Recently, the practice atmosphere in Jiang Yuqi's team had grown increasingly strange. Every time it came to her part, Gao Ningchu—who was supposed to coordinate with her on a dance move—would always be a beat late.
Once or twice could be chalked up to accidents, but repeatedly doing so was clearly intentional sabotage. The specific move in question required Jiang Yuqi to bend backward, making it especially demanding.
What infuriated her even more was that Gao Ningchu, despite messing up repeatedly, would always look at her with an innocent expression—only stoking Jiang Yuqi's anger further.
However, the moment she noticed the nearby camera, Jiang Yuqi immediately understood what this girl was up to: Gao Ningchu wanted to provoke her into an outburst, then use that to step on her and rise to the top.
But such childish tricks wouldn't fool her. Once Jiang Yuqi figured out the scheme, she simply focused on doing her part well, completely ignoring Gao Ningchu's phony performance.
Before long, this tension-filled rehearsal clip between teammates was edited into a highlight by the production team and released to the public. Netizens quickly picked it apart.
"Wow, such a simple move—even this old lady could do it after watching twice. Gao Ningchu is definitely doing this on purpose."
"Exactly! A rotten apple like her ruins the whole pot of stew."
"I feel like there's some personal conflict between Jiang Yuqi and Gao Ningchu. Honestly, Jiang Yuqi probably isn't blameless either. It takes two to tango."
"That's a fair point, but even so, Gao Ningchu's inability to keep it professional shows her lack of emotional intelligence."
Meanwhile, Zhang Kexin, who had been lying in bed watching the bullet comments roll by, took notice of the chatter. She decided it was time to make her move.
She planned to hire a hacker to leak the audio recording in her possession and then find one of Jiang Yuqi's old classmates to post an exposé online.
She'd already come up with the post title:
"Dream-Chasing Idol Trainee Jiang Yuqi Bullied Classmates in School—An Angel in Public, a Devil in Private."
With this kind of double-pronged evidence, she didn't believe for a second that Jiang Yuqi could survive the fallout. Let's see how this penniless orphan girl would claw her way back then.
In truth, Zhang Kexin couldn't even explain why she disliked Jiang Yuqi so much. From the moment she first saw her on the show, she just had an inexplicable aversion.
Despite being less well-off and not as pretty as her, Jiang Yuqi was still able to attract so much attention so effortlessly. Zhang Kexin, who was used to getting everything she wanted, certainly didn't want someone like that standing on her head.
On the other side, the friction between Jiang Yuqi and Gao Ningchu was also noticed by their team leader, Zhao Qinghuan. She didn't hesitate to step in.
"Gao Ningchu, if you don't want to do this anymore, just quit early. Don't drag the rest of us down. This is a team competition. I don't care what beef you have with Jiang Yuqi, that's no excuse to sabotage our group."
Faced with Zhao Qinghuan's blunt criticism, Gao Ningchu was furious inside. She hated how composed Jiang Yuqi was, which made her look petty and small-minded by comparison.
But reality was clear: she was under someone else's roof and had no choice but to bow her head.
"Captain, I understand. I did have a minor conflict with Yuqi before, but I'll apologize now and make sure to focus in future practices."
After finishing with the captain, Gao Ningchu shuffled over to Jiang Yuqi and said sweetly:
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let my emotions get in the way. I hope you can forgive me."
Then she even gave a seemingly sincere, deep bow.
Since Gao Ningchu had already humbled herself in front of the cameras, Jiang Yuqi couldn't afford to hold a grudge, or the public opinion might turn against her.
"It's fine. Just let's not have this happen again—team practice time is very precious, after all."
Zhao Qinghuan's timely intervention gave netizens a glimpse of her potential as a leader—someone who could manage team conflict with maturity.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yuqi's gracious forgiveness only made her fans dote on her even more.
"Captain Zhao Qinghuan is so responsible! I'm voting for this queen to debut!"
"Jiang Yuqi really has a good temper. If I were dragged down like that, I'd be fuming for days."
"Don't get touched too fast—what if this was all scripted to hype up these two?"
"…"
After that, without Gao Ningchu stirring up trouble, their group's training became much smoother—until it was time for the mid-term evaluation by the mentors.
"Girls, relax a bit. Don't be too nervous. This is just a mid-check. It's no big deal," Teacher Yuting said gently.
Her comforting words helped calm the girls' nerves. Gradually, their tense expressions softened.
But the moment they got on stage, the mentors' faces turned serious. They focused intensely on the girls' performance, pens scribbling away.
And when the trainees made mistakes, the criticism came sharp and swift.
Mentor Judy directly pointed out the issue with Jiang Yuqi's team:
"Although your performance looked synchronized on the surface, you're actually working individually. I didn't see any team spirit or cohesion."
Even the usually gentle Teacher Yuting voiced her dissatisfaction:
"Some of you really need to work on your facial expressions. You can't be expressionless or overly dramatic while dancing and singing."
The other two mentors also gave detailed feedback. In the end, their score didn't even surpass that of a rival group.
This was a huge blow to Jiang Yuqi's team, who had been riding high on their confidence after nailing a difficult knife dance routine. Now, that pride was crushed.
From then on, every member gave 100% during training. Even Gao Ningchu, the usual troublemaker, behaved and practiced diligently.
Of course, the other teams weren't spared either. Every group faced criticism in one form or another—including Li Yuan, the current frontrunner, who was harshly scolded for failing to blend into her team.
"Judy, your suggestions are spot on. These kids need to be knocked down a peg or two, or they won't try this hard," one mentor said.
"I can't take all the credit. It only works because the three of you are willing to play along. But there's no helping it—uncut jade can't become a gem."
Once the viewers realized the criticism was intentionally planned by the mentors, a fresh wave of discussion broke out.
"Judy's such a schemer, coming up with a method like this!"
"Well, hardship builds character, right?"
"True, the mentors are doing this for their own good. I actually like this part of the show."
"I still think positive reinforcement is better. Crushing their confidence like this seems a bit too harsh."
"We're just getting started. The road to becoming a girl group idol is bound to be full of thorns. Anyone too fragile just won't make it."
Opinions varied, but most viewers seemed to agree with the mentors' tough-love approach.
Meanwhile, as Jiang Yuqi and her team sweated through their intense practice, a brewing storm targeting her was already spreading in the shadows.