Chapter 124 Meng Yingying Uncovers the Pre-Match Secret
Chapter 124
Because there's simply no comparison.
What you fear most is what happens.
The announcement has begun: Please welcome Yi Cailing, contestant number six from the Capital Performing Arts Troupe, to begin preparations. Her dance for us is—"Children of the Grassland."
After listening to the announcement, Yi Cailing muttered a curse under her breath before lifting her skirt and following her onto the stage.
When she stood in the middle of the stage, she still looked like she had no will to live.
Below the stage, Meng Yingying, wearing a military overcoat, looked up at Yi Cailing on the stage. She watched for a while and couldn't help but smile. "If it weren't for the festive music playing, I would have almost thought Yi Cailing was attending a funeral."
Yi Cailing's expression was truly as if she were attending a funeral.
Han Mingbing said quietly, "You and Gu Xiaotang have ruined her mentality."
"At this point, it is already extremely brave of her to even go up on stage."
If she were Yi Cailing, she might have given up from the very beginning. It was too hopeless; two mountains were pressing down on her, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get into the top three.
Anyway, the Capital Cultural Troupe's individual competition strength wasn't very strong. In the end, they were either last or second to last, so it didn't really matter.
Yi Cailing had this idea; Lin Jiaojiao was bound to be last place anyway.
She can't be worse than Lin Jiaojiao, nor can she compete with Lin Jiaojiao for last place.
With this mindset, Yi Cailing performed the dance as if she were attending a funeral, and the judges then began to score her.
After removing the highest score of 9.6 and the lowest score of 9.4, the final score is 9.5.
Upon hearing this, Yi Cailing breathed a sigh of relief. "Great, not last place."
That's enough.
She bowed to the audience from the stage.
Only after coming down did Yi Cailing look at the dark mass of people and clutch her chest, "That scared me to death!"
"Luckily, I wasn't last."
Otherwise, it would be too embarrassing to show one's face in public.
Compared to competing for last place, second to last was obviously much easier. She took it off with ease as soon as she went up.
As soon as she came down, she saw Meng Yingying sitting in the audience, wearing a military overcoat and looking at her. Yi Cailing's heart pounded. She walked to Meng Yingying's side and said unconsciously, "This younger sister, I feel like I've seen her somewhere before."
Meng Yingying is just too beautiful.
In winter, everyone is dressed in thick clothes, but she alone, wearing a military overcoat, still looks slender and delicate. But that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is her face.
That face was exquisitely beautiful, with fair and radiant skin. Even though he was just sitting there without moving, it made one's heart race.
Hearing Yi Cailing's words, Meng Yingying was both amused and exasperated. "What, do you think I'm Lin Daiyu?"
Yi Cailing was surprised that Meng Yingying could continue the conversation. Her eyes lit up immediately. "Comrade Meng, you also read Dream of the Red Chamber?"
Meng Yingying thought for a moment, then pointed to the people around her.
She didn't answer the question, but Yi Cailing instantly understood. She realized she had made a mistake and slapped her lips, "I was really sleepwalking."
In this era, even reading Dream of the Red Chamber is considered a violation of the Four Olds.
Therefore, Meng Yingying was right to stop her in time, and because of this incident, Yi Cailing's goodwill towards Meng Yingying increased even more.
"I'm from the Capital Cultural Troupe."
She extended an olive branch to Meng Yingying, "If I remember correctly, you're from the Harbin Cultural Troupe? In that case, why don't you come to our Capital Cultural Troupe? That way, you can still keep your position and even get a promotion."
This is blatant poaching.
Han Mingbing immediately retorted, "Yi Cailing, don't be like that. Meng Yingying is now a member of our Capital Song and Dance Troupe."
Yi Cailing seemed a little unsatisfied, "I was just mentioning it briefly. Obviously, our Capital Cultural Troupe and Comrade Meng are more professionally suited."
After all, Meng Yingying herself came from a performing arts troupe, which was organized and disciplined. Most importantly, the Capital Performing Arts Troupe was outstanding in group competitions, but what they lacked were students in individual competitions.
If Meng Yingying were to join their Capital Cultural Troupe, their troupe would practically sweep all the awards in the entire capital.
Han Mingbing was afraid that Meng Yingying would agree, so she looked over cautiously.
Meng Yingying was quite frank, saying, "I won't stay with the Capital Song and Dance Troupe either; in the end, I'll still go back to Harbin."
"ah?"
Everyone looked over in shock.
"Yingying, aren't you staying with the Capital Song and Dance Troupe?"
Meng Yingying smiled and said, "My home is in Harbin, so in the end I still have to go home."
This was the first time she had spoken her mind in public.
This greatly disappointed Wu Yanzhou, who had become more wary, as Meng Yingying's talent had already become apparent.
She had to protect her; she couldn't let Meng Yingying be poached by someone else halfway through.
On stage.
Commander Chen stepped forward, holding a megaphone, and announced to the crowd, "The 1972 Red Star Cup Individual Competition has concluded. Everyone can now go and rest. The awards ceremony will begin promptly at 2:30 PM."
"The Red Star Cup team competition performance will begin at 9:00 AM tomorrow. All participants are kindly requested to remember to attend on time."
These are two announcements; now Meng Yingying and the others are just waiting to receive their awards.
To be honest, I was exhausted after a morning of matches.
Meng Yingying and the others couldn't take it anymore. Once the announcement was over, everyone dispersed and planned to wait until the afternoon to receive their awards.
"Let's go eat first," Yang Jie and Wu Yanzhou discussed. "If we have time after dinner, let's go to the hospital to visit Gu Xiaotang."
"But Yingying, why don't you go to the dressing room and change your clothes first?"
Meng Yingying nodded. She arrived at the changing room quite late; by the time she got there, most people had already left.
She was getting ready to change her clothes.
A sob came from the next changing room. "Sister Lanxiang, there's still no news from Xiao Tang. Do you think she might have been found out?"
As soon as she landed, Zhou Lanxiang, who was changing clothes, said sternly, "What nonsense are you spouting?"
"Didn't the teacher say that we should pretend that thing never happened? But if it gets out, do you think we'll all be in trouble?"
Meng Yingying's eyes sharpened. She slowed her pace. Inside the dressing room, the sound of intermittent sobbing could still be heard. "But I'm scared."
"Sister Lanxiang, do you think if we eat that too, we might go crazy like Xiao Tang?"
In their eyes, Gu Xiaotang's performance on stage today was tantamount to madness. She ultimately died from her own exhaustion.
It's even worse than going crazy.
Going insane at least means you're still alive, but dying from exhaustion means you're gone forever at a young age.
Meng Yingying understood everything after hearing this.
She tiptoed and ran outside, not even daring to change her clothes at that moment.
In that instant, she connected all the dots.
No wonder before the competition, she saw Gu Xiaotang constantly drinking water from an enamel mug—no, he was eating and drinking at the same time.
It turns out that everything has a traceable pattern.
Meng Yingying never expected that someone would be so bold in a competition in the 1970s.
She had actually encountered this situation in her past life, but it was someone else. They used performance-enhancing drugs before the competition, which might have given them a temporary burst of power, but their bodies were ruined afterwards.
Thinking about Gu Xiaotang's crazy performance on stage, Meng Yingying had only one thought: Gu Xiaotang must have taken some kind of energy-boosting drug.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have suddenly fainted at the end.
"What's wrong?"
Yang Jie and the others waited for Meng Yingying to change her clothes. After she finished, they all left together to go eat. After all, Meng Yingying was the only one who changed clothes for the competition this morning.
Meng Yingying's face was a little pale. When the cold wind blew, she realized that the collar of her coat was open, but at this moment, she couldn't care less about that.
"teacher."
She whispered a few words in Yang Jie's ear, and Yang Jie's expression changed. "Are you telling the truth?"
Meng Yingying nodded, "I heard it with my own ears."
Yang Jie murmured, "Lin Rujuan is really bold. I think she wants to die!"
"What happened?" Wu Yanzhou had just finished talking with Commander Chen and came over, so he was completely unaware of what had happened before.
Yang Jie briefly recounted what had happened, and Wu Yanzhou's expression changed drastically. "This matter could be big or small. Yingying, come with me to find Commander Chen now."
"Yang Jie, you come too."
Meng Yingying and Yang Jie followed closely behind. When they arrived, Commander Chen and the others were still in the office organizing the prizes for the Red Star Cup competition.
It's clear that the Red Star Cup competition offers pretty generous rewards; there's all sorts of things on that table.
When Commander Chen saw Wu Yanzhou return, she was somewhat surprised. "Comrade Wu, why are you here again?"
Commander Wu said, "My students just overheard a shocking secret in the locker room."
She went to see Meng Yingying, who had calmed down completely by now. She said, "I heard Zhou Lanxiang and her companions discussing Gu Xiaotang's matter, saying that if they continue to eat there, will they end up like Gu Xiaotang in the future?"
Having hosted competitions for so many years, Team Leader Chen instantly understood the meaning behind Meng Yingying's words. She stood up abruptly, "Did Gu Xiaotang eat something before the competition?"
Meng Yingying said uncertainly, "I was sitting in the row behind her at the time, and I only saw her constantly drinking water from her enamel mug. No, she must have been eating something too. I was curious and asked my teacher and Commander Wu about it."
"They all said they were so nervous before the competition that they had to drink water constantly."
"But now it seems that it's not that simple."
Regiment Commander Chen's expression instantly turned serious. "If this is true, the consequences will be extremely serious."
She immediately summoned the security personnel, saying, "Take men to the changing room now, arrest Zhou Lanxiang and the others, and take them to the interrogation room for questioning."
As soon as he finished speaking, seeing that the security personnel were about to leave, Commander Chen said, "Never mind, I'll go with them too."
Three minutes later.
Zhou Lanxiang had just changed her clothes in the locker room when she was worried and unsure how to explain to Lin Rujuan at the hospital that they hadn't won the individual competition.
Commander Chen and his security personnel burst in all at once.
This made Zhou Lanxiang's face turn pale instantly, but she pretended to be calm and asked, "Commander Chen, Commander Wu, why are you both in the changing room?"
“There are still some of our sisters here who haven’t finished changing their clothes.”
The following sentence is an excuse.
The only participants in the individual competition from the National Ballet of China were Zhou Lanxiang and Gu Xiaotang. Gu Xiaotang had gone to the hospital, so Zhou Lanxiang was the only one who needed to change clothes.
Commander Chen glanced at her, then waved his hand, "Take her away."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lanxiang's face turned pale instantly, and a barely perceptible hint of panic flashed in her eyes. "Director Chen, I am a student of the Central Ballet Troupe. You can't just arrest me like this."
Nobody paid any attention to her.
This made Zhou Lanxiang's heart sink, and she immediately changed her tone, "What wrong have I done that you want to arrest me?"
It was clearly a tentative tone.
Commander Chen looked up at her and said, "Don't you know what mistake you made?"
Both sides are testing the waters.
Moreover, Commander Chen is a shrewd and calculating man; his words carried a hint of intimidation. Clearly, anyone here today with a weaker mentality would be intimidated.
They were probably all so frightened by Commander Chen's words that they spilled everything.
But Zhou Lanxiang was different. She had been by Lin Rujuan's side for so many years and her heart hadn't broken down. Clearly, she had a much stronger mental capacity than Gu Xiaotang.
So, facing Commander Chen's questioning, Zhou Lanxiang's heart raced, but her expression remained unchanged. "Commander Chen, it's strange that you're asking me this. You arrested me, and now you're asking me what crime I've committed?"
Commander Chen hadn't expected Zhou Lanxiang to have such strong mental fortitude. She immediately took her to the interrogation room, a dark and somewhat gloomy room with only a table.
This suddenly increases the pressure on people.
Zhou Lanxiang was one of them; she didn't speak, but she was somewhat afraid.
Commander Chen stood there, slammed his hand on the table, and roared, "What did you eat before the competition?"
"What did Gu Xiaotang eat this time?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lanxiang's face turned deathly pale. "Commander Chen, I don't know what you're talking about?"
"Do you think Gu Xiaotang can be kept in the dark after being sent to the hospital? And how long do you think you can risk your life for Lin Rujuan?"
These two sentences were Zhou Lanxiang's Achilles' heel. She hadn't originally planned to say them, but she heard that Gu Xiaotang had been diagnosed at the hospital.
Her face immediately turned ashen. "I'll talk."
"Before each competition, my teacher would give us a small white pill."
"After taking that pill, you will feel very energetic and your concentration will improve."
This seems to be a secret that their group has kept hidden for many years, but it has been exposed at this moment.
The interrogation room fell silent.
Commander Chen's face was as cold as ice. "Did you eat before this competition?"
Zhou Lanxiang suddenly realized, "You're bluffing me?"
Commander Chen said coldly, "Do I need to lie to you? Gu Xiaotang is in the hospital right now. If you want to know the results, I can just check her test results."
“You can confess now and get leniency, but once this opportunity is over, Zhou Lanxiang, believe me, no one in the Central Ballet will escape.”
Upon hearing this, Zhou Lanxiang, who was sitting in the chair, instantly slumped down.
I said—
“Starting from the year that Teacher Yang left the National Ballet of China, we top students began taking this medicine.”
"Among them, Gu Xiaotang ate the most."
Commander Chen didn't understand. "Gu Xiaotang will have a reaction after taking the medicine. How could you not notice it when you're with her day and night? Even if you can't notice it, her parents can't notice that she has four days off to go home every month."
Gu Xiaotang's illness on stage clearly indicated that it had reached a very serious stage.
Zhou Lanxiang shook her head, "Gu Xiaotang's parents have entrusted her entirely to Teacher Lin."
"She rarely goes home."
It seems the truth has come out.
Because Gu Xiaotang had a bad relationship with her family, she was completely controlled by Lin Rujuan, who could be considered her guardian.
Eight-year-old Gu Xiaotang had no chance of winning against Lin Rujuan.
Over the years, Gu Xiaotang has been forced to take medication while resisting and trying to redeem herself, which has led to her current inhuman and ghostly state.
Regiment Commander Chen stood up. "Let's go to the hospital."
"Bring Zhou Lanxiang along too."
If this is true, then Lin Rujuan will not escape punishment, and even the entire Central Ballet Troupe will have to undergo a complete re-examination from top to bottom.
Outside the interrogation room.
Yang Jie had heard so much, and her face was pale. "I ruined Gu Xiaotang's life."
If she had been willing to accept Gu Xiaotang as her apprentice back then, perhaps she wouldn't have met this fate.
Meng Yingying shook her head, and she took Yang Jie's hand and said, "Teacher, Gu Xiaotang is like this not because of you, but because of Lin Rujuan."
"Let's go to the hospital and get checked out."
Let's see how Gu Xiaotang is doing.
Go see how Lin Rujuan, this heartless and insane person, could harm an eight-year-old child.
Hospital.
After Lin Rujuan and the security personnel took Gu Xiaotang there, Gu Xiaotang was rushed to the emergency room for treatment.
However, the test results were not very good.
Dr. Li stared at the data repeatedly, utterly baffled. "This child is only twenty-two years old, how could his sympathetic nervous system be overexcited?"
The words were so technical that some of the people present didn't quite understand them.
Lin Rujuan's heart skipped a beat. "Dr. Li, what does this mean?"
Dr. Li handed over the test results directly, saying, "Look at this child's heart rate: 140 beats per minute, and blood pressure: 160. Do you think these are normal readings for a young person?"
Lin Rujuan took the test report, and when she saw the data, her pupils instantly contracted, even for a moment.
She wanted to destroy the data.
This matter can only end when the lab report is gone.
But no, there are too many people there. If she makes a move, people will definitely become suspicious, which would make it seem like she's trying to cover something up.
Her mind raced as she tried to explain, "This child had just been doing strenuous exercise. She was dancing on stage, and because there was a very challenging competitor ahead of her, she got so nervous that she got this result."
"Dr. Li, since the patient's health is fine, can I take her home from the hospital?"
Clearly, Lin Rujuan did not want Gu Xiaotang to stay in the hospital any longer.
Because the longer she stays in the hospital, the longer she will be exposed to the risk.
Dr. Li frowned. "The patient is still in critical condition. Why are you discharging her? Are you sending her back to die?"
“Look at her physical condition data, it’s all terrible. If this continues, she could die suddenly at any time.”
"I do not recommend that she be discharged from the hospital. She should be treated in the hospital first, and then kept under observation after she is out of danger."
After saying that, Dr. Li was about to leave.
Just then, Gu Xiaotang's parents also rushed over upon hearing the news. Gu's mother subconsciously asked Lin Rujuan, "How is our Xiaotang?"
Clearly, Gu's mother trusted Lin Rujuan more than the doctor.
Lin Rujuan didn't dare hand over the test results, but instead explained, "Don't worry too much. Xiao Tang fainted because of the excessive pressure he was under while performing on stage."
“I told the doctor that I wanted Xiao Tang to be discharged, but the doctor disagreed.”
As soon as he said this, Gu's mother frowned. "This child is obviously faking illness to avoid training."
“I’ll talk to the doctor and have her discharged right now.”
At this point, Gu's mother turned to look at Lin Rujuan, "Teacher Lin, I've told you before, Xiao Tang has been disobedient and rebellious since she was little. You mustn't be soft on her."
This is not something a mother would say.
Even someone as ruthless as Lin Rujuan was momentarily stunned upon hearing these words.
She didn't say anything, and Gu's mother thought that Lin Rujuan had softened her heart, so she gave Gu's father a look, "Go and get Xiao Tang discharged from the hospital. The family has spent so much money on her training every year, we can't let it go to waste."
Mr. Gu nodded weakly. He was worried about his daughter, but he was restrained by his wife's authority and could only go to Dr. Li to discuss the discharge from the hospital.
Dr. Li had just come out of the emergency room when she heard that the patient's parents wanted to force the patient to be discharged. She immediately exploded, "Are you even parents?"
"Your child is in the emergency room, life or death uncertain? You're going to discharge her now? What? Are you going to let her die so you can be reborn?"
It's quite serious for a doctor to say that.
Mr. Gu was so ashamed by the scolding that he couldn't lift his head. He subconsciously looked at his wife.
Mother Gu also looked rather displeased. For many years, no one had dared to speak to them in their position.
"Doctor, I know my child. She's always been afraid of hardship and loves to slack off. She's faking illness to avoid training."
"We took her away for her own good."
“Since she has chosen the dance profession, she cannot be afraid of hardship.”
"You'll never get ahead if you're afraid of hardship."
For the first time, Dr. Li wanted to curse, "Suffering? Look at your daughter's test results. If this continues, she'll die."
She threw the test results at Gu's mother's face.
Gu's mother's face was burning, and it was Lin Rujuan who came over and picked it up. "Let me do it, Comrade Gu. How about we do as Dr. Li said and let the child stay in the hospital for a few more days?"
"If she wants to rest, then let her rest for a couple more days."
That sounds a bit odd.
Gu's mother immediately flew into a rage, "Teacher Lin, it's because you spoil her that she's become like this, daring to pretend to faint on the competition stage."
She yelled into the emergency room, "Gu Xiaotang, get out here! I know you faked fainting to get to the hospital to avoid dancing!"
"Come out here, Mom promises she won't hit you."
After he said that, there was no sound from inside the emergency room.
Mother Gu's face turned pale. "Dr. Li, we want to force you to leave the hospital. We'll take this child home and teach him ourselves."
Dr. Li couldn't make the decision himself, so he called the head doctor over. After reviewing Gu Xiaotang's various physical indicators, the head doctor...
He said bluntly, "Going back home is a dead end for the patient. Are you sure you want to be discharged and go home?"
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Author's Note: There will be another update tonight, wait for me! (Hands on hips)
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