The sky darkened a bit, and the atmosphere for eating hotpot arrived.
The fragrant and spicy mist rose up under the lights, laughter and cheerful voices spilling out from the small balcony. There wasn’t even a need to turn on the air conditioner; the breeze blowing off the lake made everything cool and pleasant.
From time to time, smoke drifted up from the weeds by the lakeside, and combined with the changing colors of the lights, it felt like a dream. Eating hotpot with such beautiful scenery couldn’t be better.
In this earthly scene, even the usually clean and fresh Lin Lian was influenced, raising his glass and chatting with Cheng Zhirang beside him, beaming with smiles.
One was a fresh youth, the other a gentle man, their bone-china-like hands holding glasses of lime mint water, clinking together to form a perfect picture.
Mu Qiu was still seriously watching the pot.
She used chopsticks to clip the tripe in the pot, and with Guan Yu, Li Yang, and Bai Shu opposite her, adopted a method of lifting it seven times and lowering it eight times. After repeating it a few times, she took it out, dipped it in sauce, and ate it, thoroughly enjoying the fresh tripe’s tender and elastic texture.
Guan Yu: "Delicious! Can we please have hotpot for both the next episodes?"
Mu Qiu ate another roasted duck roll, wiped her hands, and said, "The team might be able to have hotpot, but we might not. Sister Shu Ran, are you sure you don’t want some roast duck?"
Shu Ran swallowed silently, very elegantly put a piece of tripe-wrapped cucumber strip in her mouth, and shook her head: "No."
"It’s really tasty, this duck meat has a smoky fruitwood aroma."
"...I said no. Stop performing an eating broadcast facing me, turn around."
Mu Qiu ignored her, stirred the ice jelly beside her, and delightfully ate two bites: "Refreshingly good!"
Shu Ran snorted enlarging her nostrils, "The brown sugar water in that ice jelly bowl is equivalent to the calories of three bowls of rice. Be careful you won’t fit in that skirt tomorrow."
"I’m not worried. I usually eat this much, and I haven’t gained weight," she said nonchalantly, speaking with an air of self-assuredness.
Annoyed, Shu Ran tossed the napkin, instinctively reached her chopstick hand intending to grab some beef, but forcefully redirected to continue munching on her cucumber sticks.
"Eating hotpot like that is soulless," Guan Yu said, straining two crispy sausages and a pork belly roll with a slotted spoon for her. "Here, eat, surely you’ll have to practice dancing tonight, that’s energy-consuming business!"
Thoroughly subdued by the food and completely forgetting the manager’s sincere advice, Li Yang stuffed his mouth full of oil and also advised:
"Don’t worry, Sister Shu Ran, one meal won’t make you fat. Look at Brother Huai, he needs to maintain his body fat rate more than you do, yet he’s eating so happily?"
Shu Ran turned to look at Shi Yuhuai.
That person looked ready to take off with satisfaction, alternating bites of meat and sips of lime mint water.
Her attitude softened a bit, so Mu Qiu seized the opportunity to persuade her as well: "Just eat, it’ll be fine. Even idols like Bai Shu eat. Maintaining one’s figure isn’t about torturing oneself, having a bit won’t hurt."
That made a lot of sense.
Shu Ran racked her brain trying to think of a rebuttal but couldn’t come up with anything.
Her chopsticks gradually reached into the hotpot.
"Now that’s right! Eating hotpot should be lively! Everyone eating together is truly eating!"
The laughter and chatter were lively and bustling. As they clinked glasses and exchanged dishes, they had nearly finished the food, leaving a feeling of guilt to those who stopped eating wildly, like Shu Ran and Li Yang, and those who had eaten too many earlier, like Shi Yuhuai and Mu Qiu, were now too full to continue.
Outside, the sky had completely darkened, and in the middle of the lake, the familiar big screen had been placed on the piano stage without anyone noticing.
The director and others were sitting next door in a shell-shaped room, also eating hotpot, and took the opportunity to announce:
"Attention everyone, it’s time to select the dance demo. Everyone, don’t get too absorbed in the delightful hotpot..."
Halfway through, he whispered to someone, "The duck intestines are ready, quickly give me two."
Then he continued, "Everyone should shine your eyes and choose carefully; we’ve added two or three more demos for the four-person and eight-person groups. After watching from start to finish, the second round will be the final selection; you can discuss after watching the first round which one to choose."
The big screen gradually lit up, displaying the words Zhipu Electronics, which slowly faded, showing the words for individual dance tracks.
Mu Qiu held a bowl of ice jelly, turned around, and lay on the chair back, eating while watching.
A dispassionate electronic voice announced the overtime work: "Next is the dance track ’Great Virtue Like Water’ completed by an individual."
The demo featured a national style water sleeve dance beginning with a high-difficulty backbend one-foot side kick motion, the water sleeves whooshing out, striking the sides, and retracting into an intoxicated consort pose.
Everyone was left dumbstruck.
Guan Yu: "I can’t, I can’t, what is this high-difficulty dance? How can someone without years of dance experience tackle this?"
Mu Qiu: "Just watching that backbend move makes my waist ache."
Bai Shu: "Jiang Zhu Feng, can you do this?"
Jiang Zhu Feng immediately shook her head: "I’m originally from ballet, the national style is difficult for me, I can’t dance it."
Everyone expressed that they couldn’t conquer it and had to wait for the second one.
The second individual dance track was a situational solo, a lyrical song with very few dance moves that seemed highly adaptable.
However, it seemed not too many were interested.
The dance tracks for two-person groups were much more attractive; as soon as the prelude of the first song played, everyone began whistling and making a fuss.
The sexy duet dance anthem, "Trouble Maker."
The female dancer in the demo had eyes full of allure, wearing a bodycon skirt clinging to the male dancer, occasionally making some extraordinarily sexy moves.
Mu Qiu watched, even pausing from eating her ice jelly, swallowed, and turned around to meet the heated gazes of the others.
Bai Shu: "Wow, Sister Mu Qiu, not dancing this in that skirt would be a crime."
Li Yang: "We must choose this! Hahaha, Mu Qiu dancing sexy moves! Let Brother Cheng join you!"
Shi Yuhuai: "Hard to imagine, but this sexy style seems best matched with your skirt."
Shu Ran: "Thank me, you can learn another dance."
Lin Lian: "Sister Mu Qiu dancing in a sexy style, who knows... it might have an unexpected effect."
Guan Yu laughed in a madame-like tone: "With that figure and wearing that skirt dancing this dance, it’s absolutely stress-free, Mu Qiu, we’ll definitely vote for this one for you; the opening tomorrow will be with this dance, guaranteed to be spectacular."
Mu Qiu swallowed again: "I, I, I find learning one dance quite difficult..."
But she really liked it.
Cheng Zhirang knew she wasn’t being honest with herself.
Every time she looked at him and said, "It might not be a good idea," she had this expression.
"You can learn, as long as you like it," he said.
"Will you do it with me?" she asked quietly.
"You can do it with me or with someone else; you have no restriction."
He said this, but who would skip over him and dance such a sexy dance with her?
She licked the corner of her lips, imagining him dancing in a black shirt, and placed the ice jelly bowl on the table: "Definitely doable, I also think not dancing this in that skirt would be a waste."
That black shirt would be wasted too.