40 Double Stage
Amidst everyone's unspoken worries, the group stage ended, Yu Le's group temporarily ranked first, and Pei Zijin and Yan Fan continued to perform under tremendous pressure.
Compared to the group stage which was thought to be the trump card, the collaborative stage did not go smoothly from the beginning. Yan Fan and Pei Zijin were always arguing over whether to continue to use their expertise or to seek a breakthrough. No one knew what the final effect of this stage would be.
After they went on stage, the camera swept across the worried faces of several team members backstage. Even the audience in front of the screen felt a tightness in their hearts. Could it be that "I Am Not Here" is also bound to fall into the same rut of creating a tense atmosphere as other talent shows?
Pei Zijin lay on the stage floor, forcing himself to immerse himself in the stage and banish all distractions. Both of them changed into another set of stage costumes, from black and red battle armor to light-colored silk long-sleeved trousers, with a tulle robe on the outside, and sparkling diamonds on the side of the neck. Yan Fan braided two small braids on her forehead to hide the red hair that was previously dyed.
When the accompaniment started, the stage background unfolded like an ink painting, and the lights cast swaying shadows on the ground, as if the mountain wind was blowing through the grass and trees in the forest.
Yan Fan lay on the other side with her limbs stretched out, her movements smooth as water. This time it was choreographed by Urban.
Gu Yuchen remixed the guitar and drum accompaniment, making the rhythm more fluid than the original song. Both of them wore headphones, and it looked like they were ready to dance to their heart's content.
Pei Zijin and Yan Fan quarreled to the end, but finally came up with a completely new performance that was different from all their previous performances.
Accompanied by the sound of simulated water drops falling to the ground, Yan Fan stretched his back and pushed up inch by inch like a bamboo shoot breaking through the soil in spring. His long hair flew with his movements, drawing arcs in the air. He still pressed the points accurately, but paid more attention to the connection between each movement, which was incredibly smooth.
"There was a twenty-six-year-old tree in the forest."*
His voice was always cold and indifferent, but now it sounded even more confused. On the stage, Yan Fan couldn't help but think of the practice room a few nights ago, when Pei Zijin racked his brains to change the song. He was angry and didn't want to talk, so Pei Zijin suddenly asked him:
"What were you doing when you were seventeen?"
Yan Fan didn't understand why he asked this, but he didn't want to talk to Pei Zijin, so he answered briefly: "Dancing."
"Dancing every day in high school?"
"Participate in competitions." Yan Fan explained unhappily, "Most professional street dance competitions have age limits. When I was seventeen, I won all the awards in the youth category."
"When I was seventeen, I just did exercises every day." Pei Zijin sighed, "You see, life is so different. When you were seventeen, you participated in competitions everywhere, but I was trapped in a sea of books and exercises. Yu Le and others came to the company when they were seventeen."
He lay on his back in the chair, a ballpoint pen flying between his fingers. It was obvious that he had studied for many, many years. "If I said that I felt extremely lonely when I was seventeen, would you think I was being pretentious?"
Yan Fan really wanted to tell him yes, but when he turned around, he was suddenly startled by Pei Zijin's confused expression.
"At that time, I went to class and did papers every day. I knew I was going to college, but I didn't know what kind of college or major I wanted to go to. Sometimes I thought about the future, but sometimes I felt that it was useless to think like this. I didn't know who to talk to about these things. Even I felt confused."
This artistic young man has his long legs crossed, and you know what, he looks like someone who would struggle with this kind of thing.
He turned to Yan Fan and asked, "Is it hard for you to understand? You guys in the competition should all be very goal-oriented."
"...I had the same feeling you described when I first started participating in the competition." Yan Fan answered him in a low voice.
"I don't know if I can win the award. I don't know if it's right to give up my studies for this. Breaking is very destructive to the joints. I don't know when I will inevitably get injured. I don't know how long I can dance." He laughed at himself and empathized with Pei Zijin at this moment. "Although I never doubted dancing, I often doubted myself at that time."
"Isn't it the same even now? Who dares to say... that I will definitely be able to debut?"
“It is said that young people force themselves to express sorrow in order to compose new poems, but loneliness is always an eternal proposition in life. Whether they are 17, 26, or 90 years old, young people have their own loneliness and confusion. We just need to express ourselves.”
“That’s the premise of our interpretation of this song.”
…
“Whether you take the main road or the small path, you won’t stop until you encounter a cliff.”*
White mist made of dry ice gradually spread on the stage. Pei Zijin stretched close to the ground, stirring ripples in the mist. He was no longer the dance novice who had no knowledge of his limbs half a year ago. After hundreds of days of hard practice, he could easily control his strength.
"They say it is stupid, doesn't know how to add, is real but false, is elegant in disguise."*
Yan Fan spun up, his movements were light and agile, and gravity seemed to have no effect on him. He and Pei Zijin approached each other quickly, singing a duet, grabbing his wrist and being thrown away, wanting to hug him, but retreating in the face of his resistance. A panicked look flashed on his face, as if he was panicking that Pei Zijin was no longer willing to control his whole body and mind.
“This is not about elegance, it’s about the real way of life, blurring the lines between truth and falsehood, a lonely zebra.”*
They danced face to face, their hair flying and their veils intertwined. Pei Zijin seemed to want to escape, but he hesitated, retreating to advance, and finally climbed the stairs and raised his arms, but Yan Fan lost all his strength at the same time and knelt down like a puppet.
"They're saying it's stupid, imprisoned in a tower."*
At this moment, the music suddenly changed, from very fast to very slow, and the two people's dance also turned into popping. Yan Fan seemed to be suspended by invisible silk threads in mid-air, her joints moving inch by inch, and Pei Zijin's hands were like playing an invisible piano in the air, controlling Yan Fan's every movement.
But Yan Fan danced faster and faster, and in the end Pei Zijin, who was standing on the upper position, seemed to be pulled and moved by him. Yan Fan's joints were shaking, and the adapted singing style became rapid and high-pitched again. He turned around and pulled Pei Zijin off the platform!
"There is a 26-year-old tree in the forest. It has its own angle."*
The last line of the lyrics was changed into monologue and uttered softly by Yan Fan. He gently touched Pei Zijin's face with a look of pity, then turned around and walked resolutely into the darkness.
-
The stage performance ended and the lights came back on. Yan Fan turned around and walked quickly back to Pei Zijin, and walked to the front of the stage with him. He was ten times more nervous than when he was on the last stage waiting for evaluation.
These two people looked like elves walking out of the forest. Before Yuan Xiao could say anything, the shutter sounds of the station ladies sitting in the front rows were like machine guns that never stopped.
Gu Yuchen suppressed his laughter, took the microphone and said, "You two's performance should have some meaning. From the mirror dance at the beginning to the puppet dance in the middle, can you explain it to the audience?"
Yan Fan and Pei Zijin looked at each other, and Captain Pei spoke as a representative in tacit agreement. He was so calm that he didn't show any signs of collapse in the background just now:
“On this stage, we are actually playing one person. Fanfan is the main character, and I am his thoughts that may be hesitation, retreat, and uneasiness. We are always inevitably accompanied by these thoughts as we grow up, and sometimes we are controlled by them, but in the end we reconcile with ourselves and then keep moving forward, without stopping.”
Pei Zijin's expression was fluent and smooth, and some slight panting did not affect his clear articulation. Being stared at by his gentle and beautiful eyes, some of his fans in the audience covered their hearts, almost fainting from his charm.
It wasn't a very high-end content, but the two of them expressed it completely and clearly, which was much better than their previous group performances.
Yuan Xiao nodded slightly: "Not bad, you have conveyed what you wanted to convey, the vocal and choreography are well matched."
She watched Pei Zijin let out a long sigh and nodded at him encouragingly.
With the bonus of this collaborative stage, the first place in the fourth public performance finally went to Pei Zijin's group, but the votes of the following groups were very close, with only three votes difference from the second place.
With such a roll-out, naturally everyone is good at singing and dancing. On the Internet, the original heart boy group's stage is also known as the existence of a "speed bump" in the short video industry. Even people who have never watched similar programs will not be able to help but watch the entire performance after seeing it.
Although Xiao Yule was defeated, he still won honor. He was so happy every day until the end of the fourth public performance that he even hummed songs during training. In the end, he was held down by several brothers and given a beating because he was so naughty.
The fourth public performance has been broadcast, and the entire program process is coming to an end. The stage for the final debut battle has been set up. Yuan Xiao made an appointment with Gu Yuchen early and asked him to go to the venue with her this weekend afternoon for inspection.
In the stadium that can hold 10,000 people, only the workers are still doing the final reinforcement around the stage. On the day of the debut battle, these empty seats will be filled with fans who come with love.
"The chairs for the backstage will be delivered and arranged tomorrow. Let's take a look at the central control first. The feedback says that the equipment has been almost installed." Yuan Xiao glanced at his mobile phone and took Gu Yuchen from the entrance to the central console.
"It stands to reason that this configuration is more suitable for two or three days in a row." Teacher Gu is tall and has long legs. He deliberately slowed down his pace as he walked beside Yuan Xiao. He looked lazy. "It's a four-sided stage. It only takes a few hours to dismantle it. It's quite a waste."
“Yes, in the future.” When they debut, and when new girl groups debut, there will be more artists and more groups under Yuanxin’s banner, and there will be family concerts in the future. The standards each time will only be higher and better than today.
"It's being broadcast live throughout. It's estimated that there will be tens of millions of viewers online. The four-sided stage is indeed the best effect, and it can't be considered a complete waste." Yuan Xiao glanced at the man next to him. Yuan Xin will have many more artists ascend that stage in the future, so what about him?
What about Gu Yuchen? Does he still want to stay in the center console and not return to the spotlight?
When the two of them went over, the central control equipment had just been connected, so Gu Yuchen was asked to do the microphone test. Our teacher Gu's excellent resume also includes being the music director for several large-scale concerts, and he is very adept at debugging equipment.
He took a few microphones to the stage and turned on the speakers to test them one by one. Yuan Xiao was sitting in the center console facing the center of the stage. She suddenly took out her phone and turned to ask the staff beside her: "Is it best to sing and dance a song for the test? Can you make sure there are no problems with the accompaniment and vocal tracks?"
"Now, can you please play this song directly?"
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