Chapter 77 Opening the Hips

Jin He got up at five o'clock the next morning to catch her flight. Wang Yang glanced at Jin He in the passenger seat and asked, "How's the song preparation going?"

An Yi taught him quite well; he is undoubtedly a professional in this area. No wonder the company tried every means to coax and persuade him to stay, since there aren't many idols these days who are both good-looking and talented.

Just yesterday, he could watch over her all day. Now, Jin He can sing live all day. Of course, if you add dancing, it might still not be enough, but at least it won't be a disaster.

"It's alright."

He always had an iced Americano in his car when he went to work, and he would buy two cups whenever Wang Yang picked him up from get off work. Jin He rummaged through the coffee bag and took out a cookie to eat.

It was originally prepared by Wang Yang to prevent Jin He from feeling dizzy. Seeing that Jin He wanted to eat it now, he asked with some curiosity, "Don't you never eat breakfast?"

"Hmm..."

Jin He took a bite of a cookie; it was soft and topped with chocolate chips. He took two bites, and the rich chocolate chips melted on his tongue.

"Is An Yi... allergic to chocolate?" Jin He suddenly remembered and asked.

"Yes, that's right." Wang Yang said, gripping the steering wheel tightly and focusing intently on driving. "You and An Yi were getting along well again the other day? Didn't you two always argue before?"

Jin He was completely unaware: "Huh? What do you mean?"

"Didn't you have a fever when you came back from abroad a couple of days ago? After participating in the variety show, you went back to your dorm. Brother Wu wanted you to go back to the company for classes, but An Yi refused." Wang Yang grimaced as he recalled the incident. "If you ask me, An Yi really is a rich kid. When he gets angry, he doesn't tolerate anyone. He directly called Brother Wu a piece of shit on the phone, and Brother Wu's face turned green. He didn't dare to say anything."

Jin He had experienced An Yi's sharp tongue firsthand. However, regarding what Wang Yang said... An Yi was, after all, one of the instigators.

Jin He had discovered long ago that this young master might have a bit of a germaphobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Specifically, he absolutely could not allow any stain to appear in his life.

When he was parachuted into the debut group with zero experience, it ruined his ideal team configuration, so he couldn't stand him at all.

Now that An Yi has been drugged and slept with, although it was consensual, it seems that Jin He is the one who suffers the loss, both in terms of position and consequences. Therefore, An Yi has been exceptionally lenient towards Jin He these past few days.

Specifically, he stopped swearing when teaching Jin He to sing.

That's how Jin He understood it.

"It's a good thing that the relationship can be eased a bit. After all, we are all colleagues and will be working together for several more years. It's not good if things get too tense."

Jin He naturally let Wang Yang's words go in one ear and out the other, simply replying with two perfunctory "uh-huhs" before plugging in her earphones to listen to music.

"We plan to record our next group variety show before the new song is released, which will be a good opportunity to promote the new song."

Jin He thought for a moment. The new song should be released at the end of September. It's August now, so they have two months to continue practicing all the songs on the album until they have muscle memory of them.

"This is your schedule for next month."

Jin He took it and glanced at it. Sure enough, he still didn't have a single free day.

"I've got you a role with some screen time," Wang Yang said. "It's a big production, a period drama, I think it's something like, a male prostitute."

"A male prostitute?!"

"Ah, right, it's a male prostitute, and a spy at that. He has a lot of scenes, and if you play him well, he'll be outstanding," Wang Yang said. "After the audition tomorrow, I'll take you to try on your makeup. The contract is already signed. The director said the only requirement for this role is that you have to look good."

Jin He: "..."

It's really become just a decorative vase...

"Then, could you give me a day off before I join the film crew?" Jin He knew that once this kind of work started, the time would be even tighter. He wanted to find a day to visit his grandmother. He wondered how she was doing lately. The caregiver he had hired for her said that everything was normal.

"Take a look at your schedule and see which day is free," Wang Yang said without looking up. "Or you could practice singing and dancing in advance and squeeze out some time for it."

He didn't know what it meant before that "time is like water in a sponge, you can always squeeze some out if you try." But after his debut, Jin He understood. So, he had no choice but to practice singing and dancing well, so that he wouldn't hold back the team's schedule.

After the advertisement shoot was completed, he flew back just in time for the music audition.

As expected, Jin He was disliked by the teacher again.

"There has been progress, but not much," the teacher said. "Your breathing is still unstable. I need to do some physical training with you, otherwise you'll keep cracking your voice. Hey, Lin Nian, take Jin He to practice some basic skills."

Their physical training includes, but is not limited to: burpees, push-ups, high knees, crunches, planks, etc. Basically, it's all about training the core, abs, and limbs. The other four are all quite fit; they can sing and dance live with just a little bit of breathlessness. But Jin He is different.

He looked like he was about to die.

He was a picky eater and consumed very little protein, resulting in low muscle mass and a thin, small build. He looked noticeably smaller than the other members, and naturally, he lacked strength due to the lack of muscle.

Every time Jin He does a plank exercise, he shakes like a candle in the wind, sweating profusely, while everyone else remains unfazed.

Teacher Zhuang squatted down and patted Jin He's thin, bony thighs, saying, "Go back and get him some meat to eat, lean meat."

Lin Nian looked at Jin He with some difficulty, after all, he couldn't just force-feed it to Jin He.

"Okay, teacher."

Teacher Zhuang told Jin He to sit down properly. Jin He didn't understand what to do, but she obediently sat cross-legged. Then Teacher Zhuang directly held onto the wall, placed her two feet on Jin He's thighs, and stomped down hard.

A scream of agony rang out from Jin He, who was drenched in cold sweat from the pain. She patted Teacher Zhuang's thigh, crying, "Teacher, teacher, I..."

"We have to endure the pain. Everyone has had their muscles stretched before, otherwise the dance won't look good."

"But, but it hurts so much..."

The others had been training since childhood and were used to stretching their muscles. Of course, it still hurt, but it wasn't as excruciating.

Jin Heke was different. He had absolutely no dance background, and this was his first time doing something like stretching his muscles. You can imagine the excruciating pain of an eighteen-year-old boy stretching his muscles for the first time.

The pain wasn't like a stomachache or headache; it was a heart-wrenching, excruciating pain, as if the whole body was being torn apart. The pain shot straight to the top of the head, and Jin He couldn't bear it any longer. She struggled to leave, but Teacher Zhuang stopped her with a shout: "Endure the pain! Think about your fans and your stage. Do you think your skills are worthy of them?"

These words seemed to press the pause button on Jin He, and he stopped struggling. Lin Nian, who was watching from the side, felt sorry for him and took his hand, trying to help him relax. After all, the more tense something is, the more it hurts.

Jin He was in so much pain that he was dizzy, his lips were trembling, he was covered in sweat, and his face was pale. He looked like he was barely breathing.

Lin Nian opened her mouth, pleading with Jin He, "Let's call it a day, teacher."

"No, hold on for one more minute."

If I had just held on for one more minute, my little He would have fainted from the pain!

"What are you doing!" A furious roar came from the doorway. An Yi rushed in carrying a bag of bottled water. Seeing Teacher Zhuang still standing on Jin He, he angrily pulled him down. "What are you doing?"

Lin Nian quickly rescued Jin He from the teacher's feet, and kept massaging and stretching his legs to help him relax. Jin He was in so much pain that he leaned against Lin Nian, his hair soaked with sweat.

"Stretch your muscles."

Being suddenly interrupted, Teacher Zhuang was not happy.

"Strengthen his muscles?! He's eighteen years old this year, and he's never strengthened his muscles before. You just come up here and stomp on him like that. Aren't you afraid of hurting him?"

“I’ve stepped on Xiubai and Dayuan like this before and nothing happened to me. You can’t just spoil him because he’s young.” Teacher Zhuang glared at him. “Besides, I’ve stepped on so many people like this before, but he’s the only one who can’t.”

“But teacher…” Jiang Xiubai raised her hand, “Jin He really has zero experience. It’s really easy to break it if she steps on it like that.”

"Yeah, yeah."

"You can't do that again. There are so many ways to open your hips, why did you have to choose the most extreme one? If something really happened, Xiaohe would be finished." Lin Nian supported Jinhe's body, patted his sweaty face, and asked, "Xiaohe, are you alright? Can you move? Let's stand up and walk a few steps?"

Jin He finally snapped out of his agony, his face already streaked with tears. He was breathing heavily, pressing his aching groin, which he could feel burning hot even through his sweatpants.

"Captain, Captain, it still hurts quite a bit..."