Sleepless Nights

Chapter 30

The camera focused on Qin Lu and Liao Junchen from various angles, refusing to let go of any possible slight changes in their expressions.

This kind of plot has always been the audience’s favorite part. When trainees with a bad relationship compete with each other, you will see an undercurrent of tension and anticipation; when trainees who have a good relationship compete with each other, you will wonder if it will lead to a war between heaven and man. It is best if complex and contradictory emotional changes will make the trainees more nervous. People find it interesting.

Recording the reactions of Qin Lu and Liao Junchen and the reactions of other trainees, especially the top nine with high votes, is important.

In the stands, the trainees who could only place their hopes on the final 64th place to advance did not even consider whether they might become the last lucky ones. Instead, they excitedly speculated on who could win first place—ranked first overall.

Even if you haven’t watched the show yet, everyone has imagined that Liao Junchen’s votes as a primary C will be huge.

But if Liao Junchen is a person with unparalleled business ability in the traditional sense, then Qin Lu is a sudden rise. In the initial rating stage, it was only a C grade, but he has been counterattacking all the way. First, his rating was raised from C to A, then he was voted into the C position in the Avengers team, and he even won the most popular trainee vote among all members.

Now the number of votes has directly reached the top two, and it has been able to shake the absolute advantage that threatened Liao Junchen.

If this person were someone else, the trainees might still feel unconvinced or jealous. However, this candidate was Qin Lu, and the trainees were not surprised. Thinking again that he and Liao Junchen had been inseparable from the first day, they only felt that there was only one thought left in their mind: excitement.

Producer Cui Zhihao had a clear view of everyone’s reactions. He smiled and looked at the two first and second candidates who were still sitting firmly in the stands: “Trainee Qin Lu, trainee Liao Junchen, please come to the stage.”

The highlight of the talent show is the ranking changes of high-ranking trainees. Naturally, it is impossible to finish it as straightforwardly as before.

All the trainees present immediately turned their attention to the two men who stood up.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, it’s coming.

Today everyone is wearing white school uniform-style suits, but the same clothes give people completely different feelings when they wear them.

Qin Lu is still underage this year. Although he has begun to grow slender and tall, his frame has not yet been fully opened. He has the unique thinness of a young man and has a completely paper figure. His natural and refreshing black hair hangs in front of his forehead, and his clear and calm eyes are lighter in colour under the light. He is the so-called first love who walked out of the campus.

Although Liao Junchen is only 21 years old, he has practiced dancing all year round, and his muscular lines wrapped in a school uniform suit are smooth and beautiful. His muscles are open, and his body is straight. Even if he is just walking casually towards the front of the stage, he still looks indescribably good-looking. His three-dimensional, sharp facial features exude strong hormones full of aggression.

He sat in the last row, while Qin Lu sat near the front. However, Qin Lu did not leave directly. Instead, he stood at the end of the first row and waited for him to come on stage together.

The trainees may not be able to see it, but if you pay attention to the shots of the face-off, you can see that in just a few steps, Liao Junchen’s originally cold and distant eyebrows slowly softened.

Qin Lu tilted his head and looked at him patiently. The staff behind him had already bent over and quickly brought in an extra stand.

Soon, the two casually stood in front of a microphone, waiting for Cui Zhihao to proceed with the next process.

Standing in the center of the stage, where the lights are brightest, two outstanding-looking trainees stood together. The staff watching behind the camera couldn’t help but sigh.

“It’s eye-catching, and the relationship is really good. You can’t pretend like this. I think it doesn’t matter who is first or second between the two of them. I don’t think they care about it very much. But for the fans, it’s very common for relationships to be bad. Fans of the five members of the 4seven group all dislike each other.”

“When fans have a preference in their hearts, they will want the best for the person they like, and they will seize the slightest injustice. Understandably, we don’t keep it in mind. Anyway, we hope that the fans will be more enthusiastic so that the show will be more popular and it will be more beneficial to us.”

No one paid attention to the staff’s low-pitched discussion, and producer Cui Zhihao was asking the two of them. “What do you think? Do you want yourself to win, or do you want the other party to take first place?”

Regarding this somewhat tricky question, most people may be nervous and worried about falling into a trap, so they choose to go around and be vague or give in, but Liao Junchen and Qin Lu are different from others.

They looked at each other in silent understanding. Liao Junchen lowered his head slightly, approached the microphone, and said concisely, “No one dislikes winning, but the result depends on the number of votes. Don’t think too much.”

Qin Lu tilted his head and looked at him, holding the mic in his hand, and said easily, “No matter what the outcome is, it will not affect our ability to complete the best stage together.”

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Producer Cui Zhihao sighed in his heart; there are too few such unadulterated friendships in the entertainment industry. And it’s really rare to be able to handle the expectation of winning and the healthy competition between friends at the same time.

“The total number of votes for second place, 13.63 million…” Producer Cui Zhihao paused with a smile, which was heart-wrenching.

Among the trainees, there was a sudden gasp.

“More than 13 million…I was really scared…”

“How much does Han Suyan have? Eight million. I thought 10 million was as high as the sky…”

“Then how much does the first place have? Isn’t it a few million more?”

Producer Cui Zhihao smiled and blinked: “The difference between the first place and the second place was very small. I was a little surprised when I saw this number.” He said, “The difference between the two is only sixty-eight votes.”

“Oh my God… this is too close.”

“Is it because the competition among high-level trainees is so fierce? The program team knows how to play.”

Many people suddenly thought that the small gap was the result of the program team changing the number of votes to create excitement, but they felt that there was no need to go into such big trouble in the first episode.

Cui Zhihao: “Now the second place is announced.”

The trainees in the audience immediately held their breath, but the two parties standing on the stage looked the least nervous.

Finally, producer Cui Zhihao said with a smile, “Let us congratulate the individual trainees…”

The dust settled.

“Congratulations to Qin Lu for ranking second in the overall ranking for the first time!”

Liao Junchen lowered his eyes, unable to tell whether he was happy for himself or sorry for Qin Lu.

Qin Lu didn’t look disappointed when his name was read out. He had a slight smile on his handsome face. He approached the microphone and said, “Thank you to everyone who supports me. Thank you to every audience and producer who voted for me.”

Cui Zhihao, the producer, joked, “You are one step closer to becoming a star. Keep working hard; I believe you can go further.”

Qin Lu smiled, and he looked amazing under the light.

Liao Junchen’s feelings are simpler.

They walked up to the top of the pyramid one after another, facing the attention of all the trainees, and headed to the highest place.

Little Curly looked at Qin Lu and cheered him up in a low voice: “It’s already great! There is still room for improvement!”

Qin Lu smiled and winked at him: “Did you sleep well last night?”

Su Qinglan suddenly grimaced. Waving his hands: “No, no.” He turned his head and thought elsewhere and lowered his voice mysteriously, “Don’t tell the captain; I will come to you at night! It’s too difficult for me.”

Qin Lu glanced at the person walking beside him. The straight back in front of him bent his eyes and nodded.

As for the last trainee mentioned who was lucky enough to pass, he is a candidate that many people are not familiar with.

Ji Yan.

——That night, some people held back their tears, while others cried heartily, but in the end, they all packed their bags and left the base for an unknown journey.

Friends who got along well said goodbye to each other. Although they were reluctant to say goodbye, there was not much time left for them to be sentimental.

When selecting teammates, producer Cui Zhihao made it very clear that the rankings would be announced for the first time before the performance, so some trainees would not be able to participate on the stage.

From this moment on, the trainees will intuitively feel the cruelty of competitive programs.

Not only may the previous formations be overturned, but some teams may even experience a sharp reduction in numbers, with the worst team being reduced to only three people. However, the number of people in most groups is relatively even, so the balance will not be broken.

Teams with a small number of people will suffer a disadvantage in future performances, which is directly reflected in the number of votes.

The selected players can only accept the reality, while the trainees who made too hasty selection decisions will regret it.

But the rules were made very clear from the beginning, so the dilemma we need to face now further proves that if we have the right to choose in the future, every decision we make must be made carefully and cautiously.

In the past few days, most teams have almost mastered the stage practice, but within two days, the memorized interactions and positions have to be rearranged, and individual parts have to be adjusted and reassigned.

Time is tight, and the first performance will be held soon.

The event will be held in a small venue that can accommodate about 3,000 spectators. The audience in the front row will be less than five meters away from the centre stage, and the trainees will be directly tested by the audience.

On Weibo, the day after the first episode aired, tickets were already available for grabs.

The program team will reserve a portion of the in-field tickets and distribute them to some self-media bloggers who have prepared them in advance. At that time, the influence of the red V will be used to promote the program appropriately.

However, the program team will not interfere with the voting results, at least not at this early stage. Therefore, who these million-fan fan bloggers who have received tickets will choose, and from whose perspective they will watch the program depends entirely on their personal preferences.

The official blog of Infinite Youth announced the ticket sales time in advance, and all fans wanted to grab live tickets to watch the trainees’ first stage.

So when the new Weibo was refreshed on time, countless fans who had booked alarms and waited in advance entered the ticket-grabbing link at the same time.