Chapter 10: Re-evaluation
Xie Xizhao had spoken with complete sincerity.
A car accident was undoubtedly unfortunate, but not everyone had the chance to turn things around when facing death.
However, the moment he finished speaking, he realized he might have unintentionally made himself look pitiful in front of the cameras.
Sure enough, after hearing his words, the expressions of those around him became rather peculiar.
Sometimes, evaluating a situation required considering the context. If Xie Xizhao were still lying in a hospital bed, most people would have sympathized with him.
But since his suffering was already in the past, the meaning of his words had changed.
Xie Xizhao fell silent for a moment.
Although he wanted to debut and knew exactly how to present himself in front of the cameras, he swore—this time, it was truly an accident.
He looked at Ai Qingyuan with an innocent expression. The other man’s face shifted unpredictably, and then, as if something had dawned on him, his expression suddenly turned sour.
Xie Xizhao: …
Alright, he saw that coming.
The group quickly moved on from the topic. That evening, after wrapping up their activities, everyone prepared for bed.
In the washroom, Xie Xizhao ran into Ai Qingyuan, who was just stepping out of the restroom.
The moment Ai Qingyuan saw him, he paused.
The lighting was dim, and there was no one else around. Xie Xizhao spat out his mouthwash and heard Ai Qingyuan speak.
“If your health is bad, why did you come to participate in the talent show?”
Xie Xizhao hesitated for a moment.
He truly felt that people were just… different.
Ni Xin had asked him the same question before, but when Ni Xin said it, it just sounded outright crude.
But Ai Qingyuan…
Xie Xizhao could sense a subtle hint of sympathy in his tone. At the same time, though, his voice carried an unbearable arrogance.
Xie Xizhao wiped his face.
After packing up his toiletries, Xie Xizhao straightened up and said calmly, “I’m already much better.”
Ai Qingyuan let out a soft scoff.
Xie Xizhao asked, “Heading back together?”
Ai Qingyuan didn’t move.
He said, “Alright, let’s say you are much better now.”
“You’re pretty good at songwriting, I’ll give you that. But if writing songs alone were enough to debut, then Super Rookie might as well be called Super Producer instead.” Ai Qingyuan continued, “This time, you got an A by taking a shortcut. But what about next time? What will you rely on then?”
Xie Xizhao thought for a moment. “Stick-fighting skills?”
Ai Qingyuan: “…”
Xie Xizhao, knowing when to stop messing around, quickly corrected himself. “I’ll rely on my strength.”
Ai Qingyuan gave him a long, deep look.
This time, he didn’t show any obvious disdain. He simply said, “Alright, I’ll be waiting.”
Then, he turned and left the restroom. Xie Xizhao sighed helplessly and followed behind him, the two walking back to their dorm one after the other.
—
Next time came quickly.
The competition in a talent show was even more frequent than a high school mock exam.
The next day, the production team gathered everyone together.
Dou Yu was still the main MC, standing beside Li Lin.
Both of them were dressed in loose athletic wear. Li Lin was the one to announce the content of this recording—
A re-evaluation of the theme song.
“Next, Teacher Dou and I will demonstrate this season’s theme song,” Li Lin explained the rules. “Over the next three days, we will also be here to provide guidance. After three days, we will conduct the theme song re-evaluation.”
“The grading criteria will be divided into two parts: singing and dancing,” Dou Yu took over, his gaze deliberately pausing in a certain direction before he continued, “The test format will be an a cappella singing and dancing performance. We will grade you on-site. These next two days will be tough on all of you.”
Re-evaluation was a tradition in talent shows. Everyone had long been aware of this segment, but they still played along, responding with enthusiastic cheers.
Once the excitement on stage settled down, Li Lin continued, “And also—”
She paused for two seconds.
“Choosing the center? It has to be about choosing the center, right?”
“Of course! The theme song has such a huge stage.”
“A hundred trainees on stage, and being the center of that… just thinking about it is exhilarating.”
“—We will be selecting the center position for the theme song,” Li Lin didn’t disappoint, smiling as she continued. “The center trainee will be chosen from those who received an A in the re-evaluation. The selection will be decided by an internal vote. If there is a tie, Teacher Dou will cast the deciding vote.”
“Alright,” she said. “Now, let’s take a look at the theme song.”
The theme song was difficult.
At least, for most of the trainees present, that was their first thought after watching the video.
The difficulty came from multiple factors. The choreography was intricate and fragmented, making it a nightmare for those lacking dance fundamentals. The chorus had high notes that made the weaker vocalists frown in distress.
The final performance required both singing and dancing simultaneously, doubling the challenge. With only three days to prepare, even though everyone had mentally braced themselves, they still looked like they were in agony.
Ji Yan felt like he was going to vomit. “Can someone do something about this? Is this even a dance meant for humans?”
Beside him was his new roommate, a pure vocalist, who stared ahead blankly. “Yanyan, please stop talking. If even you’re struggling, what the hell am I supposed to do?!”
“Oh, right,” he suddenly asked. “Where’s your brother?”
He had a good impression of Xie Xizhao, probably due to the unspoken bond between vocalists.
Ji Yan scratched his head. “No idea.”
“They’ve got a pretty stacked dorm,” Ji Yan’s roommate remarked. “Fu Wenze is in there—probably the best rapper here, and his dancing isn’t bad either. Guan Heng has solid all-around skills and got an A. Add in the likely center for the theme song… Damn, that’s a dorm full of stars.”
Ji Yan blinked. “What center? My brother?”
His roommate gave him a look like he was an idiot. “What are you talking about? Of course, it’s Ai Qingyuan.”
Pausing for a moment, he added enviously, “He’s obviously got the center spot for the first stage. No question about it. Man, I wish I could be like him—one of those undisputed bosses.”
—
On the other side of the venue, Ni Xin eagerly handed Ai Qingyuan a bottle of mineral water.
Nearby, one of Shenghong’s teammates chuckled and repeated the same sentiment. “Brother, the center spot is basically yours already. Give us some pointers, will you? We’re all from Shenghong—we don’t want to go back to the company with a D and get chewed out.”
“Oh, right, brother,” another person chimed in. “You’ve already learned the choreography, haven’t you?”
Ai Qingyuan didn’t bother responding to the first comment, but he did acknowledge the second.
“Yeah,” he said lazily. “Halfway through it.”
With his strong foundation, even complicated choreography didn’t take him long to learn.
From his perspective, while the theme song’s dance was intricate, its overall difficulty wasn’t that high.
As for the center position…
“Don’t talk nonsense,” he drawled. “Go bribe the other 95 people if you want them to vote for me.”
“This is a done deal,” Ni Xin said. “Qingyuan, your skills are obvious to everyone. We all saw it. In our team, only you and Guan Heng got an A.”
Hearing his name, Guan Heng quickly waved his hands with a grin. “Oh, please, don’t drag me into this. I have zero interest in stealing the spot.”
Ai Qingyuan frowned.
Ai Qingyuan said, “There’s no such thing as stealing a position. It’s not pre-determined—anyone can take it.”
He didn’t like Guan Heng’s attitude. It was as if everything naturally belonged to him.
But as soon as he finished speaking, something suddenly occurred to him.
It’s not pre-determined—anyone can take it.
That meant it wasn’t necessarily his.
To be honest, he hadn’t even considered any other possibilities.
But…
His thoughts drifted back to that night.
He suddenly found himself a little curious—what was Xie Xizhao, the guy who had boldly declared he would defeat him with strength, doing right now?
—
At that very moment, inside Practice Room 217, Xie Xizhao took off his Bluetooth earphones and placed them back in their case.
The person beside him glanced at him, then at the time, looking utterly shocked.
Only fifteen minutes had passed.
Then, he saw Xie Xizhao reach for a bottle of water.
…Oh, just drinking water.
Alright then, nothing to worry about.
For a second, he had actually thought Xie Xizhao had already learned the choreography.
Uh.
That would have been a genius move.
Clearly, he had been overthinking.
He lowered his head again, staring at the progress bar of the choreography tutorial like it was an advanced calculus equation.
Meanwhile, Xie Xizhao finished his water and leaned against the floor-to-ceiling mirror, quietly resting his mind.
In his head, every move of the theme song played back in crisp detail.
He knew that the first step of learning the choreography—memorizing the dance—was already complete.
