Chapter 66

While Qin Xia'er's little head was filled with all sorts of wild thoughts, the host and the camera crew walked in. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they began to announce the specific competition procedures and rules.

The basic competition format consists of five stages—80 to 40, 40 to 20, 20 to 10, 10 to 5, and then a round-robin among the top five, with each person performing once per round, and the last one being eliminated.

For the first round, reducing 80 participants to 40, due to the large number of people, the competition is divided over two days, and there's a gimmick. Participants are allowed to choose a partner to form a 2VS2 team battle—broadcast live, with the audience voting to decide the winner. In addition to using comments to help pull votes, each mentor has the power to add an extra 1,000 votes.

"Even if one side of the team wins, if the individual with fewer votes in the winning team has fewer votes than the individual with more votes in the losing team, they will still be eliminated—unless the partner chooses to share the votes, which means the total votes of the two are added together and divided by two, giving a chance to save themselves."

After the host finished reading this, he looked around at all the contestants with a knowing smile.

Sure enough, many contestants quickly grasped the subtleties of this rule and began to get noisy.

This gimmick made choosing teammates very important, and even "who chooses who as a teammate" became a major selling point of the live broadcast.

More maliciously, the contestants waiting in the backstage hall did not know about this competition format. When the cameras focused on them from various angles, the host announced the competition mode.

Thus, the cameras captured the reactions of the contestants one by one, waiting to be edited into the program.

The Tibetan girl, Dawa, blinked her eyes, seemingly not quite understanding, but after a girl sitting next to her said a few words, she seemed to suddenly realize. Without hesitation, she left that girl and found Li Hansha, a young girl from the Shuzhou region who had also advanced.

"Hansha, don't look for anyone else, let's team up." Dawa said in a big sisterly tone: "Don't worry, your singing skills are a bit weak, but if you cooperate well with me, I'll take you to the next round."

Although Dawa's words were a bit offensive, Li Hansha, with her round face, blinked her long-lashed big eyes and smiled sweetly: "Okay, I knew Dawa-gege was the best."

As for the melancholy prince, Lin Ye, he maintained his constant "I am sad, please do not disturb" demeanor. A girl hesitantly approached him, softly asking if they could form a team. Lin Ye slightly raised his eyelids, gazed at the girl for a while, and then sighed deeply.

"Alright, let's do it this way." He nodded with a tone similar to Li Hongzhang signing a treaty, making the girl feel as if she had done something terribly wrong to humanity.

Not far away, after just a few words, Wei Linghua smiled and accepted him as her partner. On the other side, Zhou Bishang had several contestants asking to team up with her. She pushed her glasses and directly asked them to try out their singing and dancing on the spot, eventually choosing a young man who excelled in both dancing and rapping.

Although this behavior of making others perform on the spot was somewhat disrespectful, no one wanted to be held back. Instantly, several others followed suit.

However, those who could make others try out were the standout, super-popular contestants. A girl named Lu Qianqian, with two ponytails, searched for a long time before finding a girl willing to team up with her, and she was so happy that she jumped up and down—this cute close-up was captured by the camera, and after editing, it would likely gain her many new supporters.

As for the young contestant and future CEO, Yuezheng Longya, he politely rejected all the invitations and directly approached his sister, Yuezheng Ling, to request a pairing.

But the energetic girl, Yuezheng Ling, rejected her big brother without hesitation, then hugged the petite girl next to her and giggled: "Big brother, go find someone else. I already have Tianyi!"

On the other side, a handsome young man with long, narrow eyes and rosy lips, Jin Chengxiu, was surrounded by a large group of contestants who wanted to team up with him.

With Jin Chengxiu's super-popular status, teaming up with him almost guaranteed advancement.

"Stop!" Jin Chengxiu raised a slender finger, resembling a pianist's, and waved it slightly. "I'm sorry, I don't want to team up with someone who would drag me down. You, go away, disperse."

"Why are you so arrogant, man? Do you really think you're invincible?" A glamorous female contestant felt disillusioned; she was previously a half-fan of the "Beautiful Prince."

"If I'm not invincible, why did you come to me?" Jin Chengxiu smiled coldly.

After rejecting all these freebies, Jin Chengxiu's cold, proud eyes scanned the room and quickly landed on a girl.

The girl, not far from him, was the one who caught his interest, the target he had long had in mind.

She was probably around 17 years old, with a very good figure, a bit reserved. With his extensive experience in seduction, she was likely still a virgin. Her attire was quite good, simple and elegant, and he knew that each piece was a top-tier luxury item that couldn't be bought domestically—like the pair of handmade deer leather boots, which an average office worker might not be able to afford in two or three years.

He had heard her perform "Sister Drum" during the preliminary auditions. Her voice was clear and ethereal, and her singing skills were completely up to par. Even if she teamed up with him, she wouldn't hold him back much.

A rich and beautiful girl, it would be nice to charm her. Thinking of this, Jin Chengxiu's eyes flashed with a hint of amusement, and he walked over.

Jin Chengxiu was 1.84 meters tall, slender and fair-skinned, with long, smooth hair. His face and features resembled a real-life version of Rukawa Kaede, a typical pretty boy. Combined with his outstanding singing and dancing skills, it's no wonder a large group of brain-dead female fans called him the "Beautiful Prince."

No girl had ever rejected him. So when Jin Chengxiu approached the girl who had just politely declined an invitation and seemed a bit indecisive, he didn't waste words and went straight to the point.

He leaned slightly to one side, exuding a cool and rebellious charm that could turn girls brain-dead in a second, and said in a magnetic voice: "Hey, are you alone? Let's team up."

"Huh?" The rich and beautiful girl, Qin Xia'er, turned around and saw the cool and handsome long-haired man in front of her, her eyes widening in surprise.

Impressed, right? Jin Chengxiu smiled confidently and continued: "What kind of songs do you like? Don't worry about me, sing whatever you like, I have no problem with it."

The program staff's cameras immediately focused on them, and some of the surrounding contestants noticed. After all, Jin Chengxiu was the overwhelmingly most popular male contestant, and Qin Xia'er was also a highly popular female contestant with good reviews in all aspects.

Some female contestants instantly showed a hint of envy and jealousy. Teaming up with Jin Chengxiu would definitely guarantee a smooth passage through the first round. And it was the "Beautiful Prince" who, after coldly rejecting so many people, was now actively inviting her! This was like a scene from a romance novel!

That Jiangnan girl was just a bit more refined in her attire, had softer skin, a slimmer waist, and a bigger chest! Which female contestant here didn't have some talent? Why should she get such a good deal?

In their minds, as well as in Jin Chengxiu's mind, the invited girl would definitely not refuse.

Whether it was Jin Chengxiu's personal charm or his hard power, choosing him was clearly the most beneficial and correct decision.

But Qin Xia'er hesitated for a moment, then bit her lip in difficulty and said in an apologetic tone: "Thank you for your invitation. But... I can't team up with you."

Jin Chengxiu was completely taken aback by this response. After two seconds, he勉强 asked, "Why?"

"Because I have someone I want to team up with." She seemed to have made up her mind, politely smiled at Jin Chengxiu again, and then quickly walked towards a boy in the distance.

Jin Chengxiu watched the girl's back with a stiff face, feeling so angry that he wanted to kick over the camera that was still broadcasting live next to him! Unfortunately, to maintain his image, he had to force a smile, trying to look indifferent and magnanimous. This made his smile look a bit crooked—damn, it was even being zoomed in on!

"Maybe she has a good friend here, hmm, some girls are like that, they have such a close relationship with their best friends that no one can get in between..." Jin Chengxiu could only console himself this way.

But when he saw who Qin Xia'er really chose, Jin Chengxiu couldn't deceive himself anymore. He stared deeply at her, took a deep breath, and his face magically transformed into a cool, self-mocking expression. He turned to the camera and shrugged: "Oh, it seems that a fellow townsman is more attractive to Miss Yuezhuang than I am." He raised an eyebrow and pointed to the camera, smiling: "She's a girl who loves the old."

Damn! How dare she reject me! That girl and that boy, I will make them pay in the official competition! This isn't over! Jin Chengxiu gritted his teeth and silently decided.

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On the other side, Qin Xia'er walked straight to Li Pu. Then she opened her eyes wide and said in a fierce tone: "We're teaming up, no refusal!"

"Uh, okay. I was thinking the same thing." Li Pu nodded.

No one had approached him to team up yet. After the preliminary auditions were broadcast, Li Pu's popularity online was quite good—almost ranking in the top ten out of all 80 contestants. However, his explosive and impactful rock style was difficult to pair with, and most people would likely be overshadowed by him—no contestant would want that to happen to them.

But Miss Qin didn't care; she didn't think that much!