Sweet Nothings (Qing Qing Wo Wo) Chapter 10.2 Her Support

Two years ago, when Yan Qing was in the hospital for treatment, she incidentally met He Mingjin, who was in Canada for vacation. He Mingjin was more carefree then. He was kind to her, and asked her out. He expressed that he was willing to announce their relationship even amidst the height of his popularity. But Yan Qing hasn’t been in the mood to start a relationship then. She firmly rejected him. From then on, He Mingjin always called her during holidays and special occasions, hoping that she would reconsider. Even more, he travelled every year to Canada to see her.

Yan Qing only saw him as a friend. Nothing more. But the awkward thing was, after losing contact for half a year, she had become a trainee and was going to audition in front of him.

Yan Qing put a hand to her forbears. Her damn luck.

He Mingjin smiled warmly and greeted everyone. He spoke a few words of encouragement and announced the official start of auditions.

Yan Qing knew when she was supposed to perform. Because she was a commoner performing as a solo singer, she was placed last. She didn’t mind. This would allow her some time to rest her wound. But when the auditions were almost over, and Song Xueran in her S ranking throne still hadn’t performed, she felt something was off.

“What happened? I thought Song Xueran was supposed to perform some time in the middle?”

“Did she switch with someone? Is it better to perform near the end?”

“Not really. The seats in A Class are almost filled. She and Yan Qing both haven’t performed yet. Does that mean there can only be one A between the two of them?”

“There hasn’t been a S rank yet. The last A might also become the S rank!”

“I think, she might be purposely wanting to compete against Yan Qing…”

Yan Qing heard the whispers around her. Turning around, she saw Song Xueran sitting steadily atop the throne, seemingly smiling right at her.

Soon, it was clear that Song Xueran would perform second to last, with Yan Qing performing at the end. They would enter backstage to prepare at the same time.

By the time they were prepped, there was only two seats left for rankings: one in A Class, one in F Class.

“Rise Up Girls!” didn’t have a 1v1 battle setup. The rankings that the mentors give were final. The only way to change rankings from there were in elimination rounds. Something else that the trainees were preoccupied about was the judges panel. Even near the end of filming, there had been no motion from the judges panel, keeping the trainees on edge.

Before getting on stage, Song Xueran smirked, “Don’t worry, it’s your turn soon.”

Song Xueran straightened her back. In front of the five mentors, she smiled brightly. “Hello, mentors team. I have a request. Yan Qing and I are the last trainees. I heard she’s very skilled. I think it’s pitiful to make her wait outside by herself right now. So could she come on stage with me, and perform as a direct competitor with me PK style?”

He Mingjin picked up the microphone. “Is Yan Qing willing?”

Song Xueran nodded her head. “Of course she is. We already discussed it. but she doesn’t have that much stage experience, so she might get stage fright.”

At the same time, staff members went to ask Yan Qing. She could clearly hear what Song Xueran was saying. She was reminded of the competitive glare Song Xueran gave her the other day. Yan Qing glanced down at her throbbing left leg.

This was just real life Legend of Zhenhuan.

Song Xueran was forcing her to compete with her. Yan Qing could only step forward.

Yan Qing slowly added pressure to her left leg. Suppressing her pain, she casually looked into the camera. “Do I look pretty?”

The camera cooperatively nodded.

Yan Qing laughed. “I can’t embarrass this beautiful face.”

The stage wasn’t very big. Yan Qing and Song stood side by side. Hundreds of cameras focused on them, as other trainees cheered supportively.

Song Xueran wore an alluring dress. Yan Qing’s outfit in comparison seemed subdued and quiet. The two girls’ atmospheres were completely opposite.

A trainee noisily added to the drama. In a loud voice, she yelled, “Yan Qing is a princess!”

Everyone was young so the group of girls easily became carried away with the youthful carefree setting they had constructed. They carried on, “Yes yes! Chinese styled princess!”

In the back room, President Su shot up to his feet. “Shen ge, I think that girl’s up to something. She’s purposely targeting sister-in-law.”

Huo Yunshen didn’t say a word. His cold calculating gaze stared daggers into Song Xueran.

Song Xueran had glanced repeatedly at Qing Qing’s left leg triumphantly. Along with her obvious targeting attitude, Song Xueran’s motives were clear.

Her small movements made it obvious.

It was Song Xueran that hurt Qing Qing.

Huo Yunshen couldn’t hold back. He didn’t wait for Min Jing to report back to him. As he was about to click the button that would light up the back room from the outside, Yan Qing lifted her head and looked right at him.

Her eyes were clear and lively. Even though he was far away from her, her gaze was still able to grab him firmly.

Huo Yunshen remembered yesterday. She practiced in the practice room for hours, as sweat dripped down her back, refusing to stop. She wanted to create her own spotlight on this stage, using her own abilities.

If he entered the stage now, and made any decisions right now, it might not make her as happy as if she finished singing and song and danced as planned.

Huo Yunshen suppressed his urge to run to the stage.

Qing Qing was no longer the little girl who listened to his every word.

She didn’t remember him.

He wasn’t her Yunshen, he was just a strange monster that frustrated her.

If he controlled her actions, she’ll just run away.

Huo Yunshen closes his eyes. He was willing to stay back, and give her the chance to demonstrate her skills.

On stage, Song Xueran heard the other trainees’ reactions to Yan Qing. Her voices filled with competitiveness. “Let’s go by our self ranking order then. When we’re both done singing, we can dance too.”

Song Xueran had watched similar competition showsbefore. She knew the audience didn’t like modest and quiet trainees. They liked those who had the ability to capture their attention with her skills.

Yan Qing avoided meeting He Mingjin’s eyes. She nodded “That’s fine. What are you singing?”

Song Xueran raised an eyebrow. I don’t know if you’ve heard of Mu Mian. She’s a very unique singer-songwriter. I really like her song, “Good Night.”

Yan Qing thought she had heard wrong. “Who did you say?”

Song Xueran expected this. She wanted to hint at Yan Qing’s ignorance. “Mu Mian. If you don’t know, you can go search online.”

The other trainees also began discussing Mu Mian. Young adults were often on the internet so most knew of Mu Mian. Some blurred out names of Mu Mian’s famous songs.

“I love her! I have a bunch of her songs on my playlist, and just listen to them on repeat. Song Xueran is really good at picking songs!”

He Mingjin motioned for her to start.

To stand out, Song Xueran raised “Good Night” up an octave. Yan Qing listened on the side of the stage, her feelings mixed. Half way through, she couldn’t help but frown.

Sis, you’re off key.

Hey, don’t break up the note like that!

“Good Night” had been reimagined into a nightmare…

Based on traditional standards. Song Xueran was sufficient. it can at least fool general audiences. Because the melody itself was memorable and unique, the two mentors that didn’t have a prolific musical background were nodding their head positively.

When she was done, it was Yan Qing’s turn.

An Lan had told her to guarantee her audition was steady, but not too attention grabbing, so that her skills will be a larger surprise later on in the show. Therefore, An lan had chosen a relatively soft Mu Mian song.

After the performance, she’ll then reveal that she was Mu Mian.

This song was more of a healing type. The musical composition wasn’t as dramatic as “Good Night”. No matter how well she sings the song, it won’t be as exciting as a song like “Good Night”.

But they weren’t allowed to change their songs at this point.

As expected, as soon as she revealed her song for her audition, Song Xueran said with surprise, “Wow Yan Qing, what a pairing. But you chose a pretty easy song out of all of Mu Mian’s songs?”

Yan Qing didn’t respond to her. She focused on finishing her song.

Song Xueran’s expression fell. Yan Qing sang like a professional, but more shockingly, she sounded exactly like the original singer?!

Song Xueran was uneasy at being one-upped by Yan Qing in singing. Without waiting for the Yan Qing’s song music to end, Song Xueran began dancing with flare.

She had plenty experience with dancing and smoothly showed off her skill, igniting the audience to cheers.

As she finished, she raised an eyebrow at Yan Qing. “Your turn.”

Immediately the stage vibe changed. From a powerful professional-level dance performance, the music switched to the sugary cute “Renai Circulation”.

The song’s original choreography was simple and soft. Ou Yang added a few new techniques within the dance.

With her injured foot, Yan Qing completed each move without missing a beat. She kept a sweet smile on her face through the whole song, matching perfectly with the mood of the song. She held back the pain, refusing to fall on stage.

She grit her teeth. She prepared to finish, her eyes reddening with tears.

In the audience: “Oh no, Yan Qing messes up!”

Those that knew about her injury didn’t dare to watch. Ou Yang stood up from her seat nervously. Her team mates quickly pulled her down, worried that she might get in trouble.

Everyone knew Song Xueran was President Hugo’s rumored girlfriend. The show was obviously being sponsored by Huo Corporation now. That means this show is entirely under Huo Corporation’s control.

It’s likely that there was already a secret agreement. No one dared to say anything during such an important time as the preliminary rankings round.

There was only an A and a F left. It was pretty much decided already.

The directors team also had heard about the rumors. They all were thinking the same things as the trainees.

Although the previous news seemed to say that Yan Qing was more favored by the production team, but it was true that Yan Qing made a mistake. Also Huo Corporation was there like an elephant in the room. No matter how Yan Qing was favored by the production team, she could only go to F class now.

After dancing, Yan Qing was trembling in pain. She couldn’t speak, only lowering her head to try to collect herself. Meanwhile, the mentors team were already giving their critiques.

He Mingjin didn’t give Yan Qing a chance to speak. she straightforwardly told her “I admit your individual potential is high. If not for the mistakes in dance, you would deserve an A. As for the highest rank, I’m sorry, it’s the truth that you almost fell in the middle of your dance.”

Yan Qing was looking at He Mingjin in the eye for the first time tonight. Her words were stuck in her throat. She blurted, “I would like to sing an additional song.”

In the competition rules, at trainees own will, it was possible to ask the mentors team to perform another audition piece.

Yan Qing didn’t want to debate her dance performance. She only wanted to sing “Good Night”, even if just a small snippet of it. She trusted that it would be enough to allow her to complete the mission An Lan had given her. She needed to reveal that she was Mu Mian. She couldn’t let her audition’s last impression to be of disappointment.

He Mingjin hesitated. In the eyes of the other mentors were reluctance.

If they gave Yan Qing another chance and she did well, it would be even harder for them to grade the two trainees.

As artists, they didn’t want to go against Huo Corporation.

He decided that he would speak with Yan Qing privately after filming. “There’s no need. We’ve had a clear view of your skills. Song Xueran’s audition was better overall. Therefore, for the final A class trainee, we’ve decided it will go to Song ——“

The mentors team’s stage lighting suddenly shut off.

He Mingjin’s words were suddenly shut off. He turned his head back in confusion, looking at the only spot in the room that still had a spotlight.