Chapter 10

Qin Ran admitted that, at the very beginning, she had been bewitched by Yu Shuman’s smile. That school flower bed beneath the setting sun had been the start of her heart stirring.

But people experienced many moments of sudden attraction. She had impulsively bound herself to Yu Shuman back then, and there was no guarantee she would not regret it later, feeling that she had entrusted herself to the wrong person.

Yu Shuman, however, would never let Qin Ran feel that kind of regret.

Because she was worth it.

The more Qin Ran spent time with Yu Shuman, the more she felt that her original decision had not been wrong. And the more she felt she had not been wrong, the easier it became for her to be drawn to Yu Shuman. Then her heart sank deeper and deeper, until she could not pull it out at all.

Now, when no one was around, she would even sigh to herself that she had truly, completely fallen.

After lunch, Qin Ran went to work, while Yu Shuman went to practice singing. After some time, she would continue practicing dance and rehearse together with her other teammates.

When Qin Ran’s work came to a temporary stop, Yu Shuman’s team rehearsal had also ended. But Yu Shuman still ran off to find a staff member and asked for an empty dance room so she could continue training.

Qin Ran took a mop and a bucket and found Yu Shuman.

She knocked on the door. When she heard the words “Please come in,” she brought her tools inside as well.

Through the mirror, Yu Shuman saw Qin Ran and turned back in surprise. “Junior?”

Qin Ran shook the keys in her hand. “Senior, I need to clean up and lock the door.”

Only then did Yu Shuman realize that she was delaying Qin Ran’s work. Yu Shuman hurriedly wiped the sweat from her face and smiled at her. “Junior, I’ll be done right away.”

After saying that, Yu Shuman realized her throat was a little hoarse, so she went to pick up her water bottle and drink. But after tilting her head back and taking a few gulps, she discovered there was no water left.

Yu Shuman put down the bottle awkwardly.

Qin Ran, however, took a bottle of mineral water out of her own pocket. She left her tools where they were and walked toward Yu Shuman.

Yu Shuman reached out and took the mineral water from Qin Ran, twisted it open, tilted her head back, and gulped down more than half the bottle in one breath.

She was a little embarrassed. “I even stole your water.”

“Senior, let’s talk.”

Qin Ran’s words made Yu Shuman’s smile turn a little guilty. Qin Ran sat down on the floor and patted the spot beside her. Yu Shuman obediently sat down next to her.

After sitting down, Yu Shuman stretched out her legs and could not help patting them with her hands.

Seeing her like this, Qin Ran asked, “Do your legs hurt?”

Yu Shuman’s hands paused in the middle of patting her legs. She seemed to want to say something, but in the end, she still nodded.

“I thought so. You’ve always been like this. Once you decide on something, you start moving like your life depends on it. Back in your third year of high school, your studies were delayed in the beginning, so later you studied like your life depended on it. Senior, studying like that in your third year of high school was one thing, but if you keep doing this now, your body won’t be able to handle it.”

She sat on the floor hugging her legs. In front of her was the huge mirror of the dance room, and beside her was Yu Shuman, who looked somewhat dispirited.

Qin Ran was not someone eloquent. As a socially anxious person, Qin Ran did not actually like communicating with others. There were even many times when she felt that aside from having money, she was somewhat useless.

She did not know whether what she said could persuade Senior, but she had to say it out loud. Even if it made her unlik read the original at bailiantales.com eable, she still had to say it.

Yu Shuman froze for a moment, then sighed.

She was a straightforward person. Whatever she thought, she said directly. So she did not make excuses, laugh it off, or tell Qin Ran that she was fine.

She only said, “I know. But I always feel like there’s nothing I can do. If I don’t work hard, I won’t be able to compete with the others. So many of them are amazing. Some of them have been dancing since elementary school, and they really dance incredibly well. I feel like I’m the one dragging the team down. If Ninety-Nine Interactive Entertainment hadn’t been so powerful, maybe I’d be on the verge of elimination right now.”

“So I thought I had to work hard. Otherwise, I’d be letting down the company behind me, and I wouldn’t be able to earn money or repay the kindness I owe others.”

Yu Shuman lifted her head and looked at Qin Ran in the mirror. Their gazes met through the reflection.

“I also want you to become my little assistant. You said that when I become rich and noble, I shouldn’t forget you. Senior has always remembered that. When the time comes, if I have a mouthful of meat, you’ll have a mouthful of soup. Don’t worry. Senior definitely won’t let you keep doing this kind of heavy, tiring work anymore!”

Qin Ran had not expected Yu Shuman to have thoughts like this.

When Yu Shuman spoke, she was especially serious. The emotion bursting out from her made Qin Ran unable to stop herself from looking away. She buried her face into her arms and turned her head to the other side, afraid that if she kept her head raised, Yu Shuman would see her flushed face.

Yu Shuman was someone it was very hard not to like.

That kind of bold, candid, sincere personality—no matter who it was, they would not be able to help being drawn to her.

Qin Ran was no exception.

She half-buried her head in her arms, her tone a little muffled. “Senior, then you should take even better care of your body. Otherwise, if you work yourself into withdrawing from the competition, wouldn’t it be even more impossible for you to help me rise to wealth and success?”

“Your feet are swollen, your legs are sore, and even your voice is hoarse. When the time comes, how are you going to perform onstage?”

Qin Ran’s words were not exactly polite. If it were someone who only had an ordinary relationship with her, they might have felt offended.

But after hearing them, Yu Shuman could not help smiling.

After sitting on the floor for a while, her legs had already improved a lot. She climbed up from the floor, stood beside Qin Ran, then bent down and reached out to rub Qin Ran’s somewhat messy hair.

“Junior, I know! I’ll adjust things properly!”

As she leaned closer, there was the smell of sweat on her body. It was not heavy Read on BaiLianTales or overpowering, but there was still the scent of sweat. The hand she placed on Qin Ran’s head was soft and burning hot.

Qin Ran lowered her head and gave a quiet “Mm.”

After that, Yu Shuman helped Qin Ran clean the dance room. Then she went back to eat dinner and prepared to return to the dormitory to rest that night.

After finishing a full day of part-time work, Qin Ran also got into Sister Li’s car and returned to school.

The school was indeed too far from the filming location. By the time she returned to the dormitory building, she was cutting it extremely close. She had nearly missed curfew and been unable to get inside. Even so, the dormitory auntie still scolded her a little, but did not make things difficult for her.

For students like Qin Ran, the teachers at the student center would usually specifically remind the dormitory aunties about them. The auntie knew Qin Ran was an orphan and often worked part-time outside, so it was inevitable that she treated her with a little extra consideration.

What she said to Qin Ran was nothing else—just that Qin Ran was, after all, a young girl. Coming back so late at night inevitably made people worried and afraid for her.

Qin Ran lowered her head and hurried into the dormitory building, but what she was thinking was: maybe she should buy a house outside the school. Otherwise, always rushing back right before curfew really was not ideal.

Mainly, she was socially anxious and truly did not want to communicate with the auntie.

Qin Ran hesitated for a moment, but that night, she still called the read the original at bailiantales.com special assistant she had hired for herself.

When she was in her first year of high school, she had already found an agent and had that person come forward to provide Yu Shuman with sponsorship on her behalf. In recent months, Qin Ran had handled more and more money, so that person had become her special assistant, responsible for many matters.

Her special assistant was a middle-aged woman. The other party had not chosen to get married and start a family, instead devoting herself wholeheartedly to her career. At first, she had not wanted to become Qin Ran’s assistant, but Qin Ran had simply offered too much.

When she received Qin Ran’s call close to eleven-thirty at night, she did not show the slightest displeasure.

“Special Assistant Wu, I want to buy a house. The requirements are: a flat-floor apartment, open views, located somewhere between my school and the suburban filming base, with good security and property management. The price should be within twenty million.”

When dealing with the highly capable Special Assistant Wu, Qin Ran’s words were always brief, because Special Assistant Wu would definitely be able to meet her requirements and give a quick response.

After hanging up, Qin Ran went to sleep early.

The next day, after classes ended, she once again got into Sister Li’s car and went to the suburban filming base to work part-time.

Unsurprisingly, Yu Shuman’s dance practice plan was once again interrupted by Qin Ran. Yu Shuman could not drag things out and stop Qin Ran from doing her work. She was only puzzled as to why Qin Ran had been assigned to clean this exact dance room two days in a row.

By the third and fourth day, even if Yu Shuman were more foolish, she would have known Qin Ran [stolen content]was doing it on purpose.

She looked at Qin Ran with a resentful gaze. “Junior, you’re doing this on purpose?”

Qin Ran was not embarrassed to admit it at all. “I asked Sister Li to let me clean your dance room. Sister Li also said you can’t keep practicing like this every day. Otherwise, something will happen sooner or later.”

She even brought out Sister Li’s name to suppress Yu Shuman a little.

Yu Shuman had no choice but to reduce the amount of time she spent practicing dance.

In truth, as far as Qin Ran was concerned, Yu Shuman’s dancing was already good enough. Girl group dances were inherently a little less difficult than other professional dances. In addition, Yu Shuman’s athletic ability had always been decent, and her limbs were coordinated. After practicing for so long, she danced fairly well now. She could definitely keep up with the rhythm of the other team members and would not drag them down.

Moreover, she really looked beautiful when she danced.

Her eyes shone, and when sweat scattered from her, it was like bright diamonds blooming with light as they fell around her.

This kind of Yu Shuman was born to belong onstage, so dazzling that people could not look away.

Qin Ran very much wanted to tell her, “You’ve already done well enough. You’re amazing.”

But Qin Ran could not say it.

She had a twisted, awkward personality. Otherwise, she would not have gone so long without binding the system. Sometimes, Qin Ran also felt that her personality was not good. She only dared to quietly stay hidden in the corner.

Qin Ran worked part-time at the production team for several days. Special Assistant Wu’s side also had news. She said that she had already contacted people and selected several houses, and asked whether Qin Ran needed to inspect them in person.

Since it was a place she would live in herself, Qin Ran still wanted to look at them in person and choose a room that suited her preferences.

So on Saturday, Qin Ran did not go to work part-time. Instead, she followed Special Assistant Wu around several luxury residential compounds in the capital.

Special Assistant Wu’s taste and ability were both quite good. The apartments she chose all had interior designs that suited what girls Qin Ran’s age would like. Although Qin Ran felt they were a little childish, after thinking carefully, if one day Yu Shuman also came to live with her, perhaps she would like this kind of decor.

Qin Ran shook her head, trying hard to throw away the thought that had just appeared in her mind.

Stop thinking about it.

You and Yu Shuman are impossible!