ATIS Chapter 20 pt2

On the other side,

in order to meet Lu Xi – the person she had liked for three years – in the best possible appearance, Qin Yihan had gone ahead and specially washed her hair again in the morning.

She had just finished drying her hair when she saw her phone vibrate crazily.

Not knowing who would be contacting her at this hour, Qin Yihan opened WeChat and found that there were more than a dozen message threads bombarding her. In the time it took her to take a shower, hundreds of new messages had piled up.

Qin Yihan was taken aback, wondering if something significant had happened. She nervously opened the messages, only to realize that it wasn't what she had feared at all.

She scrolled up to the first message:

[Delicious Little Fish Owes Me a Strawberry Smoothie: I’m Dizzy!! Did you know your brother is participating in a talent show!!! The one that's super popular recently, "Infinite Youth" Right now his short videos on TikTok have gone viral in just a few minutes and has over two hundred thousand likes!! Go check it out!]

Her class group chat was even more active:

[Twenty Pounds Heavier Before Monthly Exams: My god, Qin Yihan, you're so untrustworthy! How could you keep such a huge thing secret like your brother in a talent show, you didn’t even mention it. Are we not friends? You owe us a hotpot treat!]

[I'm the Class Monitor: What? Isn't God Lu participating in the college entrance exams?]

[Chopping off Hands if Shopping on TB (1): Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, every day! Last time I met Brother Lu (2) I thought he was so handsome wu wu wu, I can now blow a trumpet (3) that I've seen a celebrity when I go out I’m so lucky [cry][cry]]

Qin Yihan: "…"

What happened?

The show had already aired? It couldn’t be this quick, right?

After pausing for a moment, she then scrolled down a few more messages before realizing what had occurred.

[Brother Lu’s Sister’s Classmate：Your brother is performing at the Leyuan Shopping Center in Huayan City right now. Aren’t you in Huayan City? Is it that you didn’t go to see your brother?]

Qin Yihan was taken aback. She only knew that Qin Lu was recording a show near Huayan, but she hadn't heard that he would be performing at the Leyuan Shopping Center. She checked the time and hesitated.

In order to make things convenient, Qin Yi Han had booked a hotel near Leyuan Shopping Center where the signing event was being held. It was just a few minutes' walk away.

However, she had only been thinking about being able to meet Lu Xi in the afternoon, and her heart was filled with the signing event. She hadn’t cared about Qin Lu's activities. Moreover, knowing Qin Lu's style, he probably wouldn't have contacted her even if he wasn't in closed training.

She thought to herself that there was nothing impressive about Qin Lu. She knew what her brother was like after more than a decade of knowing him, and he was still as annoying as ever.

Qin Lu was decent at studying, but he had no talent for singing and dancing. These people were probably being temporarily deceived by his appearance. Once they realized that Qin Lu's skills were lacking, he would likely be eliminated quickly.

Faced with the indiscriminate bombardment of news, Qin Yi Han didn't know how to respond for a while, so she decided to log out for now and wait until her classmates had calmed down before discussing things further.

However, knowing the exact location and time was one thing, and being informed about it was another. Although Qin Yi Han thought that Qin Lu's performance couldn't possibly be successful, she couldn't help but feel a little curious when she heard about it.

She hesitated while looking at the time on her phone. It might still be possible to rush over and catch the end of the performance, but she could also end up going there for nothing.

Just as Qin Yi Han was undecided, Mu Jiehan, who had spent a diligent hour on her makeup and finally picked up her phone with a satisfied smile, let out a horrified scream:

"Wife Xixi (4), why didn't you tell me that the little brother I picked last night is doing a flash mob right next door now ah ah ah ah?!"

Qin Yi Han pretended to be stupid: "…Uh, I didn't know."

With this new information, her decision became much easier.

Mu Jiehan took two seconds to check her own appearance and began to quickly change her shoes, speaking quickly, "It's all over Weibo, and you actually didn't see it! Hurry hurry hurry, I absolutely can't miss this opportunity. Do you know how difficult it was for me to pick him up (5) before? With my years of star-chasing experience, he's bound to become popular. It won't be so easy to see him in person again in the future!"

Qin Yihan: “…”

Without saying a word, she put on her sneakers and rushed out with Mu Jie Han.

Qin Yi Han thought to herself, "Thanks for the invitation. I see him every day. I've seen him for over a decade, he lives across from me, and I've even seen him when he wakes up."

The two of them rushed all the way. Yesterday, it took them five minutes to walk to the mall, but today, it took them at most three minutes to rush in directly.

The speed of information spread on the internet was too fast.

The mall was already packed, filled with those who had originally gathered there, those who rushed over after seeing the Weibo news, and even 4SEVEN fans who happened to be nearby and came to join the excitement.

Qin Yihan was a bit bewildered by this scene. She initially thought that newcomers like Qin Lu, who had little fame, wouldn't attract much of a crowd.

She underestimated the tremendous power of handsome guys and people's enthusiasm for joining in on the excitement.

Mu Jiehan looked at the bustling crowd and couldn't help but sigh, "I knew it would be like this."

She grabbed Qin Yihan and attempted to squeeze into the crowd, but it was extremely challenging. The song was short to begin with, and before they could even make it to the outskirts, the music stopped.

Then came the enthusiastic cheers from the audience, not overwhelming but still enthusiastic.

Qin Yihan was blocked off completely. Although her 165 cm height (approximately 5'5") was not short, she couldn't see anything at all when the hundreds of people in front of her blocked her like this.

She thought she heard someone shouting Qin Lu's name, but she didn't see anything. He had already exited the stage, and despite her effort to jump a couple of times, all she could catch was a glimpse of a back. They were all dressed the same, and the distance was too great to distinguish who from who.

She tugged at Mu Jiehan, feeling a bit of inexplicable regret in her heart. "Oh well, the performance is over, and they're about to leave."

However, Mu Jiehan, who was a little discouraged, raised her head with sparkling eyes at Qin Yihan's words, "They're leaving?"

Mu Jiehan was immediately revived to full blood (6), full of fighting spirit and unwilling to give up. She said, "There's still a chance!"

She turned around and grabbed the bewildered Qin Yihan, while rushing outside, laughing, and saying "Do you remember the big bus we saw at the entrance? They have to get on that bus to leave."

The two of them sprinted towards the vicinity of the bus and squatted nearby. Qin Yihan had been dragged along by Mu Jiehan, a bit dazed, and then she finally realized. Was she squatting here to catch a glimpse of Qin Lu?

This was just too strange. Qin Yihan's mouth twitched, feeling like she should advise Mu Jiehan to return to the hotel, but she was too embarrassed to speak when she waw the other party’s high spirits.

Should she confess out of the blue that she was the sister of the other party’s one pick?

Qin Yihan's mind was in a mess. There were quite a few people outside the mall, and some young girls who seemed like they had just hurried over were there too.

Just as Qin Yihan was about to speak, she saw a young man wearing a white school uniform-style suit coming out of the revolving doors at the mall's entrance.

The first person to come out was quite tall and looked a little aloof, but he patiently stopped and waited for his teammates to catch up.

"Oh my god, it's Han Suyan... He looks even better in person than in the videos." Mu Jiehan had already taken out her phone and started taking photos in excitement. Qin Yihan playfully teased, "Lu Xi’s Mother, you're climbing the wall (7) so quickly?"

"What are you saying? I'm just appreciating a handsome guy, not climbing the wall." Mu Jiehan's face was filled with happiness. "I'm so lucky. Although I didn't catch the performance, I can at least see all the members up close."

"When will my one pick..." Mu Jiehan muttered, then stopped mid-sentence.

Qin Yihan looked up, and the familiar yet somewhat unfamiliar black-haired young man passed through the revolving door. Seeing him coming out, Han Suyan pursed his lips and revealed a slight smile.

Even amidst the group of exceptionally good-looking trainees, Qin Lu still stood out as particularly handsome. His soft black hair seemed even more refreshing amidst the colorful hair colours. When he slightly lowered his head, the lines of his face appeared like a meticulously drawn sketch drawn by an artist, and the clean white shirt paired with a black tie gave him an extraordinarily composed aura.

Compared to the usual annoying brat who would steal Qin Yihan's potato chips and pocket money and frequently tattle to Mother Qin, something seemed different about him.

Qin Yihan was lost in thought, forgetting that she was standing right in the path to the bus. Qin Lu was already heading her way.

Just as Qin Lu unexpectedly looked over, Qin Yihan froze on the spot.

She realized the situation: under the premise of their usual adversarial relationship, she had actually squatted and positioned herself right in front of Qin Lu as he was getting on the bus. Given his usual difficult personality, he would likely ignore her or mock her!

Qin Yihan felt so embarrassed that she wished she wanted to find a crack in the ground to hide in. However, she saw Qin Lu hesitate for a moment and then walk straight towards her.

Mu Jiehan beside her was still clueless about the situation, holding her phone and whispering excitedly, "Oh oh oh, what's going on? He's coming over, my god."

Qin Lu stopped in front of the two of them. After going through a growth spurt during puberty, Qin Lu, who had been dwarfed by Qin Yihan's height as a child, now had to lower his head to meet her gaze.

This was the first time Qin Yihan had seen her brother with makeup on. His facial features, which were originally delicate, became more three-dimensional, and his handsomeness was earth-shattering.

He seemed somewhat surprised but with a smile in his eyes as he whispered, "Why are you here?"

Mu Jiehan, who was experiencing an up-close beauty attack from his close-up, widened her eyes at his words. She looked at the somewhat dazed Qin Yihan beside her and a hundred and eight different speculations flashed through her mind.

No way?

Qin Yihan was finding the situation quite dire now. The surroundings were filled with the clicking sounds of cameras, and the growing crowd was gradually turning their attention in their direction. Even a few distinctively handsome guys who were standing beside Qin Lu just a moment ago now curiously looked her way.

This scene was beyond her wildest dreams.

Her mind was a jumble, and in the end, she awkwardly blurted out, "Uh, I came to attend the 4SEVEN signing event."

"Ah," Qin Lu paused, "Today?"

Qin Yihan stiffly responded, "Yes."

Her brother didn't dismiss her as casually as she had imagined. Instead, he looked at her carefully and asked, "Did Mom agree to you coming here? Do you have enough money?"

Qin Yihan felt strange. She gave her brother a quizzical look and then suddenly realized: this guy must be trying to play up the close sibling relationship, making it seem like they were having a heartfelt conversation. He was as cunning as ever, and she almost fell for it.

She glanced around at the cameras and nodded nonchalantly, "It's enough, it's enough. I'll be heading back after watching Lu... I mean, after attending the event."

Qin Lu nodded. The staff was urging him. He smiled and bent his eyes: "Take care and get home safely. I’ll be leaving first.”

Qin Yihan nodded.

After he took a few steps, he seemed to think of something again and turned around to ask her, "Do you want to come and see my performance?"

An immediate commotion erupted around them.

Qin Yihan almost reflexively blurted out, "I don't want to watch," but then she suddenly remembered that 4SEVEN was going to collaborate with the trainees in the second stage performance.

So, she held back her initial rejection that was on her lips.

Qin Yihan said, "Let's see if you can survive until the second stage performance."

Qin Lu's eyebrows raised slightly, and the corners of his mouth lifted into a faint smile."Consider it done. I'll find a way to save you a ticket.”

Qin Yihan noticed that Qin Lu seemed to be somewhat cheerful. Could it be that he thought... she was encouraging him?

inexplicably, she suddenly felt a bit guilty for not telling Qin Lu about the possibility of 4SEVEN's collaboration.

Su Qinglan was waiting for Qin Lu in front of the bus. When he saw him walking over, he lowered his head and asked curiously, "Who's this?"

Qin Lu blinked and said, "My little sister."

"Oh oh oh." Su Qinglan had actually guessed a bit of it.

After all the trainees had boarded the bus, it quickly departed.

Qin Yihan stood where she was, feeling her phone vibrating like crazy in her pocket, and felt a little bit of a headache.

Whatever. At least she would finally get to see Lu Xi this afternoon!

But before that... Qin Yihan chuckled and glanced at Mu Jiehan, who was casually rolling up her sleeves next to her. There was a small issue she needed to handle.

-        -

The performance this time could be considered a perfect ending. Both Weibo and a certain music platform had generated positive feedback and a lot of excitement. The trainees, who had experienced their first stage performance, remained excited for a long time.

The feeling of actually stepping onto the stage was both similar and completely different from what they had imagined. When the music started playing, all eyes were on them. Describing that kind of wonderful feeling was hard to describe.

It was as if an infinite passion surged within them in an instant, brimming with a seemingly boundless energy.

It was a satisfying and exhilarating experience. They practiced day and night for so long for those three minutes of freely expressing themselves on the stage. This feeling would likely be deeply etched in the hearts of the trainees, remaining memorable for a long, long time.

Back at the training base, it was as if they had awakened from a brief and beautiful dream, as new challenges immediately surged without a moment's pause.

The process moved swiftly, with almost no buffering time, with the instructors announcing the next task.

Everyone gathered once again in the training venue where they had first began training, and Producer Cui Zhihao stood on the stage just like before, waiting. He explained the current situation with a smile, "You should all be aware that the rankings from the first round of voting will be announced in five days. All the fan producers will have a whole week to cast their votes, and trainees ranked lower will be eliminated."

The trainees whose strength still couldn't keep up suddenly let out a cry of frustration.

"The competition format is indeed cruel, not just empty words. There isn’t much time before the first elimination, and you must seize the time now to work hard. Don't wait until later to regret," Producer Cui Zhihao looked at these younglings and, in the end, offered a few words gentle encouragement. "But you don’t need to worry too much either; as long as you give it your all, that's enough."

"You are still young now. Even if you are unfortunately eliminated this time, there will be many other opportunities. Being able to recognize your shortcomings and correct them is a form of achievement."

However, the trainees didn't have much time to be comforted, as Producer Cui Zhihao continued, "In the first overall ranking, a total of 65 trainees will qualify for the next stage, and the remaining 34 trainees at the bottom will be eliminated all at once."

"What? 34 trainees?"

"Then I’m definitely out of the game... Oh my god, why are they eliminating so many people in the first round?"

"Could it be that I won’t get a chance to perform in public before I leave this show….?"

Cui Zhihao waited quietly for the trainees' reactions to settle, then continued to the main point, "Next, you need to prepare for the first official stage. In a week's time, you will have your first public performance stage. This time, you will be divided into groups for a showdown. Each pair of groups will perform the same song, and then the audience will vote. The winning team will receive 3,000 votes as a group!"

Three thousand votes! In the early stages of the show, this could easily save someone from elimination!

However, the issue was that the overall rankings were going to be announced in five days.

These votes could only be used in the next ranking. With 34 people at the bottom, even if they prepared well for this performance, there might not be a chance to go on stage.

Although Cui Zhihao also felt that this format was somewhat brutal, the reality was what it was, and he couldn't change it.

So, the next few days were crucial.

"You might have already guessed, the person with the right to choose their teammates first is Liao Junchen, and then after the members of Class A are finalized, the next team leader will be designated."

"We will conduct a few mini-games later to determine the order of song selection."

"The rules are simple to understand, let's begin."

When Liao Junchen stepped up to the front of the stage, the hopeful eyes of all the trainees fell on him.

Being chosen by Liao Junchen as a teammate meant that the chance of getting the additional three thousand votes was basically 100 percent!

Liao Junchen, standing on the stage, remained as calm as ever. He habitually pressed the small mole at the corner of his eye with his hand and calmly observed the unusually fervent gazes from the audience below.

He didn’t hesitate and said simply, "Qin Lu."

Su Qinglan's gaze immediately fixed onto Liao Junchen. He hadn't wanted to be in the same group as Liao Junchen, but with Qin Lu there, he now wanted to be in the same group.

He had wanted to share the stage with Qin Lu for a long time—the morning's group situation of more than 30 people performing together from this morning didn’t count.

As everyone was waiting with bated breath, Liao Junchen spoke.

——

On Weibo.

The impact of the flashmob was still growing and fermenting, and among the short videos, two already had likes exceeding one million.

Most of the people in the comment section didn't know who the people in the video were and were all asking where they could find more information.

It was a pity that the first episode of "Infinite Youth" had not yet aired. Even if there were curious fans wanting to engage in “archeology" (8), they couldn't find any valid information.

However, there were many videos and photos uploaded from various angles after the teaser was released, which could be dug up by potential interested fans to explore and watch one by one.

The trainees who had personal Weibo accounts gained a small wave of fans. However, for someone like Qin Lu who didn't have a personal Weibo account, it left the fans who were circling around a bit lost.

There was no supertopic (9), no personal Weibo account, and no Tiktok account.

Just at that moment, fans who were frequently searching for "Qin Lu" on Weibo suddenly stumbled upon a newly created user.

Clicking into the profile, it was clearly a new account without verification and the few hundred followers were probably bought (10), but the username was very eye-catching: Twilight-Qin Lu’s Fanpage.

Upon entering the homepage, they found a high-definition live performance photo!

There was only one photo, but the quality was very, very high.

The captured image was incredibly beautiful. Sparkling golden flakes suspended in the air under the crystal lights, a trainee with black hair extended his hand with a smile, and a golden glint was perfectly landing on his fingertips.

With closed eyes, he slightly tilted his head upward. His clean and handsome face was illuminated by the bright light, akin to the beauty of dawn.

Though the surrounding people weren't blurred, only Qin Lu could be seen when one single glanced at this photo.

Qin Lu, who had just entered the public eye today, already had a fansite so quickly.

Even though it was just this one site.

The scattered fans (11) who clicked into the profile couldn't help but gaze at the photo repeatedly. They were reluctant to exit, so they saved the picture, and some even set it as their wallpaper immediately.

It truly was romantic. The ambiance of a tranquil and gentle world was simply too beautiful.

Some people felt that the photography style seemed a bit familiar, but they couldn't confirm it.

In a short span of time, with the popularity of the short videos still soaring, the fan count of this fan page swiftly rose to eight thousand, and the number of reposts soon exceeded ten thousand.

While the claim of having only three hundred fans in the fandom/ fan circle was mostly a jest, some people were indeed steadfast (to one idol) while others were generous in love (towards multiple idols). With several circles intersecting, many had most likely shared a fan circle before.

As scattered fans began reposting, a subtle trend of breaking out of these circles began to emerge.

Who was this person they hadn’t seen before?

Upon learning that the voting channel for "Infinite Youth" had been opened, many scattered fans took the opportunity to cast a vote for Qin Lu.

The number of scattered fans was substantial. With the added benefit of his good student aura, Qin Lu's vote count escalated rapidly (12).

Meanwhile, at the entrance of the Leyuan Shopping Center, a black business car came to a gradual stop.

The fans present there were significantly different from before. The sidewalk was packed with fans who had arrived early. All of them were holding handheld banners with different colors and names, and some even had hair accessories of the same color.

"Help, my heart is beating so fast."

"It's been over a month since the last time we greeted them at the airport; I'm so excited, wuwu."

The moment the car door opened, the scene erupted into deafening screams.

4SEVEN had arrived.

---

Translator’s notes:

(1)   TB: probably Taobao, prolific online shopping platform

(2)   Considering whether I should begin translating Ge as just Ge instead of bro or brother. But I’m a Chinese speaker so it doesn’t read as awkward for me, but I don’t know about you all

(3)   Slang for brag

(4)   If it’s still not clear, this is a nickname for lu xi and a reminder that this is a shortened ver of yihan’s username

(5)   Likely meaning meeting him in person or referring to her voting for him

(6)   In China, health in videogames is called blood so she was revived like a videogame character to full health

(7)   Once again, slang for switching fandoms/pursuing other idols

(8)   Excavation of information—digging it up haha

(9)   Supertopic: they’re almost like subreddits or fan community. They’re a lot more permanent than hashtags, and are present on Weibo (which functions similarly to twitter)

(10)As in purchased. You can buy followers

(11) san fen, or loose powder, refers to fans who are are there to find objects of interest and generally unaffliated with the fandom at hand. Hence, scattered—I’m not calling them solo stans

(12) This seems unrealistic, but in china, moral standing and character is often attached to grades. So Qin Lu’s good grades make him seem like a good person too

---

Translator’s corner:

Not liao junchen being the kid everyone wants to be partners with in group projects

I'm so sorry for the late update! School is really kicking my ass right now. I'll try to stay on schedule, but no guarantees!

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