The moment the group formation was announced, confetti burst forth, with small white and green paper pieces scattering in the air. It was probably the only thing in good spirits that night.
Despite the group's formation, not a single person on the scene was smiling.
The ribbons, like flower petals blown by the wind, swirled around the stage, serving as a backdrop for this grand finale. But the more beautiful this scene became, the more painful it was for the audience's hearts.
The live broadcast had ended, but there was still a greeting session on-site. The falling ribbons obscured the view, making the seven people hugging on stage appear hazy. Below, fans had dissolved into tears. A girl holding a Sang Mo banner watched as Sang Mo knelt on the ground, crying helplessly, and she too began sobbing uncontrollably.
In the stands, Jiang Liuxing was already crying so hard she was hanging onto the railing, still mumbling something through her tears, "Wuwuwuwu Jiang Juyou must be crazy wuwuwu I can't accept this wuwuwu aaaaah―"
Liu Yue beside her didn't know how to comfort her. She had never followed someone who failed to debut before. She could only silently pass tissues. Suddenly, Jiang Liuxing turned to her with a face full of grievance, "Why didn't they choose Sang Mo wuwuwu..."
"..." Liu Yue scratched her nose, unable to answer.
If the scene was this chaotic, the reaction online was even more intense. As a popular trainee with both talent and looks, they thought there was no way Sang Mo wouldn't make it. Today's result was beyond everyone's expectations.
Even bystanders didn't criticize them for spamming. They let them open threads to discuss, and even joined in to watch the commotion.
"Title: Eating melon rationally / Wuwuwuwu who understands wuwuwuwu"
"It's been half an hour... I've been crying for half an hour. I've been scrolling through news about Sang Mo online while crying. I really don't understand why Sang Mo didn't make it. Now when I see Sang Mo's photos, I feel a suffocating pain like a breakup. I didn't even cry this much when I broke up with my boyfriend. I really... I'm crying so hard I don't have the strength to type."
Comments:
"I understand wuwuwuwu..."
"I don't dare to open TikTok or Douyin now. It's already very painful, and with the background music, I'll cry myself to death."
"What about the rest? Will we be able to see them later? [Crying]"
"I've been following them sincerely for almost two years, and now they tell me my bias can't debut. We don't know if they'll appear again later, maybe this is really the last time we'll see them..."
"Passerby here, got stabbed in the heart. Even just watching the cuts feels so painful..."
"Fans at the scene say little Sang is crying too..."
A video went viral on Weibo at this moment. Filmed from the stands, the camera gradually zooms in. In the middle of the stage, amidst flying ribbons, seven people are hugging each other. Sang Mo covers his eyes with his hands, but the unstoppable tears can't be hidden. Gao Xiayu tightly embraces Chen Wu and Sang Mo, burying his head between them. Pei Luming leans on Gao Xiayu's shoulder, crying so much that his tears have soaked through his clothes. The other three also huddle close to them, leaning on each other.
Other groups have already composed themselves, greeting fans at the scene, comforting those girls crying because they didn't debut. It might really be the last time they meet, so the staff allowed them to go down and take photos with fans, even following them with instant cameras to help capture the moment when their love is at its peak.
In contrast with the other groups, the seven people hugging each other motionlessly on stage make people's emotions even more complex. Just this one posture can convey so much information―
They really like each other, they love this group, they truly can't be without each other, and they can't accept that they're about to lose two members.
As the team leader, Gao Xiayu's feelings must be the most complicated. The eruption of pressure makes it impossible for him to contain his emotions. The seven-to-five system feels like having two arms brutally chopped off his body, causing unbearable pain and making it impossible to accept.
The cold wind whistles, the ribbons twirl in the direction of the wind, and finally settle on the ground. Their presence in the air is gone, truly signaling the end of tonight.
In the video, the seven of them only let go of each other after all the ribbons had fallen. Gao Xiayu struggles to keep himself from collapsing. He wipes the tears of each member one by one, crying himself but telling the others not to cry.
"Don't cry, it's cold outside," Gao Xiayu says after wiping Pei Luming's tears, causing Pei Luming to break down and cry again, burying himself in Gao Xiayu's embrace.
Gao Xiayu pulls him out and then says to the others: "The fans are still waiting for us. Let's bow... and greet them."
The audience is seated in sections, with C group fans occupying half the seats. Fans in other sections are waiting for the trainees to come over, while they hold their light sticks, looking at the stage with sorrow in their eyes, not daring to make a sound or move.
"Wuaaaah―"
Suddenly seeing the seven of them turn towards them hand in hand, the emotions that had been held back burst forth again.
The seven walk to the edge of the stage, looking at the fans below who are averting their gaze with red-rimmed eyes, their own eyes reddening as well.
Gao Xiayu, holding Chen Wu and Sang Mo on either side, calls out to the fans: "This is Random Entertainment's trainee group Circlecenter―"
"Thank you for accompanying us for so long, thank you―"
After saying this, the seven of them bow together towards the C group fan section. This final blow causes the fans to start wailing, continuously calling out their names.
The venue's broadcast also announces that they will be closing soon, asking fans to leave early. Gao Xiayu and the others are called back by the staff before they even have a chance to go down from the stage.
The fans below are in chaos, crying and shouting their names. Even passersby watching the video are moved to tears, exiting the video with tear-filled eyes and starting to search for their names.
At this time, the trainees backstage are also reuniting with their families. As the producer, Jiang Juyou naturally has to be present. She composes herself in the waiting room before coming out to meet them in the main rest area. Before this, staff members had already informed them about the trainees' future arrangements.
"Ah yes, uncle, they will still be under our management, just returning to the practice room to continue training and wait for the next opportunity."
"You don't need to worry about that, auntie. You've seen how they've been doing during this time. We take care of their moral, intellectual, physical, and aesthetic education!"
"Yes, that's right. Hmm... but we can't say for sure when the next opportunity will come."
Guan Xiaoxiao and the others are running all over the place, being caught by trainees' parents to explain the follow-up arrangements.
From Jiang Juyou's personal perspective, she certainly hopes that every child will have a good future. However, the key issue is that the company currently cannot operate so many groups simultaneously, and they don't want to create competitors for the new group in the short term. So, the trainees who didn't debut can only return to the basement to continue practicing.
During this period, there will definitely be other companies coming to persuade the trainees to terminate their contracts, saying they're willing to pay the breach of contract fee to support their debut. This is something Jiang Juyou can't control.
As soon as she enters the rest area, Jiang Juyou is surrounded. She greets the parents with a smile on her face and comforts those trainees with red eyes.
When she reaches C group, she finds that their eyes are all swollen, with Pei Luming still in tears. When he looks up at her, Jiang Juyou sighs and pats his shoulder to comfort him.
She makes a round in the rest area, showing her face before following the production team to the waiting room to prepare for the interview.
This segment will also be added to tomorrow's full episode release.
"Title: Eating melon rationally / The last episode is up, with an added interview of Jiang Juyou..."
"I was about to forget, but after watching this, I'm reminded of my heartbreak again."
Just like yesterday's viral video of C group, Jiang Juyou's brief interview has also been reposted tens of thousands of times.
Seated, Jiang Juyou's nose is red, as if she's been crying, or perhaps from the cold wind. After sitting down, she puts on her microphone herself, then adjusts her hair, and says to the camera: "We can start now."
The subtitles display the questions collected by the production team:
"After two years, the show has finally ended. Does Producer Jiang have any thoughts to share?"
"Hmm... besides feeling that time has passed so quickly... Ah!" Jiang Juyou suddenly remembered something and smiled. "I also want to express how their growth has far exceeded my expectations, which is very delightful to me."
"There's a huge gap in the domestic idol industry, but the fan base is very complete. So I wanted to create a boy group that could uphold the reputation of the Chinese entertainment industry, and I learned a lot of knowledge for this purpose."
Jiang Juyou summarized her efforts over the past two years in one sentence. Everyone outside knows how much the trainees have suffered because there were programs recording them, but only Jiang Juyou herself knows how much she has struggled.
Before joining the company, she had no contact with the entertainment industry at all, let alone idol culture. For this path, Jiang Juyou thoroughly studied the history and operational strategies of several mature idol companies abroad. Now she can name every member of the active idol groups there.
This was just the basics. She could also name all the staff related to the idol industry, from music producers, MV directors, photoshoot photographers, concept planners, to makeup artists, stylists, music show staff, and the managers around the idols. There wasn't anyone she didn't know.
She had also gone through all the financial reports of those agencies, gathered information with Cong Lixia, and formulated contract income distribution.
These were just the entertainment industry knowledge she needed to master. There was still the fashion world to tackle. Jiang Juyou had to participate in album production, controlling everything from music to visuals. She had to learn music theory and color matching in the fashion industry.
The phrase "back to senior year" wasn't an exaggeration; Jiang Juyou felt she hadn't even worked this hard in her actual senior year.
The results of her two years of hard work were gradually presented to everyone. The company's event planning was pushed forward by her, and she determined the concepts for each of the trainees' photoshoots, all of which received high praise.
Therefore, this reflection--
Jiang Juyou smiled again, "It seems I've grown a lot along with them."
"Among the five trainees who debuted, who was the first one you decided on?"
"The first one I decided on?"
"Gao Xiayu."
This time, Jiang Juyou didn't hesitate and gave her answer directly.
"Oh, so it wasn't in order of ranking."
"I knew it! I knew it!"
"When it was down to Chen Wu, Sang Mo, and Gao Xiayu, you don't know how nervous I was."
"It's a bit surprising, but also makes sense."
Everyone said they hoped all seven could debut together, but if they really had to choose five, they could make a selection. The most popular configuration was ACE Pei Luming, visual rapper Ye Xing, main vocalist Yao Shuo, main dancer Sang Mo, and producer Chen Wu.
Although Gao Xiayu was also very popular, he wasn't selected because people thought anyone could be the leader, not necessarily Gao Xiayu. So when announcing the last member, everyone was actually torn between Sang Mo and Chen Wu.
Different perspectives lead to different considerations.
Jiang Juyou explained to the camera: "Gao Xiayu is a hexagonal warrior, even the type who's willing to dim his own light to complement others. He's also the emotional support and glue for other members, with excellent learning ability and adaptability."
"I should explain the criteria for selecting members here. We chose those who could handle the resources when we concentrate on promoting them later. Gao Xiayu fits this the best; he can develop in any direction, be it as a singer, actor, or producer."
In the next sentence, she mentioned the person everyone was concerned about.
Jiang Juyou lowered her gaze to her shoe tips, then looked back at the camera. "The reason for not choosing Sang Mo and Chen Wu... the biggest reason is still the company's operational issues. We wanted to be more cautious and choose a group with one outstanding member in each direction."
"Gao Xiayu was the first to be confirmed, followed by Yao Shuo and Chi Qiao. After ensuring a strong foundation, we wanted to choose members who had great audience appeal or stood out with very memorable individual characteristics."
The configuration of Timetrain, when explained, seemed flawless. After hearing Jiang Juyou's explanation, it seemed even more so. However, whether they could operate smoothly in the future was another matter.
She also mentioned in passing, "Because they are all still students, future activities will be concentrated during winter and summer vacations. We're also focusing on the group concept and have prepared many albums in advance, which everyone can look forward to."
At the end of the program, Jiang Juyou was finally asked the question everyone was most concerned about.
"Will the remaining trainees be dismissed?"
Because after the last season ended, more than half of the trainees were dismissed. Those who didn't terminate their contracts with Random Entertainment were still in the company, just without any news.
After hearing this question, Jiang Juyou looked a bit troubled. "They won't be dismissed... There are many producers in the company besides me. We're currently producing a girl group, and for the boy group, we might wait a while to let them grow a bit more."
Her words weren't absolute, fearing that other companies might try to poach after the show aired.
Finally, Jiang Juyou thanked everyone for their support and companionship over the past two years and expressed hope that everyone would support Timetrain's upcoming activities.
Fans' anxious and gloomy emotions were largely alleviated after watching this video. However--
"Headline: Gossip Theory/Trainees Who Didn't Debut Returned to Underground Practice Rooms, 1V1 Chat Rooms Will Also Close..."
"The traces of our love will be erased."
"[Crying loudly]"
Fans: Do you know how heartbreaking this is [lights a cigarette]?
