Grooming to the Fullest Potential
This was the canteen. They were not wearing mics and there were no cameras either. Ding Liuyue didn’t need to care about her image. Therefore, she expressed her full dissatisfaction with Meng Fu without any reservation.
It seemed that very few people in the entire training camp liked Meng Fu. She was perceived as a burden that would bring disaster to any team that she was on.
“Liuyue?” Wei Jin stared at Ding Liuyue’s back as she left.
Wei Jin turned towards Meng Fu and explained, “She’s not like that normally. The timing is very tight this time. We have to hand in the finalized song and dance to the mentors by tomorrow. And she’s the only composer on our team. Don’t let it get to you.”
It was the second day of the closed-door training. They only had a week to compose the song and practice it for the public performance. Everyone would likely get less than five hours of sleep per day.
Meng Fu took a sip of milk. She merely glanced at Wei Jin and Chu Yue when she heard this. “Please feel free to tell me how I can help.”
Seeing that Meng Fu did not seem cross, Wei Jin heaved a sigh of relief. “Sure.”
Both Wei Jin and Chu Yue did not take Meng Fu seriously when she said that she wanted to help. To them, staying cooperative and serious about training was the greatest help Meng Fu could be. The performance relied on the effort of the entire team, not just individuals.
Although she detected a patronizing tone in Wei Jin’s words, Meng Fu did not explain further. She merely raised her eyebrows and smiled. Until now, these two people had trusted Ding Liuyue unconditionally. This was probably the youngster’s belief in friendship. They would dash forward in the journey of life courageously and fearlessly until they ended up bleeding and badly bruised.
**
The private room on the second floor of the canteen was where the mentors and the crew had their meals.
Holding onto a plate of bread and salad, Xi Nancheng sat at the table near the window and began eating. The other crew members cast furtive glances at him but none of them dared to disturb him.
Clang.
Someone put down the dinner plate on his table and sat opposite him.
Xi Nancheng looked up and saw a middle-aged man. He politely greeted him. “Director Mu.”
The person in front of him was none other than Director Mu, the Chief Director of the “Best Idol” show. He was responsible for the local area’s contest.
“How’s the quality of this batch?” slurping his beef noodles, Director Mu looked up and asked Xi Nancheng.
As soon as he said this, Xi Nancheng thought of someone and frowned. “It’s inconsistent.”
Upon hearing this, Director Mu coughed. He was aware that Xi Nancheng had flared up at Meng Fu before. He was the one who had come forward to resolve the conflict.
Director Mu suddenly found himself at a loss for words. He immediately steered away from the topic to his purpose of looking for Xi Nancheng. “Nancheng, I won’t beat around the bush anymore. Do you think anyone from this cohort is up to performing on the “Global Idol” show?”
After the winners of the “Best Idol” formed a six-member band, they would participate in the recording of “Global Idol” together with members from four other countries. The program had been ongoing for many years. However, the local members had never been able to pass the audition stage.
The quality of the local boy and girl bands was too poor and none of them could make it to the international stage. As a result, for many years, audience at home and abroad had ridiculed the local competitions.
This year, the “Best Idol” show in China almost failed to proceed.
“Uncle Mu, we have the lowest viewership amongst the four countries in the competition. Isn’t the problem obvious?” Xi Nancheng glanced at Director Mu.
His father was a family friend of Director Mu. Otherwise, he would not have agreed to participate in the “Best Idol” show this time. The quality of this show was merely average in China.
“I’ll be frank with you. I signed a bet-on agreement, betting that some of our contestants would be able to enter the “Global Idol” this time.” Director Mu tapped his finger on the table and thought for a long time. “Do you think there are any good seedlings for “Global Idol” this time?”
A bet-on agreement was a common type of agreement in the entertainment industry. Although it was termed as “betting,” the nature of the agreement was in fact similar to options. Director Mu had signed a bet-on agreement with investors. If someone from the girl band entered “Global Idol”, he would be able to get investor funding. If this condition was not met, he would not receive any funding. Instead, he and the program would suffer a huge loss. This was not a trivial matter and Director Mu had bared his heart to him. Xi Nancheng finally realized that Director Mu was not joking.
Holding onto the whole-wheat bread, he stared at Director Mu seriously for a long time before finally replying, “There may be one.”
“Tell me,” Director looked at him.
Xi Nancheng put down his bread and enunciated his every word. “Ye Shuning.”
Director Mu heaved a sigh of relief. “We think alike. Over the course of this month, you and the other three mentors are to focus all resources on Ye Shuning and groom her to her fullest potential.”
Ye Shuning was not only popular, she was also a well rounded trainee who was good in several aspects. She was the only one who was able to keep up with the top three trainees from Country H. If the four mentors of the program were to go all out in grooming her for stardom, she might be selected for the “Global Idol” show.
The moment Xi Nancheng received this task, the toast in his hand became very heavy.
**
In the training room.
Xi Nancheng gathered Chu Yue and the rest of the team to demonstrate the dance choreography to them.
During the training period, the mentors would come by to check on the trainees’ progress. Tang Ze came yesterday and Xi Nancheng was here today to guide their dance moves. Xi Nancheng was well qualified to be a mentor. Be it the strength or details of the moves, he could demonstrate them very well.
Meng Fu remembered the moves after Xi Nancheng demonstrated them once. She then faced the mirror and practiced body posture. Meng Fu had never learned to dance before but she had enrolled in courses to strengthen her physique. There were quite a variety of courses. Therefore, she was able to carry out the difficult moves demonstrated by Xi Nancheng consistently. However, she looked slightly strange and stiff.
Meng Fu was used to fighting and killing. Therefore, she had to try to get used to these performing movements without any lethality.
She had read up many books about this. At last, she summarized her current shortcomings, picked out her problems, and decided to start working on her form and flexibility. At the very least, she had to restrain her murderous aura.
After Xi Nancheng corrected Chu Yue’s and the others’ mistakes, he was ready to leave to attend to another team. When he turned his head, he saw Meng Fu holding onto a paper and writing something at the other side of the room. She then picked up a call with her cell phone.
Xi Nancheng took a brief glance at Meng Fu. He could accept someone who was not very talented. For example, Wei Jin didn’t have a good dance foundation but she put in 10 times the effort that others did to make up for it. Meng Fu was neither talented nor diligent and Nancheng could not bring himself to appreciate her as a result.
“Let’s go,” Xi Nancheng said to another mentor.
The other mentor had heard about Meng Fu. When he walked past her table, he looked down as he was curious about what she had been writing. “I heard she was reading a book about pigs the last time…”
Before he could finish his words, he was taken aback by the contents of the paper.