Transmigrated into the Villainous Scummy Alpha in a Talent Show Novel - Chapter 32

After laughing, Lin Qi still pretended to clear her throat and, looking at the somewhat disheveled Jing Sha, asked out of genuine curiosity, “Why would a young lady like you, who can’t sing or dance, even join a talent show?”

Finally freed from An Zizi’s grip on her poor waist, Jing Sha scrambled to her feet like a fugitive, pouting as she rubbed her sore back. “It’s not like I wanted to come. It’s my dad, he’s got nothing better to do. He practically paid the production team to shove me in here.”

After massaging her waist, she rotated her shoulders, which ached from being pressed down. The usually pampered young lady felt as though she’d been thoroughly beaten up, and her grievances resurfaced. “I really can’t dance, Lin Qi. Why did you pick me? Now you’re unlucky, I’m unlucky, the instructor’s unlucky our whole group is unlucky!”

Hearing this, An Zizi chuckled and flexed her wrists in a somewhat threatening manner. “I don’t feel unlucky at all. It’s been a while since I’ve met someone as ‘stiff’ as you.”

The word “stiff” here clearly referred to Jing Sha’s inflexible waist.

Aside from her sharp tongue, Jing Sha’s most unyielding feature was her rigid waist.

As if the pain flared up again, the young miss Jing shrank into a corner, on the verge of tears. “Instructor An, no matter how much you bend me, I just can’t do it. Can’t we change the dance move?”

“That’s the killing part it can’t be changed.”

“This! You’re forcing me!”

“Yes, I am forcing you.”

“Seriously, Instructor An, why are you so stubborn?”

Hiding behind Lin Qi, Jing Sha seemed to gain some courage, her voice rising. “How can you expect someone who’s never danced before to bend backward holding a puppet and then spin back up? It’s impossible!”

With An Zizi standing in front, arms crossed and glaring coldly, and Jing Sha cowering behind her, using her as a shield, Lin Qi forced an awkward laugh. “Uh, how about we rearrange the choreography? Four of us can stick to the original moves, and the other three can switch with the puppet, let the puppet do the backward bend and spin. What do you think, Instructor An?”

Truth be told, they had planned to modify the choreography all along. But An Zizi, being the sly one, found it amusing to tease Jing Sha and had stubbornly refused to budge. Now that Lin Qi had given her an out, she decided to take it her goal had already been achieved.

This young miss Jing, the show’s producer had warned her she was a proud and difficult one. But now, seeing her in person, she was actually kind of cute?

An Zizi turned around, finally unable to suppress her laughter, though she kept her voice cold for the sake of the act. “Fine, let’s rearrange the choreography.”

“Captain Lin, you’re my savior!”

Just as Lin Qi was about to deflect the praise, An Zizi turned back with a smile. “It was Lin Qi who chose you for this group.”

“Instructor An, you’re my savior!”

Unable to hold back her laughter at Jing Sha’s antics, Lin Qi caught An Zizi’s glance and played along. “It was Instructor An who just helped you with the backward bend.”

Hearing this, Jing Sha immediately clutched her still-throbbing waist and waved her other hand dismissively. “I give up. You two are terrifying. ‘The people don’t fight the officials, and mortals don’t challenge the gods.'”

Shrugging, Lin Qi exchanged a glance with An Zizi, both of them smiling. Maybe having Jing Sha in their group wasn’t so bad after all at least their segment would be entertaining.

Finally, the playful tussling came to an end, and the seven of them, along with An Zizi, sat in a circle to discuss their interpretations of the song. After all, the custom-made dolls from the production team hadn’t arrived yet, and the most crucial aspect of their performance would be the coordination between the trainees and the dolls.

“Lin Qi, what do you think of this song?”

As expected, she was the first to be called upon. Lin Qi didn’t panic and naturally shared her thoughts. “I feel like it’s about a dancer who’s pathologically in love, treating the doll as her lover and dancing one last waltz with it at the ball.”

“Tan Yi, what about you?”

“Is there a possibility that the dancer was actually in love with the doll they danced with all along?”

“That’s a great idea.”

After going around the circle, An Zizi smiled and turned to Jing Sha. “Young Mistress, what’s your take?”

“Uh… the dancer turned their lover into a doll?”

The thought was both chilling and oddly amusing. Lin Qi felt a shiver down her spine, but remembering Jing Sha’s penchant for wild imagination, she quickly dismissed it.

Unexpectedly, An Zizi nodded. “I asked the songwriter, and this song is actually adapted from a real-life case. The dancer dressed their lover in a doll’s costume and stunned everyone by dancing with it at the ball.”

“Gasp ”

The explanation was downright macabre. Even Jing Sha, who had suggested the idea, gasped in shock, her wide rabbit-like eyes bulging. “Wh-what kind of nonsense is that?!”

An Zizi chuckled, clearly pleased with herself. “Just kidding.”

“Teacher An!”

Not just Jing Sha, even Tan Yi clutched her chest. “Teacher An, since when did you become so childish?”

Lin Qi bit her lip, unsure whether to voice the “WTF” on her mind.

“It was just a joke, mainly to scare Jing Sha.”

Sighing, the young mistress had initially wanted to vent her frustration, but just then, the classroom door creaked open. Staff members carried in fourteen dolls. Having just heard a ghost story, Jing Sha’s courage promptly evaporated.

Life is hard, and Little Jing sighed in resignation.

“Why are there fourteen dolls? Do we each get two lovers?”

To lighten the mood, Lin Qi asked with a smile.

An Zizi shed her playful demeanor and stood up, pointing at the plain, undecorated dolls. “These are for practice.”

Her slender fingers then gestured toward the dolls dressed in extravagant wedding gowns. “These are for the final performance. Just leave them as they are, it’s best not to touch them. Each gown was designed by the respective trainee’s fans, and our team worked overtime to complete them. Though Jing Sha’s was personally funded by her dad.”

As she spoke, An Zizi’s smile widened at Jing Sha’s speechless expression, and her tone softened slightly. “Be careful with them. If anything happens before the performance, it’ll be a real headache.”

Designed by fans?

Lin Qi glanced at the doll standing beneath her name. The pristine white gown was adorned with intricate, lavish patterns, and the veil, large enough to cascade down to her chest, was the centerpiece. Upon closer inspection, the delicate embroidery depicted a serene bamboo grove, a nod to the “Lin” in her name.

Once again moved by her fans, Lin Qi’s eyes inexplicably reddened. She was determined to repay their love by giving her all in every performance.

After that, she began training with the doll in her arms. An Zizi had spent the entire previous day mastering the dance routine. It was indeed challenging, but when she checked in on the group, all seven members were focused and serious. Even Jing Sha, who had no dance experience whatsoever, was pushing herself hard to avoid holding the team back.

Lin Qi, needless to say, was a contestant who combined natural talent with relentless effort, she was a shoo-in for the center position. Tan Yi and Yuan Li were exceptionally skilled dancers, though their high notes fell a bit short. Surprisingly, the unexpected standout was Miss Jing, the very same auditor student An Zizi had initially viewed with hostility, who turned out to be quite suited for the high-pitched parts.

As someone who had served as a dance instructor for many seasons, An Zizi had little patience for last-minute additions to the roster. These privileged kids, who could easily inherit their family fortunes, insisted on dabbling in the entertainment industry, stealing opportunities from others without a second thought.

Fortunately, Jing Sha seemed to have been forced into joining the competition and likely wouldn’t vie for a debut spot. Plus, she was rather amusing to tease.

Smiling to herself, An Zizi quietly adjusted Jing Sha’s dance moves originally simplified to make them more difficult.

By six in the afternoon, they had practiced nonstop, even lunch had been takeout ordered by Instructor An. The seven of them no, wait, six were completely immersed. After being pent up with the cutesy theme song for so long, these dance-focused contestants finally had a chance to let loose and didn’t want to stop.

Jing Sha, however, collapsed on the floor like a dead dog.

Now much more familiar with her, Tan Yi nudged Jing Sha’s thigh with her foot. “Hey, you’re not dead, are you? If you are, leave me your property in your will first.”

“Tan Yi, drop dead!”

Like a corpse springing back to life, Jing Sha lunged up and wrapped her arms around Tan Yi’s neck, pretending to choke her.

“Alright, enough fooling around,” Lin Qi interjected. “Jing Sha, you should rest. We still have dance class tonight.”

Sure enough, at the mention of this, the young miss Jing lost all energy again and slumped back onto the floor.

As the team leader, Lin Qi couldn’t help but notice how pale Jing Sha looked. Sighing, she went to the training building’s entrance to fetch a cup of hot water for her after all, they couldn’t let her actually die here.

Touched to the point of tears, Jing Sha took a sip of the water before suddenly remembering something. Leaning close to Lin Qi’s ear, she whispered, “Do you want Jiang Ming to debut?”

Confused but honest, Lin Qi nodded.

“Come with me. I need to tell you something.”

What could be so mysterious?

But thinking of Jiang Ming in her gray trainee uniform reserved for auditors, Lin Qi didn’t hesitate to follow the visibly exhausted girl.

Once they reached a secluded spot, Jing Sha magically produced her phone and said knowingly, “You’ve noticed, right? There’s no real dirt on Jiang Ming online. She’s gorgeous and talented, so why is she stuck in the 60s?”

“Exactly!”

The usually unreliable Jing Sha suddenly seemed insightful. This was the very question plaguing Lin Qi why, despite Jiang Ming’s stellar reputation and active discussions online, did her ranking refuse to climb?

With her skills alone, not to mention her looks, she should easily be in the top three.

Then Jing Sha opened a green app, navigated to the first discussion group, and clicked on the top post: “A Detailed List of All Jiang Ming’s Scandals.”

She clicked into it, then handed the phone to Lin Qi, shrugging as if to say, “See for yourself.”

Ignorance was bliss, but one look was enough to shock her. Just this single thread had over three thousand replies spamming the phrase, “Jiang Ming, the murderer’s woman, get out of the talent show!”

Utterly baffled, she thought, What is this? How is this even hotter than Weibo?

“You don’t know, but this is the main battleground for show fans. The ones on Weibo barely even follow the competition. In this discussion group, ninety percent of the people want Jiang Ming to drop out. How could she possibly make it into the top sixty? The production team wants to play it safe too, regardless of whether her actual ranking qualifies, eliminating her first is the right move. Who knew you’d come barging in?”

“So, is it because of the scandal?”

“Yeah. I used to lurk in the discussion group a lot. Even though no one knows if the scandal is true or not, most of the big-spending show fans are already aware of Jiang Ming’s dark past.”

So that’s how it was. Even though she had altered the plot from the book, preventing the original character from spreading Jiang Ming’s scandal, someone else had stepped in to take their place.

With a frustrated sigh, Lin Qi borrowed Jing Sha’s phone and dialed her mom, brows furrowed. So it’s all about money, huh? As if I don’t have any!