In the morning, Tang Zhi Chu was woken by his alarm. He closed his eyes again for a few minutes, then sat bolt upright just as he was about to fall asleep once more.
He rubbed his face and got up.
Half an hour later, Tang Zhi Chu sat on the living room sofa, waiting for Chen Si Yang.
Chen Si Yang was in charge of the day's plans. After breakfast, she went upstairs, saying she needed to grab something.
A moment later, Chen Si Yang came downstairs. She was wearing the hat Tang Zhi Chu had given her, and she placed another hat on his head. It was the bucket hat she used to like wearing.
"Good thing your head isn't too big. Otherwise, I could've just given you this one too."
Tang Zhi Chu laughed. "I'll take that as a compliment. Though I'm not really a fan of hats."
Chen Si Yang shot Tang Zhi Chu a glare. "Don't give it back to me later."
"Once it's been given, there's no taking it back."
An hour later, Tang Zhi Chu finally understood why Chen Si Yang had brought a hat for him.
Because Chen Si Yang had brought Tang Zhi Chu to her company, Tianhe Entertainment.
Tianhe Entertainment's headquarters were in Yanjing, but it also had a branch in Yuzhou.
The Yuzhou branch was mainly used to train and develop artists.
It was a small, five-story building. From the moment they entered, they saw plenty of young faces.
"Good morning, Teacher Chen!"
"Good morning, Sister Yang Yang!"
"Good morning, Goddess Yang Yang!"
People kept greeting Chen Si Yang, then looked at Tang Zhi Chu beside her with curious eyes.
Some had wanted to come over and ask who he was, but then they noticed someone nearby carrying a camera and stopped.
Were they filming some kind of show?
Tang Zhi Chu tugged at his bucket hat, trying to hide as much of his face as he could. Chen Si Yang was really popular here.
"Who's that?"
"No idea. He's so tall, and he looks pretty cool."
"Could he be Goddess Yang Yang's boyfriend?"
"Don't make things up. Maybe he's an artist? He looks kind of handsome."
All sorts of speculation spread, and quite a few young people even followed them from a distance.
"Most of them are trainees. There are also some arts teachers, like the one in red just now. She teaches at one of the best dance companies in the country," Chen Si Yang explained.
Tang Zhi Chu nodded. He was observing too, taking a look at how one of the country's top entertainment companies trained its artists.
The two worlds had similar backgrounds. Not many entertainment companies in the country had their own training systems, and even fewer did a good job of it.
It was only after the bubble of traffic-star popularity burst that people truly started paying attention to this area.
In Tang Zhi Chu's memories, Tianhe Entertainment didn't have the best training system. That belonged to another large idol company, which even had its own official website and livestreams and other events for trainees.
It was like running a huge in-house talent competition. What was ridiculous was how profitable it was. There were supposedly fans who spent millions to push their favorite idols up the rankings.
Chen Si Yang led Tang Zhi Chu into the elevator and pressed the button for the third floor.
Chen Si Yang felt a little dazed. On their first date, Tang Zhi Chu had been the one to help her into the elevator.
Tang Zhi Chu barely spoke along the way. Chen Si Yang thought that was only natural. This was, after all, her own territory.
Most of the people here were familiar to her. For Tang Zhi Chu, this was a completely unfamiliar place and field.
When the elevator doors opened, Chen Si Yang looked at Tang Zhi Chu and asked with a smile, "Getting nervous?"
Tang Zhi Chu shook his head. "Not nervous. Just a little stunned. I didn't realize your company had so many handsome guys and beautiful women."
Stunned? Not really.
In his previous life, Tang Zhi Chu's own company had been even bigger. It was an influencer agency, too.
It had not only practice rooms, recording studios, and music rooms, but dozens of livestreaming rooms as well.
Coming into this kind of place again left Tang Zhi Chu feeling a little dazed.
Chen Si Yang took his reaction as nervousness. She glanced outside, then reached out and took Tang Zhi Chu's hand.
Tang Zhi Chu froze for a moment. He felt Chen Si Yang adjust her grip, turning it into a handhold. Her hand was cool.
Strictly speaking, this was the first time the two of them had held hands.
"This floor is where we do most of our activities. There are practice rooms, a gym, a library, music rooms, and over there, our classrooms."
As she spoke, Chen Si Yang lowered her voice. She even asked the camera crew to stay behind before opening a door nearby and pulling Tang Zhi Chu inside.
The cameraman tried to follow them in, but the door slammed shut with a bang.
The camera operators looked at one another. In the end, they could only sneak over and film through the window.
The cameraman filmed inside while a crowd behind him stared at the scene, dumbfounded.
Chen Si Yang, former member of Planet Girl Group and now the most popular substitute instructor at Tianhe Entertainment's Yuzhou branch, had actually taken a guy's hand of her own accord.
What a scoop!
A crowd gathered, only to be chased away by a slightly plump woman who looked to be in her thirties.
At that moment, Tang Zhi Chu really was a little nervous.
What was going on inside?
Five or six incredibly beautiful women stood in a line, all doing the splits!
Tang Zhi Chu thought their slender, shapely legs looked even longer than his.
As soon as Tang Zhi Chu and Chen Si Yang entered, the women looked over. A red-haired woman, who seemed to be the instructor, watched them with a stern expression too.
Chen Si Yang smiled sheepishly and called out, "Teacher Yang."
Tang Zhi Chu followed suit. "Good morning, Teacher Yang."
The red-haired woman's stern expression finally softened. Then she looked at Tang Zhi Chu. "Hello. You're Xiao Tang, right? Yang Yang has told us about you. There's a seat over there. Go ahead and sit down."
Tang Zhi Chu nodded and looked at Chen Si Yang.
"This is our morning class. We do it every day. You can wait over there, okay? Don't worry, I've told them about you," Chen Si Yang said quietly.
More precisely, it was a morning posture class.
Teacher Yang guided them through a series of posture exercises.
Tang Zhi Chu glanced over a few times, decided it wasn't a good idea, and turned to look out the window instead.
One of the women was wearing shorts, and her long legs were dazzlingly white. Some of the movements were so broad that the curve of her pert backside showed.
The women, however, kept sneaking glances at Tang Zhi Chu.
They were relatively established artists under Tianhe, including idol singers and actors, but none of them had a project at the moment.
They were staying disciplined to keep in shape, while also filling in as instructors for the company's trainees. They earned extra income that way.
The morning class lasted an hour, and Tang Zhi Chu found himself squirming in his seat.
Playing on his phone? Not a good idea. Watching the actresses stretch their legs and practice their posture? Not a good idea either. And there were several cameramen with equipment outside the corridor window.
All Tang Zhi Chu could do was look out the window.
It was supposed to be a date, but it felt more like Chen Si Yang was showing him what her everyday life was like.
After the morning class, they said goodbye to everyone and went to another classroom.
This one held an acting class, and some of the women who had practiced their posture earlier were there too.
It wasn't a traditional acting class. They selected scenes from different works, then rehearsed and performed them themselves.
It was very immersive, and Tang Zhi Chu watched the acting class closely.
Maybe because of the three or four cameramen outside the window, their performances were especially intense. They could cry on cue, and when they got worked up, the veins in their necks stood out.
Little by little, Tang Zhi Chu was drawn in.
If an ordinary person saw this, they'd probably call them crazy, wouldn't they?
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