Chapter 31: Performance
An Zhiyan and Su Jinli hadn't finished talking when Lily already finished altering the clothes. It turned out that altering clothes on the spot was a piece of cake for a stylist like her.
Su Jinli took the clothes and looked at the altered collar, unable to help but ask Lily: "Sister Li, are you a fairy?"
Lily, amused by Su Jinli's excited expression, replied: "How am I a fairy?"
"Fairy can weave garments, like the Weaver Girl. Yet, the Weaver Girl has descended to the mortal world, and you haven’t."
This time, Lily laughed uncontrollably, pointing at Su Jinli and said, "The new talent you're recruiting sure knows how to talk."
"He's never said anything nice to me," An Zhiyan said, feeling helpless as he shrugged his shoulders.
"I've said you're kind."
"Is that a compliment?"
"It's a positive term."
Annoyed, An Zhiyan changed his posture and didn't want to talk to Su Jinli anymore.
Su Jinli didn't continue the conversation either. He went to the changing room to change his clothes. Once he was done, he came out to say goodbye and leave.
"Who said you could leave?!" An Zhiyan immediately blurted out in a hurry.
"Any other requests?"
"Stay with me for a while."
"I need to practice again."
An Zhiyan wasn't sure why he wanted to stop him; he just didn't want him to leave his sight.
After some thought, he stood up and said, "I'll come with you to watch Zhihan practice."
"Please don’t. You being there would make me dizzy," Su Jinli pleaded pitifully.
He could tolerate having two yang-filled males in the training room.
However, he couldn't possibly deal with the sudden presence of three. What if he passed out from lack of oxygen during training?
"????" An Zhiyan stared at Su Jinli, too infuriated to speak.
Watching the two of them, Lily chuckled to herself for a while and didn't interrupt.
"Go on, then," An Zhiyan relented and waved his hand, allowing Su Jinli to leave. Without any further ado, Su Jinli made his escape.
Lily took a seat and asked An Zhiyan, "This kid doesn't seem to be attracted to you."
"Right! He even fears me, do I look that scary?"
"So, you do care about him then?"
An Zhiyan didn't respond. He side-glanced at Lily. No one who had been around him for a long time had ever discussed his personal matters, yet it seemed everyone understood it implicitly.
Jiang Pingqiu and Lily were both old foxes in the circle; it was not surprising they could see through it.
An Zhiyan, annoyed, decided to voice out his query to Lily after some time: "What do you think he’s scared of?"
"You can use this as a conversation topic. When he can communicate, call him and have a healthy discussion."
"I’m not pursuing him."
"Hmm? An Zhiyan, what are you saying? I'm not quite following. Isn't he the newcomer you're scouting?"
An Zhiyan wished he could bite his tongue. He can't believe he misspoke.
Lily's laughter was infectious, but she managed to maintain an appearance of confusion, as if she didn't understand what An Zhiyan was saying.
________________________
The third round of the competition began in the evening.
An Zhiyan was used to collaborating with his own clothing and hairstylists; thus, he didn’t wear anything prepared by the production crew today.
His unique physique meant that many of his clothes required customization, with the stylist tailoring his image accordingly.
Today, he wore a popular brand he endorsed. Perhaps it was Lily's intention; the outfit featured a striking purple color.
The purple pants had black geometric patterns on them. His English name was emblazoned across the chest of the hooded jacket, occupying the entire area. The back of the jacket was covered in purple mesh.
Underneath, he wore a plain black T-shirt, with only a row of letters spelling An Zhiyan's English name at the collar.
As for his hairstyle, a few strands of his bangs were dyed a silvery-grey color. After finishing his hair, he looked at himself in the mirror and asked, "Do I look a few years younger?"
Lily was still adjusting An Zhiyan's pant legs and complained, "A 23-year-old guy asking this question to me, an older person, is that really okay?"
"Can you please stop revealing my calves?" An Zhiyan asked Lily again.
Unhappily, he recalled being dragged through a full-body hair removal procedure! Only the armpits and an undescribable area were left untouched, and he had been annoyed about it for a long time.
Previously, An Zhiyan had maintained a good relationship with the wealthy second-generation individuals in his circle, similar to his relationship with Lu Wenxi.
Regarding the hair removal incident, it was the first time they collaborated with Lu Wenxi in any way.
Both of them were victims of the forced hair removal.
Lily laughed but insisted on rolling up one of An Zhiyan's pant legs. He had no choice but to compromise.
Today, An Zhiyan would play a major role throughout the event. As he had never hosted a show before, he felt a bit nervous about his first live performance, rather than a recorded one.
He held a script in his hand, memorizing the program's flow. While he was focusing, someone suddenly opened the door to his makeup room and walked in, complaining, "I'm telling you, this production team is so cheap. There's a lounge for 45 people, but there isn't even air conditioning."
Looking at his younger brother in the mirror, An Zhiyan asked, "Are you all prepared?"
"Yeah, I finished my makeup. But you wouldn't believe it. There were five makeup artists in one room, with 45 people queuing to get their makeup done. Some were even eating corn dogs in there, mixing sweat and food smells... If it weren't for my brother's perfume, I couldn't stand being there."
"Can you smell the scent on Su Jinli too?"
"Yeah, it's so fragrant. The moment I smelled it, I lost all my anger."
An Zhiyan glanced at his younger brother, who was sitting on the sofa, reaching for his phone in the bag. He immediately warned, "You still can't use your phone."
"You should pretend you don't know."
"I voted for you."
"How many dummy accounts do you have?"
"Just one."
"Just one?" An Zhihan looked at An Zhiyan with disdain.
An Zhiyan walked over, took away the mobile phone, and asked An Zhihan again, "Have you asked Su Jinli if anyone else has contacted him?"
"The only ones able to get messages to Su Jinli within the production team are our company and Boruo Pineapple. Currently, Huasen Entertainment hasn't made any moves, so it's likely Zhou Wenyuan doesn't want my brother to go to their company. As for smaller companies, they are probably contacting my brother's agent. You better not let his agent sign him with another company."
"Jiang Pingqiu went to see him a couple of days ago. His agent said that he would have to consult with Su Jinli."
"Hah, these two are really funny, dodging the issue, huh?"
"Was Su Jinli scared of you at first?" An Zhiyan asked a question that had been bothering him.
An Zhihan shook his head, "No, we've always been on good terms."
As a laid-back person, he couldn't notice Su Jinli’s fear of him. He was under the pleasant delusion that he and Su Jinli hit it off immediately, becoming good friends from the beginning.
This answer made An Zhiyan feel a bit uncomfortable.
Oblivious to An Zhiyan's disappointment, An Zhihan heads over to Lily and says, "Little Lily, check my styling for me. I don't trust the makeup artists churned out by the production team, especially that Bobo, the epitome of gay."
Lily didn't refuse and helped An Zhihan with his styling.
"Perform well later. This time it's live. Even though what's broadcasted can be edited, you might get exposed to some unfavorable things by the live audience."
"I know." An Zhihan made the "OK" gesture.
________________________
Before they went on stage, they had a separate rest room.
Su Jinli stared nervously at the big screen, watching other people's performances, drawing lessons.
"My brother looks handsome today." Watching An Zhiyan on the screen, An Zhihan couldn't help praising.
"He must be nervous too, his hair has turned white from worry."
"That's called bleaching."
"Oh…"
Today's sequencing was still very, very magical.
Because An Zhiyan had arranged it like this: "I think it's very uninteresting for you to know the order of appearance in advance, so I'll just draw numbers on the spot. Now all the contestants are waiting in the lounge. They don't know that there's a number sticker under their chairs."
Every contestant in the lounge started to check under their chairs, and indeed, there were numbers there.
"So now, the team with the number 3, please come out first." Thus declared An Zhiyan.
Su Jinli got up and checked under his chair, and their team's number was 8.
If the team with the number 3 was starting, then their team would be in the middle.
They all sat down again, An Zhihan was still sitting with his legs crossed and told Su Jinli: "It's okay, don't be anxious, we'll crush it when it's our turn."
The live audience could clearly tell which contestants were popular.
Since the show has already aired two episodes, contestants with popularity would also have fans cheering for them. Through the camera, Su Jinli saw a light sign with his name on it, making him so excited that he started shaking An Zhihan: "I saw my name's light sign, it's flashing, so nice to see!"
"Don't mess up my hairstyle."
"Oh…"
The second group to go on stage included Zhou Wenyuan. As always, he delivered a stable performance, leading his group to an extravagant applause from the audience.
When the votes were announced at the end, Zhou Wenyuan became the current first place, with 423 votes from the live audience.
"His popularity is quite high, he has over a hundred more votes than the first place of the first group, and there are only 1000 people in total," An Zhihan marveled.
"He really is quite talented."
When it came to Wu Yu's turn, his vote count was even higher: 479 votes.
An Zhihan raised his eyebrows while looking at the count, while Su Jinli exclaimed: "Wu Yu is really amazing."
"Yes, from the looks of it, Wu Yu is sure to be in the top ten."
"Yeah!"
When it was their group's turn, Su Jinli hurried to the position of the stage elevator to prepare, squatting down honestly.
Their group's program was also a singing and dancing type, and they had prepared quite adequately.
After An Zhiyan finished introducing, they could hear the screaming of the audience from the elevator stage, which was even clearer than in the lounge, almost deafening.
Su Jinli suddenly felt a rush of excitement, a kind of fervor boiling in his veins.
Among the cheering from the audience, there were fans who liked him. This strange feeling of being adored gave him an overwhelming feeling of astonishment.
The elevator stage gradually rose, and Su Jinli got ready, in high spirits to win.
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Author's Note:
It's time to show the real skills~
Look forward to our Little Koi's vocal performance!
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