CH 72

Wang jie had only started her career as an agent two years ago. She didn’t have a lot of artists signed to her yet. Debuted artists already had their own agents. There wasn’t any chance for her there. An agent like her would usually have to take on a trainee and help groom them into an excellent artist.

She would only be able to sign a formal contract with these five boys if they were able to make a successful debut here. 

Since this was a very critical moment, she was also paying a lot of attention to them. She needed to follow up on everything.

“How’s the choreography? Give me a detailed description.”

After hearing their explanation, she thought for a bit.

“Place Gu Qingchi in the center. Get as much attention on him as you can.” 

Wang jie naturally knew about Gu Qingchi. Although Gu Qingchi had always been rather low-key, he was quite famous among other agents. His name had already spread far and wide amongst them. Ye Li being his agent was enough for people to give him a second look.

Not to mention, ever since he entered the entertainment industry, his career had been smooth sailing.

His first role was on the big screen, and it was a collaboration with a movie emperor.

He managed to conquer TL Magazine with just a single catwalk. Designers all over the world liked him. Once he gets a little more famous, those luxury brands would definitely be making offers to him.

Even if he wasn’t famous now, as long as he had a face like that, he would always be the focus of any occasion and any venue.

The other boys didn’t really understand.

“But Gu Qingchi’s an actor. Wang jie, you also heard his singing. Wouldn’t it be better to reduce it as much as possible? I’ve already cut a lot of his lyrics out. I only left him a single line.”

“If you’re going to cut out his lyrics, then you should make up for it somewhere else. Anyway, just do as I say and put him in the middle.” 

“You guys still haven’t figured it out. The purpose of having a mentor isn’t actually for the sake of learning. Rather, it’s so you guys can gain some popularity. If your mentor was Xie Luyu, you’d probably be able to debut on that basis alone.”

“But Gu Qingchi isn’t, like, a superstar or anything.”

“So what if he isn’t? With a face like that, does it really matter? Anyway, as long as the audience is able to see him, it’ll be fine.”

The other boys looked at each other. 

“In that case, let’s give it a try.”

The five members of the group had been trainees since childhood. All of them had been in the company for more than five years at the least, and each one of them had a solid foundation in all aspects.

It wasn’t too much pressure for them to go back and change the choreography.

This was going to be a major adjustment to their original arrangement. Since Gu Qingchi’s part had been reduced, the other members’ parts would have to be increased. What was an already tight schedule became even more tight. However, after a few passes at it, they had already adapted to the new arrangement. 

Now, all that was left was the dance. Gu Qingchi had studied a little bit of modern dance at the company. Ye Li hadn’t arranged a lot of lessons for him. He simply treated it like a yoga class. He could hardly even be considered an amateur.

The only school of dance that Gu Qingchi had actually studied was Latin dance. Slater had high requirements of his actors. While Gu Qingchi was filming, he’d been told to hang out with Corenzo at the dance hall every day. It had been a lot of exercise.

Now, every dance he learned had a trace of that foundation in Latin dance. It was incredibly obvious. He subconsciously straightened his back.

Even so, the other members of the group were very happy. Gu Qingchi didn’t have much of a foundation in modern dance, but, as long as it wasn’t like his singing skills, they’d be more than satisfied. Five days was more than enough to memorize a choreography. Besides, Gu Qingchi had a foundation in Latin dance. Some aspects of dance were the same no matter the discipline. 

“Xe Hlcumtl, sbe tjnf gfjiis ubbv gtsatw, jcv sbe wfwbglhf wbnfwfcar nfgs delmxis. Tbe pera ubaaj ufa atja offilcu, atja xlcv bo ibbrf, ijhs offilcu.”

Ktf qfgrbc rajcvlcu cfza ab tlw rffwfv ab tjnf vlrmbnfgfv rbwfatlcu. Lf qeiifv Xe Hlcumtl bnfg ab atf wlvvif bo atf vjcmf raevlb jcv ojmfv atf wlggbg.

“Have you studied Latin dance before? I’ve also studied Latin dance, so I have experience with this. Your back is too straight when you’re standing. You need to relax. Stand in a way that’s comfortable to you, like this.”

As he spoke, he demonstrated by loosening up his body. 

“Just like that. When the movement comes to a stop, you’ll want to put some force in it. Just like the cha-cha-cha or pasodoble, the dance is fast-paced and requires a good deal of force…”

Gu Qingchi was pretty flexible, and he had very good control over his limbs. If there was anything wrong with what he did, he’d be able to fix it right away. Although he didn’t move around much, he still had his abs and muscles, so he was also able to apply force to his movements when needed.

Although he wasn’t as good as the other five members, it was good enough at a glance.

Once they got past the beginning, the group started making a lot of progress. 

So far, the dancing part was going very well compared to the singing part.

The next five days passed very quickly. Since the show was being broadcasted live, the program’s schedule was very tight. It was basically one segment after another with no end in sight.

There was a lot of space backstage, but there were also a lot of people, all of them coming and going.

Gu Qingchi and the others had nothing to do, so they just stayed in the corner and waited to go on stage. 

Gu Qingchi was in the center of the group. The other five members were either sitting next to him or standing next to him. The corner that they stayed in was like a stone within flowing water. Most of the people who walked by them subconsciously lightened their footsteps.

It wasn’t for any other reason. They were simply too eye-catching.

There were a lot of people secretly taking photos of them.

Their performance outfits had already been made. They were very simple. It was just slacks, a button up shirt, and a tie. The shirts were all white. The tie matched the slacks. The color of the tie and slacks was a little bit different. 

The other five members wore a black tie and black slacks. Gu Qingchi was the only one with a red tie and red slacks. He was like a rose that had bloomed for too long.

The slacks were very loose. It only pulled in around the ankles. The shirts were also pretty loose. They were loosely tucked into the slacks. The shoes were lace-up canvas shoes that were popular with young people these days. Overall, the outfit was brimming with youth and liveliness.

Gu Qingchi’s outfit was the only one that was different. His outfit gave off a very lazy feeling.

Only three or four of his buttons were fastened. One of his pant legs was deliberately rolled up, revealing his slender calf. His hair was slightly curled. 

Everyone else was wearing light makeup. Gu Qingchi was the only one wearing heavy makeup.

The makeup artist decided to give him a smoky kind of look. She used a rosy color palette as the base. His lip shade was a bold rose color. The contouring was also incredibly well-done.

The overall look was very glamorous. He was like a rose that had bloomed for too long and was just about to wither.

They were the fourth group up to perform. Once the third group started performing, they all stood up and started putting on their microphones and other equipment. 

This was Gu Qingchi’s first time using this kind of microphone.

Some of the other members had already finished fastening their microphones.

“Here, I’ll help you.”

One of them squatted down and fastened the microphone to Gu Qingchi’s waist. Then, he quickly stood up again. 

At this time, the third group had just finished their performance.

The judges first commented on the pros and cons of the performance. Then came the voting portion. After the judges made their comments, the host continued with the program.

“Next up is our fourth group. They’ll be performing Disorientation.”

Once he finished speaking, the group walked up on stage. 

All of them were both good-looking and young. A burst of screams erupted from the crowd as soon as they appeared.

A girl in the audience grumbled to her friend.

“Disorientation? I mean, they’re handsome, sure, but they don’t really fit the concept—”

Her rant came to an abrupt end. 

Gu Qingchi slowly emerged from backstage. He walked to the very front and stood in position.

The applause, which had gradually started to cease, started up again, reaching a peak.

No one could deny it. He threw people into disorientation. He was disorientation personified.

The entire performance was super high energy. The energetic music and intense choreography truly complemented each other. 

At the end of the performance, Gu Qingchi ended up in the middle, and the other five were positioned around him. The music had already stopped by then. It was now time for Gu Qingchi’s line. Actually, it wasn’t really a line. It was more like a soft murmur.

However, the music had already stopped, so his voice came across very clearly. It seemed to ring in your ear. It was as if your lover had cuddled into you and started to whisper sweet nothings into your ear.

Gu Qingchi’s microphone was a little crooked. He held up his in ear microphone and fixed his eyes right in front of him. This rose was now starting to speak. He uttered words sweet enough to drown in.

“I have a secret. I love you.” 

After a few seconds of silence, high-pitched cheers brought the atmosphere to a climax.

Even when the host came up onto the stage, the applause did not stop.

“Come here. Come to the front.”

The host gave them the center of the stage and stood to the side. 

All of the boys had beads of sweat hanging on their foreheads. Even though they had several years of experience, it was still a rather difficult performance to get through. Their chests were heaving up and down.

The camera locked onto them. There were still a few cheers scattered across the venue.

“I’ll be asking the same question I asked all the mentors. Now that you’ve gotten through these five days of preparation, do you have any thoughts you’d like to share?”

This was the part where they were supposed to talk a bit and interact. The mentor would say something about how hardworking the trainees were, and the trainees would say something about how grateful they are to their mentor. 

Gu Qingchi thought for a while. Then, he spoke earnestly.

“It was a little difficult.”

The host didn’t quite understand.

“What?” 

Gu Qingchi had no choice but to explain himself. His tone was very flat, but, if you listened carefully, you’d be able to hear a bit of grievance in his voice.

“The song was difficult for me to learn. I kept messing it up. It also took me a long time to get the dance right. Getting through the entire choreography was kind of exhausting.”

During the final voting portion, the number of votes their group received far outnumbered that of the other groups.

There were still two more groups to go. Still, the host couldn’t help but sigh. 

“It seems like we have our champion already.”

“I have an issue with this.”

It was Wang Chen.

He was the mentor for one of the previous groups. He had already finished his performance and was now sitting upon one of the platforms to the side of the stage. 

“This program is about guiding our juniors, so, naturally, we ought to take note of the mentor as well. Aren’t we getting it backwards? Of course, this group of trainees is very talented, make no mistake, but that has nothing to do with their mentor.”

The atmosphere became a little awkward. Two of the judges started discussing it with each other.

Xie Luyu heard what they were saying.

“It makes sense. Should we hold off on making a decision?” 

One of the judges had already moved to pick up his microphone.

Xie Luyu got to his microphone first and spoke up.

“Are you qualified to say that? Mr. Do Do Mi.”

Xie Luyu was mocking Wang Chen for a mistake he’d made before. His nickname was Do Do Mi because he couldn’t even sing a simple do re mi. He was only able to sing do do mi. It had become a well-known joke. 

Xie Luyu had already spoken up.

The other judge put his microphone down.

“I’m just a little confused. Isn’t this show about debuting trainees? Since when was it about the mentors? You sure do care a whole lot about how the program is run.”

When the final episode was aired on television, this part was edited out.