Chapter Fifty: Color
Meng Fanxi was the last person in their team to enter the Dream Chasing Hut.
There was only one staff member inside guiding him on how to operate it.
The moment the numbers were revealed on the big screen, Meng Fanxi's heart skipped a beat.
11 people.
When he saw this ranking, he couldn't quite describe how he felt. He was ranked 11th out of 91 people, which seemed alright.
Meng Fanxi chuckled. What was he thinking? This ranking was certainly not enough. Only by making it into the top six could he be considered the only member of an S-level team.
Before coming here, Wei also carefully analyzed the six words "numbers, ranking, and changes" that he had received before recording his first stage performance.
It is speculated that there may be individual rankings, which is why the source emphasized the rankings.
They guessed correctly, but apart from performing seriously, no one could use underhanded methods to influence their ranking.
Meng Fanxi was somewhat lost in thought, wondering how his teammates were ranked. "They should be doing well, right?"
A staff member reminded them, "Some judges have also left comments. Click there to view the real-name evaluations from the invited judges."
Meng Fanxi clicked on it, and there were about ten comments in total. Each comment included the judge's name and field of expertise.
A Little Fish (Entertainment Media Influencer): Great eyesight! The eyes in the final performance were truly amazing.
Zhong Liangzhe (musician): His understanding of the song is very accurate, and his performance is very strong.
Situ Yan (Senior Behind-the-Scenes Worker): Your eyes are very expressive. Here's a small suggestion: pay attention to the camera. Compared to others, you don't actively seek out the camera.
Perhaps it was an occupational hazard from his previous life as an actor, but he was still somewhat slow to focus on the camera. Meng Fanxi silently remembered the advice above.
He read through each item on the list, and when he saw the last one, his gaze lingered on it for a long time.
Qiu Lü (Director): His expressiveness is good, but he lacks a unique touch within the team.
Qiu Lü, a renowned director in his previous life, won numerous A-list film festival awards, including the Mexican Film Festival, with an art film, thus gaining fame in China. At this time, he was still unknown and, in order to earn some extra money, he sat in the studio watching their performance and gave his comments.
His comments resonated deeply with Meng Fanxi.
Lacking distinctive colors?
He was momentarily stunned. When his teammates were mentioned, he could clearly describe their colors.
Lin Ruohe is gentle orange, Zhang Yang is extreme black, Xu You is passionate red, Ren Yuchen is calm blue, and Gu Huailang is the green of wild grass.
And what about him?
He didn't even know what color he should be.
Meng Fanxi walked slowly outside, his expression as calm as a still, stagnant pool.
Memories flooded back, and Du Rong could only recall his arrogant attitude when he joined the already debuted group, Ji Xin's aggressive demeanor at the discussion meeting, and Fan Na's direct provocation...
Even Wei Ye, how much of the reason he was included in this group was because his gentle personality could act as a mediator among these strong-willed members?
Wei had once mentioned the theory of "red flowers and green leaves," and Meng Fanxi closed his eyes with difficulty, his eyelashes trembling.
He was originally confident that he would not become like Qi Xiaohan or Xu Weiguang in his previous life, but unknowingly he had already embarked on the path of a supporting role.
He relies too much on his teammates; he hasn't done enough.
Meng Fanxi turned the doorknob, and when he opened his eyes again, his expression was clear.
His teammates didn't go back to the studio; they waited in the corridor leading to it. When they saw him, they all stood up immediately, looking concerned.
Xu You scrutinized his expression, unable to discern anything amiss, and asked, "How is it?"
“11.” Meng Fanxi remained calm, his expression revealing no emotion.
Gu Huailang smiled and said, "We're neighbors, I'm tenth."
Meng Fanxi was somewhat surprised. "What's going on? Is there any feedback?"
Gu Huailang shrugged indifferently: "Saying that your expression was a bit too stiff or something."
Meng Fanxi said, "I'll give you special training when we get back." He received a lot of praise for his excellent facial expression control.
Gu Huailang nodded, paused, and asked hesitantly, "Are you alright?"
The more unusually calm it was, the more uneasy he felt.
Meng Fanxi remained silent, unsure of what to say.
Xu You put his arm around Meng Fanxi's shoulder. "Are you still thinking about what Fan Na said?" He scoffed. "You're just too good-natured, which is why he thinks you're easy to bully."
"Don't go back and give Gu Huailang special training yet. I'll give you special training first to become the fierce Fan Xi!"
Even with his chaotic state of mind, Meng Fanxi couldn't help but chuckle. He composed himself and said frankly, "Actually, this is just a starting point. I'm a bit confused right now, let me think about it myself."
He changed the subject, looking at Xu You and the others, "And you? How many of you are there?"
The answer was as expected: top four.
Zhang Yang is number one.
He and Gu Huailang became the bottom of the group.
After everyone learned their rankings, they returned to the studio. Yun Mengtao didn't say much about the rankings, but instead arranged for everyone to choose their dormitories according to their rank.
After that, there were still recordings for the theme song and variety shows, etc. The schedule was very full, so the process of choosing a dormitory was also very smooth.
As the only S-class combination present, the Eternal Six Stars will receive the privilege of living in a villa.
The screen suddenly displayed an exterior view of the villa, and all the trainees, including Meng Fanxi, exclaimed "Wow!"
Teams of Grade A live in small apartments, teams of Grade B live in four-person rooms, and teams of Grade C live in rooms for 6-8 people.
It took the teams of each level quite a while to choose their rooms before they finally got their own room cards.
During the break between dormitory selections, those who were free were called in for a post-interview.
Post-interviews are another way for the audience to get to know them. As the most prominent team, they always have the longest post-interview time. This time, he had already anticipated what the staff would ask and was well prepared.
He sat in front of the erected curtain, facing the planners, directors, and several cameras, controlling his expression.
The director asked, "What was your first reaction when you saw your ranking?"
“Not satisfied.”
The director then asked, "What were you thinking when Fan Na publicly questioned you?"
Meng Fanxi said sincerely, "That's his freedom. Rather than arguing, what matters is letting his actions speak for themselves."
The director then asked, "Most of your teammates achieved very high rankings. How do you feel about that? What is your target ranking?"
Meng Fanxi smiled slightly: "I'm happy for them, and it also gives me a real sense that the competition has begun. My goal is..."
"First."
"What about Zhang Yang? He's in first place now."
"We are never afraid of competition internally."
...
Their luggage had already been placed in an empty room in Mushroom Park by the production team. Everyone crowded into the room to collect their luggage. When Meng Fanxi was carrying his luggage, he accidentally stepped on someone. He quickly apologized and looked up to find that it was Zhong Chu.
Zhong Chu also saw him, and quickly waved his hand, using his whole body to show distance, "It's okay, it's okay." He turned around, picked up his luggage, and left.
Ren Yuchen walked over. "What's wrong? What are you looking at?"
Meng Fanxi looked away. "It's nothing."
The six people, carrying their luggage, boarded a sightseeing bus and headed towards the villa area.
When the lights came on, even Meng Fanxi, who had seen a lot of the world, was somewhat shocked by the extravagance of the production team when he saw that such a spacious and luxurious villa was only for the six of them.
The cameraman hadn't finished get off work yet, and Meng Fanxi cooperated by displaying an even more exaggerated reaction.
Meng Fanxi chose a room on the first floor to stay in, and Lin Ruohe also chose a room on the first floor after much deliberation.
Everyone else chose the second floor.
Cameras were installed in the rooms and common areas of the villa, recording 24 hours a day, leaving only the bathroom as a place to breathe.
When Meng Fanxi thought the photographer and director were about to leave work, Ying Zhuo called them into the living room and asked them to sit on the sofa and wait, but refused to reveal anything.
The six people waited idly for a while, when suddenly the huge screen in the living room lit up.
Zhu Lou appeared on television.
He greeted everyone with a sly grin: "Hi everyone, missed me? How's the dorm? Have you packed everything?"
"Is there some kind of mission?" Meng Fanxi guessed.
Zhu Lou didn't hear anyone's reply and continued, "From today onwards, our program will enter the competition phase. Hundreds or even thousands of audience members will come to the stage to score everyone's performance at each performance."
He spread his arms and introduced, "Our stage rules will be gradually made public. Each team's dormitory TV will regularly broadcast some of the rules and previews, so please pay attention."
Zhu Lou suddenly started acting silly again, getting close to the camera so that his face seemed to be the only thing on the screen. He put his hand to his mouth, pretending to whisper something.
"Individual rankings are just as important as team performance. You guys don't actually think the final debut team will all be the same, do you?"
Upon hearing this, every dormitory room raised a question: "What do you mean? There's more than one?"
But Zhu Lou's expression definitely didn't look like he was saying anything good.
Gan Yuanlu, a member of the "Five Grains Abundant Harvest" duo, lay on his bed looking utterly dejected, complaining, "The rules of this show are really torturous."
The statement was clearly ambiguous. Meng Fanxi sensed something was wrong, and the sentence kept repeating in his mind. Suddenly, something occurred to him. "Does this mean there's more than one team, or," he said uncertainly, "not just one team?"
Ren Yuchen immediately realized: "You mean, not the original team?"
Meng Fanxi thought about it more and more and felt it was possible. "If that's the case, it matches up with the team splitting up and adding members to each team after the initial stage performance."
Zhu Lou then said some unimportant things, telling everyone to take care of themselves, before disappearing from the screen.
But the TV didn't go dark. Everyone gathered around and found that the screen was already showing the content of the first public performance and the preview of the second public performance.
The first performance competition will consist of a performance on a specific theme.
Preview of the second performance competition: Individual battle.
Meng Fanxi's gaze was fixed on the words "individual battle," and his heart was pounding wildly.
After confirming that there was no new information to release, Meng Fanxi packed his backpack and prepared to go to the practice room.
Gu Huailang, who was going to get water, called out to him, "Where are you going? To the practice room? I'll go with you."
Meng Fanxi turned around: "If you want to practice on your own, then you can come with me. If it's just to keep me company, then there's no need." Meeting Gu Huailang's worried gaze, he said seriously: "I'm fine."
He walked alone towards the practice room. When he reached a corner practice room, he heard arguing coming from inside, and the voices were all familiar.
“I don’t have time to joke with you. You didn’t want to give up and quit in the first place, and now we’re on different teams. Do you have any sense of responsibility?” Zhong Chu’s voice was unusually firm.
On the other side was Fan Na, whose temper remained fiery: "You mean you're not willing to quit again? Fine, then I'll leave, and we'll pretend we don't know each other after I leave!"
Zhong Chu was puzzled: "What's wrong with you? Stop acting on a whim."
"I can't just do whatever I want! Those people are terrible dancers, they're so arrogant they think they're on top of the world, and they don't even talk to me. I can't stand it!"
Fan Na joined the C-level group, Bridge Boys. Lower-level groups choose to add members partly to bolster their strength, as more people mean more power, and partly to win over the audience.
Meng Fanxi had heard of Fan Na in his previous life. He debuted in another group back then, before these talent shows. His straightforward personality attracted a lot of people's favor. Although his group debuted from a small company, they were quite famous.
His dancing certainly has reason to be proud; in his previous life, he even served as a mentor on a dance program.
Meng Fanxi thought for a moment, then pushed open the door and went inside.
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A note from the author:
Chapter 50! Thank you everyone!
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