AITFYMIBP Chapter 70

TL: Hua

A vast venue, a dazzling stage.

The theme song performance by the 72 eliminated trainees made the audience dream back to that autumn.

“Hello everyone, we are trainees from Super Idol. Please give us your guidance, producers!”

After the performance, the trainees bowed to the stage and spoke the phrase the audience heard when they first encountered the word “trainee.”

The return of this group made the audience realize: this really is the final public performance of Super Idol!

Although there was much reluctance to part, the audience still chose to respond to the emotion these dream-chasing youths brought them with the most enthusiastic applause and screams.

After the theme song performance, the stage lights fully brightened.

Gu Siye, dressed in formal wear, appeared in the audience’s view.

He wasn’t alone this time; a female host in an evening gown stood beside him.

The two walked to the center of the stage to begin the night’s hosting duties.

Gu Siye wasn’t a professional host, but on stage, he was relaxed and composed. His overall aura and ability to control the room were in no way inferior to the professional host beside him.

After the two went through the initial procedures, the hostess looked at Gu Siye with a smile and asked curiously, “Teacher Gu, why are you the only one from the mentor team here today? Where did the other mentors go?”

Before Gu Siye could even lift his microphone to answer this little cue, the live audience answered for him in unison—

“Collaboration stage.”

The corners of Gu Siye’s mouth curved into a smile. He nodded slightly and asked the audience, “Do you want to see them?”

The massive screen behind him projected his every move.

This man, who was the focal point wherever he went, elicited screams from the entire audience with just that simple smile.

“YES!!!!”

Gu Siye adopted a listening expression and waited until the audience’s excitement subsided slightly before speaking again, “It seems everyone is looking forward to it. So… which mentor’s collaboration stage do you want to see first?”

Led by Gu Siye, fans at the venue and in the livestream chat began frantically spamming the mentors’ names.

[Tangtang!!]

[Han Zhe Han Zhe]

[Pei Luo!!]

[Yanran! Let me see my husband!!]

The audience spammed the names of all four mentors.

However, judging by the rapidly scrolling comments, the name appearing most frequently—and the collaboration stage the audience anticipated most—was Lin Yanran.

If this were solely based on voting, Lin Yanran would undoubtedly be the first mentor to perform.

However, although Gu Siye had asked for everyone’s opinion, the production team had already determined the order of the mentor performances.

So, even though Lin Yanran’s stage was the most anticipated, the first mentor to take the stage was Pei Luo.

Among the four mentors, Pei Luo was the only one who truly came from a boy group background. His personal positioning aligned most perfectly with Super Idol‘s goal of selecting high-quality idols from the trainees.

Therefore, the first stage featured Pei Luo leading his team of seven trainees in a collective performance of his former group’s most classic hit, “The Fight.”

The atmosphere of the finale was instantly ignited by this intense and passionate dance.

After Pei Luo’s collaboration stage heated up the crowd, Han Zhe’s group followed immediately with a highly distinctive rap performance.

After two high-rhythm performances sent the live audience into a frenzy, Tangtang’s group performed a lively, energetic little love song. It instantly made everyone relive the heart-fluttering feeling of first encountering their favorite trainee on stage.

Three programs, three different styles; each one left the audience wanting more.

After Tangtang’s performance ended, the livestream comments were immediately taken over by two characters.

[Yanran]

[Yanran Ran Ran Ran Ran!!!]

[Yanran Yanran Yanran Yanran!!!]

Meanwhile, the fans at the venue who had come for Lin Yanran switched on their “Ran” light signs and began chanting their idol’s name.

Because this segment was a collaboration stage between mentors and trainees, the mentor was the main attraction.

Due to the excellent reputation Lin Yanran had built up within the show—and the fact that many trainees had received his care and shone brightly in his group—the fans of the trainees weren’t annoyed when they heard everyone shouting Yanran’s name. Instead, they obediently turned off their own light signs, kept only their glow sticks on, and joined Lin Yanran’s fans in chanting “Yanran.”

For a moment, the atmosphere at the venue felt as if it were Lin Yanran’s solo concert.

The viewers in the livestream couldn’t cheer in person like the live audience, so they could only express their feelings through bullet comments.

[Ahhhhhhh Yanran is coming, I’ve waited so long!!]

[I wonder what kind of fresh performance Yanran is going to pull off tonight.]

[The concept stages he choreographed for the trainees before were amazing. I wonder if the effect will be even better with him performing personally!]

[Ahhhhh are we going to start cracking the plot again? I’m so looking forward to it!!]

[Every time I watch Super Idol, I look forward to his group’s program the most. They always bring surprises.]

[Yanran is amazing at both singing and dancing. Tonight should be a singing and dancing concept stage.]

Based on the experience of watching the groups he led the previous two times, the audience almost defaulted to assuming that Lin Yanran’s performance would continue his previous style.

So, carrying this expectation, everyone fixed their eyes on the screen, wanting to see what kind of storyline he had concocted this time.

Amidst the thousand calls and ten thousand summons, the hostess finally announced Lin Yanran’s name.

The excitement of the live audience didn’t cease; the screaming continued unabated.

This state lasted for a long time. Even after the stage lights dimmed, many people were still shouting Lin Yanran’s name.

In the midst of this clamor, the pitch-black stage was gradually outlined by faint touches of light.

Billowing white smoke created by dry ice covered the floor like layers of thick, dissolving fog.

A beam of light fell on the center of the stage. Accompanied by the sound of soothing piano music, a figure appeared, head bowed, playing the keys with intense focus.

The remaining screams and shouts gradually faded away amidst the piano notes, which carried a tinge of sorrow…

The audience below the stage looked at Lin Yanran’s figure, becoming clearer in the light, and felt somewhat surprised.

No mysterious music, no cool, flashy opening.

The quiet atmosphere presented on stage this time was completely different from what everyone had predicted.

In a finale setting like this, people generally preferred intense songs and dances that could hype up the atmosphere.

But now, for the final collaboration stage, Lin Yanran had chosen a slow song.

Looking at the suddenly quiet venue, everyone felt a bit unaccustomed to the shift.

[???]

[Isn’t Yanran doing a song and dance routine today??]

[I waited so long, and he’s actually doing a slow song??]

[Teacher Yanran, I was looking forward to your dancing so much, but why didn’t you do anything special in the last episode? wuwuwu]

[Is it because Yanran’s schedule is too full and he didn’t have time to choreograph a dance? I saw him on Incredible Journey recently, maybe he didn’t have the energy to focus on this side.]

[Is this slow song going to be similar to ‘Half Moon Serenade’? I feel like there isn’t much of a surprise.]

[Don’t speak too soon. Is this your first day watching Yanran perform? He’s not the kind of person who’s perfunctory. Let’s all wait and see before drawing conclusions.]

On stage, Lin Yanran seemed to have cut off all connection with the world. He couldn’t hear the disturbances around him; he only lowered his gaze, playing the piano beneath his hands with earnest dedication.

Amidst the slow and melodious piano sound, the camera panned slowly across Lin Yanran’s profile.

Following the gradually brightening lights, the other end of the piano was slowly illuminated.

Qiao Ye was leaning halfway against Lin Yanran’s piano. His white shirt was loosely tucked at his waist, and he exuded an air of decadence and sorrow.

He lowered his head, slowly raised the microphone, and began to sing in a low voice.

“Have you also spent nights sleepless and awake?

Perhaps yesterday, perhaps for many years at stake

Do you also shed tears for no known reason?

In the bathroom, by the balcony, all alone”

Qiao Ye gently closed his eyes. His voice and expression were filled with loneliness and hesitation.

Dim lights then illuminated another corner of the stage.

Sitting on the edge of the stage, Xia Xingxing emerged from the darkness before everyone’s eyes. He looked up, gazing at the empty night sky.

“Everyone says they admire your free spirit the most,

You smile the most, never a lonely ghost”

Xia Xingxing, who usually appeared before the audience like a child who never grew up—forever carefree and smiling—still had the corners of his mouth slightly upturned, but the depths of his eyes held boundless loneliness and depression.

The lights around Qiao Ye and Xia Xingxing were like sparks of fire; as they sang, the illumination gradually spread across the entire stage.

Soon, everyone saw Ji Shuai and Lu Tianlang sitting on the steps at the back of the stage.

Then, they saw the remaining three trainees sitting on the sofa to the left.

This song was very quiet.

It was so quiet that everyone just stayed in their own spot, without superfluous expressions or superfluous movements.

But as each person took their turn singing their specific lyrics, it was like they were telling the audience a story unique to themselves.

It was a series of growth experiences filled with hardships and bitterness.

Whispering slowly, narrating gently.

The youths seemed to have heavy shackles on them, trapping them in a patch of darkness.

This somber mood lasted for nearly two minutes.

When Ye Xiyuan finished singing his part, he looked up at his teammate sitting beside him.

That look was like a silent signal.

The seven youths, originally imprisoned in a plight of loneliness with lost gazes, suddenly became resolute in that instant.

They stood up and sang in chorus, as if seeing the courage to shatter the darkness in each other’s eyes.

“If you have been through this, or are going through it now

There is a black hole swallowing the life you loved somehow

I am also trying hard, in the corner of our heart,

The corner where rain never stops; what to do, where to start?”

Following the chorus that broke the silence, another voice—ethereal and crystal clear—followed closely.

The lights on the stage dimmed completely, leaving only a single warm beam shining on Lin Yanran.

“Everyone says they admire your free spirit the most,

You smile the most, never a lonely ghost”

The young man, eyes gently closed as he played and sang, seemed to have accumulated a fullness of energy in his penetrating voice.

He seemed to be using his song to tell everyone in distress that he understood their heartache and pain, but it was okay, that they could try to fight against loneliness and make peace with their truer selves.

“You will travel far on the weekend, though you sit withered all night long,

Watching the distance turn white~…”

Following the emotionally charged falsetto was a high note of immense explosive power, instantly pushing the emotion of the entire song to its absolute peak.

That lyric—about watching the distant horizon turn white—felt like a question and a cry from the very depths of the soul.

It was soul-shaking.

In that instant, every single person in the audience forgot to breathe.

Their scarred and battered hearts were healed in a split second, as if suddenly granted the courage to battle their difficulties.

They stared unblinkingly at Lin Yanran on the stage. Their chests heaved violently, and as his rich, melodious high note came to a sudden halt, their hearts seemed to empty out along with the silence in the music’s interlude.

The music and the vocals stopped abruptly.

The world fell quiet at that moment.

The audience’s minds were shocked into blankness for several seconds; they didn’t even dare to breathe too heavily.

A few seconds later, the young man’s slender fingers pressed down on the black and white keys. A soothing, delicate piano melody rang out once more beside the audience’s ears, like the world’s gentlest whisper.

Amidst the quiet piano notes, Ji Shuai stood up and walked toward the center of the stage.

He, who had always been a vocalist, began to rap for the very first time.

Just as everyone was about to scream in surprise at this transformation, the large screen at the very center of the stage suddenly lit up.

Scene after scene of the trainees flashed by rapidly.

On stage, the trainees were performing a heartfelt rap they had written themselves, a raw self-confession.

On the big screen, however, played a record of every little detail the trainees had experienced along their journey.

This VCR didn’t just play clips of the seven trainees in Lin Yanran’s group; it documented the hardships of all one hundred trainees from Super Idol as they fought for their dreams.

One hundred young men.

The first time they came to this stage as trainees, they were nervous and at a loss.

Some delivered perfect performances, while others made frequent mistakes due to nervousness.

But whether perfect or regrettable, this stage was where their dreams began.

It held the joy and delight of receiving an ‘A’ and recorded the loneliness and unwillingness of receiving an ‘F.’

To get a better ranking, to walk further on this path, they worked tirelessly.

For the first public performance, they only had three days of intensive training. They practiced until the early hours of the morning. Even when they were so sleepy they couldn’t keep their eyes open, they kept moving their bodies, unwilling to waste a single second.

In the end, they collapsed on the floor from exhaustion, soaking their clothes with sweat during dance practice.

Every round of the competition brought a different kind of pressure.

These youths, who usually laughed and joked in front of the camera, would lose control of their emotions and break down to the point of wanting to cry out loud.

But fearing their fans would worry, they could only hide from the cameras, sitting in deserted corners, secretly wiping away their tears.

These young, hot-blooded youths were deeply passionate about this stage of their dreams.

Even if they trained until their bodies were covered in injuries, grimacing in pain one second, the next second—when they stood on stage—they became those confident, dazzling idols again.

Those trainees who were eliminated… when they left this stage, not a single one didn’t look back with every step.

Every one of them looked at this stage with eyes full of attachment and longing.

After the arguments came the united effort for every performance.

After the predicaments came the applause and support from the audience.

The three-month-long competition was a process of growth filled with loneliness and hardship, despair and tears, but also with touching moments and gains.

Every trainee had experienced too many difficulties and regrets, yet they had all worked so hard, risking everything and going all out for their dreams.

A group of youths fighting for their dreams were currently shining brightly on their own stage.

The trainees standing backstage, especially those who had already been eliminated, felt their vision blur as they watched the VCR.

And the fans in the audience—whether they were fans of Lin Yanran, fans of this specific group, or neither—all felt the bitterness and difficulty of the trainees’ road to chasing dreams through this song.

The glow sticks in their hands seemed to have minds of their own, waving left and right in the air along with the melody, while their faces were already cold with tears.

As the song gradually neared its end, the name of the song performed by Lin Yanran’s group finally appeared slowly on the big screen.

—— “If You Have Been Through This Too,” dedicated to every ordinary yet extraordinary you.

Below these words, the production team had added a line of small text, keeping it a secret from Lin Yanran until now.

(This VCR was personally edited and provided by Mentor Yanran)

The production team didn’t take the credit. They bluntly told everyone that this tear-jerker of a video wasn’t their doing; it was a final gift from Yanran to all the trainees.

The venue had long since turned into a sea of tears.

[He actually edited a VCR together… I just counted carefully, he included every single person. Yanran, you are so good at this, wuwuwu.]

[Wuwuwu… sorry, Teacher Yanran, I misunderstood you before. You really put your heart into this.]

[I’ve run into so many unhappy things in life recently. Thank you for this song, it let me have a good cry.]

[As a corporate wage slave, I really empathize. This song truly hit me right in the heart.]

[Compared to the dazzling performances, I realized this moves me even more.]

[Yanran’s stages truly never disappoint.]

[Yanran’s part was so healing.]

[Yanran sang so well, why did he only sing one verse? I want to hear more.]

[Because he wanted to leave the stage to the trainees. This is the trainees’ last performance; he didn’t want to steal the spotlight.]

[No wonder he only sang one part. Why is Yanran so good? I’m crying my eyes out.]

[Yeah, he is truly gentle. For the final stage, he showed everyone the hardships of all 100 trainees. He loves these trainees so much.]

[Maybe because he has experienced that darkness too, so he understands the trainees’ hardships better.]

[Stop talking, stop talking. This stage, both the song and the VCR, has me crying so hard I can’t stop.]

[Yanran, you owe me for these tears!]

[My tears are worthless.]

On stage, as the final note ended, the deeply moved audience members couldn’t help but shout out the name of the youth they loved most.

“Qiao Ye, I will love you forever.”

“Ji Shuai, don’t worry so much, you aren’t old at all! You will always be our little cutie!”

“Wuwuwu Xingxing-zi, you must always be a shining star illuminating the night sky!”

“I love Super Idol. I will forever love this group of boys shining on stage!”

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