Chapter 58: Falling Off the Horse
An Zhiyan adjusted his headset and waited for Zhang Caini to get ready before speaking to her again, "You don't have a chance to vote for him anymore. You've advanced to the next round. I'm letting you say goodbye to the audience and then go backstage to rest."
Tears welled up in Zhang Caini's eyes, and she was shocked when she found out she had advanced.
This time, she couldn't control her tears and waved her fist as if to hit An Zhiyan. However, they were far apart, so it was just a small gesture.
As she cried, she couldn't speak. Holding the microphone for a while, she bowed to the audience and said a broken "Thank you…everyone" before heading to the backstage.
When she turned around, she still had her previous clean and neat style.
On her way out, she cried while walking, and soon saw Su Jinli coming to meet her. Beside her were Chang Siyin, Fan Qianting, and An Zhihan.
Upon seeing her, Su Jinli said, "Don't cry, don't cry. You did great."
"Is my eye makeup ruined?" Zhang Caini quickly approached Su Jinli, asking in distress.
"No, I heard it's waterproof," Su Jinli answered seriously, then let out a hiccup.
"Your eye makeup is as stable as the Great Wall, especially sturdy," An Zhihan added.
"Why is your brother so mean!" Zhang Caini asked An Zhihan.
"I can't control him, there's nothing I can do." An Zhihan shrugged. He dare not meddle with his brother.
The group returned to the green room together, and Zhang Caini let out a shriek as soon as she looked in the mirror.
Turning around again, all the guys had disappeared.
These people were all irredeemable, absolute barbarians!
Chang Siyin had been working particularly hard lately, so his performance passed without any surprising mishaps, and he successfully advanced.
Finally, it was the duo of An Zhihan and Wu Yu. They performed the song well, but they were still lacking interaction.
It felt like they were on a mission; they went on stage, sang a song together, and then it was a wrap.
Oh, yes, they also needed to campaign for votes, so they made a few conversations.
At this point, the advantage of being in a group was evident.
Because Su Jinli teamed up with Zhang Caini, he had a dominating victory with several times more votes.
However, both An Zhihan and Wu Yu were popular contestants. The voting was split evenly between them, leading to a brutal competition, which resulted in neither of them getting much votes, falling short to Su Jinli.
In the final round, Su Jinli once again became the king of the on-site voting. Having a round to appeal for votes was considered a form of preferential treatment.
Su Jinli quickly rushed over to wait. While he was waiting on the side of the stage, Lu Wenxi was singing on the stage, and An Zhiyan was standing next to him, waiting along with him.
After watching for a while, he couldn't help but sigh, "Lu Wenxi's aura is so powerful."
"After all, he's a person who has held nearly fifty tour concerts," An Zhiyan answered, "He's an old hand at this. You could learn a thing or two from him."
"Our styles are different," Su Jinli seriously replied.
"What's so different?"
"He's more of the handsome type, with a dash of refined ruffian. I'm not, I'm more on the vintage, retro side."
"I really didn't expect that after all this time, you're still sticking with this unreliable character design."
Su Jinli gave An Zhiyan a pitiful look and glanced at the lyrics in his hand.
"Do you know how to sing this song?" An Zhiyan asked him.
"I just listened to it once." The implication was, he probably couldn't sing it well.
"Then how are you going to perform a duet?"
"I don't know, it came so suddenly, and I didn't expect to become number one with a sore throat."
An Zhiyan asked the director team through his earpiece, and before the director team could give an answer, Lu Wenxi had finished singing. An Zhiyan immediately went on stage and began chatting with Lu Wenxi.
As soon as he got on stage, Lu Wenxi took a half step back.
"Why are you avoiding me too?" An Zhiyan was a bit surprised.
"Standing next to you makes me look especially short, people will think I've inflated my height."
"Then let's invite today's top on-site vote winner, Su Jinli, whose height is similar to yours. Is that okay?"
"Sure."
Su Jinli immediately went on stage and greeted everyone.
"Our Su Jinli is a retro boy, so he's not too familiar with your songs. I wonder if you could teach him to sing your famous song?" An Zhiyan made a decision on his own and changed the program's process.
Upon hearing this, Lu Wenxi was a bit surprised since it wasn't what they had planned earlier.
Nevertheless, he responded quickly with a nod, stretched out his hand to pull Su Jinli to his side, and began to teach Su Jinli his song. He sang a line and Su Jinli followed with the same line.
Then, the two of them sang the chorus part of the duet song together.
"How about this, would you two like to take a set of 'besties' continuous photos?" An Zhiyan, standing by the side, asked with his microphone after they finished singing the song.
"What's with the 'besties' situation?" Lu Wenxi grinned, his smile looking a bit dangerous.
"My younger brother once took a series of photos with him, but later, it was praised as 'besties' continuous photoshoot. My younger brother was actually a shadow throughout the whole process."
"I think traditional shots are boring, why don't the three of us do it together. We capture one moment, whoever gets caught in the photo loses, and they have to do 20 push-ups right on the stage." Lu Wenxi took the initiative to dig the hole. (Note: I'm assuming it's similar to this TikTok challenge.)
"Why do you have to involve me?" An Zhiyan was devastated. He doesn't like situations that are out of his control.
"After all, it would be awkward for you to stand on the stage alone, right?" Su Jinli also followed up.
The current Su Jinli was accustomed to make fun of An Zhiyan, and this time was no different.
Then, the three of them faced one camera and started to take photos together.
With Su Jinli in the middle, the two popular idols on his sides created a whirlwind of chaos, completely devoid of their idol image. To those who didn't understand the situation, they would probably think the two were crazy.
Su Jinli was confused as he was a bit scared by their actions. The look of surprise on his face was as exaggerated as an emoticon.
In the end, Su Jinli lost.
At the moment of the photo, he was watching An Zhiyan acting silly. The two figures beside him moved like lightning bolts.
He swallowed, admitted defeat, and then really did 20 push-ups.
Lu Wenxi, too tired, squatted beside Su Jinli, sighing, "Actually, taking the photo just now was no easier than you doing push-ups."
"Can we not broadcast that part? I think it was just a major fan-losing scene." An Zhiyan also panted, asking as he too tried his best to avoid losing.
"No. Otherwise, the push-ups I did would be in vain," Su Jinli replied with his microphone in hand after finishing his push-ups and getting back up.
Lu Wenxi couldn't stop laughing, saying, "Broadcast, it must be broadcast, hahahaha."
After Su Jinli and Lu Wenxi left the stage, An Zhiyan formally announced, "The 'National Idol' competition is more than half complete. There are still 15 contestants backstage. In the next round of the competition, they will have to go through a brutal elimination match where only 9 contestants will be left for the finals."
An Zhiyan, looking down at the stage, spoke seriously, "From this moment, all previous online votes and live votes will be cleared. Voting channels will reopen in a few days. They are ready for the fight. You all will witness this competition."
________________________
The sports festival involved one host, one singing guest, and 15 contestants.
Upon arrival at the competition venue, the production team announced the rules: "You will be divided into two teams, choose your own members, and compete in the sports meet. After the competition, the losing team will savor the carefully prepared blue root fried rice and bitter gourd stewed beef by the crew."
"I'm new here, and I don't know much. Does your production crew always live so healthily? I also have a pot of 'Five-Red Soup' over there. Does anyone want to add something to it?" Lu Wenxi was the first to speak.
"What is 'Five-Red Soup'?" An Zhiyan was very curious.
"It should be a soup made by cooking red beans, red dates, wolfberries, brown sugar, and red-skinned peanuts together. It's more of a blood-enhancing soup," Su Jinli said, listing the ingredients on his fingers.
"Exactly, you children who came down from the mountains seem to know a lot about these things,” Lu Wenxi immediately praised Su Jinli.
Su Jinli smiled and openly replied, "This can only be considered as basic knowledge of health preservation. I also know about traditional Chinese medicine."
"You also know about traditional Chinese medicine? Are you so versatile?" An Zhiyan was surprised.
"Really a retro boy, huh?" Fan Qianting widened his eyes.
Su Jinli solemnly nodded, "I have even met Bian Que..."
Lu Wenxi immediately interrupted Su Jinli, "Shh, we can't tell them about our experience of paying homage to Hua Tuo together. Let this secret follow us to the grave."
Realizing that he had misspoke again, Su Jinli realized that Lu Wenxi was helping him save face, so he nodded his head in agreement, "Right, hide our merit and fame."
This time, it was like a joke.
An Zhiyan glanced at Su Jinli, just a brief look before quickly looking away.
"To avoid eating the dark cuisine, you have to win!" An Zhiyan playfully steered the conversation back on track, doing what a host should do.
"To be honest, I actually want to taste it," Su Jinli admitted, swallowing a mouthful of saliva.
"Then the whole thing falls apart..." An Zhiyan waved his hand in resignation, and the audience burst into laughter.
The show director announced again, "The two team leaders will use the most traditional method to compete, picking team members one after the other. The winner will have one additional member."
"Alright," An Zhiyan and Lu Wenxi responded almost simultaneously.
"Rock-paper-scissors, best two out of three."
After An Zhiyan and Lu Wenxi competed in the game, An Zhiyan emerged victorious.
"I want Su Jinli," An Zhiyan was the first to choose, picking Su Jinli.
"Why didn’t you choose An Zhihan?" asked Lu Wenxi.
"I don't want him. Our team would risk having internal conflicts."
"Fine, in that case, I want Wu Yu," Lu Wenxi followed up.
An Zhihan couldn't take it anymore and asked directly, "What's going on? Am I really that detestable?"
Lu Wenxi replied, "Not exactly. Your brother's team will have one more person than ours. The last unchosen member will have to join your brother's team, and I believe that will be you."
An Zhihan was taken aback. He grabbed Su Jinli and exclaimed, "I want to be on Xiao Jinli's team!"
An Zhiyan, unmoved, pushed An Zhihan away. "Don't cling to my team members."
Despite the commotion, Lu Wenxi eventually picked An Zhihan in the next round.
In the final lineup, Su Jinli, Fan Qianting, Chang Siyin, among others, were in An Zhiyan's team. An Zhihan, Wu Yu, Zhang Caini, and more were in Lu Wenxi's team.
"The summer is upon us and it's time for some refreshing activities like a swimming relay," the director group announced, "Each team sends four members to participate in this round of games."
Su Jinli panicked at once.
An Zhiyan turned to look at Su Jinli, asking softly, "You can't touch water, can you?"
"Um..."
"I'm somewhat curious. What happens when you touch water?"
Su Jinli instantly looked at An Zhiyan in panic.
An Zhiyan gave Su Jinli a reassuring smile and whispered again, "Don't worry, there will be opportunities in the future for me to see it myself. And... find out what Zhihan meant about the fishy smell."
________________________
Author's note:
Su Jinli: Brother! An Zhiyan knows my secret, should we silence him?
Shen Cheng: Alright.
An Zhiyan, deceased.
And so this book became a no-CP book.
Note: The title of this chapter is 掉马, which literally translates to "falling off the horse". It's online slang for when a secret identity or disguise is exposed ~ for example, if someone finds your secret Weibo account
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