Superstars of Tomorrow

In his previous life, Fang Zhao’s memory had been very good; in this life, it was even better.

This was Fang Zhao’s advantage.

For the same content, he needed to spend less time to memorize it, but with this superiority, he needed to work harder. Otherwise, he would be wasting his advantage.

Behind every successful genius was hard work that normal people were unable to understand.

Fang Zhao had never felt that he would be better than others despite living an extra life. The world was constantly changing, especially when it came to music. Many things from the Old Era were different. There were now even more genres and even more outstanding works.

Although Fang Zhao had been continuously learning such things over the past few years and had more or less grasped this knowledge, regarding the contents of the examination, he still needed quite a bit of guidance.

Fang Zhao consulted a few people who had once enrolled in HuangArt’s Twelve Tones advanced course, such as Xue Jing.

Now, Xue Jing’s focus was on compiling teaching materials, but he once went through HuangArt’s Twelve Tones advanced course. Even though he graduated many years ago, he had still helped come up with questions more than twenty times. Even when he was older and didn’t have enough energy to participate, he frequently paid attention to it. In his spare time, he sometimes collated some focus examination questions and posted them online. He didn’t count on selling them, he just hoped to give people who wanted to apply for HuangArt’s Twelve Tones a choice.

Knowing that Fang Zhao wanted to take the examinations, Xue Jing picked out 10 sets of exam papers from the question stash and even recommended a few books for Fang Zhao to read.

Following Xue Jing’s plan, there were 10 sets of questions, one per day. After 10 days and intensive learning, it would probably be time for the preliminaries. There wasn’t much time left for Fang Zhao to prepare.

Xue Jing sighed in private many times. If Fang Zhao had not gone to acting, he could have spent this year undergoing special practice. With Xue Jing’s own personal tutelage, Fang Zhao’s chances of getting into HuangArt’s Twelve Tones might be slightly higher.

But now was fine too. For youngsters, there was no harm in trying. If he failed once, there would still be opportunities in the future. Failing to get in could also suppress any impatient inclinations.

Other than Xue Jing, another person Fang Zhao was familiar with who had undergone the Twelve Tones advanced course was Yanzhou Music Association’s vice president and the former headmaster of the Qi’an Academy of Music, Ming Cang.

In recent years, Ming Cang’s efforts had all been placed on the medical condition of his son Ming Ye. He had even resigned as headmaster and naturally didn’t care too much about other things. Hearing Fang Zhao mention his desire to apply for HuangArt’s Twelve Tones, Ming Cang specifically took out a notebook that he’d kept locked up in his cupboard. These were all his collated notes from back when he’d been preparing to take the examination for HuangArt’s Twelve Tones. He had once thought about tidying these up and writing a book when he had the time, but unfortunately, he had shelved it time and again.

"You can do it!"

Ming Cang had not regarded Fang Zhao as a normal person since the release of the four movements of Fang Zhao’s "100-Year Period of Destruction"—a turning point for his own son’s condition.

From what Ming Cang saw, Fang Zhao was in no way inferior to anyone that graduated from HuangArt’s Twelve Tones. Even if he could not pass the entrance examinations, that didn’t prove that Fang Zhao had no ability.

But this was how the circle worked. One would always need to show one’s credentials. If Fang Zhao wanted to go even further in this industry, if he wanted the recognition of more academic authorities, a degree from QiMu wasn’t enough.

Ming Cang sincerely hoped for Fang Zhao’s success. How great it will be if Fang Zhao can get HuangArt’s Twelve Tone’s graduate cert.

Fang Zhao had a strong memory and his own accumulated knowledge and experiences, so he read and went through the notes very quickly. His fundamentals were good and his comprehension was rapid. After reading through them, Fang Zhao started doing the 10 sets of exam questions that Xue Jing had given him.

Indeed, Xue Jing had a specialty for compiling teaching materials. The sets he gave were very focused, and every set of questions was serialized. The key points covered in these 10 sets followed a pattern, and it was a gradual process.

On the second day after Fang Zhao had received the 10 sets of questions from Xue Jing, he once again contacted Xue Jing asking him whether he had even more questions.

Xue Jing was utterly flabbergasted.

"Those 10 sets aren’t enough? You do them first. Let me see them when you are done and I will select questions for you based on your condition."

"I did five sets today. I have the interview tomorrow morning but should still be able to do another three sets in the afternoon." What Fang Zhao meant was very simple: the questions weren’t enough.

"Oh, all right, send me the five sets you have completed and I’ll help you mark them. You can do the remaining ones first; I’ll help you pick more from my stash."

After ending the call, Xue Jing blankly sat at his study desk. He didn’t suspect that Fang Zhao had gotten someone else to do them or was just talking big. From what he understood about Fang Zhao, he believed that Fang Zhao would not falsify this sort of thing.

When he finished marking the five sets of practice questions that Fang Zhao had sent over, Xue Jing had an idea.

It seemed like new arrangements were needed. The amount of knowledge that Fang Zhao grasped exceeded his expectations by far.

After deciding on this, Xue Jing picked exam questions from his practice-questions file that were focused on HuangArt’s Twelve Tone’s course, compiled them into a set of practice questions, and sent it to Fang Zhao.

"Do them according to the numbering. After you have completed a set, send it to me, I’ll help you mark it."

"Sorry for troubling you."

"Don’t try and apologize for this trivial matter. I might lack other things, but I don’t lack questions! If you pass the preliminaries, I will also bask in the light."

Since Fang Zhao wanted to take the entrance examinations for HuangArt’s Twelve Tones, Xue Jing was delighted and more than happy to help out.

Xue Jing was a little worried that this youngster was too impatient and anxious for results. He even exhorted, "After you have finished the questions, remember to go through the key points that you don’t understand and consolidate them. Not just for the later rounds of examinations but also for your professional future as well. Even after saying that, Xue Jing still wasn’t reassured and added, "Of course I’m not saying you must spend the entire day doing this. You still have to relax a little in between doing questions. Strike a balance between work and rest. Only with both tension and relaxation can efficiency be maximized. Us in the music industry should take note more. You also know that if you are fixated on a single thing, your lines of thought become stiff and you will not necessarily be able to compose good pieces."

"Thank you, I understand."

Ending the call, Fang Zhao took a look at the time. It was only 9 p.m. He could do one more set of questions.

The next morning, according to the company’s arrangements, when Fang Zhao attended the interview, he was accompanied by two newcomer actors that the company was focusing on. Because of the preparations beforehand and the company having good relations and collaborating numerous times with the media outlet "Prairie Fire," the interview went very smoothly.

However, during the process of the interview, according to the company’s opinion, Fang Zhao’s future arrangements were not divulged. All Fang Zhao said was that his focus would not be on filming.

Every professional e-sports team that was watching this live broadcast felt their hearts tighten.

Was Fang Zhao going to come out of retirement?

In a certain high-end professional e-sports chat group. The members of this chat group were individuals from high-ranking teams from every continent.

Someone asked Jinro, "Captain Jin, I heard you guys had training with Fang Zhao?"

Jinro cursed in his heart, Which idiot in the team leaked this information!

But on the surface, Jinro was still very coolheaded. "That’s right, our skills aren’t up to scratch, so Zhao good gave us some training. When are you free to set a time and venue for a practice match? There are many newly released maps. Let’s pick a map everyone isn’t familiar with to be fair."

"Not free, we are waiting for the game to release the new phase of missions. This round’s monetary awards are high, but more importantly, there are also game packs. Oh right, will your team’s Fang Zhao be taking part in the new phase of missions that are about to be released?"

This was the question that all the e-sports teams from other continents wanted to know. Right now, there wasn’t too much difference between everyone and there was an equilibrium. Silver Wing’s side could be said to be slightly disadvantaged, but if Fang Zhao participated, he would destroy the original equilibrium.

Jinro replied, "Our Zhao god won’t be taking part in this."

Upon hearing this, the others felt slight pity in their hearts, but they were also rejoicing. It was best if Fang Zhao did not return to upset the apple cart. But regardless of what they were thinking in their hearts, the side of their lips inadvertently curled upward.

"That is really regrettable. When I was watching the live broadcast, I was even anticipating his return."

"Yeah, I still thought we would be able to exchange pointers."

"Continuous anticipation, once again disappointment. What a pity."

"Does your team’s Zhao god accept challenges?"

"Fang Zhao was doing rather well in the showbiz circles, but I heard some insider news saying that Fang Zhao is going to further his studies in the music field. Not sure whether it is true, but if it is, that is really a pity."

Seeing this bunch of people pretending, Jinro had another idea and replied, "Seeing that you all are so looking forward to it, I’ll help you guys ask. He might not be taking part in the new phase of missions, but he can do private sparring. Also, who posted on the public platform saying they wished to fight Zhao god? You guys decide first, I’ll ask Zhao god to see when he is free to let you guys have some close-up interaction with him."

Elsewhere, after the interview ended, Fang Zhao left Prairie Fire’s office tower.

Although Fang Zhao and the two newcomer actors that had gotten to show themselves during this interview were similar in age, they treated him with the respect of a senior. Furthermore, they were very grateful that Fang Zhao had been willing to bring them along this time.

Those two actors extended a sincere invitation. "Brother Zhao, want to eat together? We know of a newly opened restaurant with great dishes. The food and ambiance are great and there aren’t any unwanted disturbances."

"Maybe next time. I still have matters to attend to," Fang Zhao replied.

Although the two newcomers felt a little regretful, when they recalled the company’s internal rumor that Fang Zhao would be furthering his studies, they didn’t urge him to stay.

Returning home, Fang Zhao took an afternoon nap. After he woke up, he went to the study and did another three sets of questions.

After he was done with the questions and finished tidying up his notes, Fang Zhao saw a message that Jinro had sent him.

Jinro would not go so far as to disturb Fang Zhao over something so trivial and only mentioned it as a joke to Fang Zhao. He hadn’t expected that Fang Zhao would really find time to accept the challenge.

Fang Zhao scanned through some questions in his hands and replied, "All right. Who will these people be? Which practice maps?"

Jinro was currently in the company’s computer room training the newcomers. His hand trembled when he saw Fang Zhao’s reply, and he could no longer be bothered with training these newcomers. He hurriedly replied, "Zhao god, you don’t have to take this too seriously. They were just shooting their mouths off and actually did not have such intentions. You should attend to your own matters. I heard you still have to take an examination? Don’t let this interfere with your matters."

"It’s all right. Old Mr. Xue said that we have to strike a balance between work and rest. With tension there must be relaxation."

Jinro: "..." Do "rest" and "relaxation" mean what I think they do?

After this conversation, Jinro was still somewhat distracted, but he was stirred up very quickly and went to contact those who had previously talked about wanting to challenge Fang Zhao.

This time around, there were eight people. Actually, these eight had not really had the intention of fighting Fang Zhao, but since the words had already been said, their face was at stake, so they could not back down. When they thought about it more, Fang Zhao had already been away from the gaming scene for so long and they did not know what his standard was now. If he had maintained his high standards... Having an exchange with an expert was also beneficial.

After contacting all of them, deciding on the practice maps, and confirming the other’s free periods, Jinro sent Fang Zhao a message. If a matter wasn’t especially important, he would only send a message and would not call and disturb Fang Zhao.

Fang Zhao only replied half an hour after this message had been sent.

"All right, then let’s have it now."

Jinro was still worried. "You just finished your questions? Do you want to rest for a bit?"

"No need, I just finished a revised set on the many forms and variations of marches, so my condition is pretty good."

Jinro: "..." I understand now. He got too stimulated doing questions and had no way of venting.

With Fang Zhao’s reply of confirmation, Jinro immediately contacted the other eight. "My kid is being naughty, so I won’t be forming a team with you guys today. I have given you the time and coordinates; you eight go ahead."

Little Jinfei, who was currently at home doing his homework, looked up silently at his father. Why are you pushing the blame to me again? I’m clearly very obedient.