When the Side Character Gets a System and Travels through Difference Worlds-Chapter 89: Chi Mo 43

Wu You bit her lip. Let Chi Mo go on, or let that backup dancer go on? If she had a choice, she wouldn’t pick either. But with things as they were, Wu You looked up and said, "Then I’ll have to trouble you, Ms. Chi. Do you know how to perform my dance?"

Tan You replied, "I don’t know how to perform your dance. That piece is your creation, and you should be the one to debut it, not me. I’ll perform a piece of my own."

Wu You fought back her tears. "Okay, then I’m counting on you, Ms. Chi. I’ll focus on recovering so I can get back on stage for the next stop on the tour."

Tan You said, "To prevent any unpleasant rumors from spreading later, I’d like you to release a statement after the performance."

Everyone knew full well what the statement would entail, and Wu You understood. She gritted her teeth. "Okay. I know you’re helping me. I’ll release the statement."

"That would be best." Tan You breathed a sigh of relief. Without sparing a glance for the panicked backup dancer, she asked, "Teacher Wen, where do I need to submit my music? Also, my costume..."

Teacher Wen was always decisive. "I’ll handle all that. Our troupe can surely scrape together a suitable costume. You just focus on polishing your routine."

"I know you weren’t prepared for this. We’re throwing you in at the deep end, and I’m truly sorry."

Having already agreed, Tan You didn’t complain. She just smiled. "It’s fine, I understand these are special circumstances. I’ll just need to trouble you to turn the stage heaters up a bit, or the effect won’t come through properly."

"Don’t worry," Teacher Wen said, making an "okay" gesture before hurrying off to contact the stage director. She had always been so careful, constantly issuing strict warnings to the troupe, yet she never imagined someone would stoop to such a dirty trick.

It reminded her of her own competition days, when people would do things like grease the stage, put tacks in dance shoes, or slash costumes. There were far too many of these petty tricks.

The more she thought about it, the darker Teacher Wen’s expression grew. This time, she was determined to make an example of someone.

Every dancer longs to be on stage. The performers who were supposed to be Wu You’s backup dancers hadn’t expected the situation to blow up like this. In their minds, if Wu You couldn’t go on, they would just find a substitute. Who would have guessed the entire number would be scrapped?

Now it was being replaced by Chi Mo’s solo dance, which meant they wouldn’t get to go on stage at all. The dancers’ expressions were a mixture of emotions, but the looks they shot at the backup dancer, Wang Hui, were anything but friendly.

Wang Hui hadn’t expected Teacher Wen to take such drastic measures either, but she knew what was done was done. As for the future, she had no idea what punishment the troupe would dish out after the show.

’It was the kind of thing that was impossible to explain, and she had no explanation to give. Could she really claim it was an accident? Rehearsals had always gone off without a hitch, so how could an "accident" suddenly happen right before she was due on stage? No one would buy that story.’

The more anxious she became, the more desperate she felt, leading Wang Hui to make another terrible decision. While everyone else was rehearsing, she got her phone and posted her own version of the events, heavily embellished and pointing the finger squarely at Chi Mo.

The gist of her post was that Chi Mo was leveraging her newfound fame to bully her colleagues. It claimed that having two numbers of her own wasn’t enough for her, so she had to muscle her way in and steal their group dance. After months of their hard work, who were they supposed to turn to?

Chi Mo was currently a hot topic, and the amount of attention she was getting online was off the charts. The moment Wang Hui’s video went up, Chi Mo was thrown to the wolves.

But Tan You, still deep in intense rehearsals, was oblivious to all of this. It wasn’t until the Beauty System spoke up that she found out about the storm brewing online.

Feeling she was sufficiently prepared, Tan You didn’t linger backstage. With only twenty minutes left before the show began, she hurried toward the dressing room.

Inside the main dressing room, Wu You had Wang Hui by the hair and was slapping her across the face. Even with her injured leg, Wu You’s ferocious fighting spirit was not the least bit diminished.

"You shameless thing! All you know are these dirty tricks you pull behind everyone’s backs!" Wu You shrieked. She had a fiery temper to begin with, and she was already furious about not being able to perform. To find out Wang Hui had pulled such a malicious stunt was the last straw.

One of the backup dancers stood by Wu You’s side, holding up a phone and livestreaming the scene. Her eyes were gleaming with excitement. ’Go on, hit her! Hit her!’ she thought, barely able to contain herself.

Tan You pushed the door open and walked right into the middle of this scene. She glanced at the furious Wu You, then at the other gleefully excited backup dancers. "What’s going on? You just injured yourself. Are you trying to end your dance career by hopping around like that?"

Wu You’s lower lip trembled. "Ms. Chi... I still want to dance..."

"Teacher Wu," Tan You said with a slight nod. "I take it you’ve all seen what’s going on online?"

She didn’t yet realize that Wu You was livestreaming, so she spoke frankly.

Wu You shot a venomous glare at Wang Hui. "Since we couldn’t go on stage, everyone was just in here on their phones. I can’t believe she had the nerve to twist the facts like that."

"I wouldn’t be in this situation if it weren’t for her! I rehearsed for months! Everything always went perfectly, so how is it that on the very day of the show, *she* suddenly has an ’accident’?"

The livestream chat instantly erupted. The viewers had tuned in for the drama about Chi Mo but were now getting a scoop on the dance troupe’s internal rivalries. ’Turns out there are people like that everywhere, huh?’

Tan You felt a headache coming on. "Alright, you’re supposed to be resting. Sit down already."

A few of the dancers quickly helped Wu You into a chair, but she sat there stiff-necked, her face a mask of indignation.

Tan You sighed. "There’s not much for me to say. Let’s just wait for Teacher Wen and the troupe leader. They’re going to be furious that this all happened right before the show."

Wu You flinched and grabbed Tan You’s wrist. "Ms. Chi, you have to help me... I’m terrified of Teacher Wen when she gets angry..."

"So you do know what it means to be scared! I was starting to think you were completely out of control!" A cold voice came from the doorway, where the troupe leader and Teacher Wen stood, their expressions grim. 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

When they spotted the backup dancer livestreaming on her phone, their expressions grew even fouler. The dancer sheepishly started to lower her phone, but Teacher Wen’s voice cut through the air. "A little late for that, don’t you think? Don’t bother ending the stream now!"

Tan You whipped her head around to stare at Wu You. "You’re livestreaming this?"

Wu You nodded. "Mhm. Ms. Chi, you can’t be mad at me!"

"I’m not mad," Tan You said, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I’m just... weary. Deeply weary."

At her words, despite knowing they shouldn’t, the other backup dancers in the dressing room couldn’t help but let out a few chuckles. In all fairness, the number one victim here was Wu You.

The second was Chi Mo, since Wang Hui had unequivocally dragged her name through the mud. And the third victim? That would naturally be the entire troupe, which was probably about to become infamous.