Chapter 69: Is it hard?

ROAD.

road.

"Hello everyone, my name is Jiang Shen, I'm 14 years old. Come on, rub it..."

The screen slowly lit up again, and a low-pixel video appeared on the screen. At the beginning of the video, a boy is holding a mobile phone and carefully adjusting the angle, trying to fit himself completely into the picture.

The boy had a shaved head and his hair was so short that he looked like a furry kiwi. His body shape is the same as that of a normal boy of his age, as thin as a monkey and a bamboo pole, and his skin is dark, but even so, you can see that he has good facial features.

It's totally different from Jiang Shen's current appearance.

After placing the phone, he quickly took a few steps back so that he could appear fully on the screen, and then introduced himself to the phone.

He obviously had not studied Korean systematically, so his speech sounded strange and awkward, but his pronunciation was clear and his speech was fluent, and it was obvious that he had memorized this self-introduction by heart.

"My hobbies are dancing and martial arts. I started practicing martial arts at the age of three and started learning street dance at the age of five."

As the introductions continued, the boy in the video began to show his talents.

Through the screen, Ren Fenghe looked at the extremely immature Jiang Shen during his junior high school years.

This is a past that fans are all aware of.

After school in junior high school, Jiang Shen heard teachers talking about recruitment news of a Korean entertainment company in the dance studio.

The teachers who knew his intention helped him compile a list of companies. With the help of his teachers, he sent the self-introduction video to the public audition email addresses of several more reliable companies.

The threshold for online auditions in Korean entertainment is not high. As long as you are of the right age and have some outstanding talents, you can enter the next round of selection.

Jiang Shen talked about why he chose SJY in a variety show.

At that time, the video he submitted was accepted by three companies, two of which were large companies, and the other one was SJY.

The teachers' evaluation of SJY is: Although it is a small company, the company's only two groups are somewhat famous, and the company and its members have never had any major negative news. The relationships among the members are visibly harmonious, which shows that the company is reliable in the management of trainees and artists, so it's worth a try.

At the beginning, Jiang Shen preferred large companies, as they sounded safer.

But big companies have second and third interviews, and they are all held in different cities. After passing the third interview, you still have to go to Korea for another interview.

But SJY is different. After passing the audition, they can go directly to Korea for the re-examination.

Jiang Shen said in the program that there was no money to fly him to other cities in the country for a second and third try, so Jiang Shen chose SJY.

The scene changed, and Jiang Shen, who was so skinny and small that no one would have thought that he could become a star, stood on the center stage of Tokyo Dome.

"I am honored to be able to stand on the stage of Tokyo Dome. This is a great affirmation for me. This is something that would never have been possible without everyone's support. Thank you for your company along the way. In the future, I will become a better shine, practice hard, and work hard to grow so that everyone can proudly say, 'I am a fan of amanecer.'"

As the words fell, the camera intersected, and the figures of Jiang Shen holding a microphone and Jiang Shen holding a chicken leg overlapped.

He was holding a greasy chicken drumstick, with a birthday hat crookedly on his head, and in front of him was a cake that could be held in one hand.

Jiang Shen was surrounded by a few people of the same age, who should be trainees from the same batch.

He looked at the person holding the camera nervously and said, "Teacher, will you be scolded for secretly bringing me a cake?"

"No way, my sister is a dance teacher hired by the company at a huge expense!" The trainee friend next to him pushed Jiang Shen and urged him, "Hurry up, let's light the candles for you, and make a wish quickly."

The dance teacher, who was called "Sister", also responded, "Don't worry, I told them that we will arrange a devilish training tonight. They will not be allowed to return to the dormitory until dawn. They will not come."

"Besides, my birthday only comes once a year, so it doesn't matter if I don't eat your management meals."

The dance teacher said as she lit the long, thin candle on the cake.

The trainees around turned off the lights, leaving only the flickering candlelight and Jiang Shen closing his eyes and making a wish in the camera.

The Korean birthday song sounded, and the dance teacher and trainee friends clapped and sang.

When the singing ended, Jiang Shen opened his eyes, reluctantly looking at the bright candle, and gently blew it out.

The lights came back on.

"Okay, eat your chicken leg and cake quickly. Your parents must be so worried about you coming here at such a young age." said the dance teacher.

The camera recorded that when the dance teacher said this, some of Jiang Shen's trainee friends behind him shook their heads wildly, while others put their index fingers in front of their mouths and tried hard to make a "don't say" gesture.

"What's wrong?" The dance teacher was confused.

Jiang Shen turned his head and looked at his trainee friends behind him. His friends immediately stopped and looked left and right, as if they had not done anything just now.

Jiang Shen laughed, knowing that his friends were worried about him.

He looked back at the dance teacher, then at the camera, smiled and shook his head, saying, "I don't understand them either, but it shouldn't be a big deal."

"But I'm curious, why do you want to come to Korea to be a trainee?"

In the video, the same question was asked by two voices, the voices of the dance teacher and the company's vice president intertwined and overlapped.

The scene switched and Jiang Shen and the vice president appeared in the meeting room.

At the table behind the vice president sat several staff members who were taking notes.

There were documents in front of the vice president, and he was flipping through them, asking questions as he read.

Jiang Shen at this moment has grown a lot compared to the previous clip. His facial features relaxed, his face lost its childishness, and one could already see the shadow of the current Jiang Shen.

He was a little nervous sitting in front of the vice president, with his hands neatly placed on his knees, looking a little embarrassed.

When he heard the vice president's question, he replied, "When my mother was young, she liked a boy band very much. This was the opportunity for her to take me to learn dancing. She said that I dance very well and I would be very handsome if I could stand on the stage. So, I want to stand on the biggest and highest stage so that my mother can see me clearly."

The vice president looked through the information and said thoughtfully, "Your monthly assessments are all A's, and your practice record is also perfect. Your performance is quite good."

Jiang Shen sat down and bowed slightly to show his gratitude.

"You haven't seen your parents in a few years, right?" the vice president judged based on Jiang Shen's attendance record.

Jiang Shen was stunned for a moment, then immediately nodded and said, "Yes."

The vice president said: "It must be sad that you haven't seen your parents for so many years. I can give you a few days off and invite your parents to come and have some fun."

In the picture, Jiang Shen expressed his gratitude again. Soon, the meeting ended and he left the meeting room.

After he left, a staff member sitting next to him suddenly remembered something and said, "His mother has passed away."

The subtitles on the screen clearly caught Ren Fenghe's eyes.

She was stunned, speechless for a moment, and felt like her heart was hit hard by something. .

She never knew that Jiang Shen's mother had passed away.

She had been puzzled before, because the only relative Jiang Shen mentioned in the live broadcast was Jiang Qian. She had only met Jiang Tangxia and Jiang Qian in the two months she had been here.

From the phone call before the New Year, she could guess that Jiang Shen and his father had a bad relationship, and thought that this might be the reason why Jiang Shen's mother did not show up.

"He came here alone that year, and I was the one who picked him up at the airport," said an older employee.

"Where is his father?" the vice president asked casually.

"I haven't heard much from him, but since he was able to fly here alone, his parents should agree to let him become a trainee," the staff member replied.

The topic was not further explored and the picture continued to the beginning.

After another monthly assessment, the company announced the list of the debut group.

In the dim and cold practice room, Jiang Shen stood with other trainees, his head lowered nervously, his hands holding his clothes shaking uncontrollably.

The magnified lens fell on his eyes, and if you looked closely, you could even see that his eyelashes were trembling.

The documentary uses a flashback method, alternating between presenting Jiang Shen before and after his debut.

The camera stayed on his trembling eyelashes for a few seconds. After shrinking back to its normal size, Jiang Shen stood on the stage for the music show, doing the same movements as when he was waiting for the decision on whether or not he would be included in the debut group.

"The protagonist who was finally born is——amanecer! Congratulations!"

In an instant, his drooping eyelashes suddenly raised up, and his eyes burst into undisguised joy.

After the joy, crystal tears gradually filled those eyes.

Jiang Shen, who entered the debut group, moved to the head office, and he has been practicing in the head office's practice room ever since.

As Jiang Shen arrived at the head office and joined the debut group, Ren Fenghe saw more familiar faces. The other four members of the team were also practicing in the head office at this time.

The long time is just a few minutes in the documentary.

The video records Jiang Shen's training day and night. After each day's practice session, he simply lay down in the practice room to rest for an hour or two, then packed up his things and went to the language school for class.

Perhaps because the debut group is only one step away from official debut, the company has retained more videos, including clips of daily interviews and formal interviews.

In the past, during the gap before the comeback, the company would occasionally release these videos.

According to other fans, in order to get the debut group used to the camera in advance, the company will arrange special staff to take cameras and film their daily lives every now and then.

"Where are you going now?" an employee's voice asked gently off-camera.

Jiang Shen was still a little unaccustomed to facing the camera. He smiled a little shyly and said, "I'm going to the language school to learn Korean."

"You are speaking very well now."

Jiang Shen shook his head and said, "Everyone can understand it, but it's not enough."

"After practice, I have to go to class and do homework. Isn't that hard?"

Jiang Shen tilted his head in serious thought before answering, "It's a bit hard, but don't we all have to go to school?"

"I heard that you took two days off a few days ago?" the staff asked again.

Jiang Shen nodded and said, "Yes, my family is here."

The clerk said, “Your father?”

Jiang Shen was stunned, as if he didn't expect the staff to mention this role in advance. He shook his head and said, "No."

He seemed to be considering how to introduce this relative to everyone, and after thinking for a while he said, "My aunt."

"Aunt?" the clerk repeated doubtfully.

Jiang Shen nodded vigorously. The anticipation of the upcoming meeting made him smile particularly beautifully. He said, "Yes, my dearest relative."

The scene switched again, this time focusing on the backstage of the concert.

Several members were sitting in front of a row of makeup mirrors and doing their styling. After finishing their styling, each member was doing their own thing, some were warming up their voices, and some were playing with their phones.

The camera turned to Jiang Shen, who was holding a mobile phone in his hand, turned sideways, and seemed to be talking to someone.

"Yes, yes, please bring them here." He said in an extremely polite tone.

The curious member asked, "Did you invite your family? My parents are here too, let them sit together?"

"They bought tickets and didn't sit in the family seats."

"Wow, Jiang Shen, you are not good enough. You actually let Auntie buy the ticket!"

Jiang Shen was also helpless and said, "No, I told them I could sit in the family seats directly, but they said this was my first concert and I had to sit in a position with a good view so that I could take pictures. I said I would ask the staff to give me the tickets, but she said she would buy them herself and didn't want me to trouble the staff."

"Is that so? Then my parents can also accompany Auntie during the time before the show starts."

"Won't it be troublesome to uncle and aunt?"

"What kind of trouble is it? My parents call you their son all day long. They say they will cook your favorite meals and let me take you home." The member said with a smile.

They hadn't been chatting for long when familiar Chinese voices were heard outside the door.

"Xiao Shen, you've grown taller and older. Your mother will definitely be pleased to see how you look now."

A bouquet of flowers was stuffed into Jiang Shen's arms.

Jiang Shen looked down at the flowers in his arms, a smile almost overflowing from the corners of his mouth. His eyes were sparkling, full of dependence on the visitor.

"Thank you, Auntie. Long time no see."

He looked at the girl next to him who was the same age as him, and greeted her with a smile, "Jingchun, long time no see."

He remembered something and added, "We are shooting behind-the-scenes footage of the concert, the camera might accidentally capture you, I will ask them to blur it out.

When the members on one side saw their elders, they all called out, "Shine Ouma."

Jiang Shen hurriedly explained: "No, she is not my mother."

"She is my mother's best friend. She has always taken good care of me and is like a mother to me."

"This is my aunt's daughter. Although we are not related by blood, she is my biological sister."

Ren Fenghe opened his eyes wide and stared carefully at every scene in the video.

The half-hour video seemed long, but it was just a blink of an eye for Ren Fenghe.

Soon, Jiang Shen's documentary ended.

At the end of the documentary, a complete interview with Jiang Shen was inserted.

Judging from Jiang Shen’s hair color, this was recorded before he took sick leave.

In the video, Jiang Shen never looked at the camera.

The interviewer started the conversation in a casual manner.

"Are you busy lately?"

“It seems like there has never been a time when I wasn’t busy since my debut.”

“Will it be very stressful?”

"Yes, but I'm used to this feeling."

"How do you relieve stress when you are under a lot of pressure?"

"I will go out to eat with my teammates, but everyone is too busy. I'm under a lot of pressure lately so I'll draw picture books."

"Will you tell your family about your stress?"

Jiang Shen didn't seem to expect this question. He was silent for a moment before he said softly, "No."

He bit his lower lip, as if thinking, as if hesitating. After a long time, he said, "Actually, I never wanted to talk about my family."

"Would you like to share something with your fans? They should be concerned about your family situation."

Jiang Shen smiled and said, "It's not because of personal privacy or something like that that I don't want to talk about it, but I don't want my fans to worry about me because of this."

"When I was a trainee, my friends knew about my family situation. Once I was around, they would be too considerate of my feelings and would seem uncomfortable talking about interesting things at home. I didn't want everyone to be affected by this, so when I joined the debut group and during the period just after my debut, my teammates didn't know much about my family."

"Well... my mother passed away when I was in elementary school. For some reasons, my relationship with my father was ordinary and we didn't contact each other much. After coming to Korea, it was my mother's friends who supported me and witnessed my growth."

"A few years ago, my mother's friend also died of illness."

The interviewer also quieted down.

After a long while, the interviewer asked, "It's very hard, right?"

Jiang Shen pursed his lips, did not answer, but smiled.