Wen Shengnan had been working hard to catch up to Ye Zhiqiu, but unfortunately, Ye Zhiqiu had been way ahead of her all along. And on top of that, Ye Zhiqiu had been incredibly consistent, which meant the gap between them was still pretty significant.
Now, with only a few days left before the final evaluation, there was no way she could close that gap in time. Her only option was to pull something during the final test itself.
Wen Shengnan had no idea what the final evaluation would involve, but she had thought through every possibility she could imagine and made preparations in advance.
She figured that no matter what form the test took, it would definitely involve demonstrating their dance skills. If Ye Zhiqiu’s practice outfit suddenly came undone at a critical moment, she would inevitably mess up.
But she couldn’t be the one to do it. As always, she’d have someone else carry it out—and she’d already started scouting for the right person ever since Jiang Miao left.
After all, she and Jiang Miao weren’t the only ones who couldn’t stand Ye Zhiqiu.
No one knew better than her just how powerful a woman’s jealousy could be.
“Our daughter is really beautiful!”
Yue Minghui basically came to Jiangning every month on business, and she always brought Ye Zhiqiu the latest photos of Yaya.
In the photos, Yaya was wearing the velvet princess dress that Huo Jiusi had bought her, standing next to the orchids that Wan Jiayin raised, holding a big, bright red apple in her hand, with a smile so wide and happy it was contagious.
“Zhiqiu, promise me—when you get back, you’ll print a few photos of our daughter for me. When I get pregnant someday, I want to have a baby girl just like her.”
Han Siyang couldn’t hold back anymore and gently nudged Fan Xue. “Fan Xue, you don’t even have a boyfriend yet. Stop talking about getting pregnant all the time.”
“Well, isn’t finding a boyfriend all about getting married and having kids? Otherwise, what good are men anyway?”
Fan Xue shrugged. “I honestly can’t think of anything else.”
“Men can do housework, you know.”
Han Siyang looked shocked. “Wait—don’t men in the North do housework? In my family, my dad and my brother do all the cooking and laundry. Remember that second cousin I told you about? The one I wanted to introduce to you? His cooking is amazing. Plus, he’s a total neat freak, and the clothes he washes come out spotless.”
Fan Xue perked up at the mention of Han Siyang’s second cousin. “I don’t know about other families, but my dad does help my mom with chores. He’s just not very good at it, so my mom doesn’t let him do much.”
“Siyang, you promised—once this training is over, you’ll introduce me to your second cousin, okay? I need to see if he’s actually as handsome as you say.”
After spending the past few months with Fan Xue, Han Siyang had figured out that Fan Xue’s number one criterion for a partner was good looks. Girls like that, they’d call “love-struck.”
Still, she could understand where Fan Xue was coming from. After all, if she were ever looking for a boyfriend, he’d have to be easy on the eyes too. You’re going to be looking at that face for the rest of your life—how could you settle for someone hard to look at?
“Zhiqiu, once we’re allowed out, let’s go shopping.”
Han Siyang sat down next to Ye Zhiqiu. “I’ll show you around Jiangning.”
“Sure thing.”
Ye Zhiqiu glanced at Fan Xue. “And if Fan Xue meets your second cousin, we can be there to give our stamp of approval.”
Fan Xue clapped her hands. “I was thinking the exact same thing.”
“Zhiqiu, you have a good eye for men. You’ve got to help me size him up properly.” Fan Xue sat down on Ye Zhiqiu’s other side and linked her arm through hers.
Ye Zhiqiu laughed. “I’ll look, but you have to look too. This is a big deal—it’s your life we’re talking about.”
“Besides, you can’t tell if someone’s a good fit just from one meeting. You two need to spend time together and see if you’re compatible. A good person doesn’t always mean a good match.”
Ye Zhiqiu turned to Fan Xue. “Fan Xue, have you thought about this—if you and Siyang’s second cousin really hit it off, what then? You’re in Guojing, he’s in Jiangning. How would you make that work?”
Fan Xue slapped her forehead. “You know what? I actually haven’t thought about that.”
Han Siyang also realized the issue. “Yeah, you two can’t just stay in different cities forever, right?”
“Let’s meet first. If we’re not a good fit, then there’s nothing more to say.”
“If we both think it’s promising, then we’ll figure something out.”
Fan Xue was pretty open-minded about it. “My mom always says that fate and marriage are decided by heaven. If it’s meant to be yours, even a thousand miles won’t keep it away. If it’s not, even living together day and night won’t make it yours.”
Han Siyang looked at Fan Xue. “Fan Xue, are you sure about this? If you’re serious, I’ll talk to my second cousin and have him request time off in advance.”
Fan Xue suddenly realized she’d never asked. “Siyang, what does your second cousin do for a living that he needs to ask for time off?”
Han Siyang: “He’s a doctor.”
Fan Xue beamed. “A doctor? Awesome, awesome. My mom’s always wanted me to find a doctor. She says doctors only get more respected with age, and they’re all clean freaks. I like clean people. Hopefully he’s also hardworking, ’cause I can be a bit lazy.”
Han Siyang smiled awkwardly. “Fan Xue, I should warn you—my second cousin is great in every way, but he’s a little too clean. You’ll have to see if you can handle that about him.”
“Hmm?” Fan Xue didn’t quite get what she meant.
Han Siyang wasn’t sure how to explain it either, so she just waved her hand. “Anyway, you’ll see when you two meet.”
“Alright, I’ll wait and see then.”
Fan Xue changed the subject. “So, what do you guys think the final evaluation will be about?”
Han Siyang thought for a moment. “I think it’ll probably be something like body-rhythm combinations, randomly drawn. Whatever you pull, that’s what you perform.”
Fan Xue nodded. “Yeah, I think so too.”
“Hey, Zhiqiu, what do you think?” Han Siyang asked Ye Zhiqiu.
Ye Zhiqiu shared her thoughts. “I think there’s a chance they’ll let us perform freely.”
Fan Xue perked up. “What do you mean by ‘freely’? Like, we can dance whatever we want?”
“Yeah, pretty much. They’ll probably have each of us perform the dance we’re best at.”
Since they’d arrived, they hadn’t performed a single complete dance. Every day was just basic skills and body-rhythm training—like they’d gone all the way back to the very beginning of learning dance.
Tang Xuejun had said more than once that they should forget their past training and just start from scratch.
At the very end, it made sense that they’d be asked to perform the dances they were originally good at, so they could experience how much they’d changed—and so the judges could see the difference too.
She figured the judges must have reviewed their past performances before they even came here.
Fan Xue and Han Siyang exchanged a glance. “Siyang, I think what Zhiqiu said makes a lot of sense.”
“We’ll find out for sure when the final evaluation comes. I used to be so scared of it, but now I’m actually kind of looking forward to it. The sooner it’s over, the sooner we can get out of here. I’m dying to go shopping right now.”
Han Siyang flopped back onto the pillow beside her. “I used to never understand why freedom was so precious. But after all this time, I finally get why so many people fight for it.”
“I miss those free days too.”
Fan Xue leaned against Han Siyang, filled with regret. Why on earth did she come here just to avoid Han Li?
She was never going to be that stupid over a man again.
“Oh, by the way, Zhiqiu—you need to watch out for Wen Shengnan.”
