CH 25

Chapter 25: Server chasing

Hearing this, the Deputy Director panicked and blurted out: “But, Director Ruan…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he met a displeased gaze and immediately closed his mouth in fright, hating himself for not having done so right away.

“I do not need to give Ruan Mingyi any face.” Cheng Su sneered coldly. No one knew exactly why he was angry; the Deep Blue Star Sea project was very important in his eyes and because it was such a special existence, he only wanted to choose the best to represent it.

Seeing his people make such useless messes, Cheng Su felt upset. He glanced at the Deputy Director and, with a warning in his voice, said: “Listen up. Whoever extends their hands too much won’t be needing them anymore.”

The Deputy Director was startled and broke in a cold sweat before nodding seriously. However, in his heart, he could not help but wonder how Ruan Mingyi had offended Cheng Su; but no matter the reason, Director Ruan’s head was going to fall.

After Yan Lang left the Communication Department building with Cheng Su, only the Deputy Director and the assistant, who had been hiding and hadn’t dared to speak, were left in the office. Seeing the bosses were gone, the assistant asked cautiously: “What should we tell the program?”

The Deputy Director slammed the table with his hand and with a dark and resentful expression on his face, quickly yelled: “What do you think? Hurry up and let them upload the photo!”

The man was anxious and couldn’t wait for this matter to be over so he could breathe again.

After leaving the building, Cheng Su’s expression finally eased a little. He stopped suddenly and asked Yan Lang: “Has the person for the advertisement been selected?”

In addition to the promotional posters, there would also be commercials shared on major platforms for the launch of the North Island, and Cheng Su was now wondering about the advertising candidate for the Deep Blue Star Sea.

Yan Lang hesitated for a moment then replied: “Not yet.”

The difficulty of underwater shooting was well-known, let alone for a video. The two other commercials had already been shot and only the Deep Blue Star Sea was left.

Originally, Cheng Su had planned on using animation to complete this ad; Yan Lang was caught off guard when he heard his superior’s question and felt a little surprised. Especially after the issue with the Communication Department, Yan Lang was not entirely sure, but while Cheng Su’s requirements for anything related to the Deep Blue Star Sea were particularly strict, was it possible he was favoring Qiao Dai now? He had already rejected many first-line stars but it made sense.

“President Cheng, do you have someone you are interested in?”

Yan Lang was a little excited and when he tentatively asked, he saw Cheng Su nod his head gently.

“Let Qiao Dai try it.”

Cheng Su was not sure what his thoughts were, he only knew that the moment he had seen Qiao Dai’s picture, his mood had somehow calmed down. He felt as he could smell the ocean, the only scent that could make him feel at ease in the city.

“That’s it.” Cheng Su pointed at Yan Lang’s phone who had been ringing non-stop and turned around to walk away before adding: “Answer the phone. I don’t want to deal with this matter anymore.”

“Yes, Mr Cheng.”

Yan Lang took his phone out as soon as Cheng Su left and finally realized that many people had tried to reach him. At the same time, Qiao Dai’s number appeared on the screen and he took the call.

“Director Yan, hello. I am Qiao Dai, do you remember me?”

Qiao Dai’s soft voice came over gently and Yan Lang felt she was speaking unnaturally slowly.

***

On the other end, Qiao Dai was sitting on the couch and talking on the phone. Around her were Luan Zhen, Shi Qing, and Lu Ying while Song Yiqi was sitting opposite her holding a piece of paper her way. On it was written exactly what she was saying to Yan Lang.

Song Yiqi winked at Qiao Dai, indicating she was doing well and Lu Ying whispered: “Ask about the shooting but be tactful! Be tactful!”

The girls were trying to teach Qiao Dai how to be strict and deal with this situation. While she was still talking to Yan Lang, Song Yiqi refreshed the page and exclaimed: “Daidai’s portrait is here!”

On her iPad’s screen, Qiao Dai’s photo finally appeared, and even among so many pictures, it was impossible to stop staring at it.

Song Yiqi had originally only been a little curious but when she saw Qiao Dai’s portrait, the corners of her lips rose and she chuckled. It was no wonder Lu Ying had been bragging about it yet stayed mysterious. It was the kind of treasure that belonged to her alone before it was shared with the rest of the world.

At this moment, as long as they were looking at the voting page, whether they were fans, contestants, or passersby, they were all mesmerized by the portrait of Qiao Dai that had finally appeared in front of them. In that soft and quiet water, Qiao Dai’s figure was agile and light, her fingertips gently touching the floating bubbles around her. Her eyes were clear and bright, everything looked so natural, so real everyone could not help but think they had stepped to the bottom of the sea themselves.

Words could hardly describe the shock in everyone’s heart at this instant. Everyone just looked at the screen in a daze, their minds blank, staring at the girl that looked like a water fairy. And the next second, the website of <Pick Eleven> crashed.

“What’s happening? Is it another bug?”

Lu Ying exclaimed before realizing Qiao Dai was still on her phone and quickly covering her mouth. Shi Qing refreshed the page once more, only to find out it couldn’t load. The website had crashed because of the sheer amount of people that had rushed to take a look at Qiao Dai’s portrait.

[I beg of you, please spend money and upgrade your website! I haven’t watched it enough!]

[I’m here! I’m late! Did anyone have time to save the photo?]

[I have! No need to thank me!]

[Previous comment, you are so fast, I admire you!]

A large number of fans flooded into the official blog in an instant. One by one, they complained about not being able to load the page while asking for more pictures of Qiao Dai. Soon enough, the situation got out of control.

#Beauty crashes the server twice#

#Qiao Dai’s water portrait#

#Qiao Dai#

Less than half an hour after the <Pick Eleven> photos were uploaded, the water portrait of Qiao Dai had already spread everywhere and everybody was talking about her, “the girl that was so beautiful she crashed the server twice”.

[No wonder we couldn’t see our Daidai’s photo at first! Turns out, the server is also chasing stars. Laugh.]

[One time wasn’t enough and the second time, the whole page just crashed. Our Daidai is just too strong, isn’t she?]

[I’m sorry, I thought there was shady business at first but it turns out, everybody just loves our Daidai so much they destroy the website!]

Multiple hot searches related to Qiao Dai were constantly getting more and more views and even passersby couldn’t help but curiously take a look.

Before: [Let’s see who everyone is bragging about.]

After: [Sisters, I was wrong, where can I find Daidai’s Weibo?]

Netizens were begging for Qiao Dai’s pictures everywhere; unfortunately most of the photos already circulating on the Internet were of low-resolution quality with watermarks. Although this did not prevent them from admiring Qiao Dai’s beauty, it was a bit regretful to have to settle on blurry images instead of an HD one.

At this point, the official blog posted a message: [#Pick Eleven x North Island# Come discover this beautiful world: Mirror of the Sky @Song Yiqi, Fantasy Forest @Ruan Tao, Deep Blue Sea Star @Qiao Dai. Please look forward to it!]

People, who had just been urging the official website to fix itself, soon swarmed into the comment area and quickly shared the photos on all social platforms.

[Aaaah our little sisters!]

[Aaaah, I’m in love!]

[Why hasn’t North Island opened yet? I wanna go!]

In addition to this post, the official page posted nine different photos for each group. Qiao Dai’s picture got a lot of praise and her own account was instantly followed by thousands of people. Whether people followed the <Pick Eleven> news or not, by the end of the day, they all remembered Qiao Dai’s name and her beautiful figure in the water. Her fans skyrocketed overnight and rushed to a million. Qiao Dai’s original fans were so excited to see their fairy sister get so popular; and when everyone remembered afterward the show had not even aired yet, they became even more excited. There was one week left before the show officially started but, for sure, <Pick Eleven> was going to be a success and Qiao Dai’s would keep on rising!

***

Back in the players’ dormitory, Qiao Dai was still on the phone with Yan Lang and the man had been apologizing for the inconvenience caused by the promotional poster. It had been an internal issue in their company and had finally been resolved so she did not have to worry anymore.

Originally, Yan Lang had planned to talk to Qiao Dai about the advertisement, but thinking of her next performance and the busy training that should come with it, he decided against it. In addition, the company still had many procedures to do and he would let Qiao Dai’s agent know and surprise her.

After hanging up, Qiao Dai’s teammates quickly surrounded her, practically itching to throw her in the sky and cheer loudly.

“Daidai, you’re amazing!”

Luan Zhen grabbed Qiao Dai’s shoulder. She was trembling when she thought Qiao Dai could complete such an excellent underwater shoot, not of fear but of excitement. She had such powerful teammates by her side, she could only get motivated to go further.

Lu Ying, on the other hand, was so happy her new friend was on the hot search and was acting like Qiao Dai’s private cheerleader, wagging her short tail and jumping around, telling everyone: “Do you understand what I was saying now? Daidai is the eternal goddess of our ocean group!”

The rest of the girls looked at Lu Ying and joked: “Xiao Lu, turns out you are Daidai’s mother fan!”

Lu Ying smiled and nodded, before running to Qiao Dai and leaning her head against her: “Yes! I am Daidai’s mother fan, her career fan, and all other kinds of fan! No one is allowed to bully Daidai!”

Shi Qing was not as demonstrative as the others but she was also happy and her face had turned a little red: “It’s great! It’s really great!” She was a little incoherent and did not seem to really know what to say. But the smile on her face was so genuine it clearly showed what she felt at this moment.

In the midst of the excitement, Song Yiqi walked towards Qiao Dai and stopped in front of her.

Song Yiqi was tall, her face both sharp and delicate. She was a thin beauty, with neat bangs but short enough to not hide her heroic eyebrows. Her eyes were dark, her eyelashes were long and curled and she had a mole in the corner of her left eyes, which looked rather seductive.

Now that she was standing in front of Qiao Dai, she was smiling with a spark in her eyes and said in a lazy voice: “Xiao Dai, do you want to form a team with your big sister?”

Qiao Dai seemed a little puzzled. She tilted her head as she did not quite understand Song Yiqi’s meaning: “Form a team?”

Song Yiqi nodded and she raised her eyes to look at Luan Zhen and Shi Qing: “I don’t mean to grab your teammate but for a group for the next performance.”

For the first public performance, in addition to the theme song, there was a brand new team competition. But unlike during the initial rating, the players would have to cooperate with contestants they did not necessarily know. The song had not been announced yet and the training time would be the same for everyone. Whoever would perform the best would have the best chances to break through.

Even Class A players could face elimination and no one could underestimate the importance of this stage. The girls’ rankings were most likely to change.

“Do you know how the program will group us?”

Luan Zhen turned her head to look at Song Yiqi. Although everyone knew it would be a team competition, nobody had announced the process just yet and no one knew exactly how the groups would be formed. What were the groups? What was the subject of the assessments? What was the mechanism of elimination? It was a mystery.

Song Yiqi narrowed her eyes, shook her head, and smiled: “I don’t know but I have some ideas.” She looked at Qiao Dai and added: “I need a good topic and you need an awesome teammate. It’s a win-win situation, so let’s work together?”

Song Yiqi could see the other girl was a good seed but still had too little experience to support a team on her own. If Qiao Dai took the lead in the next team competition, it would most likely end up in a disaster. Right now, what she needed the most was a strong teammate to back her.

During the initial rating, Qiao Dai had been able to shine because the COCO trainees had been familiar with each other. Shi Qing had also added the finger dance to cover Qiao Dai’s shortcomings. But public performances were different, with a brand new group and a brand new repertoire. It was still too difficult for a newcomer with no stage experience.

Song Yiqi liked Qiao Dai very much and she did not want to see her get eliminated yet. As for the reason why she liked the girl… was it important? She was just happy to be able to perform with her.

“Okay.”

Qiao Dai nodded. She did not think much about it but whispered a little embarrassed: “I’m just worried that I won’t be able to keep up with you at my level. I don’t want to drag you down.”

Song Yiqi didn’t seem to mind and smiled before patting Qiao Dai on the shoulder: “It’s unlikely.” She stared at Qiao Dai and added: “I know you’re the first at practice every day.”

She was a hardworking and talented person; she would only be behind for a little bit, not forever. Song Yiqi strongly believed that the day of the first public performance, Qiao Dai would definitely not be the one who was holding anyone back. Perhaps she would even be the most eye-catching.