Superstars of Tomorrow

Actually, a long time ago, Chu Bo’s style hadn’t been this way. He had been just like Zaro: blunt and direct. If anyone verbally attacked him, he would immediately reply in kind.

When Chu Bo released his first album, his family members told Chu Bo, “You are now considered a public figure. You have to watch your image and think about your own profession whenever you encounter anything.”

Chu Bo went back and pondered, They are absolutely right! I am an honorable recording artist. Artists should use artistic methods to attack back! Just like the ancient saying: “A gentleman uses his mouth and not his fists”. If we are at odds with each other, I will neither hit you nor call you out on social media. Instead, I will write you into my song lyrics!

Through practise, Chu Bo found that this sort of venting was rather satisfying. Afterwards, it became a habit. Every time he got excited and lost himself in his good spirits, he would let out all the words he kept stifled in his heart.

Chu Bo had also prepared for this Star Cup victory ceremony. Actually, Chu Bo was aware of his bad habit. Therefore, when Fang Zhao had chosen these three songs to form a revised medley, they had made adjustments to the tempo and style. Although the core was still rock ‘n’ roll, the accompaniment at the beginning was much more emotional. The changes were even greater in the first and second segments to be more suitable for Star Cup’s stage. More importantly, they also created a “cooling” effect for Chu Bo.

Manager Chu Yang had naturally understood Fang Zhao and Chu Bo’s changes when he looked through the revised medley and had been very satisfied with the adjustments.

All the preparations had been completed, but nothing could stop Chu Bo when he was in a good mood. He was delighted to have made a new friend! When he was delighted, he also let loose on this rather serious and formal stage.

It could be said that when Chu Bo reached the third segment, Chu Bo was no longer able to think clearly and his intellect had all been suppressed. Come on! Let loose! Let’s get high together!

And at the moment when Chu Bo just so happened to get a singing high and was about to release all the words he had bottled up… he saw Fang Zhao’s expression.

What sort of expression was that?

It was part reproach, part admonishment, and part… love?

Chu Bo’s heart shuddered at that moment.

Fang Zhao’s expression reminded Chu Bo of his grandfather. Chu Bo had been called over by the old master after the last time he caused a big fuss. He had been forced to write a reflection essay with a guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again. Furthermore, he had been shut away from the public for a period of time.

Chu Bo involuntarily fell silent. Just imagining his grandfather standing beside him when he was high caused his hairs to stand and his tongue to get stuck. It was a natural reflex.

Luckily, Chu Bo was rather proficient with singing and had sufficient professional ability. The swear words he had been about to release faded away as his rationality returned. The original lyrics flowed out smoothly instead.

Chu Bo returned to his senses quickly and continued singing. Seeing that it was Fang Zhao beside him instead of his grandfather, Chu Bo felt that his eyes must have played tricks on him.

However, he was now clear-headed from the scare. Luckily, the third segment was close to ending. Chu Bo controlled the rhythm and directed the derailed song back to its original key before smoothly completing the performance.

At the same time, the students didn’t find anything too strange. Even if they noticed his artificial silence, they didn’t think too much about it. They liked Chu Bo and his songs. As for the reporters, every one of them had flabbergasted looks on their faces as though they had just witnessed the sun rising from the west.

Reporters familiar with Chu Bo’s character had been inwardly delighted when they saw Chu Bo starting to get high. They were just waiting for Chu Bo to enter his spouting mode and let curses fly. Yet who knew that Chu Bo would have gone silent!

“Was that… just a harmony? Or did I not hear any lyrics?” A reporter thought that he had hallucinated hadn’t managed to catch the crucial moment.

“I heard exactly the same as you.” The reporter beside him also had a shocked look on his face.

How many people had felt that they heard wrongly?

Even harder to believe than Chu Bo getting high and mouthing off on the Star Cup stage was Chu Bo actually managing to control his mouth and remain silent!

This was simply something miraculous!

Having made his first performance so many years ago, if Chu Bo had had this sort of ability, his status in the music world wouldn’t be like this! Otherwise would his manager run all over the place making pledges in order to find a venue to host his live concerts?

None of the reporters were thinking about anything else. The reporters who had been writing their drafts had put everything aside to listen carefully. They wanted to see if Chu Bo’s silence was by chance or from self-control.

However, all the way until Chu Bo finished, reporters didn’t hear Chu Bo explode.

“Is Bomber a dud today?”

“Perhaps there are Chu family elders seated in the audience so he doesn’t dare cuss?” People started making conjectures.

“Probably not, there wasn’t any news.”

“The atmosphere was just right, and the mood was on point. The ignition point was right there. Why did it pass in silence?”

“I reckon that… the mood still wasn’t right so Chu Bo didn’t let it rip.”

“From what I saw, he was really high! I guess that because of the matter with those other concerts, his manager was watching him tightly. He was forced to learn self-control for the sake of his future performances. Take a look. Didn’t he successfully control himself? Chu Bo’s taken another step by replacing his high with silence.”

“Oh, he must have been forced to because of his current situation.”

They were a little disappointed, but there was still a lot to write about. The reporters were still in a good mood. Jinzhou reporters especially had already worked their brain cells overtime to come up with all sorts of reasoning.

Backstage, Manager Chu Yang chuckled heartily as he came over to Chu Bo.

“Little Bo, very good! Simply perfect!! I had originally thought that you were going to improvise again! Seems like I really underestimated you!” Chu Yang happily said as he gazed at Chu Bo through teary eyes. All of his hard work had finally paid off!

However, Chu Bo didn’t notice Chu Yang’s strange gaze. He was currently a little dazed. His performance on stage had consumed all of his energy. His assistant helped him over to the sofa which he immediately collapsed onto.

Zaro also came in at this moment. He didn’t find it too meaningful to be alone at his own seat, so he came over to talk to Chu Bo. He gave a thumbs up when he saw Chu Bo and complimented, “What dedication! Despite jumping around on stage, you were still able to sing so quickly without tripping over any words. I now know that singing can be really tiring. Look at all that sweat!”

Chu Bo gave him a glance but didn’t reply. He was still panting and his legs were still shaky.

Zaro continued, “Hey, Chu Bo, this won’t do. Didn’t you say that you’ll be visiting various continents to hold live concerts? There are so many songs at one concert. Look at how exhausted you are after just one song. Even if this was a slightly longer medley of three songs, it’s still way shorter than a regular concert. If you have the time, you better train up more! Look at me; I slogged away on Planet Bu to help alleviate poverty and now my abs look so much more defined!”

Chu Bo took a towel from his assistant and wiped the sweat off his neck and face. Naturally, he didn’t need Zaro to tell him all of this. Concerts required sufficient physical endurance, but he wasn’t this way normally! Normally, he could sing 10 songs without collapsing, let alone just one!

But that song he had just performed was a psychological battering! He had spent a lot of effort to continue the song normally and hide his problems. It had been more tiring than 10 songs! Not stuttering had already been difficult enough!

“Hey Bobo, how do you make that hand gesture while singing? It’s rather cool; teach me if you have the time!” Zaro tried to copy the gesture.

“Mmhm.” Chu Bo finally took notice and grunted a reply.

“Also, you were supposed to hold a joint performance with Fang Zhao. Even if you think that Fang Zhao doesn’t sing well, you still should have let him sing at least a verse. It should be fine as long as you’re leading, right? Just like how we normally sing karaoke together.” Zaro felt that Chu Bo didn’t show much respect for Fang Zhao and only cared about getting high himself.

Currently, Chu Bo was highly sensitive to the name “Fang Zhao”. Hearing Zaro mention Fang Zhao, Chu Bo had an an embarrassed look on his face. How could he bring himself to tell others that he had mistaken Fang Zhao for his own grandfather which nearly caused a huge mistake?

As for singing together?

Chu Bo shook his head with all his strength.

My legs are still f*cking soft!!

At this time, Fang Zhao walked in. Chu Bo quickly glanced over before retracting his gaze. He looked back again as if wanting to find something and had a troubled look.

Chu Bo thought to himself, Actually, now that I look at Fang Zhao, he doesn’t really look alike. Everything is just a misperception that I’m scaring myself with!

Luckily, the performance had ended well. However, the psychological shadow it had cast on Chu Bo’s heart couldn’t be removed in the short term. Whenever he came across Fang Zhao, Chu Bo would remember his first time that he had recovered after going off the rails during a performance.

In any case, Chu Bo had no intention of telling anyone else. He would totally lose face if anyone knew!

He also decided that he wouldn’t have any more joint performances with Fang Zhao until he got rid of this psychological scar. He might have been able to continue singing this time, but what about the next?

Fang Zhao didn’t know anything about this. However, he could see that Chu Bo was somewhat afraid of him. Although it was well hidden by Chu Bo, Fang Zhao was still able to make out some subtle signs.

Actually, Fang Zhao had the mindset of an elder in his performance with Chu Bo. He didn’t intend to steal the limelight, but as Chu Bo got a little too high from singing, Fang Zhao increased his presence. His purpose was to let Chu Bo know that he was still standing there. He wanted to remind Chu Bo not to get to absorbed and forget where he was.

Fang Zhao never imagined that he would have scared Chu Bo in such a manner. Thus, he hadn’t come over immediately after the performance to allow Chu Bo some time to calm down.

But even now, it seemed like Chu Bo hadn’t completely calmed down.

Am I that scary? Fang Zhao was puzzled.

Seeing the situation, Fang Zhao didn’t say much before leaving. Ever since he had entered, Chu Bo’s face was rigid and wasn’t natural at all. Fang Zhao didn’t want to put him on the spot. Fortunately, Chu Bo hadn’t spouted any obscenities so his venue applications wouldn’t be rejected immediately,

After Fang Zhao left, Chu Bo loosened up entirely. He turned to his bodyguard/former cemetery guard and said, “You were right. This Fang Zhao person is really too frightening!” To actually cause me to hallucinate!

Former cemetery guard: “…” He didn’t understand. It is just a performance. How did you come to such a deep realization?