Chapter 21: Water Fight
When An Zhiyan saw Su Jinli's baffled expression, he couldn't help but hold back his laughter. He raised his hand to wipe the water off Su Jinli's small face and even took the opportunity to touch his soft cheeks a couple of times.
"Alright, stop chasing me. I can get you autographs from your idols, as long as they're from the legendary families," An Zhiyan began brainwashing the people who attacked them.
"But An Zhihan can also get autographs for us."
An Ziyi sighed and continued his persuasion, "An Zhihan is with Muzitao now. Moreover, you'll have your mobile phones confiscated in a couple of days, and only I can keep in touch with the outside world."
The crowd looked at each other and finally excitedly said their idols' names. An Zhiyan made an 'OK' gesture with his hand and then dragged Su Jinli away.
As they left, An Zhiyan shamelessly explained to Su Jinli, "It was an emergency just now, and you were wearing a raincoat. You helped me block the water. Don't you think these production crews just love creating these wet scenes? It's so uncomfortable."
Su Jinli's magic wasn't refined, and he needed to concentrate on using it to control his mermaid scales. Thus, he only vaguely responded without noticing that An Zhiyan was actually holding his hand.
An Zhiyan, pulling Su Jinli along, quickly arrived at a corner. He peered outside and murmured to Su Jinli, "We have to find a water gun. We can't keep getting attacked passively."
Su Jinli looked around and then shook off some water droplets from his raincoat. He suggested to An Zhiyan, "Let's run and hide for a couple of hours before returning."
"Doing so, you'd miss a lot of screen time," replied An Zhiyan, "And the production team also expects me to have plenty of screen time."
"Weren't we both in the frame just now?"
"That little exposure won't satisfy the production crew."
Su Jinli seemed a bit lost about what to do next. He fretted in place, almost on the verge of tears.
An Zhiyan, though generally insensitive, noticed Su Jinli's discomfort. Su Jinli was very afraid of water—he had even overcome his fear for him.
After some thought, An Zhiyan said, "Don't worry, let me think of a solution."
"Okay!" Su Jinli had no other choice but to rely on An Zhiyan now.
An Zhiyan led Su Jinli to the equipment room, a warehouse-like space filled with various equipment. After a quick search, he picked up a roll of duct tape, pinched the hood of Su Jinli's raincoat, and sealed it at the top of his head.
Then, An Zhiyan added another strip of tape over Su Jinli's mouth.
With the hood of the transparent raincoat being so large and sealed, Su Jinli looked like he was wearing a suit for scientific research, with only his eyes visible.
Next, An Zhiyan squatted down and wrapped duct tape around Su Jinli's pants, spiral after spiral, as if he was suddenly wearing rain boots.
"Do you want me to tape the top of your feet too?" An Zhiyan asked.
"If I don't take off my shoes, I should be fine."
Finally, An Zhiyan also wrapped tape around the hem of Su Jinli's raincoat. After securing the edges, Su Jinli appeared to be wearing a transparent bubble skirt.
An Zhiyan stood up and looked at Su Jinli. Only his eyes could be seen clearly, blinking at him.
Focusing solely on the eyes, An Zhiyan was mesmerized by them.
They were beautiful eyes, like a brilliant night sky, filled with countless stars.
"Let me make you a pair of plastic gloves too," said An Zhiyan. He searched the room but couldn't find any, so he grabbed two plastic bags instead and put them over Su Jinli's hands. They weren't even the same color.
As An Zhiyan led Su Jinli out, he heard the rustling sound of Su Jinli walking and couldn't help but complain, "We're basically walking with our own background music."
"Why don't you go ahead and film? I can manage on my own," Su Jinli patted his chest confidently.
An Zhiyan smiled and stood in front of him, asking, "Are you still scared of me?"
"Why do you always care about that?"
"Yes, I do care. Just answer me."
Unfortunately, before Su Jinli could reply, An Zhiyan was attacked again.
After a while, An Zhiyan's VJ rushed over upon hearing the news, following An Zhiyan to film the chaos.
The contestants finally found an opportunity to interact with the judges and the host. Not willing to miss their chance, they sprayed water everywhere, covering the hallway walls.
Su Jinli quickly closed the equipment room door and seized the opportunity to slip away. He found someone he was relatively familiar with and asked where to get a water gun.
By the time Su Jinli arrived, An Zhiyan and his group were already engaged in a water battle.
An Zhiyan didn't care about anything else anymore. He was soaked, his clothes clinging to his body. Fighting back vigorously, he was laughing and playing with the contestants, resembling a big kid, with no trace of his usual idol demeanor.
Holding the water gun, Su Jinli hesitated for a moment before joining the fight. When he reached An Zhihan, he sprayed water all over his face.
An Zhihan was stunned and stared at Su Jinli for a moment before recognizing him. He immediately shouted, "After all the kindness I showed you, you're actually helping my brother!"
Su Jinli felt a little embarrassed by An Zhihan's yelling, so he held up his water gun and sprayed An Zhiyan's face as well.
The two brothers turned to Su Jinli simultaneously, their formidable yang energy washing over him.
Without thinking, Su Jinli backed away and immediately turned and ran.
Running as fast as he could, he noticed a group of people chasing him from behind. He shouted, "Stop chasing me! Ahhhhhh!"
"If I catch you, you little ingrate!" An Zhihan yelled.
"He really is an ingrate," An Zhiyan chimed in.
"I'm sorry!" Su Jinli quickly apologized.
"It's too late!"
Despite being all taped up and unable to run properly, Su Jinli was eventually caught by the two brothers and cornered.
After such a long chase, only the two brothers and one VJ managed to keep up.
Su Jinli couldn't resist the two brothers and could only cover the tiny hole on his head, shrinking himself into a ball.
An Zhihan spent a long time squirting water from his water gun, but Su Jinli only seemed to get wet on the surface, there was no place to truly hit.
An Zhiyan, leaning against the wall and panting heavily, said, "How can you two run so fast, I'm exhausted."
"It's this kid who can run, dressed as if he's going to space, and he can still run so fast," gasped An Zhihan, equally winded.
After a while, when Su Jinli didn’t get up, An Zhiyan had to pull him up and move his body.
Su Jinli curled up in the corner, pitifully watching the two brothers through the tiny hole.
"Don't worry, there's no water left in the water gun," An Zhiyan purposely shook his water gun.
"When I find my brother, I'll let him deal with you two scoundrels!" Su Jinli said 'super fiercely.'
"It was you who sprayed us first," An Zhiyan tried reasoning with Su Jinli.
"Both of you were spraying each other, so why chase me this far?"
The two brothers were left speechless.
In reality, they might not mind others spraying them, but the fact that the one spraying them was Su Jinli made them uncomfortable.
Why was that?
Perhaps deep down, they both felt that Su Jinli was on their side.
"Just enjoy the fun, don't take it to heart," An Zhihan got Su Jinli up and started walking back.
Su Jinli followed them and while the two walked back quietly, he once again picked up his water gun and continued spraying water at the brothers.
Even if they tried their best to dodge, he only stopped when there was no water left in the gun.
Content at last, Su Jinli stuck his tongue out at them before bolting off once again.
The two brothers were left dazed, with nothing to do but watch as VJ happily recorded their stupefied expressions.
So this was the kind of person Su Jinli was.
"Did that kid drink fake alcohol?" An Zhiyan couldn't help but ask An Zhihan.
"What did you do to him?"
"What could I have done?"
"How could he learn bad habits so quickly?!" An Zhihan was reluctant to accept the change in Su Jinli.
________________________
In the evening, everyone was exhausted, yet a large portion of the participants still went to the practice room to continue rehearsing the theme song.
Among them, several contestants in the undecided area were still practicing sincerely.
At 2 a.m., Gu Ju miraculously appeared in the practice room of group A.
At that time, Su Jinli and Wu Yu were humming songs together, practicing in front of the mirror.
After Gu Ju came in, he sat in front of the mirror, watched them practicing, and asked, "Are there any parts you don't understand?"
"I'm having some trouble remembering a few moves' details," Su Jinli answered immediately.
"Alright, let me see."
Su Jinli performed the dance move for Gu Ju to see. Gu Ju immediately stood up, went between the two of them, and demonstrated the move while watching their movements in the mirror and giving them specific guidance.
After guiding them, Gu Ju went on to instruct a few other contestants.
An Zhihan was not the kind of child who could endure hardship. After the water splashing festival, he returned to the dormitory, took a bath, and lay down on his bed, snacking and resting. He didn't come out again that night.
Fan Qianting went back to rest around 1 a.m., coincidentally missing Gu Ju.
After finishing all of the guidance, Gu Ju went to stand in front of Su Jinli and Wu Yu and said, "I've already been to three classrooms. I don't know if the contestants who went back to rest are prepared, but from those still practicing now, you two have the highest completion rate."
Su Jinli and Wu Yu nodded and continued listening to Gu Ju.
"In our recorded MV, there will be 60 people, and the song is only 4 minutes and 21 seconds long. So, several people will sing the same verse together, and their images will appear simultaneously in the video. There will be a central figure in the music video with a solo verse, and that person will have a 7-second individual shot. Do you know what this means?"
Wu Yu, of course, knew more than Su Jinli and he quickly fell into deep thought, followed by a nod of understanding.
Su Jinli nodded along, "Understood."
"You two strive hard. I'm looking forward to seeing your performances," Gu Ju concluded, then gathered all the practicing members of Group A to watch him repeat the dance move.
Gu Ju was already a debuted artist, simply not yet well-known, but his ability was far from lacking.
It was rumored that, in the latter half of the year, two web dramas featuring Gu Ju would go live one after the other. This would be when Gu Ju officially entered the public's view.
For now, Gu Ju did not have much on his plate but among the four judges, he was the most caring towards all the contestants, often checking in on them in the early hours of the morning.
At only 22 years old, his age was fairly close to the contestants, showing no aloofness. Su Jinli has quite a good impression of him.
"Thank you, Teacher Gu," Su Jinli said.
"Among all the contestants, you learn the fastest. That's an impressive talent. I hope you can utilize it and subsequently perform more proficiently compared to the others."
"Alright, I'll do my best."
Gu Ju pondered for a moment before addressing Wu Yu, "You continue practicing for now. I need to emphasize stage performance with Su Jinli. That aspect won't be an issue for you."
"Okay," Wu Yu agreed.
Gu Ju called Su Jinli to the corner of the classroom to give him individual guidance on his facial expressions and eye contact.
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