‘You can’t do anything right.’
In her previous life, every time her indebted biological father got drunk, he would scold Li Xingya like that. Later, as Li Xingya grew up, she always felt that her father might not have been wrong.
Born into a terrible family, she got mediocre grades, attended a mediocre university, and graduated to find a mediocre job.
‘I still haven’t done anything right.’
“Are you coming to the dinner tonight?”
‘No, I’m not comfortable in crowded places.’
“The company party is recruiting performers. Do you want to give it a try?”
‘Forget it, I definitely can’t dance.’
“This month’s performance was good. Tonight, the boss is treating everyone to KTV.”
‘Singing… I’m probably not good at that either.’
‘What can I actually do well?’
Li Xingya had thought that perhaps her only skill was completing her day-to-day work. After that, she came to value work more than life itself.
‘As long as there’s still something I can do well, my life isn’t a total failure.’
But now, besides work, another thing that had to be done well was laid out before Li Xingya.
‘I can’t get demoted to Class B.’
‘I finally built a connection with Meng Yiqiao. I absolutely can’t let something go wrong at this point.’
As someone who “can’t do anything right,” Li Xingya believed she was definitely tone-deaf. Even just singing in front of others was enough to make her want to cover her stomach and throw up. And singing well was simply impossible.
Listening to the melody of the song swirling around her ears, Li Xingya gripped the side seams of her pants tightly.
‘Whether in my previous life or now, this is my first time singing.’
‘If it really sounds bad…’
Li Xingya quickly swept her gaze over the four people in front of her and silently apologized in her heart.
‘If it sounds really bad, at least don’t scold me or anything… please.’
When the rhythm entered the verse, Li Xingya closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
‘I’ll go all out!’
“The alarm clock hasn’t rung yet.”
A slightly trembling voice, accompanied by a simple melody, sounded in the recording studio. The four people, including Lu Wanting, looked at Li Xingya with a bit more scrutiny than before.
[The vocalization method is very immature, and the entry into the verse was a beat slow]
Teacher Qi wrote his evaluation on the score sheet.
[-10 points]
***
[-10 points] (crossed out)
[Excellent timbre, no off-key singing. Considering this student has not undergone systematic training, more opportunities will be given today.]
“I have already opened my eyes.”
Teacher Qi carefully analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of Li Xingya’s singing between each lyric. Lu Wanting relaxed when she saw that Li Xingya could find the rhythm smoothly.
[Not bad]
She only silently wrote down those two words. Although singing like this was certainly not enough to stay in Class A, Li Xingya at least proved she had the potential to enter Class A.
‘Being able to sing like this, at least I won’t be accused of abusing my authority.’
Lu Wanting smiled.
While smiling, she also looked at Teacher Qi’s score sheet.
[-10 points]
[-10 points]
[-10 points]
‘Ah.’
‘If another twenty points are deducted, Li Xingya will be out.’
Lu Wanting wrote a sentence on her own score sheet and handed it to Teacher Qi.
[Isn’t that a bit too strict?]
Teacher Qi didn’t look at it, silently pushing Lu Wanting’s score sheet away. His implication was very clear — “Focus on listening to the song.”
On the score sheets of the other two vocal teachers, Li Xingya had twenty points deducted.
“The gray office from my dream.”
Li Xingya didn’t look at anyone; she only focused on the one thing: singing. When the song was about to end, Teacher Qi wrote his final comments on the score sheet.
[Amateur level]
[Can tell the voice is very tense, probably due to excessive nervousness]
[But high plasticity. After systematic training… perhaps…]
Teacher Qi looked at Li Xingya on the stage.
When someone has seen enough idols, a person like Teacher Qi can tell at a glance who might become a superstar in the future. Unlike second- or third-tier small idols, true superstars have a unique aura about them, and in Li Xingya, Teacher Qi saw this “special” aura.
Although Li Xingya was still immature, there was already a quality that unconsciously drew people’s attention. This ability to attract others was what Starseeing Academy valued most.
[Maybe she can become the next Lin Jin’an]
After writing the comments and listening to Li Xingya’s last line, Teacher Qi frowned.
[-10 points]
[But her current singing style is really too amateurish]
As the accompaniment ended, Li Xingya’s first test came to a close. Even so, her heart was still beating fast.
‘It wasn’t… wasn’t interrupted.’
‘That means at least it wasn’t so bad that it was unacceptable, right?’
Facing the silence of the four people below, Li Xingya swallowed.
“Not bad, Li Xingya.”
Lu Wanting broke the oppressive atmosphere by speaking.
“If you don’t plan to debut through singing, this level of skill is already enough to get by.”
The vocal teacher at the far left, whose name tag read “Wang Yuxi,” asked.
“Li Xingya, were you deliberately imitating Lin Jin’an’s singing style?”
“Yes.”
Li Xingya had only heard Lin Jin’an sing, so she naturally subconsciously imitated her style.
“I thought it sounded a bit familiar, but Lin Jin’an’s singing style is systematically trained, so it sounds a bit strange when you sing it.”
Teacher Wang said as she wrote a number on her score sheet.
“But your throat function compensated well for that part, so you didn’t break during the climax. 70 points, congratulations on passing my part.”
“Thank you, teacher.”
“My opinion is similar to Teacher Wang’s.”
This time it was the teacher on the far right, named Tang Xiaoran.
“Principal Lu already told us about your situation, and you showed enough talent in this test, so I’ll also give you 70 points.”
After the two teachers, it was Teacher Qi Yichu’s turn to speak.
“Li Xingya.”
“Yes.”
“To be honest, I shouldn’t let you stay in Class A. Given your current situation, Class B… no, Class C might suit you better.”
Qi Yichu tapped his pen rhythmically on the score sheet.
“But until the end of the song, you didn’t go off-key. Even though I tried my best to deduct points, your score is 60 points… so congratulations, you passed my part too.”
Qi Yichu looked at Lu Wanting beside him.
“Principal Lu, do you have anything else to say?”
“Since everyone has already given their scores, I naturally have nothing to add.”
Lu Wanting looked at Li Xingya and smiled.
“You passed the first test smoothly. Li Xingya, you did very well.”
“Did very well” — that was the first time Li Xingya had been praised like that.
‘I passed?’
Li Xingya blinked her eyes in surprise.
“Th-thank you.”
she said instinctively.
‘For the first time, aside from work matters, I was praised by someone.’
‘Suddenly, becoming an idol…’
‘…Doesn’t seem so bad.’