Chapter 11

September 1st was the first day of school.

Chen Xiaoyan called him at six in the morning. At that time, Huoren was still practicing dancing, facing the TV screen.

He borrowed an USB from the teaching assistant. The accompaniment sound wasn’t too loud or too soft, just enough to hear the beat.

“Huohuo,” said Chen Xiaoyan, “school starts today.”

Huoren groaned.

“Jiayou, you can still ask me for homework in the future.” Chen Xiaoyan thought for a long time and said.

“I… I don’t know what to say.”

“Huoren, it’s better for you. If you have any difficulties, you must tell us.”

Huoren took out a towel to dry the sweat on his neck. Instead, he comforted him: “Alright. I will.”

He hung up the phone and faced the same situation once again.

The previous two months were more like a test of obedience and self-discipline. No matter whether he was good or bad at dancing or singing, you can stay as long as you can train to achieve your goal on time.

No talent, no ability.

Huoren had previously jumped 4500 times in an hour. Now he danced along to the videos on the USB. Even if his limbs couldn’t keep up with those fast movements, his physical strength could just support him to practice for two hours.

He still remembers Long Jia’s score in the first round of screening examination – 8000 in 70 minutes, which is so far away that it feels unreal.

Still needs practice, keep practicing.

Pei Ruye came over with a document bag and followed several teaching assistants to report the situation.

He paused and saw the boy’s face in the dance room.

“Who is he?”

“It’s Huoren. After the second round of screening, he practiced here every day. After doing his homework, he also took the initiative to learn the dance of other boy groups,” Aya said. “It seems that he is a very serious child. He practices jumping rope for three hours every morning and more in the afternoon.”

In the new stage, dance classes also began to teach movements step by step, and all the trainees returned their jump ropes, but he didn’t.

Pei Ruye looked at him for a while and said softly, “Have you started monitoring the physique of the trainees?”

“Don’t we test it after the next screening?”

The man glanced at her.

“Let’s advance it to this week.”

Aya immediately answered: “What about the makeup test?”

“That’s not urgent.”

Huoren finally went to the other dance teacher’s classes this month. The classes went from basic skills to jazz.

Most of the boys in the dance room have been corrected again and again. They had many small defects, needing to focus on the details.

Teacher Wei is only 18 years old. He looks like a person who has been practicing dancing since childhood. He is thin and has powerful eyes. He was rigorous and sharp in class, and occasionally joked with the trainees during the breaks.

“Teacher Wei is better… Teacher Pei had us jumping for two months in his classes, and my roommate had to put pressure on my leg…” someone said with emotion: “Teacher Wei taught us so much as soon as he came up. It’s really New year’s day.”

Teacher Wei had an urge to smoke. He touched his pocket twice, pulled back his hand, looked at them and said, “Teacher Pei is just in a good mood. Even if he wants to teach you seriously, it will only be possible when you join Corona.”

“Ah? Is he that important?”

Someone interrupted him: “Are you talking nonsense right now? You really don’t know who Pei Ruye is?”

“He is.” Teacher Wei murmured, “I still want Pei-ge to teach me some stuff. He is that important.”

The trainee whose bones were almost broken after jumping, deliberately talked more to delay time: “Teacher Wei – Pei-ge is so handsome. Is he in his twenties?”

“He’s nineteen.”

“What the f-“

He grew up in the United States, so he developed early and has a good skeleton,” Teacher Wei stopped him and knocked on the glass wall. “Get up and keep practicing.”

At the end of the class, a teaching assistant peeked in: “Class A? After class, line up to the seventh floor. You’ll have a physical examination and a nutritional test.”

The students became agitated: “We have a physical examination?”

“Not only a check, but you will also weigh in public.” Teacher Wei smiled gloating: “Go to the bathroom and hurry up.”

Class B students had just finished their physical examination. There were still people putting their clothes on.

The boys were told to take off their underwear and stand on the scale barefoot.

Teacher Mi looked around and commented: “You’re fat, that’s not good. You have to be thin.”

The scale is electronic. You stick your toes and heels on the electric chip. Your body fat rate, BMI and daily calorie consumption will be shown.

“Code name?”

“S035, Huoren.”

The doctor memorized the data that showed up and said it loudly in front of everyone.

“Height 177, weight 99, go and take blood.”

The big boy standing next to him looked amazed: “I remember you. You eat two bowls of rice in every meal? Why?! “

“He’s still growing.” Mige hit the boy on his head. “It’s your turn. Hurry up.”

His blood results came out that afternoon, with a basket of pills attached.

“Lack of calcium, iron and vitamin ACDE.” The general manager looked puzzled: “Have you always been picky about food? What’s going on?”

Huoren was a little confused: “Do you want me to take all these pills?”

“It’s not medicine, but pills. If you practice like crazy and don’t make up for it, who’s going to suddenly die?” Although the general manager was furious, he also remembered to write him a small note: “Kid, eat your meals like this, don’t fool around. Go to the infirmary when you’re uncomfortable. Do you hear me?”

“Yes, thank you.”

“Be sure to take the calcium supplement!” The general manager couldn’t help but say a few more words: “You’re only fifteen. You’re short of so many things. You’ll grow uglier and uglier in the future, you know?”

Huoren felt that he was like a familiar teacher he once had. He smiled and said, “All right, all right.”

When the general manager closed the door, Xie Lianyun looked at him in the upper bunk: “Are you malnourished?”

“… Kinda.”

“Can you keep up with your training?”

“The food here is very good.” Huoren told the truth: “And there is no limit for fruits.”

“Right.” Xie Lianyun sighed: “My brain is going to explode trying not to eat sugar.”

Huoren looked at the lactic acid bacteria drink next to his computer.

“I know this thing has too much sugar,” the boy explained. “I can’t write anything without drinking sweet things. This doesn’t count!”

He threw the PSP next to his pillow. When he got out of bed, he threw a bottle to Huoren: “It’s passion fruit, try it.”

He placed his notebook on the desk. The software page was like a zebra crossing with stripes, and the keys were all in English.

Xie Lianyun wore headphones and clattered on the mouse and keyboard. His hand speed was as fast as playing CS in an Internet cafe.

Several stripes on the computer screen followed the continuous progress, and the size of the grid changed constantly, just like if he were programming.

Huoren saw the interface from a distance, felt a little curious and asked, “Can I see it?”

“Of course,” Xie Lianyun paused, put down his headphones and continued to tap the keyboard, “but you can’t understand it at the moment. This software is called Cubase. There is a manual in the textbook room on the seventh floor.”

Huoren obeyed him and really borrowed it.

The book was 100% new. The two martial arts novels in the cabinet next door had been torn, but there wasn’t a single fold on that book. Its name was Cubase and Nuendo: from introduction to mastery.

He went back to the dormitory, tore a newspaper, put a cover on the textbook, read it while eating, and had time to take a nap for an hour.

Xie Lianyun seemed to play PSP in addition to being on the computer every day. In fact, he looked at the moving speed of his bookmarks every day.

That book was as thick as a brick. Huoren finished reading it all in a week and sorted out half a notebook of learning experiences.

Xie Lianyun thought that his roommate was abnormal. He didn’t play mobile games, read novels or talk with girls. Like becoming an immortal, he didn’t exist at all except reading books and practicing piano and dancing every day.

“Hey, do you have any other hobbies?”

“Hobbies?” Huoren thought that the elder was concerned about him and said modestly, “I used to practice calligraphy. I haven’t had much time recently.”

“You don’t go out on weekends?” Xie Lianyun said unwillingly “Long Jia and the others formed a team to go to the newly opened amusement park. Hey, won’t you go with them?”

Huoren couldn’t even bear to take the bus. He nodded and said, “I found a new basic learning book of practical electronic music. I’m looking forward to it.”

Xie Lianyun fell backwards to bed and gave up talking to him.

Monster, this child is definitely a monster.

Huoren gradually felt that there were subtle changes in the dormitory atmosphere.

The change was reflected in the words of his qianbei.

In the past few days, he was like a passer-by on a parallel line, without saying more than two sentences a day. But after he finished reading the textbook, Xie Lianyun turned on the speaker when he was on the computer. He would stand next to him and occasionally explain what he was doing.

Huoren didn’t ask any extra questions. After reading it for a few days, he matched what he learnt with the software. He also found a space to try out all the functions in the multimedia room.

Although there were only two people in their dormitory, there were many guests.

Most of them were other trainees who came to talk and make friends. Some people already knew who Xie Lianyun was. They even had the guts to ask for his signature. Basically, their wishes can be met – Xie Lianyun will give them his signature when he is in a good mood, and his flamboyant handwriting was very natural.

A small number of friends and teachers were very familiar with Xie Lianyun. Occasionally, his agent would come and ask about the progress of the project.

Some friends were also learning to compose music. When they came to chat, they would complain that it’s so hard to handle. They didn’t learn the basics.

Xie Lianyun didn’t lift his head: “You have a bad sense of music and can’t rely on others.”

After that friend had finished complaining and left, Huoren helped with cleaning, and then asked after a while: “What’s having a sense of music?”

“Tonality, rhythm, strength, speed, structure, and more.” Xie Lianyun tilted his headphones and tuned his electric guitar: “We should be good at singing, dancing and composing music.”

“However, with the qualifications of most people, we can’t talk about any innate sense of music.” He hissed, turned over his e-mail and said, “Basically, just listening isn’t enough.”

“What should I listen to?”

“Classical music, pop, soul, country, punk, heavy metal, whatever you listen to.” Xie Lianyun said lazily, “If you listen carefully for two or three years, you will know whether you should be ashamed to mention that you have a sense of music.”

“I see.” Huoren said smiling, “Then I’ll go first.”

Xie Lianyun knew he was going to the audio-visual room, so he didn’t look back and went to his keyboard.

“Start with classical music.”

“Alright.”