The girl who received the score sheet didn’t want to read it out loud. Tang Xuejun’s voice turned cold as she ordered, “Read it!”
Once the first one started, the rest reluctantly followed suit, one after another, until it reached Jiang Miao. The moment Jiang Miao saw her score, her instinct was to not read it aloud.
Her results were already near the bottom, so not only were they unimpressive, but the gap between her score and Ye Zhiqiu’s was huge.
“Go on, read it! Everyone before you did. You were the loudest one making a fuss — why stop now?”
Tang Xuejun’s words made Jiang Miao fly into a humiliated rage. Throwing all caution to the wind, she glared at Tang Xuejun with red-rimmed eyes and shouted, “Professor Tang, I know you’re protecting Ye Zhiqiu, but you can’t just insult us like this just to defend her!”
Tang Xuejun curled her lips into a cold smirk. “I’m not usually one to speak harshly, but today I have no choice.”
“Your scores are low, yet every single one of you is stirring up trouble.”
“Did your scores drop only after Ye Zhiqiu started using the heater? You’re making such a racket as if using one would magically bump your grades up.”
Tang Xuejun turned to Jiang Miao. “You say I’m protecting Ye Zhiqiu. With her scores and her usual performance — isn’t she worth protecting?”
“Call me partial, call me unfair — I don’t care. I’ll say it plainly right now: I do like Ye Zhiqiu. Her work ethic and determination impress me.”
“If any of you had even half her tenacity, your scores wouldn’t be this pathetic!”
“Now, back to the heater issue. I already told you — if you want to use one, you’re welcome to. Just because you don’t have one doesn’t mean you get to stop others from using theirs. What kind of mentality is that?”
“We’d use one if we had one!” Jiang Miao muttered defiantly.
Tang Xuejun nodded. “Exactly. You’d use one if you had one.”
“Ye Zhiqiu’s was brought here by her husband. You can also call your families and have them send one over. She didn’t ask for special leave, and neither do you have that privilege.”
“So what? She just married a good man.”
Tang Xuejun let out a laugh of disbelief at Jiang Miao’s remark. “Jiang Miao, you can marry a good man too. If you haven’t, is it because you don’t want to?”
“Hahaha.”
Fan Xue couldn’t hold back her laughter, and soon others joined in.
Jiang Miao’s face turned beet red. She crouched down and burst into loud sobs. “You… you’re all bullying me!”
“Who’s bullying you? Weren’t you the one trying to stir things up?”
Tang Xuejun had no patience for people like Jiang Miao. She wasn’t her mother — why would she indulge her? “Jiang Miao, take a look at what you’ve done!”
“You’ve already wasted half an hour of training time. You came to me before, and I already explained things to you, but you wouldn’t listen. Today, you deliberately tried to blow this up right before training just to embarrass Ye Zhiqiu. So let me ask you — isn’t that bullying?”
“How come you’re allowed to bully others, but when someone gives it back to you, it’s suddenly not okay? What kind of logic is that?”
“I don’t care how things were run in your arts troupe before. Here, you follow my rules. If you’re not willing, then withdraw.”
“Now I’ll give you one more chance. If you think this place is too tough or too tiring, then leave. I’ll make sure to note in your files exactly why you withdrew!”
Tang Xuejun swept her gaze across the girls who had caused a scene with Jiang Miao. One by one, they all lowered their heads. Jiang Miao didn’t even dare to look up.
Withdrawing might seem like a small matter — honestly, in this environment, she didn’t even want to stay anymore. But if it went into her file, that would be a real problem.
That would be a stain on her record. Not only would she forget about getting promoted within the troupe, she might not even be able to continue dancing on stage.
And worst of all, she’d forget about finding a good match. Families in the military compound placed great importance on personnel files. If they saw something like that, no respectable family would want her.
“Fine! No one’s withdrawing, right?”
Tang Xuejun turned and nodded toward the instructor in charge of scores. “Everyone else gets 20 points deducted. Jiang Miao gets 30.”
“If anyone dares to disrupt training again, it’ll be a 50-point deduction!”
“Today’s training will be extended by two hours!”
The others immediately groaned in complaint, shooting furious glares at the troublemakers, especially Jiang Miao.
Realizing she was about to lose 30 points, putting her dead last and guaranteeing her elimination this round, Jiang Miao decided to just let it all burn.
“Ye Zhiqiu framed her own father and sent him to prison! She even got him executed! What does it matter if she’s first in scores with that kind of character?!”
Everyone was stunned — even Tang Xuejun was taken aback by Jiang Miao’s outburst. But she still had her wits about her and knew that no matter how capable a person was, they couldn’t single-handedly decide an execution.
And knowing Jiang Miao’s nature, at least eighty percent of that claim was exaggerated. There might be some truth to it, but the full story was probably very different.
Besides, if Ye Zhiqiu really had serious issues, Wu Qingyun wouldn’t have sent her here. Not to mention, her spot had been personally approved by Political Commissar Hu.
“Ye Zhiqiu, give us a brief explanation,” Tang Xuejun said, turning to her.
Ye Zhiqiu stepped forward and admitted, “It’s true that I sent my father to prison. And it’s also true that he was sentenced to death and executed half a month ago.”
“Oh my god, she’s ruthless! She actually sent her own father to prison!”
“He was sentenced to death and executed — what kind of crime did he commit? We should stay away from someone like that. That’s terrifying.”
The murmurs were loud, and Ye Zhiqiu heard every word clearly.
“Ye Zhiqiu, why was your father sentenced to death?” Tang Xuejun pressed her. “You need to make this clear. Don’t leave it vague and let people misunderstand.”
“Murder and bigamy. My father married another woman just six months after marrying my mother. Later, when he found out my mother had bought a courtyard property, he colluded with that woman to kill my mother and take over the property.”
“After I finished investigating, I sent both of them to prison.”
When Ye Zhiqiu finished speaking, the training room fell completely silent. Then, suddenly, a single clap broke the stillness.
“Bravo!”
Fan Xue clapped vigorously. “Well done, Zhiqiu!”
“If it were my father and he dared to kill my mother, I’d send him in too! That kind of man isn’t even human!”
“Let me say something fair. Zhiqiu and I aren’t from the same arts troupe, but we’re from the same region.”
Fan Xue stepped forward. “You’ve all seen her professional skills and determination. We’re all the best from our respective dance troupes, and she still stands out among us. I’ll admit — she’s the strongest.”
“And all of us here passed the organization’s vetting before coming.”
“Whatever happened in Zhiqiu’s family must have occurred before she came here. Yet her troupe still sent her, and I heard her spot was specially approved by higher-ups. That proves the organization has already investigated thoroughly.”
“She only got that special approval because she married Yue Mingyuan.”
Jiang Miao shot back at Fan Xue. “With the Yue family backing her up, of course nothing would happen to her.”
