Chapter 173

When the mental health education class for college students had not ended yet, Xiao Qi had already received a text message notification from the school's music club that her demo had passed. She was informed to go to the indoor gymnasium at 2pm on Friday for a rehearsal, and the performance would start at 8pm. During the rehearsal, the performance order would be decided by drawing lots, and a total of 20 people were selected.

Xiao Qi felt that the schedule was too tight. Fortunately, when she first saw the poster for the Top 10 Singers, she had already considered what song to sing. But she still felt quite nervous, thinking to herself - would anyone even go to the performance at such a large venue? If the venue was empty, that would be embarrassing.

After class, Xiao Qi and her dorm mates, plus an additional person Rong Jiaojiao, walked out of the Datang Complex Building. Although it was not yet dark outside, Xiao Qi felt the atmosphere was different than usual. There were red flags fluttering everywhere, posters flying around. Even on the electronic display outside the Datang Complex Building, there were promotional videos for the Mid-Autumn Concert.

Some of the videos showed singing clips of the singers. One segment was of Xiao Qi singing "Invisible Wings" in her dorm room... Although it was only 2-3 seconds long, she had complex feelings about it. Because it was just casually filmed, Xiao Qi was wearing a T-shirt in it, with the dorm room window visible in the background. Her hair was also messy and unkempt. The dorm room lighting was also quite dark and unsuitable for filming. Proper photography lighting would use strong lights, but fortunately her singing voice sounded clear and bright in the segment.

In the promotional video, she also saw Wu Xinyue from the English department. Right after Xiao Qi's dark footage, she looked radiant by comparison. Her skin was glowing, with a cute and charming expression. There was also some dancing, making her seem captivating at first glance. She seemed to be singing an English song, her voice sounded a bit soft, Xiao Qi did not pay much attention to listening and focused more on looking at her.

Rong Jiaojiao could not help but exclaim: "Her skin is so fair, I wonder what face mask she uses?"

As the few of them continued walking, they discovered there were also promotional ads on the screens outside the cafeteria. The efficiency was exceptionally fast.

This time, Xiao Qi saw the white-haired granny singing beautifully by the lake - who turned out to be their Calculus professor, Lu Ruxue. She had also joined the Top 10 Singers competition, how impressive.

The demo only had a short clip showing Professor Lu's side profile, but her singing voice was loud and clear. She normally sounded like she uses good vocal techniques, quite professional.

Apart from the singing clips, there were even mentor introductions... making it seem formal like an idol talent show.

Xiao Qi even recognized one of the mentors, the horse ranch owner Xiao Shengzhou.

She also saw an elderly lady appearing on screen, and Mei’er excitedly gave them background information.

"That's Madam Su, the school trustee."

Mei'er mentioned that the current actual administrator of the school is the school founder's secretary, also his second wife, an inheritance from history. The Enhua school founder was Chinese but permanently settled overseas in Southeast Asia, where polygamy was practiced at that time. She was also the aunt of Xiao Qi's classmate Su Li. Madam Su had black hair, wore a purple shirt, a small silk scarf around her neck, black pants. Her wrinkles around the eyes were quite deep, but one would still feel that she looked very graceful and beautiful.

Xiao Qi felt that Su Li's lips resembled her aunt's, but was less good-looking.

Upon hearing "Madam Su", Xiao Qi found it a bit strange at first, since she also had the surname Su.

She wondered if people would address her in this way in the future.

She did not expect that such a small competition on campus would even have the school trustee in attendance, instantly feeling that it had become rather formal and important.

Xiao Qi originally thought that competing to become the school’s Top 10 Singers should not involve intense competition. She was quite confident in her own singing ability. But after seeing the content of the promotional video, she realized there were not only good singers participating, but also ones with good looks, like Wu Xinyue from the English department. Xiao Qi had encountered her a few times in the dorm and prior to that she did not find her appearance particularly outstanding. But every time they met, she would have superb makeup, like using a real-life beauty filter. Her stage manner should also be great, performing very naturally.

In contrast, Xiao Qi was far inferior in this aspect. Making her jump around singing on stage would be too difficult, without that foundation... The only stage experience she had was in high school, selected to be part of the props during the school anniversary event. While others were singing and performing, she wore a green skirt and waved it around on stage, playing the role of a tree.

That day, while Xiao Qi was reviewing her Fundamentals of Marxism course and searching for materials, she came across a quote by Chairman Mao: "Strategically we must despise but tactically we must take them seriously." This sentence seemed applicable to her current situation; she should not be nervous about participating in the Top 10 Singers competition, but still had to carefully analyze the situation concretely, or it would be difficult to win by lower her guard.

Apart from eye-catching contestants like Wu Xinyue with her tall figure, dancing skills and beauty, there was also the elegant Lu Ruxue, a professional prima donna. For Xiao Qi to win first place, it still seemed to have difficulty and inferiority.

After dinner, instead of going straight back to her dorm, Xiao Qi pulled Mei’er to go with her to the Student Street.

“What are you going for?” Mei’er rarely had opportunities for one-on-one activities with her deskmate, so she was quite excited. “I want to rent a costume, I remember seeing an advertisement in the dorm notice board previously that there is a store renting formal/festive wear on Student Street.”

Mei’er came from a family with legacy, and although she was an amateur, she still knew more than Xiao Qi and the rest, able to identify fabric types and materials quite professionally.

“I know about that. The student council often has events that require renting outfits from there.” Familiar with the place, Mei’er adeptly led Xiao Qi to the end of Student Street, turned a corner, and walked up a slope. Only then did Xiao Qi discover that there was another street behind this area that she previously assumed was the end.

The two of them arrived together at the formal costume rental shop. The shop entrance glittered brightly, and next to it was a store of unknown trade with black doors on which the word “coffee” was written, but it did not seem to be a cafe place for drinking coffee. The door was closed and required a password to enter.

Xiao Qi only glanced at it briefly before following Mei’er into the clothing rental store.

A few shiny outfits were hung at the entrance, at first glance looking like they were meant for weddings. After asking in the store, Xiao Qi realized these were indeed wedding gowns. Apart from costumes for students to rent, this little shop also provided wedding gown rental and makeup services for local young couples planning their weddings.

Obviously wearing a wedding dress would be inappropriate and did not match the song Xiao Qi had chosen. A wedding gown would better suit Lu Ruxue's style if she sang elegant vocals. Xiao Qi's initial plan was to sing an English song too, since she had been practicing many English and Japanese songs recently, feeling that it might have a shock and surprise effect. But now it seemed that to take first place, the niche audience appeal of English or Japanese songs was insufficient.

Although there were not a few foreign expat teachers on campus, even one participating in the competition, these Westerners teaching in China seemed to love Chinese culture, as the foreign male teacher appeared in traditional Chinese attire on the promotional video, with crossed lapel buttons.

Singing foreign language songs could attract some attention; her English was quite good, but definitely not as a native speaker. Compared to her goal and plan to win the cash prize for first place, there was still risk in that approach. To perform her best, Xiao Qi finally chose to sing a song in Chinese. Moreover, her singing skills were self-taught from books documenting the famous historical courtesan Liu Rushi, reaching a +Professional level. To further draw on that skill, Xiao Qi selected an ancient-style song to fully convey it.

She originally had great confidence in this song, but now felt that her details and execution were still lacking. Since it was an ancient style song, wearing her own T-shirt or skirt would be insufficient to perfectly complement it, plus she could not dance and would just be standing there singing, so her stage manner would certainly be inadequate. Apart from the wedding gowns, the shop also had some performance costumes for rent, mostly red, green, blue and other vibrant colors, generally less expensive since they were rented outfits that did not seem to be maintained too well over time. Some skirt hems were even torn.

Most were also low cut, exposing shoulders and backs.

"I'm looking for traditional opera costumes, the ancient era type." Xiao Qi told the shop owner that she did not want those outfits,

"We have those too, our shop is very comprehensive, with new and old district costumes for rental here." The owner boasted.

But she did not mention that the better formal outfits had already been booked out a few days prior by participants of the Top 10 Singers event. The remaining garments on display now were actually meant for accompanying singers and dancers.

And Enhua's students' money was still very good to earn. The students did not bargain, and those clothes were just newer. Wholesale also cost a few hundred yuan, but renting to students once could earn a few hundred.

The quantity was also large. Enhua's students had a lot of activities, and there were various evening parties and dances from time to time.

Although her store's evening dresses were not good, they were shanzhai, but students who were really rich were not the customer base of this store. Those who were really rich custom made their own or bought their own, and did not need to rent from them.

When Xiao Qi and Honey entered, Su Li was already upstairs in the cafe next door.

She and Li Weijin did not go to listen to that health education class. Listening to that kind of class was a waste of time. They had experienced a round of skipping classes during the preparatory period, and there was no pressure to skip classes at all.

Although the class monitor took attendance, the class monitor was smart. Just give him a greeting and it would be fine. After all, there were obedient students who went, and it did not matter if they did not go.

Of course, coming to the cafe was not just to drink coffee. Anyway, it was quite boring. But she observed that Li Weijin seemed to be a little abnormal recently. In the past, when he heard him argue with his parents, brothers and sisters, he was lively and active, but recently he seemed to be not in high spirits, and often ran to the new district's racetrack.

A few people chatted casually, and Su Li lowered her head and saw two familiar figures downstairs, the two girls from the dormitory opposite hers.

She had always paid little attention to others. She would pay attention to those girls, also because Chu Yu, their dormmate, kept mentioning Xiao Qi in a roundabout way. On the surface she praised Xiao Qi for being excellent, but actually she felt that Xiao Qi loved to attract attention and so on. That level of smearing was not worth looking at in Su Li's eyes. On the contrary, it made her pay attention to Xiao Qi.

Li Weijin also saw the two girls. In fact, he noticed Xiao Qi earlier than Su Li. It was funny to say, he was the young master of the Li family, the real estate tycoon in Alliance City, who liked to drive sports cars and go to bars, but he actually had never fallen in love, not even in kindergarten. He had been aloof since he was a child. When other children gave him gifts, he would ignore them.

Then when Xiao Qi appeared in front of him holding the hand of the girl beside her, his heart started pounding rapidly. He didn't even hear what the people around him were saying.

Seeing her walk downstairs, he even thought Xiao Qi was going to come upstairs. His heartbeat felt stuck in his throat. His legs were even shaking, and his palms were a little sweaty. He also looked in the mirror across from him to see how he looked today.

Very good, white shirt, seven-point pants, very clean and neat.

As a result, Xiao Qi just went into the shop next door.