Rehearsal

The day of Aunt Xian's concert arrived. A day early, Ye Shuang brought the girls to the agreed-upon location for rehearsal—though of course Ye Shuang wasn't driving. The company happened to have some Coaster commercial vans, more than enough to fit everyone from the Light Music Club.

"About an hour to get there, right?" Tang Keke sat in her seat, pulling out her phone to check the map. The concert venue Aunt Xian was using seemed to be in the Huangpu district, some kind of cultural venue.

"Yeah, everything ready?" Ye Shuang said with a smile. There had been a small hiccup a few days ago, but right now it looked like there shouldn't be any problems.

"No issues, everyone's prepared." Bai Yuyou, sitting beside Ye Shuang, spoke up.

But Ye Shuang noticed everyone seemed a bit nervous. Their last off-campus performance had only been that bar music festival, so jumping straight to a concert with tens of thousands of attendees was indeed a big leap.

"Don't worry, we're just guest performers—sing one song and we're off." Ye Shuang smiled and tried to reassure everyone. It seemed that aside from Alice, even Zhixia was worried about making a mistake and embarrassing the organizers.

With that mindset, after about an hour or so, they finally arrived at their destination.

The venue's organizers had been waiting for a while. When they saw Ye Shuang's group getting off the van, one of the women smiled and said, "Hello everyone, I'm Sister Xian's assistant. Welcome, and welcome, CEO Ye."

"Hello." Ye Shuang greeted her, then pointed at Alice and Bai Yuyou. "Aunt Xian's daughters."

"I know, come this way." The assistant was clearly aware of that fact—Aunt Xian had told her well in advance. So after Ye Shuang and the others gathered, she led them first to the backstage area of the venue.

"This is the makeup room... and this is the lounge... from here you can see the stage." The assistant walked ahead, introducing the facilities as she went, and soon brought Ye Shuang to a lounge.

"Sister Xian." As the door opened, Ye Shuang saw Xu Huixian resting on the sofa inside.

"Aunt Xian." Ye Shuang greeted her.

"Oh, Shuangzai, you're here? My dear girls." Aunt Xian immediately stood up. Alice was still a little awkward about it but let out an "Mm," while Bai Yuyou nodded and said, "We're here. These are our friends."

"Hello~" Zhixia and the others chimed in with their greetings.

"Hello, everyone." Aunt Xian looked genuinely delighted. "Since we're all here, let's go out for a meal first, then come back for the rehearsal."

She then asked her assistant, "Have the hotel rooms been booked?"

"Yes, Sister Xian, all booked."

"Then you all go put your luggage down—I'll arrange for someone to send it to the hotel."

"Oh..." The group exchanged glances. They had no objections, and they'd already gotten leave from school for today's performance—Zhixia had even posted on her short-video account about guest-performing at this event.

Though it only got a few hundred likes, it was enough to keep things mildly buzzing.

"Shuangzai, is everyone here?" Aunt Xian asked Ye Shuang.

"Yeah, almost. One more is off abroad." Ye Shuang thought of An Shiyu, who was still overseas being a wanderer, and said with a smile, "She's not coming back for now."

"I see."

Since Ye Shuang said so, Aunt Xian didn't press further.

After a quick tidy-up, everyone followed Aunt Xian to a restaurant for a meal, and then it would be rehearsals for the rest of the day.

There were a lot of people dining together—not just Ye Shuang's group, but also Aunt Xian's crew, so they booked three or four tables. This wasn't Aunt Xian's first concert in this city, and though the venue was different each time, this restaurant was her usual go-to.

"Wow, this place is insane."

During the rehearsal, Tang Keke looked at the sea of seats surrounding them and couldn't help saying, "Now this is a real ten-thousand-person venue. Way more impressive than Yinshan, and check out those big screens."

"Yeah, it really is huge." Taozi glanced up at the massive LED screens above. Several panels were combined into a polygonal display so that every audience member could see the performance—after all, the back rows were so far away that watching the stage with the naked eye would be like squinting at ants.

"What if one of those falls? They're so big."

"They won't. I just heard a staff member over there saying they had equipment tested in advance, and this venue is brand new." Keke pointed at the workers nearby.

"Still, it's so big. I feel like all those eyes staring at us would scare me." Taozi smiled softly.

"True. This is a whole different level from before. Good thing we're just guest performers."

The girls murmured back and forth, catching Ye Shuang's attention from not far away. He didn't pay too much mind, though, and instead asked Bai Yuyou beside him, "Nervous? With a venue this big?"

"No matter how many potatoes or radishes there are, I won't be nervous." Bai Yuyou shook her head, then reached out and took Ye Shuang's hand, saying softly,

"Besides, Ye Shuang will be watching me, right?"

As she spoke, she gently rose on her tiptoes, bringing her delicate face closer to Ye Shuang's. Ye Shuang smiled, lightly brushing her cheek with his fingers.

"Of course I'll watch your performance."

"Mm, good."

"Hmph! We're about to rehearse, and you two are still flirting here. Can you have some professional integrity?!" A voice cut in from beside them. Ye Shuang froze, turned around, and found Alice standing there with her hands on her hips.

"In broad daylight, under the open sky!"

"My apologies, then." Ye Shuang grinned at Alice's fierce look. "Are you ready over there, Alice?"

"Of course—I'm a professional idol." Alice flashed her little fang with pride. "Even for rehearsal, I give 200% energy."

"Where's Bobo?" Ye Shuang asked. Usually Bobo would be hovering nearby, but he wasn't around.

"He went to the bathroom." Alice glanced around. True enough, Bobo was nowhere in sight. But for her, it wasn't a big deal—sometimes when she felt safe in a place, she'd let him step away briefly. After all, she couldn't deny the guy his restroom breaks.

"Oh, I see." Ye Shuang didn't think much of it.