Chapter 13

The next day, Xu Yi and Zhang Ya arrived together at the Stars base to participate in the first round of selection.

They had already received notice in advance that the selection would be livestreamed, and there would also be many livestreamed recordings afterward.

Nearly four hundred people had come, all of them youthful and beautiful girls. Some were passionate and lively, some cool and aloof, some stunning and seductive, some pure and adorable. There were all kinds of styles and distinctive charms, truly like a hundred flowers blooming in dazzling splendor.

Fortunately, the selection was held indoors. Otherwise, these vibrant flowers would have wilted directly beneath the scorching sun.

The four mentors sat at the judging table, with security personnel nearby. Host Liu Dai was responsible for guiding the flow of the program. Although many people had come, everything proceeded in an orderly manner.

Zhang Ya went out for a look around, and when she came back, she said to Xu Yi in amazement, “There are so many people here. Some of them are people I recognize too.”

“Acquaintances?”

“No. Streamers I know.” Zhang Ya secretly pointed them out to her. “Do you see bailiantales.comthat pretty sister over there with the long hair and red dress? That’s Qiao Sunian, an uploader from the dance section. She even creates original choreography. She’s especially amazing. I’ve followed her for a long time.”

“And that big V from Kuaiyin over there. She’s covered a lot of songs and can rap too.”

“See that one? She started learning the violin at four. And that one over there started covering ancient-style songs at fourteen. Now she has over a million followers on Weibo.”

“Look at those two arguing. The girl in white with shoulder-length hair is a second-generation celebrity. Her dad is a director, and her mom is a Best Actress. The girl with long hair in black is also a second-generation celebrity. Her mom is the daughter of a chaebol family, and her dad is a Best Actor.”

Zhang Ya brought Xu Yi to sit on a resting bench and let out a long sigh. “They say this is still a competition for amateurs, but in the end, it’s full of big shots with backgrounds and resources. Compared to them, we don’t have any advantage at all.”

Not too far away, two girls huddled together and whispered, “Do you see those two over there? The one with long hair wearing a short-sleeved shirt is called Xu Yi. She was introduced by Director Ma Youcai. The one wearing a red headband and casual clothes is called Zhang Ya. Her father is a real estate tycoon. This entire place belongs to her family.”

“They’re all people with backgrounds. Compared to capital, small influencers like us have no advantage at all.”

Xu Yi’s divine sense stirred faintly, allowing her to hear roughly all the voices at the scene. In the end, she withdrew it without much interest.

“What performance did you prepare?” Xu Yi asked Zhang Ya. After going back yesterday, she had not thought about matters between her and Miss Gu. Instead, she had spent the entire night following He Xiaojing’s suggestion and preparing today’s performance.

“I’m leaving a bit of suspense. You’ll know later.” Zhang Ya deliberately did not say, wanting to amaze Xu Yi later.

However, Zhang Ya was rather worried about Xu Yi and asked, “What performance did you prepare?”

“Sword dancing.”

He Xiaojing had helped her think for a long time last night, and in the end, they decided to let her choose her own specialty. Her specialty was using the sword, so she might as well perform a sword routine like she had when acting on set.

At eight o’clock in the morning, the selection officially began, and the livestream also started. The black screen displayed the scene of the Stars base. Fans from every side swarmed in, and the livestream room was even more festive than New Year.

The loudspeaker inside the base began calling numbers.

“Contestant Number One—Zheng Wan, please enter.”

The judging table was lined up in a row. From left to right, [unauthorized copy]they were Yuan Beidu, Xia Lan, Gu Yueyue, and Fan Weiwei.

Ever since they sat down there, Fan Weiwei had started chatting with Gu Yueyue.

He did not say anything particularly excessive. The main topic revolved around today’s selection program, so Gu Yueyue could only respond to him now and then.

Xia Lan, who was sitting beside them, watched the two of them in utter boredom. She truly did not know what meaning there was in such awkward small talk.

But from a distance, to people who could not hear what they were saying, it looked as if the top-tier senior and the currently most popular fresh-faced young idol were chatting happily. Some young staff members with lively minds saw it and secretly gathered together, laughing as they said, “They look so well-matched.”

Zheng Wan arrived. Her features were delicate and petite. This kind of appearance suffered somewhat on the big screen. She was beautiful, yes, but she easily gave people one stunning first glance before leaving them feeling uninterested afterward.

The performance she prepared was a hot dance, which was very much in line with the standards of a girl group selection. A hot dance was also better at stirring up the audience’s emotions.

While Zheng Wan was displaying her dance, Fan Weiwei turned his head and quietly said to Gu Yueyue, “She’s a junior from Teacher Gu’s company, right? What does Teacher Gu think?”

Gu Yueyue leaned a little toward Xia Lan, avoiding Fan Weiwei’s overly intimate movement.

“She’s very good.” Gu Yueyue made an objective comment. Based on her many years of girl group experience, Zheng Wan’s professional ability was undoubtedly acceptable. Otherwise, Hongsheng would not have spent so much effort promoting her.

Fan Weiwei smiled. “I see. Teacher Gu’s judgment is definitely good. I also think she’s not bad. She has quite a bit of Teacher Gu’s style from back then.”

They were not wearing mics, so the fans in the livestream room had no idea what they were saying. However, it was not difficult to see that their movements appeared very intimate.

Fan Weiwei’s fans were all calling for Fan Weiwei not to date an old woman.

—No, baby, don’t. You’re still young.

—Weiwei, you’re only twenty-seven. Focus on your career! Gu Yueyue debuted ages ago, right? She doesn’t deserve you.

—Gu Yueyue is so annoying. All she knows is how to cling to our gege.

Gu Yueyue’s fans exploded and went straight into the comments to fire back.

—Your gege is the old one, okay? No strength, no ability, and no works either. Puke. Trash!

—Laughing to death. Your gege is already twenty-seven? My god, our Yueyue is only twenty-six.

—Sister above, be more precise! Our Yueyue is only twenty-five and a half! Her birthday isn’t for another six months. She can’t compare to your gege, who already finished celebrating his twenty-seventh birthday last month and is still everyone’s twenty-seven-year-old good baby every day, hahahaha.

—No helping it. Who told our Yueyue to debut early and become famous early?

Gu Yueyue did not know that the fans had already started arguing. She looked at the two buttons in front of her and pressed the circle for Zheng Wan, indicating a pass.

Fan Weiwei followed closely after, then picked up the microphone in front of him and began commenting on Zheng Wan’s performance.

Zheng Wan bent down and bowed in thanks, then turned her gaze toward Yuan Beidu.

Yuan Beidu also made a few symbolic comments. In the end, however, his tone shifted, revealing a somewhat dissatisfied attitude. Just as everyone’s hearts were clenched, waiting for his final result, Yuan Beidu very playfully pressed the red circle button.

“Of course it’s a pass! The performance was very good. I hope to see you on more and bigger stages in the future!”

Yuan Beidu smiled. His manager had long marked several key contestants for him to remember. This contestant was one he had been specially informed about, so he had to pass her.

Seeing that it was finally her turn, Xia Lan raised her hand and slapped down an X.

“Sorry. I’m a singer, and this performance of yours didn’t display your singing ability at all, so I can only give you an X.”

The internet was shocked by Xia Lan’s decisive X. She had not left the contestant the slightest chance, and had not even allowed her to separately show off her singing voice.

Online, intense discussion immediately began over whether Xia Lan was being overly strict and businesslike, or whether she was acting arrogant and could not tolerate newcomers.

Xia Lan’s manager was so worried she nearly pulled all her hair out. Before Xia Lan went, the manager had repeatedly reminded her not to randomly stir up trouble and to restrain that foul temper of hers. Yet Xia Lan simply refused to listen, and on the very first day, she had already created a trending topic.

In order to push down the trending topic, Xia Lan’s manager bought a topic about Gu Yueyue and Fan ​unauthorized copy​Weiwei “chatting happily” to draw attention away. Only then did the public’s gaze finally shift away from Xia Lan.

The selection continued. Very soon, it was Number Eight’s turn, and Zhang Ya went onstage.

At some point, she had changed into a formal dress. Standing under the cameras, she was poised and graceful. Facing these famous seniors, she did not have the slightest stage fright, as if this place were her own home.

The performance Zhang Ya brought was piano singing.

She was quite good-looking. Her features carried a somewhat sharp, heroic air. Among girls, she belonged to the type who was both beautiful and handsome. When she wore androgynous-style clothes, she had a cool, dashing quality that was hard to distinguish as masculine or feminine.

Now that she had changed into a formal dress, her soft feminine charm was brought out.

There were quite a few people in the livestream room who became fans of her. Many passersby who had come for this variety show followed her Weibo one after another, and her follower count quickly rose from the original few thousand to twenty thousand.

After the performance ended, Zhang Ya stood and bowed, waiting for the mentors to comment and score.

Fan Weiwei took the lead and pressed the red circle, then very Read on BaiLianTaleswarmly expressed how much he favored her.

Being praised by a handsome man, Zhang Ya’s heart began thumping wildly like a little deer bumping around inside it. The attention that had originally been fixed only on her idol Gu Yueyue was completely stolen away by Fan Weiwei.

Gu Yueyue looked at the girl in front of her. She had met her twice before, near her new home and yesterday at the event site. She seemed to have a very good relationship with Xu Yi. Gu Yueyue did not know whether she was simply a fan, or whether she was an extreme stalker fan like Xu Yi.

If she passed her, this stalker fan might continue pestering her.

If she did not pass her, what if Gu Yueyue had misunderstood her? Was she going to reject someone carrying a dream from the stage because of her own misunderstanding?

Gu Yueyue thought all this within the span of a single breath. Then she pulled herself out of both trains of thought.

How could she think like that? Gu Yueyue, you are sitting here as a mentor, and she is a trainee. What you need to do is use your professional knowledge to judge whether her performance is qualified.

“The music was beautiful. I liked it very much. I hope to see an even more wonderful you onstage.” Gu Yueyue gave her a pass.

Beside her, Xia Lan could not hold back and secretly rolled her eyes at Fan Weiwei. After Gu Yueyue finished speaking, Xia Lstolen contentan spoke before Yuan Beidu could.

“I really like your voice!” As a little diva, she used her professional knowledge to judge Zhang Ya’s performance. She said more than Gu Yueyue and was more detailed than Fan Weiwei.

After speaking, she put down the microphone and secretly glanced at Gu Yueyue. I performed very well, right? Did my idol notice me? Damn Fan Weiwei. It wasn’t easy to meet someone who suits my taste, and he actually stole the spotlight first.

Yuan Beidu thought about the few names his manager had given him. Very good… this Miss Zhang Ya was also on the must-pass list.

He casually said a few polite words, then straightforwardly gave her a pass.

And so, Zhang Ya became the first and only contestant so far to receive four passes.

“Contestant Number Nine, Xu Yi, please enter.”

Xu Yi.

It was a name Gu Yueyue had heard many times. Yet when it rang by her ears again, it still made her heart speed up with a thump, thump. Even her breathing fell into slight disorder.