Transmigrated as the CEO's Top-Tier Stand-in - Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Pre-Assessment Buzz and Ji Yu’s Encouragement

“I heard there’s a dark horse in F-class. She learned the entire theme song and dance overnight and even received praise from Feng ge.”

“Really? That amazing?”

“Teacher Rong was there, wasn’t she? And Lian Que from B-class. Why don’t we ask them?”

“Is even F-class this terrifying now?”

At this point, there were still ten hours until the theme song assessment.

The A-class trainees were gathered during a break, discussing news from other classes.

Because the time given to learn the theme song was so short, and as the strongest trainees, it would be somewhat embarrassing if they were surpassed in the theme song evaluation. Thus, the nine of them had practiced almost ceaselessly. Chu Nanxing and Li Xing were among those who spent the least amount of time out of the studio, so they were still catching up on the gossip when they overheard the discussion.

It wasn’t surprising that they were out of the loop. To maximize practice time, they usually went to eat after everyone else had mostly finished. They missed the lively, crowded scenes and weren’t very aware of the surrounding dynamics. Moreover, they both particularly looked down on trainees from the lower-ranked classes and had no desire to waste their time on “poverty relief.”

Now, hearing the girls talk, Li Xing twisted open the cap of her mineral water bottle and turned to ask curiously: “F-class? Who is it?”

A figure flashed in Chu Nanxing’s mind, but then she remembered Ji Yu’s initial stage performance and felt doubtful. Just then, Rong Bai, resting in the corner, was curiously poked by her friend. She raised her hand to wipe the sweat from her neck with a towel and said casually:

“Her name is Ji Yu.”

“I watched her theme song performance; it was exceptionally good.”

The evaluation consisted of just three simple words, but the girls around couldn’t help but gasp in admiration: “Wow!”

To what extent must a trainee excel to be described as “exceptionally good” by Rong Bai?

Li Xing was also stunned for a moment. Initially, there was a hint of playfulness in her eyes, and she hadn’t paid any attention to this person. After spending a few days with Rong Bai and learning about her skill and personality, Li Xing also became slightly more serious, gently nudging Chu Nanxing next to her with her elbow.

“Hey, Nanxing, why does that name sound familiar?”

“During the initial stage, I think you paid attention to someone in F-class. Was it her?”

Chu Nanxing pursed her lips. Although she wore light-colored lip gloss today and her makeup style was youthful and vibrant, her gaze sinking instantly made her entire demeanor slightly gloomy.

Li Xing was slow to notice the change in her friend, still looking at her with curiosity. Chu Nanxing herself noticed it and quickly changed her expression, showing a smile again, and softly answered: “Mm.”

When “Ji Yu” wasn’t considered a threat, Li Xing wasn’t interested in her at all. But now, after hearing the descriptions from her classmates, guessing that Ji Yu would become a strong competitor, she uncharacteristically became attentive and pulled Chu Nanxing to ask:

“I’ve been meaning to ask, do you know that Ji Yu?”

Chu Nanxing took a powder compact from her pants pocket, opened the small mirror inside, checked her makeup, and then used the powder puff to touch up areas where her makeup had worn off. Looking at her own dark eyes in the mirror, she remained silent for two seconds and answered nonchalantly:

“Not really. I’ve only met her.”

Li Xing wanted to press for more details about Ji Yu, but Chu Nanxing didn’t want to continue the conversation. She closed the compact with a “clack,” put it in her pocket, and said:

“Let’s keep practicing.”

“As long as we dance well enough, we don’t need to worry about others.”

Although she hadn’t seen Ji Yu’s performance, Chu Nanxing herself had been praised by Dance Mentor Zhi Tao. She had started learning dance with Chu Jianyu since she was four and had been dancing for sixteen years now.

In the beginning, no one focused their attention on her. No matter how hard she tried or how much she exerted herself, her parents, relatives, and friends could only see Chu Jianyu. And she, the younger sister, could only live under Chu Jianyu’s shadow.

Now, Chu Jianyu had been dead for many years.

No one else would be able to surpass her.

Chu Nanxing firmly believed this.

Seeing her start playing the theme song again without a word, Li Xing also gave up her intention to gossip and resumed practicing with Chu Nanxing.

Ji Yu’s Final Encouragement

At the same time, in F-class.

The closer it got to the assessment, the more nervous the trainees became. Some even collapsed in a corner and started crying because they kept forgetting the moves:

“I don’t want to practice anymore.”

“I give up, let me go home QAQ”

Ji Yu was originally correcting a girl’s movements, encouraging her to make the wave motion bigger and not hold back. Hearing the commotion, she instinctively looked over.

The weeping girl had her back to the camera, unwilling to have her embarrassing state seen. She was huddled alone in the corner, but other trainees gathered around. Some handed her water, others tissues, patting her shoulder and encouraging her:

“Just try one more time.”

“We’re all practicing with you.”

The girl buried her head in her arms, crying and saying: “I can’t learn it… I keep forgetting… Am I just not suitable for dancing at all…”

A heavy atmosphere gradually permeated the studio. Although some were still persevering, hearing this made their hearts uneasy. The girl cried for a while, and not wanting to affect everyone else, she used the excuse of washing her face and ran outside.

Ji Yu followed her. Since the washroom was private and unsuitable for filming, the cameraman had to stop at the door, letting Ji Yu and a few friends of the girl go inside.

The sound of running water from the sink covered the crying and the helpless words inside:

“This is too hard for me…”

“Learning a whole dance in three days is impossible… I’m clumsy and untalented… I feel like I’m going to be eliminated soon… Why did I even come here…”

Her friends patted her shoulder. Ji Yu stood slightly behind, leaning against the wall, listening to the desperate sobs, feeling her own heart clench.

No matter how warm and wonderful the people on the show were, it couldn’t hide the fact that this was a cruel, competitive survival show.

Some put in a hundred percent effort, some possess incredible talent, and some have solid capital backing them, but inevitably, some members must face elimination. This mechanism was like a blade hanging overhead, urging everyone to exert their full potential—those who collapse are eliminated; those who adapt remain.

Ji Yu had already experienced this type of show, but she found that she could never completely adapt to it. For instance, watching this girl who had only learned a third of the dance and constantly struggled with the rhythm, Ji Yu knew very well that the girl had a high chance of being eliminated, as she wasn’t from a large company, lacked a strong dance foundation, and hadn’t received any special screen time.

But…

Ji Yu still followed her.

As the girl’s crying subsided, Ji Yu took two steps forward, licked her slightly dry lower lip, and tried to say: “Do you want to try one more time?”

“Before the results are out, everyone still has a chance.”

“Our time for this theme song assessment is too tight. We don’t even have enough time to visit other classes or rest. We haven’t seen what the others are like anyway. Maybe we really can’t surpass the A-class trainees, but the gap between us and B, C, and D classes isn’t that huge. Maybe if you work hard, you can reach them?”

Ji Yu’s gaze was very sincere, and her voice was gentle. The girl, whose eyes were red from crying, turned to look, but then raised her hand to gently push Ji Yu outwards:

“Teacher Ji, you’ve helped me so much, but I really can’t do it right now.”

“You should go practice! You’ve been helping us these past two days. Go! You can definitely make it to A-class. You’re the best among us, woo woo woo!”

She started to cry again, feeling even guiltier because Ji Yu had the capacity to teach her classmates while she herself was dragging down the average progress of the class.

Ji Yu turned her hand to hold the girl’s wrist, looked into her eyes, and said earnestly: “I’m not trying to coax you. It’s true. I once doubted my own talent too and felt I had tried hard enough, but in the end, I found I was just a little short of my goal.”

“Afterward, I constantly thought, I wish I had tried just a little bit harder back then.”

At that time, she was only one spot away from the debut position.

One step away.

Yet, it separated her and Si Tian so, so far.

No matter how many tears she shed after that show, it couldn’t make up for the regret it brought her. So, from that time on, Ji Yu told herself not to cry before the results were out and not to waste time weeping, because perhaps just a little more effort could change the final outcome.

Tears can be shed anytime; it’s never too late.

But some opportunities, once missed, truly bring lifelong regret.

Thinking this, Ji Yu wiped the girl’s tears and smiled, continuing: “Just hold on a little longer. It’s not too late to cry after the results are announced, okay?”

“Maybe in the next eight hours, you’ll practice more proficiently and perform better than everyone else, and you’ll pass? You already want to go home anyway, so nothing could be worse than going home, right?”

The girl stared at her blankly.

After a long time, she broke into a laugh through her tears, a small bubble forming in her nose which she quickly wiped away.

She wasn’t encouraged by Ji Yu’s bizarre pep talk, but rather by another sentence: “Teacher Ji, who is so amazing, also had times when she couldn’t reach her goal? How difficult must that standard have been?”

Ji Yu thought of the past, a hint of regret in her eyes. Then she smiled lightly, shrugged, and said helplessly: “No choice. Not everyone is born knowing how to sing and dance.”

The girl pushed her shoulder towards the door, nodding seriously: “Seeing that Teacher Ji is wasting her golden time to convince me, I can’t be so ungrateful anymore. I’m going to try my best! Whatever happens after eight hours, happens. Anyway, I’m tired of crying!”

Ji Yu heard her shout, allowed herself to be pushed forward, smiled, and said again:

“Mm.”

“Just think of it this way, but don’t try hard for me. It’s so you don’t have regrets. At worst, if you lose, you can cry when you get home.”

The friends who had been with the girl also laughed.

They returned to the studio. Ji Yu looked at the other trainees still practicing inside and turned back to the girl, saying: “See, everyone is still working hard. I will also stay here until the assessment starts. You need to be confident. You can come and ask me anything you don’t know. Don’t be afraid.”

The girl nodded, her eyelashes still wet. She leaned close to Ji Yu’s ear and whispered: “Teacher Ji, you’re so nice, I’m really starting to fall in love with you!”

Ji Yu: “…?”

Seeing her blank, unresponsive look, the girl suddenly understood what her friends meant by “Teacher Ji is soft and cute.” She smiled and quickly returned to her original spot to continue practicing with the music.

The Evening of the Assessment and a Distant Glimpse

The stories in every studio were faithfully recorded by the cameras.

Wang Luoshui, sitting in front of the screens, nodded with satisfaction and leaned back in her chair. Thinking that the show would premiere on the website one hour after the assessment ended, she checked the time and began following up with the publicity and logistics teams, ensuring that the staff generated enough momentum for the show’s launch and that online and offline promotions were fully executed.

This way, when the show premiered, the influx of audience traffic would maximize the discussion generated by the first episode.

Before completely diving into the next round of work, Wang Luoshui paused. She took out her phone, opened the conversation box with Meng Rendong, and thought about Meng Rendong’s previous reaction. Her fingertip tapped lightly on the screen, unsure whether to speak her mind.

She wanted to say that tonight was the premiere of Dream Chasing 100 on the website, and the production team would be extremely busy, advising Meng Rendong not to come over.

If Meng Rendong could just come fewer times.

Eventually, she might slowly forget Ji Yu.

However, if Meng Rendong didn’t watch here, wouldn’t she still be able to watch it on the website in her office? If she waited patiently for a week until the theme song assessment content was uploaded, Ji Yu’s strength would still be evident.

Wang Luoshui hesitated for two seconds. In a mood of giving up, she wondered if she should just tell Meng Rendong directly that Ji Yu didn’t seem to love her that much.

Or should she just send the previous video footage directly to her?

No.

Someone as proud and concerned with appearances as Rendong, learning this from her friend, would certainly suffer a major blow.

Wang Luoshui thought it over and could only secretly vow to find a more tactful, compromised way to clue Meng Rendong in before Ji Yu’s interview segment aired, to prevent her from being caught completely off guard.

“Director Wang.”

The assistant called out from outside and spoke to her about a work matter across the room.

Wang Luoshui had no choice but to put away her phone temporarily and execute her previous idea of finding time in the next few days to brief Meng Rendong.

Time passed minute by minute amid everyone’s busyness.

One hour before the assessment began, Qi Feng, Night, and the other two mentors returned to the studios to practice with the trainees for a final period. Their presence served as a strong morale boost, making everyone practice until the very last second.

Until the assessment time arrived.

A camera was set up in the center of every class studio. Trainees from different classes could perform their song and dance in front of the camera. The mentors watched and scored in a centralized office, giving out grades on the spot. The top nine trainees who scored an A would stand in the core area during the next theme song performance, receiving the most screen time.

Conversely, trainees who received an F would be in the most peripheral corners. They would not only receive the least screen time, but five trainees would be eliminated on the spot due to insufficient corner positions. They would only be able to watch the other ninety-five trainees perform during the first public performance before exiting sadly.

At the moment the assessment began.

One hundred trainees held their breath for themselves.

F-class.

Ji Yu was nominated to go first. She put on her sound equipment and walked to the camera without any fear.

The four mentors in the small room saw her appear first on screen. Qi Feng smiled, picked up the microphone, and announced: “First assessor, F-class, Ji Yu.”

The sound was broadcast through the speakers in all the studios, causing others who wanted to be the first to test to subconsciously step back, as the mentors could only focus on one person at a time.

Having learned Ji Yu’s name over the past few days, the trainees all guessed whether she could successfully enter A-class in one go.

“Yu-Dad is awesome. Yu-Dad will definitely succeed!”

“Teacher Ji is amazing!”

“Will the first assessment be the strictest?”

“Is she nervous? I’m so scared I won’t be able to perform as well as usual when I dance. Ah, so nervous!”

Whispers came from every corner. Although the F-class studio was exceptionally quiet, sometimes this silence created invisible pressure.

Ji Yu stood in front of the camera, took a deep breath, and her eyes gradually became focused—

She could hear her own heartbeat.

Thump, thump.

Blood was surging, nerves were tingling.

It was as if every cell in her body knew this was the monumental moment of her return to the stage.

Ji Yu slowly let out her breath, then turned to the staff member playing the music, signaled that she was ready, and the next moment, the lively music of “Go!” rang out in the studio!

The City Streets: A Fleeting Moment

7:30 PM.

The billboards leased at bus stops and subway corridors updated their content. They flipped over to display the slogan of Dream Chasing 100 along with the invitation to become a “National Dream Builder”—

In the city center’s pedestrian street.

The LED screen on the side of a large commercial building displayed a short video for Dream Chasing 100. Beautiful faces flashed across the screen, accompanied by the trainees’ initial reasons for joining the show, with different timbres and voice qualities:

“I came here, of course, to debut.”

“Forming a group is my dream.”

“I want to see my years of effort pay off.”

“I’ve been dancing alone for a long time. I don’t know what it feels like to have an audience watching and applauding me. I also want to hear cheers and have others see my sweat and hard work.”

One voice after another rang out, attracting the attention of people who were walking or shopping on the pedestrian street.

They whispered to each other, stopping near the commercial building. Some recognized the TWB boy group members who appeared on screen and screamed, shouting from a distance: “Feng Feng, I love you!” “Night ge, my King, woo woo woo!” “When will you release a new stage?” “I’ve been waiting for their album for five hundred years” “TEB, my forever youth” and so on.

Others chatted and discussed with their friends:

“What show is this? What is a National Dream Builder? Voting? Am I voting for the debut members?”

“Huh? The girls in this show look very pretty.”

“Wow, isn’t that a member of that little girl group that was popular two years ago?”

“Litchi Network is being very generous. This promotion must be expensive.”

The bustling street was covered with colorful promotions and advertisements. A graceful figure with her head down walked through it, seemingly uninterested in these celebrities or advertisements.

Even the innovative survival show format of Dream Chasing 100 failed to capture her attention.

Just then.

A slightly smiling, gentle voice emerged from the broadcast:

“Me?”

“I came here because I wanted… wanted her, wanted my friend to see me. If she can see this show, I hope to tell her that I’m still pursuing that dream we had, trying to walk the same path as her.”

The figure suddenly stopped in her tracks.

She seemed slightly disbelieving of the voice she had just heard.

Standing still for a moment, she slowly raised her head, wanting to see what advertisement or program was being broadcast on the screen, but the image had already switched. After just over ten seconds, the next commercial advertisement began to play.

She looked around blankly. She saw some people around her who were uninterested in the upcoming lipstick advertisement turning to leave. She hurriedly followed them, carefully touching the person’s sleeve, but the person didn’t notice at all and kept walking forward.

She had to quickly catch up, circle to the person’s side, and ask softly:

“Excuse me.”

“Did you see that advertisement just now? There was a girl at the end. Do you remember her name?”

The person who was stopped looked confused. They were initially impatient, thinking she was someone trying to get them to scan a QR code for an advertisement. But upon seeing a particularly cold and elegant face, a flicker of admiration crossed their eyes, and their tone became a little more patient as they replied: “I don’t know. We were just joining the crowd. We can’t distinguish the people on there.”

She asked several people, all giving the same answer.

The girl had no choice but to stand there, staring at the huge advertising screen, waiting for the next loop. But she stood there for five or six minutes, and it never came, making her feet ache slightly.

After a while longer.

She suddenly thought of something, took out her phone, and searched for the show title she had glimpsed: Dream Chasing 100.

After searching diligently for a long time, she realized the show’s secrecy was well-maintained. Because it hadn’t aired yet, there was no information about the trainees, except for the members of the famous boy group TEB who had been announced to participate.

She stared at the page for a long time, then deleted the previous search term, her fingers trembling as she slowly typed two more characters:

“Ji Yu”

Even less information came up this time.

The scattered results were all irrelevant people.

She smiled, put away her phone, and softly murmured a sentence that was quickly scattered by the wind:

“Just an illusion, I guess.”

Support Transmigrated as the CEO’s Top-Tier Stand-in