41: Something Must Be Up

Something Must Be Up

"I am, how could I be not?" Shen Zhangqing held her hands against his chest to warm them up. "Our little Xixi has won an international competition before, this is nothing. Let's wait for her to bring home the crown."2

Yun Jinping replied, "What do you know? This is the most professional competition in the country, all the competitors are provincial and national dancers. She's the youngest of them all." 

"That just proves that our daughter is the best and born to be a dancer." Shen Zhangqing chuckled in return, a proud look on his face. 

The rain was still pouring outside, even heavier than when they first arrived. 

Shen Xi entered through the doors to the television station. She was soon brought into the backstage of the broadcasting studio by a crew member waiting in the lobby. 

With the backstage crew and dance contestants preparing for the last rehearsal, it was quite a bustling and chaotic scene. 

There were 36 teams going into the finals, either as individual dancers or in a group. They were competing in five categories - classical dance, ethnic dance, contemporary dance, and ballroom dancing. 

The production team had its own make-up artists and stylists, but everybody was crammed in one big dressing room, except for a handful of nationally renowned dancers. 

Stepping into the dressing room, Shen Xi went to report to the person in charge of the backstage, and ended up being ignored. 

She watched as the person in charge assigned make-up artists and stylists to the performers who came after her, but not her. 

It should have been based on a first come first served basis. Something must be up since that system was not being followed. 

Shen Xi caught wind that Su Muyan was an invited judge for the finals. 

Having withdrawn from the competition due to a broken leg, Su Ruowan was to be the highlight at the end of the show as a special guest singer. 

With Su Muyan and Su Ruowan present, the rest of the Su family would be attending as well. 

The Su family would know of her participation for sure if they had the desire to find out. Hence, it made sense that she was being ignored now. 

This was the reason why she had allowed Mom and Dad to keep her company. Shen Xi did not want Mom to get upset and worried, or have the quick-tempered Old Shen get into a fight with anyone. 

"Lil Xixi." Song Wenye approached Shen Xi alongside a few of her besties from the international class, noticing that she did not have anything done. "Why aren't you doing your hair and face, or getting dressed? The rehearsal's about to begin." 

Shen Xi answered, "How did you get backstage?"

"I have my ways, never mind that." Song Wenye was the boss. "What's the situation? Who is in charge of styling our dancers?"

Everyone gave her the cold shoulder since no one backstage knew who she was. There were even a few make-up artists and stylists fiddling and chatting away on their phones. 

They adopted a hands-off attitude as someone higher up had instructed that Shen Xi was to be ignored. Was it not better to chat and play games?

The assistant managing the backstage swept a glance at Shen Xi. The young lady was a gorgeous, ice-queen type of beauty. It was a pity that she had somehow stepped on someone's toes, resulting in having her hair, make-up, and costume delayed and also, eventually, be done thoughtlessly. 

Anyone with common sense would know that the make-up, styling, and dance costume were most important in dance competitions. Even a small careless mistake would blow the whole look. 

"Ms. Yan, this way please." The assistant greeted her with a friendly face while instructing the make-up artists who were glued to their phones. "Quit fooling around. Hurry up and create a look for Ms. Yan."

Song Wenye finally got to the bottom of what was going on – Lil Xixi was being picked on. Annoyed, she rushed over to reason with them. "We were here first. Why is she given priority?"

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