Chapter 87
In the promotional video for Eleven Girls’ single, the most controversial segment was undoubtedly Qiao Dai’s bamboo rafting dance. The petite girl, dressed in a red gown, stood gracefully on the clear river waters. With a gentle sweep of her bamboo pole, the emerald bamboo beneath her spanned across the vast mountains, stunning onlookers.
In response, some couldn’t resist questioning online, “How could one possibly learn an intangible cultural heritage project so quickly? Is it fake? Is there suspicion of riding the trend?”
It was precisely at this moment that the Honorary Member Certificate issued by the Bamboo Rafting Protection Association strongly refuted these claims, confirming that Qiao Dai had indeed personally completed the bamboo raft dance recording on-site.
The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.
Wszzsokdt vbkp, vbl plnsde lrkpsel sq “Mbl Fkpvlap’ Malypwal Kswadlu” ykale, elrknvkdt bso vbl Ozlhld Qkazp hkpkvle vbl kdblakvsa sq cyxcss ayqvkdt kd Qwkgbsw yde, kd vbl lde, nsxrzlvle y nbyzzldtl zle cu Ckys Pyk sd vbl Qwkgbsw Skhla.
Fweeldzu, vbl eswcvlap bye ds osaep zlqv.
[Fscp, vbl pkpvlap yal vawzu yxygkdt!]
[Fs, Pykeyk zlyadle cyxcss ayqvkdt prlnkqknyzzu vs nsxrzlvl vbl pkdtzl?]
[The young ladies are all so talented; each of them has learned a new skill!]
Clearly, Eleven Girls’ new song had become the hottest topic recently. Whether it was the single itself or the promotional video, each aspect had garnered countless fans, even making waves on foreign websites and leaving many foreigners astonished.
Even though there’s still some time left until the deadline for the annual general election preliminary rounds, almost everyone is certain that Eleven Girls and Qiao Dai will definitely make it to the list.
At the same time, on the other side, Four Group and Nina are not having such a good time.
It’s unclear whether the program producers did it intentionally or unintentionally, but in the episode featuring Nina in the dubbing variety show, they didn’t cut out the scene where the eliminated female contestant asked her fellow contestant who Nina was. They even deliberately captured Nina’s expression during the conversation, fueling the audience’s imagination.
When the program aired, it caused an uproar as the lowest-scoring contestant received a pass to the next round, while a more talented contestant was inexplicably eliminated. At that moment, the program’s production team was trending on social media for their decisions.
[Is Nina so petty? Does not recognizing her mean you have to be sabotaged?]
[Do celebrities these days not do any homework before appearing on a show? Their professionalism is seriously lacking!]
[??? This is ridiculous! Female idol group members becoming judges on a dubbing variety show? Do they really expect everyone to know them?]
If Nina’s performance throughout the program had been consistently subpar, viewers might have simply criticized the production team for recklessly inviting celebrities who lacked knowledge in this area. However, aside from maliciously eliminating that one female contestant, Nina had performed quite normally. This led people to speculate whether she had personal grievances and intentionally gave the pass to the contestant with the lowest score to undermine the other female contestant in her group.
[Is this what flop celebrities are really like? Can they hold grudges against anyone like this?]
[It looks like Nina is really confused. No wonder she’s so concerned about this.]
Given that she’s been in the industry for ten years and is considered a senior, when the topic of “has-beens” came up, some casual fans couldn’t help but stand up to defend Nina, urging netizens to be kinder with their words and not be so harsh.
[There’s no need to be like this. Nina may not be as famous as before, but that doesn’t mean just anyone can try to take advantage of her.]
[Nina is a senior in the female idol group scene. How can she be looked down upon like this?]
[The entertainment industry is really frustrating. Even someone like Nina can be mocked by a group of newcomers?]
Seeing that some casual fans were speaking up, Nina’s dedicated fans also joined the fray. In their comments, they subtly criticized Eleven Girls, these newcomers, suggesting that the controversy surrounding the variety show was deliberately incited by their management.
Now, the fans of the show were not pleased. They weren’t even fans of any of these idols; they just enjoyed watching a niche variety show. Yet, they were now being targeted by judges who were parachuted into the show and were causing trouble. These judges were riding on their celebrity status, and they were also being labeled as fans of rival idols. In response, they decided to fight back.
“You say we’re black fans sent by the rival group? Well, fine then! If we don’t engage in some fan activities, we’d be wasting this opportunity to stir up trouble!”
[This is really Xue Dinge entertainment, you’re all for entertainment. If you have your own idols, you’re fine; if not, you’re just wasting your time. What a nerve!]
[Can’t believe this! It’s your entertainment, it’s thriving with you, and it’s doomed without you. How arrogant!]
[In this day and age, are there still people with such nationalistic fervor? So, does that mean anyone who studied abroad is superior? Show us some international-level talent if you think so! Without someone else’s level, you’re still demanding their treatment? Nina, are you trying to annoy us this way?]
[If I remember correctly, Jiang Fengchi also debuted abroad, right? How come he didn’t mention his overseas debut or industry seniority every day like you do? Nina, if you think foreign countries are so great, why did you come back? If you think other places are better, then go there!]
Internet users were long fed up with Nina’s management team constantly using her overseas debut as a marketing point. While the entertainment industry abroad is indeed developed, it doesn’t mean that all stars who debut overseas are automatically superior to domestic entertainment idols.
Unfortunately, Nina’s team insisted on making a big deal out of this, frequently bringing up endorsements from various international stars and industry seniors, as if Nina was more outstanding than domestic idols. If anyone dared to say that Nina wasn’t up to par, they would be accused of undermining the domestic entertainment industry, and their aesthetic sense would be questioned.
Nina was suddenly in the midst of a public storm. Initially, Nina’s company thought that the rival company was trying to smear her name. However, as the related discussions spread wider, and the situation got out of control, Nina’s company had no choice but to ask Nina to publicly apologize to put an end to the matter.
Responding to the online accusations of Nina being overly fond of foreign countries, she posted a long Weibo explaining herself. In the final paragraph, she wrote, “Actually, I love my country very much. I’ve always believed that whether one loves their country or not doesn’t need to be proclaimed for everyone to see. It’s enough if you know it yourself. But since you all want me to explain, I can only say that maybe my thoughts are different from yours.”
[What’s with that last paragraph?]
[I can’t believe it. Who deeply loves their country but hides it so well that everyone thinks you hate it?!]
[Seriously, we don’t need you, a spiritually foreigner, to be sarcastic. Loving your country is just a way to make a living.]
Once the apology statement was out, public sentiment towards Nina worsened. Even if she had talent, her conduct wasn’t aligning with it, leading to a backlash. Moreover, she was far from reaching a level where the public would tolerate her despite her actions.
In the midst of the online arguments, the deadline for the preliminary rounds of the annual general election finally arrived. As everyone had expected, Eleven Girls and Qiao Dai both smoothly advanced to the third round of eliminations. By passing the third round, they would make it to the finals, where the champion for this year would be crowned.
It could be said that at this point in the competition, it was gradually reaching its climax.
Upon confirming that Qiao Dai’s name appeared on the preliminary list for the Idol General Elections, there was an eruption of cheers in Eleven Girls’ dormitory.
“Daidai!”
“You’re amazing!”
“Mom loves you!”
The girls excitedly embraced each other, and Qiao Dai received hugs from one side and kisses from the other. She sat on the sofa, like a little emperor with beauties surrounding her on both sides.
“The next round is the group stage for you, Daidai. You have to do your best because many people here will be eliminated,” Lin Xiaoxiao informed Qiao Dai. She had received the latest information about the general election schedule from Galaxy’s staff.
Lu Ying, hearing this, furrowed her brows in confusion and looked at Lin Xiaoxiao with some surprise. She asked, “Lin Xiaoxiao, did the company also gather information about the individual matches for us?”
For Galaxy, their role was to handle the publicity and operations for Eleven Girls. As Qiao Dai participated in the individual matches as Coco’s artist, there was no need for them to be overly concerned about it. So when Lu Ying heard that Lin Xiaoxiao had obtained the latest information from higher-ups, she was somewhat surprised. When did their artist manager become so considerate?
Lin Xiaoxiao shook her head. She didn’t know the specifics either, but she remembered the artist manager politely handing her the well-organized information. She casually replied, “Maybe the company thought of us when they were collecting information for the seniors and decided to give us a copy.”
Just as they were discussing this, Song Yiqi walked over from behind the sofa, draped her arm around Qiao Dai’s shoulder, and asked with a smile, “How is the next round going to be?”
They brought the conversation back to the upcoming elimination round. The elimination would follow a group stage format, with four randomly assigned competitors in each group. The judging panel would evaluate the participants based on their performance during the elimination round, considering multiple criteria. Each group would only have one contestant advancing, which meant that three out of four participants would be eliminated in this round. It was essentially a fierce battle.
“Let me see. Daidai is in Group 2, and the other contestants in her group are…”
Luan Zhen flipped through the list of group assignments on the official website and paused for a moment.
“What’s wrong?”
Seeing that Luan Zhen suddenly stopped speaking, Shi Qing became curious and leaned over. When she saw the name on the list, she also paused.
…
“Qiao Dai.”
When Nina’s manager saw this name, she couldn’t help but exhale, and her heart seemed to stop beating for a moment.
In the elimination round, the competitor in the same group as Nina was none other than Qiao Dai.
She looked up at Nina, her expression darkening, and it took her a while to grit her teeth and say, “Nina, you can’t afford to be careless anymore!”
After her heart seemingly stopped for a moment, the manager’s heart started beating uncontrollably.
She looked at Qiao Dai’s name, feeling a mix of emotions.
Although she had known all along that Nina would eventually face Qiao Dai in the final selection, as the only two participants in both tracks of the competition this year, they couldn’t avoid competing against each other from the moment they entered the final selection.
However, she didn’t expect this showdown to come so soon!
*********
*********
Or donate in my ko-fi for faster releases!
************
Nina is interesting to say the least. Just because she had success in the foreign country she can’t automatically expect everyone in China to know of her and expect the same level of popularity. She’s going to be her own downfall just like Ruan Tao, Lin Lang and that Xu Meng-something girl.
true. I like it so much that she got the watersports and Qiao dai grabbed the figure skating. If there’s something that can rival daidai’s prowess in the water it will probably be on ice. LOL. (Sea otters are so cute, spiritual creatures, too)