USF Chapter 6: Holding A Child

When Lin Ye got back, Class D had already turned off the lights. The classroom was completely empty, with only the infrared surveillance camera silently operating in the corner. Lin Ye once again turned around and walked out, slowly strolling alone to the convenience store to buy some chocolates.

The round trip took less than fifteen minutes. Lin Ye turned on the ceiling light of the classroom, tossed the shopping bag hanging from his arm onto the floor by the wall, unwrapped a piece of chocolate and popped it into his mouth, then stood in front of the mirror to do a backbend.

He had a habit of zoning out or thinking while doing leg stretches or backbends.

The rich taste of the chocolate melted in his mouth, and the scene he saw earlier of the other trainee talking on the phone to elderly family members while he stood outside the room resurfaced in his mind.

Footsteps overlapped and grew louder down the corridor, crystal clear in the quiet night. A voice, calm and unhurried, rang out,  “Who from Class D hasn’t gone back yet?”

Lin Ye’s thoughts paused for a brief second, he recognized the voice as Ming Rang’s.

Yet what appeared in his mind was Jiang Lian’s face.

Jiang Lian didn’t respond. His expression turned indifferent, faintly disinterested. Ming Rang stepped closer to the door, pushing it open a crack to peek at the person doing a backbend in front of the mirror, and chuckled, “Look who it is.”

Jiang Lian walked past him, lifted his eyes and glanced inside. He didn’t speak, nor did he immediately look away.

Ming Rang said, “You still think he lacks ambition?”

His gaze swept over the two long, straight legs of the person in front of the mirror, finally resting on the sliver of pale skin revealed from bending down. Jiang Lian finally spoke, his voice slow and unhurried, “For now, my impression of him has changed slightly.”

Ming Rang asked, “What changed?”

Jiang Lian spoke in a low voice, his expression unconcerned, “Flexible waist, long legs, still no ambition.”

Lin Ye relaxed his waist as he slowly laid down. Though the people who had been talking outside had already left, their voices still echoed in his ears. He hadn’t clearly heard what Jiang Lian said at the end, only vaguely catching that the man thought he lacked any sense of drive.

He turned over, resting his cheek on the cool floor. In his mind, the voices of Shen PD and Jiang Lian, and the scene of the trainees talking to their families, swirled together, leaving him with a mix of complicated emotions.

When he first entered the company, he actually wasn’t the type to just muddle through everyday aimlessly. On the contrary, he had once been filled with burning passion for his dreams. He had the stubborn pride of youth. He had, perhaps, the same naked ambition that Xia Dongchan now wore openly on his sleeve.

Even now, hearing such scathing comments from Jiang Lian, he still felt like a fish stranded on the shore, not yet dried up and dead, the urge to defend himself struggling to break through the surface.

Lin Ye pushed himself up from the floor. The moment his face appeared in the mirror, he clearly saw it, an expression of hesitation he couldn’t recognize on his otherwise familiar face.

The next day was another self-study dance practice session, but at noon the trainees received an unexpected notice from the production team, their dorms would be checked during nap time. A list of prohibited items had also been posted on the bulletin board.

The trainees, who had been preparing for a nap, hurriedly got out of bed and scrambled to hide their banned belongings. Half an hour later, the camera crew marched into the dormitory building, cameras on their shoulders. The trainee management team summoned everyone to the lobby via the broadcasting system.

The trainees came out of their rooms with messy bed hair and sleepy eyes. But the moment they heard the luggage check would be done by fellow trainees, their drowsiness vanished completely.

Eighteen dorms each sent a representative to draw lots. For Lin Ye’s dorm, it was Yang Xu who went up. Xia Dongchan leaned on Lin Ye’s arm and whispered, “I heard two of the dorms are two-person rooms. What kind of luck is that? How come we didn’t get one when we moved in?”

Lin Ye replied noncommittally, “One in nine chance.”

Thinking back, although Jiang Lian and Ming Rang’s dorm had six beds, only two had sheets and blankets.

While they were talking, Yang Xu returned with the dorm number they had drawn. Xia Dongchan leaned in to sneak a look, then hesitantly asked, “Isn’t this Jiang Lian and Ming Rang’s dorm?”

Yang Xu handed the paper off like it was a hot potato to a roommate from the same company beside him, “There’s only two people living there. Anyone else wanna go instead? I don’t want to piss those two off just over a luggage check.” He lowered his voice, frowning slightly. “I heard trainees who cross them get their screen time cut to basically nothing by the editors.”

Xia Dongchan found that laughable, “You won’t get any screen time if you don’t go either.”

Yang Xu still looked like he wanted to object, but their roommate from the same company interrupted, “If they want to go, let them. We’re scared of those two, but Xia Dongchan clearly isn’t. Isn’t he the only one Jiang Lian’s ever cued by name on camera besides Ming Rang?”

Lin Ye was surprised. “What cue?”

Xia Dongchan pulled him a couple steps aside and said, “There’s a rumor going around that Jiang Lian mentioned my name in his last solo interview. No idea if it’s true, but if it is, that’d be perfect. He smiled,”This means I can ride the wave and gain some followers thanks to him.”

Lin Ye smiled along, saying nothing more.

No one in their dorm objected to Xia Dongchan and Lin Ye going to shoot the segment. After their own dorm was inspected, the two followed the camera crew to Jiang Lian and Ming Rang’s room.

The hallway was lined with confiscated hot plates and rice cookers, and the manager in charge was holding a big bag of phones and tablets. Xia Dongchan knocked on the door first and Ming Rang opened it.

Both of them were lively in front of the camera, their back-and-forth banter quickly drawing attention from most of the crew and curious trainees.

Jiang Lian was flipping through a magazine on the couch. He only put it down and stood up once he saw the camera crew enter.

The manager shook the large bag of electronics and said they’d be inspecting not just the luggage, but the beds too. Xia Dongchan walked straight toward the upper bunk labeled with Jiang Lian’s name.

Seeing this, Ming Rang raised an eyebrow with a smirk. “Guess which bed’s mine and which one’s Jiang Lian’s?”

Lin Ye tapped the name tag on the bed frame. “Doesn’t it say right here?”

Ming Rang gave a disappointed look. “Are we allowed to switch beds in private? If not, I probably should’ve swapped our name tags before you came in.”

Lin Ye paused mid-motion. But he didn’t like rummaging around someone else’s bed, so he just pretended to search briefly before pulling his hand back and turning to the manager. “Nothing on the bed.”

From behind the staff member, the trainee who’d been caught and made to surrender his second phone called out, clearly enjoying the show, “Did you check under the pillow?”

Lin Ye lied with a straight face. “I did.”

That person still wasn’t satisfied. He pointed at the upper bunk.  “Climb up and check the other side of the pillow. That’s where they found mine.”

The rest joined in with a chant: “Climb up and check!”

At this moment, Lin Ye finally began to truly empathize with what Yang Xu had said earlier. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at Jiang Lian, who stood silently to the side. Only after confirming that the other’s expression didn’t reveal much displeasure did he, under the watchful gazes of the others, take off his shoes and step onto the ladder.

As he reached the final step, Jiang Lian suddenly took a step forward and lifted his gaze to glance at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye paused slightly, then belatedly realized that the other was telling him not to step onto the bed sheet. So he stopped lifting his leg and remained on the ladder, stretching out his arm to reach under the pillow on the bed.

He had only intended to put on a show, but to his surprise, his fingertips brushed against something thin and hard. Lin Ye froze for a moment, hesitating between pulling back and moving forward. Then he remembered the other man’s blunt criticism of him the night before, and made up his mind. He stretched out his fingers further and grabbed the object hidden beneath the pillow.

Footsteps shuffled messily behind him, getting closer. Lin Ye held the object in his palm and turned his head slightly. Amidst the growing clamor of questions, the cameraman was already approaching with the camera on his shoulder.

Lin Ye had already put on a smile, ready to speak to the camera.

But suddenly, something tightened under his armpits. A pair of long, strong arms reached across his chest.

His fingers loosened involuntarily.

Jiang Lian lifted him off the ladder, in the same way one would hold a child.