"Where did Brother Xiaohe go?"
Wen Lian was a little worried when he saw that Fang Xiaoke had come back alone. "I saw him breathing a little out of breath backstage. Is he alright? Why didn't you come back with him?"
"Hmm?" Fang Xiaoke recalled for a moment, "He said he needed to use the restroom and told me to come back first."
Wen Lian frowned, still feeling uneasy: "I'll go look for him."
"Then I'll go with you..." Before she could finish speaking, Ji Feng's group started performing on stage. Fang Xiaoke had trained with Ji Feng for several years, and she was torn, unable to put her mind at ease with either of them.
"Just wait here." Wen Lian pressed him down and got up to walk towards the bathroom.
Jin He was sitting on the toilet in the bathroom, his forehead against the partition. The door to the next stall was slammed shut, instantly waking him up. He coughed a few times, clutching his collar, and glanced at his bracelet.
The strenuous exercise, coupled with the extreme emotional fluctuations, finally broke him. As soon as he entered the private room, he went black and fainted. He only had time to put two pills in his mouth before he passed out.
She must have been unconscious for about ten minutes.
Luckily, he had put a pill in his mouth before he fainted, otherwise there might have been an accident.
How can someone with such a broken shell ever stand on stage again?
Jin He suddenly remembered what the girl had said to him while crying: "Don't keep us waiting too long!"
Really...
I didn't want to keep you waiting that long either.
"Brother Xiao He?" Wen Lian's voice rang out from outside the door: "Are you here?"
"Yes, I'm here."
"It's nothing, I just came to check on you. Are you alright?"
His heart rate was still a bit abnormal, but at least he wasn't in danger now. Jin He stood up, leaning on the door panel, and opened the cubicle door. Wen Lian looked him over for a while and asked, "Brother Xiao He, your complexion doesn't look quite right."
"Hmm, I might need to find a makeup artist to touch up my makeup," Jin He said. "Can you come with me?" I was afraid I'd faint on the way.
"Can."
The makeup artist pressed Jin He down into a chair, applied some blush and lip gloss before letting him leave. After the makeup, Jin He looked much better, but Wen Lian, following behind him, felt a chill run down his spine. Jin He now looked like an old, worn-out puppet.
The exterior is still shiny and bright, but the inside has long been corroded by termites and can be easily crushed with a gentle touch.
"I noticed a girl taking pictures of you the whole time I was on stage today," Jin He said to Wen Lian. "Is she your fan site admin?"
"I think so."
“It’s easy to spot a fan site admin. Look, she’s the only one in the crowd holding such a heavy camera and taking pictures of you. That’s the fan site admin.” Jin He said, her expression turning forlorn. “I just saw my fan site admin too.”
"You... know your fan site admin?"
“How could I not know her?” Jin He said, “From the age of eighteen to twenty-two, she followed me to every event, paying for it herself and never asking me for a penny. She would take photos, edit them, and post them online, and she would also try her best to promote me to netizens who were unaware of the situation.”
"That's just how fan site admins are, so I'm always grateful to them. But... but I also feel really sorry. Being my fan must be a very tough job. I've let them down for so long."
"How could that be? I believe you had no choice."
“There’s nothing I have to do.” Jin He said seriously, “Being an idol must be a profession that brings joy to fans. No matter what the reason, it would be my dereliction of duty to disappoint them.”
He said, "I feel very sorry."
In fact, the people he wronged were not only An Yi.
Jin He took a deep breath and covered her chest with her hand. Even for the sake of those fans who still have expectations for me, please hang in there a little longer.
"Why are you guys so late?" Fang Xiaoke pulled Jin He to sit down. "This is the last group. After this, the voting results will be announced. So, Xiao He, are you nervous?"
Jin He smiled and said, "It's alright, it's alright."
They weren't particularly nervous at first, but now that the atmosphere was right there, it was impossible not to be. The contestants sat in the studio waiting for Teacher An Yi to come and announce the results.
Amidst the expectant gazes of the crowd, An Yi and Fang Canyang walked slowly onto the stage one after the other: "Now we will begin to announce the results of the audience vote for the first performance. Let's start by announcing the group votes. Each member of the top five groups will receive a boost of 20,000 votes, and the first place group will receive a boost of 50,000 votes."
Upon hearing this, Fang Xiaoke held her breath. Twenty thousand votes—how precious! Several members of their group were on the verge of elimination. If they could get this many votes, their chances of survival would be guaranteed!
"Group performance ranking, fifth place: Xu Yuxiang's group, 'Tell Me Everything'"
Fourth place: Sun Chenyan's group, "Originally".
Third place: Si Mo's group's "Kiss Me Tonight"
"The second group..."
The host's cue cards indicated that they should keep the audience in suspense for a while, but An Yi was clearly not good at this, so he simply paused for a long time before announcing, "Second place, Fang Xiaoke's group 'Soaring'."
"First place, Ji Chen's group, 'It's Hard to Write About This Life'," An Yi clapped emotionlessly. "Let's congratulate these five groups."
As the group rankings were announced, the individual rankings of each group member were also released. Jin He glanced at Fang Xiaoke's group's list from top to bottom and saw that her name was at the very end.
Jin He: 57 votes.
That makes sense. It's not surprising that someone with so many scandals like him gets fewer votes. Jin He was prepared for him to get only single digits of votes.
Most of the members in the same group received three-digit votes, and their group's vote count was only forty votes behind the first place.
"Which company does Ji Chenyi work for? He's amazing, really." Fang Xiaoke was still praising Wen Lian. "You went out to find Jin He just now, and you don't know, the place went wild."
"Hey, I noticed that the votes for Fang Xiaoke's group are very unevenly distributed," Fang Canyang, who hadn't spoken until now, suddenly said. "Is someone dragging you down?"
Fang Xiaoke was stunned for a moment. Fang Canyang's words were full of malice, and he was really implying to everyone that Jin He was dragging everyone down. Logically speaking, no one would say it so bluntly. He opened his mouth to explain, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jin He bowing down next to him: "I'm sorry, it was my fault."
No way! Fang Xiaoke was about to jump up and refute. Although Brother Xiaohe wasn't in great shape, he always participated in training on time. Even when he had low blood sugar, he would stuff two candies into his mouth to keep himself going and continue training. Only when he felt extremely uncomfortable would he skip their late-night snack and go back to the dormitory to sleep early.
Moreover, he has such rich stage experience, teaching them everything from lighting and stage design to facial expression management. He brought out many of the highlights, so how can he be said to be a drag on the team!
Fang Xiaoke had just taken a step forward when he felt Jin He pull him hard from behind and pinch his waist to make him quiet.
Fang Canyang clearly disliked him, and he could tell as well. Although he didn't know when he had offended him a few years ago, Fang Xiaoke's current rebuttal was definitely not a good thing.
If he obediently apologizes, he'll be the only one scolded. If Fang Xiaoke says a few words in his defense, wouldn't that just be shifting the blame? The kid is only eighteen; there's no need for him to get involved in this mess.
“What a stage should present is the overall effect, there’s no issue of dragging things down. Besides, I don’t think Jin He’s performance was too bad, on the contrary, it was quite unexpected.” An Yi suddenly spoke up at this moment, “The lighting and stage design of this stage are very good, and each member has outstanding highlights, so apart from Jin He, each of your members has received a high number of votes. Did you discover your members’ highlights yourselves?”
"No, no, it was Brother Xiao He (Jin He) who found it!"
"Well, instead of just showing off and stealing the spotlight, they raised the visual aesthetics of the whole team to a higher level, which is great. On the contrary, I think some groups may not be performing as a group performance, but as individual solo performances. Why are some groups getting so many votes while others are getting so few? You should think about it yourselves. I won't name names here."
With just a few words, An Yi easily changed the subject and also cleared Jin He's name. Jin He looked at him and gave a slight twitch of his lips.
See? He's not actually incapable of hosting or managing a situation.
He's just too lazy to do it.
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