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This showed just how successful the production team had been in shaping Sugar Juice Duo's image. At the same time, their dramatic, twist-filled journey on the show had successfully captured the audience's attention. As ratings soared explosively, everyone eagerly anticipated the contestants' brilliant performances next Saturday while also worrying about their lives—such as what exactly had happened to Lin Zhaoran's mother.

Amid such widespread anticipation, Dance Miracle's Southern Division thirty-to-ten advancement round aired on schedule on the first Saturday night of August.

After a burst of dazzling, fiery electronic music, the three judges walked cheerfully from the stage to the judges' table in time with the music. Xiao Hua, the sharp-tongued host in a black suit, strode to center stage and rattled off the names of the title sponsor and a long list of sponsors at breakneck speed. He then introduced the competition rules and advancement method—every two contestants would be randomly paired into a team and perform a dance style outside their specialty. Contestants whose performance earned approval from two or more judges would advance directly into the Southern Division's top ten, while those who earned approval from only one judge would be placed on hold. The thirty contestants would form fifteen teams, and only five teams would remain in the end. It was an exceptionally brutal competition: the winners took all, and the weak were eliminated.

The host also announced that starting from this round, viewers could send text messages through the interactive platform at the bottom of the screen to support their favorite contestants. The three most popular contestants with the highest number of text votes would advance directly into the top ten regardless of whether the judges approved of them, encouraging viewers to support their favorites and send them to a bigger stage...

After introducing everything related to the competition in one breath, Xiao Hua took a deep breath and shouted, "Now, please welcome the first competing teams, Sugar Juice Duo and Three Girls Group! Their keyword is 'first love,' and their competition dance is Sixteen-Year-Old Bicycle—"

As the host spoke and the live audience cheered, the stage lights gradually softened. The VCR on the big screen changed into an autumn campus, a broad avenue covered in fallen leaves, and a playground beneath the lingering glow of the setting sun.

A fresh, melodious acoustic guitar tune slowly began. Tang Shi, Lu Hengzhi, and one of the girls from Three Girls Group rode bicycles specially prepared by the production team, while the other two girls sat on the back seats. All five wore high school uniforms symbolizing youthful innocence as they slowly made their way to center stage.

Then the scene on the big screen suddenly changed into two apartment buildings. The two girls seated on the back of the bicycles jumped down and took two steps forward with their backs to the audience. The music abruptly stopped, and the five of them froze in a pose at center stage.

The singing began again. Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi landed from side flips while the three girls turned around, their gazes meeting briefly before separating. The girls turned away and continued forward, while the two boys from Sugar Juice Duo followed behind them, reluctant to part yet too timid to call out to them—

"The one who sat on the back seat of the bicycle in the front row of the classroom, as time brushed hurriedly across your face, do you still remember me?

Sometimes I passed beneath the camphor trees and watched the fallen blossoms fill the sky. The sunset that walked beside you, the shadow that crossed winter and summer.

The wind back then was always too fierce, always lifting your long hair. My feelings rose with the wind, but I never dared tell you..."

Turn, bend backward, raise a leg, spin, leap, lift... Every movement looked light and nimble, yet left the dancers at center stage drenched in sweat. Since they had never worked together before, there was no need to mention their lack of mutual understanding and trust. Especially during the lifts, none of the three girls dared put their full weight on Sugar Juice Duo, afraid the two boys would not be able to bear it. As a result, they kept getting stuck during rehearsals.

The group had originally become somewhat discouraged, but Mo Zi eventually came over to coach them personally and helped them work through their mental barriers. Yet even after resolving the issues in their minds, their bodies still seemed unwilling to cooperate. Various flaws continued to appear during the previous rehearsals. This state of affairs had left the judges helpless, and they had even privately decided, Their popularity is good anyway. If they really can't make it, they can wait for the revival round. Yet they had not expected the five of them to be in such excellent form during the actual competition. Their coordination was natural and seamless, and the lifts flowed like drifting clouds and running water, with none of the previous awkwardness or disconnected transitions...

As the judges nodded to themselves, the music reached a climax. So did the dance by Sugar Juice Duo and Three Girls Group. Although they could not incorporate opera movements into street dance this time, Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi had still found a way to blend street dance into modern dance. The next section had the three girls dancing together as partners, expressing the friendship, sunshine, and joyful harmony of youth, while Lu Hengzhi and Tang Shi followed the rhythm of modern dance to perform a street dance segment expressing pain and melancholy. At the same time, the lyrics began—

"The person in the yellowed diary, did you know I once loved you?

I secretly wrote love letters and learned love songs, yet never dared confess.

You, whose smile bloomed like a flower, do you still keep that long hair?

Time passed in a rush, memories faded and mottled, yet you forgot to tell me—"

The five of them returned to center stage with the music. Tang Shi, Lu Hengzhi, and another girl resumed the pose of riding bicycles, while the other two girls sat on the back seats, their innocent faces brimming with smiles. The image froze.

"Those innocent and ignorant years,

You who flew recklessly through youth,

Do you still remember my sixteen-year-old bicycle?"

The VCR on the big screen changed into a yellowed photograph specially made by Sugar Juice Duo for the program's effect. It showed exactly how they looked onstage at that moment. Beneath the setting sun, simple and innocent boys and girls rode bicycles through thin, unrestrained youth, their radiant smiles more dazzling than sunlight itself.

After thunderous applause, the host returned to the stage amid the excited screams of the audience, his face full of admiration. He said, "A wonderful dance, a wonderful song... Now, let's first hear the comments from our three judges. Teacher Zhang Chujie."

Zhang Chujie smiled as he looked at the five panting contestants onstage. "Overall, this was a very complete piece. Although some movements were not executed perfectly on a technical level, the flaws did not overshadow the strengths. Especially Sugar Juice Duo, those lifts were simply perfect. You must be exhausted, right?"

The audience burst into laughter. Lu Hengzhi took the microphone and said between gasps, "Yes... I feel like the three of them are a bit heavier than I imagined. And what we really couldn't handle was that there wasn't just one of them—there were three. The two of us had to take turns lifting them, and they usually eat a lot too—"

His words made the audience and judges burst into laughter again. The three girls protested loudly and somewhat sheepishly, "What are you talking about? Obviously, you two just have terrible stamina!"

"Hey, how can you complain about girls' weight in a situation like this? You'll never get girlfriends acting like that!"

"That's so mean!"

The fierce counterattack from the three girls brought another wave of laughter from both the audience and the judges' table. After the laughter subsided, Zhang Chujie continued, "From the emotion conveyed in your dance, I could see that this was probably a tender romance from your school days. The innocent little ambiguity between male and female classmates in their youth—walking girls home after school, going out together, secretly writing love letters... The five of you also captured the emotions very well. The props were chosen excellently too, showing the innocence, shyness, fluttering excitement, and sweetness of first love. The entire dance blended perfectly with the music... And I noticed that the background music was very pleasant, but I had never heard this song before. Is it..."

As Zhang Chujie spoke, he looked at the dancers onstage with some hesitation. Tang Shi, still panting, took the microphone and said, "We recorded the background music ourselves. The production team helped us find a recording studio and an audio engineer, then Lu Hengzhi and I sang the song."

Zhang Chujie gave an astonished "Wow," but said, "Really? Honestly, nothing you do surprises me anymore... But I still have to say, this song is fantastic. As I listened to it, scenes from my own youth appeared before my eyes. This was truly an excellent song choice, and it added the finishing touch to this dance. You've amazed me again. For this song alone, I have to pass you."

As soon as Zhang Chujie's words fell, another wave of applause and screams erupted from below the stage.

Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi hurriedly thanked him.

After Zhang Chujie finished his comments, Qiao Lin leaned forward, clasping her hands before her chest as she said dreamily, "That was wonderful. I always thought Sugar Juice Duo's creative talent only showed in how you fused different dance styles. I never expected you could write songs and compose music as well, not to mention the stage background design... That VCR was fantastic too... Whose idea was it?"

Tang Shi said, "Teacher Mo Zi helped us with the overall stage design. I came up with the VCR story, then I asked one of my classmates to film it, and Lu Hengzhi was the director."

Mo Zi interjected from the side, "No, I only offered some suggestions about the stage effects. The overall concept was still theirs. They are dancers with a lot of ideas."

Qiao Lin gave another "Wow" and praised them with a smile. "You really are amazing... I can truly see the qualities of idols and stars in you—"

Before she could finish, the audience below the stage screamed again. Qiao Lin continued amid the screams, "Now, back to the dance itself... For several dancers who have never worked together before, I think the most difficult part of the entire dance was emotional expression and mutual trust. On a technical level, that was reflected in the lifts. Yet this dance happened to have many lifts. So although the overall performance was quite complete, there were still certain details... For example, the three girls hesitated during some key movements, and their physical expression was somewhat stiff. During Sugar Juice Duo's final lift, your breathing was clearly a little disrupted. Fortunately, those details did not affect the overall dance, so I'm still giving you a pass."

Sugar Juice Duo and Three Girls Group hurriedly bowed in thanks. They had now received approval from two judges, which meant they had safely advanced. Only the final judge, Mo Zi, had yet to comment. Even so, the five people onstage still felt very nervous.

Seeing this, Mo Zi smiled faintly and said, "Actually, when they first brought me this dance, I had some concerns. First of all, their dance foundations were not strong enough for them to complete such a difficult dance with ease. This was especially true for Tang Shi. His stamina was relatively poor, and he had sprained his ankle during the previous advancement round, so his lower body was definitely unstable. Yet he had taken on many of the lifting movements..."

"And we all know that Sugar Juice Duo's excellence lies in the diversity and uniqueness of their dance styles, in the visual brilliance created by the fusion and collision of opera style and street dance style. But purely in terms of dance fundamentals, the two of them are somewhat weaker than the other contestants. Although Three Girls Group has strong foundations, they know nothing at all about modern dance. We had all seen the previous rehearsal results, and they were not ideal. But I never expected that in this official competition, they would complete this dance so outstandingly. Apart from a few facial expressions and body movements that were not quite in place, there were hardly any major mistakes to find. That let me see their seriousness and hard work. With contestants this excellent, why wouldn't I pass them?"