AITFYMIBP Chapter 16.2

TL: Hua

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Amidst the noisy comments, the stage lights dimmed, and Pei Luo’s group came on.

The fifteen trainees, dressed in black suits, were tall with long legs. Their mere presence on stage instantly captured everyone’s attention.

Xuan Yihan stood in the center. Unlike his previous cute, innocent image, he looked very cool today. His V-neck suit showed off his fair skin, a mix of dashing and sexy.

As the music started, they all moved in perfect unison.

From the moment they began dancing, the audience couldn’t look away. It’s the dance of swords!

The name “dance of swords” literally meant that the dance moves were as sharp and clean as a knife cutting through the air.

Unlike the styles of the previous two groups, Pei Luo’s group focused on precision!

The choreography wasn’t particularly difficult, but it involved a lot of moving around.

Frequent formation changes often lead to a messy performance, but the audience was quick to realize that no matter how they changed positions, the trainees’ movements were almost perfectly synchronized.

Every raised hand, every bend, and even the height of their jumps were nearly identical!

The sheer power of fifteen people performing such a synchronized dance was stunning.

The audience’s screams never stopped from the beginning of the performance to the end.

Xuan Yihan, standing in the absolute center, was surrounded by his teammates.

To the final beat of the music, he turned, striking a perfectly cool ending pose.

The performance ended, and Pei Luo was the first to stand up and applaud.

The audience followed his lead, wildly cheering for the trainees on stage.

“After watching the VCR, you might have misunderstood the relationships within our group and doubted whether we could deliver a quality performance. But after watching our performance just now, I believe I don’t need to say more; you can all feel our group’s cohesion.”

With one sentence, Pei Luo managed to reframe the VCR’s narrative.

He then turned to the audience and asked, “What do you all think?”

The audience enthusiastically screamed, “Yes!”

Although the previous two groups were also excellent, they fell short compared to Pei Luo’s. Tangtang’s group’s music and visuals were lacking, and Han Zhe’s group’s dance wasn’t as explosive or synchronized.

As for the group that hasn’t even appeared yet, it’s clear they won’t bring any surprises.

It was a no-brainer that Pei Luo’s group had the best performance of the night.

Pei Luo seemed to think so, too, looking completely confident.

After the performance, the two competing mentors could each vote for one trainee they thought was the best. Each nominated trainee would get an additional 10 audience votes.

As the opposing mentor, the host first cued Lin Yanran to announce his pick.

Lin Yanran, holding the microphone, graciously praised his opponents’ team first.

“For the past three days, each of our groups trained separately, and we had no idea what the other would perform. So, I’ve been looking forward to your stage. After watching it tonight, I have to say you are truly ‘the final boss’ group. You were amazing.”

After praising all the trainees, Lin Yanran turned over the card with the name he had chosen.

Qiao Ye’s name appeared on screen.

“Qiao Ye’s stage presence really caught my eye,” Lin Yanran said, looking at Qiao Ye, who was positioned at the very edge of the stage, giving him full recognition. “So, I want to give my vote for the best performer to Qiao Ye.”

As soon as Lin Yanran finished speaking, for the first time, someone in the audience applauded and screamed for him.

These people were Qiao Ye’s fans.

Qiao Ye on stage looked surprised. He gratefully bowed to Lin Yanran as his fans screamed.

Pei Luo was not at all surprised by Lin Yanran’s vote. In his view, everything Lin Yanran did was to target Xuan Yihan.

Especially since the edited VCR had just shown the conflict between Qiao Ye and Xuan Yihan, and now Lin Yanran was specifically singling out Qiao Ye. He saw it all as intentional, petty, and malicious.

So, when it was his turn to announce his vote, he directly stood up for the person he cared for.

“Xuan Yihan, you’ve been doubting your abilities because you have no prior experience as a trainee and felt that you didn’t deserve the center position. But today, I believe you have given a perfect performance for all the people who love you. Don’t worry about what others say, because when you are on stage, you are the only one I can see.”

Pei Luo’s words were both charming and arrogant, drawing screams from the entire audience.

In a talent show, many viewers fall for this kind of “underdog” storyline. With Pei Luo’s rhetoric, Xuan Yihan was transformed in everyone’s mind into a talented trainee who worked hard but needed encouragement because of his lack of confidence.

Now, even those who might have been unhappy about him being the center wouldn’t say anything more.

[He had no prior experience? It’s already amazing how quickly he got this good.]

[Hanhan is so hardworking. I love it, I love it.]

[Don’t be so insecure! You’re really good and you deserve the center position!]

Xuan Yihan looked at Pei Luo with a mixture of surprise and gratitude, waving his hands and quietly saying, “No, no.”

With all eyes on him, he tried to maintain his expression and perform well to gain more fans.

The atmosphere was already at its climax, but Pei Luo wasn’t done.

He turned to Lin Yanran with a hint of pride and a smug tone and asked, “What do you think, Teacher Yanran?”

When Pei Luo said this, the audience, who had been waiting all night for some drama, rejoiced!

[It’s happening! It’s finally happening! My wait for the drama wasn’t for nothing!]

[Pei Luo, good for you!]

[This is the taste I’m familiar with. Too much “peace & love” before, so boring.]

[Let them fight, let’s wait and see how Yanran evaluates Xuan Yihan.]

[Yanran: His performance deserves a B at most.]

[Hahahaha, the comment above has that feeling.]

Lin Yanran, who completely didn’t want to deal with Xuan Yihan today, never expected Pei Luo to directly make things difficult for him.

After all, while the question seemed casual, it was actually full of traps.

If he said Xuan Yihan performed well, he would immediately be seen as a coward, and his earlier action of giving him a B would be interpreted as a deliberate stunt for attention.

If he said the other party didn’t perform well, it would seem as if he was deliberately targeting Xuan Yihan, solidifying his reputation as a nitpicker. Then, Xuan Yihan could buy a hot search, and it would stir up another wave of sympathy from his fans.

What a great trap to dig.

Lin Yanran turned to look at Pei Luo and saw a hint of provocation in his eyes.

He was using his own way to vent for the person he liked.

Lin Yanran didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he suppressed a smile and calmly asked Pei Luo, “Are you sure you want me to say it now?”

Pei Luo thought Lin Yanran was trying to avoid the question and immediately nodded. “Of course. I know you’ve always had high expectations for Xuan Yihan, so I’m very curious if his performance this episode met your standards.”

Pei Luo’s words were so sarcastic that they were a bit aggressive.

Tangtang, who had been smiling, sensed something was wrong. She realized Pei Luo was deliberately trying to make things difficult for Yanran in front of tens of millions of people watching the live broadcast.

She wanted to step in and ease the tension, but she didn’t know how.

Then she turned around and saw Gu Siye, who had been silent, raising his microphone.

But just as she thought Gu Siye would step in to help Lin Yanran, he put the microphone down again.

Tangtang looked at Gu Siye in confusion.

She saw that he was looking at Lin Yanran.

Lin Yanran naturally noticed Gu Siye’s actions, but he gave him a smile, signaling with his eyes that he could handle it himself.

Gu Siye nodded slightly to him and didn’t interfere.

The subtle tension between the mentors was even noticed by the audience.

But because of Yanran’s previous hateful action of targeting Xuan Yihan, everyone secretly gave Pei Luo a thumbs-up, thinking he did a good job.

Everyone’s attention turned to Lin Yanran, wanting to see how he would respond.

“It’s not about high expectations. I’ve always had one standard for him.”

As soon as Lin Yanran spoke, everyone’s ears perked up.

Pei Luo gave a playful “Oh,” with a look that said, “Let’s see what you come up with next.”

Lin Yanran was not affected by his actions. He looked at Xuan Yihan and then continued unhurriedly.

“I remember your initial stage performance of ‘Will.’ Your voice was very good. You didn’t use many techniques; it was ethereal and simple.”

Hearing Lin Yanran’s words, everyone was stunned.

He said nothing back then, so why is he praising him now? Is he bowing to the online hate?

Before the haters’ comments like [Yanran, you’re such a coward] could even be sent, Lin Yanran said another sentence.

“But you went off-beat three times, off-key twice, didn’t have enough breath for one line of the chorus and only sang half of it, and your final vibrato was also very uneven.”

Lin Yanran calmly pointed out Xuan Yihan’s past problems. Seeing that the other party was a bit dumbfounded, he then curved his lips and said leisurely, “But this time it’s better. You’ve mastered some techniques, and the control of your voice and the changes in dynamics aren’t as uncoordinated.”

As soon as Lin Yanran said this, Pei Luo’s face immediately changed.

He originally wanted to make things difficult for Lin Yanran, but the other party turned the tables and even brought up past issues.

What was he trying to do? Use this as an opportunity to clear his name?

Lin Yanran’s move truly confused the audience as well.

However, Lin Yanran didn’t give them much time to figure out how things had turned out this way and spoke again.

“You spent very little time on the initial dance evaluation, so it’s okay if your feet didn’t hit the beats perfectly. But your explosive power was not enough, and your dance moves weren’t clean enough. Perhaps you also noticed this problem, as your performance just now had a lot of explosive power, but… you still lacked some control.”

Lin Yanran slightly narrowed his eyes and gave Xuan Yihan useful advice: “In this kind of situation in the future, remember that you have to take back as much force as you put out. If you want to take your dancing to the next level, you can’t just stop at simple beat-matching. You need to catch up on your fundamentals and learn how to match your dance with the emotion of the music.”

He then looked at Pei Luo, directly answering his question, “So today’s performance… can be considered progress.”

After Lin Yanran finished speaking, the entire venue was silent.

Many people had anticipated the beginning, but they never expected it to develop this way.

[I don’t know what he’s talking about, but it sounds impressive.]

[Why does it sound so professional?]

[I’ve been learning to dance for three years, and I feel like everything he said is so right.]

[I agree with the vocal part, too. What “no technique and simple”? In fact, it’s just a KTV-level voice with no knowledge of anything. Yanran is being very tactful.]

[Hahahahahaha, so that’s what it was.]

[I watched a few clips before and thought Yanran was deliberately targeting Xuan Yihan. Did he really perform that badly? So giving him a B is normal?]

Xuan Yihan’s fans saw Lin Yanran using this opportunity to clear his name and immediately got anxious.

[Are you that good? You’re acting like you’re so amazing.]

[You’re making it up. Hanhan’s performance was great.]

[You must have been planning this script for a long time. It must have been hard work.]

[So manipulative. After so much time had passed, he could still make something up.]

[Yanran deliberately waited for this live broadcast to clear his name. Rehearsing the script must be so hard, sob sob.]

A bystander commented in confusion, [But didn’t Pei Luo ask him first, which is why he said it?]

Xuan Yihan’s fans fell silent.

Pei Luo never expected that the trap he dug for Lin Yanran would not only fail to catch him but would also lead to Xuan Yihan falling right into it by not following the usual script.

Realizing that this would make many people doubt Xuan Yihan’s ability and even belittle his previous performances, he quickly tried to salvage the situation. “But he’s not a trainee and didn’t have any foundation before. Isn’t this kind of progress remarkable?”

Pei Luo’s subtext was that Lin Yanran was being too harsh on Xuan Yihan.

Lin Yanran didn’t immediately refute him. He first lowered his head and gave a slight smile, then said, “As an audience member, I agree with your point, Teacher Pei Luo, and I appreciate his effort and progress. However…”

He gently scanned all the trainees on the stage.

“As a mentor, if I can’t be fair to everyone, then what does that say about the years they have spent as trainees?”

Lin Yanran’s tone was still gentle and calm, but many trainees, after realizing what he was saying, couldn’t help but get emotional.

Lin Yanran said what they had always wanted to say but didn’t dare to.

If the mentors can’t be fair to everyone, what does that say about the years they have spent as trainees?

With everyone hyping up the idea of “you weren’t a trainee before, so it’s already amazing that you can do this,” these trainees who have spent their time and youth practicing and improving themselves have suffered too much injustice.

Those who weren’t trainees seemed to only need to put in a little effort and be slightly better than the last time to easily get everyone’s sympathy and affection.

They didn’t have to witness the sunrise from practicing all night. They didn’t have to go through countless tears from getting injured while practicing their fundamentals. They didn’t have to experience the pain of not being able to be with their families for the New Year, having to hold back tears while calling home and lying that they were doing well and would debut soon. They didn’t have to face the future that still seemed hopeless after waking up in the middle of countless nights…

But if you, on the other hand, are a trainee, because you have been practicing for a few more years than others, you are expected to give way to those who are inexperienced.

Because you are a trainee and have a foundation and skills, no one will praise you even if you do well.

Just like Xuan Yihan’s center position.

The previous video was not completely edited. Xuan Yihan’s center position was not chosen by his clique’s votes, but was directly assigned by Pei Luo.

At that time, Qiao Ye had the same number of votes as him. Pei Luo told everyone that Xuan Yihan didn’t have a foundation before and needed this center position to show and prove himself. He said that since they had more experience, they should let him have it.

So the fourteen of them foolishly became his backup dancers, watching him shine in the center position.

But as backup dancers, no one ever considered them. Many of them were even less popular than Xuan Yihan and might be eliminated in this episode. They also needed this opportunity to show themselves…

Under the manipulation of the mentor, audience, production team, and even the trainees themselves, everyone thought it was right to give way to inexperienced trainees and that they shouldn’t have any other thoughts.

But it turned out that wasn’t the case.

It turned out that Teacher Yanran had always been upholding the standard of fairness for all trainees, silently defending the justice they longed for in his own way.

But before, they had always misunderstood him.

Many people were even brainwashed and felt that he was deliberately targeting Xuan Yihan by insisting on giving him a B.

Several trainees on stage suddenly realized this and couldn’t help but cry.

They felt guilty for misunderstanding Yanran and also felt wronged for themselves.

Seeing a few trainees on the stage hugging each other and crying, the audience finally realized the meaning behind this sentence.

[Yes, a mentor should be fair to everyone. Why should you favor the weak?]

[So if you have a foundation, it’s expected that you perform well? And if you had no foundation, you should be praised for a little bit of progress? Why?]

[Doesn’t Pei Luo’s statement just mean, “I’m weak, so I’m right”?]

[Why should Xuan Yihan get special treatment just because he wasn’t a trainee before?]

[I always thought Pei Luo’s words were strange. Is this what’s called moral kidnapping?]

Xuan Yihan on stage never expected that every word from that idiot Pei Luo would push him into the abyss.

He was supposed to be the most brilliant person on stage, but now he had become a target of public criticism.

The smile on his face could no longer hold, and he gave Pei Luo a blank look of frustration.

Pei Luo also realized he had been an idiot just now and hadn’t anticipated that Lin Yanran was such a great talker, so he wanted to end the topic quickly.

He picked up the microphone in annoyance and threw the problem back at Lin Yanran.

“I just want to say that everyone has different standards for looking at things. Since Teacher Yanran has such high standards, why don’t we see how your team’s performance is?”

Pei Luo deliberately brought up Lin Yanran’s team performance, hoping they would make a fool of themselves to ease the awkwardness on their side.

Lin Yanran met Pei Luo’s ill-intentioned gaze without hesitation and generously accepted.

“Okay.”

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