Chapter 253: Chapter 103: 60s Cultural Troupe Top Performer (42), Part 2

Xia Zhaoyun pulled a recording pen from her pocket and dangled it in her hand, smiling openly.

"Director Yuan, I recorded your voices. When I start to miss you, I’ll just take this out for a listen."

As she spoke, she pressed a button on the recording pen, and the conversation between Mr. Xue and Master Yuan from just moments before played out clearly.

The others were a little confused, but Master Yuan heaved a long sigh of relief, as if a blade held to her neck had finally been removed.

Once the two had left, the girls all crowded at the door to watch. Seeing them head toward Group Two, they couldn’t help but huddle together and start discussing it.

"What’s with Master Yuan? She’s not even forty, is she? Taking early retirement? That doesn’t seem like something she would do."

"Exactly. With how badly she wants the troupe leader’s seat, you’d think she’d fight until official retirement, right? And then get hired back as a consultant?"

The group grew dejected again, thinking Master Yuan was just playing games. Most of their earlier excitement vanished.

Xia Zhaoyun smiled and said in a low voice, "This is a cause for celebration. I’ll permit everyone to have meat at lunch to celebrate!"

The girls couldn’t help but break into smiles. It was true—a day without Director Yuan was a day of peace. They really should eat some meat to make the happiness last a little longer...

After work, Xia Zhaoyun went to the dorm and handed a written guarantee to Wang Huiwen.

"Huiwen, this is what I managed to get for you. See if it’s suitable."

Wang Huiwen and Yao Yunying hadn’t left the room. Instead, they had closed the door and were practicing quietly, afraid their movements would be rusty when it was time to perform and they would hold everyone back.

Curiously taking the thin sheet of paper Xia Zhaoyun handed her, Wang Huiwen looked down and nodded, surprised and happy. "This is perfect, just perfect. This kind of compensation is much more valuable than plain cash and coupons."

"Little Xia, how did you manage it? And how did you know it was her?"

Xia Zhaoyun smiled and raised an eyebrow. "I bluffed. I didn’t know who she was protecting, but she had a guilty conscience and took the bait as soon as I dangled it."

"However, you need to keep recuperating. Don’t take off the bandages until the very last second before you go on stage."

Wang Huiwen nodded eagerly. "Of course. After the performance, I’ll pretend it got even worse and use it as an excuse to take a few days off and go have some fun."

"But I promise I won’t slack off on my daily practice!"

Xia Zhaoyun nodded, gave her a few more reminders, and left. On her way out, she happened to run into Master Yuan, who was slowly and reluctantly packing her things.

She approached, smiled, and said in a low voice, "Director Yuan—oh, my mistake, it should be Old Comrade Yuan now. Weren’t you curious before about how I knew of your relationship with Jie Xiaoqin?"

Master Yuan’s glare was sharp enough to be a dagger. "And you’d be kind enough to tell me?"

’If she didn’t know about my relationship with Little Qin, things might not have turned out this badly.’

Xia Zhaoyun pursed her lips into a faint smile. "I heard it from Jie Xiaoqin, of course. She knows you’re her mother, and she’s playing on your guilt and affection to secure the greatest benefits for herself."

"Although, given how cunning that young lady is, I imagine she pretends to be completely clueless in front of you, doesn’t she?"

"After all, she resents you for giving birth to her but not raising her. She suffered endlessly at home and had to work many times harder than her peers just to maintain a shred of dignity."

"Come to think of it, she’s probably even happier about your resignation than I am. What do they call that? Reaping what you sow?"

Master Yuan’s eyes widened. She took a deep breath and spat out through clenched teeth, "Xia Zhaoyun, do you think I’ll fall for your attempts to drive a wedge between us?"

"If not, Old Comrade Yuan, then how else do you think I could have possibly found out about your relationship with Jie Xiaoqin?" Xia Zhaoyun shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, right. Jie Xiaoqin has a habit of borrowing books from the library. She usually goes once a week. But what a coincidence—this week, she made a rare second trip, and during the lunch break, no less, when the library was nearly empty."

"So the librarian, who pays her quite a bit of mind, was able to roughly recall the books she checked out. The most important thing is that for a dancer, she was surprisingly interested in books about warfare. One of them, a treatise on war, contained a detailed description of tetanus. Tsk, tsk. Don’t you find that just a little too convenient?"

Master Yuan clutched her belongings tightly, feeling as if Xia Zhaoyun was peeling away her armor, layer by layer. It was impossible for her to maintain her cold, hard facade any longer.

’She used to care only for the stage. Ever since stepping down, the only thing she cared about was Jie Xiaoqin. She had hoped her child could achieve the dream she never could.’

’To protect her own reputation, she hadn’t told anyone about her connection to Jie Xiaoqin. Even Jie Xiaoqin herself only thought they were unusually close.’

’If Little Qin knew they were mother and daughter, then all this time... had she just been a tool for her own daughter to climb the ranks of the art troupe?’

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