Special thanks to Michael, our new editor!
After Lu Nanyun sat down in his seat on the bus, everyone automatically stayed far away from him. Even his sidekick, Wan Long, intentionally sat on the spot behind him.
There was no other reason; every single time Ji Zeyu sat on this kind of bus, he would forcefully sit next to Lu Nanyun. If anyone stopped him from doing so, he would throw a tantrum and make everyone feel awkward.
Therefore, everyone, by default, thought that the seat beside Lu Nanyun would be reserved by Ji Zeyu. This was also the reason why there was an empty seat next to Lu Nanyun at the marketing summit.
Lu Nanyun slightly frowned. The scene in front of him made a strong resentment towards Ji Zeyu rise once again in his heart.
Right at this moment, Ji Zeyu, with his black satchel, came on the bus languidly. Qi Aodong followed him.
“Nan ge, he’s here,” Wan Long whispered behind Lu Nanyun, “You should hope that the worst-case scenario won’t happen.”
TL’s Note: “Ge” means “brother” and is usually an affectionate name or how people call someone they are close to.
“Shut up,” Lu Nanyun said with hostility.
Ji Zeyu glanced around, estimating the distance between each seat and which spot would be far away from both of the leads at the same time.
After a few seconds, under everyone’s watch, Ji Zeyu walked past Lu Nanyun without a single hint of wavering and walked straight to the seat beside the windows.
Lu Nanyun, who was ignored, was stunned for a second.
Qi Aodong stared at him, shocked: “You…” He wanted to ask Ji Zeyu why he didn’t sit next to Lu Nanyun.
“Sit next to me,” Ji Zeyu grabbed Qi Aodong’s arm and pulled him next to him.
When Qi Aodong came back to reality, he was already sitting next to Ji Zeyu.
He was just about to say something when Ji Zeyu suddenly took out two bottles of water, handing one to him.
Qi Aodong obediently took it over and thanked Ji Zeyu.
Ji Zeyu took this to his advantage and got near Qi Aodong’s ear, saying in a lowered voice: “I know you don’t really like me, but I wanted to say to you even before the sale summit today that we are in the same company. I don’t want other people to start gossiping about how ‘we are not getting along together’. Just don’t stay away from me all the time.”
Qi Aodong was slightly stunned. He looked towards Ji Zeyu and saw an unprecedented sincere expression in his amber eyes.
On the other side, Wan Long, seeing that Ji Zeyu chose to sit with Qi Aodong, showed an astounded expression. He hurriedly sat down next to Lu Nanyun and teased: “Nan ge, what’s wrong today? Ji Zeyu actually didn’t have interest in you today?”
“Do you know how to talk properly?” Veins bulged on Lu Nanyun’s forehead. “If you don’t, then shut up.”
He’d rather that man stay away from him, as far away as possible!
Wan Long glanced at Ji Zeyu, who was currently whispering to Qi Aodong, and said in a small voice: “But that boy, Qi Aodong, does have above-average looks; clean and young…”
Lu Nanyun said coldly: “Not my problem.”
However, he still couldn’t resist but glance at Ji Zeyu’s direction out of the corner of his eyes.
“Also, don’t look so dead all the time,” Ji Zeyu stared into Qi Aodong’s eyes, saying calmly, “When participating in these kinds of huge activities, you need to treasure every opportunity you get to be in front of the camera. You can only gain more fans by showing off your best side.”
He then reached out two of his fingers to slightly poke the two corners of Qi Aodong’s lips and said with a slightly naughty tone: “Just like this.”
Qi Aodong’s face was a little itchy after being poked and couldn’t hold back a smile. His cold face suddenly became bright and young. But very quickly, he held back the laugh and nodded seriously: “Alright.”
Lu Nanyun looked away, and he suddenly felt frustrated.
The obnoxious doofus, Ji Zeyu, was finally distancing himself from him. He should be feeling happy, but right now, he felt very upset.
Ji Zeyu used to say: “Lu Nanyun, I like you.” Now he’s liking someone else in just a few days.
He really was shameful.
Lu Nanyun felt like he detested Ji Zeyu even more.
“Nan ge, do you think he’s just playing hard-to-get?” Wan Long suddenly said.
Playing hard-to-get?
Lu Nanyun was stunned. After a few seconds, he laughed coldly and said: “Hah, you think? This guy really has a lot of tricks up his sleeve.”
Ji Zeyu suddenly sneezed.
Qi Aodong wasn’t as guarded as when they first met, he pulled out a jacket from his bag and gave it to Ji Zeyu: “Don’t catch a cold.”
Ji Zeyu didn’t come up with excuses to reject the offer, took over the jacket, and put it on.
Seeing this scene, Lu Nanyun’s face was aloof as he thought: “Hah, dumb tricks.”
After they returned to the TV station, the crew took back the phones they passed out earlier and told them to practice in the practice rooms.
Ji Zeyu and Qi Aodong lived in the same dormitory. They went back to the dormitory to change into the designated yellow T-shirts for Class B. At this time, Ji Zeyu asked Qi Aodong: “Xiao Dong, what are we rehearsing next?”
“……” Qi Aodong thought that his brain must be going haywire if he felt like this guy was going to actually improve, “Did you really forget that we are in the same group for the first live performance?”
“I have a bad memory.”
Ji Zeyu scratched his head and suddenly got stunned. He repeated Qi Aodong’s words: “Are you saying… It will be our first public performance soon?”
In the original, Ji Zeyu, who was hated on by the entire internet, had a surprising appearance in the first public performance — By surprising, it was actually surprising in a scary way.
He chose the hardest song and wouldn’t let go of the center role no matter what. Yet his dancing skills were actual trash, and he led the whole group to their doom. He single-handedly made the performance into the year’s most famous mess-ups and was turned into a popular meme on trolling websites.
It was that live performance that had ruined Ji Zeyu’s reputation on both skill and personality beyond repair. He became the definition of “useless trash”.
“Yeah,” Qi Aodong shot a confused look at Ji Zeyu, “We already got sorted into our groups last week. You are the center. Don’t tell me you forgot this too?”
“Then…” Ji Zeyu asked tentatively, “How many days do we have until the public performance?”
Qi Aodong reached out three slender fingers: “Three days.”
In the original, Ji Zeyu’s song and dance selections were not easy. The formation of the whole team needed a long time for them to collaborate well. Perfecting this performance within three days would prove to be a much harder feat than fooling the audience on the stage by copying a few moves.
“Where are we at right now?” Ji Zeyu asked with his last string of hope, “Such as our formation…”
“We are at the level of public square dancing,” Qi Aodong’s words completely pushed Ji Zeyu into the void of despondency.
TL’s Note: Public square dance is commonly used to refer to old ladies dancing in public squares.
Qi Aodong lifted his head and took a sip from his bottle of water. His Adam’s Apple bobbed in his throat. Then, he looked towards Ji Zeyu and said slowly: “Participation is the only thing important—you said this last week.”
Ji Zeyu sank into deep, deep despair. He suddenly felt like this transmigration trip… Seemed to be in the difficulty level of Hell.
Translated by: Sydney & Yutong/Puppxteer
Edited by: Michael
Vandez Translations 
Thank you for the chapter😍
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