Initial Ratings

[Zhang Mingche and Yu Yizhen, the three of them are from the same company.]

[Who's Jiang Yangfan?]

[Go check out the handsome Jiang Yangfan's work, "Soft Words"~]

[Zhang and Yu have acted in web dramas too.]

[Brother Fan stands out so much with those looks!]

[What's this? The Web Drama Team?]

"I almost forgot! You might not know Jiang Yangfan." Liu Qichu slapped his forehead and helpfully introduced him. "See the light-haired one in the very middle? That's Jiang Yangfan."

Lai Yudong nodded. "Mm, I know."

Liu Qichu's eyes widened in surprise. "Huh? You know him? Has he gotten famous overseas too?"

Lai Yudong thought, Know him? He's one of the countless stars my mom has a crush on.

But there was no way he could say what was really on his mind. He pointed to the name tag on his clothes and said succinctly, "Name tag. It's written there."

"...Oh, right," Liu Qichu said, realization dawning on him.

Like most of the audience, Lai Yudong only knew Jiang Yangfan.

Lai Yudong didn't know Jiang Yangfan because he was particularly famous. His representative work, "Soft Words," was a modern idol drama that had only made a small splash beyond its usual audience. Not long after it finished airing, it vanished without a trace, replaced by the next new drama on the trending searches.

But Lai Yudong's mother was a devoted fan of the drama. Her favorite character was the second male lead played by Jiang Yangfan, and she'd even changed her profile picture to him.

It would have been hard for Lai Yudong not to remember him.

Compared with Jiang Yangfan, whose fame had bloomed and faded in a flash, Zhang Mingche and Yu Yizhen were complete unknowns. If the bullet comments hadn't given a brief rundown, Lai Yudong wouldn't even have known they'd acted in web dramas.

That was the state of most web dramas in the fast-food era, and a microcosm of the entertainment industry as a whole.

Lai Yudong gazed at the gentle, radiant light-haired young man onstage, with only one thought in mind—

Can I take a signed photo back to my original world?

If he could make his own mother happy, he wouldn't mind risking his identity being exposed to ask Jiang Yangfan himself for a signed photo.

Between debuting in a boy group and getting a signed photo, the latter was obviously more likely to happen.

But reality often didn't go his way.

System: [Not for the time being.]

Lai Yudong: [For the time being?]

System: [I'll tell you after you debut.]

Lai Yudong: [You might as well just say no.]

Chapter 6: Initial Evaluation

Though the trio led by Jiang Yangfan were jokingly called the Web Drama Team and had spent years scrambling through one production after another, all three had solid skills and seemed as polished as a team that had trained together for a long time.

With skills like those, debuting on the spot wouldn't have been a stretch.

Their song choice leaned toward hip-hop, and their choreography used big movements. The group dance sections were perfectly synchronized, and their positioning was so precise it looked as though it had been measured with a ruler. Jiang Yangfan's dancing was noticeably a cut above the others'.

Vocally, the three were about on par. None of them stood out, but none had any obvious weaknesses either. They aimed for one thing: stability. Even with all their mics on during the live performance, not a sound of heavy breathing could be heard.

A song might only last a few short minutes, but singing and dancing at the same time was more tiring than many people imagined.

As an aerobic exercise, singing while dancing was like singing while riding a bicycle or shouting slogans while running drills in military training. Stamina, lung capacity, and breath control were all indispensable. Hip-hop itself was already intense, and big movements could easily make the voice unsteady.

The only solution was professional training.

Keeping up with extensive training between acting jobs was exhausting. They must have put in a great deal of work to reach this level, or they would have ended up doing neither well.

Lai Yudong grew increasingly worried.

He propped his cheek in his hand and watched Jiang Yangfan execute a clean, crisp backflip onstage. Do I have to compete with contestants at this level for a spot in the debut group...

"Waaaah!!!!!"

...do I?

Lai Yudong glanced helplessly at Liu Qichu, who had suddenly leaped to his feet with a scream. Even though many people were cheering for Jiang Yangfan, he was the loudest of them all.

"That was amazing!" Liu Qichu exclaimed, excitedly praising him several times over. "The way that backflip hit the beat was so satisfying! I didn't expect Jiang Yangfan to be such a great dancer on top of being a good actor!"

"..." Lai Yudong smiled and applauded.

Don't expect an overseas contestant to give any decent feedback, hey!

[You Shu: I'll just quietly watch you go crazy.jpg]

[My volume button has fought for its life because of Liu Qichu]

Without an equally enthusiastic response, Liu Qichu looked at Lai Yudong, who was clapping obediently beside him, then at the back of Liang Zhisheng's head diagonally in front of him. Belatedly realizing something, he hurriedly sat down in a dignified manner.

He raised a fist to his mouth to cover his embarrassment. "Ahem, I mean... that backflip was so cool... Did I get too excited again?"

Lai Yudong said, "It was okay."

At least he was gradually getting used to it and hadn't been startled.

He was there to hype up the crowd. Lai Yudong understood.

As expected, the mentors asked the three trainees from the Web Drama Team to perform individual follow-up tests.

Jiang Yangfan, standing in the center position, volunteered to go first. His dance solo was dazzling. Even though he didn't do any difficult, crowd-exploding moves like a backflip, Lai Yudong, a complete novice, could tell how skilled he was.

Zhang Mingche's follow-up dance test was somewhat lackluster by comparison. He missed the beat several times and failed to find his groove as Xu An had. His mistakes made him even more flustered, and the dance grew increasingly chaotic toward the end. He wasn't even given a chance to try again.

Only one person onstage had yet to take the follow-up test.

"Is Yu Yizhen going to do a dance test too?" Liu Qichu craned his neck curiously, his butt nearly lifting off his seat.

"I don't think so. Probably vocals," Liang Zhisheng said, turning his head slightly. He wasn't quite used to someone else's voice being so close to his ear. "If this group were all dance specialists, the choreography would be more difficult."

"It wasn't difficult enough!?" Liu Qichu asked in surprise, voicing the same question Lai Yudong had.

"Jiang Yangfan's solo was difficult. The others were just dancing in sync." Liang Zhisheng smiled. "If you're willing to put in the hard work, you can achieve the same effect."