Genius Trainee: My Husband Isn't Human - Chapter 17

“This contestant, there isn’t much time left. If you don’t go tune the music now, you’ll have to perform without accompaniment later,” a kind staff member reminded her.

Luo Jingcha snapped back to reality, forced a smile, and nodded, saying, “I understand, thank you.”

Luo Jingcha pinched her right index and middle fingers with her left hand. She didn’t know whether she should give up.

Not going on stage meant certain defeat, and going on stage without dancing also meant certain defeat.

But dancing was ultimately the hurdle she couldn’t overcome.

“Chacha, we must dance together in the future!” Ten years ago, a girl with twin pigtails had said to her.

That year they became best friends.

“Chacha, my dream is to become a super idol. I want to dance in front of people all over the world!” At twelve, that girl had her ultimate dream.

“Chacha, this dance is so hard. How do you dance so well? I don’t want to dance anymore!” At fifteen, the girl still wore twin pigtails. When she couldn’t get a move right, she would throw a tantrum, but she would still practice the difficult moves ten times, a hundred times.

“Chacha, I got into the Central Academy of Dance! Too bad you’re too smart—getting into Peking University is easy for you, otherwise we could still be classmates.” At seventeen, holding her acceptance letter, the girl was so excited she didn’t sleep for two days.

“Chacha, I’m sorry, I might not make it to your twentieth birthday. The plane seems to have some problems, but don’t be sad. I’ll always be with you, just that I might not be able to dance with you anymore in the future. Don’t pretend you only love studying—I know you love dancing and singing. If possible, could you take my dream with you to the world’s biggest stage? I can’t go anymore, so please go and see for me, hehe.” At eighteen, the girl who was on tour in Australia left the group early to rush back for her birthday, but never returned.

From then on, she never touched dance again. She entered the entertainment industry only to be closer to the things the girl had once yearned for.

After becoming famous, she would turn down any dance-related announcements. Everyone thought she couldn’t dance or didn’t like dancing. That wasn’t true—she danced very well, better than anyone.

She just didn’t dare touch it anymore.

That was her best friend’s favorite thing, and she had killed her. What right did she have to touch it?

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to, wasn’t unwilling—she didn’t dare.

She didn’t even dare to think about it.

She had agreed to Xiao Luo’s request to continue as her trainee. She originally thought that since this was Xiao Luo’s body, using her body to dance might not bring the same guilt, but she discovered she was wrong. After trying so many times, she was still avoiding it.

Avoiding that past, avoiding the fact that the girl was already dead.

But at this moment, she had nowhere left to run.

Mo Wangchu had pushed her to the edge of a cliff. Whether to jump down or jump up was just a matter of one thought.

“Xu Zhaozhao, if you were still alive, would you scold me for being cowardly?”

Luo Jingcha whispered softly, raised her head, her eyes already slightly red.

Taking a deep breath, she walked to the sound engineer and said, “Please help me play the accompaniment for ‘Yearning Through Autumn Waters’ later.”

This was a song Xiao Luo had recommended to her a few days ago. It had been spreading widely on the internet recently. The lyricist was a famous poet who was moved by the melody and specially wrote lyrics for it, expressing longing for a deceased lover, very touching to the heart.

Only three minutes left before the show started. The sound engineer wanted to scold her, but when he looked up and saw her red-rimmed eyes, he swallowed his reproach and said, “Got it, got it. Hurry up and get ready to go on stage. Young people these days have no sense of time.”

No time to change clothes, no time for makeup. Luo Jingcha stood backstage, truly looking like an amateur.

The host was already announcing on stage. She thought for a moment, let down her hair, and combed it all to one side. Since she was going on stage, she had to win. Since she couldn’t rely on costumes and makeup, she could only find another way!

“Next, please welcome He Mingyu’s challenger, Luo Jingcha!”

“Luo Jingcha? Who’s that? Never heard of her.”

“Wasn’t there news earlier that He Mingyu’s challenger was Longyao’s artist Li Zi’ai? Could the news be fake?”

“Li Zi’ai? Who’s that either? Anyway, I haven’t heard of these small artists. Whoever comes to challenge, it’s about the same. The person’s on stage now, let’s see first.”

“Oh my, is the show just fooling people? Or is this challenger too confident? Daring to challenge He Mingyu dressed like this—is she really an amateur?”

Luo Jingcha’s entrance caused a stir in the audience, but since few people recognized the challenger anyway, they didn’t pay too much attention to her appearance.

The music started. Luo Jingcha stood sideways in the center of the stage, took a deep breath, and slowly picked up the microphone.

The verse of this song described the beautiful past of a married couple, while the chorus expressed longing for a lover. Luo Jingcha gathered her emotions and slowly began to sing.

Without explosive music or exaggerated performance, the moment Luo Jingcha opened her mouth, she brought the audience into a warm emotional atmosphere. The beauty of years gone by and the intimate tenderness between lovers were vividly expressed through her voice.

After the chorus climax ended, there was a suona solo, which was the most brilliant part of the entire song.

When the suona sounded, basically no instrument could compete with it for brilliance. Everyone saw Luo Jingcha put down the microphone, raised her hand, and with a flick of her thin jacket, created the charm of water sleeves.

Luo Jingcha also showed ingenuity in her dance design. With her long hair swept to one side, the left side represented the husband, the right side the deceased wife. The highly narrative choreography, combined with this soul-stirring suona passage, brought many audience members to tears.

When the song ended, the audience seemed to still be immersed in the sorrowful emotions, unable to emerge for a long time.

~My beloved, even if I yearn through autumn waters, you will never come back.~

Mo Wangchu hid in the last row of the audience, watching the figure on stage with long hair scattered behind her, slowly fading away. Somehow, the heart in his chest that hadn’t beaten for thousands of years seemed to ache faintly for a moment.

He touched his chest—no heartbeat. Was it fake?

Luo Jingcha slowly left the stage in a gradual manner. After an unknown amount of time, applause rang out, and only then did people remember they had forgotten to applaud this outstanding challenger.

Although Luo Jingcha had left the stage, the applause continued for a long time.

The backstage staff saw her come down and looked at her with new respect, but Luo Jingcha seemed like she had lost her soul, walking to a corner by herself.

She crouched down, held her head, and began to cry.

Zhaozhao, did you see? I did it! I will definitely take our dream to the world’s biggest stage and dance your favorite dances.

I’m sorry for making you wait so long.

Everyone thought she was acting strangely. As performers, they had seen many who got too into character, but they usually came out of it quickly. It was indeed rare to see someone like Luo Jingcha who couldn’t pull herself out for so long after leaving the stage.

The show continued. Mo Wangchu returned backstage, and the executive director said to him, “Mr. Mo, this is really good material! At such a young age, she can have such deep understanding of songs, and she could even think of such choreography when going on stage at the last minute. Your decision today was absolutely right. When this episode airs, it’s definitely going to be a huge hit!”

The executive director absolutely adored this financial backer.

Mo Wangchu didn’t pay attention to him, just walked straight to Luo Jingcha and said, “You lost.”