Chapter 29: 029

Chapter 29

When leaving Beijing, there was only a cool autumn breeze. But upon returning, that wind had become a sharp blade, piercing into the bones and causing a stinging pain.

As soon as she stepped off the plane, Jiang Juyou quickly put on her coat. Not forgetting her role as an assistant, she hurriedly urged her sister to wear her coat and scarf as well.

Unlike in Shanghai where she was alone, the company had arranged for a car to pick them up at the airport in Beijing.

Fans and paparazzi often staked out at the airport. A black van parked outside immediately became the center of attention, with people trying to find out who was flying into Beijing that day.

The two women pulling their luggage out were oblivious to all this. Jiang Tang, on a diet, was feeling lightheaded from hunger and had tuned out all external stimuli. Jiang Juyou was trailing behind her sister, dragging the luggage while watching videos on her phone.

Ever since the results of yesterday's preliminary assessment came out, Jiang Juyou had been glued to her phone, watching group performance videos, solo performance videos, and even practice room surveillance footage. She had stayed up nearly all night, watching and searching for reasons. The more she watched, the more agitated she became, her expression darkening.

After exiting the airport, Jiang Tang turned to her sister and asked, "Is that our car?"

Jiang Juyou looked up, unable to hide the fury in her eyes, startling Jiang Tang.

"Yes," Jiang Juyou replied curtly. She handed the luggage to the waiting staff and got into the car directly.

Jiang Tang, having never seen her sister in such a state, was too scared to talk to her once they were in the car. She just quietly huddled in the corner. Jiang Juyou took out her phone again, but after turning it on, she seemed to remember something. "Take the artist home first, then drop me off directly at the trainee complex. Please put my luggage in my office later. Thank you."

"Understood," the driver in front replied.

The car sped along, and by the time they reached the trainee complex, Jiang Juyou had finished watching all the videos sent by the staff. Her anger had reached its peak.

The van drove into the complex, stopping in front of the practice building. The first thing Jiang Juyou did after getting out was to call the staff in charge of the new trainees, demanding all trainees to gather in the main practice room.

The staff who received the call immediately panicked and rushed to notify others.

Despite the weather being only in the 50s Fahrenheit, these people were sweating profusely.

The trainees who were practicing were startled when someone suddenly burst in, turned off the music, and told them to quickly gather in the main practice room.

"Producer Jiang is here, hurry to the main practice room!"

The twenty trainees who had been with the company before nearly had heart attacks upon hearing this. The others hadn't met the head producer yet, but they had heard rumors that she was terrifying.

Yao Shuo and Chi Qiao happened to be in the same group. When they heard this, they felt like dying.

"We're done for. We're going to get scolded."

"...Feels like we're going to die a horrible death today."

In the main practice room, there was a row of sofas against the wall, facing a mirror. Jiang Juyou sat on the sofa, her expression displeased, arms crossed as she waited.

Soon, there was a knock on the door and people started to enter. Jiang Juyou looked up and saw unfamiliar faces: these must be the newly selected trainees.

They pushed and shoved each other as they entered, mumbling, "Hello, teacher."

"Not ready? You were too ready," Jiang Juyou said with a cold laugh.

Because elimination was at stake, the trainees had been seizing every moment to practice. Even when they were out of town, they would find ways to practice dance moves at night.

It was indeed highly competitive, as the staff had said. Some trainees didn't even return to their dorms, constantly practicing here instead.

But they had been competitive in the wrong area.

After staying up all night watching the videos, Jiang Juyou understood why the rankings had been refreshed and why only Pei Luming had made it onto the list.

"Do you know what I'm selecting?" Jiang Juyou changed her sitting position and asked those below.

No one dared to speak up easily, but they couldn't not answer either. Finally, someone below answered in a very small voice, "...Idols."

Jiang Juyou heard this and laughed coldly again. "I'm selecting a group."

"Why did I give you the opportunity to showcase solo stages? It's because a song is only three minutes long, and in a group, each person only gets a few tens of seconds. But I hoped not to fix an impression of a person based on just those few tens of seconds, so I arranged solo stages to let everyone show more."

"But it seems you were just aiming for the solo stages. You spent a whole month preparing for solos, and the group performance ended up like that. You're going on stage next week. Did you think I wouldn't dare to cut the group performance?"

The staff always felt they were still just 13 or 14-year-old kids who couldn't cause much trouble, but before that, they were human beings, and humans have all kinds of emotions and psychological states.

With over sixty trainees, all in the age group with the strongest competitive mentality, did they think the competition would be entirely fair and square?

Throughout this month, trainees came to complain every day, either hoping the staff could switch them to a different group.

One moment they were dissatisfied with the song selection, the next with the song distribution, then the team leader would come saying team members weren't listening, there was all sorts of drama.

Those who applied for solo stages, because they focused on individual performances, were often complained about by their team members. Even Yao Shuo and Chi Qiao were no exception.

These two, with their maxed-out individual skills, would be eliminated because they focused too much on solo stages, performing terribly in group performances. During team performances, Yao Shuo completely gave up on dancing, just standing still and singing during his parts, barely moving an arm.

Chi Qiao was even the leader of their group, a leader with maxed-out dance skills, yet their group had the least synchronized dancing. So even though their solo stages received high scores, they were pulled down due to their terrible group performances.

Jiang Juyou spoke with suppressed anger, "If you want to go solo, pack your bags and go home now. Bring your parents to terminate the contract, and find another agency to support your solo debut. We're here to form a boy group, we can't accommodate so many 'gods' like you."

She chuckled lightly again, "The staff told me your internal competition was severe, and I was worried your pressure might be too much, that you might develop anxiety or panic. Hah, here you are complaining about having too few parts, not listening to your team leaders, even instigating others to start their own factions. I think you're just too idle, without any pressure at all. Hurry up and pack your things, get out of here as soon as possible."

As she spoke, she glanced at the time, "I was planning to release the elimination list after next week's performance, but why don't we do it earlier today? Let everyone go home sooner."

"I'll give you one hour to practice your group stage. Come back here to perform after an hour. Those who don't qualify won't even get to perform on stage, just pack your bags and leave right away."

Jiang Juyou got angrier as she spoke, she didn't want to see these people anymore.

After she finished speaking, the trainees were still sitting on the ground motionless. Jiang Juyou laughed in exasperation, "You think I'm joking?"

At this, those who finally reacted quickly got up, and within seconds, they all rushed out of the main practice room.

Jiang Juyou: So young, yet dealing with high blood pressure every day.