Chapter 143: The Idol Development Plan (Part 1)

When Cheng Xiaoyu returned to the rehearsal room, the six girls were already practicing their dance, working on the song "Sweetness" from yesterday. To him, this level of dancing was nothing more than a coquettish, cutesy routine reminiscent of elementary school calisthenics.

Their dance instructor hadn’t arrived yet. Cheng Xiaoyu thought for a moment and decided to start with these six girls—to teach them his own work first, thereby pressuring the company to respond. At this crucial moment, the singer’s own opinion should carry significant weight. As long as they fully supported him, the record company would likely make some concessions.

Clapping his hands, Cheng Xiaoyu strode over and called out to the girls, “Stop, stop for now.” Successfully halting their calisthenics and capturing their attention, he quickly turned off the music by the mirror and faced the puzzled and displeased expressions before him.

Cheng Xiujing lifted her sweat-dappled face, slightly flushed, the beads of perspiration forming a perfect picture. “What do you want to do?” she asked, her tone a mix of doubt and anger.

Cheng Xiaoyu gave her what he thought was a charming smile. “I’m here to tell you why you’re failing.”

This was like poking a hornet’s nest. The other three girls’ expressions darkened, and one of the shorter ones glared at him and snapped, “We know you sing well, but you can go show off somewhere else. You’re not welcome here.” Then she turned her head away.

Shaking his head solemnly, Cheng Xiaoyu said, “It’s not that I want to come here. If it weren’t for my sister and Xiaoning, do you think I would? And when I say you’re failing, it’s not directed at you personally. The main issue lies with the company’s training, positioning, and focus. As for your performance, the song itself is limiting; no matter how well you perform, it’s still subpar. This isn’t your fault, understand?”

Cheng Xiujing sneered. “If that’s the case, go tell the company. Why come here to flaunt yourself?”

Cheng Xiaoyu’s gaze flicked over her fair chest, where two thin black straps and a transparent plastic shoulder strap intertwined over her defined collarbones, teaching him what it truly meant to be sensual to the bone. Unable to resist, his eyes dropped lower. Her figure wasn’t large—typical of an East Asian girl, probably a small B cup—and he blurted out, “You’re a B cup, right?”

Cheng Xiujing immediately flushed, crossing her arms to block his view, and called him a “pervert.”

Realizing he’d been distracted, Cheng Xiaoyu awkwardly scratched the back of his head and glanced at Su Yuxi and Xu Qinning. “Sorry! That was a slip of the tongue. What I really want to say is that, as a group, singing is important, but dancing is equally so. Your choreography is too simple. I’m guessing you don’t take dance training seriously enough? Also, are those few lines you sing coordinated by yourselves or assigned by the teacher? There’s a problem there too—you can’t just treat everyone the same. Difficulty should dictate parts; there should be a lead singer. Moreover, your harmonies are far too basic. A group that can only manage such simple harmonies…”

Before Cheng Xiaoyu could finish, Cheng Xiujing cut him off. “Are you done? If so, please leave and stop disturbing our practice. Come back when you’re our producer to guide us!”

“Xiujing, let my brother finish,” Su Yuxi turned to her. “He really is qualified to teach us music. We’re all here to succeed. If someone’s criticism can help you improve, why not accept it with an open heart?”

Cheng Xiujing was stunned to learn Cheng Xiaoyu was Su Yuxi’s brother and the heir of Shanghe. She paused, realizing who he was, but still showed no kindness. With a cold snort, she turned and left. A girl beside her grabbed her hand, asking, “Xiujing, where are you going?”

She broke free, fuming, “To the restroom.”

Cheng Xiaoyu called after her, “Xiujing, hurry back—we’re waiting for you.”

Xiujing felt like her lungs were about to explode from anger at this annoying fat guy and slammed the door behind her.

Cheng Xiaoyu smiled and turned to the other three girls. “Let me introduce myself. I’m Cheng Xiaoyu, Su Yuxi’s brother. You can call me Brother Yu or Little Yu. I came to tailor three songs for you, but there probably won’t be time to include all three in the album. So, I picked a fast song and a slow song. The slow song is easier to sing, but the fast one requires a lot of dance practice. For that one, the dance is far more important than the singing.”

Xu Qinning widened her eyes and interrupted, “Dance? Don’t tell me you can dance too?”

Cheng Xiaoyu chuckled, “I did street dance for a while in the U.S., mainly jazz dance.” In this timeline, street dance hadn’t become widely popular yet. Unlike before, when studios were everywhere, street dance was still developing in America. Without a figure like Michael Jackson, the powerful expression of dance in music wasn’t yet recognized.

The other three girls remained silent but clearly doubted that someone of his build could dance well—or at a high level at all.

Cheng Xiaoyu didn’t mind their skeptical looks. “Well then, introduce yourselves. I don’t even know your names yet.”

“I’m Quan Youli,” a girl in a blue-and-white striped shirt muttered reluctantly. Cheng Xiaoyu looked at her intently; she couldn’t refuse to answer, especially knowing he was the heir of Shanghe—a person she couldn’t afford to offend.

He then turned to the girl beside Quan Youli, dressed in a black tube top and short skirt. Cheng Xiaoyu had thought she looked average yesterday, but today he found her quite beautiful—though not stunningly so, her pure and enduring charm made her captivating. She spoke freely, “Pei Xiuzi.” Cheng Xiaoyu lingered on her for a moment, thinking there was no reason this group wouldn’t succeed with such stunning girls.

The last girl hesitated. She was closest to Cheng Xiujing and also disliked Cheng Xiaoyu but lacked the courage to confront the Shanghe heir. She lowered her head and softly said, “Jing Xuexuan.”

Having learned their names, Cheng Xiaoyu clapped loudly. “Now that we all know each other, we’ll start practicing once Xiujing returns.”

At that moment, the door opened again—not Xiujing, but a tall, slender man with long hair, strikingly handsome. Xiujing followed behind him.

The man looked at Cheng Xiaoyu with suspicion. “This is the dance rehearsal room for the idol project. What are you doing here?” Clearly, this was Su Yuxi and the others’ dance teacher.

(Thank you all for your support, and special thanks to Ye Mufeng for the generous red envelope. It’s been a while since I saw your name—I’ve missed you a bit. Wishing everyone a happy New Year, may all your wishes come true and everything go smoothly. I’ll be updating tonight and tomorrow night as well, with more to come. Sorry for being drunk yesterday.)