Chapter 7 - PandaTL

Unsurprisingly, Zhou Cun received an F. But it seemed like he had listened seriously to what Yao Chen had said just now as he didn’t refute the results but instead, had sincerely thanked the mentors before exiting the stage.

If he really understood the good intentions his mentors had for him, it’s highly likely that he would change his attitude in the following training sessions.

“Where are you going?” Su Qinglan asked softly while making some room for Qin Lu after seeing him stand up.

Qin Lu pointed at the mineral water bottle next to his seat and let out a smile, “Toilet.”

“Oh-oh!” Su Qinglan scratched his head in embarrassment and watched as Qin Lu walked down the steps and went around the partition leading backstage. He then turned his attention back to the stage and continued watching the performances happily.

There weren’t a lot of people going in and out of the corridor but due to the long recording time and the large number of trainees and staff, it was very normal to go in and out backstage. No one paid much attention to Qin Lu’s actions.

It was evidently much quieter after entering the rest area. Qin Lu could only vaguely hear one of the trainees doing a self-introduction in the studio, but it wasn’t as noisy as it was back there, making it hard for people to calm down.

He needed a relatively quiet place where he could think about the situation he was currently facing and what he should do next.

Qin Lu looked at the unfamiliar boy in the mirror. Seventeen was truly the best age in life.

He scrutinized the youthful face carefully. It was 60 to 70 percent similar to his face back when he was a teenager, only that his current face was more delicate and pretty. The color of his eyes was lighter and was a clear amber under the light.

He was very slim, the kind of slimness that belonged to adolescents. According to his memory, the original owner had grown by nearly 10cm in the past year. He got so tall that his weight couldn’t keep up.

Everyone’s teenage years were something that was happy but limited and would never be repeated in life. But now, with this boy’s identity, he would have a chance to start over.

What had he done in his past life when he was at this age? Probably nothing special.

The high school he attended wasn’t an elite one, but he had a harmonious relationship with his classmates and had many friends. His days were carefree and without any worries.

If he grew up, and his life was smooth sailing according to the scene he had visualized, maybe he would have become an ordinary office worker in the future and built an ordinary but happy family, living a simple and sweet life.

But life would never fully go on according to one’s wishes. Qin Lu had just entered university the year he learned his parents had passed away, and all the great plans he was visualizing were dashed before they could even come true. During that period, he felt that there was no meaning to anything. It was like he had lost the ability to perceive happiness.

Only after muddling along aimlessly for a long time did he decide to rebound and start over.

Afterward, he was snubbed everywhere he went as he didn’t finish university. That was until he first came into contact with acting. Qin Lu suddenly discovered that he could choose to become a completely different person and experience the emotions that he had lost.¹

That was also why he wasn’t willing to leave despite knowing that working as an extra was hard work and didn’t pay much. After finishing work every day, he would silently watch those actors act from the side. He gradually developed a considerable interest in an acting career after learning many things and began slowly experiencing a little happiness that had long disappeared from his life.

He would practice the plots he had seen while working at home and write the backstories of the characters. He slowly speculated about the characters’ minds and emotions, and slowly went from vaguely knowing, to silently critiquing character settings, having thoughts like ‘actually, it would be more real if this character could be expressed differently’.

Qin Lu didn’t have a system where there was a teacher there to teach him. He was his own teacher. He faintly felt that he was gifted in this aspect and could even feel his acting skills maturing little by little, becoming whole on their own.

Although he was only in his thirties when he died, he probably could be considered to have spent his whole life as an actor. Qin Lu achieved a ‘grand slam’ when he was 28 and won all three major Chinese entertainment awards for best actor. The greatest international award for actors had also nominated him for the title of ‘film emperor’, so he didn’t leave many regrets behind.

The friends he used to have didn’t even exist in this world. His intersection with the past would only remain in his memory and the only thing he could do now was to look ahead.

Qin Lu sorted out the current situation that the body he was possessing was in and decided to finish recording the program first.

After all, he couldn’t just directly go back to school. Even though he had inherited the original owner’s memories, he wasn’t the original owner. He had not been in high school for more than ten years, so despite his grades being decent back when he attended high school, he would have no way to explain if he couldn’t keep up with the rate of learning. It would be very easy to expose himself if that happens.

There would be no reason for him not to continue school once he chose to quit. The original owner’s parents would never let their son who had such excellent grades quit school without a reasonable reason, let alone the fact that he was currently still a ‘minor’.

In that case, the current talent show right now was the best excuse for him to skip school. Not only would he continue to participate in this show, but he should also try his best to get a debut spot.

The registration information provided by 《Infinite Youth》 clearly stated that there would be nine people who will form a team and debut towards the end of the show and will automatically sign a one-year contract with the management company.

In the future, they will carry out activities as a temporary boy group for a full year, record an exclusive variety show, and go on a tour.

There were too many things that could change in a year’s time.

Qin Lu was too clear on how big of a change could be made in the entertainment circle in a year. It was enough to make an unknown ordinary teenager become a household name and an extremely hot and dazzling star.

Of course, this was only a possibility.

As for whether he would continue down the path of an idol and sing and dance after the contract is up, or slowly transition back into being an actor, it all depended on whether his thoughts would change in the future. His future decisions would be decided by his future self. After all, people changed with time and experience.

He had the time and patience.

However, no matter where this temporary group will bring them, Qin Lu was sure that the original owner’s parents will continue supporting him.

Speaking of which, the original owner’s parents were originally pretty open-minded people from what he had seen in his memories. They only expressed some concerns regarding the original owner’s decision to participate in the talent show but didn’t oppose it.

To Qin Lu, family was of great significance. Although he didn’t intend to replace the original owner, he would treat the original owner’s parents and younger sister as his real family since he had replaced and taken over his life.

After thinking it over, Qin Lu decided to head back and continue watching the performances. He had gone out for quite some time and if he continued staying here, Su Qinglan might start to feel something was up.

But just as he walked out of the toilet, a figure crashed in his direction without any warning.

In this sudden situation, Qin Lu only noticed that the other party’s face was deathly pale. Judging by what he was wearing, he was most likely a trainee too.

Qin Lu subconsciously reached out to help him, but he miscalculated the other person’s height and physique. He also forgot for a moment that he was no longer a young man that went to the gym daily but instead, was a high-school student who lacked exercise.

He staggered two steps back uncontrollably before finally steadying himself with great difficulty. Fortunately, he didn’t bring the trainee down with him.

Qin Lu helped him to the side of the corridor and had him take a seat. After observing the other party’s condition, he felt that the symptoms displayed were somewhat familiar, “Can you hear me? Do you have low blood sugar?”

The boy had indeed lost consciousness for a moment back then and was now trying his best to stay awake as he drifted in and out of consciousness. He took a moment to process what Qin Lu had just asked him before nodding exhaustedly, unable to speak at all.

Qin Lu couldn’t see anyone else in the corridor and hence, he instructed, “Wait for me here.”

A few minutes later, Qin Lu came running back with some staff. He held back the first staff member he had come across and asked him to call the medical staff. After confirming the other party had gone to search for help, he went to ask others one by one if they had any sweets or chocolate.

Staff members would often have no time to take a proper meal when filming shows like this that had a long recording time. Most of them would usually carry some energy-replenishing snacks in their pockets to fill up their stomachs.

Qin Lu asked several people and finally found a good-natured lady. Not only did she give him a few pieces of chocolate, she even followed him over out of concern.

The staff member was only a young girl in her twenties. She was originally planning to have a rest after finishing her work, but in the end, she coincidentally saw Qin Lu with his name and grade taped to his clothes, politely but anxiously asking around for sweets.

To tell the truth, the reason why the lady took the initiative to talk to Qin Lu even when she hadn’t intended to do so, was because firstly, Qin Lu looked like he needed help urgently. Secondly, it was because he was too good-looking.

When the other party had looked at her with relief evident in his clear amber eyes and thanked her, on the surface, the lady courteously claimed that it wasn’t a problem. However, she felt that she had made the right decision to help Qin Lu deep down.

When she followed Qin Lu to find the trainee with low blood sugar, she couldn’t help but wonder if she had recently burned incense.

The 99 trainees were naturally all good-looking for them to be able to get selected. But there were only a few trainees whose appearance could be considered to have reached the peak.

With such a small chance of that happening, she unexpectedly met two such trainees in a short amount of time.

Although the boy sitting against the wall didn’t have a good complexion and his eyes were shut, it didn’t affect his distinct facial features. His head was slightly lowered, but the sharp jawline that resulted from him being overly thin could still be seen in the shadows.

When compared to Qin Lu’s gentle and delicate appearance, the boy looked a little colder. Both his eyelids and lips were thin, and he didn’t look like the type that could be approached easily.

Perhaps it was because he felt that there were people approaching him, he opened his eyes forcefully.

A piece of chocolate which had its packaging ripped open was thrust toward him. A slightly familiar gentle voice said, “Restore your blood sugar first. You should feel much better after eating it.”

Another foreign lady chipped in, “Yes, that’s right. I still have a lot more; you can have them if it isn’t enough!”

The trainee raised his hand and accepted the chocolate.