Chapter 130: Truly You! (Seeking subscriptions, seeking monthly votes!)

"Pfft." Seeing the earnest look on Li Shixin's face, Cui Ling couldn't help but chuckle.

Wiping the tears from her face, she nodded and said, "Even if you hadn't agreed, I would have passed you just for that performance. But... honestly, I really wanted these young people to see what a soul looks like."

Seeing that there was nothing else in Cui Ling's eyes, Li Shixin hesitated for a moment before raising his hands to unbutton his shirt.

"Ah!"

The moment Li Shixin took off his shirt, someone let out a gasp.

His withered frame had loose skin, and his back and chest were covered in crisscrossing scars!

Seeing such a body, Cui Ling was stunned. She didn't know what this body had endured, but she vaguely felt that the old man in front of her must have had an unbearable past.

Collecting herself, she tapped the table and spoke to the trainees, "I often tell you that singers and dancers need a soul. But do you know what a soul is?"

"Look at this body, and then think about that dance just now. In that dance, this body contained a young soul, a soul whose vitality could ignite anyone!"

"Now think about yourselves!"

At this point, Cui Ling spoke with a sense of frustrated disappointment. "I don't understand. Why is it that what this body can achieve manifests in your young bodies as nothing but mechanical, slothful soul? I will send you the video later. I require each of you to keep this dance of the old gentleman's forever. Watch it whenever you have time and use it to spur yourselves on. Tell yourselves that simply twisting around on stage and giving the audience a charming smirk is not what being young or looking good is about. Without a soul in your singing and dancing, no matter how many resources are thrown at you, you will never make it! Do you understand?"

As the eight trainees remained silent, Cui Ling turned her focus to the cross-dressing influencer from earlier.

"Especially you, Chen Shi. How long did you practice that song 'Itch'?"

"Huh?" Faced with the question, Chen Shi grimaced. "About a week or so."

"A week or so, and were you practicing your dance every single moment?"

"Well... most of my time was spent researching my outfit..."

Cui Ling glared at him fiercely before turning her eyes back to Li Shixin. "Sir, can you tell me how long you practiced this piece, 'Fist of Legend'?"

"Two hundred and twenty hours." Li Shixin, who was just putting his shirt back on, replied without a moment's hesitation.

Back at his agency, in order to secure the center position, he had spent twelve hours a day in the dance studio for twenty straight days practicing this very routine.

Watching Li Shixin carefully button his shirt, Cui Ling stood up and bowed slightly to him.

If a young person had spent so much time practicing a single piece, she might have been very appreciative. But for a man in his sixties, with his physical condition, to spend over two hundred hours mastering a piece that had stumped so many young trainees—she was moved by genuine respect!

*Ding!*

Received cheers imbued with intense [Respect], 8321 points!

"From now on, your practice time will be measured in hours. Don't think that practicing for three or four hours counts as a full day's effort. Look at this; this is your role model."

Looking at the young faces, Cui Ling spoke through gritted teeth. When her gaze fell on Li Shixin again, her eyes grew moist once more.

"Teacher Li, I love your soul to death. And I hate your body to death!"

Hearing Cui Ling's words, Li Shixin gave a faint smile.

*Damn, what a coincidence! I think the same thing! Otherwise, why would I be risking my life to show off? It's to be young, to be young, to be young!*

Taking one last deep look at Li Shixin, Cui Ling picked up the file in front of her and, with her ballpoint pen, wrote a big "A" in the singing and dancing evaluation column.

After getting dressed, Li Shixin looked at the final interviewer with a smile.

"Teacher, what is your part?"

Faced with Li Shixin's confident inquiry, Zheng Huan, the deputy manager of operations for the Huaqi Culture record label branch, smiled. He immediately picked up Li Shixin's artist card.

Seeing the two "A" ratings in acting and singing/dancing, he casually added two more "A"s in singing ability and songwriting.

"Teacher Li, you don't need to do anything here."

*Holy crap!*

The trainees standing near Zheng Huan saw the two "A" ratings, and their expressions twisted in envy.

They were green with jealousy!

Except for the "F" in the appearance column, it was a 4-A artist evaluation card! And the singing and songwriting categories were given an "A" without even an interview...

*Sir, even if you're awesome, you must have pulled some strings to get here, right? It has to be that, right?!*

Nearby, Lu Cuishan and Cui Ling also frowned. "Brother Huan, you're being so lenient with Liu Yingxiang's interviews today... isn't that a bit much?"

Seeing the concern on his colleagues' faces, Zheng Huan chuckled and shook his head. He looked deeply at Li Shixin and said, "When the old man was acting just now, I suddenly felt the name Li Shixin sounded familiar. I spent a long time thinking about it before I remembered."

"Remembered what?"

Faced with the confusion of Lu Cuishan and Cui Ling, Zheng Huan picked up his phone and opened a music file. It was a guitar accompaniment, a nearly a cappella demo.

"Where has the time gone... I haven't even felt what it's like to be young before I've grown old..."

"Oh!"

Hearing that voice, Lu Cuishan and Cui Ling smiled. "Isn't this Jin Wenqi's voice? So, is Wenqi releasing a new song? This song... it sounds like good quality!"

Zheng Huan chuckled, didn't say a word, and opened his WeChat to pull up his voice chat history with Jin Wenqi.

"Wenqi, I think this demo is great! The music platform is hosting a year-end gala next month, and the Spring Festival Gala is also starting to collect musical works. I think it's ready for the recording studio!"

"Brother Huan, no. It's still missing too much!"

*Still missing too much?*

Listening to Jin Wenqi's slightly frustrated voice on the phone, Lu Cuishan and Cui Ling were startled. "We think it's quite good! Wenqi's voice is solid, and this demo sounds especially... how should I put it, it really resonates with older people; it's very empathetic!"

"Right?" Zheng Huan looked at Li Shixin before saying to his colleagues, "I thought so too at first. But then Wenqi sent me this. Listen."

He then opened another music file.

"Old trees by the door sprout new buds, withered wood blooms once more, a lifetime of words saved up... all hidden in hair turned white... Where has the time gone? I haven't even felt what it's like to be young before I've grown old..."

This version didn't even have accompaniment. It was completely a cappella!

If one were to judge solely by singing technique, Jin Wenqi's version was superior, but in terms of moving the soul...

The weary, world-worn voice in the second version completely blew Jin Wenqi's out of the water in terms of emotional impact!

"This song was sung by Old Man Li," Zheng Huan said with a faint smile as Lu Cuishan and Cui Ling sat in silence.

Seeing their wide eyes, he added, "At the same time, he is also the songwriter and composer."

"So, I think giving him two 'A's is fairly objective, wouldn't you say?"

Under the monster-like gazes of everyone, Zheng Huan also stood up and bowed slightly to Li Shixin.

"Teacher Li, hello. I really didn't expect to meet you on an occasion like this."

*Ding!*

Received cheers imbued with intense [Envy, Jealousy, and Hate], 6666 points!

Seeing the three interviewers bow to Li Shixin one after another, the room full of young artists felt their faces distort!

*Where the hell did this old monster come from?! Are we even going to be able to make a living now?*

Seventeenth floor of the Huaqi Building, the Chairman's office.

Watching Zheng Huan bowing to Li Shixin on the surveillance monitor, Zhao Jinzhi smiled faintly.

*Typical of you.*

Zhao Jinzhi rose from the sofa, stretched slightly, and smiled at Wang Mei nearby.

"That's enough. Go ahead. Fill in my name as the referrer on this interview file."

"Yes, Chairman Zhao."

Wang Mei nodded and took a deep look at the three interviewers. She secretly gave them a thumbs up.

*Well done. Those four 'A's you gave today just saved your jobs.*