SWNOVELXO Chapter 32 - Touch me
As the competition approached, nerves grew tighter. Even routines that had been perfected in practice yesterday were being fumbled today.
Someone asked, “Teacher Hou, what if we lose?”
Gao QiaoMan, sitting next to the girl, chimed in, “If we lose, we lose. What else can we do?”
The girl rolled her eyes at her and slumped onto the table unhappily.
Gao QiaoMan felt like she was just stating facts. “There are four groups. Obviously, some of us will be eliminated. It’s a round of sixteen—half are from the dance groups, half from the singing groups. Only eight people will advance. At least half of us here will be eliminated.”
Though she wasn’t wrong, but with the competition just around the corner, saying this only added more pressure to those who were already making frequent mistakes today.
Worried they might start arguing, Hou YuanZhan quickly intervened, “Alright, alright, let’s all get some rest tonight and prepare for tomorrow. No matter the result, we’ll have a celebratory dinner tomorrow night. It’s on me.”
The tension in the room eased.
Hou YuanZhan then turned his attention to Jiang Tang, who hadn’t said a word the whole time. “You two had the least practice time and weren’t in the studio today. How’s your progress?”
Tang Yuan was leaning her head on her hand, eyes unfocused, her mind clearly wandering elsewhere.
A girl beside her poked her arm, snapping her back to reality. “Huh? Oh, I’m not having a late-night snack. You guys go ahead.”
Hou YuanZhan gave her a thin, strained smile. “No one asked you about snacks. I was asking how your group’s dance practice is coming along.”
“Oh, that,” Tang Yuan stretched lazily. “Is the meeting over? If it is, Jiang Zi and I need to get back to practice. We’re still not feeling confident yet.”
Gao QiaoMan gave her a thumbs up. “…Wow, that’s some serious chill.”
After the meeting ended, Tang Yuan and Jiang Zi walked side by side back to the dance studio.
All four groups had returned.
On this final day, no one could sleep without running through the routine a few more times.
The studio’s livestream was still running, and it seemed viewers were enjoying the pre-competition tension. Quite a few were glued to their screens.
【Finally, Jiang Zi and Tang Yuan have appeared. Where did they elope to all day? Nowhere to be seen!】
【This camera angle is so bad I can’t even see their faces clearly. So frustrating.】
【If they show you everything today, what’ll be left for the actual competition tomorrow?】
【Regarding dancing, Little Tang is definitely a star student!】
Jiang Zi and Tang Yuan did some stretches, slowly getting into the rhythm as they prepared to practice.
Although Jiang Zi had never formally trained in dance before, her ability to grasp movements was extraordinary. Not only were her movements precise, but each move also carried a palpable sense of power.
After running through the routine once, Tang Yuan watched the playback on her phone but felt like something was still missing.
She looked at Jiang Zi beside her. “Sister, are you afraid to touch me?”
Jiang Zi’s gaze darkened slightly, her voice tinged with an unexplainable roughness. “Touch you?”
“Yeah.” Tang Yuan didn’t realize her phrasing was off and held up her phone to show Jiang Zi. “Look at this part. When I twist my waist, your hand should be on it.”
She dragged the playback bar to another point. “And here, you’re too far away when you stand behind me. You need to be closer. Then your hand should slide down my waist, over my hips, and along my thigh…”
Wait—why did that description sound so improper? Tang Yuan dared not look at her, “Well, that’s the idea. Get ready, and let’s do it again.”
Jiang Zi glanced at Tang Yuan’s waist, which was slender and delicate, still wrapped in that white dress. Her hips were voluptuous, her legs long and graceful.
Hmm…
A trace of lust flickered in Jiang Zi’s eyes. “Let’s start.”
Prepared, Tang Yuan turned on the recording and played the music.
Following the beat of the drums, Tang Yuan moved her body like a graceful fairy, her dance bold and alluring, swaying her hips and twisting her waist with the rhythm.
Jiang Zi, dressed in a black dress, moved alongside her, their bodies intertwined as they danced. Her hand, wrapped in white gauze, wild and tempting, rested on Tang Yuan’s waist through the fabric of her dress. Her long, slender fingers moved downward, and as the skirt was too short, when her hand slid further, it directly brushed against Tang Yuan’s bare skin.
Tang Yuan flinched, missing a beat.
She missed a beat!
The music didn’t stop, and neither did their movements. Tang Yuan danced through the rest of the routine, her face flushed the entire time.
Afterwards, she didn’t even need to review the recording; she could already imagine how poorly she had performed.
Jiang Zi, however, seemed interested and started watching the video herself.
Though Tang Yuan was a professional, and although she had lost her rhythm momentarily, she quickly caught back up with the music for the remaining steps.
Tang Yuan poked Jiang Zi’s waist. “It’s all your fault. You didn’t touch me during practice before, so I wasn’t used to it.”
Jiang Zi responded with a soft, amused hmm. “It’s all my fault. Let’s practice again.”
If only she had known earlier that she could have touched her directly. Those six days of restraint had been for nothing.
They kept practicing until eleven at night.
Tang Yuan watched the last recorded video and was finally satisfied.
She shoved her phone into her pocket. “This should be good for tomorrow. Let’s head back, tidy up, and prepare our outfits for the competition.”
Tang Yuan had all the clothes they bought during the day sent over but hadn’t had the chance to look through them yet. Everything had been piled up in Jiang Zi’s room.
The clothes they purchased were all for Jiang Zi, while Tang Yuan’s assistant, Shuang Xi, had brought over her own outfits.
“Pick your outfit first, and I’ll base my choice on what you wear.”
Tang Yuan considered their styles, whether they should wear dresses or suits.
The choreography wasn’t too intense; like today, they could easily manage in dresses if they wanted to.
In the end, Tang Yuan laid out two options on the bed: a dark, edgy short skirt and a matching set of top and pants.
Tang Yuan sat cross-legged on the floor, “Pick one.”
Without hesitation, Jiang Zi chose the set. She still wasn’t used to wearing skirts.
The outfit was a black, tight-fitting crop top paired with vintage high-waisted cargo pants. A belt with a silver buckle and a silver chain hung from the side.
Seeing that Jiang Zi liked it, Tang Yuan put the skirt away.
[I’m not giving up! There will be plenty of chances in the future to coax my sister into wearing a skirt for me. Hmph!]
[It would look so good on her—just like today, that dress nearly killed me.]
A faint smile curved on Jiang Zi’s lips as her gaze followed Tang Yuan, who was busy pulling out a matching necklace and a pair of earrings.
“Alright, you’ll wear this tomorrow. Let’s set it aside.”
“The notice says the competition starts at 2 p.m. tomorrow, so we must head to the venue by 1 p.m. to draw lots and decide the performance order.”
“There’s a makeup artist coming in the morning. We’ll eat before heading there.”
After laying out the schedule, Tang Yuan stood up. “I’ll go back to prepare my outfit first. I won’t come over to sleep tonight. Goodnight, Sister~”
Jiang Zi, having listened to everything, only captured one detail: they’d be sleeping in separate rooms tonight.
Her mood immediately soured.