After Rebirth, I Ended Up with My Idol [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 15

After a week of training, An Rong’s body hadn’t felt comfortable for a single moment. Every morning, she woke up in pain, forcing her aching, protesting body to repeat the previous day’s drills. Eating lunch and practicing her instrument, or attending a music class in the evening—that was considered “rest.”

But the results were visibly improving. An Rong had quickly slimmed down; not only was her body fat decreasing, but her muscles were becoming firm and toned. Training was no longer as agonizing or difficult as it had been at the start.

By the end of the week, the training progress was mostly on schedule. The five of them could perform the entire dance sequence. The next step was constant rehearsal—refining details, identifying problems, and then improving.

An Rong was still at the bottom of the rankings. Although she worked hard, physical incoordination wasn’t something that could be fixed overnight. Some of her movements were simply not smooth; they felt stiff.

Xu Xiaoye returned from the restroom to see An Rong still dancing, practicing the same moves repeatedly. She was indeed serious and hardworking—very much like Xu Xiaoye herself back in the day.

An Rong stopped to take a sip of water, pinching the fabric at her chest and pulling it forward. Her clothes were soaked with sweat, damp and uncomfortable.

Seeing this, Xu Xiaoye’s gaze lingered on An Rong’s chest for a moment. She nodded with a smile and said, “Seventeen… it is a bit small.”

It was a double entendre.

The moment An Rong let go of her shirt, the sweat-soaked fabric clung to her body. The clothes issued by the company were still wet from washing, so she was wearing her own short-sleeved cotton shirt. It was breathable and absorbent, but once wet, it was a bit revealing.

An Rong froze for a second, slowly looking down at her own chest. She arched an eyebrow and said, “I still have room to grow.”

Another double entendre.

Xu Xiaoye stifled a laugh. Not bad, her mind works fast.

Without changing her expression, An Rong let her gaze wander over Xu Xiaoye’s full chest, then continued: “Big has the benefits of being big, and small has the distinction of being small.”

Xu Xiaoye’s smile gradually vanished. Her brow furrowed slightly as she looked at An Rong, her mind full of question marks.

An Rong waved her hand, her eyes narrowing into a smirk. Her “cat-like” lips looked both mischievous and cute. She then added, with exaggerated clarification, “Hey, I was talking about age! The older ones are mature, the younger ones are cute. Don’t overthink it.”

Xu Xiaoye: “…” If you hadn’t added that, I might have actually believed you were talking about age!

Xu Xiaoye blinked frantically. Having been lead into a “dirty” train of thought by An Rong, she turned her head away with a hint of guilt, clapping her hands. “Who’s overthinking? That’s exactly what I meant too!”

She walked over to An Rong with her hands behind her back and nudged her with her elbow, her eyes darting toward the door.

An Rong understood immediately and turned to walk out.

Xu Xiaoye was stunned for a moment. So direct? Not even a polite word of transition? And here she was, being all subtle and cautious with her signals.

Once outside the dance studio, An Rong looked at Xu Xiaoye in confusion. “What is it?”

Xu Xiaoye dropped the smile. Her eyes scanned the surroundings. Seeing no one nearby and no recording equipment, she frowned and whispered, “I just ran into Sister Chen. There’s something up.”

“Sister Chen” was Chen Xin, the one in charge of their daily lives. She rarely came to the dance studio and was seldom seen in the dorms during the day or evening—primarily to avoid appearing on camera and complicating the editing process. After all, for a variety show, the audience only needs to see the contestants.

Xu Xiaoye’s brow was furrowed, her expression serious, as if she had encountered some trouble.

An Rong felt a surge of worry, fearing some accident might cause her to be cut from the show. But since Xu Xiaoye didn’t say it outright, she couldn’t ask directly.

An Rong pursed her lips, suppressing her nervousness, and asked seriously: “What happened?”

Even though she was reliving this, An Rong didn’t relax at all. She didn’t dare assume everything would happen exactly as it did in her previous life, fearing a “butterfly effect” where things spiraled out of her expectations.

Xu Xiaoye bit her lip and let out a sigh, looking frustrated. “Someone from the PR department came over. They said training all day is too boring and they haven’t captured enough footage. They want us to pay attention—we need to be funny, have ‘gags,’ play games, or even have friction, arguments, or cry because we’re homesick. Anything works.”

The director’s crew was hired from outside, and someone from the PR department was responsible for liaising with the film crew. After a week of filming, the directors were practically falling asleep. The amount of editable footage was pitifully small. These civilians had zero sense of being on camera—never mind that, they didn’t even have any conflicts. For a variety show, what do the viewers want to see? Do they want to watch people go to school every day? No! They want handsome men and beautiful women, funny bits, character conflicts, and touching moments!

The people in PR were anxious. This project was the company’s main focus for the second half of the year, and it was the first season. If the results were good, this selection format would become the mainstream for the company’s group selections, bringing in massive traffic and profit.

As soon as Xu Xiaoye mentioned it, An Rong understood.

The company was still cautious. They didn’t want to tell the girls directly, likely fearing the footage of Chen Xin giving instructions would be caught on camera. If that video leaked, the negative impact on the company would be too great. Since Xu Xiaoye was already signed to TS, it was best for her to pass the message along privately.

“A girl group today doesn’t just need to be able to sing and dance; you have to be pretty, cute, and full of personality,” Xu Xiaoye complained, leaning her head on An Rong’s shoulder. “Do you have any ideas?”

An Rong looked innocent. She slowly tilted her head, their cheeks touching slightly—the distance between them was less than a centimeter. An Rong lowered her eyes, then quickly pulled away with a serious face.

Xu Xiaoye let out a troubled “tsk” and muttered, “Right. You’re a ‘socially withdrawn child.’ What ideas could you have?”

Unfortunately, interesting souls are one in ten thousand. Xu Xiaoye felt she belonged to the “extremely boring” category. She whispered to An Rong, “As long as you can produce a ‘gag,’ you can get screen time. Screen time gets you in front of the audience. This is an opportunity; you have to seize it.”

The principle of variety show editing is to make it look good—full of highlights with no dull moments. Although other factors would interfere in the end, the basic “entertainment value” had to be preserved.

An Rong pressed her lips together and said frankly: “I don’t have gags, and I don’t know how to be funny.”

An Rong felt she was a rather boring person; otherwise, she wouldn’t have successfully hidden a crush for four years.

Xu Xiaoye patted An Rong on the other shoulder, looking like she was “frustrated by her lack of ambition.”

The two didn’t come up with anything specific, so they had to pretend to go into the dorm for a bit. An Rong’s gaze caught the instrument by the desk, and she suddenly had an idea.

An Rong picked up the Shaoqin, hesitated, and gestured to Xu Xiaoye. “Can I use this in the dance studio?”

“Yes.” Xu Xiaoye nodded, then arched her eyebrow at her, letting out a helpless sigh.

This instrument had already made a stunning debut once. Bringing it out again might not have the same impact.

But since the “kid” was trying hard to come up with an idea, Xu Xiaoye didn’t want to discourage her. She encouraged, “Never mind playing the piano or the Erhu—the PR department would be thrilled if someone started doing somersaults in the studio or the dorms just so they could find a hook for the media.”

In this regard, An Rong truly admired Xu Xiaoye. Even though she was currently just a trainee, she could always view the same situation from multiple angles, remaining calm and rational.

As An Rong reached the door with the Shaoqin, Xu Xiaoye hesitated, then turned back and grabbed her own guitar.

“I’ll accompany you.”

As soon as the two entered the dance studio, they attracted many gazes.

Many people had brought guitars, but no one had brought one into the dance studio yet—at most, they played in the dorms at night. Seeing An Rong and Xu Xiaoye enter with instruments naturally sparked curiosity.

Xia Chunhua was sitting on the floor resting. Seeing the situation, she perceptively ran over and brought two chairs.

An Rong looked at Xu Xiaoye, then said to the other three teammates, “If you’re tired, take a break. Let’s do a ‘busking’ session. The Captain and I will play, and you guys sing. Let’s see how much of the song you’ve learned.”

Learning the song was relatively simple. One song a week was actually quite slow, but since they were all rookies, they were given ample time.

However, Xu Xiaoye had arranged the time and progress very well; singing now should be no problem.

Xu Xiaoye started the intro, and An Rong joined in midway. Their two completely different, contrasting sounds blended together to be unexpectedly beautiful. Despite it being their first duet, their chemistry was as perfect as if they had rehearsed many times—like “the lute and the zither in harmony,” moving as naturally as fish in water.

An Rong was focused, yet her eyes quickly swept over Xu Xiaoye. Seeing her eyes—gentle and appearing as if they held the stars—she hastily and nervously looked away.

Xu Xiaoye was completely unaware, looking at An Rong with a face full of smiles.

She truly liked this “little dummy” more and more.

Author’s Note:

An Rong: I often feel deeply inferior because of my own boring nature; otherwise, I wouldn’t have hidden a crush for four years. You think having a secret crush is easy?