Chapter 432: – Number One Coward: Lin Jin
Lin Jin hated dancing in front of people, especially in front of people she somewhat knew. But this time was different, she was dancing in front of a group of strangers.
She thought maybe it would've been better to start by singing, but the music was already playing and Teacher Lin had already started singing into the microphone.
Hitorinbo Envy was a Japanese anime song. Of course, Teacher Lin didn’t actually know Japanese, but this song had many Chinese cover versions online and the version she sang was one of the more popular ones.
"Countdown to three, two, one, start the game. Eyes are blinded, tears for sympathy…"
Teacher Lin’s singing was a bit shaky, but it was clear she had practiced. Meanwhile, Lin Jin was beside her still in a daze. Teacher Lin took Lin Jin’s hand and wanted to pull her to dance while singing, but Lin Jin just blankly stood there. Her hands and feet were as cold as a corpse and her body was shaking non stop.
Lin Jin noticed that several people in the crowd around them started pointing and whispering about her. But instead of snapping out of it, her face became even paler. She shook off Teacher Lin’s hand and took several steps back.
During the Chinese New Year’s Eve event, Lin Jin’s singing was mostly thanks to the Master Pill. Back then, she was also super nervous, but at least it was just singing. Although her singing might be a bit out of tune, she still had the Master Pill!
But there was a big difference between singing and dancing. One needed her to do a shameful dance, while the other just needed her to open her mouth. She could just close her eyes and then think about nothing, but this wasn’t possible for dancing. If she closed her eyes and started dancing, Lin Jin felt she would very easily dance and move to who knows where. Also, once her eyes were closed, she wouldn’t be able to keep her balance and it would be very easy for her to fall while performing a big move.
So! Sure enough, she really couldn’t do it!
Lin Jin hid behind Teacher Lin in panic. Like a scared little chick, she had her head pressed against Teacher Lin’s back with her hands gripping the hem of Teacher Lin’s shirt. Her knees were slightly bent, as if she was about to crouch down and cover her head.
"Wu Min!" Zhu Dong, who was filming, gave a signal to Wu Min, who was trying to keep order nearby. Wu Min immediately rushed to the center of the stage and dragged the trembling Lin Jin away.
"What’s going on?" Wu Min grabbed Lin Jin’s arm and pulled her behind the camera. He asked with a frown. "Didn’t you sing just fine last time on stage?"
"Too many people..." Lin Jin weakly mumbled.
"There were even more people at the Chinese New Year's gala last time, a whole sea of them..." Wu Min sighed, knowing now wasn’t the time to criticize. He reached out and ruffled Lin Jin’s hair. "Forget it, if you really can’t do it, then let’s just go back."
"Mm."
Lin Jin was so nervous she was on the verge of tears. She knew she should be dancing to Teacher Lin’s singing, but no matter how much she pushed herself mentally, her shaky body just wouldn’t move. When she got up, she even felt the surrounding audience’s gaze were like that of the devil, each one ready to devour her.
"Then are we just ending the livestream here?" Zhu Dong, who was holding the camera, glanced over at the two of them. He handed Lin Jin a phone showing the live stream and said to her, "Look, the viewers in the stream are all cheering for you. You’re going to quit like this?"
Lin Jin's small hands were cold, but her body had gradually stopped shaking. Though, her face was still red, embarrassed at how she’d just acted.
She really did wimp out all the way to heaven.
She sighed. Even though she had some experience performing, her first performance during the Chinese New Year’s Eve gala was reliant on the Master Pill and most of her subsequent performances were on stream in front of a computer. So in reality, it could be said that Lin Jin barely had any experience performing.
"Let’s wait and go back in a bit?" Wu Min watched Teacher Lin still singing and dancing in the middle of the open space, seemingly enjoying it. He clicked his tongue and gave the cowardly Lin Jin a critical glance "Look at Teacher Lin and then look at you. So embarrassing."
"She’s definitely performed many times before." Lin Jin lowered her head.
Even though she was clearly the one who organized this event, as the organizer, she actually backed out before it even started.
Originally, Lin Jin thought that while she might be scared, it would be fine as long as she braved herself through it. After all, what she was dancing wasn’t the super shameful dance and Teacher Lin was even taking the lead. Yet she was still scared in the end, quickly chickening out.
After the song ended, Teacher Lin stretched and bowed to the applauding people nearby before coming over to Lin Jin. Tilting her head, she asked: "What happened?"
"Scared..."
"What’s there to be scared of? Nobody here knows you and haven’t you even done much more embarrassing things? What are you afraid of?" Teacher Lin smiled and reassured her "Plus, your dancing’s great. I can’t even do this kind of dance."
"That’s just because you, teacher, haven’t practiced." Lin Jin replied.
Teacher Lin shrugged, she really hadn’t practiced this.
"Then are you still going? Try one last time? Just imagine they’re all eggplants or watermelons or something." Teacher Lin joked. "Anyways, everyone’s got a first time. And you gave yours to the Chinese New Year’s Eve performance. You weren’t this shy back then."
"It was just singing back then…"
After chatting with Teacher Lin for a bit, Lin Jin felt her nerves seem to have eased up a lot. She glanced down at the phone Zhu Dong handed her and saw the stream’s chat full of encouraging messages.
"Miss Lin Jin, you can do it!"
"I’m rushing over to Wanda Plaza right now to cheer you on in person!"
"Don’t chicken out now, Miss Lin Jin. Just do it!"
"Exactly, you’ve never chickened out when dancing for us!"
Lin Jin took a deep breath and unwillingly mustered up some courage.
"Fine, I’ll try again. This time, can I first sing?" Lin Jin said with a bitter smile. "Jumping straight into dancing might be a bit too much for me. Let alone dancing, I probably won’t even be able to move my hands."
"Of course! What do you want to sing?"
"Little Sloppy?" Lin Jin immediately thought of the kids song she was most familiar with.
Wu Min rolled his eyes and smacked Lin Jin on the head: "That’s all you f*cking know. That was the only song you knew during the first semester, you’re still singing it now?"
"It’s fine, it’s a simple song. It’ll still sound good even if she gets nervous." Teacher Lin didn’t mind at all and laughed as she walked over to the speaker. She picked up her phone that was connected to the speaker and started searching for the music.
Lin Jin stepped back to the center of the open space, holding the microphone with a stiff expression.
"Go, Lin Jin!"
Very unexpectedly, from among the crowd, Lin Jin spotted a college girl in the front row raising her hand and shouting: "Miss Lin Jin, you can do it!"
Turns out she had fangirls too huh.