After Rebirth, I Ended Up with My Idol [Entertainment Circle] - Chapter 6

An Rong went through the contents of her suitcase. She rummaged around and pulled out two jars of pickles and a jar of chili sauce—all homemade by her mother. Her mom had been terrified that she wouldn’t eat or sleep well alone in a strange city, even though An Rong’s older sister lived here too.

Xu Xiaoye’s suitcase was much more haphazard. It was stuffed with several boxes of facial masks; skincare and makeup products alone took up half the space. There was also a large handful of instant coffee packets. Aside from underwear and pajamas, she only had two outfits just to keep up appearances.

In any case, they would be issued new clothes, so as long as she had a change of laundry, it was fine.

While everyone was organizing their things, Xia Chunhua arrived with two other girls. As soon as she walked in, she asked, “Are you all done packing?”

An Rong looked up first at Xu Xiaoye. Seeing that she had already sat up, An Rong followed suit, pushing her suitcase to the side and silently waiting for Xu Xiaoye to respond.

Xu Xiaoye asked them warmly and kindly, “Do you want to start watching the videos and learning now?”

Xia Chunhua shook her head vigorously. The other two also waved their hands in panic. Although they liked dancing, they were already exhausted after a full day and night. Their bodies were aching all over; at the mere mention of dancing, every cell in their bodies began to revolt.

“No rush, no rush! We want to go see what the place we’ll be living in looks like first. Captain, you’re a TS veteran—can you give us a tour? Just of the places we’re allowed to go.”

Xia Chunhua had a sweet way of talking and knew her boundaries. Xu Xiaoye quite liked her, so she smiled and said, “It’s actually my first time in this specific section, too. Let’s go wander around together and grab a bite on the way. I’m starving. Are you guys hungry?”

Xia Chunhua handed her a piece of chocolate and gave one to An Rong as well. “Starving!”

Action followed words. An Rong followed silently in the back like a transparent shadow, listening to Xu Xiaoye and Xia Chunhua talk as they walked.

“The bathrooms and toilets are right next door, which is pretty convenient. Across from the entrance is the gym; there aren’t many machines, just the basics, but I doubt many people will use it. At the end of the hall is the medical room—if you feel unwell, you can go straight to them…”

The five of them chatted as they walked down the corridor.

Xia Chunhua looked up at Xu Xiaoye, her eyes almost sparkling with little stars. “Wow, you know all of this already.”

Xu Xiaoye didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She said, “When you guys were moving into the dorm, I was curious, so I walked over there to take a look.”

The dance studio was right in the middle, making it convenient to get to either side.

She didn’t mention that she had actually been called over for questioning. Even though the excuse wasn’t very clever, it wasn’t a big deal. However, right after she finished speaking, she turned her head and her gaze fell sideways on An Rong.

An Rong practically had a built-in sensory system dedicated specifically to Xu Xiaoye. The moment Xu Xiaoye’s eyes landed on her face, An Rong’s head snapped up.

She was slightly shorter than Xu Xiaoye—under 1.6 meters, neither tall nor thin—so every time she looked at Xu Xiaoye, she had to lift her head.

Caught in a gaze she didn’t have time to withdraw, Xu Xiaoye simply followed the lie: “I also went over to pick up some medicine for An Rong.”

An Rong remembered the ointment sitting on the desk and gave a hum of acknowledgment with pursed lips.

Xia Chunhua asked An Rong with a mix of curiosity and concern, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

An Rong nodded and said solemnly, “When I washed my hair, water got in my ears and leaked into my brain.”

It was obviously a joke, but it hit some nerve in Xu Xiaoye. She tilted her head back and laughed until tears almost came out. While the others were confused but couldn’t help smiling along, Xu Xiaoye pointed at An Rong’s red forehead and said, “Mhm, it’s ‘waterlogged’ (swollen).”

The group shared a pleasant laugh. Through this joke, the tension from An Rong’s “ambush” kiss that morning was finally laid to rest.

An Rong reached up to touch her forehead and continued walking forward with a cold, detached air. As she walked, she said slowly, “Stop it.”

The smile on Xu Xiaoye’s face was impossible to hide. She felt like she had discovered an excellent way to tease An Rong.

They took a lap around the floor and ran into Chen Xin, who managed their daily lives. Only then did they learn that the dining hall was downstairs and was said to be open all day.

When the five of them cheered and ran down, they found quite a few people already eating. Most had likely come down after finishing their packing. It was nearly noon, and everyone was ravenous.

Xia Chunhua zipped over, took a look around, and the light in her eyes visibly vanished.

Xu Xiaoye asked her curiously in a whisper, “What’s wrong?”

Xia Chunhua frowned and whispered back, “There’s no Luosifen (Snail Rice Noodles).”

As the two huddled together whispering, Xu Xiaoye blinked and nodded thoughtfully. Glancing at the cameras set up around them, she lowered her voice and said, “Of course not. Pretty girls aren’t allowed to slurp stinky noodles.”

To be precise, pretty girls weren’t just forbidden from slurping noodles; they weren’t allowed to eat anything in an unrefined manner. There weren’t even hot and sour glass noodles, let alone the pungent Luosifen.

An Rong watched from behind, and a warning bell suddenly rang in her heart.

Wait!

This scene was familiar!

Shouldn’t the person standing right next to Xu Xiaoye be her? In her past life, she was the one who was inseparable from Xu Xiaoye. She was the one who received all of the Captain’s affection. How come, after doing it all over again, the positions had changed?

Is this even okay?

An Rong’s brow furrowed and her expression grew grim. After an unfavorable start, the development of events was becoming surreal. At this rate, forget about winning over her crush—their relationship might end up being worse than in their previous life!

Xu Xiaoye had already gone to grab some food, even picking out a portion for Xia Chunhua. When she turned to leave, she finally noticed An Rong’s grief-stricken face.

She arched an eyebrow and asked, “What’s wrong? Not hungry?”

An Rong looked up slowly and said pointedly, “Hungry. Just don’t know what to eat.”

Xu Xiaoye pointed at the food counter behind her and said casually, “There’s plenty. Take whatever you want, but make sure you finish what you take.”

With that, she walked away, as the tray was getting a bit heavy.

Watching Xu Xiaoye’s retreating back, a dark cloud gathered over An Rong’s heart.

She was worried, bitter, and confused. Some “little butterfly” must have flapped its wings at some point, causing the situation to develop in a completely different direction.

Even though she had been reborn and given another chance, the tragic part was that she was still her, and Xu Xiaoye was still Xu Xiaoye. She wasn’t going to suddenly become a master of seduction, and Xu Xiaoye wasn’t going to suddenly fall uncontrollably in love with her as if under a spell.

It was too hard. Dating was too hard!

Could it be that destiny arranged for her to be reborn not to reunite with Xu Xiaoye, but to prevent that troublemaker Wang Yunshui from debuting with the group?!

Heh, that would be thinking too highly of her. She wasn’t an evaluator, she wasn’t a company leader, she wasn’t even a manager. Not only that, but she was constantly facing the threat of elimination.

What’s the point of rebirth? An Rong felt miserable from the inside out. Like a small dark cloud in broad daylight, she quietly drifted over to Xu Xiaoye’s side.

Xu Xiaoye looked at the few pieces of broccoli and two pieces of fish on An Rong’s tray, then at An Rong’s boundless misery. She hesitated and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”

An Rong pursed her lips, shook her head, and wanted to say it was nothing. But when the words reached her lips, she swallowed them back. Her mouth turned down, and she muttered, “I realized I’m too fat. I’m very sad.”

When she said she was sad, she really was sad. Her voice sounded muffled, and she could barely hold back the urge to cry.

Suddenly faced with this situation, it felt like she wasn’t herself anymore. Everyone was both familiar and strange. The only person she cared about was now treating her with indifference. She had no “golden finger” superpower and faced endless difficulties. She felt her entire being was being split apart.

She didn’t know what had happened to the old world, nor did she know what the future held. Rebirth hadn’t made An Rong feel like she was heading toward the peak of her life; instead, it left her full of insecurity, and she began to doubt herself.

An Rong’s mood was visibly low—and not in a joking way.

Xu Xiaoye patted her on the shoulder and comforted her: “You’re not fat. You just look a little rounder on camera. Kids are supposed to be a bit round to be cute.”

An Rong’s mouth flattened even more. Taking the opportunity, she leaned her head on Xu Xiaoye’s shoulder and said aggrievedly, “If I’m ’round,’ doesn’t that mean I’m fat? They’re all so thin and pretty. I’m the only one who’s fat and ugly.”

Like a child finding their parent to complain to, Xu Xiaoye’s heart softened. Her previously stiff body relaxed slightly, and she put her arm around An Rong’s shoulder, patting her. Her voice unconsciously softened as she coaxed her: “No way. You’re not fat. You’re very pretty too. You’ll look even better when you grow up. You’re not ugly.”

Hmph, you’re the one who called me ugly, An Rong thought, soothing her wounded soul.

She knew when to stop while things were good. After savoring that last second of contact, she slowly straightened up and said with some embarrassment, “Thank you. It’s my first time traveling far from home alone. I’m a bit nervous and homesick.”

She found a plausible excuse for her behavior, and it successfully brought a downcast mood to everyone at the table.

They were all girls in their teens and twenties. Having moved in and had their phones taken away, unable to leave for a while—who wouldn’t be homesick?

Xu Xiaoye didn’t mock her. She glanced around the table, cleared her throat, and intentionally sang in a comically tragic, exaggerated tone: “A child away from home, wandering outside, without those nice clothes, la la la la… finally found a job, working so hard, in my heart la la la, tears on my face…”

The sad atmosphere froze for a second.

Aside from Xu Xiaoye, the only person at the table who knew the song was An Rong. She slowly turned her head to look at Xu Xiaoye, her lips twitching for a long time before she said, “Captain, it’s ‘tears flowing in my heart, sweat flowing on my face.'”

Xu Xiaoye: “…”

Xu Xiaoye slapped her hand on the table and said, “What ‘Captain’? That’s too formal. Just call me by my name.”

An Rong responded immediately, happily changing her tune: “Xiao-Xiao Jie (Big Sister Xiao-Xiao).”

Xu Xiaoye nodded with a smile. After nodding, she looked at An Rong and said, “Since you’ve called me ‘Jie,’ whatever Big Sister sings is correct. Aside from the ‘la la la,’ there was nothing wrong with it. Understood?”

An Rong’s smile gradually vanished, and she nodded obediently to show she understood.

Xu Xiaoye gave a long “Mhm” and said, “If something happens, we talk about it ‘back at home’ (the dorm), right?”

An Rong nodded. “Right. I was wrong.”

Xu Xiaoye was pleased. She rewarded An Rong with a playful wink and praised her: “Good girl. Now eat up.”

Xia Chunhua, sitting across from them, was dazed. This whole interaction was… incredibly smooth.

Author’s Note:

An Rong: I have a plan now~