Did Not Say Anything About My Feelings - Chapter 32. I Choose Him

In the end, Lin Ye did not look for Jiang Lian at the time they agreed on.

He slept till the evening, and after that, he got off the bed, brushed his teeth, and washed his face. He did not even change out of his pajamas and just put on his down jacket as he headed to the canteen to eat his dinner. After he was done eating and was heading back, he was stopped by Wen Mian with the reason of ‘lacking one player to play cards’. After that, he was dragged to the other’s hostel room without even getting to say anything, playing until late at night before he returned to his hostel room to sleep.

The next time he opened his eyes, it was the time for the first ranking announcement.

The trainees changed into their cyan-colored suit-uniform again, putting on their makeup and styling their hair. After that, they went to the recording hall in high spirits, passing the fans that were waiting outside with their cameras.

Although to be exact, the trainees that were in high spirits made up only seventy percent of the trainees. The remaining twenty percent were trainees that were in the range of elimination, while the last ten percent were the trainees that were on the edge of elimination. Those thirty percent of trainees mostly had a heavy atmosphere.

The seating area opposite the pyramids had the names of the groups from the public performance pasted on the seats. All the trainees had to sit according to their group names. The seats of Team A of ‘Eye of the Typhoon’ were in the front two rows, each row had three seats.

After the six of them entered, Cheng Chi and Qi Huan took the lead and sat in the inner seats in the first row. Yan Changfei followed the other two and sat down in the remaining outer seat.

Lin Ye, who was walking behind Yan Changfei directly went to the second row, sitting down in the innermost seat. Jiang Lian stopped in the aisle, lifted his eyes, and glanced in Lin Ye’s direction before leaving the middle seat empty as he sat down in the outermost seat.

Lin Ye was stunned for a second and subconsciously turned to look at Jiang Lian. He had just enough time to catch a glimpse of his cold and distant side profile before his vision was blocked by Wen Mian, who sat down between him and Jiang Lian.

He turned away silently. He was the one who went back on his word, so it was not surprising that Jiang Lian had changed his attitude towards him. He looked at Yan Changfei’s calm face in the front row and knew in his heart that it was unlikely that he would be able to stay today.

Wen Mian sat beside him sadly, “I didn’t expect the elimination to come so quickly. I feel like I was dragging my suitcase and getting on the island just yesterday, and now, I’m going to face separation today.”

Lin Ye laughed, “Your rank is so stable, you won’t be eliminated, what are you worried about?”

Wen Mian frowned, “I don’t want you or Yan Changfei to go either.”

Lin Ye rested his head on his hand as he looked at the busy employees moving around on stage. He said somewhat uncaringly, “It’s just an elimination. It’s not like we can’t ever meet again.” He glanced at Wen Mian, suppressing the subtle anxiety in his heart, “Don’t I still owe you a vote? I’ll vote for you when I leave.”

The latter was silent for a moment and lowered his voice, frowning as he scolded, “What’s wrong with the competition system of this show? Why can’t they put the ranking announcement after they broadcast the public performance? Our performance stage was so good, it would allow you to be seen by more fans.”

“That might not be true,” Lin Ye curved his lips slightly, “If I continue to not have any screentime during the public performance, and if I don’t get any close-ups during the public performance, no one would see me either.”

Wen Mian was speechless.

Ten minutes later, the filming for the ranking announcement officially began.

Shen-PD was dressed in a gorgeous long dress, she held onto her long dress as she appeared. First, she followed the script and interacted with all the trainees, livening up the atmosphere. After that, she started on the main goal of the recording today, to announce the ranking of the trainees as of midnight yesterday.

(T/N: Not very sure if I used ‘he’ sometime, but I apologize if I did, I can get a little confused because, in reference to Shen-PD, she keeps getting addressed as ‘Shen-PD’, which is kind of gender-neutral…)

Twenty of the hundred trainees were going to leave. The ranking announcement was from the seventy-ninth place. The eightieth place was kept as a second large surprise.

From 79th to 4th place, the ranking of most people did not change from the ranking a few days ago.

The trainees whose names were called got excited, accepted the congratulations of their teammates on either side, which were either fake or real, hugging them or clapping hands with them. After that, they would step onto the stage with large smiles, turning their heads to bow towards the seats in thanks as they took the microphone from the staff members’ hands. Then, they would make their speech in front of the camera. Finally, they would look firmly forward as they walked towards their seat on the pyramid.

When the top three had yet to be announced, the three contestants for the center position walked up on stage together. Shen-PD picked up the microphone and handed it to the three of them, “Take turns to speak and tell us who you think the center position will go to.”

Qiu Yi was the first one to take the microphone. He did not hesitate, “Probably Jiang Lian.”

Shen-PD asked, “Why do you think so?”

Qiu Yi smiled, “Because I don’t think that my votes can catch up with Jiang Lian and Ming Rang in just a few days.”

After that, the person that got the microphone was Ming Rang. Ming Rang raised his eyebrow and laughed, “Probably me. Although I was second in ranking a few days ago, I want to sit in the middle position as well.”

Jiang Lian took the microphone and directly nodded, smiling slightly as he said, “Of course you can, I’ll let you sit on it for two minutes after I go up.”

The trainees burst into laughter.

The opportunity to praise each other became an opportunity to insult each other, causing Shen-PD to not know whether she should cry or laugh.

Of course, nothing was surprising about the final result. The center position was easily taken by Jiang Lian. The three of them delivered their speeches in turn and walked towards the two highest rows of seats on the pyramid.

Then came the announcement of 80th place. The remaining 21 trainees in the seats looked worried. The trainees that were sitting next to each other held each other’s hands, closed their eyes, and prayed. The trainees that were sitting alone pretended to be calm, but they did not even dare to breathe. Lin Ye came forward from the second row and sat beside Yan Changfei.

The two looked at each other and did not speak.

Shen-PD read out the name of the trainee with everyone’s eyes on her.

That trainee clenched his fist and waved it into the air, shouting loudly, as he jumped up from his seat. He turned and hugged his teammate from the same group that was sitting by his side, almost crying with joy. The trainees around him got up and patted him on the shoulder as congratulations. Then, they sat back down and looked lonely.

After the 80th trainee finished his speech and took his seat in the last empty seat at the bottom of the pyramid, the eight winning groups in the group competition appeared impressively on the screen in front of the trainees.

Shen-PD said, “As for the eliminated trainees, don’t be discouraged. You still have a chance to stay. Now, let’s honor the promise given before the public performance. The center of each of the eight groups that appeared on the screen will have a chance to save teammates. I hope that each leader can carefully consider who you give the chance to.”

The order of this portion was in the reverse order of the public performance. Lin Ye’s team was the first team to go on stage for the public performance and naturally, they were the last group for this segment.

Of the eight winning groups, two groups were luckier, with only one team member being eliminated. Naturally, they were saved by the center of their group. Unfortunately, four groups were quite unlucky, including Lin Ye’s group. They had two to three members that were being eliminated, competing for a single slot. The remaining two groups, Xia Dongchan’s group, and Qiu Yi’s group had no one being eliminated in their groups, thus, the opportunity was wasted.

For the two wasted slots, the trainees that were sitting on the gold pyramid felt that it was a pity, but could not do anything about it.

Time passed by slowly and unbearably, as the centers of the first few groups were having a hard time deciding. Finally, it was the last group’s turn to choose.

On the big screen, the names and rankings of Lin Ye and Yan Changfei appeared in front of everyone’s eyes. The two of them were invited on-stage by Shen-PD. The center of the group, Jiang Lian, walked down from the top of the pyramid. Lin Ye and Yan Changfei stood on each of his sides, Jiang Lian standing in the middle.

Shen-PD looked at Lin Ye and Yan Changfei, “It’s your time to speak. You can talk about what you felt the past few days, or you can try to get your center to choose you.”

Yan Changfei spoke first, “I’m very thankful that Jiang Lian chose me to join ‘Eye of the Typhoon’, and I want to thank my five roommates. I’ve learned a lot from this place, and I’ve made a lot of friends. What everyone has given to me is something that I’ve never gotten when I was a trainee in the company.  I really like this kind of atmosphere. Although in the beginning, I had a clear goal, today, even if I stop here and did not reach my goal, I would not feel like it was a wasted trip. I want to tell my groupmates and my roommates that they’re all very brilliant for being able to stay, and I hope that everyone will be able to stay till the end.”

He finished his speech and his groupmates and roommates stood up to call his name, waving at him frantically. Yan Changfei turned around and smiled as he raised both his hands high, giving them a thumbs-up.

Lin Ye stood on stage and listened to the whole speech, feeling a little moved. However, what puzzled him was that Yan Changfei was thanking people and reflecting the whole while, not even saying anything to try and get Jiang Lian’s vote the whole time.

He did not understand but did not think too much about it. He took the microphone from the other’s hand and raised his head to face the camera. Lin Ye was not the kind of person that was good at expressing his feelings, he was unable to thank the teammates he had interacted with all this while as directly as Yan Changfei had. He only used a few short sentences to reflect on everything that had happened since he joined the show. When he finished speaking, Lin Ye hesitated for a second before deciding to not say anything to pull Jiang Lian’s vote.

Jiang Lian had naturally already decided on who to choose, it was not a decision he could change with a few sentences. Lin Ye took a step forward and extended the hand that was holding the microphone in Jiang Lian’s direction.

Jiang Lian turned his body towards Lin Ye but did not raise his hand and accept the microphone. He simply raised his eyelids and looked at Lin Ye coldly.

Lin Ye had not expected the other to make things hard for him, and he found it hard to get used to. He took another step forward, his back facing the camera as he forced the microphone into Jiang Lian’s hand, then, he took a step back and stood back at his original spot.

Shen-PD continued, “The two trainees have finished speaking. Now, our center has a minute to think. If you’ve decided on the person you want to choose already, you can just walk towards the person you choose at any moment. After that, you can take his hand and raise it.”

Jiang Lian nodded and lowered his gaze, acting like he was thinking.

A countdown time in red appeared on the screen. The trainees felt nervous, and some were started to whisper to each other, guessing who Jiang Lian would choose in the end. Their teammates sitting on the pyramid from Team A of ‘Eye of the Typhoon’ were even more nervous. Whoever Jiang Lian chose, they would be losing on a teammate. This was not something that was worth being happy about.

The discussion sounds on the seats slowly increased in volume. The trainees tried their best to recall their performance but had yet to finish discussing when they saw Jiang Lian make a move.

Everyone held their breath and watched as Jiang Lian walked towards where Lin Ye was standing.

Lin Ye also saw it and raised his head, silently watching as Jiang Lian watched close to him. His expression did not show anything.

Jiang Lian mildly glanced at him but did not reach out his hand to hold his hand, instead, he extended his arms and hugged Lin Ye.

The trainees on the seats were stunned but slowly reacted, Lin Ye had been rejected.

Wen Mian and Qi Huan, who were sitting on the pyramid directly stood up, their eyes turning red slightly.

Even Lin Ye himself was surprised that Jiang Lian would use such a gentle way of rejecting him. He had thought that the other would probably tell him in a distant manner that he had been eliminated because he was unhappy with Lin Ye already.

Taking into account that cameras were filming this, he raised his hand and hugged Jiang Lian back. A second later, he retracted his hands and left Jiang Lian’s embrace. However, the other increased the pressure of his hand that was resting on Lin Ye’s back subtly, pressing him into his embrace, not allowing him to move.

Lin Ye’s body stiffened. After that, he heard Jiang Lian open his mouth by Lin Ye’s ear, his voice was mild, “Lin Ye, if I eliminate you, it’s your own fault.”

The next second, the two of them separated and Jiang Lian walked towards Yan Changfei without any hesitation.

Lin Ye stood at his original spot, feeling complicated, but did not know how to rebut Jiang Lian’s words.

What was unexpected was that Jiang Lian also reached out to hug Yan Changfei. Everyone saw it. Jiang Lian raised his arm and wrapped it around the other’s shoulders, patting it twice. After a moment, the two of them separated without much change of expression.

The trainees were full of confusion, and Shen-PD took the initiative to open his mouth and ask, “Jiang Lian, have you made your choice?”

Jiang Lian said, “Yes.”

Shen-PD nodded, his words gently but cruel, “And now, please make your choice.”

Jiang Lian turned around to look at Yan Changfei.

Wen Mian and Qi Huan sobbed as they called out Lin Ye’s name. Xia Dongchan stood up from his seat, looking at Lin Ye without saying a word. When Lin Ye heard his name, he turned around, meeting their gazes calmly.

However, Jiang Lian’s voice sounded by his ear, “I’m very sorry, I choose Lin Ye.”

Everyone was stunned. The words that Wen Mian and Qi Huan were about to say were swallowed back down as their faces were full of shock.

The entire hall was silent.

In the noiseless venue, Lin Ye slowly turned his head around, looking towards Jiang Lian, who was standing next to Yan Changfei.

Jiang Lian’s expression did not change as he repeated his words one more time, “Lin Ye, I choose him.”