Chapter 25 Rankings Announced (7k Nutrient Solution) Actually, I...

"Beep—" A sharp horn suddenly blared in the huge underground parking lot. Jiang Tinghan looked in the direction of the sound and saw a relatively low-key black sedan.

Jiang Tinghan didn't recognize the car's logo, but his intuition told him it was his.

She picked up the bag of gifts, looked around, and saw that no one was in the parking garage at this time; everyone was busy with their own things, making it difficult for paparazzi to get in.

"Zhixia, you should go back now. Thank you for coming out with me."

"Oh..." Lin Zhixia quickly realized, "You're not going to just get in your car and leave, are you? If the director finds out, the consequences will be serious!"

If that senior is a big name, then that's a different story.

Jiang Tinghan smiled and said, "Don't worry, I'm just dizzy, not that my brain is broken."

"It would be best if..." Lin Zhixia glanced at Jiang Tinghan several more times and warned, "Don't stay out all night."

"If I haven't seen you by the time you get on stage, I'll call PDnim to arrest you and your Nick Wilde."

Jiang Tinghan: "Okay, okay."

Lin Zhixia walked away, turning back every few steps, while Jiang Tinghan ran to the black car with lighter steps.

The car window was tinted, making it completely dark and difficult to see. Jiang Tinghan then raised his hand and knocked on the window twice.

With a "click," the car lock opened.

There was no driver to open the door today, so Jiang Tinghan opened the passenger door, got in, and turned her head to see someone's tense profile.

He was wearing a black trench coat, his hands casually resting on the steering wheel. He didn't seem to care much about his appearance when he left home. He had a stubble around his chin, and as if aware of his sloppiness, he put on a pair of non-prescription glasses to cover it up. He looked like an artsy young man who dared to travel the world with just a bag and a camera.

He didn't say anything, but you could clearly sense that he was angry.

Jiang Tinghan blinked a couple of times, then said weakly, "I'm so tired... I feel like throwing up..."

Kwon Ji-yong, who had been staring straight ahead with a gloomy expression, stirred. He lifted his eyelids and glanced in Jiang Tinghan's direction, then said coldly, "I don't have any bags in my car."

Two seconds later, he secretly glanced at Jiang Tinghan again. The other man was frowning, holding his head, and his lips were completely pale. He seemed to be in a really bad mood.

He picked up the thermos from the cup holder in front of him, swung his hand across, and handed it over, but only a little distance away, saying in a muffled voice, "Hot water."

"I've had it, so if I don't want to drink it anymore, that's fine too."

Jiang Tinghan glanced at the thermos and was surprised to find that it wasn't the same model as the one given to her.

She unscrewed the thermos in the bag, took the cup from Kwon Ji-yong, poured hot water into the lid, and took a small sip.

Even if I give it to her like this, I'm not afraid that she'll drink it and spread the germs to her.

Kwon Ji-yong let out another displeased "humph" through his nose.

The indirect kissing plan was a complete failure.

"I'm so sorry to have troubled you to make this special trip... I'm so glad you could come today."

Jiang Tinghan cleared his throat and began to speak slowly: "Several contestants have brought more than a dozen family members and friends, but all the people I know are in China. I'm quite envious. It's good that you came, senior."

Kwon Ji-yong looked at Jiang Tinghan's fluttering eyelashes and vulnerable expression, and thought to himself that he would not be deceived by this appearance.

Jiang Tinghan didn't care whether anyone came to see her or not; these few words were just a little trick to coax him.

But she was still willing to coax him.

"..."

He looked away and gazed at the gray wall through the windshield: "I'm here too."

Jiang Tinghan almost dropped the cup lid; his arm visibly trembled. He abruptly turned to look at Kwon Ji-yong: "...Huh?"

Kwon Ji-yong's expression didn't show any boasting. He just sighed and said, "Tinghan, I understand that you want to make the stage perfect, so you can do whatever you want. I've been through that phase before, feeling that you have to work hard when you're just starting out. But you also have to consider that you've only been in this industry for a few months. Your health is very important. Don't develop health problems at the beginning."

"During the first performance, I was on tenterhooks watching your stage setup that flew into the sky. Fortunately, it landed safely. During the second performance, you even went out in the rain while you were sick. Tonight, the temperature is only 5°C. Have you thought about what would happen if you developed a high fever?"

Jiang Tinghan had originally thought that she could just apologize and laugh it off, but she didn't expect Quan Zhilong to talk to her at length, every word of which was full of sincerity.

She was speechless for a moment, unsure of what to say. She could only bury her head and take another sip of water as if trying to escape. The warm water flowed into her stomach, and she felt a little better.

Kwon Ji-yong's tone was low and tinged with helplessness: "Your family and friends in China will worry about you, and I will worry about you too."

"Ah... okay." Jiang Tinghan nodded, feeling that the senior really did resemble her father.

Previously, when her parents were called in by the teacher because she didn't want to do the homework because it was too easy, that's how her boss lectured her in front of the teacher. Of course, once she left school, he acted completely differently, saying, "It's such a waste of time to bother my daughter with such simple homework."

"Don't just say 'okay,' that's too perfunctory." Kwon Ji-yong raised his hand, hooked his finger, and lightly tapped Jiang Tinghan's forehead. "You need to really reflect on your actions, Tinghan."

Even though he hadn't used much force, Jiang Tinghan felt a lot of pain. He froze for a second, then reached up to cover his forehead and rubbed it a couple of times.

He then whispered, "Yes, I'll remember. I'll definitely pay more attention to my health on stage next time."

Quan Zhilong's heart skipped a beat, but he also breathed a sigh of relief. The temperature was lower than he had expected; it was probably a low-grade fever.

"Not just next time, but the time after that, and the time after that, and every stage from now on must be like this, do you hear me?"

"I heard it, but I don't want to hear 'did you hear it?' today, so I chose not to hear it. If you take back 'did you hear it?', then I can hear what you say."

Jiang Tinghan's words sounded like a tongue twister, making Quan Zhilong a little dizzy, as if he didn't recognize the word "hear".

Only then did she begin to exhibit the liveliness of a twenty-year-old girl.

Kwon Ji-yong curled the corner of his mouth slightly: "The rap is pretty good."

Jiang Tinghan: "We usually call this a reader."

A Korean man who wasn't very familiar with Chinese internet slang: "What?"

Jiang Tinghan changed the subject again: "Senior, when you were in the audience during the first performance...did you cheer for me?"

Kwon Ji-yong paused for a moment, then the corners of his mouth curved upwards even wider: "I may not have said it, but I'm cheering you on in my heart."

"However, I received a gift from one of your fans as a token of their support. Wow, their enthusiasm is almost overwhelming!"

He opened the pendant on the rearview mirror. It looked like a fluffy, round, brown ball, but when you split it in half, you could see a sweet, flowing filling inside. There was a small, round metal piece on each side, commonly known as a badge.

One image resembles a two-dimensional character, but upon closer inspection, it's clearly Jiang Tinghan's red riding outfit from an advertisement shoot, which fans have drawn. The other image is a cropped version of a real photo, a screenshot of Jiang Tinghan practicing in the practice room until she felt utterly hopeless; her fans love using this image as a meme.

Jiang Tinghan: "..."

Okay, okay... She didn't know how to evaluate Kwon Ji-yong's behavior. It was a bit like going back ten years. Young people these days probably don't like this anymore.

Looking at her photo while driving is one thing, but why does it have to be an emoji?

Jiang Tinghan felt a rare sense of shame.

But this man had an open and honest expression.

Her hand had already secretly reached for the car door handle: "It's quite interesting. My fans are really skillful."

Kwon Ji-yong noticed her subtle movement and immediately curled his lip: "Go back, or your friend who came with you will call the police."

Jiang Tinghan withdrew his hand, hiding it behind his back somewhat guiltily: "Then, senior, are you going back now?"

Kwon Ji-yong turned his upper body around to face her, raised an eyebrow and said, "So, do you want me to go in and see?"

I hope—

Jiang Tinghan opened the car door, picked up the bag with one hand, and got out of the car briskly, leaving behind the words: "Senior, you should have some opinions of your own. Don't ask me, a little trainee, about everything."

Then he left without looking back.

Kwon Ji-yong paused for a few seconds, then leaned back in his car seat and smiled somewhat helplessly.

Next time any part of the car rusts, there's no need to add lubricant; just put a sufficiently smooth Jiang Tinghan in it.

He took off the non-prescription glasses that covered his dark circles, tossed them aside, and looked at Jiang Tinghan's hurried departure through the car's rearview mirror, thinking to himself, "He runs really fast."

They didn't even say "goodbye".

On her way back, Jiang Tinghan rummaged through the bag again to see if there was anything else. She found a dark red square box with gold foil embossing tucked inside the scarf, and the word "Cartier" in the center.

The Cartier box was a similar dark red to the scarf; I almost missed it at first glance.

Inside was a pair of ruby ​​platinum earrings, set with oval-cut rubies and surrounded by a circle of round-cut diamonds. The gems were not very large, but their colors were very vibrant, as if they were glowing on their own.

She didn't say anything, but in the end she was forced to buy it. This was the first luxury item in her life. She wasn't interested in it before, and even if she was, she didn't have the money to buy it.

Jiang Tinghan suddenly felt like he was holding a pile of gold.

She put the bag with her personal belongings and only took the thermos back to the studio.

Lin Zhixia saw her from afar and breathed a sigh of relief. Luckily, they were in the same group. Jiang Tinghan was going to sit near her anyway, so it saved her the trouble of going over there.

She'd been curious for a while, and now she could finally ask: "What's inside this thermos?"

Jiang Tinghan unscrewed the cap and smelled it: "It smells like honey water?"

You can still see lemon slices that were forcibly stuffed in; it's truly a case of dying with their eyes wide open in disbelief.

"Oh..." Lin Zhixia's tone was full of upward inflection, with a hint of sarcasm, "How thoughtful of you."

"Hurry up and take a sip."

Lin Zhixia whispered in Jiang Tinghan's ear, covering her mouth, "This is full of love."

Jiang Tinghan reciprocated by typing a string of words on her phone: "[Tomorrow, pack your bags and come home to a bowl of sweet lemon honey water made by your boyfriend. Tell him to quit his marketing account and start a joint account with you tomorrow; let's become couple bloggers!]"

Lin Zhixia almost vomited blood after reading it; how could this woman have such a venomous tongue?

Isn't this just cursing her to be eliminated tomorrow?

"Get lost!" Lin Zhixia ran away angrily.

One person left and another came. Pei Xiuwen glanced at Jiang Tinghan's thermos cup casually: "Where did you get this?"

Jiang Tinghan replied simply, "It was a gift from a friend."

Contestants usually have family tickets, and popular contestants have even more. Pei Xiuwen didn't think much of it, assuming that Jiang Tinghan's friends were there to see her second performance.

"Your friend is quite considerate."

Jiang Tinghan asked, "Would you like to try it? I've never had it before."

"……Can."

Jiang Tinghan had almost never given her anything on his own initiative. Pei Xiuwen believed Jiang Tinghan's lies in the blink of an eye, carefully lifted the thermos cup, and poured a little into her mouth without touching her lips.

Jiang Tinghan's eyes curved into two beautiful crescent moons: "How does it taste?"

Bae Soo-min looked at him with an indescribable expression, and after a moment of silence, she said, "Your friends can stay away from the kitchen from now on."

Jiang Tinghan laughed even harder, a hint of smug satisfaction in his eyes.

Bae Soo-min barely realized what was happening: "You did this on purpose."

Jiang Tinghan shrugged: "No, this is the first time I've received something he made, I don't know what it tastes like."

But seeing the lemon's miserable state, still with peel and seeds, and its color looking rather off, Jiang Tinghan predicted that it wouldn't taste very good.

Bae Soo-min pursed her lips, unsure whether she believed it or not.

In order not to waste Quan Zhilong's good intentions, Jiang Tinghan still drank it.

The metallic taste, the sour and bitter lemon, the bland honey, and perhaps a pinch of saltiness—all these flavors become more pronounced with the warmth, creating a burst of flavors in the mouth, a truly complex and delightful experience.

Jiang Tinghan typed a line of text without changing his expression and sent it to Quan Zhilong.

Thank you, senior. The honey water is delicious.

I hope Kwon Ji-yong continues to use his culinary skills to wreak havoc on others; this blessing shouldn't be enjoyed by her alone.

Kwon Ji-yong quickly replied: 【That's good, I'll make more for you next time.】

Jiang Tinghan: "..."

The senior colleague drove all the way here in the dead of winter and late at night, so what's wrong with spoiling him a little?

She continued, "Excuse me, how much do the scarf and earrings cost?"

Kwon Ji-yong: [What, are you going to back out?]

Jiang Tinghan: [Refund will be given if the amount exceeds 40 million Korean won]

Kwon Ji-yong couldn't help but smile. Forty million won was no small sum; they were really good to him.

[Approximately 39.99 million Korean won, no need to refund]

Jiang Tinghan sent two "OK" emojis.

She didn't quite believe Kwon Ji-yong's obviously fabricated figure, so she searched online and compared the different series, discovering that Kwon Ji-yong hadn't really lied much.

These earrings cost around 180,000 won, and the scarf around 8,000 won. The total cost of 40 million won is about 210,000 yuan, which is indeed less than the price of the earrings.

It's this 188,000... Did Kwon Ji-yong marry the number "8" in his past life?

After Putuo Qian from Group 10 finished her performance, she touched Jiang Tinghan's forehead as she returned to the studio: "Girl, the fever reducer you took is so effective. You look much more energetic, and your temperature isn't so high anymore."

Jiang Tinghan felt like a lot of people had touched her forehead lately. She joked, "My illness is cured because of watching Grape Your Stage."

Anri Tsukichi squeezed her hand: "But it's still as warm as a little stove, it feels like a hand warmer."

Jiang Tinghan: "Sigh! I don't want to become the joke in the hellish joke."

“No, no, no,” Putuoxi said mysteriously, “Tonight’s Coldy is clearly a fairy tale for countless boys and girls.”

Jiang Tinghan couldn't help but chuckle: "A bloody fairy tale?"

Putuo Qian felt a sense of excitement, as if she had finally connected to 5G network speeds in the 2G era. She clapped her hands and enthusiastically shared, "I recently saw a quote on the internet that is very suitable for this context."

She embellished it: "What is it—you are both my sweet dreams and nightmares?"

Jiang Tinghan: "That's a very high compliment."

After a few short banter, everyone went on stage together. From one hundred people to fifty, and then next time there will only be thirty left. As the number of people dwindled, everyone couldn't help but feel a little melancholy.

As always, the mentors gave their comments before announcing the rankings. "Coldy" appeared again and again. While other people's performances were either "not bad" or "excellent", Coldy's performances were always "perfect", "imperfect", "you have developed your own stage style", "to be able to produce such a high level of performance in a talent show, it is truly unprecedented and unparalleled". The praises were varied and numerous.

The mentors had no further questions to offer, and could only say, "Be careful."

The group stage and individual stage are ranked separately. The group stage is ranked first, and the votes are announced one by one in the order of appearance.

Everyone thought they had calmed down and that the final decision on whether to stay or leave would be the popularity vote in the next 24 hours. They didn't care what their ranking was today, but when they actually got to that part, they were still extremely nervous.

The first group to be announced was Kong Yanshu's group. She had already quietly huddled behind Jiang Tinghan, making various tense whispers.

Jiang Tinghan comforted him, "You did very well this time, don't worry."

Kong Yeon-seo's group assignment wasn't great this time, with only one contestant from Class A and none of her acquaintances. But she did everything she could, especially by capitalizing on her strengths and making the most of her striking beauty.

After watching her performance, the audience was most impressed not by the A-class contestants, but by her.

"The mentor votes for 'Into the New World' are—four! The audience votes are 721! Congratulations!"

Perhaps feeling that the previous rule of only allowing each audience member to cast one vote made some groups seem to have received too few votes, today they changed it to unlimited votes, allowing anyone who likes the stage to vote.

Kong Yanshu almost screamed and jumped onto Jiang Tinghan's back: "It's so unexpected that our lineup got so many votes! Coldy, you're a prophet!"

"What did I predict?" Jiang Tinghan coughed twice, feigning weakness. "It's your own efforts."

Kong Yanshu immediately released Jiang Tinghan: "Sorry, sorry, I forgot you were still sick."

A slightly cold voice came from the side, belonging to Kim Seo-hee: "And what about me?"

Jiang Tinghan gave a thumbs-up: "Shining World's number one female rapper."

"Oh."

"Well."

Two sounds came from the left and right sides respectively, one from Yoon Ji-chae and the other from Bae Soo-min.

Jiang Tinghan: "?"

Kim Seo-hee glanced at Bae Soo-min: "Okay."

"Well."

"Oh."

The two of them made another sound, which didn't sound very pleasant.

Jiang Tinghan: "However, we also have a contestant in our group who is very good at rapping, but unfortunately we didn't give her a chance to show it this time."

Bae Soo-min's expression remained unchanged, she just straightened her back a little.

Kim Seo-hee: "Why didn't you add a paragraph like last time? Are you too busy to handle so many tasks by yourself and don't have time?"

Bae Soo-min: "..."

Jiang Tinghan discovered that although Jin Ruixi didn't talk much, her tea skills were second to none. She even directly implied to Jiang Tinghan that Pei Xiumin wasn't helping with the creation like Jin Ruixi did.

"Fortunately, changing this song to rap would disrupt the mood, so it's not really suitable."

While the two were whispering, the host announced the vote count for Kim Seo-hee's group: "Her received four mentor votes and seven hundred and sixty-three audience votes!"

If the mentors have the same number of votes, then the audience vote will be used. Currently, "Her" has surpassed "Into the New World" and is in first place.

The third one is "Heaven".

The contestants who had been gossiping in the audience all shut up, eagerly awaiting the announcement of the votes for "Heaven" to see just how high they were!

"Heaven received eight votes from the mentors!!! The audience vote received eight hundred and eighty-one votes!!!"

"ah???!!!"

"Aaaaaaahh ...

The shock, disbelief, and exclamations of the contestants mingled with the screams of the audience.

Is this reasonable? The mentors cast a total of nine votes and won eight of them! What's even more terrifying is that there were only one thousand audience members present, and they cast 880 votes for "Heaven," which is nearly 90% of the votes!

They immediately opened up a gap of more than 100 votes with the first two groups.

Song Yamin rubbed her eyes, confirming again and again: "I didn't see wrong, did I..."

Lin Zhixia finally understood a sentence in Korean and wanted to say that the host had already said it, so how could she have misunderstood? But she failed to organize her thoughts and gave up.

Jiang Tinghan spoke up for her, saying, "It's true, all these tickets belong to our group, Captain."

Song Yamin started grinning foolishly.

Even Lena, who isn't a Christian, blurted out, "My God..."

Bae Soo-min: "I thought it would get 900 votes."

Song Yamin: "Sumin, one should be content. There are many audience members who are not our fans. I think it's already amazing to get 880 votes."

Pei Xiuwen pointed at Jiang Tinghan: "With her here, she deserves nine hundred votes."

Song Yamin: "Now that you mention it, I think it makes some sense."

Jiang Tinghan smiled without saying a word. Although Chinese people are usually modest, no one would dislike having more votes, and she also wanted nine hundred votes.

Yoon Ji-chae looked away; next up was their group's "Rock N Roll".

Pei Xiumin suddenly turned to Jiang Tinghan and said, "I still can't rest easy. The next group will be a formidable opponent."

Jiang Tinghan casually asked, "Who's in the next group?"

Yoon Ji-chae silently pursed her lips.

Bae Soo-min was somewhat surprised, even exaggeratedly covering her lips: "Coldy, you didn't see such a wonderful stage performance? It was 'Rock N Roll'."

Jiang Tinghan recalled that she must have been busy with makeup and rushing to meet deadlines at that time, so she didn't have time to pay attention to the stage.

"I don't remember much."

Yoon Ji-chae went from pursing her lips to biting them.

Bae Soo-min: "It's okay, I just hope they don't surpass us."

Although Lin Zhixia only half understood what she was hearing, she was already laughing so hard inside. Watching from the sidelines was just so enjoyable, just like watching "Empresses in the Palace," where everyone took turns trying to sow discord among the others in front of the emperor.

"The mentors cast seven votes for 'Rock N Roll'! The audience cast eight hundred and seventeen votes!"

Bae Soo-min played her part perfectly. After hearing the host's announcement, she breathed a sigh of relief and patted her chest, saying, "Thank goodness, that scared me to death."

Jiang Tinghan didn't pay much attention to their subtle power struggles. Her gaze swept across the audience below, where the crowd was like a dense cloud of people, making it as difficult to find a single person as to search for a needle in a haystack.

I wonder if it's still there.

The group stage rankings were announced quickly. "Heaven" came in first place with a high number of votes, followed by Sister Sika's "Style" in second place, which was also a great comeback, and Yoon Ji-chae in third place.

The announcement of the collaboration stages was swift and decisive, with the rankings of the five stages appearing directly on the big screen.

The combination of 【Coldy & Yuqi】is ranked number one!

The mentors voted for it unanimously! It received a full nine votes!

The audience vote reached a record high of 912 votes!

[Holy crap, it's broken 900!!! And the mentors all got a perfect nine votes! Nine is such a lucky number!]

All I can say is that these two beauties deserve it! This collaboration performance was absolutely fantastic!

[There were over eighty audience members who didn't vote for them! That's incredibly tasteless! This performance deserves a perfect score!]

[Seriously, it's unbeatable. While some flaws could be found in the other members' renditions of "Heaven," "E Back to Me" was top-notch in terms of arrangement, concept, and live performance. They even managed to create a stunning plot twist within just over three minutes of stage time! Everyone who saw it would call it divine!]

[Coldy's solo stage performances received more votes than his group stage performances in both shows, which suggests that Coldy doesn't actually need teammates.]

I admire your boldness, but remember to turn off private messages.

[The truth is, "Heaven" got eight votes and "E Back to Me" got nine. Who wouldn't laugh? You can't say the teammates were bad, you can only say Coldy was just too amazing.]

Goodbye to the other contestants of "SW"! Our Coldy's collaborator should be someone like Yuqi, a popular idol who has already debuted!

[Oh my god, there should be a lot of Yin fans at the scene, how come Coldy still got more than 900 votes? Did the production team rig it?]

Why don't you ask why Yoon Ji-chae still got 800 votes when there were so many Coldy fans at the venue? She was so overwhelmed by the stage performance that she couldn't tell the difference anymore. Or is there just too much negativity online?

Actually, I'd really like to see these two collaborate. Is there any chance...?

Let's have a little romance! It's been so long since we've had any sweet moments, it's time to buy another couple, Coldy!

[In short, congratulations to our Sister Kou for winning first place in two categories again!]

Tell me, who is SW's No. 1?

【Of course it's our Coldy!!!】

It's finally over.

Jiang Tinghan, who had been tense, relaxed, and a wave of exhaustion washed over him, almost causing him to faint. Fortunately, he managed to stay awake by supporting Kong Yanshu.

Kong Yanshu frowned immediately: "Let's go to the hospital."

Jiang Tinghan didn't insist any longer: "Okay."

She forced herself to stand up straight and waved to the audience, just like the other contestants.

Other enthusiastic contestants did their best to sprinkle rice on the food, some even blowing kisses. Jiang Tinghan didn't do that. Instead, she raised her hand, crossed her thumb and forefinger, and made a heart shape with her fingers.

The fans below went wild, chanting her name repeatedly and shouting, "Don't go!!!"

Jiang Tinghan could only smile at the nearest row of fans and say, "See you at the next performance."

Make the lip movements as clear as possible for easy identification.

The fans became even more excited: "Good—"

"Go back and get some rest, unnie!"

"I'll come see you at the next performance, even if it kills me!"

One fan shouted something at the top of his lungs, which made the surrounding fans laugh. Even Jiang Tinghan couldn't help but cover his lips, unable to suppress a smile.

Where Jiang Tinghan couldn't see, a figure secretly left from the back of the crowd, still replaying the scene of making a heart shape in his mind.

Kwon Ji-yong also had to use the staff entrance to go straight backstage. When passing by the contestants' lounge, he kept his eyes straight ahead and even tightened his mask before arriving at the mentors' lounge.

There was no other way; he had used CL's invitation as an excuse to sneak in through the back door, and he had to go see CL to avoid seeming strange.

The director probably thinks he's very kind; he came in place of Teddy for the first performance and then came to support CL for the second.

Oh no, what reason can the three officials give for this?

CL was about to leave, but stayed a little longer to chat with the other mentors. When she looked up, she saw Kwon Ji-yong come in.

She opened her eyes slightly, but before she could even ask, "Why are you here?", Kwon Ji-yong smiled and said, "Chae-rin, thank you for inviting me here. Seeing the young people here makes me feel much better."

CL changed the subject, playing along: "Ah... haha, Oppa, you should go out more. Staying at home all day will make you sick."

It wasn't until Kwon Ji-yong took off his mask that the other mentors finally recognized him.

BewhY, a big fan of GD, couldn't contain his excitement and stood up, then hesitated: "Was GD-xi actually in the audience just now?"

Kwon Ji-yong: "I didn't stay long either; I came when it was almost over."

“BewhY, it’s been a long time! It seems like the last time we met was in 2016?” He had already started making small talk with ease.

BewhY: "It seems so. During the Gayo Daejeon, I had a collaboration stage with hyung."

Kwon Ji-yong: "I heard you got married? Although it's two years late, I still wish you a happy marriage."

BewhY said with some honor: "It's not too late, it's not too late. It's never too late for my blessings."

Kwon Ji-yong smiled and said, "Are you about to enlist? I wish you all the best."

BewhY genuinely didn't expect Kwon Ji-yong to be so concerned about his news: "Yes, this is my last job before enlisting! I hope everything goes well for you, hyung, and I wish you a speedy marriage!"

Upon hearing this, the other Korean mentors all laughed.

Choi Young-joon: "GD is getting married? That must be quite sensational news."

Kwon Ji-yong: "You need to have a partner first."

Baek Gu-young: "Yes, our GD is still a golden bachelor."

CL sensed a hint of smugness on Kwon Ji-yong's face, but thought that while it might be now, it might not be in a while.

Gary's words drew CL's attention: "CLxi, that's not fair of you. You didn't even tell us about this beforehand."

CL laughed twice: "It's a pleasant surprise."

She just found out herself.

She was truly exasperated with her brother. He was currently unemployed and idle, yet he would frequently come to the show to pick up female trainees.

CL had vaguely heard from staff that Coldy was sick, and Kwon Ji-yong probably came for that reason.

"Cai Lin, I'll be going now. I'll treat you to dinner another day."

"How about I treat you to jajangmyeon? It's 200 won a bowl." Kwon Ji-yong couldn't help but tease his friends when he saw them, especially his former YG family.

CL was speechless: "Aigoo! Oppa, let's go! I'm on a diet and I don't eat greasy things like jajangmyeon!"

"Okay~" Kwon Ji-yong said casually. Jajangmyeon is a Chinese dish, right? I wonder if that Chinese girl likes it?

When he left, Kwon Ji-yong hoped that the door to the contestants' lounge would be open, and that a familiar girl would walk out from inside. Unfortunately, although the door was open, the inside was already empty.

She's gone.

In the van, Kong Yanshu and Jin Ruixi, Jiang Tinghan's two protectors, accompanied him to the hospital. As for the bag of gifts that Quan Zhilong had given him, Jiang Tinghan had Lin Zhixia take it back first.

Kong Yanshu suddenly screamed, waking Jiang Tinghan, who was almost asleep.

"Ah, I'm so sorry." Kong Yanshu felt guilty looking at Jiang Tinghan, who was covered in cold sweat, and quickly handed him a tissue.

Jiang Tinghan wiped away his cold sweat: "It's nothing..."

"I just had a nightmare."

Kong Yanshu immediately became gossipy: "What did you dream about?"

Jiang Tinghan: "I dreamt that... a fox was going to eat me."

Of course, this was a lie. She dreamt that she was back in Kwon Ji-yong's car, and he came close to her, grabbing her collar. They were so close. Even though it was a dream, his amber eyes were exceptionally clear, like the finest honey, exuding a warm and translucent quality.

Just as they were about to kiss, Kong Yeon-seo woke her up.

fine.

Otherwise, this dream would be too terrifying.

Kong Yanshu said thoughtfully, "That is indeed very scary. I don't like foxes. They have pointed mouths and monkey cheeks and are not good-looking at all."

Jiang Tinghan: "By the way, what were you yelling about just now? What's the latest gossip?"

This young lady's favorite things are jewelry and designer brands, and secondly, gossiping.

"It's not gossip, it's what my staff said—GD just came to our show's backstage!"

Good heavens, even the staff are now using "my home" as a prefix.

wrong!

Jiang Tinghan: "???"

She couldn't help but ask, "What is he going to do?"

So they really didn't leave.

"It seems that CL invited him, so he went to greet CL, and a lot of staff members saw him on the way!"

Jiang Tinghan lowered his eyes and touched the phone in his pocket a couple more times: "So that's how it is."

Kong Yeon-seo continued to complain, "Ugh! Seriously! I missed it both times! Am I just not meant to be with G-Dragon?!"

"Can anyone understand how I feel! I really want to see the difference between GD on stage and off stage!"

She first looked at Jiang Tinghan: "Forget it, you're definitely not interested. You said last time that you didn't want to see him."

Just a few hours ago, Jiang Tinghan had told Kwon Ji-yong, "Can't I even see you?" He gripped his phone tightly, a hint of guilt flashing across his dark eyes.

Then, with a self-assured air, she replied, "Yes."

I've seen you today, so I don't want to see you again.

Kong Yeon-seo looked at Kim Seo-hee with an "I knew it" expression, then looked at her for approval. Seeing her calm demeanor, she was speechless: "Fine, you're all from YG, you must be tired of seeing this."

Kim Seo-hee said calmly, "No, I've only met him once or twice at YG. He's my idol. I started following him around 2012."

The two girls next to me gasped simultaneously, one loud and one soft: "Ah?!"

Kong Yanshu asked incredulously, "How come I've never heard you mention this before?"

Kim Seo-hee said calmly, "We haven't talked about this kind of topic before."

She held up her phone and unlocked the screen: "This photo was taken by him and posted on Instagram."

Jiang Tinghan knew about her wallpaper, but it was just a coffee shop with a yellow smiley face and a string of "Good news" on the glass. How could it be related to Kwon Ji-yong?

Kim Seo-hee looked at their surprised expressions with great confusion: "I'm from YG, and I'm a rapper, how could I not be a GD fan?"

“When I was little, my mom took me to a GD concert, and I fell in love with him.”

Jiang Tinghan was a little flustered, but still pretended to be very calm: "What kind of fan are you? What do you like about him?"

Kim Seo-hee: "I don't define myself by any particular identity. If I had to say... I like his songs and his talent."

Jiang Tinghan repeated: "Indeed, he is very talented, and his songs are also very good."

Kong Yanshu chattered away with Jin Ruixi, while Jiang Tinghan fell into deep silence.

How awkward... this situation... how am I going to face Kim Seo-hee in the future? TT TT

Never mind, just pretend you don't know anything when asked.

Jiang Tinghan took a deep breath. It seemed she still didn't know enough about Kwon Ji-yong. She needed to watch more videos to identify who his fans were.

Her phone screen lit up again, and it just so happened to be a message from Mr. G-Dragon, the topic of their conversation.

I gave you a gift, don't you want to say anything in return? No need to thank me.

Jiang Tinghan's fingers went a little stiff, but she calmed down when she saw the note. Luckily, it wasn't her real name.

What does the senior want?

Kwon Ji-yong: [You sing so well on stage, I wonder if I'm worthy to hear you sing a song?]

He then sent a picture with the lyrics to "Back to Me".

Hearing the conversation around him, Jiang Tinghan could only politely decline: "Senior, I'm in the car, and someone's with me."

Kwon Ji-yong didn't reply.

After waiting for a while, Jiang Tinghan felt a little uneasy.

Is she angry?

It's not that you can't sing, you just need to find a better reason.

Just as she was lost in thought, the other party sent her a voice message.

Jiang Tinghan silently put on her headphones and clicked play.

The other person sang this love song with a melody that was completely different from the original, but surprisingly beautiful. It sounded languid yet somewhat affectionate, with a slightly hoarse tone at the end, like a cat humming softly after waking up from an afternoon nap, or like someone slightly tipsy from sipping red wine.

Every note change was unexpected, yet each one struck Jiang Tinghan's heart firmly, making his ears itch inexplicably.

"Anything from A to Z."

"Call me what you want to babe."

You are my priority.

The lyrics translate to:

Anything in the world that you want, I will give you as you wish.

You will always be my number one.

Two messages arrived in quick succession.

Is this how it's sung? I think I sang it off-key.

Could you come and teach me how to sing this song?

Snowflakes were falling heavily outside the window, and the red and green lights of the streetlights danced on the car window. Jiang Tinghan's heart pounded like a drum.

-----------------------

Author's Note: Today I'm a clumsy but hardworking dragon trying to make lemon honey water. The lemon died so miserably because I was very angry.

The original plan was to meet outside the venue, where it was snowing heavily, but Long built a snowman for Han. Because of the word "pabo", Han gave the snowman a buzz cut and then made Xiaolin jump around and wave to Long, who was hiding somewhere.

But then I thought about it, and the dragon had to park the car and walk a long way to get here, and we still wouldn't be able to meet. It felt a bit like my life was miserable.