037 Su Yunjin's Identity as the Successor of the Yue People’s Song Is Revealed!

Silence.
Utter silence.

In that moment, the atmosphere among the three of them became quietly charged.

Liang Feiyue, who had just barely managed to maintain a strained smile, found herself unable to force even the hint of one now.

She had imagined before what kind of person Su Yunjin might be: arrogant, calculating, aloof—she had braced herself to be looked down upon the moment they met. Yet, against all expectations, Su Yunjin fit none of those preconceptions, and instead… completely surprised her.

It was one thing for her to be studying medicine. But to be reading forensic pathology books while sucking on a lollipop—that was another matter entirely.

Even so, she could accept that; perhaps some people simply had stronger nerves.

But to earnestly start explaining things in such a factual, deadpan way—did Su Yunjin really think everyone else had the same iron stomach as she did?!

Liang Feiyue desperately wanted to complain, but instead found herself inwardly admiring and growing fond of Su Yunjin.

She had seen, online, the video of Wang Tao and Shao Xinghui rushing to Su Yunjin’s side the moment trouble struck. Back then, she hadn’t understood and thought those two men were simply fawning over Su Yunjin.

But now, after just this short period together, she suddenly understood—she herself was beginning to like Su Yunjin, too.

A little awkward, a little adorable, pure as a blank sheet of paper—who wouldn’t like a little sister like this?

Letting out a couple of awkward laughs, Liang Feiyue decided to move the conversation along.

Seeing the other fall silent, Su Yunjin returned to her book as well.

Before long, Wang Tao, Shao Xinghui, and Zhang Zhichang arrived. Su Yunjin put her book away. After Zhang Zhichang introduced Liang Feiyue to everyone, they all entered the conference room.

It was nearly ten o’clock by the time Luo Zizhen arrived, much to Zhang Zhichang’s displeasure—he immediately let loose a string of cold sarcasm.

Luo Zizhen used to have quite a temper, but after the live broadcast incident, she now submitted obediently to Zhang Zhichang’s leadership, while her assistant kept apologizing on her behalf.

Finally, at ten o’clock sharp, Zhang Zhichang began laying out the agenda for the day’s meeting.

The meeting was divided into two main parts: first, familiarization among the group, and second, the issue of the live broadcast.

Due to the previous mishap with the live stream, the schedule for the next rehearsal was going to be packed tightly—every day for the next few days would involve a rehearsal.

Lastly, the rules were clarified.

The main points: the center-stage girl group would first be reshuffled by the mentors, who would reorganize the teams. In the second round, the mentors would re-score and rank the new groups.

Those with the lowest scores would be eliminated; those with the highest would proceed to the next stage, which included mentor selection and the all-important reverse selection by the girl groups.

After this round of mutual selection, the third phase of training would begin. All the girl groups would follow their assigned mentors into intensive training.

After the bootcamp, there would be a round of live PK; winners would remain and form the final group, while those who failed would be immediately eliminated.

In the end, the more group members a mentor retained, the more prestigious the title and rewards they would receive.

The meeting dragged on until noon.

That afternoon, Su Yunjin and the others began rehearsal training. The format of the performance remained largely unchanged, except for adjustments to the runway walk and improved coordination.

After four or five hectic days, Saturday finally arrived—the official live broadcast of the first episode of Center Stage Girl Group!

…

“Haha, I’m here to see Su Yunjin.”

“Checking in, checking in—will there be another accident this time?”

“Pfft, only Luo Zizhen survived this round. Zhang Chuchu really had it rough.”

“Truly tragic—several brands have cut ties with her already. She was foolish to go after Su Yunjin.”

By 7:30, the live chat for the Center Stage Girl Group was already bustling with viewers eager for drama.

The stream’s comment feed was ablaze, though compared to the first episode, the overall turnout was much lower—just over ten thousand viewers when the broadcast began.

Soon enough, however, the contestants’ entrance brought a fresh sense of excitement. The audience count rose from ten to thirty thousand.

Then came the entrance of the mentors.

This time, Luo Zizhen dared not play tricks. To ensure she wouldn’t try anything, she was made an external staff member and partnered with Wang Tao.

After an exhilarating performance of the theme song, Su Yunjin and her four companions took their seats.

“Yunjin, your voice is truly beautiful.”

No sooner had they sat down than Liang Feiyue, though only a minor actress, offered her praise to Su Yunjin. Despite her low ranking, she had been entrusted with hosting duties by Zhang Zhichang.

She and Shao Xinghui were the main hosts; Su Yunjin and Wang Tao played supporting roles.

As for Luo Zizhen, though also in a supporting role, after last time, both Wang Tao and Shao Xinghui plainly no longer regarded her as warmly as before.

Liang Feiyue, being a later addition, could see that Luo Zizhen was thoroughly demotivated and didn’t bother to engage with her.

Before long, an unspoken alliance formed—Wang Tao, Shao Xinghui, Liang Feiyue, and Su Yunjin grew closer to one another.

“Sister Fei, your compliment embarrasses me. Teacher Xinghui is right here, after all.”

Su Yunjin took the microphone, politely and deftly redirecting the praise toward Shao Xinghui.

“I can’t compare with you. You’re a true professional—the inheritor of the Yue Folksong. That’s real mastery.”

Shao Xinghui spoke up. His revelation instantly caused a stir among the contestants.

“Yue Folksong?”

“What’s that?”

“Inheritor of the Yue Folksong? Is that something impressive?”

Most contestants were young, some with only the barest foundation in the performing arts, and this was their first time hearing about it.

But in the live chat, the viewers’ eyes widened in collective amazement.

“What is the Yue Folksong?”

“An inheritor? Is this a national intangible cultural heritage?”

Some didn’t know, but many did—and a number of cultural connoisseurs quickly chimed in, “That isn’t just intangible heritage—it’s the very root of our tradition.

Legend has it that all mountain songs trace their origins to the Yue Folksong. After thousands of years, the folk songs we know have splintered into many branches.

For instance, the Nanxi work songs and the Chuanjiang boatmen’s chants—these are part of our cultural legacy and are each officially recognized as intangible cultural heritage.”

“That’s right. The most important thing is, these songs are incredibly difficult to sing. There’s no sound engineer to help—the singer relies entirely on their own voice.”

“I was lucky enough to hear it once. It sent shivers down my spine. I wonder if we’ll get to hear it again tonight.”

The chat exploded in anticipation.

Many viewers were eagerly awaiting the performance.

Meanwhile, at the venue, the three members of the “Iron Lady” girl group, seated at the highest position, had their eyes fixed on Su Yunjin, their gazes shining.

Especially Tan Linfang—her eyes locked onto Su Yunjin’s with open challenge.

Yet, her defiant look seemed almost ordinary in that moment. No matter the provocation, there were simply too many people on scene eager to challenge Su Yunjin—not just among the contestants, but in the audience as well, including former fans of Zhang Chuchu who now yearned to tear away Su Yunjin’s “false mask.”