A band, or a battleground?

After the two left and the door closed, Ning Qianyu chuckled and said, "Qi Yuan and a top female star, wouldn't you say that's like a man and a woman alone in a room together?"

Qiu Mengxue rolled her eyes at her: "Just focus on practicing your drums, and stop stirring up trouble."

Ning Qianyu pouted and continued practicing from the sheet music.

The drums started playing again, but the bass didn't follow.

Qiu Mengxue glanced over and saw Jiang Yi holding the bass, her eyes somewhat vacant, as if she was thinking about something.

So she asked, "Yiyi, what's wrong?"

Jiang Yi: "Huh? Oh, it's nothing, I was just thinking about this song..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

083 He is very polite

Bands that make it to the fourth round of the main competition on "The Coming One: Super Band" are naturally on a completely different level than they were before the competition started, after all, this is a show with tens or even hundreds of millions of views. Even if a lot of those views are repeated, it still counts as breaking into the mainstream.

This season's crossover competition attracted even more viewers because of the presence of a group of celebrities from outside the music industry. Each band on stage only had one song, and with a total of twelve songs on stage, yet two episodes were to be edited together, naturally a lot of footage was shot offstage.

On this day, a cameraman from the program crew, carrying a camera, arrived at Chunriying's dormitory villa, led by Assistant Zeng.

Filming had already begun when we got off the bus.

As someone close to top star Shen Yihan, Assistant Zeng behaved with grace and poise in front of the camera. She introduced Shen Yihan's daily work schedule and emphasized to the camera that Ms. Shen had worked overtime to complete the filming tasks before coming here to meet up with the band she was collaborating with.

The photographer asked, "Are they rehearsing now?"

Assistant Zeng smiled and said, "Of course, Ms. Shen said that the band chose an original song, and it is very difficult, so the rehearsal time is very tight."

As they spoke, the two arrived at the villa's entrance, where Assistant Zeng rang the doorbell.

It was Qiu Mengxue who opened the door.

The photographer quickly pointed the lens at her. While Shen Yihan was undeniably stunning, this young band member who opened the door, though without makeup, wasn't far behind. If she had put on makeup for the camera, perhaps…

But Qiu Mengxue was clearly uncomfortable in front of the camera. She took two steps back and asked, "Are you here to film the band rehearsal?"

Assistant Zeng smiled and said, "Yes, the production team should have notified us that they need to shoot some footage, which may be included in the final cut."

"Oh, please come in."

As Qiu Mengxue said this, she continued to back away, returning to the back of her MIDI keyboard.

When Zeng's assistant and photographer entered the house, their eyes and lenses swept around the living room, but they only saw three girls from the band.

The photographer asked, "Where are your lead singer and crossover guests?"

Ning Qianyu answered directly, "They are in the room upstairs."

Assistant Zeng's generous and polite smile froze instantly.

The photographer glanced to the side, hesitated for a moment, and instead of taking a picture of Assistant Zeng's expression, pretended not to have thought of anything and continued to ask, "What are those two doing?"

Ning Qianyu: "To practice my tongue, what else can I do?"

Assistant Zeng's figure swayed slightly.

The photographer felt he might have swayed a bit, but fortunately the camera on his shoulder had a stabilizer, so it shouldn't be visible in the shot.

Qiu Mengxue struck a key on the keyboard, the sound like an angry slam on the table. Then she looked up and explained, "Those two are practicing rap. You can go upstairs now; they're in the study."

Ning Qianyu revealed a faint, mischievous smile.

Looking at the little girl's expression, Assistant Zeng felt a bit annoyed, but he couldn't say anything. He could only go up the stairs with the photographer.

The photographer moved quickly, as if afraid of missing a good show.

The two arrived at the door of the study.

The camera was pointed directly at the door, but the photographer winked at Assistant Zeng.

From inside the door, faint "pat pat pat" sounds could be heard.

Assistant Zeng's expression had become somewhat serious. She took a deep breath, knocked on the door, and was about to say something—both as a courtesy before opening the door and as a reminder to Ms. Shen to avoid any inappropriate scenes being captured on camera.

Although she knew that Ms. Shen had never had any scandals, and even her relationships with those incredibly handsome male actors were only professional, her guest appearance on a music talent show shouldn't be a disaster...

Moreover, given Ms. Shen's extensive network of connections, even if the show's cameramen captured something, it would be easy to suppress it...

But knowing this is one thing, as the assistant of a top star, how could she not be wary!

The fact that the rest of the band members were rehearsing in the living room downstairs, while only these two went upstairs to their room, was enough to sound alarm bells. Standing at the door now, listening to the faint banging sounds coming from inside, was even more terrifying.

However, before she could even say a word to warn him, and after only knocking twice, the photographer turned the doorknob!

The next moment, both of them saw the scene inside the study.

Qi Yuan clapped his hands to create a rhythm.

Shen Yihan held a piece of paper in her hand and recited the lyrics in rhythm with the slaps, clearly in the form of rap.

"Those who stand in the way are all guilty, and there's no turning back now that they've regretted it..."

Both of them were standing, and although there were seats in the study, neither of them sat down.

The sound of the door opening interrupted the rehearsal. Shen Yihan and Qi Yuan looked at the two figures in the doorway, along with a camera.

Assistant Zeng finally smiled: "You guys are rehearsing..."

Qi Yuan frowned slightly: "Is there something you need?"

The photographer quickly explained, "It's like this, the production team needs to shoot some footage, which might be included in the final cut. You don't need to worry about us, just keep rehearsing."

Qi Yuan nodded, then looked back at Shen Yihan and said, "Let's continue."

Shen Yihan continued reciting the lyrics, but was interrupted by Qi Yuan after only two lines.

"No, why did you back down when you saw the camera? You're a big star, you should be used to the camera. Don't worry about it, think about the state you found just now, don't change the pitch randomly."

The big star sounded a little aggrieved: "I haven't changed..."

Qi Yuan replied decisively, "You've changed. I can tell. How about we rest for a bit?"

Shen Yihan bit her lower lip and remained silent for a long while before shaking her head vigorously: "Continue!"

The two people next to them were completely stunned.

The photographer was surprised that Shen Yihan was so obedient.

Assistant Zeng never expected that Qi Yuan would be so arrogant. Although he didn't say anything harsh, his tone and demeanor were even more domineering than the director who was instructing Miss Shen on filming.

This one shot took more than twenty minutes to film.

At Qi Yuan's suggestion, the photographer followed him downstairs to photograph the other band members, leaving Shen Yihan to rest in the study for a while—she had been practicing rap all morning and deserved a break.

As soon as the study door closed, Shen Yihan slumped into the chair.

Assistant Zeng pulled another chair over to her, sat down, and asked in a low voice, "Miss, how have they treated you?"

Shen Yihan was slightly taken aback: "That's great."

Assistant Zeng frowned: "But he seems to be..."

Shen Yihan laughed: "That was during rehearsal. He's usually very polite to me and even calls me Sister Yihan. But during rehearsal, we agreed that we couldn't be polite and had to point out the problems, otherwise how could we improve?"

Assistant Zeng was a little dumbfounded. After a few seconds of hesitation, she asked, "How many hours do you rehearse each day?"

Shen Yihan thought for a moment: "From morning to night."

Assistant Zeng: "That means you're not polite at all all day long!"

Shen Yihan: "No, he was very polite during the meal..."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

084 What is professionalism?

The contestants' lunch was arranged by the production team within the villa area.

Meals will be delivered at the designated times for each of the three daily meals—you can discuss what you want to eat and how much you want to eat with the production team in advance.

Today, we added one more person's portion, because Assistant Zeng was also eating with them.

Only the photographer stood there watching and taking pictures.

During the meal, they chatted casually, and Qi Yuan's behavior was indeed much more easygoing. The stern and impartial attitude he had shown when supervising the rap rehearsals in the study had completely disappeared.

Shen Yihan shared her experiences and anecdotes from filming on set, while Ning Qianyu, Jiang Yi, and Qiu Mengxue shared their feelings about forming a band and even teased each other a bit.

Qi Yuan simply watched, smiled, ate his meal, and occasionally played the straight man.

Seeing that the atmosphere at the dinner table was too harmonious, even somewhat bland, the photographer suddenly asked a question: "Is Qi Yuan like this usually? He seems like a completely different person in real life compared to on stage."

Shen Yihan replied without hesitation, "Yes, he's usually very easy to get along with."

However, before the words were even finished, all three girls in the band revealed eerie smiles. Ning Qianyu, in particular, couldn't help but chuckle.

While the others were confused, Qi Yuan knew exactly what the girls were laughing about.

Assistant Zeng asked, "Is there any other inside information?"

The girls looked at each other, and Ning Qianyu asked, "Can we say?"

Qi Yuan: "There's nothing shameful about it, just say it."

“Then I’ll say it,” Ning Qianyu couldn’t help but laugh. “Before Qi Yuan joined our band, he was a problem student at school, the kind whose grades were at the bottom and the teachers didn’t care about him.”

Shen Yihan, Assistant Zeng, and Photographer: "Huh?!"

Qiu Mengxue picked up the thread: "But after joining our band, he completely changed. Not only did he start writing songs, but he also worked hard to make up for his shortcomings in music theory and practice vocal performance. The most amazing thing is that his exam scores went from being at the bottom to being a good student."

The photographer, sensing valuable material, quickly followed up with questions: "Did joining the band cause such a big change? Is he really a good student now?"

Jiang Yi wiped her mouth with a tissue, raised her hand and said, "There are more than 400 people in the whole grade. He used to be in the 400s, but in the last midterm exam, he entered the top 100 in the grade. I am in the same class as him, so I know very well. When the results came out, the whole class thought they had misheard."

Ning Qianyu: "He scored higher than you that time, right?"

Jiang Yi: "Yes, but I caught up in the final exams, although I was only a little bit ahead of him..."

Shen Yihan asked curiously, "So, what about your grades?"

“I’m in the top ten of the whole grade,” Ning Qianyu pointed to Qiu Mengxue next to her, “She’s about the same, just a little short of making it into the top ten, which is pretty good.”

Qiu Mengxue complained, "You only surpassed me once, what's there to be so proud of? This is the first time I've fallen out of the top ten, and the first time you've entered the top ten. Don't act like it's a given."

The assistant exclaimed, "It's really rare to see kids with such good grades in the entertainment industry. You're all high school students, right?"

Qi Yuan: "We're from the same school and in the same grade, otherwise it wouldn't be convenient to form a band."

Assistant Zeng: "Even if you don't pursue a career in music, you should still be able to get into a good university, right?"

Just then, Shen Yihan couldn't help but say, "Yeah...you guys are really amazing! I'm terrible at studying, and I've barely passed Chinese, math, and English since I started high school—"

Before she could finish speaking, Assistant Zeng quickly covered her mouth: "That's enough, Miss, you don't need to say anything more!"

Shen Yihan: "Mmm mmm mmm..."

Assistant Zeng turned to the cameraman and gave him a threatening look: "Cut this part out, we don't need to remind you, do we?"

The photographer nodded quickly.

Assistant Zeng then brought up another topic: "Now the outside audience is very curious, and you have many new fans who all want to know... what kind of person is Qi Yuan in the impression of your teammates?"

Qiu Mengxue replied without hesitation: "A musical genius, a creative genius, and a learning genius."

Jiang Yi: "He's... well, a very capable person."

Ning Qianyu's answer was the most concise: "Martial Monk!"

Shen Yihan, Assistant Zeng, and Photographer: "What?"

Ning Qianyu looked at Qi Yuan: "Can I say that?"

Qi Yuan: "Didn't you already say that? Let's continue."

Ning Qianyu continued, "We met Qi Yuan because our performance venue was taken over by someone else, so we asked him to help us hold the fort. As it turned out, he was indeed very influential on the street and scared away the people who took over our venue. And then, many delinquents would date, but Qi Yuan never did. Isn't that what makes him a martial monk?"

Hearing this, Shen Yihan looked at Qi Yuan with even greater interest. But for some reason, she heard someone beside her seem to breathe a sigh of relief.

Was that Assistant Zeng? Why did she seem relieved?

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.