Chapter 53 Passed
“Do your best.”
Shen Xingzhi's tone was calm. He turned his head slightly and looked at the players in the back row, "There's still time. Don't lose your composure."
Jiangcheng's performance shed is the same as Xiangcheng's, both of which are professional recording venues. Behind the shed are training rooms for various teams. Shen Xingzhi and his group walked into the guest hall outside the training room and found that many guests were eating in the hall.
"Xingzhi, you're finally here! Now everyone's deadline has expired!"
Chen Xi was holding a bowl of salad and was about to sit down when he saw Chen Xing. He immediately put down the salad bowl and walked over. "Lin City is so far away and it's full of mountains. Your team must have worked so hard. How is the preparation going? I heard that you are the only team that didn't use the program crew's demo. I'm so looking forward to it!"
Shen Xingzhi nodded slightly and politely greeted the enthusiastic Chen Xi without any intention of continuing the pleasantries. “Thank you. We will go to training first.”
Everyone had a meal on the plane and now there was no time for dinner. Team Chen Xingzhi went straight to the training room. When they opened the training room, Ren Limeng looked around at the well-equipped surroundings and said, "Brother Xingzhi, have the banggu drums for our performance arrived? Can you go check them? We have a quiz tomorrow and I'm worried about any accidents."
"It was packed and flown in with us. I checked it after we got off the plane and it's fine. We can go check it out together after training is over."
In the race against time, everyone's training attitude was extremely serious. Even though the location and training room were changed, there were not many mistakes in the evening training. Ren Limeng finally felt the basic uniformity of the performance in her team.
The training ended at nine o'clock in the evening, and everyone agreed to gather at eight o'clock on Saturday morning. After some more training, the quiz would start at ten o'clock.
After the training, everyone still had a lot of things to do, such as preparing for the interview, choosing and trying on costumes, checking the stage, etc. After a slight hesitation, Xu Chichi chose to go with Yan Baiwei and Li Qingzi first and then the interview. Ren Limeng and Shen Xingzhi went to check the props and the stage, and finally went together to look at the costumes.
The first performance was on a rolling stage. The program crew had already arranged the performance scenery for each team in advance and placed it behind the curtain. When it was the turn of each team, the scenery of that team would slide onto the stage. After the performance, the scenery would slide away with the team. This "prefabricated" stage reduced the time for changing scenery when the teams connected, and also minimized possible accidents during the live broadcast.
After Shen Xingzhi and Ren Limeng checked the banggu and other props, they roughly walked through the performance route on the real stage. After communicating with the program team about a series of minor issues, the two walked towards the costume room.
The summer in Jiangcheng is directly and thoroughly hot, without the freshness and coolness of Linshi. The air is filled with unbridled dryness, and the sound of cicadas rises and falls in the ears, as if playing an endless symphony for this hot summer.
"I thought you were returning home after finishing your studies abroad."
The performance hall and dressing room were on either side of the venue. Ren Limeng and Shen Xingzhi walked silently on the deserted cement road. The street lights were dim, like the warm colors from old photos. There was only a staff member following them. Shen Xingzhi suddenly spoke.
Ren Limeng glanced sideways, looking calmly at the red dot that was faintly visible at the lens of her eyes, with a hint of doubt in her eyes. What was the purpose of Shen Xingzhi's inexplicable words at this moment?
She had interrupted him once during the day, and with nothing to do at the moment, Ren Limeng chose to wait and see.
"When did you return to China? I asked your friend at the time, and she said you weren't coming back."
Chen Xingzhi's voice was very soft. It was just a casual chat, but Ren Limeng could hear a kind of stubbornness in his tone. He seemed to be very entangled in the issue of her going abroad, and some friends said that she would not come back. Is this... a paragraph prepared by Chen Xingzhi to hype up the couple? Chen Xingzhi spoke nonsense without hesitation, and he was serious.
Should she give him a platform then?
Ren Limeng raised her head and looked at the vast night sky. She didn't want to dwell on the past, but she knew very well that Chen Xingzhi chose to hype up a CP with an unknown person like her because of their past. As a mature working woman, she would not stick to certain means. If she didn't achieve her goal, her past would not be so important.
People always look forward to the future and never look back.
"Brother Xingzhi, you might be mistaken. I went abroad only to participate in a war correspondent's activity. I didn't go abroad to study. I am doing my graduate studies at the Communication University."
The Communication University of China's media major is the best in the country, and graduate students are almost only recruited from this major. Since Ren Limeng majored in Chinese language in college, even though she minored in broadcasting and hosting, the broadcasting and hosting major teacher politely rejected her admission to her major. Ren Limeng had no choice but to take a roundabout way and apply for the literature and art major in her own school. Because she won the first place in the news category of the National Host Competition in her second year of graduate school, she was admitted to the journalism major by the Communication University of China as an exception.
Sometimes the choice of major is just a matter of a single thought, but it takes a hundred or a thousand times more effort to make up for it. Ren Limeng felt a little regretful that she did not study broadcasting and hosting as a graduate student, but she felt that she was lucky and never gave up hosting. Hard work pays off, and she finally got a job as a host on the Orange platform.
"War correspondent?"
Shen Xingzhi paused, his voice filled with some barely perceptible nervousness. Even though he knew it was all in the past, he couldn't help but turn his head. At this moment, his eyes were deep and focused, with a trace of regret flashing across his eyes.
"right."
Shen Xingzhi's gaze seemed to be sucking her in. Ren Limeng secretly calmed her accelerated heartbeat. After holding on for two seconds, she subconsciously turned her head to look at the other side of the road. There was a navigation sign for the dressing room on the side of the road. Ren Limeng wanted to remind Shen Xingzhi that he should speed up his performance. If he kept dilly-dallying over these details, he might not even get to the point when he reached the dressing room.
"So, you just attended an event."
Shen Xingzhi's cold voice was a little hoarse, and his complex and deep eyes finally shifted their gaze from the large lights of the recording site to the distance, the suburbs dotted with stars, and more of it was pitch black. His throat trembled, and in the end he just repeated this sentence. In the shadow of the camera, his knuckles had already turned white due to the force.
"Um."
After a long time, Ren Limeng, who had been waiting for the next words, nodded slowly. She frowned slightly and looked at the door of the dressing room that was so close to her. She felt speechless and a little curious in her heart.
So... was she overthinking it? Was it really just small talk?
Is Shen Xingzhi's tone a little weird?
Or is she too tired from working non-stop these days and is just thinking about things?
But when were they able to chat about family matters?
If the situation hadn't forced her, she might not even choose to use him!
At night, it was already eleven o'clock when Ren Limeng lay down on the bed. She tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. She thought she was anxious about the quiz tomorrow, but what unconsciously emerged in her mind was Shen Xingzhi, especially the scene when they went to the dressing room together. Maybe it was the atmosphere of the night that made her feel that he was a little fragile.
Is it based on intuition from previous understanding, or is it just overthinking?
Or is it just a persona that Shen Xingzhi throws out in front of the camera, and it’s not something to be taken seriously?
Promoting a CP doesn’t mean you’re dating someone, Ren Limeng, wake up!
Ren Limeng took off the eye mask with her right hand, opened her eyes wide, and stared at the ceiling in a daze. After a while, she took a deep breath and buried her head in the soft quilt. After a long time, she suddenly stretched out an arm and slowly picked up the mobile phone on the bedside table.
As partners, she and Shen Xingzhi should strengthen communication and discuss the recording in advance.
Yes, that's it.
Ren Limeng finally convinced herself, took the initiative to search for Shen Xingzhi's WeChat ID, and quickly applied.
Too sudden a passing speed.
Does she need to post something?
Ren Limeng's pupils shrank slightly, and she unconsciously clenched her phone. She was a little at a loss, and her eyes suddenly met the chat box. She suddenly found that it was Shen Xingzhi who made the application first. No wonder he was able to approve the friend request in seconds!
It turned out that Shen Xingzhi had sent her an application last night!
There were too many friend requests these past two days, and the messages were so frequent that Ren Limeng directly set up many do not disturb settings. She didn't expect Shen Xingzhi to actually add her on his own initiative. No wonder he suddenly mentioned WeChat in front of everyone today. If he wanted to remind her, he should have just said it directly. She had never used his WeChat, but he went around in circles like that, not afraid that she wouldn't notice.
Ren Limeng's mouth corners slightly raised, and she suddenly stopped worrying. She silently exited WeChat, put down her phone, put on her eye mask again, turned over, relaxed her body, closed her eyes and continued to cultivate her annoying sleepiness.
On Saturday, Ren Limeng got up very early. She woke up Xu Chichi as agreed last night. Xu Chichi glanced at the clock which read half past six, and finally waved his hand, letting Ren Limeng go first.
After eating a small piece of bread while walking, Ren Limeng came to the empty training room. The training room in Jiangcheng is more professional than that in Linshi. The cameras are on standby 24 hours a day, and the follow-up camera no longer records the training scenes.
Ren Limeng repeated the "Song of Heaven and Earth" over and over again, warming up her voice, stretching her legs, stretching, and sliding her steps. In the silent room, she stared carefully at herself in the mirror, capturing every detail. Although the quiz was just a simulation, it was her first time to go on stage as a non-host, and she would not allow herself to make any mistakes.
Whether it is music or dance, she must do her best.
Even with the cool breeze from the air conditioner, Ren Limeng was still sweating profusely, with a large damp patch on the back of her clothes. She persisted through the entire song three more times before finally allowing herself to lie on the floor and rest for a while.
The floor was a little cold, but her heart was warm.
Ren Limeng was breathing heavily, her eyes blank, as if she wanted to exhale all the fatigue of the past few days.
She enjoyed this moment of tranquility and was completely refreshed. She didn't have to worry about the people around her or think about the reactions of other guests. She didn't care about the cameras or trending searches. Pure performance was a simple and happy thing.
But she only had this moment to breathe, as she had to immediately devote herself to today's recording. She wanted a lot, so she couldn't just lie there.
A soft towel suddenly fell from the sky and gently covered Ren Limeng's sweaty cheek.
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