“A strong leader has no weak soldiers. So she’s actually one of Wu Qingyun’s troops.”
Ye Zhiqiu was very surprised: “Professor Tang, you know our regiment commander?”
“Know her? We’re good friends. What, didn’t your regiment commander ever mention me to you?”
“Right, she’s not really the talkative type.”
Tang Xuejun pointed at Ye Zhiqiu: “But I do know about you. Your regiment commander has mentioned you to me quite a few times.”
“Professor Tang, our regiment commander has talked about me to you?” Ye Zhiqiu pointed back at himself, stunned again.
“That was probably around the time your regiment commander first discovered you. She told me she had found a real talent, and then she kept bringing you up after that.”
Tang Xuejun put her leg down, stepped forward, and patted Ye Zhiqiu on the shoulder: “Zhiqiu, your regiment commander has high hopes for you. You absolutely must not let her down, and of course, don’t let yourself down either.”
“I can tell, you’re a child who truly loves dance.”
After saying this, Tang Xuejun turned and left. She had come over just to see if Ye Zhiqiu was really as good as Wu Qingyun said.
Wu Qingyun had made a bet with her, saying that Ye Zhiqiu would definitely come for the training, so of course, she had to come and see for herself.
Setting aside natural talent and dance sensibility for a moment, the first thing was genuine love for the art.
Over the years, she had encountered many dancers with good talent, but very few could persevere.
Back in her office, Tang Xuejun couldn’t wait to call Wu Qingyun: “I admit defeat.”
“You saw her? How is she?” Wu Qingyun asked with a smile.
“You’ve always been one to speak based on facts. If you say a kid is good, then they must be good.”
“Don’t worry about things here. I’ll look after her a little, but you know me. I’m not the type to play favorites out of personal feelings. On the contrary, I’ll be even stricter with her.”
Tang Xuejun joked with Wu Qingyun: “You can’t blame me for that, you know.”
“What are you saying? Being stricter with her is what’s truly good for her.”
Wu Qingyun asked Tang Xuejun: “When you saw her, did you mention our relationship?”
Tang Xuejun admitted it: “I did. She was bound to find out eventually anyway. Our relationship won’t have much impact on her. The selection for my dance drama will still depend on actual ability.”
“These kids who came this time, each and every one of them is the strongest from various song and dance troupes.”
Outsiders watch for the spectacle, but the pros watch for the technique. You can tell how they usually train just from their posture.
As for dance sensibility, that will only show during rehearsals.
But she had looked over their files, and they were all very strong.
Tang Xuejun told Wu Qingyun all this to give her a little mental preparation, so that if Ye Zhiqiu didn’t get selected in the end, at least she wouldn’t be too disappointed.
But speaking selfishly, Tang Xuejun really hoped Ye Zhiqiu would be chosen.
Wu Qingyun didn’t say it explicitly, but Tang Xuejun understood her personality. She had great expectations for Ye Zhiqiu and had poured a lot of heart and effort into her.
Ye Zhiqiu was Wu Qingyun’s protégé. Sending her here this time was also about fulfilling Wu Qingyun’s own dream from years ago.
Wu Qingyun’s natural talent back then was even stronger than Tang Xuejun’s. If it weren’t for her injury, her achievements today would surely be greater than Tang Xuejun’s.
Remembering this, Tang Xuejun couldn’t help but sigh.
“Treat her exactly the same as you treat others. If she wants to go further on the path of dance in the future, the first thing she has to learn is to accept failure.”
“There’s always someone better, and the sky’s the limit. If she gets the chance, she’ll see just how many outstanding dancers there are in this world.”
Wu Qingyun’s hope for Ye Zhiqiu wasn’t that she could perform in one dance drama, but that she could always remain a dancer.
The next day was pretty similar to their usual routine in the song and dance troupe.
Morning started with flexibility training – backbends and leg presses – followed by basic skill drills. Afternoon was for movement rehearsal.
The only difference was an added water training session in the evening.
Ye Zhiqiu had never trained this way before, so she was very curious.
As soon as she entered the water and started moving, she immediately understood the purpose of this exercise.
Water creates resistance, so performing movements requires much more force than usual.
The members from the troupes in the southern regions, especially those from Jiangning, all seemed very familiar with this type of training.
But the few of them from the northern troupes were struggling to keep up.
Even though Ye Zhiqiu hadn’t done this specific training before, she had always done extra strength training at home and in the art troupe.
This helps keep the body lines tighter and smoother.
People started dropping out one by one. From the northern troupes, only Ye Zhiqiu and Wen Shengnan were left.
Of course, some from the southern troupes couldn’t take it anymore either. You could see from the darkening sky that they had probably been in the water for about two hours.
Not only were they exhausted, but they were also starting to get cold, which meant their bodies had to expend even more energy.
“We’re using a point system. Whoever can hold out until the end this time gets ten points. As for those who left earlier, points will be deducted accordingly based on the order they left.”
“A dance drama requires high stamina to get through. One performance requires dancing for one to two hours straight. It’s not like your usual routine where you just dance one or two pieces and you’re done.”
Tang Xuejun was completely different from the warm, gentle person who had faced Ye Zhiqiu yesterday. Today, she was even more strict than Wu Qingyun, just like an art troupe commander.
The girls who had been so excited about coming for advanced training were utterly miserable after just one day of this.
“I’ve long heard that Professor Tang has high standards, but I never imagined they’d be this high.”
Back in the dorm, Han Siyang didn’t even have the energy to take a shower. She just wanted to lie in bed like a dead fish.
Seeing Ye Zhiqiu grab her basin to go wash her clothes, she looked at her like she’d seen a ghost: “Zhiqiu, aren’t you tired?”
“I’m okay.”
She was tired too, but she had sweated a lot during training. If she didn’t wash up, she’d feel uncomfortable.
She washed her training clothes and underwear every single day.
“You’re seriously not human. I’m not insulting you here, I mean it as a compliment.” Han Siyang gave Ye Zhiqiu a thumbs-up.
She thought she was already pretty tough. After all, in her song and dance troupe, they called her the ‘Fighting Princess’.
But she never expected Ye Zhiqiu to be even more hardcore than her. And she was the one who lasted until the very end.
Plus, they all saw it. She didn’t slack off or take any shortcuts at any point. She was completely serious the whole time.
She didn’t know what others thought about that kind of drive, but she was absolutely full of admiration.
Ye Zhiqiu and Han Siyang’s dorm was a couple of doors down from the dorm shared by Wen Shengnan, Jiang Miao, and Fan Xue.
Just as she was walking past with her basin, she heard Jiang Miao say, “Shengnan, seriously, why are you getting so upset with Ye Zhiqiu? Someone like her isn’t worth it.”
“Jiang Miao, that’s way too harsh. What do you mean, ‘someone like her’? What kind of person is Ye Zhiqiu?”
Fan Xue chimed in: “I think Ye Zhiqiu is pretty amazing, being able to last that long.”
