Chapter 17

An Rong had originally thought the material they got that afternoon should have been enough. One sentimental homesick segment, one ridiculous group sing-along—edit them together, polish them up a little in post-production, and they should be able to scrape together four or five minutes. They probably wouldn’t have to worry for a while. But when she returned to the dorm after staying late at the dance studio that evening, she discovered the whole place had turned into a party.

Xu Xiaoye was leading the charge, with several people improvising dances to the music in the room. Xu Xiaoye practically crushed everyone else; difficult moves came to her effortlessly, and every transition was smooth. Xiao Yu looked completely different when she danced compared to the impression she usually gave people. Normally, she was an elegant, aloof goddess on a snowy peak, but when she danced, she became incredibly wild and powerful, facing off against Xia Chunhua.

Xia Chunhua’s contrast was just as dramatic. Once she started dancing, she looked like a mischievous little punk, adding all kinds of playful gestures of her own.

An Rong swept her gaze around once, and then her eyes stuck to Xu Xiaoye and refused to move. Xu Xiaoye was like a seductive flower; even a casual toss of her head was filled with charm. Worse still, she knew exactly how to use her movements and gaze to capture every audience member’s attention. The not-particularly-wide aisle had become her private little stage, and An Rong was her most, most devoted audience.

Only at a time like this did An Rong not have to worry about anyone noticing the way she looked at her.

Xia Chunhua turned around and immediately spotted An Rong standing at the doorway. A warm, enthusiastic smile instantly spread across her face.

An Rong had a bad feeling. She turned around and tried to escape, only for Xia Chunhua to catch her from behind, wrap an arm around hers, and drag her back while saying, “Come on! Come dance!”

As someone cursed with uncoordinated limbs, An Rong might have had four years of debut experience and picked up some skills along the way, but the problem was that the current her had not yet received any professional training. For the first seventeen years of her life, she had absolutely no dance experience. It should all have been written clearly on her application form. The current her simply shouldn’t know how to dance. Having been reborn, she still had to tread carefully and avoid saying or doing anything wrong whenever possible.

“My limbs aren’t coordinated.” An Rong hurriedly tried to refuse, practically inching forward one tiny step at a time as Xia Chunhua dragged her along.

“Only tall people are supposed to have trouble coordinating their limbs. You’re about the same height as me. What’s there to be uncoordinated about?”

An Rong was stabbed straight through the heart on the spot. And this wasn’t the kind of situation where she could seriously refuse either. There was a camera set up right beside them.

An Rong gave up and decided to go down with the ship. “I really don’t know how. Other than the dance we just learned, the only thing I know is school calisthenics.”

Xu Xiaoye swept her hair back and seamlessly chimed in from the side, “School calisthenics are fine too. We’re just having fun.”

Fine. If you said it was fine, then it was fine. So An Rong joined in.

What followed left everyone staring in stunned disbelief as An Rong somehow turned a BGM with an incredibly strong beat into something that looked like a performance of “Good Luck Comes.” If she had been holding two folding fans, she could have dominated any public square and become the undisputed champion of elderly dance leaders.

It took barely a minute before everyone participating in the dance battle laughed themselves into defeat. Xiao Yu retreated to the side, covering her lips as she laughed. Xu Xiaoye bent over, slapping her thigh as though she had just witnessed some world-shaking dance masterpiece. Only Xia Chunhua could barely keep up with An Rong’s rhythm, but after a few beats, even she lost track of An Rong’s soaring yangge cross step and collapsed crookedly against the wall, laughing until tears came out.

An Rong somehow became the final winner, earning roaring laughter from the entire room and single-handedly turning a group of idol goddesses into carefree girls dancing in a public square.

Wiping her tears, Xia Chunhua came over while twisting her body and asked, “Hey, how do you do this one? This part—how does it go forward and backward like that?”

Her movements were completely off, and her feet weren’t landing in the right places.

Xu Xiaoye had only just managed to straighten up from laughing when she advised Xia Chunhua, “What she’s doing isn’t dancing. She’s dancing happiness.”

An Rong glanced at Xu Xiaoye with a smile and ignored her. She pointed at the crossing lines between the floor tiles and explained to Xia Chunhua how she should step and switch her feet.

Xia Chunhua had absolutely no idol image to maintain and learned with ridiculous seriousness. Before long, she could twist along properly, her arms moving high and low with the rhythm. Standing stolen content beside An Rong, the two of them became a pair of completely brainless girls.

After playing around for a while, Xia Chunhua ran off and came back hugging a stuffed animal, excitedly holding it up for An Rong to see.

It was a gray-and-white Ragdoll cat, exquisitely made and beautiful. Its blue eyes looked almost real, complete with patterns and shine, and its fur was smooth and glossy.

Xia Chunhua stroked its head, and it actually moved, nudging its head into her palm and rubbing against her.

“A present for you.” Xia Chunhua held the cat up in front of An Rong’s face.

“Thank you, but… I’m allergic to cat fur.”

Xia Chunhua rubbed her cheek against it and said, “It’s fake. It’s a high-quality imitation plush toy, not a real cat. This fur isn’t cat fur either. It’s super well-behaved and really, really nice to touch. Try it.”

An Rong immediately shook her head. “It’s too expensive. I can’t accept it.”

Wang Yunshui rolled her eyes from the side and turned away. She really was a country bumpkin. Allergic to cat fur? Too expensive? It was just a toy. What was so expensive about it? She looked like she had never seen anything in her life.

Xia Chunhua pressed the imitation cat into An Rong’s arms and shook her head. “It’s not expensive. It didn’t cost me anything. I said last time that I’d give you a stuffed toy, but I forgot. I just remembered again, so hurry up and take it. I have another one.”

An Rong remembered these two imitation cats. Out of Xia Chunhua’s enormous army of toys, they were among the most favored and had remained beloved for years.

“This one’s called Little Goodie. I have another one called A-Lang. They’re a pair. I’ll give you one.”

A pair, with one given away and one kept.

If this had been anyone other than Xia Chunhua, An Rong might have read too much into it. But Xia Chunhua had always done whatever she felt like doing. If she wanted to give something away, she simply gave it away.

Holding the imitation cat, An Rong unconsciously supported it from underneath while stroking it. The fur felt so smooth that it was almost like petting a real cat. Her gaze drifted briefly toward Xu Xiaoye before she said to Xia Chunhua, “Thank you.”

Xia Chunhua shook her head with a giggle. “Don’t mention it. If you have more pickles, just share some with me.”

“I still have a jar of pickled cucumber. Do you want it?”

Xia Chunhua shook her head and pouted. “I don’t eat sour things. They make my teeth hurt.”

Then there was nothing left. An Rong had only brought one jar of the little chili peppers, and she had already given the whole thing to Xia Chunhua. She said, “Next time I go home, I’ll bring you more. Once we get our phones back, I’ll ask my mom for the recipe. Do you want it?”

Xia Chunhua nodded furiously. “Yes, yes, yes!”

She had searched for recipes online herself before, but whatever she made never tasted quite right. Hotels and restaurants served all kinds of pickles, but very few made pickled chili peppers, and even when they did, the flavor was different.

That night, An Rong lay in bed, rubbing one of the cat’s ears with one hand. After hesitating for a while, she asked Xu Xiaoye, who was sleeping on the lower bunk, “Captain, are we going to have to… keep doing things like this from now on?”

Xu Xiaoye wasn’t asleep yet. Earlier that day, she had found an eye mask stolen contenttucked into a hidden compartment of her suitcase, and she was wearing it now as she quietly said, “I don’t know. But once you’ve used the same trick once, it doesn’t work as well a second time.”

Singing, dancing—the editors would only keep the funniest or most interesting version of the same kind of material. Looking at it that way, their daily routine really was a little dull and uneventful, with very little worth watching.

Four years had passed, and An Rong no longer remembered exactly what had been shown when the variety program aired in her previous life. But thinking about things now, if everyone else still lacked usable footage, then once the show aired, wouldn’t it turn into a compilation of her being ridiculous?

Her humiliation would be broadcast to the entire world!

That probably wouldn’t do. She was still a pretty girl who needed to preserve some dignity…

An Rong’s mind wandered through all sorts of random thoughts until she heard Xu Xiaoye say softly, “Don’t worry. Maybe the others will have something prepared tomorrow.”

There was only one week left before their evaluation performance. It would definitely be filmed, and there might even be a livestream. They needed enough interesting material in between to support the separate daily program, though technically, that wasn’t something the contestants themselves were supposed to worry about.

Xu Xiaoye said, “Go to sleep.”

An Rong suddenly remembered something seemed wrong. “Why are you still awake?”

Xu Xiaoye was silent for a moment before saying, “It’s nothing. I’m going to sleep now.”

An Rong gave an “Oh.”

Xu Xiaoye waited for a long while, but no further words came. She frowned slightly, pulled the eye stolen content mask off her face, and asked, “You said before that you know how to give massages?”

An Rong’s eyes instantly flew open.

Xu Xiaoye continued, “Give me one tomorrow.”

An Rong was so happy she could practically fly. She could have run downstairs and done ten laps around the building. This was a qualitative breakthrough! Xu Xiaoye had finally started treating her like one of her own!

A huge smile bloomed across An Rong’s face. In the darkness, she lowered her voice and tried her best to sound calm. “Sure.”

Forget tomorrow.

If you want one, I can do it right now!

Author’s Note:

I know how to do the cross step, hahaha.