APCF – Chapter 64 Full of Dog Food

A certain popular celebrity with the surname Bo had absolutely terrible shrimp-peeling skills.

The poor shrimp was left with barely half of its body, its shell mangled, and the remaining part was nowhere to be found—vanished without a trace.

When he was fed the shrimp in front of more than fifty students, Qi Xingchen’s ears instantly turned red, and he began rubbing them in a way that seemed almost like he was trying to block the sound, quickly swallowing the first shrimp.

Class D and Class F, seeing how close their instructor was with each other, couldn’t help but start greeting each other and getting to know one another.

Qi Xingchen swallowed the second shrimp, his face burning with embarrassment. He got up from the floor and prepared to wash his face.

Turning down the hallway, just as he was about to open the restroom door, a tall, mixed-race man walked out. It was Kevin.

Kevin glanced at Qi Xingchen for a moment, then acted as if he hadn’t seen him and walked on. Naturally, Qi Xingchen didn’t want to pay him any attention either, and they passed each other without a word.

After entering the restroom and washing his face, Qi Xingchen accidentally noticed two books lying in a corner behind the door. They had been ripped to shreds.

He walked over and bent down.

One was New Practical Chinese Reader, and the other was Chinese Dictionary.

Out of the 88 trainees, only Kevin was an ABC (American-born Chinese), so it was obvious who had torn up the books.

It seemed that Kevin had been tortured by Chinese to quite an extent. Qi Xingchen thought for a moment and took a photo with his phone.

Young men in their twenties are the easiest to bond with, and when Qi Xingchen returned to the practice room, Classes D and F had already mingled into one, chatting enthusiastically:

“Hey, do you think our two instructors have a CP (couple) vibe?”

“Oh my god, you know so much. Could you stay away from the fan lifestyle, please?”

“What’s there to not know? Our village’s been on the internet for ages!”

“The instructors are here, don’t talk nonsense. Quietly whisper, I think they definitely have a thing, hahahaha.”

“No way, why are you asking about CP all of a sudden… I’m telling you, don’t gay me!”

“Go away, don’t get close to me, you’re just imagining things!”

The practice room seemed to be filled with the sound of a thousand cicadas, “Zzz-zzzz—Zzz-zzzz—” It was quite noisy. It wasn’t until after they finished eating that Bo Ye saw the two classes had merged into one and decided to train them all together. He then made a “buddy system” policy to settle things down a bit.

By nearly midnight, the trainees were gradually running out of energy. Considering tomorrow’s lessons, Qi Xingchen forced everyone to return to their dorms to sleep. The boys surrounded and sent the two instructors to the gate.

Just like the Dongcheng Music Festival, the recording location for My Era was also at Dongcheng TV’s headquarters in S City. The production team had booked a hotel for the five instructors, about a 20-minute drive from the studio.

Bo Ye asked Qi Xingchen, “Allen’s outside, should I ask him to drive you back?”

Classes D & F: “Oh, oh, oh!”

“…What’s with the ‘oh’!” Qi Xingchen was getting impatient with their teasing. “Hurry up and go back to your dorm!”

Wu Qian grinned: “Alright then, we’ll go now. Teacher Bo, we’ll leave Teacher Qi to you!”

Qi Xingchen: “…”

It felt like he was marrying off a daughter.

“Okay,” Bo Ye couldn’t help but laugh at their antics. “Don’t worry.”

The trainees finally dispersed after some playful teasing.

However, Qi Xingchen didn’t need Bo Ye to send him back, as An Ran and Old Qin were waiting outside. In the end, the two of them got into their respective cars and arrived at the hotel one after the other.

Dongcheng did a good job in this regard, giving all five instructors the same treatment by booking them business suites. Qi Xingchen’s room was 2202, and Bo Ye’s was 2209. Quite coincidentally, they were staying across from each other.

Qi Xingchen swiped his card to enter the room, leaning against the door. When he heard the sound of the electronic lock on the opposite door opening, he knew Bo Ye had returned safely, so he relaxed and went to wash up and sleep.

Thanks to the foundation Qi Xingchen laid on the first day, Class F had at least reached the same attitude level as Class A, if not more.

On the following two days, during roll call, all members of Classes D and F showed up on time. However, there were two latecomers from Classes B and C, and Qi Xingchen wasn’t surprised to hear Kevin’s name.

—It was “forced” for Kevin to attend class with Class B, and it was perfectly normal for him to have trouble accepting it.

The two days of intensive practice soon passed, and it was finally time to evaluate the trainees’ progress on the theme song.

There would be no eliminations this round, but there would be level adjustments based on how well the trainees interpreted the theme song.

After this adjustment, the levels would be fixed, meaning that whatever level the instructors assigned today would be permanent from then on, with no further changes.

In the backstage waiting area, the trainees were all extremely nervous, afraid of slipping down to a lower level by accident.

Before long, a filming assistant came over holding a black box, and the trainees were asked to draw lots to determine the order in which they would perform.

When the assistant arrived in front of Kevin, he curiously asked, “Kevin, have you learned the Chinese lyrics for this song?”

Kevin’s teammate helped with translation, and Kevin gave a half-hearted nod.

“Great, looking forward to your performance!” The assistant complimented him after he finished drawing his lot, then continued on to the next trainee.

Around half an hour later, the studio was ready. The stage manager called the first trainee to the stage, and the evaluation began.

Qi Xingchen sat in the same seat as last time, and as soon as he looked up, he saw a familiar face.

Han Qing had terrible luck and drew the first spot.

But fortunately, Han Qing had practiced hard enough. As soon as the intro started, he reflexively performed the entire theme song. Zheng Yuyang praised him, saying, “Teacher Qi’s company really has talent, no objections to this one being an A-level, right?”

The other instructors nodded, and Wei Qin gave a brief “hmm” from his nose.

Han Qing happily spun in circles as he left the stage.

Unlike the first round where trainees could choose their own songs, this time it was more like writing an essay on a given topic, and the judging was straightforward. The trainees quickly went up and down the stage, and by the twelfth performance, Qi Xingchen saw the mischievous boy from Class F.

The mischievous boy’s hand holding the microphone trembled uncontrollably, whether from nervousness or excitement. He yelled into the mic with all his might: “Teacher Qi! I won’t disappoint you!!!”

The echo swirled, the lingering sound still resonating, and Teacher Qi was startled, his body shaking.

“Ha ha ha ha ha…” Chen Jiayi nearly cried from laughter, “I believe you. Go ahead, start your performance.”

The intro to the theme song played again.

Four minutes later, Chen Jiayi’s expression was indescribable: “Teacher Qi, I think… he’s not really cut out to be an idol. He should stay in Class F.”

“He’s got a weak foundation. I’ll have a word with him.”

With that, Qi Xingchen turned towards the stage and spoke softly: “Ke Ke, congratulations. In just three days, you’ve gone from not knowing how to sing or dance to being able to perform an entire dance routine. That’s really impressive. No matter the outcome, I’m proud of your performance today. You’re an idol in my heart. I hope you can become the idol of your own heart as well, and keep working hard, okay?”

“Okay, I will!” Ke Ke sniffled, nodding firmly. “Thank you, Teacher Qi! I’ll go back to Class F now!”

Without waiting for the results, he turned and headed backstage.

Chen Jiayi couldn’t help but have red eyes.

The hardworking boy was the most touching.

The thirty-third performance was Kevin’s turn.

He wasn’t as dazed as Han Qing nor as excited as Ke Ke. Instead, he stood tall on stage, chest out, head held high, and nodded at the sound engineer, signaling that he was ready to start his performance.

Without saying a word, he controlled the stage by himself, a display of his immense confidence in his own ability.

As he wished, the sound engineer pressed play. After the fifteen-second intro, the Chinese lyrics, though not perfect, were understandable.

The first chorus passed, and they entered the rap section. The lyrics were simple, with just four lines in English repeated twice, designed to be sung by multiple people together.

The simpler it was, the more it tested the performer’s basic skills. Kevin’s flow was more advanced than the other trainees’ and, with his use of his native language, his timing and pauses were incredibly precise.

With an authentic American accent, he instantly lit up the whole stage!

In the backstage area, there was a large LCD screen, allowing the trainees to watch everything happening on stage in real-time.

A small trainee remarked, “As expected of Kevin! Respect! He’ll definitely make it back to Class A this time.”

“Of course! Didn’t you see the expressions on Teacher Wei and Teacher Zheng’s faces? Two big words: ‘satisfied’!”

“Kevin belongs in Class A anyway. Him coming to Class B was like a secret inspection, right?”

“Haha, ‘secret inspection’… Sorry, I just cursed. Please, post-production team, cut that part out. Thanks.”

It wasn’t just the trainees in the back who were impressed—Qi Xingchen was also very satisfied. He was happy to see any trainee improve.

However, as they moved into the second chorus, the more Qi Xingchen listened, the more something felt off.

The melody of the second chorus was the same as the first, but the lyrics had changed. Kevin’s Chinese singing was even more unclear, but Qi Xingchen could still make it out.

He was still singing the lyrics from the first chorus.

He hadn’t learned the lyrics to the second chorus.

The next two repeated choruses were the same. He tried to get by with unclear pronunciation. Once the song ended, both Qi Xingchen and Bo Ye looked at each other simultaneously.

Bo Ye’s gaze was cold, clearly dissatisfied.

“There are a few small flaws in the Chinese, but considering it’s only been three days, it’s not bad,” Wei Qin spoke up first. “I think he can move up to Class A. What do you think, Starlight Observer?”

Suddenly put on the spot, Qi Xingchen didn’t answer Wei Qin’s question. He opened the mic and turned to the stage: “Kevin, sing the second chorus again.”

The trainees performed individually, with no teammates accompanying them. Bo Ye took on the responsibility of translating and relayed the message to Kevin.

Kevin’s arm stiffened for a moment after hearing this, then he lifted the microphone and began to sing.

Without the accompaniment, it was more obvious to everyone.

“This is the first chorus’ lyrics. What about the second?” Qi Xingchen asked again.

Kevin’s neck tensed: “I only know this part.”

“Didn’t learn the second part?” Qi Xingchen gave him some leeway.

“No, I thought they were the same,” Kevin replied.

Bo Ye furrowed his brows and quietly asked Zheng Yuyang for confirmation: “Didn’t anyone tell him the two sections are different?”

“Yes,” Zheng Yuyang replied, puzzled. “The vocal teacher taught it line by line. His sense of language is so strong, he should be able to tell the differences between the sections… And he gets along well with his teammates. There’s no way they’d let him figure it out on his own.”

Bo Ye nodded. So, Kevin just didn’t want to learn and used ignorance as an excuse.

But with him insisting that he didn’t know, the mentors couldn’t really do anything. After all, there was no way to verify the situation.

What if they asked his teammates? That would be unfair to them—if they said they helped, it would be like declaring Kevin lied, and the company would reprimand them.

If they said they didn’t help, they’d be attacked by Kevin’s fans.

It was a no-win situation.

Bo Ye paused for a moment, just about to speak, when out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Qi Xingchen had his head lowered, rapidly writing in his small notebook.

At that moment, Qi Xingchen finished writing, tore the page off with a “shh” sound, and held it up.

“This is the English annotation and the Chinese pronunciation for the second chorus. I’m sorry we didn’t find a bilingual teacher for you, that’s our oversight. But since we’re now doing the theme song assessment, if you make a mistake, it means a performance error, and I can only give you a B grade. Sorry.”

A long string of English pronunciation, spoken very fluently, Bo Ye looked at the paper in his hand.

The annotations were written in elegant, flowing handwriting, and at a glance, there were no grammatical or spelling mistakes.

…So, his little fan had been using him as a free translator?

Bo Ye was left both amused and speechless.

On stage, Kevin froze for a moment.

During a voiceover interview a few days ago, he had mocked Qi Xingchen for his low academic background. But now…

Kevin’s expression gradually soured. Unfortunately, with the camera right in his face, he could only pretend to remain calm, his neck veins bulging from the effort of holding it in.

Qi Xingchen passed the paper to Kevin through the staff, then turned to Wei Qin. “Teacher Wei, if Kevin’s mistake isn’t being counted, does that mean we won’t count any future mistakes from the trainees either?”

Wei Qin was momentarily stunned.

It took about thirty seconds before he replied, “Kevin, B grade.”

No one had expected things to turn out this way.

After stepping off the stage and returning to the backstage, Kevin ignored the trainees who tried to comfort him and headed straight for the restroom.

Today he got a B grade, and for the next three months of the competition, he would always be at a B level. The “B” patch on his clothes felt like a humiliating brand.

“Bang! Bang!” Kevin, his eyes bloodshot, clenched his fist and slammed it against the door twice.

At that moment, his phone vibrated. The caller was his manager. Kevin, panting heavily, picked up.

“I heard you got a B grade in the end? What happened, did you underperform?”

The painful point was hit, and Kevin’s breathing became even heavier.

The manager, hearing the wheezing and labored breaths on the other end, knew Kevin was absolutely furious.

Kevin was a key trainee the company was heavily investing in, otherwise, they wouldn’t have spent so much money with Dongcheng for shady operations. The manager couldn’t bear to continue scolding him and sighed, “Forget it. Just focus on your performance and try to get more screen time. I’ll talk to the higher-ups and see if I can get them to change your script…”

Backstage, the assessment continued.

After four hours, all 88 trainees had finished their performances. Some were promoted to higher levels, while others were demoted to lower ones. There were both happy and sad faces.

After leaving the stage, the first thing Qi Xingchen did was head to the F-class practice room to find Wu Qian and the others.

F-class had gone from 29 to 24 members, with seven leaving—one from C class and one from D class. Overall, it was a good thing.

He pushed open the door, and before he could speak, Wu Qian shouted, “Teacher Qi! You were amazing just now!”

Qi Xingchen: “??”

“Although we’re trash, we also want to compete fairly!” Wu Qian said with a grin.

…This silly guy, he says whatever comes to mind.

Qi Xingchen’s head hurt, and he put his hands together in front of the camera. “Editor, our class is full of unfiltered trainees. Please delete this part when you see it.”

The camera crew had become familiar with them these past few days. One of them, imitating a female editor’s voice, said, “Got it~”

“Hahahahahahaha…” The trainees in the practice room were all laughing.

After a moment of laughter, Wu Qian stopped joking. He knew he would be eliminated in the next round, so he had been acting carefree. He threw a flirtatious look at Qi Xingchen and said, “Teacher Qi teacher, aren’t you going to praise us?”

Qi Xingchen gave a stiff expression: “It’s acceptable, keep working hard.”

“…Tch, hypocritical. If you’re upset, will you rush over to find us?”

Qi Xingchen: “……”

Wu Qian was really annoying!

After messing around with F-class for a while, Qi Xingchen returned to the hotel.

Next, the trainees would continue practicing the theme song and begin recording the theme song MV.

This part of the process only required the initiator’s involvement and did not require the mentors to participate. The next recording would be in four days, so Zheng Yuyang left to attend a schedule, and Chen Jiayi went home to rest.

Qi Xingchen had originally planned to go home too, but then he thought about how Bo Ye was here alone… He seemed to be a bit lonely.

When he thought about it, staying here to practice with the trainees might help him improve, so he decided to stay.

Two days after the ranking, Friday at 8 PM, the first episode of My Era officially went online.

The episode only covered the theme song learning and did not include the second round of rankings. Since he had nothing else to do, Qi Xingchen changed his posture to lie down and opened the Dongcheng TV client.

…Because there were so many viewers online, it took ten minutes to load.

The progress was already at the mentor introduction segment.

Wherever Bo Ye was, there was the night sky. The screen was full of messages like [Bo Ye’s wife is here], [Night Sky check-in x80], [Bo Ye as always makes my heart flutter], and more.

Mixed in with some other comments:

[Teacher Chen Jiayi is so beautiful and graceful, no wonder she’s a teacher at the Central Academy of Drama.]

[Wei Qin, Wei Qin, always loyal to you!]

[Ahhhh Xingchen’s Didi style is so A, so salty and sweet, amazing!]

[Believers thank Dongcheng TV for giving last night’s Xingchen the opportunity to team up.]

[Night Sky sisters, please don’t spam the screen, don’t spam the screen, don’t spam the screen, it affects the impression of the viewers, thank you for cooperating.]

As expected, Night Sky was very disciplined wherever they went, and Qi Xingchen happily scrolled down.

[Qin Qin in a white shirt, Bo Ye in a black shirt, I think I’ve discovered something extraordinary…]

[Did they agree to wear this together? Hhhhh I’ve already imagined a pure love story in Jinjiang!]

[Heh, when will my home finally get rid of the vampire? They post here and there, isn’t it tiring?]

[Qin Qin is Bo Ye’s fan and also his good friend. Their relationship is purely platonic, please don’t mislead others, thank you.]

Upon seeing the words “good friend,” Qi Xingchen’s smile faded for a moment, and he stood up to go to the fridge for a bottle of mineral water.

When he returned, the mentors had taken their seats at the mentor table, and it was time for the trainees’ fans to show their support.

Whenever a slightly famous trainee came on stage, their fans would cheer for them in various ways.

When Han Qing came on, the barrage was quieter, with only a few comments floating by:

[The little brother from Tiger Tooth is not bad, I voted for him.]

[He’s from the same company as the Star Observer, one of the five will definitely be an A-class.]

[The sisterhood’s great prophecy, the Star Observer is rooting for him 2333.]

[Look at the people in front, their eyes are red, they’re bleeding. This skill isn’t enough for an A-class? Are you mad your idol is in F-class?]

When Qi Xingchen defended Han Qing, he had anticipated this situation. He stood straight and upright, with no guilt in his heart.

When Kevin came on, the scene became quite lively. Qi Xingchen glanced at the screen—Kevin was currently ranked third in the online voting.

After entering the first round of competition, the trainees’ rankings would be determined by a combination of on-site competition scores and online votes. Now, being third in online votes meant it was very unlikely for Kevin to fall out of the top six debut positions.

Furthermore, his appearance and performance on the initial stage had gained him a lot of fans, and his votes were rapidly increasing.

After Kevin finished his performance, the barrage contained a small portion of comments like [Ahhhhhh], [I declare he’s my new bias],

But most comments were single letters of [A], densely packed, even covering Kevin’s face.

Qi Xingchen couldn’t help but sigh, thinking that he was definitely going to get criticized.

Sure enough, after Bo Ye announced the B-grade, the barrage changed its tone dramatically:

[Are you kidding me? Han something got an A, but this one didn’t? How much did Noah pay?]

[Look at the face of that so-called observer, coming up just to pave the way for his brother, disgusting.]

[What do you guys know? This is called “keeping the fat water from flowing outside,” hehe.]

[But I think what Qi Xingchen said isn’t wrong. Coming to our country to participate in the competition, shouldn’t you prepare a song in advance? At least be able to memorize one song, right?]

StarLight isn’t good at starting fights, and the comment defending him was quickly swept away. Qi Xingchen decided he would later calm the fans down, or StarLight would be too wronged.

After the initial ratings ended, the progress bar moved to the theme song learning stage. To his surprise, the post-production even included his F-class training and the evening tutoring scenes!

He thought he was going to get scolded, but unexpectedly, the comments were pretty positive:

[So Qi Xingchen dances this well, why haven’t we seen him dance before? He’s an all-around performer.]

[Teacher Qi Xingchen looks so handsome when he gets angry.]

[Wow, seeing all the F-class members stay, I actually cried. Can you believe it?]

[Yes, I cried too. Qi Xingchen is more responsible than I thought. I’m in love.]

Seeing all the compliments flooding the screen, Qi Xingchen’s face turned slightly red.

Then, his slight blush turned into an all-out flush.

— The scene where Bo Ye peels shrimp for him actually appeared in the final cut!

Fans of the “Last Night Stars” CP, who had been quiet for over two hours, couldn’t hold back their excitement and went wild!

[Click to see how Bo Ye peels shrimp online.]

[Bo Ye has level 10 cooking skills but still tries his best to peel shrimp for his wife. Last Night Stars, does anyone still not believe it?]

[He eats takeout with the trainees, but gives Bo Ye an upgraded dinner. Star’s so sweet, sob sob.]

[Hahaha, Bo Ye is so cruel. He’s not satisfied with killing 29 dogs from F-class, and now he brought in 20 more from D-class. Does he need to turn it into a massive dog slaughterhouse to be happy?]

[Please, a high-definition video, I need to go stick to B-class and get some food.]

If you ask about the benefits of the “Last Night Stars” CP?

The answer is four big words: Full! of! Dog! Food!