“Are you going to leave such a life-changing decision to mere chance?” Ning Yumu sighed softly, “That was originally your position, and now it has to be decided by luck. I’m upset for you.”
“But this was decided by the program team, and I can’t change it,” Chu Daizi said hesitantly.
“Yes, we can’t change the program team, but we can change Lin Xiaoman. If only she would be willing not to participate in the competition,” Ning Yumu shook his head, “She won’t agree. She definitely won’t miss such a good opportunity and will surely appear at the competition site.”
Chu Daizi suddenly realized, yes, how could she not have thought of it? If Lin Xiaoman couldn’t appear at the competition site, then she would win without a fight.
No, she would return to her original position. That was her position!
The revival match was held in the afternoon. Lin Xiaoman and Chu Daizi were notified at noon about the song they would sing in the afternoon’s competition. They had three hours of practice time, and Lin Xiaoman was practicing with Teacher He in a dedicated practice room.”
Just before going on stage, Teacher He was called out by a phone call, and Lin Xiaoman was practicing with headphones on, unaware.
When the hour hand pointed to three o’clock, Teacher He had not returned. Lin Xiaoman was preparing to change clothes.
Unexpectedly, the door was locked. Their practice room was temporarily partitioned, and the key was usually left on the door, which would be closed but not locked.
It seemed to be intentional.
There were only a few fixed camera positions in the rest room, with no other people. And because phones were collected during competition preparation, Lin Xiaoman couldn’t contact anyone outside.
She called out “Teacher He,” but as expected, there was no response.
It seemed someone had deliberately lured Teacher He away and then locked her in the room. Since the other party was determined to lock her in, they certainly wouldn’t let anyone approach. And because it was only the revival match in the afternoon, the adjacent rooms were empty. She could be locked in a place where no one would discover her!
There were only fifteen minutes left before going on stage, but she was locked in the room and couldn’t get out.
Lin Xiaoman tried to stay calm, walking around the room, but couldn’t find anything to pry open the door.
Finally, her gaze locked onto a stool.
Ten minutes left.
As long as Lin Xiaoman didn’t appear in these ten minutes, she would enter the finals.
Chu Daizi thought to herself with satisfaction. She knew Lin Xiaoman definitely wouldn’t appear. Teacher He had been lured away, and the trainees in the adjacent rooms had already gone to the stage. Now she just needed to wait in the studio and adapt accordingly. She began to feel pleased with her own cleverness. As long as Lin Xiaoman didn’t come, she would advance!
“Why haven’t we seen Lin Xiaoman?” the host was getting anxious and said to a staff member, “Go and look for her.” Chu Daizi quickly tried to reassure the staff: “You’re busy here, I’ll go look.”
The unexpected extra work had the staff overwhelmed, and hearing her offer to help find someone, they quickly thanked her. Chu Daizi smiled at them and walked out of the studio with light steps.
She didn’t need to actually look for Lin Xiaoman. She just needed to stand here until the last minute, go in and tell everyone they couldn’t find Lin Xiaoman, and accept entering the finals amid everyone’s regret. Simply perfect.
Watching the stopwatch outside the studio, Chu Daizi seemed to see victory walking towards her. She began humming the afternoon competition song, a cheerful little tune, quite suitable for celebration.
With just the last ten seconds left, Chu Daizi was counting down in her heart, her mouth curving high.
Suddenly, a yellow-skirted figure appeared in her peripheral vision. She turned her head and saw – it was Lin Xiaoman!
Chu Daizi stepped back in disbelief.
The girl walking towards her was beautiful and moving, with an angel-like face. But her gaze was sharp as a blade, seeming to see through everything, with an undisguised coldness that was frightening.
Lin Xiaoman brushed past her, softly dropping two words: “Idiot.”
Chu Daizi’s hands and feet went cold. Lin Xiaoman knew! She stood frozen until she heard the cheers inside, then finally reacted.
She rushed into the hall. The girl on stage was radiant, impossible to look away from.
This competition’s song was a light-hearted love song. Lin Xiaoman’s voice was sweet, her dance full of energy. From the moment she appeared, the audience was boiling, and she perfectly mobilized everyone’s mood.
When it was Chu Daizi’s turn, her mind was preoccupied and she was affected by Lin Xiaoman’s performance. Her entire performance was off-key, and the result was obvious. Lin Xiaoman overwhelmingly won with three votes and successfully advanced to the finals.
When she returned to the rest room, Chu Daizi recalled the events and felt a sense of unreality.
She had tried everything to lock Lin Xiaoman in the room, but Lin Xiaoman had actually broken down the door and made it to the competition.
The result was that she hadn’t affected Lin Xiaoman at all, but instead affected herself, losing completely.
But that wasn’t the most important thing. The important thing was that Lin Xiaoman seemed to know she had locked the door. What if Lin Xiaoman told everyone about this?
No, Lin Xiaoman has no evidence. As long as she refuses to admit anything, it’ll be fine.
Yes, just deny everything.
Chu Daizi thought she was really smart, having thrown away the key in advance, so no one would find her out. She had just breathed a sigh of relief when someone knocked and entered.
“Chu Daizi, there’s something I need you to explain,” said Fang Laoshi, her music instructor.
Chu Daizi followed Fang Laoshi to the monitoring room, where Lin Xiaoman was also present, and she began to feel uneasy.
“Take a look at this,” Fang Laoshi pointed to the person in the video, “This is you, right?”
Chu Daizi was shocked – it was the video of her locking Lin Xiaoman in the rest room.
Seeing her surprised expression, Lin Xiaoman explained, “You probably didn’t know that there are two cameras in each corridor, so all your actions were captured.”
Chu Daizi finally understood why she had been called a fool earlier.
Previously, she had been proud, thinking she had done everything perfectly, unaware that all her actions had been recorded.
“It seems you did do this,” Fang Laoshi paused the video. “This video will be handed over to the program team. They will decide how to deal with you.”
“Teacher Fang…” Chu Daizi looked pitiful, “Can you let me off this time, considering it’s my first offense?”
Although she was now disqualified from the finals, if the program team learned about this, her future resources would definitely be affected. If they publicized this for ratings, how could she continue in the industry?
Fang Laoshi looked at Lin Xiaoman. Chu Daizi quickly turned to Lin Xiaoman, “Xiaoman, I was wrong. Can you forgive me this time? I know I shouldn’t have done this.”
“No,” Lin Xiaoman shook her head, “You’re stupid because you were used as a tool without knowing it, and you didn’t pay attention to the cameras.”
“…” Chu Daizi suddenly felt she made sense.
“Spreading this won’t be good. Let’s just end it here,” Fang Laoshi tried to mediate.
“Yes, I know it’s all my fault. I won’t do it again. Please forgive me,” Chu Daizi quickly responded.
Lin Xiaoman played with her phone, her fingers suddenly stopping. She said regretfully, “Too late.”
“It’s not too late,” Chu Daizi looked at her pitifully, “It’s never too late to correct a mistake.”
“I mean your words are a step too late,” Lin Xiaoman held her phone out to Chu Daizi, “I’ve already sent the video to the director.”
“…”
