I Became the Top Competitor in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 54.1

Su Mengyao realized that when a person stands at a certain height, many things that are difficult to decide in the eyes of others suddenly become easy. Telling Chi Meng about her family was simply because she truly didn’t know who else to talk to, but she never expected the problem to be solved just like that.

It was as effortless as someone standing on the ground with a fan, lightly fanning out a breeze, and the dark clouds in the sky simply drifting away.

She sat in the private room outside the hospital and heard Teacher Meng’s assistant tell her that when her father was taken away by the police, he still looked somewhat bewildered. Teacher Meng hadn’t asked her to step forward at all; instead, she directly brought Su Mengyao to Renxing Tower. After the artist contract was signed, the decisive woman smiled slightly, then immediately took the company’s security team to Su Mengyao’s house to “fetch” the elderly relative who had been confined at home.

“Thank you, thank you!” Su Mengyao’s maternal grandfather wiped a tear and sighed heavily. To avoid being harassed by that man and his subordinates in the future, Teacher Meng had the assistant transfer his wife to a private hospital with better security that very day. Of course, this required more money.

Teacher Meng’s assistant smiled and reassured the old man: “This is a small matter. You and Auntie must take good care of your health.”

“Mengyao is now an artist with Renxing. You don’t need to worry about money. We have a strict artist development plan. Once Mengyao starts earning money, she’ll make sure you two elders live a good life,” the assistant said.

Su Mengyao’s grandfather sighed inwardly, knowing things weren’t as simple as the assistant made them sound, but given the circumstances, he could only hope for the best. When they were alone, he pulled Su Mengyao aside and said, “When the demolition settlement is finalized and the money comes through, you take it to repay the company. We don’t strive for great wealth, just to live peacefully is enough.”

The grandfather was worried that Su Mengyao was merely escaping one trap to fall into another. Having nearly been “sold” by her biological father, Su Mengyao had shed some of her naivety, but thinking of her friends in the camp, a warmth filled her heart. She smiled and said, “Don’t worry about me. You take good care of Grandma at the hospital. Renxing is a good company. I will work hard and earn the money back!”

“Good,” the grandfather said with a smile. After Su Mengyao left, he couldn’t help but sigh. Su Mengyao had grown up with them, her nature was simple, and no one had expected her to go through something like this. All he could do was support her, nothing more.

In the hospital room, Su Mengyao’s grandmother sat up. Everything about the family trouble had been hidden from her, and the grandmother thought the change in hospitals was due to the demolition funds coming through. The first thing she did after waking up was call for her husband. Even while sick, she remembered Su Mengyao being on TV. Today was the broadcast day for the third episode of Star Journey.

The grandfather quickly walked in, smiling as he adjusted the TV for his wife and showed her the fruit basket brought by Teacher Meng’s assistant. He said, “Our Yaoyao is promising. She did well on TV and was noticed by a big company. She signed a contract and started working for a big company! Now that the demolition money is here, you focus on your treatment. Don’t think about messy things, so Yaoyao doesn’t worry.”

The show’s theme song was playing, and Su Mengyao appeared in some shots. The grandmother watched intently and quietly said, “I know everything.”

The grandfather looked at his wife, a sincere smile spreading across his face. That scoundrel’s mischief had inadvertently turned into a blessing, and their lives still had to go on.

The assistant picked up Meng Limin halfway and drove Su Mengyao back to the training camp. The day had passed in a rush. On the way back, Su Mengyao felt her feet back on the ground and gently let out a breath. She turned her head to look at Meng Limin, feeling a bit reserved. In the contract with Renxing, her future manager was Meng Limin. She didn’t know Meng Limin’s status in Renxing, but that didn’t affect her respect for her, especially since Meng Limin had helped her so much.

Su Mengyao twisted her fingers, gathering her courage, and said to Meng Limin, “Teacher Meng, and also Teacher Li, thank you for your help today. I won’t forget it. I will… I will work hard in the future!”

The driving assistant looked into the rearview mirror and smiled at Su Mengyao. Meng Limin was delighted. She was in the middle of replying to work messages, but paused now. She reached out and ruffled Su Mengyao’s curly hair, chuckling, “Good! Your words put me at ease! You can call me Sister Meng or Sister Min. I like people who work hard the most.”

Su Mengyao blushed slightly but insisted, “When I get back, I’ll train seriously and strive to debut!”

Meng Limin burst into laughter and rubbed her head. Su Mengyao was an individual trainee. Meng Limin had noticed the pretty girl during her preliminary stage performance on Star Journey. However, Su Mengyao didn’t have contact information, and before the companies wanting to recruit her could even extend an olive branch, she had actively joined Renxing herself! Meng Limin was happy to sign a good prospect. She remembered Su Mengyao’s first-round ranking was only below Song Jiaqi. This potential alone made her efforts today worthwhile. The money advanced for Su Mengyao’s grandmother was also handled by her through the finance department, without asking Song Jiaqi to pay.

Of course, the finance department approved the loan also because of the reputation of Song Jiaqi and Meng Limin.

Seeing Su Mengyao’s current high spirits, Meng Limin felt as if she were seeing Song Jiaqi before her “downfall.” Since Song Jiaqi was also back on the “right track,” Meng Limin felt she should open a good bottle of wine to celebrate tonight.

It was a pity that Chi Meng, who was being watched by major companies, still had no intention of signing a contract.

Thinking of this, Meng Limin’s eyes darted around and she said, “Yaoyao, your relationship with Chi Meng is quite good, right? If you get a chance, talk to her and see if she’ll sign with Renxing too. Then, with Xiangxiang and the others, Jiaqi, and you all at Renxing, everyone can grow together. Wouldn’t that be great?”

Su Mengyao was surprised, “Dreamy Sis has a good relationship with Jiaqi. Doesn’t she plan to sign with Renxing?”

Meng Limin simply smiled without saying more. She only mentioned it in passing and didn’t really expect Su Mengyao to persuade Chi Meng. In her eyes, Chi Meng was a girl with goals, ability, and a firm mindset—not someone who could be easily swayed.

Having dealt with things all day, both were a bit tired. Meng Limin opened the Star Journey episode that had just been released today and watched it with Su Mengyao. Su Mengyao hadn’t even watched the second episode due to family matters. Meng Limin played the online version with bullet comments, and Su Mengyao was instantly startled by the overwhelming barrage of comments.

“A single spark, burning for you! Absolute strong C Xue Weiran! Purple exists because of you Xue Weiran!”

Xue Weiran dyed her hair purple for the preliminary stage, and on social media, she replied that purple was her favorite color. This color naturally became her official support color. Besides Xue Weiran, most trainees had been actively promoting themselves in the past week, and all sorts of colored support comments seemed to carry the momentum to bury Dongjiang, yet they were very orderly. For example, during the opening theme song, whenever someone’s face appeared, the comments would uniformly switch to that person’s support.

Su Mengyao didn’t understand but was shocked.

From the opening barrage of comments, Su Mengyao felt the popularity of the hottest trainees. Xue Weiran, Chen Zhu, and Chi Meng truly deserved to be the top three with a clear lead in the first round of voting. It was a pity that Chi Meng seemed overshadowed compared to Xue Weiran and Chen Zhu because she didn’t have a unified support color.

Su Mengyao whispered, “Sigh!”

She planned to tell Chi Meng this news when she got back.

The content of the third episode was the first public performance stage (First Public Competition). Before each competing team went on stage, a week’s worth of their training would be shown. Su Mengyao saw many teams seriously preparing and training hard in private, her lips moving slightly. In the training camp, hard work seemed to be the most basic requirement.

Amidst the strenuous training, some wavered, some suffered, and some grew numb.

There were even some who tried to lead their teammates in a shamanistic dance for good luck, only to be shut down by the production team!

Meng Limin raised an eyebrow, and Su Mengyao immediately shifted her gaze, pretending nothing happened.

In the first public performance, Su Mengyao’s team’s original Center was An Kui, but during the mentor guidance, after the two teams met and saw the performance of Ning Yuze’s team, An Kui felt that while their team’s performance was passable, it wasn’t good enough compared to Ning Yuze’s team.

In the frame, An Kui shrugged, peeled off the sticker on her chest, and said, “I want to change the Center.”

This scene still moved Su Mengyao when she watched it again, not to mention the audience.

“Wow… voluntarily giving up the C-spot?”

“The team leaders from these different companies on the show are so responsible and have such a sense of duty. They’re not thinking about themselves, but about the team, about the performance. That’s the meaning of a leader’s existence!”

Viewers who missed the live broadcast curiously asked, “Wondering who An Kui will give the Center position to?”

The camera shifted to the stage. In the intensely filmed official footage, under the spotlight, a long-haired girl turned her head. The light-filled eyes no longer held the previous innocence and simplicity. The quiet gaze seemed tinged with melancholy, as if she had suddenly transformed into a completely different person.

Meng Limin watched the screen in astonishment, then looked at the embarrassed Su Mengyao next to her, who was anxiously picking at her clothes, and murmured, “Such powerful expressiveness…”

If the name tag on her wasn’t Su Mengyao, who would connect the girl singing with melancholy on stage to the shy little curly-haired girl sitting beside her?

Meng Limin blinked, pushing down the thought in her mind.

On stage, emotion aside, Su Mengyao’s high note also surprised the audience both in the venue and watching on screen. The trainees backstage stood up in shock and applause, and the mentors were amazed. Su Mengyao turned out to be the undiscovered rough diamond number two!

In the end, Team Ten, with the outstanding performance of their Center, won against Ning Yuze’s team. Seeing the result, Ning Yuze nodded thoughtfully, smiling as she shook hands with Team Ten.

“Unexpected. You can never underestimate your opponents. Team Ten’s performance was truly strong,” Ning Yuze said softly after stepping off stage, hugging her teammates to console them. “We did great too. Thank you for all your hard work!”

Just as the stunning Team Ten performance ended, the screen went dark. A phone appeared in the dimly lit frame, showing the time as 5:29. The camera lifted, focused on the staircase, and a staff member’s voice came from off-screen.

She counted down: “Three, two—”

The time on the screen hit 5:30. After the staff member finished “one,” a girl with a small backpack peered out from the stairwell entrance. The moment she met the staff member’s eyes, both of them laughed.

“Good morning, Sister Lu!” Chi Meng walked over, waiting for the door to be opened.

The staff member, called Sister Lu, sighed, “We were just waiting for you.”

“Now we power up the equipment precisely at your time,” Sister Lu teased.

Chi Meng smiled and followed behind her, placing her bag in an out-of-the-way corner in the classroom. The moment she pulled open the window, the faint blue light of the early summer morning spilled into the room. The scene cut to the trainees gathering and practicing their parts.

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