Into your heart! [ZhanYi FF]

Chapter 01 - Keno Academy

When Chen Ling Chao founded the small Keno Academy 250 years ago, many people laughed at him. At that time, people found it amusing that a man founded an academy for budding talents in music, acting or dance. They even pitied him for believing that talent could be cultivated and become a celebrity.

At that time, only civil servants could afford to let their children study. They were the only ones who could read, write and calculate. And no civil servant would ever have allowed his precious child to go to an academy where he would be encouraged in music, acting and dancing. After all, at that time, knowledge was powerful and led after graduation, in high prestigious positions.

Chen Ling Chao, however, laughed for his part and always said: "I do not care whether the students can read, write or calculate! I train their talents and make them famous! After the education my students will become rich with their talents! And I do not care from which house they come. Everyone has a chance to be accepted by me!"

Of course, no one took Chen Ling Chao's words seriously. They made fun of him and his academy. And most of all, they laughed when they learned how he selected the new talents who would be allowed to attend his academy. He would let them audition one by one in a small theater of his academy, audition dancing or audition singing. Meanwhile, Chen Ling Chao sat in the front row with a panel of judges and took notes on everyone who performed.

And finally, after their performances at Chen Ling Chao, it finally became clear why this academy was actually called Keno Academy. Because Chen Ling Chao threw all the names of the applicants into a lottery pot and like in a lottery, he drew 20 random names from this lottery pot. And these 20 students whose names he drew would be allowed to attend his Keno Academy.

What people never expected at that time was that already the first students, all of them, actually became famous after their 4 years of education. And so did the ones after that, and the ones after that, and on and on. Almost every talent that attended the Keno Academy went on to have success in show business. And this is still the case today! Only today there are many more such academies and many more talents. Therefore, it has become more difficult.

Never did the Keno Academy exceed the maximum number of 80 students. Always only 20 students per year! Moreover, the academy was and remained private and also the selection of new talents, had never changed. The academy itself, with its campus and small dormitory, had also always remained the same.

Today, many, many years after the death of the founder of the Keno Academy Chen Ling Chao, the Keno Academy is very well known in the country. Every year, thousands of talents try to get one of the few places there. And almost as many are rejected every year. Being talented is no longer enough to be invited to an audition.

Today's talents must have been encouraged at a young age. By the family and by coaches. In addition, each of the talents should have received at least 3 awards for first place in well-known competitions and in the respective talent. Although this was not in the spirit of the founder, who wanted to give everyone a chance, but after all, the founder was already dead for 200 years. And they finally had to come up with something to find the true talents.

One of the few talents who dreamed of this chance and actually made it to the Keno Academy was Wang Yibo. Already at the age of 4, he had attended a dance school. Later, he added acting in the drama club and singing in the choir. He was an absolute multi-talent, as it was rare. For he also excelled in basketball and motorcycle racing.

Wang Yibo was already known nationwide when he applied to the Keno Academy. Many talent scouts had already taken notice of him before, trying to persuade him to join their academies. But Yibo had only ever wanted to go to Keno. "Keno or no academy!" He always said and remained steadfast, no matter what the talent scouts offered him.