CHAPTER 43: CHAPTER 43: TEMPTATION OF GOING HOME: THE SHORT-HAIRED WIVES

Xie Qingci demonstrated to Wei Yaoyao through his actions that in his eyes, this curly-haired lamb was no match for a ball of yarn.

At least a ball of yarn can knit into wool pants, while his curly hair only takes away his already limited IQ.

Wei Yaoyao felt quite innocent, still a bit skeptical but eventually turned around and went back.

He muttered to himself, "This is a signature hairstyle, even the stylist said I shouldn’t straighten it."

Xie Qingci gave him a side glance, "That’s because straightening your hair is a lot of work."

Wei Yaoyao: "..."

Why would a good-looking guy open his mouth like that?

Returning to the stage.

Shu Ran had already introduced the rules of this performance, and it was Yu Xia’s turn to start the selection phase for the group competition before the show.

"The sixteen names on the big screen each represent a group, but which group corresponds to which name is not known yet.

In a blind selection, all the audience members need to vote to decide which rivals will face each other. Let’s just pick a name randomly first to select the competitor for this team."

The names on the big screen started rolling, the countdown ended at three, two, one, and the screen froze.

Yu Xia opened her mouth, almost losing her words out of speechlessness, and quickly glanced at her card: "Then let’s first pick an opponent for our... [Tathagata Group]."

The voting results came out, and that name was even more impressive.

She was announcing them while laughing, unable to figure out how they came up with such unexpected yet reasonable names.

"So, it’s the [Tathagata Group] versus the [Guang Zongyao Group]... your name is gleaming with golden light."

Someone in the broadcast hall shouted: "There’s an even more impressive one!"

Indeed, there was. Yu Xia stumbled several times trying to say it, laughing uncontrollably, racking her brain to think of something interesting to say, her mind buzzing.

"Congratulations to [Zhou Hei Ya Ga Ga Le] and [Fly Rubbing Hands] tying the knot, from now on hygiene issues abound."

"Blessings to [Ultraman Yingyingying] and [Please fall in love with me as soon as possible] on successfully holding hands; your lives certainly won’t be easy."

"With tears, we announce that [The Temptation of Going Home with Short-Haired Wives] and [Tangchen Yipin Group] have reconciled, finally coming together again after twenty years."

"..."

The names of the sixteen groups were presented in this way, causing laughter both online and offline.

[Short-haired what wives??? (raising a suspicious tone)]

[With this talent, why not take the exam to Qinghua/ dog face]

[Yu Xia is pretty good, there’s a slight mono-rhyme to it]

[I just want to know! Which group on earth the short-haired wives belong to, hahaha! Quickly reveal them!]

[The production team should release the dormitory diary early; I’m eagerly awaiting the social death of the younger brothers]

[Although we don’t know exactly who came up with these names, the short-haired wives must not be Wei Yaoyao’s group, he’s the curly-haired lamb hahaha]

[The opening joy was brought by Yu Xia hahaha! Hurry up, I want to see the first performance of the short-haired wives group!]

After Yu Xia’s announcement, the public performance officially began.

Aside from Shu Ran being the host connecting the segments, the other three took their seats at the mentor’s table, while an electronic voice announced for the first group of performers to take the stage.

Yu Xia took a breath of relief, seizing the moment to jot down a few phrases in her notebook in front of her.

Progress made, very smooth, clean voice line, right expression, nice outfit...

In short, she noted down every aspect she could praise, fearing she might forget what to compliment when the time came.

She wasn’t skilled in singing and dancing, and with a hundred trainees with professional backgrounds, making hasty comments on their expertise would easily make her seem clueless and superficial.

So she decided to just give praise, although even praising has its subtleties, best not to be repetitive.

"You’re awesome," "Great performance," "I was almost moved to tears by you" — she found remarks like these dull and insincere.

This time the production team played this trick quite well, involving the audience, disrupting the order of the strong and relatively weak groups’ performances, preventing netizens from leaving after seeing the first half.

Yu Xia watched very seriously.

The first two groups didn’t have very popular contestants, and their performances could only be described as average; she also carefully picked out points to praise, speaking with sincerity.

She even made sure to praise those who seemed visibly insecure and not very talkative.

This time, each round of the public performance had a thousand-person voting system, probably because the audience wanted to encourage the younger brothers, so even if the first two groups didn’t perform particularly well, their votes were still quite high.

It was different when it came to the third group.

The third group was Song Xi’s group, their team name was [Tathagata Group], wearing performance outfits of white shirts mixed with deep blue jackets, fitting Song Xi’s refined yet rebellious look well, especially combined with those gold-framed glasses he wore, making him stand out from the team instantly, leaving a deep impression.

He was different from the other trainees, more like someone who had been in the entertainment industry for quite a while and knew how to add some iconic elements to himself, making himself unique — as soon as someone thought of a particular thing, they immediately thought of him.

Just like how it’s trendy in the entertainment industry now to build a persona.

Having watched him, Yu Xia then looked at Pei Lu.

Because of some bias against him, she felt that Pei Lu’s smile carried a sense of "pretended resilience."

That pair of fine legs, she thought, might be trembling at some frequency, suddenly visible during the performance for his "tolerance of pain for the sake of a smooth performance."

Yet to her surprise, those two legs were quite steady, no mishaps.

Was he not worried that the production might edit out all of the rehearsal footage, leaving no back-up plan?

Or did she misjudge him, and he really was a hardworking and earnest good brother?

She silently watched their group’s performance, waiting for Shu Ran and others to finish their comments before smiling to say:

"It’s better than the run-through in the rehearsal room, Song Xi’s performance is becoming more and more outstanding.

As for Pei Lu, I never expected it. Just a few days ago, you mentioned your leg pain, and I was a bit worried for you, but unexpectedly it didn’t affect anything. It seems like you’ve put in a lot of hard work, which is commendable."

Pei Lu swiftly stepped out to bow: "Thank you, Yu Xia, mainly because everyone in the team has worked tirelessly day and night for this performance. I didn’t want my issues to hold back the show; I’m just relieved it didn’t."

Shu Ran nonchalantly added: "Hard work is good; your team did perform well this time."

Pei Lu appeared even happier, even a bit flustered.

"Thank you, Shu Ran! I will continue to work hard!"

Saying this with tears in his eyes, he retreated back into his team.

Yu Xia observed closely, noticing that as he moved back, his leg seemed somewhat dragged, giving the impression of leg pain and stiffness.

Here it comes.

She felt a secret excitement, sensing that there was already an online topic like #PeiLuPerseveresThroughPainForRedemption#.

Too bad she couldn’t immediately see the online frenzy, tsk.

Two more groups stepped up afterward, with varied performances, until the sixth group came on stage, which was Xie Qingci’s group.