This girl had come step by step from the countryside of Hokkaido to Tokyo at the age of twelve, wading through exploitation and bitterness, dancing alone on cramped stages like a moth flying into a flame. She possessed extraordinary resilience and stubbornness.
That early-spring vitality, that stubbornness of tender shoots striving to break through the soil, was precisely what made her most lovable and most worthy of admiration.
Chu Yuanqing's decision let them see once again the courage and stubbornness Kiriwake Yayoi possessed back then.
So whether they were CP fans or simply solo fans, none of them thought there was anything wrong with such a choice.
Rather, the Little Idol they loved should have been exactly like this!
Meanwhile, Chu Yuanqing's fans, along with passersby who had noticed her words, clipped and reposted them one after another, deeply moved.
"Boohoo, I feel so ashamed. When Dream Weaver Rabbit announced the rules, my first thought was that Qing Bao could use Little Sakura's practice room, and I was even super happy about it."
"Me too, but I never expected Qing Bao to refuse. And her reason for refusing was so radiant, just like a little sun!"
"Qing Bao clearly isn't even an adult yet, but she's already so mature. She has her own principles and beliefs, along with the courage and sincerity to carry them through. That's truly, truly rare in the Chinese Entertainment Industry."
"Yeah. The deeper her obsession with standing onstage, the more courage it took for her to say those words just now."
"Clumsy and stubborn, sincere and passionate, never turning back until she hits a wall, forever retaining the rebelliousness and innocence of youth—I like idols like this, and I hope she can shine on the biggest stage!"
"Fans follow their idol. If this is Qing Bao's choice, then we're willing to wait for the moment she truly breaks out of her cocoon!"
The public opinion and hype outside continued to ferment.
Meanwhile, in the underground base, the contestants who had been tormented by the rules, whether or not they had successfully gained access to the A-Class practice rooms, had no intention of returning to their dorms to rest. They all headed to the training areas and began studying Candy's choreography and lyrics using iPads or Virtual Projection.
Although Dream Weaver Rabbit had said that the formal lessons and the one-week time limit would both begin tomorrow, under the constant anxiety sold by the high-pressure environment, the brutal elimination conditions, and their still-unextinguished passion for chasing dreams, almost no contestant chose to slack off.
Candy's choreography was simple.
This meant that trainees with some foundation could more or less teach themselves through the video.
As for singing, not everyone had systematically studied vocal music, but they could still work through the existing score, familiarize themselves with the melody, and memorize the lyrics.
In short, there was only one word for it: grind.
An inch of time was worth an inch of gold. Anyone who wasn't training now was in trouble!
Because of this atmosphere,
Chu Yuanqing easily said goodbye to her daughter, who wanted to train seriously. With a relaxed and cheerful mood, she returned to the dormitory building, recalling the torment she had endured throughout the day and feeling that the bitterness had finally given way to sweetness.
Thanks to that red-eyed rabbit's rules, she had successfully refused to train with Kiriwake Yayoi. Surely, in the future, the other girl would probably have no time to teach her either, since she would be fighting for center.
And since B-Class contestants' practice rooms couldn't be shared, Xiao Shu couldn't hover nearby and make her experience that soft, open training session under the torture of her gaze.
In other words, she was free!
Hahaha, things were looking up. Everything was looking up!
Chu Yuanqing happily imagined the future.
The theme song training period was only one week. With Xiao Shu's serious personality, she would definitely spend most of that time in the practice room. As for a genuine dream-chaser like Kiriwake Yayoi, there was even less need to mention it.
Next, as long as she muddled through in the C-Class practice room without livestreams and performed decently but unremarkably during the evaluation a week later, and even at the large-scale Public Performance, elimination would be a sure thing.
Chu Yuanqing happily opened the door, and a striking scene entered her view.
The girl looked like a little dog burdened with worries. Her eyelids drooped wearily, her emerald-green eyes filled with obscure emotions and rippling fragments of unease. Her damp hair hung over her slender shoulders and thin back, while her pale skin, freshly brushed by steam, glowed with a few points of sickly pink.
Drip. Drip.
Water droplets slid down her un-dried skin, tracing its varied curves and leaving the floor in a mess. From afar, she truly looked as though a tiny raincloud hovered over her head, creating a melancholy yet picturesque atmosphere, like an art photograph with deliberately arranged scenery.
It was Tang Liuli.
45. How About I Teach You?
Chu Yuanqing had plenty of experience. Silently, she closed the door.
Perhaps it was because Xie Qingxuan's figure had been even more explosive, or perhaps because this was the second time.
Chu Yuanqing did not have the thought of turning herself in. Instead, she decided to wait politely for three minutes before entering as though nothing had happened.
Three minutes later, inside the room.
Drip. Drip.
Tang Liuli seemed to truly have a little raincloud over her head. She stood motionless in the same spot like a sculpture, looking like a pitiful rain maiden with nowhere to go.
When Chu Yuanqing entered, she happened to meet the gaze Tang Liuli raised.
The two stared at each other, speechless for a moment.
Looking at the pale-faced girl, Chu Yuanqing's mindset shifted from "don't look at what propriety forbids" to the subtle thought that she'll definitely catch a cold and get sick like this. I can't just leave her alone.
Frowning, she picked up a clean bath towel and draped it over the other girl's head, gently drying away the moisture. When her fingertips touched the child's icy earlobes, she silently raised the room temperature.
The base was underground. Even though it was summer, it could still be somewhat chilly. If one wasn't careful, it was very easy to catch a cold.
Chu Yuanqing was no fool. She could tell that something was wrong with this child's emotions, so she could only break the ice indirectly.
"Dry yourself off. You'll get sick if you stay like this. You have to learn the theme song tomorrow. You don't want to spend half of the week's lessons on sick leave, do you?"
Tang Liuli was very unaccustomed to such close contact.
Especially... the warmth that brushed past like a spring breeze, the concern conveyed through her voice, the scorching heat of her fingertips against her skin, and... that scent when she drew close, as though it encompassed all creation, tender enough to be criminal.
The girl awkwardly shook her head. Like a little hedgehog that craved the warmth of a human hand yet could not help raising the tiny spikes of her mental defenses, she said softly,
"None of your business."
Damn succubus, stay away from me!
Chu Yuanqing remained unmoved. Xiao Shu's rebellious phase had the exact same flavor as this child's.
She brought Tang Liuli to sit at the desk, ignoring the faint reluctance and resistance she showed, then wrapped the child in a bathrobe from the cabinet until she looked like a little snowball.
Afterward, she skillfully took out a hair dryer and began drying her hair.
Tang Liuli grumbled a few words at first, but under the gentle caress of those fingertips and the sound of warm air, she gradually became obedient and quiet, like a tamed little animal.
Chu Yuanqing was very patient. Only when she noticed the other girl's expression soften did she ask quietly,
"Are you in a bad mood?"
Tang Liuli hesitated for a long time before nodding.
"...Mm. I don't like being livestreamed."
As she said this, the body wrapped in the bathrobe trembled involuntarily. Her long lashes lowered, casting a patch of shadow.
Chu Yuanqing knew this feeling well.
—Fear.
In that old era when Calamity Beasts ran rampant, such negative emotions had been the root of disaster.
Chu Yuanqing fell silent for a while. She seemed to understand why this former child star, once immensely popular, had abandoned her bright future and announced her withdrawal from the Entertainment Industry.
Someone who feared eyes and attention naturally could not survive in the Entertainment Industry, where exposure was at its peak. This was not some graceful retreat at the height of the tide, but helplessness forced by illness.
No wonder Tang Liuli had performed so poorly onstage.
If not for her excellent vocal technique and voice, it would not have been strange for her fear to make her fall to F-Class.
But after all these years, what reason did Tang Liuli, who still had not overcome her condition, have for joining Flash Dance, something completely unrelated to acting?
Chu Yuanqing put down the hair dryer and used a comb to brush through her hair. After hesitating for a long time, she finally said,
"Sometimes, you don't have to force yourself to do things you dislike."
"Those who like you surely hope you can live in a way that you like."
Tang Liuli looked dazed. She craved the warmth of that person's fingertips a little and subconsciously asked,
"What about people who don't like me?"
Chu Yuanqing answered as though it were only natural.
"Why care about people who don't like you?"
It was nonsense, not even worthy of being called chicken soup.
Because some truths in this world were like this. They could be so simple that even children could speak eloquently about them, yet so difficult that few people could actually do them.
So when they were spoken aloud, anyone might sneer at them and find them utterly boring.
But how strange. Within that heart nourished by humility and fear, a warm sprout began growing wildly. Her mom's childhood embrace flashed through her mind, and some strange emotion pried open the walls of her heart, quietly spreading.
If I stayed with this person, maybe I wouldn't be so afraid of being filmed? If we slept together, maybe I wouldn't have insomnia either?
No! That's not okay! Something is wrong!
What exactly am I thinking? Isn't this the same as considering Chu Yuanqing as my mom?
Tang Liuli suddenly came to her senses. With lightning speed, she flipped the vanity mirror standing before her face down onto the desk. Biting her lip tightly, she lowered her head without a word, preventing the other girl from seeing her loss of composure.
The girl's beautiful face was flushed with dizzying intoxication, her fair skin tinged with rosy clouds. Her other hand pressed hard against her chest cavity, as though trying to stop her heart from leaping out, while she listened to its booming thump, thump, thump.
Am I broken? Chu Yuanqing is even younger than me! I should be the Big Sister taking care of her!
Chu Yuanqing did not think much of it. She merely habitually tied the other girl's hair into a bun, and she was not surprised that Tang Liuli had not replied.
After all, what she had said just now was somewhat overly familiar for their shallow acquaintance. It would have been perfectly normal if Tang Liuli found it offensive.
After a bout of frantic thoughts, Tang Liuli regained her calm. Her acting foundation was excellent, and nothing seemed visibly wrong with her expression anymore. She only asked,
"What did you come back to the dorm for?"
"Shouldn't you be studying the dance with Liang Xiaoxiao in the practice room?"
It was a very serious question.
Tang Liuli had returned to the dorm because, after being livestreamed, her emotions had nearly collapsed. She had even briefly wanted to soak in cold water and blow cold air until she developed a high fever, withdrew from the competition, and completely escaped the public eye.
But in her eyes, Chu Yuanqing was a somewhat naive dream-chaser with poor dance foundations. It would have been more reasonable for her to follow the crowd and grind away in the dance studio with those trainees.
Chu Yuanqing was stumped and immediately felt somewhat guilty.
Damn it. When she returned to the dorm, she had never imagined someone else would be slacking off just like her!
Now that she had been caught red-handed, in order to keep her persona from Collapsing and avoid being considered as a liar, she could only make up an excuse to brush it off.
With a serious little face, Chu Yuanqing replied,
"Because I've only learned one dance before, probably during the two weeks of pre-competition preparation. So I won't be able to learn the theme song dance just by watching it myself. I thought I'd come back first to memorize the lyrics and wait until tomorrow to learn from the instructors."
Tang Liuli looked thoughtful and did not doubt her at all. She glanced at the empty dormitory and the camera in the distance covered by a towel. After hesitating for a while, she said,
"You want to learn Candy? There are quite a few things to pay attention to when singing this song. When delivering some of the lyrics, you can't let too much chest voice get involved, or it will easily sound heavy."
"How About I teach you for a while first?"
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Let me recommend a Juzi novel written by a friend.
Synopsis: After transmigrating into a post-apocalyptic world, Luo Xue became a wastelander struggling to survive from day to day.
Fortunately, she gained the opportunity to experience dream lives in a world of immortal martial arts.
Each time she entered a dream, she lived through an entirely new life, and only death in each life brought that dream to an end.
Everything from the dreams could be brought back into reality, while everything in reality could likewise be reflected in the dreams.
One dream life after another, one unforgettable encounter after another.
"Is this a dream?"
"Is it really a dream?"
"Or perhaps... reality is the dream?"
After experiencing who knew how many dream lives, when Luo Xue awoke once more, countless threads of fate had already become tightly entwined with her.
"Or perhaps, not knowing why dreams arise, wandering souls chase phantoms."
[I'm bad at synopses. Please read the actual story. Two Juzi novels with over a million words completed; quality guaranteed.]
Title: The Girl Who Dies Every Day in Dream Lives
Before you continue