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Wei Wuxian is a professional. When A-Qing chooses Xiao Xingchen (which... okay, fair, but Wei Wuxian thought they'd really been vibing during their song!) and everyone in the room realizes that that leaves him with Lan Wangji, he's super cool about it. He does like the guy's single, even if he knows full well that it's the only pop song he's ever recorded (possibly ever sung, period, up until today, or maybe practicing for today) and Wei Wuxian is very much not into traditional opera. Y'know, it's fine, it's whatever, it's just not his thing. (This may or may not be partially due to Madam Yu forcing him to sit through performances against his will as a child, but he prefers not to examine his childhood too hard.)
Lan Wangji, for his part, is... not not cool about it? He kind of hasn't changed his expression all night, and he continues with that trend, so at least he doesn't come off as pissed or even particularly disappointed to be paired up with Wei Wuxian. He just gives off the same vibe of being here to do a job, and do it well, and now he is going to do his job with this person, and his job is not to have feelings about that fact either way, apparently.
As soon as the cameras are off and the contestants have all filed backstage, literally everyone turns toward them.
"Oh, come on, you don't have to all look at us like that," Wei Wuxian says. "Lan Wangji and Song Lan would've been a way weirder combo."
"I agree," Lan Wangji says. He bows a bit toward Song Lan. "Song-laoshi, my decision had nothing to do with your ability as a musician."
"Don't sweat it," Song Lan says immediately. "Seriously. The entire reason I chose the Cui Jian was to make it clear what kind of music I'm interested in performing, so any juniors who don't want the same could look elsewhere. This was exactly what I wanted."
"I think you'll make an interesting team," Wen Ning says, quiet and sincere. "Sometimes the unexpected pairs are the best." He turns to Lan Wangji. "And anyone would be lucky to work with Wei-laoshi. I bet you'll learn so much."
"Aw, A-Ning, you flatter me," Wei Wuxian says, giving Wen Ning a light shove to his shoulder. "Say that again in front of your sister, okay?"
"I'm not stupid, Wei-laoshi," Wen Ning says, giving Wei Wuxian a look.
Wei Wuxian opens his mouth to insist that Wen Qing loves him (it's not his fault her love language is sharp words), but closes it again and perks up as one of the producers comes over to the group—because the producer is Jiang Yanli.
"Okay, everyone," she says briskly, "first we're going to shoot some confessional cam footage, each pair saying a few words about how you think it'll be to work together, what are you looking forward to, that kind of thing. Then we'll take you back to the apartments you'll be sharing and get a little footage of each pair checking out their new digs. Then by tomorrow you need to know what songs you're performing for the next episode, so we can film a little clip of you having a brief conversation 'deciding' that. The rest of tomorrow you'll be meeting with the musicians and crew about the details, and then you've got one day to rehearse. Any questions?"
Lan Wangji politely raises his hand, and Yanli smiles as she nods to him. "If we will be filming ourselves deciding on our songs tomorrow, why do you say we must have the songs chosen by then? Is that not the point of the conversation being filmed?"
Several of the other singers glance at each other, amused.
Wei Wuxian slings an arm around Lan Wangji's shoulder. "Nah, the conversation on camera is just for show! The audience knows we're not gonna decide something like that in five minutes, but it's still nice for them to feel like they're getting a peek into our process, y'know?" Lan Wangji's eyebrows twitch in what Wei Wuxian is pretty sure is his version of a disapproving scowl, so he adds, "And a lot of the time people take bits of stuff they really did talk about and base it on that, so it's not like it's totally made up! Just condensed for a two-hour show."
Lan Wangji considers this for a moment, then gives a single nod. "Mm."
Wei Wuxian isn't stupid; he'd noticed the way Lan Wangji tensed up as soon as his arm touched him, so he lets it slide off as he talks. It's cool, he's not exactly shocked that this guy doesn't like being touched. Some guy/guy pairs do a lot of, like, leaning into each other and fist bumps and slinging arms around each other on camera, but nobody'll think twice if they never touch each other.
The others wander away to use the bathroom or get water or talk about what they should say on the confessional, but Wei Wuxian stays right there.
"Jiejie," he whines. "Can we go first? I'm tired. Xianxian needs a nap. Let me get all this over with so we can go see our apartment and get that over with, so I can go to bed. I'm all jetlagged."
Jiang Yanli sticks out her lower lip in a condescending pout as she pats his cheek. "Ohhh, is Xianxian tired from his trip to Paris? Poor baby! Life is so hard for the new Chanel brand ambassador." He whines a little, stomps his feet a little, and puts his head on her shoulder. She sighs. "I'll see what I can do. They want to get started in five minutes, though, so if you want to go first you'd better figure out what you're going to say."
He straightens up with a bright smile. "Worst case, we can wing it! You're the best."
He turns to Lan Wangji as Yanli hurries off to do producery things, to find his partner eyeing him warily. Lan Wangji's eyes flick from Wei Wuxian to Jiang Yanli and back, a question in them that Lan Wangji is clearly too polite to ask—what the fuck was that?
"Oh, I guess you wouldn't know—my sister is one of the producers! She's the best, and she's not supposed to show any favoritism, of course, but she totally will, don't worry."
Lan Wangji relaxes incrementally, the suspicion falling out of his eyes. "Ah. She is your literal jiejie."
Wei Wuxian's eyes widen. "Oh! Yeah, that wasn't—wait, did you think I was flirting with her, or sleeping with the producer or something?" He laughs. "Oh my God, I would never be that annoying with a woman I'm dating! Don't worry, I'm fully aware that Jiang Yanli is the only girl on earth who would put up with that kind of behavior from me."
If Lan Wangji were anyone else, he might not laugh at Wei Wuxian's self-deprecation, but he'd at least have the decency to smile politely. As it is, he just nods, entirely too seriously for the silly thing Wei Wuxian just said.
"Anyhow, the confessionals are in that room over there, next to the green room, we should head over there and think about what we're gonna say."
"What will they ask us?" Lan Wangji asks. Wei Wuxian realizes that, unlike all the other juniors, many of whom have basically turned variety shows into their careers and half of whom also act occasionally, Lan Wangji has probably never had to talk on TV before tonight. He's performed his single a few times, but that's probably it. Wei Wuxian did a little research on all the juniors before coming here, and Lan Wangji barely even has a social media presence beyond a Weibo page that's clearly run by staff. As far as Wei Wuxian can tell, the guy's never even done a livestream.
Well, at least Wei Wuxian is confident he can mentor him on that.
"Together, they're just going to ask, like, what we think about teaming up together, how we think it's gonna go, that kind of thing. They'll probably ask us separately about the other matches we could've made—like, why you said no to Song Lan, how I felt when A-Qing chose Xiao Xingchen over me. Just..." He eyes Lan Wangji as they walk. "Try to be diplomatic, okay? Don't say you hated Song Lan's singing or anything."
Lan Wangji frowns—the strongest facial expression Wei Wuxian has seen on him so far. "I did not. As I said, I simply was not comfortable singing his preferred genre of music."
"Cool, cool!" Wei Wuxian says quickly. "I just mean, like... in general, get used to not saying anything negative about any of the other singers. It's not that kind of show, y'know? We're more here to support each other than compete."
Lan Wangji nods, seeming to consider this advice.
"So anyhow, obviously everyone knows it's a little awkward, us being paired up just because we were the only ones who hadn't been picked yet, so they're definitely going to push on that a little. The best thing to do is say, y'know, it's not what we expected, but we think it'll be an interesting experience, we'll learn a lot from each other, that kind of thing. Which, I mean, it will be, right?" He grins at Lan Wangji, who only nods thoughtfully again.
Wei Wuxian does not think they're going to get a lot of usable footage from this guy's confessionals.
He is not wrong.
They do the separate ones first, and he's actually not too bad—he compliments Song Lan's singing and says he enjoyed singing with him, but that he isn't comfortable performing rock music.
Once he's up with Wei Wuxian, though, it falls apart.
"Why didn't you give Lan Wangji a heart after his audition?"
Wei Wuxian's eyebrows fly up, a little surprised that they went for the jugular. "Well, obviously his audition was great, technically flawless, but I wasn't sure that someone with a background in opera would really want to sing the song I'd chosen, y'know?" He grins and elbows Lan Wangji. "Do you wish now you'd gotten the chance to sing some Angela Chang?"
"No," Lan Wangji admits. "Yours was the one song we'd had to learn for tonight that I had very much hoped not to have to sing."
"Ouch," Wei Wuxian can't help saying, but he laughs as he says it, mostly to hide how annoyed he is that Lan Wangji would say that kind of thing on camera. He doesn't actually care if the guy likes the song or wanted to sing it, but you don't tell the audience that much.
"Do you think that will be an issue?" The guy interviewing them asks. "Will it be hard for you two to agree on songs to perform?"
"Ah, I'm sure we'll work it out," Wei Wuxian says easily. "There's a lot of great music out there, we must agree on some of it!"
Lan Wangji just nods solemnly.
Luckily, they only ask a couple more questions, and Lan Wangji doesn't say anything else that bad. He doesn't say much else at all, really, preferring to simply nod in response whenever possible—which is probably for the best.
"Dude." Wei Wuxian leans in as soon as the camera is off. "I'm not saying lie to the audience, but you don't have to be that honest, y'know? People won't vote for you if they don't like your personality, no matter how good a singer you are."
Lan Wangji blinks at him, looking mildly puzzled. "I don't understand."
"You didn't have to tell them that 淋雨一直走 was the one song you were dreading," Wei Wuxian says. "Even if it's true, it sets us up even more as the pair who's doomed from the start. When I said don't say anything negative, I meant about me, too!"
"I didn't say anything negative about you," Lan Wangji says, sounding mildly annoyed, which Wei Wuxian figures is at least slightly more interesting than completely neutral. "I said that I did not want to sing that song. I didn't even say anything negative about the song, let alone the person who chose it."
Wei Wuxian sighs in exasperation. "How is 'I don't want to sing that' not something negative about the song?"
"I didn't say it was a bad song, or even that I didn't like it," Lan Wangji insists. "I don't particularly like or dislike it. I simply don't think I could sing it well. That is more negative about me than the song, and certainly not about you. You sang it very well."
"Ah—well, uh, thank you," Wei Wuxian sputters, caught off guard by the compliment, "but you could have said something like that! The audience will interpret what you said as not liking the song, when you could have just said it's not in your wheelhouse or whatever. Or even made a self-deprecating joke about it!"
Lan Wangji gives him a look that this time is very deliberately flat, not just because he is incapable of facial expressions. "Believe it or not," he says, "I am very aware of the impression I give. You've only just met me, but if you truly expect me to make 'self-deprecating jokes,' you have not been paying attention."
That startles a laugh out of Wei Wuxian. "Okay, except how you just did!"
Lan Wangji looks almost offended. "That was not a joke!"
"Well guess what, it was funny, okay?" Wei Wuxian says, trying not to let his annoyance show but mostly failing. "True things can be funny! Anyhow, the point is, try not to say anything bad about other contestants or their song choices, okay? It comes off as being a bad sport, and nobody likes that. I don't care if we win this thing, obviously, but it would be fun to make it to the finale." He takes a breath. "Okay, let's go get our stuff together—whatever car they're driving us to the apartment in is a sponsor brand, so they'll probably be filming us getting into and out of it, maybe even during the drive if they really hate us. So just—try not to look like you hate the car. If you hate the other contestants, only the voting audience will take it out on you, but if you hate the sponsors, that will piss off the actual producers. I know jiejie seems sweet, and she is, but she can singlehandedly make sure you're never offered a spot on a DragonTV show again. And she has friends working for every other network."
Lan Wangji behaves himself. The producers give Wei Wuxian some stupid line to say about the car and he nods along solemnly (thankfully they're smart enough not to try to give him any of the sponsorship lines). Wei Wuxian does all the necessary oohing and aahing over the little two-bedroom flat they'll be sharing for the foreseeable future—that's a new twist this season. Wei Wuxian was actually the one who suggested it to Yanli when she was wondering what they could do to shake things up a little this far into the show—though that was back before she asked him to come back as a senior. Now he's regretting ever giving her that idea.
It's got a wide entryway, probably chosen to make it easy to get the camera equipment in and out. The wall to the right quickly gives way to a pass-through that looks into a small kitchen, with a little two-person table and chairs against the entryway side of the passthrough. On the left, across from the door to the kitchen, is the door to the first bedroom. Then it opens up into the living room, tastefully furnished with a very bland but squishy-looking couch and two matching armchairs across from it, a TV on the wall between the chairs. The back wall is all window, with vertical blinds drawn across it. The other bedroom is to the right, the door next to the armchairs. They find that each bedroom has its own en suite bathroom. Lan Wangji mostly keeps his mouth shut as they check all this out, so Wei Wuxian figures maybe he's not hopeless. The one time he does say anything, it's even to compliment the light blue color scheme in one bedroom, which he winds up taking.
As soon as the door closes behind the camera crew, Wei Wuxian flops down on the couch. "Ugh. I wasn't joking about being jetlagged. I got on a redeye last night in Paris and I sleep like shit on planes, and then I basically went from the airport to the studio to rehearse for this. So like. My body kind of thinks it's six hours earlier, but since I didn't sleep, it also thinks I'm playing a prank and it's still last night and I'm just up really late? I hate traveling."
"Why would you accept an endorsement that requires you to attend events in France, then?"
Wei Wuxian blinks at him, but Lan Wangji seems to be asking the question in all sincerity.
"Are you saying I should have said no to Chanel? Seriously?"
Lan Wangji looks thoughtful at this. "I suppose I do not know all of the advantages and disadvantages of the arrangement. I assume there are other details that make up for the travel."
Wei Wuxian snorts. "Yeah, other details like, um, being the Chanel brand ambassador for China?"
But this just makes Lan Wangji frown. "I would think that at your level of fame, representing one more brand would not make much of a difference. Is it Chanel specifically? Do you prefer their clothing?"
Wei Wuxian squints at him. "How many endorsements do you have?"
"I have signed an exclusive agreement with the string company whose guqin strings I use exclusively anyhow," Lan Wangji starts, and boy is that not a promising start if Wei Wuxian has ever heard one, "and I have recently done advertisements for a brand of shoe I particularly like and my preferred line of hair products."
"Wait, wait." Wei Wuxian leans forward, elbows on his knees as he looks up at Lan Wangji, who is still standing. "Do you... only sign endorsement deals with companies whose products you actually use and like?"
Lan Wangji blinks at him, confused. "Of course. Why would I advertise for a product I don't like?"
Wei Wuxian pinches the bridge of his nose, trying not to laugh at the poor kid. (Kid. He's thirty! He cannot be this naive!) "I mean, you don't have to, like, sign with a brand you actively hate. But nobody only signs with their favorites, most people would get no deals that way. Yeah, I can afford to be picky now, if I didn't want to wear Chanel I wouldn't, but a decade ago? No way." He looks up at the guy he'll be living and working with for the next three months, scrunching his face up like that might help him figure him out. "So... I guess endorsements aren't really a thing in opera and classical performance stuff, huh?"
Lan Wangji shrugs. "A bit. I have had the endorsement deal with the guqin string brand for several years now. But no, most opera stars aren't offered deals to advertise things like clothing or food or cosmetics unless they cross over into the mainstream in some way, or have a large social media following."
"But that's not why you're doing this," Wei Wuxian guesses. "You're not doing this show to build your mainstream appeal to get more endorsements."
Lan Wangji looks like he had never even considered the possibility. "Of course not."
Wei Wuxian waits for a few seconds, but apparently Lan Wangji feels no need to elaborate. "So... why are you here?"
Lan Wangji leans on the arm of the chair across from him. "I am... interested in learning more about the many different directions I might take my career in. My brother, who is my manager, suggested that this would be a good opportunity to do that. I don't know that I agree, but he insisted."
"Oh yeah? What kinds of directions are you looking at? More pop?"
Lan Wangji waggles his head in a not-quite-nod sort of gesture. "I am interested in exploring other genres and styles, broadly. Xichen thinks it would be helpful to start building an audience in case I decide I do want to release more pop music. He also said I should see if I am a good fit for, as he called it, 'the variety show circuit.'"
"Does he... actually expect you to be a good fit for the variety show circuit?" Wei Wuxian asks, trying not to sound as doubtful as he is.
Lan Wangji hesitates. "My brother is a very optimistic person." Wei Wuxian has to snort at that. "I told him that a television audience is unlikely to find my personality interesting when I am not actively performing, but he insisted I try it."
"Well, just so you know, if you do go further into pop music, endorsements are kind of the main currency. If you don't have many, people assume there's a reason, like either you're such an asshole no company wants to work with you, or you've got some secret or scandal you're trying to cover up that they found out about, or just that you're not as popular as you seem and your audience is actually all water armies. And any of those can affect your music sales—well, streaming stats, these days—concert ticket sales, whether anyone's even willing to sign you for your next album or let you go on tour. It can spiral. On the other end, getting a deal with a huge high-end brand like Chanel is worth a lot more than just the money Chanel is giving me." He leans back, putting one foot up on the coffee table. "I mean, I'm complaining right now because I do legitimately hate the travel part of traveling, but getting to see Paris on some company's dime is pretty cool. Do I sometimes wish I didn't have to shoot commercials or livestreams or do ad shoots twice a month and could spend that time on the music? Sure. But it's part of the gig. So anyhow, that's just something you should keep in mind—if you only endorse your favorite brands, that can hurt your career."
"Hm." Lan Wangji seems to consider this seriously. "That does not make me eager to release more pop music," he says. Then he turns and goes to his room.
Weird way to end a conversation, but Wei Wuxian is too tired to care, so he heads for bed.