YMBLTY

Chapter 77: Happy New Year

In T.ATW's rehearsal room, Luo Chenxuan was teaching Shi Xinyan a new song. Fu Zhi was reading the newspaper while holding a thermos of hot water. Chi Yunkai was playing a game, and Gu Wei was scrolling through Weibo.

"Am I imagining things?" Gu Wei asked. "Jiang Enyuan has gotten so much bad press lately. He's almost as controversial as I am now."

"Yeah, he's in pretty bad shape," Shi Xinyan said. "He isn't more popular than you, either. Our little losers club has been doing really well lately."

"He's been under fire for a lot of stuff recently, but I feel like he really went over the top. Even sleeping with fans." Fu Zhi pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses and flipped to a new page in his newspaper. "He probably provoked the wrong person this time."

"He totally deserves it. Where there's smoke, there's fire. He's one hell of a rotten egg," Chi Yunkai said while tapping away at the game on his phone. "At least we can be at peace for a while. Just seeing his name makes me shudder."

Gu Wei, taking a page out of their manager's book, scolded, "Stop talking nonsense, you're better than this. You're all supposed to be idols."

"It seems one of his big name fans announced they were officially dropping him. I've been enjoying this drama for days," Luo Chenxuan said. "Tabloids are really fierce these days."

Gu Wei recited some details from one of the articles on Weibo: "Jiang Enyuan was late to a performance last year, his clothes were all messed up, he was in a bad mood…"

He frowned. "Why does this story sound so familiar to me?" Gu Wei mused. "Wait, I remember. You guys did this, didn't you? That was when you locked him in the bathroom."

"Nonsense." Fu Zhi set down the newspaper. "Were there surveillance cameras? Is there evidence?"

Gu Wei fell silent.

"If he's got the balls, he can make a post saying we did it," Chi Yunkai said, still engrossed in his game. "Isn't he the one avoiding the subject? If he wants to challenge us head-on, we'll take him on."

"Okay, practice, practice. We've got a long way to go," Fu Zhi said as he got to his feet. Facing Gu Wei, he added, "The one who always goes off-key, come practice."

"Hey…" Gu Wei put away his phone. "I haven't gone off-key in ages!"

Fu Zhi glanced over Shi Xinyan, who was subtly snickering. "What are you laughing at? Gu Wei is going to help you stretch later, your dancing is too stiff. Gu Wei, don't hold back. We need some good content for our rehearsal highlights reel."

Shi Xinyan instantly stopped laughing and started melodramatically pretending to bawl.

When their manager came to check on them, all five members of T.ATW were earnestly rehearsing their performance for the New Year's gala on CoconutTV. They all stopped moving and turned to the door when Manager Zhao knocked.

"Gu Wei, come out here for a minute," she said. "Someone is here to see you."

"What's up?" Gu Wei asked. He stepped out of the rehearsal room and saw a familiar figure next to the manager—Chu Yi.

"Before he went into isolation for training, Jiang Xun asked me to check in on you once in a while," Chu Yi explained. "Would you like to have a chat?"

"Okay." Gu Wei nodded.

Manager Zhao let them into the agency's lounge and closed the door on her way out.

"What did Jiang Xun say to you?" Gu Wei asked curiously.

Chu Yi smiled warmly and answered truthfully: "He said he doesn't feel at ease leaving you alone, and he asked me to make sure no one was bullying you. But that sort of thing is best left to that little brother of his. I'm just here to do my job. How have you been feeling lately?"