Before, everyone said their group got along really well, even better than during the competitions, but many fans didn’t believe it, even the group’s own fans.

Mainly because they’ve seen so many groups openly and covertly fighting, they feel it’s mostly just for show, maintaining a facade of harmony is already pretty good.

In reality, their relationships are genuinely good.

A lot of their actions are agreed upon, whether it’s who supports who, they could still fool around. Sometimes variety shows scripts don’t come out right, and it becomes dull if they just follow it, but when familiar faces gather, there are no burdens, and it’s easy to create some effects in simple segments.

Yep, and it also easily generates CPs (couple pairings).

Inside Glory, CPs are pretty much mixed randomly, it seems anyone could match up with anyone, after all, no pairing is bad, and there are many fans who enjoy shipping them for fun, creating lively discussions, and even getting some interesting results.

“The time’s up, why hasn’t he put him down yet, the paparazzi are still capturing them being carried.”

“LOL, who was it that said number 1 and 2 couldn’t stand each other, look how happy they actually are.”

“Report! He’s put him down now, number 1 felt a bit embarrassed and pushed number 2 a bit, this must be the legendary open and covert fight!”

The other members started their noisy shopping as well, shopping during the variety show is time-limited to an hour, partly the variety show’s requirement and also because they were afraid fans hearing the news would crowd over and cause disruptions.

The budget was provided by the show’s crew, Qu Shoubai was in charge of the group’s funds, and everyone also had some money from red packets they drew before departure, with varying amounts.

Besides buying what they wanted individually, they also needed to plan together to buy necessary ingredients since they would be cooking for the guests later.

The “guests” ordered four dishes: boiled beef in spicy sauce, stir-fried shrimp with seasonal vegetables, cola chicken wings, and the only slightly complex dish, squirrel fish. Overall, they didn’t make it too hard for them, no extravagant dishes like Buddha Jumps Over the Wall.

But with eleven people including them dining tonight, the few dishes they had would certainly not be enough; they’d have to improvise a few more.

These seven aren’t much for cooking, the villa’s kitchen was seldom used for actual cooking; food was mostly delivered from outside. However, the production crew had prepared instructional videos, so there shouldn’t be any major problems.

During their shopping, there was also a simple game. The young idols quickly found a clue during the process, a hint from a game before they set off, which was the lyrics of Idol Star Map season four’s theme song, clearly indicating something.

Ah, the theme song, feels like the competitors from back then.

Zhou Heng found a clue about the guest’s identity; it was written “Zhou Mountain,” a place name.

He immediately guessed, “Could it be Liu Hao and his group, when I heard the dish was boiled beef in spicy sauce, I guessed it. He particularly likes this dish, and even mentioned it as his specialty during his introduction, this dish almost became his nickname.”

Liu Hao was a good friend from when they participated in Idol Star Map season four, a very nice and easygoing big brother, his performances always included his two best friends, and he placed thirteenth in the finals. Apparently, his company is preparing him for a solo debut, quite coincidentally, he also recently released a song.

Moreover, the production crew had said it was “someone they knew”; variety shows probably wouldn’t choose strangers, so their circle of acquaintances in the entertainment industry was quite limited.

Soon, Qu Shoubai also found a clue.

It was “Sirens,” seemingly pointing to Song Yu who participated in the replacement competition with them.

He became popular as a singing streamer because of this song, which he had written himself, and he had even performed it during the competition, leaving a deep impression.

“Song Yu sings, and he doesn’t eat spicy food. I feel the stir-fried shrimp with seasonal vegetables was ordered by him, it really fits his taste,” analyzed Qu Shoubai seriously, then said, “Quick, check their schedules today.”

Other clues hadn’t emerged yet, but based on these two, they were quite easy to guess, especially after checking; both seemed to be in Hai Cheng. They even tried to call them to probe, but got no answer!

Isn’t this just giving it away!

Everyone gathered felt they had guessed the truth, the remaining two must also be Idol Star Map season four contestants, right? Ah, reminiscing about the past before releasing an album is quite normal.

They were all on good terms back then, and had kept in touch even after debut, originally a bit nervous because they were cooking for guests, but familiar faces, what’s there to be nervous about.

“Ah, since we’re all brothers, no need to be nervous,” waved Rui Song, “Why overthink it, hosting them is simple, right?”

They said today would be a leisurely segment.

Back in the training camp, a dorm room once asked the production team for a pack of instant noodles to cook and eat, all joyous together, and now this was even simpler, just buy something from the supermarket, anything was better than instant noodles.

Buy, buy, buy!

They began to truly let loose in the supermarket, like a bunch of joyously romping puppies.

Although time-limited, fans from around Hai Cheng still received the news and came over, and pictures taken by passersby quickly spread online.

In addition to the scene where Ji Mowei initially carried Li Chu around, there were also Lin Zhi and a few others crowded around the seafood section looking at Boston lobsters, apparently wanting to buy but constrained by the budget, the young idols reluctantly walked away.

A while later, they pulled Li Chu back over.

Li Chu, having drawn the largest red packet in the game earlier, had the most funds. Qu Shoubai’s group funds definitely wouldn’t suffice, a bunch of people surrounded him.

Then Li Chu frowned, glanced at the edge of his shirt being tugged at by Lin Zhi who seemed rather pitiable, and finally bought one.

In the end, Lin Zhi carried the lobster, grinning like an idiot.

A few pictures pieced together were inexplicably very amusing.

Although it was mentioned that everyone bought their own items, in reality, everyone depended on wheedling and using others’ funds, eventually all spending together.

Lin Zhi wasn’t much for food, he used most of his money to buy a limited edition, life-sized duck plushie, generously pooling the rest with others.

Wang Ruoyi wandered around the imported fruits, fixating on a durian. He checked the label, then his pocket holding the money, then pulled Qu Shoubai over.

The frugal team leader Qu Shoubai disliked the smell of durian, then rejected his request, opting for the much cheaper bananas nearby, mouthing, “The texture is similar, both are soft.”

Wang Ruoyi was furious: “That’s a far cry!”

But since durian was too smelly and no one else ate it, the suggestion was vetoed by others, and Wang Ruoyi, unable to gather enough money, was about to give up when he found that Qu Shoubai had bought him durian-flavored ice cream.

Seeing this scene, the fans laughed: “Hahaha.”

Well, he sort of got what he wanted.

Normally, they had strict dietary requirements, one additional meal a week, but nothing too caloric, and still portion-controlled.

Today, the production crew mercifully didn’t interfere, even letting them eat all sorts of snacks for a day, the intense dance training later would burn it off, no problem, so the seven who hadn’t had a normal life for a long time were genuinely happy, even if it was just shopping.

This happiness extended to the fans who saw the leaks.

Because of a previous random fight with a “senior,” the fans were originally very upset, but seeing the group idols enjoying themselves and looking popular offline during the group variety show, the fans were less angry, whether they were group fans, solo fans, or CP fans, everyone got a bit of what they wanted.

There were also passersby who wanted to take photos later, praising the young people for looking good and being polite, not putting on airs, and even secretly feeding them as they left.

Everyone’s attention span is limited after all, with fresh faces to watch, who cares about a fight outside, especially since they weren’t really fighting.

But while everyone was happy, the thoughtful Li Chu was still a bit cautious.

“We should prepare more ingredients,” he said, “I think there’s more to this than meets the eye.”

When he said this, Lin Zhi was beside him, happily hugging his large duck plushie, asking, “What do you mean? Wasn’t it supposed to be a leisurely segment? It’s all been normal so far.”

Li Chu shook his head, looking at the chaotic contents of everyone’s shopping carts, and said, “I asked President Su yesterday, he really hasn’t come back from out of town, this group variety is entirely planned by Shen Mingzheng, kept under tight wraps.”

This group variety was essentially album-related, handing it over to Shen Mingzheng to plan was quite normal, but Li Chu always felt something was off about Shen Mingzheng.

“What? What?” asked Wang Ruoyi, leaning in, “Tell me too.”

Li Chu repeated his thoughts, saying, “Shen Mingzheng, Little President Shen, that guy is cunning and sly, I don’t believe anything that goes through his hands could be this easy.”

Cunning and sly…

Wasn’t that the term President Liang used to describe Su Ning before?

Standing aside, Qu Shoubai silently thought.

But now this kind of “cunning and sly” was on their side, recently President Liang had been praising them as “resourceful.”

Qu Shoubai and the others felt the same way. Both President Su and President Shen were looking out for them, which was truly top-notch quality.

“Ah? Really?” Lin Zhi, a bit clueless, hadn’t thought that much, “I saw President Su and him coming over together last time, he seemed nice, Li Chu, are you sure you aren’t misunderstanding?”

Li Chu shook his head, firm in his belief, “I’m not mistaken at all. He’s the type to misdirect, the process and outcome might be different from what we expect, so we need to buy a bit more just in case, otherwise there might be problems.”

Especially since they all weren’t great at cooking, if the ingredients were ruined they’d have to consider starting over, and if it were really someone familiar like Liu Hao, messing around would be no big deal.

But what if.

So Li Chu paid special attention to stocking up on some ingredients, even if it meant taking back some of the things he originally wanted.

He was willing to pay for Lin Zhi and the others to buy that Boston lobster because it could be processed further and some side dishes added, making it solid enough to hold up in a pinch.

But now, time was running out, everyone pushing their carts, eventually checking out with a bunch of disorganized items, then cheerfully greeting the fans who had arrived at the supermarket entrance before heading home.

Back at the villa, the seven continued to romp around like puppies, playing in the game room for a while, and also playing cards and board games, just bought from the supermarket.

Truly a rare rest time, today the team didn’t manage their meals, but the snacks they brought back were enough, and at noon, through playing games, they even won some milk tea privileges from the director’s team.

The whole morning was very joyful!

Then after eating, everyone slept directly in the game room, Lin Zhi even shared his giant duck plushie with Li Chu to use as a pillow, and frankly, not in vain was it a hard-to-buy, often sold-out limited edition, it was especially soft and comfortable.

The seven didn’t get up until about three in the afternoon, hair all messy.

The invited guests were said to arrive around seven in the evening, although actually cooking wouldn’t take that long, but as novices, they needed to start preparing early to avoid a disaster.

Just after waking up, the production crew called them to play a game to win more information about the guest, feeling they had already guessed who it might be, the well-rested young idols played very seriously, but the information they won after was a bit strange.

— “Fan count seventy million.”

Upon receiving this information, Qu Shoubai was completely stunned, he thought he’d see corresponding information about other Idol Star Map season four members, in their minds Liu Hao and Song Yu were almost confirmed, with two still unguessed, but surely also from Idol Star Map season four.

But this situation, directly overturning previous guesses, this definitely wasn’t referring to Liu Hao and his group.

These newly debuted, their highest fan count on all platforms was basically in the millions, the Glory group’s official account and some members’ fan counts had just reached the ten million mark.

“Wait,” Lin Zhi, wary, “I feel like they’ve been misleading us all along.”

Li Chu was right in the morning!

Ji Mowei immediately called Liu Hao, who persistently pretended not to be there, not answering his phone, only Song Yu responded, “Bro, let me go, I promised people, really can’t tell, you guys try hard.”

Qu Shoubai confirmed, “It’s really not them.”

A fan count reaching seventy million was a decisive piece of information, there were only a handful of stars in the entire circle who reached this level, and the production crew definitely wouldn’t invite someone completely unrelated.

Zhou Heng quickly searched, reacting fastest, “My god, could it be, seventy million, the Blue Hat… Blue Hat Band?

The Idol Star Map season four theme song, Blue Hat’s lead singer Lan He had helped write the lyrics.

Initially, he had thought of it, then dismissed it as impossible.

That was a major celebrity, just having them write lyrics for Idol Star Map was already an honor, Blue Hat had been a huge hit band twenty years ago, famous across the region in the ringtone era, many people’s original idol, and had been continuously producing works for half a lifetime.

Especially after the second clue “Zhou Mountain” came out, he immediately ruled it out, no one in Blue Hat Band was from Zhou Mountain, he was sure.

But now it was hard to say.

“Do you mean, we might be hosting my idol ‘Blue Hat’ tonight?” Zhou Heng was stunned, “The lead singer Lan He, guitarist Hao Zi, bassist Wu Zhu, drummer Cai Xibei… right?”

Indeed four people!

But how to explain Zhou Mountain?

Ji Mowei thought for a moment, searched on his phone, and said, “Their debut concert, seems like it was held in Zhou Mountain.”

That was twenty years ago, so long ago that even fans might not remember, Ji Mowei also confirmed it only after searching.

“How do you explain Sirens then?” Wang Ruoyi was puzzled, “I’ve really heard all of Blue Hat’s songs, don’t lie to me, there’s no song called Sirens.”

“The first album…”

“Wasn’t it called Blue Sea?” Lin Zhi questioned, “That song was so popular, I’ve been listening to it since I was young, the school radio played it every day, could I have remembered wrong?”

Zhou Heng also searched, and said solemnly, “No, the first album really was called Sirens. It’s just because the lead single Blue Sea was so famous, the rest of the songs weren’t as well known, many people think the album was named Blue Sea.”

The seven fell into a death-like silence.

If the combination’s hit song or other keywords had been placed in the hints, everyone could have guessed it, but first, they didn’t dare to think it, second, they had been misled from the start.

What to do, they thought the guests would be their peers, so prepared all sorts of messy stuff.

Blue Hat had been debuting for many years, almost fifty on average, what they brought back besides the lobster which could be heated but wasn’t very fresh was okay for themselves but usually unacceptable to offer to idols, but this was probably the most presentable they had.

The rest… instant noodles, various snacks they hadn’t eaten in a long time, a bit of fruit, and the board games and toys they had bought, and the giant duck plushie Lin Zhi was hugging.

The seven: “……”

“Do you mean, we’re supposed to host my idol with these things,” Zhou Heng incredulously, “Oh my god!”

The only fortunate thing was, regarding the four dishes already ordered, Li Chu had bought enough ingredients, Qu Shoubai had also bought some other ingredients to put there, but hosting Blue Hat and a total of eleven people, at least eight dishes and a soup were necessary.

After thinking it through, Li Chu looked at the director’s team, “Honestly, are you trying to sabotage us?”

“How could we?” the director’s team vehemently denied, “This album, one of the songs was involved by Blue Hat, the only ballad in the release, they wanted to share some of the production ideas with everyone, this was supposed to be a surprise for everyone.”

“Does everyone feel surprised?”