I Became the Top Competitor in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 22.1

Xie Tongyue stood up in the center of the stage. The large screen behind her once again displayed the massive logo for Star Voyage. The brilliant stars seemed like a dream close yet tangible, reaching out to the 126 trainees standing in the pyramid formation.

“Popularity first, skill above all. This is Star Voyage, the place where your dreams set sail!” Xie Tongyue announced loudly to the 126 trainees. “Always remember, in this program, you are both competitors and friends. However, only nine of you will make it to the end and sit in your rightful thrones!”

The 126 trainees held their breath, their bright eyes fixed on Xie Tongyue.

“In today’s preliminary stage, some of you received the ideal evaluation and are sitting in the high ranks, while others performed poorly and fell to the lower peaks. But all of this is just the beginning. In the future, you have more stages, more opportunities! All opportunities are in your hands!” Xie Tongyue smiled. “Keep going, trainees! It’s not too late for anything!”

Xie Tongyue’s words made the young girls straighten their shoulders. They gazed at her, the golden stars spinning and glowing behind her, as if they were seeing their own equally brilliant future.

Expectation rose in their eyes.

A-Meng, standing quietly, couldn’t help but murmur, “What a fragrant pie.”

019, an infant system who hadn’t gone offline and was accompanying A-Meng, was so inspired by Xie Tongyue’s speech that it was tempted to wave banners and cheer. It observed I-Meng’s expression, noticing she was very calm, not at all as excited as the trainees beside her. It asked in confusion, “What pie?”

Where was a pie?

“It’s nothing,” A-Meng said softly.

The host on stage, with a steady smile, looked into the close-up camera, addressing the future audience as well as the 126 trainees present: “Ride the dream as your horse, crack the whip and set sail. This is your universe, your dream sky.”

“Audience in front of the screen, 126 rough gems sparkle in your hands; 126 stars shine brightly because of your choice. You are the dream weavers, the driving force of dreams, the star-makers for these 126 stars!”

She raised her hands high, gesturing to the trainees at the top of the pyramid: “Now, let the preliminary stage’s Center Trainee, Xue Weiran of Xinghuo Entertainment, lead the 125 trainees in shouting our slogan and sending a warm greeting to the star-makers watching on screen in the future!”

A line of text appeared on the large screen. All the trainees stood tall, a brilliant smile on their faces, looking towards the stage.

Xue Weiran held up the microphone provided by the staff and took a deep breath.

“Star-Makers.”

“Please take good care of us!”

The 126 trainees bowed. The camera swept over their figures for a long moment. Xie Tongyue smiled and applauded with the other mentors.

“Good job, everyone!” Xie Tongyue said. “You worked hard. Go back and rest well.”

The first day of recording ended smoothly. The trainees gradually stood up straight and thanked the seven mentors.

“You’ll enter the training camp tomorrow. Work hard, everyone. We’ll be waiting for you in the camp,” the seven mentors said loudly, waving goodbye with smiles.

On stage, some emotionally sensitive trainees had red eyes because of Xie Tongyue’s words. Others excitedly rubbed their arms, trying to suppress the goosebumps. Their minds were racing, and they felt no trace of sleepiness.

Staff members hurried onto the stage, holding microphones, and first asked everyone to quiet down.

“Recording will continue tomorrow. Please bring your luggage and gather at the Dongjiang TV station parking lot before 1:00 PM tomorrow. Staff will be there to guide you to the training camp,” the staff member said. “Please bring at least two weeks’ worth of daily necessities, such as clothes, shoes, and toiletries. However, please do not bring snacks or electronic devices other than your mobile phone.”

“Thank you for your cooperation. We’ll see you tomorrow. You are now all dismissed,” the staff member concluded.

“Yay, we’re free!” the trainees, who had been sitting all night, said excitedly.

“We can go back and sleep!”

Another trainee added, “I’m so hungry. I’m going back for a huge meal. We’re not allowed to bring snacks into the training camp for idol programs. I need to eat everything I want before I go in!”

As they left the stage, due to the large number of people, the staff instructed them to exit through the aisles in order of their seating rows.

With the recording over and all performances done, everyone felt as relaxed as students after an exam.

A-Meng was in the last row, making her one of the first trainees to return to the lounge. She first checked her foam box. The box’s insulation was good, the ice pack was still cold, and the not-so-tasty food hadn’t suddenly become incredibly appealing.

“I’m hungry,” A-Meng said. She put on her watch, slung on her backpack, and headed out with the box.

In the hallway, there were still trainees walking from the recording hall to the lounges. Seeing A-Meng, one happily waved and said, “A-Meng, wait! Let’s exchange contacts!”

This stirred up a crowd. Trainees who had already planned to exchange contacts quickened their pace. A-Meng smiled and said, “It’s 3:30 AM right now. We have to gather by 1:00 PM tomorrow. That leaves less than ten hours. Shouldn’t you all go back and rest early?”

Hearing A-Meng’s reminder, many immediately grew anxious.

A more carefree trainee said, “Just add WeChat, it won’t take long.”

A-Meng raised her wrist for the trainee who had called her to see. “I only have a ‘Super Genius Kid’s Watch not a mobile phone. Do you want to note down my WeChat ID?”

What?

Someone didn’t have a mobile phone these days?

The trainee grabbed A-Meng’s wrist in surprise for a look, then grew even more astonished. “How is this any different from my little cousin’s ‘Little Genius Kid’s Watch’?”

“Because I’m a ‘Super Genius  A-Meng said, adjusting an imaginary pair of glasses and smiling.

“You’re too funny!” The girl playfully let go of her hand, looked at her still holding the foam box, and said, “Forget it, you go first. I’m going to find my teammates.”

A-Meng waved to her and left before the crowd got too dense.

The main hall of Dongjiang TV station was freezing cold, still working diligently even at 3:30 AM. The moment A-Meng stepped out the main door, she frowned, hit by a wave of heat, and walked towards the parking lot.

Her bicycle was tucked away in the bike shed, which required her to walk along the sidewalk next to the parking lot. Occasional nanny vans drove past her on the left, leaving the TV station. Just as she was about to reach the shed, her peripheral vision caught something. She stopped and turned around.

To her right, a bright orange bus was parked. The body of the bus was painted with blue sky, white clouds, flowers, and grass. A black and white cartoon swallow, its head turned and wing pointing forward, “said” to A-Meng: Let’s go, let’s go to school.

A-Meng: “…”

She slowly looked up.

A dim, yellow light was on inside the bus. The sole passenger, a person with fluffy hair, was wolfing down a bowl of instant noodles.

A-Meng: “…”

She glanced at the instant noodles and swallowed in the late-night air.

Su Mengyao quickly slurped down a bowl of noodles, holding the bowl and gulping down the soup with a bold and generous posture. When she tossed the empty bowl into a trash can by her feet and turned to look for a tissue to wipe her mouth, she locked eyes with A-Meng, who was looking up outside the window.

Late at night, almost 4 AM, a pair of bright eyes in the darkness.

Su Mengyao shouted, “Ah!”

Startled, she quickly wiped her mouth, then leaned against the window, giggling: “You haven’t left yet?”

A-Meng said with mock depth, “I couldn’t help it, the smell of instant noodles was too fragrant.”

“Hehe, if I knew you were here, I’d have invited you up to eat with me!” Su Mengyao shook her head and said, “I eat a lot, one bowl of instant noodles isn’t enough. My grandpa went to buy me more. I’m waiting for him here.”

A-Meng immediately thought of the girls around her during the mid-recording meal break who were afraid of gaining weight and dared not eat. Then she looked at Su Mengyao, who needed more than one bowl of instant noodles with extra toppings and an egg, and thought, Is the ability to eat a lot without getting fat the protagonist’s superpower?

Well, I can do that too.

A-Meng chuckled internally at her own joke, placed the foam box on the railing, held it with one hand, and untied the red plastic bag with the other. Su Mengyao poked her head out to watch.

“I packed some boxed lunch during the midday break. Want some?” A-Meng offered.

Su Mengyao immediately pictured a braised chicken leg, the chicken skin sizzling with oil, and she swallowed hard. “Oh, that’s too kind of you…”

She whispered, “I didn’t have enough to eat during the break. You actually managed to pack some.”

A-Meng laughed softly and handed the boxed lunch to her. “Didn’t the girl next to you skip her meal? Is one portion enough?”

“It’s enough! More than enough! Thank you!” Su Mengyao said happily. “The trainee next to me didn’t eat, so I helped her finish it.”

With one sentence, A-Meng understood Su Mengyao’s appetite.

“No need to thank me. Call me jie-jie (older sister),” A-Meng teased Su Mengyao, raising an eyebrow.

Adhering to the principle that food is king—or in this case, jie-jie—Su Mengyao happily called A-Meng “jie-jie.” A-Meng had successfully completed 1/125 of her mission to make everyone call her older sister.

019, who had been observing in secret, whispered, “019 did not assign this mission to the host.”

A-Meng ignored it.

Because of the meal, Su Mengyao enthusiastically invited A-Meng to come up and sit, but A-Meng shook her head, saying, “I’m leaving. Going back to sleep.”

“Goodbye, see you tomorrow!” Su Mengyao leaned out half her body to wave goodbye.

A-Meng held the box with one arm and tapped her forehead with the other. The moment she turned around, a black car silently drove past. A-Meng glanced at it, paid it no mind, retrieved her bicycle from the shed, and pedaled towards the nearest hotel.

She slept without dreams. A-Meng woke up refreshed, finished the remaining boxed lunch, and packed her things, fully rested and fed. Summer clothes dry quickly, but to avoid the problem of “Why are you wearing the same clothes as yesterday,” A-Meng simply changed into her school uniform.

She had only brought two outfits for this trip. She had initially planned to wear the school uniform to establish the persona of a cheerful, beautiful, and youthful high school girl, but her high school homeroom teacher, who thought she was attending the audition for a change of pace, had specially bought her new clothes, which she felt obligated to wear on stage out of respect for her teacher’s kind gesture.

It wasn’t too late to solidify her persona now.

A-Meng’s expression was calm, her long eyelashes half-lowered, without any discernible emotion in her eyes. Her fair fingers rolled up the sleeves. When she walked out of the hotel with her backpack, the corners of her mouth curved up. Her clean face wore a smile. The bright sunlight fell on the clean blue and white school uniform, which looked as good as new, and also on her amber eyes.

The Dongjiang TV station parking lot was bustling with people. Staff members were busy checking in trainees pushing luggage and guiding them onto buses. Occasionally, there was an issue where trainees from the same company couldn’t sit on the same bus and needed to switch.

“Don’t run around! They are all the same! Trainees who have checked in, please get on the bus first!” a staff member shouted into a megaphone, barely managing to keep the scene under control.

Two cameramen stood at the check-in table, filming material. A-Meng arrived at the TV station at this time. She chose a good, sheltered spot for her entire worldly possessions and locked it to a nearby pillar with a long padlock. Then she headed to the check-in table.

The trainees already on the buses were exchanging contact information on their phones. Those sitting by the window turned their heads to watch, paying attention to which trainees had arrived and checked in. The moment A-Meng appeared, someone shouted, “It’s A-Meng!”

Despite only one day of recording, most of the 126 trainees were unfamiliar with each other, but A-Meng, who had been on stage a total of four times including the preliminary performance, was firmly remembered by all of them.

In the summer wind, the girl with her hair tied in a ponytail walked over with a backpack. Her pale skin seemed to melt into the transparent sunlight. As she got closer, her beautiful features became clearer.

A trainee holding a small electric fan inside the bus couldn’t help but say, “She’s so pretty.”

“And completely bare-faced.”

“I didn’t put on makeup either. I woke up too late, just took a shower and came,” someone said. “I’m glad my mom packed my luggage for me.”

A cameraman stood by the table, aiming the lens at A-Meng’s profile, then following her face down to the paper. Unlike her appearance, her handwriting was mature and steady, with sharp, clean strokes. The two characters for “A-Meng” stood out prominently among the other signatures.

“Thank you,” A-Meng said, putting down the pen and walking towards the bus with her backpack.

There were six large buses in the parking lot, each with people inside. Seeing A-Meng coming, some trainees who wanted to befriend her rushed to the bus door, waving and saying, “Take this bus, there are still seats.”

A-Meng called out, “I want to sit in the very back row.”

In one of the buses, a girl who heard I-Meng’s shout pulled open the window at her fastest speed and yelled, “Come to mine! I’ll switch with you! I don’t like sitting in the back row!”

A-Meng waved to the previous girl and ran towards that bus.

On the bus, the shouting girl lowered her head, suppressing the upward curve of her lips, and whispered, “Excuse me, I need to get out first.”

The long legs next to her moved, making way.

The girl quickly squeezed out from the connected seats, breathed a sigh of relief, and gave A-Meng, who had just boarded, a grateful look.

A-Meng looked at her curiously, then walked towards the back with a bottle of water. Halfway there, the corner of her mouth couldn’t help but turn up.

Alright, I get it.

In the very back row, the five girls from Renxing were lined up sitting together. Shen Zhu in the middle opened her eyes, waved at her, and then closed her eyes to catch up on sleep. The seat that had been vacated was by the window, and the girl next to it had a baseball cap pulled down over her face, her arms crossed, completely still.

A-Meng carefully stepped over Song Jiaqi’s legs. But Song Jiaqi’s legs were long, and the space on the bus seat was limited. The light, dark-blue school uniform fabric brushed against the soft skin. Before A-Meng had fully settled down, the woman in front of her suddenly took off her hat and looked at her coldly.

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