After Rebirth, I Ended Up with My Idol [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 19

The two weeks passed quickly. Since it was the first time, the company provided ample preparation time. By the time the final rehearsals arrived, all four groups were essentially ready. Even though Wang Yunshui had performed a dramatic “fake fall” yesterday, she was back in the dance studio today for the rehearsal.

The three evaluators had no other bookings over these two days, so they came by every day to take a look and offer a few pointers.

Perhaps because of An Rong’s good performance last time, Qin Yun seemed to pay a lot of attention to her. Every time she came, she stood near the entrance—with Xu Xiaoye’s group on the left and Wang Yunshui’s on the right.

As the final pose was struck, An Rong let out a breath of relief. This was roughly the best state they could achieve for now; further improvement was unlikely in such a short timeframe.

Seeing them stop, Qin Yun clapped and walked over, looking at An Rong with a mix of gratification and wonder. “You’ve made massive progress. Your breath is much steadier than at the start, and your rhythm is good. However, when you use force in your dance moves, your voice still wavers. You need to keep practicing. You can try singing while running to learn how to control your breathing frequency and methods.”

An Rong nodded and said seriously, “Thank you, Teacher. I’ll keep working hard.”

“Keep it up.” Qin Yun showed a rare hint of a smile. “I have high hopes for you.”

She only spoke a few words to An Rong before moving on to check the other groups. When she met up with Shen Ri’an at the front, he whispered, “You have that much faith in her?”

Qin Yun hesitated for a moment and said objectively, “She’s young, willing to work hard, has good physical looks, and excellent vocal conditions. She’s talented. And most importantly, you’re a singer too—you know what the rarest thing for a singer is.”

Not everyone has talent, and among those who do, not everyone is willing to work hard. To endure so much hardship… talented and hardworking people are bound to have a streak of arrogance. Especially young kids and teenagers—it’s hard for them to get along with others, and they often aren’t willing to follow company arrangements.

But she saw those missing qualities in An Rong. She wasn’t sure what the future held, but for now, this was a truly excellent prospect for an idol singer.

Shen Ri’an nodded. Qin Yun wasn’t wrong. They were both “old foxes” in the industry; after training with these students for half a month, they had a good grasp of their potential. However, he hesitated, greeted another student with a smile, and then lowered his voice to whisper to Qin Yun, “But, I feel she might not be quite suitable for a girl group.”

Shen Ri’an had come from a boy group and later had a successful solo career. He knew very well the difference between a group and a solo act.

Qin Yun hesitated but didn’t argue.

Xia Chunhua was bouncing around while clutching An Rong’s arm, looking as excited as if she were the one being praised. She whispered with a beam, “She’s praising you! She’s praising you!”

An Rong smiled and patted her hair, nodding. Qin Yun’s words had surprised her a little, but she didn’t let it show. After a thought, she said, “I think the method Teacher Qin mentioned is good. But your lung capacity is higher than mine, so you probably don’t have that problem.”

Xu Xiaoye shook her head and said, “It’s actually a technique. The training process is very painful, but for singing and dancing at the same time, the effect is very obvious. It can be practiced.”

Song Ran was distracted, frowning the whole time.

Xu Xiaoye saw this, turned around, and patted her shoulder to encourage her. “Don’t be nervous. The performance doesn’t start until tonight. You’re doing great now, you can keep up perfectly.”

Song Ran was still uneasy, her brow tightly furrowed and her face looking a bit pale. She asked anxiously, “What if I mess up? I heard there will be a live audience. I’ve never performed on stage before. Are there many people? What if I forget the lyrics, or my moves are too slow… Ah—I’m going crazy! Sorry, I’m just a bit nervous.”

She had no experience. Furthermore, she was the weakest of the five in terms of singing and dancing. She was terrified of making a fool of herself in public and terrified of dragging her teammates down. The more she thought about it, the more panicked she became.

“I’m a bit nervous too,” Kang Yu exhaled and said. “But it’s okay, our rehearsals have been good. How about we go through it one more time? I’m feeling a bit unsure too…”

An Rong personally believed that if one was fully prepared, there was no reason to be afraid. Plus, she had several years of stage experience, so this small-scale scene didn’t affect her much.

Xia Chunhua was purely optimistic; she felt that since she had learned it, she could perform it—no big deal.

Xu Xiaoye had been on much larger stages than this, even if it was just as a backup dancer for others. After preparing for so long, now that she was the lead, she wasn’t nervous at all; in fact, she was quite looking forward to it.

So only Song Ran and Kang Yu remained uneasy, their faces full of panic.

Xia Chunhua, the optimist, also nodded. “Sure! We have plenty of time anyway, let’s go again. Don’t be nervous. We were so smooth during rehearsal. They’ll definitely let us do a final rehearsal on the stage this afternoon to test the mics and equipment. They won’t just grab us and throw us on stage.”

Everyone understood the nervousness. Rehearsing more wasn’t a bad thing, as long as they controlled their stamina and didn’t overexert their voices.

They went through it twice more. The three mentors walked out from the back, stopped to watch them finish, and Shen Ri’an clapped. “Very good. Go get something to eat and rest. The main event is coming up—don’t run out of energy when the time comes.”

His words scared Song Ran out of practicing any further.

The group cheered each other on, though the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

An Rong reached out her hand. Xia Chunhua reacted the fastest, slapping hers on top. Xu Xiaoye understood and silently cooperated, and Kang Yu and Song Ran added theirs.

They all expected a standard “cheer up” chant and were ready for it.

An Rong said with passionate enthusiasm, “Comrades! Students! Come, sing with me: Unity is Strength~ Ready, go—Unity is strength~ This strength is iron~ This strength is steel~ Harder than iron~ Stronger than steel~“

The singing stopped abruptly. After looking at each other and confirming that no one else knew the lyrics, the atmosphere instantly became awkward.

An Rong raised her hand, and everyone instinctively struck down: “Hey! Fighting!”

Whether they could sing it or not wasn’t important—the “Fighting” part was all that mattered!

This blunder actually lightened the mood a bit. They had practiced everything they could, and all the problems they could solve were solved. Continuing to rehearse would only drain their stamina. It was better to save their energy for the formal rehearsal on the set stage in the afternoon.

They encouraged each other and dispersed to eat, rest, or continue light training.

At 3:00 PM, someone came to notify them that the studio on the fifth floor was ready and those who wanted to rehearse could go.

Everyone in the dorms ran out.

An Rong and Xu Xiaoye walked at the very back, not in much of a rush. There were only four groups; an hour was enough for a full round of rehearsals. Being last had its benefits—they’d head straight into the performance after rehearsing, preventing the built-up energy from dissipating during a long, anxious wait.

As the crowd ahead swarmed out, Xu Xiaoye whispered to An Rong, “There will be an audience tonight. That studio isn’t big, it can hold forty or fifty people at most. Don’t be nervous tonight.”

TS’s small studio truly couldn’t hold many people. But to these rookies, forty or fifty people were already a lot, not to mention the directors and evaluators. It felt very different from the elimination round on the first day, which took place in a box marked with white tape.

Fortunately, An Rong had lived through this and didn’t feel nervous.

Seeing her calm and steady as expected, Xu Xiaoye felt at ease. Not bad. As expected of the person I chose.

“Actually, the audience isn’t exactly ‘ordinary.’ We’re all newcomers, so no fans are coming to watch. Half of them are company staff—from PR, Management, and so on. A small portion are passersby pulled in from outside. Aside from a few work-related staff, not many will truly watch seriously. So, don’t be nervous, just go for it.”

Xu Xiaoye spoke in a relaxed, whispering tone, giving An Rong the “inside scoop.”

An Rong frowned slightly, looking sideways at her. “Are you trying to comfort me or scare me?”

Xu Xiaoye patted her shoulder and giggled. “Of course I’m not trying to scare you! Everything I said is true. But looking at you, you don’t seem surprised at all?”

An Rong had experience, so naturally, she wasn’t surprised. But that wasn’t a reason she could share. She pouted, raised a hand, and shrugged. “I don’t understand these things anyway. If you say so, then it is so. I’ve seen big scenes too; forty or fifty people are nothing.”

“Oh?” Xu Xiaoye arched an eyebrow, her eyes full of smiles. “Not bad! I underestimated you. Tell me, what ‘big scenes’ have you seen?”

An Rong had seen big scenes—at least much bigger than the current Xu Xiaoye had. She just couldn’t mention those. After a thought, she said, “I’ve played the Erhu at school. A live scene with over two thousand students—does that count as a big scene?”

Xu Xiaoye smacked her lips. “It actually does count.”

However, a school performance was different from a formal, graded stage performance. Xu Xiaoye had been a bit worried that An Rong would be nervous—after all, she was only seventeen. She usually looked steady, but it was possible she’d freeze up once on stage.

Looking at her now, she had clearly overthought it.

There were no audience members in the studio yet, but a few TS staff members were there. The stage wasn’t very large, with several rows of chairs below. The curtains were drawn and the overhead lights were on, making it look quite professional.

Xia Chunhua had already run around the entire room. Seeing the two enter, she ran over and whispered, “The place looks small. How many people can even sit here?”

Well, this one even found the place too small. Xu Xiaoye was now completely at ease. With teammates like this, there was nothing to worry about.

The rehearsal in the dance studio had been good, and no glitches occurred here. Each group went through about two rounds before the staff called a halt, telling them to go do whatever they needed. The show started at 8:00 PM; they were told not to return until then and to act as if it were their first time seeing the place.

This was standard procedure; everyone understood. Two rehearsals were enough.

At 6:00 PM, some people went to the makeup room to wait.

The makeup room was large; although twenty people couldn’t all fit at once, the wait wasn’t long. Tonight was an important occasion, so even Xu Xiaoye didn’t do her own makeup. She took An Rong to the makeup room to wait for the stylists. The company-issued outfits were also delivered, piled in the makeup room with name tags on each.

An Rong and her team’s outfits were okay—the collars were loose and there were adjustable straps on the shoulders, so they could finish their makeup before heading back to change.

They were the first group to perform, but they had prepared early, so they weren’t in a rush.

Once ready, the five of them stood together, cheering each other on as they waited for their cue.

An Rong: We have a hidden veteran among us, and that is—ta-da! Me! Don’t worry, Sister Rong will carry you!