Chapter 51: CHAPTER 51

Although most trainees were reluctant to face this fact, the day for recording the second ranking announcement arrived.

The second ranking announcement was a cut from forty to twenty-five.

Compared to the previous cut from sixty to forty, it seemed like fewer trainees needed to face the pressure of being eliminated.

However, the popularity of this batch of mid-ranking trainees was not evenly distributed. One performance or one appearance in front of the camera could determine their fate.

Those who were previously in the top twenty-five were worried about being overtaken by those who had performed well.

For the trainees who had been ranked around twenty-five in the last ranking announcement, they were even more anxious about their fate.

Since the ranking announcement was being recorded tonight, training for each group basically stopped during the day.

After all, once the results of the ranking announcement were revealed tonight, they would be recording the change of groups tomorrow.

Besides the eliminated trainees, the remaining trainees couldn’t be sure if they would stay in their current groups.

Therefore, there was little point in continuing to train at this time, and they might not even have the mood to continue.

So, most trainees were either agonizing over their evening makeup or considering packing their bags in advance.

Of course, those who knew their popularity was stable in the top few didn’t have to worry about this.

For example, Tan Meng still dragged Cheng Zhen to the practice room to practice dancing.

And Jiang Ye continued to play Go with Lin Zui in her dorm.

Next to them, Shen Zhiyi borrowed a tablet from the practice room and was seriously studying the songs for the third performance.

Jiang Ye glanced at her and teased, “Wow, our Shen Zhiyi, you’re confident enough to not pack your bags in advance this time.”

She had just come from the ‘Tiny’ group members.

Several of her group members had already packed their bags, just waiting to leave after recording the ranking announcement tonight.

“... Um, I think I can stay this time.”

Shen Zhiyi paused after saying this, then sighed, “Probably.”

“See, you’re not confident again, are you?”

Jiang Ye closed her eyes and pretended to read her fortune, “I’ve calculated it for you, you’ll definitely stay.”

Shen Zhiyi looked at her, half-believing, “Really?”

“Really.”

Jiang Ye said seriously, though she was making it up, “I’m very accurate at fortune-telling.”

“When I was young, I often went out to set up a fortune-telling stall on the street to make a living for the orphanage. A quick reading for forty, a detailed reading for eighty, now I’m here giving free readings to you all. I’m losing money.”

Shen Zhiyi: "..."

Lin Zui: "..."

While Lin Zui wasn’t impressed by Jiang Ye’s nonsense, she still said to Shen Zhiyi, “I think you can make it too.”

Although Shen Zhiyi’s ranking in the last announcement was only 33rd.

But since then, whether it was the main episode or the daily behind-the-scenes footage, her screen time had increased significantly.

Shen Zhiyi was naturally beautiful, the type who could attract fans with her looks alone. Coupled with being in the same group as Jiang Ye and their growing CP, her popularity had been steadily rising.

Their performance also received very good feedback, so it should be no problem for her to make it through.

While Jiang Ye said that, she wasn’t actually making it up.

When she was on the hot searches that day, she took a look and saw that Shen Zhiyi was also on the hot searches.

Jiang Ye remembered that their company had always favored Xue Zhihan, so why would they suddenly buy Shen Zhiyi a hot search?

The only possibility she could think of was that their company suddenly discovered Shen Zhiyi’s potential during this performance.

Then, their company would definitely not give up on her so easily.

Lin Zui drew a black circle on the paper as a piece, then asked Jiang Ye, “Since you’re so good at fortune-telling, have you calculated your own fortune?”

“Why would I need to calculate it?”

Jiang Ye blinked, still using the most innocent expression to say the most arrogant things, “If I’m not number one, who else is?”

Jiang Ye was confident in her prediction for her ranking this time.

If before, her popularity and Lin Zui’s were intertwined.

But since her background was exposed, whether it was controlling the comments, signing in on the super topic, or the amount of money raised, she had already created a small gap with Lin Zui.

Now, whether it was in terms of popularity among casual viewers or die-hard fans, she was stronger than Lin Zui.

Fortunately, Lin Zui didn’t mind arguing with her about this.

She jokingly looked at Jiang Ye, “Then why don’t you help me calculate mine?”

Jiang Ye drew a blank circle and jokingly replied, “Since I’m number one, giving you the second place is no problem.”

She thought for a moment, “Besides you, I can’t think of anyone else who deserves to be a little bit below me.”

"..."

“Are you complimenting me or complimenting yourself?”

“You guess?”

•••

At six o’clock that evening, all the trainees went to record the ranking announcement.

This time, it was dance mentor Yang Jingjing who came to announce the rankings.

She was always very gentle, so many trainees felt a bit relieved when they saw her enter.

If it was Mentor Chen Yiming, the straight man, who came to announce the rankings, the trainees might cry but he wouldn’t know how to hand them a tissue.

“Everyone looks so beautiful tonight,”

Yang Jingjing’s gaze swept over each trainee, and she clapped for them, smiling brightly. “So, since you’re so beautiful, don’t waste it. Don’t cry tonight, okay?”

“Even if you leave, we want to leave with a happy heart and a beautiful appearance.”

According to the rules, the ranking announcement started from 24th place.

Shen Zhiyi’s expression was a little tense.

She had predicted her ranking to be around 22nd.

However, Yang Jingjing read through the names, and she wasn’t called until the 18th trainee.

Shen Zhiyi really wasn’t sure anymore.

Should she hope for the lucky spot, the last one, 25th?

That was too risky, she didn’t dare to hope.

What if she still didn’t make it to the next round?

When she read the 17th trainee’s name, Yang Jingjing paused, then suddenly smiled, “Wow, this trainee has improved a lot.”

“But I think she deserves this ranking.”

“She was a bit too quiet at first, so everyone didn’t pay attention to her right away.”

“But in this performance, she shone brightly, showing everyone a different side of herself.”

Yang Jingjing put down the script, her eyes crinkled in a genuine smile. “As your dance mentor, I want to tell you.”

“Let me always see the you from the ‘Listen to the Night Rain’ stage.”

“Congratulations, Nuan Yang Entertainment, Shen Zhiyi.”

The trainees around her applauded.

Lin Zui’s expression remained unchanged, but her heart was relieved.

Jiang Ye had expected this, and she applauded with a smile.

Shen Zhiyi walked step by step onto the podium.

The spotlight shining on her head made her heart feel warm.

She had always felt that she wasn’t good enough.

But it seemed like since Jiang Ye appeared, many people started telling her, “You’re great, why are you afraid to show your true self?”

There were so many people who loved you.

You’re no worse than any other trainee here.

“Thank you, Mentor Jingjing.”

“I did doubt myself before, but I won’t anymore.”

Shen Zhiyi finished, then looked at the trainee seats, smiling at Jiang Ye, “From now on, I will show everyone more sides of me, and I hope more people will see me. Thank you.”

•••

As the rankings were announced one by one.

The seats on the pyramid became fewer and fewer.

Yang Jingjing: “Now, I’m going to announce the trainee closest to making her debut.”

The camera focused on the sixth seat.

“This trainee has shown everyone her hard work.”

“If I had to choose the trainee who best embodies the saying ‘the harder you work, the luckier you get’ in this show.”

“I think it would be her.”

“Congratulations, Shengrui Entertainment, Tan Meng.”

Jiang Ye’s eyes turned to the person beside her with joy.

Tan Meng was 11th last time.

After the second performance, her stage performance attracted even more fans.

The competition was fierce, especially in the upper ranks.

For her to climb from 11th to 6th was even harder than Shen Zhiyi climbing from 33rd to 17th.

Tan Meng walked up to the stage.

Compared to the last ranking announcement, her emotions were clearly more excited.

She took a deep breath, looked up at the spotlight, and suddenly, she couldn’t hold back her tears.

“… Someone once told me.”

“Crying offstage is worthless.”

“She told me, if I had the chance, I should only cry when I sat on the seat I chose at the beginning.”

Lin Zui was slightly taken aback, then smiled.

Good memory.

“It’s because of this belief that I worked hard all the way to where I am now.”

“The first time I chose my seat, I chose sixth, but I didn’t keep it.”

“But this time, I’m back.”

Tan Meng desperately wiped away her tears and bowed to the camera, “Thank you.”

•••

This time, Liang Yu was fifth.

But she didn’t seem to care about her ranking, and when she gave her speech, she didn’t thank everyone like other trainees, but instead, she mentioned her performance group.

“Yesterday, the eight of us in the ‘Tiny’ group recorded our special stage.”

“Actually, I used to hate saying these kind of sentimental things.”

Liang Yu paused, then smiled, “But honestly, yesterday, when you all applauded yourselves, I got goosebumps.”

“Since participating in this show, I didn’t expect to have this kind of experience.”

“But since I came, I participated, I invested myself, I’m part of you all.”

“I believe that everyone in our ‘Tiny’ group will do better.”

•••

Cheng Zhen rose to fourth place thanks to her outstanding performance in the second performance.

“Thank you to my fans for voting for me, you’ve worked hard!”

“And I want to say, thank you for voting for ‘The Wind by the Sea’ for my performance. But the dance for this song is really hard! But don’t worry, I’ve been working hard at dancing lately.”

Cheng Zhen looked back, “I especially want to thank Tan Meng! She’s really a good teacher!”

She muttered under her breath, “Although she’s really strict when she pushes us to practice.”

The whole place burst into laughter.

Tan Meng: "..."

You idiot! Why are you mentioning me now? Quickly thank the fans!

“But I think I’ve really improved after being trained by her.”

Cheng Zhen smiled, “So, thank you very much to my fans for giving me the opportunity to challenge things I thought I couldn’t do. I’ll continue to work hard in the future, let’s all work hard together!”

Jiang Ye almost couldn’t help but laugh.

Although Cheng Zhen seemed like a silly and innocent person, she was actually quite good at speaking.

She was not good at dancing, and she complained about it privately.

But when her fans voted for a song that required dancing, she said, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to challenge myself. You see, I worked hard and completed it”.

Of course, fans would be very receptive to this.

After Cheng Zhen sat down in fourth place.

Yang Jingjing almost couldn’t help but laugh, and after a while, she said, “Okay, okay, let’s announce the third-place trainee.”

She had been reading the names from the envelopes one by one for the top five.

However, when she drew the third-place name, she paused slightly.

Jiang Ye noticed this detail and couldn’t help but frown.

“The third-place trainee.”

Yang Jingjing’s pace suddenly slowed down, “She’s also a trainee I admire very much.”

“She has always been known for her skills among the trainees, and she always has her own attitude on stage.”

“And in this performance, she challenged herself in the rap group, I wonder if she brought more surprises to the producers.”

Jiang Ye was getting a bad feeling about this description.

No way.

This is the announcement for third place, right?

Did Yang Jingjing take out the wrong envelope?

Jiang Ye subconsciously looked at the person next to her.

At the same time, she heard Yang Jingjing’s voice.

“Congratulations, Hai Yin Entertainment trainee, Lin Zui.”