Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love)

Chapter 10: Semifinals

Dress rehearsal arrived quickly while everyone was in a frenzy preparing. All together, the dress rehearsal would span two days. Since there were a lot of people, schedules were distributed to all contestants. Each contestant only had to go to attend the dress rehearsal during their own time slot and the rest of the time could be spent training.

After the two days of dress rehearsal had passed, the staff members organized a lottery. The semifinal was structured as duels where the 40 contestants would confront each other 1v1. The loser would be eliminated and the winner would advance.

Ding Meng and a male contestant both drew number 9. She rejoiced that like her, he was also in the non-professional group. Although everyone had trained together for several days, she still didn't even know his name.

She had just been contemplating whether or not to say hello and conveniently scope out the enemy when the enemy beat her to it. "Hello, you're Ding Meng right? My name is Jia Shuai."

Ding Meng looked at the person who had walked in front of her and opened her mouth in astonishment. "What a coincidence."

Jia Shuai took a moment to follow her train of thought. "Do you know another friend called Jia Shuai?"

Ding Meng shook her head. "No, I had a classmate called Zhen Shuai."

T/N: Zhen Shuai sounds like very handsome, and Jia Shuai sounds like more handsome. That may be why it's more coincidental?

Jia Shuai, "....."

In any case, the two sized each other up and then left to return to their respective homes.

Qiao Yichen had been the one cooking dinner for the past few days and Ding Meng had become a happy leech. At the dining table, Qiao Yichen asked about how the competition was going. "Who did you draw in the lottery?"

"Jia Shuai!" Ding Meng set down her chopsticks and looked at him with a face full of excitement. "Do you still remember back in Class 3 there was a Zhen Shuai? You even had a love scandal with him!"

Qiao Yichen, "..."

His complexion rapidly darkened and he silently stared at Ding Meng.

"Sigh." Thanks to her animal instincts, Ding Meng felt a bit of danger. She didn't want today's training to become more intense. "About that, I have since thought it through and realized that when you took my love letter, you were actually trying to help me pass it on, not confess, right?"

Qiao Yichen laughed coldly, "You needed twelve years to think this through?"

Ding Meng, "..."

Sorry orz.

Qiao Yichen picked up some rice with his chopsticks and, acting as if he didn't care, coolly asked, "Do you still like him?"

Ding Meng felt like this question was a bit inconceivable. "I've stopped liking him since a long time ago. I can't even remember what he looks like anymore."

"Ah." Qiao Yichen casually replied, but his complexion became much less tense. When they had met at the coffee shop, it seemed as if she had recognized him with a glance.

After dinner was the inescapable special training. Even though the official competition was tomorrow, Qiao Yichen still calmly trained Ding Meng on the basics. Ding Meng was also in no rush to ask him to give her pointers on her competition song. She figured he was doing things this way for a reason.

Only after the special training ended and Ding Meng turned around to return to her room did Qiao Yichen stop her to say, "Goodluck in tomorrow's competition."