Chapter 28

Act IV: Billy Elliot (9)

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"Xiang Cai!" The two teachers couldn't help exclaiming, and took a subconscious step forward.

Even director Tang Fengyu couldn't bear it, and stood up from his seat.

But beyond anyone's expectations, —Xiang Cai, who fell to the ground, stood up immediately! He didn't bother with the mistake just now, and limped tenaciously to the center of the stage just like that. Stubbornly, before the music ended, gracefully executing his move for the curtain call.

At the end of their dance, each of the five candidates had chosen their own distinct finale.

The others chose very difficult movements, but Xiang Cai chose the simple and beautiful classic pose in ballet—arabesque.

Because of the injury to his right foot, he had to let his left to be the supporting foot, with his right leg stretched straight and toes falling obliquely behind his body, his two hands extended, one forwards and one backwards.

The arabesque had almost no degree of difficulty, that is, it did not test the flexibility of the body nor the control of the muscles. Rather, its beauty lies in its execution. So long as both hands and feet were exquisitely placed, even beginners could make it beautiful.

And this posture had a very graceful translation.

—— "Spreading wings to meet the wind".

The boy spreading his wings to meet the wind, held his pose, gracefully poised in the center of the dance classroom stage, gracefully poised under everyone’s gaze.

His body was covered in sweat and his hair was plastered to his forehead. There were even red marks on his elbow and he blushed slightly while recalling his fall.

... But there was a brilliant smile on his face.

He was content, happy, fulfilled, and confident.

At this moment, he was this version's Billy Eliot, a teenager who loved ballet, a teenager who's first love and passion was ballet.

He was a swan spreading its wings to meet the wind. Even if he had experienced such a gloomy past, even if he fell into the quagmire, he was determined to fly back to the blue sky again, step by step.

Xiang Cai ended his performance on cue with the last musical note stopping.

Everyone was rendered speechless by his performance. The two female teachers were excited to tears, while the several other contestants were amazed by the vitality shown in Xiang Cai’s execution.

Xiao Cai laughed and saluted. When he was about to limp back to his original position, the unsmiling producer suddenly called out to him.

"Xiang Cai," Song Lin didn't have any expression on his face, and one couldn't tell whether he was satisfied or dissatisfied. "If you were asked to rate your performance, how would you rate it?"

After thinking about it, he answered, "Seven points."

Song Lin raised an eyebrow: "Out of 10?"

"No, out of 100."

Everyone: "..."

Xiang Cai was a bit embarrassed: "I think my overall performance was fine, but there were a few poorly executed big jump landing postures, and as for the last fall..." He honestly said, "... if I was performing on stage, and made such an error for the big performance, the audience would need their tickets refunded."

A smile was finally seen on Song Lin’s face. Clearly, he was a very serious and difficult -to-talk-to person, but with such a smile, he took on a warm shell.

"You are a good boy. I see the spiritual core of 'Billy Elliot' in you." Song Lin said, "The protagonist we are looking for is just like you who's passion is ballet and dares to dream, a young man struggling with fate."

As soon as he spoke, the atmosphere in the room changed abruptly.

The remaining contestants couldn’t help leaning forward one by one, wanting to hear more clearly. Especially the number one competitor. He was talented and worked hard, and had always performed well. He was the "Corner A" in everyone's mind. He was anxious enough to scratch his ears and cheeks in a flurry, but he did not dare to show it. However, he couldn’t help staring with dagger eyes at the producer for a while, and then at Xiang Cai.

While listening to Song Lin's appraisal, Xiang Cai did not show any enthusiasm nor excitement on his face.

He then calmly said, "Thank you, Teacher Song, for the compliments."

Neither a servile nor an overbearing attitude..

Song Lin looked at him and nodded admirably, but could not help feeling pity in his heart.

Then Song Lin continued without holding back any harsh truths: "However, the stage play is not a film where any imperfections can be modified in post-production. Every time an actor enters the stage, his physical and mental states must be perfect. Everyone in this circle knows me as 'Iron Face Song', because I have many rules and have a bad temper. The actor I choose does not have the right to get sick or injured. He can’t have a sore throat, let alone problems with dancing. Every performer are responsible to the whole audience.”

Speaking to here, Song Lin paused for a long time to allow his words to sink in.

His old partner on the side, Tang Fengyu, then concluded for Song Lin, the obvious unspoken words:

"I'm sorry, child." Tang Fengyu sighed. "You're performance was excellent, but given your foot injury, we cannot choose you as the leading actor."

After all, their upcoming production, Out of my World, was a Western musical, a commercial enterprise imported with real money. There were more than 30 actors onstage with countless people serving the crew. As the producer and director, they must be responsible for all the in and outs, ups and downs. Therefore, even if they appreciated Xiang Cai, they could only regretfully reject him.

After digesting what the director and producer said, miraculously, Xiang Cai had no regrets because he had given it his all. He had given himself a chance even though he had already predicated this outcome.

Although he was young, he was not naive. He had comminuted fractures in both feet and it was already a blessing what he had achieved so far. In the words of the doctor, if he persisted with rehabilitating, exercising, and calcium supplementation, his foot injury would be relieved as he grew, but it would take at least four to five years.

Now he had only performed for a few minutes and it was already unbearable. How could he endure on the stage for two and a half hours?

He came to participate in the trial not to be selected as the leading actor—but to fulfill his ambition.

Now that his ambition was fulfilled, he was ready to embark on a bigger dream.

Xiang Cai bowed to the judges, and when he stood up, his eyes shone like they were tearing.

He turned around and was about to leave, when suddenly, the voice of the director came from behind him.

"I haven't finished talking yet. Why is this child so anxious?" Tang Fengyu stopped him with a smile.

Xiang Cai hurriedly stopped, curious as to what else he had to say.

Tang Fengyu asked, "You’re in the Musical Theatre Department, right? In which direction do you want to develop in the future?"

Their department was the ‘one size fits all’ major of Huawu Academy. When they entered university, they could choose acting major and debut as a film actor; dance major or even the dance education major ... Only a small number of people would continue and become professional musical actors.

Xiang Cai said without hesitation: "I choose the musical theatre major route."

He couldn't let go of dancing, and at the same time, fell in love with singing to express his emotions. The musical theatre major was his best destination.

"That's good." Tang Fengyu and his old partner Song Lin stared at each other with smiles between their brows, "When you graduate from college, remember to come to us—no matter what drama we are doing at the time, we will absolutely let you be the male protagonist."

※

The ups and downs of this day made Xiang Cai feel thrilled when he recalled it.

When he returned to the dormitory, took a bath, and got into bed, his heart was still pounding.

The battery of his miscellaneous mobile phone was old and had been out of power all day long. As soon as he charged it up and turned it on, he got countless messages.

The actor for Out of My World finally landed on the head of the number one competitor. In contrast, the news of Xiang Cai losing the selection had long since passed.

Many people who heard the news sent messages, one after the other.

When Xiang Cai received all these messages, he realized that he was not as alone as he had imagined.

There was encouragement from Teacher Chu Ping, comforting support from the head of the department, and consolation from other students.

Qi Ji posted a dozen photos, each of which was a different snack, and she asked him which one he wanted to eat, contributing generously.

As for Chen Ziran ... the boy sent ten consecutive texts of "Are you there? Are you going mad?" "Are you there, do you copy?" "Are you there, lol?" It seemed to him that no matter what troubles the boy encountered, there was no one game that couldn’t solve it; if it couldn’t be solved, then add two more.

Xiang Cai looked at these messages and responded with a smile.

Although he lost Billy Elliot, he gained himself.

At ten-thirty in the evening, the dormitory building's lights were turned off as usual. Xiang Cai hid in the quilt, squinting his eyes and looking at the screen, and quietly opened QQ.

The Voice of Jiuxiao Radio Drama Troupe community was lively. He flipped through it twice at random and spent a lot of time immersed in it. In the end, he couldn't hold back and opened his chat history with Wang Qingyun.

The conversation between them from a few hours ago was still there.

He had cried hysterically at first, and then said a lot of awkward words like a crazed person. Wang Qingyun, who was regarded as an emotional waste bin, was not only not angry, but also believed in him, ‘a swan will eventually fly into the blue sky again’.

In retrospect, it was already like a memory from a past lifetime.

Thinking of those rude things that he had said, Xiang Cai embarrassedly wished to shrink himself into a ball.

Really, really, really, really, really, really rude!

He rolled nervously on the bed, want to say sorry, but feeling regret that he couldn't express his apology at all.

As a result, his fingers accidentally touched the button to send the swan emoji again—the black history-like "You are so good" flew out with a whistle.

On the screen, the white swan lifted his ass and smirked.

Xiang Cai: "... !!!"

Withdraw, withdraw, withdraw, is was posted by accident!!!

It was a pity that his movement was a step too slow after all. He heard the mobile phone vibrate, Wang Qingyun actually replied ...

Yiming Qingyun: ?

Yiming Qingyun: I was ignored for a few hours, and I thought I couldn’t coax you.

Yiming Qingyun: You seem to be refreshed?

guess: ...

guess: Sorry, I was wrong this afternoon QAQ.

guess: I had a little trouble with the three-dimensional world and couldn’t hold back ...

guess: Don't be angry, great god!!!!!

guess: [quack big cry].jpg

He bombarded him with a new expression, but did not forget to withdraw the accidentally sent troubling one...

Yiming Qingyun: No matter, everyone will encounter difficulties.

Yiming Qingyun: Just let out the negative emotions.

guess: Yun Da, when have you ever encountered difficult problems?

Yiming Qingyun: Well ...

Yiming Qingyun: Now that I think about it, almost never [laughs]

Yiming Qingyun: I have only encountered small difficulties so far and they were all resolved rather smoothly.

Yiming Qingyun: I have never encountered the extreme life problems of ‘to be or not to be’..

guess: I hope that great god will never meet them!

guess: [goose says hello].jpg

Yiming Qingyun: I’ll borrow your good words.

Yiming Qingyun: If I meet them, I will definitely remember Cai Cai.

Yiming Qingyun: [goose says hello] .jpg

Xiang Cai’s face turned red again ...

Wang Qingyun not only stole his emoji, but also called him Cai Cai ...

He had confided his real name to Wang Qingyun this afternoon, and now thinking of Wang Qingyun's extremely gentle ‘Cai Cai’, he would blush and his heart would pound rapidly.

Cai Cai, Cai Cai, Cai Cai.

Xiang Cai regretted that he forgot to record their conversation, so that every day in the future, he would be able to hear the great god whisper his name softly in his ear.

He felt that his heart had shrunk into a ball a long time ago, but at the same time, it had expanded to infinity. The inexplicable sweetness and happiness made him feel like he was floating on clouds.

—This was yet another candy between them.

The teenager was holding a glass jar full of candies that had long been counted.

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The author has something to say: I have talked about abuse in the previous chapters, so for this chapter, I said aloud, ‘sweet or not’!

Sweet! Or not!!! Sweet!!!!!

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