Chapter 22: The Production Team Stirs Things Up

After the groups were formed, Fang Xing’s team ended up with only five people, making them the smallest group of all. Besides himself, the remaining four members were Shao Yu, Lu Ming, Guo Keda, and Wang Huajun.

Other groups tried to get as many people as possible because, after the first performance and its elimination round, the trainees who remained all had some degree of popularity. Theoretically, the more team members, the greater the chance of getting audience votes.

Once the grouping was done, each team returned to their respective practice rooms to begin discussing arrangements and choreography.

Back in the room, Shao Yu and Guo Keda were laughing and chatting, seemingly unconcerned with arrangements or dance. Lu Ming and Wang Huajun, as new additions, were more nervous. Wang Huajun nudged Lu Ming, hoping he would be first to ask about the song. Pushed to the front, Lu Ming had no choice but to muster his courage and ask, “Captain, is the second performance going to be an original song? Do we have a demo? Could we listen to it?”

His speaking voice was naturally high. But Fang Xing immediately recognized that it wasn't his natural register, but rather a mixed voice. This reminded Fang Xing of a singer from Earth, Chang Yusheng, whose speaking voice was also high, but not his true voice—it was just habitually in mixed voice.

Fang Xing answered casually, “No demo yet. I’ll finish the arrangement this afternoon and send you the lyrics and music. You can all read staff notation, right? If not, Shao Yu can sing it for you.”

“No problem, I can do that,” Shao Yu, trained in music, agreed immediately.

“Only starting this afternoon…” Wang Huajun sounded worried. He had thought Fang Xing already had an original song ready, but apparently, it would only be composed this afternoon. He felt as though he’d fallen into a trap. But, having joined the group, there was no turning back. All he could do was focus on his part and let fate decide the rest.

Fang Xing turned to Lu Ming. “Can you sing up to G5? I was planning for the highest note to be G5. If not, we can lower it a half or whole tone.”

“But… I rarely sing that high…” Lu Ming’s brow furrowed.

“But I heard you warm up the other day, and you reached A5,” Fang Xing replied with certainty. He had absolute pitch and distinctly remembered hearing A5. Of course, humming in warm-ups and singing in performance are different things. Still, although Lu Ming’s A5 wasn’t entirely steady, his G5 was reliable.

Lu Ming scratched his head. “Captain, above E5 my voice gets a bit sharp.” He had wanted to say it sounded a bit feminine, but couldn’t bring himself to admit it.

“I heard your warm-up and it was fine. Come here, sing something for me and I’ll know.” Fang Xing had heard the timbre in his warm-up—clear, somewhat like Zhou Shen, yet also reminiscent of Chang Yusheng.

Fang Xing brought him to the piano, pressed middle C in the second octave—C5 in international notation—and said, “Start from this note and try.”

Lu Ming sang along with the piano, beginning at C5 and ascending note by note. When he reached E5, his tone began to change, but not drastically. Above E5 is considered the extreme high range; for men, even falsetto struggles to reach it, and the result can sound like a strangled chicken. At E5, Lu Ming was already hesitant to go higher, as the quality was noticeably poorer than D5.

But Fang Xing was familiar with this sort of voice and knew that with continued training, Lu Ming could sing brightly and beautifully. Urged by Fang Xing, Lu Ming continued up the scale, eventually reaching A5. At this point, Fang Xing ended the test; the tone quality had dropped sharply at A5, confirming that G5 was his current reliable limit, with timbre declining above E5.

However, this could be solved with part division in harmonies. Fang Xing could sing the lower part himself, raising the overall vocal quality to performance level.

“Alright, G5 it is. You don’t need to worry that your voice is different from others—consider it a gift. With proper training, you could carve out a unique place in the music world. But you have to train,” Fang Xing concluded, satisfied.

Lu Ming still lacked confidence. “But won’t it sound too… feminine?”

“What’s odd about that? Kids’ voices are always sharp,” Fang Xing replied matter-of-factly.

“I’m not a kid,” Lu Ming muttered helplessly.

Fang Xing stood before him, puffed out his chest—he was a head taller—and teased, “You call this not a kid?”

Lu Ming was even more exasperated. “I’m just a bit short!”

“It’s fine! Small body, big energy. Go for it!” Fang Xing made a fist in encouragement, then announced, “We’ll break for lunch now. Once the lyrics and music are ready this afternoon, we’ll reconvene.”

“So… we’re just dismissed now?” Lu Ming was stunned. The group in the practice room next door was already deep in rehearsal.

Time was tight—there were only five days to rehearse before the second performance.

At that moment, the director in charge of Fang Xing’s group entered. “Fang Xing, we need to discuss the flow of the second performance. When are you free?”

“Let’s do it now,” Fang Xing replied. He turned to the others. “Go ahead and eat, I’ll join you after talking with the director.”

After the others had left, the director pulled up a chair and spoke in a negotiating tone. “This round’s theme is ‘Martial Arts Dream’. Hashim chose the same theme. So, you can’t avoid a head-to-head this time. According to the rules, after the second performance there will be a PK round. It’s similar to the first, but now the PK song must fit the theme. Is that alright?”

Fang Xing, whose mind was full of martial arts classics, agreed without hesitation. “No problem.”

The director continued, “Have you decided who will participate in the PK?”

According to the rules from the first round, it was always the F-class trainees who went up for PK, and the loser was immediately eliminated. But this wasn’t a strict rule.

Hearing this, Fang Xing realized there must be something more behind it. He asked directly, “What does the production team want?”

The director smiled. “The executive producer wants the show to be more exciting. If you don’t mind, we’d like you and Hashim to compete in the PK round.”

“The loser is eliminated?” Fang Xing blinked at her.

“That’s right. The loser is out,” the director confirmed.

“And then revived again?” Fang Xing’s face showed a hint of mockery.

Last time, Hashim was brought back thanks to the production team revealing the revival rule early. The team clearly favored Hashim.

The director, a bit embarrassed, explained, “Each trainee only gets one revival. If a revived trainee is eliminated again, they won’t return.”

“That’s fine, then. I’ll do the PK round,” Fang Xing agreed immediately.