The most beautiful space

13 Su Tong's Girlhood Years (Author's Note)

Deng Yue played computer games until quite late on Saturday night, but got up at a little after 7 a.m. on Sunday. After washing up and getting dressed, she started to bother Su Tong. Su Tong was only a little after 7:40 a.m. when she was finally woken up.

"Sis, get up! Auntie asked you to make me wontons yesterday!"

Su Tong was unhappy. "Who made me watch Korean dramas until 2 a.m. yesterday? And now you want me to get up this early? Deng Xiaoyue, do you want to get beaten up?"

Although Su Tong had made a promise to Deng Yue last night, telling her to watch TV dramas on her own and that Su Tong was going to go to sleep, Deng Yue was engrossed in watching Korean dramas and couldn't help but keep pulling Su Tong to discuss the plot. In the end, Su Tong had to agree to the unfair deal of buying her a new dress before Deng Yue reluctantly turned off the computer and the two sisters went to sleep.

Looking at her cousin, who was wearing a nightgown, with her long, black hair draped over her slender, snow-white shoulders, and who was so sleepy that she could barely keep her eyes open, but whose skin was still fair, smooth, and flawless, Deng Yue said cheekily, "Oh, I don't care anymore, Tongtong-jie, we're going to the Ashow Latin Club later!"

"What Latin club?" Su Tong exclaimed in surprise. "When did I agree to go with you?"

"Yesterday."

"When was yesterday?" Su Tong asked while changing her clothes. "I don't remember anything like that."

Deng Yue immediately became anxious, her face flushed as she said, "It was last night, before I went to bed you promised me that. If you hadn't promised me that, I wouldn't have gone to sleep so obediently."

“No,” Su Tong shook her head, “I have absolutely no recollection of it, I’m not going.”

Then, ignoring Deng Yue's stomping and jumping, she finished washing up and went downstairs to make breakfast. She had bought the wonton wrappers at the supermarket. Su Tong took out pork and a cabbage from the freezer, disregarding Deng Yue's pitiful attempts to please her, and quickly thawed and washed them. Then she started chopping the filling, carefully mixing in the seasonings. Making wontons was much easier than making dumplings; Su Tong's hands moved quickly, and with Deng Yue's help (who wanted to curry favor with her), she finished making them in no time.

"Sister Tongtong, please come with me~ Please come with me. Okay?" Deng Yue blinked and pleaded.

Su Tong acted as if she hadn't heard, took out prawns, ham sausages, and green peppers, peeled the prawns, diced them, added various seasonings, and stir-fried a plate of fragrant ham and prawns. After all that work, she was a little out of breath. After catching her breath, she said to Deng Yue, "Here, I stir-fried your favorite prawns. Put them in the wontons later, they'll be delicious. Go and wake your aunt and uncle up for breakfast."

Deng Yue gave Su Tong several resentful looks before going up to call Su's parents.

While eating wontons, Deng Yue, who was unusually persistent today, once again begged Su Tong to accompany her to Latin dance class, and even dragged Su's parents along to persuade her.

"Auntie, Uncle, why don't you ask Tongtong to come with me to Latin dance class?"

Su's mother always cared about Deng Yue's academic performance, and the first thing she asked was, "Xiao Yue, you're already in your second year of high school, won't studying this interfere with your studies?"

"It's alright," Deng Yue said with a smile. "I ranked in the top 200 in the school in the monthly exam. The teacher said that if I keep this up, I'll definitely get into a top university. That's why my dad made me start learning. Besides, although you have to concentrate on studying in high school, staying in the classroom all the time isn't good for your studies or health. I only have two dance classes a week, which is a good way to balance studying and leisure. It's a good balance between work and rest. Tongtong studied classical dance in junior high and high school, and I think she even won an award. My dad said it's good for girls to have a little talent."

Upon hearing Deng Yue suddenly mention classical dance, Su Tong froze for a moment, but quickly resumed eating her wontons at a normal pace.

Hearing that it wouldn't interfere with her studies, Su's mother smiled and said, "That's good."

Deng Yue quickly pressed her advantage, "That's right, Auntie, today is my first day of class, so please let my sister come with me!"

Before Su's mother could answer, Su's father spoke up: "Tongtong, go ahead. You've got nothing to do at home anyway. Xiaoyue wants you to keep her company, so go and keep your sister company."

Although Su's father was smiling, Su Tong immediately sensed worry in his words. Indeed, Su Tong was becoming increasingly beautiful, and she would attract attention from passersby every time she went out. In recent days, Su Tong's beauty had become even more ethereal; some people would even stare at her and forget to walk, and some men would openly lewdly look at her. This made Su Tong increasingly reluctant to go out, and whenever she did, she would wear loose clothes with a hood and pull her head down to avoid attracting attention. However, staying at home all the time was not a good idea. Su Tong nodded to Deng Yue, whose eyes were bright and full of expectation, "Okay, Yue, let's eat our wontons. After we finish, I'll go with you to your Latin dance class."

Having achieved her goal, Deng Yue happily said, "Thank you, Uncle! Tongtong, you're so kind!" Then she quickly devoured the delicious wontons.

Although she was only going to be a guest, Su Tong was already subconsciously considering how to dress to avoid attracting attention. It was early June, and the weather was gradually getting warmer. Su Tong wore a white T-shirt underneath, a denim shirt on top, loose casual pants, and a baseball cap before heading out.

As Deng Yue watched Su Tong change her clothes, she exclaimed, "Wow! Sis, your waist is so tiny!"

Deng Yue's statement wasn't particularly exaggerated. Su Tong's waist is now more than two sizes smaller than before she got the space, making it difficult to find the right size for jeans. The pants she's wearing now are already the smallest size, and Su Tong still needs to wear a belt to keep them secure. Despite her casual attire, Su Tong's slender waistline, the waterfall-like long hair cascading from her hat, and her fair and delicate skin on her profile are still very eye-catching.

Deng Yue is a high school student and usually wears school uniforms. She doesn't have many pretty dresses, so she took a light blue dress from Su Tong that had a very ladylike style and wore it. When 26-year-old Su Tong and 17-year-old Deng Yue walked together, they looked like two high school girls. The one in the dress was very charming and cute, while the one in the hat occasionally raised her head and was breathtakingly beautiful, attracting a lot of attention along the way.

Su Tong couldn't drive, so the two of them took a taxi. The taxi driver was a handsome young man. When he saw how beautiful the girl paying the fare was, he stood there for more than ten seconds before remembering to give change, and his whole face turned red.

Seeing the young driver's stunned expression, Deng Yue leaned close to Su Tong's ear and said, "Hehe... Sister, you're so beautiful! The driver was completely mesmerized. But they don't know, sister, you're not only beautiful, you also smell wonderful!"

"What are you talking about!" Su Tong poked her forehead. "Whether I've worn perfume or not, I can't even smell it myself, so how could there be any fragrance?"

"Pshaw, we slept together yesterday, how could I not smell it?" Deng Yue said seriously. "Really, sis, you have a fragrance that's hard to describe. It's not like perfume at all. It smells so nice. You can ask my aunt if you don't believe me!"

Hearing her speak with such certainty, and considering the wonders of the space, Su Tong basically believed it was true and didn't bother to argue further.

Ashow Latin Club is quite famous in the city. It is located on the top floor of a building. Su Tong and Deng Yue took a taxi downstairs and then went into the building and took the elevator up.

Upon reaching the 16th floor, the elevator doors opened, revealing three entrances. Directly opposite was a large sign for "ashow Latin Club," accompanied by a large poster of two Latin dancers. To the left was a billiards club, while the club on the right was less common and immediately caught Su Tong's attention—it was a classical dance training center. It's worth noting that clubs teaching classical dance are quite rare compared to those teaching Latin, ballet, and street dance.

Su Tong started learning dance at a small club run by a retired local dancer in elementary school. Her teacher, Yao Manping, was the wife of Su's father's university professor, and she taught Su Tong with strictness and dedication. In the first semester of junior high, Teacher Yao Manping told Su's parents that Su Tong had a lot of talent. Su's father made a tough decision and sent Su Tong to Yunnan to study dance. At that time, Su's father pulled strings everywhere and finally got Su Tong into a famous art troupe in Yunnan. She studied classical and folk dance for a period of time under the famous dance master Li Liping, who had performed on the Spring Festival Gala many times. Except for the second semester of her third year of junior high, when she returned to her hometown to study for the high school entrance examination and was in the same class as Li Liping, Su Tong studied in Yunnan until the end of her first year of high school.

The art troupe not only taught dance but also trained folk music talents. Su Tong also learned the pipa and became quite proficient at it. Almost everyone in the art troupe could play the guzheng, and Su Tong also knew a few famous pieces.

However, classical dance doesn't have a very large social influence. Su's parents saw that several of Teacher Li's students, who were all quite good at classical dance, could only struggle to make ends meet with low-paying performances every day, and their lives were not very stable. No one else could achieve the same success as Teacher Li. After much hesitation, they still couldn't make up their minds to let Su Tong pursue a career as a professional dancer. After Su Tong won the runner-up title in the National Youth Dance Competition, fulfilling her dream of dancing, they brought her back to the province with a higher level of education. She studied at the No. 1 Middle School in the city where Su's father lived for one semester, and her grades met the requirements, allowing her to transfer to the provincial key high school, the No. 4 Middle School.

Su Tong's teenage years were almost entirely devoted to dance. When she stopped learning dance for a while, she devoted all her energy to studying. In the end, she was admitted to Fudan University through the college entrance examination. She continued to practice dance while in college and even performed on the school stage a few times. After starting work, she became busy and tired, and dance became just an occasional hobby where she would go to a club or rent a space to dance.

However, Su Tong didn't think much more about it. She glanced at the classical dance club called "Jinghong" and followed Deng Yue into the Ashow Latin Club. Once inside the club, Su Tong finally understood why Deng Yue had insisted on bringing her along.

It turns out that Deng Yue's classmate named Zhou Xiuna was also learning Latin dance here. Zhou Xiuna was frequently mentioned by Deng Yue and was described as a girl who was "okay-looking but pretentious and arrogant." In reality, she did have delicate eyebrows and eyes and a pretty appearance. The two were classmates in junior high school and then in the same class in high school. As the saying goes, scholars are jealous of each other and beauties are rivals. Deng Yue and Zhou Xiuna were basically rivals who secretly competed with each other. One of the reasons Deng Yue wanted to come and learn Latin dance was because Zhou Xiuna was learning it here.

Su Tong accompanied Deng Yue to pay the first month's tuition. Deng Yue changed into a beautiful pink Latin dance dress, and the two went to the Latin dance classroom. There they saw Zhou Xiuna arm in arm with a handsome, refined-looking young man wearing glasses. The young man was surrounded by a group of infatuated girls, and he was chatting and laughing with them.

Deng Yue suddenly became like a little fighting rooster, raising her head and tightly holding Su Tong's hand, pointing at the young man and saying, "Sister, look! That's Zhou Xiuna's brother, Zhou Jun."

The dance studio was only so big. When everyone noticed that two people had come in, they all turned around to look. Although most of the people in the studio were girls, they were all staring at Su Tong in a daze.

Su Tong had fair skin, jet-black hair, and exquisitely beautiful features, like a flawless white jade sculpture. Her captivating eyes, brimming with unparalleled charm, were unlike any other woman, not even on television. For a moment, who remembered the refined and handsome Zhou Jun who had just been so smitten?

Deng Yue was very satisfied with everyone's reaction. Like a proud little quail, she puffed out her chest and raised her head, saying, "Hello everyone, I am Deng Yue. This is my cousin Su Tong, who brought me to class." Her eyes, however, were looking at Zhou Xiuna with a smug look.

Su Tong was embarrassed and whispered, "Xiao Yue, did you call me here just to get revenge?"