Chapter 55. Turn off your phone and go to class

Chen Jiashu went to the rooftop.

  

It was a concrete floor, not tiled, and a few steps required her to step into cracks or uneven puddles. It made her feet feel worse than the smooth, supple oak floor of the dance studio, but a dancer could not always dance on a straight path.

  

She raised her arms, revealing a tight concave waistline beneath her fluttering bodice as she alternated steps and leapt on tiptoe. She stepped on point to complete a fluid wide open in the air, her body spreading out like a butterfly.

  

There were no mirrors, no soundtrack, and the floor was rough and dirty, yet it is quiet enough not to be distracted by side chores. In the evening breeze of the sunset, she loosened herself up. Her waist was soft and her dance steps were languid.

  

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

Mbl nypvkdt nbydtl eke dsv sdzu yqqlnv Ubld Kkypbw, cwv vbl kdpvawnvsa oyp yzps wdela talyv ralppwal. Xaktkdyzzu, pbl bye qwzzu alnsxxldele Ubld Kkypbw. Gqvla yzz, vbl nbkze’p yrrlyaydnl yde pvaldtvb olal yp tsse yp ydu svbla, yde vbl aszl sq vbl Ebkvl Foyd oyp y qsaltsdl nsdnzwpksd.

  

Xaktkdyzzu.

  

Mbl csyae yv vbl vsr pyke pbl bye ds assx vs yatwl yp y vlynbla. Mbl plyz oyp pvyxrle yde vbl rastayxxl oyp alzlyple. Mbyv oyp vbl dykz kd vbl nsqqkd.

  

Rd yzz qykadlpp, Pyk Zkdkdt’p Ebkvl Foyd eydnl oyp qkdl. Rd ydu nypl, pbl oyp yzps y pllezkdt sq vbl wrrla lnblzsd sq vbl yqqkzkyvle pnbssz. Fbl oyp iwkvl tsse yde byae-osajkdt, cwv pbl oyp dsv dlyazu yp tsse yp Ubld Kkypbw.&dcpr;

  

There was no one more suitable for the White Swan than Chen Jiashu. During the rehearsals, Ms. Song often looked at her figure and secretly regretted that her Black Swan dance was not good enough. Her movements were barely up to standard.

  

But to achieve excellence from zero in such a short space of time was simply a pipe dream.

  

If they were to give Dai Yining’s White Swan an 80, Chen Jiashu’s Black Swan would be around 75. There was nothing wrong with it. It was only natural that the secondary principal dances were a little bit inferior to the principal dances, and the audience, faced with a minute on stage, would still send applause for this Swan Lake.

  

But Ms. Song knew very well that they could have seen a one-hundred percent white swan.

  

Chen Jiashu’s progress was steady. At first, her movements were raw and her stepping was off, but that was not her problem.

  

The Black Swan was difficult. It was no less difficult technically than the White Swan; it was even more difficult, requiring explosive power. The classic thirty-two turns of the whip require a great deal of control over the strength of the dancer’s toe. However, because it was not the main dance and because it represented the evil villain, most people only remembered the White Swan for its true goodness and beauty.

  

If it were anyone else, Teacher Song would never have rashly arranged for her to dance the Black Swan, but this was Chen Jiashu, and she had a guilty conscience.

  

There was no reason for her not to agree. Chen Jiashu’s skills were there, and she had only spent two weeks in rehearsals. From the beginning, when she was rusty, to the day when she became more and more proficient.

  

She had already done what most people could not do.

  

The series of high-intensity and complex movements ended with the last big jump. Chen Jiashu set the movement in motion but failed to do so, landing her leg at a slight angle and almost falling over. Fortunately, she maintained her balance by relying on the superior coordination of her foundation without leakage.

  

But the difference was a thousand miles away. The moment she landed on the ground, she had already made the most fatal mistake.

  

Today was the dress rehearsal, the last day before the school festival.

  

She tried again, this time with a much smoother finish and her spotting accuracy coming up, but it was still almost meaningless.

  

It didn’t have the explosive power of the Black Swan.

  

Her movements were too restrained and lacked power. She still looked like a subtle, elegant little princess, without that exaggerated, smoky ‘black’ feel.

  

There was no soul.

  

Ms. Song frowned slightly, but said nothing. Compared with the harsh comments that fell from her at every turn in the past, she was extraordinarily silent in this rehearsal. She looked at Chen Jiashu with a contradictory look of displeasure and distress, but mostly with pain.

  

Chen Jiashu’s heart swelled with irritation, and not wanting to face the teacher’s disappointed look, she withdrew her movements and looked away.

  

Turning around, she met Dai Yining’s playful smile.

  

She had brought some of her sisters to the rehearsal just to see her laugh. “Chen Jiashu is dancing like a black crow. Her movements are stupid and funny. Don’t believe me? Come and see!”

  

A few of her sisters came to watch and sniggered together.

  

When they saw Chen Jiashu turn her head to look over, they stood up straight again and looked away, as if nothing was wrong.

  

Chen Jiashu withdrew her eyes and turned around, but in the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of them reuniting. Their mouths were raised in a smile and they mouthed to her back, saying, “Black crow.

  

The practise room was so stuffy that she couldn’t breathe. Chen Jiashu practised again and again, sweating a lot but not feeling the heat, her back chilling for a while.

  

After the rehearsal, everyone went back to practise, and the group headed for the complex, but Chen Jiashu still went to the rooftop by herself.

  

Another pair of her pointe shoes had broken. The front was rustling, and the lining inside was ripped out a little, so she had to get a new pair.

  

She had a lot of shoes, all kept in the small classroom where there was a large cupboard. Her water bottle, wrist guards, several unopened practise clothes, and socks were in there, like half a home.

  

She didn’t know how well it had been spoiled by Dai Yining. She draped her school uniform and took her shoes off to glance back in the meantime.

  

Her hand went to her pocket, and it was empty. Chen Jiashu remembered that she seemed to have left her key with Chen Du during lunch.

  

“The key to my dance studio.”

  

“I have it here.” Chen Du replied almost instantly, “I’ll give it to you after class. Where are you?”

  

“Help me get my shoes first, I’m on the roof.” His side was close by, and Chen Jiashu just saved herself from being disgusted for once.

  

“Okay, then I,” Chen Du was just halfway through typing when another item popped up in the chat box –

  

“Turn off your phone for class.”

Advanced Chapters of I Really Like My Sister