After Dissing The Aloof Omega In A Talent Show - Chapter 21

Ever since entering the production team of Moment of Destiny, Ming Tang had kept her nerves constantly taut. She hadn’t managed a single night of good sleep.

Perhaps it was because she had successfully raised her evaluation rank, or maybe she was just entirely exhausted past her limit for the first time, Ming Tang fell into a deep slumber until the alarm clock blared.

“I’m so nervous, so nervous, so nervous!” Qi Deng stomped her feet repeatedly while changing into her brand-new, Class C training uniform.

Ming Tang shook open her own training uniform. The unfamiliar cyan color looked delightful to the eye.

“Don’t go spreading that kind of anxious vibe first thing in the morning,” Ming Tang said as she slipped the top over her head. As she pulled it down, the collar suddenly rubbed against her gland, causing a slight itch. She raised her hand and gently caressed it twice with the pad of her finger.

“Exactly, exactly! As someone in Class D, I haven’t even started going ‘so nervous, so nervous, so nervous’ yet, and here you are taking out a loan on anxiety.”

Jian Jiahe pouted, mimicking Qi Deng’s tone perfectly, instantly defusing the panic in the air.

Qi Deng chuckled, then started swaggering over to Jian Jiahe, pulling at her training uniform to show off. “Whatever, does it look good? Tsk, this cyan really complements my skin tone.”

Jian Jiahe rolled her eyes at her.

Seeing this, Ming Tang smiled and said, “Actually, I think the purple uniform on Jian Jiahe makes her look even fairer. You could try that.”

Qi Deng’s eyes instantly widened, her voice filled with mock bewilderment. “What do you mean? You’re resorting to such underhanded tactics just to take me down?”

Jian Jiahe had already grabbed another light purple Class D uniform and lunged toward Qi Deng, attempting to use physical force to suppress her flaunting roommate.

The two of them quickly ended up “scuffling” together, while Ming Tang nonchalantly opened the door.

“You two keep fighting for a bit, I’m heading out first,” Ming Tang stood at the doorway, tilting her head and smiling at them.

“There’s a traitor among the masses!”

Hearing this, Qi Deng leaped up instantly. In a flash, she reached a common strategic goal with Jian Jiahe again, and their united front turned toward Ming Tang.

Seeing both of their gazes lock onto her simultaneously, Ming Tang immediately bolted outside, not forgetting to yell back, “Don’t forget to lock the door!”

Although the recording for the theme song MV wouldn’t start until the afternoon, the time left for them to continue practicing in the morning was actually not very abundant.

Presently, all one hundred trainees needed to finish their hair and makeup before taking the stage.

The makeup artists were working in reverse order, trainees from Class F went first for their styling, while the seven trainees from Class A, who occupied the debut seats, were saved for last.

Ming Tang was already incredibly fluent with the singing and dancing of the theme song. Compared to her past self when training back at her company, where she would always lose track of her feet while focusing on her hands. Ming Tang felt like her progress had skyrocketed at rocket speed. However, they couldn’t watch the evaluation videos of their theme song performance, and the mentors hadn’t given out any further feedback regarding the re-evaluations.

In Ming Tang’s own perception, she had already pushed herself to the absolute limit of her current skill level. Even among Class F, she was universally recognized as the one who made the most progress and delivered the best performance.

Ming Tang was a bit at a loss as to how she could further refine her performance. She truly couldn’t wrap her head around why she had only received a promotion to Class C, while Jiang Zhiying managed to rank an entire level higher than her.

Facing the massive dance mirror once again, Ming Tang ran through the entire theme song without a single bit of slack. Looking at her slightly frowning self in the mirror, a flash of inspiration hit her, and the faces of Chi Ling and Jiang Zhiying simultaneously floated into her mind.

Although Chi Ling’s consistent style on stage was maintaining a cold face, whenever Ming Tang thought of her, her memories were instead filled with an image contrary to her usual aloof exterior, the corners of her lips curving up slightly, the outer corners of her eyes downturned, carrying a gentle, soft smile.

And while Ming Tang wasn’t particularly close with Jiang Zhiying, she could remember Jiang Zhiying’s face clearly. In her impression, every time she saw Jiang Zhiying, she was always greeted by a smiling face.

Chi Ling could constantly maintain her rank in Class A because of her extraordinary strength, while Jiang Zhiying could leap from Class F to Class B in one go, because besides the completion level of her theme song… there was also facial expression management.

It was as if enlightenment had poured over Ming Tang. The overly solemn expression caused by her nervousness and agitation instantly dissolved away.

In the mirror, her brows relaxed, the muscles around her eyes loosened up, and her originally somewhat stern eye shape returned to a soft, gentle curve.

“I need to smile more.”

Ming Tang thought to herself silently. She forced the corners of her mouth upward, but the deliberate smile turned out somewhat stiff.

Looking at herself, whose smile looked worse than not smiling at all, Ming Tang cupped her cheeks with both hands, rubbing them vigorously twice before giving them a light slap, attempting to relax her facial muscles.

“What are you doing?” Qi Deng noticed the noise and leaned over. “No matter how nervous you are, you can’t go slapping yourself in the face, right?”

Ming Tang: ?

Seeing several trainees not far away get drawn in by the commotion, throwing curious glances over one after another, Ming Tang wished she could dig a hole in the ground to hide herself, and ideally drag the culprit down with her.

Ming Tang explained helplessly, “I just felt like my smile was a bit stiff, so I’m trying to loosen it up.”

“Oh, oh, oh,” Qi Deng responded awkwardly. To cover up her blunder, she scratched her cheek with a bent index finger. “I was wondering, haha…”

Ever since meeting Qi Deng, Ming Tang had felt a bizarrely familiar vibe from her. It wasn’t until now that she finally understood where this feeling came from.

Qi Deng was practically a carbon copy of Qiao Xiangshu.

Three crisp knocks sounded on the door. The crowd’s attention finally shifted away from Ming Tang, who was “suspected of slapping herself in the face out of anxiety over her theme song MV performance” and moved toward the door of the practice room.

Ming Tang also saw the newcomer; it was a staff member with a work badge hanging around their neck.

“Trainees from Class C can come with me now.”

The staff member kept looking up and down, swiftly checking off boxes on the sheet of paper in their hand, likely cross-checking the names.

Ming Tang hurriedly took a sip of water, then followed the crowd to head to the changing room first.

The changing room was set up right behind the stage of the recording hall, and it wasn’t particularly large.

Just as they were led through the door, the name list was handed over to another staff member wearing a badge. It looked like the group was being handed off to another handler.

Following the order of the list, the staff member called out names one by one, signaling them to step forward and collect the uniform labeled with their name.

Ming Tang stood at the back of the queue, looking out to see what the uniforms collected by the people at the front actually looked like.

Unfortunately, the clothes were all packed inside packaging. With just a fleeting glance, Ming Tang could only catch a glimpse of the main color through the transparent window of the bag, it was pink.

“Ming Tang.”

Hearing her name, Ming Tang quickly stepped forward and took the uniform belonging to her. It was a very thick bag, feeling quite heavy in her arms.

The rustling sounds of unwrapping packaging and changing clothes filled her ears.

Ming Tang focused her attention; unpacking her own uniform was clearly far more fulfilling than looking at anyone else’s.

The inner layer was a white, short-sleeved dress shirt, layered with an extremely thin pink vest. The outer piece was a pale mint-green, cropped suit jacket, while the bottom was a pink and green plaid pleated skirt.

The chest area of the tops was embroidered with the show’s logo in matching colors, and name tags were included inside the packaging bag.

Ming Tang’s first reaction was to mentally dress Chi Ling in this outfit.

Chi Ling would probably look like a vibrant little guava.

“Everyone, hurry up and change into your clothes first. A staff member will lead you to the makeup room shortly.”