Everyone Is Spending Money to Push Me Into A Center-Position Debut - Chapter 10

“The third and fourth floors are dormitories. Do you want me to take you up for a look?” Out of politeness, Chi Rui still asked.

Ling Yu did not speak. She only stared fixedly at Chi Rui with her pitch-black eyes.

Chi Rui: Could this be the legendary… provocation?

“All right. Thank you.”

If Ling Yu had spoken any later, Chi Rui would have thought she was about to swing a fist and beat her up. The key point, however, was that when she spoke, her tone was extremely sincere. Compared to provocation, it would be more accurate to say that her personality was simply slow to react.

And so, Chi Rui could only steel herself and take on the role of tour guide. It was just that she talked until her mouth was dry up front, while Ling Yu did not say a single word from beginning to end. She quietly followed behind Chi Rui, not carrying even the slightest trace of human warmth from head to toe.

“That’s about it. The rooms are first come, first served, so you can choose for yourself. Do you want to pick one first?”

Ling Yu: “Anything.”

Chi Rui: Little sister, what you’re good at isn’t rap—it’s killing conversations, right?

Chi Rui was already tempted to turn back and ask the VJ for help. After all, she was not the one who should be anxious about not having any material.

“Ah.” Ling Yu’s lashes suddenly trembled, as if she had remembered something. “Luggage…”

“Your luggage is still downstairs, right?” Chi Rui worked hard to restart the topic. “Do you need me to help you carry it? Your suitcases look pretty heavy.”

One second… two seconds…

Ling Yu went silent again.

Although Chi Rui still had a smile on her face, she felt as though she was already crying rivers of tears inside. The biggest stumbling block on the path toward her dream was actually not Bai Chang, but this person in front of her, right?

“Ha… do you not really like other people touching your things? If you don’t need help, I’ll go get you a rag first. You’ll definitely need it when cleaning the dorm later.”

After saying that, Chi Rui turned around and entered the restroom. Because her back was turned, she did not see Ling Yu finally open her mouth half a beat too late, silently forming the word “okay.”

The VJ following behind Chi Rui happened to capture Ling Yu’s small hand, which was tentatively raised in midair. That hand awkwardly stayed raised for a while before dropping back down somewhat dejectedly.

Two minutes later, Chi Rui came out holding the rag and discovered that there was still not even half a person on the stairs. She walked downstairs and saw Ling Yu standing in front of the two oversized suitcases, her legs seemingly rooted to the floor, completely motionless. Looking at that slender, tall back, no matter how one looked at it, it seemed frail and pitiful.

“Ling Yu?” Chi Rui called out.

The other girl quickly turned her head. Her beautiful lashes blinked. This time, when she spoke, she was finally clear and efficient. She said, “Help me.”

Ling Yu was afraid that if she reacted too slowly again this time, Chi Rui would turn around and leave again, so her tone was no longer as flat as before. It faintly carried a bit of urgency, and her eyes hid a moist helplessness.

For some reason, looking at those eyes, Chi Rui suddenly thought of the little black dog raised at the welfare home in her previous life. It had also been somewhat shy around strangers. Unlike other small dogs that often barked, it was very quiet. But after being raised for a while, it had become quite clingy, basically following Chi Rui wherever she went.

Even being looked at once by a dog like that had been enough to make her heart soften terribly, let alone when the other party was a young girl this delicate and beautiful.

Damn it! Chi Rui cursed under her breath, instantly throwing Tang Yu’s warning to the back of her mind.

Chi Rui walked over and, without another word, picked up one suitcase. She looked as if she did it with no effort at all. During this period at home, in order to train little Princess Chi’s scrap-iron-like body, she had done quite a lot of physical training. People who had done conditioning and people who had not looked completely different when dancing.

Ling Yu picked up a handbag and followed behind her in small steps, sincerely praising her. “You’re so strong.”

The follow-cam VJ held back his laughter until his face was nearly red. Ling Yu from Lemon had taken the initiative to speak to Chi Rui, formerly of MK, for the first time—and the result was that she was praising the other girl’s strength?

This segment had to be kept in the later edit! Let the Lemon executives, who had deliberately sent over the hardest trainee to communicate with, take a look. Their expressions at that time would definitely be wonderful.

Chi Rui kept her expression unchanged and went up and down twice to move all the luggage. Then she asked, “You haven’t picked a room yet, right?”

“Where are you staying?”

“I… hm?” Chi Rui reacted. Ling Yu probably wanted to stay in the same dorm as her.

Hadn’t they said Lemon’s people and MK’s people were like two tigers that could not share one mountain, hostile from top to bottom? Had she forgotten to say when she introduced herself just now that she used to be from MK? But even if she had not said it, with little Princess Chi’s fame being this great—although it was negative—could Ling Yu not know? Even if Ling Yu did not know, could her manager have failed to warn her?

But when she saw Ling Yu’s innocent appearance, Chi Rui felt that all the things she was thinking in her head right now might be a little too petty. The other person did not even care, so why did she have to worry on her behalf?

“I want to be in the same dorm as you.” Ling Yu realized she was too excited and forcefully suppressed the curve of her lips.

Being looked at with such expectant eyes, Chi Rui felt that if she did not agree, it would seem very immoral of her. Where exactly did this inexplicable sense of guilt come from?

“0312.”

……

After a round of busyness, Chi Rui finally helped Ling Yu push her suitcases into the room. Then Chi Rui discovered that this child had once again begun staring at the bare bed board in a daze.

Chi “Tool Person” Rui: “Perhaps… do you need help?”

Ling “Unable to Wait” Yu: “Mm!”

She was only missing a tail behind her, wagging wildly.

Follow-cam VJ: Carrying suitcases was one thing, but now she’s even helping change the bedding? Are you two sure you want to be this harmonious and friendly? What exactly am I filming?

During the entire process of changing the bedding, whether Chi Rui stood up to switch directions or casually shook out the quilt, no matter how insignificant the little movement was, Ling Yu stared at her with a gaze close to worship. Chi Rui, feeling somewhat mentally exhausted, held her forehead. After all, Ling Yu’s dog-like, persistent stare had far too strong a presence.

“You’re amazing.” This was the second sentence Ling Yu had taken the initiative to say today.

The praise made Chi Rui feel as if what she had just made was not a bed, but the salvation of the world.

……

Bai Chang had just come out of the makeup room and gotten into the car Bai Yuanyuan had driven over. Today was the first day of filming for National Girls. As the initiator, she naturally needed to show her face.

Tang Yu had to follow Chi Rui’s schedule today, so the person acting as temporary manager could only be Bai Yuanyuan, who was most familiar with Bai Chang. Everything about her was fine—except that she was somewhat noisy.

Even with her hands gripping the steering wheel, Bai Yuanyuan’s mouth still could not stop.

There was no helping it. Weibo had been far too lively lately. Her soul of gossip was burning fiercely!

“Sister Bai Chang, have you been paying attention to Chi Rui’s situation these past two days? Ever since the production team officially announced her, she’s been getting cursed at every day. Several times, she was cursed onto the trending list. And I went to stroll around her supertopic. There weren’t many support posts to begin with, and they were even flooded by anti-fans in the comments. If this keeps going, even if she has ability, it’ll be very hard for her to debut, right?”

“Yuanyuan, are you my manager or hers? You’re this concerned about her affairs?”

“That’s not what I mean at all! Being Sister Bai Chang’s manager, even if only as a one-day substitute, makes me super happy!” As Bai Yuanyuan spoke, her voice grew a little quieter, as if she felt guilty. “What I mean is, Sister Chi Rui is pretty pitiful like this too. Why don’t you make some kind of statement again? Or I could use the studio account to draft a statement?”

Before this, Bai Yuanyuan definitely would not have had the courage to raise such a suggestion. But ever since last time, when Bai Chang had tacitly allowed that accidental like under Chi Rui’s fancam to remain, she felt that her boss still cared a little about the boss lady.

“What do you think, Sister Bai Chang…” When no one spoke for a long time, Bai Yuanyuan stopped at a red light and looked back, only to discover that Bai Chang had her eyes closed, looking as though she was taking a light nap.

Bai Yuanyuan: Boss, with you like this, you deserve to be single for the rest of your life!

Author’s Note:

Bai “Vinegar Jar” Chang is about to come online. [The matter of Bai Chang not helping Chi Rui release a statement will be explained in the next chapter.]