Chapter 206: Public Embarrassment
Sheng Wanyan applauded along with the rest of the audience. The performance was decidedly retro, but she had to admit it was actually quite good. The content was meaningful and deeply rooted in national sentiment, unlike the superficial, identity-driven performances of later generations that relied entirely on a pretty face without a shred of genuine acting skill or talent.
“Our third program is a solo dance performed by our comrade, Liang Qian!” the host announced.
Liang Qian glided onto the stage holding a vibrant crimson fan. She was performing a traditional fan dance. Set against her olive-drab military uniform, the striking red fan added a sudden, festive pop of color.
Even so, it was Liang Qian’s fluid choreography that truly brought the routine to life, making the performance exceptionally beautiful. To close her piece, she dropped into a flawless, dramatic split, sending a wave of thunderous applause through the auditorium.
“Bravo!” “Beautiful!”
The soldiers’ booming enthusiasm brought a flush of crimson to the cheeks of the female performers backstage, though it only heightened their internal sense of pride.
“Comrade Liang Qian is truly remarkable. How on earth does she get her legs to move like that?”
“Goodness, is that some kind of acrobatics?”
“That’s just a split. Pretty much anyone in a professional troupe can manage it. You simply haven’t seen enough of the world.”
The military wives murmured among themselves, their voices rippling across the benches.
Up in the VIP section, several officers turned to offer their compliments. “Chief of Staff Liang, your daughter is exceptionally talented!”
“Yes, indeed! With a beautiful, gifted young lady like her, I imagine the threshold of your home will be broken by matchmakers regular as clockwork!”
Hearing the praise showered upon his youngest daughter, Chief of Staff Liang quickly waved his hand in a modest gesture, though he couldn’t entirely conceal the immense pride swelling in his chest.
“Comrade Liang Qian isn’t courted yet, is she?” Political Commissar Ming inquired from the capital seat.
Chief of Staff Liang nodded with a forced smile. “No, sir. Not yet.”
His youngest daughter was undeniably accomplished in every respect, but she possessed an incredibly stubborn, obstinate streak. She had developed a fierce attachment to Gu Tingxiao a while back, only to be flatly rejected by the captain. Following that incident, she had thrown a series of massive tantrums at home, frequently locking herself in her bedroom for days on end. It was only when the cultural troupe departed for an extended regional tour that she finally returned to her routine.
She had only just returned to the base from another unit a short while ago. The moment she caught wind of the news that Gu Tingxiao had officially married, she had flown into an absolute fury at home. No matter how much his wife tried to reason with her, the girl refused to listen, stubbornly insisting that she was the only one who should marry Gu Tingxiao.
Chief of Staff Liang was well aware of Gu Tingxiao’s formidable competence, and he had initially been highly supportive of the idea of his daughter marrying into the Gu line. But the man was already legally wed! What was the point of throwing a childish fit now?
At home, she had continuously badgered her father to pull strings, demanding that he use his high military rank to clear the path for her to marry Gu Tingxiao. He had exploded in anger the last time she brought it up. The captain was already married; what room was there for discussion? Did she honestly expect him to abuse his official authority to shatter a marriage by force?
This was a military marriage! Interfering with or destroying a military marriage was a direct violation of the law. Why on earth was his daughter being so incredibly dense?
Furthermore, Comrade Sheng Wanyan was an exceptionally brilliant, accomplished citizen—not some uneducated provincial girl who only knew how to sweep floors and manage domestic chores. If his daughter dared to step across the line to sabotage a military marriage, Sheng Wanyan was far too sharp to simply sit back and take it quietly like a helpless country woman. By the time the dust settled, not only would they fail to secure an officer son-in-law, but his daughter’s future and his own hard-earned military standing would be entirely dismantled.
Chief of Staff Liang carried a heavy mountain of grievances in his heart, yet he couldn’t voice a single word of his frustration. He could only maintain a tight, strained smile, continuously nodding as he deflected the endless stream of compliments regarding his daughter.
Up on the stage, Liang Qian gripped the microphone, a bright, calculating smile on her face. “Would everyone like to see our lovely military wives show off their own talents tonight?”
Her sudden prompt instantly electrified the crowd, and a chorus of single enlisted soldiers roared their assent.
“Yes!” “Let’s hear it for the sisters-in-law!”
As the auditorium erupted into a playful clamor, the faces of the military wives turned sour. Put on a show? In their world, a wife’s duty revolved entirely around managing the household, budgeting the resources, and supporting their husbands’ grueling schedules. Even the wives who had been raised in the affluent cities simply possessed better financial standing and comfortable backgrounds; none of them had ever had the abundant leisure time required to master performance arts.
In this strict, conservative era, acquiring specialized creative talents was incredibly difficult. Pursuing hobbies like classical singing or dance outside of a state-sanctioned institution was heavily scrutinized and often condemned as a symptom of bourgeois capitalism. Only authorized cultural troupes were permitted to study these disciplines. Suddenly demanding that ordinary housewives display a performance-level talent on a public stage was nothing short of an intentional trap to embarrass them.
“Which sister-in-law is going to take the initiative and step up first?” Liang Qian prompted, her eyes sweeping over the silent rows. Seeing that no one was willing to volunteer, she shifted her tactics. “Oh, come now, our sisters-in-law are simply being modest! Everyone, let’s give them some encouragement!”
The soldiers took the cue, chanting loudly to build a festive, high-pressure atmosphere.
“Sisters-in-law, step up!” “Just one routine!”
Despite the noise, the benches remained entirely frozen. Watching Liang Qian’s calculated maneuvers from the second row, the last shred of Wanyan’s objective respect for the performer vanished. This stunt was a transparent, underhanded attempt to humiliate the resident spouses. Liang Qian had just delivered a highly polished, professional routine; what ordinary housewife could possibly follow that act without looking ridiculous? By forcing this stark comparison, Liang Qian was intentionally manufacturing a scenario to make the local wives look clumsy and unrefined by comparison.
“Since our sisters-in-law are feeling too shy to volunteer, I suppose I’ll just have to select a representative myself,” Liang Qian announced smoothly. Her eyes roved over the crowded benches as if she were inspecting items on a shelf, causing the expressions of the women below to ripple with varying degrees of anxiety and annoyance.
Up in the VIP section, Chief of Staff Liang’s heart gave a violent, panicked thud as he watched his daughter’s reckless behavior.
“I’ve been informed that a new sister-in-law has recently joined our compound community,” Liang Qian continued, her voice amplified by the microphone. “How about we invite our newest military wife to grace the stage with a performance?”
“Excellent!” the soldiers cheered, oblivious to the undercurrents.
Liang Qian scanned the front rows with an exaggerated air of mystery, before finally letting her gaze drop and lock directly onto Sheng Wanyan. When her eyes caught Gu Tingxiao sitting close by, a brief, intense flash of desperate longing and bitter resentment flickered across her features.
“Let’s welcome Comrade Sheng Wanyan to the stage for our next performance!”
Sheng Wanyan’s eyes narrowed slightly as the declaration echoed through the speakers. First Zhang Zhaodi, and now Liang Qian was taking a blatant, public swing at her. The performer’s hostility was glaringly obvious, fueled entirely by a bitter obsession with Gu Tingxiao.
Wanyan turned her head slightly, leveling a thoughtful, questioning look at her husband.
Gu Tingxiao froze under her gaze. He immediately raised his hands slightly, his face a picture of absolute innocence.
“Comrade Sheng Wanyan seems a bit hesitant,” Liang Qian pressed from the stage, a saccharine smile plastered on her face. “Everyone, let’s hear some applause to give her some courage!”
Liang Qian’s shamelessness was a bit staggering, and her underlying motives were immediately transparent to every perceptive person in the room. She honestly believed she was executing a subtle, clever maneuver, but the moment Gu Tingxiao realized she was using her platform to publicly target and trap his wife, his face went completely black.
Though he was occasionally dense when it came to navigating complex emotional nuances, he was far from a fool. He had zero intention of sitting idly by while someone attempted to humiliate his wife in front of the entire district.
“Wanyan, if you don’t want to go up there, stay right where you are,” he muttered, his voice low and dangerous. “You don’t have to give her the time of day.”
Sheng Wanyan had absolutely no intention of moving. She wasn’t an employee of the cultural troupe, so what obligation did she have to play the part of a street performer for the crowd’s entertainment? It wasn’t a matter of lacking ability; mastery over the classical arts—music, strategy chess, calligraphy, and traditional painting—had been a mandatory baseline for a young woman of her standing in her previous life. Her core essence had integrated seamlessly with this body since childhood, and thanks to the fortifying effects of her spiritual spring water, executing a flawless artistic display would be effortless for her.
But she fiercely despised being coerced into a performance. It felt exactly like those dreaded family gatherings during the Lunar New Year, where dense elders would call upon the children to parade their skills one after another. It was a thoroughly degrading, performative spectacle, akin to watching a trained monkey do tricks.
Wanyan simply fixed her gaze forward, acting as though she hadn’t heard a single syllable. Left hanging in a sudden, awkward silence, Liang Qian’s smile faltered slightly. Forced to double down, she spoke directly into the microphone again.
“Comrade Sheng Wanyan? Did you not catch your name? The entire auditorium is waiting to see your talent.”
Sheng Wanyan slowly lifted her head, her calm gaze connecting with Liang Qian’s. An intense, heavy wave of pure, aristocratic authority rolled off Wanyan, exerting a palpable, suffocating pressure across the distance.
Staring into those unyielding, frigid eyes, Liang Qian felt a sudden, sharp prickle of instinctual guilt. Her confidence fractured, and she quickly averted her gaze, not daring to maintain eye contact.
Wanyan let out a quiet, mocking scoff in her heart. With that fragile little backbone, she still has the nerve to try and play power games with me.
Sitting directly in front of them, Political Commissar Ming’s brow furrowed into a deep, icy scowl. He shot a cold glare toward the stage, his booming voice cutting through the silence without a microphone. “Comrade Sheng Wanyan is a dedicated scientific researcher, not an entertainer under the payroll of your cultural troupe. What exactly are you attempting to achieve by demanding she perform?”
