After Rebirth, I Ended Up with My Idol [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 2

In a flash, An Rong had thought of a dozen excuses, but not a single one could explain away that kiss, which was currently comparable to a terrorist attack.

Under Qin Yun’s heavy gaze, An Rong’s head shook blankly. She turned around, gritted her teeth, and—thud—slammed her head against the wall. The force was so great that she instantly became dizzy; she staggered back two steps and plopped down on the floor.

Her head spun, but the scene around her didn’t change at all. An Rong murmured in panic, “It’s not a dream?”

Qin Yun: “…”

An Rong stood up and turned around, lifting her face to reveal a bright red forehead. Her lip trembled, and she said in a panicked, helpless voice: “Whether you believe it or not, Teacher, I was really asleep just now. I thought I was in a dream.”

This was the first time Qin Yun had encountered such a situation. This excuse was… off the charts. She thought for a moment and frowned in condemnation: “Just because it’s a dream, you can just kiss other girls whenever you want?”

Only now did An Rong realize the main point, and her heart gave a sudden thump. That meant on the first day of her rebirth, she had accomplished something she hadn’t managed to do in four years?

She had simultaneously obtained Xu Xiaoye’s first kiss and her hatred. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Facing Qin Yun’s questioning, An Rong was speechless and in the wrong. She lowered her head and muttered, “It’s not that… I was wrong. I’ll go apologize right away.”

Qin Yun was speechless. She wanted to scold her, but she didn’t know how to phrase it. After thinking it over for a long time, she knit her brows and said: “Go back for now. I’ll find you if I need to.”

An Rong nodded and hummed in agreement repeatedly.

Seeing her dazed expression—looking as if her entire worldview had exploded—Qin Yun felt that sleepwalking was something a person couldn’t control. If it was a mental health issue, the girl was actually quite pitiful. Thus, she added a casual word of concern: “How is your preparation for the evaluation going?”

An Rong was a bit stunned. What evaluation?

After a moment of confusion, she remembered. Oh, right. This should be the time when the company was selecting members for the group GG. She remembered that thirty people had come for the initial auditions; five were eliminated that day. After they gathered here, they weren’t given a single moment of rest. A song and dance were assigned with a 24-hour preparation limit. After 24 hours, they would be evaluated, and five more would be eliminated.

Right now was the preparation time.

However, four years had passed. She had long since forgotten what the song and dance for this evaluation were!

She had only performed it once; who could remember that? Moreover, before joining this training, she had zero foundation in dance. She even had some lingering baby fat on her body; she was getting by entirely on her face.

Qin Yun understood immediately upon seeing An Rong’s expression. She didn’t know if the girl was dazed from sleep or dazed from hitting the wall, but seeing that she had no confidence at all, Qin Yun pre-emptively docked points in her mind.

An Rong suddenly realized that if this wasn’t a dream but reality, it meant she would either be expelled for harassing and forcibly kissing a classmate, or she would be eliminated for failing the upcoming evaluation.

Furthermore, this was the company’s first girl group survival show. There was a high chance they would broadcast the footage of her “forced kiss” to attract views. It would be explosive. It would be sensational.

Good heavens… if this was a second chance at life, it really wasn’t leaving her any way to survive.

An Rong wanted to cry but had no tears. She choked out, “I will work hard.”

Having said that, she turned and ran toward the dance studio.

Inside the studio, everyone had already started racing against the clock to review. When An Rong entered, only a few onlookers’ gazes drifted toward her.

Xu Xiaoye was dancing in a corner, humming the tune to herself. As soon as she saw An Rong approaching, her rhythm suddenly faltered. She simply stopped and looked at An Rong with a frown.

An Rong swallowed hard and—whoosh—performed a ninety-degree bow. Seriously and sincerely, she said: “I am sorry. I was suffering from a sleep hallucination just now and did something… offensive. Please forgive me.”

She remained in that slightly exaggerated posture without moving. Because her body hadn’t been trained in dance yet, she was very stiff. Having practiced for a day and a night, her muscles were sore, and after a moment, she began to tremble uncontrollably.

Only then did Xu Xiaoye give a grunt of acknowledgment. She uncomfortably wiped her lips with one hand and said with a frown: “Count it as my bad luck. I shouldn’t have tried to wake you.”

An Rong felt a shatter in her heart, like a hope had turned to dust.

It was over. Xu Xiaoye was going to hate her.

And the hatred was perfectly justified. Who would like a creep who takes advantage of people?

An Rong, showing her true “damsel in distress” colors, stood up and awkwardly fiddled with her fingers. She didn’t dare look at Xu Xiaoye anymore. Her gaze drifted down to Xu Xiaoye’s neck—felt that was inappropriate—drifted to her chest—even more inappropriate—and drifting further down would be even worse…

So her eyes wandered for a bit before landing on Xu Xiaoye’s earring. Staring at the tiny red agate stud on Xu Xiaoye’s ear, she felt she had found a safe haven. She muttered: “I had a dream that made me lose my IQ. Just now… that, I really didn’t do it on purpose.”

Xu Xiaoye kept a stiff face, her mood having taken a direct hit. She believed An Rong; they had only known each other for a day, far from any level of romantic interest. She figured An Rong had just been out of it from sleep and mistaken her for someone else.

Originally, she had been very angry, but thinking about it, being kissed by a girl wasn’t that big of a deal. It just felt weird. Then, looking at An Rong’s red and swollen forehead, she found it a bit funny. Besides, as a twenty-four-year-old adult, she really didn’t have much to hold against an underage brat.

Xu Xiaoye hadn’t come in through the open auditions. She was originally a trainee at TS. The people who joined the company at the same time as her had all debuted, leaving only her still as a trainee. So, when the company decided to form this girl group, they gave her a chance to participate. If she could make the group this time, she’d have a chance to debut; if she was eliminated, she’d have to wait again.

She wasn’t young anymore; she couldn’t afford to wait.

During the auditions a few days ago, she had been watching from backstage. An Rong’s singing was truly good—wide vocal range and very infectious. She really had talent. Moreover, even though she was only seventeen and lacked experience, her stage presence was steady. She also had a distinctive look—not a generic “internet celebrity face,” but soft and quite pretty. If trained well, she would definitely be an excellent vocal, no problem at all as a lead singer.

Her weakness was her lack of dance foundation, which was quite dangerous. A girl group member must be able to sing and dance. But if her singing was superb, it wasn’t impossible; she could learn to dance.

It just so happened that Xu Xiaoye had extensive dance experience. For this reason, Xu Xiaoye had paid special attention to An Rong. She had spent all of yesterday teaching her the evaluation dance and even tried to wake her up to practice today. She just hadn’t expected…

Xu Xiaoye pursed her lips. Her lips were a bit thick—pouty lips—and looked quite cute when pursed. She was wearing light makeup, but her lipstick had been wiped off, revealing the natural color of her lips: slightly red and full.

An Rong caught sight of this from the corner of her eye, and her gaze subconsciously drifted again.

Xu Xiaoye ignored her and continued practicing. An Rong followed behind like a clumsy little fat chick.

Four years had passed, and she had completely forgotten the song and dance. But having studied for four years in her past life, she still mastered the rhythm well. She could barely manage some movements, though they weren’t standard and she absolutely required a reference.

The loudspeaker in the studio suddenly blared again: “One hour until the evaluation. Please hurry and prepare.”

An Rong panicked. What is this! Can’t you be a little more harmonious and friendly to a transmigrator?

An Rong was in a fluster. She hadn’t mastered the dance moves, she didn’t know the lyrics, let alone how to sing them. She could only prick up her ears to listen, not caring if she was on pitch, and focused on memorizing the lyrics first.

Hearing the sound, Xu Xiaoye turned her head and asked with a frown: “Didn’t you already know how to sing it yesterday?”

An Rong was sweating so much her skin was slick. Her mouth twitched stiffly twice as she said: “…I forgot.”

Xu Xiaoye frowned, forced to re-evaluate whether this person was fit for a team. Having talent was good, but being too stupid wouldn’t work.

After all, the company was turning their training and elimination process into a show to build popularity in advance. She wasn’t a complete newcomer and had some “family fans” following her, but the other participants were all civilians. TS Company was broadcasting in collaboration with famous media platforms, and as the first public girl group survival show, it was bound to attract many viewers.

If she chose the right teammates early and had more interactions, fan acceptance would be higher.

Xu Xiaoye’s head ached from all her overthinking, but she wasn’t like these kids anymore; she had to stand out this time.

Xu Xiaoye stopped dancing. An Rong could only struggle to recall the moves, her eyes searching everywhere for someone else dancing so she could follow along.

“Wrong.” Xu Xiaoye leaned against the wall, expressionless and frowning slightly as she looked at An Rong. “Left foot, not the right.”

An Rong’s first instinct was to switch feet instantly, without questioning or even looking down to check.

This was a habit she had developed over four years: in dancing, listen to Xu Xiaoye. Do whatever she says.

Unfortunately, her current physical reactions weren’t as well-trained as they would be four years later. So after the quick switch, while there was no major pause, the movement was a bit soft and lacked power.

An Rong waited for Xu Xiaoye to praise her. In the past, she would always say, “Not bad, you’ve got the hang of it.”

After waiting a long time with no response, An Rong looked back. Xu Xiaoye was gone.

An Rong searched with her eyes and saw Xu Xiaoye not far away, standing next to Xiao Yu, who was dancing.

Among this batch of trainees, Xiao Yu had a unique aura. Her “ice queen” goddess vibe stood out during yesterday’s first assembly, like a Bolero rose standing tall in a field of green grass. While her singing wasn’t as good as An Rong’s—her voice was a bit thin—she had a foundation in dance, having done Latin for ten years. She also had a great image.

Singing techniques can be practiced slowly, but intelligence is truly innate.

An Rong watched for a moment, then hid in her corner, following Xiao Yu’s movements from a distance while singing to herself.

Even though they would be “family” in the future, she really didn’t want to go over there right now. A clumsy little fat chick and elegant white swans wouldn’t fit in even if they stayed together.

She needed to hurry up and overhaul this body of hers.

Xiao Yu finished a run-through, stopped to wipe her sweat, and glanced in An Rong’s direction, gesturing to Xu Xiaoye with her eyes.

Xu Xiaoye didn’t even turn around. She tilted her head slightly, then turned back with a look of cold indifference.

Xiao Yu didn’t know what had happened and asked curiously: “What’s wrong? Weren’t things going well last night?”

Because the preparation time was only twenty-four hours, almost no one had gone back to sleep last night. They had spent the whole time in the studio learning. There were several others like An Rong who had no dance foundation; facing the risk of elimination, they were all working incredibly hard.

Xu Xiaoye bit her lip. From the corner of her eye, she glanced at An Rong, who was huffing and puffing through her stretches. She said: “She won’t do.”

Xiao Yu was puzzled. “She’s quite good. Her vocal conditions are excellent. Although she has no foundation in dance, she doesn’t learn slowly, she has a sense of rhythm, and she can handle hardship. She didn’t sleep at all last night; when I went to breakfast this morning, she was so tired she was sitting on the floor. She seems like a very good girl.”

Xu Xiaoye’s gaze lingered on An Rong a bit longer.

As a camera moved toward them, Xiao Yu changed the subject without changing her expression, lamenting: “So many young girls. It’s so nice. Looking at them makes me feel like I’m old.”

Xu Xiaoye’s eyelid twitched. She said speechlessly: “I’m twenty-four.”

Xiao Yu smiled slightly and said: “I’ve been watching you as a backup dancer for other people’s performances since I was a kid. You were my motivation for coming to this selection.”

Xu Xiaoye took a direct hit and playfully punched her in the chest.

When An Rong finished a set of stretches, she saw Xu Xiaoye and Xiao Yu getting along famously. Xu Xiaoye skipped away, and Xiao Yu watched her with a smile.

The “lemon tree” of jealousy was full of lemons, and for An Rong, it was incredibly sour.

Sensing that time was almost up, everyone played around for a final moment to relax their moods before diving back into intense training. Basically, no one had time to look out for anyone else.

An Rong’s forehead was covered in sweat. She had barely managed to get the movements smooth; going into the evaluation “blind” would be certain death.

“Students, please get ready. The evaluation will begin immediately.”

The Author has something to say:

An Rong: I’m panicking.