CH 31

Xu Li had just returned from the practice room. He had been sweating profusely and felt sore all over from practicing the theme song. Despite that, he still lagged behind his classmates who had a foundation in dance.

He had been in the practice room all day and hadn't even eaten lunch. The teacher, feeling sympathetic, asked him to go back, take a shower, and rest for a bit, then come back later in the evening to continue practicing.

Just as Xu Li returned, he felt that he smelled strongly of sweat and didn't want to lie down on his bed. He played with his phone while waiting for his roommate to finish showering.

The live broadcast of the trainee dormitory's diary was on. The program team stipulated that as long as there were people in the dorm, the live feed would be on, even during non-designated break times in the afternoon or evening.

Xu Li was quietly playing with his phone, his bangs sticking to his forehead due to sweat. His cheeks were still flushed from the intense practice.

With his naturally delicate and handsome appearance, he buried half of his face in his arm while playing with his phone, looking like an obedient little boy.

「I caught my son secretly playing with his phone!!」

「Wuwuwu, my son is so well-behaved.」

「Our Liza trainees have worked hard with zero dance foundation. qwq」

「Looking forward to Liza's theme song stage!!!」

Xu Li, who had been expressionless, suddenly felt his phone vibrate. They didn't know what message he had received as the front-facing camera could only capture his phone case. The audience had no idea what he saw.

However, the sound was audible.

It was the sound of a short video, with a piece of particularly cute background music.

「Liza, you're actually secretly watching other girls behind our backs!!!」

「Tell Mom who it is!」

「Haha, men.」

After watching the entire video, Xu Li's face, which had been expressionless, suddenly showed a flicker of emotion. His eyebrows furrowed, he tugged at his lips, and a disdainful sneer escaped from his mouth.

That disdainful expression was about to overflow from the live feed.

「Haha, a straight guy.」

「Okay, I misunderstood, my son, you really didn't disappoint Mom.」

「Feeling sorry for this internet-famous girl, haha.」

Pig1:「Middle finger.jpg」

Pig:「Have you learned the theme song yet, dance idiot?」

Pig:「Class F is wide open, welcoming your arrival.」

Xu Li:「Vomit.jpg」

Pig:「You tasteless dog.」

Pig:「Deserve to be a loner for life.」

Just as Xu Li was searching for reaction gifs to further infuriate his sister, Wen Li sent another message.

Pig:「Are you hiding in the bathroom playing with your phone?」

Pig:「Be careful, I'll report you to the production team for hiding your phone.」

Xu Li:「Go ahead, I brought ten phones.」

Xu Li:「And I'm in the dorm. Do you think everyone is like you, staying in the bathroom?」

Pig:「? Don't you know that there's a live camera in your dorm?」

Pig:「Get ready for your phone to be confiscated by someone.」

Pig:「Were you born with your brain still inside our mom's stomach?」

At that moment, Xu Li's roommate Wang Yiyuan came out after taking a shower, shaking his wet hair. He said to Xu Li, "I'm done, you can go now."

Xu Li's face turned dark, "Is the camera in our dorm live streaming?"

"Yeah, otherwise, why do you think I always come out fully dressed after showering?" Wang Yiyuan replied, waving his wet hair. Then he greeted the camera on the table, "Hello."

Of course, he didn't have any equipment and couldn't see the response from the live audience.

「Hello, Yuan'er, please tell that silly son of mine to carefully read the contract before participating in any variety show next time.」

「Hahahaha, silly son.」

「I knew it. That's why Liza wasn't worried about playing with his phone in the dorm even though it got confiscated four times in three days. He didn't even know the dorm camera was on!」

Sure enough, the dorm door was knocked on the next second.

When the staff came to confiscate the phone, they casually asked, "Which lady's video were you watching on your phone just now?"

Xu Li pursed his lips and said calmly, "No one."

"We are all guys, I understand," the staff teased and patted his shoulder, "You can take your time and watch it after the show."

Xu Li: "..."

After the staff left, Xu Li couldn't face the live camera anymore. He quickly finished showering and immediately took Wang Yiyuan to the practice room.

On the way to the practice room, Wang Yiyuan clung to his shoulder and asked, "Whose video were you watching just now? Tell your bro, I'll keep it a secret."

They were both contracted artists in the same company and guitar-learning buddies, so Xu Li didn't mind. He said directly, "Wen Li's."

"Wen Li's? Oh, you're her fan? But you didn't seem excited during the first episode," Wang Yiyuan squinted his eyes, thought for a while, and understood, "Oh, you're shy?"

Xu Li rolled his eyes, "It's not like I watched it voluntarily..."

He couldn't finish the sentence, so he gave up explaining and said, "Think whatever you want."

Wang Yiyuan held his hands over his heart and said playfully, "Don't worry, I won't blabber. I'll protect your pure and shy teenage heart."

Xu Li: "Protect your sister."

"What videos did you watch of her? Historical dramas? Or the dance video from the previous episode?" Wang Yiyuan asked.

Xu Li recalled the eye-catching video content and said nonchalantly, "Cute and coquettish."

Wang Yiyuan suddenly widened his eyes and grabbed Xu Li's shoulder, "Really? I want to watch too. Do you still have your phone? Let's meet in the restroom later?"

"Why are you so excited?" Xu Li winced in pain from being grabbed and replied irritably, "What's so interesting about it?"

"Bro, you're really pretending. Being a fan of Teacher Wen Li is nothing embarrassing. As a man, you should be honest, you know?" Wang Yiyuan hummed, feeling righteous, "I've seen 'In This World with You', even the great senior Song Yan couldn't resist. I don't believe any man can resist Teacher Wen Li's cuteness and coquetry. Tell me, did you almost nosebleed just now?"

Even Brother Yan couldn't resist?

Xu Li said firmly, "Impossible. He's different from shallow guys like you."

"There's no need to belittle like that. Although I admit that there's a big gap between me and Song Yan, it's not impossible. If you don't believe me, go watch the show for yourself," Wang Yiyuan pursed his lips, "I've seen some male fans who pretend to not like her, but I've never seen someone as good at pretending as you."

"...I said I'm not her fan."

"But you were hiding in the dorm watching her videos?"

"..."

Unable to explain, Xu Li couldn't be bothered to explain to him anymore and walked straight ahead.

Wang Yiyuan caught up again and kept babbling, "Hey, if we can make it to the last stage and have a collaboration stage with the mentors, would you choose Teacher Wen Li? Do you want to perform a couple's hot dance with her?"

Xu Li's face instantly turned pale as he stood frozen in place.

"W-what's wrong with you, bro? Are you too excited?" Wang Yiyuan asked, concerned.

Xu Li covered his mouth and weakly said, "Stop talking, I feel like throwing up."

Wang Yiyuan: "..."

After arriving at the practice room, a few trainees from Class A were already there, teaching the trainees from the other classes how to dance. Wang Yiyuan pulled Xu Li into the crowd to join the free training.

As they continued practicing, some trainees from Class C collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. To motivate their brothers, the A-class trainees acting as small teachers clapped their hands and said, "Come on, guys, let's give our best performance for Teacher Wen Li with the theme song."

Then several trainees jumped up as if they were revived.

Wang Yiyuan glanced at Xu Li again and noticed that after hearing the encouragement, his body went limp, and he lost his drive even more.

"..."

For a moment, Wang Yiyuan couldn't quite tell if this brother of his was a fan or a hater.

During a break, Wang Yiyuan quietly approached Xu Li. Xu Li glanced at him and said with a cold tone, "Don't talk about Wen Li."

Wang Yiyuan had intended to talk about Wen Li, but now his thoughts were suddenly interrupted, leaving him dumbfounded for a while. He stammered, "...Then who should we talk about? Senior Song?"

Xu Li responded casually, "What's there to talk about him?"

Wang Yiyuan randomly found a topic, "Ah? Talk about him... talk about why you think Senior Song is different from us? Are you still a shipper of their CP?"

Xu Li pursed his lips, "No."

He collapsed on the floor, squinting his eyes, reminiscing about the past.

When Xu Li was young, his academic performance in general subjects wasn't great. However, since there was already Wen Li, the artistic one, in his family, his grandfather and uncle weren't very willing for him to study music. They wanted him to focus on improving his academic subjects.

Xu Li's mischievous and rebellious nature drove away many renowned tutors from coaching classes.

In the end, his grandfather said not to look for older tutors anymore, as they had nothing in common with the young Xu Li. So, they found a young tutor.

Later, Bai Sen said he had a friend who ranked first in their grade academically and could be introduced as Xu Li's private tutor, which would also help him earn a living allowance. That's when Brother Yan came into the picture.

Brother Yan was handsome and taciturn, tall and upright. In Xu Li's eyes, who was still a little brat back then, he was both arrogant and good-looking.

The little brat always had an inherent sense of submission towards this big brother.

Unlike those coaching teachers, Brother Yan was patient in teaching and never sighed or shook his head at him. Although Xu Li hated studying general subjects, he enjoyed listening to him talk.

There were a few times when Brother Yan came to his house and coincidentally ran into his sister, but he never glanced at her, never looked at his sister even for a second.

It was the first time in Xu Li's life that he met a guy who disliked his sister as much as he did.

Once, Wen Li's school held an art festival and her class was preparing a dance performance. Wen Li brought home the costume she would wear and walked around the house, showing off to everyone.

The aunties in the house praised her, his grandfather said she looked good, and even his uncle agreed.

Sixteen-year-old Wen Li, wearing a long chiffon dress, had let her long hair down from the bun she usually tied up to facilitate dancing. Standing at the doorway of Xu Li's room, she looked up like an arrogant peacock.

"Little brother, do I look good?"

Xu Li said she didn't look good.

Wen Li angrily knocked his head and, before leaving, she looked at the silent Song Yan, with a glimmer of hope. She asked him, "Senior, do you think I look good?"

Song Yan quickly averted his gaze and muttered, "Average."

Xu Li immediately mischievously remarked, "Average means not good-looking!"

The conceited Wen Li's confidence was shattered in front of her younger brother and senior. She glared at the two of them in annoyance and left.

The tutoring continued, but the always diligent and responsible Teacher Song struggled for a long time to solve a math problem that was at an elementary level. Several minutes had passed, yet he still hadn't solved a single question.

Song Yan seemed to realize his own distraction and sighed helplessly, covering his forehead.

Fuming with anger, Xu Li thought, it's all because of my older sister suddenly barging in, scaring Brother Yan!

Since then, Xu Li had been convinced that Song Yan was like him. They both valued substance over appearance. No matter how good-looking Wen Li was, it was useless. She had a bad temper and was difficult to handle. Neither he nor Brother Yan liked her.

"They are different, I can tell," Xu Li said.

Wang Yiyuan asked, "If that's the case, why did they get married?"

As an insider, Xu Li's tone suddenly became profound and unfathomable, "You don't understand."

Even if he forwarded that video to Song Yan, Song Yan's attitude would definitely align with his.

He remembered the way his sister acted cute like a cat in the video and shuddered once again.

When Xu Li returned to the dormitory after practicing dancing in the early morning, he secretly took out his sixth phone in the bathroom and sent a WeChat message to Song Yan.

Xu Li:「Today, my sister sent me a particularly eye-catching cute video.」

Song Yan:「Send it over, let me see.」

Xu Li:「No, I'm afraid it will hurt your eyes. I'll bear this torture alone.」

Xu Li:「Brother Yan, you don't need to thank me.」

Song Yan: "..."

The man lay on the bed, gazing at the ceiling for a long time, then turned his head to look at Wen Li.

Wen Li came back late today. Because she had been practicing dance all day, her body was exhausted. After taking a shower, she quickly fell asleep as soon as she lay down on the bed.

"Teacher Wen."

No response.

"Junior Sister."

Still no response.

It was unknown what Wen Li dreamt about in her sleep, but suddenly, she pouted and murmured, "With a little cat like me, do you... every day... #@!$... "

Song Yan furrowed his brows, "What?"

"What time do you come home..."

She spoke too softly, and Song Yan still didn't understand. He reached out and gently touched the back of her head, his voice deep, "So, what video is it exactly, little cat?"

——

The main content of the second episode of [For You To Debut] is the assessment of the theme song and the reassignment of classes, as well as the selection of performers for the first public performance based on the class scores.

After today's impromptu meeting, the production team of [In This World with You] has finalized the script for the fourth episode. The general process remains the same, with guests filming the show on location. The recent divorce of Zheng Xue and Lu Ming has generated a lot of attention and the viewership of the first three episodes has increased significantly. Therefore, the recording of the fourth episode cannot be delayed for too long.

In order to find substitute guests in the shortest amount of time, the production team has introduced a completely new guest format.

Internship couple.

Nowadays, there are numerous dating variety shows and a mix of celebrity couples. Surprisingly, these couple variety shows require two artists to pretend to be a couple. It's estimated that there will be a lot of drama when the couples break up.

But that's what variety shows are all about—drama.

When Wen Li saw the names of the internship couple, she thought it was a dream collaboration.

The two celebrity artists who were actually the mentors of [For You To Debut] -- Yan Jun and Qi Sihan.

Yan Jun is a popular young actor who gained a large following based on his looks. He has had numerous CP pairings, surpassing Wen Li in terms of experience. However, those were all for publicity, he rarely gets involved in scandals. Therefore, even if he participates in a couple variety show with a female artist, the likelihood of his fanbase collapsing is minimal.

Qi Sihan is a popular idol with a large fan following. Participating in this type of variety show, which clearly aims to create CP, carries a high risk of being criticized.

However, she still agreed to the invitation from the production team.

When the announcement was made on Weibo, she not only tagged her partner Yan Jun but also tagged Wen Li.

Qi Sihan:「In this world with you, both joy and hardship are sweet! Please take care of me, Yan Jun! @Yan Jun」

Then, in the comment section, she also tagged Wen Li.

「Ah, Teacher Wen, I'm here! @Wen Litchi」

As soon as this tag appeared, Qi Sihan's male fans instantly felt heartbroken.

「The number one star chaser—Qi Sihan.」

「Chasing stars all the way to a couple variety show, truly deserving of you, Qi Sihan.」

With such an obvious display of affection, Wen Li couldn't possibly ignore Qi Sihan's face. She commented under her Weibo post, 「Welcome, let's have fun together. 」

After replying, under her comment, all the tags were directed at Song Yan.

「Wife in danger, quick response @Song Yan」

「Your wife is getting involved in a yuri relationship with her fans! @Song Yan」

「Song Yan: Can you provide some pocket money, wife? I want to dye my hair green.」

However, at Wen Li's strong request, Song Yan ignored these tagged comments to avoid giving these curious netizens any new entertainment.

At this moment, inside the recording studio, the trainees have just finished the assessment of the theme song. The four mentors were on stage announcing the new assessment results. Wen Li was sitting in the backstage dressing room, having just changed into a schoolgirl outfit. The stylist was helping her tie double ponytails.

Having a top-notch styling team has its advantages. Even when trying to look youthful, it can be done without any sense of discord.

Wen Li looked at herself in the mirror and pinched her collagen-filled face, appreciating the makeup techniques.

Today, she was wearing a pink skirt that was just above the knees, paired with knee-high socks and a white shirt. There was also a butterfly bowtie embellishment at the collar. And let's not forget about her so-called cherry blossom girl makeup.

"Sister, you look great. You're so adorable," Wen Wen took out her phone and said, "Want to take a selfie? I can help you edit it and post it on Weibo?"

Wen Li firmly declined, "No!"

"Why? You're clearly adorable," Wen Wen pouted in disappointment.

Wen Li looked utterly dejected, "You wouldn't understand."

When the recording started today, she attempted to negotiate with the director to cut out the part where she would perform the girl group dance. Although the director was reluctant to agree, Wen Li resorted to threatening to quit the recording if they didn't comply. Eventually, the director agreed to turn that segment, which was not originally in the program's script, into an Easter egg to be shown later in the episode.

Turning it into an Easter egg was better than including it in the main program. At least it won't be publicly inspected. Wen Li agreed to the arrangement.

She even specifically talked to Song Yan about it.

Wen Li:「You don't usually watch boy group audition shows, right?」

Song Yan:「If Teacher Wen wants me to watch, though...」

Wen Li:「If you don't want to, please continue to stick to your principles, Teacher Song.」

Song Yan:「Okay.」

Song Yan's "okay" seemed like an obedient response, but Wen Li couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

Meanwhile, several kilometers away from the audition recording site, on the road, the production team of [In This World with You] was fully prepared, with the A team and D team ready to go. Several vehicles were heading towards the audition recording site in a grand manner.

The A team was responsible for filming the guests, Song Yan and Wen Li, while the D team was in charge of filming the new guests.

[For You To Debut] and [In This World with You] have highly overlapping guest lineups. The top management of both shows had decided to mutually benefit from each other's popularity and generate hype. So, they reached an agreement to collaborate and create a dream alliance.

In the nanny car, the cameraman in charge of following Song Yan asked a question from the predetermined script, "Teacher Song, do you have any expectations for today's surprise visit arrangement?"