Chapter 31

Chapter 31

As soon as Shen Huaixi spoke, even the contestants, nervous about whether their mentor would pick them for his group, showed subtle changes in their expressions.

Everyone looked at Shen Huaixi with confusion, feeling that his final remark to Su Xingyao was somewhat... snarky.

Although his reasoning sounded quite noble, the reality was that he had assigned such a weak group to Su Xingyao.

Having done so, he still had to twist the knife in his heart.

What did he want to hear from Su Xingyao, nicknamed "Kitty"? To hear him say thank you?

As soon as Shen Huaixi spoke, the atmosphere on stage instantly became awkward, and many contestants looked at him with unease.

Even Fu Qingyan, Shen Huaixi's usual supporter, couldn't help but glance at him.

Apart from Fu Qingyan, Sheng Yan, as a mentor, also immediately sensed something was amiss and stepped forward, trying to help Su Xingyao.

But Su Xingyao didn't need any help. Instead, he proactively turned on his microphone.

With a slight smile on his lips, he responded politely.

"Thank you, Teacher Shen."

After this polite remark, Su Xingyao turned his attention to his four teammates, his tone calm, unfazed by the grouping.

"I've always performed solo before, so I'm really looking forward to collaborating with so many talented singers in this new group."

Su Xingyao's response was both courteous and gracious, showing respect for his teammates.

Although his face was hidden under the costume head, his steady voice made it clear he wasn't bothered by Shen Huaixi's grouping.

He then joined his teammates, standing side by side with them.

It was like hitting a soft spot—Shen Huaixi's provocation had no effect.

Unsettled, Shen Huaixi forced a smile and gave a thumbs-up to Su Xingyao's back.

But his tone lacked any warmth.

"Then do your best."

Not "you all," just "you."

Su Xingyao ignored Shen Huaixi's jab, not turning around.

He simply adjusted his costume and stood quietly on stage.

In truth, Su Xingyao wasn't entirely unprepared for Shen Huaixi's provocation.

He'd long known Shen Huaixi was petty, always vying for attention and control.

Back when Su Xingyao had just been recognized by the Shen family, Qin Mingchuan, who had just turned eighteen, had gotten his driver's license.

The day after getting his license, Qin Mingchuan started driving a flashy sports car around their school.

Every day after evening self-study, he would show up right on time, finding all sorts of absurd excuses to take Su Xingyao back to the Shen family.

Once Shen Huaixi caught him getting out of Qin Mingchuan's sports car, the next day, Shen Huaixi mysteriously sprained his foot at school.

After that, Shen Huaixi became a permanent fixture in the passenger seat of Qin Mingchuan's car, and Qin Mingchuan stopped reaching out to him for a long time.

Back then, Su Xingyao was all about his studies and couldn’t care less about Qin Mingchuan or his flashy six-figure sports car.

Truth be told, he’d only been in it twice.

But even that was too much for Shen Huaixi to handle. Later, whatever Shen Huaixi said to Qin Mingchuan, Qin Mingchuan never drove that car again, nor did he let Su Xingyao near the passenger seat of any car.

Not long after, Shen Huaixi asked him to go biking together, and then somehow ended up injured.

Qin Mingchuan, of course, pinned the blame on Su Xingyao for pushing Shen Huaixi.

Su Xingyao wasn’t just a bookworm; he’d also dabbled in some online novels.

In the stories he’d read, even if the protagonists had their flaws, at least they weren’t morally bankrupt.

But Shen Huaixi seemed to be the exception.

Being competitive is one thing, but using shady tactics is another.

Yet, his clumsy tricks somehow fooled everyone.

No one questioned him; in fact, they all adored him, thinking everything he did was excusable, even his mistakes were chalked up to his naivety and lack of ill will.

At this thought, Su Xingyao looked down.

This was probably the protagonist’s halo at work, bending the world’s will to make everyone see him through rose-colored glasses.

Like when he didn’t have enough people and insisted on picking five, Fu Qingyan threw principles out the window to change the competition rules for him.

*

The selection drama blew over quickly.

But the other contestants and mentors were still on edge, fearing that Shen Huaixi might go crazy again and suddenly form a group of six, seven, or eight people for other mentors.

Fortunately, he later seemed to return to normal, realizing that more people weren’t necessarily better, but that matching styles was more appropriate. He stopped causing trouble and followed the rules of the other three mentors, grouping people in threes.

Half an hour later, the officially grouped contestants breathed a sigh of relief.

Then they looked at the unfortunate Su Xingyao with great sympathy.

He was universally recognized as the strongest in ability, yet Shen Huaixi, an amateur, had assigned him to a bizarrely styled group in such a manner.

Number 77 in the group was fine; such a versatile contestant could pair well with anyone.

But the remaining rapper and ancient-style internet celebrity had completely different styles, and one of them was a drag.

The contestants couldn't imagine how the tycoon with such a great voice would manage to drag this plane forward...

After the grouping was completed, the collective recording session for the day ended, and the remaining time was spent with each mentor leading their team to choose songs.

Without the collective recording, Fu Qingyan had no further recording tasks.

But he didn't leave; instead, he knocked on the door of Shen Huaixi's restroom.

"Come in."

Shen Huaixi's cold voice sounded from inside.

When Fu Qingyan pushed the door open and walked over, Shen Huaixi realized the person entering wasn’t his assistant and immediately smiled.

Fu Qingyan handed him the milk tea his assistant had specially bought.

It was his favorite flavor.

Noticing Shen Huaixi seemed distracted, Fu Qingyan asked softly, "Tired?"

"Mm," Shen Huaixi happily took a sip of the milk tea.

But after one sip, he set the cup aside and didn’t touch it again.

Shen Huaixi rubbed his shoulders and complained, "I’m exhausted from recording today... mentally and physically."

Fu Qingyan picked up on his words and asked, "Because of the grouping?"

Shen Huaixi was texting Xu Beizhou, asking him to help pick songs for his group, and barely paid attention to Fu Qingyan’s question, nodding absently.

Fu Qingyan stayed silent for a few seconds.

After the last-minute rule change, he’d already apologized to all the mentors.

Especially Sheng Yan, who’d taken the brunt of Shen Huaixi’s decisions today.

He’d planned to talk to the five-member group Shen Huaixi assigned, but ended up coming to Shen Huaixi first.

"Huai Xi, what about group 78..."

Fu Qingyan decided to ask directly, "How did you decide on this grouping?"

Hearing Fu Qingyan bring up group 78 again, Shen Huaixi, already annoyed by his focus on them, felt irritated.

He put his phone down, propped his chin on his hand, and said innocently, "I thought they’d be more fun together."

Fu Qingyan hesitated, unsure how to respond.

Finally, he said, "Huai Xi, have you considered..."

He gently reminded him.

"For some, this stage is a once-in-a-lifetime chance, and the grouping could decide their future."

Sensing criticism, Shen Huaixi’s smile faded.

"And?"

Fu Qingyan sighed, holding back his criticism.

"I just think you don’t always have to be so stubborn."

Shen Huaixi smirked and turned it back on Fu Qingyan.

"Qingyan, you care too much. We’re just here to record a show. Their fates aren’t up to us. With so many people, you can’t save everyone. Someone has to go."

Realizing he’d been harsh, he quickly added, "Besides, this way they get more exposure and attention..."

The air felt heavy with humidity tonight.

Fu Qingyan, annoyed, cut him off bluntly, "Really?"

Repeatedly questioned by Fu Qingyan about strangers, Shen Huaixi, already impatient, also turned cold.

"Qingyan, are you really blaming me for the way I grouped the teams?"

"Or is it because I put your favorite contestant in there?"

Shen Huaixi laughed.

"But is it my fault? Didn’t he make this choice himself?"

"He chose Sheng Yan himself, and Sheng Yan's group... was always full of such unconventional members. Who he groups with would be the same anyway."

Fu Qingyan had more to say to Shen Huaixi, but seeing the other party busy playing with his phone, showing no guilt for the challenges he’d given the contestants today, he ultimately said nothing more.

After knowing each other for so many years, at this moment he suddenly felt that the other party seemed a bit unfamiliar.

Fu Qingyan looked up, and Shen Huaixi's face gradually became blurred in his eyes.

He realized the young man who’d once rushed into a fire to save him at 18 had slowly changed over time.

*

Just as Shen Huaixi was casually delegating the song selection for his group to Xu Beizhou, Sheng Yan was so worried he barely slept all night.

Of his four teams, only Su Xingyao’s worried him; the other three were fine.

Although the members of those three teams weren’t ideal fits, they were solid groups with distinct styles, and there were many songs suitable for them.

The issue was with the five-member group.

Specifically, their rapper and the traditional-style singer were the problem.

These two weren’t as versatile as the others. Their vocal skills were weaker, and their ranges were limited.

They could handle pop songs, but the results weren’t great.

Sheng Yan, who’d spent the night agonizing over song choices, showed up early the next morning at his team’s private practice room, with clear dark circles under his eyes.

Seeing Sheng Yan's haggard appearance, number 77 asked, "Teacher, please don’t tell me you pulled an all-nighter…"

Sheng Yan gave a tired nod. "Pretty much."

After saying that, he turned around and had his assistant bring in and open the computer he had brought.

"Let’s focus on finalizing the song first. The show only gave us three days to prepare."

The idol, who’d been singing and dancing, froze. "What?"

Sheng Yan explained more clearly, "In three days, we’ll have our first live performance…"

After hearing this, the other contestants were almost going crazy.

"Three days???"

"What kind of insane schedule is this…"

While everyone was astonished, Su Xingyao did not speak.

Actually, after recording the show yesterday, he had thought about this timing issue.

All previous updates from the program team were released at 8 PM on Saturdays.

The style of this show's director often likes to assign tasks to contestants within extremely tight deadlines.

He had wondered if the competition would take place this Saturday.

But since the recording was already on Thursday, he thought it was too close to Saturday for such a grueling schedule to be arranged.

But who would have thought, they would schedule the live broadcast for Sunday...

Thinking about this decision, Su Xingyao realized that he was still a bit too naive...

Because the time was so short, even though he already had an answer in his mind, he still asked Sheng Yan a critical question.

"Does today count?"

Sheng Yan only mentioned three days but didn't specify which day or time the live broadcast would be, so this was crucial!

Sheng Yan stopped what he was doing, his somewhat dazed eyes from lack of sleep looking at Su Xingyao.

After a moment, he said, "Of course it counts..."

The other contestants were stunned into silence after hearing this.

Glancing at the wall clock and realizing that time was running out, the rapper felt completely defeated, "No wonder I saw the group next door practicing their song at 5 AM today..."

Number 77 added, "They probably picked their song last night."

Hearing that another team was progressing so quickly, the folk singer, realizing that he was the one holding everyone back, quickly apologized, "I'm sorry, it's all my fault for dragging everyone down..."

As he bowed deeply in apology, Su Xingyao, standing next to him, quickly helped him stand up and comforted him, "We are a team, no one is dragging anyone down."

Although Su Xingyao was using a voice changer, his voice was still gentle.

Seeing that the tycoon with the cat head didn't disdain him, the folk singer felt a bit better.

"Time is tight, we are the only team that hasn't chosen our song yet, we need to decide on it now."

After saying this, Sheng Yan brought up the computer screen to the few songs he had selected for the contestants.

After staying up all night, he had only managed to pick four songs for them.

The rules of this show were also pretty brutal.

In order to enhance the rapport between mentors and contestants, the songs that the contestants perform must either be the mentor's own works or selected by the mentor.

Contestants cannot pick the songs themselves; they can only choose from the list provided by the mentor.

Sheng Yan knew very well that his own songs as an idol were not suitable for these contestants, so he had to stay up all night picking songs by other artists.

After loading the songs, he immediately played them one by one for everyone to listen to.

Ten minutes later, the first three songs were played.

Sheng Yan asked everyone, "What do you think?"

After he asked, the contestants all had odd looks.

The styles of these songs were quite diverse and inclusive, but overall they were just okay, as each song had elements that didn't work for one or two singers, so they weren't the best fit for the group.

As everyone hesitated to speak, number 77's eyes landed on the last song with a foreign name that Sheng Yan had chosen.

"Sheng Yan, why don’t you play the last song?"

"This song..." Sheng Yan glanced at the title, paused for a few seconds, and then said, "might be too difficult to sing."

But after some thought, he decided it would be better to let everyone listen first. "But let’s all listen to it first. If it’s suitable, I’ll think of a way."

Sheng Yan clicked on the name of the last song.

Soon, a cheerful melody filled the room.

The fourth song was a foreign-language track. Though the language was different, the vibe was spot on.

The folk singer, who specialized in traditional folk music, raised his eyebrows in surprise.

He hadn’t expected Sheng Yan to introduce a foreign song.

But even though the language was unfamiliar, the impact was clear.

After three minutes, the song finished playing, and both the singer-dancer and the rapper nodded in unison.

"The intro could use a rap... there’s room for me to add something."

The folk singer finally sighed in relief.

"I think I can handle the pre-chorus in section C. I’m pretty good with falsetto here."

Compared to the earlier songs, everyone found their own niche to shine in this light and healing foreign track. After listening, everyone was pretty happy.

However, the meticulous singer-dancer raised a concern. "But the chorus hits some crazy high notes... I’m a little concerned."

He phrased it tactfully, but the truth was, while he could handle the rest of the song, he wouldn’t dare touch those high notes. The difficulty was just too extreme.

Singing that would kill him.

As soon as he finished speaking, Sheng Yan, who had clearly considered this issue beforehand, coolly glanced at Su Xingyao.

"Cat, you got this?"

Only one person in their team could tackle such a challenging vocal part.

Suddenly called out, Su Xingyao looked at Sheng Yan and then nodded his cat-eared headset.

"I’ve got it..."

Everyone had heard it for themselves—the chorus was incredibly high, and the transition between chest voice and falsetto was brutal.

If anyone else had said this so casually, they might have been met with skepticism. But when Su Xingyao calmly uttered those words, it was more convincing than a dozen exclamation points.

Seeing the most difficult part resolved so effortlessly, everyone finally eased up, feeling a glimmer of hope.

But then Sheng Yan rained on everyone’s parade.

"When I found this song last night, I thought rearranging a few parts would make it a great fit for our team."

He smiled helplessly. "But now there’s a big problem."

The contestants looked at him curiously.

"What’s the issue?"

Sheng Yan shrugged helplessly.

"We don’t have the rights to this song... at least not yet."

The singer of this song is Lance, a unique up-and-coming artist from overseas this year. His songs are incredibly innovative and diverse, and he loves blending a variety of elements into each track.

Although his songs incorporate many elements, each one manages to feel cohesive and unified, without feeling disjointed or out of place.

Because of this, his music hasn’t caught on domestically yet.

However, overseas, he’s been making waves since his debut.

Despite his growing fame, the singer himself remains quite enigmatic.

Sheng Yan’s team spent all night pulling strings but still couldn’t track down his contact info.

"Using Lance’s songs requires his direct approval, and he’s notoriously difficult to reach."

Sheng Yan hesitated before adding, "That’s also why I didn’t play the song for everyone right away."

They didn’t want to get everyone’s hopes up only to let them down.

Just as they saw a glimmer of hope, another setback struck.

The hopeful glint in the contestants’ eyes faded away.

The group, disheartened, hung their heads.

"Why does it feel like we’re always hitting roadblocks..."

Amid the sighs of frustration.

Su Xingyao, who had been quietly standing on the sidelines, glanced at the downcast faces and timidly raised his cat-paw-gloved hand.

"Um... maybe I can try reaching out to Lance."