Page 7

The misfortune he had so easily picked up was a dream forever out of someone else's reach.

Lai Yudong: [Does that mean he won't be able to dance anymore?]

System: [Who?]

Lai Yudong: [The trainee whose back injury got worse.]

System: [Oh, that was just an excuse to withdraw. He went to another world to do a mission.]

Lai Yudong: [...]

So they were tearing down the eastern wall to patch up the western wall?

By the time Lai Yudong and the system had more or less finished hashing it out, Xu An's additional test had just ended. He had chosen an extremely difficult song purely to show off his skills, and his near-perfect performance won him even more enthusiastic applause than before.

[With vocals like that, he could easily be a mentor himself]

[Xu An has to debut!]

[Girls, I'm crying my eyes out... Our Anmu baby finally has a stage, wuwuwuwu QAQ]

[Why didn't he sing one of his own songs? I really wanted to hear his finale song]

[No copyright?]

[How could he not have the copyright to a song he wrote himself?]

Lai Yudong couldn't help applauding, but he was just as puzzled as the bullet comments. Why hadn't either of the two songs Xu An sang been his own?

If he had brought out any one of the songs that made him famous, the nostalgia would have been off the charts.

"Excellent. I expect nothing less from the champion of Listen to My Voice." Wu Xihe smiled with satisfaction, her appreciation plain to see. "That's the best song I've heard so far. Your singing is definitely the strongest among all the trainees. Keep it up. I have very high hopes for you, and if we get the chance, we could collaborate sometime."

When it came to professional skills, Wu Xihe, as a singer, undoubtedly had the most authority to speak among the mentors. Even she had extended an olive branch and offered to collaborate; it was easy to imagine how wonderful Xu An's performance had been.

Xu An smiled shyly. "Thank you, mentor."

"Your vocals are strong, your musical intelligence is high, and both your technique and emotion are on point. As a layman, I won't give a professional too many pointers in their own field," Zhu Xiuming said unhurriedly. "I'll just point out one flaw."

"Please do," Xu An said nervously.

"You sang very well, but why didn't you dare look at the camera? Be more confident. Lift your head and don't stare at the floor while you sing. Your fans aren't hiding under the tiles."

Xu An was lost for words. "I..."

"Exactly, exactly. Mentor Zhu is right." Li Ke smiled as he lightened the mood. "Xu An, you need to learn from You Shu on this point. Even after singing like that, he still held out until the end before lowering his head. Just look at how strong his conviction was."

[He's confident, but not that confident.]

[How would you rate You Shu's singing? Low emotional intelligence: awful. High emotional intelligence: he has strong conviction]

[The director really knows when to switch cameras. You Shu's expression is killing me]

[What the heck is You Tree? Hahahahahaha]

[A little speechless.jpg]

[Dock his pay for that pun!]

Lai Yudong, suddenly dragged out for another beating: "..."

Wake up. That was because he had to look at the lyrics and the Pitch Corrector.

"I have another question," Fu Hanyu said. "Although you were the champion on another show, that doesn't mean you're also first place here. The two shows are fundamentally very different. By coming to a talent show, you're undoubtedly leaving your past achievements behind and starting from zero on an unfamiliar track. At the same time, it means you'll face a lot of speculation and doubt."

His voice was gentle and warm, like a spring breeze, yet he laid the cruel reality bare before them.

Lai Yudong swallowed nervously, as though he were the one being questioned.

Fu Hanyu smiled. "That choice takes a great deal of courage, so I'm very curious why you decided to enter the talent show."

"Actually..." Xu An pressed his lips together. "I didn't come here for first place, and I didn't come to debut either."

"That's the first time I've heard someone on a talent show say they don't want to debut. At least pretend for the First Stage," Li Ke teased.

"I, I didn't mean it like that!" Xu An explained helplessly. "I haven't had a stage in a long time. I just wanted to use this stage to tell the fans who like hearing me sing... No... music fans... No... the, the listeners, that I'm still singing, and I haven't given up on music."

[Is Mandarin burning your mouth? The way he kept correcting himself is killing me]

[Every time he changed what he called them, he sounded more humble]

[Can someone explain why Xu An hasn't had a stage? Wasn't he the champion? Although that was a show about singing ability, I remember he was pretty popular too]

[What else could it be? His shitty company treats him like dirt]

Fu Hanyu patiently guided him. "Have you considered this? If you debut, you can have more stages."

"..."

Xu An was silent for a moment, then lowered his gaze. "I know, but I don't want to experience the feeling of my hopes falling through again. I'd rather not have any hope in the first place."

In the end, the mentors gave him a Class A ranking, as expected.

Xu An bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle. Amid the congratulatory applause, he left the stage and headed for the audience seats behind the mentors' table.

[Class A is almost full]

[Who else is strong later on? To be honest, I want to see a Battle]

[Mentor Jin!!!]

[Yifeng, Yifeng, Yifeng!]

[Qu Qincheng? He's from a big company, so he should be pretty good, right?]

[His name is Qu Xincheng...]

The audience seats were arranged in tiered rows in a trapezoid, divided from top to bottom into four sections for Classes A, B, C, and F. Class A was limited to seven people, while the other three classes had no limit.

According to his ranking, Xu An should have gone to Class A at the very top, but he stopped on the steps beside the Class F section instead, seemingly looking for someone.

[Who is Xu An looking for?]

[He probably went the wrong way. He shouldn't know any of the talent show contestants.]

[Anmu baby! Class A is at the very top!]

Lai Yudong noticed a few comments like these among the pile of names. Curiosity prompted him to see what was going on, but the moment he turned his head, his eyes unexpectedly met Xu An's.

The two were in the same row, about a meter apart.