Chapter Sixty-Four: The Enthusiastic Girls of the Song and Dance Troupe

Outside, exhaled breath turned to mist, but the dance studio was heated by the boiler room, making it as warm as spring.

Over a dozen young women, dressed in proper and pretty white dance attire with soft dance shoes on their feet, were freely blooming with youthful vitality and beauty inside the room.

"One, two, three, four; two, two, three, four..."

The lead female instructor stood at the very front, guiding them through warm-up exercises.

In dance practice, inadequate warm-ups could easily lead to pulled muscles and sprained ankles.

Therefore, everyone was extremely focused. In two or three days, the city's Spring Festival Gala would take place. This was the first time these young women were participating in a performance of this caliber, and it was also one of only three performances assigned to the Song and Dance Theatre at the gala.

Yes, the entire Song and Dance Theatre had only three items in the cultural gala, and the dance troupe's *The Dying Swan* was precisely one of them.

In addition, there were performances from the drama troupe and the instrumental music troupe.

Getting injured meant losing the qualification to participate in the gala, and none of the girls, who were dedicated to their dancing careers, wanted to see such a thing happen.

Consequently, even the routine warm-up exercises were performed as thoroughly as possible, striving to engage every single joint and muscle.

Ten minutes passed, and the girls' faces were flushed, as tender as spring flower buds.

"Alright, take a short break. Xiaoli and Yanzhang, you two stand at the front and lead the dance later. This morning's practice session will be *The Dying Swan*."

The female instructor arranged the schedule, then put on her warm jacket and turned to leave the room.

The girls sat down one by one on the clean floor, on stools, or leaning against the walls, while some were still stretching their legs.

"Sister Xiaoli, why didn't Brother Kaiyan come today?"

Wang Danping's petite figure leaned against Liu Xiaoli, her hands busy as she wrapped one arm around Liu Xiaoli's slender and graceful waist while casually groping around Xiao Caiyun's back with the other hand.

"He probably had something to attend to."

Liu Xiaoli's dark eyes glanced at the young girl. As clever as she was, she naturally understood what Wang Danping was trying to do.

When Zhou, the head of logistics, introduced a blind date to her yesterday, Liu Xiaoli chose not to tell Cheng Kaiyan, instead acting as if nothing had happened. She did not want Cheng Kaiyan to feel pressured because of this.

For one thing, although this matter had stirred up some ripples within the dance troupe, overall it had no real impact on her.

It was merely an arranged blind date, and the only talking point was that the male candidate had very good prospects.

People at the unit said it was a pity that Liu Xiaoli had turned him down, that her mind must have been clouded by grease; rather than pursuing such a fine blind date candidate, she chose to date a young man in his early twenties who seemed to have no particular achievements.

In reality, however, Liu Xiaoli had always been an extremely proud girl, and she would never like or dislike someone based on their family's financial conditions.

During Liu Xiaoli's first few years in Jiangcheng, her mother Jiang Wan had always stayed with her. After turning sixteen, as Liu Xiaoli grew into a young woman, she learned about the arranged childhood betrothal, and her mother Jiang Wan explained the situation to her.

She was very clear about Cheng Kaiyan's family background: his father was a former professor of nuclear physics at Peking University, and his mother was a young lady from a scholarly family in the capital.

She had a particularly deep impression of Cheng Kaiyan's mother, Xu Yuxiu. The Xu family was not left with just Xu Yuxiu alone; reportedly, they received word and fled overseas before the turbulent times began, leaving a few orphans and widows behind in the country.

Furthermore, even if it came to Cheng Kaiyan himself, in Liu Xiaoli's eyes, he was definitely not inferior to that so-called Professor An!

Not just in character, scholarship, or ideological awareness...

*"Only I know that you are a piece of gold... Not even my aunt probably knows, right?"*

Liu Xiaoli's lips curved upward slightly as she thought to herself.

Mentioning her aunt made Liu Xiaoli feel somewhat guilty toward her aunt, Jiang Ting.

Having just asked her aunt to call off the engagement on one end, and then immediately starting a relationship with Cheng Kaiyan on the other, she thought: *Aunt, I have sinned...*

At that moment, Hu Yanzhang, a plump woman with a seductive fox-like face, walked over with a caring smile on her face. "Xiaoli, I noticed you didn't seem to have much energy during the warm-up just now. Are you alright? I heard about what happened yesterday; those people are truly annoying, making such a fuss over a tiny matter."

Liu Xiaoli looked at Hu Yanzhang, seemingly pondering her motive, and replied calmly, "What of it? It's nothing more than a trivial matter."

Hu Yanzhang sighed, appearing regretful that Liu Xiaoli hadn't been affected in the least, and then said with a hint of pity, "That Professor An is indeed quite wonderful. It's truly a shame you won't even meet him, Xiaoli. But you're still young, at an age where you can live on love alone, and you don't yet understand the importance of material conditions."

"Sister Yanzhang, you don't need to worry about that,"

Liu Xiaoli replied indifferently, knowing those words simply implied she was short-sighted.

"What a pity. By the way, Director Zhou wants to introduce Professor An to me. You wouldn't mind, would you?"

Hu Yanzhang asked sincerely, a faint smile still lingering on her face.

"Suit yourself. I didn't care for him anyway. If you two work out, make sure to save me some wedding candy,"

Liu Xiaoli said casually, lowering her head to trim her fingernails.

"You! Liu Xiaoli, don't be too smug, just wait until you regret it!"

Hu Yanzhang's face shifted between green and white, her towering softness heaving up and down in agitation, creating a rolling wave of ripples as she let out a cold snort.

She had originally assumed that upon learning of Professor An's superior background, Liu Xiaoli would be filled with endless regret.

When she came over, she had been holding the mindset of watching a joke unfold.

Yet Liu Xiaoli's remark that she didn't care for him was undoubtedly a fatal blow, piercing straight to her vital spot.

It meant only one thing: you, Hu Yanzhang, were simply picking up the scraps she didn't want...

The two of them exchanged verbal jabs, trading blows with an intense atmosphere of gunpowder, neither willing to yield to the other.

As they remained at an impasse, another older girl stepped in to mediate, and eventually Liu Xiaoli and Hu Yanzhang followed the instructor's arrangement and went to the front to lead the dance.

The cassette player in the dance studio began to play music, and the girls rose onto their tiptoes to start dancing.

At that moment, a hurried sound of footsteps suddenly echoed from outside the door, followed immediately by Instructor Jiang Ling and Zhou Xiaomin pushing the door open.

"Everyone, stop for a moment! We have an announcement to make! The higher-ups want to select a girl from our dance troupe to assist in recording a song!"

Instructor Jiang Ling walked to the front of the stage, paused the music, and made a loud announcement.

"That's right, and it's not just as simple as recording a song. This is a task assigned by Leader Wang, who oversees cultural affairs in the city. After recording the song, she will also perform on stage at the Spring Festival Gala on the fifth, and it will subsequently be broadcast on major radio stations in Jiangcheng. I don't need to spell out for you how you should seize this opportunity, do I?"

Zhou Xiaomin also chimed in at the appropriate moment.

Recording a song!

Performing on stage at the city's Spring Festival Gala?

And getting broadcasted on the radio?

One familiar yet unfamiliar term after another instantly struck the girls' hearts. Those with quick wits had already realized that this was an extremely rare opportunity!

If they seized this chance, they might just achieve overnight fame!

"I heard that song recording is a very tedious and professional business, something they only do over in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Some people sing a single song and instantly become famous overnight!" a girl said excitedly.

"That's right! This opportunity is far too precious; who knows, we might turn into big celebrities."