Dreams come true - Idol Producer Fan Chengcheng FF (RESQ SAGA PART 1)

2. First rankings

I honestly was getting bored after a while since new trainees kept going inside the venue but nothing other than choosing their seats happened, until I heard Zuo Ye from OACA talking about the individual trainee that was about to go in, Cai Xukun. He praised him in such a way that made me curious about him.

Finally, he came in. Zuo Ye was definitely right when he praised his looks, and he already looked like an idol with the mesh shirt and blue jacket he was wearing.

I then heard Bu Fan say, "I think I'm... Almost in love with him" and laughed quietly. He was handsome, to say the least, but I could control myself. We were all teammates, so I looked at him as nothing other than that.

He greeted us and headed upstairs for his seat. Everyone but me thought that he was going to seat at number 1, but I saw his face and thought that he was going to be humble and sit somewhere lower.

Just like I predicted, he did so. He sat on number six, and everyone was perplexed as they genuinely thought he was going to go for number 1.

["Everyone thought that I was heading for number 1, but that was too much pressure. And, besides, I am scared of heights," Xukun said cutely.]

More and more trainees came in after him, and the Yuehua Entertainment and Banana Entertainment boys were particularly handsome, I had to admit. Chen Linong was also really cute and lively. He definitely had a contagious smile.

The remaining trainees came in and sat on the leftover seats. Then, on the screen, the IQIYI logo appeared.

"Zhang Yixing!" I said to myself as everyone wondered who that could be.

["To be honest, I was really excited to meet Zhang PD. I admire him and I like both his solo work and EXO, so I was thrilled to meet him. I really wish to work hard and even achieve half of what he has one day," I explained.]

We all stood up and applauded as Zhang PD and the mentors came in. I could even hear some of the boys getting excited when Cheng Xiao and Jieqiong came in last.

"To all the one hundred and one trainees: hello, I am the Nation's Producer Representative, Zhang Yixing." Said Zhang PD.

We all bowed, and he began explaining how the number of seats would gradually be decreasing until only the top nine people could form China's top-quality group. He also told us that they would be ranking us again with A B, C, D and F. A being the ones that stood out the most and F being the ones that needed to work harder.

"I see that few people have chosen A but also few people chose F, so pretty conservative. Let's see your performances and check if your self-rankings match up with your actual skills," he said.

The rankings then began.

Mavericks Entertainment was first, followed by Ciwen Media, Locking Jack. and so on. Zhang PD kept pointing out how everyone lacked balance, so he stood up and turned to us.

"I keep talking about balance; don't you know what that means?" he asked.

After some people shook their head, he briefly explained it, trying to make everyone understand what the balance he was referring to in dancing meant. Once he saw that everyone had more or less understood it, he then continued with the rankings.

Most of the trainees were unknown or fairly unknown people, but the first people to go through the evaluations were two boys who had already debuted, but they did not perform in a way that would make everyone see why they had already debuted once, probably due to nervousness, so one dropped to D and the other one to F.

After a few more performances, it was Cai Xukun's turn. I was honestly really excited to see him perform and hoped he would live up to my expectations. He was going to perform his own song as well, which made me even more excited.

He did amazing and left a great impression for me. I could see the mentors all pleased with the performance too, which meant only one thing: he would get an A. Once he finished, the only bad thing that they pointed out was how the rap was lacking a bit and how the English lyrics were too simple.

Zhang PD made us all start to go mad as he took a minute to say his rank, and Cai Xukun was so nervous I thought he would burst at any second to plead Zhang PD to say it.

"A," PD finally said, and we all applauded.

If he hadn't gotten an A, I would have lost hope in anyone getting one.

Chen Linong also did an impressive performance. He was really cute, but the moment he began singing he showed his seriousness. He still smiled and acted cutely, but it was different. He did it well and the mentors thought so too as he got an A rank.

I watched the Yuehua boys on a screen as I waited for my turn, which was just after them. The boys did great too, although some were more impressive than others. Yuehua definitely lived up to my expectations as a whole.

"The overall impression was great, but the problem is that your spacing is too far apart, you know?" Zhang PD told them before turning to the other trainees. "To the trainees who are coming on stage next, I have a suggestion. When dancing as a group, you must make sure to not make the spacing too far apart. If it's too far apart, all of those weaknesses or places that are not quite right that you want to cover are enlarged."

Ding Zeren danced a bit after that, and he was a really good dancer. There was a lot of potential in him. Fan Chengcheng also rapped solo, but he made some mistakes with the lyrics because of his obvious nervousness, so I was feeling bad for him because I could tell he could do better.

["I think he just was too nervous, honestly," I said. "I could see the potential in him, but his nerves got the best of him. Jiayou, Fan Chengcheng!"]

In the end, Ding Zeren, Justin and Zhu Zhengting got A rank, Bi Wenjun and Fan Chengcheng got D rank and Huang Xinchun and Li Quanzhe got F rank.

They went inside the room where I was, and I saw Fan Chengcheng crying as the rest of his labelmates tried to comfort him. He was devastated after the results.

"Do you have any tissues?" Fan Chengcheng asked but the rest shook their heads.

"Here, take them," I told him after taking out a pack from my pocket.

"Thank you." Said Justin.

"Thank you... Zhu Lin," Zhu Zhengting said after reading my name tag.

"It's nothing," I assured him.

"I'm telling you; mistakes are really normal. You'll be fine after working hard," Zhenting told Chengcheng, trying to calm him down.

"It's the first program and I already messed up like this. I can't accept it..." Said Chengcheng.

"Hey, hey, hey! That is nonsense, okay?" I said, trying to get him to stop crying. "I saw potential in there. I'm sure next time you will shock everyone. You just need to focus on the next ranking selection and show the mentors how they were absolutely wrong when they placed you in D rank."

"Thank you for trying to comfort me even though you don't know me," Chengcheng told me.

"I have to go now, but promise me you will now stop crying and instead turn that regret into hard work, promise?" I told him with a smile.

"Promise," he said smiling a little. "Jiayou!"

"Jiayou!" I said and finally went outside for my ranking evaluation.