Chapter Fifty-Eight: Daily Practice
Was the spoiler about the mentor collaboration stage intentional or unintentional?
Suppressing their doubts, everyone asked Lin Ruohe, "Yes, our team doesn't have any professional rappers or members who are specifically designated as rappers."
“But he still performed very well,” Zhu Lou said with satisfaction. “As expected, top students can do well in any subject. I feel that if Xu You practices a little more, he could even take my job.”
Xu Youzheng gets easily shy when praised, and with his ears turning red, he quickly said, "No, no, thank you, thank you."
He awkwardly reached for the necklace around his neck, but couldn't find anything. "Fanxi suggested I give it a try, and I didn't expect I actually like rap too."
Zhu Lou nodded thoughtfully, "Fancy not only has a lot of ideas about the stage, but she also has a good eye for talent."
Meng Fanxi was taken aback. It was the first time a mentor had called him "Fancy." He humbly replied, "It's because Xu You himself has great potential."
Fu Hanfei couldn't help but tease, "You guys are all so humble, it makes me miss my team."
After the evaluation, they returned to the studio, and shortly afterward, the five mentors appeared in the studio and announced the rating results.
It is a comprehensive assessment of individual and team results used to rank and classify teams.
Eternal Six Stars remains in first place, S-rank.
At this point, the other teams were somewhat disappointed because they didn't get to see their evaluation performance.
The rankings didn't change much. The only thing that caught Meng Fanxi's attention was that the WONE group returned to second place, and the Seven Sons of Wanxiang dropped to third place, but both were A-level.
Without much rest, everyone immediately struck while the iron was hot and recorded the program's theme song, "Training as a Team," in the already set-up studio.
Meng Fanxi and his team were the highest level and got the verse they wanted to perform. Moreover, the length of this part was not reduced. The other thirteen teams shared the remaining verses, and several teams could only sing one line together. The dance design was also greatly simplified.
That's the cruel reality of competitive sports: results determine everything.
Not only academic achievements, but also popularity—a fleeting thought crossed Meng Fanxi's eyes.
The team, who were slightly disappointed earlier, finally saw the performance of Eternal Six Stars during the recording. They were initially unconvinced, but now they had nothing to say. They couldn't imagine how many fans this team would gain after the broadcast.
Jiangzhen Boys' Zuo Anping sighed and nudged his teammate Mu Wei with his elbow, "Do we even have a chance if this continues? We're just supporting them."
Mu Wei wasn't so pessimistic, but he was still a little confused. "Who knows?"
During the recording of the chorus, the entire group formed a triangular formation, filling the expanded stage, with the six eternal stars standing at the very front.
To differentiate itself from other talent shows, the program designed a system where each team rotates positions within their own group. For example, the Eternal Six Stars are at the very front, occupying the center position at the top of the pyramid. As the song progresses, the six members take turns being in the center position.
Other teams are also undergoing internal changes.
When the production team came up with this idea, they were prepared for failure. However, the actual result far exceeded their expectations. Each team precisely changed personnel positions at each point; while it might have looked chaotic up close, it appeared fluid and orderly under the panoramic camera, creating a truly stunning scene.
Jiang Xunzhen remarked, "A well-established team has such tacit understanding that I feel like I'm creating a work of art."
The effort required to record the theme song was comparable to that of the evaluation. After returning to the villa and washing up, they were so tired that they didn't want to move.
Meng Fanxi lay on the soft bed, thankful that he had chosen the first floor, as he was now so tired that he couldn't even climb a few steps.
After rolling around on the bed with his eyes closed a few times, he decided to take a day off and not do any extra training.
He slowly opened his eyes and stared blankly at the ceiling. He remembered that before returning to his dormitory, he had inexplicably gone to the dance practice room, only to find it locked.
All practice rooms are open, except for that one.
There was no explanation or notice on the door.
Perhaps something special happened; my thoughts drifted far away, and I couldn't help but drift off to sleep.
While eating breakfast, Meng Fanxi couldn't stop listening to the discussions at the next few tables.
Did you hear the noise from the dormitory building last night?
One person was confused, "I think I heard something, but I was too tired and thought I was dreaming."
One of them looked listless and yawned. "No, I went to bed early yesterday."
The person who started the conversation casually remarked, "Going to bed early but still so sleepy." Then, getting to the point, "I found out this morning that the production crew was making a big fuss by searching people's phones!"
"Huh?" They were surprised. "So some people really do secretly bring extra phones?"
Meng Fanxi's interest was immediately piqued. Glancing to the side, he saw his teammates casually picking at their food with their chopsticks, clearly distracted by the gossip.
Listening to the left and looking to the right, he finally figured out the general outline of the matter.
The production team somehow got wind of the fact that some trainees brought two phones, but only handed one over, secretly keeping the other in their dormitories to communicate with the outside world.
So last night, as soon as the trainees arrived at their dormitories, the production crew followed them and used professional equipment to conduct a thorough search of their phones, finding quite a few.
Meng Fanxi and his group lived in a separate villa, so they naturally couldn't hear anything and missed a good show.
Before coming to Yuncheng, they had considered bringing an extra cell phone to at least keep track of what was happening outside, but Wei changed his mind after testing Meng Tan at the company.
Meng Tan revealed that Star TV has been very strict with mobile phone management this time, even including it in the contract. Rather than getting distracted by playing hide-and-seek with the production team, it's better to put aside all distractions and focus on doing your own thing.
There was no sign of any production crew breaking into their residence, indicating that they were considered trustworthy. Meng Fanxi enjoyed this open and honest feeling, and while enjoying the gossip without any burden, he suddenly overheard a few faint whispers.
"The production team searched around Jin Ziran's WONE phone several times, but they couldn't find it."
"Then that means there isn't one."
"So it seems the production team apologized to him..."
They searched around Jin Ziran several times? Meng Fanxi frowned slightly. Listening to the whole thing, it was obvious that the production team had a list in advance and could find results by searching the list directly.
Jin Ziran is clearly on the list, but I can't find her?
Based on Meng Fanxi's understanding of him, he must have hidden it somewhere. He most likely has a cell phone in his hand. He is not the kind of person who would put himself in a passive position, so he would keep an eye on public opinion and adjust his behavior accordingly.
Meng Fanxi whispered this to his teammates, telling them to be wary of Jin Ziran, since he hadn't been caught holding a cell phone yet, and who knows what tricks he might be up to.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Before choosing songs for their first performance, several of the top-ranked teams went to record a spin-off variety show. This show would only be broadcast for a fee on the Starlight Video APP. The production team mainly wanted to make money, but having more exposure channels meant having more protection, so everyone cherished this opportunity.
The spin-off variety show focuses on adventure and games. Meng Fanxi has to immerse herself in the show while also avoiding Jin Ziran, who always inexplicably approaches her. She is exhausted by the end of the day.
Even though he had already taken a break yesterday, he still gritted his teeth, got up from his comfortable bed, carried his bag, and went to the practice room. Gu Huailang followed, dragging his sore feet.
He wanted to help Gu Huailang overcome his stiff facial expressions.
Sitting in front of the dance mirror in the practice room, Meng Fanxi looked at Gu Huailang's singing and dancing with a serious expression.
He directly chose a cheerful song for Gu Huailang, hoping he would perform it and be happy. However, the person in front of him gave a forced smile, and his handsome face had a strange feel to it.
Meng Fanxi's face scrunched up in disbelief, a look of utter disgust. Gu Huailang burst out laughing, his smile unexpectedly matching the mood of the song.
Brother, are you playing me?
Meng Fanxi selected several songs with different emotions and explained the details to Gu Huailang repeatedly, focusing on his expressions. Finally, he made some progress.
Rubbing his face, Gu Huailang continued practicing silently, addressing the issues pointed out by Meng Fanxi, feeling somewhat frustrated and disappointed.
During a break from practice, Gu Huailang looked at Meng Fanxi drinking water and asked the question that had been on his mind for the past few days, "Fanxi, how do you manage to keep moving forward and making progress? I feel like I can't keep up with you at all."
Meng Fanxi paused in his drinking, put down the water bottle, and saw a sense of relief in Gu Huailang's eyes after his exhaustion. This sudden maturity beyond his years startled Meng Fanxi, who then picked up an untouched bottle of water from the table and tossed it to Gu Huailang.
Want to know the key points?
Gu Huailang said seriously, "I want to."
Meng Fanxi's gaze fell on the bottle of water, and Gu Huailang understood, unscrewing the cap and drinking.
He nodded in satisfaction and smiled slightly, "Just eat and drink well and don't overthink things."
Gu Huailang tightened his grip on the water bottle. "It's not that simple."
"It's that simple. Instead of thinking too much, just do it."
The two of them fell silent, and the silence gradually spread from between them to the entire practice room.
The public cameras on the wall were recording, but Meng Fanxi estimated that this part wouldn't be included; it was just a conversation with nothing interesting to watch.
Regardless of Gu Huailang's current confusion, Meng Fanxi walked to his side, put his arm around his shoulder, and said, "Don't think about so many messy things. We're here, and we have no choice but to work hard."
He said softly, "As long as we don't limit ourselves, our team can achieve one success after another, there is no limit."
Gu Huailang held the water bottle tightly in his hand the whole time.
Meng Fanxi had already sat down in front of the machine to select a new track. After a long while, a soft "hmm" came from afar.
The lights in the practice room stayed on very late that night.
On the day of song selection, all the trainees acted as if facing a formidable enemy.
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