While the other three classes were tense and anxious about the 48-hour time limit, the seven trainees in Class A were each calmer than the last.
Even Xue Mingzhu and Wen Xinyi, who had almost zero dance foundation, only frowned a little and didn’t raise any questions.
Lin Qifeng continued, “48 hours later, you will enter the assessment area one by one and perform the entire theme song in front of the camera. The other three mentors and I will be watching from the next room and scoring you.”
“Your final scores will affect your positioning in the theme song MV shoot. The highest scorer will take the center position, what you often call the C position.”
Lin Qifeng scanned the room. “Now, do you have any questions?”
Zhou Zilin was the first to raise his hand. “Teacher Lin, during these 48 hours, are we supposed to learn the theme song on our own?”
“Most of the time will be self-study. Later, the projector will play the full singing and dancing video of the theme song. The remote is on the table; you can freely adjust the speed and progress.”
He added, “Over these two days, professional teachers will be arranged to conduct dance and vocal lessons for you. The four of us mentors will also randomly visit the training rooms for spot checks. I can’t help you much with dance, but if you have any questions about vocals, feel free to ask.”
Zhou Zilin nodded seriously. “Understood! Thank you, teacher.”
“If there are no other questions, then get moving.” Lin Qifeng’s expression was stern. “You, Class A, shouldn’t need me to worry too much.”
His gaze swept over the faces of the seven boys, pausing for a second on the boy at the far left, before he looked away. “I’m looking forward to your performances. Don’t let the other classes outperform you.”
Yan Wenbing smiled. “Don’t worry, Teacher, we’ll work hard.”
After Lin Qifeng left, Zhou Zilin, as the senior with over a decade of debut experience, successfully gained control of the remote.
He first played the theme song [next!next!] once at normal speed on the projector, then started replaying and pausing it at 0.2x speed. He took the initiative to stand in the center of the front row, leading the other six Class A trainees in breaking down the moves and learning the dance.
Perhaps to accommodate the varying dance levels of the 101 trainees, the choreography for this song was relatively simple.
For those with solid foundations like Zhou Zilin and Yan Qiao, watching it two or three times was enough to remember the main moves. Following along five or six more times allowed them to replicate the entire dance.
But for Wen Xinyi and Xue Mingzhu, keeping up with the learning speed of this group of experts was truly bullying.
“Wait…Are all of you perverts?!”
Xue Mingzhu plopped down on the floor, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his hand. His collar was completely soaked, and sweat dripped down his cheeks, feeling chilly under the blast of the training room’s air conditioner.
He glared at the few people dancing in front of the mirror wall, following the music’s beat. “It’s only been one morning, and you’ve already memorized all the moves? You’re already dancing to the original music speed?”
‘Damn it, is the gap between people who can dance and those who can’t this big?!’
Quentin had just finished the final ending pose. A towel for wiping sweat hung around his neck. He picked up two bottles of mineral water from the table, turned, and walked towards Xue Mingzhu.
With a flick of his wrist, he tossed a water bottle towards Xue Mingzhu.
The latter caught it, instinctively said thanks, then twisted off the cap and gulped down half the bottle in one go: “….Ha, it’s so refreshing when it’s ice-cold.”
This mineral water brand was one of the [NS] sponsors. Being savvy, Xue Mingzhu raised the bottle towards the camera as if toasting, and unleashed a rapid-fire string of promotional lines with his rapper’s super-fast tongue.
He thought lazily, ‘Quentin even looks cool throwing a bottle; the director will definitely include this in the main episode. I might as well grab the sponsor mention.’
Xue Mingzhu tightened the bottle cap and looked up to see Quentin’s expressionless face. His throat caught: “……What’s wrong? You’ve already learned it, why do you have a long face? You’re not happy even though you danced so well?”
His standards are way too strict. In Xue Mingzhu’s own aesthetic opinion, Quentin was definitely the best dancer among the seven in their Class A!
Especially that face. Tsk, it added so many points.
The wake-up time set by the program was too early; most trainees didn’t have time for makeup and styling.
A few image-conscious trainees frantically found time to apply face masks and BB cream, but Xue Mingzhu had overslept. He barely made it to the training room on time, so how could he have spare time for that?
Besides, he wasn’t used to slathering stuff on his face anyway. He was naturally fair-skinned with great complexion, never broke out, and didn’t get dark circles even after all-nighters.
His bare face was even more pleasing to look at than with makeup.
He could tell Quentin had also come to class without any makeup. Compared to others with their dark under-eye circles, puffy eyes, and dull complexions, Quentin’s facial condition was just too perfect.
Xue Mingzhu clutched the water bottle, thinking deeply, ‘Hmm, he’s only a little bit handsomer than me.’
This guy made a simple white top and red pants sportswear look like an international trendy brand. He stood out from the trainees who had just washed their faces and rushed to the training room. It felt like he could turn a corner and immediately shoot a promotional poster.
The completion of fashion really depends on the face.
To better observe the leg movements, Quentin had rolled up his left pants leg to below the knee and secured it with the pin used for his name tag.
It was at this moment Xue Mingzhu made a shocking discovery…
Quentin actually had No! Leg! Hair!
How could a man have no leg hair?!
‘Ha. Did he shave it off on purpose……Pfft, that does seem like something Quentin would do.’
On the surface, a cold, aloof, unapproachable handsome guy, but privately prefers wearing silk sleep robes that barely cover his chest, his suitcase full of flashy clothes and all kinds of trendy, rheumatism-inducing accessories, and now he even shaves his leg hair completely clean?
Ah! How could he be the serious, cold, and aloof person he appears to be?
He’s truly a deep-hidden sultry person.
Quentin didn’t know he had inadvertently taken the blame for the system.
He sat down cross-legged beside Xue Mingzhu, holding a water bottle in one hand and using the towel around his neck to wipe his face with the other. Through the towel, he mumbled, “It’s okay, I guess. I just roughly memorized the moves.”
Xue Mingzhu: “…You memorized all the moves in one morning. May I ask what you’re still dissatisfied with?”
Quentin was, of course, dissatisfied. Memorizing all the moves and actually dancing well were two completely different things. He needed to polish the details in front of the mirror dozens of times before the assessment.
Most importantly, it wasn’t until just now, when he and Yan Qiao stood in front of the mirror and danced the entire song in sync, that Quentin vaguely realized something was off.
—A singer’s stage and an idol boy group’s stage are different.
Exactly how they were different, Quentin couldn’t quite describe it.
Perhaps singers primarily move the audience with their voices, while boy group idols rely more on a combination of voice, body, expression management, and overall performance?
Quentin suddenly remembered the grade evaluation given by the system earlier; his stage presence rating was B.
If one were to define stage presence by boy group idol standards…the emotional impact of the singing, the explosiveness of the dance, the emotional tension of expression management; none of these could be lacking.
Besides that, external factors like stage design, backup dancers, and styling were also crucial.
Holding the water bottle, Quentin intently watched Yan Qiao dance and gradually realized where his own shortcomings lay.
Expression management.
He had never deliberately practiced this thing before.
In his previous life, for shooting music videos and brand commercials, Quentin had proactively taken a few acting lessons.
But they ended up being unused, because every director who shot his MVs never required him to make rich expressions of happiness, anger, sadness, or joy in front of the camera.
As long as his face was present, and his eyes glanced at the lens, the directors and photographers’ inspiration would burst forth. He could perfectly handle even the most exaggerated styling and sets.
In fact, most directors hoped Quentin would appear even colder on camera, a sharp, piercing coldness, staring into the lens like a beast desperate for food.
The strong sense of aggression and desire overflowing from those jade-green eyes; the more fierce and domineering, the more it delighted and satisfied them.
Regarding this, Quentin was perplexed but respectful and supportive.
Actually, in his previous life, it wasn’t that he never wrote sweet songs; it’s just that those songs happened not to have MVs filmed. Naturally, he wasn’t required to dress in sweet, cute styles, nor did he need to show bright, cheerful smiles in front of the camera.
Moreover, this style of male star wasn’t very popular in the West, where the mainstream aesthetic favored tough, muscular men. Quentin’s handsome, delicate looks were already considered an anomaly.
The song [next!next!], from its musical style to its lyrics, exuded the aura of youthful boys.
Sunny and cheerful, both sweet and cool…this was the style most trainees displayed when performing the theme song, and it was also the theoretical standard answer.
By that measure, Yan Qiao was a level above the average trainee. He integrated facial expressions with body movements and blended in a distinct personal style, gradually presenting a kind of handsome that was both charming and suave.
To put it more bluntly, it was a “charming bad-boy” vibe.
The more Quentin watched, the more he felt Yan Qiao’s comfort zone should be love song dance performances.
In contrast, “love songs” were an area Quentin rarely ventured into.
The reason was simple: he had no theoretical experience, nor any personal experience. The most profound “love” he could recall was nauseatingly disgusting.
He wouldn’t deliberately avoid the topic of “love” in his creations because of it, but he also wouldn’t actively write love songs.
However, on Valentine’s Day when he was 22, while surfing the internet, Quentin accidentally saw a big fan @ him on Instagram.
[Quentin_QQsugar]: Celebrities all over the world are sending hearts / doing hand dance challenges / singing love songs / ……Only QT is nowhere to be seen all year round TT
I cried for 13 hours, broke down 1314 times, hit the wall 521 times, cut my hand 21 times.
It’s okay, it’s fine if you don’t show your face [crying] but I miss you so much, I hallucinated three times on the bed, slapped myself 99 times, and felt like I was dying once. I just woke up and found the sky so dark, then I broke down again. QT where are you? I really miss you …………………
@昆廷Quentin, baby, sing a love song [praying] please, this is my lifelong request [wronged]
Quentin, who was lying on the sofa struggling with his new song at the time, silently gave the fan a like, then immediately switched to the recording interface and simply covered a segment of a popular little love song before posting it on TikTok.
In less than half an hour, the video, featuring only a black background with white scrolling lyrics, shot to over a million likes.
It even incidentally made it to the top of World Trending Topics, flaunting its presence and firmly suppressing all the influencers and celebrities who were announcing relationships or showing off affection that day. Anyone who saw it couldn’t help but sigh, “Quentin is amazing.”
After that, Quentin would end every concert by singing a love song dedicated to his fans.
He wasn’t expressionless; he wouldn’t sing a love song with a cold face. But aside from the emotion in his voice, the expression on his face……seemed, perhaps, indeed like……it didn’t change much.
He doesn’t really have facial paralysis, right?
“I’m not going to the cafeteria for lunch later. Quentin, are you going? If you are, could you grab some food for me? I’ll get yours tonight.”
Xue Mingzhu shifted his gaze from the 0.2x speed video projection and turned to see Quentin, who had his head lowered, raising both hands to rub his face.
His voice caught in his throat: “You…”
Quentin glanced at him: “?”
“……Ahem! Ahem!”
Xue Mingzhu snapped back to reality and cleared his throat. “Or how about this: I’ll make a trip later and bring back food for both of us. After eating, I’ll follow your lead and learn the dance?”
He shuffled his buttocks closer to Quentin. “Hey, have you even memorized the lyrics already? You’re the fastest in our class! What 48 hours? I think you could pass the assessment in 24h!”
His left eye spelled “Brother is a noob,” and his right eye spelled “Big boss, please carry me,” completely forgetting how he had boasted in the makeup room during their first meeting yesterday about taking Quentin under his wing.
Every field has its masters, no matter how arrogant he was, he wouldn’t presumptuously treat dancing like rapping. Being real was important; frankly admitting his weaknesses wasn’t embarrassing at all.
Quentin nodded indifferently: “……Xue Mingzhu, have you practiced expression management before?”
He changed the topic abruptly and Xue Mingzhu was stunned: “Uh…What?”
Xue Mingzhu processed it for two seconds, then suddenly realized what Quentin had been doing earlier when he was vigorously rubbing his face.
“Pfft!”
He laughed out loud: “What, you care about that! There’s no need, right? What expression could you make that wouldn’t look good?”
Halfway through his laugh, he abruptly remembered that Quentin, while sitting here resting just now, seemed to have been constantly observing the other trainees dancing: “……Wait, you aren’t thinking of learning from Yan Qiao, are you?”
When it came to expression management, the most eye-catching among the remaining Class A trainees was Yan Qiao.
Even if Xue Mingzhu disliked him, he had to admit the guy was really strong, he was strong in all aspects, and well-rounded.
The only slightly weaker area was rap.
But among so many trainees, Xue Mingzhu was the only professional rapper. Of course, he judged the others by rapper standards, and Yan Qiao was undoubtedly not up to par in his eyes.
So far, no one was qualified, including Quentin. Xue Mingzhu had initially been attracted to his voice, and after the initial stage performance, he was even more impressed, thus concluding that Quentin was very suitable for rapping.
But he hadn’t heard Quentin’s rap yet; he estimated it was probably just average. If he were really good at it, he would have shown it off proactively.
Xue Mingzhu quickly glanced at Yan Qiao, who was still practicing diligently in front of the mirror, and lowered his voice: “Really? Why learn from him? His expression management is quite professional, but your styles are different. Are you really going to learn his flashy tricks?”
He really couldn’t imagine Quentin winking and flirting for the camera, showing off like a peacock like Yan Qiao did…It was too OOC!
Quentin said frankly: “It’s not exactly learning from him, but he gave me some inspiration. I’m indeed not doing well enough in this aspect.”
One big difference between a boy group stage and a singer’s stage is that the amount of lyrics each member gets is limited.
Excluding the chorus parts, in a seven-member group, the average number of lines each person gets individually is only 2 to 3 sentences.
Singing was no longer a weapon Quentin could hold in his hand at all times, so he must possess the ability to attract the audience even when not singing.
Dance could be gradually improved by spending time in the practice room; he had a foundation and talent in that area, and the only thing lacking was time.
But expression management…
That was a real field of study.
You have to reflect strong enough emotions onto your facial expressions to show captivating tension, right?
Quen-EmotionallyStable-HeartLikeStill Water-Ting fell into deep thought.
“I’m going to the restroom.”
He brushed off Xue Mingzhu’s hand resting on his shoulder, stood up, and quickly walked towards the door.
*
Yanhai University, a certain girls’ dormitory.
A girl sitting at her desk, racking her brains in front of her computer, slammed her mouse in frustration and scratched her head vigorously: “Ahhh! This stupid question bank is torture! I’ve gone through it 10 times and still haven’t scored over ninety! Just how many questions are in this bank?!”
Her roommate behind her, wearing a headset around her neck, was calmly browsing a forum with her legs crossed, and said casually: “I heard they’re over 8,000 questions. It’s okay, just go through it a few more times. It’ll be quick.”
Wei Man turned around resentfully, resting both hands on the back of her chair: “Tongtong, you’ve finished all your homework? How are you so free? I’m jealous!”
“Mhm, be jealous, be boldly jealous.” Mi Tong smiled and waved her phone at her, “I’m patrolling the discussion group for you and looking at the new material of Quentin! Oh, look at this little face, take a look. My collection folder is already full of chibi drawings of Quentin~”
She feigned a sigh of regret: “It’s a pity you don’t have time to mess with these for now. I pre-ordered a few acrylic keychains too. I’ll let you touch them when the delivery arrives.”
Wei Man banged on the chair in anger: “I! Refuse! Same! Stan!”
Mo Fan, who was lying on the adjacent bed reading a book, curiously lifted her curtain: “Quentin? Who’s that? I heard you two discussing him last night…Is he a member of BKL’s upcoming seventh-generation group?”
She remembered Mi Tong had been closely following that new boy group’s news.
Wei Man shook her head repeatedly: “Of course not. Fan, have you been completely offline recently, buried in the library? The [NS] survival show is so popular, haven’t you heard anything about it?”
Mo Fan blinked confusedly: “[NS]?”
Mi Tong explained: “The first domestic boy group survival show [Next Stage], you can think of it as the second season of last year’s [SQ] girl group survival show.”
Mo Fan: “Ah…I see. So who is Quentin?”
“He’s the undisputed visual among the 101 trainees on [NS]!”
Wei Man stood up abruptly, enthusiastically promoting: “He’s a super super super super….handsome mixed-race guy! Mo Fan, quickly go search for his name on the forum! I’ve never seen this level of visual before, more exquisite than a 3D model, really super explosively good-looking!”
Mo Fan looked skeptical and muttered quietly: “Really? So exaggerated.”
Mi Tong added quietly from the side: “It’s true. Go search. You’ll like him.”
Everyone in their dorm knew Mo Fan had an older brother who was a recently graduated campus male god, so most male celebrities in the entertainment industry simply couldn’t catch Mo Fan’s eye.
Even the visual members of the boy groups Mi Tong used to follow would at most earn a faint “not bad-looking” from Mo Fan.
But this time, Mi Tong was certain that Quentin’s face would definitely pique Mo Fan’s interest.
Her gaze swept over Mo Fan’s desk, landing on the row of bjd dolls sitting on the bookshelf. They had different hair colors, but all had gem-like green eyes.
It was obvious that Mo Fan’s xp was slender-waisted, long-legged, handsome guys with abs, fair skin, and beautiful green eyes.
Lying on her bed, Mo Fan, strongly recommended by her roommates, took out her phone, slowly clicked into the forum, and typed “Quentin”.
The search bar was filled with recommended search terms. Without looking closely, she directly clicked on the first one. The top hot post contained a video of just over thirty seconds.
Mo Fan casually clicked play. A seductive late-night atmosphere BGM instantly blared from her phone at full volume.
She was startled and hurriedly turned the volume down, but found her gaze caught by the black-haired boy kneeling beside a suitcase in the center of the screen, and her heartbeat skipped a beat.
The person who edited the video really knew what they were doing. Every zoomed-in, slow-motion close-up focused on various subtle details.
The Adam’s apple moving slightly when speaking, the clear collarbones not fully hidden by the loose collar, the faint muscle lines glimpsed from the collar when leaning over to pack the suitcase, the slender fingers hooking the suitcase strap…
And that face…it didn’t need any close-ups to easily lock the viewer’s attention.
Mo Fan unconsciously held her breath, concentrating intently on the palm-sized phone screen, not even noticing she had pressed the volume button to zero, quietly watching the entire video.
Wei Man and Mi Tong at their desks instantly knew which video Mo Fan was watching the moment they heard the BGM.
They exchanged a knowing glance, subtle unspoken smiles in each other’s eyes.
Sigh, how about that, what a coincidence.
Right off the bat, she clicked on the discussion group’s masterpiece with 500k views. Every glance towards the camera was both bewitching and enticing, so charming it made your scalp tingle. In just thirty seconds, it taught you how to sincerely shout “husband”!
The video ended quickly. Mo Fan started scrolling through the comments section, silently liking each comment full of rainbow farts below.
Wei Man asked with a grin: “Mo Fan, Mo Fan, what do you think? Isn’t he handsome!”
“Mmm..”
Mo Fan responded quietly, then thought to herself: ‘How can someone have such light green eyes?’
And he’s mixed-race too.
Data shows that green eyes account for 1% to 2% of the global population, a rare color second only to amber pupils. Light green eyes are even rarer, accounting for only 0.3%, mainly concentrated in Northern Europe, Central Europe, and other regions.
But just from the video, Quentin’s green eyes had already transcended the simple category of “light green.”
They were simply too beautiful, not like a real person, more like a legendary treasured piece of jade from an ancient imperial collection displayed alone in a glass case at a museum.
Wei Man continued to ask mischievously: “Mo Fan, who’s more handsome, Quentin or your brother?”
They hadn’t seen a photo of Mo Fan’s brother, only heard Mo Fan describe his looks and how popular he had been since childhood. He did sound like a campus male-god level handsome guy.
And Mo Fan herself was very pretty. She wasn’t the type to exaggerate. Wei Man believed Mo Fan’s brother was handsome, but Mo Fan always used phrases like “still not as handsome as my brother” when commenting on the celebrities Wei Man liked.
Wei Man couldn’t refute it, because her aesthetic….ahem, was indeed not very mainstream T^T
Compared to those standard handsome guys who looked like retouched photos, Wei Man preferred unique, atmospheric handsome guys. To put it bluntly, ones who might not look good in stills but looked very handsome in motion, full of vitality.
Moreover, she admired the strong, preferring her idol’s skills more than his face.
For example, the BKL trainee Yan Qiao, whom she spotted at a glance when the [NS] official photos were announced last week, perfectly satisfied all her previous idol-chasing aesthetic criteria.
Of course, if the face was as divine as Quentin’s level……skills or whatever, Wei Man could overlook them a little.
Growth/raising tropes are also very appealing! QT was only seventeen, the future was promising!
Most importantly, she could finally proudly puff out her chest and boast extravagantly about her idol’s beauty to others!
Finally, she no longer had to endure constant ridicule from rival fans saying things like “really hungry,” “get something better,” “inflating the price of pigs,” “filter 800 meters thick,” “who is chasing ugly guys…”
Every time she argued with those idiots, she got so angry she felt like having a stroke.
Damn it! Tasteless things! Can’t you respect aesthetic diversity?! In her eyes, her bias was the number one handsome in the world, even the most handsome man couldn’t compare!
Wei Man waited five seconds before hearing a soft “Quentin is more handsome” come from behind the tightly closed bed curtain.
She immediately felt content and collapsed onto the desk.
Sigh, this emperor has no regrets in this life.
After that, Mo Fan fell silent, probably lying in bed frantically browsing the forum.
Wei Man went back to dealing with the question bank and didn’t pay much attention anymore.
She took out her tablet, plugged in her earphones, clicked into the live stream of a study-focused streamer she followed, and began immersive learning.
This streamer was named Yu Qiqi. She had nearly 200k followers on the forum, and was a postgraduate sister with a gentle voice and very pretty hands.
The rule of her live stream room was to reward herself with seven minutes of slacking off for every half hour of study. When Wei Man entered the stream, she had just finished the previous study session and was chatting with the barrage while organizing a playlist on her computer’s light music interface.
“By the way, I found a really nice song yesterday. It’s very suitable for babies studying for exams or preparing for civil service exams or postgraduate entrance exams.”
Yu Qiqi moved her mouse: “I remember it’s a new song, the author is also new, but the lyrics are written very well. I almost cried listening to it in bed last night.”
The girl looked at the barrage with smiling, curved eyes: “Really, I’m not tricking you, it’s not an exaggeration at all. Wait a moment, I’ll play it for you now.”
