Chapter 67: Chapter 64 Quality
"Zhang?" Xu Shuo called out.
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After he called out to her, the other three also unanimously looked over, and Teacher Changying frowned slightly.
Seeing this, Officer Zhang also pushed open the door and walked in, apologizing with a smile, "Sorry, did I disturb you? I just wanted to come and see Qiuzi."
Today, she wasn\'t wearing her police uniform, her presence was quite gentle, making her appear to be just a capable older sister.
Hearing this, Xu Shuo didn\'t expose her identity and turned to Changying to say, "Teacher, this is a sister I knew previously. She probably came to find me about something..."
Changying\'s face was expressionless, her critical gaze sized up the uninvited guest from head to toe before she bluntly and coldly said, "Now is practice time. Any matters can wait until the break."
Xu Shuo lowered his head with a look of grievance and muttered an "Oh."
At this, Officer Zhang waved her hand and stood at the entrance of the break room, saying, "Then I\'ll just watch from here, okay?"
Teacher Changying didn\'t reply, but she didn\'t object either, not even sparing Zhang another glance, just maintaining the image of a stern and inflexible teacher.
After each of the three had showcased their dance, they began their usual action practice.
Teacher Changying was not only stern in appearance but also strict in teaching. Apart from Xuena, whose foot injury made it difficult for her to maintain some movements for long, Qiuzi and Lanruo needed to repeat actions dozens of times.
Officer Zhang initially leaned against the door of the break room watching them, but as waiting got boring, she retreated into the break room and sat on the bench playing with her phone.
Suddenly, her gaze fixed on the phone.
Picking up on something, Officer Zhang instinctively looked up to the scene in the dance studio, where the girls were spinning around.
To an outsider like her, it seemed like just an ordinary spinning movement, but in reality, the Whip Turning was extremely difficult to perform continuously for a couple of dozen rounds.
However, the action made the girls\' flailing figures, the sweat splaying in the air, and their slightly hastened breaths all full of expressive power.
Lanruo\'s dance moves were sharp and bold, her white dress also giving her a reckless and fervent quality, as if she were a real Black Swan enticing the prince.
In comparison, Qiuzi was much gentler.
Teacher Changying\'s face was stern as she glared seriously at the girl and clapped her hands firmly several times, continuously shouting commands like "Keep moving!", "Open up wider!", "Didn\'t you have breakfast? Put some effort into it!" as she loudly scolded.
Qiuzi\'s pale face didn\'t look too good, and it was unclear whether it was because of the scolding or something else.
After watching for a while, Officer Zhang turned her attention back to the information on her phone.
At her request, the police had revisited records of missing persons from this period and discovered that three girls who disappeared had been students of this dance troupe.
But they hadn\'t come back here after being turned down six months ago, and subsequently, they went missing, all involved in the "Black Dog" case.
Over the past six months, more than a dozen young women had disappeared in the city. Their identities as dancers didn\'t seem suspicious at first glance, but the fact that such an event had occurred here the night before...
Officer Zhang furrowed her brow in thought, looking up once more quite unexpectedly catching Teacher Changying\'s gaze.
But quickly, Teacher Changying moved her gaze away, clapping her hands and saying, "All right, that\'s enough practice for this morning. Take a rest. Qiuzi, come here!"
Xuena and Lanruo stopped their actions, gasping for breath, and walked over to the barre to stretch, the former even looking at Qiuzi sympathetically.
Today, Qiuzi\'s performance was really poor.
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...
Changying stood with a stern face at the diagonal corner of the rest room, staring at the girl who was bowing her head in admission of her mistakes before her.
She glanced again at the rest room, then scolded, "What\'s wrong with you? Weren\'t you dancing well just now? How come your practice is getting worse and worse? Is it because there\'s a stranger present? How are you going to perform in front of others like this!"
A stream of angry scolding came her way, incessantly and for quite some time.
Xu Shuo stood very obediently, maintaining an appearance of receptiveness and finally said apologetically, "I\'m sorry, Teacher, it might be because I caught a cold last night and didn\'t sleep well. I just feel like I can\'t exert any strength."
Upon hearing this, Changying\'s expression softened slightly. She looked the girl over and noticed her exposed skin was pale and delicate, shimmering under the incandescent light like porcelain dolls that seem like they would break upon touch.
Although it felt somewhat morbid... had the quality actually improved?
After intently observing the girl for a while, Changying bent down, got close to her, and whispered, "Qiuzi, the competition is in just three days. As my most proud student, you cannot afford to lose to Lanruo."
Xu Shuo slightly raised her head, her deep and dark eyes meeting hers, lifeless yet possessing an allure like a vortex.
She curved her lips into a smile, "Teacher, I will definitely become the lead!"
Gazing into those eerie eyes, Changying collected herself and retracted her gaze, nodding in approval without saying anything more. She gestured for the girl to go and rest.
...
"What\'s wrong, did she scold you?"
No sooner had Xu Shuo entered the rest room than Officer Zhang\'s voice followed.
She gave the inquisitive-looking female officer a resentful glance, "The teacher thinks I didn\'t perform well because you were here and told me not to bring any more odd people around."
Officer Zhang: "..."
What was so odd about her, she was a police officer after all, wasn\'t she?
As Xu Shuo began to take down her bun, she asked, "Zhang, did you come here to see me for something?"
Officer Zhang glanced at two other girls who were approaching and said, "Nothing much, I just wanted to get to know you better after our encounter yesterday. I\'ll treat you to lunch."
If not for the fact that this police officer was a woman and Qiuzi was as well, Xu Shuo might have thought this person was trying to hit on her.
Of course, if the other person was cross-dressing, that would be a different story.
Thinking mischievously, Xu Shuo took out her usual clothes from the cabinet.
Then, just before entering the washroom, she suddenly turned and smiled radiantly at Officer Zhang, "Sure, then wait for me, Zhang~"
...
Even though the girl was very pretty, with a round face that still evoked a feeling of childlike cuteness, the smile on her pale, somewhat morbid face didn\'t seem bright at all.
It was even inexplicably creepy.
But Officer Zhang was inexplicably dazzled by it.
When she smiled, she indeed was very attractive.
Just like when she was dancing earlier, even though Officer Zhang could only see vague silhouettes, it exuded a kind of devilish temptation, one that could stir the desires within a person\'s heart.
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