Play with you
At three o'clock in the morning in the "Gilded" private club, the light reflected by the crystal chandelier shattered on the floor, like broken diamonds scattered all over the ground.
Yu Xiao casually draped his long legs on the Italian handmade coffee table, holding a slender cigarette between his fingertips. The smoke swirled in front of his eyes, blurring his overly handsome face.
He looked at the young man kneeling on the carpet - he just met today, his name was Azhe, and he was said to be a student at the Art Academy. His eyes were bright, and he had just vowed, "As long as Mr. Yu is willing to guide me, I am willing to do anything."
At this moment, those bright eyes were as red as a rabbit, and his shoulders were shaking like fallen leaves in the autumn wind, looking both pitiful and ridiculous.
"Have you cried enough?" Yu Xiao flicked off the ash from his cigarette, and a spark fell on the Persian carpet worth six figures, leaving a small black spot.
His tone was flat, as if he was asking, "Is the weather good today?"
The young man sobbed and looked up, tears still hanging on his eyelashes: "Master Yu... I thought... I thought you were sincere..."
"Sincerity?" Yu Xiao chuckled, a hint of mockery at the end. He stubbed out his cigarette, his movements so smooth and brutal that the butt sizzled softly into the crystal ashtray. "Kid, if you're in this world, get this straight: how much is sincerity worth? Can it buy that fake Chrome Hearts on your wrist, or get you into next month's Fashion Week?"
The boy's face turned pale instantly, his lips trembled, and he couldn't speak.
When Yu Xiao stood up, the hem of his haute couture suit brushed against the boy's cheek, carrying with it the cold scent of cologne.
The bodyguard outside the door immediately stepped forward, bowed and waited.
He walked out without looking back. His voice drifted in through the crack in the door, as light as a sigh: "Send him back. Put 100,000 on the card. Remember, don't let me see it again."
This is the third one this month.
Yu Xiao got into the back seat of the Maybach and rubbed his swollen temples. Boring, really boring.
These people either have eyes that say "I want your money" or eyes that say "I want to borrow your power". Their calculations are obvious and they are far less pleasing to the eye than the limited edition Lamborghini in his garage - at least sports cars don't pretend to be affectionate.
The driver had just started the engine when his phone vibrated against the leather seat.
The three words "Yu Zhenting" jumping on the screen made Yu Xiao's face darken instantly.
"Where are you?" The voice on the other end of the phone was like ice. It was his father who was extremely controlling. The oppressive feeling in his tone was transmitted like an electric current, making it hard to breathe.
"Club." Yu Xiao tugged at his tie, loosened the top button, and spoke casually as if he were talking about someone else's business. "Dad, what's up?"
"Go home." Yu Zhenting didn't ask any more questions and hung up the phone directly, as neatly as if cutting off a useless thread.
Yu Xiao stared at the black screen of his phone, frowning. The old man had never cared about his private life, so what was he up to today? He knocked on the car window: "Go back to the old house."
The living room of the Yu family's old house was dazzlingly bright. The crystal chandelier illuminated every corner clearly, and even the patterns on the carpet were distinct.
Yu Zhenting was sitting on the sofa, with a stack of photos spread out on the mahogany coffee table in front of him. The top one was very clear - it was taken just now in the club's box. He was leaning on the sofa, and the boy named Azhe was lowering his head with his shoulders slightly shaking.
"Have you had enough fun?" Yu Zhenting raised his eyes, his gaze like a scalpel, accurately cutting through all his disguises.
He put down the purple clay teapot in his hand, his voice filled with suppressed anger, "It's been two years since you came back from France, and you haven't touched the company's affairs at all. You just hang around these people all day?"
Yu Xiao sneered, walked to the sofa and sat down, then picked up the photo and glanced at it.
The photo was taken from a tricky angle, clearly a professional. "Dad, are you sending someone to follow me?"
"If I hadn't been following him, I wouldn't have known that my good son had fallen to the point of playing with these boys for fun." Yu Zhenting threw the photos in front of him, and they scattered on the ground. "You've brought shame to the Yu family!"
"Playing around?" Yu Xiao raised an eyebrow, his tone as frivolous as if he were discussing the weather. "We each get what we need. Besides, I spent my own money, not a single cent from the company—why are you so angry?"
"Shut up!" Yu Zhenting slammed the table, and the water in the teacup splashed out, wetting the legs of his trousers.
He stood up and looked down at Yu Xiao. "From today on, all your cards are frozen. Go experience life!"
Yu Xiao was stunned for a moment, then he laughed, his shoulders shaking with laughter: "Experience life? Dad, don't be ridiculous. Can you really let me move bricks?"
"No need to work." Yu Zhenting's tone was as cold as the wind in the coldest days of winter. "I've invested in a talent show called 'Everyone Makes a Star'. I'll report to it tomorrow."
The smile on Yu Xiao's face froze instantly, as if someone had poured a bucket of ice water on him. He suspected he had misheard: "What did you say? A talent show? Want me to be a trainee?"
"That's right." Yu Zhenting sat back on the sofa, took a sip from his teacup, and said in a tone that brooked no argument, "If you don't get a debut spot in three months, you'll never be able to return to the Yu family."
"Are you crazy?" Yu Xiao stood up suddenly, the chair legs scraping against the floor. "I'm the prince of the Yu Group! I'm going to compete with a bunch of amateurs for a debut spot? Aren't you afraid of being laughed at if this gets out?"
"Either go or get out of the Yu family. Your choice." Yu Zhenting put down his teacup, stood up, and adjusted his suit jacket with meticulous movements. "I've already had someone register you, number 88. Tomorrow morning at 8 o'clock, the program team's car will come to pick you up. Remember, I won't help you, and you are not allowed to use the Yu family's power."
After saying that, he walked towards the study without looking back, leaving Yu Xiao standing alone in the living room, his face turning pale and blue.
The crystal lights in the room fell on him, but could not illuminate the shock, anger and absurdity in his eyes.
He, Yu Xiao, was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, attended the best private schools, did very well in college at Sciences Po, and has more properties under his name than the training uniforms of those trainees. Now he is being thrown into some crappy talent show?
"Fuck!" Yu Xiao kicked over the coffee table in front of him, and the bone china teacup fell to the ground, shattering into a mess.
At seven o'clock the next morning, Yu Xiao was awakened on time by his biological clock.
The hangover headache was still nagging him. He rubbed his forehead and sat up, and the phone on the bedside table rang.
It was assistant Xiao Chen's voice, a little cautious: "Mr. Yu, the program team's car is at the door."
He stared at the ceiling for three minutes, then finally sighed resignedly.
I threw off the quilt, got out of bed, stepped barefoot on the cashmere carpet, and walked to the huge dressing room.
The walls were filled with high-end suits, limited edition sneakers, and hand-made shirts... Finally, his eyes fell on the canvas bag with the "Everyone Creates a Star" logo printed on it in the corner of the cloakroom.
The bodyguard brought it here yesterday, saying it was the old man’s idea.
Yu Xiao picked up the bag, but the zipper was stuck. He tugged at it impatiently and finally opened it - inside were only two sets of gray training suits, the material as rough as sandpaper, a tube of cheap toothpaste and a plastic toothbrush, not even a decent bottle of cologne.
"Heh." He sneered and threw his bag on the ground. After hesitating for half an hour, he finally changed into his training clothes.
Standing in front of the mirror, looking at the person in it wearing ill-fitting clothes, messy hair, and bloodshot eyes, Yu Xiao felt unfamiliar for the first time.
This is not the Prince of the Yu family, he is clearly a homeless person who was just rescued from some corner.
"Mr. Yu, it's time to go." The bodyguard's voice sounded outside the door.
Yu Xiao took a deep breath, grabbed the canvas bag, and turned to walk out. When he reached the entrance, he saw a name tag on the shoe cabinet. It had a photo of him being dragged to the photoshoot last night. His expression was sour, as if someone owed him eight million. The name column read "Yu Xiao" and the number "88".
He pinched his badge, his knuckles turning white.
When Yu Xiao got into the white van with the program crew's logo printed on it, his face was as cold as ice.
There were already five or six boys in the car, wearing the same training suits, chattering about something. When they saw him get in, their voices instantly became quieter.
Some people looked at him curiously, their eyes flickering back and forth between his face and his name tag, probably because they thought he looked too conspicuous and didn't look like a trainee.
Yu Xiao glanced at them coldly, and those gazes immediately retracted as if they were burned.
The scenery outside the car window gradually changed from the familiar villa area to the bustling urban area, and finally stopped in front of an inconspicuous office building.
A red banner with the words "Recording Base of "Everyone Creates a Star"" was hung at the door. Several staff members were holding number tags and handing out badges to the trainees who arrived one after another.
"Number 88, Yu Xiao, right?" A girl wearing black-framed glasses handed him a folder. "Hurry up and go in. The first assembly will be in five minutes."
Yu Xiao took the folder and walked straight inside without saying a word. The corridor was packed with boys wearing the same training uniforms. The air was filled with the smell of sweat and cheap laundry detergent, and it was as noisy as a vegetable market. He frowned and was just about to find a place to smoke a cigarette to calm down when he heard a commotion coming from the front.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" A clear male voice sounded, a little panicked.
Yu Xiao looked up - at the end of the corridor, a young man was squatting on the ground, holding a pack of tissues in his hand, carefully wiping the water stains on the ground.
Maybe someone knocked over his water cup, and the water spilled all over the floor, even wetting his trouser legs.
The boy was wearing a training suit that had been washed out. He had a thin figure and when he lowered his head, the lines of his neck were clean and soft, like a reed bent by the spring breeze.
The sunlight filtered through the corridor window and fell on the top of his head, casting a light golden halo that was completely out of tune with the noisy and jostle environment around him.
Yu Xiao paused.
Quite interesting.
He originally thought that this "reformation" forced upon him by his father would be an unbearable torture.
But seeing that young man carefully absorbing the water on the ground with a tissue, not even noticing that there was water between his fingers, Yu Xiao suddenly felt that perhaps these three months were not so boring after all.
At least, he found his first object to "observe".
Yu Xiao walked over slowly and stopped a few steps away from the boy, his eyes falling on the badge on his chest.
The boy in the photo smiled very clearly, revealing two small fangs.
The name column reads - Yunheng.
Yunheng.
Yu Xiao put the tip of his tongue against his back teeth and repeated the name silently, as if he was tasting some new flavor.
He leaned against the wall, watching the boy finally wipe the water stains. When he stood up, he swayed a little because he had been squatting for too long, and hurriedly held onto the railing next to him.
"Hello." Yu Xiao suddenly spoke. His voice was not loud in the noisy corridor, but it accurately made the young man stop.
Yun Heng turned around, revealing a clean, delicate face with large eyes, like juicy black grapes. Seeing Yu Xiao, he was stunned for a moment, then smiled politely: "Excuse me...is there anything I can help you with?"
Yu Xiao looked at the clear and innocent look in his eyes, and suddenly felt that this talent show game seemed really worth playing.
He curled the corners of his lips, didn't answer, turned and walked towards the assembly hall.
Yun Heng was left standing there, scratching his head, looking at his back, and muttering softly: "This person... is so weird."
The announcement at the end of the hallway blared, urging all trainees to gather in the lobby. Yu Xiao pinched the badge numbered 88 on his chest. The sunlight fell on his face, half bright and half hidden in shadow.
Okay, then let’s play this talent show game with this group of amateurs first.
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