While there are many wealthy students at Qingli, those who can afford to fly to school are still a minority.
It's not just a matter of having money or not.
Gu Qingyang smiled at Jiang Chengyao, then turned back and, while everyone else was looking at Jiang Chengyao, fixed his gaze on Sui Yi.
The new roommate had his bag slung over one shoulder, tall and slender, appearing unexpectedly calm amidst the crowd.
Although "Boys' High School Dorm" didn't make much of a splash online, it was extremely popular within the Qingli campus. Throughout the entire summer vacation, many parents wanted to send their children here, all rushing to sign up. Among them were handsome boys, those from wealthy families, officials' children, and those with excellent grades. After the production team spent so long selecting, everyone thought they would find a boy who looked more "coordinated" with the three of them.
But this new transfer student, apart from being tall enough, really looked... he could only say, he looked like a good student.
He wore an ill-fitting school uniform that was too large, concealing his body's contours but accentuating his thinness. His hair was messy, as if trying too hard to be fashionable, with bangs almost covering half his glasses. He didn't show much skin, further deepening the impression of his plain and simple nature.
His chin, however, looked quite delicate, and his skin was very fair.
A staff member smiled at Sui Yi and said, "We were just about to call you."
Sui Yi glanced into the dormitory, where there were still a few people - the director and producers of "Boys' High School Dorm" and others.
This was an extremely niche show with few viewers, little investment, and only a handful of behind-the-scenes staff.
"Are we starting?" Sui Yi asked.
Hearing his voice, Gu Qingyang turned to look at him again.
"Right away," the staff member said, looking towards the spiral staircase.
Jiang Chengyao was coming up the stairs.
In person, he looked thinner than in photos, like a male protagonist straight out of a manga. His school uniform zipper was pulled up to the highest point, with the collar standing up. Though dressed properly, he exuded a somewhat rebellious, delinquent aura. His eyes looked as if he had just woken up, his whole demeanor languid. His monolids were slightly upturned as he cast a casual glance at Sui Yi.
Looking at the photos before, he thought perhaps one shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but seeing him in person...
Well, a bubble-maker indeed.
Why are there boys who look both handsome and capable at first glance? Wow!
"Chengyao, long time no see," Gu Qingyang said with a smile.
"Long time no see," Jiang Chengyao's voice was deep and sleepy, but unexpectedly polite.
"Perfect timing, Xuezhu has arrived too," the staff member excitedly looked downstairs.
A black Porsche Cayenne was slowly pulling up in front of the dormitory building.
The car door opened, and the driver got out first, then opened the back door for a male student to exit.
Whether it was due to preconceptions or not, Sui Yi felt that this boy called Ling Xuezhu had an especially noble air about him.
Like those born with a silver spoon in their mouth, who only realize when they visit classmates' homes that not everyone lives in a mansion - that kind of golden branch and jade leaf.
He wore the Qingli school uniform properly, looking pure, slender, and fair-skinned. Despite so many people watching him, he remained oblivious.
He limped up the stairs under everyone's gaze.
The staff hurriedly went down to help him.
Sui Yi touched the strap of his backpack, suddenly aware that Jiang Chengyao was sizing him up, so he turned to look back.
But Jiang Chengyao was no longer looking at him, just standing there with his hands in his pockets.
Boys all like to put their hands in their pockets, usually in their pants pockets, looking cool and showing off. But Jiang Chengyao just lazily tucked both hands into his school uniform jacket pockets, giving off an extremely casual straight guy vibe.
This kind of straight guy who's actually gay probably only exists in novels.
Director Zhou Wei came out of the dormitory: "Is everyone here?"
All the staff came out of the dormitory, and the crowd of onlookers began to stir. This time, they finally figured it out.
"The one with glasses, he can't be the new transfer student, right?!"
I am.
Zhou Wei repeated the precautions for going live to the four of them once more, then asked a nearby staff member, "Is the live stream on?"
"It's on."
"How many people are online?"
The staff member replied, "Several hundred."
Zhou Wei glanced at the students nearby who were watching the live stream on their phones.
Probably half of those several hundred were Qingli students.
But it didn't matter.
She believed the popularity would increase later.
The staff members around her clearly thought the same, their eyes shining with unprecedented light as they looked at the four boys standing in the corridor.
"Boys' High School Dorm" had run for several seasons without much fanfare, gradually transitioning from an experimental study to an online variety show. This season's casting alone showed their ambition.
Three top-tier boys, uniformly tall, slim, and fair-skinned, yet with completely different auras. Even the most ordinary Sui Yi, standing with them, seemed to be imbued with the atmosphere of these godlike high school boys.
The leader's words still echoed in her ears.
"Your show's main audience is still young students, right? My suggestion is not to make them all too outstanding. If they're all rich kids, it could lead to issues with the show's direction. For the last spot, you could choose a student who's slightly inferior in various aspects. With contrast and differences, the show will appear more diverse."
As everyone knows, Qingli students come in only three types: the rich ones, the academically excellent ones, and those who are both rich and academically excellent.
Take the participants of "Boys' High School Dorm" for example - Jiang Chengyao, Ling Xuezhu, and Gu Qingyang.
All extremely wealthy. All with good grades, and all exceptionally handsome.
They were all heaven-sent talents that made the production team's eyes light up at first sight.
And Sui Yi, standing next to them, was the shortest, most ordinarily dressed, and least eye-catching.
Zhou Wei suppressed the guilt in her heart and silently thought, teenage boys tend to be quite sensitive. This kid, joining in and studying and living with three other exceptionally outstanding boys, might become depressed, right?
But the leader's words made so much sense. With this contrast, the other three really did shine even brighter.
The last staff member retreated from the dormitory.
On the live stream screen, the dormitory appeared empty, bright, and clean. The influx of Qingli students in the comments created an illusion of popularity.
The fourth season of "Boys' High School Dorm" - unscripted, unedited, and fully upgraded - officially began.
Sui Yi adjusted his backpack, pursed his lips, and looked at his three new roommates.
Among the three roommates, only Gu Qingyang was smiling at him. The other two barely looked at him... Jiang Chengyao had only sized him up when he first came upstairs, and as for the seemingly aloof Ling Xuezhu, he hadn't made eye contact with Sui Yi at all from start to finish.
He believed in love at first sight.
When interested, one would steal glances; when falling in love, even the coolest person's eyes would dart away.
Clearly, all three roommates had no interest in him.
A great start.
The surroundings were noisy, with the corridor now full of people.
"New roommate?"
Sui Yi turned to look - it was Jiang Chengyao.
The big shot seemed to have shaken off some of his drowsiness, probably just realizing that Sui Yi was the new transfer student.
"Hello, I'm Sui Yi."
The big shot raised an eyebrow: "Sui Yi (Casual)?"
Sui Yi hurriedly explained, "Sui as in 'casual', Yi as in 'standing' plus 'feather'."
"Sui Yi, it's a name that's easy to remember at first hearing," Gu Qingyang said with a smile, extending his hand. "Hello, I'm Gu Qingyang."
As he smiled, it was as if all the light in the world fell upon him.
So handsome, he must be the winner in a love polygon.
Sui Yi reached out his hand, and Gu Qingyang's long, white hand grasped his.
There seemed to be a slight electric current running across the back of his hand, but fortunately, his hands weren't his sensitive area.
He withdrew his hand, his fingers lightly pinching together.
"You can go in now," the director called out.
Sui Yi immediately stood up straight upon hearing this.
A breeze blew from the balcony through the dormitory to the doorway, lifting Sui Yi's hair. His long, dark eyebrows flashed like a fleeting vision.
Ling Xuezhu happened to see this, his gaze pausing briefly before expressionlessly passing over as he walked in first.
Jiang Chengyao and Gu Qingyang followed suit.
They all appeared extremely relaxed, as if the cameras in the dormitory didn't exist.
Or they knew, but as heaven-sent talents, they didn't care.
Sui Yi glanced back at the crowd behind him.
They looked at him with a mixture of final hope and doubt.
It was clear that no one really believed he was the transfer student.
Sui Yi walked in with his backpack.
Everyone's expressions changed, their last glimmer of hope turning into...
Disappointment.
Disbelief.
Questioning their very existence.
Sui Yi: "Good morning."
"So many people were fighting to get on this show, the production team must have been spoiled for choice! We thought they'd pick someone extraordinary!" He overheard a male student grumbling with jealousy and anger.
Sui Yi glanced at the cameras in the dormitory.
They were everywhere - on the balcony, by the desks, on the ceiling lights, on the walls.
To him, these cameras were catalysts for romance.
For boys of seventeen or eighteen, it's an age where they might get hard a few times even if their minds are completely blank, where watching some adult videos or sharing dirty jokes are necessary stages of growth. But with cameras everywhere in the room, even the most confident person would feel some psychological pressure. They'd definitely be more self-disciplined than usual. Unable to release, they could only suppress, and suppression for too long can be terrifying.
Add the element of live streaming to the roommate experience, and it's like adding fuel to the fire. It's impossible not to get heated up.
During a previous boy band selection show, several dozen youngsters were filmed in isolation for three months, and rumors spread about the mess in the bathrooms!
Boys this age being too clean can be just as scary.
As the top school in Jianghai City, Qingli's dormitory conditions were much better than those of county high schools. Even in the older Little Soviet Building, the dorms all had private bathrooms, balconies, and bunk beds with desks underneath, not much different from a regular university.
The bed assignments had been made in advance, so Sui Yi went directly to bed number four with his backpack.
Outside, however, all hell had broken loose.
On Qingli's school forum, Sui Yi's photos were flooding the screen.
"Sui Yi?? Damn, that's really casual."
"What kind of big shot is he? Rich family? Academic genius, or some bigwig's son?"
"Are there any officials or rich people in Jianghai with the surname Sui?"
"Forget about whether he's rich or not, just look at how casual he is!"
"Actually, you can tell he's not bad-looking, and his height is good too. It's just that the other three in 408 are too handsome, the comparison is too cruel."
"I heard the production team specifically chose a more ordinary student. Are they planning to sacrifice him?"
"Without comparison, there's no harm. Poor transfer student has become the control group for the big shots."
The big shots' control group had just finished tidying up his bed and secretly opened his phone to check the live stream. He found that all the comments were from Qingli students.
It was obvious that everyone was disappointed.
Sui Yi sat on the upper bunk and glanced towards the door, seeing a crowd of students squeezed in the doorway, watching.
This was a reality show, so the more real, the better. In theory, those people at the door could come in freely, but few did.
It didn't seem like they were afraid of being on the live stream, more like they were intimidated by his three roommates.
He looked at his three roommates again. Only Gu Qingyang had tidied up his bed like Sui Yi had. Jiang Chengyao was on the balcony making a phone call, while Ling Xuezhu was wearing headphones and had already started studying.
It's not scary when geniuses have talent; it's scary when geniuses work hard.
His position was on the far right side, bed number three, the least likely to be disturbed. The desk was neat, with a vase of small white flowers next to it. Of the four beds, only his had curtains, in a Modigliani color with tiny white spots.
The school heartthrob's bed was very clean, with a guitar hanging at the head.
Jiang Chengyao's bed, on the other hand, was a bit messy, with several posters on the wall - NBA stars, airplane pictures, and the like.
It looked the most like a typical high school boy's bed.
"Yao bro!"
A crisp voice broke the silence in their dorm. A boy with hair even more disheveled than his rushed in.
Ah, the familiar flavor of a supporting character.
The supporting character didn't see Jiang Chengyao, but first noticed Sui Yi.
He had a round face, slightly chubby, but with surprisingly sharp eyebrows. He stared at Sui Yi: "New guy?"
Sui Yi greeted him: "Hello there."
"Holy crap!"
"Liu Zihui, you're on live stream now," Gu Qingyang reminded.
Liu Zihui glanced at the cameras in the dorm, then locked his gaze back on Sui Yi, scrutinizing him freely.
This time his volume was a bit lower: "Holy crap."
He glanced towards the balcony, saw Jiang Chengyao, and his eyes instantly lit up. He slid open the glass door and went out.
"Yao bro, Yao sir! I heard you came by plane? Is it a new one? Did you get your pilot's license?"
Hmm, every campus novel has this type of atmosphere-building supporting character, right?
Noisy, naive, straight guy.
"Got a smoke?" Jiang Chengyao asked.
Liu Zihui pulled out cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket. Jiang Chengyao pinched one, biting it with the clean white teeth only a youth could have, dangling it from his mouth.
"So this is the new transfer student in your dorm?" Liu Zihui peered inside through the gap in the glass door. "He looks quite unexpected!"
Jiang Chengyao bit the cigarette butt and looked inside, then reached out and completely closed the glass door.
The transparent glass trapped the smoke outside. The chubby guy turned back to him and lowered his voice: "Did the new guy get in through the back door? Looks like he's got some serious backing!"
Sui Yi accidentally overheard a couple of sentences and thought to himself:
Just average backing, ordinary person.
Eliminate backdoor entries, starting with me!