The Universe Cares // NINE PERCENT Zhu Zhengting

Chapter 10

05 January 2020
Xiangyuan's POV

The auditions as well as our first judging and scoring will begin now. I was really nervous on how I would score them. Like I can't decide on anything and if I score something wrongly then some mistakes happen.

And then I would be most likely doomed and will probably be beaten up by the directors or something. But I pushed all those thoughts away and focused on the whole mentoring thing I'm supposed to do right now.

I am damn lucky to be a rap mentor because I won't have to teach them the theme song because there are no rap parts as I've heard. Xukun started calling out the trainees and all and one by one they started coming up to the stage.

I could tell that they're all nervous but hey, aren't we all nervous? Mavericks Ent. was pretty good but they still need more practice which resulted to them getting Ds and Fs.

Dong Yanlei from Ciwen Media was funny though. ChengCheng had to hype up the mood when he forgot what he thought of for the freestyle rap. It was hilarious actually.

The performance from Xu Kaihao of Wildfire Ent. was really unexpected though. That part in the middle where a scream was heard and he was like a T-rex doing God knows what. That act blew up the whole venue.

Yu Bin and Liang Hui were kind of disappointing knowing that they've debuted before and thinking that they would have more experience in these kind of things. Liang Hui's was still ok but Yu Bin's was really... well, weird.

Not in that absurd weird kind of way but just weird that he didn't reached up to our expectations of an experienced debuted person kind of weird. It was really confusing though, like absolutely confusing.

We were confused on how or why they did their auditions like that and all. It was just... as if they were playing on this show. I mean, we all know that they've worked hard but you get what I mean.

Qian Zhenghao's vocals was really nice too. He sang City Of Stars from La La Land and it was beautiful. Like, a young boy confessing his love to the girl he likes at school. It was really cute of him.

Banana Culture was also really great. Their harmonies were amazing and their dance was powerful and it followed the beat which is amazing for such a powerful and strong beat. Well, it's dance we're talking about and there's Lin Chaoze.

Gao Maotong's clock move imitation was kind of funny and I'll admit that it cracked me up a little. It was just... kind of funny. Jiang Jingzuo's flips were amazing as well I tell you. It was so cool but I knew that Zhengting could do better.

Wait, this ain't about him so why am I suddenly thinking about him? I stealed a glance over to the end of the table where he sat and saw him focusing on the performance. Justin nudged at me to stop staring and keep on mentoring to which I obliged.

Huang Shuhao from WOWING Ent. was really funny, well not funny, it's more of interactional. His audition song blew up the whole place and everyone, including me, was doing the dance he was doing.

Even Xukun asked for an encore and that was something rare to see from the Cai Xukun himself. Everyone had fun actually and the atmosphere was really high that no one can come down from it.

Like everyone followed him, even that cousin of mine who I thought wouldn't do it regardless of the very hyped up atmosphere because she would usually deny stuff like these.

Zheng Ruibin from Huayi Brothers peformed something very... heart fluttering. Like, how could you not react to Zheng Ruibin? There's no way you could.

The Yuehua boys who came were very much disrespectful with their EOEO performance, like literally. It was just so... well to say it bluntly, cringey but hot af at the same time.

If I were the Citizen Producers, I would've banged my phone on the marble floor while watching it because I can't handle tension and all. I once watched the MV of Xukun's Hard To Get and I nearly banged my phone to the table I tell you.

Li Junyi's vocals are also really good. He sings with power and those tones he reached were great for an adult man, frankly speaking. Overall, they were all great. Just maybe they need more practice and all.

Xukun was going to give something like a speech to them by a video of all their hardwork. Us, the rest of the mentors, will be excused to go to the backstage and rest there until we had to mentor them again which isn't until the next 2 days I think.

The video played and I think Zhengting was about to cry when he sees it. So I rub soothing circles around his back to comfort him and maybe signal him to not cry while being filmed because that might get ugly and weird.

"Remember all of you, you all didn't come here for nothing. You have your own goals and dreams. So believe in yourself and fight for them. We are going to bow for the first time as 100 people to the Citizen Producers" Xukun said.

We could see all of the trainees stand up and wait for his signal. "Citizen Producers" Xukun signalled. "Please take care of us well!" they all said as they bow down to them.

When they had stood up again, the director shouted "Cut!" They all keep bowing to all the staff and their PD until they were told to take their leave and prepare themselves to go to their dorms.

Xukun went back to us and he immediately clung onto my cousin for dear life. She just chuckles and kissed his head. "You have a red lipstick stain on your forehead" Justin said. "I don't care. We've been hiding for nearly 8 years already. It's about time they know" Xukun said.

"They're so getting in trouble" Justin said as I nod, agreeing to what he said. "They've lost their minds. They have been hiding it for 7 years, almost 8 by now and I guess it is time for people to know. But if they actually announce it in front of public on a podium or something I'm calling out that crazy cousin of mine." I said.

"True..." Zhengting said. "I wonder what the trainees' reaction would be when they see that on their PD's forehead" ChengCheng said. "They would be like 'Is PD dating?' and Kunkun would be like 'Yes' and they will all go crazy over it" Zhengting said.

"I mean... he's not completely wrong about that" I said. When Xukun finally got off my cousin, he inspected the mark on his forehead and smiled. "They'll know that we're together one day, babygirl. Just you wait for us to not hide anymore" he said.

The whole sentence was already cringey and I can't imagine what they'll be like once they don't have to hide. They'll be damned, well we'll be damned too but this ain't about us.

So for the rest of the day, they just filmed the trainees and we could go back. First training isn't until the next 2 days so we had tomorrow to rest and then we would have to go back to mentoring those trainees.

I have to admit that the trainees have talent. The first time I sang I sound like a dying whale and I sometimes still do. The first time I rapped I sound like a martian talking jibberish and whatsoever. That wasn't the trainee's case and they're all great actually.

So we went back to the hotel to rest and ate takeout on the way back since it's kind of late already. Once I reached my shared room with Zhengting, I did my night routine for 5 minutes and passed out on the bed right after.

Mentoring is kind of fun, and so is watching Zhengting cry his eyes out during the video...