Snow-Kissed Rose (GL) Chapter 41.1

Today was June 8th, Tuesday. Six days were left until the first public performance occurred on June 14th. In these six days, the remaining trainees must put in all their effort to prepare for the stage before facing the scrutiny of the mentors and the live audience.

Song Yingshi could tell the children surrounding her had many questions to ask. Nonetheless, she feigned calmness as she bid them goodbye and mercilessly ignored the smirking Huai Xu. Then, while engraving the words "I will never love again" on her heart, she made her way to her team's practice room.

Before entering the room, Song Yingshi shook her head and rubbed her face, trying to energize herself.

A new day awaited her, and she had yet to perfect her stage performance. She couldn't afford to let her social death in the cafeteria beat her down.

As Song Yingshi had wasted some time in the cafeteria, her teammates were already in the practice room by the time she arrived.

Song Yingshi would be performing in a five-person unit for her first public performance. Besides herself, the other four members were Lang Man, Dan Silan, Quan Yuanyuan, and Tan Qianyan.

Lang Man came from the same company as Yu Sheng, and the two performed as a two-person unit during the Initial Rating Performance. She had long arms and legs and was very expressive when dancing. She loved taking photos of others using a Polaroid camera. Because of her close relationship with Yu Sheng, Song Yingshi was quite familiar with her, and the three of them had even taken a group photo together.

Dan Silan came from the well-known company Virtue Entertainment. She gave off the image of a traditional woman, often keeping to herself in the White Tower. Besides that, Song Yingshi didn't know much about Dan Silan. They only met twice in the gym thus far, and they only exchanged nods during both times.

Quan Yuanyuan, nicknamed "Little Chili Pepper," had a fiery temper and seemed to walk with elasticity. Her dancing skills left much to be desired, but she was full of enthusiasm and seemed to have infinite energy. She was born with a loud voice, and even Lu Xuewen, a loud vocalist, couldn't match her in terms of volume.

Tan Qianyan was the only member of the team who didn't originate from the dance group. She initially chose to be on the vocal team but got unlucky with the draw. By the time it was her turn to choose, the vocal group had already been filled, and only Song Yingshi's team from the dance group remained open. As Tan Qianyan didn't have much experience with rap, she ultimately chose to join Song Yingshi's "Surrender" team.

"Surrender" featured dense, powerful drum beats. There were many sharp, precisely timed movements in the demo version of the dance to create a sense of impact. Additionally, the rhythm was rich, and the song had a strong melodic sense. When all these factors were combined, they created many memorable moments for the audience.

Of course, Song Yingshi chose to perform this song mainly because of its choreography. She fell in love with it at first sight and eagerly wanted to perform it.

The only problem with this song was that it could only be performed by five people.

While more performers didn't always mean a better performance, a cool and sassy style was better supported by a larger group. With fewer performers, each individual's stage presence became even more important.

Song Yingshi had experienced and observed many stage performances, so she could quickly analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each song.

However, on the afternoon of June 6th, two days ago, when the five of them sat down to watch the practice room demo and discuss their thoughts, the most frequent comment that appeared among her other teammates was that the song was—

Difficult.

…

Rolling back time…

"...Is there still time for regrets?" Lang Man muttered after she rewatched Surrender's demo performance a second time.

"What's there to be afraid of? Just dance!" Quan Yuanyuan declared. Then, she pointed at her teammates one after another and continued, "You, you, you, and you, don't you all want to dance?!"

"I think I'd be better off freestyling…" Tan Qianyan muttered in defeat. She was the only "transfer" of the team, and she could only be considered half-baked as a dancer. When she realized the difficulty of their performance, she instantly threw in the towel.

At Tan Qianyan's comment, Dan Silan scrutinized the other party and criticized, "How can you give up before even trying? Even if you move to the rap group now, do you think you'll be successful with such an attitude?"

Tan Qianyan, shrinking her neck and blushing, said, "I'll practice hard so that I don't hold everyone back."

"You'd better," Dan Silan said sternly.

Dan Silan's response seemingly triggered a fuse in Quan Yuanyuan. Shielding Tan Qianyan behind her, she angrily confronted Dan Silan, yelling, "Tan Qianyan has already yielded. Must you act like this?"

"Act like what?" Dan Silan asked with a frown.

"Like..."

Before a fight could break out, Lang Man quickly intervened, "Alright, alright, let's get back to business. We haven't even picked a team leader and the center."

Song Yingshi also lent a hand in stopping the brewing fight, holding back "Little Chili Pepper" Quan Yuanyuan as she looked at everyone and said, "Yes, we still need to assign roles."

Before they started to practice, they needed to select a team leader and a center.

Tan Qianyan was the first to withdraw herself from the selection. Little Chili Pepper and Lang Man didn't show any intention to compete, either.

Seeing this, Song Yingshi looked at Dan Silan and said, "Pick one."

Although the center usually received more performance points than the team leader, Song Yingshi didn't have any particular attachment to the center position; she liked every role in a performance.

Unexpectedly, Dan Silan chose the team leader role, stating, "Song Yingshi, you be the center."

Dan Silan's decision surprised everyone. However, after the recent incident, nobody dared to ask why.

Next, everyone discussed and divided the remaining roles. Once that was out of the way, they began practicing officially.

...

Back to the present, after a day and a half of practice and coordination, problems within the group started to surface.

The most serious problem was Tan Qianyan's poor dance skills.

"Surrender" only had five performers, and every performer had a balanced role. Because of this, Tan Qianyan's weaknesses became very apparent. She couldn't even keep up with the team's progress, let alone perform her movements well.

Additionally, the atmosphere surrounding the team was often tense. Though, at the end of the day, it still had to do with Tan Qianyan's poor performance.

As the team leader, Dan Silan led everyone in warm-ups and breath exercises. She also kept a close eye on daily practice. This, in turn, led her to pay special attention to Tan Qianyan.

"Tan Qianyan, come practice."

"Tan Qianyan, I don't need air conditioning when I watch you dance. My heart freezes in disappointment at your performance."

"Tan Qianyan, did you have Granny Meng's[1] soup for breakfast? How can you forget the moves I taught you just yesterday?"

Nobody knew what Tan Qianyan thought of Dan Silan's sharp-tongued attacks, but everyone knew what Quan Yuanyuan thought of them. Whenever Dan Silan would criticize Tan Qianyan, it wouldn't be long before Quan Yuanyuan would confront Dan Silan with clenched fists and harsh remarks.

Quan Yuanyuan's voice was loud, and her dance skills were comparable to Dan Silan's. Hence, she had plenty of confidence when confronting Dan Silan, and Song Yingshi had heard them argue many times over the past two days.

Fortunately, whenever Quan Yuanyuan finished venting, the practice room would always regain its peace.

…

Around two in the afternoon, when the day was at its hottest, the sharp sound of cicadas could be heard outside the window.

After rehydrating with some watermelon juice in the cafeteria, Song Yingshi returned to the practice room. However, even before she opened the doors, she could hear sounds that shouldn't be coming from a room of practicing trainees.

Sure enough, as soon as Song Yingshi opened the door, a full-blown catfight greeted her.

"Can't you keep your mouth under control? Just because Qianyan has a good temper, do you think it's fine to keep bullying her? Her roommates have told me she's been balding from all the stress recently!" Quan Yuanyuan stated angrily. Despite being in an argument, it seemed not even that could stop the energetic Little Chili Pepper from standing still, the girl constantly pacing around the unmoving Dan Silan as she dissed the other party.

In response, Dan Silan stated coldly, "If she isn't ready, then she shouldn't have auditioned for the show. Since she's here, she shouldn't treat it like a vacation. Or do you think we can debut just by doing that?"

"Can't you be a little gentler with your words?!" Quan Yuanyuan shouted.

"I'm her team leader, not her mother," Dan Silan replied.

Infuriated by Dan Silan's indifferent attitude, Quan Yuanyuan blurted out, "Would calling you 'Mom' make you learn to speak properly?"

At this question, Dan Silan briefly scrutinized Quan Yuanyuan before she asked, "How old are you?"

"Twenty, why?" Quan Yuanyuan asked.

"You're older than me, Big Sis. Stop pretending to be young," Dan Silan snarkily said.

Quan Yuanyuan: "…"

Song Yingshi closed her eyes, unable to bear the sight before her. However, for Dan Silan's safety, she quickly stopped the furious Quan Yuanyuan.

"Where's my knife?! Little Shi, let go of me! I'm going to teach this brat what it means to respect the elderly and love the young!" Quan Yuanyuan shouted.

On the side, Lang Man and Tan Qianyan huddled together and tried to mediate the fight, "Stop fighting, okay? If you want to fight, do it off-camera outside."

At that moment, Dan Silan noticed Tan Qianyan standing to the side. In the heat of the moment, she said, "It's because you're holding everyone back that the team can't get along peacefully."

As soon as those words were spoken, the heated atmosphere froze momentarily.

Song Yingshi furrowed her brow and was the first to speak, "Team Leader, you've gone too far."

Quan Yuanyuan's anger grew even more intense, Lang Man showed a disapproving look, and Tan Qianyan remained silent.

Dan Silan glanced at everyone before turning around and leaving the practice room, slamming the door shut on her way out.

With Dan Silan gone, the atmosphere in the room relaxed noticeably.

Quan Yuanyuan sat on the floor, gripping her hair in frustration as she said, "She annoys me so much. Qianyan, are you okay? Don't take her words seriously."

Tan Qianyan appeared to be lost in thought. When she finally processed Quan Yuanyuan's words, she smiled at everyone and said, "Thank you all. I'll be out for a moment."

"Eh—"

Quan Yuanyuan tried to stop Tan Qianyan, but the other party had already left the practice room before she could get up from the floor.

"Qianyan's definitely upset. Give her some alone time to sort through her thoughts," Lang Man said, stopping Quan Yuanyuan from giving chase. "Also, it's a fact that she's failing to keep up. If I were in her shoes, I'd be chewing myself over it."

Clutching her hands together, Quan Yuanyuan said, "I know. I'm also worried that our performance will end in a mess. But isn't Dan Silan being too harsh? How can anyone tolerate her approach? If Qianyan breaks under stress, she will fare even worse during the actual performance. We should take a more patient approach to teaching her."

After saying so, Quan Yuanyuan started seething again, "Seriously, what is Dan Silan's problem? She's only slightly better at dancing than me; she's nowhere near as good as Little Shi. Yet, Little Shi is so gentle, whereas Dan Silan is arrogant beyond reason. She should never have become the team leader."

As a closing remark, Quan Yuanyuan added, "Also, I just can't stand how she behaves. Whenever we come across each other outside the practice room, she pretends she doesn't see me. Are her eyes hanging in the sky?"

Lang Man said, "Alright, you're saying she's targeting Tan Qianyan, but I think you're targeting her too."

In response, Quan Yuanyuan considered Lang Man's words for a moment before she said, "You're right, I should target her."

Lang Man: "…"

Song Yingshi chuckled. Then, she looked at the door, which remained motionless.

Both Dan Silan and Tan Qianyan were just kids, so Song Yingshi couldn't help but wonder how they were coping with the situation.

Initially, Song Yingshi didn't plan to get involved in the team's conflicts because Dan Silan was the team leader. Dan Silan also had a clear vision and a good grasp of team management. Hence, she felt it wasn't her place to intervene.

However, Song Yingshi hadn't expected the minor squabbles to evolve into a full-blown fight suddenly.

With two team members missing and the conflict still unresolved, Song Yingshi doubted they could get any meaningful practice done in this situation. So, she stood up and said, "Let's look for them."

At Song Yingshi's suggestion, Quan Yuanyuan glanced at the VJ quietly working in the corner before saying uncooperatively, "I'm not going. I'm not going to pretend to buddy up with Dan Silan. If you want to look for her, go ahead. I don't care if she comes back or not."

"Aren't you worried about Qianyan?" Song Yingshi asked, poking at the Little Chili Pepper's soft spot.

Quan Yuanyuan hesitated at Song Yingshi's question before she reluctantly grabbed Lang Man's outstretched hand and stood up.

Subsequently, the three of them walked out together.

…

The hallway outside the practice room was empty. The other teams were all practicing earnestly, and the trio could faintly hear the music leaking from the neighboring practice rooms.

No, it's not just music… Song Yingshi thought, feeling as if she could hear something else mixed into the music.

Following her intuition, Song Yingshi took two steps forward. Immediately, her hunch was validated as the faint sound grew clearer; it wasn't just her imagination.

Quan Yuanyuan and Lang Man followed Song Yingshi closely.

"Is someone crying?" Lang Man exclaimed.

Without saying another word, Quan Yuanyuan quickly walked toward the source of the sound, stating, "It must be Qianyan."

The trio followed the sound and stopped in front of a heavy fire door.

Just listening to the sound, Quan Yuanyuan could already imagine Tan Qianyan, eyes red, sobbing uncontrollably, and possibly even hiccupping.

She immediately went to push the fire door open, but just as her hand touched the door, she heard a voice from the other side, thick with a nasal sound:

Immediately, Quan Yuanyuan went to push the fire door open. However, just as her hand landed on the door, she heard a voice speaking on the other side of the door, the voice carrying a thick nasal sound.

"Uuu… Why is Quan Yuanyuan always yelling at me? W-What did I say wrong? Uuu…"

"How can she be so biased towards Tan Qianyan… Why does she always yell at me… Uuu… I'm too scared to speak to her…"

Quan Yuanyuan: ???

Quan Yuanyuan was so startled by the words she heard that she stumbled and crashed into the door, opening it.

As the door burst open, Dan Silan, crouching in the corner, looked up, giving Quan Yuanyuan, Lang Man, and Song Yingshi a full view of her tear-filled eyes and red nose.

Quan Yuanyuan: ???

Lang Man: !!!

Song Yingshi: "…"

TL Notes:
[1]Granny Meng: In Chinese mythology, she's a goddess who serves memory-wiping soup to individuals in the afterlife before they reincarnate to their next life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meng_Po