Traffic Star Development Program

Chapter 43 Tian'ai's Entanglement

"The deadline given in the invitation is the end of February," Zeng Hao said. "But the earlier we reply, the earlier the production team will schedule us. The order of appearance in the first episode is important. The singers who appear at the beginning get the most exposure, and then the exposure decreases with each subsequent episode. If we want to secure the first episode, we need to make sure that the production team has fixed Xu Jiaying's schedule before they have secured all the singers."

Xu Wen wrote this down in his notebook.

Zeng Hao picked up his coffee and took a sip. "This afternoon, reply to the production team and say that Xu Jiaying's schedule is confirmed to participate in the third season. Provide the song selection for her competition within two weeks. Also, in the email, ask what logic the production team used to arrange the performance order for the first episode."

"The production team won't just tell you directly if you ask this."

"They won't say it directly," Zeng Hao said, "but they will answer. The way they answer is the answer itself. They said they would arrange it according to the order of signing, so we won because we were among the first to respond. They said they would arrange it according to popularity, so our next step is to push Xu Jiaying's popularity up again within two weeks, so that the production team feels that she is important enough to be placed in a higher position."

Xu Wen capped the pen. "Received. I'll send it this afternoon."

"Go ahead," Zeng Hao said. "Don't tell Xu Jiaying yet. Let's wait until 'Diamond Lover' wraps up filming."

Okay, I understand.

Xu Wen went out, and Zeng Hao turned the A4 paper over and wrote a few lines on the back, pushing back the timeline of "I Am a Singer" to late March, April, and the release of "Ugly Monster" at the end of April.

The two events collided, creating a combined buzz.

He's been waiting for this window for almost two months!

At 2 p.m., Zeng Hao stood outside the training room downstairs at the company for about ten minutes.

Today is the first day of the second week of the boy group training, and it's Teacher Lin's physical training class.

He didn't push the door open; he stood outside and looked inside through the glass in the door.

Teacher Lin demonstrated in front, showing the angle of arm extension, the position of the shoulders, and the control of the stride on the stage. She said it once, and the five people followed along.

Zhou Zhennan's work has a very professional sense of neatness, but something is missing from that neatness. Zeng Hao stared at him from outside the glass for a while and found it: relaxation. He was too eager to do it right, so every movement was a task to be completed, rather than a natural expression.

Chen Linong, on the other hand, was the opposite. He was relaxed, but he was always a little short of control. When he extended his arm, he always stopped at the last centimeter, as if he was protecting himself.

Zeng Hao shifted his gaze to Xu Kunkun.

He stood in the third position, following Teacher Lin's movements. There were no particular problems with his actions, but he would occasionally sneak a glance forward, not at Teacher Lin, but at Zhou Zhennan, as he was taking a reference.

This is a bad habit.

Comparing yourself to others is like lowering your own ceiling. That natural perception only comes out because you're not thinking about others. Once you start benchmarking, that perception will be suppressed.

Wang Yuxuan was in the last position. It was the eighth day of the three-week observation period. Today, his posture was a little better than last week. He had found some control over his shoulders, but his center of gravity was still too far back. Teacher Lin had pointed this out twice already. He corrected it, but he went back to his old posture in less than five minutes, which shows that muscle memory has not yet been established.

Zeng Hao pushed the door open a crack.

Teacher Lin's voice came from inside, "Yuxuan, your center of gravity is always on your heels. You need to put more weight on your forefoot. Right now, you're walking like you're retreating."

Wang Yuxuan adjusted his footsteps.

Teacher Lin walked over, squatted down, and gently pushed his ankle forward with her hand. "Can you feel it? This position, not the toes, but the forefoot, the middle part."

Wang Yuxuan looked down and nodded. "I can feel it."

"Go through it again, just follow this line, don't worry about your hands."

Wang Yuxuan took a step, this time putting force into his forefoot, shifting his center of gravity forward, and the feeling of walking out changed; it was no longer retreating, but walking.

Teacher Lin stood up, didn't say anything, just nodded, and turned back to continue.

Zeng Hao closed the door, stood in the corridor for a minute, and sent Xu Wen a message: Teacher Lin pushed forward the key point problem for Wang Yuxuan once today. Give me feedback at the end of this week on whether he has stabilized this part. If he can only do it in class but goes back to it after class, ask Teacher Lin to let him work on this part separately before each class next week. If it is not fixed, it means he has not passed.

Xu Wen replied: I understand, I'll tell Teacher Lin.

He put his phone away and walked towards the parking lot. He had nothing else to do this afternoon, so he planned to go back and review the script structure of "Three Lives Three Worlds, Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms" again.

He plans to launch this project after "Diamond Lover" is released. He already has the framework for the actors in mind, but there are still two logical points in the script that he is not satisfied with.

My phone vibrated again.

He took it out and saw it was a WeChat message from Zhang Tianai.

It wasn't a voice message, it was text, just six words: I'm downstairs.

Zeng Hao looked at those six words for a second, then put his phone back in his pocket and continued walking towards the parking lot, stopping halfway there.

downstairs.

He thought for a moment, then turned and walked towards the elevator, pressing the button for the first floor.

When the elevator doors opened, there was a person standing in the lobby, Zhang Tianai, wearing a beige long cardigan, her hair casually tied up, and carrying a paper bag. When she saw him come out, she stood still and looked up at him.

Zeng Hao stepped out of the elevator and stopped two steps away from her, his gaze lingering on the paper bag in her hand.

"Food," Zhang Tianai said, "you haven't eaten, have you? I'm guessing."

"You came without notifying me," Zeng Hao said.

"I told you not to come," she said, her voice devoid of emotion, simply stating a fact. "I'm already here, are you going to kick me out?"

Zeng Hao didn't speak, but paused his gaze on her face for a moment, then took two steps forward, took the paper bag from her hand, and turned to press the elevator button.

Zhang Tianai followed, and the two entered the elevator. She stood next to him without saying a word. The elevator went up, and the numbers kept increasing.

Upon reaching the floor, Zeng Hao placed the paper bag on the conference room table and opened it. Inside were two boxed meals and an unopened bottle of mineral water.

He pushed one of the portions in front of Zhang Tianai, opened his own, sat down, and picked up his chopsticks.

Zhang Tianai sat down opposite him, opened his lunchbox, picked up his chopsticks, took a couple of bites, and then put them down. "Zeng Hao, I just wanted to come and see you. I didn't mean anything by it."

"Hmm," Zeng Hao said, without stopping his chopsticks.

"Your new project," she said, "you said you'd wait for my news, how long?"

Zeng Hao swallowed a mouthful of rice. "What's the rush?"

"I'm not in a hurry," Zhang Tianai said. "I just want to know the general idea."

"Probably this year," he said. "I haven't decided on the exact date yet, but I'll let you know when I do."

Zhang Tianai mentally reviewed the answer, picked up her chopsticks, and started eating again without asking any further questions.

There was a moment of silence in the meeting room, with only the afternoon street noise from Qianhu City outside the window.

Halfway through the meal, Zhang Tianai put his chopsticks on the side of the lunchbox, stood up, walked around to Zeng Hao, put his hand on Zeng Hao's shoulder, lowered his head, and whispered in his ear.

You haven't contacted me lately.