With everyone dancing in sync, the center position’s movement extension, power, and rhythm would capture the audience’s attention.
If the center performs well, viewers would perceive everyone as dancing well.
Yan Chi consulted with several friends from his dance troupe and spent days arranging and recording a dance demo.
After receiving it, the five gathered in the practice room to watch it on the projector screen.
The backup dancers wore jeans and black short-sleeved shirts, each with one of five letters attached to their clothing, each letter representing a member.
Yan Chi explained: “A represents Tang Che, B Yinnian, C Mo Xun, D Junwen, E Fu Fei. Remember your own number and watch their positioning carefully.”
After watching the entire dance, everyone gave thumbs up: “So cool!”
Fang Yinnian could hear his heart beating violently.
The knife dance formation in the chorus was performed with incredible precision—so cool! As expected from the professional backup dancers of the Angel Dance Troupe.
Could the five of them dance that synchronously?
Since everyone had solo parts in this song, position changes were extremely frequent, with numerous movement variations.
The entire song probably included over a hundred different movements!
While excited, Fang Yinnian was also worried. He could see that Brother Chi had intentionally simplified the choreography for when he and Tang Che were in the center position to accommodate their skill level.
But during the group dance when others took center stage, and especially during the chorus knife dance, even if they were in the back row, they couldn’t be too sloppy!
Fang Yinnian and Tang Che silently exchanged glances, both feeling immense pressure.
Yan Chi said: “Mo Xun, I’ll be out of town for your brother He Yan’s concert. For the next week of dance lessons, you’ll be responsible for breaking down the choreography and teaching everyone the basic movements.”
“When I return in late October, you should all have mastered these movements thoroughly, and then we’ll practice team positioning and singing while dancing.”
Mo Xun immediately nodded: “No problem.”
Yan Chi was very busy and couldn’t come daily to teach them basic movements. No one objected to him assigning the dance teaching task to Mo Xun, as Mo Xun’s dance skills were strong enough that he could easily open his own teaching class.
From then on, the five began an extremely busy schedule.
Every day they spun like non-stop tops.
Academic courses at school, vocal lessons and dance practices at the company—even their senior year of high school hadn’t been this busy.
But they were happily busy.
Vocal lessons were no longer just tedious harmony practice. Teacher Qiao began teaching them to sing this original song that belonged to FTM.
With Yan Chi temporarily away, Mo Xun quickly learned all the breakdown movements and taught them to his teammates one by one.
After mastering the moves, Fu Fei also began teaching Tang Che hands-on.
Though Tan Junwen had never been a trainee, he had street dance basics. Since this song’s rhythm wasn’t too intense, learning it was relatively easy for him.
Tang Che and Fang Yinnian clearly found it difficult.
Coordinating hands and feet was truly troublesome. Sometimes when focusing on footwork, their hand movements would be inadequate; when concentrating on hands, their feet would make mistakes; and when attending to both, the movement amplitude wouldn’t look good.
It was so challenging.
Whenever they saw Mo Xun effortlessly executing various cool movements, the two would silently exchange glances, feeling the helplessness and envy of struggling students watching a top performer.
Time passed quickly.
They worked hard practicing singing and dancing every day. Sometimes to master a single movement, they would practice until 2 AM before returning home.
Exhausted and aching all over, but no one complained about being tired.
Because this was their first original song and dance track, and it was titled “For the Music”—they absolutely had to perfect it!
**
That afternoon, both Fang Yinnian and Mo Xun had no classes. The two came to the practice room together, with Mo Xun giving Fang Yinnian private lessons.
This choreography contained a total of 114 movements, and Fang Yinnian had only mastered about half so far, and not to standard.
He wanted to practice more carefully, perfecting each movement one by one.
Mo Xun taught him with great patience.
“Open your arms, bend your wrists slightly, more naturally,” Mo Xun’s deep voice sounded beside Fang Yinnian’s ear in the practice room. “Hold in this position.”
He stepped forward and gently supported Fang Yinnian’s arm, looking at the mirror: “Try to feel it, do it several times, and create muscle memory.”
“Okay,” Fang Yinnian practiced earnestly.
He was very grateful that Mo Xun was willing to teach him hands-on like this, just like teaching a child to walk, patiently correcting every posture.
“Next comes a turning movement,” Mo Xun gently held Fang Yinnian’s waist and said, “Tighten your abdomen, stabilize your core, don’t use your toes, land on your heel, and keep your center of gravity on your right foot.”
Fang Yinnian had previously learned ballet and often liked to stand on his toes. But for this movement, spinning on tiptoes would look strange.
To spin elegantly required attention to many details.
Mo Xun held his waist and personally helped correct him several times, then said: “You practice first, I’ll go to the bathroom and be right back.”
“Okay.”
After Mo Xun left, Fang Yinnian continued practicing.
Feeling his movements weren’t fluid enough, he glanced at the mirror and decided to speed up and practice a few more times.
While turning, his ankle suddenly twisted.
Sharp pain instantly swept through his brain.
“Ah…” Fang Yinnian fell to the ground, in so much pain that cold sweat broke out.
When Mo Xun entered the room, this was the scene he saw—Fang Yinnian lying on the floor, pale-lipped, eyebrows tightly furrowed.
Mo Xun’s heart skipped a beat as he rushed to Fang Yinnian, gently supporting him, his voice slightly tense: “What happened?”
Fang Yinnian, cold sweat beading on his forehead from pain, pointed to his right foot: “I lost control during the turn. I think I sprained my ankle.”
Mo Xun frowned and said: “Let me see.”
He had Fang Yinnian sit on the floor, quickly removed his shoes and socks, and saw that the ankle had indeed swollen considerably.
Mo Xun touched the swollen area: “Here, does it hurt?”
Fang Yinnian was nearly in tears: “It hurts…” He endured the pain, his fingers tightly clenched into his palm.
It really hurt. He had sprained his ankle as a child, but couldn’t remember it being this painful. This time it was probably more serious because his form wasn’t correct.
“Bear with it.” Mo Xun turned to get his backpack, found a towel, and quickly went to the bathroom to soak it in cold water.
Upon returning, he placed the towel on Fang Yinnian’s ankle.
The cold temperature transmitted through the skin, and the red, swollen, painful area received some relief from the timely cold compress.
Fang Yinnian took a breath: “That’s better.”
He tried to get up but was pushed back by Mo Xun: “Don’t move.”
Fang Yinnian immediately sat obediently, not daring to move.
After applying the cold compress, Mo Xun took out a bottle of medication and quickly sprayed it on the swollen area.
A distinctive herbal medicine smell spread through the air.
A refreshing coolness continuously transmitted from the injury site, feeling comfortably cold. Amazingly, the burning pain was significantly reduced.
Fang Yinnian asked curiously: “What medicine is this? You carry it with you?”
Mo Xun’s voice was deep: “Spray for treating sprains and bruises. Bumps and bruises are normal when practicing dance. I used to get injured often when I was a trainee, so I’m in the habit of keeping a bottle in my backpack.”
Fang Yinnian sat with his knees bent, watching the young man before him bend down and carefully treat his injury. A warm feeling suddenly spread through his heart.
It was good to have Mo Xun here.
When he first sprained his ankle, Fang Yinnian had actually been quite panicked, not knowing what to do, with no experience handling such injuries.
After Mo Xun returned and quickly treated him, the pain decreased significantly, and feeling gradually returned to his ankle.
Mo Xun looked at him and asked gently: “Does it still hurt?”
Fang Yinnian said: “A little bit.”
Mo Xun said: “Let’s go to the hospital for an X-ray to check if there’s a fracture. As long as it’s not a fracture, a muscle sprain should heal in a few days.”
If it was a fracture, that would be problematic.
The saying goes “injured tendons and bones take a hundred days to heal,” and an ankle fracture would require a cast. They wouldn’t be able to continue practicing their group dance.
Fang Yinnian realized the seriousness of the problem and felt extremely annoyed and regretful. He hung his head dejectedly: “It’s all my fault for being too impatient, wanting to master that turning movement quickly.”
His voice trembled slightly: “What if it’s fractured? The upcoming MV shooting and dance recording—everything would be delayed.”
If he set back everyone’s progress, he would feel both ashamed and upset.
Hearing his dejected voice, Mo Xun’s heart softened.
Yinnian was usually calm and rarely this upset or afraid. He wasn’t worried about how badly he was hurt, only afraid of delaying the team’s progress.
He was so proud, absolutely unwilling to become a “burden.”
Xu Baichuan had already arranged for a director to shoot their MV next month—they absolutely couldn’t have any problems now…
Seeing his self-blame and frustration, Mo Xun couldn’t help but reach out his hand, gently ruffling his hair, his voice gentle: “It’s alright. Focus on healing your foot first, don’t think too much. We absolutely can’t let this leave any lasting effects, understand?”
After a moment of silence, Fang Yinnian nodded: “Mm.”
Mo Xun said: “Let’s go, I’ll take you to the hospital for a check-up.”
As Fang Yinnian struggled to stand, Mo Xun suddenly said: “Don’t move around, or you might make it worse. I’ll carry you.”
As Mo Xun crouched in front of him, Fang Yinnian hesitated for a moment before reluctantly extending his arms around the young man’s shoulders.
Mo Xun easily carried Fang Yinnian on his back, joking: “You’re so light! How much do you weigh? You should eat more and put on some weight.”
Fang Yinnian defended himself: “I’m not skinny, I just have a small frame.”
Mo Xun laughed and adjusted Fang Yinnian to make him more comfortable, then carried him down to the parking garage and drove to a nearby hospital.
He made a call to their manager: “Brother Xu, Yinnian sprained his ankle while dancing, I’m taking him to the hospital… Understood, we’ll wear hats and masks, we won’t be photographed. Don’t worry, I’ll take care of him… Yes, I’ll report the results to you as soon as they come out.”
He drove while talking on his Bluetooth earpiece, handling the situation thoroughly and meticulously.
Fang Yinnian sat in the passenger seat, his anxious mood gradually calming down.
After arriving at the hospital and parking the car, Mo Xun carried Fang Yinnian to the emergency department for an X-ray.
The two sat anxiously in the hallway waiting.
A moment later, the results came out, and the doctor said: “No fracture, just a muscle strain with soft tissue swelling. Apply cold compresses first, then switch to warm compresses after the swelling subsides.”
He glanced at Mo Xun: “The emergency treatment was done well, preventing the bleeding from spreading. He should recover quickly.”
Fang Yinnian let out a long sigh of relief.
The doctor added: “You should buy a crutch and avoid walking on this foot. Don’t aggravate the injury, understand?”
Fang Yinnian quickly replied: “I understand. Thank you, doctor.”
Mo Xun immediately ordered a crutch online for same-day delivery.
Then, he gently carried Fang Yinnian on his back, saying: “You should take a leave from school first and rest for a few days. Wait until your foot is completely healed before going back.”
Fang Yinnian nodded: “Mm, I’ll write a leave request as soon as I get back, for one week.”
The hospital’s emergency department was packed with people—many supporting elderly relatives or carrying children for treatment. Anxious voices of family members urging and pressing could be heard everywhere.
Mo Xun walked steadily, carrying Fang Yinnian quickly out of the hospital. Both wore hats and masks, and no one recognized them along the way.
Resting on Mo Xun’s shoulder, Fang Yinnian suddenly felt very secure.
It was the first time he had felt such comforting safety with someone other than his parents and grandmother.
It felt as though with this person around, there was nothing to fear.
Fang Yinnian said softly: “Mo Xun, thank you so much for today.”
Mo Xun laughed: “Why so formal with me? We’re teammates. If you’re injured, how could I just ignore it?”
Fang Yinnian smiled: “Mm.”
He rested his chin in the crook of Mo Xun’s shoulder, finally relaxing his tense nerves.
Fortunately, there was no fracture—it had just been a false alarm. Although their dance practice would be delayed by a few days, it wouldn’t cause serious consequences.
##
