Chapter 64
After spending a long time at Random Entertainment, everyone became smarter.
Chi Qiao stepped forward, imitating the famous detective Conan, and adjusted Yao Shuo's imaginary glasses.
Yao Shuo played along, analyzing the situation. He touched his chin with a serious expression and said, "There are 21 of us, and we can't all go. So there's only one truth - only the group that wins first place can go."
The other trainees in the room applauded politely, with Pei Luming even exclaiming softly, "Wowβ"
Guan Xiaoxiao, holding her phone, was speechless: "..."
She said: "You're overthinking it. We're all going."
Guan Xiaoxiao scrolled through her chat history on her phone, "It's simply a learning trip. We bought tickets for everyone, including Week 2 passes. We'll have to wait for Jiang Juyou's notice for the specific details."
After finishing, she checked the time, "Alright, that's it for practice today. Everyone go back and pack your bags. We'll be staying for two nights, so just bring a few changes of clothes. Remember to check the weather."
She clapped her hands, directly dismissing the trainees.
Yao Shuo still wasn't convinced, "Impossible, this is definitely not something our company would do..."
But this time, no one played along with him. They all went to their lockers to get their things and prepare to return to the dorms, leaving him alone.
"Impossible..."
-
As one of the minor highlights of today's platform gala, online attention towards Jiang Juyou increased along with the growing number of trending topics.
The gala's livestream began, with hosts conducting the program according to schedule on stage, while well-dressed artists sat below.
Jiang Juyou sat in a small corner, originally without any cameras pointed at her. But not long after the start, a cameraman came over with his equipment aimed directly at their area, with the filming subject very clearly being Jiang Juyou, who was sitting at the edge of the long bench.
During the VCR playback on screen, there were occasional loud shouts from fans behind them.
Although Jiang Juyou's name wasn't among those being called out, whenever her face appeared on screen, nearby fans would show some courtesy and cheer a bit.
Suddenly, the person on stage called out Jiang Juyou's name.
Jiang Juyou, who had been looking down at her phone, raised her head to gauge the situation: "..."
Her face appeared on the screen again, but this time it was a half-body shot, directly showing her playing with her phone.
A blogger sitting nearby, seeing that Jiang Juyou hadn't stood up yet, came over to quietly remind her, "Ms. Jiang, you've won an award. You need to go up to receive it."
Only then did Jiang Juyou realize why the camera was pointed at her. She had a sudden realization, "Ah~"
Jiang Juyou put her phone behind her and stood up, smoothing out her clothes before walking towards the stage.
There were several people receiving awards, but the big screen broadcast only focused on Jiang Juyou.
Because the award presenter was Yang RPing.
Soon after, this segment was reposted all over the internet by marketing accounts, including GIFs of Jiang Juyou playing with her phone and her downturned mouth corners as she received the award from Yang RPing.
Although the marketing accounts were spreading content according to instructions from above, the public had their own thoughts.
"Acting like me in class [smile]"
"Such a boring gala, it's really hard on our Jiang Juyou."
"I bet after today, this memory won't even exist in the hangover cure's mind because it's too boring."
"LOL, turns out even Jiang Juyou panics when caught playing on her phone."
"Don't forget, sisters, the hangover cure is still a college student."
"She's got that clear and silly college student vibe, now I believe the hangover cure is still in university."
Although the trending topic was prepared to smear Jiang Juyou, her strong public appeal meant the comments section didn't go as planned by those above.
Apart from teasing Jiang Juyou, there were also fans frantically calling her "husband" below.
Among tonight's many trending topics about red carpet outfits, Jiang Juyou's trending topic seemed much more interesting, with more active participants, quickly rising to a high position.
Meanwhile, after receiving her award, Jiang Juyou went straight backstage to pack up and change clothes, preparing to fly to South Korea.
-
Recently, South Korea has been in its university campus festival period, with various universities inviting many idol groups and singers to perform at their schools to welcome new students and celebrate.
As spring has arrived and temperatures have risen, the streets are filled with people dressed in vibrant outfits.
Jiang Juyou had no special plans for the morning, so she took a stroll around the university area and went to see the cherry blossoms.
After lunch, she went with the staff to pick up the custom in-ear monitors, headsets, and microphones they had ordered earlier.
The audio company staff had never seen someone carry so many boxes of custom mics before, and even helped carry several loads.
"Alright, we can load them into the car now," said the translator who was helping, after communicating with the audio company staff. He then closed the trunk.
Jiang Juyou nodded after hearing this and pointed ahead, "I'll go up first then."
Back in the practice room, the trainees had been preparing since early morning. They had gone to the styling room for hair and makeup in the morning and had changed into their chosen outfits upon returning.
They were doing warm-ups when a staff member came to inform them that Jiang Juyou had arrived.
The words "Jiang Juyou" had become a psychological shadow for the trainees. Just mentioning it made their hearts skip a beat, like being suddenly awakened from sleep.
Everyone simultaneously clutched their chests and sighed.
Even the usually optimistic Pei Luming started to look dejected, so one can imagine how much worse the others' expressions were.
Just as everyone was preparing to move to the practice room on the second basement level, suddenly some staff members came in carrying several boxes.
Everyone paused their actions and went to help first.
"What's this?"
The curious Pei Luming glanced at the Korean writing on the boxes. It had the company's name on it, so they could guess it was some kind of audio equipment, but no one knew exactly what it was.
The staff member who had put down the last box straightened his back and stretched his arms, saying, "These are custom in-ear monitors and microphones. Let's unpack them first, you'll be using them for the Monthly Evaluation."
"...Huh?"
The 21 little ones tilted their heads in unison.
Downstairs, Jiang Juyou sat down and stretched her back a few times before settling onto the sofa.
In front of her, a staff member was testing the in-ear monitor samples. Jiang Juyou stared at her and asked, "How is it? Clear?"
"Ah! Ah! Ah!" She said a few random words, then raised an eyebrow, "Oh~"
She pointed at the earphones and said, "It's quite clear. This side is the original track, and this side is the instrumental."
Jiang Juyou nodded, then pointed to the side, "Alright, sit down and rest for a bit. We're exhausted."
The Monthly Evaluation was scheduled for 3 PM. As the time approached, the teachers gradually arrived. Jiang Juyou greeted them with her broken Korean, and with the help of the translator, they chatted for a while.
When the 2:59 alarm went off, the smile on Jiang Juyou's face immediately disappeared. She turned and sat down on the sofa, then said to Guan Xiaoxiao, "You can let them in now."
As soon as she finished speaking, someone knocked on the door.
"Hello, teachersβ"
The trainees entered in a line, bowing as they walked in, extremely polite.
They were divided into three groups, and just from today's styling, you could tell who was in which group. After entering, they first stood in front of Jiang Juyou to greet her.
"Alright, let's not waste time. We still have a flight to catch at 11 PM, so let's start quickly," Jiang Juyou said.
Jiang Juyou glanced at the iPad handed to her by a staff member. The spreadsheet on it was in both Chinese and Korean. She casually flipped through a few pages, then said, "Let's start with the group performances... Gao Xiayu's group, you're up first."
She closed the iPad and put it beside her.
The group whose name was called received sympathetic looks from the others, but despite their nervousness, they had to move quickly, or else they'd be scolded even worse.
The staff member sitting by the computer looked at their opening pose, then counted down softly: "Three, two, oneβ"
As the music started, the movements of the seven people were like a symmetrical pattern, with even the angles of their rises and falls matching, making for a very pleasing visual performance.
Whenever Gao Xiayu was the team leader, there was no need to worry too much about the dance moves. This time was even more so, as four out of the seven had been team leaders before. Their pride wouldn't allow them to make mistakes, so their requirements for the overall quality of the performance were even higher.
The dance for this first small section was extremely coordinated, even the dance teacher's expression softened, with only Jiang Juyou sitting in front with a cold face.
Because the practice room was not large, they could potentially bump into Jiang Juyou sitting on the sofa if they moved a bit forward, allowing them to see her facial expressions more clearly.
The more unresponsive she was, the more nervous everyone became. At first, they could still focus on the dance and music, but later they started to wonder if they had made a mistake somewhere, causing Jiang's expression to be so poor.
The three-minute dance was short and quickly came to an end.
The intense choreography left them panting heavily after they finished. The practice room was filled only with their heavy breathing and scattered applause from the other trainees.
The teachers sitting in front were all silent, busily writing something on their iPads.
Jiang Juyou's actions were even more frightening - she hadn't even picked up her iPad and was scratching her head as if bored.
Although the ventilation system above was working, the trainees felt suffocated.
Jiang Juyou lowered her hand, glanced at the sweating faces in front of her, and pointed to the side, "Go wipe yourselves off first."
Her words finally unfroze them. Everyone relaxed their posture, quickly wiped the sweat from their faces, and returned to their positions, waiting for the teachers' feedback.
The other teachers courteously deferred to Jiang Juyou, wanting her to speak first, but she waved her hand, gesturing for the teachers to comment first.
Seeing this gesture, the seven trainees inwardly cried in unison: We're doomed...
The teachers first praised the trainees, then gave individual feedback, mentioning both strengths and weaknesses. However, the comments were mostly positive, as this group was indeed quite skilled. Even Ye Xing and Yao Shuo didn't lag behind in the team.
When it was Jiang Juyou's turn, she first clicked her tongue with an expression that seemed difficult to read, then tilted her head and let out a "tsk" sound.
"You guys are really consistent, aren't you..."
Not only those standing in the center, but even the trainees sitting on the side turned to look at Jiang Juyou.
She began, "There are rarely any performances that can truly captivate the audience. They're all either making people anxious for you or holding their breath, which is uncomfortable."
This assessment brought the temperature in the practice room down to freezing point. The seven trainees didn't even dare to breathe audibly.
Pei Luming thought to himself: Guys, who understands? My heart is about to stop...