Chapter 11

Jin Xiaoli's father was a producer at a TV station, and he had connections in this area. Arranging a rehearsal room at the district cultural center was just a matter of making a phone call. After confirming the rehearsal location, the three of them finished their meal, went home to fetch their equipment, and then headed straight to the cultural center.

The rehearsal room, as requested by Jin Xiaoli, was quite spacious, probably originally used for dance practice. Wang Bai, at their request, first performed the set of boxing moves to the original music.

Although this set of boxing moves was unnamed, its movements were powerful and fierce, matching the melody of the music very well. Wang Bai was extremely familiar with the routine, and after demonstrating it, the two girls couldn't help but applaud and cheer.

Liu Yan's face was flushed, her big eyes twinkling, seemingly unable to contain her excitement. She never imagined that his boxing moves would be so handsome, and for a moment, her breathing quickened.

After getting a basic understanding, Jin Xiaoli and Liu Yan gathered to analyze the situation. They felt that the choice of the piece was fine, but some details needed to be adjusted to better match the music, mainly to make the rhythm changes more in sync with Wang Bai's movements.

It sounded easy, but adjusting every detail to be just right was no easy task. To make it easier for Liu Yan to go back and arrange the music, Jin Xiaoli asked Wang Bai to perform the entire set of movements again, and she recorded it with a DV. After recording, she and Liu Yan watched it together, discussing the arrangement of the music.

Every time they thought of something, Liu Yan would make adaptations to the original score and have Jin Xiaoli try playing it. The two of them were so engrossed in this that they completely ignored Wang Bai.

There was no need to practice together before the score was finalized, and Wang Bai didn't want to disturb them, so he said goodbye and went out for a walk, buying some water for them on the way.

On weekends, the cultural center was bustling with people coming and going, and all the classrooms were lively. Passing by one classroom, Wang Bai noticed a group of little girls practicing ballet outside, while another group of children was practicing inside. It was a small classroom that couldn't accommodate everyone.

This was an unusual situation, and out of curiosity, Wang Bai asked. He learned that their practice room had been temporarily occupied, so they had to squeeze into this small, empty classroom to practice in shifts.

Wang Bai immediately thought of the rehearsal room they were using. After confirming the room number of their original classroom, he realized his guess was correct and hurried back, his face turning red.

Back in the rehearsal room, Wang Bai explained the situation to Jin Xiaoli and Liu Yan, who also felt awkward. They discussed it and decided that arranging the music would take a lot of time, and they could put the practice on hold for now. It was best to return the classroom to its rightful users.

So, they packed up their things and went to the small ballet classroom, explaining the situation to the instructor there and apologizing for the delay in their practice.

The instructor, who was used to such situations, was very kind. After a brief chat, she led a group of happy students back to their original practice room.

As they left, several little girls who had been waiting outside smiled at Wang Bai, indicating that his actions had won them over.

Seeing this, Jin Xiaoli sighed, "Alright, we'll be the bad guys, and you get to be the good guy."

After leaving the cultural center, the two girls went to Liu Yan's house to continue arranging the music. Wang Bai couldn't help with this, and they didn't invite him, so he helped move their things to Liu Yan's building and then said goodbye.

After returning home, he buried himself in his homework, managing to finish all the accumulated weekend assignments before dinner, thanks to his improved English skills, which made doing English homework more efficient.

In the evening, he called Jin Xiaoli to ask about the progress of the music arrangement. She said she had gone home in the afternoon and wasn't sure, suggesting he call Liu Yan directly and giving him her phone number.

Thus, Liu Yan unexpectedly received a call from Wang Bai. Although she had saved his number, she had never given him hers. Thinking that it must have been Jin Xiaoli who betrayed her, she angrily decided to find out who Jin Xiaoli's secret crush was and tease her later.

When she answered, she said, "Hello, is this Liu Yan? This is Wang Bai."

"Wang Bai? Which Wang Bai?" Liu Yan pretended to be surprised.

Wang Bai laughed bitterly, "I'm your classmate, the one sitting in front of Jin Xiaoli. We saw each other today. You've already forgotten me?" He thought it was quite a blow that his classmate didn't remember his name.

"It's you, I was just testing you. These days, there are too many scammers. Who knows if you're real or not," she continued, "How did you get my number?"

"I asked a classmate for it," he didn't specify that it was Jin Xiaoli, but it was obvious. "I just wanted to ask if the music arrangement is done."

"It's done, didn't Xiaoli tell you? I'm practicing it now."

So, Jin Xiaoli had finished the arrangement before leaving Liu Yan's house and was probably practicing at home. Wang Bai thought he had been tricked by President Jin again, but he still said, "Ha, it's done. You're amazing, thanks a lot. I'm relieved."

"Sure, it's no big deal," Liu Yan said proudly, "Do you have anything else? If not, I'll hang up. I need to practice."

"Oh, no, no, you go ahead. I won't disturb you. Hang up."

Before hanging up, Liu Yan hesitated and added, "I should tell you, Xiaoli wants to practice the music and record it for you to bring to the stage. I don't mind whether I go on stage or not, but I can't persuade her. It's your decision, so you decide."

What was supposed to be a sure thing had changed! Wang Bai was now in a dilemma. They had already done so much, arranging the music and recording it for him, but the effect would be different. A recorded accompaniment was not the same as live accompaniment. Would the system recognize it?

Wang Bai thought it was impossible and needed to find another solution. Fortunately, Liu Yan had warned him in advance. If this had happened right before the performance, it would have caught him off guard. He was grateful to her and thought about Jin Xiaoli, sighing, "Women can be so different."

That night, after falling asleep, he didn't enter the magical dream. He woke up at dawn, puzzled. Why couldn't he enter the dream? What went wrong? Had the dream system disappeared? Recalling the recent nights, Wang Bai had come to view the dream system as extremely important. If it disappeared, he would be devastated.

Thinking about the previous day, he suddenly wondered: Could it be that the dream system was resting on Sundays? The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed. The task list was still valid for 24 days. If he hadn't completed any tasks, the dream system disappearing as a punishment made sense, but with 24 days left, it couldn't just disappear for no reason. The problem must not be with him.

Damn, I wanted to climb some stairs and row a boat to earn more points, but it didn't let me in, not even a notification. Wang Bai cursed, thinking this was too unfair. It was a serious matter, making him break out in a cold sweat early in the morning. However, this was just his guess, and he couldn't be sure. He could only wait and see what happened tonight.

It was still early, but Wang Bai had no mood for a nap. He washed up, had breakfast, and went to school. He left early and didn't run into the usual game addict, Li Weiyeh, on the way. However, he did encounter Lu Lu buying breakfast at a nearby breakfast stall.

With her was her desk mate and good friend, Yu Jia. Seeing them, Wang Bai greeted them. The lively Yu Jia smiled and responded, but the usually cold Lu Lu, surprisingly, also replied with a faint "Good morning."

Yu Jia looked at her in surprise, but Lu Lu's expression didn't change. After getting her breakfast, she went to find a seat without saying another word. Wang Bai noticed that the swelling on her face had gone down, and her skin had returned to its usual smoothness, with no trace of the incident. He felt relieved and said goodbye to Yu Jia before heading to school.

Walking into the campus, he passed the playground and saw some familiar figures. The track team's long-distance runners were doing their morning exercises. Wang Bai, now a member of the team, lacked their discipline. He never exercised in his free time at home and hadn't even bought the dumbbells that Senior Zhang had told him to buy. He quickly left the playground, fearing they might recognize him, and decided to buy a pair of dumbbells later.

During the English class in the morning, the teacher gave a surprise quiz. In the past, Wang Bai would have panicked, frantically flipping through his book to memorize a few words, but this time he was confident. He buried himself in the test, finding the questions no longer incomprehensible but basic. It felt as simple as doing a primary school English test, and he could easily distinguish the answers without much thought. The high school teacher's level was indeed impressive.

After the quiz, during the break, Wang Bai walked to Liu Yan's desk and called Jin Xiaoli to discuss the rehearsal. Although the music was arranged, they had never practiced together, and the actual effect was still uncertain. They needed to practice several times to catch any issues. After yesterday's experience, they didn't want to go to the cultural center. After some discussion, they decided to use the activity hall in Liu Yan's neighborhood's clubhouse. It was spacious, used by the elderly for fitness exercises during the day, and empty in the evening.

After settling this, Wang Bai returned to his seat. He noticed someone in the front row watching him, seemingly paying attention to his conversation with Liu Yan and Jin Xiaoli. He looked back and saw the stern-faced Lu Lu. However, as soon as he met her gaze, she turned away, seemingly avoiding him.