Chapter 44.2: Preparation for the Second Performance (7)
After the song ended, a full minute passed, and Shen Xiu still hadn’t spoken.
From the wide practice-room mirror in front of them, the team members cautiously peeked at Shen Xiu, who stood there, head bowed in silence.
Clearly, even without Shen Xiu saying a word, they could all feel it themselves —
The third round of practice had still been terrible.
Although Shen Xiu didn’t say anything, the heavy, oppressive atmosphere radiating from him made the situation painfully obvious.
It must be that they were just that bad.
None of them had expected that after getting through the songwriting, arranging, and choreography stages without much trouble, they would fall apart here.
In the end, they had still ended up dragging Shen Xiu down.
With heavy guilt weighing on them, the team stayed silent, not daring to speak.
Meanwhile, Shen Xiu, after reflecting and re-centering himself, looked up and caught their panicked gazes through the mirror.
Shen Xiu: “…”
‘Oh no, I got so caught up in thinking that I forgot to relax my pose after the song ended. I’ve just been standing here stiffly, staring into the mirror. No wonder I look so weird.’
‘Look, even the others are giving me that “what kind of freak behavior is this” look.’
But…
His teammates were actually pretty nice.
Afraid of embarrassing him, once they realized he had come back to his senses, they quickly averted their eyes and pretended they hadn’t noticed anything.
“Ahem…” Shen Xiu turned around to face them directly, no longer looking at the mirror.
He lightly curled his hand into a fist, placing it against his lips and clearing his throat to ease the awkwardness.
“Fourth run-through. I’ll be watching you dance this time.”
He thought to himself: No way — I’ll fix you one by one if I have to!
Already feeling guilty, the team felt their anxiety spike the moment Shen Xiu turned to face them, his gaze fixed on them as he declared he would be watching closely.
But none of them dared to protest.
They could only shrink back a little and respond meekly:
“…Okay.”
Wuwuwu, it must be because we were so trash that Shen Xiu has been pulling cold faces this whole time… Now Demon King Xiu is really about to make his move!
In that instant, everyone was vividly reminded of the terrifying memories of the last time they had been collectively coached by the “Demon King Xiu.”
They couldn’t help but shiver.
Shen Xiu noticed his teammates suddenly shiver and furrowed his brows in confusion, narrowing his eyes slightly as he looked at everyone and asked with concern, “Cold?”
Seeing Shen Xiu’s suddenly sharp gaze, and hearing that one word “cold” spoken with clear threatening undertones, everyone quickly shook their heads frantically: “No, no, no! Not cold at all!”
Shen Xiu suggested, “Should I turn the air conditioning up?”
The practice room’s AC was controlled by the production team and was usually kept around 25 degrees Celsius.
Shen Xiu himself didn’t feel cold, but if the others did, it wouldn’t hurt to raise the temperature a bit.
“No need, no need!” everyone still hurried to refuse.
At first glance, Shen Xiu’s words seemed perfectly normal — but when you thought about it carefully, he was definitely beyond disappointed in them, but he was holding himself back from lashing out, and now he was being passive-aggressive about it!
“Since that’s the case, let’s begin.”
Everyone secretly let out a breath of relief: “Okay, let’s start!”
Shen Xiu, no matter what he did, always wanted to do it to the best of his ability.
Afraid they’d get mad later, he gave a warning ahead of time: “From now on, be mentally prepared.”
Teammates: “!”
That serious expression.
That cold, piercing gaze.
This is definitely a threat, right? Definitely!
“…Okay,” they answered obediently.
‘Such obedient, cooperative teammates — so satisfying!’
Feeling pleased, Shen Xiu walked over to the media control station.
Because during the fourth run-through, he needed to pause the music at any time to correct their movements and expressions, he had to stay in front of the controls to click play and pause conveniently.
The fourth round began.
The familiar melody echoed through the practice room…
At the seventh second, Shen Xiu hit pause.
The moment the music cut off, the entire room froze — no one even dared to breathe too loudly, staring nervously at Shen Xiu.
Then, Shen Xiu’s cold, sharp voice echoed through the silent room.
“Ke Zi’an, what’s with your shifty gaze?”
Shen Xiu had specifically placed Ke Zi’an in the first part of the verse because his voice was clean and unique, and his appearance carried a timid, innocent air — he looked like a poor little thing at first glance.
With a bit of training, Ke Zi’an could not only use his voice to immediately pull the audience into that fragile sorrow, but also use his pitiful expression to immerse them deeper in the emotions conveyed by the song.
But… a guilty, evasive gaze doesn’t equal unspeakable pain!
Having been called out, Ke Zi’an instantly straightened his back, standing properly like a well-behaved schoolboy: “Ri—”
Shen Xiu: “Was that supposed to be sadness?”
Ke Zi’an hadn’t even finished speaking when Shen Xiu’s voice, cold and commanding, cut him off.
Already someone who struggled to refuse others, Ke Zi’an obediently widened his eyes and stared directly at Shen Xiu.
Meeting Shen Xiu’s cool, emotionless gaze, Ke Zi’an nervously swallowed, his heart pounding so loudly he could practically hear it himself — but he didn’t dare look away.
Shen Xiu: “…” ‘That stare… is kind of creeping me out.’
Shen Xiu’s brain froze for two full seconds under that intense gaze before he snapped back to reality.
After regaining his composure, Shen Xiu carefully chose his words: “When you sing, slowly lift your gaze. Your eyes should be filled with sorrow — not tears — they should glisten, but the tears must not fall. Can you do that?”
Ke Zi’an, spacing out slightly: Am I… filming a drama right now?
But this was already his second time working with Shen Xiu.
He knew very well Shen Xiu was the type to relentlessly pursue perfection — every movement, every look had to be flawlessly executed.
Despite his nervousness, Ke Zi’an nodded seriously: “I’ll do my best.”
Second round. At the seventh second, Ke Zi’an’s gaze was still a bit off, but Shen Xiu thought for a moment and decided to leave it for next time — time to correct the others…
“Ye Cheng, why did you suddenly wink?”
When he turned his head and deliberately blinked, from an audience’s perspective, Shen Xiu found it weirdly off.
It gave him the same uncanny vibe as watching high school boys suddenly pretend to shoot a basketball—with no hoop in sight, sometimes even right in the classroom after class.
Why do people pretend to shoot hoops for no reason?
To this day, Shen Xiu still didn’t get it.
Ye Cheng: …Because in the original dance move, someone winked and it looked pretty cool, so I… copied it…
“Song Junying, why did you suddenly smirk when turning back toward the stage?”
Song Junying: Because the ‘devilish smirk’ thing looked kind of handsome…
“No, Xia Wenhao, why have you suddenly become so timid? Your moves aren’t projecting at all. Your dance can be just like your lyrics — explosive song, but the performer’s vibe is flat? No way.”
“Your gaze should be fiery, not seductive.”
“Gao Yongshi, stop wriggling like that. It’s terrifying. You’re so floppy you’re like a wet noodle. Even someone rowing a boat has more strength than you.”
…
In Shen Xiu’s repeated serious explanations, the fourth round didn’t end until half an hour later.
Before Shen Xiu would speak at length, he always paused for a few seconds to organize his thoughts in his mind. Therefore, after finishing the fourth round, Shen Xiu was not only mentally exhausted but also nervous inside.
Anyone who had been the one-sided recipient of half an hour of talking from someone like him would feel too awkward to even make eye contact.
Shen Xiu didn’t know what to say next. His gaze shifted to the water dispenser, and in an instant, he found a way to escape.
He needed water to relieve this awkwardness! After all… when nervous, it’s best to drink some cold water.
“Break.” Shen Xiu quickly said these two words and hurried to the water dispenser in the corner.
He had just barked at everyone for half an hour, and he really couldn’t face them now!
Surely, no one wanted to look at his face, right?
For his own sake, and for the sake of his teammates, he might as well turn his back to them and drink a few more glasses of water.
On a three-and-a-half-minute stage, Shen Xiu spoke for half an hour, then coldly threw out a word, his whole body radiating cold energy as he went to drink water. The team members couldn’t help but think more deeply.
This time, Shen Xiu must have been really angry with them.
They should really be ashamed! Why couldn’t they control their restless hearts? When singing and dancing, their minds often wandered, thinking that they must look incredibly cool and awesome while doing their moves…
Could it be… that the lyrics were too explosive, or the dance moves too stylish?
Everyone thought about it, but facing Shen Xiu’s serious expression, especially when he would always pause for a second or two before correcting them, they all felt nervous. They secretly glanced at his back, too afraid to say anything.
After all, Shen Xiu was so angry that he drank five cups of ice water in one go, which clearly showed just how upset he was.
Of course, before the training, the team members thought that Shen Xiu’s demand for them to finish all the work on the song in a single day was already a tyrant-like move.
But after the fourth round of training just now, they realized what it really meant to face the true Demon King Xiu.
When Shen Xiu scolded them with a cold face, he was really strict and sharp-tongued!
[This production team is really something, the pixelation even shifts! This time, the pixelation is all below the trainees’ necks, but their expressions above the neck are still visible. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.]
[Maybe… laugh and cry?]
[Looking at the trainees’ expressions… has the ruthless, cold-hearted demon, Demon King Xiu, descended?]
[Shh, don’t speak, he’ll notice…]
[I can feel the trainees’ fear even through the screen, hahaha. Watching them like this, I really want to laugh. I’m so bad, but I’m so happy, hahaha.]
—
Meanwhile, in the editing room behind the scenes of the show.
Shi Buwen pushed open the door to the editing room, and the assistant director hurried over when he saw him: “Director Shi.”
Shi Buwen got straight to the point: “Have you edited everything according to my instructions?”
The assistant director nodded: “Yes, the editing is done, but… well…”
“Director Shi, are you really not reconsidering? If we release this, what if the audience watches the pre-release training video of the second public performance and gets discouraged?”
The assistant director truly didn’t understand what Director Shi was thinking this time.
While editing, the staff members were editing while showing the classic expression of someone “staring at their phone on the subway.”
If this goes out, won’t they lose fans?
Would anyone still want to watch the second public performance stage? On the other hand, releasing this definitely won’t end up as a negative scandal, right?
“Tsk.” Shi Buwen said, “Looks like you still don’t understand us young people.”
He, as a young person, had a rebellious spirit, never willing to obey anyone. So much so that when he saw a censored ghost image, and someone warned not to look at it, well… they simply didn’t believe it and couldn’t resist searching for it just to see it with their own eyes.
Although… after looking at it, they would regret and scold themselves for being so reckless.
But it was okay. They would still dare to do it next time!
“Since the editing is done, let’s release it now, but remember to buy a trending topic.”
After speaking, Shi Buwen turned and left. After walking a few steps, as if remembering something, he turned back and reminded, “Don’t spend too much money, I’m poor, and our production team is poor too. Just buy the cheapest trending topic slot.”
He was confident that any trending topic about the production team would rise on its own.
Assistant director: …6.
It seems he was ignorant, never having seen anyone buy their own “black hot search.”
And… which production team is so poor that they would spend millions to throw a banquet for trainees? That’s ridiculous!
The assistant director grumbled but moved quickly, soon releasing the edited videos from each group and purchasing the cheapest trending topic slot.
Youth Unstoppable had too many iconic moments that were bound to go viral, and once the video was released, the trending topic shot up even faster.
In the live stream, a flood of comments about the trending topic quickly appeared.
[I guarantee, anyone who hasn’t watched this will regret it for life —- Video link]
[Click to see the stunning second public performance stage —- Video link]
[I love the production team! Heart (Eh? Why’s there a knife coming out instead?)]
[The judgment is back, and the review can be summed up in two words: Absolutely beautiful! My eyes feel like they’ve been spiritually cleansed! (Dog emoji, dog emoji, dog emoji)]
