After everyone had practiced the theme song, the group filmed the music video together. As the Center, Wen Shike received a significant amount of screen time, while Lu Jingwei also secured a prime spot as Wen Shike’s “Left Guardian.”
The filming took half a day. Upon returning, the trainees were still excitedly discussing the process.
“I’m in Class F. If I’d known, I would have trained harder. In the past, Class F barely got a face shot,” one trainee lamented.
“Getting even one second is lucky,” another replied with a sigh. “There’s nothing we can do; not everyone is Wen Shike.”
“Maybe she knew the details in advance?” someone whispered.
“I don’t think Wen Shike is that kind of person,” a girl countered. “Don’t you know how exhausting it is to take the Gaokao (National College Entrance Exam) legitimately? She ranked third in the entire province. What, you think she knew the answers to the Gaokao beforehand? If the Young Mistress liked taking shortcuts, couldn’t she have just gone abroad?”
“Exactly. Is it that hard to admit someone is better than you?” another girl added, frowning.
The faces of the girls who started the gossip turned sour. “I was just making casual conversation. Why get so worked up?”
“What if someone takes you seriously? You say it here today, and tomorrow someone on Weibo will post ‘According to a Dream Trainee insider…'” the girl who defended Wen Shike rolled her eyes. “Wen Shike is actually quite nice once you get to know her. Sure, she’s a bit arrogant, but that’s normal. If I were her, I’d walk with my head so high I’d be looking at you all through my nostrils.”
“That would look quite ugly,” Wen Shike remarked as she walked past, giving them a slightly strange look.
The group of girls: “…” The girl who talked about looking through nostrils: “!!!”
“Don’t you think looking at you like this is more attractive?” Wen Shike stared into the girl’s eyes, curled her lips into a smirk, and then scanned the others.
The girl froze for a moment before covering her face: “Ahhh! Young Mistress Wen, please stop!”
The other girls coughed awkwardly, their faces flushing slightly. Humans are, after all, visual creatures.
“What did you do?” Lu Jingwei asked, approaching with a coat and looking at Wen Shike with confusion.
“Nothing, I just looked at her,” Wen Shike replied calmly, naturally taking the coat from Lu Jingwei and draping it over her shoulders. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
Wen Shike and Lu Jingwei walked off together. The remaining girls looked at each other.
“So, you’ve been won over by her looks?” the girl who had questioned Wen Shike asked with a meaningful glance.
The girl who said she’d look through her nostrils retorted, “Didn’t your face turn red too? You have the nerve to talk about me? Hmph, I’d say you’re just jealous because of love.”
“Heh, I’m going back right now to look at myself in the mirror a hundred times.”
“Oh? Is it because no one else wants to look at you?”
The others exchanged looks and slowly drifted away, thinking: What on earth is this drama?
“Aren’t you angry?” Lu Jingwei asked, glancing at Wen Shike.
“I’m not. People have said far worse things about me before. In some people’s eyes, ‘rich second generation’ kids like us are all capable of any evil… though, admittedly, some definitely are,” Wen Shike said calmly, her voice trailing off. “Besides, the main thing is her comments didn’t spread. If they did…”
“Hmm, I still wouldn’t be angry. At most, a lawyer would show up at their door.”
Lu Jingwei blinked and lowered her voice, changing the subject: “Do you know what rank you are right now?”
“Can we even know that?” Wen Shike asked, looking bewildered.
Lu Jingwei looked at her with slight surprise. She didn’t have multiple phones because she was short on money, but she didn’t expect Wen Shike to not have one either. She never thought this “Young Mistress” would be so law-abiding.
Wen Shike: “…”
“You can bring multiple phones?” Wen Shike’s eyes widened, her emotions fluctuating. Then she realized she had been naive. “Did you bring one?”
“No.”
Wen Shike sighed, feeling like she wanted to cry. She didn’t consider herself a rule follower, yet here she was.
“Forget it, whatever. The eliminations start after the first public performance anyway,” Wen Shike touched her neck and looked at Lu Jingwei. “Where do you think you’ll rank?”
“Maybe 30th or 40th… maybe 40th or 50th,” Lu Jingwei replied after a two-second silence. “I don’t really have a concept of it.”
Wen Shike didn’t say anything, but she felt that if it were based purely on talent, Lu Jingwei should be in the debut lineup. She twitched her lips; she actually had a bit of a “TOP complex.” Back during the Gaokao, she was only one point away from being the top scorer, and that one point had bothered her for a long time.
So, she was genuinely happy about securing the Center position for the first performance. Of course, there was one thing bothering her, she suspected her popularity wasn’t that high. Three people had already been called to record the “Easter Egg” video for the end of the episode, and she hadn’t been asked for anything.
Lu Jingwei noticed Wen Shike’s expression shifting from looking pleased to looking depressed within seconds.
Lu Jingwei: The mind of a Young Mistress is truly hard to guess.
The first public performance arrived quickly. The atmosphere in Wen Shike’s group was strange, but they had managed to rehearse well. Since it was their first time performing in front of such a large crowd, everyone was nervous, sitting together and taking deep breaths.
However, the Class A trainees had an opening performance, the theme song.
“Time to see ‘Sweet Girl’ version of the Young Mistress again,” Ming Wangxue teased as they headed to the stage, earning a “glare of death” from Wen Shike.
“Isn’t she usually quite sweet?” Lu Jingwei added.
Wen Shike: “???” She glanced at Lu Jingwei, deeply suspecting the girl was mocking her.
“Right! In my heart, our Young Mistress is the sweetest girl in all of Dream Trainee!” Ming Wangxue said while making a finger heart, and the girls next to her followed suit.
Wen Shike narrowed her eyes, giving them a “do whatever you want” look. She didn’t think she was cold, but she certainly didn’t think she was a “sweet girl.” She felt a proper sweet girl shouldn’t be like her, constantly looking to stir up trouble.
When they stepped onto the stage, it was pitch black. Wen Shike knew the audience couldn’t see her, so she immediately used her 5.2 vision (enhanced by contacts) to scan the crowd for any light boards with her name.
She froze for a moment, her eyes widening. There actually were some! It seemed she wasn’t as “unpopular” as she thought. Her fans were there.
Her light boards were gold with “Wen Shike” written on them. Counting them up, there were about a dozen. Out of two thousand audience members, and over a hundred trainees, Wen Shike felt she had surpassed the average. She was satisfied. Perhaps because the color was so bright or because they bore her name, once she saw that golden area, she couldn’t see anything else.
As soon as the music started, Wen Shike snapped into character, flashing her most brilliant smile.
The screams from below the stage pierced the sky.
“Wen Shike! Ahhh! She’s smiling at me!” “My daughter is too sweet! My god!” “Ahhhh! Wen Shike, look at Mama! Look at Mama!” “Wen Shike! I’m your girlfriend, did you see me?!” “Wen Shike is my girlfriend, back off!” …
Wen Shike thought she was quite far from her fans, but for some reason, she could still vaguely hear their screams and roars.
As for the content…
Wen Shike: “?”