Start with push-ups to gain experience

The young man was Cheng Jiashu.

He had changed out of his formal white suit and was now wearing only a simple black shirt, with the collar slightly open and the cuffs rolled up.

Shedding the dazzling aura of the stage, he now appears more relaxed, sporting his signature smile.

Upon entering the room, his gaze swept across the entire space, not lingering on Zhou Xiumei for long, but instead settling on Fang Cheng, whom he greeted warmly:

"I've seen these two beautiful ladies on stage earlier. May I ask how to address this gentleman?"

As he spoke, he walked straight over and extended his hand first.

Fang Cheng stood up, a hint of politeness as if meeting a celebrity appearing on his face at the opportune moment, and reached out to shake the other person's hand:

"Fang Cheng, Fang as in square and round, Cheng as in honest. I am Zhou Xiumei's friend, and the child next to me is the neighbor's little sister."

When their hands clasped, the sensation was somewhat unexpected for Fang Cheng.

The other person's palm had delicate skin, and it felt soft and boneless to the touch, with no strength whatsoever.

Like a precious orchid carefully nurtured in a greenhouse, he fits the stereotypical image of a "young and handsome" idol singer.

Fang Cheng felt a slight stirring in his heart, but remained outwardly calm. He simply shook hands politely for a moment before letting go and sitting back down on the sofa.

"Fang Cheng..."

Cheng Jiashu withdrew his hand, savoring the name, gave Fang Cheng a deep look, and smiled:

"What a great name! Mr. Fang gives off a very special and composed vibe, no wonder he was able to train such an outstanding singer as Ms. Zhou."

"Mr. Cheng, you flatter me. I'm just a rough guy who works as a sparring partner at a boxing gym. I'm here to cheer on my friend."

Fang Cheng made up something off the top of his head, speaking in a relaxed tone.

Cheng Jiashu raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing it, but he didn't expose him.

After he sat down, he turned to look at Zhou Xiumei, who seemed a little reserved.

He casually picked up an orange from the fruit bowl on the table, peeled it, and said gently:

"Don't be nervous. Offstage, I'm just an ordinary person who loves listening to music."

He handed the peeled orange to Wen Xin, who was watching eagerly, which made the little girl exclaim in surprise and quickly thank him.

Then, Cheng Jiashu took a tissue to wipe his hands, looked at Zhou Xiumei, and switched to his mentor role:
"There were some things I didn't have time to say in detail on stage just now."

“Ms. Zhou, you have great talent, and the emotional impact of that song is very strong, but from a professional point of view, you went a bit overboard in the second verse of the chorus.”

Zhou Xiumei immediately sat up straight, like an obedient primary school student:

"Please give me your guidance, Professor Cheng."

"Although this song belongs to the lyrical rock style, singing is not simply about shouting and yelling."

Cheng Jiashu pointed to the location of his diaphragm and patiently explained:
"You were so emotional at the time that your breathing became a little erratic, and you had to rely on your good voice to hold it together."

"If you hadn't been lucky and performed exceptionally well, finding a source of support, your vocal cords would probably have become congested and swollen on the spot."

Fang Cheng's eyes flickered slightly.

This guy has a keen sense of perception; he actually noticed some signs.

Cheng Jiashu seemed oblivious to Fang Cheng's gaze and continued:

“When I won the championship, I was about your age. At that time, I also felt that as long as the emotion was genuine, even if you sang off-key, it was still a style.”

"But I learned my lesson later that if you want to go far in this industry, technical skills and control are the armor that protects your talent."

After speaking, he looked at Zhou Xiumei and earnestly offered his advice:
"When you get to the main competition, you can try to hold back your song requests. Learning to leave room for interpretation is more touching than revealing everything."

"Thank you, Teacher Cheng! I'll remember that!"

Zhou Xiumei nodded vigorously, her eyes filled with gratitude.

The other party not only gave her the pass card first, but also shared their experience without reservation as a senior, which moved her deeply.

"You're welcome. I just appreciate talent. It would be a shame to let such a promising talent go to waste."

Cheng Jiashu smiled, then changed the subject, turning his gaze back to Fang Cheng, who was sitting to the side:

"Of course, even the best singer needs good works to support them."

"Mr. Fang, I just heard Miss Zhou say that you gave her this song 'Until the End of the World'?"

Fang Cheng nodded, readily admitting:
"Yes."

"This song is written with a grand and majestic style."

Cheng Jiashu leaned forward slightly, his peach blossom eyes piercingly sharp, as if trying to see through Fang Cheng's heart:

"Especially the sense of decadence and redemption in the lyrics about the 'end of the world' is depicted so realistically."

"Forgive my bluntness, but this doesn't seem like something someone who only knows how to practice martial arts could write. Where did Mr. Fang get his inspiration from?"

"Actually, it was a first draft written by a friend of mine; I just added the finishing touches."

Fang Cheng, without batting an eye, shifted the blame to the fabricated "friend" and shrugged:

"He's an eccentric guy who likes to wander around, and I haven't seen him in a long time. He said he wrote this song while watching the sunset in the desert, probably because he was starving at the time."

"Hehe, being a wanderer is good, only wanderers have stories to tell."

Cheng Jiashu chuckled twice and didn't press the matter further.

He then picked up the landline phone on the table and dialed a number:
"Sister Hui, come in for a moment."

A few seconds later, the door was pushed open.

Zhang Hui strode in, holding a document that had been prepared beforehand.

"Miss Zhou, Mr. Fang, let me introduce you."

Cheng Jiashu pointed at Zhang Hui and said:
"This is my manager, Sister Hui. This National New Talent Singing Competition is actually a channel for our company to find new talents."

Zhang Hui stepped forward at the opportune moment, handed the document to Zhou Xiumei, and wore a professional yet friendly smile:

"Ms. Zhou, our company, Xinghai Entertainment, is one of the organizers of this competition and has a deep strategic partnership with Dongdu TV."

"Not only does it have top-notch recording studios and production teams, but it also possesses a large number of film and television OST resources."

She paused, then dropped another bombshell:
"If you are willing to sign with our company, we can guarantee that you will at least be in the top three in this competition, and even... as long as you perform consistently, winning the championship is not impossible."

Zhou Xiumei was stunned by this sudden surprise; her hands trembled as she held the documents, and she subconsciously looked at Fang Cheng.

Fang Cheng leaned back on the sofa, his fingers lightly tapping the armrest. He didn't say anything, but gave her an encouraging look.

Cheng Jiashu keenly noticed the interaction between the two, and he stood up with a smile, taking the initiative to suggest:
"The contract is quite complicated, with many clauses, and it's not something you can read through in a short time."

"Alright, Sister Hui, please take Miss Zhou and this lovely child to the conference room next door."

“Even if we don’t sign it for now, we can explain the pros and cons to her in detail and help her with some future planning.” Zhang Hui nodded in agreement.

Then, Cheng Jiashu looked at Fang Cheng, his eyes carrying a meaning that only the two of them could understand:

"Mr. Fang, if you don't mind, would you like to stay and chat with me?"

"I'm very interested in your friend who likes to wander, and I have some thoughts about copyright and arrangement that I'd like to discuss with you."

This is to get rid of everyone else and talk about some secrets alone.

Fang Cheng's lips curled into a slight smile. Without much thought, he nodded to Zhou Xiumei.
"Go ahead, it won't hurt to hear the opinions of professionals. I'll wait for you here."

"OK then."

Zhou Xiumei was relieved and, holding Wen Xin's hand, followed Zhang Hui out of the room.

"Click."

The heavy mahogany door closed again, shutting out all the noise.

The lounge fell silent instantly, leaving only two men staring at each other.

Cheng Jiashu maintained the professional smile of an idol star, but his casual demeanor had vanished.

He slowly unbuttoned his cuffs, rolled up his sleeves higher, revealing the strong, smooth lines of his forearms.

He then picked up the teapot on the table and refilled Fang Cheng's cup with water, his movements fluid and his tone meaningful:

"Alright, now that there are no outsiders here, we can talk about things that ordinary people shouldn't know."

Fang Cheng picked up his teacup, gently blew on the floating tea leaves, and didn't even lift his eyelids:
"What do you want to talk about? Music? Or boxing?"

Seeing that Fang Cheng was still pretending to be stupid, Cheng Jiashu helplessly shrugged, leaned back on the sofa, and narrowed his peach blossom eyes slightly, with a hint of mockery:
"Hey Lao Fang, we've fought side by side, blown up buildings together, we're comrades who've been through thick and thin together, isn't this just being sarcastic?"

"Do you really want me to find the surveillance footage from that night, point at that masked White Owl, and ask you who you are?"

Fang Cheng shrugged, put down his teacup, and instantly dropped his pretense, revealing that familiar calm demeanor:
"I didn't mean to pretend. I was just worried that you, a big star and a VIP, might have a bad memory and wouldn't want to acknowledge a powerless commoner like me."

"Come on, if you were an ordinary citizen, wouldn't all those high-ranking officials and nobles in Dongdu be lambs to the slaughter?"

Cheng Jiashu chuckled and shook his head, scrutinizing Fang Cheng's face carefully before clicking his tongue in amazement:

"But to be honest, I almost didn't recognize you at first glance."

“You weren’t ugly before, but your skin wasn’t this good.”

"How come your face has become even more handsome in just a short time? It's so fair and smooth that I'm even jealous. How do you maintain your youthful appearance?"

Fang Cheng touched his cheek and said nonsensically with a straight face:

"I recently made some money and got some cosmetic procedures done. The results were pretty good. If you're interested, I can recommend the clinic to you another day."

"No thanks, I'm afraid of getting disfigured."

Cheng Jiashu waved his hand, then his smile faded, and his tone became slightly more serious:
"I'm not kidding anymore. When we shook hands just now, I could feel that not only your skin, but also your physical condition is much better than before."

"Sitting across from you, I can even feel the energy and blood in your body is as strong as a big furnace, making people feel warm."

"You're not bad either."

Fang Cheng's eyes flickered slightly, and he immediately replied:

"Your eyes have become deeper and more reserved, like a bottomless lake or a black hole in the universe, with a kind of captivating magic."

"If I'm not mistaken, your abilities have already broken through the bottleneck and reached S-rank, right?"

"Thanks to you."

Cheng Jiashu did not deny it, poured himself a cup of tea, and said with a hint of emotion:
"Although the battle at Noah Building that night was extremely dangerous, and I almost fell into the inner world, I had some fortuitous encounters and touched the threshold between life and death. After returning, I cultivated diligently for a period of time, and my strength did improve a lot."

The two exchanged a knowing smile, a tacit understanding between them.

Cheng Jiashu then took the initiative to steer the conversation toward serious matters:

"Although I've used the identity 'White Owl' before, after you showed up that night and fought with Luo Lie, the Noah Organization probably already guessed something. Did they cause you any trouble afterward?"

"They must be too busy taking care of themselves right now."

Fang Cheng took a sip of tea and replied calmly:

"With their hideout destroyed and their lab blown up, what can they do besides hide like stray dogs?"

"At least so far, I haven't encountered any decent retaliation."

"That was before."

Cheng Jiashu shook his head:
"After Noah Pharmaceuticals was shut down, the special search team searched the entire city for members of the Dongdu branch, which indeed caused them heavy losses."

"However, at the beginning of this month, the wind changed. Someone helped them clean up the mess, forcefully suppressed the matter, and even bailed out several high-ranking officials who had been arrested."

Upon hearing this, Fang Cheng raised an eyebrow:
"Who has such power?"

“There are high-ranking government officials, as well as local bigwigs from Dongdu, like the Xiao family.”

"The Xiao family?"

Fang Cheng's eyes narrowed slightly, and the image of the two men in black with special abilities he had encountered in Noah's Laboratory instantly flashed into his mind.

Although they did not reveal their specific identities, they claimed to be from the Xiao family and tried to intimidate him with this identity, but in the end, he knocked them away with a single punch.

Seeing that Fang Cheng was deep in thought, Cheng Jiashu assumed that he did not understand this family, so he continued:
"This family is quite remarkable. In Dongdu, and even in the entire Xia Kingdom, they are truly behemoths."

"They started laying the groundwork decades ago, and now they not only monopolize nearly half of the domestic energy and pharmaceutical industries, but also have a deep-rooted network of connections in the political arena. They have influence in both the legal and illegal worlds, and their power is extremely strong."

As he spoke, he held up three fingers and waved them in front of Fang Cheng's eyes:
"Most importantly, the Xiao family has three S-level experts on the surface. As for how many more trump cards they have hidden in secret, I'm afraid no one can say for sure."

Seeing that Fang Cheng's expression remained calm, Cheng Jiashu couldn't help but raise his voice to remind him:
"Don't take this lightly."

"Looking at the entire Xia Kingdom, there are less than a hundred S-class ability users in total. This also includes the various families, special search teams, military organizations, and independent individuals like us."

"So, in this small corner of Dongdu, a mere family possesses three top-tier experts. You should know what that means."

Fang Cheng nodded slightly, indicating his agreement:
"The fact that the Xiao family is willing to step in at this critical juncture and become the Noah organization's protector shows that they have been colluding for a long time."

“Even… everything Noah did in Dongdu was inextricably linked to the Xiao family; they may very well have participated in Noah’s board of directors.”

"You guessed it right."

Cheng Jiashu gave him an approving look:
"According to reliable information I recently found, the Xiao family has always been behind Noah's organization in gaining a foothold in Dongdu and successfully establishing its Dongdu branch."

"Moreover, there is an even larger and more terrifying force behind the Xiao family."

Fang Cheng's heart suddenly stirred, and he immediately asked:

"What force?"

Cheng Jiashu took a deep breath, stared intently at Fang Cheng, and uttered three words, one by one:
"An ideal world." (End of Chapter)