After being "insulted," Yu Xia wiped her face and turned around to walk back with a heavy heart.
Unexpectedly, when she turned around, she bumped right into someone leaning against the shadows in the hallway.
Compared to a couple of years ago when he still looked somewhat boyish, now with a frame of over six feet, the muscles under the silky shirt faintly visible, he oozed a strong presence.
Xie Qingci half-lifted his eyelids to look at her, speaking in a tone full of ambiguity: "What's wrong with me singing "Summer Wind"? Yu, Xia, sister."
"..." Yu Xia didn't dare to look at him more than twice, she kept her gaze level, let out a dry laugh, "Nothing, nothing, you're here for some fresh air too? What a coincidence hahaha."
"Otherwise, am I here to use the bathroom in the hallway?"
"..." This guy can't even crack a joke, he definitely wants to get straight to the point.
Reviving old ties like this, it's fine to do it through the phone, and it works in life too, but definitely not on a show.
She had to seize the chance to educate him a bit.
Yu Xia suddenly sighed, then looked at him very seriously.
"Xie Qingci, since you decided to join this talent show, it should be because you want to debut. Do you know what's the biggest taboo for a boyband member? Falling in love."
Xie Qingci lazily responded, "Oh."
He seemed casual, but in reality, his gaze was fixed tightly on her moving lips.
Yu Xia continued, "Especially dating a mentor, if that news got out, it would look really bad. Although your popularity might rise, the support from your biggest fanbase, the girlfriend fans, would definitely drop! You have to look at the long term. For the sake of your career, our affair cannot be known, at least not now."
Ha, scumbag woman.
Xie Qingci let out an almost inaudible sneer, looking down at her, "What affair do we have?"
This attitude was so stubborn.
She looked around, nobody, no blind spots, no cameras, a place of the three no's, observed and then confidently said:
"It's about me stripping off your clothes and having my way with you."
Xie Qingci: "…Exactly who did what to who?"
"You still want to compete with me over this now?" Yu Xia was surprised, "Is this the point? The point is you can't let this thing get in the way now, no rumors about us."
Xie Qingci casually tugged at his shirt collar, took a couple of deep breaths, and calmly said, "Who wants to have rumors with you?"
"Then if rumors indeed start with me in the future, you're a dog."
"..." He felt a bit out of breath.
Yu Xia coughed, glanced at him again, "By the way, why did you come to join the talent show? With your grades, getting into a top 985 university wouldn't be a problem."
"Yu Xia, are we that close? To avoid rumors, you should be eight hundred meters away from me now."
Xie Qingci said expressionlessly, straightened up, and turned to leave.
Yu Xia muttered to his back, "Why's he got such a bad temper now, he used to be so obedient and clingy."
But... was the "Summer Wind" really just a coincidence?
She pondered back and forth between "he must love me so much but just doesn't dare to show it" and "he must have regretted so soon hanging on to this crooked tree of mine now that he's older."
By the time the break was over, she still hadn't figured it out.
Mentors and trainees returned to the studio to continue the initial stage assessments.
After watching a few more groups, it was almost dinner time, and everyone was feeling a bit restless.
At this time, a group of trainees came on stage.
Among the three, the boy in the middle was somewhat noteworthy.
"Hello everyone, I am Pei Lu, thank you mentors for your hard work, I'll do my best to perform well so everyone can have an early dinner."
Tall and handsome, soft short hair, his voice was so gentle it seemed like it could drip water, and when he smiled at the camera, those eyes had a hard-to-describe feel.
How to describe it…
Shu Ran smiled and raised the microphone, "This is the umpteenth person I've seen who looks a bit like Cheng."
Yu Xia finally figured it out.
Yes, this Pei Lu was trying hard to emulate Cheng Zhirang, the seven-time Best Actor, with eyes and a gentle tone similar to his.
He's discovered the flow of popularity.
"But looking like Cheng is no easy feat," Shu Ran said with a soft jab, "If you don't perform well, a lot of people will probably criticize you."
Pei Lu still smiled gently, "I'll do my best not to disgrace Cheng."
His performance piece was also a sexy kind, gentle and sexy, truly an all-round attempt to imitate Cheng Zhirang.
Except…
Everyone knows Cheng Zhirang's English cannot be sung in this local dialect version.
Oh no, saying it's a local dialect is even flattering; dialects are at least widely spread languages, Pei Lu's English is obviously a new category he invented himself.
Behind him, in the audience, social expert Wei Yaoyao's eyebrows danced along with that English song.
"Not disgracing is really not just being modest, it's really just a 'do my best' case."
Someone next to him leaned over and said something, Wei Yaoyao opened his eyes wide and patted Xie Qingci.
"Buddy, you two are going to battle, he's also prepared "Summer Wind"!"
Xie Qingci didn't even raise an eyebrow, staring at a certain someone among the mentors below, "Didn't he want us to get off work early? Battling wastes time."
Wei Yaoyao laughed, "Then every word he said on stage was a slap in the face."
Finally, Pei Lu finished his performance.
Yu Xia unconsciously let out a sigh of relief, rubbed her ears.
Among the mentors, nobody spoke for a while, Shu Ran hesitated to speak, and just buried her head pretending to be dead.
Yu Xia broke the silence, politely asking:
"Pei Lu, right, um, how long have you been practicing this song?"
Pei Lu looked full of guilt, "Due to some circumstances, I didn't have much practice time, only ten days."
"Ten days, well, ten days starting from the phonetics really isn't enough, but your confidence, I admire a lot."
Some trainees behind quietly laughed; unless you're someone who slipped through nine years of compulsory education, who would start learning from phonetics at this point?
Pei Lu's gentle smile froze for a moment, his eyelashes drooped in disappointment, showing a kind of brokenness.
"I'm sorry, I really didn't perform well. I also let down Cheng…"
"Alright," Shu Ran interrupted his confession in time, "Whether you performed well or not has nothing to do with Cheng. Stop using his name to draw attention by saying it more. Only ten days of practice time, that's your issue, it just shows you don't value this stage."
From start to finish, Shu Ran hadn't spoken so harshly, everyone was a bit quiet.
Pei Lu was a bit flustered, hurriedly said, "Wait a minute, Shu Ran, this is indeed my problem. But I also prepared an optional performance, could you listen first and then comment?"
Everyone thought that he would just smoothly move to performing his optional piece.
Wei Yaoyao was still waiting to see the handsome guy and the copycat battle it out in song, he believed Xie Qingci would definitely crush this Pei Lu.
No one expected Yu Xia to say with a smile, "But you just said you'd try to let us have an early dinner."
Pei Lu: "..."
Wei Yaoyao laughed himself silly, "Yu Xia, that was the same reaction, truly a divine comeback."
Unseen by anyone, Xie Qingci smiled briefly at the corner of his mouth.