Page 12

A young man of about twenty-five or twenty-six standing on the outskirts had noticed Tang Shi and the other two early on. Cui Yujin's loud fussing had already made him uncomfortable, and hearing him say that now, he sneered. "Oh, putting on quite a show, aren't you? You haven't even passed the auditions, and you've already got someone filming you the whole time. Kids these days are really arrogant."

He looked Tang Shi and the others up and down, then muttered under his breath, "Attention-seeking clowns."

Cui Yujin frowned and looked him over. He sneered, "Was I talking to you? Why are you butting in? Your mouth's really asking for trouble."

"Who the hell are you calling out?" The young man's eyes widened. He stepped forward and shoved Cui Yujin, pointing at him aggressively. "Say that again and see if I don't beat you up."

Caught off guard by the shove, Cui Yujin staggered and nearly threw his camera from his unsteady grip.

That camera had been Cui Yujin's birthday present last year. He had begged and pleaded with his parents, promised to study hard, promised to do chores at home, and signed a whole series of unequal treaties before finally receiving it on his birthday. It was expensive and one of his most treasured possessions. Usually, Cui Yujin hated even letting other people look at it, much less now, when it had nearly been smashed.

Cui Yujin immediately lost his temper. He stuffed the camera into Tang Shi's hands, stepped forward, and shoved the young man hard. Then he spun around and swept out with his leg, kicking the man back several steps before he fell flat on the ground. Cui Yujin spat viciously and pointed at him as he cursed, "Quit acting tough in front of me, fucker. Piss me off, and I'll beat you so bad you won't get out of bed for three months."

Having been kicked, the young man felt utterly humiliated. He sprang to his feet and was about to fight Cui Yujin when another young man beside him—a thin, tall fellow—grabbed and stopped him. "What are you doing? Do you still want to compete later or not? They're just three kids. How old are you, picking a fight with them?"

"They need a lesson." The young man craned his neck as he continued cursing. He shot Cui Yujin a sideways glare and spat, "They fucking deserve a beating."

Cui Yujin nodded with a cold laugh. "Yeah, one of us here does deserve a beating. I won't feel right until I straighten him out."

As he spoke, he rolled up his sleeves and strode forward.

Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi finally snapped out of it and hurried over to stop Cui Yujin. Seeing this, the tall young man restraining the other man spoke first. "You're together, right? I'll apologize for my buddy first. But your little friend has quite a temper too. One wrong word, and he started throwing punches."

So he was trying to play peacemaker while taking sides.

Still, as the saying went, don't hit a smiling face. Since the tall young man had put it that way, Tang Shi and the others would seem petty if they kept pressing the matter. Lu Hengzhi replied at once, "My classmate isn't usually like this at school. He has a great temper. Maybe your friend went too far with what he said. Still, hitting someone was wrong. Even though your side made the first move, we shouldn't have acted like you did either. I'll apologize on behalf of my classmate too."

The implication was clear: you started provoking us and laid hands on us first, and now you're trying to smooth things over. We don't want to stoop to your level, but don't think you can dump the blame on us with a few words.

The tall young man smirked when he heard Lu Hengzhi's response and nodded. "My friend's just a little hot-tempered. He's not a bad guy. He's probably been waiting here too long and got worn down."

So he was in a bad mood and decided to take it out on us?

Tang Shi curled his lips and waved a hand. "Fine. It's a hot day, and no one has it easy. Let's just leave it at that. If the staff come over later to find out what caused the disturbance, wouldn't we just be making trouble for ourselves?"

Tang Shi did not specify who he meant by making trouble for themselves. Perhaps the tall young man had not expected the three of them to be so young yet so sharp-tongued and capable fighters. Seeing that he could not gain anything from this, he shook his head with a self-mocking smile and pulled the cursing young man away.

The young man was still unconvinced, constantly complaining that the tall guy was too cowardly to even stand up to three boys whose hair had barely grown in. The tall young man sneered at the twenty-five- or twenty-six-year-old man. "Didn't you hear what those kids said? They know people at the television station. If this really blows up, do you think we'll get anything good out of it?"

The young man froze, then merely grunted and said nothing more.

The crowd gradually settled down. No one noticed a camera lens quietly flashing among them...

After those two troublemaking jerks left, Lu Hengzhi and the others returned to where they had been sitting. Tang Shi watched Cui Yujin crouch on the floor and carefully inspect his camera, then said with a smile, "Not bad. I never knew you were this fierce. You usually don't seem like much, but outside you really won't take any crap. You were too impulsive, though. You weren't as tall as him, and there were more of them. If we hadn't been here today and you'd actually fought them, wouldn't you have been the one at a disadvantage?"

Cui Yujin did not like hearing that. He gave a cold snort. "I don't go looking for trouble, but I can't just stand there when someone bullies me. Besides, I knew you two were behind me... I'm telling you, it's only because my camera was fine. Otherwise, they would've been in for it."

Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi nodded in agreement. Those two men really had been irritating. Nobody had provoked them or bothered them, yet they came over and said something like that. There was definitely something wrong with their heads. If they had not been mindful that this was the competition venue and did not want to create unnecessary complications, they probably would not have swallowed that anger either.

The girls who had stayed beside the three of them to watch their luggage also chimed in, complaining, "Those two were really annoying. No one was paying attention to them, yet they jumped out on their own to get cursed at. Who knows what they were thinking."

"Isn't it because you girls are so pretty? You came over and chatted with us, so someone got jealous." With his camera undamaged and having won the verbal clash, Cui Yujin was in an exceptionally good mood. Smiling, he complimented the girls several times.

The girls beamed and kept asking, "Really?"

Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi could not help finding it amusing. Lu Hengzhi exchanged a glance with Tang Shi. Tang Shi could not hold back and turned his head away, while Lu Hengzhi curled his lips at the girls and flashed a bright white smile. "Of course."

The girls chatted away for a few more sentences, then noticed the two basketballs beside the luggage, painted in black-and-white Tai Chi designs. They asked curiously, "What are those?"

"Props for our performance." Lu Hengzhi did not elaborate. He merely patted one of the basketballs painted with the black-and-white Tai Chi pattern and said in a smug tone, "Everyone usually does hip-hop dances all cheerful and lively. We're doing something innovative."

After saying that, not wanting the girls to ask more questions, he smiled at the three identically dressed girls in front of him. "You're a group, right?"

The girls were just about to answer when the staff in front began shouting for people to go in for interviews. Tang Shi tilted his head to listen to the number being called, looked down at his own number tag, and pushed Lu Hengzhi. "It's our turn. Hurry up."

Lu Hengzhi waved to the girls, said a few quiet words, and reluctantly bid them farewell. Tang Shi, who had long since grown impatient, simply picked up the prop basketballs, grabbed Lu Hengzhi, and dragged the suitcase through the sea of people with difficulty. Reaching the staff member, he waved his number tag. "That's us, that's us."

The staff member looked at the two boys, carrying bags and luggage like refugees. Perhaps because Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi looked so young, like students still in school, he took a bit more interest and asked with a laugh, "Why did you two bring luggage when you came to sign up?"

"We arrived late, so we took a taxi here straight from the train station to register. We didn't have time to find a hotel." Tang Shi looked at the packed hall and sighed. "I didn't expect there to still be so many people. Apple City Television Station's influence really is something else."

The staff member pursed his lips in a smile. Everyone liked hearing praise, and Apple City Television Station had always enjoyed considerable influence nationwide. Tang Shi's compliments were straightforward and sincere, so naturally the staff member felt honored by them. Moreover, the scholarly air around Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi made them seem pleasant. His impression of the two immediately improved.

At that moment, Cui Yujin squeezed through from behind. When he saw the staff member speaking with Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi, his face brightened. He stepped forward and greeted her softly, "Hello, Auntie Li."

Li Mei froze for a moment. Looking up, she saw Cui Yujin standing beside Tang Shi and smiled. "So it's Little Yu. You signed up too? Why didn't your mother tell me?"

Little Yu?

Cui Yujin's face darkened. He gave the two boys beside him, who were holding back laughter, an awkward look, then forced a smile. "I didn't sign up. I came with my classmates."

After introducing Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi to Li Mei, he added, "Auntie Li, could you not call me Little Yu? It's really embarrassing."

Li Mei smiled and patted Cui Yujin's head. Then she turned to Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi. They were so young, yet had traveled such a long way. She could not help feeling a little sympathy for them, so she said, "Let's find somewhere for you to put your luggage first. You can't bring suitcases into the interview, can you?"

Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi exchanged a glance and thanked her with smiles. They followed Li Mei to put their luggage in the lounge, which took no more than a minute or two. When they came back out, they had already started calling Li Mei Auntie Li along with Cui Yujin. Li Mei led them to the entrance of the recording hall and stopped. "You can go straight in."

Then she stopped Cui Yujin, who was trying to sneak in after them. "You can't enter from here. I'll take you to the audience seats."

Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi thanked her again. After watching Li Mei leave with Cui Yujin, they filed into the recording hall one after the other. The specially made flooring, bright stage, glittering judges at the panel, and the sea of dark heads in the audience made both of them take a deep breath. Striding to the front of the stage, Lu Hengzhi, fearless as a newborn calf, and Tang Shi, who had already been through this once, began their brief introductions.

The judges had been conducting auditions for nearly a month straight. When they saw the two boys' outfits and faces, their eyes lit up. There was no other reason: Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi had outstanding looks.

Lu Hengzhi had the fashionable appearance of a sunny, handsome young man, while Tang Shi possessed, beyond that sunny handsomeness, an exquisite beauty that bordered on the otherworldly. Yet that refinement was not effeminate softness. He was like golden wheat rippling in a breeze beneath the sun, dazzlingly bright and breathtaking to behold.

In particular, to match the dance they were performing for today's audition, they had deliberately worn matching Tai Chi practice outfits of black and white satin. The soft fabric and close-fitting brocade further accentuated their jade-like figures, slender and upright as bamboo. The classic black-and-white colors made one seem tough and the other elegant. The two needed only to stand there without doing anything to become a striking and distinctive sight.

That was also the main reason the three judges favored Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi. Although Dance Miracle had always promoted itself as a competition for selecting outstanding dancers, what they ultimately wanted was ratings: contestants with talent, with the potential to enter the entertainment industry and make it there in the long run, contestants with the potential to become stars, contestants with popularity who could endorse the Dance Miracle game and bring it more players... All these factors combined meant that when selecting contestants for this talent show, dance skills were far from the only consideration. The judges favored Tang Shi and Lu Hengzhi chiefly because of their looks and the instantly memorable impression they made.