Five days later, the first public performance officially began.
As the core of their two-person team, Li Mubai drew number twelve. With the one hundred trainees divided into twenty groups, their slot was relatively late in the lineup.
Soon, five or six groups had finished their performances on stage. Sitting beside Fan Chengcheng, Li Mubai noticed that Fan Chengcheng kept his fists tightly clenched and looked rather nervous, so he spoke up:
"Relax a bit. We've had a pretty good run over the last few days. As long as we can perform at half our usual level, we'll advance!"
Seeing Li Mubai looking so calm and collected, Fan Chengcheng gently bit his lower lip, nodded, and asked curiously, "Li Mubai, how come you don't look nervous at all?"
"Is there some kind of secret?"
Li Mubai thought for a moment and nodded earnestly.
Fan Chengcheng was overjoyed at once and eagerly asked, "What is it? Can you teach me?"
Li Mubai lowered his voice and told Fan Chengcheng, "Actually, it's very simple. You just have to imagine that everyone sitting out there is garbage!"
Fan Chengcheng looked at Li Mubai in disbelief, his eyes widening. "What about the mentors?"
"Slightly stronger garbage," Li Mubai said calmly.
"You really something else!" Fan Chengcheng muttered under his breath, then quietly watched the performance on stage without saying another word.
However, Li Mubai noticed that over the next dozen minutes, Fan Chengcheng's expression seemed much more relaxed, and a strange, inexplicable smile even appeared on his face.
......
The mentors' viewing room.
Several tables were pushed together, and several judges and mentors were seated around them, intently watching the live broadcast playing on the screens before them.
"Is this from Class C? It looks like they put in a lot of effort. The rhythm is handled quite accurately, and I think we can give them an A!"
"I remember the trainee on the right. I've often seen him practicing in the choreography room these past few days. He works really hard."
"I also suggest giving an A!"
The mentors and judges offered one objective evaluation after another.
After finishing the scoring, Li Ronghao looked curiously at Zhang Yixing. "What about Li Mubai's group? I heard you personally gave them a lecture these past few days!"
Zhang Yixing smiled and nodded. "They should be coming up later. Li Mubai really is a genius; not only is his singing great, but he's also extremely talented at dancing. I'm really looking forward to this time."
"By the way, didn't Li Mubai ask you for help?"
Faced with Zhang Yixing's confusion, Li Ronghao gave a wry smile. "Do you think someone with Li Mubai's vocal skills even needs my help?"
"Honestly, I'm starting to regret joining this show. Every time I see Li Mubai, I never know what ultimate move he's going to pull out next. It's completely ruining my self-confidence!"
Naixiao chuckled and said, "Teacher Li Ronghao, once this show wraps up, why don't you sign him to your company? With your professional training, maybe a new star will rise in the world of Mandopop!"
Hearing this, Li Ronghao didn't take it as a joke; instead, he remained silent, clearly giving serious thought to Naixiao's suggestion.
Meanwhile, in the lounge, Li Mubai had no idea that the judges and mentors backstage were hotly discussing him.
Soon, a dozen or so acts finished performing. Some received Class A ratings, while others received Class C, showing a considerable gap compared to their initial class assignments.
Moreover, most of these groups performed a combination of English rap and dance.
The atmosphere at the venue was decent, but in Li Mubai's view, this kind of rap could at best fool laymen; anyone with even a sliver of industry knowledge would instantly know what level their skills were at.
"Next, let's welcome Group 12, Li Mubai and Fan Chengcheng, to the stage!"
At the host's call, Li Mubai and Fan Chengcheng slowly walked toward the stage.
Instantly, the hype squad in the audience began shouting things like "Go for it!" and "Give us a show!"
Soon, Li Mubai and Fan Chengcheng arrived on stage and took their positions.
"Are you ready?"
"Ready. Let's start!"
Suddenly, a relaxed yet rhythmically driving beat filled the venue.
"What the hell, why didn't the host ask me if I was ready? Is this discrimination?"
"Hahaha, they didn't ask me either. The production team is really something else!"
In the lounge, several trainees chimed in with complaints.
At the same time, Li Mubai and Fan Chengcheng slowly began their performance on stage.
This time, Li Mubai had prepared Compendium of Materia Medica.
Since many trainees on the show loved showing off their rap, Li Mubai was going to give them a taste of dimensional reduction strikes brought by top-tier Chinese-style rap.
"Hey! If Hua Tuo were still alive, all this foreign worship would be cured..."
As Li Mubai started singing directly, Fan Chengcheng, who had been standing completely still, also began to dance.
The relaxed and cheerful music instantly ignited the entire venue.
"Holy shit, it's Compendium of Materia Medica!"
"This Li Mubai has some serious guts to actually sing Jay Chou's Compendium of Materia Medica. But I have to admit, he sings it pretty well!"
"No way, no way. If they pull a stunt like this, those of us in the later groups are going to feel some serious pressure!"
The rendition of Compendium of Materia Medica quickly set the entire venue ablaze. Previously, the atmosphere had been heavy due to various toe-curlingly awkward acts, but now it was boiling over like a pot of hot water.
Although the performance lasted only three minutes, the tacit coordination between Li Mubai and Fan Chengcheng made the completion level of the act exceptionally high.
Backstage, the judges watching the projector screens were now unconsciously humming along with the rhythm.
"No way, no way, these lyrics are just too tongue-twisting, I can't keep up!" Naixiao covered her mouth and laughed.
Zhang Yixing was able to follow along completely, and his expression showed considerable excitement and thrill.
Although Li Ronghao didn't say anything, his hand kept tapping out the beat against his thigh.
After Li Mubai and Fan Chengcheng finished their performance, Zhang Yixing spoke up: "How are you guys scoring this? Anyway, for the sake of Li Mubai's Compendium of Materia Medica, I'm giving them an A!"
Naixiao chimed in, "Definitely an A. This show is going to be broadcast later, and with an effect this good, if we don't give them a high score, we'll probably get flamed to death online!"
The judges nodded in agreement and offered their objective evaluations.
At the recording site, Li Mubai and Fan Chengcheng waited for the judges' scores after their performance.
Half a minute later, six A's flashed across the giant screen behind them, and Fan Chengcheng excitedly picked Li Mubai up in a hug.
In the lounge.
Many of the trainees in the audience, who had initially been waiting to watch a joke, slowly shifted to expressions of surprise, followed by dropped jaws and sharp intakes of breath.
No one could believe that Li Mubai had pulled off this song so brilliantly, and even Fan Chengcheng had delivered an exceptionally stellar performance.
"It's over, it's over, six A's. I don't want to perform anymore!"
"This is too terrifying. How are we supposed to compete? Didn't they say we just needed to go out there and mess around for fun? Why did the difficulty suddenly spike so high?"