Trimmed By Time Chapter 5

The year Liam Chen entered high school was a legend in the provincial experimental school. The reason was simple: he scored full marks in math, physics, chemistry and biology in the high school entrance examination. Even though his total score was not the highest due to his poor performance in politics and history, he became the focus of the new class teacher.

Liam Chen's parents both do scientific research in the aerospace system and are often in bases in the northwest or south. Liam Chen has been in a free-range state since he was a child, but he inherited his parents' calm personality and smart mind. On the first day of registration, the new class teacher Lao Zhou was very happy to see him, thinking that he might be training a future scientist.

The scientist was thus appointed as the class monitor. The new classmates were all impressed by this science expert.

There were two weeks of military training before the provincial experimental high school opened. Before entering school, everyone prayed that it would rain a lot at the end of August this year, but in reality, the sun was shining every day. During the break, the boys gathered together to talk about the latest online games. Liam Chen was not very interested in online games. Most of the time, he sat by and drank water and listened quietly. After a week, everyone felt that this science expert was just like the math and physics finale question, and it was not easy to get close to him. A group of new high school students like to make trouble the most. Liam Chen has good grades and a good-looking face. Although he doesn't like to talk to people casually, he is still called a male god by everyone.

When the lights were turned off on the weekend, more than a dozen people on the bunk bed started chatting. One boy said, "Hey, did you hear that Nathan Song is coming to our school?"

"You won't come to our class?"

"Why didn't he come to our class? On the day of registration, someone went to Lao Zhou's office and saw Nathan Song's file on her desk."

"Ah! Then our Chen's status as male god is no longer secure."

Liam Chen listened to what was said when he was called. The boys were all very excited, but he only had a vague impression of the name. It was probably because his parents were both big stars and he had been playing supporting roles in various TV dramas and movies since he was a child.

Liam Chen has always been the only one at home with his grandparents. His grandparents are old and have poor hearing and don't like to watch TV. If they do watch TV, they always watch drama channels. Liam Chen himself has even less interest in TV.

But Liam Chen really hopes that this little star will come soon. He feels uncomfortable being called a male god every day. If the little star comes, people will naturally stop paying attention to him.

Nathan Song's words had indeed faded away before he even arrived. The girls in the nearby dormitory had already been discussing this topic for a week.

The title of Thomas Song and Laura Zhang's son alone is enough to attract attention. The love story of the best actor and actress is a good story. Thomas Song is handsome and has good acting skills. In his twenties, he was the prince charming in the hearts of all girls. Laura Zhang started out as a TV actor and won the best actress award at an international film festival for her first movie. She retired from the film industry at the age of 36 for the sake of her family. Thomas Song rarely took on roles in the future and turned to behind-the-scenes production. However, when photos of the set or press conference are released, and Thomas Song is occasionally seen, the audience still praises him as "better than the leading actor."

When Nathan Song was still in his mother's belly, he frequently appeared on the covers of major magazines. On the day Laura Zhang gave birth, the media sneaked into the hospital and took a photo from a distance in the neonatal ward, circling one of the cribs and the beloved son of the movie emperor and actress, with the caption "Blessed by nature, born to win."

It is indeed a blessing. The headlines that 18-tier stars can't even ask for, Nathan Song's every move is recorded. The media wanted to write about the name Nathan Song - because Laura Zhang and Thomas Song met in the movie "Moon", and the media squatted to record the new celebrity parents and the little prince, and the media also calculated the tuition for kindergarten.

It may be genetics, or it may be the influence of his surroundings. Nathan Song has never been afraid of the spotlight since he was a child. On the contrary, he performed well. When Laura Zhang was approached for the first milk powder advertisement, Laura Zhang and Thomas Song just wanted their son to have more life experiences. It was up to him whether he would continue to do this job. Unexpectedly, the child, who was not even one year old, kept giggling in front of the camera and was not shy. After the filming, the director came over and told Laura Zhang that the little boy was probably destined to be in front of the camera.

When Nathan Song was in elementary school, an old friend of Thomas Song, a director, wanted to invite him to guest star in his new play. Thomas Song and Laura Zhang simply let the child make the decision. Nathan Song agreed readily. The spotlight and the camera were very familiar to him. He had a natural affinity and love for them.

Children can’t really be considered as actors, but Nathan Song did a great job. Media reports came one after another, all of which lamented that Nathan Song would be reborn and that his genes determined him to be a big star.

Before entering high school, Nathan Song had already acted in four TV series. Even without the blessing of his parents, some audiences could still recognize him as the grandson of a TV series. Going to the Provincial Experimental School in high school was the first time his parents helped him make a life decision. Nathan Song had already decided to study film or drama in college. He didn't have to worry about the performance scores, but he had to focus on academic subjects. The second-generation stars that Nathan Song had hung out with since childhood all went to private schools with a lax academic atmosphere. This was the first time that Thomas Song contacted the Provincial Experimental School for his son regardless of his son's wishes.

Thomas Song's words were simple: "You want to follow in your father's footsteps. It's your destiny and your choice. Mom and Dad don't object. We have been raising you since you were young and have never avoided the media. But the three years of high school may be the last simple and pure days in your life. Dad hopes that you can calm down and study. Life will be like a play after that, but you must first understand your own life."

Looking back many years later, Nathan Song felt that Thomas Song's decision was the right one. Nathan Song was indeed the one who went the furthest and most steadily among the second-generation stars. However, at the age of 15, he felt that his father was too serious. Fortunately, he still had a film contract, so he stayed in the crew to enjoy the flashy and relaxed summer vacation, and complained about the future school with the young actors of the same age in the same group.

The young actor laughed at him: "You are the top student in this movie, but when you go to the provincial school, everyone is a nerd, you will be at the bottom of the list."

Nathan Song was upset, and his brothers who had grown up with him had also said the same thing. As second-generation stars, they all went to private schools where they didn't have to study, and were busy vacationing abroad with their parents to avoid the media during the summer vacation. When they learned about Uncle Song's decision, they felt very sympathetic towards Nathan Song. Leo Zhang said to him, "It just so happens that you are playing an excellent student in your new play, so you can try to go to the new school and pretend to be good."

That summer, Nathan Song smoked the first cigarette in his life in such an anxious mood.

Because of filming, Nathan Song missed the first week of military training.

In the second week of training, everyone started to slack off. Early in the morning, the instructor gave instructions for everyone to practice marching. A group of people were walking back and forth on the playground, but their feet could never reach the same height. In the distance, a person was walking from the other end of the playground. As the distance got closer, the team began to discuss in a low voice: "Nathan Song!" "Really Nathan Song!" The training was originally boring, but now everyone was excited.

The instructor stood under a tree and watched the team in chaos, and called on the squad leader to rectify the discipline. Liam Chen, who had been silent in the noise, had no choice but to shout "Keep quiet and train well".

Normally, Liam Chen still has some prestige, but at this moment his words obviously have no effect.

Even the instructor himself found Nathan Song interesting and understood these kids. He gestured to Liam Chen to lead the team over.

The girls were even more excited when they saw the little star on TV standing in front of them up close. Liam Chen was standing in the first row and heard people from the back talking about how handsome he was. Liam Chen also silently looked at the person in front of him who was disrupting the team's discipline.

When Liam Chen just changed into the military training uniform, the boys had praised him, "Why does the same ugly clothes look so good on a male god?" But this low-quality military training uniform not only looks good on Nathan Song, his trouser legs are rolled up narrowly, revealing a part of his calves, and his shirt is cleverly tucked into his trousers, with long legs and a thin waist, looking handsome and upright.

The instructor looked at the little star in front of him and said, "You, go stand next to your squad leader."

Nathan Song was accustomed to everyone's curious and excited looks. He smiled and nodded to the team before asking, "Who is the squad leader?"

Liam Chen had to raise his hand amid the chattering discussion.

Nathan Song could naturally see that the monitor was not excited about his arrival, which was quite interesting. Even people who were not interested in him would inevitably look at him a few more times when thinking of his parents. He did not expect that the monitor was so calm.

He stood next to Liam Chen, extended his hand, and said in a polite manner: "Hello, squad leader, I am Nathan Song."

Liam Chen gave a perfunctory handshake. After a whole morning of training in the scorching heat, Liam Chen's throat had dried from shouting slogans as the squad leader. He had no interest in reviewing the script with the little star in front of him. He only said two words: "Liam Chen."

Nathan Song raised his eyebrows, said nothing more, and followed the team to start the next training.

During the lunch break, Lao Zhou came to the boys' dormitory. He formally introduced Nathan Song to everyone for the first time. But Nathan Song had already become familiar with everyone during lunch. The classmates found that the little star was not as cool as the male god. He spoke casually and shared gossip with them. When Lao Zhou came in, Nathan Song was being pestered and asked whether the popular young actress was beautiful without makeup.

Old Zhou couldn't help but sigh in his heart that this kid has high emotional intelligence. After saying "Classmates, get along well with each other, and don't treat Nathan Song specially because of his special identity", he specially called Nathan Song and Liam Chen aside.

"Nathan Song, I don't care how popular you are when you're filming outside. You're still a student when you go to school. I've seen your high school entrance exam results. If you want to go to your favorite school, you can't relax in your cultural studies in the next three years. Look, Liam Chen, our class monitor, got full marks in math, physics, chemistry and biology in the high school entrance exam. You should learn more from him. I will arrange a one-on-one study group in the class. You two can be in the same group. If you don't understand anything, ask the teacher and the class monitor."

Nathan Song kept smiling and nodding throughout the whole process, appearing to be very obedient and respectful to his teacher, which made Lao Zhou very happy.

But Liam Chen actually didn't want to form this group with Nathan Song.

If Nathan Song's academic performance was worrying as Lao Zhou said, then this group would be of no use to Liam Chen. He would become Nathan Song's tutor in disguise. More importantly, Liam Chen always ranked first, and he was actually a bit arrogant, but he was polite and not easy to detect. Although he would feel embarrassed to be called "male god" by everyone, he was young and energetic and still liked to be surrounded by people. Liam Chen knew at the first sight that Nathan Song did not take him seriously. He guessed that Nathan Song was probably rolling his eyes in his heart after listening to Lao Zhou's lecture, but he could pretend to be obedient on the surface. He didn't want to make himself unhappy.

But Liam Chen did not disobey his teacher. The head teacher smiled and patted his shoulder: "Nathan Song's cultural subjects are still far behind yours. Please be patient and help him."

Liam Chen nodded.

Nathan Song saw Liam Chen's reluctance, but the smile on his face deepened. He turned around and bowed to Liam Chen.

"Thank you, Teacher Chen."

Nathan Song's arrival turned their class's formation into a zoo.

When other classes were taking breaks from training, there were always girls running over in pairs. Although they didn’t dare to get too close to them, they were still excited.