CH 15

Chapter 15: The winner of this battle is Qiao Dai (1)

“Okay, it’s time.”

After Lai You finished dancing, the tutors asked Qiao Dai to stand up and come on stage to announce the result of the challenge. Lai You’s heart was beating wildly, and she turned her head to look at Qiao Dai. The girl was staring forward attentively, waiting for the instructors to talk. The more calm Qiao Dai looked, the more nervous Lai You felt; the results had not been announced yet but she was already extremely frustrated in her heart. She lost, she lost… she didn’t want to lose, she didn’t want to go to class F!

Her inner thoughts were reflected on her face. She looked as pale as a piece of thin white paper and was biting her lips.

“The winner of this battle is Qiao Dai.”

Jiang Fengchi announced the results: Qiao Dai had won and it meant that Lai You had to leave Class C and join Class F. The whole audience exploded, whether it was on the scene or in the live broadcast room.

[Aaah, Sister Daidai is too strong!]

[Lai You actually lost? OMG, I suddenly felt a little sad to see her go to Class F.]

[Was Lai You bad? Why did Qiao Dai win? I don’t understand, can anyone who knows dance explain?]

After all, Lai You was a member of Galaxy. Before the program started, some people had speculated their trainees would surprise them but they had not expected said surprise would come so quickly. Fans had not been happy to see Lai You go to Class C and there had already been a lot of controversies. Who would have thought she would actually be demoted to F, it felt rather unreasonable.

The scene was restless. The other players sitting under the stage exchanged glances and made their own assessments.

The dazzling lights, the failed battle, and the whispers of the rest of the contestants: all these things were like a huge mountain weighing heavily on Lai You’s heart. She started suffocating and felt like fainting. Oh god, how did she end up going to Class F? How did she lose to Qiao Dai? She was unwilling, very, very unwilling.

Everything around her calmed down and seemed to freeze in time for a moment. In the silence, Lai You’s facade fractured.

Pop. Her bubble shattered at that moment and brought her back to consciousness. In the middle of the stage, everyone looked at Lai You broke down and burst into tears on the stage, and at her beautiful cat eye makeup being destroyed. Her tears were like broken pearls and one by one covered her eyes with a thin layer of mist. Lai You, who had always shown an arrogant front, revealed her vulnerable side with no warning. This instant, everyone could only sympathize with her.

[Little sister, don’t cry QAQ]

[Lai You, you are the best! Don’t cry, mom’s heart hurts.]

[This program is not human, abusing players for effect!]

Lai You’s fragile collapse on the scene was so real and had come so suddenly it touched the whole audience. Nobody was indifferent to tears and it was so unlike Lai You’s usual haughty attitude it melted people’s hearts. The direct demotion to Class F was just too much.

No one had expected Lai You would burst into tears on stage after losing. The staff on the side was a little overwhelmed and they quickly asked the director for instructions, while informing the tutors through their earpieces they needed to find a way to save the scene.

Unlike everyone else, the mentors’ faces had not changed much and strange emotions flashed in their eyes. In order to save Lai You’s face, Song Anni picked up the microphone and said in a comforting tone: “It’s okay. We all know that your level is better than that. It’s okay if you do not perform well once, you will have more opportunities.”

Song Anni had just tried to give back some confidence to her to ease her loss. Who would have thought that Lai You would not understand her words? She bowed her head and said between tears:

“Thank you for your comfort, teacher. I know that the teachers think I am not serious enough and chose Qiao Dai because of that… She joined a company later but she is so hardworking… It’s normal for the teachers to not choose me.”

Lai You kept crying and her eyes were red, like a child who had just been wronged. As soon as she finished talking, the players thought about it but the expression of the mentors instantly stiffened. Did Lai You mean that they had chosen Qiao Dai, a newcomer, just to punish her?

It was true that the tutors would take into consideration the players’ background while rating them. For a trainee from Galaxy who had long been famous in the circle but had not shown strength, they would definitely feel more easily disappointed. And for newcomers like Qiao Dai who showed great potential, they would tend to pull them up and help them in the future.

However, all of it was based on their own performance. The mentors were not likely to close their eyes and praise the newcomers for the sake of promoting them; nor would they intentionally give low scores to outstanding performances in order to suppress the strong ones.

But Lai You’s made it seem their decision had deliberately been made to harm her. She did not mention Galaxy or her own performance but talked about her attitude and told everybody Qiao Dai was a newcomer, so her fans would feel unfair for her.

Lai You closed her mouth. She knew her words were ambiguous but she refused to accept losing this battle because of skills. The mentors must have not chosen her because of her attitude. But even if the audience did not understand her meaning, the mentors did and the program team could not help but complain about Lai You’s nonsense. Even if they cut this sequence later, the audience in the live broadcast room had already seen it. By the end of the recording, the issue would have already gotten bigger and the netizens would think the program team was deliberately suppressing players.

Lai You’s crying was obviously very effective; the comments in the live broadcast room had exploded at once, from fans to passersby who were all fighting for Lai You’s injustice. Especially now that they knew Qiao Dai was only a newcomer, they felt that this battle was an inside job. Lai You had been a trainee for many years, how could she lose to an inexperienced one? Moreover, Galaxy had not gotten a high score in the first live performance and many of her fans were already very dissatisfied. They felt the program team was purposely going against Galaxy Media. So after Lai You’s words, the screen went crazy.

[Isn’t this a competition? Since when is attitude more important than talent?]

Lai You’s tears had undoubtedly touched the hearts of everyone. In addition to her own fans, although some people still thought she really deserved to lose, the demotion to Class F felt too severe and they couldn’t help but learn towards her emotionally.

[To be honest, going to class F is too much for Lai You, if it were me I wouldn’t be able to stand it.]

[+1. And her dance wasn’t bad, I personally didn’t think she would lose to Qiao Dai.]

[Qiao Dai’s dance was very good but so was Lai You’s. Even if Qiao Dai loses, she will only go to Class B while Lai You needs to go to Class F.]

People could not help but sympathize with the loser, especially when they found out that the outcome of the battle was more important to Lai You than Qiao Dai. Even if Qiao Dai lost, she would only go down one level while Lai You needed to go to the bottom. Compared to each other, they all felt like the program team was a little excessive.

Although it was only the first recording, Qiao Dai had already attracted a lot of attention, whether it was for her self introduction where she was sleeping on the water, her little robot during the first performance, or the jazz dance of the challenge. So when her new fans saw the comments, a fire ignited in their hearts. 

What was that? Lai You had lost because of her attitude? Besides, how the penalty for losing being too heavy should be the reason she shouldn’t lose? What was the point of the battle then? Shouldn’t the tutors directly promote the challengers because going to Class F for losing was too harsh?

[You all are Notre Dame de Paris’ runaway Virgin Mary, aren’t you?]

[So because Qiao Dai would only go to Class B if she lost while Lai You would be demoted to Class F, Lai You should win?]

[If it’s too awful to go to Class F, why don’t you think about it before challenging people? What, you want to win and switch places but if you lose, you don’t want to do it anymore?]

Two sides were arguing in the live broadcast room when Jiang Fengchi suddenly started talking.

“Lai You.”

The girl, who had been crying on the stage, raised her head to look at the man in the tutor’s seat, tears still in her eyes.

“I am asking you, do you really think we judged you to lose because you were not serious enough?”

Jiang Fengchi held the microphone and quietly looked at her. His voice was as gentle as ever and he asked again, looking at his seat: “Do you really think so?”

The atmosphere at the scene was slightly stagnant. Although Jiang Fengchi showed no anger, his slow speech gave Lai You a sense of panic, which was no less than being scolded head-on.

“Yes, I believe the teachers think I am not serious. I am the senior and I issued the challenge but I wasn’t the first to dance. It was out of courtesy, but I should have gone first…”

Lai You hesitated a little and quickly gave her answer. She could of course go back on her words but chose not to as it was too unlike her usual attitude. And if she did, she would end up looking inconsistent to the viewers and lose their support. With her answer, she admitted her attitude was not correct but at the same time, she objected to the fact it was reason enough to judge her this way. And when answering to Jiang Fenchi, she had also excused herself for stepping back earlier. She hadn’t been thinking at this moment but had later realized this action had been very inappropriate. This way, she simply put all of her issues together and dumped the blame on Qiao Dai; she just wanted to be nice to the newcomer.

The four mentors were silent for a while. Jiang Fengchi squeezed his lips and watched Lai You’s emotions in her eyes. He looked like he wanted to say something but in the end, he only tapped his fingers on the table and slowly said: “I originally thought you were just not ready, but now it seems that I may have to rethink your level.”

The words of Jiang Fengchi were undoubtedly throwing a stone into the already turbulent waters. Lai You’s expression stiffened and she instantly stopped crying, which seemed a little strange. 

Ah, she could really control her tears well!

The players at the scene couldn’t help but think so. They had already decided to stay away from Lai You and were sympathizing with Qiao Dai. Who wanted to watch such a play after battling?

[Jiang Fengchi is so harsh, the girl is still crying and he still says that.]

[I can see it! Jiang’s prejudices are not too obvious.]

[What are you talking about? Brother Fengchi speaks from strength, he is not biased towards anyone.]

[Ah, the genuine fake tears, we know all about it.]

“No, I…”

Lai You’s trembled. She could sense Jiang Fengchi’s dissatisfaction and tried to give an explanation in a hurry. But Jiang Fengchi did not let her and said directly: “I will tell you, you did not lose because we thought you weren’t good enough. Both you and Qiao Dai danced this demo very well.”

[Ah??]

[The fragrance of melons…]

As Jiang Fengchi said so, everyone opened their ears and the barrage was blank for a moment before crazily sending question marks.

The camera was filming Lai You and Qiao Dai’s faces. Lai You was stunned and vaguely angry. If she had danced as well as Qiao Dai, how come she had lost?

And Qiao Dai next to her still looked perfectly calm, neither surprised nor worried as if she was already very satisfied with her own performance.

The truth was that Qiao Dai was thinking: All that could be done had been done, it’s time to lay down and sleep. As a sea otter who slept all day long, Qiao Dai had a very calm nature. Except for when they needed to flee from enemies, nothing could really shock sea otters. But for the people on the scene, people were wondering why she looked like she was so sure of her win.

“You lost because you danced wrong.”

Jiang Fengchi said in a deep voice before making a gesture to the staff. The program played the demo of the battle on the screen and this time, all eyes were fixed on it to see where Lai You was wrong.

[???]

[Lai You danced wrong?]

[Being publicly executed, this is kinda exciting.]

Not only the audience was shocked, the rest of the players were also very confused. They all quickly recalled the pictures in their mind and could not find out where Lai You had danced wrong. Lai You also turned pale and clenched her lips, her eyes full of doubts. Had she really danced wrong? No, when Jiang Fengchi had demonstrated, she had not missed any action. So what went wrong?

Lai You raised her eyes to look at Jiang Fengchi and listened to him continue: “In the last part, do you remember which hand you used?”

When she heard the question, Lai You stiffened all over. She seemed to suddenly remember something and her expression changed. She wanted to defend herself but stayed silent in the end.

On the screen behind the stage, the female dancer in the demo also danced the last part and the contestants watched her support herself on the floor with her right hand before completing the ending pose.

At the end of the demo, Zheng Taijing opened his mouth and said: “Lai You, do you remember using your left hand?”

Of course Lai You remembered it when Jiang Fengchi had asked her. She remembered clearly, she had finished the dance with her left hand. But the dancer in the demo had used her right hand. Although it was only a small mistake that did not affect the whole dance, there was no doubt she danced wrong.

Jiang Fengchi looked at Lai You with a complicated look and did not hide the fact that he had also been wrong. He continued to say: “You should have looked at my demonstration and I danced wrong at that time. I also used my left hand.”

When he had returned to his seat after his demonstration, he had realized that he had done the wrong move but the assessment was still subject to the content of the demo. Therefore, the four tutors had unanimously judged Qiao Dai the winner; Qiao Dai remembered the demo, and Lai You remembered Jiang Fengchi’s demonstration.

Lai You did not say anything anymore. Not only had she danced wrong, she had also said herself she had attitude issues. Now she could only be demoted to Class F and accept people’s opinions of her unreasonable behavior. The eyes of the other contestants were like sharp silver needles and she flew to her seat in Class F silently.

Qiao Dai bowed to the tutors and calmly returned to her position. The camera followed her; she looked like a queen that had just defended her throne when she sat back in the chair that belonged to her.

[Aaah, I want to see Sister Daidai go all the way!]

[But… Jiang Fengchi remembered wrong and Qiao Dai remembered correctly??]

[Lai You got really hit in the face. Just now she was blaming the program team for being biased against her but it turned out she danced wrong.]

The comments were all talking for Qiao Dai and complaining about Lai You. They watched Lai You got to class F with her tail between her legs.

The first battle of <Pick Eleven> ended up with Qiao Dai’s victory!

Chapter 15: The winner of this battle is Qiao Dai (2)

The battles continued on stage but after Lai You’s defeat, the players were obviously more cautious. Most of them chose to challenge only one level; there were wins and losses and Class A was constantly changing.

The atmosphere was tense and anxious; when someone successfully defeated a player originally from Class A, the audience couldn’t help but get excited.

The live broadcast room was also very afflicted by the contestants’ emotions and viewers were all cheering for their favorite players.

[Sister, cheer up!]

[Sister Shi Qing, it doesn’t matter if you lose. Your choreography earlier was so beautiful!]

[Ah, why am I so excited watching the sisters battle??]

When the last player in class B battled, only the original eleven players in Class A were left. Some had been challenged and had lost, like Jiang Ruowei and Shi Qing, and they did not choose to fight against another A player. After all, for the players who had been defeated, it had already been a surprise to enter Class A in the first place. Even if it was only a Class A experience card, they gladly accepted the results.

Of course, it was mostly because they were not certain to win against the other As. In order to avoid being demoted to F like Lai You, they decided to stay in Class B honestly.

Theoretically, the players already in Class A were qualified to issue challenges, but the risks greatly outweighed the advantages. They had already entered Class A, even if they won, they would stay there while if they lost, they would be demoted to F. None of them would do something as crazy.

But just when everyone thought the battle was over, Song Yiqi suddenly asked: “Teacher, I’d like to challenge Luan Zhen, can I?”

As soon as her words fell, the atmosphere that had just died down was ignited again in an instant. Everyone looked in her direction; they had never thought they would be able to watch a double-A battle today!

[Our Song Song! I love watching our Great Devil Song perform!]

[Double A duel, whoooo. I am going crazy, this show is awesome!]

[Song Yiqi is so handsome! But I also love Luan Zhen very much! Ah, I will be in pain whoever loses!]

Song Yiqi was not a member of Galaxy but she was very popular. She was now looking at Luan Zhen with a smile, hoping she could compete with her. Lu Cong stared at her with some surprise and asked: “Are you sure you want to battle with Luan Zhen? You are both very strong.”

Song Yiqi was older than the rest of the players. She looked very bright, like a blooming rose, beautiful and full of thorns. At this time, she was smiling and nodding.

“Can I ask why?” Zheng Taijing was very curious. He liked Song Yiqi very much because she was both powerful and unique. She made the audience recognize her at first glance, and a girl group needed members like her.

Song Yiqi’s lips bent gently and she answered: “Because I like Luan Zhen very much, I can’t help but want to compare with her.” 

It was only because of curiosity, she did not care about winning or losing. This was the scary thing about Song Yiqi and the reason her fans called her Great Devil Song. No matter what the rules were, as long as she was happy, she would do whatever she wanted.

[Ah, I love this sister so much.]

[Omg, I have fallen in love with her too!]

People who did not know her only thought she was crazy and unruly but for people who liked her, she was free and spontaneous. As long as she had fun, she would not care about losing or winning. And this behavior hit Lai You even more in the face.

Lai You had chosen to challenge Qiao Dai which had been normal. The problem was that she had been unwilling and made a scene when she had lost, instead of accepting the results. Such attitude contrasted sharply with Song Yiqi’s casual behavior, entirely demoting Lai You in their heart.

The whispers around her made Lai You’s face pale even more. She clenched her fist with hatred and complained in her heart Song Yiqi was provoking her on purpose. She was definitely just rubbing heat. Were the other players so stupid they couldn’t see Song Yiqi’s true intention?

A double-A duel was very topical. If Song Yiqi won, she was announcing her strength to everyone; if she lost, she was showing her courage and people would look forward to her coming back in the next issue.

Lai You did not dare to say anything because she knew that as soon as she opened her mouth, the other contestants would mock her and said she was also grabbing the attention; she really did not know how to justify herself if they did.

Thinking about it, Lai You became more and more irritable. It was too late to repent, she should have never challenged Qiao Dai and honestly battled Class B players instead. This way, she would have never been demoted to Class F.

The result of Luan Zhen and Song Yiqi’s battle was exactly as Lai thought. Song Yiqi had asked to compete with Luan Zhen using rap and after Song Yiqi’s loss, Luan Zhen had taken the initiative to hug her before saying: “You are awesome, I like you.”

Song Yi had smiled in return and replied: “My skills are not as good as yours just yet. But wait for me, I will definitely defeat you in the future.”

The mentors also laughed and applauded and this double A duel perfectly concluded the initial rating. Song Yiqi left Class A and joined nonchalantly to Class F as the other players were cheering and embracing her. There was no doubt that even if she had been demoted to the last class, in today’s recording, Song Yiqi was the most eye-catching.

Finally, the first rating was over. The list of each class had also been released and Jiang Fengchi announced the final result. The camera gave each member of Class A a shot; some were excited, some were politely thanking the mentors and finally, and when Qiao Dai’s sleepy yet wide-eyed face appeared, the live broadcast room laughed and cheered, congratulating all the girls for working hard.

At this point, the recording came to an end.

When the executive director announced the end of the show, the girls who were still tense just now collapsed in their seats like broken dolls. Today’s recording had been very long, both physically and psychologically, and it had been a challenge for all of the contestants.

“You have worked hard, everyone.”

The four mentors had been very serious during the recording of the show, but as soon as the cameras were turned off, they broke away from their tutor personas and began to ask all the contestants if they had any concerns and patiently explained everything.

“Teacher Jiang, will you come to Class A to guide us?”

Some of the more daring Class A players asked Jiang Fengchi with smiles on their faces. The girls surrounded him, eagerly asking all sorts of questions.

Zheng Taijing, Song Anni, and Lu Cong were also laughing and shaking their heads, making fun of him and joking that among them “Teacher Jiang” was definitely the most popular. Jiang Fengchi hurriedly defended himself in a serious manner and the atmosphere became instantly more lively.

“Well, everyone must be tired. Go back to the dormitory first.” Song Anni clapped her hands and reminded the contestants to go back to rest.

The program team had arranged a dormitory villa for the players. Five villas of different sizes were surrounding an artificial lake; as long as they opened their windows, they could all see the lake and the surface of the water. Each villa also had its own terrace on the water and the girls could walk freely to enjoy the scenery.

The eleven trainees from Class A lived in the first villa. They all had a separate room, a vocal and dance studio on each floor, and a public area that included a gym, a home cinema, and so on. The players opened their eyes wide when they discovered all the commodities. 

By the time they had arrived at their villa, the sun was already setting and dyed the lake with a golden light. The water also reflected the villas and the landscape was filled with a quiet beauty.

Only the players from Class A were staying there and the other trainees followed the staff to reach their own respective villas. The others were divided into three, four, five, or six-person dormitories according to the classes. The training venues were also different; the advantage of entering Class A was clearly obvious. Looking at the magnificent residence in front of them, the other girls silently swore they would enter Class A at some point.

“Oh, by the way.”

Jiang Fengchi gestured to the PD who was following him and he immediately turned the camera off. Although the official recording was over, the program team would be constantly filming after each episode. It was a way to bring the audience close to the contestants and have them get more familiar with all of them from all angles. However, nobody knew whether they would attract fans of black powder this way just yet.

Unlike the players who had no say over the camera, Jiang Fengchi could stop the recording from time to time and as soon as the camera turned off, he said: “There is a broadcast arranged by the team later and I will come to see you. If you have any personal belongings, just hide them away from sight.”

Today’s final filming would last for an hour. The four mentors would come and comfort the contestants in different dormitories. As a man of the same age as the trainees, Jiang Fengchi wanted to remind them to avoid any embarrassing scene during the live broadcast.

“Really?”

“Can Teacher Jiang bring us food?”

“Oh, I dare not remove my makeup then.”

The girls began to talk all at the same time and while they were excited, they were all thinking about the things they should pay attention to during the broadcast. After all, Jiang Fengchi was a male celebrity and they had come to participate in the women’s team draft. They had to be particularly careful.

Although it was a little risky, it was also good. They just had to go through the motions, visit everywhere together and finally sit in the living room to chat. And thanks to Jiang Fengchi’s warning, they could be extra careful. If any male star visited a female contestants’ dormitories, it would be bad if anything went wrong and were to spread.

With these thoughts in mind, the girls who had just been a little excited calmed down and went to tidy their rooms.

Only Qiao Dai, who did not understand why they should worry, suddenly brightened after Jiang Fengchi’s words. She quickly returned to her room and opened her suitcase, before dragging something in the middle and putting it on the ground. She squatted next to it and started unfolding it.

“This.. what is this?”

Luan Zhen had not taken a lot of luggage and when she was done unpacking, she went to see if Qiao Dai needed any help. As soon as she opened the door, Luan Zhen’s eyes firmly locked on the item on the ground. Her eyebrows raised in surprise, it looked like the thing that had just appeared in Qiao Dai’s room was… a pool? 

Luan Zhen: ?

Why was there a children’s swimming pool in the middle of the room?