Chapter 22

When Huoren applied to go to the public stage of Qingxi Road, he thought he would be asked by the responsible teacher.

Although he had entered the top 20, he hadn’t even practiced a formal group dance at the moment, and it wasn’t allowed to do a solo performance.

However, after listening to him, the teacher took the form, wrote down his name and performance repertoire, and waved his hand as the registration was successful.

“Go to make-up and change your clothes in the afternoon. Take the shuttle bus one hour in advance as the schedule may be adjusted backstage at any time.”

“Alright, thank you.”

When he went upstairs to make an appointment in the dressing room, Longjia was just nearby.

“Which song are you going to perform?”

“《BEST DAY》”

“Me too-” Longjia added: “It will be long until it’s our time, why don’t we do it together?”

Huoren said uncertainly, “Can that be changed?”

“Of course, I’ll just let Mr. Lu know.” Longjia pointed to the team in front of the registration desk. It was obvious that he had figured out the situation: “Qingxi road is full of performances every weekend. Let’s help teachers save time.”

When they arrived, they chose a complete set of street hip-hop clothes and sat side by side in the dressing room at three o’clock in the afternoon.

This time, a male makeup artist helped to draw the eyeliner for him. He had been at SPF for a long time so they could talk about anything.

“Do you know why it took two months to change the dormitory this time?”

Huoren raised his head to let him put the shadow of the mandibular line. He then said, “isn’t it too troublesome to change it? So now it’s every two months?”

“I’ll tell you quietly,” the male makeup artist tried to laugh. “There was a trainee who was eliminated this time. He had tried to sign with SPF for three years. This time, he managed to get into the top 50 and was wiped out. He was really annoyed when he left. I don’t know how he did it, but he got a bucket of durian boiled in stinky tofu. The smell is all over the wall and the floor of the dormitory.”

“No way…” the female makeup artist next to him was curling Longjia’s hair: “If you fail, change the company. How revengeful.”

“It’s also crazy that he became famous overnight. I think the whole world is against him.”

Huoren blinked and suddenly reacted.

The opposite dormitory wasn’t being cleaned for mites, but to get rid of the smell.

“Right, that’s why the security and emergency measures have been strengthened on the third floor for fear of such problems again.” The male makeup artist held the hair roll and said, “in fact, there is a lot of pressure in this business. Someone can go crazy if they fail to enter the industry, and you have to exercise more if you do enter.”

He knew that, but it always sounded so strange.

Huoren’s makeup wasn’t as gorgeous and prominent as last time, but as long as the outline of the eyebrow bone and nose bridge was slightly emphasized, his whole’s aura will be fully enlarged.

He was still not used to looking in the mirror and walking around when he saw his reflection.

Longjia grabbed his shoulder to take the company’s shuttle bus and greeted other trainees along the road.

The others were all plain faced. Only the two of them were all dressed up, and that actually made Huoren uncomfortable.

Because his family owed usury, in the past few years of his studies, he has been trying to fade his sense of existence and doesn’t want to be noticed and seen by anyone.

Any malicious or compassionate eyes that fell on him seemed to bear an unbearable weight.

And his current career was just going to turn all this upside down.

The bus took a load of artists to Qingxi road in the west district. The public performance stage had begun to warm up. There were many fans standing outside talking excitedly.

Huoren didn’t know other artists and trainees in the car besides Longjia. Anyway, someone shouted that the qianbei couldn’t make mistakes. He was introduced backstage by the teacher and then was free to rest.

They arrived there at five and it was completely dark at six.

Now it was winter, and the north wind felt like a knife, causing pain.

Hundreds of fans outside the stage all held SLRs and digital cameras high, and many busy tourists followed.

The public performance stage was the tradition of SPF. Famous artists would come to perform from time to time. In fact, the stage quality of trainees was also very high.

The sound suddenly occupied the noise in this area. Then the cheers and screams at the front were higher. It was a new girl group performing a dance.

The weather gradually turned dark, and the second and third batch of trainees came to the waiting area one after another. Some of them were sent by other companies to practice.

“S025, Longjia and Huoren, are they here?”

“Yes!” Longjia stood up and said, “This way!”

“Come here quickly. It’s your turn for the third program. Speed up!” The team leader waved and said, “BGM is ‘Best Day’, right? The headset is right here. Listen to the rhythm yourself and don’t screw up too much!”

As he spoke, he pushed the two of them forward. The two makeup artists followed them to check their makeup and lips. A few steps later, they were at the entrance.

He couldn’t listen to the sound clearly while sitting backstage. Only when they standed there could they understand how many people were gathered outside.

It was originally a small square, and two electronic screens were set up next to it to broadcast the live stage at the same time. At this time, nearly 600 or 700 people had gathered to stand under the stage, jumping and waving. There were many fans holding hands, and the surnames of different idols were written on their light-emitting boards.

There was also a small square dance array in the corner of the square. Under the double bombardment of rock music and rap, dancing was the most beautiful even if it rained.

When the last group in front of them bowed on the stage, Huoren suddenly began to get nervous.

“Hello everyone, we are the new group, Dulme!” Five boys bowed neatly, and a large number of screams and cheers were heard under the stage, as if they had finally waited until their little idol came on.

“I’m the lead singer – Dada!”

“I’m the main dancer – UU!”

Huoren was thinking about all the steps of their dance and was stunned when he heard them. Lead singer? Main dancer?

Seeing that his expression had changed, Longjia casually explained, “Usually, members have a role. For example, I’m going to be the rapper in the future.”

A fast drum started to be heard from the speakers. The five big boys danced and sang neatly, and raised an acting smile on their faces.

Huoren looked sideways at the large area of the fans who supported the team, as well as tourists and passers-by who stood on tiptoe at the outer edge. His heart began to accelerate.

This was an immersive experience quite different from videos he saw on TV and the computer.

Four minutes, which used to be extremely long while he was practicing, had now passed.

Before he was ready to take a deep breath, the group of five bowed to thank the audience, and then stepped down quickly from the other side.

“Let’s go.” Longjia patted him on the shoulder: “Remember to look handsome.”

For the next four minutes, Huoren’s mind went blank.

He danced without any problems. He even remembered that he interacted with the Longjia when the atmosphere was heated to the top.

His brain had too much to deal with at the same time.

Every second of dance movements, hearing in his ear the music and delay, the changes of lyrics and breath, the position of his partner, and the big audience he saw when he had his eyes opened.

There were only a dozen people in the bar, but there were hundreds here, and many of them were holding signs with lights. Countless pairs of eyes were looking at them eagerly.

The girls were holding their mobile phones and snapping photos at them. Cheers and whistles became indistinguishable at this moment, making him unable to confirm whether he was doing it right or wrong or whether they like them.

He had extreme fear and was trembling with excitement.

The two opposing emotions intertwined and rose, as if a fire had ignited all the oxygen he needed to breathe.

Huoren danced mechanically. Then, he almost forgot what song he was singing.

At the end of the song, he stood side by side with Longjia, bowed and thanked, and received a lot of applause again.

When he stepped down, Huoren subconsciously held the railing next to him as he suddenly found himself out of breath.

It’s not that he couldn’t keep up with his physical strength, but that he had never faced this situation before, and even his body had entered a very contradictory state.

“Oh my God.” Longjia took the assistant’s towel, wiped his sweat quickly, and threw another one to Huoren: “I made two or three mistakes in my gestures and steps just now.”

“It’s not a big deal.” The assistant helped Huoren wipe the wet sweat on his hair with a smile: “Most of the audience here were watching with excitement, that means that they will still applaud and support you even if you sing out of tune. In fact, they’re very nice.”

Huoren gasped for breath after a long time and turned to see the performance behind him.

“Can I keep watching for some time?”

“Of course, you can do it there, at the end of the audience.” The assistant pointed to the reserved position not far away: “Uncle Jiang encouraged this kind of learning. Before, some trainees refused to go but, finally, they went back to the company at two o’clock in the middle of the night.”

Huoren nodded in amazement. He was still sweating.

Those were his qianbei who haven’t debuted yet.

His ambition suddenly began to grow and sprout, burning together in the uncontrollable panic.

If one day, I stand on a bigger stage.

If one day, I have my own work and dance my own dance.

It wasn’t a matter of only exposing himself to the world, but doing it to the point that even his silhouette was about to be virtualized.

Is it possible that even my blood will scream like boiling water?

Longjia took a bus home in advance. Huoren chose to sit down and watch the stage with other qianbei.

Although it wasn’t a formal performance here, large and small companies that had ties with SPF will also send reserve forces to practice water testing.

The young man concentrated on watching one group after another on the stage. In the end, he simply didn’t remember their names, and constantly observed and analyzed the immediate response of the audience.

Three hours passed in the blink of an eye, and abundant control group information entered his brain like a transcribed video.

It turned out that different combinations meant own styles.

Everyone in a group will have a role.

There was such a long gap between the someone who debuted and a trainee.

He gradually could see the difference between the advantages and disadvantages of different performances. He waved his arms to the beat because of the excellent performers, completely relaxed and integrated into the high atmosphere they gave, like a sponge absorbing and enriching madly, and took a panoramic view of the smallest details.

He looked at the qianbei who were likely to compete with him on the same stage in the future, and the light from the huge spotlight on them. More and more detailed thoughts flowed like a river into his brain.

Then he suddenly knew the answer.

Where the idol was, the light followed.

They didn’t need a lamp nor need to please any believer.

They were worth being loved by all and being viewed by the whole world.

They were perfect like a statue.