Sweat Worth More Than Gold Part II

“Do you all have colds?” asked Mu Si Cheng.

“Colds, my foot. Mu Si Cheng, this is a rare item,” said one of the girls.

“R…rare item? Forget it. Whatever you are thinking, I don’t understand it anyhow,” said Mu Si Cheng before ignoring the girls. Bai Zhe let out a dry laugh and went to sit in his seat.

The moment the afternoon class ended, Bai Zhe hurriedly walked to the front of his school to get a taxi in order to head to the LSA training centre. As the taxi pulled away, Bai Zhe took out his smartphone and called someone.

“Hello, this is Qing Qing. Who is this?” Meng Qing Qing’s voice sounded from the other end.

“Qing Qing, this is me, Bai Zhe. I got your number from Grandpa Xi Lua. I’m heading to the training centre now. I’ll arrive soon,” said Bai Zhe.

“Oh, then I will wait for you at the information counter at the front,” said Qing Qing.

“All right. Thank you so much,” Bai Zhe thanked her before hanging up.

The LSA Training Centre

Bai Zhe took some time to arrive at the twenty-story building. He found Meng Qing Qing sitting at the information counter, waiting for him when he entered the building. There was a middle-aged woman sitting beside Meng Qing Qing as well.

“Hello, my name is Bai Zhe. I’m here to train as Mr. Chen Feng suggested,” said Bai Zhe, reaching out his hand to greet the woman. She took his hand in greeting.

“Hello, you can call me Auntie Jang. Make yourself comfortable. Okay then, follow me. We need you to fill in some information and take care of a little paperwork,” said Auntie Jang, leading the boy inside, with Qing Qing walking side by side with Bai Zhe.

“Qing Qing, how is work?” asked Bai Zhe.

“These days, I take care of the new recruits to the agency. Wait, usually, it should be me asking you how you are doing, shouldn’t it?” Qing Qing felt like she was a newcomer being asked about the working conditions by her senior.

“You two know each other?” asked Auntie Jang.

“Yes. Her grandfather and mine know each other. An accident happened to her grandfather the other day, so these days, she has to go to the hospital rather often,” Bai Zhe replied.

“Huh? Qing, why didn’t you tell me? I have seen you looking tired lately. It turned out to be because of your grandfather,” said Auntie Jang.

“I didn’t want you to worry about me. I guarantee that it will not affect the work,” said Meng Qing Qing.

“We can’t carry certain burdens alone, especially in show business where we have to be in contact and work with many people. Sometimes being quiet isn’t the best solution. If you really love this job, you have to socialise and make connections, for you and the person under your management,” said Bai Zhe. He was thinking that if he had not been so stubborn, smelting the weapon alone, he would not have ended up in this body.

“Bai Zhe is right, Qing Qing. You should ask me for help sometimes,” said Auntie Jang.

Bai Zhe arrived at the records room not long after that. He entered the room while Qing Qing and Auntie Jang waited outside. The boy took off his clothes, leaving only his underwear. He stood, spreading out his arms and letting the male staff determine his height and weight, as well as take his measurements. Then the staff filled in the information, which took a short amount of time. Bai Zhe exited the room, handing the document to Auntie Jang.

“It’s all done then, isn’t it?” asked Auntie Jang, giving Qing Qing the document before she separated from them.

“Yes. What do I do next, ma’am?” asked Bai Zhe.

“You have to take an acting class. The reason why we took your measurements is that from now on, there will be a person who designs your workout and your diet plan. Because looks are important for celebrities,” answered Auntie Jang, leading the boy to the beginner acting class.

“And where is Qing Qing?” asked the boy.

“She has to go send your documents to the HR department at LSA headquarters. It’s easier these days because you just scan and attach them to an email, and then they will print out the documents on their end. When I started working here, I had to take a car and deliver it myself. That was tiring,” said Auntie Jang.

After that, they took a lift to the tenth floor, the floor for acting classes.

Bai Zhe followed her to a room that had a sign, Basic Acting, on it.

Knock, knock, knock. Auntie Jang knocked on the door before opening it and entering the room.

“Feng, may I interrupt you?” Auntie Jang said to a man who was lecturing 4 to 5 boys and girls in the room. Bai Zhe guessed that he was the basic acting teacher.

“Jang, is everything all right…?” asked Feng, the basic acting teacher.

“Come on in, Xiao Bai,” said Auntie Jang, pulling the boy into the room.

When Bai Zhe entered, a girl, who looked like a foreigner, with blue eyes and blonde pigtails, looked at him with eyes that sparkled.

“Welcome, new guy. My name is Alicia. You can call me Alice,” Alice introduced herself.

“You can relax. We are new here, too,” said another boy.

Then, Feng, who was the acting teacher, made the students introduce themselves before starting the class. Auntie Jang had already left the room after she introduced Bai Zhe to Feng.

“So, let’s get started. Today, I will start from the meaning of acting. Acting means taking a script or a story that you have to present in the form of acting in a particular place. In the entertainment industry, for a drama or a TV series, acting is the most important element. A drama or series has two elements: the script and the acting…” Feng explained the meaning of acting and had the students think about how they would present themselves.

Feng dismissed the class after 7 p.m. and let the students go home. In today's class, the thing that made him excited was that he really liked the student named Bai Zhe’s way of presenting himself. The feelings and emotions that he showed were so clear that other students could understand him. To have this level of acting skill, usually, one needed to have life experience or have acted before. In particular, in regard to the skill of expressing emotions, only an actor with an intermediate level of acting skill or one with advanced skills could do it. Thus, after the class, he thought that Bai Zhe did not suit the basic acting class. He should be in at least the intermediate acting class.

‘Tomorrow, I should record his acting for Ms. Liu and Mr. Dong. If they agree, I will have them sign the document to approve moving Bai Zhe to the intermediate acting class,’ thought Feng.