Snow-Kissed Rose (GL) Chapter 75

When Song Yingshi and Huai Xu returned to the practice room, break time had yet to end.

After the two exchanged glances, Song Yingshi stepped aside and politely gestured for Huai Xu to go ahead, her eyes saying: I'll leave the main stage to you.

Afterward, Song Yingshi stood in the corner of the room and took on the role of a spectator.

When Song Yingshi observed Huai Xu from her angle, she felt she was observing Huai Xu from a third-person perspective. She also couldn't help but be amazed by Huai Xu's growth in the past two months.

The first time they met, Huai Xu was merely a girl who had detached herself from the world in self-protection from a terrible environment. Now, she was an iceberg on the ocean's surface—deep and confident, able to stand confidently before others. Although she kept the facade of indifference she had developed over the years, it couldn't conceal the steadiness and persuasive power that she now possessed.

Under Song Yingshi's gaze, Huai Xu clapped her hands to attract everyone's attention. Then, she said calmly, "Everyone, gather around. There is something I want to discuss with you."

Kou Lengyu was the first to respond to Huai Xu's summons. With a cup of water in hand, she stopped beside Song Yingshi and said to Huai Xu, "Leader, go ahead."

"Just tell us what's on your mind," Li Taoran said casually without moving from her seat.

Chen Wan took two steps forward. Although she didn't say anything, her eyes were fixed on Huai Xu.

Huai Xu paused for a moment before she said, "Our team's choreography needs to be revised. But before I bring this up to the production crew, I want to gather your opinions."

This was the conclusion Huai Xu and Song Yingshi had reached in their discussion. Although the choreography needed to be revised, they couldn't arbitrarily make this decision without consulting the others.

Of course, Huai Xu and Song Yingshi were determined to revise the choreography. Even if their teammates were against the idea, they would do their best to persuade them.

"It won't be a small revision, so everyone should be prepared to relearn from scratch. It also means our team's progress will be slower than the others, and we'll have to commit more time to practice in the following week."

Kou Lengyu raised her hand. Seeing this, Huai Xu pointed her chin at the other party and said, "Go ahead."

"I'm fine with revising the choreography, but who will do it? And can they do it better? If you can prove that the new choreography will be better, I'm all for it. I'm not afraid of practicing harder," Kou Lengyu said.

"I'm not afraid either, but I don't think the production crew will help us revise the choreography, right? If we do it ourselves, what if…it doesn't come out as good as the current version?" Li Taoran expressed her concern.

"I don't know much about dance, so I'll abstain from speaking," Chen Wan said.

With Chen Wan abstaining, two people were against the idea, and two favored it.

After hearing the others' opinions, Song Yingshi said, "I'll revise the choreography."

Immediately, everyone in the room looked at Song Yingshi.

Song Yingshi was originally leaning against the barre. When everyone's gaze fell on her, she straightened her posture, clenched her fist, struck it against her left shoulder, and said jokingly, "Do you believe me?"

The practice room fell silent for a second.

Suddenly, Kou Lengyu jumped and threatened to throw herself into Song Yingshi's arms. Fortunately, Song Yingshi quickly reacted and moved aside in time.

Kou Lengyu staggered. After stabilizing her body, she looked at Song Yingshi and said resentfully, "Baby, you've broken my heart."

Song Yingshi subconsciously gauged Huai Xu's expression from the corner of her eyes. Then, she sternly rebuked, "Can you be more mature like me?"

Kou Lengyu: ?

Kou Lengyu was momentarily confused. Then, she remembered the topic at hand and said with a joking smile, "Heh, I was just about to say that I have to believe you for our friendship's sake. Revise the choreography! Revise it all you want! As your sweet and loving friend, there's no way I can refuse you!"

After saying so, Kou Lengyu winked at Song Yingshi.

Song Yingshi: "..."

Suddenly, Song Yingshi tensed up as she felt a tangible gaze falling on her. She didn't dare to turn toward this gaze, so she had no choice but to say to Kou Lengyu sincerely, "If you keep this up, I'd be better off without your trust."

Kou Lengyu: ???

Little Shi, you heartless woman! Only days ago, you told me that just seeing me made you happy!

While Kou Lengyu was feeling aggrieved and suppressing her anger because of Song Yingshi's beautiful face, Li Taoran shifted her gaze between Huai Xu and Song Yingshi. Then, a look of realization appeared as she exclaimed, "You two already agreed to this beforehand, didn't you? You've got little secrets now, don't you?"

Song Yingshi's expression froze. Of everyone in the room, the last person she wanted to get called out by for having a secret affair was the Embarrassing Queen, especially when the latter was wearing such an expressive look on her queen-like face.

Huai Xu didn't deny Li Taoran's allegations.

Worried that Li Taoran might come up with further ideas, Song Yingshi quickly collected her thoughts and explained, "I wanted to revise the choreography, so I asked our team leader's opinion beforehand…"

Li Taoran abruptly slapped her thigh in response and said, "You should've started with that! Two of our strongest Pink Champions have already agreed to revise the choreography, so why would I have any opinions?! I'll just do what you say!"

The Pink Champions. This was the nickname coined by the trainees when practicing for the theme song performance. At the time, Song Yingshi had led the entirety of Class A to perform a "square dance" in front of the White Tower to subtly complete her mission. This, in turn, led to the rest of the trainees joining them.

After hearing Li Taoran mention this nickname again, everyone remembered the event, looked at each other, and laughed.

"Then, we have one abstained vote and four votes in favor," Huai Xu stated.

Huai Xu swept her gaze across the four faces before her. Currently, everyone was looking at her. Unlike the fans' gaze that inspired her to perform well on stage, the gazes of her teammates were warm, encouraging, and heavy.

Facing these gazes, Huai Xu bowed to everyone and said, "We will have a week of hard work ahead of us."

As Huai Xu straightened her posture, her gazes were like sharp swords. Determined to unsheath these swords, she said, "We must prepare the best stage for the public performance."

…

After the team reached a conclusion, Huai Xu expressed their desire to revise the choreography to the dance instructors. As this wasn't a small matter, the production crew was quickly informed. Even the chief dance instructor came to communicate with them in person and only gave them her approval after witnessing their determination.

Now, a heavy burden was placed on Song Yingshi.

While her teammates were familiarizing themselves with the song, Song Yingshi went to an empty practice room, borrowed an iPad from a staff member, and scribbled notes and dance moves on paper.

Song Yingshi's handwriting was rushed and messy, and some were merely squiggles. The real chemical reaction occurred in her mind, and countless basic, classic, and groundbreaking dance moves and positioning flashed in her mind.

Of course, Song Yingshi didn't forget the song "Falling Asleep" was the rhythm controller of this stage.

After scribbling and listening to the song over a dozen times, Song Yingshi threw aside the pen and paper, stood up, looked at herself in the mirror, and combined the movements in her head with the song's rhythm.

Song Yingshi tested and revised her moves repeatedly, ensuring their fluidity and coherence.

For Song Yingshi, the biggest problem she faced was her lack of experience with group dances. Fortunately, she had the original choreography to reference. She had also learned a lot about girl group dances in the past two months. Overall, although she still faced some hiccups, her revision of the choreography progressed relatively smoothly.

As they only had one week to practice for the third public performance, Song Yingshi didn't make her teammates wait until she was done revising the entire choreography before starting to practice.

After conceptualizing the dance's overall framework in the afternoon of July 6, Song Yingshi gathered her teammates in the evening and guided them through the first few eight-beat movements she had already choreographed.

During a break, Song Yingshi took the time to consider what could be improved.

Suddenly, Li Taoran approached Song Yingshi and exclaimed, "As expected of you, Boss! You've left me in awe!"

Song Yingshi smiled casually and replied, "I'm still not done with the revision; don't praise me so soon."

"I can tell you have many ideas just by listening to your explanations," Chen Wan chimed in. "You're amazing for daring to make such significant changes."

Compared to Song Yingshi's ability to revise the choreography, Chen Wan admired her courage even more.

After all, the cameras captured everything Song Yingshi did. If "Falling Asleep" performed well in the third public performance, she would naturally receive high praise. But if it failed to compare to the other teams, or if the team made mistakes on stage, there would inevitably be comments accusing Song Yingshi of wasting practice time and slandering her choreography capabilities.

Chen Wan would never dare to shoulder such responsibility. And because she understood her own cowardice, she cherished the courage of others even more.

"I'll practice the new performance well, so don't worry, Little Shi," Chen Wan said, biting her lip.

"What do I have to worry about?" Song Yingshi laughed casually. Then, she turned around, placed her arm across Huai Xu's shoulder, and hooked Huai Xu's chin with her finger, saying, "Our team leader is the one overseeing your practice. If any of you make a mistake, the fans will be going after her, not me. I'm just a little choreographer. Am I right, Leader?"

Song Yingshi's features glowed under the lights, giving off a fresh and youthful air, as if peppermint leaves were intertwined among roses. Yet, she frivolously hooked Huai Xu's chin, looking like a dandy teasing a cool, aloof beauty.

Huai Xu smiled at Song Yingshi's behavior. Then, with a deep gaze, she said calmly, "If you don't retract your finger…"

Hearing Huai Xu's threat, Song Yingshi looked at the fangirling teammates nearby, pondered for a moment, and obediently retracted her finger.

Li Taoran, an ardent Snow-Kissed Rose fan, sighed in disappointment. After resting for a moment longer, she invited the others to resume practicing with her.

At this time, Song Yingshi approached Huai Xu and eagerly asked, "What would you have done had I kept hooking your chin?"

As Song Yingshi asked, she raised her ears and leaned closer to Huai Xu.

Suddenly, Song Yingshi felt something warm and moist wrap around the tip of her right ear, followed by a dull pain.

While Song Yingshi was distracted by the pain, something thick and smooth drilled into her ear canal and swirled around inside. Then, another dull pain assaulted the tip of her ear before the myriad of sensations concluded.

"I would've bitten you."

Song Yingshi covered the wet tip of her ear. Before she could ask Huai Xu if she could bite her back, she saw Huai Xu walk away to correct Chen Wan's movements.

Afterward, Song Yingshi fled back to the empty practice room with the staff's iPad, washing her face with cold water on the way there.

Huai Xu's a natural disaster!

The stage! The stage! The stage! The stage is the most important right now! I must stop thinking about women!

After calming the emotions in her heart, Song Yingsh immersed herself in the world of choreography.

…

On the evening of July 7, Song Yingshi handed in the complete choreography for "Falling Asleep." Overall, Team Falling Asleep was nearly a day in progress behind the other teams.

The lights in Team Falling Asleep's practice room stayed on that night until 3 AM. From that day onward, the practice room's lights never went out before 3 AM.

By 8 PM on July 9, everyone in Team Falling Asleep could already perform the full dance, so Director Wu and the chief dance instructor came to inspect the results.

After the trainees finished their demonstration, they waited for the director's comments while panting.

"If there's anything you find lacking, I'll change it immediately," Song Yingshi said.

"Did you really choreograph everything by yourself? Did you ask anybody for advice?" Director Wu asked.

Song Yingshi shook her head.

Director Wu didn't ask any more questions. He clapped his hands and said, "Song Yingshi, you're only 18 this year, right? You don't seem like an 18-year-old at all."

If this choreography wasn't the product of inspiration, it would have to be the product of extreme maturity. Either way, it was amazing for an 18-year-old girl to produce it.

Meanwhile, the chief dance instructor looked at the other trainees, particularly Huai Xu, and said, "Your positioning, expression management, and movements still need to be refined, but regardless, I have to congratulate you on acquiring a good stage! You all are very fortunate to not only join Team Falling Asleep but also obtain a talented teammate like Song Yingshi!"

Kou Lengyu, who was originally panting with her hands on her hips, immediately shouted, "Wow—"

"We did it!"

"We did it!"

Huai Xu was infected by her teammates' cheering and smiled along with them.

As the practice room's doors weren't closed, the trainees from the neighboring teams overheard the cheering. By now, everyone was more or less aware of Team Falling Asleep's circumstances, so they quickly inferred the cause of the commotion and joined in on the celebrations:

"Hooray for Song Yingshi! Hooray for Team Falling Asleep!"

"Hurry up and catch up with our progress."

…

I'm finally done.

Song Yingshi sighed in relief when she heard the comments of Director Wu and the chief dance instructor. Next, all their team needed to do was to repeatedly engrave the choreography into their muscles.

With the choreography out of the way, Song Yingshi finally had time to think about other things, such as the system behaving surprisingly well in the past two days. As if the system knew that she and Huai Xu were busy pursuing their careers, it didn't make any excessive demands recently.

Song Yingshi also thought about her matter with Huai Xu: a team leader who had to constantly supervise her team members and a "laborer" with her head full of choreography simply had no time for romantic entanglements. Aside from the occasional glance and tiny spark ignited by accident, the two maintained a delicate calm.

Maybe the ripples will only show up after the third public performance. That's fine as well. That way, we won't have to worry about getting distracted…

However, the system was never one to miss a prime opportunity to remind its host of its presence. A second after Song Yingshi had this thought, the system promptly popped out to disrupt the situation:

"Hidden Mission: Within 24 hours, seduce Huai Xu to kiss you at the ball."

TL Notes:
[1]at the ball (ballroom): This is something that will only be mentioned in the next chapter.