Chapter 140 I Won Over Her
Chapter 140
She was even more proactive than Ekaterina; in fact, she took the initiative from the moment Meng Yingying appeared.
He could outshine Catherine in every way.
Ekaterina also sensed that things had been going wrong for her ever since Meng Yingying arrived.
However, things have come to this point, and she clearly has no way to turn back.
Because she was the one who started this challenge from the very beginning.
"Who should go first, the two of us?"
After Ekaterina went up, she asked Meng Yingying, who thought for a moment and said, "Let's go together."
"Whoever is wrong should admit defeat, and whoever can't keep up with the pace should admit defeat."
It's somewhat similar to the tactics used by Han Mingbing and Arkhipova before, and Ekaterina has clearly realized it too.
She glanced at Meng Yingying and said, "Go change your clothes first."
Meng Yingying rushed over from Harbin, still wearing a cotton-padded coat, which was clearly unsuitable for her to go on stage and accept the challenge.
Meng Yingying nodded, quickly turned and went to the dressing room to change into her dance costume. To be honest, when she came out of the dance costume, she felt a chill to the bone.
It was still January, and even though the capital was warming up, it was only two or three degrees Celsius. Her dance costume was also very thin.
He was wearing a military overcoat, which he only loosely draped over his body, and a chill ran straight up his calves.
But at this moment, I don't care about the cold.
After Meng Yingying changed her clothes and came out, Ekaterina was waiting for her. She noticed that the instrumental ensemble next to her had already tuned the violins to their optimal settings.
She then looked away and asked Ekaterina, "Together?"
He was very composed, showing neither nervousness nor inferiority in the face of a genius, but rather a calm demeanor.
Her words, however, made Ekaterina raise an eyebrow, a hint of interest flashing in her beautiful ice-blue eyes, and her voice also eager to try, "Okay, let's do it together then."
She took off her military overcoat, revealing a close-fitting black dance outfit underneath. She was tall with smooth shoulder and neck lines, the kind of sharp, angular shoulders.
She walked slowly from the outermost part of the crowd to the center of the rehearsal hall. Her feet were on slightly worn wooden floors, but she seemed to be standing on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow. Her aura was so overwhelming that people around her dared not breathe loudly.
The scene fell silent instantly. From the moment Ekaterina took off her clothes, everyone knew that things were about to get serious.
Catherine was tall and possessed an imposing presence, surveying her surroundings like a queen.
Everyone was worried for Meng Yingying.
Meng Yingying remained calm, casually draping her cotton-padded jacket over the back of the chair, revealing a simple white short-sleeved shirt and pink leggings. Her hair was pulled up high on her head, with stray strands falling beside her ears, giving her a soft, casual, and languid look.
She gave Ekaterina a slight smile, her tone light, "Then let's just use the old pieces from Act II of Swan Lake. We're both familiar with them, so we won't need to rehearse. Let's just dance to them directly?"
They don't seem to be here to take on a challenge; they seem to be here to chat.
Meng Yingying seemed so relaxed that Ekaterina was somewhat dazed. "Don't you feel a lot of pressure?"
She had seen Bourneiro challenge others before, and almost every one of them was extremely tense.
Meng Yingying, however, seemed to have come to accept the challenge and then go out for dinner.
Meng Yingying stretched and moved her body a bit, then asked in return, "Why do you feel so much pressure?"
"This isn't a formal, large-scale competition; it's just a friendly exchange between the two sides. If you win, you win; if you lose, you lose. It's not a big deal."
She takes it all in stride.
Ekaterina sighed, only now understanding why Bova had valued Meng Yingying so much.
Her mindset is something that most people wouldn't have.
"Can we begin?"
It was obvious that the band had already tuned the violins. When she stood up to ask, Meng Yingying and Ekaterina exchanged a glance, and she gestured for them to proceed.
Ekaterina stepped forward, and the two began to move in unison to the rhythm of the music.
Ekaterina was a typical classical school student. Her movements were large and her lines were long. She started with a standard Russian style—she lifted her back leg, straightened her knee, and stretched her instep like a bowstring. With a tap of her toes, she glided three steps forward without her skirt swaying, as if an ice skate was scraping across a lake.
Cold, steady, and accurate!
The scene fell silent instantly, and even those who were not very familiar with international ballet could understand what was happening.
Ekaterina's movements were swift and efficient, even displaying a degree of professionalism.
This is a completely different approach from that of Arkhipova.
Han Mingbing was the person who knew the most about international ballet among everyone present, and when she saw this scene, she frowned slightly.
Clearly, she felt some pressure on Meng Yingying's behalf.
Meng Yingying moved unhurriedly, keeping time with the music, which was indeed the opposite of what Ekaterina was doing.
She didn't rush to show off the size, but instead put it away first.
Her hind legs only lifted to ninety degrees before stopping. Then her upper body leaned forward slightly, her neck stretched into a long, thin line, while her fingers remained soft and limp, like a swan that had just woken up, its feathers still unfurled.
All eyes in the room instantly turned to him.
Even Ekaterina was somewhat surprised.
All you could see was Meng Yingying lightly touching the ground with her toes, each step landing on the weak beat of the rhythm. Her body seemed to be half a beat behind the music, yet she would catch up just before the next measure began, as if she were subtly dragging the melody back a notch, making the listener's heart itch.
"What kind of jump is that?" a student in the audience muttered quietly. "It's not the same as what we learned before."
"It's like Yingying has swallowed the beat." Han Mingbing stared in disbelief. "Her body is a metronome; she can go fast or slow as she pleases, and the music follows her!"
"You can jump like that?"
Han Mingbing felt as if she had opened the door to a new world, and her eyes lit up.
Alkhipova murmured, "Jane, did you teach us to dance like this?"
She had never seen Meng Yingying jump like that before. If Ekaterina's jumping style was characterized by its wide, sweeping movements and her absolute advantage in height, then...
Meng Yingying, on the other hand, used gentleness to overcome strength.
Strictly speaking, she had seen many people perform the dance moves of Catherine the Great, but she had never seen Meng Yingying perform it this way.
Even though Ekaterina should have been superior to her, Meng Yingying's dancing style was more captivating.
Jane watched for a while before he seemed to remember something, "She's dancing the Sleeping Swan from Swan Lake."
"Moreover, I've only read about this in books before, and I've never seen anyone come forward about it before."
Jane subconsciously looked at Yang Jie, "Did you teach her this way of jumping?"
Yang Jie shook her head, "You should be more professional in international ballet than I am, Jian. If you haven't even seen it, then there's even less chance I have."
“In China, we mostly perform red ballet. We’ve never seen a new style of international ballet like this before.”
"How could Meng do that?"
This is what truly shocked Jane.
Yang Jie was not surprised. She murmured, "Meng Yingying is a genius. Last time during the Red Star Cup competition, she filled in a missing dance on her own."
"And it has been perfected to the best of its ability."
"So I suspect that this sleeping swan was also created on the spot."
Jane fell silent for a moment before exclaiming in shock, "If Meng really created it herself, my God, her talent is truly astonishing."
"Yang, it's a complete waste to keep Meng's talent in China and let her dance the Red Ballet."
Yang Jie didn't say anything; clearly, she had realized this as well.
Yang Jie even felt that bringing Meng Yingying to the Central Ballet Troupe was somewhat of a waste of her talent.
Of course, she can't say that now, nor does she dare to.
"Let's watch the game first."
Jane nodded, and the two of them turned their gaze to the center of the stage, where two beams of light danced over Meng Yingying and Ekaterina.
As the music suddenly changed and the first dance ended, the two passed each other, their shoulders almost touching, but neither looked at the other, like two swans meeting on a narrow path, each holding their head high.
Neither of them would give in!
The two stood quietly for a moment, heads tilted back, when suddenly the music rose a few notches, and the violin was replaced by a piano.
The musician's left hand slammed down an octave of low bass, while his right hand delivered a whirlwind of crisp, clear sound that instantly reverberated throughout the rehearsal hall.
Listening to this rhythm, it's clear that a scene of a swan flapping its wings is coming.
Ekaterina glanced quickly at Meng Yingying, and then swiftly changed her move.
She spun around in place, each circle producing a note, and after thirty-two circles, she moved like a drill. On the last circle, she stopped, and with a thud, one leg struck her forehead, catching the heavy note perfectly, causing the floor to tremble with a thud.
This is the most classic move in Swan Lake: the thirty-two whip turns.
In Ekaterina's hands, it was perfectly displayed.
She exerted silent pressure on Meng Yingying.
Instead of turning around, Meng Yingying started walking in a flower shape, moving her toes little by little, twenty-four times clockwise and then twenty-four times counterclockwise, until she formed the shape of a large plum blossom.
Her upper body remained in the swan-turn-turn-head posture the whole time, her arms moving like splashing water, wave after wave. On the last lap, she stopped exactly half a step behind Ekaterina, neither stealing the spotlight nor falling behind, sticking close like a shadow.
This caused Ekaterina to frown for the first time.
Her only feeling was that her opponent was incredibly strong.
I thought she would crush Meng Yingying by bringing out her most classic thirty-two-round whip spin, but I didn't expect her to be so good at adapting to the situation and easily solve the problem.
She stood still, seemingly oblivious to the music starting up again.
People around started whispering, "That girl named Lina seems to be getting anxious."
"If I were her, I would start to get anxious too."
"Didn't you guys notice? No matter how she made her moves, Meng Yingying was always able to defuse them with ease in the end. In fact, from an aesthetic point of view, I think Meng Yingying's Swan Lake performance was more beautiful; she seemed like an elegant swan herself."
"And Lina's swan is like a fighting swan."
The room fell silent instantly upon hearing this, but compared to Ekaterina's physique, it was quite different.
She really does resemble a swan fighter.
It's not elegant at all.
This was the feeling of almost everyone present.
Arkhipova also fell silent for a moment before saying, "Teacher, I think Meng's Swan Lake is much better than Lina's."
Jane didn't speak for a while before he murmured, "Yes."
"I never imagined that Swan Lake could be danced like this."
He had been involved in ballet for 25 years, and this was the first time he had seen someone dance the Sleeping Swan. It was a unique kind of elegance.
"Yang".
Jane turned to Yang Jie and said, "Don't let Meng's talent go to waste."
This is the second time he has said this during this competition.
Yang Jie didn't speak; she had her own thoughts, or rather, at this moment, she hesitated.
The National Ballet of China is not a good fit for Meng Yingying.
The same goes for the Capital Ballet.
Their units restricted Meng Yingying's height, and this was also when they could see Meng Yingying and Ekaterina dancing.
Yang Jie was then shocked to realize that Meng Yingying's talent had long exceeded their imagination.
The Red Star Cup competition was the final destination for ballet in China, but it was not the final destination for Meng Yingying's future.
She is clearly someone who becomes stronger when faced with a strong opponent.
The stronger her opponents, the stronger she becomes.
For example, even Yang Jie herself didn't expect that Swan Lake could be performed like this.
Perhaps she really needs to carefully consider Jane's suggestion.
On stage, Meng Yingying and Ekaterina had already entered the finale, following the rhythm of the music.
The piano gently stops playing the last note.
Meng Yingying stopped dancing, stood still, looked up, and smiled at Ekaterina, as if to say, "I'm done, it's your turn."
Ekaterina did not move.
She maintained that extremely slow leg control, but could no longer press down; the inside of her knees began to tremble visibly, as if the first crack had appeared on the surface of ice.
Finally, she landed with a thud, staggering half a step.
The entire place was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
Ekaterina looked up, and for the first time, a clear respect appeared in her icy blue eyes.
She raised her hand, palm up, and gave Meng Yingying a standard gesture of invitation—the cleanest form of acknowledgment between ballet dancers.
The next second, the rehearsal hall erupted in chaos.
"Sister Meng!!"
"Yingying!!"
"We won!!"
The girls screamed and rushed onto the stage, surrounding Meng Yingying in a human-shaped flower.
Some people threw her cotton-padded coat into the air, while others hugged her and spun her around. Sweat, tears, and laughter mingled together.
They surrounded Meng Yingying, and suddenly someone threw her into the air.
Meng Yingying was thrown into the air, which caused her to float up as well.
My heart started pounding uncontrollably.
She had originally said she was going to come down.
But when he looked down at Han Mingbing and Zhou Lanxiang's faces, which were both crying and laughing, the words that were on the tip of his tongue instantly got swallowed back down.
"Meng Yingying, you are the best!"
Han Mingbing almost shouted himself hoarse; he was practically screaming at the top of his lungs.
Everyone knows what the consequences would be if Meng Yingying won against Ekaterina.
She saved face for all of them.
She also won back honor for them.
All the humiliation of being attacked before was washed away at this moment because of Meng Yingying's presence.
Ekaterina stood outside the crowd, panting. Her face looked rather pale, but in an instant, her mindset changed.
Why did she come to China for exchange and study?
She simply wanted to encounter a stronger opponent, and now that opponent was right in front of her.
Although she lost, Ekaterina felt no jealousy whatsoever; instead, she felt a surge of pride and courage.
So much so that the blood in my whole body seemed to get excited.
She has met a true rival.
Thinking of this, Ekaterina gave Meng Yingying a thumbs up and exclaimed in broken Chinese, "You're this one!"
Meng Yingying was pushed and swayed by the crowd, but she still managed to turn around and wink at her, "You're amazing too."
This is a mutual recognition between the two parties.
Yang Jie looked at the children like this, and she didn't say anything, but the pride in her eyes and brows was undeniable.
Her Yingying.
That's really amazing.
Arkhipova didn't say anything; it was during this challenge that she recognized Meng Yingying's talent.
She's become even more capable now.
It's even better than when I went to the Soviet Union for exchange and study last year.
At that time, Meng Yingying had just started learning Swan Lake and didn't know much Russian, so she still stumbled when she jumped.
But only a few months have passed.
She was already comparable to Ekaterina, and could even surpass her.
You should know that Catherine graduated from the Royal Academy, and after graduating from Moba School, she was preparing to take the entrance exam for the Royal Academy of Dance.
Thinking about this...
This made Arkhipova feel a pang of sadness and bitterness. She turned to Jane and said, "Teacher, I will never catch up with Meng in this lifetime."
It was at this moment that she clearly realized the gap between herself and Meng Yingying.
Having met and studied together at Moba Affiliated School, this would be the only time she and Meng Yingying could be rivals.
As she walked forward, Meng Yingying's opponent was no longer her.
Jane reached out and patted Arkhipova's head. "Pova, you have your own path."
He looked up at Meng Yingying, who was being tossed into the air by the crowd, and murmured, "Meng is a genius, she is a genius of this era. You are already very lucky to have met her."
He never expected that this exchange and study trip to China would bring him so much benefit.
The girl he had only thought was talented when they met last time, he was surprised to find that Meng was more than just talented when they met again this time.
She is also a genius.
A genius capable of creating dance.
This talent is extremely rare in their industry.
After comforting Arkhipova, Jane turned to Yang Jie and said, "Yang, it's a waste of Meng's talent to stay here."
"We have the world's best ballet temple in Moscow—the Vaganova Ballet School in Moscow."
“Even Bova could definitely get into this school. Even Lina could, but the school is full of strong people, so she might not be able to get in.”
“But—” Jane turned his gaze to Meng Yingying, who was being fawned over by everyone, and murmured, “Yang, Meng is acceptable.”
"I saw hope in Meng."
"If you're willing, I can be her teacher for this recommendation spot, but whether she can pass the exam depends on her own ability."
"And once you get accepted, you have to study for five years."
Five years is almost the best time of one's youth.
In fact, Meng Yingying was already quite old, but if she missed this opportunity now, she would never have another chance.
Yang Jie was also somewhat tempted, but she didn't agree on Meng Yingying's behalf because five years was too long.
She thought for a moment and said, "Jane, I can't make that decision. We have to wait for Yingying to come back and ask her herself."
Jane felt sorry for her. "I think even if she's unwilling, you should still try to persuade her more."
"Ye, that's the best ballet school in the whole country. It would be such a pity if she missed it."
What he didn't say was that Meng might be the only person in their country in the last thirty years, or even in his fifty years, to be able to get into the Moscow Vaganova Ballet School.
Of course, saying this is very hurtful.
He didn't say it, but Yang Jie understood. She also knew Meng Yingying's talent, and if it were wasted, it would be a loss for the entire domestic ballet industry.
It's almost a fault line.
Thinking about this, Yang Jie also became a little anxious, but she didn't want to put that pressure on her students.
Meng Yingying waited until the excitement subsided before getting off the crowd.
As soon as she came down, Yang Jie waved to her, her eyes gentle, "Yingying, come here for a moment."
Meng Yingying was a little confused. She greeted Gu Xiaotang and Han Mingbing around her before following Yang Jie and Jian to the office.
There were no outsiders in the office.
Only Yang Jie and Jane, and even Arkhipova and Ekaterina.
Seeing this scene, Meng Yingying had a feeling that something big was about to happen.
She took a deep breath and spoke first, "Teacher, you wanted to see me?"
Yang Jie nodded. "Yingying, have you noticed your talent? These days, whether it's the National Ballet of China or the Capital Song and Dance Troupe, no one can teach you anymore?"
"You don't even have any competitors anymore."
Meng Yingying didn't say anything, but she had already sensed it.
She had already felt this during the last Red Star Cup competition; towards the end, it was almost like she was playing around.
So much so that when she actually returned to the Harbin-based performing arts troupe after the competition...
For two or three months in a row, it wasn't just Gu Xiaotang who was taking a break.
In fact, Meng Yingying was also resting, both mentally and physically, so much so that she was quite lethargic during the rest of the practice.
I have no energy at all.
Because no one could teach her anymore, and she had no healthy competitors.
Even Gu Xiaotang wouldn't do it.
It should be noted that Gu Xiaotang was able to reach her peak performance of neighing like a warhorse after taking medicine, while Meng Yingying competed against her without any external force.
From a certain perspective, Yang Jie was right that she could get first place.
Meng Yingying is currently feeling lonely in her dancing career.
The National Ballet of China is not my final destination.
The Capital Song and Dance Troupe is not one of them either.
As for the Harbin Cultural Troupe, the reason she went back was because she had relatives and loved ones there.
That's why she went back.
However, Meng Yingying also knew that having relatives was a good thing, but if she stayed immersed in them for a long time, her basic skills and various specialties would gradually fade away.
Because boiling a frog in lukewarm water is no different from this.
She knew.
In fact, Yang Jie knew this too. She said, "To be honest, Yingying, I can't teach you how to be in your current state."
Yang Jie's abilities and specialties were limited to red ballet, while Meng Yingying's talent had already been fully revealed.
She knows red ballet, but she excels even more at international ballet.
Meng Yingying seemed to guess what Yang Jie was going to say next, and she murmured, "Teacher."
Yang Jie interrupted her, "Let the teacher finish speaking first."
"Now you have an opportunity in front of you."
Meng Yingying asked instinctively, "What?"
Yang Jie glanced at Jian before Jian spoke, "Go and try to get into the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Moscow, which is the highest level of ballet. There are many talented people there, the competition is fierce, and there are the best teachers in the ballet industry."
"Meng, are you willing to go?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
