Chapter 10

An Eye-Catching Performance. The Dark Horse

After each performance, the 2,000 spectators would press their voting devices to vote online for their favorite contestants and only two contestants would be selected each time. At the end, the individual votes of each group would be added together and the groups would be ranked according to the overall votes. The top four groups would receive additional points depending on rank.

In the first round, Meng Fu almost surpassed Ye Shuning in the online popularity vote with her looks. In the later rounds, Meng Fu’s performance was unsatisfactory and caused dissatisfaction among Ye Shuning’s fans. Most of Ye Shuning’s fans were Meng Fu haters.

This boy was one of them as well. After casting his vote, he put away the voting device and went to the restroom backstage. As for the rest of the people, some bowed their heads to chat, and some secretly played on their cell phones, posting threads to their circle of friends.

The program crew forbade everyone from sharing or taking videos of the public performances, as the program would be broadcast next week after editing. However, there were too many people and the program crew could not control everyone.

There were some people like Yin Bingnian, who were not die-hard fans. They simply watched and waited for the next performance. Ye Shuning’s fans were in the front row chanting “lip syncing” as the next group got ready to take the stage. The host kept a straight face as he took the microphone and introduced the next group. “Next up is the last group of trainees. Its members are Chu Yue, Wei Jin, Wu Yatong… Meng Fu.”

As the host introduced the trainee one by one, several large screens on the middle of the stage would zoom in on that particular trainee. When it was Meng Fu’s turn, everyone noticed that her mentor rating was “C.”

“This must be fake. There must be something going on behind the scenes!”

“She doesn’t deserve it!”

After the host introduced them, it was the four teachers’ turn to give some encouragement to the trainees.

As usual, Tang Ze was beaming. After speaking for a while, he made a special note to encourage Meng Fu. “All the best, I am looking forward to your performance today.”

Because Wen Yu had seen Meng Fu’s good handwriting and her rating performance, Wen Yu was also looking forward to Meng Fu’s performance. “All the best.”

When it was Xi Nancheng’s turn, he commented on everyone in Meng Fu’s group except for Meng Fu. He did not even look at her or comment on her. He put down the pen and performance list in his hand and said indifferently, “You guys can start.”

The song for Meng Fu’s group was “Living, To Keep on Living.”

At the beginning of the performance, all the stage lights were turned off. A guitar could be heard, followed by the bass.

Boom!

The sounds of the rhythmic drum set could be heard and the stage spotlights turned back on, and divided into eight beams, shining onto the eight girls! The drumbeats and the ethereal human vocals, turned into a harmonious sound, heard by everyone present.

Xi Nancheng, who sat indifferently in the mentor’s seat, was intrigued by the sound of the rhythmic drum set. He slowly sat upright as he watched the performance with half-shut eyes.

The eight performers had a different style from the previous group who adopted a sweet style. Everyone had a simple and cool style. Some people wore denim pants and studded jackets, while some wore T-shirts with prints of skulls on them…

Meng Fu wore a short black T-shirt, with a black bracelet on her right wrist, and a black baseball cap on her head. One of the screens zoomed in on her. The baseball cap almost covered her face, only revealing her delicate jaw.

Yin Bingnian did not have any expectations for the last performance. She did not leave purely because she was just casually interested. After all, she was a passer-by fan of Ye Shuning. Ye Shuning was very talented to have achieved so much at her age. No one could match up to her except for the contestants in the three overseas competitions.

She did not pay attention to Meng Fu’s performance. Like most people in China, she was more interested in the other three competitions abroad. Within this regional performance, only Ye Shuning was notable anyways.

She was still daydreaming when the performance started. The performance reached the first rhythm. Chu Yue started singing and the music beats could be heard in the background. The girl in the center who wore a baseball cap took a small step with her right foot and placed her right hand in front of her. Everything was fluid and smooth, her hand and feet movements were strong and powerful.

Immediately afterwards, everyone made an iconic gesture. Everyone danced hard, devoted themselves to the music, sweating profusely, as if dancing on the seaside with the rising sun in the background! They exuded passionate youthful vigor!

Thanks to the strong rhythm and the constantly changing spotlights, they had taken over the entire stage. The voices of the audience and everything else did not seem to exist. Yin Bingnian could not help but notice the girl wearing the baseball cap in the center. Her figure was really beautiful. She was flexible yet every movement of hers was very powerful.

The music was coming to an end. The high beat rhythmic drums eventually slowed down and the only sound left was the strumming of the guitar. The girl wearing the baseball cap in the center performed a classic hip-hop breaking action with one hand resting on the ground, her left foot in front, and the other hand on her baseball cap, slowly raising her head.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang! Everything froze and the dance and singing suddenly stopped.

The large central screen captured her final framed posture. She supported the ground with one hand and the baseball cap with the other, revealing her dark and misty alluring eyes. Her expression was lazy and seductive.

“Meng Fu!!!” Yin Bingnian’s eyes widened suddenly and her heart skipped a beat. She could not help but pick up the fluorescent lights that she had not used once during the previous performances.

She only occasionally watched the domestic competitions. Her main focus was on the competitions within Country H. After all, that country had the fiercest competition. However, the live performances at the competitions abroad were not this impactful!

Yin Bingnian stared at the image on the screen. She could hardly tear her eyes away from the image. What was the name of this trainee? Oh yes, she was Meng Fu! Although some of her dance movements were stiff, the 360-degree rotation in the middle of the dance was perfect!

Her body was flexible yet powerful! The minor flaw of being stiff did not matter at all. There was also another girl who was just as amazing! Her name was Chu Yue. Both of them were pretty good!

Yin Bingnian waved the fluorescent lights vigorously and could not help but rub her arms. She could feel the goose bumps on her arms. This Meng Fu was definitely another dark horse in the domestic competition this year.

**

After the performance, the group of eight came backstage. All of them except for Meng Fu were out of breath.

“How are you so energetic?” Wei Jin wiped her sweat away. She was panting as she looked at Meng Fu.

Meng Fu reached out to take off her baseball cap. “Want to learn?”

Wei Jin nodded frantically.

Meng Fu turned her baseball cap and walked backstage, slightly curling her lips. “Start running with me tomorrow morning.”

Like what Meng Fu’s roommate, Chu Yue, had said previously, Meng Fu was a crazy girl who insisted on waking up at half past five every morning to run for half an hour. There was no camera on the pavement. There was no need to be so hardworking when the camera was off.

Wei Jin choked. “That is not necessary.”

There was a room backstage for all the trainees who had completed their performances. There was only one big screen in the lounge. The live voting and rank of each trainee would be announced on the screen and then the total ranking of the eight groups would be summarized.

There were only 16 seats in the lounge and they were ranked according to the live voting ranking. After each group ended their performances, the individual score and the total score of each group would be announced here. Trainees who were ranked at the bottom had no seats and had to stand to the side. The 16 seats were already filled up and everyone else sat on the ground, chatting with each other jokingly.

When Meng Fu’s group entered, Ding Liuyue was sitting by the side, smiling and talking to others. The ranking of her group with Jiang Ran had already been revealed. She was in 4th place and they had 10,000 votes. She would definitely not be eliminated this round.

As for the results of Meng Fu’s group, no one cared about them. Everyone knew that as long as Meng Fu was in their group, they would not be a threat.

The personal ranking displayed on the screen at this time was:

No. 1 Ye Shuning, 689

No. 2 Nan Qiu, 435

No. 3 Shen Qingfeng, 417

No. 4 Jiang Ran, 409

…

Ye Shuning was far ahead of the competition. No one was her equal.