She memorized those words and, given a second chance at life, she wanted to live a different way of life.
Chapter 133
News of what happened in the music classroom quickly reached Shen Huai's ears, and he was somewhat surprised.
Mingwei asked, "Should we force them to change the lead singer?"
“No need,” Shen Huai shook his head and said, “Since she has made this decision, let’s do as she says.”
"But……"
Mingwei was puzzled as to why Shen Huai would sign Xia Shiyu, an artist who was already past her prime and embroiled in scandals. Unlike Ye Cang back then, who at least still had a lot of popularity, Xia Shiyu was not as popular as Shen Huai. Moreover, Shen Huai was exceptionally indulgent towards her and seemed to trust her abilities completely.
Shen Huai noticed Ming Wei's confusion and said with a faint smile, "You'll understand after two sessions."
Mingwei was a little curious and unconsciously started paying more attention to news about "National Idol".
In fact, when Xia Shiyu and Shen Huai signed contracts and were to participate in the recording of "All People's Idol", discussions immediately broke out on the Internet.
The recent controversy surrounding Zhuo Feiyang has naturally drawn attention to Xia Shiyu. Although some people are still speaking up for Xia Shiyu, the established impressions are not so easy to erase, and some have even begun to question the production team of the "National Idol" program.
After this commotion, the show's popularity soared, but Xia Shiyu's situation became much worse.
The old photos and interviews with classmates and teachers have been dug up again and are being discussed and judged every day.
An ordinary person might have been unable to bear it by now, but Xia Shiyu remained very calm. She continued to practice dancing and singing as usual. Apart from having a slight resentment about not being able to eat fatty intestines, she was not affected in the slightest.
After Xia Shiyu voluntarily gave up the lead vocal opportunity to Lina, the other three members of the team completely changed their opinion of her, and none of them mentioned the things that happened on the internet.
And just like that, it was time to record.
-
At 6 a.m. on the day of the recording, the company specially sent a car to take the four of them to the recording venue. They will begin a three-month closed training here, provided that they can make it to the end.
The four verified their identities and entered the recording studio, where they were immediately stunned.
The entire venue was filled with young and beautiful girls; a glance at them was almost dizzying.
Among them are trainees from major entertainment agencies, most of whom wear the same style of clothes and look very neat, as well as individual trainees found by smaller companies and program teams, who are much more casual in comparison.
When the four people walked in, the chatter seemed to pause for a moment, followed by an even louder discussion.
"She is Xia Shiyu?"
"She's so bold to even participate in a TV show. Now everyone on the internet is criticizing her..."
"How old is she? Almost 25, right? Isn't she a bit old?"
"Exactly, who would be a fan of an old, ugly woman with a ton of scandals..."
Lina was furious and was about to go up and teach these people who were talking nonsense a lesson when Yao Xuetong stopped her and gestured for her to look at Xia Shiyu.
Xia Shiyu walked calmly to the girls, who immediately fell silent.
Xia Shiyu remained composed, her gaze sweeping over the group before finally settling on the one who had been talking the loudest earlier: "Yingyuan Company, Wang Can?"
The girl named Wang Can quickly covered the name tag on her chest, and said in a fierce but weak voice, "What...what do you want to do?"
Xia Shiyu gave a sweet smile: "You haven't debuted yet, have you?"
The group: "..."
If you could debut, who would bother coming here to fight for it!
Xia Shiyu pointed to herself: "I debuted three years ago. According to the rules of this industry, you should at least call me senior, right? What? Didn't the company give you any etiquette lessons?"
The girls' faces flushed red. They were only thinking that Xia Shiyu was now past her prime and embroiled in scandals, but they forgot that as a debuted singer, her status was far higher than theirs as trainees.
The profession of idol originated in Japan and South Korea, two countries that place great emphasis on hierarchy and order. Therefore, when it was introduced to China, it inevitably took on this character, which has become a tacit rule.
If they become famous, they will naturally be free from these constraints, but at this moment, as the lowest-ranking trainees, no matter how unwilling they are, they can only obediently call them "senior".
Xia Shiyu's gaze swept over the others. Almost everyone present was a trainee who hadn't debuted yet. When her gaze fell on them, they could only lower their heads and obediently call her "senior".
Xia Shiyu curled her lips into a smile and walked straight past a group of girls who had their heads down.
The three people watching from behind: "..."
Tian Sisi covered her mouth, her eyes sparkling, and whispered, "Sister Xia is so cool!"
Lina frowned: "She could have just disciplined a few people, why did she have to do it like that? Isn't that just making everyone angry?"
“She doesn’t need everyone to like her,” Yao Xuetong said calmly. “She just needs to be strong enough.”
After Yao Xuetong finished speaking, she took the lead and followed in Xia Shiyu's footsteps.
She knew very well that from the moment she arrived here, everyone present was an opponent, including her former teammates, and only the strongest, the ones who could go all the way, would be qualified to have companions.
-
This little incident passed quickly, and the recording of the program soon began. The girls were called by name and entered the recording hall in groups.
After all the seats were filled, Zhang Li came out from behind the stage and introduced the mentors. There were four mentors in total: Ye Cang, the creative mentor; Anna, the dance mentor; Tang Ruoyi, the vocal mentor; and Qiu Jie.
Aside from Anna, the other two were old acquaintances of Ye Cang. As soon as Qiu Jie saw Ye Cang, he gave him a familiar punch: "You're something else! You've won the Columbus Award, and you don't even think about treating your brothers to a meal and drinks!"
Ye Cang laughed: "I'll treat you after the show is over."
Qiu Jie: "That's more like it!"
Compared to the easygoing Qiu Jie, Tang Ruoyi's attitude was obviously colder. Although she admired Ye Cang back then, she was, after all, a member of Huayu Entertainment. Now that the two companies are at odds, she has been affected to some extent.
Tang Ruoyi shook hands with Ye Cang: "Back then you were just a contestant, I never imagined that we'd be sitting together as judges now."
When Ye Cang saw Tang Ruoyi's attitude, he understood. He felt a little regretful, but he just smiled politely and said, "Yes, thank you for your help and appreciation, Teacher Tang. I will always remember it."
Tang Ruoyi knew that he already knew the inside story of why she had invited him to join Huayu Entertainment. She sighed softly and said no more.
The moment the four appeared on stage, they immediately caused a burst of screams from the girls, which continued even after they sat down on the judges' panel.
Zhang Li could only manually signal them to be quiet, and then she gestured to the props. With a "whoosh," the curtain behind the girls' seats fell down, and they then noticed that there was another row of seats behind them.
The seating is arranged in a pyramid shape, with a pink throne at the top, followed by seats numbered 2, 3, 4, and so on, for a total of 10 seats. The area is decorated with flowers and pink balloons, creating a very romantic atmosphere.
All the girls exclaimed "Wow!"
Zhang Li then said, "Those ten spots are the debut positions. You need to show your charm to the fans and win their love in order to sit in these positions. Today is your first opportunity to perform in front of the fans, so please make sure to seize this opportunity."
After Zhang Li finished speaking, she handed the stage over to the four mentors.
Since participating in "Traveling with History," Qiu Jie's hosting skills have greatly improved, so he has been in charge of hosting his part.
The girls took turns performing in groups, one after another.
After only three groups, Ye Cang and the others couldn't help but frown. The performances of these groups so far were terrible; they were almost all just plain, uninspired singing, and their dances were extremely simple. Even though the domestic idol market is still in its infancy, their performances were just too poor.
Even Xia Shiyu, who was sitting in her seat, frowned slightly. She never expected that these trainees would be so bad. Compared to their singing and dancing skills back then, their level had dropped so much over the years.
Fortunately, excellent contestants soon emerged, and the show began to improve.
At first, the girls at the scene were able to maintain their composure and sit obediently, but as time went on, they all began to struggle. Some started yawning, some shifted around in their seats, and others started chatting with those around them.
Tian Sisi couldn't hold on any longer and slumped her head onto Yao Xuetong's shoulder. Lina slumped sleepily in her chair. Even Yao Xuetong couldn't help but secretly cover her mouth and yawn. Only Xia Shiyu sat up straight from the moment she sat down, her posture as perfect as a flight attendant's.
Tian Sisi couldn't help but ask, "Sister Xia, aren't you tired?"
Xia Shiyu was taken aback: "It's alright."
In her previous life, when she worked at the company, she was always taught to present her best self in front of the camera. Over the years, she had gotten used to it, and even though she has a different body now, she has brought this habit with her.
Let alone sitting for several hours, standing for several hours is perfectly normal for her.
All three of them couldn't help but give her a thumbs up. Then, as if sensing something, Xia Shiyu lowered her voice and said, "Sit still, there are cameras."
The group quickly sat up straight, a moment captured by a camera and transmitted to the control room.
At this moment, Zhang Li was standing behind the director, looking at the girls sitting slumped over, and couldn't help but frown: "Have these trainees never been to class? It's only been a short time, and they can't even sit still anymore?"
The director next to him laughed and said, "They're all teenage girls, at the height of their lives, don't be too harsh on them!"
Zhang Li remained silent. She had previously traveled to Japan and South Korea to learn about their systems. Their management was extremely strict; idols even had to practice the angle of their smiles. Although Zhang Li felt it was a bit too demanding, compared to the laxity in China, she couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
Just then, the camera cut to Xia Shiyu and his three companions.
Zhang Li's eyes immediately lit up.
Xia Shiyu is very camera-savvy and can always remind his teammates to sit up straight before the camera pans over.
When the camera turned to her, Xia Shiyu raised her eyebrows slightly, her smile sweet and natural. Compared to the girl behind her who was yawning and whose makeup was a little smudged from sleepiness, she was practically glowing.
"stop!"
Zhang Li quickly signaled the cameraman to focus the camera on them, and then asked the director to switch to footage of Xia Shiyu being filmed earlier.
The video was played at high speed, but Xia Shiyu only slightly changed her sitting posture and didn't even bend her back. Putting everything else aside, this perseverance alone was enough for Zhang Li to look at her with new respect.
After watching the video, Zhang Li's gaze lingered on Xia Shiyu's smiling face.
In terms of appearance, many contestants on the scene were no less beautiful than her, but they all paled in comparison to her smiling face. Xia Shiyu seemed extremely familiar with the camera. While others were still overcoming their fear in front of the camera, she already knew how to use the camera to showcase her charm.
This is a skill that only top idols possess!
After pondering for a long time, Zhang Li finally made up her mind: "Get a camera specifically to film her."
The director was alarmed: "Sister Zhang, she hasn't even started performing yet. Are we going to make her the focus of our attention right now?"
Zhang Li nodded: "Yes, she is very likely the key to our show's success."
As the director made the arrangements, he joked, "Sister Zhang thinks highly of her?"
“Yes!” Zhang Li sighed.
"Some people are born to be idols."
The author has something to say: The competition format of "National Idol" is based on "Produce 101", but has been slightly modified for the sake of the plot.
Chapter 134