ATIS Chapter 25 pt2

Unable to pry anything more out of Qin Lu, the assistant director quickly wrapped up the interview and moved on to the final task.

After each interview, the trainees were asked to spend a few minutes in front of the photo wall, selecting who they thought was the best-looking and their favorite trainee.

When making their selections, they had to face the camera and briefly explain their reasons.

The trainee with the highest number of votes would receive a reward of three hundred votes.

The assistant director watched as Qin Lu stood in front of the photo wall, reminiscing about how frequently the black-haired trainee had been mentioned—

His teammates were just as difficult in interviews. Han Suyan casually grabbed two photos, returning with a cold expression and shoving the photos in front of the camera, completely unembarrassed, “The best-looking one is me.”

Even the cameraman had to stifle a laugh, as it was quite true.

When asked about his favorite trainee, Han Suyan fell a bit silent, simply lifting the photo and casually saying, “No reason.”

As if they had coordinated, everyone who had interacted with Qin Lu chose the same person.

When the expressionless Liao Junchen faced the camera, the assistant director was inexplicably reluctant to dig pits for him. (1)  As a captain, he spoke little during interviews but was clearly biased in his subjective choices.

Standing by the photo wall, Liao Junchen quickly picked a photo.

The assistant director reminded him to choose two, but Liao Junchen curtly replied, “The rules didn’t say they couldn’t overlap.”

The assistant director thought, fine, how did someone manage to open up a stubborn rock like Liao Junchen: “… So, why?”

Liao Junchen pondered expressionlessly for a moment and simply said, “He is very good.”

The assistant director: “…”

If he had to keep interviewing these three trainees who could barely string a sentence together, he might just quit.

He had a tough job.

Even without Liao Junchen's explanation, the assistant director understood. Not just Qin Lu's teammates, but also several others who didn't seem to know him well, like Chu Xinyi, chose him.

While explaining their reasons, some people felt embarrassed and shyly revealed things the director team didn't know.

Off-camera, Qin Lu had helped Chu Xinyi overcome a hurdle, and showed Lu Zhi how to get along with his teammates. If someone came to ask him questions, he didn't mind patiently answering them, helping those who ranked lower improve their strength.

These small, scattered stories pieced together a picture of the kind of person he was.

The trainee in front of the photo wall was meticulous, gentle, observant, and warm.

… But his interviews were tough—he’d say two words and stop, making the post-production editing bald again. (2)

Five minutes later, the trainees who had just finished a round of practice looked at Qin Lu who had just returned with eager eyes—

They all wanted to know who Qin Lu had chosen in the voting session after the interview.

—

“Infinite Youth” had been in pre-production for about six months. After releasing the theme song, the first episode was finally about to air!

The official Weibo account announced the broadcast time as soon as it was set.

[infinite Youth Official Weibo V: Thank you all for waiting! After much preparation, we can't wait to see the finished product. With the post-production team working around the clock, the first episode of "Infinite Youth" will officially air on the online platform at exactly at 20:00 tonight! [fireworks] [fireworks] Let’s set up our small stools and be ready to watch the show every Friday at 8 PM and pick your favorite little brother! [Mickey heart] [Doraemon laughing]]

After the flash mob, the first group of fans who were full of enthusiasm but had no material to watch or follow quickly arrived. Many who had been anxiously waiting set the Infinite Youth official Weibo account to special notifications, rushing to the front row to express their excitement and scattering flowers as soon as the post was up.

[Instant Noodles are the Greatest Invention in the world V: Oh oh oh oh oh oh! I've been waiting for the stars and the moon to finally bring you here! If you didn’t release the first episode soon, I was ready to break into your company and steal the footage!]

[Lu Lu's Stinky Internet Girlfriend Fan V: OMG I’m here! I changed my ID overnight, and I warn everyone here not to compete with me! qwq Haha, I’m so happy, I’m ok again I can even eat two bowls of rice!]

[Liao Junchen Ultimate Dance Fan V: I rushed over quickly, Liao Junchen, please debut for me! Ah ah ah ah ah ah, I want to watch you dance for a lifetime, sobbing [crying] [crying]]

[A Sincere Face Fan V: Milky skin Han Suyan [heart] 1.87m Han Suyan [star] Law elite Han Suyan [heart] Face genius Han Suyan [Mickey heart]]

After this, others were not to be outdone, and soon the comments were filled with hearts and emojis.

[Onlookers: Wow, it’s starting already? Hurry up and broadcast it, let's get the fighting started haha.]

After watching the theme song and various short videos of the flash mob and teasers, many people already had initial favorites and preferences. The comments were diverse and varied, with overall excitement and anticipation, barring a few out-of-place naysayers.

Marketing was all about coordinating trending topics, and so soon most people following the show knew that “Infinite Youth” was airing that day.

After finally waiting for her classmates to calm down after receiving the news, Qin Yihan's classmates once again started bombarding her on WeChat, all excitedly saying they would definitely watch the show and were curious about what her brother would be like on the show.

Qin Yihan thought to herself Qin Lu has always been very hypocritical in front of outsiders (8) since childhood. Except for her who had seen his true face, there were few people who didn’t like Qin Lu.

Qin Lu had been different from other kids since he was young. While Qin Yihan was still foolishly trailing behind their mom asking for candy, he had already learned to use tricks to get what he wanted.

She vividly remembered seeing Qin Lu rollerblading happily, only to fall the moment their mom appeared.

It was definitely on purpose; she was a hundred percent sure. But when their mom rushed over, worried, and asked if he was okay, he didn’t say anything, just looked at her with his deceptively beautiful face.

Their mom instantly felt bad and, to comfort him, bought him the limited-edition game disc he had been wanting for a long time.

Previously, their mom had completely refused to buy it for him when Qin Lu mentioned it.

There were many such instances. Qin Yihan thought her brother wasn’t fundamentally a bad person, but he really couldn’t be considered a good one either. For instance, classmates who competed against him in competitions often mysteriously experienced diarrhea or the inability to find their admission tickets at the last moment. She always suspected her brother was behind it.

Her intuition had always been very accurate.

But she never saw him do anything wrong with her own eyes. He could fool their mom because she would never suspect her own son. Qin Yihan wasn’t sure if he was responsible. She had once asked him directly, and he got very angry, giving her the silent treatment for half a month.

She had felt guilty for a while, thinking she might have misunderstood him.

Sigh… Thinking about these trivial things annoyed Qin Yihan. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, but couldn’t help but recall her brother’s concerned look from their last meeting.

He seemed quite sincere?

Qin Yihan knocked on her own head, thinking, no way, did he grow a conscience after leaving home for a while and start caring about his younger sister?

No matter what one thought, it was impossible. Being good-looking sure is deceiving. Qin Yihan looked at herself in the mirror, sourly thinking: why didn’t I inherit any of those genes?

Eight o'clock soon arrived.

Countless people tuned in right on time as the program was updated—

The first episode was finally here!

Translator’s notes

(1)   Digging a pit: basically setting traps, specifically of the pitfall type

(2)   Bald bc there’s nothing to cut from it lmao

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