The last rehearsal with makeup was over.

Jiang Ye stood on stage with her four team members, feeling a little nervous as they awaited the mentor’s evaluation.

Cui Qi took the microphone, looked at the trainees, and smiled, “Relax, okay?”

“You all performed well, don’t worry about me scolding you.”

The five of them breathed a sigh of relief.

“Did your group switch members?”

Cui Qi asked, “If I’m not mistaken, Lu Xiaowan and Fan Fan weren’t originally in this group, right?”

The two trainees mentioned looked at each other, then nodded nervously.

Cui Qi asked again, “You two didn’t have any rap experience before, right?”

The palms of their hands were sweating, and they nodded again.

“I see.”

Cui Qi smiled, “Don’t be afraid, I want to compliment you.”

“Although I can feel that your rap style is a bit raw compared to the other three, considering you had no foundation and learned it in just one day, reaching this level is already pretty good.”

Although the two trainees who switched groups had no rap experience, the parts given to them were very suitable, and they didn’t stand out awkwardly in the whole performance.

It seemed like there was a trainee in the group who had a lot of ideas for the stage and adjusted it accordingly, helping them play to their strengths and cover their weaknesses based on their styles and abilities.

Lu Xiaowan and Fan Fan breathed a sigh of relief, “Thank you, teacher.”

“You don’t need to thank me, you should thank your teammates.”

“They’re the ones who helped you.”

•••

The rehearsal ended, and the five of them got in the car to return to the recording base.

Everyone felt like a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

Especially Lu Xiaowan and Fan Fan, who had just switched groups.

It goes without saying that Jiang Ye and Liang Yu were strong performers in their group, and Luo Xuan’s rap skills were also good.

So, for the past day, it was basically the three of them carrying the other two, basically breaking down rap knowledge and feeding it to them bit by bit, until they reached a level where they could perform on stage.

Now that they had finally received the mentor’s approval, they felt relieved and grateful that they hadn’t let their teammates down.

“Thank you, Jiang Ye, thank you, Liang Yu, thank you, Luo Xuan.”

They hadn’t forgotten what Cui Qi said, and they were full of gratitude, “Thanks to you all for staying up all night with us, otherwise we wouldn’t have learned so quickly in such a short time.”

However, Liang Yu said, “You don’t need to thank me.”

She said seriously, “Although Teacher Cui didn’t point out many problems with us, it doesn’t mean we don’t have any.”

“If you want to thank me, come back to the practice room with me after this.”

Lu Xiaowan let out a mournful cry, “No way, Teacher Liang?”

“Your performance was good, but it wasn’t perfect.”

Liang Yu looked at them, her expression full of self-righteousness, “I think it’s necessary to practice more, what’s the problem?”

Lu Xiaowan and Fan Fan rolled their eyes, fainting in their seats.

“Alright, alright.”

Jiang Ye patted Liang Yu on the shoulder and said, “It’s getting late, everyone should go back to the dorm and get some sleep. We’ll meet up early tomorrow morning and fine-tune some details.”

Liang Yu: “?”

Lu Xiaowan and Fan Fan were overjoyed and quickly sat up straight to thank Jiang Ye.

Liang Yu’s expression was a little dissatisfied, “You think that’s enough?”

“Staying up all night in the practice room is pretty torturous.”

Jiang Ye said, “If we don’t rest, we might collapse on stage.”

After all, even a tightly strung string can break.

Besides, some problems couldn’t be fixed. They only had two and a half days of learning time, no matter what, they couldn’t eat a whole elephant in one bite.

The fact that Lu Xiaowan and the others had reached their current level was already beyond her expectations.

Although Liang Yu didn’t seem to agree completely, she thought for a moment and said, “You know more about idol groups than I do, I’ll listen to you.”

Jiang Ye smiled and said, “Thank you for your understanding, Teacher Liang.”

Lu Xiaowan couldn’t help but exclaim in the back, “I thought rap wasn’t that hard, but after practicing, I realized it’s completely different from what I thought.”

“I can sing existing lyrics like that, I can’t even imagine how people do it when they freestyle.”

“Me too!”

Fan Fan nodded vigorously, “I thought rap was just for trainees who couldn’t sing or dance, and they’d just give it to someone in the group, anyone could do it after practicing for a day.”

Liang Yu: "..."

Fan Fan quickly added, “I didn’t realize the difference between professionals is so big.”

Jiang Ye chuckled softly, “Every profession is difficult.”

If rap is not easy, then singing and dancing are not easy either.

But it’s all a result of talent and practice.

Liang Yu scoffed, her tone finally tinged with a sense of pride, “That’s right. Don’t think rap is easy, someone with no experience, even if they’ve just started, can’t even do a simple tongue twister.”

“It took me years and countless performances to finally feel like I knew what I was doing.”

Jiang Ye tilted her head, suddenly curious, “Do you get tired?”

Liang Yu looked at her strangely, “You don’t get tired when you’re doing something you love.”

“What about you, do you get tired?”

Jiang Ye paused slightly, then suddenly smiled, “Yeah, I do.”

How could she not be tired?

She’s not a robot, after all.

Like now, she had been running on overdrive for two days and two nights, and her body had reached its fatigue threshold. She had to go back and get a good night’s rest to ensure she was in top shape for the performance tomorrow.

“But we idols can’t feel tired.”

“If you feel tired, there will be a bunch of people who don’t feel tired to take your place.”

So, she had to work harder.

“And fans aren't easy either.”

Jiang Ye continued, “They follow me to relax, not to hear me complain about how tired I am on this path.”

No one likes a perpetually miserable idol.

So, even if she was tired, she still smiled beautifully and effortlessly in front of the camera and on stage.

Liang Yu rolled her eyes, “I still can’t understand you.”

What’s with all this idol stuff and dreams, it’s all so heavy.

She raps because she loves it.

If she’s tired or annoyed, she’ll just say it when writing her rap.

If someone scolds her, she’ll diss them back, even if it’s just cursing, it’s no big deal.

So, when she saw what happened with Zhen Jia, she didn’t understand why Jiang Ye had to maintain a gentle and strong image when she was live streaming.

If it were her, she would have gone live, called out the person, and written a song to diss her, right?

Different fields are like different worlds.

Even though they were all in the same talent show, they couldn’t empathize with things they couldn’t empathize with.

Jiang Ye could only smile helplessly and say, “Okay.”

“But, put yourself in my shoes.”

Liang Yu said, “I can only wish you can always stay on the path you love.”

Jiang Ye smiled and nodded seriously, “I will.”

•••

The third performance finally arrived.

Although there were only five stages this time, since most of the remaining trainees were those with some popularity, the cheers from the audience were louder than before.

Backstage, in the viewing room.

Lin Zui saw Jiang Ye’s outfit today and couldn’t help but laugh, “Pfft.”

Jiang Ye had a very bright and righteous appearance, but the hairstyle she had today really gave off a delinquent girl vibe.

“Nice, Jiang Ye.”

Lin Zui joked, “Is this your new image challenge?”

Cheng Zhen couldn’t help but come over and pull Jiang Ye’s braid, “Wow.”

“Hey, hey, hey, don’t pull it out.”

Jiang Ye protected her little braid, “I took so long to do this hairstyle.”

She quickly blamed her teammate, “Liang Yu said that’s how rappers do their hair.”

Cheng Zhen blinked, “But this hairstyle makes me want to say, ‘Jiang Jie, who are we going to beat up today?’”

Jiang Ye: "..."

Because there were only five stages, the order of their performances was announced in advance.

‘Wonder’ was the warm-up.

‘Microlight’ was a ballad to transition.

‘The Wind by the Sea’ was a cheerful and sweet song to break things up.

‘Tiny’ would heat up the atmosphere again.

And finally, the program team’s favorite, ‘If I Can’.

They were still chatting backstage.

The ‘Wonder’ group had already gone on stage.

Because of what happened the other day, Xue Zhihan’s state was clearly not good.

Her company didn’t come out to help her fix things again, they just symbolically took down a few posts, but the rampant online discussion didn’t subside at all.

The performance tickets were sold in advance.

But many of her fans were disheartened and transferred their tickets.

Even if there were fans there, they wouldn’t dare to openly show their identities in this situation.

So, there were almost no shouts for Xue Zhihan in the audience today.

Jiang Ye could feel that the confident aura Xue Zhihan once possessed had clearly disappeared.

And Shen Zhiyi’s state was even better than when she was in the same group as Jiang Ye.

When they were in the same group, Jiang Ye was the one who led the choreography, so her dance had some of Jiang Ye’s style mixed in.

But now, she was completely her own.

The choreography for ‘Wonder’ was very complex, but Shen Zhiyi handled every detail perfectly.

Jiang Ye felt that even if Xue Zhihan hadn’t had her downfall, Shen Zhiyi wouldn’t be inferior to her anymore.

•••

‘Microlight’ was a vocal group, with very little choreography.

After ‘Microlight’, it was ‘The Wind by the Sea’.

Although it was still early spring, the song was full of summer vibes.

Sea breeze, beach, soda, ice cream.

And girls as bright and beautiful as summer.

To Jiang Ye’s surprise, Cheng Zhen was the first to appear.

She thought Tan Meng would put her at the back to hide her lack of dancing skills.

But after watching her performance, Jiang Ye realized that Cheng Zhen seemed to have completely overcome her dancing issues.

The choreography for this song wasn’t actually that difficult, it was just very fragmented, and it needed to be carefully practiced.

Cheng Zhen wasn’t really a patient person, but she actually kept her promise to her fans. She really worked hard at dancing and was trying to live up to their expectations.

And Tan Meng, who originally didn’t want to dance to this song at all, actually performed very well.

Because she was there, the five members’ dance was very synchronized, and it was a very good idol group performance.

At the end of the song, she turned her head, blinked, and gave a sweet smile to the camera.

Jiang Ye suddenly felt that being assigned to this group wasn’t a bad thing after all.

At least she was very suitable for this sweet style.

After ‘The Wind by the Sea’ finished performing.

The staff came to urge the ‘Tiny’ group to go on stage.

Jiang Ye quickly stood up, high-fived her teammates, and ran towards the stage.

Backstage corridor.

The stage crew were moving the scenery.

The mentors on stage were reciting their lines.

They quickly checked their makeup, hair, outfits, and microphones.

Jiang Ye looked at Lu Xiaowan and Fan Fan, whose expressions were uneasy, and asked, “Are you nervous?”

They nodded.

Of course, they were nervous.

As trainees who had switched groups, they had less time to learn the stage and less experience.

Even though they had received praise from the mentor during the last rehearsal, and they thought their performance wasn’t bad, they almost had a mental breakdown after watching the other three groups perform backstage.

The other groups were so good.

Would they let their teammates down?

“It’s normal to be nervous.”

Liang Yu checked the position of the microphone while saying, “I was nervous when I first started doing underground competitions.”

“I was only sixteen when I first entered the industry, and when I looked around the competition venue, there were all these rappers who were older than me and had more experience.”

Liang Yu frowned slightly, with a hint of disdain, “And the rap scene, honestly, is pretty chaotic.”

She was a young girl, and she had experienced countless instances of being looked down upon and receiving unkind remarks.

“What happened then?”

Lu Xiaowan asked softly, “What did you do?”

“Nothing.”

“If I showed that I was nervous, wouldn’t everyone laugh at me?”

Liang Yu said expressionlessly, “I didn’t want anyone to laugh at me, so I beat them all.”

Jiang Ye: "..."

As expected of her.

Jiang Ye looked at Liang Yu and suddenly felt that it was quite funny that she said this at this time.

Liang Yu had clearly said before that she never hyped herself up with meaningless pep talks before going on stage.

But to calm her teammates’ nerves, she still did it.

Jiang Ye thought for a moment and smiled, “Okay, let’s go on stage with the attitude of beating the other four groups!”

Lu Xiaowan and Fan Fan looked at each other.

Jiang Ye had told them that the ‘Tiny’ group had already recorded an eight-member version of the stage, which might be released after their official performance.

Although they had switched groups later.

They were not outsiders, but successors.

They carried the expectations of those who had left.

But they didn’t want to lose to them.

This wasn’t just a stage for five people.

It was a stage that embodied the efforts of ten people.

“Okay!”

“Although Tiny, But What’s Wrong With That, let’s go!”