At 10 p.m. that night, the team members gathered in the practice room.
When they heard from Quentin that the production team had refused to help, their moods turned somewhat gloomy.
Liang Yao couldn’t understand it; he never imagined the production team would be completely unwilling to assist: “If the costumes can’t be changed because there’s not enough time, then what about the stage setup? Can’t that be changed either? Were our requests really that difficult?”
Someone next to him chimed in agreement: “Yes, we just need to remove the streetlights, change the rainy alley setting to a circus, and add a few props with Western royal court elements… These should be reasonable requests, right?”
Someone else complained sullenly: “I heard the two teams in the vocal group and the dance group both used different scenes. Why do we have to use the same rainy alley as Qi Yang’s team?”
The others heard this and couldn’t help but mutter quietly: “Really? How could it be like this? That’s a bit biased, right?”
The atmosphere in the practice room gradually sank as the conversation continued.
Days of high-intensity training, starting early and finishing late, had resulted in such a stage effect…if it were because they hadn’t worked hard enough, hadn’t learned well, hadn’t memorized the dance moves, or hadn’t learned the lyrics thoroughly, then there would be nothing to complain about.
But that wasn’t the case at all!
The problem wasn’t with them, but with objective factors caused by the production team.
Whether it was the stage setup, the performance costumes, or the choreography, all were prepared in advance by the production team; the trainees had no choice.
Weighing and ensuring the compatibility of these three elements was originally the production team’s responsibility. The issues encountered by Quentin’s team during rehearsal were undoubtedly due to insufficient consideration by the production team.
Actually, such a mistake could be considered either big or small.
It was commonplace for fan circles to start flame wars over their idols’ styling. Even idol groups from major companies couldn’t guarantee that every stage and styling would be perfect.
The staff of the “Next Stage” costume and props team were accustomed to such “mistakes”.
They didn’t think such a minor issue would have much impact on Quentin’s team’s performance, and thus were unwilling to put in the great cost and effort to make major changes right before the deadline.
But for the fledgling trainees, who had thrown themselves wholeheartedly into their efforts with anticipation for their first performance stage, being forced to shoulder such an annoying debuff right before the show was a sudden blow that felt particularly frustrating. It was as if all their days of practice had been wasted, and all the late nights spent in the practice room had been for nothing.
It could have been better. Why did it turn out like this?
They couldn’t accept such a careless failure.
Quentin couldn’t accept it either.
He sat cross-legged in the corner, head bowed and eyes closed, not participating in his teammates’ criticisms of the production team, focusing solely on thinking of a solution.
Costumes…most likely couldn’t be changed in time.
When he went to see the production team’s costume staff, he had carefully observed the performance costumes overflowing the racks and hanging in dusty bags, trying to find replacement clown outfits.
But he found nothing.
Hastily piecing things together would probably yield worse results than what they had now.
Later, Quentin tried communicating with the props team staff. It wasn’t that they were unwilling to help, but the props room indeed lacked circus-related setting materials.
In theory, they could temporarily bring in props from the Youth TV headquarters, but the scene design would still take considerable time. With less than two days left before the first performance officially began, the director team wouldn’t allow a half-finished product to be put on stage.
So, if they started from the stage setup, they could only make small-scale changes. A circus was out of the question. They had to make do with the rainy alley for now. But how could they change it to make the rainy alley blend with the clowns?
“I heard Qi Yang’s team had their backing track volume turned up to 50% during rehearsal. No one in their team except Yan Wenbing could sing opera, and no one was good at original composition either, but they still managed to rearrange the entire song under the guidance of the vocal teacher.”
A teammate said indignantly: “Quentin independently completed the lyric and music adaptation back then, without any teacher’s help at all.”
“Now when we have a problem, they can’t even be bothered to modify the stage setup. Is this differential treatment? Why!”
Liang Yao muttered to himself: “Is it because Qi Yang has high popularity? But Quentin’s popularity should be high too…”
The companion sitting next to him pursed his lips: “What’s so strange about that? It means there’s someone in their team that capital wants to promote. There’s no one from a big company here among us.”
As he spoke, he glanced at the boy in the corner and lowered his voice a bit: “Besides, Quentin’s popularity is high because Quentin is skilled, not because someone is promoting him…I can’t say the same for other teams.”
Although the trainees sitting here were all amateurs who hadn’t debuted, and were still at an inexperienced age, they were not innocent students living in an ivory tower.
Whether it was industry rumors about vested interests that they overheard in their respective companies, or what they had absorbed in social arenas of fame and profit, they had all learned a truth early on…
In this circle, fairness does not exist.
If the program team really wanted to promote someone, they didn’t need to risk breaking the law by rigging votes.
They only needed to put in a little effort during the early script arrangement and later editing of shots, giving the storyline that invites ridicule and controversy to the cannon fodder, and the scripts that easily create killing parts to the debut group. Everything would then proceed smoothly according to the investors’ expectations.
Of course, a ” dark horse chosen by the people” would occasionally appear unexpectedly.
But for the “dark horse” without a big company background, unless they were lucky enough to encounter a production team with a conscience, they could hardly escape the fate of being used for vampire marketing.
In the eyes of the “NS” trainees, Quentin was undoubtedly the most outstanding dark horse.
Excellent looks and figure, and almost all-round ability, his phenomenal god-tier looks allowed him to gain nearly a million fans in just one week based solely on his official photo, and he was still a pure amateur without a company.
No one deserved the term “dark horse” more than he did.
So, the current drama being staged is exactly like…when the “dark horse” meets the “royal”?
“We shouldn’t have let their team choose first the other day.”
Liang Yao suddenly spoke: “If we had chosen the detective perspective from the start, none of this would have happened.”
His words caused the surrounding murmuring and discussion to cease abruptly.
Everyone subconsciously looked towards Quentin sitting in the corner. He still maintained his thoughtful posture with head bowed, seemingly completely unaware of their conversation.
Liao Fei pressed his lips together: “But everyone agreed back then, didn’t they?”
Liang Yao looked at him: “It’s precisely because everyone agreed that I couldn’t easily object.”
“And were all of you agreeing sincerely?”
His words came quickly, like a machine gun: “Wasn’t it because the person making the suggestion was Quentin that you agreed? We’re not fools. Who in that conference room that day, after seeing the PPT, didn’t know the clown perspective was a trap? Originally, based on the theme song assessment rankings, we should have chosen first. Why should we give it to them? If it weren’t for…”
“Enough! Stop talking.”
Cui Yan frowned, his face unusually devoid of a smile: “If you have opinions, go tell the production team. What’s the point of blaming others as soon as you encounter a difficult problem?”
When a usually sunny and cheerful person suddenly turns cold, it’s undoubtedly quite intimidating.
The boy stood leaning against the wall, arms crossed. With a slight exertion, the muscles in his shoulders and arms bulged.
He had a large frame and a relatively dark complexion. His height of nearly 190 cm gave him a commanding presence. Fortunately, his usual outgoing, cheerful and easygoing personality completely masked the aggressiveness brought by this physical disparity.
Cui Yan’s expression wasn’t fierce, and his tone was reasonable and calm, but it was precisely this rational and serious attitude that made people even more disoriented.
Liang Yao noticed the strange looks and displeasure in his teammates’ eyes. The words of defense got stuck in his throat, and his face felt hot.
He didn’t expect his uncontrolled complaint to cause everyone’s dissatisfaction. He wanted to say something, but stammered and lowered his head, mumbling vaguely: “I wasn’t blaming him…..”
Fang Xu, who had been resting with his eyes closed due to tiredness and sleepiness, and hadn’t participated in the discussion, let out a sneer but didn’t speak.
Liang Yao’s face instantly turned bright red.
His lips trembled, he clenched his fists, gritted his teeth and said: “Then what can we do now? The production team won’t help, we’ve been talking for ages without any result, Quentin…… Quentin also, has no solution………”
The boy murmured quietly: “If even Quentin has no solution……Does that mean for this performance, we can only just go on stage like this, so perfunctorily?”
“Don’t push everything onto Quentin…”
Cui Yan raised his hand and rubbed his temple, his gaze sweeping over the confused and troubled faces around him. For a moment, he didn’t know what to say.
He knew Quentin was very capable; otherwise, so many trainees wouldn’t have been willing to face the daunting challenge of a “full English musical” just to join Quentin’s team.
They all believed Quentin had the ability to make the impossible possible.
Probably because the exceptional skills Quentin displayed during his initial stage and theme song assessment were so outstanding, more and more trainees in “NS” now regarded him with admiration.
They felt nothing could stump Quentin. If something did, then the problem must be very difficult.
Difficult to the point that among 100 trainees, those who could think of an answer were few and far between, and almost non-existent.
‘It’s outrageous,’ Cui Yan thought.
He knew Quentin was strong, but being strong didn’t mean bearing everything.
Praise and worship were positive emotions in themselves, but some people’s idolizing of Quentin was just a way to reasonably shirk responsibility.
Cui Yan really didn’t understand how anyone could feel at ease dumping all the pressure and burden onto a 17-year-old boy.
Was it because their own ability to handle pressure was weak that they could righteously evade responsibility and rely on the strong?
That was so lame.
Perhaps he should go discuss with Quentin…whether it was modifying lyrics, choreography, or anything else, it would be better than listening to a group of people waste time here feeling sorry for themselves.
Quentin, who had finally figured out a solution, noticed the unusual silence around him. He looked up and scanned the room: “…Why did everyone suddenly stop talking?”
Liao Fei was about to say something but held back, instead saying gloomily: “It’s nothing. It’s just a bit late, everyone is sleepy.”
Quentin glanced up at the wall clock: “It’s almost midnight, it is indeed a bit late. Then let’s use our time efficiently and get down to business.”
He tapped the floor with his finger: “Come sit over here. I have some personal ideas, but I need everyone’s cooperation.”
The six boys cooperated and sat in a circle around him, surrounding their team leader in the center.
Quentin faced his teammates’ confused and inquisitive looks and analyzed methodically: “Currently, we have two main problems. First, the clown costume design is complex and cumbersome, which will affect the visual of the dance movements. Second, the audience doesn’t know the background story of ‘Black Umbrella’, causing the dark rainy alley stage setting to clash with the style of the clown costumes.”
“Let’s talk about the second problem first. I will stay up tonight to modify the lyrics overall, integrating the background story of ‘Black Umbrella’ into the lyrics in the form of monologues and dialogues, making the rainy alley scene become reasonable as our lyrics progress.”
Although “Black Umbrella” was a full English song, and the live performance audience was destined not to understand all the lyrics, there would be Chinese translated subtitles when it’s broadcast, which should be enough to let the audience in front of their screens grasp their intention.
He said: “Since the clown costumes affect movements, let’s simply delete all the affected leg movements, change dancing while standing to singing while sitting opposite each other. You can understand it as…a round table meeting of the seven personalities inside the clown’s brain.”
Fang Xu, who was sitting next to Quentin, turned to look at him, vaguely understanding something.
Hmm……Was it about using a prop like a round table to divert the audience’s attention from the lower body movements?
The boy in the middle didn’t leave time for everyone to think, continuing: “Normally, a clown with dissociative identity disorder simply can’t have all seven personalities manifest in reality simultaneously. ‘Circus Phantom Night’ chose to portray it that way as an artistic treatment. We can also process it further based on that.”
“According to the lyric parts, we will take turns slapping the table and standing up, arguing about who is the real culprit behind the Circus Phantom Night.”
“Each personality will reason sophistically, deduce, accuse, frame, and provoke from their own perspective, letting the seven distinctive clown personalities debut in the tone of narrating their own stories.”
“The final group dance part will be changed to choreography combining umbrella dance and chair dance. The dance movements will mainly focus on the upper body and hands, and large-frame movements will be arranged as much as possible, reducing details and minimizing the impact of the costume on the dance.”
“With this arrangement, we only need the props team teachers to add one round table and seven chairs. Perhaps we can also place some dried flowers, books, candles, etc., on the round table as corresponding symbolic props for the seven personalities… In short, it’s much simpler than the previous requests.”
“The remaining parts that need changes all depend on our own efforts, so these two days will be quite hard for everyone.”
Quentin concluded: “Tomorrow we need to complete three tasks: memorizing lyrics, choreographing, and remembering movements. Tomorrow night is the final rehearsal before the performance. Let’s strive to solve all problems at once, and present the most perfect state on stage the day after tomorrow, showing the best versions of ourselves to the audience…”
“How about it, everyone, can you do it?”
When he said these words, his expression was calm, his tone was not agitating, and his pace was neither rushed nor slow, recounting slowly and patiently.
But to his teammates, it was precisely this composed and calm attitude that sounded even more inspiring than those impassioned speeches.
“….”
The practice room fell completely silent.
Liao Fei looked dazed, and his words were even a bit stuttered: “O-okay…it…seems…indeed… possible?”
It sounded very vivid. If designed this way, it seemed like the scene and costume problems were solved all at once?
And a round table meeting, internal strife among personalities, deducing the culprit within the mind…. It sounded very cool just hearing about it. If they could really perform it, the effect would definitely be stunning.
Someone next to him was already exclaiming in admiration: “Quentin, are you a genius? How could you think of a solution so quickly!”
“Isn’t it just using one day to rememorize lyrics and practice a new set of dance moves!”
A member who had been feeling low earlier took a deep breath, raised his hand and swore to the sky: “We must do it! I passed the 24-hour theme song assessment! I absolutely cannot fail!”
For a moment, the atmosphere inexplicably became fired up.
Cui Yan was sitting directly opposite Quentin. His back was straight, and his sitting posture was dignified as if he were in some formal occasion.
His broad shoulders didn’t give him enough deterrence; instead, because of his looks and temperament, he appeared more gentle, loyal, and harmless.
He kept looking at Quentin.
While everyone was feeling the surprise and joy like clouds clearing to see the sun because of Quentin’s plan, he said quietly: “Quentin, I also know a bit about lyrics and composition. How about…I stay up with you tonight?”
Fang Xu, who usually spoke very little, heard his voice with sharp ears and frowned at him.
Quentin also looked at him and replied: “I’m fine with the lyrics and composition, but the choreography needs your help…Can you stay up late?”
“Of course I can. It’s just staying up late, what’s the big deal.”
The boy added seriously: “Quentin, don’t be so polite. We are teammates. We should share everything together. You should also rely on us a bit more.”
Quentin was never one to trouble others.
Unless it was when he was the boss, assigning work to employees according to procedure.
But his relationship with these six teammates of similar age was not a superior-subordinate relationship.
Compared to a company boss, a “boy group leader” was less about power and more about responsibility.
Quentin didn’t know how to be a good leader for a team of trainees.
He gave orders like a boss, independently perfecting and modifying all plans, while also weighing his teammates’ abilities and energy, placing them in suitable positions respectively, and then taking on the most difficult and important tasks himself.
Rely on others?
These words were quite unfamiliar to him.
He didn’t understand what there was to rely on. They had just happened to be grouped together, and just happened to be performing a show together.
They weren’t familiar with each other before, and hadn’t even spoken more than a few words.
The prerequisite for reliance was trust.
That such a thing like trust sounded vague and elusive, and no one knew when it would arrive.
