Chapter 2

In that split second, countless excuses flashed through An Rong’s mind, but not a single one could explain that kiss of hers, which had practically amounted to a terrorist attack.

Under Qin Yun’s grave stare, An Rong dazedly shook her head. Then she turned, gritted her teeth, and slammed her forehead into the wall with a thud. She hit it so hard that her vision instantly swam. Staggering backward two steps, she dropped heavily onto the floor.

Her head was a little dizzy, but the scene around her hadn’t changed in the slightest. An Rong murmured in panic, “This isn’t a dream?”

Qin Yun: …

An Rong got back to her feet and turned around. Looking up with her forehead bright red, she pouted and said helplessly, panic filling her voice, “Whether you believe me or not, Teacher, I really was asleep just now. I thought I was… I thought I was dreaming.”

This was the first time Qin Yun had ever encountered anything like this.

That excuse was completely outside the scope of anything she knew how to deal with.

After thinking for a moment, she frowned and reproached her, “So just because you’re dreaming, you can go around kissing other girls whenever you want?”

Only then did An Rong finally grasp the most important point.

Her heart gave a heavy thump.

Did that mean that on the very first day after being reborn, she had already Read on BaiLianTales accomplished something she hadn’t managed to do in four whole years before?

She had obtained Xu Xiaoye’s first kiss and her disgust at the exact same time.

An Rong didn’t know whether she should laugh or cry.

But faced with Qin Yun’s questioning, she knew she was in the wrong and had no response. Lowering her head, she stammered, “No, that’s not… I was wrong. I’ll go apologize to her right away.”

Qin Yun was speechless.

She wanted to reprimand her, but she didn’t even know how to begin with something like this. After struggling with it for a long while, she finally frowned and said, “Go back for now. I’ll come find you again if anything comes up.”

An Rong nodded and repeatedly agreed.

Seeing her dazed expression, as though her entire worldview had just exploded, Qin Yun also felt that if this really had been sleepwalking, An Rong probably couldn’t have controlled it herself. And if there was actually something wrong with her mentally, then that was rather pitiful too.

So she casually added with some concern, “How are your preparations for the evaluation going?”

An Rong looked blank.

What evaluation?

She froze for a moment before suddenly remembering.

Oh, right.

This should be around the time when the company was selecting members for the GG girl group.

She remembered that thirty people had originally come for the open audition. Five had been eliminated that very day. After the remaining trainees gathered here, they hadn’t been given any time to rest. Instead, they had been assigned a song and choreography and given twenty-four hours to prepare.

After those twenty-four hours, they would be evaluated, and another five people would be eliminated.

So right now, they were still in the preparation period.

The problem was, four years had already passed for An Rong.

She had completely forgotten what song and dance they were supposed to perform for this evaluation!

She had only ever performed it once. Who could possibly remember something like that?

And before entering this training program, she hadn’t had a shred of dance experience. She’d even still had some baby fat left on her body.

Back then, she had basically survived on her face alone.

One look at An Rong’s expression and Qin Yun understood.

Whether the girl was still half-asleep or had knocked herself senseless against the wall, she certainly didn’t look confident at all.

Qin Yun silently lowered her assessment of her.

An Rong suddenly realized something.

If this wasn’t a dream but reality, then that meant she was either going to get kicked out for harassing and forcibly kissing another female trainee…

Or she was going to fail the evaluation in a little while and get eliminated.

And this was the company’s very first girl-group survival show.

There was a very real chance they might actually air the footage of her forcibly kissing Xu Xiaoye just to attract attention.

Super explosive.

Super exciting.

Oh my God…

If this was really fate giving her another chance to start over, it certainly wasn’t leaving her any way to survive.

An Rong felt like crying but had no tears. Choking up, she said, “I’ll work hard.”

With that, she turned and ran straight back toward the dance studio.

By now, everyone inside had already started cramming as hard as they could. When An Rong walked in, only a few people who were still interested in the gossip let their gazes drift after her.

Xu Xiaoye had hidden herself away in a corner to practice. She was humming the melody to herself as she danced.

The moment she saw An Rong approaching, however, her rhythm suddenly faltered.

She simply stopped, frowned, and looked at An Rong.

An Rong swallowed.

Then, with a swish, she bent forward into a full ninety-degree bow and said with solemn sincerity, “I’m sorry. I was half-asleep and confused just now and did some… inappropriate things. Please forgive me.”

She held that somewhat exaggerated posture without moving.

Because this body had never really danced before, it was extremely stiff. On top of that, she had already been dancing for an entire day and night, leaving her muscles sore all over.

Before long, she started trembling uncontrollably.

Only then did Xu Xiaoye give a quiet acknowledgment.

She awkwardly rubbed at her lips with one hand and frowned. “Guess that was my bad luck. I shouldn’t have woken you up.”

Something shattered inside An Rong with a crash.

It felt as though all her expectations had just crumbled into powder.

It was over.

Xu Xiaoye was going to hate her now.

And she had every reason to hate her.

Who would like some disgusting pervert who took advantage of people?!

An Rong looked every bit like she wanted to whimper.

She straightened up and awkwardly picked at her fingers, no longer daring to look directly at Xu Xiaoye.

Her gaze dropped to Xu Xiaoye’s neck.

That didn’t seem appropriate.

So she lowered it to her chest.

Even less appropriate.

Any farther down would be downright outrageous…

Her eyes wandered around for a moment before finally settling on Xu Xiaoye’s earrings.

Staring at the tiny red agate studs in Xu Xiaoye’s ears, An Rong finally felt like she’d found a safe place to look.

She muttered, “I had a dream that completely killed my IQ. Just now… um, I really didn’t mean to do that.”

Xu Xiaoye kept a stern expression, having suffered a tremendous emotional blow.

But she did believe An Rong’s explanation.

They had only known each other for one day. There was no way they were anywhere close to the point of liking each other. An Rong had probably just been so muddled with sleep that she’d mistaken Xu Xiaoye for someone else.

Xu Xiaoye had genuinely been furious at first.

But after thinking about it, being kissed by another girl wasn’t really that huge a deal. It just felt strange.

Then she looked at An Rong’s swollen, red forehead and found the whole thing a little funny.

Besides, she was a twenty-four-year-old adult. There wasn’t much point in seriously holding a grudge against some underage brat.

Xu Xiaoye hadn’t entered through the open audition.

She was already a trainee at TS Entertainment. Everyone who had entered the company around the same time as her had already debuted. She was the only one still stuck as a trainee.

So when the company decided to select members for this new girl group, they gave her a chance to participate as well.

If she made the final group this time, she would still have a chance to debut.

If she was eliminated, she would have to keep waiting.

She wasn’t young anymore.

She couldn’t afford to wait.

During the open auditions over the past two days, she had watched from backstage.

An Rong could genuinely sing very well.

Her range was broad, her voice was highly expressive, and she clearly had real talent.

And she was only seventeen.

Despite having no experience in this field, she already had remarkably steady stage presence.

Her looks were distinctive too. She didn’t have one of those interchangeable influencer faces with no identifying features. She looked soft and fresh, and she was quite pretty.

With proper training, she could absolutely become an excellent vocalist.

She would have no problem serving as the group’s lead singer.

Her weakness was that she had no foundation in dance, which was still fairly dangerous.

A girl group member had to be able to sing and dance.

But if her singing was exceptionally good, then maybe it would still be fine.

Dancing could be learned.

As it happened, Xu Xiaoye had extensive dance experience.

That was precisely why she had paid particular attention to An Rong in the first place.

Yesterday, she had spent the entire day teaching An Rong the choreography for the evaluation.

And today, she had even woken her up so she could practice.

She hadn’t expected…

Xu Xiaoye pressed her lips together.

Her lips were slightly full, naturally pouty, and looked rather cute when pressed together like this.

She was wearing light makeup, but she had already wiped off her lipstick, revealing the natural color of her lips—slightly red and plump.

An Rong caught sight of them from the corner of her eye, and her gaze involuntarily drifted over.

Xu Xiaoye ignored her and continued practicing.

An Rong followed behind her like an awkward little fat chick, trying to copy her movements.

Four years had passed, so An Rong had completely forgotten both the song and the choreography.

Still, she had trained for four years in her previous life, so her sense of rhythm was very good.

She could just barely follow some of the moves.

They weren’t standard, though, and she absolutely needed someone in front of her to copy.

Suddenly, the loudspeaker in the dance studio sounded again.

“One hour remaining until the evaluation. Please make the most of your preparation time.”

An Rong panicked.

What the hell?!

Couldn’t they be a little more harmonious and friendly toward someone who had just been reborn?!

An Rong became completely flustered.

She hadn’t even gotten the dance unauthorized copy moves down yet, and she didn’t know the lyrics, much less how to sing the song.

All she could do was prick up her ears and listen.

Whether she was singing in tune or not didn’t matter anymore. She first had to memorize the lyrics by following along.

Xu Xiaoye heard her voice and turned to look.

Frowning, she asked, “Didn’t you already know how to sing this yesterday?”

An Rong was practically sweating buckets.

The corner of her mouth twitched stiffly twice.

“…I forgot.”

Xu Xiaoye frowned.

She was forced to reassess whether this person was really suitable as a teammate.

Talent was good.

But being too stupid was still a problem.

After all, the company was turning their entire training and elimination process into a show, which meant the process of building up popularity had been moved forward as well.

Xu Xiaoye wasn’t a complete newcomer and already had some fans from the company’s existing fanbase paying attention to her.

But the people participating in this selection were otherwise all unknown amateurs.

TS Entertainment was partnering with a well-known media platform to broadcast the show, and since this was the first publicly aired girl-group survival program of its kind, it was bound to attract a great deal of attention.

If she chose the right teammates early and interacted with them often, fans would probably find the final lineup easier to accept.

Xu Xiaoye thought about one thing after another until her head hurt.

But unlike these younger girls, she didn’t have the luxury of taking things lightly.

This time, she absolutely had to stand out.

Once Xu Xiaoye stopped dancing, An Rong was left to struggle through the choreography from memory.

Her eyes darted around the room in search of anyone who was still practicing so she could copy them.

“Wrong.”

Xu Xiaoye was leaning against the wall, expressionless, her brows slightly furrowed as she watched An Rong.

“Left foot, not right.”

An Rong’s first reaction was to switch feet instantly.

She didn’t question it.

She didn’t even look down to check.

It was a habit she had developed over four years.

When it came to dancing, she listened to Xu Xiaoye.

Whatever Xu Xiaoye told her to do, she did.

Unfortunately, this body’s reflexes were nowhere near as trained as they would become four years later.

So although she switched feet quickly without any major pause, the movement was still a little soft and lacked strength.

An Rong waited for Xu Xiaoye to praise her.

In the past, Xu Xiaoye would always say something like, “Not bad. You’re actually starting to look the part.”

She waited and waited.

Nothing.

When An Rong finally turned around, Xu Xiaoye was gone.

Her eyes swept around until she spotted Xu Xiaoye not far away, standing beside Xiao Yu, who was practicing her dance.

Among this group of trainees, Xiao Yu’s aura was unmatched.

She had the aloof, untouchable elegance of a goddess on a snowy peak. When everyone had first gathered yesterday, she had stood out like a proud Bolero rose blooming alone in a field of green grass.

Her presence was exceptional.

Her singing wasn’t as good as An Rong’s, and her voice was a little thinner, but she had a solid dance foundation.

She had studied Latin dance for ten years, and she had an excellent image as well.

Singing technique could always be trained over time.

But intelligence really was something you were born with.

An Rong looked over for a moment, then quietly hid herself in a corner.

From a distance, she followed Xiao Yu’s movements while singing along.

They would all eventually become family anyway, but right now, An Rong genuinely didn’t want to go over there.

Even if an awkward little fat chick stood together with a pair of elegant white swans, she still wouldn’t fit in.

She needed to hurry up and whip this body into shape.

Xiao Yu finished one run-through and stopped to wipe away her sweat.

She glanced in An Rong’s direction and gestured toward Xu Xiaoye with her eyes.

Xu Xiaoye didn’t even turn around.

She only tilted her head slightly, took a look, then turned back again with a cold expression.

Xiao Yu had no idea what had happened.

Curious, she asked, “What’s wrong? Weren’t things pretty good between you two last night?”

Because they had only been given twenty-four hours to prepare, almost nobody had gone back to sleep the previous night.

They had stayed in the dance studio practicing nonstop.

There were several other people besides An Rong who had no dance foundation. With elimination hanging over their heads, all of them were working especially hard.

Xu Xiaoye bit her lip.

From the corner of her eye, she glanced at An Rong, who was panting as she stretched.

“She won’t do.”

Xiao Yu looked confused.

“She seems pretty good to me. Her vocal qualities are excellent. Sure, she doesn’t have a dance foundation, but she learns pretty quickly. She has a sense of rhythm, and she can endure hardship. She didn’t sleep at all last night. When I went to get breakfast this morning, she’d only just gotten so sleepy that she sat down on the floor. She looks pretty well-behaved too.”

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

The moment a camera came over, Xiao Yu’s expression didn’t change at stolen contentall, but she immediately changed the subject.

With a sigh, she said, “There are so many young girls here. It’s nice. Looking at them makes me feel old.”

Xu Xiaoye’s eyelid twitched.

Speechless, she said, “I’m twenty-four.”

Xiao Yu smiled faintly.

“I grew up watching you dance backup at other people’s performances. You’re the reason I came to participate in the selection.”

Xu Xiaoye suffered a critical hit and punched her lightly in the chest with her little fist.

After An Rong finished a set of stretches, she looked up just in time to see Xu Xiaoye and Xiao Yu playfully messing around together.

Xu Xiaoye bounced away while Xiao Yu watched her with a smile.

There are lemons on the lemon tree.

And then there was An Rong.

Sour beyond belief.

Everyone estimated that the time was nearly up.

They fooled around one last time to relax their nerves a little, then threw themselves back into intense practice.

By then, nobody had time to pay attention to anyone else.

An Rong’s forehead was covered in sweat.

She had only just barely managed to string the movements together.

If she had to dance without anyone to follow, she was dead.

“All trainees, please get ready. The evaluation is about to begin.”

Author’s Note:

An Rong: I’m panicking.