The man behind her was dressed in a suit, his hair meticulously styled. Even from five meters away, Yuan Xi could see the shine of his well-groomed hair.

After glancing at him a few times, Yuan Xi turned to look around, confirming that he was alone before pointing at himself and asking. “Sir, are you calling me?”

The man glanced at Yuan Xi, a brief flicker of admiration in his eyes. But as soon as he heard his question, his expression turned sour.

With his hands behind his back, he looked at Yuan Xi with an air of superiority his eyes filled with disdain.

“You don’t recognize me? What’s your name, and who do you work for? You should be training, but all you do is think about nonsense. Let me tell you, I’m not buying whatever you’re selling. Even if you’re pretending not to know me, it’s not going to make me see you in a different light.”

Yuan Xi stared at the man’s face, completely confused. He had no idea what he was talking about, he didn’t recognize this person at all!

“Wait, sir, I think you’ve got the wrong person. I’m not—”

Yuan Xi tried to explain but before he could finish, he interrupted him.

“No, ‘not’ what? Where’s your training uniform? What kind of intern doesn’t wear their training clothes? It’s supposed to be training time, so what are you doing in the restaurant? Lunch hour is over. Are you trying to skip your training?”

The more the man spoke, the more convinced he became that he had figured out his intentions.

“I’m telling you, if you don’t take your training seriously, there’s no way you’ll make it into the industry. Now come with me to the training room. At your age, you should be focusing on your training, not thinking about shortcuts! Let me tell you, shortcuts are never that easy…”

Yuan Xi watched as the man continued talking without any sign of stopping, and before he could react, he had grabbed his arm and was pulling him toward the training room.

She tried several times to interrupt him, but he wouldn’t let him speak. It wasn’t until they reached the training room that the man without saying another word, pushed him inside.

“This kid was just caught in the restaurant. Keep an eye on him, make sure he trains properly. At his age, thinking about shortcuts is unacceptable. In life, you have to be grounded—there’s no such thing as jumping straight to the top.”

As the man spoke, he handed Yuan Xi over to the trainers in the room.

Yuan Xi’s youthful face made him look even younger, and dressed in his own clothes, he blended in with the other trainees without any noticeable oddity.

The trainers couldn’t help but glance at him, puzzled. Such a well-behaved child, why didn’t they recognize him? And he was skipping class? Had their teaching not been thorough enough?

After being shoved into the training room, Yuan Xi was treated differently because of the ‘skipping class’ issue.

The interns had a lot to practice—singing, dancing, music theory, etiquette, and posture. That day, they were specifically having a dance lesson.

As Yuan Xi watched the other trainees start their exercises with ease, he felt like a rabbit among chickens—standing there cluelessly, unsure of what to do next.

“Why aren’t you practicing?”

With Yuan Xi standing there motionless, it didn’t take long for the trainers in the room to notice him.

One of them walked over, taking a quick look at him, and when they saw the denim jeans he was wearing, they couldn’t help but frown. “Didn’t I tell you before? No jeans during training! They lack elasticity and can easily tear.”

Yuan Xi opened him mouth to explain. “No, teacher, I’m not—”

“No excuses. Show me how low you can stretch. If your body’s too stiff, you still need training. Otherwise, when you perform on stage, you’ll look stiffer than the older women doing square dances,” the teacher interrupted, not giving him any chance to explain.

The teacher circled Yuan Xi, inspecting his posture. After noticing that his jeans were loose enough, they nodded slightly.

“Even though you’re wearing jeans, these aren’t too tight. Teacher Zhang, come help me out. This kid’s body is probably stiff, so give me a hand with the stretches.”

With that, the teacher shoved Yuan Xi to the ground.

Hearing the noise, Teacher Zhang quickly walked over to help restrain Yuan Xi’s body, and together they started to stretch him.

“No, I’m really not—” Yuan Xi tried to explain again, but before he could finish, both teachers pulled at her, and he felt a sharp pain in his thigh. Unable to hold back, he screamed out.

“Ah—! It hurts!”

“I’m not a trainee!!! QAQ!!”

=^_^=