Chapter 127

The next morning, Qin Wei received a package delivery first thing after getting up hazily. She was both surprised and delighted when she tore it open.

Li Siyi had actually bought her the T-shirt, exactly the same as the one she had lost!

Qin Wei put it on happily and went upstairs to express her gratitude to Li Siyi in person.

"Teacher Li, I received the clothes. Thank you so much! It must have cost you a lot!"

When Yang Jia saw this T-shirt, she was stunned for three seconds, then lay on the bed covering her belly and laughing so hard that her whole body was shaking.

"You silly duck, you've got some big eyes!"

Li Siyi also almost couldn't hold back her laughter, but still tried hard to restrain herself:

"A 79 yuan one isn't too expensive. Yesterday when you sent me the link so solemnly, I thought it would cost a lot more. But your taste...is quite unique."

Qin Wei was very pleased and didn't feel they were making fun of her T-shirt at all.

She could have bought it herself, but Li Yao could also see her shopping account, and Li Yao's taste probably wouldn't accept this T-shirt. Li Yao might have cancelled the order if she had bought it.

Luckily her pajamas were bought with previous stock and Li Yao didn't even notice.

So the matter was dropped and nothing more was said about it until now.

But now that she had it again, Qin Wei was in a great mood, and the unpleasantness from singing and dance practice was all thrown to the back of her mind.

She spent the whole day immersed in the training room, except for meals and lunch break. Group D was basically engaged in intense practice.

Qin Wei's silly duck T-shirt greatly affected the atmosphere, but it also had one advantage - it drove up the click rate for the live and recorded broadcasts, because everyone who saw her T-shirt had to frantically mock it.

One was because the duck's expression was weirdly charming, and also because combined with her looks, this pattern had a particularly shocking effect.

But she just liked it, she liked it so much she wore it all day and then washed it at night to wear again the next day.

In the end, it also drove up sales of this T-shirt, and the store owner even silently added a tag:

【Qin Wei's style】

...

The laughable point of the T-shirt was just a touch of variety in their daily practice, and the endless monotonous practice continued.

Luckily everyone in Class D persevered through it, and finally endured until the day of the second performance.

They went early to check the stage, costumes and props were all fine, and each group also took turns doing dress rehearsal during the final available time. Everything was ready...

Just waiting for the competition that night to begin...

On the way back from the stage to the practice room, Qin Wei still couldn't help taking a look at the cafeteria.

She sighed, forget it, before a competition it was enough to eat an apple to make sure she wouldn't faint from hunger. They were about to compete, eating a bowl of pork rib noodles would definitely affect her performance.

Compared to eating, the stage was more important.

When she returned to the practice room to get ready, Li Siyi handed Qin Wei a box of salad, the pre-packaged kind, obviously not freshly made by the program's cafeteria.

"Our cafeteria's food is freshly made but the sauce flavor is too bland."

As Li Siyi spoke, she opened a box herself and started to eat, also urging Qin Wei to quickly eat some,

"Even though you open, it'll still be two hours before showtime, you should eat something, otherwise you'll feel uncomfortable later when you get hungry on stage." After speaking, she handed the unopened salad boxes on the table to Youyou, and said to Youyou:

"Hurry up and eat a little, after eating it'll be makeup time. I specially ordered it downstairs, they said this salad place makes really tasty food, I remember the program team ordered from them during the preliminary auditions last time, but I performed early so I didn't get to eat it.

Trying it today, the taste is quite decent."

Youyou took the salad box from Li Siyi's hand, found a place to sit down, and while tearing open the packaging she said:

"The salad the program team had that day was sponsored by our company, I tried it too, it really was delicious, I even sent a box over to Senior Sister, right Senior Sister?"

Qin Wei hesitated for a moment, then silently put the salad back on the table.

Li Siyi was puzzled:

"Don't you like the taste?"

Qin Wei shook her head and divulged this non-secret personal information:

"I'm allergic to peanut butter, I can't eat any."

Li Siyi picked up her phone to check the sauce ingredients list, then made a call to the seller to simply inquire, and afterwards told Qin Wei:

"Eat without worry, I just confirmed again, if customers don't make any special requests, that shop would never add peanut butter, I didn't ask them to and also asked if they added any, they said no."

Youyou, sitting to the side, heard it clearly. At first she still had some doubts, but later her expression gradually became heavy.

She seemed to...understand something...

In the end, Qin Wei still gave up eating the vegetable salad. After all, it was something that left psychological trauma, better not eat it to be safe.

She frankly told Li Siyi the reason, and the other party also expressed understanding. So she went to the cafeteria and asked for a small plate of fruit.

She casually ate some then went for makeup.

Once everything was ready, they waited for the second public performance to start.

...

The lights turned on. Yang Xiao walked forward and after simply introducing the competition format to the highly spirited audience, the second public performance officially started. The opening program was Class D's group performance - "The Beauty in Red".

A clear, bright bamboo flute melody resounded through the venue. With the flute sounds, the lights brightened and the stage's main color scheme gradually turned into a lush, verdant green.

The camera passed through a beaded curtain, inside which sat a girl in a ruqun dress.

The girl faced the mirror making up her hair. Her reflection showed in the mirror, and as the music played she opened her mouth to sing:

"The rain has cleared, lotus harvesting season is here. Which family's girl is putting on new makeup, gazing in the mirror..."

As she sang, she stood up looking towards the camera lens pointing outside the window.

Following the direction she pointed, the shot changed to a girl in a goose-yellow changshan/cheongsam holding a basket in one hand and propping up an oil paper umbrella in the other outside the window.

Just as the camera turned to her, she neatly folded up her oil paper umbrella and gave the girl by the window a faint smile.

The two girls smiled at each other and walked together towards the riverside, where there were still three women washing gauze clothes. Busy as they were, they still found time to frolic and play. The three sang songs, their clear voices like their radiant smiles.

Amidst laughter, a small boat sailed over and the few got on it while harmonizing.

The flute sounds stopped abruptly, the singing stopped abruptly. The lighting gradually changed from a bright green into a visceral bloody red.

Drums sounded, an ominous narration:

"In the east of the zither gorge there is a dusty army. The Son of Heaven picks an auspicious day to salute the general."

Under the red light appeared a silhouette, it was the lean figure of someone in armor. She beat a war drum, the drums growing increasingly faster.

The drums stopped, horns sounded faintly.

The young person in armor sang a song. Looking at that delicate face, she was clearly a young maiden.

The big screen showed thousands of troops and horses. Then the shot changed, crossing over mountains to arrive at a riverside.

The moon hung in the night sky, the river's surface glittering, on the brink of a great battle the army temporarily rested by the riverside during their march.

Qin Wei wore faded black clothes, bending over the river gazing at the water. The woman in the river wore no powder or rouge, with ink black hair loose.

Clearly a beauty, yet now on the frontier donning battle gear.

Her eyes shifted, missing her parents.

She took out a jade hairpin, carefully placing it by the riverside. She sang softly, as if confiding secrets:

"In the morning leaning against the window sill, comparing flowers and rouge in the mirror..."

One hand held a sword, she slowly raised her head, unconcealable desolation in her eyes.

There were also scars on her face, seemingly telling of the bitter hardships from campaigns, and difficulties unknown to others.

Using her sword she slowly pushed herself up from the ground, singing:

"Makeup fades in the dusk, drinking from the vast ocean on horseback, cool armor..."

Suddenly, the rhythm started changing faster. Following the urgent drum beats, her eyes gradually hardened with fortitude. Severing her waist length hair with a slash of her blade, she then used her wrist ribbon to tie her hair up. Together with the others, she danced according to the music.

"Marching thousands of miles, beheading the Loulan with swords. Where are the northern barbarians today? One day guarding the land to solidify the border, I will eventually return home!"