Toward the later part of the training, Su Jinli realized that the song they had chosen was relatively simple compared to the others in Group A.
Wu Yu and Chang Siyin had picked a song that required hitting high notes, causing their voices to crack several times. They would drink water in between and ask Han Kai for advice on controlling their voices.
An Zhihan's song involved both singing and dancing. While Su Jinli was humming the tune, An Zhihan had to learn the dance moves from the dance teacher.
Fan Qianping was the most unfortunate - as someone skilled in rap, he had chosen a sentimental song. When his pitch changed while singing, he began considering adapting the song.
Their performance just required four people to sit on chairs and sing quietly.
It was said that during their performance, the stage lights would dim, only illuminating the singers. The band would be in the shadows, their silhouettes barely visible; it would truly seem as if only the singers were on stage.
They had a week to prepare for this song. After dividing the lyrics amongst themselves, Su Jinli began practicing in front of a mirror.
-----
At noon break, Su Jinli felt a little discomfort in his throat. He sat helplessly on the training room floor, obviously in need of rest.
Wu Yu sat next to him, reaching into his bag to pull out a throat lozenge. He squeezed out one and handed it to Su Jinli.
At that moment, An Zhihan came looking for Su Jinli and started to practice his dance moves right in front of them.
Lifting his head, Wu Yu saw An Zhihan swaying back and forth in front of him, and he asked somewhat annoyed, “Can you stop swaying your hips right in my face?”
Undeterred by Wu Yu's words, An Zihan escalated his motions. He shrugged off his jacket, revealing his shoulder, and began to sway even more in front of Wu Yu. As part of his dance routine, he even ran his hand down his thigh.
An Zhihan was somewhat of a sensual young man and his dance moves were rather striking.
After watching with a furrowed brow, Wu Yu raised his foot, as if to kick An Zhihan.
An Zhihan immediately dodged and conveniently sat down across from Su Jinli, his eyes greedily glued to the throat lozenge in Wu Yu's hand.
Though Wu Yu was reluctant to share, not wanting to seem too disagreeable on camera, he finally relented and gave An Zhihan a lozenge.
But An Zhihan ungratefully sighed after tasting it, exclaiming, “This is really awful!”
"If it's unpalatable, spit it out."
An Zhihan didn't spit it out. Instead, he chewed it up and swallowed.
Chang Siyin sat across from Wu Yu with a hangdog expression, murmuring quietly, "The songs this time are all classics. I can sing them. But the thought of participating in a competition, not just an ordinary occasion, makes me a bit nervous. As I sing, I suddenly feel as if I'm off-key, and my high notes are just like screams."
Wu Yu nodded, moved a bit, and sat directly opposite Chang Siyin, saying, "Sing your part again, let me listen."
An Zi Han couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you two competitors?"
"So what if we are competitors? I just hope that our performance of this song is better."
An Zhihan also adjusted his posture, pointing to his ear, and asked Chang Siyin, "Come on, sing for me too."
Chang Siyin immediately hummed the tune, and Su Jinli listened and clapped, saying, "It sounds great."
However, Wu Yu shook his head: "You lost your strength towards the end of the song. Is your lung capacity not that good?"
"Not really."
Wu Yu could tell that in the Muzitao group, An Zhihan had the strongest capability, while the others were just there to accompany him.
Chang Siyin is one of them, with average talent and a decent look, but without any other standout features.
His singing is good, but not great.
He has strength in her dance, but starts to pant towards the second half of the dance performance, missing a few beats.
His character is also a bit too accommodating, lacking distinct personality traits.
"Do you know the method of compound breathing?" Wu Yu stood up, pressed his hand on Chang Si Yin's stomach, and guided him to breathe in his rhythm.
Su Jinli realized that the method Wu Yu taught was quite similar to the breathing exercises he had been practicing since childhood.
"The voice is carried by the breath." Wu Yu continued to instruct, "This is very simple. You should know, right?"
Chang Siyin nodded.
Su Jinli, after breathing for a while, took Chang Siuin's lyrics, hummed a few times, and sang Chang Siyin's part.
He controlled the high notes very well, and performed with ease.
After he finished singing, he looked up surprised, "I've found out that I also know this breathing technique!"
He then saw three stunned faces looking back at him. The cameraman who had been hiding in the practice room even came over to give them several close-up shots.
"What's wrong?" Su Jinli found it strange.
"Do you know how to use falsetto?" An Zhihan asked subconsciously.
"A brother at the company once taught me. It's this one, right?" After clearing his throat, Su Jinli began to belt out in falsetto.
His voice was clear without any impurity.
It wasn’t a pale cry, but a melodious song coming from his pleasant voice that resembled the sound of Heaven.
He moved from the high notes and brought it down, then began to softly hum.
Without any lyrics, the melody was unfamiliar, but it was exceptionally pleasing.
"It's beautiful," An Zhihan was the first to exclaim, "What's the name of this song?"
"It’s not really a song. It's just a tune I made up for warming up my voice every morning."
"You made it yourself? Do you have a talent in composing and writing lyrics?"
"The choreography for the last performance was done by me."
Chang Siyin looked so shocked he lost his expression, but she quickly sighed in relief. "Thankfully I didn't get grouped with you, or my confidence would collapse."
"But I think your singing is great."
Su Jinli is not the kind of person who artificially puts on another face in front of the camera. His compliments are sincere at this moment, with especially earnest expressions when looking at Chang Si Yin.
"I... always feel like my skills are not enough," sighed Chang Siyin.
Su Jinli reached out his hand and tousled Chang Siyin's hair lightly, "Good people are always lucky."
"So, did I just receive a blessing from the 'golden koi'?" Chang Siyin joked. Everyone knows now that Su Jinli's name sounds like 'golden koi' in Mandarin.
"Ah, how did you know?"
"You're actually admitting it?" Chang Siyin finally felt better.
-----
Su Jinli returned to his dorm room, finding it empty, and heaved a sigh of relief. He took out a change of clothes from his suitcase, intending to take a bath.
Just then, An Zhihan suddenly walked in through the door. Seeing that Su Jinli was about to take a bath, he immediately asked, "Do you want to bathe together?"
"Ah?!"
"Bathing together is common in northeastern bathhouses," An Zhihan responded.
"Do you still go to bathhouses?"
"Of course, I'm a boarding student," An Zhihan said. He quickly started packing his things, intending to join Su Jin Li.
Su Jinli shook his head no, like a wave drum, continuously refusing. "No, thanks."
He cannot get wet because if he doesn't use spells to control it, fish scales would appear on his skin. That's why he chose to quietly come back at this time to bathe.
He didn't expect An Zhihan to be back too, following him like a shadow.
"Alright, alright, you can wash up yourself. I'll stay here in the dorm," An Zhihan said, taking a seat in the room for a brief rest.
Su Jinli quickly entered the bathroom, locked the door tightly, and started his bath in the bathroom.
While Su Jinli was pleasantly removing fish scales, An Zhihan knocked on the door, shouting into the bathroom, "Su, can you sing your dolphin tune again?"
Su Jinli, now on high alert, asked, "Can you wait until I come out to sing?"
"Not possible. If you don't sing now, I'll kick the door in."
Left with no choice, Su Jin Li turned off the water, hummed his vocal practice tune while removing his scales.
However, even after he finished humming, An Zhihan was not satisfied. "Sing a song now."
"Why?" An exasperated Su Jinli asked.
"I just want to hear you sing."
With no other option, Su Jinli sang "Endless Love" again.
Meanwhile, An Zhihan was holding a video call with An Zi Yan. "How is it? Isn't my new brother's singing good?"
An Zhiyan was still in his pageant costume, wearing special police gear. With a bit of blood on his cheek, his look was very rugged, something An Zhihan liked.
"Mm, not bad. But I had to turn up the volume on my phone to its maximum. Lower your voice a bit when you speak," An Zhiyan said. He leaned against the chair, script in hand, chatting with his brother while wearing earphones.
"Training is so tiring, it's killing me." An Zhihan finally left Su Jinli alone, settled back into his chair, and complained softly.
"Weren't you the one who wanted to go?"
"I just wanted to compete, I didn't know we couldn't choose our own songs. Now I have to practice."
An Zhiyan casually looked at An Zhihan on screen to check if he had lost weight. He noticed something flying in the background and frowned immediately.
An Zhihan, with his back to the screen, didn't see it and thus didn't pay attention.
An Zhiyan was at a loss for words.
"Your... dorm room..." An Zhiyan began but couldn't finish.
"What about it?"
"Are there others in the room?"
"Just my new brother."
"..."
Su Jinli suddenly realized he had forgotten his underwear. The underwear was all left on the bed, and he couldn't go out. He could only leave the door slightly ajar, then, while An Zhihan was unobservant, he used telekinesis to bring his underwear over.
After obtaining his underwear, Su Jinli dried his whole body with a towel, even blew his hair dry, made sure there were no scales left on his body, and only then did he put on clothes and go out.
When An Zhihan turned around, he saw Su Jinli coming out, he couldn't help but ask, "Why do you always wear just these two outfits?"
"I... my manager didn't buy me a lot."
An Zihan got up, pulled out a set of clothes from his luggage, and tossed them to Su Jinli, "You should fit my clothes, go ahead and wear them."
"There's no need..."
"Wear it. My family will send me more clothes in a few days. I'm sweaty all over; I need to go take a shower." Having said that, An Zhihan went into the bathroom.
However...he didn't turn off the video chat, and the phone was still on the flexible phone holder.
Su Jinli didn't have many friends on WeChat, so he never did video calls and didn't know about this. After An Zhihan went in, he started to change clothes in the room.
After taking off his top and pants, he picked up An Zhihan's clothes and kept checking which side was the front and how to wear the bib-pants.
An Zhiyan, watching the scene in the video, was at a loss about whether to continue watching or not.
Normally, as a grown man, watching another man change clothes shouldn't be a big deal.
However, he was gay.
Seeing Su Jinli changing clothes unrestrainedly in front of the camera, paired with Su Jinli's physique, he felt it's quite a sight.
Should he compliment An Zhihan for this?
Angstily, An Zhiyan withstood the moral criticism within his heart, went through a severe inner battle, but still ended up watching Su Jinli change clothes without blinking.
The young lad had a decent body.
An Zhihan's taste was a bit off, and so were the clothes he bought.
What Su Jinli was wearing turned out to be a pair of eye-catching lemon-yellow bib pants, with particularly oversized legs that swayed as he walked.
His top was a white and lemon-yellow striped t-shirt with a banana embroidered right over the heart.
After putting on the clothes, he felt like he was an eyesore.
After walking around the bedroom, he stopped caring and sat down on a chair to continue singing.
It was still "Endless Love."
"Recalling the past, the painful longing is unforgettable; why do you still come to stir my heartbeat? How can I stop loving you? You should understand tonight, the fate is difficult, the affection is difficult…"
An Zhiyan lowered his head and glanced at the script for a while, then looked up at the video where Su Jinli was singing earnestly.
In his earphones was Su Jinli's acappella voice, and in the video was Su Jinli's delicate face. Seemingly moved by the song, his eyebrows slightly furrowed, which even caused a bit of heartache for An Zhiyan.
He shouldn't let this youngster feel sad and distressed; he should protect him.
However, as soon as Su Jinli finished singing, he suddenly stood up, took out some snacks from his cabinet and started eating them, one bag after another. This made An Zhiyan feel like he was watching a mukbang.
Su Jinli seemed a bit anxious, so he devoured his food. His cheeks were puffy from his vigorous chewing until he swallowed.
Actually, his plan was to go to the practice room with An Zihan after the other finished showering since snacks weren't allowed there.
Once An Zhihan came out, having seen Su Jinli, he commented, "What you're wearing really brings out your fairness."
"It's a little too bright."
"Today, you're the brightest boy in the entire 'National Idol' show."
Su Jinli looked up at An Zihan and smiled slightly.
An Zhiyan's heart abruptly skipped a beat at the sight of the young man's smile; it could pierce right through anyone's heart.
"I feel something odd in our dorm room," An Zhihan said, taking his phone and deciding to end the video, assuming his brother had already stopped watching. He mentioned this to Su Jinli.
"What's wrong?"
"There's always a fishy smell in the bathroom."
"......"
-----
Author's Notes:
An Zhiyan gives a thumbs-up: Zhihan, well done.
[Wipes nosebleed joyfully]
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