0713: You who shine in the parallel world

Halfway through lunch, several staff members wearing name tags suddenly came into the lobby.

Each of them was carrying several identical paper bags. Ma Boqian followed them and asked them to put the bags on an empty table. Then he waved to the groups of older brothers who were eating in the hall and told them that he had bought coffee and sugar-free milk tea and fruit tea as a gift for everyone.

The older brothers in the hall immediately expressed their gratitude to Ma Boqian. To be fair, although the boy was talkative and lively, he was quite sensible.

"Come on, brothers, these bags are milk tea, and these are coffee." Ma Boqian saw the two groups from "Countless" and "Suspended" sitting together eating next door, and enthusiastically brought over four bags. "There are lattes and Americanos, oh right, there should also be a few cups of cold brew."

As he spoke, he took a cup of cold brew from his bag, made sure it was still iced, and then casually placed it in front of Yu Yu:

"Brother Yu, you can try this. I heard from Brother Yuan yesterday that you prefer Americano and cold brew, right? This is an anaerobic sun-dried Geisha from the Alida Estate in Panama. It's perfect for cold brew. I have a friend who owns a coffee shop, and I bought these from him. If you like them, I can send you some later."

"Elida's?" Yu Yu smiled and expressed her gratitude. "Your friend's coffee shop has quite a unique taste. I currently have this type of bean at home, so there's no need for you to take the time to send it. However, if you also like coffee, I can ask Mr. Peterson to send some Geisha from Emerald Estate. You can compare the two types of Geisha and see what the difference is."

"Are those two bags of coffee beans you sent me the Geisha you mentioned?" Chen Chusheng looked at Yu Yu and took the latte from Ma Boqian.

Yu Yu nodded, while Chen Chusheng frowned slightly in confusion: "I don't think there's much difference; they both have a fruity aroma."

"No, Chusheng, if you taste them carefully, you'll find that one has flavors of berries and oranges, and the other has flavors of apricot, lavender, and rose," Yu Haoming corrected, savoring the coffee with greater refinement.

"Wow, you guys really know how to appreciate coffee beans!" Ma Boqian exclaimed. "I can't taste the subtle differences."

"Uh, please exclude me from the 'you all' you' you' mentioned. I can't taste any fruit or floral aromas, only sourness and bitterness," Wang Yuexin immediately distanced herself from the topic.

“Me too.” Zhang Yuan shook his head.

Ma Boqian scratched his head. What knowledge could he possibly have about coffee? He'd only been cramming on it last night.

So he can still remember that if the Elida Estate is one of the world's top coffee estates, then the Emerald Estate is a top estate that has held the number one spot for many years, and the owner's surname seems to be Peterson.

Ma Boqian couldn't help but think of the instructions his father had given him: building good relationships with industry veterans was secondary, since his family had powerful backing anyway.

His primary task this time was to cultivate a good relationship with that half-Bullfighting nationman. Although his father didn't know Cyrus Yu's true identity or background, he was certain that his family was not to be trifled with.

This was really putting him in a difficult position. He had never tried to please anyone with any ulterior motive before. He could make more friends, but deliberately getting close to someone? He racked his brains and could only come up with the idea of ​​starting with the other person's preferences.

It should work, right? They even said they'd send him coffee beans. Feeling confident in his abilities, Ma Boqian happily called out to his other brothers.

After lunch and a short rest, we started recording the sequence of the performance at 3 p.m.

Teams that finish the production team meeting early in the morning can try on the stage costumes prepared by the production team in advance and choose the most suitable one. As for the others, they can only try them on later when there is time.

After Xin, the student on duty, announced the competition rules for the first public performance, the eight groups returned to the training room to wait for the subsequent grouping and ranking.

However, when they saw the rules displayed on the screen in the room, many of them looked confused.

What are the show's producers babbling about regarding these rules?

"What does this mean? We're choosing our opponents?" Guan Zhibin stared blankly at the text on the screen. He felt he could recognize each of the simplified Chinese characters, but when they were put together into a sentence, he couldn't recognize them at all.

He Zhancheng was even more confused than him: "I don't know either, I can't read."

The two exchanged a glance, then simultaneously turned to look at Yu Yu, who was sprawled on the sofa like a salted fish.

"The program team's idea is that the first public performance will be divided into two halves, with four groups forming each half. Among our eight groups, the program team will select the two groups with the highest average popularity to serve as the first seed tribes for the first and second halves, respectively. The remaining six groups will serve as challengers and will choose any seed tribe based on their current remaining firepower."

"Now, the highest-scoring 'X-Song' and 'Drift' have become the first teams. We will select their second, third, and fourth positions from the lowest to the highest scores. The lower-scoring teams will select first, and the higher-scoring teams can replace the lower-scoring teams."

"The starting tribe can choose to avoid a group of battles. Theoretically, if one starting tribe avoids a group of battles, the opponent can only choose another starting tribe. But I'm curious, what if the other group also avoids battles?"

At this point, Yu Yu revealed an expression of great interest, eagerly anticipating the two seed tribes using the "avoid war" strategy against the same group, which would put the production team in an awkward position. However, he also knew that this was just wishful thinking, and if such a situation occurred, the production team would have no choice but to pause and re-record.

"How many points do we have left? 39 points? We're at the bottom?" Guan Zhibin looked at his team's remaining firepower in disbelief. Their score wasn't even a fraction of what "Countless" had.

“Yes, because of the accommodation costs.” Yu Yu wasn’t worried at all. Eight people staying in a lake-view room costing 450 yuan a room, which was 56 yuan per person, not too high, not too low, and a piece of cake for the “Countless” team with a huge sum of 536 yuan in hand.

Therefore, Yu Yu's brothers and Teacher Cai, with a huge sum of 256, became the most competitive group among the remaining six groups. It can be said that they can choose which seed tribe to challenge or which order of appearance to choose.

"Suspended" is undoubtedly the "easy target," whether in terms of current popularity or the team's singing ability... In the eyes of everyone except 0713, they may only be able to beat the temporarily formed team "Sparrow."

Being an easy target is good, at least when choosing a challenger, it will make the other party lower their guard.

Who would care about a salted fish, a sheep, and a dancer who can't sing?

In fact, after the rules of the first public performance were announced to select seed tribes based on the average number of likes per person, it became even more intriguing that someone would enthusiastically recruit people in the middle to upper ranks of the popularity rankings when choosing and forming teams after the initial stage performance.

Whether the production team gave him advance notice or he adjusted the rules to favor him in order to select popular contestants, it made no difference to Yu Yu.

As long as they don't try anything funny with him and his brothers, Yu Yu generally won't care what they do. His only concern right now is how to stay in the half of "Drifting" without being replaced by other teams with high remaining firepower.

The seemingly lazy bum lying on the sofa waiting to be "assigned" has actually already planned everything in his mind.

"Which seed tribe do you think we should choose, and which position should we choose to play?" Yu Yu stood up and came to the two people in front of the screen, patiently and gently discussing the matter.

Guan Zhibin glanced at the score on the screen again and sighed: "Number four, no matter which group, number four is definitely the best, but the choice is not in our hands."

“Anyone can switch our order.” He Zhancheng smiled helplessly. “So where we are is actually decided by the other groups.”

"Hmm, that's not necessarily true." Yu Yu stroked her chin and snorted softly, her tone carrying a hint of subtle persuasion. "Position four is popular, but do you know which position is the least popular and avoided by everyone else?"

"Uh, number two?"

"Bingo." Yu Yu snapped her fingers. "The second position, right next to the Seed Tribe, will be the one performing after the two popular groups. The pressure and difficulty will be the greatest. In comparison, the third position will be under less pressure and the competition will not be as fierce as the fourth position."

Guan Zhibin's eyes lit up: "Oh, I get it, so we'll raise the sign for position three later?"

“Wrong, let’s choose position two.” Yu Yu shook her head.

"Huh?" Guan Zhibin was a little confused.

But He Zhancheng understood: "Because we had no choice?"

“Instead of being replaced in position two by someone else, we should take the initiative.” Yu Yu curled the corners of his mouth, turned around and sat back on the sofa, slowly picking up the challenge card. “Besides, position two is just more difficult, but it’s not impossible to win. Gentlemen, we should have confidence in ourselves.”

Guan Zhibin suddenly thought of the meeting with the program team that morning. Yu Yu, who was not very famous and inconspicuous in the past, made a move that was like a whirlwind, easily conquering the picky program team. He gradually gained more confidence.

"That's right, nothing is impossible in this world!" He cheered himself up and plopped down next to Yu Yu.

"This suddenly feels a bit like US Against World," He Zhancheng joked, sitting down on the other side of Yu Yu.

As for whether Wang Yaoqing's group would politely decline their request by issuing avoidance cards after they made their choice, Yu Yu thought it was unlikely. Based on his observations of Wang Yaoqing over the past few times, this guy with a performative personality was highly likely to not use the avoidance card in order to show his confidence.

So when the program announced that the three low-scoring groups would raise their placards to compete for the No. 2 position, the "Suspended" group decisively raised their placards. Surprisingly, another group raised their placards at the same time as them: the "No Time to Regret" group.

Yu Yu initially thought they were also going against the grain and striking first, but when they bumped into each other in the corridor, Tan Jia told them that they were just thinking "the sooner they die, the sooner they can be reborn," and that going first would allow them to rest first.

That makes sense, though part of the reason is that their songs are naturally explosive.

"No Time to Regret" chose Lin Zhiying's group from "X-Song". Lin Zhiying did not shy away from the battle, and they successfully secured the number 2 position, temporarily.

Yu Yu's side also went very smoothly; the five members of "Drift" warmly invited them to take a seat.

In the second round of bidding, the remaining team in the lower group, "Sparrow," temporarily secured the third position for "Drift."

Knowing that in addition to Lin Zhiying's popularity, there would be another explosive song in the second half of "X-Song", the four "little sparrows" who were temporarily put together were quite self-aware and knew that they could not beat the second half of "X-Song".

On the other hand, regarding "Drifting," although all five of them are quite popular, Ma Xiaolong, as a professional dancer, is certain that with the dance foundation of Wang Yaoqing and the other three, it would be difficult for them to learn the extremely difficult dance in two weeks, let alone perform a synchronized dance and sing and dance. In the end, they will either have to bite the bullet and sacrifice the quality of the stage performance, or they will have to simplify the dance.

Either way, the competitive pressure will decrease.

Besides, they also have "Suspended" on their side. The three members of "Suspended" are also a temporary team, and they are not very popular. He Zhancheng's vocals are even worse...

To put it bluntly, most people know that "Suspended" is an easy target, as is another easy target, "Sparrow".

Next, it will be a battle among the three teams in the high-ranking group for the number 4 position.

"The Night Asks the Day" had the lowest score among the three groups. Hu Yanbin wanted to gamble that the other two groups would choose the third position for "X-Song", so he also chose to skip the round when the high-scoring group raised their placards for the first time. Unfortunately, he lost his gamble.

Both "Countless" and "Up and Down the Mountain" were aiming for the fourth position. Since "Countless" had a higher score and priority in selection, Chen Chusheng, who did not want to compete with Yu Yu in the same group for the time being, chose "X-Song". Therefore, the fourth position for "Drifting" was taken by "Up and Down the Mountain".