CHAPTER 13 

Because she had been watching Sang Miao’s movements so closely, Zhao Weiwei knew exactly how difficult that revised segment had been.

The more she watched, the more distracted she became, completely unable to focus on her own steps, constantly glancing at Sang Miao.

As a result, she kept messing up the choreography during the dance, frustrating the female soldiers dancing alongside her.

Especially Wang Wenwen, who had never liked Zhao Weiwei’s pretentious coldness. Wang Wenwen was in the dorm next to Zhao Weiwei’s. At first, she had admired Zhao Weiwei’s dancing and had shown interest in befriending her—but Zhao Weiwei couldn’t be bothered, which had embarrassed her.

Wang Wenwen gave a cold snort and muttered just loud enough for Zhao Weiwei to hear, “Dancing like that… What’s so impressive about you, anyway?”

Getting mocked by a backup dancer who couldn’t even match her skill level was utterly humiliating. Zhao Weiwei felt like everyone was laughing at her.

Her hatred surged again. She even convinced herself that Sang Miao had done this on purpose—keeping the choreography change a secret just to embarrass her today.

She had completely twisted the situation in her mind—when in truth, Sang Miao had no idea Zhao Weiwei had secretly been learning her solo behind her back.

This was sheer, baseless malicious speculation.

Though her mind was in turmoil, Zhao Weiwei still forced herself to suppress her bad mood. That entire day, she secretly observed Sang Miao during rehearsals. She even swallowed her pride and, like the others, approached Sang Miao several times to “ask for guidance” on the new choreography—just so she could watch it more closely and memorize more of the changes.

Sang Miao, however, had no clue about her ulterior motives. At the moment, she was entirely focused on the dance. For the final stage presentation, she was still adjusting the choreography in coordination with everyone else to optimize the stage effect.

The only thing she found slightly odd was that Zhao Weiwei seemed to be unusually attached to her today—constantly hovering nearby and watching her every move during rehearsals.

By the end of the day, Zhao Weiwei had run Sang Miao through the routine multiple times. Including the group rehearsals, Sang Miao had probably danced the routine a dozen times.

But Zhao Weiwei had successfully memorized much of the newly revised choreography.

The next day was Saturday—a weekend, and a rest day for the troops. There was no scheduled training. Because of the intensive rehearsals for The Red Detachment of Women, everyone had been on back-to-back shifts for over a month without any outings.

The art troupe was mostly made up of female soldiers who, naturally, loved to dress up and go out. On weekends, it was common for them to request permission to leave camp to buy things.

The one who loved going out the most was none other than Xiao Honghong. Her father was the director of a steel factory, and her mother was the director of the women’s federation—a very privileged family. On top of that, she had a cheerful personality and was given plenty of spending money by her family.

Every weekend, she loved dragging her close friends in the troupe out to town to eat, shop, and explore.

She had already scoured every state-run restaurant, street food stall, and marketplace near the base.

It had been a few weeks since their last outing, and now that the choreography was more or less complete, Xiao Honghong was practically itching to get out. In the dormitory, she begged Sang Miao and the others, “Come on, just go out shopping with me! We haven’t been out in ages. I’m going to suffocate if I don’t leave camp soon!”

The other girls couldn’t help but laugh at her fidgety, monkey-like antics.

Finally, the tall girl with the long face, Li Lan, responded, “Well, since we’ve basically finished the choreography, let’s accompany this wild monkey for a walk. Besides, she’s rich and has nowhere else to spend her money.”

Sang Miao hadn’t been outside the art troupe since arriving in this world. She was still very curious about what this era looked like.

Now that the dancing was nearly done, it wouldn’t hurt to go out for a little break.

So without much hesitation, Sang Miao agreed, “Sure, it’ll be good for us to relax a bit.”

There were four girls in their dorm room. With three already agreeing, the remaining one, Liang Xiaoling, naturally didn’t want to be the odd one out.

And so it was settled: the whole dorm would go out shopping together the next day.

Xiao Honghong cheered, “Yay!”

The next morning, Sang Miao’s internal clock woke her up early as usual. What she didn’t expect was to see that even the usually sleep-lazy Xiao Honghong was already up, rummaging through her cabinet.

Sang Miao sat up in bed, slipped her feet into her slippers, and walked over to her. “What are you doing so early, Honghong?”

“Ah!” Xiao Honghong was startled by her silent approach. When she turned and saw it was Sang Miao, she patted her chest and said, “Sangsang, aren’t we going out today? I was too excited to sleep! We don’t have to wear uniforms for once, so I’m trying to figure out which dress to wear!”

Sang Miao saw that she had turned her cabinet into a mess, with colorful clothes spilling out. She reached in and pulled out a pale yellow floral dress trimmed with lace—it looked adorable.

Holding it up, she said, “Wear this one. Light yellow looks great with your skin tone—it’s really cute.”

“Really?” Xiao Honghong beamed, taking the dress and holding it against herself in front of the mirror.

Their commotion woke the other two girls. Hair messy and eyes still half-closed, they sat up in bed and looked at the two already getting dressed in front of the mirror, grumbling, “It’s the weekend—why are you two up so early?”

“Oh, stop sleeping already! It’s rare that we get to go out today. Come on down—I’ve got lots of pretty dresses! You can all pick one,” Xiao Honghong called impatiently.

Among the four of them, Xiao Honghong came from the best background. The other two girls had much more modest family situations. During their first outing as a dorm group, everyone had witnessed just how wealthy Xiao Honghong was—when she saw something she liked, she’d buy it on the spot without even asking the price. She was the textbook example of a rich girl with too much money to spend.

In contrast, the original Sang Miao was perceived by the rest of the art troupe as someone from a good family too—gentle, beautiful, and refined. But in reality, her father was just an ordinary worker, and she had a younger brother. Her father favored sons over daughters, and her mother was a soft-spoken housewife.

Later in the plot, the female lead even accidentally exposed the original Sang Miao’s lies. Compared to the original’s superficial image of wealth, the female lead came across as even more pure, down-to-earth, and genuine.

When Sang Miao first transmigrated into this world and looked through the original’s belongings, she discovered that apart from her monthly military salary, there was no sign of her past pay—it was either sent home or spent. She had only a few simple items of clothing and almost nothing that could be considered valuable. Even though Sang Miao wasn’t fully familiar with the cost of living or material conditions in this era, she could still sense the original’s financial difficulties.

Compared to Xiao Honghong and the other two roommates, the original Sang Miao was clearly the least well-off in their dorm.

Fortunately, the original girl was smart enough not to brag outright about her background. Before joining the military, she had drawn the attention of several young men from wealthy families thanks to her looks, which had allowed her to experience quite a bit.

So in the art troupe, she only needed to casually drop certain comments or show a bit of knowledge, and it would be enough to create the illusion of a privileged upbringing—earning her the admiration of others.

But the original wasn’t short-sighted. She didn’t intend to settle for some mediocre rich kid. She was beautiful and always carried herself with pride, never accepting random gifts from men. Instead, she kept them at arm’s length, using their attention to fulfill her desire to be admired by everyone.

But this also gave Sang Miao a chance to turn things around. At least she didn’t have to take on the mess left by the original host and end up being exposed and despised by everyone in the end.

The original host had also maintained a good relationship with the other girls in the dorm, especially with Xiao Honghong, who had been her absolute supporter without question. She fully embodied the “silly and rich” persona, always bringing nice things to the original host.

On the surface, the original host would decline, but in reality, she never held back and took advantage quite a bit.

Now, with someone else occupying the body, Sang Miao naturally didn’t want to continue behaving like that.

Out of a sense of guilt and compensation, she tried to treat Xiao Honghong better, especially since the girl was genuinely likeable.

And whenever Xiao Honghong offered her things again, Sang Miao no longer accepted them so casually, not like how the original host used to do it, completely at ease.

This had once made Xiao Honghong worry that she’d done something wrong to make Sang Miao upset. It took a proper explanation from Sang Miao to clear up her doubts.

Xiao Honghong even repeatedly insisted that what was hers was also Sang Miao’s, telling her not to be so polite.

Even Sang Miao was curious what kind of spell the original host had cast on her to earn such devotion.

Perhaps the only explanation was that Xiao Honghong was a hardcore face-con. Thinking of how she treated Lu Xiao—how even if she couldn’t get close, she was happy just to watch from afar—and how she often smiled foolishly at Sang Miao’s face, Sang Miao could only guess it was something like that.

Under Xiao Honghong’s relentless urging, the girls finally got out of bed. By now, she had already opened up an entire suitcase of skirts in various colors and laid them out on the small table next to her bed, enthusiastically picking one out for Sang Miao.

“Sangsang, you’ve got such fair skin. You’d look amazing in this light green dress,” she said, holding it up and gesturing with her hands.

Then she picked up a blue half-skirt and held it up against Liang Xiaoling. “Xiaoling, this one’s perfect for you, super slimming!”

Sang Miao was both amused and exasperated. “Alright, Honghong, at least let us wash up first, okay?”

“Alright, alright, but be quick!” Only then did Xiao Honghong finally let them go.

When they returned to the dorm after freshening up, Xiao Honghong had already slipped into the pale yellow dress Sang Miao had suggested. As soon as she saw them come back, she ran over and twirled around. “How do I look?”

“So pretty, so pretty! You look the best!” Li Lan chimed in without hesitation. The dress did suit Xiao Honghong—her round, baby-fat face paired with the lace-trimmed collar of the yellow dress made her look even more delicate and adorable.

Xiao Honghong beamed, her eyes turning into happy crescents. She turned to Sang Miao and said, “Sangsang, you’ve got the best eye! You guys hurry and pick a dress too. We agreed—everyone wears a skirt today!”

She eagerly urged the others to choose. When they first arrived at the troupe, she had brought the most clothes of anyone. But once inside, she realized with dismay that there weren’t many chances to wear them in the military literary corps, rendering her suitcase full of colorful skirts nearly useless.

The others, more practical, had only brought a few simple outfits. Xiao Honghong felt embarrassed going out all dressed up alone, so she always dragged her dormmates along to wear her beloved skirts too.

This time, the light green dress she picked for Sang Miao felt airy and soft to the touch. The fresh green hue resembled morning dew—bright and clean—and the cut was very flattering.

As soon as Sang Miao put it on, Xiao Honghong’s eyes lit up. The green color made her skin look even fairer, like snow. The cleverly cinched waist hugged her figure perfectly, accentuating her slender waist and gentle curves.

This was a dress Xiao Honghong had fallen in love with at first sight at a state-run department store. Unfortunately, there was only a small size left, and the waist was too tight. No matter how she tried, she couldn’t squeeze into it. But she loved it so much that, under the saleswoman’s silver tongue, she convinced herself that losing a few pounds would make it wearable.

She gritted her teeth and bought it, forgetting how much of a foodie she was—there was no way she’d ever slim down. So the dress sat unused ever since. She never expected it to fit Sang Miao so perfectly.

As soon as Sang Miao put it on, the other three girls were stunned, showering her with compliments.

Once they were all dressed, Xiao Honghong pulled out something mysterious—an elongated metal tube with English letters printed on the side.

“Look at this!” she said proudly.

“Honghong, is that lipstick?” Liang Xiaoling asked in surprise as she recognized it at a glance.

“Exactly! My cousin brought it back from overseas—it’s imported! Put it on and you’ll look just like a movie star!”

Thanks to Xiao Honghong’s enthusiastic persuasion, what was supposed to be just a casual outing turned into a fully dolled-up event.

At eighteen or nineteen, the girls were in the prime of youth—once they got dressed up, their radiance was hard to miss.

By the time they stepped out of the dorm, it was already late, and people were starting to move around in the corridor.

The girls were heading to the troupe office to report in.

Even though it was a rest day, they still needed to inform their superiors before leaving the compound. Since they were from the dance team, it was enough to report to Yang Xin. She was the head of the arts department and oversaw the team’s daily affairs.

As the four of them walked out together, they immediately drew attention. Sang Miao was beautiful to begin with, and today, without her military uniform or practice clothes, she wore a green dress that fluttered gently around her fair, slender calves with each step. Her movements were graceful and elegant, full of feminine charm.

The other three girls were also lovely, and the four of them together formed a stunning picture.

Yang Xin’s office was located above the rehearsal hall. Since they were all from the same dorm, Sang Miao had the others wait at the small pavilion outside while she went up alone to report.

But as soon as she entered the rehearsal hall, she unexpectedly ran into Lu Xiao.

Lu Xiao was momentarily stunned to see her in regular clothes. The girl’s delicate features were striking, her long black hair loosely braided to one side, resting against her fair and slender neck. Her lips were rosy like ripe cherries, vibrant and full. In that dress, she appeared softer and more feminine than usual.

Today was a rest day, and technically Lu Xiao didn’t need to come in. But after training regularly at the art troupe’s grounds for the past few weeks—and having promised Sang Miao that he’d help guide her every afternoon—he had gotten used to showing up even on weekends.

Sang Miao hadn’t had a proper break for several weeks, and he had simply followed her lead.

As a steadfast military leader, Lu Xiao had never been one to grant himself time off. Even during his time in the infantry battalion, he rarely took breaks, and rest days never meant slacking off in training or military duties.

So after being transferred to the art troupe, he maintained the same routine. Over time, he had almost forgotten that rest days were meant for the troops to relax.

It wasn’t until he reached the art troupe’s rehearsal hall and saw the near-empty space that Lu Xiao suddenly remembered: today, he didn’t need to be here.

Sang Miao, however, wasn’t surprised to see him. Lu Xiao was practically built from iron—he didn’t even let injuries affect his daily military training. His training volume was more than double that of an average soldier, which made it no wonder he always brought home victories in regional military competitions.

Sang Miao assumed that since Lu Xiao had been seconded to the art troupe, he still came on rest days as a matter of course. She herself always came to practice dance on her days off, and Lu Xiao would usually come by in the mornings to observe.

There really weren’t many people in the rehearsal hall today. Most of the group had taken the day off after yesterday’s intensive practice. Since Lu Xiao was the one from the infantry responsible for supervising their performance, Sang Miao, as the lead dancer, felt she should have reported their progress to him. Now she’d made him come for nothing.

Feeling a little apologetic, Sang Miao explained to him, “Captain Lu, our dance team pretty much wrapped up the choreography yesterday. We’ve been practicing this dance nonstop for weeks without any break, so a lot of people are taking the day off today.”

Her voice was soft, tinged with guilt. It pulled Lu Xiao from his thoughts. He calmly looked away from Sang Miao and answered in a low voice, “I came to find Yang Xin.”

“Oh? I see…” Sang Miao fiddled awkwardly with her fingers. So he wasn’t here to check on the dance practice after all. Of course—he probably had his own plans for the day.

“Then you should go,” she said, about to walk off.

But Lu Xiao spoke again, “Are you heading out of camp today?”

Surprised, Sang Miao looked up at him. Her eyes seemed to ask how he knew.

Perhaps reading the question in her eyes, Lu Xiao offered a simple explanation: “You look very nice today.”

Staring at his sharp, deep-set features and hearing him say something like that with a perfectly straight face, Sang Miao felt almost dazed. She wasn’t sure if he was simply giving a reason or actually complimenting her.

So she blurted out instinctively, “You look very handsome too, Captain Lu.”

The moment the words left her mouth, she realized what she’d just said. Her face flushed slightly. What was she doing? Maybe he was just being polite, and she was overreacting.

A hint of amusement flickered in Lu Xiao’s eyes.

“Oh?” he replied, teasing, “Is that so?”

She hadn’t expected him to follow up. Sang Miao grew even more embarrassed.

Pretending not to hear him, she quickly lowered her head and mumbled, “I’m going to see Teacher Yang. Captain Lu, I’ll be off now.”