Kang Minghao said, "Hey, I only messed up once."
"No, you messed up three times," Wang Nuozhi snapped. "But who's counting?"
Xiao Lusi tried to keep the mood up. "I think it was nice. At least people clapped."
Yu Beiyi's eyes flicked toward Xia Lihua's team, who were watching with unreadable expressions. Her smile faltered just a bit. She could already feel the difference. Their group had put in effort—but it wasn't that good.
And that fact alone stung.
Fu Xing stepped forward again, a wide grin on his face as he addressed the audience and both teams. "Both teams gave us something special today. Each performance had its own unique color, its own spirit."
He paused dramatically.
"The villagers were asked to pick their favorite performance by raising their hands."
He turned to the elders sitting near the front and called out, "If you liked the second performance best, raise your hands!"
A few hands went up—some villagers, mostly children. Perhaps five or six hands in total.
