MAIR – Chapter 132 – First Shift

STAR was Morningstar Company’s trainee group. A total of three girls were chosen for this “National Idol” talent show and they were all full of energy. But who would have thought that the next day, there would be another person added to their group, and that person was Xia Shiyu.

The most hot tempered Lena directly snorted. “Having special privileges is cool. She doesn’t even need to take part in the interview. It’s worthy of the artist brought by the big boss himself.”

The captain, Yao Xuetong, frowned. “Please try saying less.”

Tian Sisi the youngest member of STAR, was only 16 years old. She usually had a good personality, but when she came across this kind of thing she couldn’t say anything and just sat by silently.

Lena was like a fire breathing dragon. “We’ve been practicing for so long, and we’ve known each other for so long. But if she suddenly joined us, we would have to start all over again. How can we compare with others when we get on stage?!”

For these trainees, the older they were, the smaller their advantage was. The road to debut was long, and it was not easy to encounter this kind of opportunity. So of course they weren’t willing to miss this chance.

Tian Sisi added in a low voice, “Her previous reputation is not very good, will it… reflect on us?”

Yao Xuetong pursed her lips, but said solemnly, “Alright, stop talking.”

At this moment, the door of the training room opened, and their agent brought Shen Huai and Xia Shiyu in with a flattering smile and introduced them to each other.

Shen Huai saw these trainees of the company for the first time, and the three girls were very stiff because of him. So Shen Huai didn’t say much. He only said hello and left Xia Shiyu behind.

The agent gestured to the three girls with his head. “This is Junior Xia. She debuted earlier than you and she is your senior.”

The girls looked at each other and called out “Senior” reluctantly.

The agent hated that iron could not become steel, so he raised his finger and pointed at them. But he didn’t have time to lecture them, so he quickly rushed out to chase after Shen Huai.

The atmosphere in the practice room suddenly became a little awkward. It was Yao Xuetong who came forward and introduced herself to Xia Shiyu. “Hello, my name is Yao Xuetong, and I’m the captain of STAR.”

Xia Shiyu was very sensitive to other people’s emotions. As soon as she walked in, she felt that all three girls here were hostile towards her. She had prepared for this possibility a long time ago, so she didn’t care.

She didn’t try to get along with them, but pretended that nothing had happened and said with a smile, “I will ask you for guidance in the future. Sister Fang said that you have a practice schedule, but she forgot to give it to me. Could you please make a copy for me?”

Yao Xuetong didn’t expect her to enter the role so quickly. So after a moment’s hesitation, she simply said, “Alright, come with me.”

Xia Shiyu: “Thank you.”

Yao Xuetong avoided her eyes and walked out of the practice room.

As soon as they left, Lena stood up angrily. “No more practice! Let’s go back!”

Tian Sisi wanted to say something else, but she couldn’t withstand Lena’s strength, and was directly pulled away by her.

So, when Yao Xuetong and Xia Shiyu came back, the practice room was empty. Yao Xuetong frowned slightly and had no choice but to explain to Xia Shiyu, “They must be tired and went back to rest first.”

Xia Shiyu smiled and did not expose her lie.

Before she came, Shen Huai actually talked to her about this problem. As they were from the same company, they naturally had to perform together. The other three had been training for a long time. She joined them through the back door, which would certainly cause conflicts.

But after she came in, Xia Shiyu found that although these girls had a bad attitude towards her, they just walked away like this. They didn’t seem to want her to leave, nor did they mock her face to face. For a competitor who had completely disrupted their plans, this was already considered good treatment.

While teaching her the dance, Yao Xuetong carefully observed her expression, fearing that if she was unhappy, she would go to complain to the big boss. Unexpectedly, Xia Shiyu didn’t look angry. Instead, she was learning the dance seriously and was much easier to get along with than she thought.

Yao Xuetong breathed a sigh of relief and taught her more and more attentively.

Then she found out that Xia Shiyu was very savvy and learned very fast. She didn’t seem to have much dance foundation, but as long as Yao Xuetong danced once, she could easily score seven or eight points, and quickly understood the main points of what Yao Xuetong said.

So in just one afternoon, Xia Shiyu had already learned the whole dance routine. Although it was still a little rusty, the progress was amazing.

Xia Shiyu didn’t think it was a very serious thing. When she worked as a background dancer for her seniors, she often had to learn a dance in two or three days. If she learned it more slowly, she would not have gone on stage at all.

Yao Xuetong went back in shock.

Xia Shiyu had a meal in the canteen. She looked sadly at the hot and sour fat intestines sausage on the menu, and then began eating cucumber in silence.

After dinner, Xia Shiyu returned to the practice room, started the music and began practising the dance routine.

 

 

The next morning, Yao Xuetong arrived in the practice room early. Tian Sisi yawned and asked Yao Xuetong vaguely, “Captain, did you leave the light on after practice last night?”

Yao Xuetong frowned. “No, I never forget to turn off the light…”

She suddenly thought of something. She walked ahead quickly, pushed the door open, and familiar music could be heard. As expected, she saw Xia Shiyu practicing dancing inside. The weather was getting cold recently, but the sweat stains on Xia Shiyu’s clothes were clearly visible. It was obvious that she had been practicing for a long time.

Compared with yesterday’s somewhat rusty dance, she had obviously made a lot of progress already. Although her movements were still not up to their standard, she had grasped the essence of the dance very well.

More importantly, she had a correct attitude and didn’t make trouble just because she had backing. At first, Yao Xuetong thought that Xia Shiyu couldn’t dance at all and was afraid that the whole group would be dragged down by her. Although she didn’t say it to her face, she still had some resistance in her heart . But now when she saw her practicing the dance, Yao Xuetong’s face looked much better.

The sound of the three girls coming in alarmed Xia Shiyu. She stopped, turned her head and said with a smile, “You are here? I thought you haven’t had breakfast, so I specially prepared some more.”

The three girls followed her eyes and saw that there was whole wheat bread, milk and eggs on the table. Because the canteen opened later, they usually went to the canteen after their dancing practice to eat. Unexpectedly, Xia Shiyu had prepared food for them.

Tian Sisi swallowed a mouthful of saliva. “You… Where did you get all this?”

Xia Shiyu said with a smile, “I ordered the bread and milk in advance. They were delivered last night. I put them in the refrigerator. Next time, you can take them directly from the refrigerator. I boiled the eggs in the morning. If you like them, I will prepare some more for you tomorrow. It won’t be much work anyway.”

Lena whispered, “Hypocrite…”

Yao Xuetong pinched her and said to Xia Shiyu, “Thank you.”

After they had breakfast, Tian Sisi was completely subdued by Xia Shiyu. Tian Sisi followed her briefly, calling her senior, and offered to help her pick out the details. Yao Xuetong and Lena didn’t say anything. They couldn’t complain about Xia Shiyu as before. They had already seen the efforts and progress made by Xia Shiyu and it finally made them slightly change their attitude towards her.

Xia Shiyu always smiled and even Lena, who despised her the most, didn’t speak ill of her. She simply practiced her own routine, ignoring her.

Xia Shiyu sighed in her heart. In her eyes, these girls were just the younger generation. She didn’t want to worry about anything and her bringing breakfast was really just by the way.

But she didn’t expect that their temperament would be simpler than she thought. Tian Sisi, who tried her best to help her pick out the details, Yao Xuetong, who didn’t speak much but had been paying close attention to them silently, and Lena, who had a bad temper, but a really good heart.

The four girls reached a delicate balance.

However, by the time of the vocal training in the afternoon, the atmosphere was once again chilly.

This song was not difficult. At least compared to dancing, singing was a piece of cake for Xia Shiyu. Her own skills, coupled with her physical talent were enough to beat most of the female singers on the current market, let alone Yao Xuetong, a trainee who hadn’t yet made her debut.

The vocal music teacher, like finding a treasure, directly proposed making Xia Shiyu the lead singer.

Yao Xuetong and Tian Sisi looked at each other. Tian Sisi seemed to want to say something, but when Yao Xuetong pulled her, she could only look at Lena anxiously.

Lena’s face looked a little pale and she bit her lips tightly.

She had always been the main vocal in the group, so her reaction was the most intense one when she learned that Xia Shiyu would join them. After all, although she sang well, compared with Xia Shiyu, a professional singer who had even released an album, she was definitely inferior. 

In terms of dancing, she was not as good as the captain, in terms of appearance and character she was not as good as Tian Sisi. If being the one good at singing was not available, she would have no bright spot in the show.

That was why she had the worst attitude towards Xia Shiyu at the beginning, but now that she heard the other person’s singing even if she didn’t want to, she had to admit that Xia Shiyu was born to sing. If it was for the sake of teamwork, she should agree with the vocal music teacher’s advice, but….

The vocal music teacher couldn’t bear to see her expression, but she had to think for the whole team after all. If the two were at the same level … but everyone could hear that Xia Shiyu’s level was a little higher than Lena’s, so she could only make such a cruel decision.

“Lena…”

But before Lena could speak, Xia Shiyu stood up and said, “Teacher, let Lena be the lead singer. I can make harmony for her.”

As soon as she said this, not only the vocal music teacher froze, but also Lena and the two other team members looked at her in disbelief.

The vocal music teacher frowned and said, “Now is not the time for blind modesty. It’s for the sake of the whole team.”

Lena’s face turned white. “Don’t pretend to be kind. I‘m not as good as you. I admit it.”

Xia Shiyu didn’t slow down. “I understand Teacher’s concerns, but this song requires the lead singer to cooperate with the other members. After all, I have just joined. It’s not easy to reach such a tacit understanding in a short period of time. It’s better to be safe than to increase the variables.”

“Besides, I haven’t mastered my dance very well yet. I’m too greedy to be the worst one. I might as well concentrate on my dancing. This is also a good thing for the team. Isn’t that right, Teacher?”

The vocal music teacher stared at Xia Shiyu. “You should understand that in the second episode of the program there will be eliminations. If you can’t perform well at the beginning of the show, it is likely that you will be the one to be eliminated directly. Even so, do you still want to give up the position of the lead singer?”

The other three watched Xia Shiyu nervously.

Xia Shiyu nodded. “Yes.”

The vocal music teacher was disappointed. “You are talented, but there are too many talented people in the entertainment circle and the competition is too fierce. If you want to get ahead, you need to seize every opportunity. You can have a bottom line, but try to seize every chance you get. I don’t think it’s kindness, but on the contrary, it’s just stupidity.”

Xia Shiyu smiled and did not contradict her.

Because she had the same idea, she tried her best to seize every opportunity to climb up, but in the end she found out that even climbing to the top was not meaningful.

Lena’s face was red, she was stunned. She always had a bad attitude towards Xia Shiyu, but she helped her like this. She couldn’t help asking, “Why are you helping me?”

It was Xiad Shiyu’s turn to become stunned. She remembered that she once asked Pei Ran, “Why are you helping me?” 

Pei Ran just smiled. “Because it is just a chore for me, but it is a straw for you.”

This sentence was firmly engraved in her mind, and once again, she decided to change her way of life.


Edited by : LuLu

Proofreader: Taalia

Support translation:

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This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Thanks for the chapter! Groups are so tiring, sigh, really not my thing, I very much prefer solo artists, a few great exceptions aside.

  2. Aeli

    Many thanks for the update!

  3. Tenneo

    Awwww yisss it’s idol producer time

  4. nanairohana

    Pei Ran just smiled. “Because it is just a chore for me, but it is a straw for you.”

    Damn. This is a powerful line. Pei Ran 😭.

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