“Sigh—!”
Lin Wei let out an exaggerated sigh, the mockery on her face practically overflowing.
She pointed a finger at Su Yuqing, then at Bai Wanxue.
“Manager Su, listen to yourself… does that even hold water? Zhi Ai is a genius, a once-in-a-century oddity, fine, I admit it! Teaching her is easy, but it doesn’t exactly showcase my, Lin Wei’s, skills. She’ll succeed no matter what she does.”
She turned her spearhead directly toward Su Yuqing.
“But you? You keep bringing in these… ‘special talents’.”
She deliberately emphasized the words “special talents.”
“The last one, Zhi Ai, was a gift from heaven that fell into your lap. Call it good luck. But this one?”
Her gaze once again swept over Bai Wanxue like a blade, her brows furrowed tightly.
“Zero foundation? Her looks and aura are unique, sure, but is that enough to make it as an idol? Vocal skills, dance, physical stamina, stage presence… which one doesn’t require relentless training? You haven’t even given me a basic ability assessment or potential evaluation, yet you shove her over here, taking up the best resources…”
She took a step closer, almost interrogating Su Yuqing.
“If you can’t produce a single decent seedling that actually proves it was ‘taught’ by you, and not just another case of heaven spoon-feeding you success, I’m afraid everyone here will start whispering behind your back—wondering if someone is just coasting on past luck, lying on their laurels, and freeloading, hmm?”
“You…!”
Su Yuqing’s cheeks flushed red with anger at this ruthless dressing-down, her chest heaving.
Lin Wei’s words were harsh, but they did poke at some hidden worries she hadn’t wanted to dwell on and the pressure from within the company.
Just as she was about to retort, however—
“Teacher.”
A calm, ethereal voice interrupted the standoff between the two.
Bai Wanxue had, at some point, taken a small step forward, positioning herself right in the center of the invisible line of fire between Su Yuqing and Lin Wei.
She raised her pale red eyes to look at Lin Wei’s displeased face, her expression its usual pure seriousness, as if the heated accusations and veiled sarcasm had nothing to do with her.
She had simply heard a key piece of information that needed confirmation.
“Might Wanxue ask you a question now?”
Lin Wei, interrupted, was somewhat impatient.
But facing Bai Wanxue’s non-confrontational, simply inquisitive little face, she couldn’t directly vent her anger.
In the end, she could only spit out a single stiff word.
“Speak.”
Bai Wanxue gave a slight nod.
Then, in her clear, utterly unadulterated voice, she asked a question that stunned both women present.
“Your meaning is to say.”
She tilted her head slightly, as if restating and confirming the logic in Lin Wei’s words.
“Zhi Ai is, right now, the most powerful one among all the idols here—at Little Paw Agency—is that correct? Meow.”
The question was so direct, so abrupt, completely jumping out of the previous argument about resources, treatment, and ability, pointing straight to a simple factual comparison.
Lin Wei visibly faltered, seeming not to have expected this.
She frowned, looking into Bai Wanxue’s eyes that seemed capable of reflecting the truth.
She hesitated for a moment, but based on facts and her own understanding, she admitted with a touch of annoyance, yet candidly:
“Well, of course~?”
She spread her hands, her tone carrying a “isn’t it obvious” meaning.
“Commercial value, fan base, stage ability, industry influence… at this stage, within Little Paw, and even looking across the entire similar idol circle, Kasahana Chiai is the far-and-away leading TOP. Isn’t that a universally acknowledged fact?”
Receiving this affirmative answer, an extremely faint, almost “puzzle solved” clarity appeared on Bai Wanxue’s face.
She softly uttered an “Oh.”
Then, in a matter-of-fact tone, as if saying “the weather is nice today,” she spoke the next earth-shattering sentence:
“Then, the matter going forward, doesn’t it become quite simple. Meow.”
“Matter?”
Lin Wei, confused by this non-sequitur, reflexively asked back.
“What matter becomes simple?”
Bai Wanxue raised her eyes, her gaze calmly looking toward the training room’s huge mirror wall.
The mirror reflected her slender yet upright figure, as well as Su Yuqing and Lin Wei’s stunned faces.
Her voice wasn’t loud, but it carried a strange certainty, echoing clearly in the empty room:
“Isn’t the logic of what remains now quite simple?”
She turned her head, her pale red eyes sweeping over Lin Wei, finally landing on Su Yuqing’s face, which had suddenly turned pale.
In that straightforward, narrative tone that seemed to contain some indisputable law, she slowly said:
“As long as Wanxue defeats her.”
“—Defeats that currently ‘most powerful’ Zhi Ai.”
Her sentence paused slightly here, as if leaving time for her listeners to digest this astonishing goal.
Then, she lightly tossed out the conclusion that, in her view, followed logically:
“Then, wouldn’t that also prove…”
The corner of her mouth seemed to curve upward an infinitesimal amount.
It wasn’t a smile, more like a serenity at having found a clear path.
“Wanxue is the new ‘most powerful’ idol here, correct? Meow.”
***
Dead silence.
In the training room, only the faint sounds of the distant city outside the window and the uneven breathing of the three remained.
Lin Wei was completely frozen.
Her mouth hung open, her eyes wide.
The mockery, impatience, and anger on her face had all solidified, transforming into a pure, incredulous astonishment.
It was as if she was truly “seeing” the silver-haired girl before her for the first time.
Her gaze swept over the girl’s face, trying to find even the slightest trace of a joke, arrogance, or bluff.
But she was wrong.
In the end, this experienced song and dance teacher only saw a disquieting expanse of calm and seriousness.
Su Yuqing felt a chill shoot up her spine to the top of her head, making her shiver involuntarily.
She looked at Bai Wanxue’s calm profile, listening to that lightly uttered yet immensely heavy “defeats her.”
Her heart felt as if gripped by an invisible hand, almost stopping.
Defeat Zhi Ai?
Does she know what she’s saying?
Does she know what that means?
This isn’t just about ability.
Behind this lies the challenge of, or even shattering, Zhi Ai’s very pride.
This isn’t a simple competition.
This is like dancing on the edge of a volcano.
No, it’s declaring war on the volcano itself!
Lin Wei was stunned for several full seconds before she seemed to finally find her voice again.
She raised a hand, somewhat stiffly pointing at the still-calm Bai Wanxue, then turned toward Su Yuqing, whose face was deathly pale as if foreseeing a great disaster.
Her voice was dry, even carrying a thick sense of absurdity and a trace of something hard to detect… wavering?
“This little rookie…”
She murmured, as if talking to herself, yet also as if seeking confirmation from Su Yuqing.
“What in the world… is she saying…”
Was it a joke from someone who doesn’t know their own limits?
Or… was it a calm statement of a mad goal she had already decided upon and was prepared to act on?
The training room’s huge mirror wall silently reflected it all, infinitely replicating the three women’s varied expressions and the suddenly thick, tension-filled, unknown atmosphere, extending it into the cold, unfathomable depths.
The sunlight remained bright, yet it seemed to have lost its warmth…
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