When the last mentor of "Idol Project" appeared, Mu Li's eyes went wide.
"No, why are you here?" Mu Li blurted out, asking.
Fu Peiyao smiled triumphantly, "Didn't I tell you I had work this afternoon?"
"You didn't say you were coming to record 'Idol Project'!" Mu Li felt his young heart had suffered a severe blow.
Fu Peiyao continued to reply smugly, "You didn't ask me either."
Mu Li nearly spat out a mouthful of fresh blood: "I never thought you were such a woman; my mother was right, the prettier a woman is, the more she lies."
"Oh!" Fu Peiyao suddenly covered her cheeks, pretending to be shy, "Are you praising me for being pretty? You have such good taste."
Only then did the others react, greeting Fu Peiyao one after another, while Wang Yijia looked resentful, staring at Mu Li.
"What's wrong, big shot? Why are you looking at me like that?" Seeing Wang Yijia's expression, Mu Li asked somewhat confused.
"Didn't we agree that neither of us knew anyone?" Wang Yijia's tone was full of resentment, "I thought we were each other's wings!"
Mu Li spread his hands, helplessly saying, "I originally thought I only knew Teacher Xu, but I never expected the fourth mentor to be her."
"No, why do you know a beauty?" Wang Yijia became even more resentful, looking as if his good brother had found a girlfriend behind his back, and she was a top-tier beauty.
"I can't help it; we've known each other since high school," Mu Li said deliberately in a humblebragging tone.
"High school??" Wang Yijia's eyes widened, "Are you two the legendary childhood sweethearts?"
"If you understand it that way, it's not wrong."
Looking at Mu Li's expression, one could tell how pleased he was at the moment, especially with Wang Yijia playing along so well.
For the first time, he felt a sense of superiority, like he suddenly told his long-single buddies, "I'm coming clean, no more pretending, my girlfriend is Fu Peiyao."
Hmm? Why girlfriend? And not friend?
However, this triumphant mood didn't last long, as the dance teacher sent by the production team had already arrived, ready to officially begin dance lessons.
Except for Mu Li and Xu Yunyi, the other three were hearing the song "stubborn" for the first time.
Fu Peiyao stared at Mu Li, a mischievous smile appearing: "Since the original singer is here, why don't we let the original singer perform first?"
"Exactly! Let the original singer perform first, it'll be like a pre-rehearsal."
Wang Yijia also showed an expression of watching a show.
"Ah?" Mu Li froze instantly, "This..."
This made Mu Li a bit nervous.
The others were fine, but the key was performing in front of Fu Peiyao; with Mu Li's current Sing and performance skills, he felt like an ugly daughter-in-law meeting her in-laws.
"What? Is Teacher Mu unwilling to perform?" Fu Peiyao pouted slightly, showing an expression as if she had been wronged, "If Teacher Mu doesn't perform, we won't be able to learn to Sing this song."
Mu Li looked at the cunning glint in Fu Peiyao's eyes and couldn't help but roll his eyes, muttering to himself, "I wonder where this girl learned that 'tea-like' tone..."
Just then, Fu Peiyao seemed to sense something, and her beautiful eyes swept over directly: "What are you muttering about?"
Mu Li felt a murderous aura rushing towards him and immediately stood at attention, saying, "I said I am greatly honored to perform for all the teachers."
This was the first time Mu Li had performed this song in public since its completion.
Although there were no more than 10 people present, including the dance teacher and cameramen, everyone present was a professional, and their standards for judging performances were certainly higher.
This was also a great opportunity for Mu Li to showcase the improvements he had made recently.
As the music began, Mu Li started his performance.
When I am different from the world, then let me be different.
Perseverance, for me, is using strength to overcome strength...
To make the song more aligned with the theme and style of "Idol Project," Mu Li also tried to use a more lively and passionate performance style to interpret this signature song by Mayday.
Unconsciously, Mu Li recalled his days training in the National Team.
During that period, almost every day was a two-point line—dormitory and training ground; not only did he need to train daily, but the Pokémon were even more strenuous, their stamina almost completely drained every day.
...The direction against the wind is more suitable for flying; I am not afraid of thousands of people blocking me, only afraid of myself surrendering...
In fact, for Mu Li, there were almost no particularly beautiful parts in that memory, just as the lyrics sang, "flying in the direction against the wind"; for most athletes, such days seemed endless and hopeless.
But it was precisely in such seemingly hopeless days that perseverance became especially precious.
For Mu Li himself, from initially adapting to training, to getting used to training, disliking training, and finally enjoying training, these processes were experienced by almost all athletes.
As for why everyone eventually enjoyed training, it's because if you don't enjoy training, you simply can't endure such long days; those athletes who couldn't enjoy training had already been eliminated.
The main reason Mu Li chose this song as the theme song for "Idol Project" was that he wanted to encourage these girls participating in the talent show through this song.
He himself had gone through those difficult years with the encouragement of many people and Pokémon, and because of this, he knew how precious it was to receive encouragement during the toughest times.
Perhaps it is precisely because of one person's encouragement that another person's life will change.
And this song, he hoped to dedicate it to those in difficult circumstances in this world, to bring them some confidence and courage, to let them persist in their beloved careers and the paths they wish to take.
Even if they fail in the end, it doesn't matter; at least those who persist to the end will have no regrets.
When the final music faded, applause erupted in the practice room; at some point, tears welled up in the corners of everyone's eyes.
Wang Yijia: "Boo hoo! It's so good!"
Xu Yunyi clapped and smiled, "Not bad, a great improvement from before."
Yin Nan said nothing, only clapping continuously.
"How was it?" Mu Li looked at Fu Peiyao, who was clapping, and asked.
Hearing Mu Li's words, everyone also turned their gaze to Fu Peiyao, eager for her comments.
When it came to professional commentary, Fu Peiyao was never afraid; she immediately adopted her most professional demeanor for her critique: "If we look at it from a vocal technique perspective, for this performance, my evaluation is that there's almost no vocal technique, it's all emotion."
"Is that so?" A hint of dimness flickered in Mu Li's eyes.
Mu Li had somewhat anticipated Fu Peiyao's evaluation, as he had decided when preparing to perform in this manner that he would imbue the song with more emotion, and he hoped to move the audience through the conveyance of emotion.
"But!" Fu Peiyao flashed a brilliant smile, "I really like this performance."
Mu Li subconsciously looked up, just in time to see the sincerity in Fu Peiyao's eyes.
Mu Li had never doubted this song; he was only worried that his vocal technique was insufficient to express the emotions and meaning contained within it, which was why he had always insisted on training his Sing skills.
He wasn't aiming to elevate his vocal technique to an unparalleled realm; his hope was that his vocal technique could empower those who heard the song, allowing them to gain more from it. Isn't that the meaning of music's existence?
After this song performance, Mu Li suddenly noticed that the attitude of the on-site staff towards him seemed to have changed; only then did he understand Fu Peiyao's intention in having him perform the song.
For those familiar with Mu Li, like Fu Peiyao and Xu Yunyi, his strength was naturally clear to them, but in the eyes of other staff members, and even in the minds of Wang Yijia and Yin Nan, they knew very little about Mu Li.
Some staff members might even have thought that Mu Li had simply entered the production team through the back door.
Their perception of Mu Li also determined the staff's attitude towards him during filming.
With such a splendid opening show, the staff of the "Idol Project" production team at least had some recognition of Mu Li's strength, which was very beneficial for Mu Li to integrate into the program's recording.
"I never thought this little girl had so much Miracle Eye," Mu Li muttered to himself.
Although with Mu Li's ambition, he completely disregarded these minor matters, from this incident, he saw Fu Peiyao's concern and care for him.
So he couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Teacher Mu! Stop giggling!" The dance teacher yelled in exasperation, "You've been learning this eight-beat opening move for half an hour and still can't dance it smoothly!"
The dance lesson continued for the entire afternoon, until dinner time, by which point three of the mentors, except for Mu Li and Yin Nan, had already learned the entire dance.
Watching Mu Li and Yin Nan's movements, which resembled aerobics, the dance teacher was so angry he didn't even want to eat.
Finally, out of helplessness, Xu Yunyi had to resign himself to bad luck and took sole responsibility for teaching Yin Nan's moves.
As for Mu Li, Wang Yijia had wanted to volunteer to teach him, but Mu Li directly glared him back with his eyes.
Seeing Mu Li's pitiful expression, Fu Peiyao couldn't help but laugh, "Stop acting, I'll teach you, isn't that enough...?"
Initially, facing this one-on-one teaching, Mu Li would unconsciously be drawn to Fu Peiyao's beauty and figure, his attention inadvertently shifting, especially when physical contact would occasionally occur between them, which made Mu Li even more restless.
But when he was severely pinched several times on the tender flesh of his waist by Fu Peiyao because of this, Mu Li immediately learned his lesson.
His eyes no longer wandered, and he only wanted to finish learning the dance as quickly as possible so he could go back and rest early, lest Fu Peiyao get tired.
Finally, under Fu Peiyao's careful guidance, Mu Li barely managed to learn all the dance moves, just waiting for tomorrow's explosive performance.
The next day, "Idol Plan 1075" officially began recording.