Chapter 13: Hidden boss
All of sudden, all eyes converged on Qiao Dai. Some of them were sympathetic, some were encouraging, and some were waiting to see a joke. Luan Zhen frowned slightly, unhappy with Lai You’s behavior and blatant provocation.
“Please stand on the stage.”
Jiang Fengchi spoke and raised his head to look at Qiao Dai; to his surprise, the girl did not show any anxiety. She even yawned comfortably and turned around to said to Luan Zhen “Then I’ll go” before walking to the stage with no rush.
When she reached the last step, she jumped down like a child and landed lightly and firmly on the ground, just like a happy little cat.
[How is the little sister so relaxed?]
[Aaaah the little sister is so cute and adorable, I love soft and adorable sisters!]
Qiao Dai’s action stirred the barrage until it calmed down again when Lai You appeared. Her face was fierce, and while her personality was just like that, she looked a little oppressive.
[Lai You’s expression is too ugly, it’s suffocating.]
[+1, she is so fierce today]
Qiao Dai, who had walked down first, stopped in place and waited for Lai You. But Lai You acted as she had not seen her and after stepping down, she walked directly to the stage, staring at the mentors. The whole process had only taken a few seconds and Qiao Dai followed Lai You naturally. But in many people’s eyes, this scene had made them look at each other in a subtle way.
[How can they be compared, they are not similar at all, ah.]
[Yes, they are so different.]
Everyone knew Lai You’s style very well. It was different from Ruan Tao’s sweet personality, Lai You was much wilder. As for Qiao Dai… people were not very clear but if they looked at her appearance, it should be a sweet style, similar to Ruan Tao, shouldn’t it?
But no matter what, Lai You and Qiao Dai were obviously very different. If the content of the challenge were to be a sweet song, Lai You would suffer. If it were a girl group song, Qiao Dai would definitely fall behind. How could their fight really convince everyone?
“After discussion, the content chosen for your battle is dance. Now let’s take a look at the demo.” After talking to each other, the mentors had finally settled on dance to judge Lai You and Qiao Dai. The reason for their choice was that although both dance and music had many different styles, many basic dance skills were common and there was sort of a unified standard.
When Lai You heard the content of the battle, she raised her eyebrows. Her dance was quite satisfactory, how could a trainee from a small company like COCO compare? Although she was not able to use her vocal skills which were her best advantage, Lai You did not feel too worried about the upcoming challenge. She might have not shown much seriousness during Galaxy’s practice, her foundation was there and she would not fail. As for Qiao Dai… Lai You snickered in her heart.
While the duration of the broadcast shown on TV was about two hours long, the contestants were recording live almost all day. It was impossible for both players and mentors to stay put in the studio from morning to night and there were little breaks that would be edited later. And during those breaks, Lai You had gone to investigate Qiao Dai. Even she could not bring her phone during recordings, Lai You could still go to the staff for small talk. She had soon learned that Qiao Dai had only joined COCO three months ago.
The program team had created personal profiles for each player and it was not a secret Qiao Dai was a newcomer. Lai You just had to check her information and knowing that, Lai You instantly relaxed. She knew that no matter how talented someone could be, singing and dancing needed a lot of practice and an accumulation of basic skills. How could a newcomer who had only received three months of training compare with her? With these thoughts, Lai You felt like she had already won and looked at Qiao Dai with contempt.
“Let’s play the demo now.”
After receiving the signal from the tutors, a dance clip appeared on the LED screen. It was a jazz dance adapted from a Broadway play. The middle part of the choreography had a lot of complicated moves; it both required a high level of muscle endurance and a lot of flexibility.
“It’s too difficult, isn’t it?”
“Oh my God, my waist can’t get down so low.”
As soon as the demo was over, before the mentors could speak, the other contestants were already whispering; they had not expected the content of the battle would be so hard. The difficulty of this short dance was much more difficult than the dance chosen by most players on stage. It was no wonder most of them had not gotten high scores for their live performances! It looked like the program was very serious.
The players were stunned and looked at Lai You and Qiao Dai with sympathy and admiration. Such a difficult assessment would definitely attract a lot of attention after broadcast. Lai You and Qiao Dai, who were battling first, would get a lot of shots and a burst of popularity. All contestants had the same thoughts; after Lai You had challenged Qiao Dai, all the next shots were centered on them. If Lai You could make her comeback, her popularity would skyrocket.
They all knew it… They had known it from the beginning yet not many people had dared to choose this way. After all, if the challenge failed, they had to go to Class F. The risks outweighed the gains.
After watching the demo, Lai You’s breathing became slightly nervous and her eyelashes started trembling. She had obviously not expected the content of the battle to be so complicated. What about Qiao Dai, how was she reacting?
To comfort herself, Lai You glanced at the girl next to her from the corner of her eye. She wanted to see Qiao Dai’s scared and panicked expression but only caught the girl’s very serene profile.
Lai You: ??
As if not worried at all, Qiao Dai’s face was so natural it looked like she was thinking about what to eat tonight, simply watching the images playing on the screen. Her gaze was calm, not even a frown, her whole body looked very relaxed and at ease.
How come she wasn’t panicking at all, didn’t she know this dance was very difficult? This was a huge blow to Lai You’s confidence and her mood instantly changed. She could not help but wonder if she has fallen into a trap by challenging Qiao Dai. No, was a secret boss standing next to her?
Lai You began to hyperventilate and she nervously looked at Qiao Dai’s expression, desperately trying to catch a flaw on her opponent’s face to prove she was just pretending to be calm. Yes, Qiao Dai must have been as stressed as she was but didn’t show it!
But the more Lai You observed Qiao Dai, the more her heart sank. As they stood so close, she could clearly see that Qiao Dai had no reaction whatsoever to the dance and stayed very relaxed. Could it be that Qiao Dai had been hiding her strength?
Lai You began to remember Qiao Dai’s performance today. It seemed that she always looked innocent and lazy since joining the stage; she had been seen dozing off several times and did not look like she had come to participate in a draft. She looked like a kid watching a school performance. Did it mean that from the very beginning, Qiao Dai had not paid attention to the other players at all because she felt it was a waste of time? Trapped in her imagination, Lai You felt like everything made sense. Qiao Dai’s naive and foolish actions had now become small hints, explaining how she could behave so indifferently now. The thought made Lai You shudder, her legs became too heavy to lift and she felt as if all her strength had left her body.
It was over, how could she have been so careless? The more she thought about it, the more she felt she had no chance. Before the battle even started, a thin layer of cold sweat was already on her forehead.
What she did not know was that the reason Qiao Dai was so calm was entirely because as a sea otter who had only danced once so far, she had absolutely no idea of the difficulty of the dance in front of her. In her eyes, all dances were similar. After all, ignorance was bliss.
And when Jiang Fengchi asked: “The assessment can now begin, which one of you will dance first?”, Lai You felt even more desperate.
Chapter 13: Hidden boss
All of sudden, all eyes converged on Qiao Dai. Some of them were sympathetic, some were encouraging, and some were waiting to see a joke. Luan Zhen frowned slightly, unhappy with Lai You’s behavior and blatant provocation.
“Please stand on the stage.”
Jiang Fengchi spoke and raised his head to look at Qiao Dai; to his surprise, the girl did not show any anxiety. She even yawned comfortably and turned around to said to Luan Zhen “Then I’ll go” before walking to the stage with no rush.
When she reached the last step, she jumped down like a child and landed lightly and firmly on the ground, just like a happy little cat.
[How is the little sister so relaxed?]
[Aaaah the little sister is so cute and adorable, I love soft and adorable sisters!]
Qiao Dai’s action stirred the barrage until it calmed down again when Lai You appeared. Her face was fierce, and while her personality was just like that, she looked a little oppressive.
[Lai You’s expression is too ugly, it’s suffocating.]
[+1, she is so fierce today]
Qiao Dai, who had walked down first, stopped in place and waited for Lai You. But Lai You acted as she had not seen her and after stepping down, she walked directly to the stage, staring at the mentors. The whole process had only taken a few seconds and Qiao Dai followed Lai You naturally. But in many people’s eyes, this scene had made them look at each other in a subtle way.
[How can they be compared, they are not similar at all, ah.]
[Yes, they are so different.]
Everyone knew Lai You’s style very well. It was different from Ruan Tao’s sweet personality, Lai You was much wilder. As for Qiao Dai… people were not very clear but if they looked at her appearance, it should be a sweet style, similar to Ruan Tao, shouldn’t it?
But no matter what, Lai You and Qiao Dai were obviously very different. If the content of the challenge were to be a sweet song, Lai You would suffer. If it were a girl group song, Qiao Dai would definitely fall behind. How could their fight really convince everyone?
“After discussion, the content chosen for your battle is dance. Now let’s take a look at the demo.” After talking to each other, the mentors had finally settled on dance to judge Lai You and Qiao Dai. The reason for their choice was that although both dance and music had many different styles, many basic dance skills were common and there was sort of a unified standard.
When Lai You heard the content of the battle, she raised her eyebrows. Her dance was quite satisfactory, how could a trainee from a small company like COCO compare? Although she was not able to use her vocal skills which were her best advantage, Lai You did not feel too worried about the upcoming challenge. She might have not shown much seriousness during Galaxy’s practice, her foundation was there and she would not fail. As for Qiao Dai… Lai You snickered in her heart.
While the duration of the broadcast shown on TV was about two hours long, the contestants were recording live almost all day. It was impossible for both players and mentors to stay put in the studio from morning to night and there were little breaks that would be edited later. And during those breaks, Lai You had gone to investigate Qiao Dai. Even she could not bring her phone during recordings, Lai You could still go to the staff for small talk. She had soon learned that Qiao Dai had only joined COCO three months ago.
The program team had created personal profiles for each player and it was not a secret Qiao Dai was a newcomer. Lai You just had to check her information and knowing that, Lai You instantly relaxed. She knew that no matter how talented someone could be, singing and dancing needed a lot of practice and an accumulation of basic skills. How could a newcomer who had only received three months of training compare with her? With these thoughts, Lai You felt like she had already won and looked at Qiao Dai with contempt.
“Let’s play the demo now.”
After receiving the signal from the tutors, a dance clip appeared on the LED screen. It was a jazz dance adapted from a Broadway play. The middle part of the choreography had a lot of complicated moves; it both required a high level of muscle endurance and a lot of flexibility.
“It’s too difficult, isn’t it?”
“Oh my God, my waist can’t get down so low.”
As soon as the demo was over, before the mentors could speak, the other contestants were already whispering; they had not expected the content of the battle would be so hard. The difficulty of this short dance was much more difficult than the dance chosen by most players on stage. It was no wonder most of them had not gotten high scores for their live performances! It looked like the program was very serious.
The players were stunned and looked at Lai You and Qiao Dai with sympathy and admiration. Such a difficult assessment would definitely attract a lot of attention after broadcast. Lai You and Qiao Dai, who were battling first, would get a lot of shots and a burst of popularity. All contestants had the same thoughts; after Lai You had challenged Qiao Dai, all the next shots were centered on them. If Lai You could make her comeback, her popularity would skyrocket.
They all knew it… They had known it from the beginning yet not many people had dared to choose this way. After all, if the challenge failed, they had to go to Class F. The risks outweighed the gains.
After watching the demo, Lai You’s breathing became slightly nervous and her eyelashes started trembling. She had obviously not expected the content of the battle to be so complicated. What about Qiao Dai, how was she reacting?
To comfort herself, Lai You glanced at the girl next to her from the corner of her eye. She wanted to see Qiao Dai’s scared and panicked expression but only caught the girl’s very serene profile.
Lai You: ??
As if not worried at all, Qiao Dai’s face was so natural it looked like she was thinking about what to eat tonight, simply watching the images playing on the screen. Her gaze was calm, not even a frown, her whole body looked very relaxed and at ease.
How come she wasn’t panicking at all, didn’t she know this dance was very difficult? This was a huge blow to Lai You’s confidence and her mood instantly changed. She could not help but wonder if she has fallen into a trap by challenging Qiao Dai. No, was a secret boss standing next to her?
Lai You began to hyperventilate and she nervously looked at Qiao Dai’s expression, desperately trying to catch a flaw on her opponent’s face to prove she was just pretending to be calm. Yes, Qiao Dai must have been as stressed as she was but didn’t show it!
But the more Lai You observed Qiao Dai, the more her heart sank. As they stood so close, she could clearly see that Qiao Dai had no reaction whatsoever to the dance and stayed very relaxed. Could it be that Qiao Dai had been hiding her strength?
Lai You began to remember Qiao Dai’s performance today. It seemed that she always looked innocent and lazy since joining the stage; she had been seen dozing off several times and did not look like she had come to participate in a draft. She looked like a kid watching a school performance. Did it mean that from the very beginning, Qiao Dai had not paid attention to the other players at all because she felt it was a waste of time? Trapped in her imagination, Lai You felt like everything made sense. Qiao Dai’s naive and foolish actions had now become small hints, explaining how she could behave so indifferently now. The thought made Lai You shudder, her legs became too heavy to lift and she felt as if all her strength had left her body.
It was over, how could she have been so careless? The more she thought about it, the more she felt she had no chance. Before the battle even started, a thin layer of cold sweat was already on her forehead.
What she did not know was that the reason Qiao Dai was so calm was entirely because as a sea otter who had only danced once so far, she had absolutely no idea of the difficulty of the dance in front of her. In her eyes, all dances were similar. After all, ignorance was bliss.
And when Jiang Fengchi asked: “The assessment can now begin, which one of you will dance first?”, Lai You felt even more desperate.
