"So, correspondingly..."

Mu Xingchi continued, "Congratulations to trainee Jiang Ye, with 27,198,081 support votes, you are the first place in the first ranking release."

He looked at Jiang Ye and clapped his hands first.

Lin Zui also smiled, pinching her cheek, "Congratulations."

Jiang Ye was still in a daze.

But the other trainees in the audience also started to stir.

"Jiang Ye!!"

"You deserve it!!!"

"You can do it!!! I'm so proud of you!!"

For a moment, it was like Jiang Ye's fan club had invaded the Chasing Light Girls recording studio.

Mu Xingchi made a gesture to quiet down, "Please give your ranking acceptance speeches."

Lin Zui spoke first, as usual.

"Actually, I think I already said everything I wanted to say, after all, I'm not the kind of person who prepares two speeches depending on my ranking."

Lin Zui smiled, then thought for a moment, "If I have to say something, well, I want to say a few words to my fans who voted for me."

"Don't put too much pressure on yourselves, don't feel like you have to do this or that because I'm here, it's not like that."

Lin Zui, unusually seriously and calmly, looked at the camera, as if she was really talking to her fans, "I came to this show to challenge myself, it was my own life choice, don't feel burdened by my choice, that's not my intention."

"I used to be idol Lin Zui, now I'm back to being trainee Lin Zui, but my dream hasn't changed, I've always just wanted to be an idol who performs every stage well, that's all."

After Lin Zui finished speaking, she handed the microphone to Jiang Ye.

Jiang Ye took the microphone, gathered her thoughts, and her first words were dazed, "... Ah, actually, I feel like I'm dreaming right now."

Jiang Ye had actually prepared a speech for getting second place.

The gap of just one place from the top gave her space to play, to say a few words to inspire her fans' fighting spirit.

But she did not expect that her fans would completely automate the fan-teasing process, directly sending her to first place.

... It was pretty sudden.

"I said from the first time I met you all, those who don't know me, it doesn't matter, I will sit in the first position and greet you, and I did."

"I never thought that you would really let me sit there again."

Jiang Ye blinked, smiled, but her voice was choked with emotion, "... This happiness is almost unreal."

Jiang Ye actually did not want to cry.

It was just the first ranking release, it didn't mean anything.

Maybe Lin Zui would perform exceptionally well on her next stage, and she would have bad luck, and she would be overtaken again.

But Jiang Ye just really wanted to cry.

She had been struggling to carve out her own path, step by step.

Every step was carefully calculated, every step was within her own plan, thinking that she could achieve her ultimate goal step by step.

But she didn't expect that she wasn't the only one working hard.

Her fans were working harder than her.

She knew, of course, how big the gap was between her and Lin Zui because the early voting pool opened early.

So, she was fully prepared to get second place, waiting for the voting pool to be cleared and then slowly narrowing the gap with Lin Zui during the second performance.

But her fans told her, "Stop it, stop it, isn't first place just a matter of getting there? Let's go! Sit on top and don't come down!".

It was like you planned to study hard and improve your score by fifty points to get into a top university, and then you planned to study hard again and improve your score by fifty points to get into a 211 university, but then Tsinghua University directly sent you an invitation to be admitted.

It was so unbelievable that it made you feel like you were in a dream.

"What are you crying for?"

Lin Zui jokingly comforted her, "You're crying after winning, what am I, the loser, supposed to do?"

"Sorry."

Jiang Ye fanned her face, trying to blow away her tears, and said with a smile, "I didn't really want to cry."

"I really thank you for every vote you cast for me, and thank everyone who likes me, thank you."

She wasn't Lin Zui.

Lin Zui came from a good family, was the most valued artist in their company, and already had a fan base, so she had the confidence.

She could confidently tell her fans, I don't care about the ranking, don't put pressure on yourselves, just watch my performance.

But Jiang Ye couldn't.

This was her only lifeline, the opportunity she had exchanged for in two lifetimes, she had to go all out.

She had to cherish it.

"Whew."

Jiang Ye held back her tears, looking at the camera with a tearful but exceptionally beautiful smile, "Okay, no more crying, you'll stop liking me if I cry again."

"The first time, I chose to sit in the first position."

"But this time, you made me sit there."

Jiang Ye said each word carefully, "The last time was my courage, this time is your effort. I want to combine my courage with your effort, and let's keep going in the future."

•••

After Jiang Ye and Lin Zui finished their speeches and sat in the first and second positions on the pyramid.

Mu Xingchi changed his tone and looked at the trainees in the audience.

"Now, please tear off your name tags."

"No matter where you've been in this show, which class you've been in, what kind of evaluation you've received, what kind of ranking you've gotten."

"That's all in the past."

"From this moment, your journey on Chasing Light Girls is coming to an end."

Some of the trainees who were more easily emotional had tears in their eyes when they heard this.

They followed the instructions and began to slowly tear off their name tags.

Some people cried as they tore them off, tears falling one after another, landing on their name tags.

Others, after tearing them off, would smile with relief and satisfaction one second, but the next second, they couldn't hold back and squatted down and cried.

Mu Xingchi controlled the process and then left.

The next moment belonged to the trainees themselves.

Sixty to forty was an elimination battle where one-third of the people would have to leave.

Many people were mentally prepared.

But being mentally prepared didn't mean they wouldn't break down.

The trainees who had already advanced went down to comfort their friends.

Jiang Ye also went down.

One trainee squeezed through the crowd, came to her, and mustered her courage to ask for a farewell hug.

Jiang Ye was stunned.

Actually, as time went on in this life, some of her memories from her last life had become blurred.

Like, she couldn't remember what kind of mood she was in when she learned that she was eliminated during the ranking release in her last life.

She seemed pretty numb.

Maybe she didn't even have the courage to ask the trainee she admired for a hug.

Jiang Ye smiled and hugged her.

It was like hugging her past self, who was facing fate, fragile and helpless.

After the recording ended, it was almost midnight, the trainees who had advanced went back to wash up and went straight to sleep.

Those who had been eliminated were mostly sleepless, and they started to pack their things slowly.

Because when the sun rose the next day, they would have to leave.

Zhu Li was eliminated.

Her final ranking was forty-third, just three places away, which was a pity.

When she went to say goodbye to Jiang Ye early the next morning, Jiang Ye sighed.

"If only you had said something earlier."

Jiang Ye said regretfully, "If you had spoken earlier, maybe this segment would have aired sooner."

Someone would have seen her courage, seen that even a girl who might not have been very outstanding in all aspects had her own shining points.

And now, even if it was aired, this segment would probably air with the first ranking release episode.

But she was gone, so what was the point?

"It's okay, I knew it was going to happen, I don't have any regrets."

"And if I had advanced because of this, wouldn't it be unfair to the others who advanced based on their performances?"

Zhu Li smiled, "To tell you the truth, this is actually my third year participating in a talent show, can you believe it?"

"The first year, I wasn't good enough, so I thought I'd train for a year and then come back."

"Then the second year, I still didn't succeed, so I thought I'd give it one last try this year."

"Look, I failed again."

"I really envy you, and I admire you, because you only took two years, and you've reached this level."

Zhu Li looked at Jiang Ye, sincerely praising her, "You're really talented."

Jiang Ye paused.

Actually, she wanted to say it wasn't like that.

She wasn't as talented as they thought, in terms of training time, she had actually been training longer than everyone else in this show.

She had spent twelve years to get this chance to be in the spotlight.

But she eventually lowered her eyes and said, "You're also talented, don't give up."

Zhu Li said, "Actually, my family didn't understand, so I thought if I didn't succeed this time, I would just go back home and get married."

Jiang Ye was stunned.

"But thank you."

Zhu Li smiled, "Now I know, it's also a precious thing to be able to stick to your dreams. And even if I don't succeed, I won't regret it."

"Don't worry, I won't go back and get married!"

She scoffed, as if she was talking to her past self, "Who wants to go back and get married, that's so lame!"

"Here, take this."

Zhu Li scratched her head, then smiled, "Although it might not be useful to you, just keep it as a souvenir."

She handed something to Jiang Ye.

It was her name tag.

【Class C/Hua Ren Entertainment/Zhu Li】

Jiang Ye took it, smiled, and nodded seriously, "I'll treasure it."

•••

After Zhu Li left, Jiang Ye put her name tag on the closet in her dorm.

She had just finished pressing down the corners when she suddenly heard a commotion outside.

Jiang Ye walked over and opened the window.

The group of trainees who had left, as if they had made an appointment, bowed to the station sisters, "Thank you for taking care of us all this time."

Then they turned back, looked at the open windows of the dormitory building, and shouted together, "Hey, are you all there? Come and look downstairs."

Jiang Ye looked over.

Because of the first snow yesterday, the snow was piled up quite thick today.

There was a large patch of snow under the dormitory building, and there were a bunch of crooked words written on it.

It was the words left by the trainees who had left for everyone.

It said things like 【You guys go for it】, 【See you in the future】, 【Don't give up】.

Some people wrote words for their friends, adding words of encouragement after their names.

Jiang Ye's side was even more ridiculous.

She saw what seemed to be a message left by her fans for her.

【Jiang Ye! Get first place for me!】

There was a crown drawn above the two characters "Jiang Ye".

Jiang Ye couldn't help but laugh.

Those who had left were dragging their suitcases, standing at the door, tiptoeing and waving their hands, shouting to the people in the dormitory building, "Bye, see you again in the future!"

The winter morning light was cool, but the hot air they exhaled dissipated into white mist, like a wisp of smoke rising, with a gentle, warm feeling.

Jiang Ye also waved to them as they left.

She knew.

Their dreams were still going on.

It was just that the dream chasers had gone to different places.