Sheng, Dan, Jing, Chou

Zhou Yangxi stammered for a moment, then said, "Uh...you know what I mean by alpha smell, right?"

Xi Ai's smile widened, and for some reason, she looked at Zhou Qingxi, who looked helplessly at her sister before changing the subject: "Then describe Chu Yiqi again?"

Zhou Yangxi was almost in tears. She said, "How could you guys do this? But really, I just heard her voice and it was so incredibly gentle!"

After a while of commotion, Chu Yiqi became a little more familiar with the two sisters, but she still didn't talk much. However, although Xi Ai and Chu Yiqi were in opposite beds, there was an invisible barrier between them.

Xi Ai showed no intention of closing the distance.

Her social interactions have always been like this: she won't deliberately trip up someone just because she dislikes them; nor will she force herself to get close to someone for the sake of "the bigger picture." She will only keep her distance from that person.

Since we have different paths, we shouldn't work together. People who aren't on the same wavelength will eventually part ways; just bear with it and it will pass.

However, Xi Ai was quite curious as to why Chu Yiqi also harbored a natural hostility towards her.

I was so low-key before. In my final year of university, I met that Asian director who liked to use newcomers. After winning the award, I honestly wrote my graduation thesis, defended it, went back to my home country, and started working...

I don't have time to attract negative attention...

This series of thoughts didn't last long; soon it was lights out, and Xi Ai packed her things and went to bed early.

Goodnight, friends.

"Um."

"See you tomorrow."

Perhaps because Chu Yiqi was the last to speak, Xi Ai remained silent for a moment, then responded very softly, "Mmm..."

She had a good night's sleep. Before falling into her dream, Xi Ai's last memory was a conversation she had in country F several months ago.

It was graduation season, the day after the exams.

A blond, blue-eyed boy walked over, staring at Xi Ai with ill intent, and said, "You drama students shouldn't be getting involved in music anymore..."

I can't remember the other Xi Ai, but her words were full of contempt and pessimism.

Xi Ai glanced at him, picked up two books next to her, and then stood up to look him over—it was someone she had never gotten along with.

Xi Ai said in a pretentious French tone, "Is the piano playing clear right here, blah blah blah, 1.3?"

Back then, the final exam had a perfect score of 1.0—Xi Ai got 1.1, ranking third in the entire department.

Just as Xi Ai was about to leave, she suddenly remembered something and turned back: "Oh right, I forgot the invitation to the end-of-term performance."

Xi Ai looked at him and said, "Why are you looking at me? Don't you have any? — Oh, you really don't, you didn't make it into the top five."

Seeing that everyone's faces were turning green, Xi Ai happily went to discuss the song selection for the performance with the sister from country F who came in first place.

That being said, as soon as Xi Ai returned to China, she signed up for this program—you say no, but I'm determined to choose this path.

The next morning, Xi Ai woke up naturally at 6:30. Thinking that the scheduled time was 7:00, she suddenly hated the days she had been getting up at 6:30 for work without fail for the past few months.

At eight o'clock sharp, the first group competition began.

The order of appearance was randomly selected, and Nie Chuiying was the first one drawn.

Some people say that rappers have a certain tone when they speak, but this doesn't seem to be obvious in Nie Chuiying.

Xi Ai leaned back slightly and spoke to Zhou Yangxi: "Although...but she's kind of well-behaved, what's going on?"

"You Apples see everyone as well-behaved."

"Can't we forget this part?" Xi Ai stared ahead, as if she was waiting intently for Nie Chuiying to begin her performance.

Zhou Yangxi was clearly not as good at pretending as Xi Ai; it was obvious she was whispering to Xi Ai: "Is this okay to broadcast?"

Of course!

Aside from one person on one side pretending to be single-minded and the other unable to, a little further to the side, Zhou Qingxi and Chu Yiqi didn't pretend at all, tilting their heads closer to each other to talk.

"Everyone here seems really strong."

"You're amazing too."

Have you heard her songs?

Chu Yiqi doesn't actually listen to rap much. In fact, her circle of friends is almost completely closed off. Apart from what she is interested in and what she is learning, she rarely dabbles in anything else.

So she said, "No."

"Okay." Zhou Qingxi failed to find a topic to talk about, so she chose to watch the show in silence with Chu Yiqi—luckily, she wasn't a chatterbox like her sister.

On stage.

Nie Chuiying had her hair tied up, and her entire outfit was in the traditional Chinese style.

As the lights suddenly came on, Nie Chuiying stood in the center, microphone in hand, with her back to the audience.

The audience below was mostly in the atmosphere-building group; amidst a few cheers, the music started.

"Tang and Song poems are treasures of the years, and the fragrance of ink from brush, ink, paper and inkstone spreads far and wide."

Yu Nianxi pulled out a light stick from beside her and started shaking it to the beat. Xi Ai looked over after Zhou Yangxi poked her arm, smiled, and said, "Then go ask her for a light stick."

Zhou Yangxi shook her head like a rattle-drum, then turned to sit next to her sister to watch the performance. She secretly went over the movements and what to say during the opening introduction.

Nie Chuiying swept her folding fan, and the music mingled with the sound of bells: "The clear sounds of mountains and rivers flow through the scenery of China, the camel bells of the Silk Road echo..."

Nie Chuiying's choreography blends elements of ethnic dance with remarkably seamless transitions. Beyond her highly expressive dance, her voice is an even more crucial element, seemingly possessing a natural reverberation.

"Singing, reciting, acting, and fighting; martial arts and Tai Chi combining strength and gentleness; flutes, xun, sheng, pipa, qin, and se; flowing sleeves and elegant robes, like fairy garments..."

Xi Ai watched intently, her movements almost in sync with Chu Yiqi's—both tapping their hands to the beat and then humming along softly to the tune.

Chu Yiqi has always been like this. Although she has forcibly shrunk her own circle to a small part, she always looks at other fields with an appreciative attitude and observes them very seriously.

Some people call this "being a nice guy," while others call it "being tolerant and inclusive."

But that doesn't matter; even if she cares about what others think, she can't control it.

Fortunately, this time Xi Ai and she are the same kind of people again.

So Xi Ai just turned her head to look at Chu Yiqi, then looked away.

To be honest, she was really looking forward to Chu Yiqi's performance and even had some slight preference for him.

It would be good if she were willing to try a new style, but personally, Xi Ai still looks forward to ancient-style songs.

Nie Chuiying finished her performance quickly, and Xi Ai heard a very familiar voice.

"To be fair, I really liked your stage performance; it's definitely a high level among my students."

Judging from her accent and slow, deliberate pace of speaking Chinese, who else could it be but the teacher who taught her for a period of time?

Xi Ai actually knew she would be here, but perhaps because she had been having a very happy time these past two days, she was momentarily stunned and her mind went blank.

She silently calculated the chances of being assigned to Group B or Group C... which seemed pretty high.

This teacher herself is highly skilled and has even stricter requirements for her students. Although Xi Ai is not strictly speaking her formal student, she liked some of Xi Ai's compositional styles after listening to her compositions, so she once tried to get Xi Ai to study singing systematically.

But strangely enough, Xi Ai's first reaction wasn't to worry about herself; she just suddenly wondered if this teacher might like Chu Yiqi's style.

Xi Ai's inexplicable and scattered worries did not last long, because she heard Anna say, "But perhaps... from my point of view, your arrangement has a little too many elements, which may make it sound a bit... messy, or rather, tiring."

Nie Chuiying nodded, having obtained the final result—A.

The result surprised those sitting below; this was the first person to receive an A.

Xi Ai simply nodded, looking at the stage with a mixture of congratulations and certainty in her eyes.

To be honest, if you're a layperson, you wouldn't hear anything wrong with the arrangement of Nie Chuiying's songs—after the "interference" or "neutralization" of the stage performance.

Chu Yiqi pursed her lips, still offering her congratulations after all, but Xi Ai glanced over and noticed that she seemed a little nervous.

Of the six members of For 8 who later performed, Meng Yike was the second to take the stage.

Meng Yike also wrote her own songs, with the theme of "dreams and journeys," but she also tried to focus on the setbacks and wavering during the journey, the sobering sinking, and the rising again. Even if she died ten thousand times, she would still walk and stand...

Chu Yiqi rested his hands on his knees, looking thoughtful throughout the entire song.

It wasn't for any other reason, it's just that she suddenly remembered, remembered the way she came from...

She suddenly realized the real reason for her rejection of Xi Ai.

Perhaps their names alone suggest a conflict between them. One woman's name emphasizes her being loved, while the other carries a bittersweet mix of love, hate, and resentment, as if burdened by some kind of curse.

Perhaps human nature is inherently evil, and people are born with baseness. Those who struggle in the darkness and cannot escape it are the ones who should hate those who are bright and radiant.

Chu Yiqi looked somber, only raising his eyes when the scores were being determined.

At this point, the four people sitting on the judges' panel also had a disagreement.

"The B you gave me?"

"yes."

"I also."

In the brief silence, Meng Yike held her breath, waiting for the final clock to strike.

"We've assigned Group B."

“My focus is different from the others, so I care more about your performance. But just now on stage, you started to panic after you made a mistake on the first beat, right?”

Meng Yike nodded, unable to deny it.

She valued this stage a lot, so from the moment she lost her balance, things went a bit erratic. Even after she corrected herself, the overall quality of the performance was still lacking.

Xi Ai pursed her lips and watched as the name on the screen finally settled on her own.

She took a soft breath, glanced at the judges' panel, and took off the coat that had been draped over her shoulder.

Hello, teachers.

Anna kept staring at her, and suddenly Xi Ai no longer felt nervous. Because if she didn't look at the audience, the scene would look just like a past final exam.

"You shouldn't be that nervous in this situation, right?"

Xi Ai pursed her lips, unsure whether to say she was nervous or not.

She said, "It's normal to be nervous, after all, there are so many amazing friends and teachers here. It would be really embarrassing to embarrass myself."

The judges exchanged smiles, and one of them joked, "We all heard it from Annala."

"Then let's begin."

After two seconds of darkness, the stage lights shone directly in the center, illuminating Xi Ai's face.

The person on stage, dressed in a Tang Dynasty outfit with contrasting red, green, and white colors, slowly raised their eyes under the dim yellow light, and at that moment, faint Buddhist chants arose.

Perhaps it was the perfect lighting, or perhaps it was a deliberate arrangement by someone studying acting, but Chu Yiqi looked at Xi Ai and suddenly felt that it might be the expression of a god or Buddha observing all living beings.

Calm, yet compassionate.

Compared to the dancers before her, Xi Ai's dance appeared to lack skill.

Although there were no obvious mistakes, the movements were all quite basic and lacked any flashy techniques.

To put it bluntly, the main problem is a lack of competitiveness.

Chu Yiqi offered his evaluation, focusing on Xi Ai's song itself.

Once Chu Yiqi shifted her focus to the songs, she discovered that Xi Ai's compositions really resonated with her.

The first paragraph of Xi Ai focuses on the perspective of God, depicting people helpless in suffering—who can only look up and ask the ethereal gods and Buddhas for an answer.

This is a story of "not knowing the suffering, not believing in gods and Buddhas".

But in the second paragraph, she shifts her focus to writing about the deeper pain and despair that comes from gods and Buddhas beneath the suffering.

This is the constraint of divine authority and self-imposed constraints under feudal ideology.