Chapter 81: The Dancing Prodigy!

Chapter Eighty-One: Dance Genius!

“Dance through it once? Are you joking?” Zack Hepburn’s eyes went round, and her mouth gaped open in disbelief.

“Oh, Heart, don’t get anxious. Seeing you so worked up makes me nervous too. Let’s take it slow, no need to rush. Let’s have Echo and Hepburn teach you carefully. If they don’t put their hearts into it, I’ll— I’ll never help them with their hair again!” Ken comforted her with concern, even resorting to a threat.

Even Lin Echo turned her gaze from the television, curious about Tang Chong.

“It’s fine. I’ll give it a try first,” Tang Chong said with a smile.

He stepped into the spacious living room, took a deep breath, and said, “Give me the music.”

Zack Hepburn leapt excitedly from the sofa, pressed play on the song, and turned the computer volume up to its maximum. She loved lively scenes and was eager to see Tang Chong embarrass himself. Clearly, this was a perfect opportunity for her.

The prelude of “Growing Up for You” began: light, joyful, and full of the youthful energy that young people adore.

Tang Chong moved.

He bent forward, right foot ahead, left foot behind, arms stretched out, resembling a robot.

Because Tang Heart always favored an androgynous style, in the “Growing Up for You” music video, she wore a white shirt and a black suit jacket, playing the cool, handsome male lead that made men jealous and girls go wild. Lin Echo, dressed in black leather jacket and skirt, took the sensual route, while Zack Hepburn wore a white tulle dress for a youthful, cute look.

At the start, Tang Heart played the motionless robot, while Lin Echo and Zack Hepburn danced cheerfully together, Tang Heart’s stillness setting off their movement. When Zack Hepburn danced to Tang Heart’s side and tugged her black tie, it was as if the robot’s power switch had been flicked, and then it was Tang Heart’s turn to dance—

Tang Chong’s body moved with the music, leaping and spinning. Some moves required interaction with Zack Hepburn and Lin Echo—like holding Zack Hepburn for a short tango, or his fingers gliding along Lin Echo’s alluring back.

He danced alone, yet captured every detail, even reproducing the intense eye contact between Tang Heart and Lin Echo.

Guided by the music, the scenes he’d just watched played through his mind, and he swiftly broke down the moves, then imitated and restored them.

Bang—

Tang Chong stomped his foot: the first section finished.

In truth, finishing the first section was essentially completing the whole dance, since most subsequent moves were repetitions of the first, with only minor variations. Clearly, someone who could dance the first section flawlessly would have no trouble with the rest.

“What do you think?” Tang Chong asked with a smile.

He looked around to see the others staring at him as if he were a ghost. Even the aunt who cooked for them stood in the kitchen doorway, clutching a rag, her expression astonished, as if witnessing a rooster lay an egg or a man give birth—something utterly incomprehensible.

She was one of the few who knew Tang Chong’s status as a stand-in. Like the driver, she was brought in by White Su, rumored to be a relative, and absolutely trustworthy in matters of security.

“No one’s going to comment?” Tang Chong asked again.

White Su finally recovered, her face showing delight and even more confusion. Tang Chong had shocked her beyond measure today.

The entire dance was a mishmash—a big bowl of soup with modern dance, mechanical movements, jazz, and even a short tango. In other words, to dance it well, you needed to master several different styles at once. Tang Heart had practiced in the studio for three months before shooting the music video. Even during filming, the three of them had countless retakes.

Tang Chong?

He’d watched the video just three times.

White Su believed in the existence of geniuses, but she did not believe Tang Chong was one.

“How did you do it?” White Su asked. At first, she’d doubted him, but after Tang Chong finished the segment, her jaw dropped wide enough to hold two goose eggs.

Her mind was filled with the same question: How did he do it? How did he do it? How did he do it?

She wasn’t a professional dancer, but she had a discerning eye. With the skill and execution Tang Chong just displayed, no one could achieve that without three to five years of training—Tang Heart, Zack Hepburn, and Lin Echo couldn’t.

His force was greater than Tang Heart’s, his expression more engaged, his movements smoother and more natural, and he was cooler, better embodying the demonic beauty of an androgynous male—almost perfect.

Aside from the black-rimmed glasses obscuring his face and his unruly hair, which made him harder to accept, and a few minor transition errors, he needed no guidance or critique.

So White Su didn’t comment on his dancing but went straight to the heart of the matter.

“Are you some kind of monster?” Zack Hepburn was no longer laughing; her eyes were round and fixed on Tang Chong. “Otherwise, how could you be so amazing?”

Thinking it over, she answered herself, certain: “I get it. You must care deeply for Sister Tang Heart, thinking about her every day. You bought our ‘Growing Up for You’ album and watched it day and night, at meals and before bed, playing it hundreds of times every day, right? Yes, that must be it. I’ve seen imitation shows on TV where imitators dance better than the originals. You must be one of them. Right?”

“Oh, Heart. Oh my Heart—” Ken was so moved he could hardly speak. “You’re incredible. So manly. How can there be such a perfect man in this world—oh, I’m so touched I want to cry. How maddening.”

Ken wanted to run up and hug Tang Chong, but when their eyes met, he retreated two steps, abandoning the idea.

“Amazing,” Lin Echo praised voluntarily. Those who knew her understood that hearing praise from her was harder than reaching the moon.

Tang Chong had thought it was something serious, only to find himself asked to dance.

He didn’t answer their questions immediately, but looked at White Su and asked, “Shouldn’t you be more concerned about how well I danced?”

“Are you hoping I’ll threaten you with a knife to your throat?” White Su laughed. “Didn’t our expressions tell you the answer?”

“Exactly. Playing dumb,” Zack Hepburn complained at Tang Chong’s deliberate suspense.

“Excellent. Truly excellent,” Ken applauded. “Heart, though I know little of dance, I was present at Butterfly’s rehearsals. And I was responsible for their styling during the music video shoot—Tang Heart’s androgynous look in the video was my design. Honestly, she didn’t dance as well as you. The reason is simple. She’s a girl; no matter how masculine she acts, there’s always a softness that can’t be erased. You don’t have that. You have the force. You have the moves. Most importantly, your gaze is spot on—demonic. This is the demonic charm I wanted to create.”

White Su nodded, agreeing with Ken. “Originally, the idea behind Butterfly was to create a female group like SHE—but Ken suggested something different. Why follow someone else’s path? They’ve already set the standard, and all we could do was chase after them. Even if we caught up, what would that accomplish?”

“So he proposed we have our own distinctive style. Thus, Tang Heart, who excels in the mid to low vocal range, was transformed into the androgynous role. Echo’s specialty is cold beauty, Hepburn’s is cuteness, and Tang Heart was to be cool to the core—in fact, I initially wanted Echo for that role, but her temperament... so Tang Heart was chosen.”

“In short, Butterfly’s design was Ken’s idea. He knows best what kind of feeling he wants, what kind of person he wants—”

“Su, you said it perfectly.” Ken flushed with excitement. “Did you all notice the moment when Tang Chong imitated Tang Heart and Echo’s eye contact? When the video first aired, everyone said it was the highlight. But I always felt something was missing—now, with Tang Chong’s performance, I know what it was.”

“What was missing?” Zack Hepburn asked.

Lin Echo also looked at Ken, wanting to know what the problem had been.

“Seduction,” Ken declared. “When a man and woman exchange glances, there must be a hint of seduction. Though Heart, under the director’s instruction, managed an ambiguous expression, she’s ultimately not a man and doesn’t know how to seduce with her eyes—this isn’t her fault; it’s an inherent limitation. Tang Chong did it perfectly.”

“Hmph. I still think Sister Tang Heart and Echo dance better,” Zack Hepburn insisted, unhappy to hear White Su and Ken praise this old-fashioned guy so highly—higher even than her favorites Tang Heart and Echo. What was so good about him?

White Su and Ken knew Zack Hepburn was still a child at heart and didn’t mind.

White Su smiled. “Now I have not a shred of worry about the opening dance for the anniversary gala, only a hundred thousand questions about how you can dance—Tang Chong, if you don’t explain soon, you’ll find out just what four crazy women are capable of when they lose their minds.”