Wen Renye leaned against the cold wall of the hallway, his phone screen flooded with countless messages. His agent sent over ten voice messages, and the last text message was in bold red: [You're going to be famous!!!]
He swiped open the trending list. #FrontlineExposéWenRenyeGodTierStage# was glaringly at third place, followed by a deep red "Explosive" tag. He clicked into the real-time discussions, and the screen was filled with screams of "Brother #27 is killing me," "This performance officially reached godhood," "Is this the #98 from the leaked spoilers? Is it the same person? I declare I'm his fan starting today!"
He tugged at the corner of his mouth and stuffed his phone back into his pocket.
Going to be famous? Maybe.
The sound of footsteps echoed from the end of the hallway. Wen Renye quickly adjusted his expression and looked up, only to see Yan Lang, a teammate from his group, rushing over with red-rimmed eyes, throwing his arms around him: "Brother Ye! We, we really made it through!"
The youngster, in his early twenties, was the youngest trainee in the group. He hadn't been confident at all, thinking he'd be dropped to Group F in the first round. At this moment, his nose was red from crying, and he still clutched the crumpled advancement card in his hand. Wen Renye was taken aback, not overly concerned: "What are you crying about? This is just the first round."
"But we got full marks from all the judges! Teacher Xia Zi said this was the most shocking stage she'd seen so far from all the contestants' performances!" Yan Lang sobbed, then suddenly lowered his voice, "And... Teacher Qi Jingchong also gave us full marks."
Wen Renye's expression froze almost imperceptibly for a moment. Was Qi Jingchong's opinion important?
"Is that so," he replied calmly, turning towards the lounge, "Let's head back to the lounge first."
Yan Lang trotted to catch up: "Qi Jingchong is an idol I've loved since I was a kid. I've watched all the dramas he's acted in before... Hey, Brother Ye, wait for me, why are you walking so fast? By the way, Brother Ye, why aren't you excited at all? You just now on stage..."
"I was acting," Wen Renye interrupted him, pushing open the lounge door, only responding to the last question: "The audience wanted to see a broken young man, so we showed it to them."
Back in the lounge, the teammates were excitedly passing around the advancement list. Old Zhou, Zhou Jianan, saw Wen Renye enter. Hearing his remarks at the door, he patted his shoulder: "You got us off to a great start today. We've all temporarily advanced to Group A."
The competition system was brutal, dividing the contestants into six levels from A to F. The first few rounds were based on group advancement, with individual competitions coming later.
Wen Renye looked at his still-made-up face in the mirror: "Mm, we won. That's great."
The smile in the mirror looked like an exquisite mask.
Later that evening, the group returned to the contestant dorms to rest. The other members of his group were gathered on the floor, watching a replay of their stage performance on a tablet.
"The positioning was off here," Old Zhou paused the screen, pointing at Yan Lang's slightly delayed turn on the screen, "Starting tomorrow, we'll add two hours of basic training."
Yan Lang wailed and collapsed onto the floor: "We passed with full marks!"
"Precisely because of that, next round will be more rigorous."
The dormitory door was suddenly pushed open. The executive director, accompanied by a cameraman, entered: "Surprise interview! What are your feelings about getting into Group A in the first round?"
Everyone mumbled vague answers, saying they were excited, that they hadn't expected it, and similar phrases.
The camera lens focused on Wen Renye, "Wen Renye, you're already trending. Reporters outside are all asking 'Who is #27?' and where they dug up this amateur."
Wen Renye lowered his eyes and hummed in acknowledgment, not answering what he didn't want to: "We'll continue to work hard and strive not to disappoint everyone's support." He then asked, "Will there be any rewards for the first place?"
The executive director replied, "Of course. We've arranged for you to film an interlude commercial with the initiator. It's just that..."
Upon hearing this news, the group members were all thrilled. Filming a commercial with Xie Guanyi was an unprecedented experience.
"Teacher Xie... had an emergency today and has already left. The commercial will have to wait until she returns to film."
Everyone chimed in, saying it was fine, that sooner or later didn't matter.
Before they could finish speaking, a cold laugh echoed from the hallway: "What emergency? She left with Qi Jingchong ages ago!" The speaker had dyed golden hair, looking arrogant and disdainful: "The Qi family has a winery in a foreign country that needs signing. Doing business is naturally more important than participating in our little activities..."
It was Li Yuhang from Group B.
They say he had quite a few fans before the competition and was decent at singing and composing. He was expected to make it into Group A but was held back and ended up in Group B, so he harbored some resentment.
The executive director didn't want him causing trouble there and managed to persuade him to leave with a few words.
After the production team left, Old Zhou suddenly lowered his voice and said to Wen Renye: "I secretly saw the director and judges looking at the background information of various companies." He made a rubbing motion with his fingers, "Some advancement spots might have actually been pre-arranged."
Wen Renye unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and took a sip, his Adam's apple bobbing: "It's normal. The only thing we can do is cherish every opportunity to showcase ourselves on stage."
**
At 30,000 feet in the air, Xie Guanyi woke up curled up in a first-class seat, wrapped in a blanket. Outside the porthole, the clouds were thick. As the cabin lights dimmed, only the reading lamp next to Qi Jingchong remained lit.
He was reading a French contract, his gaze behind his gold-rimmed glasses calm and sharp, a stark contrast to how tenderly he had held her just hours ago on the show.
"Awake?" he suddenly spoke, and his finger had already pressed the call button.
A flight attendant brought hot milk. As Xie Guanyi leaned forward to take it, her falling hair accidentally brushed his earlobe, tickling it. Qi Jingchong's page-turning motion paused, but he didn't look up, asking an unexpected question: "What do you think of this event?"
Afraid she might not understand his intention, he added, "These contestants, what do you think of them?"
Xie Guanyi had only given two perfect scores throughout the entire event. Her attitude towards them was more serious and earnest than he had anticipated.
She cradled the cup, hesitating for a moment, "That contestant named Wen Renye..."
The swishing sound of the pen on paper stopped. Qi Jingchong turned his head to look at her: "You know him?"
Xie Guanyi shook her head: "He's performing a segment from 'Spring Departure.'" She looked out at the dark window, "It's the first time I've seen someone replicate and adapt that dance."
'Spring Departure'? Qi Jingchong closed the folder: "How was the dance?"
"His technique is still a bit rough, but the emotion..." She suddenly stopped, temporary tinnitus causing her to lose the ability to organize her thoughts.
Qi Jingchong didn't press further. Instead, he said, "A newcomer from Qi Hua Vision, very strong dance charisma. The program team will arrange mentor collaboration stages later, and you have one slot. You can choose him then."
Xie Guanyi raised an eyebrow: "Why choose him?"
"His background is very clean." Qi Jingchong's gaze returned to the contract, "Since you're satisfied with him, there's no need to choose from other contestants. I'll inform the program team of your choice."
A seemingly ordinary conversation, Xie Guanyi hadn't taken it to heart. But as she closed her eyes, the words "his background is very clean" inexplicably repeated in her mind. Her heart suddenly jolted. Whether she chose him or not wasn't the important thing. What was important was that Qi Jingchong had already investigated the contestants' backgrounds, and Wen Renye just happened to have a clean record and performed well.
But if she had chosen someone else just now, would Qi Jingchong have interfered with her choice?