Chapter 77: 077

Chapter 77

As the first live performance ended, the trainees gathered backstage, hugging and encouraging each other. They had finally made it through this grueling day.

The end of the performance also signaled the start of fan wars.

The show ended precisely at 10 PM, and at the same time, the original songs from the three groups were released online. Unlike previous singles that required payment, Random Entertainment was generous enough to make these free.

This meant fans couldn't simply solve problems by spending money. They had to transform into diligent little bees, becoming Random Entertainment's promotion squad, begging and pleading for people to listen, watch, and engage more.

Meanwhile, the artist columns opened for the three groups were rapidly gaining followers.

Unlike those cover stage performances that had the song's existing popularity to rely on, these three groups could only depend on their own fame or the strength of their songs to carve out territory.

As for how catchy the songs would be, only time would tell.

Jiang Juyou lay backstage scrolling through her phone, checking online reactions, while two makeup artists helped remove her makeup.

Soon after, Jiang Tang limped in wearing high heels. "Ouch - my heel is about to break off."

Because she had to go on stage from time to time, she couldn't return to the waiting room and had to sit backstage. The high heels had been on her feet for hours, standing and walking, making her feet feel like they were about to fall off.

Hearing the wail, Jiang Juyou turned to look at her, about to say something, but suddenly remembered there were many staff members around, so she swallowed her words.

Jiang Tang's comment seemed like she was talking to herself. Upon entering, she found a bed and lay down immediately. Staff members promptly came over to help remove her makeup.

The two sisters, both on their phones, started chatting back and forth.

"Juyou grocery store: I'm free later, let's go back together."

"Jiang Tang Will Definitely Be Famous Next Year: Just drop me off at the school gate, I'll go straight back to school. It's Monday tomorrow, I have an 8 AM class."

"Jiang Tang Will Definitely Be Famous Next Year: @Liuxing is Crape Myrtle, where are you? Didn't see you come today."

"Juyou grocery store: Okay."

"Juyou grocery store: She went to watch the roadshow."

"Jiang Tang Will Definitely Be Famous Next Year: Look at her, even with our status, we still can't attract her attention."

"Liuxing is Crape Myrtle: Bleh!"

"Liuxing is Crape Myrtle: Someone from our studio went, isn't that enough? I've never really liked these year-end ceremonies anyway."

"Liuxing is Crape Myrtle: I'll definitely be at every show for your roadshow, okay?"

Mentioning the roadshow, Jiang Juyou remembered that among the three actresses in their company, only one had a drama about to air and enter the promotional period. The others would have to wait until next year.

"Tsk-" She frowned, wondering if she should go watch.

Her sudden intake of breath made the staff member think they had hurt her, and they paused to ask, "Is there a wound?"

Jiang Juyou quickly said, "No, no, I was just thinking about something." Her face was mostly clean now, so she took the opportunity to get up. "I'll apply the rest myself. Isn't there a celebration party? You should hurry and go."

"Jiang, aren't you going?"

"If I go, you all definitely won't be comfortable," Jiang Juyou said as she stood up and adjusted her clothes. She didn't forget to remind them, "The company will reimburse your taxi fare after the event! Tomorrow morning is off, and in the afternoon, you can work from home!"

Cheers immediately erupted in the small room.

-

While the staff had time off, the trainees didn't. They had only gone out of the compound once when school started, as per the school's requirements, and hadn't left since.

Yesterday, they had just finished the first public performance, and now they had to start practicing for the second one, while also preparing songs for the third.

But because they didn't have training after yesterday's performance, everyone had the rare chance to sleep in and wake up naturally.

This feeling suddenly reminded them of when they were filming "21 Heartbeats of Youth". Back then, it was the same - after each performance, they could sleep until they naturally woke up, then arrange their own training schedules.

The long-established biological clock made Chen Wu wake up promptly around 8 AM. Since there was no rush, he first sat in bed for a while, waiting for the drowsiness to completely disappear before reaching for his phone.

The outside world knew they were strictly managed, but in reality, it was only strict during classes. They weren't prohibited from using phones, though social media accounts were different - they weren't allowed to register or use them, not even alternate accounts.

Chen Wu rubbed his eyes, intending only to check the time, but found that the usually message-free interface was filled with stacked notifications.

He paused, tapping to take a look.

"12 unread messages"

"7 missed calls"

All the messages were from his second uncle, sent in the early hours of the morning. But because he had set his phone to Do Not Disturb during the performance and forgot to change it back, he only saw them now.

Seeing this number of messages and the name, Chen Wu immediately had a bad feeling. His breathing became panicked, and his fingertips felt weak.

"..."

Chen Wu dialed the number. It was answered immediately, with the noisy background and his uncle's voice coming through, "Ah, why are you only answering the phone now?"

Before he could speak, his uncle said, "Your grandmother is in the hospital. She's been asking for you."

These words were like a switch, suddenly turning on noise-cancelling mode. Chen Wu felt the world go quiet in an instant.

After a brief moment of shock, Chen Wu immediately got up and started dressing. "I'm getting in a car now. Where are you?"

"I'll have your aunt send you the details. Take your time, no rush, and be careful on the way!" His uncle seemed to be in line to pay fees, the background noise was very loud. After a few sentences, the call was disconnected.

Chen Wu didn't care about anything else. He quickly put on his clothes, but his mind had turned to mush. Tears seemed to have a mind of their own, jumping out of his eye sockets, blurring his vision, and his emotions collapsed along with them.

This early morning commotion quickly alarmed the roommates on both sides. Pei Luming and Sang Mo poked their heads out with messy bed hair. These two had clearly been woken from their dreams, as the house wasn't very soundproof, and slightly louder speech could be heard next door.

Chen Wu was making quite a racket with phone calls and dressing, and the noise was enough to wake them up.

As soon as he came out of the room, Chen Wu saw the two heads poking out in the corridor. Pei Luming, who had just been drowsy, immediately lost all sleepiness when he saw Chen Wu's red-rimmed eyes. With wide eyes, he asked, "What's wrong? What happened?"

"...So early in the morning, doesn't seem like it's going to be good news." Jiang Juyou put down her chopsticks and picked up the phone.

Jiang Liuxing in front of her also turned off the stove and looked over.

"What's wrong?" After Jiang Juyou answered, the other side only said a few words, but because the background noise was too loud, she couldn't hear clearly. Jiang Juyou took the phone down to check the signal, then spoke into the phone again, "It's a bit noisy, speak slowly."

Guan Xiaoxiao on the other end took a breath, then said, "Ah... it's like this, I've spoken with Director Liu, and she told me to call you directly to communicate."

Jiang Juyou took down the phone again and checked her WeChat. Only then did she see the message sent by Liu Jiajia, which briefly explained the situation. After reading it, she said to Guan Xiaoxiao on the phone, "Mm, I've seen it. What's the situation there now? Does she need surgery?"

Hearing the words "need surgery," Jiang Liuxing, who was bringing her bowl over, slowed her movements. She sat down quietly and looked at her sister.

"The doctors are having a meeting now, but from what I can see, surgery probably won't be possible. His grandmother has coronary heart disease and a tumor in her lung, so she's experiencing difficulty breathing and was sent to the hospital."

"...She's currently receiving an IV drip."

"His grandmother is almost 80 years old this year, so surgery is probably not an option in this situation. Also, Chen Wu's family is in some financial difficulty. His second aunt is disabled, so all the burden falls on his second uncle. The elderly couple only has a small pension, and they still have to pay rent every month, which means they don't have much savings."

"The hospital is being considerate of their situation and allowing them to settle the bill when they're discharged... um..." Guan Xiaoxiao didn't know how to continue. She wanted to express hope that the company could provide some support, but found it difficult to say, because she knew the company had no obligation to do so.

However, Jiang Juyou said, "Okay, I understand. I'll ask the finance department to go over... How is Chen Wu doing now?"

Guan Xiaoxiao in the hallway looked back towards the direction of the ward, "He's still a child after all, he's been crying continuously."

"Is his grandmother in the ICU or in a regular ward?"

"She's receiving an IV in the ward. Her heart rate has been very fast, the doctor just prescribed some anti-inflammatory medication."

"Alright, I'm sorry to trouble you to stay there for a few more days. The company will cover the expenses. Please take good care of Chen Wu and his family."

"...Okay, thank you, Director Jiang."

Seeing that Jiang Juyou had hung up the phone, Jiang Liuxing dared to ask, "...What happened?"

"There's been an issue with a trainee's family." She didn't want to say more and put her phone down, lowering her head to eat her instant noodles.

Seeing her like this, Jiang Liuxing didn't dare to ask anything more, but she knew the reason for her sister's silence.

As the two were quietly eating breakfast, a "beep beep beep" sound came from the door. It was Jiang Tang returning.

"Oh my— eating instant noodles first thing in the morning?" Jiang Tang had taken a taxi home right after class, carrying breakfast she'd bought for the two of them. She hadn't expected them to have already started eating.

After changing her shoes and coming in, Jiang Tang glanced at the instant noodles on the table, then at the jianbing (Chinese crepe) in her hand. She turned to Jiang Liuxing and said, "Give me the instant noodles, you eat this."

"Why—!"

"I don't care, I've already bought it and brought it back."

"If you want to eat it, go cook it yourself!"

"No, I want to eat yours."

"Ahhh, so annoying! You're so annoying!"

The sound of their squabbling quickly dispersed the gloomy atmosphere, and Jiang Juyou's mood improved significantly. She had only eaten a few bites and there was still a lot left, so she pushed away her bowl and said to her sister, "You eat this."

Jiang Tang grabbed Jiang Liuxing's sleeve, preventing her from picking up her chopsticks. "No way, you've already used those chopsticks!"

Hearing this, Jiang Liuxing hurriedly tried to spit into the bowl, but Jiang Tang, knowing her well, quickly covered Jiang Liuxing's mouth. "Ha, I know exactly what you're up to when you stick your butt out like that, you little rascal!"

Jiang Juyou: "..."

She was actually the only adult in this family.

-

At the hospital, Guan Xiaoxiao went downstairs to help buy breakfast for Chen Wu's family, and even brought wonton soup for his grandmother. On the way, she was messaging her colleague about the morning's events, using every crying face emoji in her WeChat sticker collection.

"Is Guanguan: I really... what if Chen Wu doesn't debut? What will happen?"

"Is Guanguan: Ahhhhh I can't accept it, Chen Wu must debut!"

"Is Guanguan: Ahhhhh I'm crying my eyes out!"

"Is Guanguan: You have no idea, when I entered the ward and heard his grandmother call his name, my tears just fell, even more dramatically than Chen Wu's crying!"

"Little Lamb Wants Hot Pot: My tears are about to fall too."

"Little Lamb Wants Hot Pot: Why do all the hardships have to happen to the poor?"

"Little Lamb Wants Hot Pot: Ahhhhh Pei and the others were asking me about Chen Wu's situation, and I just burst into tears!"

"Little Lamb Wants Hot Pot: They even pooled some money together and said if it's not enough, they'll ask their families for more, wuwuwuwu!"

On WeChat, the two of them were crying their hearts out.

The trainees had also heard about Chen Wu's situation, after all, the commotion this morning was quite big, and they had talked about it in the corridor for a while.

In the practice room, Pei Luming sat in the corner, unable to focus on practice. He had a dejected look on his face and worriedly glanced at Sang Mo, "He still hasn't replied. You don't think something's happened, do you?"

"Don't overthink it. Didn't we just ask and they said the situation wasn't too serious?" Gao Xiayu quickly consoled him, afraid that Pei Luming might start wailing again.

Sang Mo looked at his phone and sighed as well.

Just as they were worrying about Chen Wu's condition, suddenly a new message popped up in the group chat. It was from Chen Wu.

"My grandmother is too old for surgery. They said to take her home and let her eat and drink what she wants... What should I do? I'm about to lose my grandmother."

This message silenced all six of them. Pei Luming couldn't hold back and his tears started falling.

Pei Luming: Wuwuwuwu ahhhhhhhhh wuwuwuwu—

-