Chapter 14 First Performance 2.0

Because Ding and Leo were practicing with their own group, he didn't stay in their practice room for long after delivering the meal.

After the meal, everyone stood up and started practicing again. Although their clothes were soaked with sweat, they still gritted their teeth and persevered, using cameras to record the problems they encountered each time, striving to do better next time.

The mirror in the practice room was fogged up. When Zhu Xiaojun turned around and swung his arms, he was two beats too fast and bumped directly into Xie Qingyu behind him.

Xie Qingyu staggered back two steps after being knocked. He looked up and found that the shadows of the people in the mirror were double. Looking at Zhu Xiaojun who was running towards him anxiously, he suddenly felt a little tinnitus and could not hear what he was saying. He could only wave his hand to indicate that he was fine.

When Xie Qingyu came back to his senses, he saw that everyone was concerned about him and smiled: "It's okay, let's continue."

After he walked to the center of the practice room, he heard no movement behind him. He turned around and saw that everyone was still standing there without moving. Suddenly, he felt an inexplicable sense of loneliness.

The cold air penetrated into his bones. This was the first time he had felt this way since coming into this world.

Suddenly, someone came over and grabbed his wrist. It was Bai Lang. He said in a very low and gentle voice: "Stop practicing. You look terrible."

"Third accident in fifteen minutes." Cai Jiashu also collapsed on the ground and raised three fingers. "First, Lele stepped on Song Ge, then Bai Ge hit the bar, and now Qingyu..."

"Everyone, go back and rest first." Bai Lang tore off the protective gear wrapped around his waist, and large dark red scratches were visible under his sweat-soaked white T-shirt.

Seeing that everyone was still reluctant to leave, he said in a cold tone, "We've been practicing non-stop until three in the morning. Everyone's in very bad shape right now. If you all want to go to the hospital, then continue. I'll accompany you."

"But including the time for re-adaptation, our group practiced a full ten hours less than the other groups," Sun Lele said dejectedly.

Zhu Xiaojun stood by with his head down and said nothing. He knew that everyone wanted to make up for the lost time.

Now he is the one who blames himself the most. Although no one blames him, he can't help but think that if he didn't choose this song, if he didn't choose everyone...

"Let's go back to the dormitory now and continue at six o'clock tomorrow." Xie Qingyu's voice was like a guitar string stretched to the extreme, ready to snap at any moment.

Looking at the seven pale faces reflected in the mirror, Qian Song suddenly made a joke and said, "Look at our faces now. Do they look like the damp male ghosts in horror movies?" He deliberately stretched his face with his hands.

The tense atmosphere was slightly broken. Huang Ke rubbed his cramped calf and muttered, "Oh, my old leg. I'm so sorry. You've suffered a lot following me."

---

As the seven people dragged their lead-like legs out of the training building, screams from outside the wall startled the night birds in the sycamore trees.

Five girls wrapped in fluorescent cheering blankets were holding cameras and stamping their feet excitedly in the cold wind. The moment they saw them, they burst into cheers with tearful voices.

"Jiangbao, how did you continue practicing till now? Mom is so heartbroken."

"Song——, you're already great. Go back and rest. You're not allowed to practice so late anymore."

"Woo woo woo, everyone is already very good, I will go to the first performance stage to cheer for everyone like crazy"

It was very cold tonight, and the other fans left after they saw their favorite contestants, and now only a few of them are left.

Everyone suddenly didn't know how to respond to the fans' love. This love was too heavy and too pressing, but when it weighed on them, they inexplicably felt grounded.

I wanted to say something, but found that nothing I said would be enough. I could only bow to the other side of the wall together and did not stand up for a long time.

After Xie Qingyu stood up, he suddenly felt a little sad. In fact, in the parallel universe, he rarely had close contact and communication with his fans.

When he was in that position, even the smallest thing would be magnified infinitely by the media, who would constantly and maliciously speculate about his intentions. Later, he suffered a great loss because of his fans.

From then on, his agent began to restrict his communication with fans. Anything he said at the concert would be repeatedly reviewed, and even letters from offline fans had to go through his agent's hands.

It was a little hard for him to accept, but he was not alone, he was the captain of NOVA-X, and any decision he made had to give way to the development of the team.

Moreover, he is the eldest brother in the team, and the other younger brothers subconsciously rely on him, so he has to consider more for them.

Tonight, he saw some young fans behind the fence excitedly shouting his name, and he somehow walked closer to them. One of his fans seemed to be so excited that she was about to cry.

For some reason, Xie Qingyu also had tears in his eyes, when his whole body was about to break due to the pain from the practice.

Lin Lulu looked at Xie Qingyu, whose face was pale and dazed, walking towards him, and tears couldn't help but slide down her cheeks.

Carefully stack up the small slips of paper with the names of fans that other little fans have asked to ask Xie Qingyu for his opinions. Next time, ask next time. Qingyu is very tired today.

Seeing Xie Qingyu who was obviously in a bad state, Bai Lang reached out and grabbed his wrist. He gave a few more careful instructions to the fans at the wall, then took Xie Qingyu and called everyone else to walk quickly towards the dormitory.

Because he knew that if they didn't leave, no matter how many times he asked them to go back, they would not leave.

After returning to the dormitory building, everyone went back to their own dormitories. Bai Lang personally sent Xie Qingyu to the door of dormitory 122. After watching him go in, he turned and walked towards his own dormitory.

The moment Xie Qingyu pushed open the dormitory door, he stumbled and held onto the wall. He walked to where he usually kept his toiletries in the dark and quietly left.

After a quick wash, he was about to return to the dormitory when all the lights in the dormitory corridor, which was said to have 24-hour water and electricity, went out in an instant. Xie Qingyu walked into the darkness alone with an expressionless face.

The sound of the door lock turning woke up his lightly sleeping teammates. Xie Qingyu climbed onto the bed in the dark, and when he curled up in the quilt, his spine made a clicking sound under the heavy weight.

In the hazy state, cold fingers touched his forehead, and Gu Qiong's voice came from above: "You have a fever."

Xie Qingyu wanted to say that he didn't need painkillers, but fell into a dream filled with the roar of machinery.

Countless "painkillers" turned into starlight and fell on his shattered joints, melting into golden welds.

There was a lot of noise all around, and Xie Qingyu fell into a deep sleep with a slight rocking.

In his dream, he turned into a green fish, swimming through the sea of ​​stars made of glow sticks by fans. In each spot of light, a young face was reflected, smiling silently at him.

——

The morning light flowed through the window lattice like flowing amber, outlining a light golden outline on Xie Qingyu's pale face.

I saw that his brows were slightly furrowed, his face was a little pale, and the edge of the fever-reducing patch was curled up, trembling slightly with his rapid breathing.

Xie Qingyu slowly opened his eyes and scanned the room blurrily. The wall clock showed it was already 9:18.

Suddenly, he suddenly remembered that he was participating in the "Road to Star Dreams" talent show and that he had agreed with the "Banana" team members to have a training session at 6 o'clock yesterday. His heartbeat suddenly quickened.

He suddenly threw back the thin blanket, and a muscle-tearing pain exploded along his spine, and he staggered back to the edge of the bed.

Xie Qingyu gritted his teeth, supported himself on the edge of the bed, and tried to steady his breathing.

Thoughts raced through his mind: He's late for practice, will everyone wait for him? Today's tasks aren't finished yet: stage choreography, music score revisions, costume negotiations, and...will the production team make a nasty edit?

At that moment, the dormitory door was gently pushed open. Bai Lang walked in, holding a tablet with the music sheet and lyrics displayed on the screen.

He looked up and saw that Xie Qingyu had woken up. He frowned slightly, then put down the tablet, turned around and walked out of the room.

Within two minutes, staff and medical staff rushed over.

"Are you awake?" The medical staff walked to the bedside, his tone gentle but with a hint of blame.

"You had a fever last night. Luckily, your roommate noticed something was wrong with you in the middle of the night, otherwise the situation might have been much more serious."

Xie Qingyu looked up in confusion, his throat so dry that he couldn't make a sound.

He opened his mouth and said in a hoarse voice, "I... I'm fine, doctor. I still have training today..."

"Training?" the medical staff interrupted him sternly.

"You're still thinking about training in this state? You had a fever of 39 degrees last night and were extremely weak. If you hadn't been discovered in time, you would have been burned into a fool by now."

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw Xie Qingyu looking at him pleadingly with those eyes filled with clear springs.

Thinking of the nature of this program, he sighed and said helplessly: "At least eight hours, otherwise the fever will recur and the problem will become more serious. Even subsequent training must be moderate."

Xie Qingyu wanted to argue, but when he saw the serious look in the medical staff's eyes, he swallowed the words back.

He lowered his head, his fingers clenched the bed sheets tightly, his heart filled with anxiety and uneasiness.

Bai Lang stood aside, listening quietly to the medical staff's instructions with a focused look in his eyes.

After the medical staff finished speaking, he nodded slightly, indicating that he would take good care of Xie Qingyu.

After the staff and medical staff left, Xie Qingyu immediately looked up at Bai Tang and asked anxiously, "How is the team going now? Have I delayed everyone's progress?"

Bai Lang didn't answer immediately. Instead, he walked to the table, picked up a bowl of still warm porridge, and handed it to Xie Qingyu: "Eat first."

Xie Qingyu was stunned for a moment, took the porridge, lowered his head and took a sip.

Bai Lang then slowly spoke: "Everything is normal in the group, everyone else is training in the training room.

Zhu Xiaojun has already come up with a preliminary idea for the stage props, and the adaptation of the music score is almost complete. I am making the final improvements.

Don't worry, everyone has their own tasks and progress won't be stagnant just because you're taking a break."

As Xie Qingyu listened, the spoon in his hand paused for a moment, and he felt a little complicated.

He has always felt that the team needs him and that he has to shoulder all the pressure and responsibilities.

But now, Bai Lang's words made him realize that the team does not belong to him alone, everyone is also working hard and sharing the burden.

Bai Lang looked at him with a barely perceptible hint of heartache in his eyes.

He said softly, "You did a great job actually. When everyone was first chosen to perform this song, they were actually reluctant about it. No one wanted to form such a team.

It is you who gave everyone confidence and brought us together.

So we subconsciously rely on you to deal with many problems, thinking that as long as you are there, everything will go smoothly, but this is actually wrong."

Xie Qingyu raised his head, his eyes a little confused.

Outside the window, an unknown bird was singing happily. Bai Tang continued, "To everyone on the team, you can't take all the pressure on yourself. You also need to stop and rest, and don't keep it tense all the time.

Don’t always consider other people’s emotions, think about what you want.”

Xie Qingyu was stunned. Bai Lang's words were like a heavy hammer, hitting his heart.

He seemed to have never thought about himself. He had always listened to his agent, considered the team, the players, and the company, but he had always subconsciously ignored his own feelings.

He was silent for a moment, then raised the corners of his mouth slightly, revealing a relieved smile: "I understand, and..."

"Thank you!" This really puts Bai Lang in a difficult position. On normal days, he might not even talk so much in three days.

Bai Lang nodded, said nothing more, and lowered his head to continue writing and drawing on the tablet.

After Xie Qingyu finished his porridge and changed his clothes, he got out of bed and walked to Bai Yan, and began to work with him on the final perfection of the music score.

The two of them chatted with each other, and the atmosphere gradually became relaxed.

When Bai Lang proposed a modification point, Xie Qingyu frowned and directly expressed his disagreement.

Bai Lang glanced at him in surprise. Xie Qingyu shrugged, raised his eyebrows, and smiled, "Isn't that what you said? Let me express my thoughts proactively."

Bai Lang was stunned for a moment, then smiled and nodded: "Okay, change it according to your idea."

At noon, the dormitory door was suddenly pushed open and Leo rushed in like a gust of wind.

As soon as he entered the door, he rushed to Xie Qingyu, looked him up and down, and kept muttering to himself.

"Brother, how are you? Are you still feeling uncomfortable? Are you in pain? I told you that I should be in your group so that I can take care of you!"

Xie Qingyu was amused by him and shook his head: "I'm fine, don't worry."

Leo's brows were still furrowed, as if there was a pair of invisible ears on his head that had drooped down.

He muttered, "Then next time you feel uncomfortable, you must call me!"

Xie Qingyu smiled and patted his shoulder: "Okay, I will definitely call you next time."

The three of them went to the cafeteria together, and as soon as they entered the door, they met the other members of "Banana Over the Atlantic Coast".

As soon as everyone saw Xie Qingyu, they immediately surrounded him and asked him worriedly about his health.

Zhu Xiaojun asked with a guilty look on his face: "Is it because I bumped into you yesterday that you got sick?"

Xie Qingyu smiled and shook his head: "How is that possible? Don't let your imagination run wild."

Seeing that he was in good spirits, everyone felt relieved. After lunch, Xie Qingyu suggested going to the practice room with everyone.

Bai Lang was the first one to disagree. The medical staff had told him that he could not train for the time being. The others looked at each other and did not allow him to go.

Xie Qingyu raised his hands in a surrender gesture and repeatedly assured: "I won't train. I'll just sit by and watch you train. I won't play."

Everyone reluctantly agreed, and the group marched towards the practice room.

Xie Qingyu was walking at the end, and looking at the backs of his teammates in front of him, a warm feeling surged in his heart.

Suddenly I felt that maybe he could really relax a little and not carry all the responsibilities on his shoulders.