Chapter Seventy-Nine: Living on the Same Floor

Meng Fanxi's "Wings" team is in an extreme situation. They have two high-ranking members, but also four who lost the last game. Fan Na is one of the only three members who did not drag the team down.

The production team told them to go back and pack their luggage, and they would pick them up and take them to their respective dormitories one by one.

The previous group dormitories have also been temporarily frozen due to the team freeze. The dormitories for song teams will not take up the original dormitories of each team.

Meng Fanxi breathed a sigh of relief. They had become so comfortable in the villa that they had completely come to regard it as home. With the permission of the production team, they had even altered some of the villa's layout to create a more suitable arrangement. It would definitely be very uncomfortable for someone else to occupy it.

"How's it going with the new team?" Meng Fanxi was pulling his suitcase out of the room when he ran into Ren Yuchen, who had just returned.

Meng Fanxi: "I just finished practicing some basic moves, and it feels pretty good." Their team didn't have any formal speeches or grand openings. They naturally started practicing the dance moves as soon as they entered the practice room. By the time the coach arrived, they were already able to perform some of the moves smoothly and even received praise from the coach.

He poured Ren Yuchen a glass of water. "And you?"

"It's alright," Ren Yuchen said.

Many of the winning trainees made it into the groups for "Passionate Forgetting" and "A Song That Must Be Sung Even If It's Late," so the quality of their performances afterward is bound to be very high, and the competition will be fierce.

Sure enough, Ren Yuchen continued, "It feels like we're back to the monthly exam state before you came."

Meng Fanxi didn't understand, "What do you mean by the monthly exam before I came?" In his memory, the monthly exams at Will Company hadn't changed at all because of him.

Ren Yuchen chuckled softly, sat down in a corner of the sofa, and looked up at him. "The monthly exams before you came were boring. The competition, both overt and covert, was awful."

Meng Fanxi tilted her head. "Hasn't this always been there?"

“No,” Ren Yuchen’s fingertips rubbed the cup in his hand, “It’s been quite interesting since you came, so the competition doesn’t seem so annoying anymore.”

Meng Fanxi was completely stunned, not knowing what to say. He was confused by Ren Yuchen's words.

Gu Huailang came downstairs carrying a suitcase and asked Ren Yuchen, "How's your team doing? They seem a bit better than Ruohe's team."

Ren Yuchen couldn't refute it, "That's true."

"Why do I think I heard my name?" Lin Ruohe and Zhang Yang happened to walk in at that moment, and were taken aback for two seconds when they saw the suitcase next to Meng Fanxi.

"You want to change dorm rooms?" Zhang Yang asked.

"?" Why did his teammates' words after returning home that afternoon make him question whether he had lost a piece of his memory?

"Aren't you guys going to change dorms?" Although the dorm change notice was received in the practice room, it's unlikely that only they received the news. They clearly heard people discussing the dorm change on their way out of practice.

Lin Ruohe shook her head. "Nobody told us."

Ying Zhuo followed Xu You in and explained, "I was just about to say that. The team with the highest combined level can switch rooms if they wish, either staying in their current rooms or switching rooms with their current teammates." He was looking in the direction where Ren Yuchen and Lin Ruohe were.

"This is so unfair!" Before Meng Fanxi could protest, Xu You's eyes widened.

"Brother Zhuo, do you know where we're staying?" Meng Fanxi asked.

Ying Zhuo scrolled through his phone, pondered for a moment, and said, "Your team should have moved into the temporary dormitory that the production team used at the beginning, while Xu You and the others moved into the B-level dormitory."

Huh? It doesn't seem that bad.

Although the temporary dormitory housed six people per room, it was much better than the unknown situation he had imagined.

But Xu You seemed dissatisfied and asked Ying Zhuo, "Can I also stay in the temporary dormitory?"

Ying Zhuo looked at him with a surprised expression, as if to say, "What are you thinking?" "It's obvious that Grade B dorms are better!"

“But the six of us were quite comfortable living in the temporary dormitory,” Xu You retorted.

Meng Fanxi: "But we won't be in the same dormitory now. I will live there with the members of Wings."

This statement clearly indicates that the air conditioning switch was accidentally activated.

The atmosphere inside suddenly felt a degree colder.

Gu Huailang then reminded Meng Fanxi, "It's time to go. The production team said they'd pick us up outside at this time."

Meng Fanxi looked up and saw that it was time. He said goodbye to Xu You and the others and walked out the door.

Xu You muttered from behind, "I should have chosen that song too. I'm a pretty good dancer."

The partitions that had once stood in the corridor of the temporary dormitory had all been removed, restoring it to its original state. The layout was somewhat similar to the corridor of Will's dormitory, which made Meng Fanxi feel nostalgic for those days. After being in seclusion for so long, the outside world always felt very distant.

It was only when he encountered fans waiting outside on the street that he felt a disconnect from reality.

The room was cleaned again after they all left, and it looked brand new and unused.

The familiar camera was still there, but it seemed out of place in the smaller room. Han Jia and the others were clearly not used to it and walked around the area where the camera was.

There were plenty of rooms available, and the seven of them could use two rooms. After some discussion, they decided to follow the rule of the number of characters in their names: Meng Fanxi, Gu Huailang, and Wu Jianian would share one room, while Han Jia, Fan Na, Zhong Chu, and Lu Ning would share the other.

The group remained silent that evening, still trying to adjust to their new roommates.

Wu Jianian has a habit of making notes in the evenings, sitting alone at the table with a notebook.

Meng Fanxi and Gu Huailang tacitly refrained from disturbing them. Looking at the somewhat empty dormitory, perhaps because it was evening, Meng Fanxi suddenly felt a sense of emptiness. Usually at this time, the six of them would either be practicing intensely in the practice room like a competition, or singing karaoke and chatting in the villa.

It feels unusually quiet tonight.

Not long after, a commotion suddenly broke out in the hallway.

Logically speaking, this floor should only belong to them.

Meng Fanxi frowned as he walked out, only to see his teammates, who should have been enjoying the villa, coming over with their suitcases.

"You, you guys, what are you doing here?" Meng Fanxi was somewhat incoherent. Gu Huailang noticed his strange behavior and followed him out, a visible question mark appearing on his face.

"I kind of miss the environment here," Lin Ruohe said with an elegant smile.

Looking around at the ordinary standard dormitory room, where there were only walls and the motion-sensor lights were working intermittently, Meng Fanxi could only remain silent.

Besides Lin Ruohe, Zhang Yang, and Ren Yuchen, Xu You arrived later, strolling leisurely as if he were on vacation in the corridor.

"Where are your teammates from 'Wings'?" Meng Fanxi looked at Xu You in confusion. The other three could say they didn't need to live with their teammates, but the members of Xu You's team were only so-so in terms of popularity, just a little better than the "Wings" team. He couldn't just abandon them and come here.

Xu You said nonchalantly, "I'll arrange for them to stay downstairs."

The four of them didn't say anything more and went to the empty room next door to start packing their luggage, leaving Meng Fanxi and Gu Huailang in awe.

"Brother Zhuo, didn't you try to persuade them?" Meng Fanxi glanced at Ying Zhuo, who reluctantly carried his luggage and checked into the room across the street.

Ying Zhuo responded with a weak "humph".

They didn't try to persuade him; they were practically threatening and bribing him. But everyone else was so noble and virtuous that it made him, a director from the program team, seem like he was just indulging in the comfort and pleasure of the villa.

There wasn't a single member with six eternal stars in the villa, so naturally he couldn't stay. He thought that after this round of team disbandment, he could just choose any trainee who could stay in the villa and keep them, but reality gave him a harsh reality check.

Despite the banter, Ying Zhuo put the clothes from his suitcase into the closet. After the cameramen who were specifically assigned to this group also checked in, they were all surprised that the six eternal stars, who were in different groups, were staying on the same floor.

Are the trainees from Will really that close? He remembered seeing many posts saying that the members of Will's debut group were just ordinary colleagues in private.

This is also why Will is sometimes criticized for his tech duo; many people say that the duo's performance on screen is acted out, but now it seems that those statements are too biased.

"Fanxi, Gu Huailang, are you really not coming to stay with us?" Xu You stood at the door with his hands on his hips. Zhong Chu and the others from the other room came out to check the situation and then went back into their room.

Before Meng Fanxi could respond, Wu Jianian exclaimed, "You guys have such a good relationship." He waved his hand, "Fanxi, you two go ahead. I'm all alone and have nothing to do, so it's a good time for me to create something."

Gu Huailang felt that it didn't matter where they stayed, but Meng Fanxi thought about it and still felt it wasn't suitable. He had a strong sense of empathy, and he thought that if it were him, he probably wouldn't want to be abandoned by his new teammates after joining a new team.

Meng Fanxi patted Xu You on the shoulder, "I'll come over and play with you guys later." He politely declined Xu You's suggestion.

Xu You returned with slumped shoulders, and Lin Ruohe smiled, "Fanxi didn't agree?"

Obviously.

Zhang Yang was in the lower bunk. He leaned against the railing and looked up from the lyric book in his hand. "Fanxi is soft-hearted."

Ren Yuchen chimed in, "You should have cried and begged him, and he would have agreed."

Hsu Yu: "Then I'll give it a try?" As an all-around entertainer (self-proclaimed), he is also very good at crying scenes.

"Why is it so quiet inside?" Meng Fanxi peeked out from behind the door, and then naturally walked into the dormitory where Xu You and the others were.

Xu You lay on the bed without any idol image, and Meng Fanxi's pre-emptive pounce startled Xu You so much that he almost rolled over and got up, making Meng Fanxi laugh so hard she fell back onto the bed.

I feel much more comfortable in this room.

They exchanged updates on their teams. Lin Ruo and her team had progressed to the part where they were dividing up the lyrics, and everyone was eyeing the parts that could stand out. Even Zhang Yang couldn't help but sigh, "Nine people are too many. Six people are better."

Thanks to Lin Ruo and Zhang Yang being in the same group, she wasn't isolated.

Ren Yuchen appeared somewhat alone, which worried Meng Fanxi a little. However, for Ren Yuchen, he was simply adjusting to his previous role as class monitor. He had handled so many high-achieving students like Will, so this was no problem for him.

"I just miss the days when it was just the six of us together and we didn't have to think about anything." Ren Yuchen was a bit sentimental today.

Indeed, Meng Fanxi stared blankly at the moonlight outside the balcony. It was only the first day of switching groups, but she already felt something was off.

The next day, song practice officially began, but Meng Fanxi was not satisfied with the team's progress.

“We all have a lot of problems with our facial expressions right now. We need to bring our facial expressions into the practice from the very beginning. This will help us develop muscle memory and prevent us from getting nervous on stage and forgetting where our eyes and nose are.” Meng Fanxi was squatting at the front with his back to the dance mirror. After teaching them all the moves, the dance teacher went to the next group.

The specific details are for them to handle themselves.

Meng Fanxi knew that the dance moves required to complete the song were very intense, and his demands might be too high, but he felt they were necessary.

Meng Fanxi usually has a very friendly smile with her eyes crinkling like crescent moons, but her serious expression this time made Wu Jianian lose all her previous teasing demeanor.

"Come on, let's do it again. Don't worry about the exact expression; just get the expression right." Meng Fanxi lowered the bar a little.

He walked into the group and danced along with the music, pointing out anything amiss as he danced.

"Zhong Chu, keep your back straight when you turn to the side."

"What is Han Jia laughing at?"

"Pfft, hahaha!" Wu Jianian, who was standing next to him, couldn't help but laugh as well.

Following their gaze, Fan Na was standing at the back. He hadn't been noticed before, but now he was dancing energetically in the lower right corner, his facial expressions focused on his brows, which were so tightly furrowed they were almost forming a triangle.

Fan Na wasn't this abstract before, was he?

Meng Fanxi stepped out of the group, picked up the phone that the production team had given them for filming, and recorded everyone's dance moves.

After the song ended, he called Fan Na over and asked, "Fan Na, is this how you wanted to portray yourself?"

The screen was deliberately enlarged, and it looked alright in the mirror, but it looked completely wrong in the video.

"The show's cameras can capture even the pores on your face, so instead of emphasizing how much force you exert, it's better to hold back when you should. That's how you showcase your dance skills."

"You know there's competition within the team, but if you don't perform well later on, the audience won't even see me." Fan Na thought he was being honest in speaking the truth.

Meng Fanxi: "What's the point of competition within the team if we don't win?"

He originally thought that Fan Na's stage presence should have improved a lot after a series of events, but he didn't expect that his thinking was still stuck in the present moment.

He didn't want to explain further, only saying, "Leave a good stage, and everyone will be noticed. If you don't make any adjustments, then I'll give you a demonstration." These words clearly reminded Fan Na of the unpleasant memories from their previous dance battle.

Not wanting to be blatantly humiliated again, he remained silent for a moment before saying, "Understood."

Meng Fanxi remained outwardly calm, but inwardly he breathed a sigh of relief; thankfully, he was now in charge of this group.

This song is very difficult, so everyone's expressions and movements were corrected again and again. Wu Jianian also assisted with his understanding of the song, and their practice continued intermittently.

Suddenly, during a pause in a song, a commotion erupted outside. A person ran past their practice room, shouting, "Oh no! A fight has broken out!"

Wow!

They went outside, their gossipy minds taking hold.

The online forums outside the city are also quite lively.

The news first came from the "Team Up" group: "[Gossip] Some trainees in the show were rumored to have privately contacted outsiders and were punished on the show. You should be able to see it when the second performance airs. The production team does not plan to announce the reason at present."

The post was almost entirely filled with people trying to find out who the person was.

Some people don't believe it, saying that since the production team doesn't plan to reveal this reason, how can they prove that the trainees were punished for having unauthorized phone calls?

The person didn't reply, only saying that they would reveal the name once the post reached a certain level of popularity.

More and more netizens are spending time in the thread.

Once the hype died down, the original poster posted the initials of a typical company trainee who actually had a phone with him.

Those who were worried about Jin Ziran behind the scenes breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Then another person claiming to be the gossipmonger appeared in the post and commented "There's more than one," which made the person's heart jump again.

The person who posted this also included an abbreviation for another trainee.

Soon after, people appeared on the Chasing Light Alliance forum, wanting to reveal the names of the trainees who hid the phones.

She's not Jin Ziran.

Forum users sensed something unusual. Hiding a phone during a talent show recording is nothing new, but why did it feel like there was a bigger fish waiting to be caught tonight?

As this cycle repeated itself, the person behind the scenes was furious and wanted to find the culprit.

But the person who did all this was actually trying to lure him out.