【 “Teacher Gu is a god!!” 】

【 “We can actually go meet Teacher Gu in person at the Battle of the Stars live show!” 】

【 “Damn it—Teacher Gu’s staying on the show again!” 】

【 “Hah! I own all three volumes of Teacher Gu’s official practice question sets. I’m the real fan—you’re all fakes!” 】

As Battle of the Stars swept the internet one step at a time, slowly conquering everything in its path, Gu Yi’s fanbase evolved into the show’s dominant demographic. Over in the academic prep chat groups, frustrated students started quietly DMing the streaming platform:

“Who discovered Teacher Gu first? We really can’t stand this anymore.”

The platform: “…”

They didn’t have the heart to admit—they’d already partnered with Jiangshi TV. Their platform had a giant ad campaign scheduled for the next episode of Battle of the Stars.

And they were just as stunned. Originally, Gu Yi had made a name for himself in the educational livestream niche. But ever since he joined Battle of the Stars, the view counts for his old livestream replays had skyrocketed—his popularity now even outpaced the top education streamers on the platform.

Naturally… this got the execs a little too excited. Someone floated the idea of launching a “Training Camp 101” with lecturers doing dance battles.

Their boss was actually considering it—until the staff had to hold him back.

Lecturers dancing?
What were they gonna show off?
The steadily receding hairlines?

We get it. You’re excited. But please—calm down.

---

Backstage at Battle of the Stars

“Holy crap, Gu Yi’s amazing!” Yi Shuo gaped in disbelief. “Does this guy just level up the moment he faces strong competition?”

“I’m starting to think that’s exactly it.”

Yi Shuo sighed. “If he doesn’t blow up after this, I’ll actually feel bad for him.”

“His growth’s been insane.”

If they hadn’t partnered with him for Devil’s Heart, they never would’ve believed someone could improve this quickly.

When Gu Yi came backstage, Yi Shuo and Yue Miao immediately flanked him and grabbed him by the arms.

“Spill it. What’s your training secret?”

Gu Yi blinked innocently. “I trained while being handsome.”

“Get out!!”

Hot guys are the worst.

They’d spent so much time with Gu Yi that they often forgot—he was ridiculously good-looking. You had to have some level of confidence in your appearance to go down the idol path, but even among the handsome, there were levels.

They were constantly in a cycle of:
→ laughing and joking around with Gu Yi backstage
→ Gu Yi walks on stage
→ and boom—“Holy sh*t, who is THAT?!”
→ rinse and repeat.

Ji Chi fist-bumped Gu Yi. “That stage was incredible.”

“You too.”

Gu Yi never worried about Ji Chi’s performances. From the very first episode, Ji Chi had been the most consistent contestant—both in performance and popularity. His center position was rock solid.

This round was no different.

Once all the contestants had performed, it was time to announce the rankings.

Gu Yi noticed that while everyone tried to appear calm, little movements gave away just how tense they really were.

“How do you think Gu Yi will rank this time?” a girl next to Orange Peel asked.

“I’m hoping he stays in the top five,” Orange Peel replied with a smile. “When I first started watching Battle of the Stars, I never imagined Gu Yi would make it this far.”

The host began announcing the rankings, starting from 20th place.

Gu Yi looked up and saw Yi Shuo ahead of him, lips tightly pressed together. Gu Yi reached over and gently tapped the back of his hand.

[15th place – Yue Miao, Lianyin Media]
[11th place – Yi Shuo, Yixun Entertainment]

Before heading to the stage, Yue Miao and Yi Shuo stood up and pulled Gu Yi into a fierce hug.

“Keep pushing forward!”
“Stay strong, Gu Yi! Keep going!”

[9th place – Liang Mu, Baiqian Entertainment]

Liang Mu had ranked 4th last round—this time he’d dropped to 9th.

[7th place – Wu Jie, Zhongsheng Entertainment]

As the host announced one name after another, the room grew so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Even Orange Peel started feeling the pressure.

She chanted silently to herself:

As long as Gu Yi’s still in the top six… he’s safe.

[6th place – Lei Yuxiang, Yuanzi Interactive Entertainment]

Gu Yi wasn’t 6th!
Not 5th either!

He’d gone up again!

On camera, Gu Yi remained composed and calm. But off-camera, his fans were barely holding it together.

On Battle of the Stars, Gu Yi rarely made rousing declarations. He never shouted “I’m gonna debut for sure!”
He just quietly poured his soul into every single stage.

Everything he wanted to say—he said with his performance.

[4th place – Guo Yi, Mia Culture]

Top three!

Several contestants turned to look at Gu Yi in that moment.

[3rd place – Xie Xingjia, Baiqian Entertainment]

“My OTP came true!!”
“Top two locked in! Who’s screaming with me?!”

Gu Yi and Ji Chi met eyes across their seats, grinned, and bumped fists once more.

[2nd place – Gu Yi, Xingyao Entertainment]

Orange Peel shot up from her seat, heart pounding wildly. In that moment, Gu Yi had reached the absolute pinnacle in her heart.

---

That evening, Gu Yi went to see Yi Shuo and Yue Miao off. Normally, Yi Shuo had the gentler temperament while Yue Miao was the tougher one—but when it came time to part ways, it was Yue Miao who was sobbing uncontrollably, using Gu Yi’s sleeve as a tissue.

“I’ll come watch the finals.”
“You two better give it your all.”

Half the dorm was empty now. But the remaining contestants didn’t have time to feel sentimental—finals week was even more packed than usual.

For the finale, every contestant had to prepare a solo stage, a group performance, shoot commercials for sponsors, and do a magazine cover shoot—all while their practice time was cut in half.

Gu Yi was completely exhausted, practically collapsing by the end of each day. Yet still, a staff member stopped him with an update: a sponsor had specifically requested Gu Yi for an ad shoot.

Word was, this sponsor was extremely generous with their money.

Gu Yi went—and ended up filming the easiest ad in history.
He just did exactly what he usually did on livestream.
No acting, no dancing, no fuss.

Gu Yi: “…”

Couldn’t they have let him do something a bit more glamorous?

The platform even suggested he host a livestream for promotion. But with the finale looming, Gu Yi thought it over and respectfully declined.

During a break in rehearsals that week, Gu Yi called Auntie Wang.

He had several guest tickets for the finals, but with no family in S City, the only people he felt close to were the uncles and aunties from the square dance group. So he planned to give the tickets to them.

“Of course,” Auntie Wang agreed immediately. “We’ll cheer for you properly.”

Gu Yi added gently, “Auntie, just something low-key is fine.”

“Got it.”

Gu Yi didn’t even get the chance to ask what she meant by “got it” before he heard her yelling on the other end of the line:

“Quick! Come with me to buy new clothes!”

Gu Yi: “…”

This was… unnecessary.

He instantly regretted everything.

The truth was, ever since Gu Yi joined Battle of the Stars, Hecheng Community had become one of the most talked-about neighborhoods among S City’s youth. Volunteer sign-ups for their community events kept hitting record highs, completely outpacing every other district.

Choir competitions?
Mass participation.
Sports day?
Mass participation.

Hecheng’s aggressive group tactics had started drawing pointed criticism from other communities in the district.

Then, when they began “supporting” those other communities in turn, complaints began rolling in from outside the district altogether.

What truly baffled the aunties was: why did young people always want to hijack the community bulletin boards and, worse, delete their painstakingly arranged flower graphics and thumbs-up icons?

Do they know how hard it is to form a perfect square with those icons?

They’d spent hours learning how to do that on a computer!

But now, the aunties had mastered new skills.
They could form a heart shape using nothing but thumbs-up icons.
They planned to use it during Gu Yi’s final performance.

In short, Auntie Wang was very pleased with how lively things had become. She’d already posted a rallying call in the “Community as One” group chat:

“Little Gu has worked so hard—we, as his support team, absolutely cannot let him lose face!”

---

Xingyao Entertainment Headquarters.

One of the execs stared blankly at their email inbox.

“When did this happen? Why didn’t Shao Jing say a word?”

Xingyao had been in business for years—but never before had a major player like Sun Youming reached out to them.

Sun Youming wasn’t just a big-name director. He owned a company, had stakes in a film distribution chain—if he wanted to blacklist every artist under Xingyao’s label, he absolutely could.

The exec frowned deeply.

“Gu Yi finally made a breakthrough on Battle of the Stars… and now Sun Youming wants to swoop in?”

According to the email, Sun Youming was requesting both Gu Yi’s film and television contract, and even partial control over his management contract. The message ended politely, with Sun expressing willingness to pay Gu Yi’s breach-of-contract penalty himself if Xingyao refused to cooperate.

This wasn’t a hollow threat.

They’d almost lost Chen Zhongyao not long ago—he’d tried to terminate his contract, but his next company backed out when they realized they’d have to pay the fee.

Xingyao’s contracts were notoriously ironclad.

But against someone like Sun Youming, even those contracts meant nothing.

If he said jump, you jumped. Refuse—and your entire artist roster could vanish from the industry overnight. Any investor even thinking of putting money into you would vanish in a blink.

“At least he’s only asking for part of the contract,” the assistant whispered.

If Sun paid the penalty outright, Xingyao wouldn’t get a single dime. This way, at least they’d still get a spoonful of the soup—even if the whole meal was going elsewhere.

“Bring Shao Jing in.”

Shao Jing was in the building. Upon receiving the call, he brought Zhu Yu along.

Since getting cast in Greenlime TV’s Take It Slow, Life, Zhu Yu had subtly risen above the rest of the group. Fans were excited he was promoting again, but Zhu Yu himself wasn’t thrilled.

Even within Team A, not all members were equal—and Zhu Yu was unquestionably top tier.

Shao Jing figured bringing him to meet the higher-ups would be a good way to push for more resources.

“How’s Gu Yi doing lately?”

The exec hadn’t finished the question when Shao Jing launched into complaints:

“He’s completely lost his head. Last round, he even refused to choose a partner from our own company.”

“He’s not even established yet, and he’s already acting like a superstar. If this keeps up, we’ll never be able to control him. He’ll end up just like Chen Zhongyao.”

“He really has gotten too arrogant,” the exec agreed.

Shao Jing lit up—finally, someone was on his side. He opened his mouth to pile on—

But the exec interrupted:

“Arrogant enough to land somewhere outside our company.”

Shao Jing froze.

“What do you mean?”

“You really haven’t been paying attention to Gu Yi’s run on Battle of the Stars, have you?”

“You didn’t send a single press release. Even if you couldn’t do it yourself, you could’ve asked the PR team to handle it.”

“And the stunt you pulled with the partner video—I let that slide.”

“But there’s one thing you need to understand.”
The exec’s tone turned icy.

“Gu Yi isn’t just your artist anymore. He’s a company asset—a revenue stream. And if there’s one thing I cannot stand—”

“It’s someone blocking my money.”