After Rebirth, I Ended Up with My Idol [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 3

The notification voice had barely faded when staff members brought in tables and chairs, followed by three evaluators.

In the middle sat the only female evaluator, Qin Yun. In her thirties, she didn’t have massive seniority, but she had gained some fame in the past two years as a singer under TS Entertainment. Beside her was Shen Ri’an, a veteran singer from the same company and a mentor with extensive group experience. He was the leader of the company’s most popular and senior boy group—a group that rarely performed together now, maintaining only one concert every year or two while the members pursued successful solo careers.

Only Zhou Rui was from another company. He was the oldest of the three, in his forties, with a “tough guy” image and a perfectly managed physique featuring sculpted muscle lines.

As soon as the three entered, the dance studio fell silent. All noise vanished instantly. The girls, nervous and uneasy, followed the first person to move and lined up to one side, forming over three messy rows.

Shen Ri’an wore a smile and looked quite cheerful as his gaze swept over the girls. He asked, “Are you all tired?”

More than half the girls answered listlessly, their voices tinged with complaints and a hint of acting spoiled. “Tired, really tired.”

To learn a completely foreign dance and sing a song they had never heard before in such a short time was incredibly difficult. They hadn’t slept at all last night; they hadn’t dared to, nor had they the time. Pushing through until now, their physical stamina had reached its absolute limit.

“Tired, huh?” Zhou Rui nodded and said solemnly, “Being tired is right. Remember your current state; for the next three months, or even longer, you will be in this state. You might have been curious before why some artists say they are exhausted—this is your first glimpse into the light of this industry. I hope you can all hold on.”

It was a very sincere piece of advice. As the only person there who had “lived through it” before, An Rong agreed completely.

She looked up at the people around her. They were all faces full of youthful energy, showing the mix of confusion and passion typical of newcomers upon hearing Zhou Rui’s words.

Except for Xu Xiaoye. She stood calmly to the side, doing her best to project her peak condition.

She wasn’t a total rookie. She had been with the company for three years, but she had always been a trainee without a debut. She had already experienced the initial excitement and anxious novelty of a newcomer; this was her final chance.

Qin Yun nodded, opened the folder in her hand, and said seriously, “In the future, you will thank your current hardworking selves. Let’s begin. We’ll start with the dance. Whoever wants to go first, stand inside the white boxes in front. Five per group. Who’s first?”

Five boxes had been taped out on the floor with white adhesive, serving as the performance stages.

Xu Xiaoye smiled and composedly walked forward two steps, standing in the first square.

An Rong knew she would go up, so she had prepared herself. She immediately followed and took the second square.

Xiao Yu was beaten to the punch by An Rong, so she stood in the middle. Behind them followed a thin, small girl with naturally curly short hair who looked fuzzy and quite cute. The last one to come up also seemed to have a strong dance background; all were confident.

The girls behind who had hesitated to go up clapped loudly, their eyes mostly fixed on An Rong.

Some were even whispering in the back.

“She dares to go up?”

“A true warrior.”

“Out of the five, she’s the only one who can’t do it, right? Won’t the contrast be humiliating?”

“Just watch the show.”

An Rong took a breath. Her entry into the beat was fine, and she kept up perfectly with the opening moves. Once the chorus hit, however, An Rong began frequently glancing to her sides to “copy” the moves—copying Xu Xiaoye to her left and Xiao Yu to her right.

The benefits of a “failing student” hiding among “top students” were displayed vividly, though she was also being thoroughly crushed by their excellence.

She was like a tiny grain of rice next to a full moon—so pale she could almost be ignored.

However, from a certain perspective, it was like a stalk of green bristlegrass had mixed into a field of flowers—a crooked, tangled stalk at that. She stood out far too much.

The students behind who hadn’t gone up yet were already laughing. Yet, An Rong somehow managed to follow along passably by copying. Although her movements were frantic and lacked power, and she looked like a clown compared to the other four, she successfully finished the dance.

Shen Ri’an watched An Rong with a “kind uncle” smile. As soon as the music stopped, he asked, “You have a lot of courage. To dance like that and still dare to come up so early.”

An Rong was panting. She bowed slightly first, her voice still trembling from the exercise. She felt a bit embarrassed but said earnestly, “Mainly because I have no foundation. If no one leads me, I won’t know how to dance anymore.”

Shen Ri’an feigned surprise and asked with a smile, “Oh? You’re just going to say that out loud? We’re the ones giving the scores; aren’t you afraid of being eliminated?”

An Rong nodded and answered honestly, “I’m afraid. But right now, I really don’t know it yet. I will study hard, though. I will definitely learn it.”

Shen Ri’an laughed until the corners of his eyes wrinkled. He glanced at the red swelling on An Rong’s forehead and nodded with satisfaction. “You actually danced quite well. To have no foundation and dance like this is very impressive.”

An Rong felt embarrassed. Her dancing was a long way from “quite well,” so she was very grateful for Shen Ri’an’s words. At least he helped her out of a tight spot and gave her encouragement so she didn’t have to feel too awkward under everyone’s gaze.

Immediately, An Rong pressed her palms together and bowed. “Thank you, Teacher.”

Once their group finished, they could leave the space for those behind them.

Zhou Rui looked over at Qin Yun in the middle, and Qin Yun looked at Shen Ri’an.

Shen Ri’an nodded slightly, leaned in to cover his mic, and whispered, “To dance like that without a foundation shows good talent. I remember her singing is excellent. Let’s keep her for one more round and see?”

Qin Yun hesitated for a moment, but Zhou Rui nodded in agreement.

In any case, the elimination results would only be determined after the entire evaluation was over, so they wouldn’t be announced yet. It was better to see how others performed. They were only eliminating five this round; it might not be her turn yet.

An Rong didn’t dare relax at all. She walked to the side and began singing softly, tapping the rhythm on her leg with her fingers. To be honest, she was nervous. Only now did An Rong remember that during her first evaluation in her past life, she had gone on stage much later. Back then, she had been quite insecure; even after practicing all day, she lacked confidence. But back then, she didn’t care much about being eliminated—she wasn’t a professional, anyway.

So while she was insecure, she was relatively calm.

Now, it was different… Now, she was terrified.

Xiao Yu walked over and said gently, “Don’t be nervous. You danced quite well.”

An Rong looked up in surprise. Xiao Yu was the “ice queen”; they hadn’t even interacted yet, and she was coming over to encourage her?

Perhaps the look of total surprise on An Rong’s face amused Xiao Yu, as she pursed her lips and smiled. “Keep it up.”

An Rong nodded seriously. “Thank you.”

Her eyes drifted to Xu Xiaoye, who was standing diagonally behind Xiao Yu.

The seventeen-year-old An Rong was still very youthful, with some unformed soft fat on her cheeks, but she acted very mature and composed. It looked a bit like a child pretending to be an adult, yet it gave people an impression of unexpected stability.

It was likely that her aura didn’t match her age.

But paired with the red mark on her forehead that hadn’t faded yet, Xu Xiaoye couldn’t quite help wanting to laugh. It wasn’t polite to do it to her face, so she suppressed it with a light cough.

An Rong thought she wanted to say something and immediately focused on her intensely. Xu Xiaoye felt embarrassed by the stare and searched for something to say: “Mhm. You’ve got the hang of it.”

This somewhat familiar and slightly perfunctory praise hit some spot in An Rong, making her feel instantly satisfied. Her eyebrows twitched slightly, and she smiled with pursed lips. “Thank you.”

Xu Xiaoye started to doubt if she had said something incredibly flattering for An Rong to look that happy. When An Rong smiled, her already small eyes became even smaller—it looked “ugly,” yet strangely cute.

Xu Xiaoye’s expression remained somewhat cold. She gave a grunt of acknowledgement and turned away to memorize the lyrics.

She had a poor memory; she had to keep reciting until it became muscle memory, or she would likely forget when it came time to sing.

An Rong remained silent, switching to tapping the beat with her palm. The movement was small and the sound very light, audible only to those very close. By the time Xu Xiaoye noticed, she had already finished singing a whole song following An Rong’s beat.

Xu Xiaoye glanced sideways at An Rong.

An Rong pursed her lips and gave her a small smile. In a flash, fearing that Xu Xiaoye would mistake her for a calculating pervert again, she stiffened her face and looked away seriously, pretending the beat was for herself.

Xu Xiaoye was baffled, having no idea what was up with this kid.

The dance evaluations nearby ended quickly. Since there were only twenty-five people and they were evaluated in groups of five, it only took five groups to finish. Soon, it was time for the singing portion.

Singing was different from dancing; it had to be done one by one. To earn back some points for herself, An Rong went up first and performed exceptionally well.

All three evaluators were surprised. Her singing was much more technical than it had been during the auditions a few days ago, and her personal style was more pronounced. If it weren’t for her resume and age being so clear, they would almost have assumed An Rong had debuted before; her handling of certain parts was clearly well-trained.

This progress could be described as lightning-fast. Most importantly, the most precious part of her—the sincerity and strong infectious quality—hadn’t been lost.

It was practically flawless.

Almost everyone was stunned. First, it was genuinely beautiful to hear. Second, given An Rong’s strength, if there were no other issues, the lead singer position was hers. With Xu Xiaoye and Xiao Yu in dancing, that meant three spots were already taken, leaving only two spots to fight for.

Standing in the crowd, Wang Yunshui curled her lip, casting a look of utter disdain at An Rong. It just so happened that An Rong caught it as she turned to leave.

Their eyes met. An Rong didn’t back down in the slightest. Her gaze was like a knife—expressionless and staring straight back. She stared until even the people next to Wang Yunshui sensed something was wrong before she lightly looked away.

It was always awkward to be caught doing something like that to someone’s face. But Wang Yunshui wasn’t the type to back down. Since she’d been seen, she only restrained herself slightly out of consideration for the cameras and evaluators, but she didn’t offer a nice face. She held her chin high and walked to the front to begin her singing.

Wang Yunshui wasn’t as good at dancing as Xiao Yu, and she didn’t have great vocal conditions. However, by chance, the song for the evaluation was a simple “pop” song with no real difficulty. As long as one practiced enough on the slightly technical parts, it was fine.

In this evaluation, Wang Yunshui actually performed unusually well. Her dancing was no worse than Xu Xiaoye’s, and her singing had no issues. Her comprehensive strength was second only to Xu Xiaoye.

If this continued, they would definitely end up debuting in the same group. An Rong’s expression was grim; she stood by the wall with her head down, frowning.

Xu Xiaoye had been watching her for a while. Thinking An Rong had been discouraged and looking quite pitiful, she hesitated for a moment before walking over and calling out, “Hey.”

An Rong looked up, dazed for a second. “My name is An Rong.”

Xu Xiaoye wasn’t good at remembering names. After being called out by An Rong, she rubbed her nose awkwardly. “I know. It just didn’t come to mind for a second.”

An Rong’s little brain whirred quickly. “It’s the Rong as in Xiaorong (smile).”

Xu Xiaoye realized with a start and nodded. Doesn’t that mean the same as my name (Xiaoye)? Easy to remember.

“I know, I know.” Xu Xiaoye stubbornly refused to admit she had a bad memory and comforted her like a kind older sister: “Don’t be afraid. You’ll definitely pass.”

An Rong hadn’t expected Xu Xiaoye to come comfort her now. Instantly, her heart bloomed with joy. Light flooded her eyes, and she smiled so wide her teeth showed, shaking her head. “Really?”

As soon as Xu Xiaoye saw her smile, for some reason, she couldn’t help wanting to laugh herself.

Finding no other reason, she could only conclude…

“Stop smiling. You look ugly when you smile.”

An Rong retracted her smile in one second, her face turning serious and stiff.

Xu Xiaoye turned away and laughed out loud. Oh man, she really is… a bit cute.