Chapter 41 - Elimination Broadcast
“Hey, Yuanyuan, the website and TV station will broadcast National Supermodel at the same time tonight. You don’t have anything else to do, right?”
“No.”
“That’s great. Let’s watch it together then!”
“No problem, I’m going to have dinner first. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, go, go. I’ll also go and buy myself dinner.”
Liu Lu hung up the phone, excitedly grabbed some money, and ran downstairs to buy a spicy and sour noodle meal to bring home. Her parents were busy every day, so they didn’t return until late at night.
She normally didn’t like to stay alone at home, but today, it seemed like her feet were glued to the ground. She didn’t want to leave her house at all. She’d turned on the TV and switched to the National Supermodel broadcast channel hours ago. When the noodles were ready, she rushed home and started eating while watching TV.
After eating a bowl of spicy and sour noodles, she grabbed a can of iced apple cider from the freezer, then sat herself comfortably on the couch. With her phone in her hand, she scrolled through the National Supermodel official website to check the latest news.
Why did she like watching National Supermodel so much? Of course, it was to see the Goddess!
Of the four people in her dormitory, only Yuanyuan, who she’d watched the preliminary round of National Supermodel with, understood her obsession. Her other two roommates didn’t know why the pair watched the show. If they were to say anything, it would be…
You’re already a college student, yet you’re still chasing after a public figure and fangirling. Even if you were to chase after a public figure, why would you choose the one who’s younger than you?
Truth be told, Liu Lu was also confused by their logic. What was wrong with her chasing after a public figure? Was she obstructing anyone by fangirling? So what if she chased after someone younger than herself? Even money couldn’t buy her esteem! Besides, Jiaojiao deserved her admiration.
Just check out that face of hers, her bearing, her high IQ; everything about her was special. So what if she was younger than her? It wasn’t like she was chasing after her age.
Originally, Liu Lu and one of the other girls in her dormitory were good friends as they were classmates. Now, because of her fangirling, she was quickly growing closer to Zheng Yuan, who was in a different department.
Speaking of, Yuanyuan was a student in the Computing Department. This was rare, because most of the IT industry was comprised of males. Back then, during the preliminary round of the National Supermodel live broadcast, where 15 out of 30 contestants would be eliminated, Yuanyuan had shown her an amazing skill. That videoclip was so well-edited that the more she watched it, the more she admired her Goddess.
Tring~ The notification for voice chat started ringing.
Liu Lu quickly accepted.
“Yuanyuan, have you finished eating?”
“I’m done. There are still a few minutes before the broadcast begins. Are you watching the live stream or TV?”
“I have both of them open. I’m ready to shoot comments while watching TV.”
“Then I'll use a computer to watch. My father is occupying the TV in my house.”
“Poor you,” Liu Lu said sympathetically. “Oh, right, I just saw the notice issued by the official website. I tell you, the wonderful…”
“It’s starting!” Zheng Yuan said excitedly from the other end of the phone.
Sure enough, the preview she’d just seen on the official website appeared on the TV screen.
Liu Lu quickly sat up straight.
After the wonderful and divergent preview had appeared, the scenery shown at the beginning of the preview appeared.
Zhuo Yiyan was standing in front of the fifteen contestants, and with a smile he said, “Congratulations on your promotion to the top 15! Next, you’ll face an intense and cruel elimination round of the competition.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Lu was feeling particularly pumped. She quickly picked up her phone and said to Zheng Yuan as she typed comments on screen, “I’m so excited! The elimination competition has finally begun.”
At the beginning of the broadcast, there weren’t many comments. Most of them contained things like ‘I’m looking forward to this’, ‘Good luck!’ and so on.
Next, it was the segment where the contestants were divided into groups. People like Liu Lu, who’d been watching the National Supermodel live broadcast every day, knew which contestants were friendly with each other, which contestants didn’t deal well with each other, and which contestants had conflicts.
Liu Lu was dumbfounded when she saw Xu Jiaojiao choose Qi Hua, who usually wasn’t very friendly, as a member of her group. There was only one thought in her mind at that moment.
Did Sis Jiao take the wrong medicine today?
“Har?” Even Zheng Yuan, who was still on voice chat, was surprised.
“What do you think she’s doing? Look at who she’s chosen! Qi Hua, Huang Linying, Zhang Xue, and that girl… What’s her name again?”
“Luo Caimin.”
“Ya, ya, none of those girls are anything special. Even though she had to choose, she should’ve chosen Xiao Yang or Pu Mingyu! Qi Hua has a bad temper and she’s just a pretty face. What use is it to have her on the team? Haiz, Sis Jiao, how come you’re unable to pick those who’ll help you shine?”
Liu Lu heaved a deep sigh. She could already predict the miserable scene of her Goddess being dragged down by those people.
“Sis Jiao must have her own reasons for choosing them. Don’t worry about it.” Compared to Liu Lu, Zheng Yuan was obviously calmer and more rational.
Finally, it reached the segment where the contestants would have their style changed. Liu Lu couldn’t be bothered with talking as her eyes were staring at the TV screen without blinking. She focused on the camera switching between contestants before briefly panning over Sis Jiao. Then, it swiftly focused on another contestant. She got a little anxious as she continued watching.
She then saw Zhuo Yiyan and the styling director chatting as they stood in the corridor.
“There are quite a few celebrity faces this season.”
Liu Lu nodded. Her Goddess was one of them.
“To completely transform someone is also a challenge.”
Liu Lu didn’t agree with that. How difficult could it be to transform her Goddess? Didn’t she only previously wear an outfit from the market and manage to take everyone’s breath away?!
“True. It’s easy to make someone more beautiful, but it’s difficult to help them become more fashionable and create a visual impact.”
Bull! My Sis Jiao was both beautiful and handsome, and reserved yet adorable. She knew how to advance and when to retreat…
“I don’t want to!” a furious voice abruptly screamed from the TV, shocking Liu Lu.
The camera then quickly focused on where the voice had come from. Qi Hua’s angry face appeared before her eyes.
“My goodness, this woman again. She’s only responsible for making trouble in this competition!” Liu Lu exclaimed.
But, thanks to that woman, Qi Hua, Sis Jiao finally had some more screen time.
Seeing that Sis Jiao was defending the stylist who’d been shouted at, Qi Hua snapped, “Shut your stinky mouth!” When Liu Lu heard that, she wanted to rush into the TV and scratch that angry face. What a cow! She actually dared to talk that way to my Goddess. You’re the one with the stinky mouth! Your whole family is filled with stinky mouths!
This scene made the people who liked Xu Jiaojiao particularly annoyed at Qi Hua. Even random viewers had a bad impression of Qi Hua with her overbearing temper.
“Calm down.” Through the voice chat, Zheng Yuan somewhat soothed the furious Liu Lu.
“If that woman doesn’t have someone backing her, I’ll change my surname to hers! It’s such a dirty trick to let a person with no basic manners take part in the competition. Additionally, she even managed to secure second place in the previous ranking. I don’t believe that many people are blind!” Liu Lu said indignantly.
“Quick, look. Sis Jiao’s new style is being revealed!” replied Zheng Yuan, the ever calm and collected techie.
Liu Lu’s eyes instantly widened, and she gasped in surprise while staring at a close-up shot of the Goddess.
My Sis Jiao has achieved a new level of handsomeness!
Wang Wei really hit the mark when she exclaimed, “Jiaojiao, you’re too handsome to have any friends!”
If Sis Jiao went on like this, she’d really end up with no friends. When other people stood beside her, their appearance would be downgraded a level. Even if she dyed her hair ash grey, she still looked so fashionable and beautiful.
Look at the other contestants. Tsk, tsk. They were all so untrendy. If someone else had Sis Jiao’s hairstyle, it would also turn out untrendy.
Seeing that Zhuo Yiyan and Dawei were praising Sis Jiao, Liu Lu wore a wide grin that stretched ear to ear, like it was something that had happened to herself.
Soon after the photoshoot, all the contestants followed Zhuo Yiyan to the beach.
In the preview video, when the group match was shown, it would make anyone who watched it feel fired up. The course was intense and interesting. When watching, people couldn’t help but laugh at the way some contestants reacted. Also, there were scenes that left people confused as to whether they should laugh or cry.
In the group match, Sis Jiao’s performance didn’t stand out at all because her teammates were so bad. As expected, they dragged Sis Jiao down.
“Sis Jiao, how come you can’t figure out how to stand out?” Liu Lu sighed as she waited for the commercials to finish.
After the commercials, this episode was nearly finished.
The two who got eliminated were Zhang Xue and Luo Caimin; the ones with forgettable names. Liu Lu was relieved as two obstructions were now gone.
Liu Lu wasn’t surprised when her Goddess received the best photo. Sis Jiao is so beautiful, she could easily look down-to-earth in her photos.
The judges have good taste! It seemed that apart from that bug, Qi Hua, the production team was still mostly fair.
In a certain nightclub, Qi Hua was sitting in a booth while watching people dance. She actually wanted to join those on the dance floor, but her previously sprained ankle still hadn't healed. Therefore, she could only watch from the sidelines.
“Hey, Qi Hua, didn’t you participate in a show called National Supermodel?” a girl with smoky makeup asked Qi Hua as she swayed her head to the dynamic music.
“Yeah, why are you asking?” Qi Hua wasn’t in the best of moods.
“Yan Yue pinged you in the group chat. She’s asking if you’ve watched the latest episode,” the girl said without raising her head, swiping her fingers across her phone screen.
Qi Hua pulled out her phone and opened the ongoing group chat she had with her friends. Sure enough, she saw that Yun Yue had pinged her, telling her to go online and watch the latest episode of National Supermodel. For her, the time she’d spent participating in the show were the darkest moments of her life. In the beginning, she was full of confidence and had told her friends that she was going to win. However, she’d since withdrawn from the competition with her tail between her legs. How could she show her face to people?
“Wahh, it’s awful! Qi Hua, look at this!” The girl with the smoky makeup shoved her phone in front of Qi Hua.
The comment section was displayed on the phone, and Qi Hua’s name frequently appeared.
But, they were all anonymous comments.
[Qi Hua probably isn’t weaned yet, right? She clearly knew what kind of show she was on, yet she performed like this. What a weirdo she must be in real life!]
[What’s the production crew doing? Why would they keep a person like Qi Hua on? She only has a pretty face! Even if you pay me handsomely, I wouldn’t want a girl like her to be my girlfriend!]
[Dang! Qi Hua must be green with envy because of my Sis Jiao. To think that she could utter such awful words…I suggest she goes back to school and fixes her brain.]
The above comments could be considered as the more polite ones.
Qi Hua seethed with rage. Raising her hand, she threw the other girl’s phone to the ground.
“Hey, what are you doing?! That’s my phone!” The girl was startled.
“I’ll compensate you for breaking it.” After saying that, Qi Hua hobbled out of the nightclub without the support of her crutches.
“Where are you going?!” The girl with the smoky makeup quickly picked up her phone and jogged to catch up to Qi Hua.
“Calling in a debt!” Qi Hua spat.
xYuna's ThoughtsTL: Kakaoo | Editor: Purpledragon | TLC: Grace