Chapter 17. Sweat Worth More Than Gold

    The match started again. This time, Mu Si Cheng started attacking again, but he did not run toward Bai Zhe. His team focused on passing the ball to one another. But the moment the ball was passed about 5 meters away in front of Bai Zhe, all of a sudden, the boy charged quickly in to take the ball, then passed it to the forward who was waiting as they had planned.

    Bai Zhe’s plan was when he passed the ball to someone, that person just kicked it toward the other team’s goal. They did not have to care whether it would enter the goal or not.

    Bai Zhe’s team player got the ball and did what he had been told. Then, something impossible happened when the ball that he kicked was able to change direction to avoid the goalkeeper again. But this time Bai Zhe made it look smoother.

    “That’s insane! How did I make that beautiful shoot?” The boy was surprised. He could not believe it either.

    “Second goal already, Si Cheng. If we get three, you have to buy me a drink.” Bai Zhe smiled.

    “Sure. It’s not a big deal. I won’t let you score again,” said Mu Si Cheng.

    After they started again, Mu Si Cheng charged forward himself. No one could block him.

    Bai Zhe stood still, not helping to head off the ball; instead, he walked to the goal of Mu Si Cheng’s team. Mu Si Cheng decided to shoot immediately when he saw three boys marking him. The kick was beautiful, but it curved into the hands of the goalkeeper of Bai Zhe’s team.

    “Hey! What the heck? Why did it curve?” said Mu Si Cheng. A moment later, the goalkeeper threw the ball out. It flew a great distance and fell at Bai Zhe’s feet in the blink of an eye.

    Bai Zhe started to run; nobody could keep up with his speed this time. He dribbled and quickly passed Mu Si Cheng team’s players. Bai Zhe had seen basketball players use this technique to escape from the opponents marking them. But using legs instead of hands was quite a bit harder.

    “Block him!” Mu Si Cheng shouted to his team. Still, nobody could match his speed. It made the situation turn into a one-on-one fight between Bai Zhe and the goalkeeper of Mu Si Cheng’s team. Bai Zhe smiled, before starting to dribble the ball toward the goal.

    “You underestimated me too much.” The goalkeeper ran from his spot, meaning to take the ball from Bai Zhe’s feet. Unfortunately, Bai Zhe used the basketball crossover technique to move away from the goalkeeper. He then lightly kicked the ball and it rolled into the goal. Both teams went quiet. Only the girls' voices broke the silence.

    “Hey, Bai Zhe. I won’t ask you to play next time. Your clothes didn’t even get dirty. Do you have to be so darn good?” said Mu Si Cheng.

    All the boys who had played football were sweating so much that their shirts were soaked and stuck to their skin, revealing their figures underneath, which made the girls scream with joy though the boys were dirty.

    Bai Zhe was also soaking with sweat. The only difference was that his clothes were still spotless. The reason behind his sweat was that he had used too much of his soul power, which made him very tired. And his thin shirt turned into the focus of the girls' attention.

    “Oh, Bai Zhe, your body is to be envied,” said a boy who was on Bai Zhe’s team. He dreamed of having a model’s body like that.

    “That’s why the girls from our class are screaming,” said a boy from Mu Si Cheng’s team.

    “Let’s go take a shower, Bai Zhe. In a manly way—no need for towels,” said Mu Si Cheng.

    That was right. The school’s bathroom was a communal shower without partitions. So, Mu Si Cheng’s group usually showed off their bodies, which they kept in shape, when they showered.

    “Sure.” Bai Zhe walked to the seats near the field. He took off his soaking wet shirt; some of the girls ended up with nosebleeds. Some had to control themselves until their bodies shook. Bai Zhe turned to look at a girl who was holding an unopened drinking water bottle.

    “Hmm, can I have that bottle?” asked Bai Zhe. The girl handed it to him immediately.

    Then, Bai Zhe poured the water all over his shirt to wash off the sweat.

    “Hey, Bai Zhe, let me iron your shirt.” A girl snatched the shirt from Bai Zhe’s hand before running toward the building. Bai Zhe sighed and prepared to go take a shower, but he was stopped by the girls.

    “Bai Zhe, wait. You have to wipe off your sweat. You could get sick if you go straight to the shower,” said one of the girls.

    Then, many of them brought out their handkerchiefs and dabbed Bai Zhe’s body. Bai Zhe stood still, staying alert in case the girls attacked him. More than ten handkerchiefs were used to wipe Bai Zhe’s sweat dry in the blink of an eye.

    “Thank you so much. I’m off. Chase down my shirt for me, okay? I will go to the cafeteria with Si Cheng’s group after the shower. You can give it to me there,” said Bai Zhe before going to take a shower.

    Bai Zhe was starting to get used to being surrounded by girls and felt more relaxed.

    He could ignore the girls taking some liberties with him. It was quite exciting in a way. But if they did anything more than that, he would not stay still.

    After Bai Zhe left, the girls turned into lunatics. They took the handkerchiefs that were soaked with the boy's sweat and sniffed them. The reason why this situation happened was because Bai Zhe’s pheromones had changed ever since he had practiced qi.

    The gym’s shower

    Bai Zhe took a shower with Mu Si Cheng’s group. They did not take long, otherwise, they would not have time left for lunch. They hurriedly got dressed and went to the cafeteria. Bai Zhe was topless; he only had his black uniform pants on. The boy did not care about all the girls who looked at him like they were ready to devour him.

    The cafeteria

    When the boys arrived at the cafeteria, Bai Zhe met the girl who had taken his shirt to be ironed. She handed him the shirt, but her face looked like she did not want to let it go. In the end, she finally closed her eyes and gave the shirt to Bai Zhe. Bai Zhe took the shirt and put it on immediately, then he went to sit, watching Mu Si Cheng’s group eat their lunch.

    “Aren’t you eating anything?” asked Mu Si Cheng with his mouth full.

    “No. I’ve already eaten,” answered Bai Zhe.

    “You drank only water,” said one of the boys in the group.

    “Sweating much, I had to drink water,” said Bai Zhe.

    After lunch, Bai Zhe and Mu Si Cheng’s group went back to the classroom to see the girls covering their noses with handkerchiefs, their eyes blank as if they were on drugs.

    “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.