Chapter 57: Elimination
Sometimes, An Zhiyan couldn't understand whether Su Jinli was telling the truth or just making a funny joke.
"This hairstyle... why does it look so sassy?" An Zhiyan asked Su Jinli.
"Zhihan chose the color for me."
"Don't let him always mess with you."
"What does 'mess with me' mean?"
"Don't always let him take advantage of you."
Su Jinli felt that his relationship with An Zhihan was very pure. How could it be considered taking advantage?
So, he answered doubtfully, "Your words are a bit heavy, we are only friends. He just gives me advice."
An Zhiyan realized that Su Jinli didn't understand a lot of his words, so he sighed, waived his hand, and said, "Go ahead and prepare for the competition, I will speak Mandarin with you from now on."
"Alright, see you, Xiao Jingzhi."
An Zhiyan watched Su Jinli, puzzled, as he gave him a subtle smile and then ran off. With his pink hair and the sprint, it was like he left behind a trail of pink rain.
He raised his hand to tap his forehead, not knowing what he was hesitating about. Why didn't he just ask directly?
Oh well, he would wait until the competition was over to talk about it.
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The competition was organized according to rankings. The first group to perform was the one ranked last in the online rankings and needed to go up first.
Su Jinli and Zhang Caini were in a group, and regardless of Su Jinli's ranking, they had to follow Zhang Caini's ranking order.
Zhang Caini ranked 21st.
In this case, An Zhihan and Wu Yu's combination would be the last group to appear on stage.
Zhang Caini was partnering with Su Jinli for the first time, and they didn't know about each other's condition before going on stage.
Before their performance, Zhang Caini circled around Su Jinli at least five times, checking for any issues with her appearance.
"Open your mouth, let me see your teeth," Zhang Caini commanded.
Su Jinli obediently showed her teeth.
"Good, nothing stuck. Do I have any issues?" Zhang Caini asked Su Jinli.
"Looks great."
"Your voice has improved a lot now. Just be steady on stage, and everything will be okay."
"Alright."
"Brother Su, take me flying!"
"You're older than me."
"..." Zhang Caini silently chanted in her heart, reminding herself to keep calm and not hit anyone, for the sake of his good looks.
The moment the two of them stepped on stage, it immediately triggered screams from the crowd.
In a National Idol performance, competitors would typically start their performance as soon as they got on the stage. The host would interview them after the performance.
After several days of practice, Su Jinli and Zhang Caini formed some level of understanding. Thus, there was some interaction during the performance.
For instance, they would smile at each other. One minor detail was when they would walk towards each other, their fingers crossed tightly, and they would then quickly let go.
An Zhiyan stood at the edge of the stage, watching them with a smile on his face, but he wasn’t as calm internally.
Had this couple's popularity been successfully hyped this time?
This young fellow, you've got quite a playful laugh.
Su Jinli's voice had improved a lot by now, but he still lacked the confidence to reach his previous level when hitting high notes.
However, singing today's song was well within his capability.
Seeing Su Jinli's good condition, many fans began to excitedly scream. Nowadays, Su Jinli's popularity had exceeded his own imagination.
Recently, even An Zhiyan's father called to praise him for his quick decisions.
After the recent events and the endorsement of the national television host, Su Jinli's popularity had skyrocketed, creating a real miracle.
When the song ended, An Zhiyan walked onto the stage. As he approached Su Jinli, he heard someone in the audience shout, "So evil!"
An Zhiyan felt particularly helpless as he stood next to Su Jinli and said, "Introduce yourself."
Holding the microphone, Su Jinli greeted the audience with a smile, "Hello, everyone. I'm your little koi, Su Jinli. I'm much better now and can sing normally. The high-note song from last time might still be difficult, but..."
Before Su Jinli could finish, An Zhiyan interrupted him, "Wait, the song from last time hasn't aired yet. It will air tomorrow."
"Is it airing that slowly?"
"We also need to do editing and post-production."
"Then what should I say? Um... so they probably don't even know I had a sore throat before, right?"
An Zhiyan nodded, "Indeed, some fans may not know."
How could they possibly not know with all the buzz on the internet?
Realizing this, Su Jinli quickly added, "I didn't notice before that I had a throat issue, but I'm much better now. And if it's been aired and you found out, don't worry too much. I'm much better, and I'll recover in the future."
"Anything else?" An Zhiyan continued.
"Yes, Zhang Caini is a very hardworking contestant. During our collaboration, she was always seriously revising, and she even taught me how to sing in a style I wasn't familiar with."
"You're rallying votes for her?" An Zhiyan was surprised for a moment that Su Jinli was not campaigning for himself initially but for Zhang Caini.
"I think... her situation is rather precarious," Su Jinli answered, a bit embarrassed.
"Do you want to campaign for yourself?"
"Okay, I hope everyone can choose me and vote for me because I want to continue singing for you all."
After interviewing Zhang Caini for a few more questions, An Zhiyan announced the vote counts.
There were a total of 1500 people in the audience, and Su Jinli got 758 votes. This was largely because today's song didn't have the overpowering momentum as the last one.
Zhang Caini, on the other hand, received 249 votes and ended up in the "pending danger zone" situated at the edge of the stage.
The rest of the audience abstained from voting.
From the beginning of the competition, there was a "pending danger zone" at the edge of the stage.
From the bottom 15 contestants in online voting, 10 with the lowest on-site votes would be eliminated.
From the top 15 contestants in online voting, the 5 with the lowest on-site votes would be eliminated.
The "danger zone" at the edge of the stage had a golden section with five seats. The five contestants with the lowest votes among the top 15 in online voting would sit there.
The red section of the zone would seat the ten contestants with the lowest on-site votes who placed in the bottom 15 in online voting.
The first contestants to perform had to immediately go to the "danger zone" and wait.
When the required number of contestants was reached, any contestant from the following performances with lower scores than those in the danger zone would replace the ones already seated.
There had already been seven sets of performances before them, including two from the bottom 15 contestants.
Among the contestants seated in the golden section, none had more votes than Su Jinli. Su Jinli advanced smoothly and went backstage to rest.
The red section was still less than 10 people. Zhang Caini immediately took a seat and waited.
After Fan Qianting's group performed, An Zhiyan, listening to the voice in his earpiece, said to Fan Qianting, "Your current vote count is not optimistic. You may have to sit over there. Do you have anything else to say? You can canvass for yourself."
For this performance's voting, each audience member could only vote for one person, and the voting would commence right after this group started their performance.
By the time An Zhiyan let them introduce themselves, the voting results were out, and the current canvassing time was their last chance to save themselves.
Fan Qianting held the microphone, hesitated for a moment, but finally said, "Actually, before I came to this show, I was full of confidence, particularly self-assured, thinking I was quite impressive. But when I got here and met the other contestants, I found out I still have many shortfalls."
He paused briefly before continuing, "Just like Wu Yu and Su Jinli, they are handsome and talented. Although An Zhiyan's personality..."
At this point, Fan Qianting glanced at An Zhiyan, who immediately indicated for him to continue.
“Although An Zhihan's personality is not very good and he is quite annoying when he entered the dormitory, the moment I saw him, two words flashed in my head: it's over. But later on, I found out he is an incredibly righteous person. A few days ago, I read on Weibo that some people were saying they were excluding me, not playing with me. But actually, the three of them..."
Fan Qianting is not a crybaby, but he started to tear up when he got to this point. He quickly turned around to adjust his emotions, but when he continued speaking, his voice was choked with emotion.
"A while ago, when my vote count was particularly low, these three were really anxious and tried to think of a solution. In the end, they didn't come up with any good ideas. They just thought they could go steal a mobile phone from the production team and use it to post on Weibo to canvass votes for me. It's pretty typical for An Zhihan to do this kind of thing. Su Jinli is also particularly good at coaxing people, so that's understandable. What surprised me was that Wu Yu also went along. The three of them went to the equipment room and didn't notice the cameras, so they were caught red-handed and made to write a reflection in the director's room."
Fan Qianting wanted to laugh, but instead, he started to cry. His tears rolled down uncontrollably: "I...I really love singing... I don't look good, so I thought I could become a talented singer. As an actor, I can at best get a role in three episodes. But if I don't sing, I'm finished. I want to continue in the competition, I don't want to be eliminated so early, I still want to go to the final with those idiots!"
An Zhiyan patted Fan Qianting on the shoulder and comforted him: "You are a very soulful singer, I've noticed you since the first round. As a singer, once your voice is recognizable, you can sing with your unique characteristics, and it's very touching, you are successful. There's no problem with your singing, you definitely can, be it here or in the future."
A promising future awaits.
Fan Qianting nodded, trying hard to control his tears, and finally bowed to the audience below the stage.
An Zhiyan continued to listen to the voice in his earpiece, then smiled and announced: "Fan Qianting, with 367 votes, you have successfully advanced."
"Thank you..." Fan Qianting expressed his gratitude once again.
Zhang Caini was continuously lingering on the edge of danger.
Among the ten of them, her votes were quite high. However, there wasn't any contestant who had fewer votes than her, and this was making her very anxious.
Since learning about the competition system, Zhang Caini knew that she was at a disadvantage.
Su Jinli is very popular, so many viewers vote for him, causing Zhang Caini's vote count to be particularly low, which steals her votes.
By the time the last 15 contestants came out, Zhang Caini's vote count was ranked first among the ten.
In other words, if this contestant's vote count is lower than hers, she will advance; if it is higher than hers, she will definitely be eliminated.
When the votes were announced, An Zhiyan made it a cliffhanger, which was one of the highlights of this episode.
Zhang Caini, looking at An Zhiyan, was about to despair when she heard An Zhiyan say, "Let's start with Zhang Caini, say goodbye to the audience."
Upon learning of her elimination, her heart sank. Although she had expected it, it was still somewhat disappointing.
"I won't give up on my dream!" The first sentence that Zhang Caini spoke was like her last, and for a while after, she didn't say anything else.
"Is that all?" An Zhiyan asked.
"There's also... um... Su Jinli, I... I will vote for you when I go home." After Zhang Caini finished speaking, she shed her tears, covering her mouth with her hand so as not to cry too hard.
"Oh." An Zhiyan adjusted his earpiece, and smiled.
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Author's Note:
An Zhiyan: If you calculate carefully, how old are you?
Su Jinli contemplated: A few thousand years old, maybe?
An Zhiyan: So, am I considered younger than you?
Su Jinli: No, you are just a little kid; I won't bother with you.
Then, the young one pinned him on the bed and gave him a good talking to, which made him behave much better while sleeping.
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