Chapter 8

"How was it? Did it look good? Were you wowed?"

After finishing a high-energy dance routine, Yun Zhi's small chest heaved up and down rapidly. He opened his dewy lips to catch his breath, a faint sheen of sweat gathering at the corners of his eyes and brows. He gave a wink at the camera.

Fang Yixing's throat bobbed heavily, his voice low. "Good."

Yun Zhi laughed to himself, drank several mouthfuls of water, and sat back down on his chair, thinking with a somewhat shameless cheer: I wonder how many spots there are in Class A — will we get challenged to battles by other contestants? If so, we'd need to prepare some battle songs. Or would it just be freestyle? I've seen that in other competition shows all the time.

Fang Yixing didn't interrupt him. He smiled and waited for him to finish daydreaming, then said, "Your skills are excellent. You'd win even in a freestyle battle."

That single sentence from Fang Yixing sent Yun Zhi floating a little. Having a girl-friend was so wonderful — they could hype each other up endlessly in the future!

Yun Zhi asked Fang Yixing for his Weibo account. Upon seeing the Weibo page that had lain dormant for years — nothing on it but the automated birthday notifications from the system — Yun Zhi was briefly silent. He followed him from his main account, then quietly followed him again from his secondary account.

Including his two follows, Fang Yixing's follower count was a grand total of eighteen. And that wasn't ruling out bot accounts — it might only be eighteen real ones.

Pitifully few. The company had obviously not spent any money buying him followers. But the larger reason was Fang Yixing himself — he never touched his account at all. Fans were an idol's bedrock. Without fans, how was he going to pave his path to stardom?

After the video call ended, Yun Zhi put on a serious face and solemnly coached Fang Yixing on how to be active on Weibo and attract followers.

When the young CEO of the talent agency came looking for Fang Yixing in the practice room, he found him holding his phone and reading it intently, occasionally typing replies.

"Are you messing with me? How can you of all people enter an Omega competition!" Xie Sibo walked over to Fang Yixing's side and lifted his arm, intending to drape it over Fang Yixing's shoulder — but he couldn't quite reach, and so sheepishly pretended he was stretching, slipping his hand into his trouser pocket instead.

Before the video call with Yun Zhi, Fang Yixing had informed Xie Sibo that he had signed up for 101 Days: Omega Idol Cultivation Plan. The moment Xie Sibo heard it, he'd gone completely blank, and had rushed straight down from his top-floor office to find Fang Yixing.

Fang Yixing kept his head down, chatting with Yun Zhi without even looking up — apparently with no awareness that Xie Sibo was his boss. "Didn't you say I could enter whatever show I wanted, and that you'd make me a star regardless?"

Xie Sibo choked on his words.

Sure, he had said that — but Fang Yixing was unmistakably an Alpha, so how could he enter an Omega talent competition? If this got out, there would be hell to pay.

He could already envision all the media writing up reports of "Idol Fang Yixing — Alpha disguised as Omega, disgusting, shameless beast," and the scene of the entire internet condemning Fang Yixing.

This promising top-tier seed — why had his brain short-circuited all of a sudden?

"Be honest with me — why are you entering this show?" Xie Sibo's scrutinizing gaze was fixed on him intently.

Fang Yixing finally spared him a glance, and said lazily, "I'm registered as an Omega now. What's the problem?"

Xie Sibo's expression said: What nonsense are you talking about.

Fang Yixing didn't mind spending a few more words explaining. "My files are encrypted at the highest level. No one can access my real information. I say I'm an Omega — so I'm an Omega."

Xie Sibo stared at him, speechless. After a long moment, he slowly raised a thumb in his direction.

* * *

Fang Little Beautiful O: [Have you been training dance for many years?]

Yun Zhi stared at the latest message in the chat for several minutes, carefully weighing his words before replying: [I only ever took dance as a hobby class — never trained systematically. I guess I just pick things up quickly /shy]

At Fang Yixing's prompting, Yun Zhi realized he should probably switch to a simpler dance for his first performance on the show.

The original host had never studied dance. It would be impossible to learn a highly technical routine in just a few days.

To avoid raising Jin Zeli's suspicions, Yun Zhi settled on an easy, cute boy group choreography.

The housekeeper had the servants clean out a storage room on the ground floor and fitted it with large mirrors, turning it into a practice room for Yun Zhi.

The housekeeper then brought Yun Zhi to his newly prepared practice room and filmed the entire session while he practiced.

After two rounds of reviewing, Yun Zhi's movements were precise and polished — a perfect reproduction of the original at full fidelity. The housekeeper quietly saved the final segment of the video.

At three o'clock sharp, the housekeeper went to bring Jin Zeli his afternoon coffee.

Jin Zeli was going through a stack of documents. The housekeeper carefully set the coffee in the upper right corner of the desk, turned to leave, then hesitated — and turned back.

He placed the tablet containing the video of Yun Zhi dancing in an empty spot on the desk, and said with a gentle smile, "Young master, this is a dance the young little master performed — he danced it wonderfully. Would you like to take a look?"

Jin Zeli glanced at the tablet. "Leave it there."

The housekeeper couldn't quite read his reaction, and hesitated, on the verge of saying something more. After a moment's consideration, he spoke. "Young master — since the young little master has decided he wants to enter the entertainment industry, would it perhaps be better to arrange a talent agency for him? He would need a manager and assistant to be with him for work going forward."

Jin Zeli looked up and cast a cold sideways glance at the housekeeper. The housekeeper immediately fell silent. "There's no need," Jin Zeli said coolly. "He's not going to debut."

The housekeeper was not one to speak out of turn in front of Jin Zeli — but this time he had been moved by Yun Zhi's spirited determination. The young little master had grown up sheltered and carefree under Jin Zeli's protection all his life, but as he grew older he had begun to resemble more and more a hollow puppet without a soul.

To see him with his vitality restored was something to be genuinely glad about.

But Jin Zeli did not seem particularly pleased about it.

The housekeeper registered Jin Zeli's reaction, decided there was nothing safe left to say, and respectfully withdrew from the study.

After reviewing a few more documents, Jin Zeli finally picked up the tablet and opened the video.

......

Yun Zhi had tired himself out practicing, and since the practice room had a soft sofa, he lay down for a while and gradually drifted off to sleep.

When he woke up, he checked his phone — it was nearly dinnertime.

Passing by his brother's study, he was still rubbing his sleepy eyes and forgot to knock, pulling the door open directly.

"Brother, is it time for dinner?" Yun Zhi stuck half his body through the doorway.

Jin Zeli was holding the tablet. At the sound of his voice, he seemed to pause for just a second — a faint, almost imperceptible smile curved the corner of his mouth, and the dark eyes that looked up at Yun Zhi were deep and intense. He said slowly, "Yun Zhi. Come in."

Yun Zhi ruffled his own sleep-disheveled hair and walked obediently over to stand before Jin Zeli. "Brother, what is it? Aren't we eating yet?"

"We are." Jin Zeli's dark, deep eyes were fixed intently on the person before him — like a keeper who had waited a long time and finally watched his pet grow to maturity. The excitement buried in his gaze could no longer be concealed.

His tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth. Jin Zeli was eager to taste his delicious pet. He reached out and pulled Yun Zhi sharply toward him, his voice low and rough with something like longing. "Of course we are."

Yun Zhi, caught completely off guard, ended up sitting in Jin Zeli's lap — and before he could even register what had happened, Jin Zeli's large palm had already clamped down against the back of his head.

His body locked in Jin Zeli's tight hold, every time Yun Zhi moved Jin Zeli pulled him tighter — tight enough that Yun Zhi could feel the lean lines of muscle beneath his brother's clothes.

Wow, brother really has a good physique.

The back of his neck was exposed, directly before Jin Zeli's eyes.

Yun Zhi still looked like a bewildered little rabbit, blinking, at a loss. "Brother, what's wrong? Do you feel unwell somewhere?"

Jin Zeli's eyes flooded with red, like a demon thirsting for blood. He stared at that tempting soft expanse of skin, opened his mouth, and was about to bite down.

"Brother! Brother, don't scare me, please!"

Yun Zhi didn't understand what had suddenly come over Jin Zeli. Calling out to him got no response, and he couldn't break free. Fear rose up in him suddenly, his arms wrapping around Jin Zeli instinctively, his whole body trembling without being able to stop.

The trembling of the person in his arms brought Jin Zeli's rationality flooding back. He snapped his eyes shut and forcibly suppressed the turmoil raging inside him.

He grabbed Yun Zhi's collar and threw him violently off his lap. "Get out!"

Yun Zhi, completely unprepared, slammed heavily to the floor. The right wrist he had instinctively thrown out to catch himself sent a wrenching, searing pain shooting up his arm. His eyes were wide open, his soft long lashes trembling with fear, and the look he turned on Jin Zeli was raw with hurt.

Jin Zeli didn't even look at him. His eyes were flooded entirely with red, and his raspy, low voice growled, "Get out of my sight. Get out!"