Chapter 21

Xie An checked all the equipment in the practice room and confirmed that everything was turned off before locking the door and stepping out.

"Brother, I'm done. Let's go!"

He looked relaxed and happy, clearly having already forgotten the small incident that had just happened. With a pure expression, he asked if Ke Xingzhou was hungry, suggesting they go to the vending machine and buy two boxes of hotpot to eat in his dorm.

Ke Xingzhou sighed helplessly, feeling like an exasperated father watching his silly son.

He gave Xie An a once-over and couldn’t resist asking, "I’m a little curious, how did you negotiate with them to let me sleep all day and not pressure me to practice?"

"I didn’t say anything." Xie An scratched his head, "Maybe because I’m the team leader, I just said it and they agreed."

Ke Xingzhou raised an eyebrow. Was it really that easy?

But seeing Xie An’s pure, naive expression, he could tell that Xie An truly believed it had been effortless.

Ke Xingzhou changed his approach: "What did you offer in exchange?"

This kid didn’t sell himself out, did he? And now he was counting other people's money?

"Money," Xie An said with a face full of confidence, even a little proud. "Money solves everything, it's that simple!"

Ke Xingzhou: "…………"

He really shouldn’t have asked.

Xie An, however, continued explaining with confidence, "They joined the show to debut, but their rankings are too low, so their chances of debuting are slim. And it’s not all about skill in a competition like this. Audience appeal sometimes matters a lot."

"Brother, you should have noticed that their fan appeal isn’t very good, so them coming to my group is really because of my popularity," he said, counting on his fingers. "And the first stage is for everyone together, so no matter how badly you perform, it won’t affect them personally. On the contrary, it creates more buzz and makes the audience sympathize with them… There are so many benefits!"

"Also, I gave them my pocket money for this month!"

Ke Xingzhou: "……"

He really wanted to ask how much pocket money Xie An had in a month, to be able to move three people like that, but just thinking about it made him realize it would only be embarrassing.

So he refrained.

However, Xie An thought that Ke Xingzhou was concerned about where the money for his teammates had come from, so he quickly explained, "Brother, don’t worry. The 1.88 million my parents and sister gave me, I’ve been saving it for you. Whenever you need it, I can take it out at any time, I won’t just spend it!"

Ke Xingzhou: "…………"

He trusted Xie An’s character, but he wasn’t as confident about his own life.Every time Xie An mentioned the 1.88 million, Ke Xingzhou couldn’t help but feel a jolt in his heart, as if the golden light of virtue surrounding him was about to collapse and leave him, causing him to die on the spot.

Seeing that Xie An was about to pull out his phone to transfer the money, Ke Xingzhou quickly stopped him.

He thought for a moment and said, "Do you want hotpot? I’ll ask someone to bring us something."

Xie An immediately forgot about the 1.88 million and looked at him with shock and admiration. "Brother, you have connections like that?!"

One hour later.

An Heguang and Ke Yuanbai arrived at Ke Xingzhou’s dorm, carrying large and small bags. They knocked on the door with dark expressions.

Ke Xingzhou opened the door, took the items from them, and handed them to Xie An, but he didn’t let them inside.

He stuck his head out, looking around and checking again.

Although the "All-around Idol" program was not a closed-type show and didn’t restrict participants from carrying mobile phones or communication devices, it did not allow participants to consume outside food.

After all, it was a talent show, and the contestants were all young boys, so it was easy for their appetites to get out of control.

For the sake of the show’s broadcast and at the request of the managers, participants were banned from bringing any food into the filming area. Ke Xingzhou was an exception because he had a pet cat to take care of.

However, what he brought was pet goat milk powder, and the previous milk he bought from the vending machine didn’t violate the rules.

So even Xie An, when he was craving food, could only think about the vegetarian hotpot in the vending machine, not directly ordering a table of hotpot for delivery.

These items were considered prohibited by the program, and only people like Ke Yuanbai and An Heguang, who came from prestigious families, could find a way to get them in.

Ke Xingzhou was worried that the program team might find out, as it could affect Xie An’s performance. After all, among the four of them, only Xie An truly wanted to debut, but his background was not strong enough.

He didn’t see anyone from the program team around, and it seemed like the nearby cameras were off.

Ke Xingzhou felt slightly relieved and was about to close the door.

An Heguang almost didn’t react in time, but Ke Yuanbai quickly acted, blocking the door with his foot.

"Crossing the river and tearing down the bridge, that’s how the Ke family teaches you..." He suddenly paused halfway through and awkwardly changed the topic. "We’re hungry too. Also, we didn’t give you your thank-you gift earlier."

Ke Xingzhou wasn’t initially moved, but when he heard the words "thank-you gift," his grip loosened instinctively.

He could afford to offend anyone, but not money.

An Heguang took the chance to squeeze inside, pulling out the power cord for an electric hot pot from his back. "The program team is very strict about these things. If it weren’t for us coordinating with them, we couldn’t have brought these things in! So don’t worry, just enjoy your meal. If anything goes wrong, we’ll take the responsibility."

Ke Yuanbai: "…"

He thought to himself, who wants to take responsibility with you, but after looking at Ke Xingzhou and recalling what happened earlier, he silently closed his mouth.

Ke Xingzhou saw the power cord and knew that today’s hotpot meal would definitely be a four-person affair.

Ke Yuanbai observed his expression, saw that he didn’t seem too opposed, and stepped in sideways, opening the takeaway boxes and taking on the role of the chef.

Ke Xingzhou had never experienced this kind of bustling atmosphere around him. He stood at the door for a while, feeling somewhat out of place.

At this moment, Xie An and An Heguang started to argue quietly. Xie An suddenly looked up and waved at him, saying, "Brother, come over! What do you want to drink, Coca-Cola or Pepsi?"The other two looked over at this moment, waiting for his answer.

The door behind Ke Xingzhou closed automatically, and the warmth from the heater filled the room, gradually warming his body.

He immediately brightened up. “I’m part of the Sprite faction.”

Xie An and An Heguang immediately let out defeated wails.

When they sat down, Ke Xingzhou still seemed a little uneasy. He lowered his voice and reminded Xie An, “If anyone from the program team comes later, you should hide in the bathroom and lock the door. Don’t open it for anyone. I’ll push those two out to cover for you.”

Ke Yuanbai: "…"

An Heguang: "…"

An Heguang gave him a resentful look. “Big boss, we can hear you.”

Ke Xingzhou ignored him and even awkwardly changed the subject. “Hurry up… the water’s boiling, put in the ingredients!”

He opened the pot lid, and the aroma of the hotpot base exploded as the hot soup hit it. The spicy scent immediately filled the room, driving away much of the winter chill, and the window fogged up with steam.

The smell of the spices made everyone salivate, and they immediately grabbed their chopsticks, eating like a whirlwind.

Among the four of them, Ke Xingzhou suddenly felt something and looked up, glancing out the window.

The steam had filled the entire floor-to-ceiling window, and outside the misty glass, it was pitch black, nothing could be seen.

After a while, a dark figure walked past the window, coming inside. It was obviously a ghost, but it was still shivering. "It’s really cold this winter… why are you looking at me like that?"

Lu Li met Ke Xingzhou’s gaze, confused.

Ke Xingzhou shook his head, pointed to the hotpot on the table, and silently asked if he wanted to eat. After receiving an affirmative answer, he used the communal chopsticks to pick up some meat, wrapped it in a talisman paper, placed it on a small plate, and slid it under the table, signaling Lu Li to come take it.

Lu Li: "…"

He looked suspicious. "Why does this whole thing feel a bit familiar?"

Ke Xingzhou raised an eyebrow, unbothered. "Really? You must be imagining things."

Lu Li thought for a moment but couldn’t recall where he had seen this before, so he let it go and happily took the plate to eat.

An Heguang, sitting next to him, suddenly felt cold. "Is the heater broken? Why is it so cold all of a sudden?"

"Is it? I thought it was warm," Xie An said, sticking out his tongue from the spice. "How about you turn it up a bit?"

Ke Yuanbai glanced at the empty space on Ke Xingzhou’s side of the table, probably realizing what had happened, and quietly shifted over to the side. "I’ve got the heat, you come over here."

The few people eating happily didn’t notice that just outside the dorm building, a Maybach was parked. A light layer of snow had already accumulated on its roof.

Inside the backseat, Nie Chen looked up at the semi-transparent figure disappearing behind the floor-to-ceiling window of Ke Xingzhou’s room, his expression slightly dazed.

Assistant Liu, in the driver’s seat, hesitated for a long time before finally asking, “Mr. Nie, aren’t you going up?”

Nie Chen snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head. “Let’s head back to the apartment.”He closed his eyes and rested, no longer giving him a chance to speak.

Assistant Liu had no choice but to start the car and leave.

As they drove away, Assistant Liu saw the dorm building shrinking in the rearview mirror, and his mind was still filled with question marks.

At first, when President Nie asked him to order food, he thought it was because President Nie was hungry, and he was thinking about which nearby private restaurant was still open that late and could deliver.

But in the end, President Nie just had him order an ordinary hotpot takeout.

Not only was it delivered to the contestant dormitory under the name of the program, but the takeout also passed through the hands of those rich young masters before it finally ended up in the hands of the fake young master from the Ke family.

President Nie had even stood outside in the cold wind for quite a while, watching.

What’s so interesting about eating hotpot?

Assistant Liu was puzzled and could only attribute it to envy of the friendship between peers—after all, since their boss became an adult, he hadn’t had a friend to eat hotpot with late at night.

With a quiet sigh, Assistant Liu drove the car smoothly away from the filming base.

Meanwhile, in an unnoticed corner, a few aggressive posts suddenly appeared on the "All-around Idol" supertopic forum.

[Am I the only one who finds it strange that Ke Xingzhou joined Xie An's team? The two of them almost fought when they first met! How could they suddenly become friends? Is this blatant script-pushing?]

[Did Xie An bring a grand ancestor with him? He doesn’t study dance or listen to songs, is he just waiting for others to fish him out?]

[It seems that after the stage incident, Xie An suddenly started sticking to Ke Xingzhou. Can someone lip-read and translate what they said when they first met?]