61 New Trainee
When Xin Mengting saw the Yuanxin Building from the car window, she was not as excited and nervous as her companions.
They received a notice last week that their old agency, Blue Sky Media, had transferred their trainee contracts to Yuanxin Entertainment. They were bewildered at first when they heard the news. Although they had heard that the company was not doing well, they, as young trainees, did not know how the top management handled the matter.
Just like changing companies, it is not something they can control.
For most trainees, being able to switch from an unknown small company to Yuanxin is simply a pie in the sky. Xin Mengting knows that most of them probably think so, but for her, she doesn't dare to have such high expectations for herself.
Xin Mengting's original name was Xin Zhan. She changed her name to this when she was going to participate in a talent show two years ago. If she had made her debut successfully at that time, Yuan Xiao might have had to call her senior sister.
But there is no if. She failed to debut in that show. Even though she was liked by many people and was even ranked in the debut position, she unfortunately stopped at thirteenth place in the end because of problems with the company.
She thought that even if she failed to form a group, she could still be a solo idol when she returned to the company, but she was told that it was not possible.
Their agent said that there were no jobs available for her, which meant that she could either try out for an actress and take part in short dramas, or continue to be a trainee and see if she could make a comeback and participate in the talent show again based on her current popularity.
Because apart from these methods, the company cannot provide her with any resources, or the last choice is to terminate the contract, pay a high price of liquidated damages, and return to normal life, or even more tragically, she has to bear the debt.
Xin Mengting doesn't know what she can do if she leaves the company. She has been a trainee since she was 16 years old. If she leaves the company, she may only be able to teach dancing or something, but it will take her many years to pay off the company's termination fee with her salary. She can only stay in the company, but she doesn't know what the point of practicing day after day is.
Xin Mengting found a part-time job in a dance studio in a shopping mall. She has saved some money, but she doesn't know what the management is like at Yuanxin and whether she can continue her job.
She is actually a very pretty girl with a sweet look and big eyes. Blue Sky Media has similar standards when selecting trainees, and they all have the looks of a girl group member.
But now, she always feels that debuting as a group is a very distant thing.
Next to her was also Blue Sky's trainee, Chen Ying. She came to the company a year later than Xin Mengting, and the rest were about the same. They were all trainees signed by Blue Sky Media for the previous talent show, but none of them made their debut and so they have remained in the company ever since.
Yuanxin's company building was still so shiny and bright. When Xin Mengting and the others got out of the car, they couldn't help but stop at the door and sigh.
I wonder if their old employer’s place is as big as a floor of other people’s companies?
The lady at the front desk had been informed that eight new trainees would be coming today. As soon as she saw their car coming, she called the selection team upstairs. Yang Cheng quickly took the elevator down and met the eight slightly reserved girls in the lobby.
They were dressed somewhat similarly. Yang Cheng came up to them, briefly introduced himself, and led them to the practice room upstairs.
"This is the practice room, this one over here, this one, these are the practice rooms for daily classes. The class schedule will be sent to you later. Yuanxin currently has 95 female trainees training here, and they have been training for more than a month now."
"Yuanxin has quizzes and tests every week and every month. Basically, all the groups in the idol department and our boss Xiaoyuan will come over. Then, we say that there will be a final end-of-season test at the end of the three-month trial. Boss Xiaoyuan and the others will make a comprehensive consideration based on the test results and the usual training situation, and may persuade some people to quit at that time."
"As for you, according to our president Yuan's idea, you will also participate in the end-of-season event with them. However, I have also read your information. Basically, you have been training for several years, so it is not very difficult. You just need to adapt to the rhythm of Yuan Xin."
"You must have heard of the first season of 'I Am Not Alone', right? Our current plan is to have a girl group in the second season. After the auditions and screenings, we will start preparing for the show."
"Then I'll take you to the dormitory in a while. Put your things down first. Do you have any questions?"
Xin Mengting and Shen Ying looked at each other for a while, then raised their hands cautiously to ask, "If you're asking us to quit, does that mean that our contract will be terminated?"
Yang Cheng was a little surprised. She hadn't even met the trainee who came up to ask what to do if the contract was terminated. What sin had Blue Sky Media committed?
She knew that Yuan Xiao had used some company funds to sign these trainees, so she asked Yuan Xiao whether these trainees should be separated from other trainees in the auditions. However, Yuan Xiao said lightly that everything would remain the same.
This means that if you fail the test, Yuanxin will still not charge any penalty, and only those who violate Yuanxin’s rules will be held accountable.
In fact, Yuanxin doesn't make money from liquidated damages. One Stary can earn as much as Blue Sky and their company, and Yuanxiao doesn't care about these small amounts. But this money is nothing to Yuanxin, but it may put a lot of pressure on the trainees, especially since Yuanxiao knows that not everyone among them comes from a wealthy family.
She turned to face the unfamiliar and cautious girls, thought for a moment, and said, "Let's go to the conference room to talk."
Yang Cheng randomly opened an empty meeting room in Yuanxin, asked them to sit down, and then made a phone call and asked someone to bring back a few contracts.
"That's perfect. I thought you guys would want to attend the class first, so I can talk about the contract first and put your mind at ease."
Yang Cheng pushed the new contracts to them. Except for the names, each one was the same.
"Your original contracts basically all had about six or seven years left, but after you transfer here, Yuanxin can only give you a trial contract, which is what I just told you, and there is still more than a month of assessment."
"If you pass the assessment, you can stay and participate in Yuanxin's self-made variety shows. If you fail and are persuaded to leave, including not making your debut on the show, Yuanxin will not charge you any termination fee if you choose not to stay. However, there is a prerequisite, which is that you can no longer work in the idol industry after the termination of the contract."
"Of course, if you are found to have violated the rules during training and are asked to leave, this won't be the case. This is all written in the contract in front of you. You can take a look at it now. If you have any questions, you can ask me directly."
"Oh, yes. Board and lodging are provided here. If the company provides both board and lodging, the living allowance will be relatively less. You can also choose to study as a day student. After all, we also consider that some trainees still have academic pressure. In this case, the living allowance is 2,000 per month, which will be paid until you leave the company."
Yang Cheng knew about this. Before coming to Yuanxin, she had worked in the industry for a long time. She knew that some companies would sign a lot of trainees for a long time, and then wait to collect their termination fees. This was the main source of income for those companies.
There are many children who join the company with full of dreams, but they waste their youth and hard work day after day without getting a chance. They may even be burdened with debts after a few years and leave in a desperate situation, losing their original intentions in the most embarrassing way.
The entertainment industry looks glamorous, but it is destined that only a small number of people will always stand in the spotlight. No one pays attention to or cares about what happens in the remaining darkness.
Yang Cheng was somewhat glad that she came to Yuanxin, and was also glad that Yuanxin’s president was Yuan Xiao.
Xin Mengting was a little overwhelmed. Yuan Xin's termination conditions were incredibly lenient, as if the mountain that had been weighing on her was removed in an instant. Hundreds of thousands of dollars, the problem that had troubled her for countless nights was solved so easily, almost like a dream.
If this is the case, then in just over a month, she will be completely free and she won't have to work hard to pay back the money. What she has saved now is enough for her to live for a long time and find a stable job.
She quickly and carefully read the contract, and sure enough, everything Yang Cheng said was written in black and white in the contract. Xin Mengting took out a pen and wrote her original name on the contract without saying a word, as if she was afraid that such conditions would disappear.
She was indeed frightened by the torture.
Not all the other people had the same idea as her, some still wanted to give it a try, such as Chen Ying, but they all agreed that the conditions and opportunities offered by Yuan Xin were indeed very good, and it would not be a loss to sign.
Yang Cheng collected the signed contract, made two copies and kept them separately, then took the eight of them to introduce them to the current trainees during the break.
Yuan Xin's original trainees have adapted well to the new members and are not worried that the new trainees' practice time will have a big impact on them. If you want to say, Leng Ci has learned dancing since childhood, and Mo Shuangzhu's skills in writing lyrics and composing music cannot be considered as an absolutely fair starting line, but this is something they have worked hard for. In addition, these trainees are also confident in themselves. Those who are selected by Yuan Xiao all have their own strengths, and the arrival of a few new trainees will not affect their own rhythm.
Xin Mengting and Shen Ying briefly introduced themselves and stood at the end of the line. The trainees from Yuanxin were all very good-looking, and they were not overly moved by how long they had practiced. After she joined the line, Yang Cheng also explained a few things about this week's quiz. The heroic-looking girl next to her smiled at her in a friendly manner and said in a whisper, "Hello, we're going to take the creation class next class, which is an elective. If you have a good foundation, you can go with us to see Teacher Fu."
Creative writing class?
Blue Sky Media never gave them any creative classes. In fact, they only had very few dance and vocal lessons, which were only a little more frequent during the period before they participated in the talent show. When they failed to debut and returned to the company, they often had to choreograph the dances on their own.
Xin Mengting persisted for a while. It was a pity for her fans that she failed to make her debut at that time, so when she just returned to the company, she still posted some popular girl group dance videos on the short video platform to respond to her fans' miss and to see if she could get some job opportunities for herself.
Unfortunately, these efforts were like stones thrown into a pond, which faded away without making much splash. At the beginning, there were still fans working hard to collect data, but later there were fewer people interacting.
Without marketing and promotion, it is still too difficult to break through the circle by yourself. She didn't even have the luck to debut through a talent show, so can she still hope to become popular again by riding on such popularity?
If this girl hadn't mentioned it to her, Xin Mengting would have almost forgotten that she had won the last A-class spot in the show by performing her own composition on the first stage of the talent show. Many fans of the show commented that she was the sweetest vocalist and the most talented songwriter of that season.
She should also have... some basic knowledge?
【Author’s words】
The next chapter will finally be about singing variety shows~
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