15. Guess Who's Outclassed By Qi Le An

Glory had prepared Qi Le An and Yan Lang’s outfits in advance, to be accurate, it was Mr. Li who made an impassioned plea for them because normally Glory wouldn’t be bothered to make a budget for trainees’ outfits.

The two outfits Glory prepared for them were both from the most sought-after designer, anyone could tell they were quite pricy by one glimpse. Mr. Li cherished the two outfits like national treasures, he guarded the outfits himself until the morning of the performance day.

Mr. Li handed the outfits to the boys and asked them to get changed after breakfast, Qi Le An decided to keep his eyes peeled, he stored his outfit inside his suitcase and then he locked it. Then he joined Mr. Li for breakfast with Yan Lang.

Yan Lang broke out in a cold sweat by the dining table all of a sudden, his face turned pale, and he moaned in pain. Qi Le An and Mr. Li both got worried, they asked him to go back to the room and take some rest.

Everything looked so real, Qi Le An didn’t suspect a thing and he thought maybe Yan Lang still hadn’t completely recovered from the lemonade ‘incident’ until he realized he couldn’t find his room card.

It turned out Yan Lang had not only taken his own room card, he had also pick up Qi Le An’s room card on the sly. Qi Le An rushed to the elevator as soon as he realized that, leaving Mr. Li calling his name out loud, but Qi Le An didn’t have time to explain anything.

Bang bang, Qi Le An pounded the door heavily, “Yan Lang, Yan Lang, are you there?”

Silence.

But the indicator light on the door was on, it would only be on when there was someone in the room! ‘Yan Lang must be in the room now!’

There were ominous dark clouds gathering overhead, Qi Le An panicked for a second, hopefully Yan Lang couldn’t unlock his suitcase and ruin the outfit. Qi Le An looked around and his eyes suddenly alighted on the CCTV cameras, he took a deep breath and stepped two steps back, with that he slammed his heel against the door.

Thank God it worked.

A few security guards and a cleaning lady emerged from the hall, “Sir! What are you doing?”

Qi Le An replied anxiously, “This is me and my friend’s room, but I think my friend has slipped into a coma, and I’ve left my room key in the room, I’m sorry I have to do that!”

Qi Le An snicked in the heart, this was the most efficient way to open the door without any time being wasted. He was sure he would attract security guards once he started to kick the door.

The security guards looked at Qi Le An suspiciously, then Qi Le An turned to the cleaning lady who he had met briefly the day before, “Ms, it’s me, we’ve met yesterday.”

The cleaning lady looked Qi Le An up and down, “Yes, it’s true, this is the gentleman’s room.”

Qi Le An added promptly, “Please open the door now, my friend might be in danger now!”

The security guards exchanged a look and opened the door with the master card, Qi Le An dashed inside, he heaved a sigh of relief when he saw his suitcase was intact.

The bathroom door was tightly shut though, Qi Le An decided to make the scene more convince in front of the security guards, he pounded on the bathroom door, “Yan Lang! Yan Lang are you all right?”

Silence.

Qi Le An and the security guards exchanged a look, then a guard opened the bathroom door with his hand trembling.

What came to their sight was Yan Lang who was crouching at the corner with his head buried inside his legs, he looked so feeble.

“Sir, sir! Are you all right?”

Mr. Li who came to ask Qi Le An what was going on had entered the room now, he panicked as he saw this, “Qi Le An! Yan Lang! Is everything all right?”

Yan Lang raised his head and forced a smile, “I’m... I’m fine, it’s just my stomach... ...”

Everyone heaved a sigh of relief on hearing Yan Lang’s voice, he wasn’t in a coma!

Qi Le An sneered in the heart, ‘Scene! Mr. Poser, I don’t buy it! But thank God I think I’ve made it in time.’

The guards and the cleaning lady left after Mr. Li briefly explained that he was the kids’ teacher.

“Yan Lang, how are you feeling? Do you think you still can perform?”

Yan Lang picked himself up from the floor with efforts, “I’m fine! I can do it, I just need some warm water.”

“An, pour him some warm water.”

Qi Le An nodded and went to the kettle.

Mr. Li frowned as he supported Yan Lang to walk, Mr. Li wasn’t sure whether Yan Lang could perform or not.

Yan Lang had some warm water, “I’m feeling so much better already!”

Mr. Li looked at Yan Lang, it was true that Yan Lang’s cheeks now had turned rosy, “Kid, you need to take care of yourself when you are away from home.”

What Mr. Li really wanted to say was ‘don’t cause trouble for me, you brat!’

Yan Lang nodded and lowered his head, he looked so guilty.

Mr. Li didn’t pursue it any further, he turned around to Qi Le An, “An, why don’t you get changed first, you do your makeup first, Yan Lang needs some rest.”

Qi Le An was more than happy to stay away from Yan Lang, he walked to his suitcase gladly. But he frowned as soon as he touched his suitcase, it was so wet, it felt like someone had just spilled water all over it.

Qi Le An’s heart gave a jolt.

He unlocked the suitcase, the top layers inside were indeed wet! Then he rummaged through the suitcase and checked the stage outfit that he had put in a plastic bag and buried deep inside it, it was fine.

Qi Le An gnashed his teeth, ‘Yan Lang! So evil! He poured water inside my suitcase to ruin my outfit! The length he would go!’

Mr. Li was in a sour mood because of Yan Lang, and he decided to take it out on Qi Le An, “An! Why did you put your outfit in your suitcase when you have a wardrobe in the room?  What if it get wrinkly?”

“You are right, Mr. Li. But I’m worried that it will get wet instead of getting wrinkly like my other clothes inside my suitcase! It’s so odd! But luckily, I’ve put this outfit inside of a plastic bag and it’s fine, otherwise I won’t be able to perform with the outfit you have put so much effort to get us.”

Mr. Li’s countenance abruptly as he heard that, he had witnessed his fair share of drama in show business! He tended to shut his eyes to the monkey business that ‘the kids’ do to scheme and plot against one another. In his philosophy, ‘You are not worthy if you are not able to manoeuvre your way to the top!’

With that being said, he did have a bottom line which was ‘Fight all you like, but be good when you are out with me!’

Mr. Li took this activity seriously, but Yan Lang had crossed the line!

“Qi Le An, you get changed now.” Mr. Li handed Qi Le An his own room card, he sounded awfully calm.

Qi Le An took the card and left the room readily.

Mr. Li went back to his room after about ten minutes after he made a call, Mr. Li said to Qi Le An, “An, I don’t care to elaborate on certain things, but hey, you did a great job this time.”

Qi Le An blinked several times and acted like he was racking his brain to understand what Mr. Li was talking about.

Knock knock.

Mr. Li opened the door, it was the makeup artist. Qi Le An took his seat after he greeted the makeup artist, he closed his eyes and left himself in her capable hands.

Yan Lang knocked on the door when Qi Le An was about to finish, he glared at Qi Le An first thing he entered the room. Qi Le An wondered what Mr. Li had said to Yan Lang that Yan Lang couldn’t even be bothered to act nice.

Qi Le An averted his eyes and pretended he hadn’t seen that, he thought Yan Lang had really screwed it up this time because Mr. Li was their head teacher. It was true that Yan Lang’s family had powerful connections, but ‘a powerful dragon cannot crush a snake in its old haunts’.

Mr. Li got a call around nice o’clock from the organizer that they had sent a car to pick them up, Mr. Li asked the makeup artist to stop when Yan Lang’s makeup needed a final touch. The makeup artist didn’t protest for Mr. Li was the one who was paying her.

Yan Lang compared his makeup with Qi Le An’s, his looked unblended in quite a few spots, he clenched his fists in anger but he dared not say anything.

Mr. Li said with indifference when they were in the elevator, “We are going to the venue now, mark my words, anyone who messes this up will be expelled from Glory.”

Silence.

Yan Lang dared not say anything while Qi Le An didn’t care to say anything, Qi Le An told himself he would leave Glory one day!

Soon they arrived at the venue. There were six stars who would perform that day, Grace, the biggest star among them who had won Golden Melody Awards, would start the show. Qi Le An didn’t know much about music industry in both lives, but he knew Grace, Grace had always been popular.

Mr. Li walked them to the backstage and Qi Le An kept a distance from Yan Lang watchfully even though Yan Lang had been quite the whole way.

It was Qi Le An and Yan Lang’s turn soon, Mr. Li’s face now softened, “Let’s forget about this morning, just give it all and make me proud!”

Qi Le An took a deep breath and nodded, he was confident that he would deliver for he had practiced it for thousands times.

Qi Le An indeed had what it took to be that confident, he had hit every note, he performed with great grace and poise on stage, he smiled at the audience while Yan Lang was out of tune after the first verse, Qi Le An took the lead and covered for Yan Lang the whole performance.

The comparison was cruel, Yan Lang didn’t practise as hard, and he just got scolded minutes ago, his performance was a train wreck.

Mr. Li nodded at Qi Le An with great satisfaction when they walked off the stage, Qi Le An knew he had thoroughly outclassed Yan Lang in this round!