Dad, Please Let Me Solo Cultivate!

Chen Xiaoxiao glanced at Chu Yuanqing in the camera lens beside her.

Her beauty was flawless. After exercising, her skin was even more delicate, and her gaze held a calm, worldly wisdom, making her the perfect novel protagonist who amazed with her youthful beauty.

While washing up, tidying herself, and applying makeup would naturally make her even more stunning, her current appearance already possessed a "lotus emerging from clear water, naturally unadorned" aesthetic.

Haa, she's so pretty.

Hehehe, this job is great. I wish they'd schedule me to interview pretty girls every day.

Chu Yuanqing didn't notice anything unusual about the seemingly professional assistant sister. She simply asked, "Will the interview take a long time?"

"Not long, about ten to twenty minutes."

"Then no need. This is fine."

Chen Xiaoxiao nodded, signaling to begin filming and asking questions one by one.

Interviews like this were common during the show's recording period.

Whether they were edited into the main program or used as behind-the-scenes footage and Easter eggs, they could differentiate the main program and live broadcast, making them more competitive and less afraid of traffic diversion.

Therefore, aside from Chu Yuanqing, other top-ranked contestants and trainees with noticeable presence were generally scheduled for interviews.

It was just that the underground base was truly enormous, and with 168 trainees in different practice rooms, communication was severely delayed without electronic devices. Thus, the news hadn't spread.

Chen Xiaoxiao glanced at the script and asked, "Chu Yuanqing, you are the only trainee among the 168 contestants who has maintained a completely bare face on camera. May I ask what your reasons are for doing so?"

This was indeed a question that piqued her curiosity.

There were certainly contestants in Flash Dance who looked great without makeup, but even trainees with Xie Qingxuan's looks would apply makeup before every appearance.

Whether one looks good on camera could sometimes be quite mystical.

Some people's nine-tenths beauty could diminish by three points when on camera. Furthermore, the big screen inherently magnified everything. A pretty girl with good skin but less-than-ideal bone structure could easily appear to have gained three pounds, completely ruining the harmony of her features.

Therefore, makeup and contouring, to increase the margin for error and make one's appearance more camera-ready, was a necessary path for every artist.

Chu Yuanqing thought for a moment and replied honestly:

"Cosmetics are too expensive. I can't afford them, and I don't know how to use them."

This was the absolute truth.

Chu Yuanqing's mind was solely focused on saving money. She had even taken the subway and bus for three bumpy hours to get to the film base in Zhelong Town, arriving with an air of ultimate frugality that exuded a kind of impoverished beauty.

So, she bought the cheapest clothes and undergarments, preparing only two sets for washing. Cosmetics, those confusing and troublesome luxuries, had never even crossed her mind, let alone the idea of buying and using them.

But as she said it, her own words were plain and natural. To others, however, they carried a tone of pitiable hardship that she herself was unaware of.

Chen Xiaoxiao was utterly devastated. She remembered Chu Yuanqing's background and immediately wished she could slap the Dream Weaver Rabbit who had written the script, and herself for reading the question aloud.

Wuwuwu, Qing Bao, I'm so sorry. Mommy didn't mean to dig up your wounds!

The assistant sister felt immense guilt. She concealed her emotional turmoil and looked at the pretty girl before her, who seemed accustomed to it and showed no particular reaction. She tried her best not to reveal any pity, only feeling a pang in her heart, deeply saddened.

At this moment, she, who had degenerated into a multi-fan due to too many scandals in the Chinese Entertainment Industry, felt a trend of being purified into a single-fan!

The power of a succubus, truly terrifying.

The interview continued. As a survival show, "yuri interactions" were an indispensable feature, so the relationships between trainees and their roommates were worth exploring and hyping up.

Chen Xiaoxiao asked Chu Yuanqing about her impressions of her roommates.

Chu Yuanqing's answers were equally honest. In her rigid, outdated mindset, "girl-girl interactions" and "CP hyping" were new and unfamiliar concepts. Thus, she naively believed there was no need to lie and answered each question truthfully.

"Xie Qingxuan? I feel like she's a child who lacks love. The description 'Great Demon King' for her always makes me feel a sense of loneliness."

Chen Xiaoxiao's heart fluttered.

—Qing Bao and the Great Demon King can be good friends. She's really so gentle!

"Xiaoxiao is very hardworking and cheerful. Although she loves to laugh like her name suggests, she actually carries a lot of internal pressure and has vulnerable moments."

"I admire her because in her, I see a longing for the stage and her dreams."

Chen Xiaoxiao was even more moved.

—Wuwuwu, how can a trainee praise someone else so much during their personal interview? She's truly so kind!

Chu Yuanqing spoke as if she were a kindergarten principal introducing the children of her school, or a young wife in an apron sharing her daughter's virtues with someone. She recounted them like a treasured list:

"And Liuli, her personality is a bit awkward, like a small animal hiding in its burrow. Her social defenses are very high."

"But even so, she's very good to me. She helps me mark simplified musical notation, earnestly teaches me music theory, tells me common knowledge about the industry, and even gave me an autograph when we first met. She's a good child with a cold exterior but a warm heart."

Chen Xiaoxiao was almost in tears.

Chu Yuanqing had grown up in a soil devoid of love. Such an environment should have made a person timid, narrow-minded, insecure, sensitive, and worldly.

But in reality?

She could face her poverty with equanimity, accept her flaws generously, care for her roommates who were her competitors, and even during a personal interview, when she could have easily brushed off others, she still earnestly shared her true thoughts.

Damn it, how could there be such a good girl?!

Chen Xiaoxiao's DD soul was about to be converted. She quickly stabilized her Dao heart, and the faces of 168 beautiful sisters flashed through her mind like a 3D printer, barely restoring her ambition of having three thousand beauties in her harem.

Chen Xiaoxiao was a little scared and felt she couldn't be alone in the same room with Chu Yuanqing.

There was a terrifying charm about this child. Just looking into her eyes made one unable to help but sink into them. Not to mention her cheat-like personality. If she stayed any longer, how could she possibly D all the other 167 sisters?

She really wanted this interview to end quickly!

Chen Xiaoxiao thought, speeding up the pace of the Q&A. After consecutively asking about hobbies, dietary restrictions, goals, and her views on the mentors and the show's elimination mechanism, they finally reached the last question.

"Chu Yuanqing, what is your reason for participating in the competition?"

Chu Yuanqing's expression froze, and then she almost burst into laughter.

What is a heaven-sent opportunity? This is a heaven-sent opportunity!

Isn't this the perfect chance to let her persona collapse, disappoint her fans, turn them all into haters, and have them ruthlessly kick her out of Flash Dance?

Thinking this, Chu Yuanqing carefully chose her words. She suppressed her joy and earnestly clarified:

"I'm sorry, I lied to the mentors earlier."

"The reason I'm participating is because the show's salary is very high. That's the only reason."

Chu Yuanqing paused slightly at this point and said softly:

"The stage and being an idol are not what I pursue."

After saying this, she felt relaxed and happy.

Hooray, I can clock out after the public performance ends, right?

Chen Xiaoxiao's hand holding the script trembled slightly.

Chu Yuanqing was mature and calm, sincere and kind, like fresh snow untainted by the world's fireworks.

She was very, very good like this and deserved to be liked.

But up to this point, the emotions in her heart still couldn't be suppressed.

Because Chu Yuanqing was too perfect.

This perfection, like a child who never cries, always made people overlook her, until... those two sentences were spoken:

-- "Because the show's salary is very high."

-- "The stage and being an idol are not what I pursue."

Only then did Chen Xiaoxiao suddenly realize that Chu Yuanqing was different from the other contestants.

She came to Flash Dance for a living. She didn't dare to try to approach her dream.

In fact, in her heart, someone with no dance foundation, no vocal foundation, no prior fame, and who didn't even know how to put on makeup, could not possibly stand on a real stage and become a shining idol.

That's why she said she had lied before.

Yes, Chu Yuanqing had indeed lied.

But she didn't lie on stage, nor to the mentors, nor to the audience, but rather... to herself.

-- "Dream."

-- "I came for my dream."

Chen Xiaoxiao remembered the tone in which she said those words, so resolute that it required no thought, not mixed with the slightest confusion, as if following her heart, she blurted them out without hesitation.

And when the mentor asked her what prompted this dream, the girl who had been so firm moments ago seemed to awaken from a dream, hesitated for a moment, and then gave her answer.

-- "Because... I envied the shining girls on TV."

Perhaps from this point on, Chu Yuanqing realized she had said something "willful."

She understood the cruelty of reality from the beginning. Perhaps she had been warning herself all along when participating in Flash Dance, not to touch those impossible things.

She was like Cinderella, who knew magic would disappear at midnight, gazing at the world's prosperity she had never seen, hiding her envy and disappointment, constantly telling herself it was okay.

But how could it really be okay?

The stage and being an idol were clearly her dreams!

Why be so mature?

Why be so sensible?

Don't you train for a long time every day?

Don't you like the stage so much that you even gave up the within-reach A-Class privilege?

Chen Xiaoxiao felt a sudden crack open in her heart, a knife-like bitterness surged from the depths of her chest, bringing a stinging pain to her throat, which she couldn't swallow no matter how hard she tried.

The assistant sister's eyes welled up, and she sniffled.

She signaled to the staff nearby to end the filming. The interview was over. She looked at Chu Yuanqing, who still hadn't shown the slightest emotion, as if she had been accustomed to enduring and losing her entire life. Her lips moved, but she couldn't speak for a long time.

What should she say? Tell her to try a little harder?

But she was already trying so hard, studying music theory, identifying dance genres, building dance foundations from scratch, practicing vocalization from scratch, like a constantly spinning top, stopping only when the embers died out.

Or perhaps there were many people outside who supported her, allowing her to be more confident and giving her hope?

But with the cruel rules of Flash Dance, hope was no different from poison. Her passion and anticipation would only deepen the inner trauma when her dreams were shattered.

So, in the end, Chen Xiaoxiao hesitated for a long time. As she sent Chu Yuanqing to the practice room door, she sincerely blessed her:

"The Dream Weaver Rabbit said that the so-called idol is someone who overcomes all unreasonableness and can still shine brightly on stage."

"Chu Yuanqing, I believe you are that person."

Yes, as a fan, all you need to do is believe. Believe that the idol you chose can do it, believe that the person you chose can truly shine.

After Chen Xiaoxiao finished speaking, she left without delay, ignoring Chu Yuanqing's confusion.

In the assistant's mind, the voices and smiles of the other 167 beautiful girls gradually blurred with each step she took, eventually collapsing into ink strokes and lines, forming a picture of a certain Savior smiling with lowered eyes.

Thus, a fallen DD leader was successfully converted into an ultimate single-pusher, akin to a devout follower.

Volume 1: Chapter 56. First Episode, Qingmen. (6K)

That day.

Chu Yuanqing quickly put the assistant's strange words out of her mind.

She still couldn't dance candy fluently. To avoid a stage accident during the public performance, she could only spin like a top and enter the cycle of practicing dance.

Both the practice room and the cafeteria were open 24 hours.

Chu Yuanqing practiced the decomposed movements of candy alone for more than ten times. It wasn't until after eight in the evening that she felt slightly more proficient. She looked at herself in the mirror in front of her and sighed.

The girl's eyes were dewy, her delicate little face was tender, and strands of dark hair framed her ears.

She was wearing a finely crafted pure white short shirt. The fabric outlined her graceful curves. The fullness hidden in the middle was slightly stretched, making the already slightly short hemline difficult to cover her plump, soft waist after it fell. As soon as she started dancing, her fluttering clothes would reveal her cute, vertical navel.

As for her lower body...

The white short skirt was quite revealing, and her long, slender legs were completely visible. Her skin, as delicate as milk, became even more eye-catching under the thin sweat and the lights.