Ch30 - All Members Are A-Rank

‘Birth of an Idol’ was based on the concept that it was developed by the entire population of the nation. Their right to debut was chosen by the public. The fate of the contestants was placed in the hands of the audience; this easily motivated everyone to participate.

Many fans sincerely promoted their idols and voted, just to pick their favourite trainees to debut.

It was also because of this that there were many people who monitored the votes. They were always staring at the ever-changing numbers in order to speculate their favourite gege’s future.

When the voting first started, the people at the top of the rankings were mostly those who already had their own fanbases. Of course, there were also new people like Lu Xu who had attracted the votes of netizens after they watched the show. Although his progress at the beginning was slower, as the show became more popular, more people recognized him, and more fans gathered around him.

Along with the fact that a Movie King and singer were pulling votes for him, Lu Xu’s votes were climbing up at a speed visible to the naked eye.

If Lu Xu had slowly climbed up to first place, no one would have thought it abrupt.

But Lan Gaojie had been the first to parachute into first place. Before everyone had even finished scolding his capitalist operation, Lu Xu suddenly rose to first place.

[@I Don’t Eat Fujian People: Mother did I see wrong. There was such a big gap in votes but Lu Xu caught up overnight. Isn’t this too magical?]

[@Going Up Mt. Liang With A Big Blade: I’m not suspecting Lu Xu of anything, but I just think that these votes rose too quickly. Maybe Lu Xu’s rich fans have also made their moves. The two parties are battling each other by throwing money?]

[@Cheese-Flavored Little Moon: Even though Lu Xu’s votes are rising a little too quickly, but I really think it’s natural he’s in first place.]

…

Many netizens felt like Lu Xu’s votes had soared up too fast, but Lu Xu had popular appeal. Everyone merely discussed it and didn’t say anything too ugly.

However, Lan Gaojie’s fans would not accept this. They directly tagged the program’s staff to have them investigate for voter fraud—

[@Cherish Gao Jie Heart Turns Blue: @Birth of an Idol Official V I want to ask the staff if Lu Xu’s rise in votes overnight is normal? Since there has been investigations and suspicions against us, isn’t it fair to also investigate his votes?]

Seeing Lu Xu’s votes rise rapidly, many people’s first reactions were to wonder if money was being thrown around.

But when they clicked on the contributions of fans, the highest votes didn’t exceed over a few thousand votes per person. It wasn’t possible at all for there to be some local tycoon throwing money.

The show aired a few days ago. The fans had already voted. How could he suddenly receive so many new votes now?

Faced with the doubts of Lan Gaojie’s fans, the program staff acted fairly and investigated Lu Xu’s votes.

After he knew the investigation results were out, Fan Zeng specifically rang the program staff to ask, “How is it going, there aren’t any issues, right?”

“The votes are all normal and there’s no sign of voter fraud, but there’s something a little strange ai…” The program staff looked at the vote distribution chart and said, “Lu Xu’s votes rose at a normal pace at all other times but between midnight and one in the morning, his votes suddenly surged up. The number of votes have been rising since then, but the tempo has slowed down considerably…”

Surging at midnight?

“Maybe Lu Xu’s fans agreed to all vote at the same time?”

Fan Zeng didn’t understand the reasoning behind this, nor did he think too much about it. As long as Lu Xu’s votes were normal, there would be no issues whatsoever.

He stayed up all night to edit the show and only realised it was already 5 A.M. when he had finished.

He yawned and got up to go back to bed to sleep for two or three hours. But he had just gone up the stairs when he ran into Ji Xiunian at the entrance of the staircase. Lu Xu’s cat was following behind him.

“Xiunian, how come you’re up so early? What are you getting ready to do?”

Ji Xiunian also didn’t think he would run into Fan Zeng at this hour, but his expression barely changed and his tone remained perfectly natural. “I couldn’t sleep so I wanted to get up and move around for a bit. Fan ge, did you not sleep at all last night?”

Fan Zeng nodded. “Yes, isn’t the second episode going to be broadcasted soon? I was up all night editing it and fixing up all the problematic segments.”

Recording a variety show was not only difficult for the contestants, it also wasn’t easy for the staff.

Directors like Fan Zeng who did everything by themselves would have a terrifying amount of work every day and therefore only a pitiful amount of sleep.

Seeing the weariness hanging between his brows, Ji Xiunian couldn’t help but plead, “Fan ge, work is important, but your health is even more important than work. I feel like you need to rest more, or else you’ll be working way too hard.”

“Ai, I know this. It’s just that I don’t have any other choice.” Fan Zeng sighed and covered his chest. “I know I’m not young anymore. Staying up all night can’t even be cured with resting for a few days. My chest feels a bit stifled right now, so when this competition ends I’ll go on vacation and rest well.”

He said he would rest, but when the time came, he would probably change his words again.

Ji Xiunian knew that Fan Zeng was a workaholic. He looked at the time and could only urge him, “Let’s not talk about the future for now. Fan ge, hurry and go take a quick shower and sleep.”

“Mn.” Fan Zeng was also extremely sleepy. He had already yawned several times while saying these few phrases. He lowered his head to look at Ba Mei standing obediently by Ji Xiunian’s side, and couldn’t resist smiling as he said, “Ba Mei follows you everywhere. It must really like you.”

Ji Xiunian couldn’t help looking at Ba Mei after hearing this. His lips curled up into a smile on their own. “Yes, Bai Mei really likes me.”

Fan Zeng felt like his head was filled with paste. He chatted with Ji Xiunian casually for a bit before going directly to bed to sleep.

Only until after sending Fan Zeng back to his room did Ji Xiunian lower his head to look at Ba Mei. “Are you coming with me?”

Because he had made an appointment with the F4 the day before to evaluate them, Ji Xiunian had woken up early to go to the practise room.

But as soon as he opened his door, he found Ba Mei sitting there. He didn’t know when it had come.

Even Fan Zeng noticed that Ba Mei was always following behind him. Ji Xiunian naturally knew this.

Because he was used to always being alone since childhood, Ji Xiunian wasn’t used to being close with others. When he became famous in adulthood, there were many people with ulterior motives who deliberately tried to get close to him.

Ji Xiunian really couldn’t reject the obvious, pure affection Ba Mei had for him.

“I’m going to work. Are you coming with me?”

“Meow…”

Ba Mei hastily stood up on its hind legs and pressed its front paws against Ji Xiunian’s leg. It looked up at him with two chubby cheeks, its head seemingly even rounder.

Ji Xiunian had no other options. He could only stoop down and scoop Ba Mei up. “Let’s go. I’ll take you to watch the evaluations.”

The sky had not brightened yet. The trainees were exhausted from an entire day of work and most of them were still dreaming deeply.

The entire hallway was empty and quiet, making the music coming out of the A-rank’s practise room particularly obvious.

Ji Xiunian pushed open the door. As expected, he saw the F4 warming up along with the music. Who knew how long they had been practising.

“Morning, Nian ge!” The moment they saw him enter, the F4 couldn’t help but become happy. Their faces were full of unconcealable anticipation and joy. “We’re ready. We can start whenever!”

“Mn.” Ji Xiunian made a sound of acknowledgement. He pulled up a chair and sat by the speaker. “Then let’s start the official evaluation. Who is performing first?”

He Xinghua raised his hand first. “Nian ge, I’ll go first.”

“OK.” Seeing that He Xinghua was ready, Ji Xiunian played the music.

The practise room didn’t have a gorgeous stage, nor brilliant lights, nor the atmosphere of competition. Even so, from the moment he stood in the middle of the practise room, He Xinghua seemed like a changed person. He didn’t have his usual softness and his eyes were filled with self-confidence.

Dancing was the thing he liked the most in this life, and it was the thing he was the best at.

He barely had had a childhood. He had been dancing as long as he could remember.

It was also because of this that his body was extremely well-coordinated. Although it was just a solo in the middle of the practise room, it still sucked people into the music.

It could be said that He Xinghua’s skills were really high. If he had participated in this competition, he would have been near the top of the rankings.

At the end of the song, He Xinghua stopped his movements.

He was supposed to be sweating and breathing heavily as he thanked his audience, but a ghost wouldn’t sweat or need to breathe heavily. It was at that moment that He Xinghua truly realised that he had been dead for a long time.

“He Xinghua, right? My ranking for you is A.”

As a mentor, even though there were only four ‘trainees’, Ji Xiunian took his work very seriously.

“Waaa, A! Xinghua you’re in A-rank!”

After hearing this, the other three were extremely excited and couldn’t resist coming forward to congratulate He Xinghua.

He Xinghua paused in shock for a moment before returning to his senses, ecstatic. “Aaaa I’m A, I’m really A!”

“Right right, you’re too amazing!”

“Meow…” Ba Mei pressed against Ji Xiunian’s leg and sat on the ground. It waved its tail and yawned at the F4’s uncontainable excitement, apparently not too interested in the performances.

Ji Xiunian glanced at the time and interrupted their celebration. “Okay, next.”

“It’s my turn.”

The young boy had shallow dimples, his face delicate, his smile slightly bashful.

His style was different from He Xinghua’s. He walked the path of both cool and cute, but his foundations were just as stable.

“Dai Zijin.” When he finished dancing, Ji Xiunian didn’t hesitate and straightforwardly gave him his ranking. “A.”

He Xinghua was even happier than the recipient of the ranking when he heard this. He jumped up and clung onto him. “Aaaaaaaa Jin ge is too awesome!”

Ji Xiunian couldn’t help but smile slightly as he saw their happy states. He immediately continued, “Next.”

It had to be said that He Xinghua’s group members were very strong.

At the end of the evaluation, all three of them had displayed A-rank level abilities.

Three of the F4 members were in A-rank. Only Tao Yingbo was left.

“I’m an amateur at dancing…” Right before Ji Xiunian pressed down on the play button for the music, Tao Yingbo still wanted to save himself by lowering Ji Xiunian’s expectations first.

It was obvious that Tao Yingbo wasn’t lying—he had also practised hard, but all four of his limbs had their own thoughts when he danced and it didn’t look cohesive at all.

Ba Mei narrowed its eyes and looked over. It felt that this was rather boring and closed its eyes again to sleep.

Ji Xiunian didn’t want to crack down hard on the ghosts. However it was a simple matter of fact, if Tao Yingbo had really participated in the competition, he could only fall into the lowest rank.

“F.”

Hearing Ji Xiunian’s result, Tao Yingbo himself felt a little embarrassed, and could only make fun of himself. “F4 is F4, there always has to be an F-rank right?”

He Xinghua couldn’t help but hurriedly say, “Big bro might not be able to dance, but he can sing!”

“Right right, didn’t some of the living trainees get an A ranking based solely on their singing?”

When Tao Yingbo heard this, he felt a little moved but was also afraid Ji Xiunian would think they were too troublesome, so he could only hesitate.

Just as he thought he might as well forget it, he heard Ji Xiunian suddenly say from the side, “Sing then.”

Tao Yingbo, who had been quite depressed, suddenly raised his head and a light shone within his eyes. “Nian ge, can I sing without accompaniment?”

Ji Xiunian nodded. “You can.”

“Thank you!”

Tao Yingbo once again stood in the middle of the practise room, his hands somewhat stiffly clasped together. He recalled how he had been like when he had first arrived in Dongcheng, and suddenly, it felt like it had been just yesterday. “I too once thought life was long, that there were many dreams to dream, and plenty of youth to waste…”

He was young and inexperienced at that time and had always thought there would be countless tomorrows.

“I believed there would be a lot of time, that the future was far off…”

“Death ends everything, dreams are on the other shore, but I will forever be left behind in yesterday…”

Tao Yingbo had once thought life was hard, but he didn’t think that death was the true despair.

Life gave infinite possibilities. Death took them all away.

When he returned to his senses after singing, he realised he had been crying.

He hastily wiped his tears away and bowed to Ji Xiunian. “I’m sorry Instructor Ji, this is a new song I wrote. There’s no accompaniment and I haven’t prepared anything. It’s a little rushed.”

Ji Xiunian watched him as he tried to appear strong and took in a breath before smiling slightly. “Tao Yingbo, A.”

Tao Yingbo had been feeling rather sad when he heard his words, then became stunned before rejoicing, “Am I really an A?”

“Yes, you’re a very talented and charismatic singer, so I’m giving you an A.”

“Aaaaa, big bro is A!”

“All of our members are A!!”

“Thank you Nian ge, thank you so much.”

Tao Yingbo looked towards Ji Xiunian, his tears about to come out.

“Ai, that’s not right.” He Xinghua heard what he said and was lost in thought as he calculated with his fingers. “Big bro, you died when you were 27 and you’ve already been dead for ten years. You call Nian ge older brother even though you’re so much older than him. This doesn’t seem very appropriate…”

“Don’t mess around boy, that’s a sign of my sincere respect, okay?”

The F4 laughed together. Ji Xiunian got up to leave. “Okay, prepare well for next week’s evaluation.”

“Okay Nian ge!”

“Thank you Nian ge!”

“Meow…”

Seeing that Ji Xiunian was about to leave, Bai Mei immediately got up to follow.

The moment they left, He Xinghua took out his phone to post a new status when he realized something. “Aaaaa we didn’t participate in the voting Xiao Bai jiejie and her friends organised last night!”