Chapter 25: Autogenic Drainage Breathing Method

  Tong Wei's laboratory didn't have too many things, mostly formalin specimens, the whole lab was filled with the smell of formalin, if you weren't used to it, as soon as you came in, like Li Qiu, even breathing felt bitter and hard.

  The B-ultrasound swept lightly over Li Qiu's throat, and Tonomi Katsu, who had seen this kind of image for half his life, immediately saw that Li Qiu's vocal cords were just as he had guessed. His own vocal cords were also short and thick, although not to the extent of a duck's quack, and normally speaking did not feel anything unusual, but once the breath was used too much, it would change voice!

  "Xiao Qiu, I predict your voice change period still has half a year!"

  "Puberty?"

  "Right, whether your voice can change or not depends on this period of voice change. Tomorrow, we'll start training. You go out first, and your Mountain Mouth grandma will tell you about your daily schedule from now on!"

  "Yes, Grandfather Fujiki!"

  "Xiao Qiu, I hope... the result of my many years of research is correct..."

  ……

  The next day, in the early morning of midsummer, it was lively and the sun rose early. The house at the foot of the mountain was covered with lush green vines, carrying the unique dampness of the forest, making the air around the house very refreshing and filling the entire morning.

  "It's very early, Little Qiu!"

  "You're up early, Grandpa Fujimoto." Last night, Li Qiu received the schedule given to him by Yamaguchi Mireiko and was left dazed after looking at it. Only after carefully reading it again did he realize that every day, apart from the fixed 10 hours of rest, everything else was either training or studying... This morning's 6 am wake-up call was the first item on the agenda...

  "Let's go!" Tōgi Shō also didn't say much, and took little Li Qiū with him, running up the mountain. It was still this mountain, still these stairs that were almost at a 30-degree incline, but today Li Qiū couldn't help but marvel at the strange fate that had brought them together.

  "Before you enter the breaking voice period, you must train your lung capacity. Lung capacity is very important when singing, and it's also crucial for the singing method I'll be teaching you in the future. So, what's most important for you right now is to practice your lung capacity to its maximum!"

  "Yes!"

  An old man and a young boy, started their mountain journey. Halfway up the mountain, Li Qiu was still paralyzed, using his hands to push against the railing of the mountain path, taking one step at a time upwards. On the other hand, Teng Mu Sheng was still walking with ease, except for slightly rapid breathing, there wasn't any unusual signs.

  "Alright!" Only when they reached the pavilion halfway up the mountain did Tongmu Sheng let this mountain-climbing trip come to an end. Standing in the pavilion, he said to Li Qiu, who was lying down, "Get up, don't lie on the ground, what's next is the key point!"

  "Yes, Grandfather Teng!" Li Qiu felt every muscle in his body trembling, his empty lungs burning as if on fire, but he still stood up, although his whole body was shaking and seemed to be about to fall at any moment.

  "Steady your body, take a deep breath in, carefully, use your mouth to breathe, don't use your nose, slowly inhale, fill your lungs, don't let the air go down to your lower abdomen, feel it with your hand, when you're inhaling, your belly should be slowly sinking in, right, just like that, keep inhaling until you feel your lungs are about to burst and your head is getting dizzy!"

  Li Qiu followed Teng Mu's guidance, step by step, and originally felt like his lungs were on fire from climbing the mountain. Now, he swallowed a large amount of air, which had a refreshing scent from the mountains and a hint of moisture, but when it entered his lungs, it was like dry kindling that made his already burning lung cavity feel like raging flames. His head seemed to be squeezed by something heavy, and the dizzy feeling intensified as he took in this breath, making him even more miserable...

  "Don't breathe out! Keep it like this, keep the air in your lungs circulating! If you can't hold on, slowly breathe out, don't exhale all at once, remember to use your mouth, not your nose!"

  Li Qiu really wanted to hold his breath, but under the double torture of his lungs and brain, he only lasted three seconds before he couldn't take it anymore. Just as he was about to exhale the air in his lungs, Tengmu Sheng's words entered his ears and echoed in his dizzy mind. Li Qiu immediately controlled his breathing, opened his mouth slowly and exhaled until all the air was out, only then did his lungs and brain feel a little more comfortable...

  "Very good, just like this, follow this method and redo it nineteen times! Your daily morning task is this!"

  ……

  Half an hour later, after twenty such deep breaths, Li Qiu finally got a short rest.

  "Xiao Qiu, breathing through the mouth is not a scientific way of breathing, so you need to breathe in an environment as clean as this. Later on, if you train in the city, find a forest like this one, don't go to places with lots of dust, it's bad for your throat and lungs, remember?"

  "Yes, Grandfather Fujiki, I remember, but this breathing method is really hard to bear..."

  "That's natural, this breathing method is called self-injurious expansive lung breathing."

  "Self-inflicted... lung expansion... breathing method..."

  "Uh, this breathing method is something I came up with. Normally, people only use about one-third of their lung capacity. The method I invented is to slowly squeeze out the remaining two-thirds. After all these years, I've only thought of this self-torturing way, which still has some use. However, remember that this breathing method is only suitable for people like us; ordinary people don't need it. This method trains lung capacity and is one of the most effective ways to do so, but also the most painful. Ordinary people singing songs don't require such large lung capacity; we're different. I'll teach you later. When I was young, that's how I trained, and even now, I occasionally practice. It's just that my starting point is too late, and no matter how much larger I train my lung capacity to be, it won't make a difference. The most basic hardware remains unchanged; the foundation isn't there, so wanting to build an even taller building would be like building a castle in the air..."

  "Grandfather Teng, what do you mean by 'foundation'?"

  "Vocal cords, I started studying when I was already thirty years old, long past the vocal change period. No matter how hard I tried later on, it's impossible to change my vocal cords. But I still didn't give up, until recently, when I met you, and only then did I realize that I was wrong."

  "Puberty, you said last night that whether I can sing or not depends on whether my voice changes during puberty. Does that mean you want to change my vocal cords?"

  "Not bad! That's the most fundamental goal, you already know those animals that won't call out behind the house, right?"

  "Yes, it was Xiuying who discovered it first."

  "The vocal cords of those animals, I cut them all off for research. The specimens in the laboratory are all vocal cords of various animals. After so many years of research, I have roughly touched on some secrets hidden in our throats!"

  “……”

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