Page 31

As far as the production crew and even the television station staff were concerned, Tang Shi's reaction, though intense, was well within expectations. They had long since grown used to the Sugar Juice Duo's knack for stirring things up. If the Sugar Juice Duo ever managed to finish recording a show quietly and obediently without causing the slightest disturbance, that would be the truly strange thing.

With that thought, everyone turned to look expectantly at the three judges onstage and the show's chief planner, Li Mei—especially the latter. After all, everyone knew Li Mei was the Sugar Juice Duo's "backer."

Noticing the meaningful looks from those around her, Li Mei shook her head, amused and annoyed. Sometimes, the Sugar Juice Duo's willfulness truly gave her a headache. Those two children never cared about the time or place when they caused her trouble. They were every bit as infuriating as the unruly little brat in her own home. The only difference was that these two little brats were far more talented than hers. But whenever they started acting up, she still wanted to smack them just to vent her frustration.

Still, most of the time, she treated the Sugar Juice Duo with gentleness and tolerance. After all, the two were good classmates of Cui Yujin, the son of an old family friend. In a sense, they were her juniors as well. What was more, she had helped make these two children famous, and she had gained plenty of benefits from them in return. Most importantly, they carried such enormous ratings on their shoulders—in the eyes of a media professional like Li Mei, ratings were king. And those with ability naturally had the right to receive special treatment.

Li Mei's attitude was hardly unique. At the very least, most of the Dance Miracle production crew had a love-hate relationship with the Sugar Juice Duo. They were delighted that the duo's performances could boost the ratings of Dance Miracle and even Apple Television as a whole, yet they also suffered headaches whenever the duo stirred up trouble—

After all, not every team could adapt on the fly, nor was every staff member capable enough to handle every "accident" brought about by the Sugar Juice Duo with ease.

Especially during a live broadcast!

But what could they do when these two children had ratings to back them up, as well as powerful people shielding them? Just as Li Mei had thought before, the entertainment industry was a very realistic place. Those with both ability and connections would always be tolerated and accommodated.

For instance, now, faced with Tang Shi's fierce reaction and Li Mei's silent but obvious indulgence, the production staff, judges, and even the other contestants all felt that this was unexpected in reason but entirely expected in reality. After the thought of Just as expected surfaced in everyone's mind, Qiao Lin, who had the best relationship with the Sugar Juice Duo, patiently asked, "What's wrong, Tang Shi? Is there something difficult about it for you?"

At Qiao Lin's question, Tang Shi's muddled mind gradually cleared. After silently organizing his words, he took another deep breath and said, "I'm sorry, but I can't use a wire rig. I'm extremely afraid of it. I don't think it's safe at all. I don't want to entrust my life to a steel wire when I don't even know whether it's reliable."

Tang Shi's attitude was too straightforward and sincere, and his words represented some contestants who were worried but did not dare voice their concerns. Besides, everyone had seen the sheer terror in him just moments ago, so there was not much hostility toward him. Chief planner Li Mei asked, "Are you afraid of heights?"

Tang Shi hesitated slightly at that, unsure how to answer. Strictly speaking, his current psychological state was not a fear of heights. At the very least, he was not sensitive to heights themselves. What he feared was the feeling of being suspended high in the air and moved around by a thin steel wire. After experiencing the Wire Rig Incident in his previous life, Tang Shi had become afraid of anything that hoisted people into the air. He did not even dare ride a Ferris wheel at an amusement park. When hiking, he would rather struggle up and down on foot than take an aerial cable car.

It was a psychological illness carried over from his previous life, and Tang Shi could not reveal the real reason. Worse still, a year ago, on his fifteenth birthday before he had been reborn, he and Lu Hengzhi had recklessly gone bungee jumping to celebrate—damn it, who would believe that someone who could do extreme bungee jumping was afraid of heights?

So Tang Shi could only force himself to say that he had not been afraid of heights before, but after bungee jumping once, he had developed a psychological condition and could no longer accept something where his life depended entirely on a single rope.

After patiently and clearly explaining his current situation to everyone in the studio, Tang Shi apologized again with deep guilt. "I'm sorry. This may cause trouble for everyone's work, but I really can't use a wire rig."

Seeing Tang Shi's troubled expression, the staff members present frowned to themselves and fell silent in unspoken agreement. Yet they had to admit that after hearing his explanation, their feelings had become even more complicated—because he had gone bungee jumping, he thought wire rigs were unsuitable for him? Damn it, were you sent by monkeys to make everyone laugh?

Qiao Lin gave him no mercy and burst out laughing. She looked at Tang Shi in disbelief and repeated, "You think it's unsafe because you went bungee jumping, so you're firmly against using wire rigs?"

Faced with Qiao Lin's expression of Are you sick?, Tang Shi could only nod grimly. He added, "Because the safety rope almost snapped when I went bungee jumping, I feel that activities like that simply can't guarantee safety. I can't accept it."

If possible, Tang Shi did not want to use that as an excuse either. If he could, he would have preferred to simply say that he was afraid of heights and could not use a wire rig. But he was afraid someone would get bored enough to investigate his past. If it came out then that he was not actually afraid of heights, would that not make him a liar?

So, to keep things from reaching that point, he would rather use an excuse that sounded absurd today, so long as it was true.

If time could turn back another year, he would never have been stupid enough to go bungee jumping—he would have stayed far away from anywhere higher than three meters, all right? = =!

Who could understand the bitterness and suffering behind that?

Although Lu Hengzhi standing beside Tang Shi could not hear his thoughts, he spoke up in perfect Telepathic Rapport to corroborate Tang Shi's account—though he did not think that Tang Shi, who had excitedly gone bungee jumping twice back then, had shown the slightest sign of post-traumatic fear or acrophobia.

Seeing Lu Hengzhi and Tang Shi speak with such certainty, the staff members present got another headache.

Meanwhile, in an attempt to recover some of his image and prove that he was not simply being unreasonable, Tang Shi added, "And I don't think I'm the only one... None of us really has experience using wire rigs. Besides, we don't know whether they're actually safe. Even if safety can be guaranteed, not everyone can immediately adapt to balancing after being suspended by a wire rig. And we still have to perform dance moves in midair while attached to them... Technically speaking... can we adapt in a week?"

Though Tang Shi had only added that in an effort to salvage his rapidly crumbling professional ethics, everyone had to admit that his concerns were valid. No one could guarantee that the problems he mentioned would not actually arise during the real process. Moreover, there was only one week until the next live broadcast. During that week, all the contestants not only had to cooperate with the three judges on the opening dance, but also adjust to their newly assigned partners and rehearse their competition dances. Time was truly tight.

Seeing everyone deep in thought, and naturally noticing that a small number of contestants were eager to give it a try, Lu Hengzhi, who did not want to offend anyone, thought for a moment before saying, "I also think Tang Shi has a point. Everyone's situation is different. Maybe some contestants have especially good balance and can adapt to wire rigs quickly. But contestants like Tang Shi and me, whose balance isn't that great and who are somewhat resistant to wire rigs, would definitely hold everyone back if we had to use them. And if a safety mistake happened during rehearsal because of nerves or some other reason, that would be even worse."

With one sentence, he successfully shifted everyone's attention away from Tang Shi personally and toward the bigger picture. After some brief consideration, everyone had to admit that Lu Hengzhi was right.

Seeing that the Sugar Juice Duo had left no room for negotiation and were doing their utmost to encourage the other contestants to accept their view, Judge Mo Zi thought for a moment before asking again, "You've kept emphasizing that you can't use a wire rig not because you're afraid of heights, but simply because you think it's unsafe. Then if we replaced the wire rig with something else—such as a lift platform—would you have any problem with that?"

Lu Hengzhi did not answer. He merely turned to look at Tang Shi. This time, Tang Shi nodded decisively and even suggested, "If it's purely for stage effects, we could consider an opening dance with multiple spaces and angles. We could even make it into a mini stage play. The visual effect might be even better that way."

The three judges' eyes lit up at once. The key reason they appreciated the Sugar Juice Duo was that, aside from being extraordinarily talented, approachable, quick-witted, and skilled at taking unconventional approaches, the two often came up with constructive suggestions for everyone to consider.

Simply put, although the Sugar Juice Duo occasionally caused trouble and created unexpected incidents, more often than not, they could offer solutions.

Receiving a positive response from the Sugar Juice Duo, Mo Zi smiled and said, "Actually, I think Hengzhi's idea is also good. It can even complement Qiao Lin's idea and takes a more comprehensive view. Because wire rigs really are a technical matter, and not everyone will necessarily adapt well. And if all thirty people suddenly descend on wire rigs at once, I'm not sure the sense of space, layers, or visual effect would be that good. Why not do as Hengzhi suggested? We can divide everyone into three groups: some use wire rigs, some use lift platforms, and some perform directly on the stage floor... We really can design it carefully. While pursuing the perfect stage effect, we should also fully consider the contestants' abilities and safety!"

After hearing Mo Zi's words, the other two judges also felt that the suggestion was extremely reasonable. Dance Miracle was only a street dance competition, after all. Using wire rigs was certainly not a mandatory requirement. Since the contestants had not undergone specialized training, no one could control what the final effect would be. It was better to choose the compromise Mo Zi had proposed.

Besides, in the eyes of a professional dancer like Mo Zi, good dance ultimately had to return to the dance movements themselves. With that as the foundation, everything else was optional and negotiable.

Just as everyone seemed inclined to accept the two men's proposal and had even begun actively thinking of ways to solve the problem, someone who had been standing in the shadows waiting to enjoy the show finally could not hold back any longer.

The production crew's second-in-command—and Li Mei's strongest rival at work—producer Qian Fujiang snapped, "Nonsense!" Then, with a frosty expression, he said to Li Mei, "As the chief planner of the Dance Miracle production crew, I have to say that your performance has deeply disappointed me. For one contestant's personal reasons, you casually overturned the plan that Qiao Lin painstakingly came up with. In your eyes, is one contestant's preference actually more important than the entire show's planning? You are acting so unfairly—aren't you afraid the other contestants will be disappointed?"

Without waiting for Li Mei to respond, he turned and pointed at the Sugar Juice Duo's noses as he scolded, "Don't think that a little fame means you can start throwing your weight around. Where do you think this is, that you can make trouble however you please?"