Chapter 171
With the first round of pre-sales for the physical album coming to an end, Huayao and NINE STAR’s official Weibo account finally announced the dates for NINE STAR’s first concert and autograph session on the same day.
While fan clubs were busy organizing group tickets, a number of marketing accounts suddenly appeared online, leaking the complete list of artists participating in Blueberry Video's "Star Sports Games." News of the show had actually been circulating at the end of last month, and several artists had even been spotted by fans and passersby during practice.
Zhou Xiao had been busy planning a photo exhibition recently and hadn't paid much attention to this event. However, he learned from his friends in the group that this sports meet had invited many celebrities who often appeared in the audience's field of vision.
When the list of potential participants was first announced, netizens on the Xingtu 101 forum directly criticized Blueberry Video for not allowing NINE STAR to participate. After several official posts were deleted, fans active on Weibo also became dissatisfied.
Zhou Xiao sometimes saw similar comments in the group chat, the gist of which was that Hua Yao didn't even bother seizing such a good opportunity to connect with people in the industry. Unexpectedly, just as she watched her friend in the group send the link to the official Blueberry Video Sports Meet blog, a system notification chimed: "Beep! NINE STAR group event 'Star Sports Meet' opening ceremony detected, automatically issuing ticket*1."
Here, Zhou Xiao looked at the time and location of the ticket in his hand, then looked at Zhu Jian, who was already "denouncing" Hua Yao in the group because of his dissatisfaction. He was silent for a moment. Although he didn't quite understand Hua Yao's move, he thought it was a surprise for the fans.
After all, even though she wasn't paying much attention to the situation, she was still overwhelmed with joy when she suddenly learned from the system that Ji Shao would be participating. And since tickets for the sports meet weren't even on sale yet, it wasn't too late after all.
——【Forum】——[December 6th afternoon]
【Topic】Official blog announces NINE STAR's participation!
[Main Post] Huayao is such a jerk, are they just looking for trouble?! The official Weibo just posted a blurry photo of the members practicing their project, I'm really impressed...
1L
It was really itchy, but when I found out that the members were participating, I forgave them instantly hahahaha
24L
The coaching team list is amazing!!! Click on any one of them and they are all world champions. There are so many awards and records that I can’t even finish them all. I immediately kneel down orz
59L
There are so many people.jpg I feel like Xiaojiu, the boy band, is a bit out of place in there hahahaha
97L
It's great, and it's a way to promote our country's sports! What I admire about Huayao is that they're very generous in purchasing copyrights, eliminating plagiarism at the root!
…
In the empty space, a "click" broke the silence at the moment. Zhou Xiao, holding a camera, was carefully photographing the interior space of the gallery one by one.
The original gallery was renovated from two large warehouses, with a transparent glass corridor in the middle. When Zhou Xiao stepped into the corridor, he could still vaguely see some glue marks on the glass, guessing that paintings had once been hung on both sides of the corridor.
Standing in the corridor, turning left or right would allow for a panoramic view of both spaces. Zhou Xiao planned to use only half of the gallery, which was the size of a warehouse. This area should be more than enough for a photo exhibition.
After taking the photos, Zhou Xiao immediately returned to the hotel, imported them into her computer, and created a simple exhibition model. Besides utilizing the existing walls, she also planned some panel walls to add a sense of depth. These could be customized and redeemed through the system, which greatly reduced Zhou Xiao's stress.
As for the photos to be used, Zhou Xiao had already selected them over the past few days. This was not so much a photo exhibition as it was a display of Ji Shao's growth from trainee to where he is today.
In addition to customizing the surroundings, flower walls, and signage through the system, Zhou Xiao, through Li Ruoshi's introduction, took over several sets of tables and chairs from a private coffee shop to set up a simple dessert area. Furthermore, to celebrate the Christmas holiday that fell on the day of the book signing, she even asked the hotel to help her order a large spruce tree, which she could plant in the courtyard after the holiday.
The moment the document on her desktop was closed, even Zhou Xiao couldn't help but feel a sense of relief. Although only the initial preparations had been completed, Qi Sisi and the others had volunteered to help out since they learned she was planning the photo exhibition. Even Dong Xiaoyu had taken an extra day off to participate.
Although Zhou Xiao did not worry about the manpower problem, after all, she could use her money to solve it (serious face.jpg), the thoughts of her friends also made her feel very warm.
…
The next morning, Zhou Xiao was already waiting for Qi Sisi in the hotel lobby lounge. Although the "Star Sports Games" had invited nearly 140 artists, tickets were surprisingly popular!
Qi Sisi was initially a bit worried, even joining the fan club's group for sports meet tickets just to be sure. But after waiting for the official purchase link to appear, she clicked on it casually about ten minutes later, and surprisingly, there was no pressure at all...
Although NINE STAR has only been together for less than six months, fans of the members, who have attended numerous galas and events, were never able to snag tickets to the sports meet so easily. This also gave everyone a clearer idea of the level of spending by fans of ordinary actors in the Chinese entertainment industry.
After Zhou Xiao met up with Qi Sisi, the two of them took a taxi to the Shanghai Stadium. As soon as they got off the taxi, they saw Ji Shao's billboard at the taxi stop. Looking up, they could clearly see Ji Shao's support video playing on the large screen to the right of the stadium entrance.
"Xiaoxiao, this big screen you ordered is so cool!" Qi Sisi saw many people passing by paused and raised their phones to take pictures of the scene, and she became excited too.
Zhou Xiao also looked up; this big screen was also an unexpected leak. Huayao and other official accounts only announced NINE STAR's participation in the Games, so there was no place to buy the offline support screen.
Zhou Xiao's ticket was for the inner court, while Qi Sisi's was for the fan club. After she accompanied him to Cheese's to pick up the tickets, they both headed towards the ticket gate. Unexpectedly, the inner and outer courts had different ticket gates for the sports meet. Zhou Xiao and Qi Sisi parted ways, each heading to their own dedicated gate.
This morning was the opening ceremony of the "Star Sports Games" and the preliminaries for several events. Zhou Xiao had initially expected a small crowd, but upon entering the stadium, he realized his initial guess was a bit conservative. Inside the stadium, fans of various NINE STAR groups could be seen forming small square formations along the outfield. Even the group fans occupied more space than fans of more popular artists.
The inner court was also quite crowded, but it felt even emptier. The stadium rented for the "Star Sports Games" was large enough to hold 10,000 people. Initially, it wasn't crowded, but as the deadline neared, it began to fill up. Zhou Xiao also spotted Qimiao, wearing a light-up sign, chatting with a nearby fan as he entered the inner court. However, the two were too far apart to exchange greetings.
The opening ceremony of the "Star Sports Games" began quickly. After speeches by Blueberry Video and Taobao spokespersons, it was time for the artists to enter. The national anthem blared from the inside of the venue, and artists, dressed in a variety of sportswear, slowly walked from the entrance to the central stage like athletes.
Zhou Xiao leaned back in his chair, looking up at the entrance as the artists entered. The games were divided into groups based on province, and each group had an artist waving a flag leading the other members toward the inner court.
On the plastic track, the artists, waving flags and brimming with youth, enthusiastically responded to the audience. Fans were thrilled to see so many artists at once, some even unable to find their own artists due to overcrowding in certain provinces. The cheers from the audience were relentless, clearly demonstrating the artists' popularity.
Zhou Xiao, in the audience, had heard the announcement that the next performer was a Shanghai artist, and he immediately raised his camera and aimed it at the entrance. Even before he saw them, the crowd erupted in enthusiastic cheers. Zhou Xiao, with a sudden impulse, focused his camera on his group ticket area. He saw a dense mass of purple signboards being raised, and then heard the words "Ji Shao" gradually chanted in unison.
At that moment, both the participating artists and their fans from other competitions simultaneously turned their gazes toward the area where the sound originated. Artists from the province ahead of Shanghai, who had originally started walking down the plastic track, stopped in their tracks and looked toward the entrance, oblivious to the cameras still pointed at them.
A flagpole draped with a red cloth emerged first. The fluttering red cloth featured a magnolia on one side and the word "Shanghai" written in gold on the other. Zhou Xiao was a little surprised when he saw who was holding the flag. It was Wang Jiangchang, the artist he had previously photographed.
She was not very tall among the Shanghai artists. When she heard the fans in the venue shouting Ji Shao's name, her face turned red because she seemed to be worried that everyone would be disappointed because she was the first one to do so.
Zhou Xiao's camera passed over Wang Jiangchang and quickly found Ji Shao in the crowd. The reason was simple: the tall man was so conspicuous in the crowd that he could be spotted at a glance.
Ji Shao, dressed in a red tracksuit, waved toward his fans. As if worried that they wouldn't see his response, he jumped up and down a few times. When the cameras in the arena were trained on him, Ji Shao quickly noticed.
Accompanied by the uniform cheers from the crowd, Ji Shao and his group quickly caught up with the artists from the previous province. When the announcement came, signaling the next artist from the province's upcoming performance, the cheers continued. It was as if they had reached a certain threshold. When all eyes turned to them, the cheering fans were already in high spirits.
When the director gave the camera to Ji Shao again, and saw Ji Shao on the screen showing a helpless yet doting expression with his hands above his head making an "X" gesture, the fans' excitement gradually subsided.
By the time all the star athletes had entered the stadium, the atmosphere inside was gradually heating up. Zhou Xiao was in the inner field, very close to the artist's team. Although the artists were instructed by the staff to stay in their respective areas, the atmosphere on the scene couldn't suppress their communication.
Zhou Xiao also saw Xue Chaoliang, standing at the edge, taking advantage of the noisy crowd and cutting through several lines to find Ji Shao. The two had barely exchanged greetings and given each other a big hug when the disciplinary officer quickly and decisively pulled Xue Chaoliang back to his proper line.
As the host Yu Di finished reading the sponsors' advertising slogans one by one, the star sports meeting finally began.
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