The bus stopped, and the girls got off in front of the entrance to the shared apartment.
The cameraman who had been following them throughout the journey stood outside the entrance, filming each girl as she got off the bus.
The shared apartment was much larger than they had imagined. Its decorations were extravagantly luxurious to the point of being excessive. Immediately inside the entrance was a map divided into several different sections.
Gu Tang secretly nudged Xu Piaopiao with her elbow.
“No wonder it’s ZE Entertainment!”
A major company really was lavish with its money.
“Yes,” Xu Piaopiao nodded repeatedly. When she saw the crowd gathering on the other side, she immediately pulled Gu Tang over.
The woman standing in the middle of the girls was someone Gu Tang knew. Huo Ziyan, a veteran variety-show host.
Although she was a host on a long-running variety show, the previous host had only recently retired, and Huo Ziyan had only been hosting for two years. She had always been a relatively low-profile presence on stage. Gu Tang hadn’t expected her to be so lively and cheerful in private.
“For the next few days of this journey toward becoming a dream girl group, I’ll be accompanying all of you together with the other teachers!” Huo Ziyan clapped her hands to get the attention of the girls who had gotten off the bus later. “Everyone’s here, right?”
There was a girl standing very close beside Huo Ziyan. After looking around, she answered loudly, “Sister Ziyan, everyone’s here!”
Each girl had a name tag stuck around her waist. Gu Tang could clearly see the girl’s name, Lu Yijing, who would later become Lin Yueyue’s good friend.
Gu Tang’s attention was still on Lu Yijing when someone suddenly patted her shoulder. She turned around and saw a familiar face. It was the round-faced girl who had been standing ahead of them in line during the audition, the one called Jiujiu.
“We meet again.” Jiujiu’s eyes curved into crescents.
“The program schedule was already sent to everyone, so I’ll briefly explain the arrangements for these three days. In a moment, everyone will go to the dormitories to put away your things, and this afternoon you can start learning with the teachers.” Huo Ziyan once again drew everyone’s attention.
There were twenty-five people and seven dormitories. Some dormitories had four people, while others had three. The rooms had been assigned according to the order in which they had registered.
Gu Tang, Xu Piaopiao, and Jiujiu were assigned to the same dormitory.
The walls were a soft pink, with a small wooden table and chairs, as well as two small sofas. There was a private bathroom and shower, and the balcony also had good lighting.
Even the two bunk beds had been thoughtfully decorated with some stuffed toys. Because cameras had been installed in the dormitory, there was also a small separate changing room beside them.
“Do you want the top bunk or the bottom bunk?” Xu Piaopiao asked. “I’m a little afraid of heights, so I want the bottom bunk.”
Gu Tang asked Jiujiu, “I’m fine with either. What about you?”
Jiujiu looked a little embarrassed.
“Then, can I sleep alone on the top bunk? I snore a tiny bit, and I’m afraid I’ll disturb you two.”
“That’s fine.” Gu Tang casually found a place to sit. “Then I’ll sleep on the bottom bunk too.”
A set of clothes in a sportswear style had been placed on the beds. They were probably meant to be worn uniformly during practice.
The three had barely sat down when there was a knock on the door.
Lu Yijing came in with Lin Yueyue, smiling brightly.
“Hi~ beauties, we wanted to take a look at your room. Is that okay?”
Gu Tang hadn’t expected the two of them to become close so quickly. They really were the protagonist group.
“Aren’t they all the same?” Gu Tang smiled. “Come in.”
Lu Yijing relaxed and looked around the room, while Lin Yueyue remained shyly standing near the doorway.
For some reason, the moment Lu Yijing entered, Xu Piaopiao, who had originally been relaxed, suddenly became nervous. She kept watching this “intruder,” Lu Yijing.
Gu Tang noticed her nervousness and took another look at her.
Lu Yijing, however, didn’t seem to notice anything. After looking around the room and praising the dormitory, she spotted the stuffed toys on the bed and reached out to pick one up.
“You even have stuffed toys! Your dorm is much better than ours.”
Xu Piaopiao, who was sitting on the sofa, spoke softly.
“That’s my bed.”
Lu Yijing withdrew her hand and looked at Xu Piaopiao.
Xu Piaopiao had somewhat sharp, androgynous features. Combined with her black eye makeup and shoulder-length short hair, she looked like someone who wasn’t easy to mess with. Most ordinary people would probably back off a little to avoid trouble.
However, Lu Yijing was clearly not timid. She gave a light laugh.
“The bed is yours, but the things on it might not necessarily be yours. Aren’t these things provided by the company?”
Xu Piaopiao raised an eyebrow.
“They’re not mine, and they’re certainly not yours.”
Who would have thought that just two or three sentences would already create such a strong smell of gunpowder?
Jiujiu sensed the tense atmosphere and didn’t dare say anything.
Gu Tang, however, was the type who loved watching a spectacle. She grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from the bag she had brought with her and even considerately divided half of them onto the table beside Jiujiu.
Jiujiu: ???
“E-everyone is a trainee, so j-just get along peacefully!” Lin Yueyue pulled Lu Yijing back from behind. “We’re all going to become very, very good friends in the future, so please don’t argue.”
The anger in Lu Yijing’s eyes softened immediately when she saw Lin Yueyue, and her emotions also eased somewhat.
“If someone hadn’t provoked me, I wouldn’t have wanted to get involved in something like this in the first place. Yueyue, I’ll listen to you.”
Lin Yueyue was surrounded by a sacred, pure aura, and Lu Yijing had already been purified by it.
Xu Piaopiao snorted.
Gu Tang: …
Gu Tang put the sunflower seeds back into her bag.
After calming Lu Yijing down, Lin Yueyue walked lightly over to Xu Piaopiao and spoke gently and sweetly.
“Student Xu, Yijing didn’t mean it. We’re all classmates, and we don’t have any deep grudges against each other. Don’t take it to heart, okay?”
Xu Piaopiao had always been filled with hostility toward Lin Yueyue. Yet now that Lin Yueyue had actually approached her, she found herself somewhat flustered as she looked at that pure and beautiful face.
She would rather continue arguing with Lu Yijing than face Lin Yueyue alone.
Xu Piaopiao desperately leaned backward.
“Stay a little farther away from me. The air around me is a little thin, and I can’t breathe.”
Lin Yueyue smiled gently.
“What are you saying out of anger? We’re all good friends. This isn’t good.”
Xu Piaopiao was desperate.
Even someone as hot-tempered as Xu Piaopiao knew that you couldn’t strike someone who was smiling. In this situation, it wouldn’t be appropriate for her to continue giving Lin Yueyue a cold attitude.
But with that strange aura surrounding Lin Yueyue as she approached, Xu Piaopiao genuinely felt as though she couldn’t breathe.
Xu Piaopiao was about to collapse!
Gu Tang rushed over in one stride and blocked Lin Yueyue for her.
“She really isn’t very bright… cough, she’s just prone to oxygen deprivation.”
Xu Piaopiao hit her from behind, and it actually hurt quite a bit.
“Student Gu.” Lin Yueyue took Gu Tang’s hand, her cheeks turning slightly red. “Thank you, thank you. You helped me up on the bus earlier. You really are such a good person.”
“Of course, of course. Today might not be a good day for visiting,” Gu Tang said very obediently as she took Lin Yueyue’s hand and ushered her toward the door. “Just look at our door, isn’t it quite beautiful? And the view outside the door is even better… What a spacious hallway!”
After sending the two of them away, Gu Tang let out a sigh of relief and looked at Xu Piaopiao. “Sis, can you be a little stronger?”
Xu Piaopiao shook her head repeatedly. “You know I can only deal with things head-on. Watching this soft and gentle stuff gives me goosebumps.”
Jiujiu sincerely exclaimed, “Sister Lin Yueyue is so kind.”
Gu Tang covered her forehead. “Oh, great. There’s another one here who’s been converted by the holy light.”
Although Jiujiu had been converted by Lin Yueyue’s holy light, she did not approve of Lu Yijing’s behavior of taking things from other people’s beds.
“There’s some gossip about Lu Yijing. Do you two want to hear it?” Jiujiu lowered her voice and looked at the two of them, turning her back toward the camera. “It seems like Lu Yijing’s family has some connections, so you two should be careful.”
“What kind of connections?” Xu Piaopiao suddenly became interested.
“It seems one of her relatives is a celebrity,” Jiujiu lowered her voice even further. “And apparently, someone with a certain amount of status. But isn’t Dream Girl Group supposed to be about turning ordinary girls’ dreams of becoming celebrities into reality? So they didn’t make it explicit. I guess we’ll only find out later.”
Xu Piaopiao nodded knowingly. “Then she’s guaranteed to make it?”
“Probably,” Jiujiu thought it was quite reliable. “If she fails, where would that leave her relative’s reputation?”
“It’s probably better that we don’t know which relative it is. If everyone finds out she has a celebrity relative…” Xu Piaopiao clicked her tongue twice. “We’ll be completely screwed when it comes to voting.”
Hearing this, Gu Tang reminded her, “Could you take off that smoky eye makeup? I don’t think it’s very good for getting votes.”
“It’s my signature style,” Xu Piaopiao said confidently. “Have you ever seen Superman take off his underwear?”
Gu Tang thought about it for a moment and, for once, had absolutely no idea how to argue back.
The break did not last very long. After they simply tidied up their belongings, it was already time for lunch.
Although the cafeteria offered plenty of variety and the food was nutritious, the portions were small. Gu Tang felt that having a big meal yesterday had indeed been a wise decision.
Xu Piaopiao’s mood became complicated when she saw their lunch. She looked at Gu Tang. “Why don’t the two of us just quit early?”
Gu Tang was someone capable of accomplishing great things. “There’s a knife above the character for ‘endure’. For the sake of losing weight!”
In the afternoon, they met the teachers in a large classroom. As soon as the host, Huo Ziyan, and the three teachers entered, they were greeted by enthusiastic applause.
“Good afternoon, all you beautiful girls!” Huo Ziyan waved at them. “Welcome to our devilish training camp.”
“I think I can only count as an intermediate-level devil. We still have Advanced Devils Teacher Liu and Xiaoxing,” Yang Ya said with a shrug. “If any of you end up unhappy, be sure to blame those two. I’m innocent.”
The room erupted in laughter.
With the more forceful Yang Ya taking control of the room, host Huo Ziyan had no intention of competing with her for the spotlight.
“Teacher Liu and I are responsible for teaching vocals, while Xiaoxing is responsible for dance. Starting this afternoon, you’ll be learning the dance, so don’t bully Teacher Xiaoxing!” Yang Ya pointed toward the girls.
As her gaze swept across the crowd, Yang Ya spotted the two girls she favored. Half jokingly, she singled them out. “Especially Gu Tang and Xu Piaopiao. The two of you look way too street-tough!”
Gu Tang and Xu Piaopiao immediately became the center of attention. One had a strikingly seductive appearance, while the other had heavy eye makeup. They really did look like the kind of “tough girls” who would bully others, prompting another wave of laughter.
Gu Tang patted Xu Piaopiao on the shoulder. “From now on, we’re going to be the street-tough sister duo.”
“Street Queen Gu,” Xu Piaopiao pointed at Gu Tang, then pointed at herself. “Street Queen Xu.”
Gu Tang laughed and clapped softly.
“I’m actually a little worried. Teacher Chen Xing looks like someone who’d be easy to bully, but what if he ends up bullying the students instead? After all, he was carefully selected by our program to be one of the devilish teachers,” Huo Ziyan smoothly brought the topic back to Chen Xing. “Teacher Chen, this afternoon you’ll have to establish your authority!”
Chen Xing was extremely confident. “No problem.”
And he really did teach them their first lesson.
Chen Xing was young, after all, and once the other teachers left, he had a little trouble controlling the room. But what he lacked in authority, he made up for with his seriousness.
“Have you all looked at the song and dance? The movements are all very simple. I’ll demonstrate it for everyone first.”
Chen Xing was indeed a professional. Even when performing such a fresh and cute girl-group dance, he did not look out of place at all. To match the overall feel of the choreography, he deliberately kept his movements light and used less force, keeping everything within the level that the girls themselves could achieve.
After Chen Xing finished dancing, the trainees responded with applause, along with whistles teasing him. He had originally finished without even turning red or breathing heavily, but the moment the whistles sounded, his face began to redden.
“What are you doing? Show your teacher some respect, or I’m going to make things difficult for you!”
The trainees’ applause and teasing grew even louder.
After that came the dull and tedious training session.
The twenty-five trainees were divided into three groups and took turns receiving instruction from Teacher Chen Xing.
Neither Gu Tang nor Xu Piaopiao had any formal training, but they had good physical coordination and were sensitive to rhythm. After following along a few times, they could roughly imitate the movements.
Lu Yijing danced the best. Her skill level was far above everyone else’s. Not only were her movements precise, but she also performed them with ease. She even helped Chen Xing coach the trainees who could not dance.
Of everyone, only four people were completely unable to keep up with the movements, and Lin Yueyue was one of them.
During the break, Gu Tang and Xu Piaopiao returned with hot water. They saw that Lu Yijing was still practicing with Lin Yueyue, while Chen Xing stood beside them giving instructions.
Dancing was exhausting work. Many of the girls were already sitting on the floor, resting while wearing earphones and singing along to the theme song.
“Don’t keep your arms and legs so limp. Put some strength into them, some strength!” Chen Xing was still demonstrating for Lin Yueyue. “Do your arms not have any strength?”
“She’s just like this,” Lu Yijing explained on her behalf. “She falls down even when she’s just walking normally. Her sense of balance isn’t very good.”
Xu Piaopiao burst out laughing at that.
Gu Tang and the others could only brace themselves and walk over, showing their concern while making it clear that the laugh had been completely unintentional.
It was only when Xu Piaopiao got closer that she realized Lin Yueyue’s eyes were already brimming with tears, yet she was still persevering, looking extremely earnest as she practiced.
She cried when she fell down normally, and now she was crying while practicing dance too. The short-tempered Xu Piaopiao felt like another string in her head had snapped. At the same time, she did not dare get too close to Lin Yueyue, afraid she might run out of oxygen.
Lu Yijing glanced at Xu Piaopiao and treated her like she was invisible.
“Thank you for coming all the way here to check on me. My legs hurt a lot, but I’ll keep going,” Lin Yueyue said as she wiped away her tears and forced herself to smile. “Piaopiao, I’ll work hard. I won’t let you down.”
Before Xu Piaopiao could even offer her some words of comfort, Lin Yueyue had already delivered an entire speech.
Xu Piaopiao gritted her teeth and reminded herself that she needed to be a kind girl. “Keep it up.”
Lu Yijing was still teaching Lin Yueyue how to dance. In an attempt to make up for that inappropriate snort of laughter, Xu Piaopiao struggled to salvage her dignity, while Gu Tang moved a little farther away from the other three.
Gu Tang stood beside Chen Xing. She had barely been there for half a minute when Chen Xing suddenly made a rather subtle sidestep and moved a little farther away.
Gu Tang: ???
She took another step toward Chen Xing.
Chen Xing responded with another graceful sidestep, changing direction again.
Unable to hold back, Gu Tang asked, “Excuse me, did I step on your invisible wings?”
Since Gu Tang was talking directly to him, Chen Xing naturally had no way to escape anymore.
To be fair, Chen Xing was quite handsome. He had the fresh, energetic look of a young man and seemed to radiate sunshine. However, his expression was so exaggerated at this moment that it made one wonder whether there was something wrong with his brain.
He furrowed his brows and shifted his eyes around, giving her all sorts of meaningful hints, as though he were hiding some earth-shattering secret.
The more Gu Tang looked at him, the more confused she became. She had absolutely no idea what he was doing.
Seeing how utterly bewildered Gu Tang was, Chen Xing finally lowered his voice and covered his mouth as if he were a member of an underground resistance cell making a secret contact.
“I know everything now.”
Gu Tang: ???
“Don’t worry,” Chen Xing immediately began reassuring her. “I’m very good at keeping secrets. I won’t say anything.”
No, big brother, loosen your lips a little and tell me what exactly you know!
Gu Tang looked at Chen Xing suspiciously, feeling that whatever it was, it probably was not anything good.
Meeting Gu Tang’s gaze, Chen Xing covered his face with one hand and turned his head away in profound sorrow.
“Ah, these days, all the beautiful flowers already come in pairs. Nobody wants cow dung anymore.”
Gu Tang felt that this guy really did have something wrong with his head.
Author’s Note:
Mini Theater:
Gu Tang looked at Xu Piaopiao with speechless disbelief. “Didn’t you say you were super amazing and that Lin Yueyue would be no problem for you?”
Xu Piaopiao grabbed her head. “There’s no way I can be fierce toward a girl who smiles so sweetly! A rock-and-roll girl like me can’t bring herself to bully the weak!”
Gu Tang: “You were clearly having a great time when you bullied me.”
Xu Piaopiao: “??? Are you weak? You’re ridiculously strong… Fine, I admit you’re a delicate and fragile girl. Now please put down the barbell in your hand. Don’t drop it on my foot!”