Chapter 280: Together

When Chen Wei proposed the idea of stopping the competition completely and waiting for Qin An, after an initial shock, Shen Lou and others who announced to withdraw actually wanted to agree immediately however, it was not just them who were in the competition.

Xing Ren, Sheng Yan, Lu Nanxiao and Chen Wei himself hadn’t expressed their opinion about this.

He Yan quickly looked at Xing Ren with bright eyes. "We can debut with Anan soon too!"

"...." It’s just that unlike the usual supportive young man, Xing Ren didn’t respond this time.

He Yan was confused. Why didn’t his friend agree? They had talked about wanting to group together with Qin An a while back then and he was eager to like him!

Han Suwen narrowed his eyes. "Maybe he doesn’t want it." He straightforwardly expresses the young man’s thoughts without hesitation.

He Yan was surprised. "Ren? You don’t want to be with Anan?"

Xing Ren quickly shakes his head and smiles with a hesitation on his face. "Yanyan, it;’s not like that..." he sighs. "It’s just... if I won’t grab this opportunity, it may not come again for me."

Truthfully, ever since the top ten was announced, Xing Ren had been doubting himself how he came this far. He knew that there’s many outstanding trainees in the competition and in his eyes, many of them were more than him, like Han Baiwei and Jiang Mo whose rank was always higher than him.

He didn’t think he could appear to have more votes than them. Although he knew that maybe people just voted him for being He Yan’s ’friend’. For some time, he just thought he was a ’baggage’ riding on his friend’s cocktail. He felt helpless but at the same time, he was feeling cowardly too to prove his right because everything was just in favor for him anyway.

There’s probably a smaller chance for him not to debut but he unknowingly felt a sigh of relief when Qin An left. He was sad of course. He was disappointed but after thinking about the situation many times, he thought that this was also a chance for him.

But who would have thought that they would actually come up with this?

Xing Ren was dumbfounded and honestly felt disappointed. How could they rashly decide to give up everything they put time, effort and sacrifices for someone who left them without a word?

Even when he knew the truth, apart from the initial worry for the young man, he just felt that whatever reason it is, that is still Qin An’s choice. He’s grateful but that doesn’t mean he’s willing to give up.

Is it bad? Is he the worst for not wanting his efforts to go in vain and just start again like nothing happened in this competition?

He does treat Qin An as his friend... but he couldn’t just do it.

Furthermore, Xing Ren also knew the young man’s influence. Qin An has for sure more fans than him and wherever he goes in the future, he’ll be okay. What about for someone like him? He’s not like Qin An who can be like a dark horse, He Yan who has a very bright personality nor Shen Lou who’s an ace.

He was just an ordinary person with the luck to go further until this stage. If he lets go of this rare opportunity, can he really debut for the next competition?

"I’m sorry..." Xing Ren couldn’t help but feel down. "Am I wrong to just choose myself?"

The people around him went in silence so he took a deep breath.

Anyway, no matter what he’ll choose, the answer is still obvious, right? He couldn’t debut.

He wouldn’t.

Among all the remaining nine trainees here, who is he among them?

When he notices the odd expressions of others, he quickly speaks. "No, don’t actually mind what I said. I agree with Chen Wei’s suggestion. We can stop—"

"No, Ren," He Yan has a worried expression on his face. "I’m sorry that we didn’t think about your thoughts. It’s my fault for not considering it." 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

"Yanyan, it’s not you. You do have a point. Anan is sacrificing for us right now and it’s just right to wait for him." He looked at everyone. "I’m sorry for my words. We can continue it."

He put his hands on his back to hide his clenched palms.

It actually doesn’t matter. My opinion won’t matter because all of them have different answers. Even Chen Wei thought so too, so I can. I have to.

Hiding his thoughts away from everybody, Xing Ren finally plans to just throw all those thoughts away on his mind. All he could know now is wait for the final results anyway.

Meanwhile, back to the time when they went to Qian Jin, after hearing their sentiments regarding Qin An, Qian Jin of course doesn’t approve of that decision.

They came all the way here at this point and just stopping is never a choice especially for him, not just only as a business man but also as a director after many years.

But when he wanted to reject them, Xu Xinyi actually agreed. The woman who was feared due to her strict and harsh style and the mentor whom they felt intimidated with was actually the only person to support this sudden decision.

"Xu Xinyi—"

"Director Qian, do you have a choice to reject the young master of the Chen family? No."

Qian JIn was speechless. It was you who disdained Chen Wei when he wanted to use his privilege. Why are you using it instead?!

Chen Wei’s eyes lit up when he noticed Xu Xinyi’s stance but his excitement burned for the next thing that she said.

"However, I also never said to stop the show."

Now all of them were confused. What does she mean?

Xu Xinyi raises her brows. "Deciding like this, you are not only helping destroy your future but also Qin An’s!"

"How? We just want to debut with him! Isn’t that because we want to repay Qin An—"

"Repay?" Xu Xinyi sneers. "If you think that Qin An will be happy with this decision, then go. If you think that just quitting like this is like slapping every effort and the sacrifice he made, then go!"

"...." They were speechless.

"Qin An left because he had a sense of responsibility and he wanted for everyone to live life without pain. Have you ever thought about his thoughts when he watched you in pain? He had long wanted to stop it, that’s why he’s doing this. What will he feel if you quit like this? Qin An never wants pity from everyone." Xu Xinyi paused a bit and dropped such a question.

"... What if he can’t come back?"

"!!!" They gasped in horror at her last words.

"What if something happens to him? What will you do? What if he can’t come back short? What if it takes too long? What about your dreams? Do you think Qin An wants you to wait for him?"

"...." The room went silent at her continuous blunt words. It was like slapping their faces one by one as they listened.

"Doing this is like putting his sacrifices to waste, do you think he deserves it?! What Qin An wants is for all of you to debut and achieve your dreams!"

The once spirited young men dropped their heads like a withered flower. Their expression turned weary and even like He Yan and Sheng Yan who are emotional, their eyes turn red with many realizations at her words.

Xu Xinyi looked at them and exhaled a loud breath.

"For now, we can do something about this."

Qian Jin frowned. "What is your plan?"

.....

Meanwhile, the netizens who were watching the live broadcast were very quiet all throughout when Nan Myi slowly explained the whole thing to the public.

"Thus, we wanted to ask everyone to please support this decision. Please allow us to wait for Anan even for a short period of time."

Xu Xinyi eventually compromised and the company had a meeting to allow them to postpone the final round for at least one month of waiting for Qin An’s return.

"The future is actually very uncertain for us. We don’t know what will happen in the future but we hope to walk to a decision that we will never forget for the rest of our lives. To our fans who keep on supporting us since day one, thank you."

They smiled softly at the camera then took a deep bow together to say goodbye for now.

"Until the next day when our dreams will unite again."

*****