After the Scheming Girl Joined a Dating Show - Chapter 14

“Mmh?” On Su Qin’s usually expressionless face, a look of surprise ten times larger than normal appeared.

“No, it’s not really a date.” Xia Mozhu twirled a strand of hair around her finger. She didn’t dare look at Su Qin for long, staring down at the tips of her shoes and only stealing a glance upward every now and then. “Just treat it as a chance for me to learn acting from a senior. Didn’t you say you’d teach me something?”

With that shy expression, she looked every bit like a delicate flower.

Su Qin pulled back her surprised expression and said a single, concise word: “Mm.”

The production crew naturally knew what was happening. However, the staff had assumed Su Qin would refuse, so they hadn’t stepped in to stop Xia Mozhu when she made the invitation.

But Su Qin said… “Mm.”

?!!!

The director scratched his head in a panic, making his already thinning hair even worse.

The rule for one-on-one invitations was that if someone with the privilege made an invite, the invited party could not refuse—but it never specified whether the invited party had to be male or female.

While “Same-Sex CPs” (Couples) currently generated much more buzz than heterosexual ones, this was a show branded as a “Love Guide” for men and women. Naturally, they had to find a way to create “pink bubbles” between male and female guests. Now, Little Xia was jumping right in to date Su Qin—the “Nation’s White Moonlight” whom the show wanted to use as their main gimmick. Was she here to watch the drama or to steal the main attraction?!

“Uh… Little Xia.” The director walked over, cleared his throat, and said, “Our show needs to align with the core socialist values of prosperity, democracy, civility, and harmony.”

“Mm.” Xia Mozhu’s eyes were a bit confused. “What’s wrong?”

“Meaning, well, I highly respect whatever private relationship you two have,” the director said carefully. “But considering the show’s effect, maybe consider changing your date candidate?”

Xia Mozhu thought for a few seconds. “Does the director mean I’m not allowed to invite Senior Su Qin on a date?”

The director gave a dry, polite chuckle. “Look, aren’t there plenty of great guys here? Little Liang, Little Ji, Little Lu… and haven’t you been getting along quite well with that kid Qi Tian these past two days?”

“Then let me think about it.” Xia Mozhu lowered her head dejectedly. If her dating privilege couldn’t be used on Su Qin, she might as well just let it expire.

At that moment, Su Qin stood up and spoke: “I want to initiate my first date.”

Hearing this, the director’s eyes lit up brighter than titanium LED bulbs. “And who does Teacher Su wish to choose as her date?”

Su Qin looked at Xia Mozhu. “You seem to really want to go on a date with me.”

“Huh?” Xia Mozhu froze and pointed at herself. “Is Senior Su Qin talking to me?”

“Mm,” Su Qin replied, her eyes silently saying: My eyes are looking at you; who else would I be talking to?

Xia Mozhu glanced at the director, not daring to speak. She was just a budding newcomer after all. Even though she had taken first place in a girl group survival show, that group was now “dead cold.” It was lucky enough just to be on a show; she wasn’t in a position to make many demands.

The nerves in the director’s brain throbbed. He just started to say, “Our prosperity, democracy, civility, and harmony…” before he was cut off by Su Qin’s icy voice.

“We just have a ‘Socialist Sisterhood.’ Is it not allowed to go out for a normal sisterly afternoon tea?”

Song Yanran was busy drinking water while watching the drama. Hearing the “Celestial” Su Qin say such a thing with a cold face, she sprayed a mouthful of water everywhere.

An Nuo, sitting right next to her, closed her eyes and wiped the water off her face. She turned her head slowly to stare at the culprit, her eyes filled with genuine killing intent.

“Sorry, sorry! I really didn’t mean it this time!” Song Yanran put down her glass and grabbed several tissues, slapping them onto An Nuo’s face and rubbing them back and forth like she was scrubbing pigskin, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she was ruining an exquisitely made-up face.

“Get lost.” An Nuo was so angry she once again forgot she was filming and needed to maintain her image.

Song Yanran’s eyes were still glued to the drama across the room. She wished she could stretch her ears over there. The Celestial Su actually knows the ‘Socialist Sisterhood’ meme; it seems she doesn’t live completely in the heavens after all.

The director felt like he had swallowed a whole snapping turtle; his face turned a bloated shade of green. There was nothing technically wrong with what she said, but this was a dating show, not “Sisters on a Trip”!

However, Su Qin had been hard to recruit in the first place. She never cooperated with things she disliked when doing variety shows; it was essentially impossible to make her follow a script. The script had to accommodate her.

The director gritted his teeth and said, “Fine. However… Little Xia’s date slot is still used up. Teacher Su, would you consider choosing one other person to date as well?”

Obviously, the meaning was: You can date Xia Mozhu, but the condition is you also have to pick a male guest.

Su Qin glanced at Xia Mozhu and said, “The other one can be whoever.”

“Great, great, great!” Getting this answer, the director’s smile almost reached the sky.

This meant the production crew could arrange whoever they wanted! They could wait to see audience feedback from the first episode before arranging Su Qin’s first “official” date.

Standing to the side, Xia Mozhu’s mood suddenly dipped. Even wanting to date Su Qin required Su Qin to step in and negotiate with the crew; she felt truly useless.

Wait, no—she didn’t want to date Su Qin; she was doing it to sabotage her brother! But in the end, Su Qin still had to date someone else. If she’d known, she wouldn’t have said anything.

The director had already left, satisfied. Xia Mozhu was still staring at the tips of her shoes, lost in thought.

“Why did you want to ask me on a date?” Su Qin’s voice rang in her ear.

Xia Mozhu was startled and jumped, nearly hitting Su Qin’s nose.

“Sorry… I…” Instead of her usual childish yelping when startled, she apologized with a loss for words, her nose feeling a bit stingy.

Su Qin grabbed Xia Mozhu by the sleeve and led her to a secluded spot before asking, “What’s wrong with you?”

“Do you… hate me now?” Xia Mozhu’s voice was as small as a mosquito’s.

Su Qin: “Why would you think that?”

“You’ve been cold to me since this morning, you were so formal in the kitchen, and you’re keeping your date candidate a secret from me.” Xia Mozhu grew sadder as she spoke.

“That’s because…” Su Qin’s face looked as if it were covered in frost, but her eyes held a trace of flustered panic. “Forget it,” she said. “I’ve always been like this. I don’t hate you.”

Hearing this, the weight in Xia Mozhu’s heart lifted slightly. Su Qin wouldn’t lie to her.

Actually, more than that, she cared about the fact that she was too useless. If she had been firm with the director like Su Qin was, she wouldn’t have troubled Su Qin. Maybe Su Qin thought she was just a “soft persimmon” who didn’t even know how to stand up to the crew.

That feeling was very unpleasant.

Song Yanran, sitting on the sofa over there, was like a “melon-eating” badger, stretching her neck to look into the corner.

“Hey, do you think the Celestial had a fight with Little Bamboo? The atmosphere was weird during the meal. I just saw Little Bamboo’s eyes were a bit red before she was pulled away by the Celestial.” As she watched, she looked for someone to gossip with.

“I think you’re eating too little and worrying too much. You want to manage the heavens and the earth, and now you want to manage people being pulled—” An Nuo bit her lip, swallowing the unrefined word. Still working, still working.

Song Yanran kept watching while slapping a hand over An Nuo’s face. “Shut up.”

An Nuo: “…” If this shot makes it into the show and you get cyberbullied by my fans, I’m not stepping in to save you!

Xia Mozhu recalled the things she had just said to Su Qin and covered her face, wishing she could find a hole to crawl into.

What was she thinking? How could she complain about Senior Su Qin being cold or polite? And why on earth should she be told who the date candidate was! She wasn’t even properly friends with Senior Su Qin yet; how could she have the nerve to say those things!

She dove face-first into the sofa, grabbing a cushion and curling into a ball like a turtle. If only she had a shell to hide in. If she stayed here any longer, she was going to dig a two-bedroom-one-living-room basement into the floor with her toes. It was too embarrassing!

“Here. For you.”

Someone walked silently to the side of the sofa, holding a food bag, and bumped it against Xia Mozhu’s hip.

Xia Mozhu turned her head. It was Su Qin. That beautiful hand tossed the bag onto the sofa, and the woman turned to go upstairs.

Xia Mozhu opened the bag. It was full of snacks. In the most visible spot were the “Xiao Xiao Su” crispy snacks, yogurt, and a carton of chocolate milk.