Chapter 18

The next morning, he had to do the photography test. After dancing, Huoren was sweating all over. When he took a bath, the tap broke down again, wasting time.

When he trotted to the dressing room, there were three or four people waiting outside the door.

“It’s still early. The people invited are few but they make good teams.” Aya raised her hand at him: “You can rest here and come when you’re called.”

Huoren nodded, took out his “Introduction to fundamentals of music theory” from his bag, and found a corner to read quietly.

The trainees who were also waiting in the waiting room were practicing their singing one after another. Although there were staff walking around frequently, they babbled and sang the scale, had a broad expression, and their posture and timbre were very open.

After fifteen minutes, some people gradually felt bored and started whispering with their friends.

Huoren didn’t sleep enough and was distracted. He could hear their voices clearly.

“This may be the best chance in the past ten years,” said a trainee. “If I’m not chosen this time, even if I get the chance to debut later… I won’t be satisfied.”

“Don’t think like that” said his friend, sitting on the windowsill, shaking his legs and laughing. “Do you know how many trainees SPF receives every year?”

“How many?”

“Up to 150.” the big boy raised three fingers: “among the three major entertainment companies in China, Minghuang entertainment basically only finds people in Colleges and universities. SPF is the most people-friendly. Tens of thousands of ordinary people sign up every year.”

Someone nearby joined the conversation and seemed to sigh: “Hoarding so many trainees, but they only debut one or two groups each year.”

Huoren put the book back in his bag and looked at them sideways.

One in a million first, and then one in a hundred.

“What about the rest?”

“They continue to endure, or leave, there are only these two ways.” The boy whispered: “Even if you’re a trainee, you may not be selected, even if you’re selected, you may not be able to pass the final test, even if you’re a formal trainee, you may not be able to debut, even if you debut, you may not be popular. In contrast, Corona is a group set by Uncle Jiang himself. He arranged big resources a long time ago. This is the most luxurious treatment -“

Aya glanced at them: “Aren’t you daring?”

“We’re not, we’re not! Jiejie, we’ll whisper. Don’t tell Uncle Jiang!”

The door of the dressing room opened and four teenagers came out one after another.

They were wearing trendy suits, and the silver chains around their waists were studded with broken diamonds, which shone when they were walking.

“Come in and change in the right-hand room,” waved the makeup artist with a baseball cap. “Then come and put on some make up. Speed up.”

Huoren went in with other trainees, as if he had entered the warehouse of a mall.

He rarely saw so many clothes piled together at the same time, and the label of each piece were outside his recognition.

He was used to wearing a school uniform and a 15 yuan white T-shirt. At this moment, he couldn’t even tell which one was outdated and which one was trendy.

Rivets, tassels, color contrast, suits, windbreakers…

“Child, you are also a trainee?” The stylist next to him took a measuring tape: “What clothes do you like to wear for daily life?”

Huoren shook his head and subconsciously ducked when the tape measure touched his waist.

“Your shoulders are a little narrow, so you have to practice.” The stylist handed him a pure white imitation military uniform and motioned him to go into the curtain and change it.

The upper and lower sets were equipped with riding boots. The waist was very tight, but it was just right for him. There were long fringes hanging down on the shoulder to decorate the lines. A row of dark gold buckles in front of the lapel had a bit of Royal texture, which made him look really handsome and neat.

Huoren dressed and came out. The stylist’s eyes lit up. She came up with two boxes of jewelry, and her long nails clattered.

“Put these two rings on, and I’ll choose another necklace for you… Well, you can’t be too flashy. You should be low-key and provocative.”

A busy colleague nearby joked: “He looks good enough. You don’t have to dress him up as a Christmas tree.”

The stylist came back and took a step back to look at him. He felt some regret: “Actually, it’s alright if you do not wear a necklace. It’s a pity that you don’t have pierced ears.”

Huoren subconsciously reached out and touched his ear: “Do I have to pierce my ears to be a trainee?”

“How to say,” the stylist helped him tidy up his collar and said with a familiar tone: “most boys have pierced both ears, and some have two holes and four holes on one side.”

She glanced at the panic in the boy’s eyes and smiled to ease the atmosphere: “Don’t be afraid of the pain, this isn’t even a requirement.”

Huoren opened his hand to facilitate her to adjust the position of the silver chain and gently nodded his head.

Huoren is actually… Very sensitive to pain.

He is so afraid of pain that he had to learn how to ride a bike several years later than other kids.

Injections, slapping, even if his finger hits the corner of the table, there will be a continuous and long hidden pain, which won’t soften.

“Oh, Xiao Deng, look at the tattoo on this kid’s arm. The skull ox head is pretty cool.”

The stylist answered and waved, “It’s done. Go make up.”

When Huoren thanked him, he just saw the rolled up sleeves of the trainee, with dark tattoos showing ferocity.

He began to pray that he would not be forced to have tattoos ever.

For whatever reason.

Everything about modeling felt fresh.

Foundation, draw eyeliner, trim eyebrows…

The hair and makeup artists were around him. The sound of the hair dryer and the smell of foam mixing up made him drowsy.

There was a veteran makeup artist who had just finished his work. She came to help them choose the color of lip gloss. Suddenly, she said, “this kid is so beautiful.”

“Yes, I also think he has a nice face. At first glance, he looks bright with heavy and light makeup. God blessed him.”

“What do you mean by a good face?” The veteran makeup artist directly pulled over the stool and took the brush to make the shadows on both sides: “Without a doubt, he’s going to grow up as a first-class person who can’t be compared with ordinary people.”

When the veteran opened her mouth, several other makeup artists were curious and went to see.

“Look at the bridge of the nose, the lip angle, the lip peak, and the lines of the forehead and cheekbones,” the veteran makeup artist couldn’t help exclaiming: “I haven’t seen such a beautiful model for many years.”

Huoren was dozing off, and was patted on his shoulder.

“Little handsome boy, open your eyes so you can put these beautiful pupils.” The makeup assistant next to him had washed her hands and asked, “or do you want to do it by yourself?”

Huoren woke up, subconsciously sat up, looked at her and whispered, “I haven’t put them on before. Can you teach me?”

The young lady smiled, taught him to recognize the signs of his left and right eyes, and helped him wear them carefully.

When his sight was clear again, he looked at the strange face in the mirror and hurriedly stopped opening his eyes.

“Oh, you blushed,” the young lady said with a smile, “the smoke green pupil suits you well. Your white skin is so good that you look like jade.”

Huoren didn’t dare to look in the mirror again. After thanking her in a hurry, he got up and followed the others to the studio.

When he walked along the corridor, all the staff along the way stopped to look at him. They were so surprised that they were still looking back when he went away and whispered to ask which new artist he was.

The veteran make-up artist was familiar with these colorful tricks, and used the most natural and light primer to line up his eyebrows and nose bridge. The bridge of his nose magnified the brightness of the young man with the most appropriate eyeliner and lip color..

The young, inexperienced, innocent and unaffected look made him look handsome, the sharp and flamboyant look also made him handsome, the smiling and angry look also made him look handsome.

If such a handsome man stands on the stage, the light will be in his direction.

At the moment, Huoren still knew nothing about this ‘gift’ he had. When he entered the studio, he didn’t know where to put his hands.

Fortunately, the photographer was used to the newbies, teaching them to mark a few points. His voice sounded experienced: “Lower your head and close your lips!”

Click-

“Alright, next, change your posture with the display screen and open your knees a little. Smile!”

Click, click-

Everything today was a new experience.

Huoren looked at the camera and constantly learned different shooting methods.

Occasionally, he needed to stand next to a fan and take a picture. He allowed his messy hair and clothes to be lifted by the wind and pretended to be careless in front of the camera.

But in reality, he was nervous.

After this batch of photos were shot, they were all processed that night. Later, the teacher helped to select them, and then compressed and packaged them together with the previous card information form and sent them to Uncle Jiang’s mailbox.

At 12:05 p.m., Huoren’s mobile phone lit up.

『Teacher Aya: Uncle Jiang will start the meeting at 5:30 tomorrow morning. You are the first. Please reply if you receive this message.”

Huoren saw the text message and it excited him. Seeing Xie Lianyun still playing Super Mario, he goes over to show him his mobile phone.

“Yes, uncle Jiang is going to have an appointment with trainees to know what kind of people they are.” Xie Lianyun took off the headset and controlled the character to eat mushrooms while watching him: “Why are you going first? Shouldn’t it be Longjia?”

Huoren held the mobile phone for a long time without saying a word, and his hands were so nervous that his palms were sweating slightly.

“If he asks you, answer,” Xie Lianyun paused the game and said solemnly, “never lie in front of him. Uncle Jiang is an old fox in the entertainment industry. He even made the God Mei hengmei popular by his own hands when he was just beginning. Think about how many years have passed – don’t hide anything from him.”

Huoren took a deep breath and nodded: “I heard you talk about him before. I felt that you were a little afraid of him.”

Xie Lianyun showed a ghost-like expression: “It’s more than fear.”

Just sitting with him will make you scared as hell, okay.

The next day Huoren got up early. He was very restrained and didn’t go to the dance room.

He recited HSK 4 words for half an hour and tried to be calm.

It was winter now. It was late and it was dark everywhere at five o’clock.

It has just rained outside the building. When passing through the ventilation window, Huoren could feel the cold water vapor in the air.

Aya held the roster and standed at the door of the meeting room. Her back was straight and her expression was imperceptibly respectful.

Huoren took a deep breath for several seconds, knocked on the door and went in.

He wasn’t ready and didn’t know what he was going to face.

Life was always like this. He was used to it.