Chapter 26.2

“Hello, teachers. I’m Huoren, number 12.”

The boy bowed deeply and remembered to look at the central camera.

“Today, my report time is a total of ten minutes, which is divided into three parts: Piano solo, singing while dancing performance, and playing the guitar while singing.”

When he finished saying this, not only several teachers narrowed their eyes, but also some people under the stage began to make a commotion.

They knew that the child’s learning ability was amazing, but they didn’t expect him to reach this level in just six months.

Moreover, the arrangement of the program was also very ambitious – the piano was not placed in the middle as a buffer, but connected to the guitar after the singing while dancing.

Huoren sat beside the grand piano, raised his fingers and started playing the keys, relaxing his expression and breath.

Haydn’s Sonata in G major, first movement.

At the beginning, the sound of the piano was scattered and jumping, like a white deer wandering in the forest.

After a sudden pause, the pace became more and more light and detailed.

The teen had a very professional posture relaxation, breathing and making his body up and down.

The fingers of the left and right hands began to increase the difficulty, intermittently testing the rapid mobilization of the brain nerves to different fingers.

The stability of his wrist didn’t look like a beginner at all.

He was neither too stiff nor excessive force that made the piano sound loud and rough.

Huoren couldn’t be too relaxed or the notes would become idle and weak.

It was relaxed and smooth, and even the retraction and release of fingertip strength seemed to have been accurately calculated.

Playing the piano wasn’t just about mastering musical instruments.

That reflected the player’s sense of music and rhythm, and even the compatibility between him and the art itself.

Huoren had achieved the degree of no mistakes, which had exceeded everyone’s imagination.

Uncle Jiang listened quietly, wearing sunglasses. His sitting posture was no different from that of the ones in the previous talks.

In the second row, a teacher couldn’t help but ask Mige quietly, “What did you teach him? How fast did he learn?”

Mige shook his head. “I couldn’t have taught him that.”

Chi Ji listened to the sound of the piano from a distance, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, smiling with pride.

After the track of level 5 difficulty was played perfectly, he got up and walked to the stage with his eyes briefly meeting with Pei Ruye’s.

The jazz music sounded in the audience, and the classical atmosphere of the previous second was disturbed.

The rapid drum started to beat, and the boy raised his hands and began to dance alone.

At the same time, he was still singing perfectly.

His breath was controlled, retracted and released freely, and his dance steps bounced strongly and had a strong sense of power.

Moreover, those eyes he had. They were like a blade, like a white wolf, like everything with a sharp edge in this world.

The little tear mole was tricking everyone into letting their guards down and tempting them.

Pei Ruye sat on Uncle Jiang’s right side and smiled in silence for a long time.

It was as if he had finally compromised with him.

At the end of the dance, the guitar was handed over to Huoren.

The people under the stage were on fire.

There were seven or eight trainees who acknowledged that they had no room for comparison, and they didn’t pay attention when it was time to clap.

——He’s too strong. Who can do this?!

Who is better to qualify to enter Corona than him?!

In terms of stage presence, comprehensive ability and growth speed, no one here can be his opponent!

Huoren was still sweating on his forehead and neck, but his breathing had been leveled and controlled.

He adjusted the position of the tone change clip and said to the microphone, “the next song was composed by me.”

There was an uproar under the stage. Someone’s mouth was almost O-shaped.

—How did you do that alone?!

—Dude, how could you have done all that in the past six months?!!

Are we really in the hands of the same company and the same teacher!!!

“Thank all my friends and teachers for their care in the music arrangement, reverberation, harmony, soundtrack and so on.” Huoren looked at the countless blazing eyes and bowed again.

“The name of this song is meeting by mistake.”

He plucked the string with his hands, and changed from a swaggering teenager dancing hot to a gentle and restrained one. He had switched so fast.

While breathing lightly, Huoren opened his mouth.

“Do you remember… The gray pigeon?”

When he first sang, even Teacher Zhong, who was in charge of teaching vocal music on Uncle Jiang’s left, suddenly changed his look.

He remembered clearly that the boy was singing like a robot for three or four months.

In terms of skills, it was easy to get through at one point. Whether it was the breathing method or the details, it could be fixed in about a week, but he still had no emotion.

—However, today, Huoren was completely different.

Zhong Fengyu was an established lecturer, and because he had so many students to look after, he couldn’t tell him about these things in detail from an academy’s perspective.

Nobody knew who had taught Huoren the art of fairly simple roughness, which was entirely useful at this time and place.

Kill the so-called narrative.

The song itself was very storytelling, and the lyrics were half-sang and half-talked.

It was like pulling Huoren close to the audience, mesmerizing them into the play, and entering the performing role for a second.

Also, he conquered everyone with the character’s overflowing emotions.

“Being very close, even our shoulders were touching, it was all wrong…”

The last two words are repeated as if they were difficult to say.

Xie Lianyun sat there, watching him playing the guitar and singing, his knuckles following the beat for him unconsciously.

The performance was so good.

The piano and bass guitar were arranged with the help of Bo Jue and Longjia, and the mixtape was cut and modified by him until 2 a.m. yesterday.

The music was resonating and overflowing. The emotions were conveyed to each person’s heart.

It was really scary because there wasn’t a single flaw.

When the last note faded, it had been exactly ten minutes.

Huoren got up, put his guitar down and said earnestly, “Thank you for your consideration, teachers and colleagues. This is the end of my presentation performance.”

He walked down the stage to the applause and was at peace.

He felt as if he was finally being acknowledged.

-2-

The results would come out on the 16th.

That day, Huoren was making up his sleep. He slept from 8 p.m. to 10 a.m. The previous day, he had drunk too much.

He was trapped in his sheets as if he were sinking into the deep sea, and his breathing became weak and shallow.

When sleeping, Huoren didn’t do anything in his dream. Even his subconscious was sleepy and fell asleep.

At 10:00 pm, Longjia came back from dinner and felt his breath and pulse. Bo Jue came to visit the door twice in the evening and morning and almost called the team doctor.

“It’s not as if he were sleeping until his final days.” As he almost pinched Huoren, Longjia was stopped by Xie Lianyun: “He’s still growing up. What’s the matter with making up his sleep?”

“I understand that,” said Bo Jue with a frown. “but he’s been sleeping for almost fourteen hours.”

Huoren moved his fingers like after a long time of being almost in a vegetative state. His limbs were tingling, all numb.

“Did you wake up?” Longjia sat by the bed and poked him in the face: “Was there a pretty girl in your sleep?”

Huoren sat up vaguely holding the edge of the bed, and his voice was hoarse.

“What time is it?”

“Ten in the morning.” Xie Lianyun said, “You overslept and didn’t go to class.”

Huoren jumped out of bed and rushed to the door. Xie Lianyun caught him and threw him back into the quilt.

“Sleeping made you stupid.” Yun-ge said coolly, “Today’s 16th, there’s no class.”

Huoren’s sleepy hair had curls and said, “did the result come out?”

“Not yet. You have a video interview at two o’clock in the afternoon. Wash your face quickly.”

The interview was no joke. It seems that the headquarters of the company had arranged for someone to come. It was said that all 20 trainees, including Mei Shengyao, had to record it again, and a special person was responsible for recording, shooting and interviewing.

On the way to make-up, Huoren thought of his performance yesterday. He thought he was sure about it, but now he felt a little down.

He made blind and disorderly conjectures on the toilet stool for an hour, the mascara was almost stuck to his eyes.

“It’s almost time.” The male makeup artist said: “I have to spray some water on your hair, hang on.”

Huoren looked at the mirror and blinked. He tried to use eyeliner to make a tear mole.

“Oh, that is really pretty,” smiled the male makeup artist. “It’s fine as it matches your face.”

He didn’t want to look good, but for some ethereal sense of security.

The interview room wasn’t large. There were lights on the three corners, and a pure blue background was set next to the sofa.

In front of him was Chi Ji, and he could vaguely hear an English conversation.

Huoren leaned against the sofa and waited. He fell asleep again. When he was half asleep, Chi Ji handed him a lemon lollipop: “You waited for a long time.”

The jiejie in charge of the interview was very friendly and remembered to prompt him to look at the camera and answer the questions.

Huoren took part in this kind of interview for the first time, and was more restrained when answering questions related to himself.

Fortunately, he had to talk about living habits, study, hobbies and other things, so it wasn’t difficult.

“Our routine is to invite you to say something yourself ten years later.” The host smiled and said, “relax and talk about anything.”

“Myself in ten years?” Huoren looked at her and then at the camera. He couldn’t talk for a while.

Why does this feel a bit like writing a short composition?

He adjusted his sitting position to the camera and couldn’t help laughing.

“I’m a little nervous, cough. Myself from ten years later, how are you?” He tried to relax himself: “You are 26 at this time. At the age of 26… It should still be the golden age of idols. It’s not the end of it. Now I’m still waiting for the result, and I don’t know if I can join Corona. If I do, I hope it won’t be the end of it after 10 years. I also hope that the six of us will always have a good relationship. When we watch this video ten years later, we will be drinking together with a smile.” Huoren smiled a little embarrassed: “Although I hasn’t met the sixth person yet, he must be very good.”

The host said gently, “that’s what Chi Ji said just now.”

“Hahaha, can this be revealed or is it a spoiler?” Huoren said with a smile, “I knew Xiao Chi liked us.”

I also like each one of you.

“In addition to the expectations of the combination, what do you think of yourself?”

“How to say, I hope I can keep the habit of reading and learning in ten years, and don’t become a boring adult.”

“If you encounter difficulties in the future, what do you want to say to your future self?” Asked the host.

Huoren didn’t expect that he would have to worry about the him of ten years later. He glanced around, borrowed a pen and note, wrote four words and presented it to the camera.

“Be unmoved By Eight Winds“.

His caligraphy had even strokes, which were thin, bold, vigorous and neat.

Words were like human beings, with sharp edges scattered all over them.

“Profit, weak, ruin, reputation.”

“Balanced, ridicule, hardship, happy.”

The boy looked directly at the camera and his voice was gloomy and powerful.

Even his pupils were full of vitality.

“Following four and disobeying four, the eight winds won’t move you. Huoren, don’t forget your heart.”

When the shooting was over, the host also took out a small notebook and smiled to ask him to sign as a souvenir.

“After you become popular, I’m afraid this little book will be a limited edition.” She half joked, “Jiayou, handsome boy!”

Huoren nodded as a thanks and went back to the dormitory along the afternoon sunshine.

The results of the trainees were coming out one after another.

Most of them were selected early in the training, but they were not noticed by other agents on their way.

This was actually quite a good choice, which may be more suitable for their different personal characteristics.

Some of them received elimination messages that night. They started a new training plan according to the previously signed contract, and were ready to continue to accumulate and practice and wait for the next opportunity.

The dormitory building fell into chaos again. Chi Ji and Xie Lianyun complied with the requirements and changed rooms again, looking everywhere for where the earphone dial tuner went.

Bo Jue really gave up packing by himself this time and asked two assistants to help him sort out the five newly bought Russian dolls and the fleshy potted plants on a windowsill.

Longjia leaned against the door and said, “young master Bo loves shopping.”

“I repeat.” Bo Jue said expressionless, “it’s not that I buy a lot of things, but that the location of the dormitory on this floor is too small.”

“Are you moving to another building?” Huoren helped push the box and grabbed a ceramic rabbit that fell off the table.

“To the seventeenth floor.” Bo Jue wink at him: “at that time, the whole floor will be ours. Isn’t it powerful?”

Huoren couldn’t see how powerful that was for the time being.

He waited from the 16th to the 20th, really waiting for the Chinese New Year.

Longjia waited with him for three days. On the last day, he was urged to go back for New Year’s Eve dinner by his family’s call, and almost took Huoren to Lonjia’s house.

Huoren went to the hospital to sit with aunt Lu all afternoon on the day of the Chinese New Year and bought a lot of fruit for doctors and nurses.

When he returned to the company again, he saw a familiar figure standing at the door with a bunch of keys in his hand.

“… Teacher Pei?”

Huoren thought he was wrong and wasn’t sure when that person called him.

“I just wanted to call you.” Pei Ruye was wearing a silver blue windbreaker. His new hairstyle was a popular partial C-type perm in the United States, which was fashionable.

“The first thing is that we have settled your usury. In the future, even if your father has a loan by accident, you don’t need to bear any legal responsibility.”

The boy’s brain was buzzing when he heard this sentence, and he even wanted him to repeat it again.

“This shouldn’t be a surprise. If SPF can’t even handle such a small matter, it couldn’t be in the industry.”

Pei Ruye approached Huoren. At this moment, the silhouette changed back to a simple 19-year-old boy.

“The second thing is… Open your hands.”

Huoren subconsciously stretched out his right hand, and the palm caught a golden key.

“In the future, Corona will be your new home.”

He smiled with his eyes down and his voice was warm and relaxed.

“Happy new year, little one.”