TL: Hua
Before the trainees officially took the stage to perform, the production team, as usual, first played a VCR for the group.
The member selection process for each group in the last episode had already been broadcast live and edited into a separate episode, so the focus of this VCR was placed on the trainees’ daily routines and practice.
Since the teams had been reorganized, the opening shots showed small clips of the trainees adjusting to working with each other again, or individual interviews and some small interactions between them.
This was a relatively routine editing style that the first three groups also had, aimed at helping the audience familiarize themselves with the trainees in this group and deepen their impression of each of them.
Soon, after showcasing everyone to the audience, the light on the large screen gradually faded.
As the video theme, “Reversal and Breakthrough,” was revealed, the VCR formally entered the storyline unique to Lin Yanran’s group.
However, the first shot given by the editor was neither of selecting the C-position nor of interaction with the mentor.
Instead, it was a close-up of a card.
A few words were written on it: Who do you think is the visual center?
The camera spent a few seconds quickly cutting through the shots of the trainees in Lin Yanran’s group.
They all named the trainee they thought was the most handsome.
Among them, Qiao Ye received the most votes.
Just as Qiao Ye’s fans in the audience were about to scream, Xia Xingxing’s face appeared on the big screen.
The camera then moved down to capture the name on his card.
Xia Xingxing, the loyal fanboy whose thought process is most different from the average person, once again lived up to expectations and wrote two characters:
Yanran
The screams that the audience had yet to let out instantly turned into bursts of laughter.
[I knew Xia Xingxing would fill in Yanran, hahaha.]
[Xia Xingxing’s answer never disappoints me.]
After the laughter, everyone looked forward to the big screen.
Everyone wanted to see the staff helplessly correct the answer for Xia Xingxing, who didn’t play by the rules.
However, the imagined scene did not appear; the camera actually shifted and cut to Qiao Ye.
Qiao Ye seriously asked the staff member, “Just fill in the visual center?”
After receiving the staff member’s confirmation, he didn’t even think about it and quickly wrote down a name.
Two seconds later, he held up the card, covering most of his face.
The camera inexplicably blurred for a moment here, and the audience immediately and instinctively opened their eyes wide to see the name on it.
Then they discovered that Qiao Ye, just like Xia Xingxing, had also written Yanran.
No one was surprised that Xia Xingxing wrote Yanran; after all, his identity as a devoted fanboy was already deeply rooted in everyone’s minds.
But for Qiao Ye, a person who is relatively meticulous about rules and reading questions, to write an answer that was completely off-topic was entirely unexpected.
Not only the audience but even the staff member’s tone was somewhat surprised: “You can’t write Teacher Yanran…”
Qiao Ye heard this but didn’t explain, only acknowledging it with a faint smile, with absolutely no intention of changing his answer.
After a pause of about a few seconds, he slowly spoke, “He is the visual center in my heart.”
When Qiao Ye said this, the bullet comments instantly went crazy.
[Awwwww, baby, don’t be mischievous!]
[Don’t smile at the camera like that; Mommy won’t allow you to set fires!]
[Qiao Ye, how did you get infected by Xia Xingxing too? Shouldn’t he be the one saying that? hahahaha]
[After joining Yanran’s group, Qiao Ye is gradually being influenced by Xia Xingxing.]
[What the heck is ‘gradually being influenced by Xia Xingxing’? Did he also become a Yanran fanboy?]
[Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter. I feel like Brother Ye has become much happier and more cheerful since he joined Yanran’s group.]
Just as the audience was roaring with laughter, Gu Siye, who was standing on the side stage, turned his head slightly, and his eyes inadvertently swept over Qiao Ye, who was waiting in the wings.
After this humorous and relaxed segment, the production team moved into their favorite part: stirring up trouble and creating suspense.
The ten trainees together drew the song for this performance, and then the BGM started.
All the audience could immediately tell from the melody that it was the recently popular breakup anthem “Truth.”
The theme had already been revealed, so all the audience members were curious about how this group planned to reverse this song.
As if the production team could read the audience’s minds, the result of the trainees’ discussion appeared on screen in the next second.
Lu Tianlang: “Since it’s a reversal, let’s just change it to a completely different style.”
Xia Xingxing: “The song sounds very sad; would it be better to arrange it to be cooler?”
Qiao Ye: “How about trying a dark style?”
Ye Xiyuan: “A dark style is good! The reversal is huge, very challenging.”
This result received unanimous agreement from the entire group.
When the audience saw this result, their anticipation immediately surged.
[This song is aimed at the mass market; the melody is catchy, but the arrangement is very thin. It won’t be easy to make it outstanding as a stage performance.]
[The greater the difficulty, the better the show! I’m so looking forward to it.]
[Don’t be blindly optimistic. The gap in style is really too big; it’s genuinely hard to pull off. I don’t think it will go very smoothly.]
This netizen seemed like a prophet, as the very next shot in the VCR was of Ye Xiyuan being defeated by the difficulty of the rearrangement, showing various moments where he was so frustrated he was close to breaking down.
He listened to the demo over and over again, slumping in a corner, doubting his life.
Ye Xiyuan’s difficulty seemed to open the door to obstacles for Yanran’s group.
They hit a bottleneck in the rearrangement, and various problems also appeared in their subsequent harmonization and rehearsal.
Xia Xingxing’s practice couldn’t keep up with the rhythm, and the whole group’s rehearsal schedule was stalled repeatedly because of him.
Qiao Ye, whose skill was usually the most reassuring to fans and audience members, had his performance directly rejected by Lin Yanran.
“No, Qiao Ye, this section of yours has a big problem.”
“If the stage you present to the audience is like this, it is absolutely not good enough.”
The camera shifted again, showing Ji Shuai speaking quietly to Lin Yanran against a wall.
“Because of some past experiences, I’ve always felt very self-conscious about my appearance.”
“I’m very afraid that after this performance, the audience will call me ugly again…”
After Ji Shuai finished speaking, the video edited in some more issues that the group encountered in their daily life.
The trainees also reversed their previous cheerful and relaxed demeanor, and everyone’s expression was quite serious.
A line of text slowly appeared on the screen.
Can they solve it smoothly?
The last shot before the text appeared was Qiao Ye frowning and looking forward.
Although the audience knew that these frictions and problems were exaggerated by the production team’s editing, through this segment, the audience also understood that even the most anticipated and trusted group had faced far more difficulties behind the scenes than people imagined in order to deliver a good performance.
After the stormy scenes, the video’s style returned to peace.
The final image presented was that of a person wearing a simple white T-shirt and playing a guitar toward the camera.
The camera did not show the face of the person playing the guitar, only pausing on their beautiful, slender fingers.
As the fingertips brushed the strings, the entire video ended with this fresh and pleasant melody.
[What song is being played? It sounds so good.]
[I’ve never heard this song. Did they write it themselves?]
[Hand fetishists’ delight!!! I can’t handle these hands!!]
[Who’s playing? Who’s playing? Hurry up and film who’s playing!!!]
[Could it be that Truth was finally rearranged into this? I feel like the refreshing style also sounds great!]
[What song is this exactly? Who played it!! Production team, you are teasing my appetite again!!!]
The production team has countless tricks up their sleeve, always finding a way to firmly grasp the audience at an unsuspecting moment.
The lights dimmed, and at this moment, everyone’s gaze was fixed on the pitch-black stage.
Everyone wished they could see the final stage performance of Yanran’s group in the next second.
Did they change the song into the refreshing style that sounded heartwarming at the end?
Or did they still adhere to the initial idea and present a dark-style stage?
Dong…
Dong…
Dong…
Three dull chimes rang out, and some dark red light gradually illuminated the dark stage.
A young man in a white shirt and white trousers appeared in the center of the stage.
He bowed his head, clasping his hands together, and chanted softly.
Countless beams of dark red light flashed behind him, and a faint blue light enveloped his body.
The audience finally saw clearly: the murmuring young man wore a bride’s veil over his head, which dimly obscured his face, allowing only a vague outline to be seen…
Behind him followed a group of people, performing a twisted dance to metallic synthesized sounds, as if conducting an ancient sacrificial ritual.
The atmosphere instantly became dark and eerie.
[Wow, this intro… I’m already getting goosebumps.]
[Is the opening this amazing?]
[Is this really the TikTok anthem Truth that I listen to?? It has absolutely no connection to it except for the name!]
The boy’s low chant gradually sped up, followed by the layered vocal sounds in the BGM, and the lights suddenly brightened, finally allowing everyone to see the boy clearly.
Under the hazy light veil, his golden hair was permed into a bob cut. On the ruffled collar of his white shirt, his red lips were slightly parted, his features delicate like a porcelain doll.
When the camera zoomed in on Ji Shuai’s full, made-up face, all the audience members took a sharp breath.
[Holy crap, it’s actually Ji Shuai!!!]
[This makeup, my god, it’s too powerful, too powerful…]
[It’s like a different person!]
[He’s actually so suited for this girl-group-style makeup! Wife, let me hug you, uwuwu!]
[Ahhhhh, he’s so beautiful, so beautiful! Which little fairy fell into the mortal world? I love it so much!]
Ji Shuai’s entrance immediately attracted everyone’s full attention.
However, before the audience could appreciate the pleasing sight for more than a few seconds, they saw Ji Shuai, dressed as a bride, being pulled backward by countless hands in a panic, seemingly about to be dragged into the abyss.
After a synchronized dance, a music box tune played, and the music rhythm began to smooth out.
The originally simple and plain chords of Truth were immediately deconstructed by a piano sound. The tension brought by the previous sacrificial chant was instantly diffused.
Xia Xingxing, Lu Tianlang, and Ye Xiyuan, all in white shirts and trousers, entered the stage sequentially.
After each completed their solo, the three gathered together.
One held a book, one held a crystal ball, and one held a model of a room, their faces showing an ambiguous smile.
Amidst the soothing piano sounds, there was a faint interweaving of thunder and lightning, like the calm before a storm.
With the foundation laid by the previous Not Me stage, almost all the audience members were looking forward to the new story this group would bring.
Seeing the expressions of these three people now, they immediately felt that things were not simple.
Truth, after being tempo-adjusted, had a deliberate bassline added to its weakest parts. Accompanied by newly added strings and drumbeats, the altered rhythm progressed layer by layer.
Accompanied by the music, the disappeared Ji Shuai also rushed onto the stage in a panic, as if fierce beasts were chasing him.
The bride did not want to become a sacrifice and finally managed to escape the clutches of evil through various means.
However, he got lost.
Exhausted, he broke into a manor just before fainting.
A grand party was taking place inside the manor.
The guests were uniformly dressed in white shirts and black trousers, and the person surrounded in the center was a repressed, ascetic man wearing metal-rimmed glasses, with every button of his black suit’s inner shirt meticulously fastened to the top.
His lips were tightly pursed, and his gaze landed on the runaway bride.
The desperate bride told him of his plight, pleading for sanctuary, not wanting to be caught and thrown into the river as a sacrifice.
The guests in the luxurious manor expressed sympathy after hearing his story and pleaded with the owner of the manor—the fastidious man—hoping he would let the poor person stay.
A hint of pity flashed in the man’s eyes as he listened to the collective pleas.
Finally, he elegantly stepped forward and gentlemanly extended his right hand to the desperate bride.
A homeless person had finally found a new residence.
Unlike the turmoil of the outside world, this place seemed like a paradise.
Inside the manor,
A sunny young man would pick a bouquet of beautiful fresh flowers every morning.
An elegant young man liked to play a beautiful chord progression in the evening.
A handsome young man would tirelessly dance with moving grace.
And the fragile, beautiful bride gradually developed a fondness for the manor’s owner.
He became somewhat immersed in this beautiful, dreamlike world.
The BGM was about to reach the climax of the original song.
The revamped track, through changes in tempo, key, harmony, and various cool metallic synthesizers, began laying down a bass foundation from the chorus section.
Then Gao Yu, who was pushed to the front, performed a very explosive rap.
Unlike the monotonous rap before, his rap section this time was layered with harmony from the BGM.
With the dual-layered rap, the richness of this part was greatly enhanced. Combined with the whole song, the shocking feeling of suddenly discovering the truth came out instantly.
The bride, who had strayed into the manor and thought he had escaped the clutches of evil, suddenly discovered that the manor was not as beautiful as he had imagined.
The white-shirted young men who laughed and talked with him during the day all disappeared every night after the lights went out.
Meanwhile, the number of puppets on the living room wall increased day by day.
The bride gradually began to feel that the house was very creepy.
The seemingly normal young men always exhibited strange expressions from time to time.
For example, the vibrant young man who loved to dance suddenly had a dull expression one day.
And the dance he performed was stiff and mechanical, like a malfunctioning puppet with joint problems.
He did not seem like a real person… but a marionette draped in human skin.
The manor owner took him back to the room.
The uneasy bride secretly followed.
He then discovered that the young man had been turned into a lifelike puppet by the manor owner…
And the few puppets casually placed on the table by the man were dressed and looked exactly like the people who had been chasing him on the road…
The bride, realizing the truth belatedly, finally understood that this was no paradise; it was clearly another hell.
Everyone in this manor was a puppet manipulated by that man.
And the only reason he was able to come here was because the man had deliberately set a trap.
The most favorite thing this twisted man liked to do was to lure and deceive all beautiful, delicate boys and finally turn them into his most beloved puppets, manipulating and controlling them.
After learning the truth, the bride wanted to escape but discovered it was too late.
The newly arranged music incorporated many minor keys and layered basslines. After the strings and drumbeats revealed the truth, the music abruptly stopped.
“Love is nothing but a game of deception. Who can truly see the entire truth?”
Qiao Ye, shedding his previous aloof and ascetic demeanor, grabbed Ji Shuai with intense aggression.
He reached out and wrapped his arm around the other’s waist, confining him and forbidding him to escape, looking as if he were gazing at a wingless canary in his hand.
Ji Shuai looked at the man before him, his eyes moving from fear to disappointment, then confusion, and finally submission.
The man had blocked all his paths of retreat. He knew that the moment he was chosen to be the bride, he could no longer escape this fate.
So he gave up.
Dutifully leaning on the man’s shoulder, he closed his eyes and awaited his destiny.
The man gently stroked his head, a satisfied smile appearing on his face.
The lights gradually dimmed, and just when all the audience members thought the story was about to end here…
The music’s rhythm suddenly changed, and a new bass note blended into the chord progression.
The bride, who had given up struggling, lifted his head, a sly smile flickering in his eyes.
He pushed away the man, who was now lifeless, and wiped his lipstick-smudged mouth.
He gently picked up the room model that Ye Xiyuan had held earlier, looked at it, and then put it down.
The camera zoomed in, settling on the model.
Inside the room, a man dressed exactly like Qiao Ye was trapped and made into a specimen, and behind him was a row of his most cherished puppets.
His soul was eternally confined inside with the puppets, becoming an artifact in someone else’s hands.
Next to this room model, the book that Xia Xingxing had taken was opened to the latest page.
A passage of text was written there:
The Soul Eater loves to play tricks on evil beings.
The crystal ball will recreate his glorious record.
…
The bullet comments were silent for a few seconds, then instantly exploded.
[Mom asked me why I’m watching the video kneeling down.]
[Before watching: I hope Yanran isn’t doing that flowery stage again this time? Isn’t he afraid people will get tired of it? After watching: More, more! I can handle more!]
[Awwwww, the final part with Ji Shuai and Qiao Ye was incredible. I love this pairing so much, wuwuwuwu.]
[Does this ending mean that there was no sacrifice or chasing from the beginning to the end, and everything was a trap set by the bride?]
[Yes, yes! The pervert thought he was tricking the bride, but the bride was actually the yandere big boss, also setting a trap for him!]
[You are all focusing on the plot, but am I the only one who thinks the arrangement is amazing? The original clichéd song instantly gains depth after the rearrangement.]
[Amazing arrangement +1. Was this song rearranged by Ye Xiyuan? He’s got some talent!]
[This stage is so perfectly on theme! Not only a reversal in music but also a reversal in the plot!]
[No, and the styling too! Ji Shuai’s styling was also a major reversal. It truly addresses every part of the theme.]
The lights on the stage came back on, and the ten trainees stood before the entire audience.
After the ten people introduced themselves one by one, the mentors off-stage couldn’t help but speak up.
The first to talk was Han Zhe, who gave a thumbs-up to the people on stage, “The combination of your story, dance, and stage aesthetics truly surprised me. I had goosebumps right from the moment you appeared.”
Pei Luo, who focused more on arrangement, also looked at Ye Xiyuan and couldn’t help but praise him, “Your changes to this song, particularly the added layers in the arrangement and the treatment of the bass sections, are very well done. You have great talent.”
The previous video had highlighted Ye Xiyuan’s difficulties in arrangement.
The audience, as well as Pei Luo, was stunned that the final rearrangement presented was so perfect.
Ye Xiyuan’s fans in the audience screamed in excitement when they heard Pei Luo praise their idol.
But to everyone’s surprise, after thanking Pei Luo, Ye Xiyuan directly waved his hand and said, “I encountered many difficulties when rearranging, and there was a time I really felt like I couldn’t continue.”
Ye Xiyuan then looked at Lin Yanran and said, “But it’s all thanks to Teacher Yanran, who helped me handle many things. This song today actually doesn’t have much to do with me. It was completely revised by the teacher.”
Gao Yu also nodded in agreement. “Yes, and those harmonies and background vocals were also recorded by Teacher Yanran for us.”
After hearing what the trainees said, everyone was stunned.
After all, through editing, the production team had intentionally concealed the part where Lin Yanran helped them with the arrangement, so the audience had no idea that Lin Yanran could arrange music.
Now, learning from the trainees that such an incredible arrangement was created by him with their help, the commentators were stunned.
[Holy crap, holy crap! Yanran is already so good at dancing and choreography, and his arrangement skills are this amazing too?!]
[The rearrangement of this song is truly incredible. The original song is very thin, but he made it layered and advanced, and it is very enjoyable to listen to.]
[I’ve heard Ye Xiyuan’s songs before, and I felt his arrangement skills weren’t this impressive. I thought he had evolved, but it turns out Yanran did it.]
[Wuwuwu, Yanran baby, what other surprises do you have that Mommy doesn’t know about!!]
After learning the truth, Pei Luo said no more, only glancing at Lin Yanran next to him, a hint of awe in his eyes.
Tangtang, as the last mentor to comment, had a different focus from the other two.
She excitedly covered her face and told Ji Shuai, “You look so beautiful today; don’t feel insecure.”
Hearing Tangtang’s words, Ji Shuai’s fans also shouted, “Ji Shuai, you look so beautiful!!!”
Not only the fans, but even the audience admitted that Ji Shuai’s makeup today had truly stunned everyone.
Ji Shuai, having received affirmation, bowed to Tangtang and his fans, a relieved smile finally appearing on his face, “Thank you.”
Tangtang nodded and continued with a smile, “But besides the styling, I also want to say that the final section between you and Qiao Ye was absolutely brilliant!!!”
The CP fans understood perfectly what Tangtang meant by this statement.
That final section where Ji Shuai and Qiao Ye embraced and leaned on each other’s shoulders…
It was absolutely ship-worthy!!!
Sure enough, after Tangtang said this, the fans’ screams at the venue did not stop, all imagining that final section with intense CP enthusiasm.
Tangtang turned her gaze to Qiao Ye and praised, “To be honest, compared to what we saw in the VCR, on stage, you have truly become a completely different person. Your performance was fantastic.”
Afterward, she heard the screams of the fans behind her and relayed their message, “They are asking me how you did it, hahahaha.”
Qiao Ye stood on the stage, his gaze lightly sweeping over Lin Yanran, but he didn’t say who he was imagining during his performance.
Ji Shuai, on the other hand, honestly answered Tangtang, “We didn’t know how to perform it at first. Later, thanks to Teacher Yanran and Teacher Gu, who personally demonstrated it for us once, we were able to follow and learn from them.”
Tangtang, who had been smiling, instantly changed her expression upon hearing the words “Teacher Gu” and immediately pursued the matter with excitement, “What? What?? Teacher Gu and Yanran personally demonstrated it for you??”
All the trainees nodded.
Tangtang, looking like she had discovered an incredible secret, immediately looked at Lin Yanran, then turned to Gu Siye on the stage.
“What should I do? I’m so curious what it looked like when Teacher Gu and Yanran acted out these two roles together.”
Gu Siye smiled lightly. “Surely the performance on stage tonight was better.”
Tangtang shook her head, smiling, “But I still want to see your version.”
She then looked at the director. “Director Song, can we have this clip broadcast as a treat for us to watch?”
The bullet comments went wild upon hearing Tangtang’s request.
[Tangtang, well done!]
[My god! That previous section with the alluring villain x yandere beauty actually has a Gu Siye x Yanran version!!]
[Director, be smart and quickly play this segment for the audience!]
[Play it! Play it! Play it! Play it!!!!!]
[Quick, quick! I can’t wait!]
The audience at the venue also shouted, “Director Song, play it now!!!”
Song Yingming, suddenly cued, spread his hands with a look of difficulty.
However, before he could say anything, he heard the fans behind him shout loudly.
“Song Yingming, I command you to quickly broadcast this segment for the audience. Don’t force me to kneel and beg you!”
“Song Yingming, the opportunity to prove you are the number one variety show director in the country is now! Broadcast it, and you’ll be the best director in my heart. You decide!”
Song Yingming clicked his tongue after hearing this…
He took the microphone and said to everyone, “In that case… then…”
The audience listened closely, but after a few seconds, he didn’t finish his sentence.
Damn it!
Song Yingming, you’re **** and ****. Just tell us directly whether you’re playing it or not!!!
i really love this book thank you for the upload