Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore-Chapter 369: Penguin Gala Rehearsal Wraps Up Smoothly

Xiao He had no idea what had happened in the practice room.

Over the next few days, his main tasks were to practice singing and dancing, and to squeeze in a few business appointments and events, trying to appear in front of fans as much as possible.

There were still quite a few year-end events, and Xiao He even took several flights to other cities in the meantime to promote the upcoming web drama Corner Also, so his trips to the practice room became less and less frequent.

By coincidence, every time Xiao He did make it to the practice room, he only ever crossed paths with Xie Jingshi, while the other person always seemed to be stuck in transit, never aligning with their normal schedule.

The last time, it was only because Xiao He and the others left a little later than usual that Lu Yuxi finally arrived, all dolled up and late.

The three people set to perform together were finally meeting at last.

But the atmosphere among them was extremely awkward.

Xiao He and Xie Jingshi felt like Lu Yuxi’s eyes were not eyes and his nose was not a nose—in other words, if it weren’t for the upcoming joint performance, they both wanted to show Lu Yuxi the cold shoulder.

Even for the sake of appearances, Xiao He wouldn’t indulge the guy.

He had long since finished his own training plan. Why should he stay here? To rehearse with Lu Yuxi one more time?

Whose time isn’t valuable?

Glancing at his wristwatch, Xiao He used his afternoon flight as an excuse and left the studio first.

In the end only Xie Jingshi and Lu Yuxi were left, staring at each other.

“That Xiao He really knows how to run off fast!” 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Xie Jingshi let out a bitter chuckle inwardly, cursing Xiao He slyly, but now that it had come to this he couldn’t also be rude and storm off like Xiao He. So he stayed an extra hour to run through things with Lu Yuxi.

What surprised Xie Jingshi was that Lu Yuxi still couldn’t remember some of the placements or kept tripping over choreography. During one position change he even stepped on Xie Jingshi’s foot.

Xie Jingshi’s temper shot up in an instant, giving him the same mix of anger and helplessness that Wen Huiyan had shown.

—Mainly because even after running through it, this person never concentrated on dancing. His movements were sloppy and careless, as if he was sure he had it in the bag, but in reality he looked like a street loafer dancing with an oily swagger.

Xie Jingshi couldn’t be bothered to scold him, he simply waved and left directly as well.

Who should bother saving face for whom when the dancing looked like that? Anyway, it wouldn’t be them standing on stage feeling awkward.

Xiao He was smart—he left quickly and didn’t get angry. Next time he’d learn properly.

…

In the blink of an eye, it was mid-December.

The Penguin gala was scheduled for the 23rd, Peach’s gala on the 24th, meaning Xiao He would be performing two nights back-to-back. The rehearsals for those events were arranged for the afternoon of the 22nd and the morning of the 23rd respectively.

Fortunately the venues weren’t far apart, so the transfers weren’t too exhausting, and Xiao He’s rehearsal for the Penguin gala on the 22nd went very smoothly.

To promote Corner Also, the lead actors sang one of the drama’s theme songs.

The female lead of Corner Also was Guo Xinya. As a veteran actress, her professional skills were outstanding;singing was something she could do effortlessly. Yuan Sitong, as one of the marketable rising stars, also sang very well. Xiao He and Li Haoxuan each had their own difficulties.

For Xiao He it went without saying—this was his first time performing on stage;he was still a complete novice. If he could keep from going off-key and not drag the others down, that was already excellent. As for Li Haoxuan, it goes without saying that a man who couldn’t even speak Mandarin well being forced to sing a Chinese song was putting him in a tough spot.

Luckily the production team knew this and chose a theme song that included an English chorus, so that part was generously given to Li Haoxuan during the performance.

So the four of them stood on stage with microphones, singing, backed by a group of dancers;the full rehearsal looked presentable.

Finally, the rehearsal for that segment ended smoothly.

-

Just as Xiao He was about to leave, Yuan Sitong called him over.

“Let’s take a photo, let’s take a photo.”

Yuan Sitong also pulled Guo Xinya and Li Haoxuan in.

Everyone knew it was mostly for promotion, so they clustered together and struck poses for the camera.

After the shoot, Guo Xinya smiled and said, “Xiao Yuan, remember to send these to me later, I want to post them to my Moments.”

“Sure, no problem.”

Yuan Sitong also forwarded the photos to Xiao He and Li Haoxuan.

They had been apart for a while;Li Haoxuan’s complaints about Yuan Sitong had cooled considerably, but he still criticized the photos when he saw them: “OH, no! Ugly.”

Xiao He glanced and almost stifled a laugh.

He didn’t know how Yuan Sitong had managed it, but when everyone took a group photo, somehow Li Haoxuan looked the worst in every single shot;his facial lines appeared twisted and looked nothing like him.

—And it wasn’t just one photo. Every photo taken in quick succession was unflattering—either he blinked at the exact moment or something else was off.

Xiao He half suspected Yuan Sitong had deliberately used some trick to make him look bad if she hadn’t shared the shots in front of everyone.

When Li Haoxuan complained, Yuan Sitong rolled her eyes instinctively: “I’m doing you a favor by letting you be in the photo, why fuss so much? Quit whining—if you don’t want to be photographed, go stand over there.”

To be honest, whether it was grudges formed during the Corner Also shoot or they were just natural rivals, Xiao He felt that Yuan Sitong was much harsher to Li Haoxuan than she had been to Zhao Qinyuan;she spoke without holding back.

—Of course there was another likely reason: Li Haoxuan didn’t understand what Yuan Sitong was saying, so her harsh words didn’t really matter.

But Li Haoxuan wasn’t an idiot. From the eye roll alone he could infer the meaning behind her tone, and instantly he angrily started shouting in English: “You were the one who dragged us into taking this photo! Don’t blame me for how it turned out! Do you think I wanted to take pictures with you? If it wasn’t for promotion I would’ve left already!”

“Then leave! Go ahead and leave. You’re ugly and you blame my photography—why aren’t the others ugly and only you are? Reflect on yourself!”

Based on past on-set dynamics, the two were about to start another pointless argument, but this time Xiao He listened more carefully and strangely realized that, although they didn’t fully understand each other’s languages, they somehow managed to sync up mentally and reply in ways that matched, which led to this absurd situation where cross-language exchanges ended up working.

Xiao He: …

You could only say these two had some kind of tacit understanding.

Guo Xinya listened nearby with a smiling face and said the same thing Xiao He was thinking: “They really have that love-hate couple vibe. If a director handed them a script, the heat wouldn’t be low.”

Xiao He shook his head: “I don’t think so. Yuan Sitong’s company probably wants her to gradually transition—she’ll likely do fewer idol dramas going forward.”

Of course, that assumed Record of Chasing the Wind didn’t flop and Yuan Sitong’s transformation role received external recognition.

Still, as an actor in the same production, the male lead acting opposite Yuan Sitong should be able to help her transition through Record of Chasing the Wind. Yuan Sitong’s acting skills were solid and she had natural talent;if she devoted herself fully to acting, her future achievements would be significant.

It was just that this young miss… well, she most likely preferred watching gossip and sleeping in.