Trainee Ch.62

Chapter 62: The Second Ranking Announcement

The live broadcast of the second ranking announcement was scheduled on Wednesday, one day earlier than last time. On the surface, cutting one day off the voting period might seem trivial, but for trainees hovering near the elimination line, it could very well decide their fate.

Of course, the production team didn’t care about their life or death.

Although the show never explained why it was moved up, Li Xu revealed that it was to make room for the third performance’s song selection—to announce the advancing trainees earlier and reserve enough time for the next round of voting.

Lai Yudong often felt that Li Xu was more like the system than the actual system itself; he was the one who revealed most of the inside information.

The night before the second ranking, the atmosphere in dorm 707 was heavy.

“I mean…” Liang Zhisheng looked helplessly at his roommates’ tense expressions—ironically, he himself, the one directly involved, looked the most relaxed. “This time I should finally pack my bags, right?”

“No way.” Li Xu stubbornly refused to give in. “Wait for a miracle. What if?”

Lai Yudong guessed that Liang Zhisheng’s ranking was in a dangerous spot.

Looking back at the first ranking, he had been terrified that he would be eliminated, but Li Xu had mysteriously insisted he was safe. If Liang Zhisheng really were safe this time, Li Xu wouldn’t have reacted like this.

Most likely, he was right on the elimination edge.

“Me still being here is already a miracle.” Liang Zhisheng took it calmly. “Even if I pass this round, I’ll definitely get eliminated in the next. Better to leave with style this round—can’t let my farewell song go to waste.”

He forced a lighthearted tone: “I promised Liu Qichu we’d go eat hotpot once we’re out. Don’t shatter my dream, okay?”

[You guys at Stardom are obsessed with hot pot]

[Can’t you just debut together and then go eat hotpot… T T]

[This family can’t lose Mama Liang /crying]

[Li Xu isn’t stable either, ranked 37th in the first announcement]

Xu An, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly stood up. He walked over to the table, unwrapped the Polaroid camera he had won at the sports festival, and, gathering his courage, asked, “Can we take a group photo as a keepsake?”

“Sure!” Liang Zhisheng cheerfully leaned over. “I’ve always wanted to try it—I’ve never taken a photo with a Polaroid before.”

Xu An’s eyes lit up. “Then let’s take a few more shots.”

Liang Zhisheng hooked his left arm around Li Xu’s and placed his right hand on Lai Yudong’s shoulder. The three squeezed together in the back row, looking close and cozy, which made Xu An, standing alone in the very front with the Polaroid, seem a bit solitary.

Noticing this, Lai Yudong stretched out both hands over Xu An’s head, making a pair of bunny ears.

Instantly, the connection between the four tightened.

“Three, two, one! Cheese!”

[Little Bunny An! So cute!]

[Is Yuzu really this mischievous hhhh]

[Cold joke: Yuzu peel]

[I want this Polaroid so badly, please release it after the show qaq]

The four took turns holding the camera.

When it was Lai Yudong’s turn, Xu An and Liang Zhisheng stood behind him, each raising one arm to form half a heart around him, enclosing him from both sides. Meanwhile, Li Xu popped up from the front like a groundhog, with only his fiery red head showing in the frame.

With a shake of the film, the image developed—the last Polaroid appeared.

Li Xu picked up his copy. “I brought a marker—let’s sign them.”

“Why would you even bring something like that?” Liang Zhisheng asked casually.

Without missing a beat, Lai Yudong answered, “For signing autographs for fans.”

Li Xu: “…Shut up, you talk too much.”

[Yuzu: cry cry]

[Don’t be mean to Yuzu-baby hahahaha]

[Yuzu, some things are better left unspoken—just keep them in your heart, don’t blurt them out so bluntly (said with deep sincerity)]

Lai Yudong: ?

He was just joking, but he hadn’t expected to hit the nail on the head.

No, come on—how could there be any chance to sign autographs for fans while stuck in this closed environment? What, was he supposed to climb over the wall and “accidentally” bump into fans!?

…Then again, that did sound like something Li Xu might actually do.

Li Xu produced a gold paint marker and casually scribbled a few strokes next to his own head: “Let’s just use abbreviations. Writing the full name takes up too much space.”

He passed it along to the next person, and the signing continued.

Lai Yudong was the last to sign.

He pinched the corner of the Polaroid. Different handwriting clustered together on the small photo—crooked “LX,” neat “XA,” and bold “LZS.” It looked just like their clashing personalities living together in the same dorm room.

After a moment’s hesitation, he put pen to paper.

The tip scratched against the surface, leaving smooth lines.

“—LYD?”

Liang Zhisheng read out the letters in confusion, then looked at the blond boy who had written them.

“Lai Yudong. That’s his name,” Li Xu kindly explained. “Yu as in feathered, Dong as in winter solstice.”

“Huh?” Liang Zhisheng blinked, then stared at the guilty look plastered all over Lai Yudong’s face for a few seconds. He curved his lips into a gentle smile. “It’s a beautiful name—sounds like someone destined to debut at the top.”

He didn’t press further, tactfully choosing silence.

“What, you can tell someone’s fortune from their name now?” Li Xu abruptly cut in, sounding like he was picking a fight, but in truth trying to smooth things over in his own way.

Clearly, he didn’t realize that Liang Zhisheng would never blurt out such ill-timed, low-EQ remarks the way he did.

“Impressive, right? Want me to divine your fate?” Liang Zhisheng played along smoothly.

Li Xu rolled his eyes. “Go ahead, then.”

“I see your bones are extraordinary—you must be suffering from terminal chuunibyou.”

Li Xu: “?”

[Master Liang / clasped fists]

[This is ridiculous hahahaha]

[Do we really need a fortune-telling for that!]

“But your name reminds me of a word.” Liang Zhisheng suddenly shifted the topic back to Lai Yudong. “Dongyu—the fresh feathers that birds grow in autumn.”

He scratched his cheek. “Sorry, it’s the opposite of your name, but the association suddenly came to me and it felt really fitting. Like… in this winter, you’re going through a transformation? That’s why I said it sounds like a name destined for debut.”

[Liang Zhisheng really knows how to give compliments]

[As expected of a grad student, he sounds so cultured]

[Li Xu: chuunibyou. Lai Yudong: transformation.]

[Same dorm, different fates.jpg]

Lai Yudong smiled. “I’ll borrow your good words.”

…

At 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the second ranking announcement live broadcast began.

Just like last time, all the trainees entered in three groups. Once again, because he had no company teammates, Lai Yudong entered alone.

He couldn’t come up with anything flashy for his entrance. But yesterday’s Polaroid gave him an idea. He raised both hands above his head in a peace sign, then bent his fingers downward twice, imitating a pair of bunny ears that perked up and flopped down.

[Baby, how are you getting cuter and cuter]

[Bunny virus spreading—]

[Spicy rabbit-head Yuzu]

[? Sister above, that’s so cruel]

Spicy rabbit head. He actually wanted to eat it.

All these days, Lai Yudong hadn’t seen any spicy dishes in the cafeteria. The only thing close was stir-fried pork with green peppers—but the peppers weren’t spicy at all.

Last time he borrowed Su Junzhe’s scale from the next-door 706 dorm, he got a shock when he weighed himself—he had lost a whole eight pounds, even though he hadn’t been heavy to begin with.

But with more exercise and less sleep, it was impossible not to lose weight.

This time the ranking announcement would cut from fifty-five trainees down to thirty-five. The order of announcement was once again designed to toy with nerves: starting from thirty-fourth place up to eighth place, before finally revealing who had squeezed into the safe zone.

With the confidence his fans gave him, Lai Yudong no longer worried too much about his ranking. Unless the system suddenly fabricated some scandal out of thin air, there was no way he’d get eliminated this round.

System: [Host, please don’t pin baseless crimes on me.]

Lai Yudong: [TD.]

Host Fu Hanyu began the announcement: “In 34th place…”

From there he read all the way up to 21st place, but Lai Yudong hadn’t heard the names of any of his roommates, nor the trainees he was close with. That couldn’t help but make him uneasy.

It wasn’t until a back-to-back from the Bloody group—20th place Zhang Mingche, 19th place Jin Xiheng—that he finally let out a sigh of relief.

Thank goodness, both of their ranks had risen.

“14th place.”

Fu Hanyu glanced down at his cue card. A flicker of surprise passed through his eyes, before he curved his lips into a small smile. “His ranking has risen dramatically—he was originally in the elimination zone.”

“Even though he stumbled in the first performance with a style he wasn’t good at, in the second performance he returned to his comfort zone, got to rap as he wished, showed his strength to the Starseekers, and won a wave of new supporters.”

[Yu Yizhen?]

[No way, Brother Zhen wasn’t in the elimination zone]

[My first reaction was my fave, but this rank is way too high, I don’t dare claim it]

[If anyone in the rap team broke through, it should be someone from the Listen group]

“Congratulations, Li Xu.”

The unexpected name made Lai Yudong turn in surprise toward the red-haired boy sitting a few rows away. The latter took a deep breath, kept his expression unreadable, and walked up to the podium.

From 37th place to 14th—an absolute comeback.

[Brother Xu 666]

[That rise shocked me, how is he this high?]

[707’s team votes are insane]

[Plus two sugar-sweet faves giving him friendship votes]

[Yuzu-fans worried Yuzu might cry himself breathless 233]

[Don’t make it sound like it was all handed to him—Li Xu was practically invisible in the main edits early on. This time, his Listen stage broke out of the circle, and he won a big wave of fans with his own strength.]

Li Xu lifted the microphone, lowered it again without speaking, covered his mouth slightly as he steadied his breathing, then raised it once more:

“Although I’m surprised my ranking jumped so much, I believe I deserve this place. From now on, I’ll do my best to fight for an even higher position.”

“Lastly, thank you to my roommates. I’m not good at saying cheesy things, but every day in dorm 707 has been very happy.”

“Xu An, Lai Yudong, Liang Zhisheng—I’ll be waiting for you all inside the safe zone.”

Murmurs rose in the crowd, centering on one unfamiliar name.

Lai Yudong ignored them. Smiling, he gave his roommate a round of warm applause, the ripples in his heart blurring into the beginnings of unshed tears.

No matter what the live comments said, he believed Li Xu deserved an even higher rank.

The ranking announcements continued.

Pre-show favorite Song Yanxi fell to 12th place. Bai Xuanhe climbed steadily to 10th thanks to his second performance. Yin Zizhen, who had just scraped into debut position last round, dropped back to 9th. Meanwhile, Cheng Jinghao and Qu Junwei fully reaped the benefits of CP buzz, rising to 13th and 8th respectively.

Even before reaching the debut positions, the competition just outside the cutoff was already brutal.

And the final cutoff slots were an even bloodier battle.

“Now announcing 35th place,” Fu Hanyu gestured toward the massive screen behind him. “The candidates will be revealed on the screen.”

In an atmosphere so tense it was hard to breathe, four candidates appeared on the screen.

Among them were Chu Tianyi and Liang Zhisheng.

[Once again, I’m in awe of 707’s team votes…]

[Here we go, they’re cutting to Yuzu’s reaction again just to break my heart]

[Did Yuzu bring tissues?]

[Tragic—this is the second time Liang Zhisheng has ended up as a candidate.]

[I suspect Liang Zhisheng actually isn’t ranked 35–38. The show deliberately tampered with the votes to create drama. Anyway, since it’s neither debut position nor the finals, doing a little tweak here won’t have much impact.]

[Just looking at it, you can tell Chu Tianyi is going to make it in.]

Lai Yudong pressed his lips together, staring at the brown-haired youth on the screen. Liang Zhisheng gave a helpless smile at seeing himself on the candidate list, wearing a relaxed expression of someone who had already seen through the outcome—even his posture slumped in resignation.

Thirty-eighth place, thirty-seventh place were announced. In the end, the final showdown was between Liang Zhisheng and Chu Tianyi.

Unfortunately, though the setup was the same, the outcome was different.

On the screen, the four candidates were reduced to three, replaced by the one who squeezed into the train heading toward the third performance.

35th place: Chu Tianyi.

<< _ >>

**TN

666 – so awesome

233 – LOL