Chapter 32 Part 2
He Yunzhou came over to support him, but Lou Ting wanted to shake him off. He had just hit him a moment ago, and he still dared to approach. Lou Ting turned his head and glared at He Yunzhou, who responded with a warm smile.
Lou Ting silently sat down and ignored him.
He Yunzhou sat down beside him.
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.
“Nsw Mkdt, Zyd Hktl byp vsze xl lhlauvbkdt ycswv vseyu.” Wydt Twydesdt ekpnallvzu tzydnle yv Tl Zwdgbsw yde qlzv kdlmrzknyczu twkzvu. Tl nsdvkdwle, “R nblnjle vbl pwahlkzzydnl qssvytl yde qswde vbyv vbl sdzu rlapsd obs ldvlale uswa alpv assx oyp Qw Zk. Nyvla, ol nsdvynvle Qw Zk, yde obld ol xlv bkx kd bkp esaxkvsau, bl bye y bkeeld dllezl. Mbaswtb eyvy xyvnbkdt, vbl dllezl nsdvykdle Fdso Ylzvkdt Xkz. Fs, ol caswtbv bkx blal.”
Qw Zk oyp dsv ryav sq vbl U-rspkvksd nsxrlvkvksd vbkp vkxl. Gnnsaekdt vs vbl rzyd, bl pbswze byhl clld oykvkdt kd vbl ywekldnl plyv qsa pnsakdt. Tl oypd’v lhld yzzsole vs ldvla vbl cynjpvytl yaly.
Tsolhla, vseyu, bl dsv sdzu ldvlale vbl cynjpvytl yaly cwv yzps yrrlyale kd vbl ealppkdt assx oblal Nsw Mkdt’p eydnl nspvwxlp olal pvsale.
“Fwprknkswp” oyp raynvknyzzu oakvvld yzz shla Qw Zk’p qynl.
Sitting across from Gu Yi, who kept his head down, the words “guilty conscience” were written all over him.
With evidence of both the person and the stolen goods, Gu Yi’s objections were futile.
Fang Huan Dong glanced at Gu Yi, suppressing the helplessness and annoyance in his heart. He hesitated and said to Lou Ting, “For some reasons, I didn’t report it to the police, but I hope you understand that I am on your side. Regarding this matter, you can talk to Gu Yi and settle for any compensation you wish. We won’t interfere.”
Both of them were trainees of the program, scheming and calculating against each other. If this got out, it would tarnish the reputation of the show.
Though the decision was unfair to Lou Ting, it was the best way to ensure the program’s reputation remained intact.
“Okay,” Lou Ting didn’t seem to mind. He was merely curious. He and Gu Yi had no entanglements, and there were not many overlapping fan groups. So why would Gu Yi have such a grudge against him?
There was no reason.
When something like this happened, Lou Ting’s first reaction was to think of people he had offended in the past, but Gu Yi had never entered his circle of suspicion.
Although they had caught the culprit, Lou Ting still found the whole situation strange. “Are you really the one who did it?” he asked.
“Yes,” Gu Yi took a deep breath, not bothering to defend himself too much.
“Why did you do it?”
“No reason,” Gu Yi said. “I was jealous. Jealous that you had more popularity than me, jealous that you were valued by Teacher Yan. So I thought, if you were out of the picture, maybe there would be a chance for me to shine in the group.”
Without Lou Ting having to ask further, Gu Yi voluntarily added, “I had bought the melting snow oil early on. It’s a common item, and I planned to hide it for a few days after the deed was done. But before I had a chance to hide it, the director came knocking on my door.”
He sighed and said, “I really envy you.”
The expression on his face didn’t seem fake. Fang Huandong said, “Don’t try to play the sympathy card. This matter ends here. Write a voluntary withdrawal application, and we’ll be done with it.”
Trainees who would scheme against their teammates out of jealousy, no matter how talented or popular they were, Fang Huandong couldn’t afford to keep them.
Unexpectedly, it was Lou Ting who stopped Fang Huandong. “No need, Director.”
Lou Ting said, “For such a trivial matter to lead to someone’s withdrawal, it’s a bit unforgiving. Besides, my injury isn’t too severe, so why cut off their path?”
His words carried a sense of casual indifference, as if even an injury several times larger would be no problem in his eyes.
Gu Yi had initially lowered his head, like a condemned criminal, giving up struggling and awaiting his final fate.
Upon hearing Lou Ting’s words, he suddenly lifted his head, eyes widening in disbelief.
What did Lou Ting just say?
Fang Huandong was also taken aback by Lou Ting’s unexpected response. He exchanged a surprised glance with Yan Zige, both of them showing a responsible demeanor.
Fang Huandong then turned to He Yunzhou.
Though He Yunzhou hadn’t participated throughout the discussion, his presence couldn’t be ignored.
“Listen to Lou Ting,” He Yunzhou spoke, settling the outcome of the discussion.
Gu Yi covered his face with his hand, shoulders trembling as tears streamed through his fingers. He choked and said, “Thank you.”
Lou Ting asked, “Director, can I have that syringe?”
“This?” Fang Huandong didn’t hesitate and directly handed him the syringe, which was stored in a bag. “Of course, I have no use for it either.”
Lou Ting took the bag and examined it closely. There was still some solidified melting snow oil on the edges of the syringe.
On their way back, Lou Ting asked him, “Do you also feel that something is off?”
He Yunzhou nodded. “It’s too coincidental.”
Coincidences were called coincidences because they had a very low probability of occurring. But this time, whether it was the well-known surveillance or the syringe that hadn’t been hidden in time, everything seemed unusual.
They managed to capture Gu Yi’s face perfectly in the surveillance, and they happened to find him holding the syringe?
Unless one was a fool, they wouldn’t do something so irrational.
What was this? A black hand under the real-name system?
Was he a fool?
Even if the syringe was thrown into the trash can on the spot, there wouldn’t be a situation of having both the person and the stolen goods.
After careful consideration, Lou Ting still had his doubts. “I still suspect Le Chengzhe.”
Although He Yunzhou wanted to break Le Chengzhe’s legs and throw him out the door right away, he knew that such actions might have consequences for Lou Ting’s career. He couldn’t do that for Lou Ting’s sake, so he comforted him, “Don’t worry, there will be evidence eventually.”
“Yeah,” Lou Ting responded.
The next day, in the tiered classroom, the trainees filled the seats in the back rows.
Yan Zige stood on the stage, holding the anonymous voting slips from the trainees and counting them one by one.
“One vote for Lou Ting.”
“One vote for Lou Ting.”
“Lou Ting…”
Le Chengzhe stood on the right side, quietly waiting for the vote count to finish.
On the left side, where Lou Ting should have been standing, there was now no one.
Le Chengzhe’s lips slightly curled. What if he had fewer votes?
There were only two contestants vying for the C position, and if one withdrew, the position would naturally fall to the other.
So, regardless of how many votes Lou Ting received, Le Chengzhe remained completely unfazed.
It was as if the spot where he stood was already the C position.
After the vote count was over, Yan Zige glanced at the significant difference on both sides but couldn’t be bothered to count exactly. However, for the sake of the camera, he still said, “Voting is complete, excluding mentor votes. Lou Ting received 19 individual votes, Le Chengzhe received one.”
Le Chengzhe’s one vote was, of course, the vote he cast for himself. Yan Zige looked at the handwriting on it with speechlessness.
He seemed so afraid that others wouldn’t know he voted for himself that he even signed the ballot.
If Lou Ting had stayed, and Lou Ting voted for himself, there would have been 20 votes.
However, even without that one vote, Lou Ting’s advantage was still overwhelming.
Le Chengzhe had no chance at all.
Finally, Yan Zige added the mentor’s votes and said, “The mentors have given all three of their votes to Lou Ting, so according to the voting results, the C position belongs to Lou Ting.”
As soon as Yan Zige’s words fell, cheers erupted from the audience.
“Wow! What a difference in scores! It’s evident that Lou Ting’s performance was outstanding!”
“Exactly! When I watched it, I thought Lou Ting’s performance was incredible, and the improvisation in the middle was eye-catching.”
…
As everyone enthusiastically discussed, Le Chengzhe suddenly asked in confusion, “By the way, Teacher Yan, I heard that Lou Ting seemed to have sprained his foot yesterday, and it was quite swollen. Can he still dance in this condition? Wouldn’t it affect the whole stage?”
Le Chengzhe cleverly didn’t mention the competition between him and Lou Ting for the C position but instead asked about the overall impact.
By “overall,” he meant the 21 people present.
No one was a rookie, and no one wanted to attract attention on stage by making a fool of themselves.
So he was sure that once he raised this concern, everyone would agree.
Yu Senze frowned, “What? Lou Ting got injured?”
“Is that true? When did it happen?”
“Um… it shouldn’t be serious enough to affect the stage.”
“Everyone, please quiet down,” Yan Zige didn’t expect Le Chengzhe to bring up Lou Ting’s injury.
Lou Ting’s performance on the stage yesterday was excellent. He demonstrated the dance moves flawlessly, and no one in the audience noticed anything wrong.
If it weren’t for Lou Ting being the choreographer of this dance and not having seen him practice that particular move in the past few days, Yan Zige might not have realized that something was wrong with Lou Ting.
Without making this matter public, he could have nursed the injury for a few more days, and it should have been much better by the time of the official performance. At worst, they could have taken it easy during the dress rehearsal.
But now that Le Chengzhe had brought it up proactively, the situation became serious.
Yan Zige reassured everyone, “Lou Ting’s injury isn’t severe, and he’s receiving treatment. It won’t take long for him to recover, and it won’t affect the whole stage.”
Le Chengzhe glanced at him, pretending to seek advice with a humble expression. “Hey, Teacher, that’s not right. With the treatment device, a quick scan would do, and he can recover on the spot. Why would it take long? It shouldn’t take much time at all.”
“Le Chengzhe,” Yan Zige frowned. Was this guy trying to start a conflict?
Is he out of his mind to offend the mentor on a talent show?
“If Lou Ting really can’t go on stage, I can take his place,” Le Chengzhe said. “I’ve practiced the dance for so long, though not as good as Lou Ting, but I shouldn’t make any big mistakes, right?”
The label of “making big mistakes” was slapped on Lou Ting even before they officially performed.
Yan Zige glanced at him but didn’t say anything.
Le Chengzhe just kept smiling, not saying anything further.
Just then, Lou Ting slowly walked up from the side of the stage, taking slow steps, and his voice was steady as he said, “Why can’t I go on stage?”
“You…?” Le Chengzhe was taken aback, instinctively looking at Lou Ting’s ankle. Under the cover of his pants, everything seemed normal.
“Just because I woke up late in the morning, you want to take away my right to perform in the C position?” Lou Ting stepped forward, standing on the left side, and looked at him coldly. “Moreover, you’re just a trainee. What qualifications do you have to determine my position? The mentor hasn’t said anything yet.”
Le Chengzhe asked him, “What if your performance affects the overall effect of the stage?” At this point, he had to firmly insist that Lou Ting’s performance would affect the stage to have a chance at getting the C position with the support of others.
“You dance like you’re at the scene of an accident. Why do you think I would affect the stage?” Lou Ting crossed his arms, disdainfully looking at him. “Is it because you’re ugly?”
********
Other Novels:
Managing a Divine Beast Kindergarten in the Immortal Realm
Thanks for the update
You're welcome.