Inextricable

The IO group annual meeting would be held in the auditorium of the Shengqian Hotel, located near the IO company building. After all the participants confirmed their costumes at the last meeting, the clothing was purchased within a week. Tang Didi then informed everyone in the group to go to the auditorium on the third floor of Shengqian Hotel to try on the costumes.

Shengqian Hotel was a five-star hotel, and the IO group’s annual meeting was held in one of its largest auditoriums. The entire auditorium was about 1,000 square metres large, and it boasted a luxurious decor. The annual meeting was being held in Yiqing Hall, with a large LED screen and a stage prepared at its innermost end. Behind this big screen was the dressing room and the green room, and everyone was made aware of their appearance sequence as soon as they arrived.

Tang Didi stood in front of a pile of boxes and said, “Your costumes are in these boxes and they have been labelled with your names. Everyone should change into them according to the programme order. After changing, go to Team Leader Song, who is waiting outside, and she will guide you all to the stage.”

Xu Xingxing took a box with her name and looked at the clothes. Although this dress was only to be used once, its quality was not bad, it would have a good performance effect.

She stood in line in front of the dressing room door, looking down at the clothes in her hands.

This dress was already the least revealing of all the dresses Tang Didi had given her options for. It was a tube top dress. There was also a fan-shaped brooch which could cover the exposed chest on the left, but it couldn’t do anything for the right side.

While Xu Xingxing was looking at her dress, the door of the dressing room opened in front of her, and Li Miaoxue, who had already changed into her costume, came out.

Li Miaoxue was the lead dancer in charge of the first performance, the opening dance. She was doing a western-style dance for this, and her outfit consisted of a miniskirt, with the top being a loose hooded T-shirt that exposed her belly. In fact, there was actually no need for so much of Li Miaoxue’s body to be revealed, it was just because she had chosen one size smaller than the original size on purpose, so that whenever she raised her hands, her top would also rise, revealing the lower half of the chest.

Pushing the door open, Li Miaoxue saw Xu Xingxing standing outside. She looked at Xu Xingxing’s “expression”, gave a cold snort walked out.

Xu Xingxing didn’t take it to heart and changed her clothes quietly before going outside.

Outside the door, Tang Didi was arranging for other people to change their clothes. When she saw Xu Xingxing, her eyes lit up. “I didn’t expect that Ms. Xu would have such a good figure. What a waste to cover such a good figure with this type of dress.”

Tang Didi’s loud voice attracted everyone else’s attention to Xu Xingxing, who was very embarrassed and covered her chest with her hands subconsciously. 

Seeing that, Tang Didi grinned. She had an idea about Xu Xingxing’s usual dressing style and knew that Xu Xingxing would feel uncomfortable wearing such a revealing dress. She then gave Xu Xingxing a friendly smile and signalled her to go up the stage. “Be confident, it’s really pretty.”

“Thank you.” Xu Xingxing thanked her softly. Although Tang Didi said so, Xu Xingxing still felt awkward and embarrassed. She covered her chest with her hands, and only when she got to the stage did she grit her teeth and put her hands down.

The lights on the stage were very bright. Under the stage, Song Youling was talking to someone. “Today is just a costume fitting, not a rehearsal, so there is no special performance…” She explained with a smile.

The person listening to her glanced at the program list with lowered eyes, and asked a question lightly, “Is this lady performing a piano solo?”

Xu Xingxing was startled by this voice and turned to look at the source of the sound.

Under the stage, this man was standing among a bunch of people, and he also looked up at her at the same time, with an imperceptible smile in his light brown eyes.

Their eyes met, one pair surprised and the other calm.

Xu Xingxing’s eyelashes trembled slightly, and she looked away. 

“Yes, President Huai.” Song Youling glanced at Xu Xingxing, turned her head and said to Huai Jing, “Mr. Huai, because the piano solo will take a lot of time, Miss Xu’s show can only be rehearsed the day before the annual meeting.”

“Yeah.” Huai Jing didn’t look away from Xu Xingxing on the stage, instead he raised his chin slightly, and said calmly, “Let her practise with her piano teacher first before the rehearsal.”

Xu Xingxing: “…”

“But that costume…” Huai Jing raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes slightly.

The woman wore a champagne-coloured tube top dress that revealed her beautiful figure. 

His Adam’s apple twitched slightly, and his eyes darkened. “Change her clothes. The annual meeting is a public event, so you can’t dress so revealingly,” he commented.

“Okay, President Huai.” Song Youling agreed, then glanced at Li Miaoxue next to her, and asked, “Do you want to change the costume for the dance too?”

Huai Jing moved his eyes away from Xu Xingxing, glanced at Li Miaoxue next to her, then looked at Xu Xingxing again. “No need.”

When Xu Xingxing went back to change out of her dress, she heard Tang Didi complain outside. “Ms. Xu’s dress looks good, and there is no problem at all. Mr. Huai never cares about the annual meeting, why did he come here on a whim today?”

“I heard that there was a social event at Shengqian today, so he might have stopped by to have a look,” another person said.

“Oh!” Tang Didi wailed.

After hearing this, Xu Xingxing changed her clothes and left the dressing room.

After getting off work in the evening, Xu Xingxing finished feeding Mimi before leaving her house and getting into Huai Jing’s car. Xu Xingxing fastened her seat belt, looked at the man in the driver’s seat and asked, “Why did you come to the auditorium today?”

The man had also just gotten off work, but the tie at the neck had been removed. Under the streetlight, exposed cold white skin shone.

“I came to cheer you up, Xu Xingxing…” He still remembered how she had looked on the stage a while ago.

When the man was talking about cheering up, there was a smile on his face, and Xu Xingxing also laughed when she saw it. She rolled her eyes and asked, “Then do you think I can perform well?”

Huai Jing met her eyes, turned his head away slightly, and nodded. “Of course, don’t you know who your piano teacher is…”

Xu Xingxing: “…”

She pursed her lips, and with a sly look in her eyes, asked with a smile, “Then do you think I can be number one?”

Xu Xingxing was usually a very serious person, but occasionally, she would display a trace of cunning behaviour, completely catching him off guard. At such moments, she would be like a little fox, with her tail showing, though she thought no one could realise it.

Huai Jing felt an itch in his heart, and the smile in his eyes deepened. “That’s not necessarily true, for the teacher is not omnipotent.”

Xu Xingxing: “…”

Huai Jing said that he had come to cheer for her today, and Xu Xingxing actually believed it naively. This wolf with a big tail didn’t show his big tail until they were on the bed.

Under the darkness of the night, the man looked at the woman in his arms with a smile on his lips. He bowed his head and kissed her hair, like a gust of wind, brushing past her ear. “Now, I can bite wherever I want.”