wanting to give her a ticket.
Tickets are officially issued by Star 101, who will allocate a certain number of tickets to the trainees' fan clubs at their discretion. This often comes down to the fan clubs' consciences. Some will share tickets with their own fans or fan club members, while others will keep them for themselves or sell them to others with larger followings.
Of course, this rule applies not only to talent shows, but also to all domestic entertainment stages/variety shows/evening parties.
According to Cheese, a fan club member who was in contact with Zhou Xiao (fans usually call each other by nicknames instead of real names), the Star 101 official only gave three tickets to Ji Shao's fan club.
Since there are more than three fan clubs, and the fan club itself needs to support, I plan to keep the tickets for the first performance for myself.
Of course, the reason why Zhou Xiao was contacted was because the fan page "Pang Ran Xin Dong" was different from other fan pages in Ji Shao's fan circle. As the first fan page and the best fan page, it naturally needed some special treatment in their minds.
Zhou Xiao expressed her gratitude and then declined. Even if she didn't have the tickets given by the production team, she wouldn't accept the fans' club's private gift of tickets. In her opinion, if one really wants to compete for the few tickets, the premise must be fair.
Moreover, Zhou Xiao has a good relationship with other fans. Although they don’t chat often, they can still have fun when they occasionally get together offline.
Although Zhou Xiao was not too fond of the private behavior of the fan club, he would not refuse to do something within his ability, such as helping to reserve a venue.
Zhou Xiao is the only one at the fountain at the moment. Not long ago, Zhou Xiao received a call from the person in charge of the flower wall. Qi Sisi heard it and couldn't wait to volunteer to guide the workers who were installing the flower wall.
The flower wall was customized by Zhou Xiao in the system. Although he had seen the renderings, Zhou Xiao himself was also quite curious about the real thing. As he was thinking about it, the sound of a car horn was heard not far away.
Two large trucks slowly approached Zhou Xiao. Zhou Xiao had a keen eye and instantly spotted Qi Sisi, who looked very excited, sitting in the passenger seat of the first truck. She even waved to him exaggeratedly.
The truck stopped about ten meters from the fountain, not because it didn't want to get any closer, but because the ground around the fountain was slightly higher. A short, but sturdy-looking middle-aged man emerged from the cab.
He was wearing a gray work uniform, the same as the two engineers who were getting on and off the bus behind him. After greeting Zhou Xiao and Qi Sisi in the passenger seat, the man walked to the back of the car.
The big iron door of the carriage was slowly opened, and the two men who had gotten off the last car followed the middle-aged man into the truck.
"Wow" and "Tsk" were some surprised sounds coming from the carriage, and one of the men took out the flower wall parts from the carriage and gently placed them on the ground of the fountain one by one.
Following the direction Zhou Xiao pointed, the two people responsible for moving the parts placed the parts on that side.
"Wow!" Qi Sisi, who had already jumped off the truck, couldn't help but exclaimed as she watched the flower wall parts being carried down one by one.
Although these objects were carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and foam, as the workers dismantled them with great effort, the faint purple color of the chinaberry flowers could be vaguely seen under the packaging.
Zhou Xiao and Qi Sisi originally wanted to go over and help, but the middle-aged man leading the group declined with a smile, "That's what we do. We're used to working together, and we're not used to others helping us. Thank you, sister."
Zhou Xiao expressed his understanding and pointed to the ground marked with white tape, indicating that the flower wall should be placed on the ground framed by the tape.
All the parts had been removed. Zhou Xiao originally wanted to go with Qi Sisi to buy a few bottles of water for the workers, but when he looked over, he saw Qi Sisi next to him staring at the removed parts.
It’s no wonder that Qi Sisi is so obsessed with it. Among the components of the flower wall customized by Zhou Xiao is an extremely beautiful unicorn. Its whole body is crystal white, and its hair and long horn are a very beautiful purple.
The base was a giant white cloud, and the entire figure resembled a unicorn, its front legs leaping into the air and soaring above the cloud. Qi Sisi wasn't the only one stunned; many passersby were also mesmerized by the sight of the unwrapped unicorn. It was simply too dreamy and exquisite.
Qi Sisi looked at the faint purple color on the unicorn's plush tail with some envy. The thought of rubbing it had already filled her mind. She had squatted on the ground to watch the unicorn from multiple angles. Now she blinked and looked up at Zhou Xiao.
Zhou Xiao knew what she was thinking at a glance and stopped her from moving. "Wait until you're done before you touch her. Don't disturb the master now."
Guessing that Qi Sisi would rather continue squatting there and watching the installation of the flower wall, Zhou Xiao asked her to pay attention and went alone to a newly opened chain convenience store near Huashang Times Square to buy water and drinks.
When she returned to the fountain with a large bag of water, the mushrooms on the ground had grown from one to four. The three extra mushrooms were members of the fan club that Zhou Xiao had contacted earlier.
The workers worked very quickly. Zhou Xiao's materials were already finished products, and they only needed to fix the objects according to the requirements on the drawings.
This was a common occurrence for them, but for this particular order, everyone was intentionally slow to act. It was simply because, after helping people build flower walls for so long, this was the first time they'd encountered such exquisite pieces.
As the installation process gradually came to an end, the original appearance of the flower wall was gradually revealed to everyone. Many fans from other groups who were busy with their own offline support came over and looked at this "work of art".
The painting is based on a pale purple cloud, and from a distance, a faint golden glow can be seen within the clouds. The tall and handsome unicorn dances towards the crescent moon above, the clouds beneath its hooves spreading out, bordered by a golden edge, outlining Ji Shao's upper body.
The photo selected was the most suitable one that Zhou Xiao chose after many comparisons. Now looking at it on the scene, it is like the finishing touch.
In front of the unicorn, a large Polaroid-like photo frame is built, taking advantage of the terrain. The frame is made of acrylic, with three layers of reinforced plastic, so it won't break even if someone with great strength tries to bend it.
"Help! This looks really good, Xiaoxiao!" Qi Sisi waited until the installation was completed before she slipped to Zhou Xiao's side, pretending to be considerate and wanted to help her give the water on the ground to the workers.
Zhou Xiao felt somewhat helpless. She patted her forehead, sighed, and said to Qi Sisi, "It's not over yet. Didn't you notice something is missing?"
"Huh? What's missing?"
"Flower wall, flower wall, what's missing?"
Qi Sisi wasn't the only one who started to sigh. The three people she'd been squatting with earlier also started to exclaim, "Oh~!" It wasn't their fault; the wall decoration was so beautiful, and they were so mesmerized that they'd forgotten the most important thing: the flowers.
At this time, one of the masters jumped onto the empty truck and drove forward. Then another person parked the car behind it at the position where the first car had originally been parked.
A worker who had not originally boarded the truck climbed onto the back of it nimbly, opened it, and got in.
Bunch after bunch of wrapped bouquets and flower baskets were carried out of the carriage. The quantity was so large and the flowers were so beautiful that they seemed to be carried out of the carriage for free.
Finally, there are 20 roll-up banners customized by Zhou Xiao. The colorful roll-up banners are printed with the six words "Ji Shao Yi Gong Shun Li" (Ji Shao Yi Gong Shun Li). The photos were made by Zhou Xiao himself according to a unified template.
As the workers were making the final decorations on the flower wall, more and more people gathered around to watch.
The three members of Ji Shao National Fan Club who had been watching were both happy and a little bitter.
The joy was that this support was truly impressive; there were more than one company that created the flower wall, but compared to Zhou Xiao's support, it was truly beautiful. The bitterness was that the support they arranged seemed quite rudimentary compared to Zhou Xiao's.
Where does the money for offline fan club support come from? In the early days, it was basically just out of love, with members covering part of the expenses based on their own financial resources.
Some fan clubs have always been like this, but some fan clubs initially sold peripherals to support offline fans under the pretext of "recovering losses", but over time... corruption occasionally breeds...
The funds for offline support of Cheese's fan club were all paid out of the members' own pockets, so when they learned that Zhou Xiao would make a flower wall, they were a little relieved. After all, the flower wall is usually the face of offline support.
But flower walls are expensive. Even if you simply make one, the quote is very high and it will look cheap.
However, they were now feeling somewhat awkward. This was largely due to their unfamiliarity with Zhou Xiao, and the fact that the three of them were members of the fan club, which made them feel like poor relatives had come to visit...
Zhou Xiao noticed early on that the three people were becoming increasingly silent. She pulled Qi Sisi, who was still excited, and signaled her to go away for a while.
"What's the matter?" Zhou Xiao walked up to the three of them and asked them gently with a smile.
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