Finally, before Jiang Ye stepped down from the pyramid, some nearby trainees had already given Lu Xiaowan tissues.

The girl was indeed crying so hard that she was short of breath, and her acceptance speech took a full ten minutes to finish.

Everyone was on tenterhooks for her.

When she finally finished and sat down in the twelfth position on the pyramid, some people finally breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter what, this ranking announcement was successfully recorded without any major incidents.

The twelve finalists had been chosen, and the lineup for the debut positions was basically set.

But before entering the finals, all the trainees had to fully prepare for the mentor collaboration stage three days later.

The next day, when Lu Xiaowan came to the practice room, her eyes were still swollen.

She explained apologetically, "Actually, I really didn't want to cry, but I just couldn't control myself."

As a result, she embarrassed herself on stage.

After she went back, the more she thought about it, the more embarrassed she became, and she cried another night.

Jiang Ye: "..."

She touched Lu Xiaowan’s head with a wry smile as a form of comfort.

But they still had to practice, Jiang Ye didn’t relax at all.

Among the five collaboration stages, although the overall choreography difficulty of the "Crush You" group was lower, their progress was almost the fastest among all groups.

This was, of course, thanks to the presence of both Jiang Ye and Tan Meng, two meticulous dance perfectionists.

Jiang Ye was always a perfectionist when it came to the stage, and Tan Meng always meticulously refined the dances for her teammates until they were perfect.

Therefore, they collaborated, with Jiang Ye designing the overall stage and necessary details, and Tan Meng responsible for controlling the entire formation.

As a result, this task, which should have been handled by the mentor, was immediately shared by the two of them.

The remaining three trainees were also very cooperative, so they polished the entire dance in a few days.

Mu Xingchi was busy with work for the first two days and took a trip out.

When he came back to check the group's progress, he found that Jiang Ye and Tan Meng had already finished all his work.

Jiang Ye politely asked him, "Teacher, do you have any questions? If not, we can just rehearse your part once."

Mu Xingchi: "..."

Why was he the extra one, when it was supposed to be a mentor collaboration stage?

He had heard that the trainees in other groups were actively interacting with the mentors.

After all, they wanted to get to know each other as much as possible, and it would also help them build connections in the entertainment industry in the future.

But in his group, besides practice time, they would occasionally ask him for advice, but during breaks, the trainees would almost always be around Jiang Ye.

It was as if they didn’t care about his existence at all.

Mu Xingchi: "..."

His role as a mentor was too underwhelming.

•••

As the performance date approached, all the trainees and mentors had to have two run-throughs with makeup.

The "Crush You" group's progress was fast, and they were the first group to have a run-through with makeup.

The first run-through ended.

Mu Xingchi stepped off the stage and replayed the stage footage from the monitor.

He watched every detail of the trainees' performance, finally letting out a sigh of relief, "Very good, everyone basically has no problems."

The trainees breathed a sigh of relief and celebrated by high-fiving each other on stage.

Mu Xingchi replayed the footage again.

Every trainee's performance was outstanding.

Especially Jiang Ye.

He had never seen Jiang Ye in this state before.

He liked her previous stage performances, it was like him a few years ago when he had just debuted, with the uninhibited energy of youth.

But this time, in line with the style of the song, she had become sexy and charming.

Every detail of her movements, every look she gave to the camera, was like a tickle on his heart.

Mu Xingchi watched for a while before saying, "If everyone can maintain this state for the official performance the day after tomorrow, I believe our stage will be the most stunning one."

"You can all go back now."

The trainees cheered and prepared to leave.

Mu Xingchi said, "Jiang Ye, stay for a moment."

He paused and immediately added, "There’s a move here, come and take a look, let’s discuss whether we need to change it."

Jiang Ye and Mu Xingchi’s interaction was the killing part of the entire dance, so the trainees weren’t surprised, instead, they were relieved to be able to leave early.

Jiang Ye nodded, "Okay."

Shen Zhiyi said, "Then we’ll wait for you in the car."

Jiang Ye hummed, waved to them, and then walked towards Mu Xingchi, "What’s the problem?"

Mu Xingchi replayed the footage on the monitor for her.

Jiang Ye watched intently.

This was their interaction.

On stage, she could only see Mu Xingchi from her first-person perspective, and only when she switched to the third-person perspective could she feel the overall effect of their interaction.

In her opinion, their collaboration was very good.

Jiang Ye tilted her head, "What’s the problem?"

"The effect is very good."

Mu Xingchi paused, as if considering Jiang Ye’s previous words, "But doesn’t it feel too intimate? Do you think we need to make some changes?"

"No need."

Jiang Ye felt a little baffled, "Why change it?"

Mu Xingchi raised his eyebrows, "You don’t care anymore?"

"?"

Jiang Ye seemed to remember their previous conversation, smiled, and said, "But on stage, of course, the stage effect is the priority, nothing else matters."

Besides, she had initially just wanted to see if there was a possibility of changing groups.

Since there wasn’t, she would do her best on this stage, and concerns about whether fans would fight or whether she would be scolded were all secondary to the stage effect.

Mu Xingchi smiled, turned off the monitor, "Okay, let’s go, let’s go back."

The two of them walked down the corridor back.

Mu Xingchi’s hands were in his pockets, and he suddenly asked, "By the way, I’m working on a new album recently, and I need to find a female lead for an MV, I haven’t found a suitable candidate yet."

He looked at Jiang Ye and casually asked, "Are you interested?"

Jiang Ye was stunned.

Mu Xingchi’s tone was too intimate.

It didn’t sound like he was discussing a work collaboration, but more like an invitation between two friends.

But their relationship shouldn’t be that close yet, right?

Although being the female lead in Mu Xingchi’s MV would be a good opportunity for her.

But after thinking for a while, Jiang Ye calmly said, "This isn’t something I can decide."

Mu Xingchi: "?"

"My current contract is with Shengrui Entertainment, but after my debut, it should be transferred to the debut group’s new company."

Jiang Ye said, "If you want to invite me, you can directly contact the person in charge and discuss the details of this collaboration."

Mu Xingchi: "..."

She didn’t say yes or no, she just deflected the topic.

Mu Xingchi shrugged, "Okay."

Jiang Ye breathed a sigh of relief and continued walking forward.

"Then."

Mu Xingchi asked again, "After the competition ends, can I treat you to dinner?"

The surroundings suddenly became quiet.

Jiang Ye stopped.

They were in a corridor leading to the parking lot outside the venue.

This corridor was not wide, there were no cameras installed, and there were no staff members present.

It was a good time to talk about private matters.

If the previous invitation could barely be understood as a work invitation.

Then this one was very obvious, it was entirely Mu Xingchi’s personal idea.

Whether it was purely out of appreciation as a mentor, or something else.

This was quite dangerous for her.

Jiang Ye paused and said, "Thank you, Teacher."

She smiled, her tone polite and courteous, "But if there’s a chance, I think it should be all of us trainees treating you to dinner, after all, we’re all very grateful for your hard work and guidance during this period."

Jiang Ye subtly avoided the dinner invitation again.

Mu Xingchi looked at her and suddenly found her reaction very interesting.

He deliberately asked her, "Are you afraid that if we two are photographed together, it will affect me?"

Jiang Ye: "..."

Of course not.

Why would she worry about him?

She was mainly afraid of affecting her own career.

"Jiang Ye."

Seeing that she didn’t answer, Mu Xingchi chuckled softly, "What are you afraid of? What’s there to worry about?"

"After this show, we’re not just mentor and trainee, we’re friends."

"Isn’t it normal for ordinary friends to have dinner occasionally?"

Jiang Ye blinked, not understanding how Mu Xingchi had categorized her as a friend.

She had no opinion of Mu Xingchi himself before, she had just been deliberately avoiding him because she was afraid of disputes between the two fandoms.

Moreover, she naturally thought that Mu Xingchi, as a popular idol, would have some self-awareness, so they should be on the same page.

But now she felt something was wrong.

At this moment, Jiang Ye suddenly remembered the rumors she had heard about Mu Xingchi in her past life.

He really seemed to be the kind of idol who had no boundaries and was indifferent to his fans.

In her past life’s memories, he had been photographed several times going out to dinner, drinking, and clubbing with different women.

Although there was never any solid evidence of him dating anyone, at most, he was in the ambiguous stage.

But in the words of the fandom, Mu Xingchi was definitely the kind of person who could easily cause a scandal.

Jiang Ye’s heart immediately sounded the alarm.

Jiang Ye looked up at him, her expression suddenly turning serious, "What do you want to say?"

"Putting aside our idol identities, aren’t we just ordinary people?"

Mu Xingchi smiled, "What’s not possible?"

His words were ambiguous.

It seemed like he was saying that having dinner was fine, and it also seemed like he was saying that even if they dated like ordinary people, what was wrong with that?

After hearing this, Jiang Ye was silent for a moment.

After a while, she suddenly smiled, "Ordinary people?"

"Really?"

Jiang Ye looked at him and asked again, "Do you really think we’re ordinary people?"

Mu Xingchi felt inexplicably uneasy under her gaze.

He was about to say something, but he heard Jiang Ye’s next sentence.

"Maybe you think so, but I don’t."

Jiang Ye’s tone was still calm.

However, every word carried a resolute certainty.

"My fans have spent so much money on me just to send me to debut."

"So, how can I have the right to be what you call an ordinary person while enjoying the spotlight?"