Chapter Text
His morning started at 5:00 am, as it always had for those of Lan descent. His routine was strict but gradually turned into a habit that had to be done; thirty minutes on the treadmill at the family gym, another thirty doing handstands with his older brother, a bath then breakfast; nothing out of the ordinary.
His pristine white hoodie and a matching pair of sweatpants were what he threw on as he set out to his dance studio. His hair was tied into a neat topknot with a pale blue hair tie leaving a few strands neatly at the sides.
He arrived at the studio earlier than anyone else. His teammates always said he was 'overly dedicated' which wasn't a lie but he almost didn't have a choice either; dancing was his air. The one thing in his life that he knew he loved apart from his brother and uncle. Anyone who knew Lan Wangji would know he barely had friends and his sentences on an average day would amount to ten, he didn't hate people, he just didn't like them either.
He went over some notes on the schedule for the day, noting the students ready for a change of class, he'd have to talk to his partner, Miamian, about their audition later.
He had two classes today and a rehearsal with his teammates later that evening. He wasn't even going to think about the emails that he had to reply to, he made sure Miamian handled all the paperwork, her efficiency was impeccable in his eyes.
The morning class started at eight with a group of girls that wanted to audition at one of China's dance competitions signed up for a six-month training program and Wangji had to admit his admiration for their commitment. This was their fifth month and the improvements were vivid.
"Good morning Lan-lǎoshī. Good Morning Luo-lǎoshī," they greeted when he walked with Miamian in while they did their stretches.
"Good morning. We'll be participating in a competition this weekend so you all will be split into sub-groups and then we'll have a general routine. This time, you'll have to audition if you want a solo," Miamian said, proceeding to call out the list of duos and subgroups.
Lan Wangji was not one to speak much and would rather just dance and choreograph instead, but as a teacher, he couldn't avoid pointing out corrections and giving directions.
"Again! None of your moves are in sync."
"Zu Yin, your arms should be higher."
"Chin Hua, mind your footwork."
Teaching the art of dancing had gradually become his newfound love. He didn't seem to mind the constant need to correct the moves and ensuring every routine became second nature with his students.
"We'll go over it again together one more time then have a break," he said, taking the lead on counting.
He guided them through the moves as gracefully as one would. It was a contemporary choreography, one that flaunted their strength and told the story of resilience through stormy times. Despite his ability to do well in a lot of dance styles that were far different from contemporary like hip-hop, he had a small bias towards it. It was the first style he learned, Lan Qiren, did not approve of anything that was overtly expressive, it was much too wild for a Lan to perform such an art that seemed too common, much too wild letting the dancer go on without restraint or an obvious discipline. It was with much persuasion from his brother that he finally made a compromise letting Lan Wangji start his lessons as a contemporary dancer.
Lan Wangji had been raised by his uncle ever since his mother died, leaving his father with severe depression for four years before he eventually passed away. His uncle had always been strict and very traditional, finding pride in following the rules laid down by the ancestors of the Lan clan, ensuring he and his brother followed almost all three thousand rules, making sure they learn to play instruments and compose music by the time they were twelve. Lan Wangji had been drawn to the guqin while his brother had taken his xiao. They both took kung fu classes, earning themselves black belts. He didn’t know how much he needed dance till he started learning it and despite the many people he had met through classes he was still very socially inept leaving all the small talk to his brother who was much more diplomatic whenever his family was invited to attend events.
They ended the piece with a Pas de bourrée and a bow. Lan Wangji was impressed, but they had a lot of work to do.
“Better. Remember to use the mirror to make sure you’re in sync with your partner” he advised.
“Zu Yin, Wang Jiao, wait behind.” He added waiting for the rest of the students to leave.
“The both of you have a motif in the middle of the piece and you’re not putting in enough energy or expressing your emotions well enough. What is the story of the piece?” This was one of the ways he could make his students immerse themselves in their work and understand the emotions.
“Fear,” Zu Yin starts. “They’re a group of kids in a class, and then they get kidnapped on the bus. They’re later found dead except one and the motif expresses how the lone student finds her mother.”
“The feeling at this point is complicated, for the mother it’s a joy that her child is safe, but for the daughter, she’s quite traumatized and has mixed feelings towards being alive after all she’s witnessed.” Wang Jiao concludes.
He nodded. “Good. Do you think the audience would understand that based on your performances today?”
“No, Lan-Laoshi.”
“We’ll go over it again when we return.”
He let them go for their break while he went over to his office checking his email. The studio had been gaining a lot more popularity than he expected. There had been proposals coming in to recruit backup dancers for music videos, endorsements, and a few for acting roles as well. It was a great opportunity for his students, although he was quite wary of allowing the younger ones to take the stage too early. A few of them wanted to make a dance reality out of their daily routine; he only sent a simple ‘no’ in response to their emails because Miamian asked him to.
It was the same set of emails that came in that day, one particularly stood out. It was from Lotus Media. He could have sworn they were owned by one of the family members of the Jiang clan, they were one of the families Uncle Qiren made them interact with. The email was quite brief.
The Director Could Studio,
Lotus Media would like to partner with the Cloud Studio in the production of its proposed dance movie.
We would be sending a representative of the company for research purposes.
Benefits include having some students part of the movie.
For more information kindly reach us on this email.
Yours Faithfully,
Media Director, Lotus Media
Wei WuXian.
The name brought back a wave of nostalgia and a slight pang of pain. He was not sure if he could handle working with him this time. His feelings were a mix of silent hope and fury. He ignored it and went back to classes, pushing him out of his mind.
The girls had gotten better at the routine, the auditions would hold the next morning, for the duets and solos. Till then he had the afternoon with a group of middle school kids that just came back from school that day. They still need to work on getting a lot of moves right so competitions were out of the question for now. This was a different type of interesting for him. He always enjoyed students in groups like this progress from kids that danced like they had two left feet to graceful swans through determination and zeal.
He watched them move, noting those that had raw talent, those that made up for the lack of talent with extra hours of hard work, and the others that just wanted to play around. Sometimes he’d tell the students to practice handstands if they weren’t taking the class seriously, something to make them leave the class to the serious ones at least. Sometimes it worked, other times it made them more disciplined; it was a win either way.
The day went by fast, leaving him to rehearse with his teammates. They were called to perform at the biannual Gusu fundraiser that would be held in three weeks. His family was heavily involved in organizing the event, hence it had to be perfect.
They would do a fan dance, something to remind the audience of their Chinese heritage; at least that was the reason his uncle gave to him. He went along with it, going through the motions and helping some of their newer members get used to opening their fans in sync and with ease. Miamian had helped him come up with the choreography so she took over explaining the moves the first time and letting him make corrections and adjustments while they practiced.
They went over the moves for about three hours taking a few minutes in between. When they were done it was already a few minutes past eight. Lan Wangji could feel the subtle ache of his muscles, a sign that it was very much close to his bedtime. He gave a few more tips to the team then called it a night.
“Hanguang-jun,” Miamian said, walking out of the studio with him. “You haven’t replied to any of the emails yet.”
“They do not seem promising.”
“I beg to differ, why don’t we go over them again tomorrow, there would definitely be good opportunities for the students” she suggested having grown used to his weariness of random proposals.
“Mn.”
“Great, I’ll- “
“Hanguang-jun! Lan Wangji!” The sound came from a slender young man running towards them.
He was dressed in a maroon turtleneck, a dark leather jacket, and a pair of dark jeans. Despite the poor lighting, Lan Wangji could make out his delicate facial features and the hint of a smile on his eyes. He noted he wore lots of jewelry too, earrings, thin necklaces, and a couple of rings. His ink-black hair was tied in a messy bun leaving the stray strands to the mercy of the wind.
He stopped right next to Lan Wangji, holding up a finger so he could catch his breath.
“Well damn, you’re even more handsome in person,” he said with a grin that made Lan Wangji’s insides do a little jig. “I’m Wei Wuxian from Lotus Media, it’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said holding his hand out.
“I’m Luo Qingyang, nice to meet you too,” She says, shaking his hand trying to distract him from Lan Wangji’s cold gaze.
“Uh, I sent an email earlier; I wanted to do a follow-up since I didn’t get a reply today.”
“Oh, that’s nice. Lotus media plans on sending someone to work with us for research?” she said.
“Yes. We’re working on major dance drama and we need everything to go as smoothly as possible, so we’d like to understand the life of dancers and how it works in training them.”
“No,” Lan Wangji said, walking towards his car.
“Oh, come on, Lan Wangji. At least hear me out first. Jiang Cheng is going to kill me if I don’t get this done.”
“It is past work hours.”
“Lan Wangji ” Wei Wuxian whined following him. “It’ll be a great opportunity for your students as well too, Lotus Media is already a big name in the industry. The movie’s going to be so global, their faces would be everywhere” he rambled trying to get everything out all at once despite Lan Wangji’s resolve to ignore him.
“It’s late. Go home.” Wangji replied once he was seated in his car.
“It’s not even nine yet, how is it late?” Wei Wuxian started to argue but was met with the hum of Lan Wangji’s car speeding away. “Hmph! Second most eligible bachelor in Gusu my ass.”
Qingyang giggled at his plight. “It’s been a long day; we’ll get back to you tomorrow.”
He sighed thinking of all the ways he could ask Jiang Cheng for an extra day to get this deal. “Okay. I’ll be back tomorrow then. Good night.”
Wei Wuxian could not understand how one could be so stiff. This was business, who gave a fuck about what time it was? Okay maybe someone that had been dancing and teaching all day. But still, he could have said he’d think about it right?
This movie was one he was already very invested in. He already had the outline of the story written down, a rough script, and some proposals for sponsorships that Jiang Cheng would sort out later. Fleshing it out needed more research than just a quick trip to Google. He always made sure he was thorough, he wanted to walk through the walls his characters would walk, taste what they were to eat, feel their exhaustion, their pain, and excitement. He needed to know the setting’s ins and outs. He was not determined not to leave it all to chance after the wave of criticisms that came from his last movie about poor representation of characters and cardboard personalities. He would get better, he’d make the best movie China had ever seen, and he’d be damned if he’d let Lan Wangji give him a no for an answer.
He made a few notes, made some adjustments to the partnership terms and conditions. Then went online to see what he could find out about the famous Lan Wangji. He tried not to ogle at his pictures, but that couldn’t be helped; the man was a walking beauty, if he wasn’t trying to partner with his company he’d be trying to get into his pants. He was still contemplating how he would convince him to work with them when he got a notification from his email.
The Media Director, Lotus Media,
You are to resume tomorrow, 7:00 AM.
Come with a camera. Lateness will not be tolerated.
The Director, Cloud Studio,
Lan Wangji.