Chapter 30: Offering Both Hands Openly and Sincerely

Defeated before the battle even began!

Jin Li rarely felt the urge to speak, yet she was startled to discover she couldn't find a microphone.

Lian Baozhi beside her had one, but she clutched it tightly in her hand, not even glancing in Jin Li's direction.

Jin Li looked at her several times, hesitating to speak, before finally shaking her head, giving up on communicating with her, and turning her gaze instead to the March Sky boy band on her left.

Gu Cheng still sat in the outermost seat, separated from Jin Li by only the narrow space of an aisle. He pressed one hand against his in-ear monitor, his arm resting on the table to prop up his head, revealing solid, powerful muscle lines as he listened intently to Ji Qinglian's critique.

Gu Cheng seemed to sense something; he turned slightly, meeting Jin Li's gaze, and tilted his head toward her as if asking, "Something wrong?"

Jin Li mimed the gesture of holding a microphone to speak.

Gu Cheng understood immediately, turning his head to look at his teammate beside him, whose captain was just picking up a microphone to speak.

Suddenly, a slender hand reached out; Yan Xingdong froze, watching wide-eyed as the microphone was snatched from his grasp, and following the movement, his eyelid twitched involuntarily.

Gu Cheng, with utter naturalness, ease, openness, and sincerity, handed the microphone over with both hands.

Good heavens, he actually used both hands???

So when snatching from his own teammate, he just uses one hand?!

Jin Li took the microphone and spoke directly: "It's evident your team has had too little time to gel; many of you haven't fully mastered the choreography. However, I understand; you were indeed rushed."

"But I still hope you will make extra efforts to diligently learn the assigned dances."

"Because once you debut, you will find an artist's schedule far busier than yours; in truth, they won't have as much time as you do to learn a single dance."

"For instance, if tomorrow you have two engagements, with only eight hours until the first and eleven until the second, after deducting travel time, you'd have merely five hours to learn two dances. What would you do then?"

Ji Qinglian and the members of March Sky all nodded involuntarily; indeed, the time allotted for artists to learn choreography is always short, leaving no room for dawdling.

If one lacks that capability, then one shouldn't be an artist.

Jin Li continued: "Trainees with a weak foundation must master the dance even more thoroughly. If others learn it in one hour, spend two; if that's not enough, three; if still insufficient, five... Deduct time for eating and sleeping, and devote all your energy to this matter."

"Doing so is not only an account rendered to the stage, but also to yourself and your teammates. No one wishes to be held back by another, correct?"

Jin Li lowered her head to review the notes she had written earlier.

"Furthermore, I wish to emphasize one point: trainees must act within their capabilities. Do not choose choreography mismatched to your ability merely because 'I like it' or 'I feel like it'."

"Such actions not only torment your teammates but torment yourself as well."

"The stage demands completeness. Everyone knows high-difficulty performances are explosive, but do you possess the ability to execute them?"

"It is better to choose a stage you can complete, delivering a superior performance through higher completeness. Performing a stage well is difficult, but ruining one is easy."

Jin Li set down her cue card, raised her head to look at this team, and finally fixed her gaze on a female trainee.

"Lastly, I wish to praise someone."

She paused, then smiled. "No need to look around; Gong Jiajia, it's you."

"Your performance achieved the highest completeness among all your teammates; both your dancing and vocals were outstanding. I suggest you strive for the center position next time."

At these words, a murmur of excitement rippled through the trainees both below and upon the stage.

During lengthy performances, mentors' speeches are often formulaic, as if cut from the same template.

But Jin Li's critique was different; every trainee could feel her sincerity.

Crucially, the content itself was explosive!

She directly named names publicly, encouraging Gong Jiajia to fight for the center spot!

Fight! Fight!!!

After finishing, Jin Li quickly handed the microphone back to Gu Cheng, who received it with both hands before passing it single-handedly to his own captain.

Yan Xingdong raised an eyebrow slightly, looking at Gu Cheng with an ambiguous smile, and waved his hand as if to say, "I won't critique; carry on as you wish."

Gu Cheng took back the microphone and spoke briefly on behalf of March Sky: "I believe Senior Jin Li is correct; one must act within one's capabilities."

"I trust everyone has heard this saying: Self-awareness is a precious virtue. If forcing yourself is too strenuous, it is better to step back and choose a stage more suited to your abilities. Also..."

He paused, looked at Gong Jiajia, a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"I saw your initial stage rating was C, but in today's numerous performances, you fully reached the A standard in my heart. Since you possess this capability, why not strive for more?"

"Wow!" The female trainees below the stage stirred with excitement once again.

Love it, love it! Now this is getting interesting!

Time slipped away quietly until ten o'clock at night; Jin Li, unsurprisingly, felt a slight dizziness.

She wore makeup, including blush.

Yet her complexion was so pale that even the blush could not conceal it.

Gu Cheng noticed, glancing frequently at Jin Li with some concern.

Lian Baozhi also noticed Jin Li's physical condition and muttered softly: "If your health is poor, just leave quickly; why stay here stealing rice bowls?"

Suddenly, her eyes shifted as a good idea occurred to her.

Jin Li paid no attention to Lian Baozhi; although her body felt worse and she appeared deeply distressed outwardly, inwardly she remained perfectly calm.

Lowering her head, she took out the cue cards she had prepared in advance; the staff had not inspected these items brought in from outside.

She flipped to one card, upon which a mathematics problem was written.

Jin Li then found a blank cue card among them, twirled the black gel pen in her hand, and forced herself to rally her spirits to solve the problem!

In such a noisy environment, concentrating one's thoughts was no easy task.

Yet once Jin Li activated the [Half the Effort, Twice the Result] state, her mental focus would spontaneously concentrate, devoting her full attention to solving the problem.

The clamorous sounds faded further and further away; Jin Li felt the world grow silent, with numerous numbers and symbols flashing before her, awaiting her to pluck them out and derive the correct solution.

Suddenly, a noisy voice and a vigorous shaking motion pulled Jin Li out of her own world.

Raising her head, she saw Lian Baozhi holding a microphone, looking at her with an expression of concern.

"Teacher Jin Li, you look unwell; you've kept your head down. Why not go back and rest for a while?"

Her voice echoed throughout the entire stage.

Only then did Lian Baozhi snap out of her shock, realizing the microphone wasn't off; she frantically searched for the switch, but after several attempts, she still couldn't find the power button.

The next second, Jin Li's voice drifted over, loud and slightly blurred.

"Huh? It's fine. I was just calculating what six cubed equals; there's a problem where I need to use its root formula to work backward to the solution."

Gu Cheng held his microphone in hand and instinctively replied upon hearing this, "Six cubed? That's 216. It's easy to do in your head."

Jin Li turned to look at him and calmly responded, "Oh, so it's 216. Then its—"

Immediately, a rumbling echo rang out.

The on-site director could listen no longer; at the end of his patience, he cut the feed to every microphone.

This was supposed to be a proper talent show; what on earth were they discussing?

The key point was that they were actually able to keep discussing it?

Where was the dignity of such a grand talent competition!