"Attention trainees, your scores are out, and the bottom twenty will be eliminated!"
"Trainees who advance may choose your teams again, as our second public performance will take place in half a month!"
"We look forward to everyone achieving even better results moving forward!"
Once all the trainees finished their performances, the host appeared and directly pronounced the fate of the bottom twenty.
The entire lounge instantly filled with sorrow and joy.
The scores were transparent, and those eliminated contestants instantly broke down on the spot, with several even bursting into tears.
This left Li Mubai utterly speechless.
Real Chinese men, sobbing like that—they deserved to be eliminated!
For this regrouping, Li Mubai chose not to look for anyone else to team up with. Fan Chengcheng had already been captivated by his talent, so he surely wouldn't abandon him.
What somewhat surprised Li Mubai, however, was that a few trainees who had previously looked down on him were now shamelessly trying to team up with him.
Clearly, his talent was now recognized, and these trainees realized that as long as they teamed up with Li Mubai, they could coast along for a free ride.
Li Mubai coldly and ruthlessly rejected these shameless individuals.
Had it not been for the possibility that whatever happened in the lounge right now might be edited into later broadcast episodes, Li Mubai would have loved to directly mock these trainees out loud!
Meanwhile, backstage.
Zhang Yixing was chatting with the director of another show.
"Director Liu, I will definitely attend the recording of Happy Camp. I heard you guys seem to still be short on people—can I bring a few people in?"
The person chatting with Zhang Yixing was none other than Director Liu of the variety show Happy Camp. The show had invited Zhang Yixing several times, and they had finally managed to secure him this time.
Director Liu smiled and said, "Teacher Zhang Yixing, it sounds like you're planning to push a few more newcomers."
"As long as they have talent and a strong sense for variety, I can pull off this favor. But no more than four people, otherwise the production team's recording will run into trouble!"
The stage was only so big; factoring in the regular cast of Happy Camp, adding four more newcomers was already the absolute limit.
Zhang Yixing suddenly thought of what Li Mubai looked like during his very first appearance on a show, and he couldn't help smiling. "Don't worry, their variety sense... should be pretty good!"
...
After the show ended, Li Mubai returned to his room and immediately started a livestream!
In the livestream chat, seeing the return of the missing person, Li Mubai's fans began showering him with virtual gifts.
[Luoluo Doesn't Cry: Streamer, how did your performance go today? You definitely won't get eliminated, right?!]
[Xiao Mo: What are you talking about? How could my Brother Li possibly get eliminated? If you don't know how to talk, just shut your trap!]
[Aohan: Yeah, yeah, Brother Li will never lose! But the person above—come on, she's a girl!]
[Xiao Mo: Oh, she's a girl? My bad, my bad. Friendly fire, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Can I add your WeChat? I mainly just want to apologize to you in person!]
[Island Edge: @Xiao Mo, buddy, your scheming is practically written all over your face!]
Looking at his lively fans, Li Mubai smiled and said, "Don't worry, family, I wasn't eliminated. But due to the production team's arrangements, I can't announce my score here yet. Just wait and witness it after the show airs!"
This livestream didn't last very long before Fan Chengcheng barged into the room and interrupted it.
"Li Mubai, you're livestreaming!" Fan Chengcheng said as he entered, greeting him upon seeing him in the middle of a broadcast.
Li Mubai nodded and asked curiously, "What's up?"
Fan Chengcheng replied, "Teacher Zhang Yixing sent me to call you. He said he has something to tell us."
"I don't know if it's about the next public performance."
Li Mubai thought about it. Since Zhang Yixing was looking for him, he had no reason to refuse. After bidding farewell to the netizens in the livestream, he ended the broadcast!
Little did Li Mubai know, at that moment, inside one of his fan groups:
[Who was that handsome guy who just barged into the livestream? He actually looked pretty good!]
[He must be a contestant from Idol Producer, but he's not as handsome as my Mubai. My Mubai is the exact type I like.]
[Did everyone hear? Teacher Zhang Yixing personally invited the streamer. It looks like the streamer is doing pretty well on this show!]
Following Fan Chengcheng outside, Li Mubai found that Zhang Yixing had been waiting for quite a while in the outer lobby!
Seeing Li Mubai appear, Zhang Yixing first waved, and once Li Mubai drew closer, he smiled and said, "I really didn't expect you to sing Compendium of Materia Medica—that was quite unexpected!"
Li Mubai smiled and guessed, "Teacher Zhang Yixing, calling us out this late at night surely isn't just to praise me, is it?"
Zhang Yixing chuckled. "No matter how I look at it, kid, you don't look like a fresh college graduate. You sure are shrewd!"
With that, he led the two of them to the lounge area of the lobby and ordered a few drinks.
"I have a show on my hands that's currently short on newcomer guests. Do you two want to participate?"
Fan Chengcheng hesitated slightly. Growing up, he had always listened to his sister's arrangements for most things, so for a moment he didn't know whether he should agree to Zhang Yixing.
Li Mubai, on the other hand, was very straightforward. "Well, that sounds wonderful! Who wouldn't want to increase their exposure?"
"By the way, being able to invite you as a guest—it must be a really popular show, right?"
Zhang Yixing had to marvel once again at how fast Li Mubai's brain worked.
"Do you know Happy Camp?"
Li Mubai subconsciously replied, "Who wouldn't know that? It's Teacher He's show, it's insanely popular nationwide..."
"Holy crap, you couldn't possibly be inviting me to participate in Happy Camp, could you?!"
Even Li Mubai was somewhat shocked now.
As someone who loved watching variety shows growing up, he knew Happy Camp inside and out.
As the host of the show, Teacher He had a very good character. As long as one showed him a bit of courtesy, he was more than happy to give newcomers opportunities.
He would generously hand out camera time!
Of course, based on memories from his past life, Li Mubai also knew that most of those "good kids" Teacher He used to praise ended up in prison sewing shoes later on.
And a small remaining fraction were either on their way to prison to sew shoes or getting ready to go.
It sounded somewhat metaphysical, but Li Mubai understood that this outcome had nothing whatsoever to do with Teacher He.
As things stood right now, just being able to go on Happy Camp would still be immensely helpful to Li Mubai!
With only his strong strength and the resources he currently had on Idol Producer, he simply stood no chance of competing with the other trainees. But if he also had an experience like Happy Camp under his belt, the situation would be completely different!
"Teacher Zhang Yixing, I'm willing to go."
"Even if I have to crawl there, I'm going on Happy Camp!"