Transmigrated as the CEO's Top-Tier Stand-in - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

When Ji Yu returned to her dormitory, she ran into Ling Lan. Ling Lan and Jiang Lianque had both been assigned to Class B. Because this was the level where trainees had a great chance of securing one of the nine debut spots with enough effort, Class B trainees were still highly motivated and had returned to rest only now.

Ling Lan was filling her thermos cup with water. Hearing the door open, she turned to look at Ji Yu. Her silver short hair traced a smooth, stylish curve across her shoulder. She smiled at Ji Yu:

“You weren’t in the classroom?”

Ji Yu’s eyelashes flickered with slight surprise. Ling Lan straightened up and blew on the cup opening. After finding that the steam rising from the cup wasn’t very hot, she tilted the cup to take a sip of warm water before continuing: “Lianque has a group member in Class F. I just accompanied her to check out the practice situation there, but I didn’t see you.”

Ji Yu returned her smile but didn’t directly answer the question, giving off an air of mystery that left Ling Lan wondering if she had been slacking off or secretly practicing elsewhere.

Ling Lan was curious. Perhaps because Ji Yu was the first beautiful older sister she had met on the show who was so much to her liking, out of personal interest, she didn’t want Ji Yu to be eliminated too early. She observed Ji Yu with wide eyes and noticed large patches of dampness on Ji Yu’s grey short-sleeve shirt from sweat—clear evidence of a long period of exercise.

So the question about Ji Yu’s theme song progress, which had been on the tip of her tongue, took a detour and became a different sentence:

“Do you want to shower first?”

She thought, Ji Yu must have a reason for not wanting to tell me. Such a beautiful older sister is right no matter what decision she makes, so it’s best not to interfere too much.

Realizing Ling Lan had deliberately changed the subject, Ji Yu felt a sense of relief. Since Ling Lan was the first person she had met on the show, she had a good impression of her and didn’t want the other person to think she was intentionally hiding her skills.

She shook her head, her voice even gentler: “You go ahead. I need to go out again in a bit.”

Ling Lan nodded, put down her thermos, and searched her suitcase for pajamas, not forgetting to tell Ji Yu that staff had come by earlier and confiscated many people’s snacks, while phones would be collected tomorrow.

Ji Yu nodded in thanks, found a clean disposable cup in the room, and drank a few cups of warm water. Just as she was about to leave, Ling Lan spoke up again from behind:

“Oh, Lianque and I checked out the hotel kitchen when we came back. It’s open at night. If you come back very late, you can go there and find something to eat. A few C-Class girls already went.”

“Of course, it’s still best not to stay up late—”

“Early to bed and early to rise, makes one healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Ji Yu hadn’t expected her to be a health enthusiast. Recalling her holding a thermos earlier and now effortlessly quoting folk wisdom, she remembered Ling Lan’s rapper dream, and a smile blossomed in her eyes.

If Ling Lan’s dream comes true, she will definitely become the most “unique” rapper in the industry.

Ji Yu resisted the urge to check if there was red date and goji berry tea in her thermos. She stood up to leave and responded softly as she closed the door:

“Okay, you get some rest.”

Ji Yu practiced directly on that hotel balcony until dawn.

When the sunlight pierced the cold night and the golden dawn spilled onto the earth, she got up from the floor, gently exhaled, and headed to the cafeteria for breakfast. She chose a bowl of oatmeal and an egg. When she sat down, she found that there were quite a few people around.

The girls were very friendly to her. Whether they were on camera or not, and regardless of whether they knew her, they smiled at her. Two girls from Class F even asked her:

“How was your rest last night?”

Ji Yu smiled faintly and simply said, “Not bad.” But one of the girls was sharp-eyed and saw the damp marks on the hem of Ji Yu’s grey short-sleeve shirt and the sweat that hadn’t dried from her temples. She widened her eyes and asked:

“Oh? Did you wake up early to practice before coming here? You’re so diligent!”

Ji Yu merely smiled, unsure how to respond to such kindness.

She remembered the idol survival show she and Si Tian had participated in. Although there were cameras, most were focused on the stage. Besides interviews and eliminations, the personal relationships of the contestants were rarely exposed to the public. As a result, she had made almost no new friends during the entire show, except for Si Tian.

But this place seemed different.

While there might be issues related to the show and exposure, she could also see that the competition here… seemed to lean more toward the positive.

She could sense the friendly signals these girls were sending.

But for a moment, she didn’t know how to reciprocate.

Ji Yu felt a rare sense of being torn, especially after the girls proactively invited her to sit down and eat together. Others who had previously visited this Yuxia Mountain Scenic Area recommended the hotel’s specialty dishes to her, filling the entire dining table with a cheerful atmosphere.

A few older trainees from Classes B and C heard the lively chatter and brought their trays to join the conversation. Regional differences inevitably came up when discussing food and fun, making the long cafeteria table the perfect place to build relationships. Under these circumstances, the girls introduced themselves, combined with some bright moments from their performances yesterday, accelerating the speed at which they became familiar with each other.

Unknowingly, the spot where Ji Yu sat inadvertently became the center of the table.

Because her smile was so beautiful, and her eyes were focused and earnest when looking at people, giving off an inexplicable sense of comfort. Coupled with her quiet, somewhat shy demeanor, a few of the more lively personalities gathered around her. During the conversation, someone inevitably brought up the theme song assessment scheduled for two days later—

“How’s your practice coming along?”

“I heard that Mentor Zhi Tao and Mentor An Ran will be checking progress in every class today. I feel terrible. I haven’t even memorized the lyrics yet…”

“Ah, I didn’t even finish breaking down the choreography last night.”

Ji Yu didn’t speak, but two Class B members proactively suggested: “How about we practice together after breakfast? I’ve learned about half. We can exchange tips and improve together.”

Hearing this suggestion, the two F-Class girls who had initially spoken to Ji Yu showed a hint of hesitation. They were keen to learn from more skilled trainees, but they also knew their dance foundations were weak. The so-called mutual exchange might just be them dragging down the progress of the excellent trainees.

After all, being assigned to F-Class in the initial performance evaluation meant either poor singing, poor dancing, or, worse, poor singing and dancing, along with a complete lack of variety sense.

People valued their reputation. They didn’t want this segment to be aired later, only to have the fans of these talented friends scold them for “holding back” or “hindering their idol’s progress.”

Ji Yu saw the change in their expressions and the underlying concerns. Uncharacteristically, after avoiding the cameras so much, she spoke up and agreed:

“Sounds good.”

“It’s still early, and there aren’t many people in the classroom. We can head over now.”

When she proactively said this, the two F-Class girls instinctively breathed a sigh of relief. Agreeing now made it seem less special. At this point, everyone had more or less finished breakfast. They put down their trays and walked out together, running into Jiang Lianque and others who were heading to the classroom to practice before eating.

Jiang Lianque lived up to her charisma. Ji Yu quickly scanned the crowd and noticed several people near her wearing pink clothes, then the bright yellow of Class B, and the sky blue of Class C. Including Ling Lan, there were nearly twenty girls, and the moment they saw her—

The Class B girl who had suggested going to the dance studio earlier lit up, and the group of girls behind her greeted her in unison:

“Lianque, are you done practicing?”

“Sister Que, there are tea-flavored eggs, which you like, for breakfast this morning. Have you eaten?”

“Don’t call her Sister Que, call her Lord Que! She’s too amazing, I swear. Last night she watched the video once and memorized all the dance moves. Wuwuwu, Lord Que is not only prettier than me but her brain is so good too. Can God not leave a way out for us mortals!”

Amidst the chirping voices, other girls converged to chat with friends they knew, occasionally bumping shoulders, helping each other adjust their hems and collars, or holding hands while discussing jewelry. Although few had the leisure to wear perfume, the air inexplicably felt much more fragrant.

Jiang Lianque heard the compliment about her amazing memory. She raised a hand and lightly scratched her chin, a rare look of embarrassment on her face:

“Memorized… not quite.”

“I have the image in my head and I know how some of the moves should be executed, but when I try to do them myself, it’s not the same at all. Being an idol is really hard.”

Even though she was genuinely distressed, no one took her worries seriously. Compared to Jiang Lianque’s formidable ability to remember every beat, move, note, and lyric, most of them hadn’t even familiarized themselves with the melody yet.

Jiang Lianque’s progress already crushed theirs by half.

Ji Yu was also impressed by Jiang Lianque’s super memory. Just then, Ling Lan walked up to her and offered her a sheet of triangular, pale orange pills, asking:

“Want some?”

Ji Yu: “?”

Ling Lan looked at Jiang Lianque, who was surrounded in front, a slightly embarrassed expression of giving away someone else’s generosity on her face. She twirled her short hair at her ear with her other hand and said to Ji Yu: “You can’t eat sweets, right? And you eat so little and look thin. When I mentioned this to Lianque last night, she asked me to check if you have poor digestion or absorption. These are probiotics. They help with digestion!”

“She brought them. She said she always keeps them on her in case friends she meets get an upset stomach, along with some other emergency medicines… So, do you want to try? They should be good for the stomach.”

Ji Yu was speechless for a moment.

In the brief pause, a loud burst of crying suddenly erupted in her mind.

Ji Yu was startled. She instinctively reached out to take the pills, then instinctively asked the System: “What happened? Don’t cry, tell me what’s wrong.”

She was about to say that she would try her best to help if it was within her power, but the System spoke tearfully: “N-no, I’m just suddenly very touched!”

“Wuwuwu, Yuyu! Someone finally cares about you!”

Since Ji Yu came to this world, the first person she met was Meng Rendong, and she was immediately immersed in that relationship, staying quietly by Meng Rendong’s side for four years. She ate alone, danced alone. Only very occasionally would Meng Rendong come to the apartment, but that didn’t provide much companionship. The System saw more of Ji Yu having no free time, instead revolving around Meng Rendong, prioritizing her in everything.

But it hadn’t said anything before, because Ji Yu wasn’t unwilling to do those things. Sometimes, the System could even see a sense of relief in her, almost like salvation.

It was as if only by fulfilling Meng Rendong’s needs, rational or irrational, could the heavy burden that had long weighed on Ji Yu’s heart be slightly lifted.

But this didn’t mean the System enjoyed seeing her like this.

It had been faintly worried when Ji Yu was with Meng Rendong. Now that Ji Yu was sober and had left Meng Rendong, it was still afraid. It feared Ji Yu would never escape Si Tian’s shadow. Even when Ji Yu showed rare positivity and talked about leaving, the System was scared.

It thought, If Ji Yu returns to her original world, and if she still grieves Si Tian’s passing, will there be another emergency situation to pull Ji Yu away the next time she goes to a high building to look at the scenery?

So, it secretly went looking for Si Tian’s soul without Ji Yu’s knowledge, hoping to give her something to focus on and reawaken her will to live. But… it truly hoped Ji Yu would leave the past behind and start a new life.

However, it wasn’t human. The care it could provide was always superficial. So, in Chasing Dreams 100, seeing Ji Yu surrounded by human kindness, and realizing someone had remembered Ji Yu’s minor health issue and showed her care, the System, rarely, felt a resonance with human emotion at this moment!

This emotion was like…

The System pondered for a while but couldn’t find the right descriptor. It quickly connected to the internet, input its current feeling for a search, ready to learn some more sophisticated vocabulary. Then, it saw the descriptor “gratified,” followed by “motherly love,” and then it stumbled into a fan community’s super-topic where the content was:

“Wuwuwu, I’m so gratified! My child has grown up, my child has become so excellent, Mommy loves you!”

“My child is so good, Mommy will always support you!”

The System cried loudly while taking time to study the topic deeply, and then couldn’t help but interject: “Mommy is really happy right now!”

Ji Yu: “…What did you just say? Mommy?”

The System guessed from her confusion that the content it had been studying might be slightly inappropriate. But before it could reflect, Ling Lan grabbed Ji Yu’s attention, continuing:

“This is the adult version, so there’s no sugar, it’s not sweet, and the taste might not be great.”

Ji Yu sincerely thanked her, immediately popped one into her mouth. It was a chewable tablet formulation, designed to stimulate appetite and aid digestion. Taking two occasionally could indeed help regulate gut flora. Although not as potent as medication, it was a good supplement.

Ling Lan smiled brightly seeing her accept it. She hooked her arm through Ji Yu’s and walked with her into the classroom, naturally talking about her practice of the second half of the theme song last night. Ji Yu listened attentively.

In the classroom.

A few A-Class trainees with prior experience were demonstrating the part of the choreography they had learned last night. One of them was an extraordinarily handsome girl with ultra-short hair. She had two low-key, luxurious black diamond earrings in her left ear, one large and one small, which enhanced her aura.

Ji Yu looked at the name tag on her clothes.

Rong Bai.

The name sounded imposing, and her dance matched her personality.

The moment she executed the first move, Ji Yu recalled her initial stage performance. This was a girl who could dance with palpable strength. Compared to the soft, graceful figures of others, her dance style was much cooler, easily leaving a lasting impression.

It seemed her hobby was Muay Thai, but she hadn’t built overly bulky muscle. Instead, it was evenly distributed over her frame, appearing lean but packed with explosive power beneath the skin.

Ji Yu heard girls nearby secretly discussing Rong Bai’s body fat percentage.

Someone else was saying that Rong Bai’s family seemed to be quite wealthy. She joined the show because her best friend was also in the industry, and they had agreed to meet at the pinnacle. Her friend was currently competing in an idol show in Country H, while Rong Bai’s family wanted her to stay somewhere closer, worried about her food and clothes if she went too far, wanting her to remain under their eye. She had fought hard to get her family’s permission for this show.

Ling Lan was next to her, happily listening to the gossip. In the end, she secretly complimented Rong Bai’s dance to Ji Yu:

“Her grace is hers, her aura is natural.”

A simple quote that perfectly summarized Rong Bai’s extraordinary presence and the crispness of her dancing. Ji Yu smiled and gave her a thumbs-up, complimenting both Ling Lan’s apt description and Rong Bai’s excellent performance.

Rong Bai only danced three-quarters of the choreography. Because her standards for herself were too exacting, she stopped when only about ten seconds remained.

However, too many people had been distracted while she was dancing, and hardly anyone noticed this detail. When she finished, they hadn’t memorized the necessary moves. When she came over to ask what they were struggling with, they reached out with a chuckle:

“Goddess Rong, can I touch your abs?”

Rong Bai: “…”

She helplessly brushed the stray hair from her forehead, as if this wasn’t the first time this had happened. She countered: “If I let you touch them, will you suddenly remember how to dance this section?”

The girl was still grinning: “I definitely can’t remember now, but what if touching them gives me inspiration?”

Rong Bai stood next to her, arms crossed, and smiled, her voice, however, was exceptionally merciless: “Then I’ll only consider it when you remember it?”

The other girls heard this, and tears of envy streamed from the corners of their mouths. They then began to experience intermittent amnesia:

“Goddess Rong, I think I forgot a move. Is this how it goes? Can you check it for me?”

“Oh no, Lianque, I can’t remember my move here either. Is it like this? No? My arm isn’t straight enough? Can you guide me so I can feel the movement?”

Jiang Lianque hadn’t mastered the moves herself. Hearing someone call her, she looked slightly confused, but instinctively walked over to seriously help check the moves. The girl she approached immediately smiled wider.

Although it was a painful dance lesson, for some reason, pink bubbles started floating in the classroom.

Ling Lan suddenly looked at Ji Yu next to her, taking the opportunity to express concern:

“How is your practice coming along? Why don’t we do a run-through together and check each other?”

At that moment, the other girls were busy seeking help from the idols for the parts they were unsure of, so few people noticed this corner. Ji Yu looked around and saw that the cameras weren’t filming her, so she nodded in agreement.

She thought, Although my progress is slightly faster than Rong Bai’s, I haven’t practiced in the classroom yet. Perhaps the standardization of my expressions and movements might still be a little off, so it won’t attract much attention.

Ling Lan played the music on her phone. The Go! theme song filled the corner—

Ji Yu stood in front of the mirror, slightly closed her eyes, and regulated her breathing. The moment the beat dropped, she opened her eyes. The gentle aura surrounding her abruptly vanished, and a dazzling light erupted from her pure black eyes!

7:10 AM.

Wang Luoshui was woken by her assistant. After washing up, she walked toward the staff room, intending to maintain her usual habit of asking the night shift crew if they had found any good footage. Instead, she found several people huddled in front of a screen, watching something.

Wang Luoshui walked over and patted her assistant’s shoulder: “What are you watching? Is there anything interesting?”

The assistant was about to share the excitement, but realized it was Wang Luoshui. She excitedly pointed at the screen and said:

“Director Wang! Footage!”

“We found a treasure!”

“This F-Class girl is incredible!!! Ahhh, I want to scream and go crazy for her! Who would have thought she was such a hidden master!”

Wang Luoshui: “?”

She asked, a little unsure: “Who? Which class?”

Class F?

Besides Meng Rendong’s ex-girlfriend, who was just coasting, were there any hidden gems in Class F?

She leaned in to look at the screen, noticing it was a playback, then squinted. The scene was crowded, and she noticed the automatic camera detection system on Ji Yu. As long as Ji Yu was on the recording set, she always managed to perfectly avoid most cameras, unless a staff member deliberately shoved a camera in her face.

Wang Luoshui’s interest was piqued. She wanted to guess which person had excited her staff so much.

The classroom was filled with trainees, including the A/B Class elites she thought highly of—Ling Lan, Rong Bai, Jiang Lianque—and also girls with distinct specialties but equally obvious shortcomings.

The Go! theme song played chaotically in the background. Some dances matched the initial stage impression, while others were still awkward, resembling a large-scale chaotic dance.

Until, the music started again for the umpteenth time—

The familiar music began.

In an empty corner, a silver-haired girl leaned against the wall. Facing her was Ji Yu, her black-dyed hair with red highlights tied up, her soft long hair falling to her shoulder blades. She stood in front of the mirror. From the very first move, Wang Luoshui’s gaze was locked on her.

She instinctively said: “Zoom in! Switch cameras.”

Unfortunately, no one next to her answered.

The assistant looked troubled: “The direction she’s facing… there are no cameras.”

Wang Luoshui: “!!!”

Ah!

She felt her heart bleeding, as if she had lost a hundred million dollars. But she couldn’t say anything more. The reason was simple: Ji Yu’s dance was too flawless. She was perfect in the song, the choreography, and the expressions required. It was as if the camera system had come alive, automatically knowing what direction to face for each move.

Wang Luoshui couldn’t clearly see her eyes, but she vaguely felt—

If this moment could be captured, perhaps everyone would remember this girl.

Ordinarily, her presence was so faint it was nearly transparent. But on the stage, her every move seemed to exude aggression from her pores, gripping people’s attention so fiercely it was impossible not to watch her. One wanted to slow down her every movement, capturing it forever in their memory.

Wang Luoshui was not the only one who thought this.

The girls dancing in the classroom had stopped at some point. One, two, three… They stared blankly in Ji Yu’s direction, even subconsciously moving to the side, unintentionally leaving the central camera view empty. Even though that camera could only capture Ji Yu’s back and her reflection in the mirrors in front of her.

They weren’t being so generous as to deliberately clear the camera view.

It was just that being on the same stage as someone like this created an involuntary feeling:

The stage belonged to her.

She was the master here.

For a moment, everyone forgot to speak. Only the melody and lyrics of Go! were heard:

“Go and dream it! Let them hear my voice!”

“Go and dream it! Promise me you’ll try!”

“Let me prove it on this stage”

“I am your perfect choice…”

Someone unconsciously started singing along to the song.

They looked at Ji Yu’s figure, somehow feeling an urge to tear up. So this theme song was truly full of power.

Let me prove it on this stage.

I am your perfect choice.

It turned out…

Someone truly could interpret this theme song so perfectly, as if the song and the dance were created just for her.

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