Stopping Midway
Chapter 1/5 of the week. Please disable adblock to support the series :)
Following the waltz tune which originated from Danube, Yang Che brought Lin Ruoxi to the middle of the dance floor.
Slowly, Yang Chen held Lin Ruoxi’s back with one of his hands. He could feel the softness under the gown made of silk. His fingers on another hand intertwined with hers as they looked into each other’s eyes.
Lin Ruoxi would be lying if she said she wasn’t nervous. Her body shivered slightly. She even forgot the starting steps of the waltz for a short moment.
In fact, although Lin Ruoxi learned different types of dances before as she had undergone education in the upper class, her tutors had always been women. As a result, it was her first time dancing with a guy.
Her first dance partner was this man, not to mention they weren’t on good terms currently. Lin Ruoxi couldn’t help but feel its irony.
The married couple Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi was too eye-catching. So when they started dancing away, they received countless gazes.
Being an introvert, Lin Ruoxi hadn’t attend many events like this before, let alone being stared upon when dancing. As her body got stiff, her dance moves didn’t really have the flow.
“If you get stiff, you’ll dance very terribly,” Yang Chen said as he held back from smiling.
Biting her lips, Lin Ruoxi said, “You should focus on yourself.”
Following the simple conversation, Lin Ruoxi finally calmed herself down. Thinking that it was only a dance, it wasn’t a big deal that she was hugged by him. The surrounding people were hugging around anyway, some young couples would even kiss each other occasionally during gaps.
Ballroom dancing had its history all the way back to the eleventh or twelfth centuries. However, before the seventeenth century, it was merely a dance admired by the European royal families.
After the French Revolution, it slowly got integrated into the lives of civilians, branching out into more remarkable dance moves. Later, it spread into the American society, eventually turning it into today’s ballroom dancing, including waltz and rumba.
Since there were many different types of them, the people who learned who rather variable. As a result, the dance moves were inevitably irregular to some degree.
The type that Lin Ruoxi was taught was the orthodox ballroom dance for etiquette purposes, so she only knew the most fundamental steps. Although her dance moves were rather accurate, her steps were quite restrained.
After dancing with Lin Ruoxi for a while, Yang Chen couldn’t help to ask a question, “Dear, do you know how I feel when I dance with you?”
“How do you feel?” Lin Ruoxi asked softly. Is he asking because my moves are messed up? I haven’t practised in a while…
“I feel like I’ve returned to the Middle Ages of Europe, dancing with a princess of a royal family during a banquet in the palace using the most traditional ancient ballroom moves. Although the steps were elegant, we’re just like dolls which lack tension,” Yang Chen said.
Lin Ruoxi wasn’t stupid. Rolling her eyes, she said, “You can tell me directly that I’m very rigid. You don’t have to tell me in a roundabout way. My teacher taught me this only. Tell me how I should dance then.”
“Do you want me to teach you?” Yang Chen winked at her.
Unconvinced, Lin Ruoxi said angrily, “You’re only someone who happens to know how to dance. Who are you to teach me?”
“Who told you that I only knew how to dance? I was just cooperating with your moves. Actually, even using the most traditional moves, we can make it more appealing by making some slight changes,” Yang Chen said with a smile.
Lin Ruoxi naturally didn’t believe him. To her, it was already a miracle when she found out Yang Chen could dance. She didn’t think he was any good in it.
As she wanted to expose him, she said, “Alright, tell me what to do. Let me warn you, I won’t cooperate if you’re asking me to do any silly moves.”
“It seems like our Boss Lin is a timid woman. At least she isn’t very open-minded when it comes to dancing,” Yang Chen said and sighed.
Mocking Yang Chen, she said, “You don’t need to provoke me. Do you want to dance or not?”
“Then relax your body more. If you’re exerting this much force on your bones, how do you expect me to lead your movements?” Yang Chen asked.
Lin Ruoxi hesitated as she felt worried. Following the movements of the dance, she slowly let her heart open. Clenching her teeth, she started relaxing her body.
Suddenly, when Lin Ruoxi was prepared to take a step back, she could feel that Yang Chen withdrew his arm from her waist. Following closely, her other arm was pulled, allowing her body to smoothly move back for two steps!
“We’re just getting started.”
After Yang Chen finished speaking, a series of actions executed one after another!
Lin Ruoxi could feel both of Yang Chen’s hands exerting various techniques on different parts of her body. Following a few taps on her thighs, her tempo slowly quickened, increasing the range of her movements.
Coincidentally, the accompaniment music sped up as well. The original waltz started bringing the feeling of tango.
Lin Ruoxi could see the hanging crystal chandeliers spin rapidly. Her body moved along the indulgence of Yang Chen’s hands. Catering to different trajectories, as long as she extended her body naturally, she could perform various actions that she didn’t think were possible.
The dance moves of the two got completely different with the ones of the people around, especially when they performed certain complex actions occasionally. Just like professional figure skating, combining high-speed spins with perfect coordination, Lin Ruoxi felt that her waist was hugged by one of Yang Chen’s arms from time to time, making her float in the air for a short moment repeatedly…
In fact, since Yang Chen moved too quickly, Lin Ruoxi didn’t have a chance to feel what she was doing. She merely followed the guidance provided as her body naturally started to move along.
Quite a number of dancers around them stopped to admire the waltz performance put up by the two which felt relaxing and exciting.
Having been to many western countries, some of the people present could easily recognize the strong western style, variety and essence brought up by their performance.
Lin Ruoxi’s black gown which was made of silk appeared particularly tight at this moment. For quite a few times, she was really worried that her dress was going to break.
Her spinning skirt looked just like a blooming black lotus. Following the glorious dance moves, her firm and white calves were revealed occasionally.
Lots of young ladies were looking at their performance with envy, while many men decided to stop dancing for the night as their moves indeed looked rather obsolete and boring.
The one who currently looked the weirdest was Liu Yun who was prepared to see Yang Chen embarrass himself. At this moment, his previously hanging smile turned to complete darkness. He stared at the figures moving on the dance floor like he hoped that they would catch fire.
Tang Wan who was drinking cocktail alone in a corner and the Cai sisters all got dumbfounded. The Yang Chen they knew had never exposed such a side of him.
When the music ended, lots of people who got addicted to their performance called out as they requested Yang Chen and Lin Ruoxi to dance again.
Listening to the cheers around, Lin Ruoxi’s pinkish cheeks slowly reddened as she blushed further. Her big eyes were rather wet. It was her first time immersing this deeply into dancing. She lied on Yang Chen’s body like a soft object repeatedly during the final few steps. Fully relying on Yang Chen’s strength, she managed to pull off a few highly difficult moves.
At this moment when she stopped, Lin Ruoxi just realized how daring she was. Her cheeks further heated up as she didn’t dare to raise her head to look at Yang Chen even for once.
Yang Chen didn’t feel it was too tiring. Lin Ruoxi’s basic techniques were actually quite decent. He only had to exert a little force to smoothen the movements.
“Do you want to do it again?” Yang Chen asked with a smile.
Lin Ruoxi lightly shook her head which was still lowered.
“Wasn’t it a lot more fun than the old-fashioned usual way?” Yang Chen asked happily.
Lin Ruoxi finally struck with a question. “Have you danced with lots of women before?”
Yang Chen got speechless. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Why do you say so?”
“Your actions were highly practised. Back then, you used to dance a lot like this in other countries, am I right?” Lin Ruoxi asked as she raised her head without any expression.
Yang Chen carefully answered, “I learned it from pubs. You know, the people abroad are very open-minded, so it’s normal that everyone danced together. Some movements were a lot more complex.”
Lin Ruoxi nodded. She said, “I think I finally understand why you behave that way. In other countries, you must’ve lived… very…”
“Very what?” Yang Chen asked.
Lin Ruoxi sighed. “I don’t want to talk about it. Let’s get away from here, I’m tired.”
Yang Chen felt really helpless. Why did you stop midway? What was with this habit? Aren’t you making me more perturbed?
However, judging by the situation, Lin Ruoxi seemed to have stopped the cold war already. It was considered good news after all.
More unexpectedly, after Yang Chen stirred up the situation, nobody in the dance floor was dancing anymore. Since everyone felt inferior, the started chatting as they consumed alcohol, acting like they were really busy.
Being the host, Liu Kangbai naturally noticed the situation. He immediately walked up the stage to announce the end of the dance party, and the start of the charity auction.