First Night with the Army: The Stoic Big Shot Is Done Pretending

"We’re out. We only have four sleeveless dresses in total. Two of them are still soaking in water, and we were planning to wash and dry them all together after the tour performance tonight."

The touring art troupe always stayed at the local military region for a day or two after a performance to dry all the costumes before leaving.

"Is there enough time to wring them out and dry them now?"

"There’s not enough time..."

The sleeveless dresses needed to be air-dried. If you wring them out, the whole garment gets wrinkled, especially the sleeves. It would ruin the visual effect when they’re brandished.

Huang Qian calmed herself down. "Let’s try it first. If it really doesn’t work, we’ll find another garment and sew long sleeves onto it. We’ll have to cancel the drum part for now."

The Northwest Military Region command was furious when they learned the backstage area had been vandalized.

They issued an order to find out who destroyed the performance costumes.

Wen Ci and Yu Qing sat backstage, at a complete loss.

The performance they had been looking forward to for so long was ruined. All those days of practicing the dance for over two hours were wasted. An indescribable feeling of misery welled up inside them.

After the lunch break ended, the audience returned to their seats on the field.

"Did you hear? There was a thief in the barracks?!"

Zhu Jing, holding her little rascal in her arms, said with a shocked expression, "What? A thief in the barracks?! How much money was stolen?"

"No money was stolen. More than half of the art troupe’s costumes were cut up. I heard from my husband that the higher-ups are investigating who did it."

"They didn’t steal the clothes, just cut them up?"

"Yep."

Zhu Jing frowned and asked the million-dollar question, "What was the thief after? They didn’t steal anything, just ruined the clothes. What a strange thief."

·

Backstage, Su Wanqing, wearing a beautiful dress, walked up to Yu Qing and gloated, "I heard your sleeveless dresses were cut up? What terrible luck. Looks like I’ll be the one bringing honor to the hospital instead of you."

Yu Qing couldn’t help but suspect, "Was it you who cut them?"

Su Wanqing took two steps back. "Doctor Yu, don’t just go around falsely accusing people. I wasn’t even here to watch the performance this morning, let alone in the barracks."

"Hah. That makes you even more suspicious."

Hearing this, Su Wanqing shrugged. "Think whatever you want."

Suddenly, Yu Qing remembered something, snorted coldly at Su Wanqing, and mocked, "So what if you get to perform on stage? Mr. Huo isn’t even in the Northwest Military Region. He’s still lying in..."

Realizing she had misspoken, Yu Qing quickly shut her mouth. She glanced guiltily at Wen Ci, but seeing her calm expression, as if lost in thought, she changed her tack:

"It’s useless no matter how pretty you dress up."

Su Wanqing’s eyes widened. She had thought Brother Huo would be in the audience to see her performance. Her mood instantly plummeted.

"It’s still better than you not being able to go on stage at all."

Wen Ci sat to the side, thinking over the possible suspects in the entire Northwest Military Region. From her perspective, both Jiang Ye and Su Wanqing were possibilities.

They both liked Huo Jingyuan and wouldn’t want her to perform on stage.

’But...’

With no surveillance, Wen Ci didn’t dare to rashly suspect anyone. In the end, she could only let out a long sigh and console herself. "I’ll just have to leave it to fate."

Before long, Troupe Leader Huang Qian brought over two sets of costumes. One was the set of sleeveless dresses that had been soaking and wasn’t dry yet, and the other was an altered set.

"That set isn’t dry, and the sleeves on this set don’t match in color."

Wen Ci blinked her eyes. "We can only choose between these two sets?!"

"Yep."

Troupe Leader Huang Qian’s words hit Wen Ci like a heavy blow, leaving her breathless. Neither option was good; the stage effect for either would be greatly diminished.

After hesitating again and again, Wen Ci chose the damp sleeveless dress. At least the long sleeves could be brandished and retracted properly. The wrinkled waist wouldn’t be as much of an issue.

"I... I..."

Suddenly, a male voice called out. Xue Li ran into the backstage area, panting, holding two garments covered with a dust-proof cloth.

"And you are?"

Xue Li took a deep breath. "I’m here to deliver the sleeveless dresses!"

As he spoke, he pulled off the cloth. What came into view was a white skirt shimmering with iridescent colors, paired with a blue vest.

The sleeves fell straight to the waist. You could tell just by looking that the material was extraordinary, radiating a dazzling light under the sun.

"What is this?" Wen Ci’s eyes went wide.

After catching his breath for a moment, Xue Li said, "Brother Huo had these custom-made. I just had someone bring them over from Sea City. I thought I wouldn’t make it in time."

Hearing this, Wen Ci remembered Huo Jingyuan had once mentioned an old master tailor from a century-old family. He had offered to help contact him back then, but she had declined because she thought it would be too expensive.

She never expected Huo Jingyuan would still contact the master tailor and have them made.

Wen Ci reached out and gently stroked the sleeveless dress in front of her. The fabric was incredibly soft and smooth. She could already imagine what she would look like wearing it.

’Only...’

’Huo Jingyuan is away on a mission!’

Huang Qian’s gaze fell upon the costumes. As the head of the art troupe, she had seen plenty of high-quality garments, and it was clear at a glance that these two sleeveless dresses were not cheap.

"These must be at least three hundred yuan each, right?"

Wen Ci, her eyes wide with shock, shook her head.

She didn’t know the price of the two costumes.

The other female soldiers who had gathered around came closer. Their monthly salary was only about twenty yuan. They’d have to save up for over a year, without eating or drinking, just to afford one.

It was inhumanly extravagant.

Yu Qing swallowed hard and said with a blush, "Can I... not wear it? Or maybe Wen Ci can just do the finale performance by herself."

"Why?" Wen Ci asked.

As soon as the words left her mouth, Wen Ci realized it was because of what Troupe Leader Huang Qian had said about the price. Yu Qing also thought they were too expensive and was reluctant to wear one.

Wen Ci took Yu Qing’s hand, her eyes swirling with emotion. "Since Huo Jingyuan had two made, it means he hopes you and I will complete the performance together."

"Yu Qing, I don’t want you to have any psychological burden."

"But... but..." Yu Qing hesitated.

The cost of all the clothes she had owned in her entire life probably wasn’t even a tenth of the price of this one sleeveless dress. It would be a waste to wear something so expensive.

"No buts!" Wen Ci put on a stern face, looked her straight in the eye, and said firmly, word by word, "We are a team. If you really won’t participate, then I won’t either."

"This..."

·

On the field, the military families sat together.

Zhu Jing looked at the closed curtain on stage, her eyes filled with excitement. "Is sister Wen Ci’s finale performance next?"

"Should be."

Zhao Dongmei listened to the neighbors next to her discussing Wen Ci and couldn’t help but lower her head, a faint smile playing on her lips. ’She’d like to see what this finale performance is all about!’

The host walked onto the stage, beaming. "Next up is our finale, the Water Sleeve Dance! The stage needs some additional setup, so please look forward to it!"

As the host’s voice fell, the audience burst into applause.

In the audience, Xue Li urged the brothers of the Fifth Regiment to applaud, shouting, "Mr. Huo isn’t here, so we have to hype up the crowd for our sister-in-law!"