Chapter 1: A Good Birth

“Hey, Qin Lulu, do you think that Jiang Qingrou can really pass the audition? Wasn’t it said that she took her cousin Jiang Fei’s spot? She’s just a pretty face—can she even get in?”

In the backstage dressing room, a girl wearing heavy stage makeup whispered to another girl with the same look.

Today’s audition was for the military’s art troupe, recruiting dancers. In recent years, everyone had racked their brains trying to get into the troupe—after all, once you got in, you didn’t have to be sent to the countryside. It was a once-a-year opportunity that everyone took seriously.

This was an iron rice bowl—a highly coveted job for any dancer. Just signing up required qualifications, and out of over a hundred girls, only ten would be selected.

The other girl turned her head and looked over. Jiang Qingrou, the one they were gossiping about, was calmly doing her makeup with her own personal kit, showing no trace of nervousness.

In these times when everything was in short supply, who had the luxury to buy makeup with their precious money and ration coupons?

And yet Jiang Qingrou had a full set.

The other dancers had no choice but to use the cheap, low-quality stuff provided in the dressing room. Every girl there had the same pasty white face with bright red lips, maybe a little color around the eyes—if they were lucky.

But Jiang Qingrou? She stood out.

Her makeup was subtle yet elegant. The blush on her cheeks looked much more natural than everyone else’s, and the rose-colored lipstick made her look both gentle and pure.

Not that Qin Lulu would ever admit Jiang Qingrou was naturally beautiful.

She just hated that Jiang Qingrou had the kind of luck that let her be born into the perfect family.

Her father was a Level-6 welder, her mother a workshop director at a food factory, and both her brothers had served in the military. Her eldest brother was now a police chief, and her second brother—though not as flashy—was a manager at the supply and marketing cooperative.

A manager at the co-op!

These days, what wasn’t hard to get? Stuff disappeared from the shelves the second it arrived. Even with money and ration coupons, you couldn’t always get what you needed.

But Jiang Qingrou? Everything she wore and used was trendy and new. Even her makeup was the latest on the market—stuff you couldn’t even buy anymore.

All thanks to that second brother of hers at the co-op.

Still, Qin Lulu snorted at the thought of Jiang Qingrou and said coldly, “This time, it’s the provincial art troupe leaders who are in charge of the auditions. Even if she has a big-shot brother, she can’t pull any strings now.”

Jiang Qingrou was famously useless.

She couldn’t study, couldn’t dance—her body coordination was a mess. It was only through connections that she got into the dance team in the first place, and even then, she was nothing more than a background filler.

But it seemed her luck was running out today.

The leadership team for the audition had suddenly changed, so any favors her police chief brother might’ve arranged were now useless.

Rumor had it a newly risen young officer from the army had arrived, one known for his strictness and fairness. His rank was even higher than Jiang Qingrou’s brother when he’d been in the military—there was no way he’d be swayed.

And if someone were to expose how Jiang Qingrou stole her cousin’s spot, that would be an unforgivable scandal. If that happened, Jiang Qingrou’s chances at the troupe would be dead in the water. She might even be sent straight to the countryside.

If it got serious enough, even her brother could be affected.

Everyone knew that Jiang Qingrou’s audition was only possible because her brother pushed her cousin Jiang Fei out of the way.

Thinking of this, Qin Lulu glanced at Jiang Qingrou again.

So what if she was pretty and came from a good family?

Send her to the countryside, and she’d be a haggard old woman in two months!

Perhaps sensing the gaze, Jiang Qingrou looked over.

Qin Lulu quickly forced a smile and said sweetly, “Qingrou, your lipstick looks so pretty! Can I borrow it?”

Zhao Xiaozhi, the same girl who had been gossiping with her earlier, witnessed Qin Lulu’s sudden switch in attitude and shook her head, walking away.

She might look down on Jiang Qingrou for using connections, but she had even less respect for someone like Qin Lulu who talked behind people’s backs and sucked up to their faces.

Jiang Qingrou had already caught their looks. She could tell from their eyes they weren’t saying anything nice.

So, she gave a conflicted little smile and replied crisply, “Lulu, it’s not that I don’t want to lend it to you, but this shade doesn’t really suit someone with your… darker skin. It wouldn’t bring out your complexion. Might end up making you look a little sickly…”

She paused for a moment as if she’d just thought of something, then laughed lightly and added, “But who knows, maybe the judges will be impressed by how hard you’re pushing through illness to perform. They might even select you out of admiration for your perseverance!”

Her words had barely landed when the whole dressing room burst into laughter.

After all, with Qin Lulu’s darker skin tone, such a light color really wouldn’t work.

And lipstick was a personal item. Even if the others were tempted, none of them would shamelessly ask to borrow it.

Qin Lulu, mocked by Jiang Qingrou, turned even darker in the face. But she didn’t explode right away. She composed herself, smiled stiffly, and replied,

“You’re right, Qingrou. But hard work is honorable, after all. My dark skin just shows I’ve done more labor than most.”

Her words were laced with hidden jabs—implying that Jiang Qingrou was pale because she never worked, acting like a pampered capitalist’s daughter, the very image people now condemned.

Jiang Qingrou didn’t care.

While finishing up her eyebrows, she responded lightly, “Then why did you even sign up? Shouldn’t you be heading to the countryside to do more honest labor?”

She then put down her brow pencil and looked at her reflection with satisfaction. Her tone turned slightly playful as she added, “Since labor is so honorable, why not do a good deed and withdraw from the audition? You’d save the rest of us a spot—two birds with one stone!”

That triggered another round of laughter.

Just then, their squad leader, Bai Zhenzhu, stepped in to smooth things over.

“Alright, that’s enough. If the instructor hears us messing around, we’ll get scolded again.”

Qin Lulu had just taken two hits from Jiang Qingrou, but with the class leader stepping in, she couldn’t say anything more. She could only glare at Jiang Qingrou.

But just as she looked over, Jiang Qingrou met her gaze and even raised an eyebrow with a mocking smile.

Furious, Qin Lulu shoved the table, stood up, and declared, “I’m going to practice. Talking is useless—only real skill gets you the iron rice bowl!”

With that, she stormed off toward the practice room. There was still time before the audition started.

Some other girls started to feel restless too, but Bai Zhenzhu reassured them,

“There’s no need to panic. You’ve all trained for years—what’s a few more minutes going to change? If you get hurt now, you’ll mess up your performance.”

Her words calmed everyone down.

Even Jiang Qingrou gave Bai Zhenzhu a second look. This squad leader seemed pretty upright.

Still, she was starting to get nervous.

After all, this dance audition was her first real test since she transmigrated.