Chapter 254: The Little Vixen Is Stirring Up Trouble Again!

Middle schoolers just don’t have much in the way of stage presence.

Even from the perspective of someone like Guan Dan, who majored in journalism and media.

Whether it was poetry recitation or group singing, something always felt off.

Which meant that most of the time, she could only sit there, bored out of her mind, watching the surroundings.

It had been nearly a month since her last interview.

She had no idea where that radiant girl from before was sitting now.

For some reason, Guan Dan couldn’t stop thinking about her.

Maybe it was her striking looks, her unique aura, or her intellect—something about her had left a deep impression.

So much so that the girl’s image kept popping up in her mind without warning.

Just then, a sweet-looking girl carrying a guitar quietly stepped onto the center of the stage.

“Hello everyone, I’m Jiang Jingqiu from Class 7, Grade 10.”

“Today, I’ll be performing a song called Passing Through the Human World. I hope you all enjoy it.”

Passing Through the Human World?

Hmm.

A song by Jiang Jiang.

When she heard the name, Guan Dan smiled silently.

Even though the song had been sung by Chen Yu originally, anyone with eyes could see the name “Jiang Jiang” listed under songwriter.

In fact, Guan Dan really liked Jiang Jiang’s music.

She could sing every single one of her songs since debut, without missing a beat.

But strangely enough, she could only truly capture the feeling of one or two of them.

Which was why she had a deep, instinctive admiration for this versatile Virtual Singer.

At that moment, the girl began to sing.

“Hey, surprised or not…”

“Her silhouette, so light and free…”

At first listen, her voice was pleasant.

But on closer inspection, Guan Dan could still pick out quite a few technical flaws.

Still, for a high schooler without much formal training, it was already quite impressive.

“The only constant in this world…”

“Is that people always change, passing through the human world…”

…

A beautiful girl always has a different kind of impact.

With a few enthusiastic boys leading the cheers, the atmosphere quickly became more lively.

Backstage, Miss Jiang and Qi Wen could also hear the performance from the front.

From Miss Jiang’s perspective, the younger girl from Grade 10 was doing pretty well.

She just lacked the emotional depth that comes with experience.

But then again.

She’s just a young girl.

Where would all that emotion come from?

Miss Jiang muttered to herself, then turned her gaze to Little Qi in front of her.

Blushing cheeks, smiling eyes.

Dressed in a simple, vintage-style gauze dress that gave off a sweet, delicate vibe.

With light makeup to match.

She looked just like a noble lady out for a stroll in ancient times.

“Wenwen, you look so beautiful!”

“Heehee…”

Qi Wen’s face turned red at Miss Jiang’s compliment. She pointed at the corner of Miss Jiang’s eye.

“Jiang Jiang, your eyeliner is so dramatic.”

“It’s like every glance and smile is speaking volumes.”

At that, Miss Jiang rolled her eyes.

She had only herself to blame.

She’d been curious about the pile of makeup products while watching Little Qi touch up her face.

Next thing she knew, a few upperclassmen had pinned her to a chair and drawn a long, dramatic line of eyeliner on her.

As soon as the makeup was done, it was like the finishing touch on a painting.

Even Miss Jiang’s own heart skipped a beat, let alone the senior girls.

Just two words came to mind: seductive charm.

For some reason, a line from the tale of King Wu’s conquest of the Shang Dynasty popped into Miss Jiang’s head—something said about Daji.

“Thus, the soul of the woman was replaced, turning her into a creature of beguiling beauty.”

Now that she thought about it…

Could it be that Daji, that infamous vixen, had also been possessed by the soul of some young man?

As the senior girls swarmed around her, all eager to add more touches to her face, an unwelcome voice suddenly cut in.

“Who’s performing after the next act?”

The next one was a comedy sketch.

And the one after that…

Upon hearing the question, Qi Wen immediately raised her hand.

“Teacher, that’s me!”

“Qi Wen from Class 3, Grade 11!”

The teacher walked over and said,

“Qi Wen, due to some special circumstances, the sketch Fan Jin Passes the Imperial Examination has been canceled. So your performance will be moved up.”

“Huh? Oh, okay.”

It was a bit sudden, but still manageable.

However…

What the teacher said next made everyone’s heads hurt.

“We’ll also need you to extend your dance performance by two minutes to fill in the gap left by the sketch.”

???

With that, the teacher hurried off.

Now everyone backstage was stunned.

As everyone knew, most dance performances were kept around two minutes long to avoid audience fatigue.

That way, it maintained visual appeal and kept the energy up.

And a well-prepared dance routine would already have its music and choreography tightly timed.

But now, they were being told to nearly double the length on the spot.

Sure, the moves could be improvised to some extent.

But what about the music?

Were they supposed to just loop the original track?

If they really did that, wouldn’t it be a complete disaster?

“What do we do?”

Qi Wen started to panic, her palms sweating.

Miss Jiang quickly tried to calm her down.

“Don’t panic!”

“Whatever you do, don’t panic!”

The senior girls doing makeup also chimed in, trying to soothe her while brainstorming solutions.

“Can we just loop the song?”

“We could, but what about switching the tape or track?”

“We can’t just have Qi Wen freeze on stage, right?”

…

“What if we switch to a different song?”

“The style of music determines the style of the dance too!”

“Besides, where are we supposed to find a traditional-style song right now?”

…

The senior girls all made valid points.

The result? After a long discussion, they still couldn’t come to a decision.

Just then—

One of the performers from earlier, Jiang Jingqiu from Class 7, Grade 10, stepped off the stage amidst a round of applause, guitar slung over his back.

He returned backstage and saw the group of girls looking anxious and flustered.

He asked curiously, “What’s going on?”

…

Meanwhile, in the stands—

Ye Na sat there, bored out of her mind, listening to her girlfriends chatting away.

“Senior Hua’s poetry recital was really something.”

“Right? I thought so too. So handsome!”

“That lead dancer from Class 9 just now was hot.”

“What’s his name?”

“I think it was Chen Chaoyang or something?”

“What, little missy, falling for someone again?”

“Hehehe, what are you talking about~”

Street dance?

They call that street dance?

Ye Na rolled her eyes in annoyance.

A few guys throwing together some basic moves they probably learned last minute—this was supposed to be street dance?

They didn’t even do a Thomas flair.

Utterly boring.

Muttering to herself, Ye Na glanced down at the phone in her hand.

Seeing there were no new messages, she pouted in frustration.

She double-checked the messages she’d sent earlier.

Everything looked fine.

With nothing else to do, Ye Na slipped back into a state of idle waiting.

At that moment, the girls beside her started talking about the time they went to Ningzhou for Tao Tao’s birthday party.

That led to a conversation about Jiang the Enchantress’s singing.

Ye Na couldn’t help but perk up at that.

She leaned in and asked, “Jiang the Enchantress is really that good at singing?”

The girls were a bit surprised.

“Sister Na, you’ve been desk mates with Jiang the Enchantress for so long and you didn’t know?”

“I…”

Ten classes a day, and they spent at least eight of them bickering.

The rest of the time, she was either napping or sulking.

When would they have ever talked about singing?

For a moment, Ye Na didn’t know what to say.

She brushed it off with a vague comment and retreated.

Then—

She glanced at her phone.

On a sudden impulse, she typed out a message and hit send.

【Tao Tao, that girl Jiang Ning has been missing since the show started. You think she might be performing too?】

Just after she sent it, a new message popped up.

Ye Na eagerly tapped it open.

【Little Yezi, do me a favor】

Seeing it wasn’t from the person she was hoping for, Ye Na’s face instantly darkened.

She closed the message without even reading it.

But then, a second message came in.

【Little Yezi, help me get control of the TV station’s camera. Next time Little Tao comes over, I’ll let him stay at your place for a night!】

…

At the same time—

In another section of the venue, Xia Zhi was chatting with her classmates about the latest video game.

Suddenly, she seemed to sense something.

Her gaze instinctively drifted toward the teachers’ area.

Then she quietly pulled her phone from her pocket.

She looked down.

When she saw the caller ID, her eyebrows lifted in surprise.

She glanced up at the teacher again.

Then gave her classmates a quick hand signal.

Squatting down, she answered the call.

“What is it?”

A few seconds later, Xia Zhi looked up again, but this time her eyes were fixed on a particular section of the venue.

She stared for a while.

“She’s not there. What’s the deal?”

“Huh? It’s been on this whole time? Why?”

“Oh, fine. Then you’re paying my phone bill this month.”

Just as she was bragging and joking around, someone tapped her on the shoulder.

She looked up.

Her classmate was staring at the stage in shock, pointing.

Xia Zhi instinctively followed their gaze.

And when she saw the figure on stage—

She couldn’t help but smile.

She raised her phone.

“Tao Tao.”

“The enchantress is stirring up trouble in the mortal realm again.”

(End of chapter)