Chapter 69.2: Third Performance (7)
Shang Yu, however, didn’t think Shen Xiu’s behavior was strange at all.
If he had planned to sleep with his eyes closed, and someone suddenly sat down so close beside him, of course he would’ve opened his eyes to check who it was.
Only if it were someone familiar and trustworthy would he dare to close his eyes again and actually fall asleep.
People like them, after all, tended to carry a hint of paranoia—a kind of self-protective suspicion.
But… Shang Yu’s gaze darkened slightly as he looked at Shen Xiu. The fact that Shen Xiu had opened his eyes to confirm it was him, and then felt safe enough to close them again—did that mean, in Shen Xiu’s heart, he was actually someone worthy of trust?
At the thought, a subtle guilt stirred in Shang Yu’s heart.
He was not someone who easily opened up to others. For him, maintaining a perfectly measured, surface-level friendship was more than enough.
Even joining this show had only been a spur-of-the-moment decision, prompted by something Shi Buwen had once said that made him curious about the entertainment industry. Being a perfectionist by nature, he’d sought out numerous mentors to train him, which was how he’d smoothly secured a debut spot.
After spending so much time with everyone, deep down, the only person he truly trusted in the entire show was still just Shi Buwen.
To put it bluntly, his original plan had been to quietly fade out of the debut group once the show ended, then move on to the next thing that interested him. When he got bored, he’d simply go back to the family business—after all, his major was finance.
But now… thinking about Shen Xiu—someone who treated everything with full commitment and pursued perfection with a tireless seriousness—Shang Yu found himself feeling vaguely lost.
—
Half an hour later, the production van returned to the training camp.
Back in the dorm, Shen Xiu, though no longer dazed, still had a dull ache in his head. He grabbed his clothes and went to shower.
He finished his washing up as quickly as possible and climbed into bed.
As soon as he lay down, all the willpower he’d used to stay awake on the ride gave out. The second his eyes closed, Shen Xiu fell asleep instantly.
“Ugh…” In the bathroom, now slightly sobered up, Xiang Yueting and Song Chengwang were miserably hunched over the toilet, vomiting.
After the two of them finished vomiting and washing up, they sat in a daze at their spots, staring at Shen Xiu’s bed and voicing a soul-deep question:
“Is Shen Xiu not feeling sick at all?!”
“He obviously drank more than I did—why isn’t he throwing up?”
Shang Yu also came out after washing up. Upon hearing this, he glanced at Shen Xiu’s bed and replied, “Why else? Obviously because Shen Xiu wasn’t drunk at all.”
After speaking, Shang Yu first looked at Xiang Yueting and said with a smile, “Shen Xiu can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. You think he’s like you? All talk and no skill, but still insists on drinking.”
Then he turned to Song Chengwang: “And you—are you drunk and stupid now? Don’t you remember you were the one Shen Xiu helped out of the private room and onto the car? If Shen Xiu was drunk, how could he have helped you—used telekinesis?”
Still feeling conflicted inside, Shang Yu attacked everyone equally.
After roasting Song Chengwang and Xiang Yueting equally, Shang Yu still felt irritated. He climbed into bed, folded his hands over his stomach, stared at the ceiling—and couldn’t sleep.
Song Chengwang: “…”
Xiang Yueting: “…”
Still sitting on chairs below, Song Chengwang and Xiang Yueting were left dumbfounded by Shang Yu’s verbal barrage.
Xiang Yueting whispered, “Old Song, did Shang Yu secretly eat gunpowder behind our backs?”
Song Chengwang rubbed his throbbing forehead. He genuinely had no memory of who helped him out earlier. Hearing this, he replied irritably, “Gunpowder? You’re being too mild—it was clearly dynamite.”
Xia Wenhao came out of the bathroom after puking and overheard them. He snorted, “Yeah, dynamite just for you two!”
If Xiang Yueting hadn’t instigated things, would he have ended up in a drinking contest with Song Chengwang? He was pissed!
Once again hit by friendly fire, Song Chengwang and Xiang Yueting blinked blankly.
Seriously, what did they ever do to deserve this?!
Zhuang Yi and Jiang Yanxi, who had drunk juice the whole time, exchanged looks, completely lost on the situation.
They didn’t get it. Juice drinkers like them just didn’t get it!
—
The next day, 9:00 a.m.
Because of last night’s gathering, all 36 trainees had arrived at the 10th-floor practice room, but due to the drinking, many of them were dizzy and groggy. For the first time, they weren’t welcoming the ranking announcement with their usual energy.
Shen Xiu, having drunk early and not thrown up, had slept soundly until 8:30 in the morning—the latest he’d ever slept. As a result, he was full of energy and completely unaffected.
Meanwhile, Song Chengwang, Xiang Yueting, and Xia Wenhao, who had gotten up multiple times in the night to vomit, hadn’t slept well. Looking drained, they slumped beside Shen Xiu. When they saw Xue Yi enter the room, they had to force themselves to stay awake.
“I shouldn’t have drunk so much last night… No, I shouldn’t have drunk at all. I regret it—deeply regret it!”
“My head is killing me. I barely slept all night. This is the worst.”
“Hangovers really suck.”
“Forget the hangover—the vomiting was the worst part.”
Seated beside Shen Xiu in the back row, the trio of hungover Song Chengwang, Xia Wenhao, and Xiang Yueting could only look at the fresh and alert Shen Xiu with one thought in mind: How did he drink such strong liquor and still come out of it completely fine?
Could it be that being immune to alcohol was just a standard feature of all true bosses?
Song Chengwang even wondered whether he should start training his alcohol tolerance.
[Looks like drinking too much really does sap your energy. It’s so obvious who drank and who didn’t—look at Boss Shen’s vibe, clearly didn’t drink at all!]
[Sigh, you can tell everyone treated it like the last meal together. It’s understandable they let loose a bit.]
[Ahem… honestly, I’d love to see what Xiu-baby is like when he’s drunk. That classic moment of him drinking with Brother Wang has already become meme material on all the fan channels. I’m dying to see more of drunk Xiu-baby content!]
[As a fellow Xiuologist, even though I want to see it too, someone as disciplined and self-controlled as Boss Shen probably wouldn’t allow himself to get drunk.]
“Ahem!”
A loud cough from up front came from Xue Yi. The fear instilled by him was still fresh in everyone’s minds, and the trainees immediately straightened up in their seats, backs taut, eyes forward.
Seeing everyone looking his way, Xue Yi began to speak: “Good morning, everyone. I won’t waste time with unnecessary words. I’m sure you’ve already guessed what’s about to happen today.”
“Let’s begin right away.”
Xue Yi pulled out a set of cards. In front of all the trainees, he placed the entire stack of cards on the table—except for the one red card on top.
“This is the scene of the third performance ranking announcement. From now on, those whose names I call, please come stand behind me.”
Without giving the trainees any time to react or whisper among themselves, Xue Yi immediately began reading the rankings out loud in one breath:
“Ninth place: Ning Sinian.”
“Eighth place: Jiang Yanxi.”
“Seventh place: Xia Wenhao.”
“Sixth place: Xiang Yueting.”
“Fifth place: Mu Zhenchu.”
“Fourth place: Zhuang Yi.”
“Third place: Shang Yu.”
“Second place: Song Chengwang.”
“First place: Shen Xiu!”
The trainees were still processing what just happened—many hadn’t even caught all the names—when Xue Yi had already finished reading.
Having completed the list of debut members, Xue Yi raised his hands and clapped first: “Let’s give them a round of applause!”
Seeing Xue Yi applauding, the trainees automatically followed, raising their hands to clap as well.
After a few seconds, Xue Yi raised a hand in a “pause” gesture, then spoke again: “For those whose names I didn’t call—unfortunately, you’ve been eliminated.”
At this moment, the trainees finally recovered from the rapid pace they had just gone through. They looked at the trainees who had successfully made it onto the ranking list, standing on stage, their eyes twitching slightly.
If they hadn’t seen the nine names being called out already walking behind Xue Yi, they wouldn’t even know who made it onto the third ranking list.
Teacher Xue’s mouth really is fast!
[I wish I could borrow this mouth of his when I’m arguing—said by a beautiful woman who often regrets not being able to speak fast enough during arguments, losing her chance to express herself, and lying awake at night replaying it in her head.]
[Shen Xiu’s ranking always surprises me, but I’m never shocked!]
[I deeply suspect that Song Chengwang’s second-place ranking this time has something to do with his lip piercings, those lip piercings are really amazing!]
[The sapphire earrings and rings that Shen Xiu wore sold out immediately. These accessories worth thousands are gone! Why are there so many rich sisters, but why can’t I be one of them? Ugh!]
[The ranking list is exactly what I expected. The situation where Xiang Yueting and Xia Wenhao saved the day on the “Collapse” stage was truly heartbreaking for the fans, and their rankings are higher than others.]
[As long as it’s voted by the fans, they deserve it.]
Now that they had been eliminated, the trainees thought about how they would never have to fear being publicly humiliated by Xue Yi again. They decided to let go and joke about him.
“Teacher Xue, did you eat some chocolate? Your words were so smooth and fluent!”
“No, no, no, you don’t understand. Teacher Xue is afraid that if he speaks too slowly, we’ll catch on, so he wants us to mishear our names and go up to be publicly humiliated. But unfortunately, we’re all too smart and didn’t fall for it.”
“Haha, you talk a lot, but I think you’re right. I’ll stick with you!”
“Teacher Xue, there’s something I didn’t know whether I should say before, but today I have to say it—Teacher Xue, you’re really scary. Seeing you gives me nightmares at night!”
“To be honest, Teacher Xue, I’ve already had several nightmares about you. Every time in my dream, you’re holding a teaching rod and forcing me to write songs. You’re definitely a devil, right?”
“That’s nothing. I even dreamt that Teacher Xue crawled out of my game console and nearly scared the life out of me!”
…
The eliminated trainees exchanged words with each other, and what was supposed to be a scene of sorrowful goodbyes gradually took a different turn.
Listening to everyone chatter, Xue Yi wasn’t angry at all. He smiled and watched them, occasionally nodding and agreeing with a few comments.
[…This scene… why is it so different from what I imagined! At this point, shouldn’t the eliminated trainees and the successful ones be hugging each other, crying while expressing their reluctance or encouraging each other for the road ahead?]
[Although… it seems that from the very beginning, both the trainees and the production team have been very different from the usual reality show format.]
[Everyone’s talking and laughing, but for some reason, looking at this scene, I feel a tightness in my chest.]
[Sister, I totally understand the feeling you’re describing. The reason everyone is acting like this is probably because they’re trying to force a smile so as not to make each other feel sad. In the end, it’s all for the other person’s sake. This kind of unity and love in the show is really hard to watch without getting emotional. Everyone’s so good.]
[I suspect Xue Yi read the names so quickly because he was afraid that if he went too slow, the eliminated trainees would feel even worse. After all, hearing the names of others getting ranked successfully while knowing you’re going to be eliminated is definitely a kind of torture.]
[Ugh, don’t say anymore, it really hurts!]
[Now that you put it that way, it makes so much sense. My eyes are actually tearing up now…]
The nine trainees who successfully made it onto the ranking list stood on stage, looking at the trainees below them in silence, not saying a word.
At this moment, they were indeed the ones on the ranking list. If they spoke and didn’t do it well, it could easily hurt the feelings of the eliminated trainees.
To be safe, everyone understood that it was better for them to remain silent until the others spoke first.
After a few minutes of casual chatter, Xue Yi spoke: “Everyone, gather your emotions. In five minutes, we’ll start watching the edited version of the third public performance group training footage.”
