Chapter 157
"Liuli, you must become a mature and good woman!"
"Only a mature and good woman can marry Qing Bao and take real wedding photos together!"
I'd like to recommend a book by a friend.
Introduction: [Juzi]
Reborn into another world, still a sickly Young Lady?
The lady next door was gentle and kind, but she always looked troubled.
"Miss Lin, actually I didn't want to either..."
The well-behaved junior was timid and reserved, but she always liked to buy strange and unusual things online.
"I'm sorry, senior, but I really..."
Lin Weiran remained expressionless and stated that she only wanted to give up.
[Kiss--]
Congratulations on successfully loading the "Perfect Life in the Otherworld" system!
With the support of this system, you will surely be able to achieve your perfect life through hard work.
[...]
Lin Weiran: Let me go! What kind of commander are you?!?
Let me set it up, let me set it up!!!
Book Title Young Lady: <A Frail Young Lady in the Other World, But She Livestreams Doing Nothing>
Volume 1: 153. Xie Qingxuan comprehends the truth, and the Stage Battle that follow. (5K)
Around 3 PM.
Tang Liuli adjusted her mindset, used concealer to cover her eyes, and applied a light makeup with matte brown eyeshadow along the redness from crying. Then she applied a brighter lip gloss, pretended that nothing had happened, and walked out of the bathroom into the Living room.
The Green Eyed Cat was full of confidence. Because she had almost died from her previous abstraction, she was completely unaware that her embarrassing, tearful appearance had already been seen by her two teammates, except for Chu Yuanqing. She was even a little smug at the moment.
Hmph, I'm too clever. With such meticulous makeup skills, no one will be able to tell I've been crying! It's practically the same as not embarrassing myself at all!
Pity,
"Liuli, don't be sad! Xiao Qing and I will tell you a bedtime story together tonight!"
This beautiful dream was quickly shattered by the Little Cotton-padded Jacket's clumsy attempts at comforting her.
On the other side, even the Sakura Girl, whom she considered a bad woman, cast a compassionate and loving glance at her.
Green Eyed Cat's brain trembled, and for a moment she hallucinated that she was the straw boat used by Zhuge Liang to borrow arrows, and was riddled with bullets in a chaotic massacre. She was plunged into immense shame and despair, and her whole being was about to become abstract and gray under the intense stimulation.
Chu Wangshu realized that Liuli was moved by her, so she quickly pulled her back from her 2.5-dimensional world, gently stroked the cat's head, and, imitating Qing Bao's manner, comforted her:
"Okay, don't be sad. Yayoi- nee and I are both Liuli's good friends."
"And I mean really, really good friends. No matter if we make it to the second Public Performance stage in the same team, or how many of us actually debut, I'll always consider Liuli my best friend!"
"So, Liuli can rely on me a little more, and she can confide in me about her unhappy things!"
The Green Eyed Cat was deeply moved upon hearing this and felt healed. However, it then remembered its "impure" motives for making friends, and its sense of guilt swelled rapidly. It became even more discouraged and just wanted to evaporate on the spot and pretend to be dead.
Well, if it weren't for Little Sakura reaching out to pet the cat, triggering Tang Liuli's rival radar and causing her to warily dodge and hide behind Chu Wangshu, glaring fiercely at (what she thought was) the other party, this cat would probably have gone crazy again.
Looking at this "heartwarming" scene, Chu Yuanqing felt somewhat gratified. A harmonious and loving atmosphere is very helpful in relieving various kinds of mental stress.
"Alright, let's go return the phone together, then head to the practice room to continue training."
Chu Yuanqing interrupted the Green Eyed Cat's bristling sway.
Kiriwake Yayoi nodded in agreement.
Chu Wangshu asked thoughtfully:
"Speaking of which, shouldn't we decide who to challenge?"
That statement makes a lot of sense.
A challenge requires the consent of both teams; it cannot be decided arbitrarily by one side simply because they want to fight on a given day.
If you wait two or three days until training is complete before challenging other teams, you might find yourself in the awkward situation where the other team has already accepted the challenge. Therefore, it's smarter to find challenge targets in advance and have Dream Weaver Rabbit establish a fixed Stage Battle schedule.
As if she had been prepared, Kiriwake Yayoi said:
"I've looked into that. There are currently 12 teams in the A1 area. There are two teams I plan to avoid: one is Chen Yining's team, and the other is Xie Qingxuan and Ji Shuzhu's team."
"Putting all that aside, I've selected a few teams that offer moderate challenge, low risk, and can complement our needs. We'll all go to the practice room later to choose, and we can submit our Stage Battle applications to them today."
Damn it, how come that Great Demon King is back in just a few days?
Tang Liuli was greatly shocked. Recalling the other person's eyes and words before leaving, a sense of crisis arose spontaneously, and she couldn't help but complain:
"What kind of monsters are Xie Qingxuan and that choreographer?"
"It's only been five days, right? They've already practiced two dances to the point where they can officially perform on stage, and even win the Stage Battle?"
Chu Yuanqing wasn't too surprised. She thought for a moment and said:
"Qingxuan's basic dance skills are better than ours, and she has a strong ability to concentrate and a consistently high learning efficiency, so it's not surprising that she can do that."
"As for Ji Shuzhu, she has congenital Hyperthymesia, and it's a very special kind. It's like she has a dance library in her brain. When she choreographed a four-person dance for our team, she completed the initial version in just a few minutes."
"She was able to demonstrate all the stances and modified movements on the same day, and with the advanced technology in the A-Class training room that imprints muscle memory, she really could do something so incredible."
The three fell silent after hearing this.
What kind of overpowered combination?
Thinking about it this way, the reason they were able to defeat the combination of the Great Demon King, the choreographer, and Chu Yuanqing was probably because they had the advantage of choosing the right song. Otherwise, if this team had been given a suitable song, with Ji Shuzhu around, they could have unleashed a terrifying chemical reaction.
The outcome will be unpredictable at that time.
In an instant, the three of them had the same thought.
--We absolutely cannot have another Stage Battle with them!
Chu Yuanqing didn't want to compete with Xie Qingxuan either. It wasn't because he felt guilty about owing the Golden Haired Doggy a few minutes of kisses, but simply because the Stage Battle in the A1 area was far too life-or-death.
If one side loses, they will be forced to retreat to area B1 and learn two dances and compete in two Stage Battle within a limited number of days.
Even for someone as strong as Xie Qingxuan and Ji Shuzhu, it would be difficult to replicate the speedrun feat within a shorter time limit, and failure would risk elimination.
Although considering the new rules added by Dream Weaver Rabbit, Liuli, Yayoi, and Kiyohyun would most likely not be eliminated in this round if they wanted to, many people didn't realize that even this has prerequisites.
That is, there are teams in area A1 that are willing to take each other in.
This sounds like an incredibly easy condition to fulfill; who would refuse such a great opportunity as a powerful teammate falling from the sky?
However, it's important to understand that the contestants aren't fools. No one would wait until the very last day to start their Stage Battle. The most likely scenario is that Little Sakura, like many others, starts her battle just days before the deadline.
In other words, the A1 area will be quickly cleared in the next few days.
The winner advances.
The loser retreats.
The remaining teams have most likely already arranged to Stage Battle for one last shot.
The key lies in one detail here.
That is, the Stage Battle cannot be canceled by one side alone. Even if a [Flow State] holder wants to switch to your team during this period, they cannot go directly because the 4V4 match is still in progress. They have to wait until the Stage Battle ends or both sides agree to terminate the contract.
In this situation, once the opposing team hears that you're terminating your contract, they can guess that you have a [Flow State] holder switching teams. There's absolutely no reason for them to risk not finding a team to challenge them and just let your team advance happily.
Therefore, these two days are the best time to switch jobs. After this point, it will be impossible to advance directly to the safe zone and prepare for the second Public Performance by switching jobs.
Chu Yuanqing's thoughts were interrupted. She suddenly remembered a detail she had overlooked and realized a possibility. She immediately felt a headache coming on, but stopped thinking about it.
The four of them didn't chat any longer. After returning the phones together, they went to the practice room and began the second half of their training session, during which the dance called <Pandora> was gradually perfected.
On the other side, in area A1.
Xie Qingxuan reluctantly handed her phone to a staff member. She walked to the lounge next to the dance studio and sat down. Like a dog missing its owner, her soft eyes gazed at a certain spot, lost in thought, murmuring to herself:
"Xiao Qing, you need love very much."
This is a wise conclusion reached after following Chu Yuanqing with a main account, openly liking all of his Weibo, and spending two hours gossiping in his supertopic.
Although it was not very wise for a public figure to do this with his main account, it directly led to the wailing of a large number of Xie Qingxuan's solo fans and Solo Fan fans, as well as the excited celebration of a group of "Qing Cheng Qing Guo" CP fans.
But that's not important.
Importantly, Xie Qingxuan, who had grown up in luxury but lacked love and had her freedom restricted, could understand Chu Yuanqing's situation and what she needed.
--It is love.
--It encompasses love that includes family, friendship, and romantic love.
Xie Qingxuan lacked love, so she could understand and comprehend the feeling of not being needed, not being liked, and not being cared for. She understood why Xiao Qing was able to develop such a personality in this environment.
Because I am not loved, I want to love someone.
Therefore, her gentleness requires no reward, and she never expects anything in return.
But that sense of alienation stems from this very thing. As long as you don't have expectations, you won't be disappointed by not receiving love. But if you hold onto this avoidance mindset, you will panic when you are loved, want to repeatedly confirm it, and hesitate.
Because of this awareness, one will have expectations, and having expectations will lead to being hurt.
Yes, in a way, this is exactly the predicament Xie Qingxuan herself is in, which is why she can imagine it so vividly.
Xie Qingxuan was somewhat conflicted. She was emotionally clueless; even if she thought Xiao Qing lacked love, she didn't know how to make up for it with actions. She glanced at her teammates in the dance studio, stood up, walked in, and looked around at the three of them. With an indifferent and disdainful expression, she posed a very natural question:
"I have a question."
How can you make someone feel loved?
This question was so shocking that it even gave the usually emotionally oblivious choreographer a slight jolt.
Fan Qiuling was also completely bewildered.
Is this the kind of question a tyrant she follows would ask? It's far too innocent and girlish!
"Physical contact, such as interlocking fingers or a tight hug."
"But the premise is that it shouldn't offend the other party."
The first to answer the question was Fan Qiuling's new teammate.
The young woman had a mature makeup look, a tall figure, and a sophisticated, mature style. She looked older than everyone else present, probably around 23 years old, which is considered quite old in a talent show where youth is a major factor.
Chu Qiushuang.
This is the teammate that Ji Shuzhu selected based on the "shining scent".
She was quite good in all aspects among the B-Class contestants. She had been a trainee for three years before, but felt there was no future for her, so she terminated her contract and switched to being a self-media personality. She is a well-known internet celebrity blogger. She can't be considered a complete novice, but she hasn't really entered the industry.
Ji Shuzhu answered succinctly:
"Protect her."
"Give her whatever she wants, do everything you can to be good to her, and show your feelings through your actions."
This answer left Chu Qiushuang and Fan Qiuling feeling somewhat uneasy.
The choreographer, who is usually aloof and world-weary, sometimes going a whole day without saying three words, how could she possibly give such a simple, unadorned, and even foolish answer when it comes to matters of the heart?
Fan Qiuling complained:
"No, that would make me a simp. There's a limit to how much you can do to being nice to someone; there's a time when things feel new and exciting."
"If you simply treat someone well all the time, they will be touched at first, but over time they will take it for granted. If they do something slightly less than expected, they will only receive complaints and blame."
Ji Shuzhu replied calmly:
"That means the wrong person was chosen."
This unwavering certainty, as if saying "I won't choose the wrong person," made Fan Qiuling feel strangely like she'd been force-fed a handful of empty dog food (a Chinese slang term for witnessing a romantic relationship). She decided to ignore these details and honestly answer Xie Qingxuan's questions.
"The simplest and most sincere way to make someone feel loved is to express it with words, just like when someone confesses their feelings by saying 'I like you.' It's best to also send flowers, and your attitude should be sincere to show that you are serious."