Chapter 22

His entry caused a burst of laughter, of course not ridicule, but a kind of surprised laughter with good intentions.

“It’s so small.”

Other players expressed their feelings.

Unlike other players, Li Chu really looks like a high school student who accidentally entered the competition. He is not the youngest among the trainees, but he looks young and has some flesh on his face.

Because the piece to be performed on the first stage today is also youthful and lively, the performance costume he will wear was specially selected by Zhou Chunqing. It is a sporty style suit with a few small decorations to make it look cool, which is very suitable for the stage effect. At first glance, it looks like a high school student's uniform, making him look even younger.

When Li Chu entered the venue, all the trainees were stunned. The older Li Zi was the most surprised. He opened his mouth and asked, "No, is the trainee market like this now? Has it all been taken over by the kids?"

Li Chu's appearance was like a buffer, and the tense atmosphere was no longer so tense. He was also the least prominent one here. He looked very obedient, and he bowed and greeted people as soon as he came up. He had no intention of competing for the C seat.

After everyone had fought for it, there were only three seats left. He just picked one and sat in the middle seat, some distance away from the others.

He looked a little nervous and couldn't help but secretly clasping his hands as soon as he sat down.

This wasn't an act. After all, he had never experienced this before, so it was normal for him to feel a little nervous.

Li Chu was like a transitional chapter. At most, other trainees praised him a few times, saying "good" and "cute", because everyone present knew who the next two people would be.

Even though the dressing room was deliberately partitioned today, and the official account only released a silhouette in which nothing could be seen before, it was definitely a Qilin, there is no doubt about it.

Didn’t you see who came today?

Even Qilin's Liang Xiaoliang is here and is sitting backstage. He's so big that even someone with 800 degrees of myopia can recognize him.

Even though he had expected it, when he saw the two Qilins appear, Li Chu, who had just sat down, still heard the people around him gasp slightly.

Liang Xiaoliang really takes this competition very seriously, and the people he selected are among the top trainees at Qilin, and their appearance alone is very attractive.

Both of them are over 1.80 meters tall, with a well-proportioned figure. Their performance costumes and makeup are also specially made by Qilin. They are obviously a level higher than the program team. The aura they have when they introduce themselves is different. Their names are Qu Shoubai and Shanchuan, and they are good-looking.

But these two look like they are not easy to deal with, and it seems like they are here to steal the C position.

Li Chu thought so too.

Song Yu, who was sitting there now, was of course the most restless one, but he also managed to remain calm and prepared.

But unexpectedly, the two tall men came up the stairs, stood there and whispered a few words, stared at Li Chu for a while, and then did not go up again. They turned around and sat down in the two empty seats at the end.

This resulted in Li Chu being sandwiched in the middle as soon as the two of them sat down.

Li Chu, who was a little nervous, just reacted: ...Wait a minute.

He originally had little sense of presence, but now that he was sandwiched between these two Qilin trainees, his presence suddenly increased.

Especially since he is not that tall yet, only a little over 1.7 meters tall. Now he is surrounded by two people who are 1.81 meters tall. The whole picture presents a funny "concave" shape, and Li Chu is the low point in the middle.

No, you Qilin people are coming in with such force, don’t you plan to do anything effective at this time?

Maybe, maybe you think it’s unnecessary.

Li Chu took a breath and then politely introduced himself, but as soon as he said his name, the person next to him spoke.

"Li Chu, I know you," Qu Shoubai smiled at him, "I've heard of your name for a long time. I came here just to have a good fight with you."

Li Chu was stunned for a moment and said nothing.

At that moment, he felt a little tense.

They haven't even stepped onto the stage yet, but their entrance alone is already very interesting, so much so that the entrance of the instructors later seemed bland in comparison. The trainees did stand up and applaud and showed excited expressions, but it was certainly not as genuine as when they were seriously competing before.

Then, Shen Huai from the instructor team stepped forward and briefly introduced the rules, and soon it was time for individual performances.

At this moment, he inadvertently glanced at Li Chu in the player's seat, but on the surface he couldn't tell anything, and Li Chu didn't pay any attention to him.

Ever since he was sandwiched by the two Qilins, his mind has been focused on the competition.

The main reason why this season of Idol 4 became so popular is that many contestants are really strong, and several stages have become very popular, to the extent that the original composers and choreographers have come out to repost and give thumbs up.

The competition is even more intense now, and it's exciting from the moment the first person goes up to perform.

From dance to vocals to rap, everyone has their own unique skills. After watching a few performances, Li Chu gradually calmed down.

It's great to be able to participate in such a competition.

He hadn't seen such a pure stage for a long time, and this was the competition he had always wanted.

He was so engrossed in watching the performance that he felt time was passing very quickly. Before long, it was his turn to go on stage.

Li Chu took a deep breath in the backstage.

The dance music he chose to perform was the classic hit song "Bad Kid" from ten years ago. The original singer debuted at the age of 18 and was famous for his youthful sunshine. It has been covered and danced by countless people over the years, but most of the audiences have commented that it can only be imitated but not surpassed.

If you're not careful, you'll end up trying to look youthful and get criticized for being greasy, so this is a very difficult song to cover.

As soon as the prelude of the melody sounded, everyone present sat up straight. There should be no one present who was not familiar with this song. Some people could even sing along and clap their hands at the beginning.

"Hey, You."

“Look at me.”

“Would you like to play this game?”

"I'll tell you the secret of bad kids."

But, can Li Chu do it?

Before such a question even arose, the answer was already there the moment he turned his head, raised his hand, and opened his mouth under the spotlight.

The melody of this song is simple, but the dance is not simple, and is relatively complex. Dancing to this song requires very crisp and clean movements without any drag. However, due to the youthful style of the song and the lyrics that are clearly from a student's perspective, it is not suitable for older and more experienced dancers.

Although Li Chu, who looks like a good boy, is young, his appearance does not completely fit the role. He really looks too simple. But when his expression changes after turning his head, he can actually show that ruffian spirit and a bit of arrogance that is not unpleasant under the youth.

The two teachers in charge of dance at the instructor's seat also had their eyes lit up when he turned around, staring closely at his movements without looking away for a moment.

An expert knows the ins and outs of this. Li Chu was singing and dancing at the same time. His vocal skills were not as outstanding as his dancing ability, but they were also good enough to be called excellent. His voice was also very stable with such movements, and he can be called an all-round player.

The whole performance was perfect. Surprisingly, he did not reproduce the song completely, but made some changes to the ending.

A very well-known move in the original song is shaking off cigarette ash, which can be called the killing part. Of course, there is no smoke in the actual performance. What is performed are finger and body movements. The original singer performed it like a handsome and cool school bully, but Li Chu changed this move.

There are big pockets on his performance costume that can be used to store things. What he uses instead of a cigarette holder is an orange-flavored lollipop.

When the lollipop suddenly appeared, the camera cut to his upper body, and the modified movement was particularly obvious. Combined with the slightly raised eyebrows and a rather rebellious expression in the original song, this "school bully" looked bold and a little naive.

This is a change that suits Li Chu very well.

After the rhythmic dance song "Bad Kid" ended, there was applause in the contestant seats. Just watching the stage performance was simply unprecedented, perfect and with some unexpected little surprises.

Zhou Chunqing was watching from the backstage. From the first second the music started, she had to cover her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.

Li Chu dances well!

She is very proud!

It’s stable!

The two calmest people backstage were none other than Su Ning and Shen Mingzheng.

Su Ning was mostly pleased, as he always thought his vision was correct. Li Chu had practiced this dance many times, and he had also watched it many times in the practice room a few days ago. It was rare for a kid like Li Chu to not only dance it, but also add his own style to it.

As long as he is given a stage, this kind of person will shine.

As for Shen Mingzheng, he saw it all and knew what was going on.

Li Chu had a rough life in his previous life. After Shen Huai got what he wanted, he sent him to debut casually to appease him. The arrangements were very perfunctory. At that time, Li Chu could have become popular in a short time, not to mention such a good stage now.

Thinking of this, he looked at Su Ning again.

Miraculously, this person completely changed Li Chu's fate.

On stage, after Li Chu finished his breathless performance, the dance instructor was the first to speak. While clapping loudly, he said bluntly: "I want to give him S right now! Also, let me ask you, how old are you?"

Li Chu nodded and answered honestly, "Twenty years old."

He was panting, with sweat on his forehead, which made his eyes look bigger and rounder. He didn't look like a 20-year-old at all. While answering, he reached into his pocket to take out the plastic wrapping paper and the small wire tie, and quietly stuffed the prop lollipop back and tied it up.

The instructor saw this little action, laughed again, and said, "Why, you can't bear to throw it away?"

"Ah, I don't think it's a good idea to throw it on the stage," Li Chu said, "It's a bit sticky."

He is not scheming all the time. He is just like this under normal circumstances. He just finished dancing and used up his energy, so he looks a little dazed.

It's just that the way he stood there, with such behavior and responses, was very different from the "bad boy" on the stage just now, with skillful, crisp and just-right ruffian moves, like two different people.

The instructor's smile never faded, and he said, "If you can't get an S, I feel like my trip here was in vain."

This was a very weighty assurance, and it made her appreciation very clear.

Because there are only two Ss, the order of appearance may be affected, which may cause unfairness to the performers later. Therefore, all the evaluations of the contestants are not given on the spot, but will be determined after all the performances are finished.

Li Chu is already the eighth one, and there are two more Qilins to come as the finales. However, when the mentor said this, almost no one in the audience had any major objections.

No matter how you look at it, it's an S-level performance, even though the person behind it is a Qilin trainee.

But Shen Huai, who was sitting in the middle, spoke at this time.

"The stage is great, and I was also very shocked. This qualifying match really gave me a big surprise, and I believe it is a surprise for everyone as well," Shen Huai said with a smile, "But I am also very embarrassed. The program group only has two S-level spots, so I want to ask this contestant, how about we show more?

"I saw the previous students had an impromptu dance segment, why don't you do one too?"

His proposal was normal and no one raised any objections.

There were only ten students in the qualifying round, so they had an advantage in the individual presentation phase because they had plenty of time and many of the people ahead had improvisations.

Li Chu on the stage was also stunned when he heard this. He thought Shen Huai had changed his personality and didn't make things difficult for him at this time.

Even if the other party didn't mention the improvisational performance, he would have taken the initiative to speak up for it, so he nodded in agreement without thinking too much.

This improvisation was not written in the script. For a variety show like this, it is impossible for all the processes to be scripted. There must be some self-expression, so Chen Yuan did not think there was anything wrong. Only Su Ning frowned slightly and sat up straight.

"Okay then," Shen Huai said, "Come on, the music teacher will give us a piece of music."

The program team had a library of songs to play, and Chen Yuan didn't intend to make things so rigid, so the songs were played randomly from the library.

But as soon as Shen Huai spoke, the prelude of the music that played immediately confirmed Su Ning's previous uneasiness.

——The name of this song is "Knees".

The song has a very strong sense of rhythm and is very famous. It is indeed very suitable for dancing, but as the name suggests, it has a lot of knee movements, many of which involve knee strikes.

Unfortunately, Li Chu had an old knee injury.

This is something Su Ning remembers very clearly, and because he was kicked by someone while fishing in Chunjiang, this old injury has become more serious recently.

The doctor he found came to see him several times and used treatment methods. The doctor said it was not a big deal. People who practice dance for a long time will have some injuries. He just needs to pay more attention in the near future. But there is no problem with normal performances and training, just pay attention to the intensity.

But the intensity of the dance in "Knees", a well-known knee-ripper, was just beyond what Li Chu could accept.