Snow-Kissed Rose (GL) Chapter 72.2

Compared to other netizens, Snow-Kissed Rose fans had already received a bunch of fan service related to the second public performance through various sources before the episode was even released. Hence, watching the main episode was equivalent to re-watching what they had already watched for the umpteenth time. The biggest surprise for them was that the production crew released the full interaction between Song Yingshi and Huai Xu without censorship.

Of course, the episode also contained content Snow-Kissed Rose fans had not seen before.

For example, in the personal interviews, the off-screen interviewer asked Song Yingshi, "You lost to Huai Xu in the first public performance. How does it feel to get the win over her in the second public performance?"

Song Yingshi pondered for a second before she smiled and said frankly, "I want to continue winning. I also want to win against her in the third public performance."

Thanks to some post-production shenanigans, the camera immediately panned to Huai Xu's interview.

Interviewer: "Little Shi says she wants to win against you in the third public performance."

This time, the interviewer didn't even bother to give Huai Xu a question. When the audience saw this, they couldn't help but worry that the normally untalkative Huai Xu might ignore this "question."

Fortunately, their worries were unnecessary. With her head lowered, Huai Xu said in a low voice, "She will lose to me if she doesn't think as such."

Interviewer: "What about you?"

Huai Xu raised her head, letting the camera see the determination to win in her eyes.

The answer was obvious.

Upon seeing this response, the Willows' reactions were as such: Go for it! My big sis/ My wife/ My daughter will be the best in the world!!!

As for Snow-Kissed Rose fans, they revealed a suggestive smile—

"You two want to win against each other? Have you gotten your fans' permission? You'll be singing and dancing on the same team next time! Eager to fight each other? Do it on the bed! If it's on the bed, mommy will let you 'fight' as much as you want!"

"You two have been going at each other's throats for the past two stages. Isn't it time to take a break and go on a date? Stop being so ambitious!"

"We're going to make you two bow to the heavens and earth (marriage vows) and send you straight to the bridal chamber, even if we have to tie you up to do so!"

July 5th was the last voting day. Whether it was the fans or passersby, everyone interested in participating in the third public performance's song selection eagerly awaited the results.

Song Yingshi and Huai Xu currently occupied the top two spots of Team "Falling Asleep." Still, there was only a 1,000-vote difference between them, so the Orioles and Willows felt very anxious. They were all holding their votes, waiting for the final moment to help their respective idols secure the center position.

It was now a competition to see which fan base had prepared more ammunition!

When less than half an hour was left until the voting deadline, the votes that had been slowly stagnating suddenly began to soar. The votes of Song Yingshi and Huai Xu began to fiercely compete for first place, overtaking each other time and again.

The Orioles started to run out of gas as Song Yingshi's votes approached 30,000. When they saw that Huai Xu's votes had exceeded 30,000 and were still climbing, they couldn't help but grow nervous.

Astonished by this situation, one Oriole exclaimed, "How do they have so many votes?! Don't our fan bases have similar member counts?!"

Another Oriole responded, "...Check Little Shi's votes again. We just shot past 40,000."

The first Oriole: ?!

The first Oriole immediately thought of a certain evil and powerful organization—

"Snow-Kissed Rose!!!"

…

As a solo fan of Huai Xu, Shang Yan gave her sincerest affection to Song Yingshi while casting all the votes she had saved up for Huai Xu.

Initially, Shang Yan was about to go to sleep after casting all her votes. However, when she saw the Willows' group chat messages stating that the competition was neck and neck, she instantly lost all sleep and loaded up the voting page for Team "Falling Asleep."

While the webpage was still loading, a message from Jing Xuan popped up on her screen—

"Guess what we're going to do."

Shang Yan: ?

Snow-Kissed Rose might have strength that greatly surpassed that of the two solo fan bases, but there was only one center position. Hence, opinions within the CP fan base should be divided.

To resolve this internal conflict, Jing Xuan, the master of neutrality, proposed a very ambitious plan—

They were going to tie the votes!

The fan club quickly passed this proposal. Although the plan sounded like a fantasy and had a high possibility of failure, they would see the birth of the first double-center performance in Star of Spring's history. And even if they failed, it wouldn't be a huge loss since both Song Yingshi and Huai Xu were their idols; they would be happy to see either of them stand in the center. Hence, regardless of their thoughts, this plan was worth the gamble.

Jing Xuan kept a close eye on the votes. Everyone involved in the vote manipulation formed a temporary voice chat to monitor and fix the votes in real time. To quickly and effectively convey information, they used brief and concise words.

Whenever the Willows raised Huai Xu's votes past Song Yingshi's, the CP fans would provide the Orioles with reinforcements.

Whenever Song Yingshi started to get ahead in votes, the CP fans would turn to help the Orioles.

Willows & Orioles: Enough with the troublemaking!!!

"One minute left!"

"Song Yingshi overtook! Give 317 votes to Huai Xu!"

"Twenty seconds! The votes aren't coming in fast enough!"

"Little Shi's votes are still increasing. We only bridged the gap by 200 votes. Alas…"

Ultimately, the CP fans were only human, not precision machines. When the countdown was nearing its end, many started to panic, either voting for the wrong person or misclicking and failing to cast their votes. As a result, Song Yingshi led Huai Xu by over 100 votes.

Although Jing Xuan was slightly disappointed by this outcome, she still comforted everyone, saying, "It's fine. We did our best. The Willows and Orioles likely saved some votes until the last moment."

Originally, it was already a huge challenge for the CP fans to fix the votes. To do so with the two solo fan bases' intervention was no different than betting on the favor of the goddess of fate.

Suddenly, someone shouted in the group: "Boss, look!"

Jing Xuan immediately looked at the voting page.

On the screen, the tallying of the votes got extended beyond the deadline, and Huai Xu started gaining votes rapidly. As the gap between her and Song Yingshi continuously shrank, the CP fans subconsciously held their breaths.

Eventually, Huai Xu's votes exceeded Song Yingshi's by one before coming to an abrupt halt…

…Was this going to be another one-vote difference? Was their CP always going to be one step away from a HE (Happy End)?

Every CP fan who saw this outcome couldn't help but be frustrated.

When Jing Xuan saw this outcome, she expressionlessly cursed, "Fuck."

However, in the next second, an angelic "+1" suddenly appeared beside Song Yingshi's votes.

At that moment, the CP fans felt like someone had launched fireworks before them, illuminating their world with bright and shining colors!

"Ahhhhh!!!!"

"We did it! We did it!"

"Snow-Kissed Rose Forever!!!!!!!"

After the thrilling voting phase ended, the three fan bases scouted one another, compiled information, and made their respective closing remarks—

Orioles: "We tried our best to overtake them. Unfortunately, our opponents came prepared. In any case, we secured the center position of the strongest song. We are number one."

Willows: "We defended against the Orioles but failed to account for…other factors and allowed one vote to slip by us. Fortunately, we helped Big Sis secure the center position of her song. We are number one."

CP fans: "Thank you, Big Sis Orioles! Thank you, Big Sis Willows! Thank you all for fixing the votes and making a double-center stage possible! Without your votes, we definitely wouldn't have such a wonderful day! We are sincerely grateful! We bow our heads to you! You two can be number one! We'll continue shipping our CP!"

…

At 4 PM on July 5th, the announcement of the second public performance's rankings was recorded.

Shi Shuyao hosted the elimination ceremony. She was the most stable of the four mentors and left a strict impression on the trainees and the audience in the Initial Rating Performance.

However, when it came time to announce the eliminated trainees, Shi Shuyao showed a surprising amount of sensibility and gentleness.

"Your votes are the sum of the live and online audience votes. Additionally, members of teams that won in the second public performance's competition format will receive a 10% bonus to their total votes," Shi Shuyao explained before announcing the rankings from top to bottom.

Those whose names did not get called out were all disqualified.

In the end, 20 trainees were eliminated, leaving only 40 trainees on the show.

Unlike the last elimination, Song Yingshi and Huai Xu had to say goodbye to several of the trainees they were familiar with.

There was the girl who had quietly positioned herself in front of Song Yingshi during the group photo.

There were Jian Dong'er and the elegant sisters Qiu Yiyu and Qiu Yiya, Huai Xu's teammates from Team "Halfway Mountain."

There was Lang Man, who was from the same company as Yu Sheng and a member of Song Yingshi's team in the first public performance. She was also the girl who had gone around taking group photos with her Polaroid camera two days ago. Unfortunately, she was not lucky enough to be the "gatekeeper" at the bottom and was eliminated this time.

There was Zeng Fu, Song Yingshi's teammate from Team "Unavoidable." Due to her overly low votes, she still got eliminated, even with the 10% bonus.

As for Tan Qianyan, Qiu Zhixin, and Tang Panbo, although they evaded elimination, they were still in a dangerous spot, all of them ranking in the 30s.

As only 40 trainees remained, the class division rules were adjusted again. This time, Class D was removed completely.

Ranks 1 to 7 would enter Class A, 8 to 20 would enter Class B, and 21 to 40 would enter Class C.

Tao Qin regained her spot in Class B and even ranked 11th overall. Quan Yuanyuan followed closely behind, coming in at 12th place. Lu Xuewen and Yu Sheng secured 14th and 15th places. Wen Qingzi entered the top 20, coming in at 18th place.

Among those in the top 10, many were Song Yingshi's friends.

Yan Ran was in 10th place, while Hu Wan was in 9th.

By relying on her motherly persona and outstanding appearance, Xing Huan entered the top 10 and ranked 8th overall. She was just one step away from securing a debut position.

Wan Jiao remained at 7th, locking in the last debut position. Dan Silan's popularity skyrocketed, placing her at 6th. Bai Yuzhou's fans finally figured out Star of Spring's system and showed their might, pushing their idol to 5th place.

Song Yingshi came in 3rd place, while Huai Xu was in 2nd.

…

When the recording session ended, the elegant Qiu sisters left the White Tower holding hands and wearing beautiful dresses. Although their eyes were still red and swollen from crying, they wore sweet smiles on their faces:

"We're going home."

"We'll be rooting for you guys, so do well!"

Zeng Fu was as low-key as ever. She wasn't particularly sad about her elimination, either. After saying farewell to Song Yingshi and the others, she quietly left the White Tower. However, many people saw the Rolls-Royce Phantom and the handsome man who came to pick her up. According to insider information, the man was her elder brother.

"Is it too late for me to apply to become Little Fu's sister-in-law?" Kou Lengyu joked.

"I'm here for the appearance fee, while Zeng Fu is here to experience life…" a trainee said dejectedly.

Before leaving, Lang Man reluctantly spread her Polaroids all over the living room and shouted, "Everyone, take one each! Only one each! No extras!"

When practicing for "Surrender" in the first public performance, Lang Man and Tan Qianyan had developed a strong friendship. After looking at the Polaroids on the floor, she approached Lang Man and asked, "Why are there no single shots of yourself?"

Lang Man smiled and answered, "I only like taking photos of others, not myself. Also, didn't I already give you our group photos?"

"I want your photo," Tan Qianyan said.

"I am in every one of those photos—because I took them all," Lang Man said romantically.

Tan Qianyan ignored Lang Man's artistic thinking. As a practical person, she grabbed Lang Man's Polaroid camera and fiddled with it, asking, "How do I take a photo with this? I'll take one of you."

Lang Man: "..."

Lang Man had no choice but to indulge in Tan Qianyan's willfulness and let Tan Qianyan take a photo of her in her room. She had stayed in this room the longest in the White Tower. She was so familiar with the room's layout that she could even find her bed without the lights. She also felt so safe in this room that she could fall asleep as soon as she fell onto her bed.

After Tan Qianyan got the photo she wanted, she waved it in front of Lang Man and said delightedly, "I'll keep this photo with me. Contact me if you want to see it in the future. You must be the one to initiate the call—understood?"

…

Everyone from Team "Surrender" and Lang Man's team in the second public performance came to see her off. Lang Man requested everyone to pick one of the photos she had taken.

Huai Xu chose a photo with Song Yingshi in it. Specifically, the photo captured when she and Huai Xu stood facing each other on the fifth-floor terrace, right before the announcement of the first public performance's rankings. The photo captured her sipping beer while looking at Song Yingshi. It also captured Song Yingshi's hair grazing her arm under the urging of the evening wind. The scene held a blend of light and heavy feelings.

Under the unique imaging flavor of the Polaroid photograph, this scene looked like it belonged on a movie poster. Upon revisiting this scene after many days, Huai Xu couldn't help but find it somewhat unreal. It felt like she was looking at another world's version of herself and Song Yingshi.

As Huai Xu held up this photo, Song Yingshi bent down and asked, "Are you done choosing? Let me see."

The tail end of Song Yingshi's hair fell on Huai Xu's arm, grazing and entangling around it, just like in the photo.

Huai Xu smiled at this coincidence, a small part of her heart softening. Raising her chin, she looked at Song Yingshi and asked, "What about you? Let me see what you chose."

Under the illumination of the sunlight coming through the window, Song Yingshi glared at Huai Xu before standing up and facing away, saying, "Get up if you're done choosing. Lang Man is still waiting to pack up the leftovers. We'll see her off downstairs."

After tucking the photo into her pocket, Huai Xu readily agreed, "I was thinking the same thing."