Chapter 60: Setting Liu Xiaoqiang Up on a Blind Date?

"Professor An, long time no see. I didn't expect us to be so destined; after running into each other on the train, I never imagined we'd meet again at the song and dance theater."

Just as An Shaokang was feeling utterly heartbroken, the young man who had just been conversing so pleasantly with Liu Xiaoli suddenly walked toward him.

An Shaokang instinctively raised his head, only to see a familiar face appear before him under the dim lights. His pupils constricted.

Isn't this... that young university teaching assistant from the train?

How does he know Comrade Liu Xiaoli?

An Shaokang's mind was in utter turmoil at that moment, yet he still maintained a suave and dashing demeanor. "Hello, hello, so it's you. It's truly a pleasure, Comrade Cheng, but it's getting late and I have some matters at home, so I won't linger."

With that, he left behind a silhouette of his back and turned to leave.

"Kanyuan, do you know him?" Liu Xiaoli asked curiously. Could he be a friend of Comrade Cheng's? If they were friends, had she said the wrong thing just now by being too cold?

"Not really friends, we just met once before on the train, and I won a bit of his money playing Fight the Landlord," Cheng Kanyuan explained.

Liu Xiaoli blinked, seemingly surprised that Cheng Kanyuan even played Fight the Landlord, and then asked, "By the way, when are you heading back to Beijing? On the fifth, the start of Spring, the city is holding a New Year's cultural gala where many cultural units from around the city will perform. It's just like a mini Spring Festival Gala. Moreover, leaders from both the city and the provincial levels will be coming to watch. If you have time... I'll save a seat for you."

"I'm heading back on the ninth, the Little Year, so I still have time. I will definitely go on the fifth."

"Then after the fifth, let's stroll around the Jiangcheng area. Come to think of it, you've been here for many days, but I've been constantly training and haven't had much time to show you around. Once the fifth passes, however, I'll be free. We can go check out East Lake and Lingbo Gate; the scenery is gorgeous. Oh, right, our teacher Jiang Ling has a Seagull film camera at home, and we can borrow it to take some pictures."

The two walked side by side along the path, enthusiastically arranging their itinerary for the upcoming days.

...

Meanwhile, on the other side, An Shaokang ran into an acquaintance inside the theater.

"Shaokang? Are you here to see the performance?"

Walking toward him from the opposite direction were two middle-aged women in their forties or fifties. One had short hair and wore a well-tailored overcoat, while the other wore ordinary padded cotton winter clothes.

"Aunt Xiaomin? Yes, I'm here to watch the performance."

Recognizing her as his mother's close friend, Aunt Zhou Xiaomin, who worked in the logistics department of the song and dance theater as a deputy director, An Shaokang responded with a smile.

"You're here to see Liu Xiaoli's performance, aren't you? How come the gift wasn't given away?" Zhou Xiaomin lowered her gaze to see the bouquet of flowers in An Shaokang's hand and asked with a chuckle.

"Ha, it didn't get given away," An Shaokang could only offer an awkward smile in response. Originally, he had been full of confidence, only to have his defenses shattered by a single sentence from Liu Xiaoli.

She didn't know him at all.

"That girl Liu Xiaoli is indeed a bit arrogant. She's hardly like any people's artist. Back when Dean Fan wanted to promote her to a first-class cultural assistant, I was against it. Relying on being from a cadre family, she puts on such a lofty, holier-than-thou airs in the dance troupe... I don't see how this Liu Xiaoli is any better than Hu Yanzhang! Her ideological issues alone are very serious!" Zhou Xiaomin frowned and offered a cold evaluation.

"Director Zhou, our theater does not permit dance actors to casually fraternize with audience members, even when it comes to giving flowers. You can't blame Xiaoli for that," Teacher Jiang Ling, who had been teaching Liu Xiaoli's cohort of trainees for five or six years, frowned and spoke up to defend Liu Xiaoli.

Although Zhou Xiaomin was merely the director of logistics, the matters handled by logistics were no small affair, and she could easily make things difficult for people if she chose to meddle.

"That's right, Aunt Zhou, this has nothing to do with Comrade Liu Xiaoli," An Shaokang also didn't want to bring trouble to Liu Xiaoli and quickly explained.

"Oh, Professor An is truly tender-hearted, isn't he? Struck by love at first sight? How about Aunt Zhou plays matchmaker for you?" Zhou Xiaomin teased with a smile.

The An Shaokang before her was the son of her good friend, and the An family was a medical dynasty with considerable influence in Jiangcheng's medical institutions. Furthermore, her own youngest son studied medicine and would rely on their connections in the future to secure a good job. Therefore, Zhou Xiaomin paid extra attention to An Shaokang.

"Better forget it. Comrade Liu Xiaoli seems to already have a partner." An Shaokang felt deeply tempted; had he known it could be like this, why would he have bittered away over a year waiting? It was just a pity that the girl had already fallen into someone else's arms.

"Impossible, right?" Jiang Ling said in surprise, as she had never heard of Xiaoli having a partner!

However, she quickly realized what was going on and explained, "You must mean that tall, thin male comrade, right? That's Xiaoli's younger brother, who came from Beijing to Jiangcheng on business and dropped by to see Xiaoli. He even gave me a pack of White Rabbit creamy candies yesterday, probably hoping I'd look after Xiaoli."

"A younger brother?"

Upon hearing this, An Shaokang was instantly filled with joy.

Thinking to himself, he had never heard of Comrade Liu Xiaoli having a partner!

How could she suddenly have one? So it was just her younger brother.

He had been flustered out of concern; even if she did have a partner, competition was fair game!

Besides, that young man was merely a teaching assistant, probably just a temporary worker!

I am a professor at Jiangcheng University! In every single aspect, I should be vastly superior to him!

"Liu Xiaoli is truly exceptional; both her appearance and family background are a match for you. In that case, I'll have a word with her in a few days and arrange for the two of you to meet and get acquainted. It just might work out! When that happens, you must send Aunt Zhou some wedding candy!" Zhou Xiaomin made the final decision right then and there.

Things having reached this point, An Shaokang could hardly refuse, nor did he want to, so he immediately agreed, "Then many thanks, Aunt Zhou."

"It's settled then! We'll be leaving first."

An Shaokang leaned against a pillar in the corridor, watching the two depart. A chilling coolness radiated from the stone pillar, yet his heart remained ablaze with excitement.

In the span of just a dozen minutes, he felt as though his life had ridden a roller coaster—plunging from heaven to hell, and then rocketing straight back up from hell to heaven.

"Comrade Liu Xiaoli..."

...

The next morning.

A drizzly rain was falling outside, wrapping the entire city in a layer of mist. Ripples stirred across the distant Yangtze River, and the river water was exceptionally quiet.

Along Jiefang Park Road, Cheng Kanyuan held an umbrella as he walked toward the theater.

Over the past few days, he had successfully bribed the theater staff and teachers, granting him the freedom to enter and exit the theater at will, though he still couldn't enter the women's dormitory and dressing rooms.

This left him feeling somewhat regretful.

"What are you thinking about! Having too much youthful vigor isn't good either."

Cheng Kanyuan scolded his own shadowy thoughts internally and continued walking forward.

Although the streets were paved with dark cyan bricks, Jiangcheng was a city prone to waterlogging, especially in the eighties and nineties; whenever the rain poured a bit heavier, standing water would inevitably accumulate.

Fortunately, he was wearing rubber rain boots he had bought, and before long, he arrived... outside the theater's training room.

Even after bribing a whole bunch of people, Cheng Kanyuan could only watch from outside the training room, and since the floor inside was spotless, he couldn't wear shoes inside.

He could only peer through the windows.

Inside the spacious training room, the lights were bright and pristine.

A dozen girls dressed in tight-fitting white dance uniforms stood in a row, tiptoeing so that their leg muscles were tightly tensed, while their other legs rested on the ballet barres fixed to the wall, performing stretching and balance training.

At the same time, the rows of mirrors on the wall clearly reflected the overhead light and the graceful, supple postures of the girls.

The facilities in the entire training room were neither complete nor particularly professional, falling far short of future standards.

The mirrors were pieced together pane by pane, and the flooring was ordinary wooden flooring, no different from what one would find in a home.

Professional dance flooring, by contrast, used elastic wooden flooring or specialized dance vinyl flooring, which could provide good support and cushioning to reduce the impact on dancers' joints.

The lighting, however, was quite ample.

"Sister Xiaoli, Brother Kanyuan is here. Wonder what delicious treats he brought today."

In the crowd, Wang Pingdan clearly spotted Cheng Kanyuan outside the window through the mirror in front of her, and then whispered softly into Liu Xiaoli's ear.

"All you ever think about is eating and drinking! Why hasn't it turned you into a chubby ball!" Liu Xiaoli reproached playfully. She didn't turn around to look, maintaining her posture without a single flaw as she wholly immersed herself in training.

"Alright! Twenty minutes break!"

At Teacher Jiang Ling's command, the girls relaxed one by one; some leaned against the barre, some sat straight down on the floor, and a few simply lay flat on the ground to rest.

"In pairs, help each other relax."

Seeing the disheveled, sprawling state of the girls before her, Teacher Jiang Ling frowned, yet couldn't bear to scold them, merely instructing them to massage and relax each other's muscles.

The group received their orders and used their feet to step on their companions, massaging their aching muscles.

Instantly, sultry moans echoed throughout the entire training room.

As the relaxation session ended, Teacher Jiang Ling walked over and sat down beside Liu Xiaoli. "Xiaoli, let me talk to you about something."

"What is it, Teacher Jiang?" Liu Xiaoli asked in puzzlement.

"Come to think of it, Xiaoli, it has been ten years since you came to our opera theater from Harbin, Heilongjiang in 1970. Ten whole years." Teacher Jiang Ling looked at the young woman before her with a hint of emotional reflection.

She remembered it was a winter day when a mother and daughter knocked on the theater's doors, passing the theater's examinations with exceptional scores.

It was precisely at that time that she became the teacher for Liu Xiaoli's cohort of trainees, a journey that had lasted ten years up to the present.

"Indeed, I remember Teacher wasn't married back then and was only twenty-four or twenty-five years old." Liu Xiaoli nodded, a flash of fond memories dancing in her beautiful eyes.

In truth, the Jiangcheng Song and Dance Theater was both a cultural unit and an art school.

The study system lasted six years, with dance training as the primary focus and cultural education as a secondary supplement.

Many people in the dance troupe had grown up together since childhood, learning dance and training together, forging deep bonds among students and teachers alike.

After graduating in 1976, the theater selected a group of outstanding trainees from among them to join the theater's dance troupe; Liu Xiaoli's cohort contributed eleven people.

Currently, the dance troupe consisted of over sixty members ranging from teens to thirties, stretching from dance actors to first- and second-class dancers.

"Xiaoli, you are also turning twenty-one soon. What are your plans for your future life? Do you intend to stay in Jiangcheng to continue your dance career, or return to Harbin?" Teacher Jiang Ling asked.

"Naturally, to continue my dance career! As for whether I stay in Jiangcheng or return to Harbin, to be honest, I haven't thought about it." The young woman replied with a resolute gaze; on this point, her mind had long been made up.

"I suggest you stay in Jiangcheng. You've also reached the age to consider a relationship and marriage; finding a good family in Jiangcheng to plant your roots will be beneficial for both your life and your career. Yesterday, Director Zhou from the logistics department approached me, saying she wanted to act as a matchmaker to introduce you to a blind date. What are your thoughts on this?" Teacher Jiang Ling said earnestly.

"Introduce a date?" Liu Xiaoli frowned and instinctively wanted to refuse.

Seeing this, Teacher Jiang Ling waved her hand dismissively and reminded her, "A dance career is only one part of life; there are many other things in life as well. Abandoning other aspects doesn't mean you will necessarily go further in your dance career. I hope you can give this careful thought."

"Teacher Jiang, I won't hide it from you—actually, I am already in a relationship." Liu Xiaoli shook her head and explained.

"You must mean that young Comrade Cheng, right? Don't try to brush me off with that; isn't he your younger brother? I've already heard it from others."

"Actually, I won't conceal it from you, our two families are family friends, and an arranged marriage was set up between us even before we were born, with marriage contracts exchanged. We are currently seeing each other."

Liu Xiaoli twisted her hands together, feeling too embarrassed to admit that she had already called off the engagement, choosing instead to say they were currently dating.

"So that's how it is."

Teacher Jiang Ling could only nod, sighing with emotion: "The match Director Zhou introduced really has quite exceptional conditions; both parents are intellectuals and leaders in the hospital. This male comrade himself is also exceptionally knowledgeable, serving as a professor at Jiangcheng University. He is gentle and refined in appearance, possesses a romantic personality, and loves poetry; he even translated *The Hunchback of Notre-Dame*... Ah, what a pity, really."

"Still, please help me politely decline."

"Very well then."

Teacher Jiang Ling frowned and sighed inwardly. That woman Director Zhou was not someone easy to deal with, and her tongue was as venomous as they came.

She only hoped no major chaos would ensue because of this.

...

After the training session concluded, Jiang Ling went to the logistics department office to find Zhou Xiaomin and tactfully conveyed the situation to her.

"What? She refused, and won't even agree to a single meeting? And I had already given my absolute guarantee on this!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xiaomin instantly flew into a rage, having assumed the matter was a guaranteed success.

What angered her even more was that she had already given her word to the An family, yet this Liu Xiaoli refused even to meet him, rejecting it outright.

Right there in the office corridor, in front of Jiang Ling, Zhou Xiaomin launched into a string of sarcastic, acid-tongued remarks with an exceptionally sharp tone:

"Does she really think she's some kind of pampered young miss? Young Professor An is a famously eligible bachelor at Jiangcheng University; whether you look at his personal qualifications or his family background, isn't he more than a match for a mere Liu Xiaoli?

I had the kindness to introduce such an outstanding match for her, yet she turns around and picks some reckless, unpolished youngster?

He has no proper job, just fooling around in the theater all day—clearly an unemployed vagrant who just returned to the city from being sent down to the countryside.

Look at their backgrounds: Shaokang comes from a family of scholars and a medical dynasty; his father fought on battlefields, and his mother is a life-saving physician.

Look at their culture: Shaokang graduated with a master's degree from Jiangcheng University and is now an associate professor in the Department of French.

Look at his character: he is a gentle, refined, and modest gentleman.

Look at his salary: an associate professor makes over a hundred yuan a month!

Out of all those things, what single point can that fellow surnamed Cheng possibly use to compare to him?

He doesn't measure up in the slightest! He simply doesn't have what it takes, understand?

The difference is like heaven and earth!

She's just a yellow-haired girl with shallow vision; she'll regret this bitterly in the future!

If you don't want it, there are plenty of other female comrades who will!"