The middle-aged man looked over.
Li Yang slightly lifted the corner of her lips, but her eyes remained cold.
“You understand Chinese.”
She said it as a statement.
“I hope you can keep your people under control. This is not a place where you can behave wildly.”
Everyone present couldn’t help but hold their breath upon hearing Li Yang’s words.
They all secretly sized her up—this was a girl they had never seen before.
Her beauty was breathtaking; if she were in their art troupe, she would undoubtedly be at the very top.
Looking at her graceful figure, she clearly had the physique of a dancer. Could she be a new star performer that their troupe leader had recruited from elsewhere?
Everyone had different thoughts—some were excited and delighted, while others felt jealous and resistant.
As for Li Yao, her fists were clenched tightly, her nails digging into her palms, yet she felt no pain.
Again! That wretched Li Yang deserved to die.
Every time she appeared, Li Yang would deliberately come forward to steal the spotlight and draw everyone’s attention away.
What if she took her spot this time too?
Li Yao only panicked briefly before coming up with an idea.
Taking advantage of the noisy scene, she quietly shrank back and slipped out of the crowd.
She went to the entrance of the art troupe and used the security booth’s landline to call Li Qingsong.
Li Qingsong was also surprised that Li Yang had gone to the art troupe. It seemed he would have to speak with his second brother later…
But for now, he reassured his daughter and told her to perform well.
After all, Zhang Xiaoping had taken so much money from their family—she naturally had to make sure things were arranged properly for Li Yao.
Of course, Li Yang knew nothing about these schemes.
Although everyone had doubts—could this foreigner even understand her?
No one dared to question it. After all, not everyone had Li Yang’s courage.
Li Yang glanced sideways at the group of foreigners and continued.
“Your behavior is truly disgraceful. It has made me lose all goodwill toward the country of India. You’re like a group of gorillas that just barged into human civilization from the wild, with no sense of proper conduct.”
Seeing the middle-aged man’s already dark face grow even more furious, Li Yang gave a wicked smile.
“First of all, get this straight. We Chinese people didn’t beg you to come here. If you don’t want to behave as proper guests and insist on causing trouble, then please go back to where you came from.”
“And this lady—”
Li Yang shifted her hand and pointed at the woman who had just spoken arrogantly.
“She openly insulted China, claiming there is no talent here. I demand that she publicly apologize to us Chinese people right now, in front of everyone!”
Hearing this, the people from the art troupe were outraged.
That dark-faced woman had insulted their country?
That was unacceptable. Emotions surged as people raised their hands and shouted.
“Apologize! Apologize!”
“That’s right! Too much—she must apologize!”
…
The man with glasses clearly had a thick skin. He shrugged indifferently.
“Miss, I don’t think my colleague did anything wrong. They were merely appreciating you. But unfortunately…”
“Besides, none of the artists present here can perform ballet. Well, that’s a fact, isn’t it?”
Everyone was shocked. The foreigner Li Yang had casually pointed at could actually speak Chinese—and quite well, at that.
If it were the original Li Yang from the novel, she would have been intimidated.
But—
Li Yang had grown up under the national flag, nurtured in a strong country. Now that her nation was powerful, there was no need to endure humiliation from any other country.
She believed that in the near future, her homeland would become strong enough to earn the respect of all nations.
And now, she would take the lead in defending its honor.
Only strength could break through unfair prejudice and discrimination!
So Li Yang stopped wasting words. Her beautiful eyes swept disdainfully across the more than thirty foreigners.
“Forgive me for being blunt, but everyone here is trash!”
Not only the opposing side, but even her own side was stunned by her arrogance.
“There’s an old Chinese saying: Those who understand the times are wise!”
“But I gave you face, and you insisted on throwing it on the ground. Then don’t blame me for being rude!”
The man with glasses suppressed his anger, showing a hint of interest.
“Oh? And how do you plan to be rude, miss?”
“No one gets away unscathed after hurting the feelings of the Chinese people. That was true a hundred years ago, and it’s even more true today.”
“When I say you thirty-odd weaklings are trash, I’m not speaking without reason. Since you refuse to apologize, I’ll beat you until you submit—until you’re willing to apologize.”
“Do you dare to make a bet with me?”
The dark-faced woman, already full of anger, spoke immediately.
“How do we bet?”
The man with glasses still hesitated slightly but didn’t want to embarrass his group.
He assumed this Chinese woman was all talk and not much of a real threat.
Seeing their interest, Li Yang suddenly asked an unrelated question.
“How much travel allowance did your government give each of you for this trip to China?”
The woman was confused.
Without waiting for an answer, Li Yang began guessing.
“One hundred dollars?”
“Two hundred dollars?”
“Three hundred dollars?”
By observing their reactions, Li Yang got the answer she wanted.
“If you have the courage, then bet with me. As guests, you can use anything you’re good at to compete with me!”
After some muttering among themselves, the foreigners sneered, thinking Li Yang was a fool.
Even the art troupe members thought she might have lost her mind—was she just a pretty face with no brains?
The hall fell silent.
The dark-faced woman even kindly reminded her, “Is something wrong with your brain?”
Li Yang ignored her.
“I don’t want to waste everyone’s time. So tell me—are you betting or not? If not, then bow and apologize properly, and behave yourselves while you’re in China.”
“If you lose, I want all thirty-five of you to hand over two hundred dollars each from your travel allowance. And you must apologize to the Chinese people and the performers you insulted.”
“How do you know our allowance is two hundred dollars?” the man with glasses asked suspiciously.
Li Yang, of course, wasn’t about to tell him she had studied psychology.
She looked at him with a faint smile, her eyes full of contempt.
“You can’t give up the allowance. Our expenses here—”
Li Yang waved it off.
“Oh, you can just contact your government to send more money.”
“What? Surely a country as big as yours wouldn’t be unable to afford a mere seven thousand dollars, right?”
The man with glasses clenched his teeth and fell silent.
After a brief discussion, the more than thirty foreigners, already irritated by Li Yang, impulsively agreed to compete.
“Fine. Let’s begin.”
Unexpectedly, Li Yang seemed eager.
Jiang Nianxin couldn’t stop her, while Zhao Guoqiang had no intention of stopping her—after all, she was like his own child; being lively wasn’t a bad thing.
Only Li Yang herself knew she hadn’t planned to give them time to reconsider the bet.
In truth, there was no need.
She believed she would not lose.
The dark-faced woman spoke first:
“I won’t make things difficult for you. I was a soprano singer in school. Since you work in a troupe, you must know how to sing. I’ll compete with you in singing.”