บท 26: Shaking earth
"..." Hu Ye's eyes widened when he heard the almost inaudible trembling coming from Qing Guang's usual cold tone. "Huh? Help with what?"
"That's…"
There was a still silence between them. The wind still moved and a strand of inky black hair covered Qing Guang's pale face.
Hu Ye was beginning to grasp what might be going on and suddenly found the awkwardness of the ice princess before him a little amusing. He felt like toying around a bit.
Hu Ye took a step toward Qing Guang and made an innocent face. "What do you want me to help with?"
Though it did not shown on her face, Qing Guang suddenly felt embarrassed asking the Fourth Young Master of the Hu family to help her in something so feminine like dancing. She bit her lip and in a small voice, she said, "With… with…"
"Hm?"
"Please help me with…"
"With what, Guang?" Hu Ye said, fighting to keep the grin off his face. He moved five steps forward, now only a meter away from her.
"Ugh… can…"
"Yes?" Hu Ye's eyes twinkled.
"Agh! Can you help me with the school's next competition?" Qing Guang pleaded. She took a step toward Hu Ye, put her hands together and looked him in the eyes. Her cold and impenetrable eyes were gleaming black. Hu Ye was unsure of why they gleamed so. He did not know why, but he was sure she looked much more beautiful and… cute like this.
Hu Ye wore an invisible smirk, wanting to tease Qing Guang further, but he decided to let her off this time. He would have more opportunities to tease her more later on.
"Ah... the dancing competition? Sure."
Qing Guang lightened up, her eyes were full of hope. "Really?"
Hu Ye sighed helplessly. "Why not? Teaching how to dance is not that difficult."
Hu Ye's sister, Hu Bai, used to be the legendary dancer of the school, always winning first place when it came to dancing. Qing Guang thought that she might finally have a chance to beat Qing Li.
Hu Ye smiled and said, "With my help, I am sure that you will be able to dance in no time."
-----
"I take my word back," Hu Ye said with sigh and slapped his face. He felt an extreme headache coming on, and his face was dark.
Today was a holiday. Early in the morning, Qing Guang had snuck into the Hu residence to get a dancing lesson from Hu Bai. Hu Zi was teaching Hu Cheng Se on the other side of the training hall.
The Hu family's training hall was enormous. The ceiling was high above, and there was a huge character 'Hu' written on the very center of the wall that faced the big red door. The walls were a strange white, and the floor was made of strong and fine woods.
Hu Ye had known that Qing Guang could not dance, but he did not know that it was to this extent. Even Hu Cheng Se could do much better than her. The sky was almost dark, and the three of them were very exhausted.
"..." Hu Bai had a frown on her pale face. "This is impossible, Fourth Brother. We have been practicing for a while but she can't even do the first move..."
"... I am sorry." Qing Guang's usual cold expression was now ghastly and sweat covered. She held a beautiful fan made out of white feather in her hand. "I will do the movement once more."
After she said that, Qing Guang started to do the first move again. At the beginning, she did it right, then something went amiss and the dance ended with a bizarre…
"Huft...huft… ugh..."
Hu Bai sighed heavily. "Qing Young Miss, it's not that your pose is wrong but that your step and movement are too stiff!" Hu Bai explained that her dancing was far from elegant, her body having trembled from start to end.
Qing Guang furrowed her beautiful brows and said, "Heh, I knew it. It was a lost cause after all."
The dance Qing Guang wanted to perform was called 'Water Lily,' and it was a very difficult dance that only a champion in dancing could possibly perform very gracefully. Qing Guang knew that. Truthfully, when she was in dance class last year, she had thought that she was unable to do the dance because no one had taught her properly at home, unlike the Hu sisters and Qing Li, who had private tutors. But now that she was unable to do it even with the almighty Hu Bai instructing her for hours, she realized it could only mean that she might really be an untalented and unfeminine young lady.
Qing Guang sighed and leaned her body against the wall, thinking about the consequences of losing like she had last year.
"Qing First Miss," Hu Bai began. She had finally got to know the Qing twins better after talking to Hu Ye. She felt conflicted. "What should we do, Fourth Brother? We don't have much time to secretly practice before the competition begins."
"True..." Hu Ye had a severe frown on his face. He put his index finger right under his chin and thought. "Sigh… Let's take a break for now." He and the two girls left.
Suddenly, from inside the hall, there was a loud thud.
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