Transmigrated into the Villainous Scummy Alpha in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 25

“Teacher, I’ve finished choreographing it.”

Hearing this, An Zizi nodded slightly, her arms still crossed as her calm eyes swept over the contestants who had already taken their seats on the chairs.

Lin Qi tentatively glanced at her, reassured by her composed expression, before quickly moving to the sound system to start playing the song.

The sound of waves crashing against the shore, mingled with the gentle patter of raindrops, replaced the noise in the practice room.

Four pairs of lovers, separated by invisible walls, their hands just inches apart yet destined to drift away. The standing figures moved from behind to the right, and as the rain grew fiercer, everyone rose to their feet.

The eight dancers split into two groups of four. While one group faced the mirror, the other turned away, executing a series of transitions through the bridge section.

A second before the climax, Lin Qi, positioned at the far end, swiftly strode to the center, standing behind Jiang Ming, the lead performer. The others split into groups of three, pointing toward the girl singing solo.

The accompaniment softened, as if highlighting the clarity of the vocals. An Zizi raised an eyebrow in surprise, she hadn’t expected Jiang Ming, who seemed so delicate, to have such powerful breath control when singing.

The sorrowful, wavering melisma brimmed with emotion, like a young girl slowly confessing her unspoken feelings.

The latter part of the choreography didn’t deviate much from the original, only adjusting the formations, sometimes one person standing behind another, sometimes four facing each other, and at times arranged in a 3-2-3 split. Lin Qi racked her brain for all the choreography she knew, finally settling on formations that maintained symmetry while still highlighting the center performer.

As the song ended, following the choreography, Lin Qi and Jiang Ming crouched together, leaning against each other. Lin Qi reached out to help Jiang Ming, who had poorer balance, stand up, then nervously glanced at An Zizi. After all, this was her first time choreographing for an even-numbered group. In her past life, her girl group had debuted with nine members, and even when one was absent, they would leave the missing member’s spot empty out of solidarity.

An Zizi smiled and clapped. “Not bad.”

Was this, approval?

Eyes sparkling, Lin Qi momentarily forgot her fear of her ex-girlfriend. “Thank you, Teacher An!”

“No need.”

Unconsciously raising her wrist, An Zizi noticed it was already half past twelve. Unwittingly, far more than the “two hours” she had mentioned had passed, but she didn’t want to push Lin Qi further. “Everyone, go eat. I’ll come back tomorrow.”

“Goodbye, Teacher An!”

The eight members bowed in unison, and Lin Qi finally exhaled in relief. She extended her hand toward Jiang Ming. “Let’s go eat together.”

But unexpectedly, Jiang Ming only glanced at her outstretched hand and silently walked away.

Baffled, Lin Qi hurried after her, not daring to reach out again. Instead, she craned her neck, studying the girl who kept her head down as she walked.

“Jiang Ming, what’s wrong?”

Still no response. Lin Qi replayed the day’s events in her mind, feeling like a blockhead for failing to decipher even the thoughts of the gentle female lead.

Could it be… jealousy over her and An Zizi?

At the thought, Lin Qi’s throat tightened, a small flame of hope flickering warmly in her chest.

“Jiang Ming, is it because of me and An Zizi”

“No!”

Not feeling disappointed in the slightest, Lin Qi nodded while still gazing at Jiang Ming. She noticed the female lead’s cheeks were flushed red, the corners of her eyes tinged with a faint pink, her delicate upturned nose scrunching slightly, and her fox-like eyes darting away, stubbornly refusing to meet her gaze.

Was she… embarrassed?

Her heartbeat quickened, and those speculations once again flooded her mind. Smiling, Lin Qi mustered the courage to grab Jiang Ming’s timidly retreating hand. “Jiang Ming, An Zizi really was my ex-girlfriend, but I don’t like her anymore.”

“Then why were you smiling so happily at her?”

The muttered complaint didn’t escape Lin Qi, who was paying extra attention to her. Her grin widened, but feeling the resistance in her grip, Lin Qi didn’t want to provoke the easily flustered little rabbit and turned her head away to laugh.

As an idol trained in controlling her expressions, she was usually good at holding back laughter,unless it was impossible.

Could it be, that the female lead actually liked her?

Never having been in a relationship didn’t mean she lacked common sense about romance. The way Jiang Ming was acting, unless she was mistaken, was jealousy.

When they reached the cafeteria, Lin Qi voluntarily let go of Jiang Ming’s squirming hand. “That was because I got the teacher’s approval. I was happy, so I smiled not because of An Zizi.”

” you heard that?”

Ignoring Jiang Ming’s increasingly reddened cheeks, the shy little kitten’s neck was now turning pink too. Lin Qi grinned and nodded, mischievously wanting to see her flustered reaction.

She wasn’t disappointed. Jiang Ming frantically scanned the cafeteria and, spotting the Japanese food counter, seemed to grab onto a lifeline. She gave Lin Qi a light push, lowering her head as she mumbled, “I’m going to eat now!”

Growing even more delighted, Lin Qi raised an eyebrow at the sight of the bashful kitten fleeing in a fluster. Shaking her head, she followed her to the Japanese food counter. When met with Jiang Ming’s furrowed brows and utterly ineffective glare, she shrugged nonchalantly. “I’m having Japanese food too. Is that not allowed?”

After picking out two servings of sushi and a bowl of tonkotsu ramen, Lin Qi was satisfied. She’d been exercising a lot lately and needed a proper meal.

Spotting Jiang Ming’s hand reaching for the sashimi, Lin Qi quickly grabbed the disobedient limb. “You’re still on your period. You think you can eat this?”

The craving kitten gave Lin Qi a pitiful look, hoping for some leniency, but this person was unyielding when it came to principles.

Shaking her head firmly, Lin Qi glanced at Jiang Ming’s tray, only to find the girl had also dared to order wasabi octopus?!

She decisively removed the small plate of octopus tentacles and sighed, pushing her steaming bowl of tonkotsu ramen toward Jiang Ming. “Eat this instead.”

Jiang Ming scrunched up her face and whined softly, “It’s so bland. I want something spicy.”

Even as she complained, she sneakily tried to reclaim the wasabi octopus right under Lin Qi’s nose.

Never having seen the female lead so lively before, Lin Qi almost laughed. But for the sake of Jiang Ming’s health, she caught her hand and shook her head firmly. “No, you’ll get stomach cramps.”

“Aww”

With a mournful groan, Jiang Ming continued to stare longingly at the octopus tentacles. Seeing no other option, Lin Qi picked one up, dipped it in hot water to rinse off the spice, and held it to Jiang Ming’s lips.

Although the spiciness had been diluted considerably, Jiang Ming still narrowed her eyes in satisfaction, then gazed at Lin Qi with even more longing.

For some reason, Lin Qi felt an odd illusion that she was feeding her own cat. But she still remembered Jiang Ming was on her period, so she set down her chopsticks, her tone less restrained now. “Jiang Ming, if you keep eating and end up fainting, don’t blame me for…”

The rest went unsaid.

Jiang Ming suddenly blushed, obediently averted her gaze, and buried herself in eating the steaming tonkotsu ramen. Yet Lin Qi could still see the tips of her ears, flushed red, and the cute swirl of her hair lingering in her line of sight, making her unconsciously want to ruffle it.

And that’s exactly what she did.

Meeting the heroine’s slightly watery, questioning eyes, Lin Qi smiled awkwardly. “There was a tiny bug on your head.”

And so, they finally finished their meal and returned to the dorm. Lin Qi spotted her phone charging on the desk and suddenly remembered the call recording from that day. But since she already knew the full story of Zhu Yu bullying Jiang Ming, was it still necessary?

Opening her phone, she hesitated before pressing the delete button. Had Jiang Ming said anything else to her aunt?

Yet seeing Jiang Ming, now washing up and preparing for a nap, looking so sweet and adorable, Lin Qi thought it over and deleted the recording anyway.

She didn’t know what she was missing. In that twenty-minute recording, Jiang Ming had gripped her phone more than once, her face burning red, and whispered with quiet determination amid her aunt’s teasing laughter, “I think I might like Lin Qi a little.”

But those words would forever remain a secret, losing their intended purpose the moment the delete button was pressed.

Scrolling through her phone, Lin Qi suddenly remembered something and downloaded the app for their survival show’s broadcasting platform. She had forgotten, now that she had her phone, she could check the rankings!

After hastily registering an account, she nervously opened the voting page. Seeing her own photo at the very top didn’t surprise her much, after all, the original host had debuted as the center, and Lin Qi had performed well in the show. It made sense she was in first place.

But where was Jiang Ming?

Scrolling from first place all the way down to sixtieth, Lin Qi checked three times but couldn’t find Jiang Ming anywhere.

Her breathing grew shallow, her thumb rubbing nervously against her index finger, her throat tightening. Steeling herself, she scrolled past sixtieth and kept going.

Her eyes burned with frustration until, finally, at seventy-ninth place, she spotted Jiang Ming’s official photo.

Frowning deeply, Lin Qi thought this couldn’t be right. She hadn’t spread any rumors about Jiang Ming like in the original story, and with Jiang Ming’s stunning looks, how could she be ranked so low?

What about the upcoming elimination?

After the first round, only sixty contestants would remain. Seventy-ninth place meant Jiang Ming wouldn’t survive the first ranking announcement next week.

Like a hyperactive survival show fan, Lin Qi immediately bought an annual VIP membership and dumped all nine of her votes into Jiang Ming’s ballot.

Then she downloaded Weibo, created a burner account, and joined the discussion group for their show. Without hesitation, she purchased another annual VIP membership. She refused to believe she couldn’t keep Jiang Ming in the competition.

With sharp eyes, she spotted one of Jiang Ming’s top fans and promptly joined the “Mingbao, Go Debut! Crazy Voting Group” based on the content on their profile. Lin Qi stared blankly at terms like “milk votes,” “mutual voting,” and “flag pulling” that the group members were using, feeling momentarily lost.

An idol joining a voting group, if word got out, no one would believe it, right?

“Please provide proof of solo pick and spending proof @Jianglin.”

After taking a screenshot of her vote from the video app and sending it over, Lin Qi realized she had no idea what “spending proof” meant. Was it that donation link she saw when she first joined?

Sure enough, clicking it led to a payment page. Glancing at her ample balance, Lin Qi didn’t hesitate and directly transferred 200,000 yuan.

“Big spender alert! @Jianglin”

“Rich sis, let’s stick together! @Jianglin”

“Hey sis, do you need a girlfriend?”

Tapping on her keyboard, Lin Qi took advantage of the fact that they didn’t know her real identity and typed with a grin, “Jiang Ming is already my wife, don’t at me.”