novelraw Chapter 213 - 206: Race to Choose a Song
Chapter 213 - 206: Race to Choose a Song
Except for Guo Xia’s team, the other three teams were very dissatisfied with these songs.
Because the difficulty of the songs was just too high.
They guessed it must be the production team’s way of showing off their "sophistication" and high taste, so they chose these four songs.
Yang Xiaoyue felt awkward listening to the girls’ discussions.
These four songs were all decided by their director team. When they were selecting the songs, just as the trainees said, they only cared about "artistic value" and didn’t consider the actual situation of the girls.
At this time, staff came over to set up the venue, and the group began to chatter noisily about the dance tracks and songs just now.
Long Zitao tried repeatedly to quiet them down, but it was useless—overall, it was chaotic like a swarm of bees.
"Right now, the song title boards are in front of you. If you want to get the song you like for the competition, you’ll have to complete shuttle runs."
Long Zitao spoke to the camera, but the girls’ voices grew louder as they discussed the rule.
"What the heck is this!"
"Is this a middle school sports meet or something?"
"What does running have to do with singing and dancing? This is so unfair!"
"Oh my god! I can’t with these selection rules."
The comments, initially focused on the competition rules, soon spiraled out of control.
"The rehearsal time is way too short—are they just trying to make things hard for us?"
"Longer production time means higher recording costs too!"
"Ugh! Just a few days to pull off these difficult songs and dances—what is the production team even thinking!"
"The time they gave is so short that we can’t even properly rehearse for a standstill performance."
Hearing all these remarks, Long Zitao frowned. He knew these girls understood what they should and shouldn’t say, but women just couldn’t keep their mouths shut.
"The team captains will arrange for four members to complete the relay shuttle runs. The song chosen at the finish line will be your competition track."
Following Long Zitao’s words, the girls began tying their shoelaces and stretching their legs. Each had her own target in mind.
"Next up, the vocal groups will begin their competition," Long Zitao announced. But when he looked up, the girls were still chattering away without stopping.
"Vocal groups, did you hear me?" Long Zitao asked, somewhat annoyed.
"We heard you!" one of them replied dismissively.
The others continued happily chatting, completely ignoring Long Zitao.
Ye Yuwei sighed inwardly at the undisciplined girls.
They were usually perceptive. What was going on today? Were they just letting themselves go?
Lu Bingbing was also disgusted by their behavior. As someone with a proper idol background, following rules was the bare minimum for her.
"When my whistle blows, you can begin." Long Zitao held the whistle staff handed to him. "One, two, three, go!"
The four groups of vocal trainees took off like their lives depended on it. This was their age to be competitive, and this race directly influenced their futures. Everyone gave it their all.
In the final leg, Natasha, with her long legs, grabbed the song "Forever." Composed by a Universe Nation composer, this track happened to align well with Huaxia aesthetics.
Luo Qijia, who competed with Natasha, ran fast but had a clipboard placed slightly higher. With her short height and arms, she couldn’t grab it in time.
Reacting quickly, she lunged for "Light of Reversal" nearby, but in the critical moment, Guo Xia’s team snatched "Life or Death."
Fu Xiaoyu’s team ran the slowest, and in the end, Gao Ziyi managed to claim "Liar."
Duan Yuxin’s team secured "Let Me Like You."
Gao Ziyi looked visibly frustrated, her face downcast like she blamed her teammates for running too slowly.
Back in their lineup, she even shot Lai Ruoxuan some nasty looks, blaming her short legs for being slow.
However, Gao Ziyi herself had been the slowest in the final group run.
Long Zitao stood by as staff replaced the boards and adjusted camera angles. The girls sat down or chatted, which made Long Zitao extremely angry. But since they were filming a show, he couldn’t lose his temper.
"The vocal group has already completed their song selection. Now, dance academy, are you ready?"
The dance academy girls all raised their hands, cheering themselves on.
"Alright, get to the starting line."
"One, two, three, go!"
At Long Zitao’s cue, everyone started running.
By this time, the sky had turned completely dark. Originally, this competition was supposed to be held outdoors, but due to rain, it was moved indoors.
This turned out to be better, making sound recording and such more convenient.
Everyone was running with all their might, but during the race, in Zhao Juke’s team, Liu Danmeng ran into some trouble.
Whether from nerves or the slippery floor, she ended up falling.
Long Zitao’s heart skipped a beat, and he rushed over, as did Yang Ni standing behind. Liu Danmeng’s teammates also dashed toward her.
However, the others were entirely focused on their own race, with the remaining girls enthusiastically cheering on their teammates from the sidelines.
To them, falling was a normal occurrence. They’d all fallen, bumped into things—it’s just something you pick yourself up from and keep going.
Ye Yuwei noticed that even the production team wasn’t stopping the race, clearly assuming Liu Danmeng was fine.
When the last group of girls grabbed their boards, some celebrated by jumping up and down with the boards, shouting excitedly.
Others were dejected, feeling like this was the end for them.
Long Zitao blew his whistle to stop everyone, and at that point, they realized Liu Danmeng might actually be injured.
Several of Liu Danmeng’s closer friends and a few team captains rushed over to check on her.
Ye Yuwei also went over and saw that Liu Danmeng was pale, her forehead covered in beads of sweat—she’d clearly fallen hard.
She struggled to sit up, likely due to the high-intensity training and mental pressure, which had pushed her body to its limit. The production team sent over a medical staff member.
Liu Danmeng started crying uncontrollably. Her team had already been lagging behind, and her fall sealed their fate. It was over for them.
Even though the fall wasn’t intentional, it might have cost her team of five trainees all the sweat and dreams they’d put into this.
Overwhelmed with guilt, she desperately wanted to vanish into the ground.
"I’m sorry, I’m sorry..." Liu Danmeng sobbed endlessly, unable to say anything else.
"It’s fine! That song is the one we wanted anyway." Zhao Juke, as the team leader, tried her best to comfort her.
"Exactly, it’s okay. We can still win." Wang Tingting, tears streaming down her face, hugged Liu Danmeng tightly.
Meanwhile, the girls who had secured the songs they wanted were nervous about having to compete for them again.
Some even felt dissatisfied with Liu Danmeng for being so "delicate."
Every girl there was covered in bruises—who wasn’t?
"The competition will restart," Long Zitao announced after receiving instructions from the production team. He’d overheard some unpleasant remarks, and his long-held anger finally overflowed.
"Enough talking!" Long Zitao pointed at a group still chatting energetically.
His outburst startled everyone—they didn’t understand why he was angry.
Nonetheless, everyone obediently stood in their lines.
"This is a recording, got it?" Long Zitao barked angrily, his fiery gaze sweeping over them.
This scared everyone even more. They guessed the production team had scolded him, but no one realized it was because of Liu Danmeng’s situation.
"Chattering away, chattering away. Let me tell you, this is work. Every single staff member is waiting on you."
Long Zitao was struggling to suppress his rage.
The recording had already stretched into the late night, and their incessant talking had caused numerous takes to be unusable.
"When I speak, you don’t listen. Nobody listens."
"You all keep boasting about being proud to be part of 101 girls, but when someone falls, no one even checks on them. Some of you even leapt over her to grab a board."
Long Zitao’s anger flared higher, his voice rising again despite his earlier attempts to calm down.
The girls finally realized the reason for his rage.