Dad, Please Let Me Stan Just One! Chapter 45

No matter how many times she looked at it, it was... so beautiful.

The girl's thoughts had only just reached that point when she immediately looked away as if scalded. She hurriedly cast aside her distracting thoughts, awkwardly twisting a lock of wet black hair around her slender fingertips. The roots of her ears and neck, hidden beneath her hair, were so hot that a sticky sheen of sweat seeped out. She muttered,

"Better take a shower first."

Chu Yuanqing gathered her change of clothes and slowly pushed the door open.

Then, her eyes filled with a bizarre and dazzling sight.

Xie Qingxuan's naked body was like a treasure, her pure white, delicate skin fully exposed. Her platinum-blonde hair rose and fell in the gently rippling water, slightly concealing the pinkish-white softness beneath.

The trembling half-circles on the girl's chest did not rise or fall at all, as though the air in her lungs had nearly been squeezed out. Her slender waist had a beautifully vertical navel, and together with her long, full white legs, the entire image rooted itself in Chu Yuanqing's mind, piecing together a vivid and bewitching picture.

Mm, the Great Demon King really was big everywhere.

Only this time,

Chu Yuanqing was not so guilty that she immediately left, nor did she question whether someone that big could dance properly.

Because the signs of Xie Qingxuan submerging her nose and mouth beneath the water, her pupils nearly losing focus, were enough to send the fact that Chu Yuanqing had seen everything and taken full advantage of her straight to the clouds.

Chu Yuanqing had no time to think, nor any room to worry about propriety. She hurried to the bathtub, grabbed Xie Qingxuan's slender arm, and directly pulled the girl into her arms, forcibly breaking her out of the state of holding her breath underwater. She quickly asked,

"Xie Qingxuan? Can you hear me?"

Chu Yuanqing patted the other girl's smooth, cold back.

Xie Qingxuan coughed a few times, her chest heaving and trembling violently. Her pupils gradually refocused. The suffocation clutching her throat lingered through her limbs like the aftertaste of aged wine. It felt as though mist had risen between her soul and body, draping a layer of gauze over her vision.

The girl had lost count of how many times she had used meditation to forcibly pull herself back from the edge of unconsciousness. By now, it had practically become a habit, to the point that she had not even realized what had happened.

It was just that...

The whisper by her ear, the warm palm pressed against her back, the body scent that could contain narrow-mindedness and jealousy alike, and the indescribable sense of security that came with the embrace all seized upon the emptiest, weakest instant in her heart. Like an Imprinting Effect, they left a special mark in her consciousness.

It was an emotion that twisted, gray household had never given her throughout half her life.

And so, for no clear reason, as if obeying a craving buried in instinct,

Xie Qingxuan hugged Chu Yuanqing back, resting her hands on her soft, pale neck. Like someone greedily seeking the warmth of spring snow, she buried her head in the other girl's considerable softness and, like a large dog, honestly asked,

"Can you let me hold you for a while?"

The girl lowered her Eyes. Her curled lashes fluttered as droplets slowly slid down. She looked obedient and soft, and although her tone remained as polite and restrained as ever, concealing the hint of acting cute in her voice, the contrast still struck straight at the heart.

For a moment, Chu Yuanqing imagined her daughter acting cute with her. The awkwardness of improper contact between men and women was greatly diluted by that bizarre sense of déjà vu. She patted Xie Qingxuan's soaking-wet head and sighed inwardly, feeling that she was surrounded by problem children.

Xiaoxiao was the only normal one in the dorm.

The girl silently turned on the bathtub faucet, letting the steaming mist gradually spread so that things between them would not feel quite so ambiguous. Then she asked,

"Did... your second evaluation stage go badly?"

After thinking it over, there seemed to be no other reason for this Great Demon King to drown herself in the bathtub like a foolish mermaid who did not know how to breathe underwater.

Unaware that her image had completely fallen apart, Xie Qingxuan answered,

"Mm. I didn't manage to do my best."

Chu Yuanqing could hear the unwillingness in her voice. Her pride was like ice cream melting in summer, gradually wilting amid the grand chorus of cicadas, becoming lonely and pitiful, yet her tone remained utterly flat, carrying a sickly stubbornness.

Was the stage... really that important?

Chu Yuanqing was a little dazed.

Whether it was Kiriwake Yayoi or Xie Qingxuan, even most of the contestants seemed to possess an entirely different spirit when facing the stage.

Yet many of them did not lack a way out.

Xie Qingxuan came from Xihe Entertainment. The idol business was not particularly outstanding at that top company, but even if she lost her qualifications to become an idol, transitioning into acting or singing later would not be difficult.

It was only a failed second evaluation. She might even keep her A-Class rating. Was it worth tormenting herself like this?

Chu Yuanqing stroked her satin-like hair and said as though comforting a child,

"If you couldn't do it this time, just do it next time. Everyone says you're amazing, so don't punish yourself this way in the future. What if you have an accident?"

"It'll affect the progress of your later training too. The loss would outweigh the gain."

The girl's voice was soft and cool. When she became gentle, it was like cloying cotton candy, making one's ears itch slightly.

What she said was perfectly ordinary, yet it carried a kind of healing magic.

Splash, splash.

"...Don't get so close. You're not allowed to hold me this tightly. You've gotten me all wet!"

Water spilling from the bathtub had left wet marks on Chu Yuanqing's clothes. Slightly embarrassed and annoyed, she knocked Xie Qingxuan on the head, as though pushing away a large dog and telling her not to keep pressing her soft body against her.

She had indeed come in to take a shower, but that absolutely did not mean she intended to shower with another girl, okay?!

After thinking for a moment, Xie Qingxuan reasonably suggested,

"Shower together?"

This girl was unexpectedly clingy!

Chu Yuanqing still did not want to give up her qualifications as a human being, so she decisively refused,

"No! Hurry up and get out. I still need to train after I shower."

Xie Qingxuan's expression did not change. She blinked and said regretfully,

"What a pity."

With that said,

the girl rose openly and naturally. While someone kept her eyes shut, she slowly stepped out of the bathtub. With her back to Chu Yuanqing, she casually picked up a towel and wiped away the droplets, conveniently wrapping it around some of her spring scenery. The atmosphere gained a few points of hazy temptation as she murmured,

"Chu Yuanqing, can I ask you a question?"

"What... do you stand on the stage for?"

She had to find a way to immerse herself in the stage. Asking the Remaining people was a good path.

But to Chu Yuanqing, the tone in which she Spoke out those words was as light as asking what someone had eaten for breakfast, yet inexplicably solemn enough to make one brace oneself as though it were some important philosophical question.

At that moment,

she suddenly thought of the soul-searching exchanges that often appeared between supporting characters and protagonists in competitive anime. In those formulaic plots, they could always dig up some mysterious past, psychological trauma, or even dreams and resolve.

Anyone unable to relate would only find it baffling, just like she did now.

But thinking about it carefully, of course she found it baffling.

Her dream was a monthly salary of twelve thousand, not some stage or idol career.

But the other contestants were different. The dreams and hopes they carried possessed a weight Far exceeding material things and reality at this still-beautiful age.

Kiriwake Yayoi was like that.

Xie Qingxuan was probably the same.

That was why the Sakura Girl who had come here from a foreign land said she wanted to help her.

That was why this A-Class contestant, whom the show Fans called the Great Demon King, asked her why she stood on the stage.

Because... they all believed she was the same kind of person as them, and this was how people of the same kind communicated—by being on the same wavelength.

Chu Yuanqing felt a little guilty, but then she thought that, even out of respect, this was a question that deserved a serious answer.

After a long silence, she Spoke out a lie that was not quite a lie:

"Because... I want to see everyone smile happily."

"That's all."

That naive yet stubborn delusion was precisely what had driven her onto the path of saving the world.

So if one day she truly became an idol, that would probably remain the original intention she held onto.

Xie Qingxuan sensed an unquestionable strength of conviction within those words. Like someone speaking in a dream, she softly murmured,

"...Is that so?"

Chu Yuanqing's answer made her once again see the ugly, dark, shameful original intention that had nothing to do with the stage—destroying Sister's dream. Perhaps that was the source of the barrier between herself and the stage.

That fact should have made her feel even more disappointed and lost.

Yet for some reason, a deranged thought sprouted like weeds, continuously taking root and growing in her consciousness.

If.

If she devoured Chu Yuanqing's dream and temporarily became the idol who wanted to see everyone smile happily, would she be able to cross the barrier that had once been... beyond reach?

PS: I took an antigen test earlier. It came back positive.

Title: The Useless Healer Won't Fall into a Shura Field

Synopsis: Lai Ling transmigrated into the body of a useless healer with a terrible reputation—weak, foul-mouthed, and someone who abandoned her Teammates.

The honor student Young Lady she had deceived the worst swore to make her pay, but Lai Ling had no mood to care about that. The assessment was coming up, and if she failed, she would be expelled.

This body had some unspeakable problems. If she were expelled, then in this dangerous world, life would certainly be worse than death.

Lai Ling had no great ambitions. She only wanted to be an ordinary, inconspicuous little healer and lie low without getting expelled.

Who would have thought...

The noble Young Lady lay beside her, gritting her teeth as she threatened, "You must stay by my side, otherwise I definitely will..."

The loyal blonde girl who had gone through life and death with Lai Ling several times casually stopped her, speaking with veiled sarcasm. "Sister, what are you talking about? Miss Lai Ling is my teammate."

War was about to break out. Lai Ling looked towards the silver-haired girl standing beside her with empty Eyes as though asking for help. They had always understood each other best. She had thought the other girl would save her from the fire and water, but instead, the girl expressionlessly Looked Towards her:

"Who exactly are you choosing to form a contract with?"

Opening Blow at the Start, Little Sakura's Awakening! (6K)

On the stage.

Kiriwake Yayoi's Eyes were red as she smiled, bowed, and left the stage.

Even after the accompaniment faded into its ending and the spotlight onstage disappeared, the happiness overflowing from the depths of her Chest cavity shattered and dispersed, leaving waves of loneliness in its wake.

But for an idol trainee, every opportunity to stand onstage was incomparably precious. Being able to experience such fulfilling emotion was already a treasure no amount of money could buy, one that she would remember forever in her heart.

Over by the mentors' panel, even Chen Baijiu, who was usually sharp-tongued, could not help marveling and praising her without reservation. The other mentors were even more generous with their compliments, awarding her an A-Class rating without any suspense.

And...

The audience could clearly see from the stage performance and even the mentors' comments that Little Sakura was not only the most explosive among this wave of first A-Class contestants, but had truly pulled ahead of the rest by more than a single level.

If the other contestants were adapting to the stage, then she was enjoying and taming it.

At this stage, Kiriwake Yayoi was clearly the one who stood out among the first A-Class contestants. She was thus gaining Fans at a terrifyingly explosive rate, showing dangerous signs of using Flash Dance as a platform to reverse her disadvantage of being relatively unknown in the Chinese Entertainment Industry and challenge the Great Demon King's position.

This was also the unique trait of Flash Dance's massive traffic pool. Unless first- or second-tier artists were willing to swallow their pride and enter it to crush everyone with a difference in level, the contestants' individual popularity in the early stages could Very easy be reversed and surpassed in one or two later performances.

And this pursuit filled with uncertainty was precisely the core reason talent show viewers found it exciting and had their emotions manipulated.

The Live Broadcast Room was in an uproar:

"All I can say is, Flash Dance is all about thrills. Little Sakura suited this theme song really well, but I never imagined the Great Demon King would lose."

"Half of the fourteen first A-Class contestants got wiped out directly. It's hard to imagine how the popularity rankings between the contestants will change after today. This is so exciting!"

"Is Little Sakura going to stand on the Great Demon King's head? Can we ship this pairing?"

"No shipping, no shipping! Only Qing Bao is allowed to top Little Sakura???!"

"I'm gonna top her, I'm gonna top her! I want to see the big messy pile, twisted love, White Album, and NTR???!"

"Hehehe, beauties belong only to the strong. The question now isn't who Qing Bao can do! It's who can rightfully do Qing Bao???!"

"Wrong! Little Liuli is the orthodox choice. I want that gloomy, lowly girl to launch a vicious sneak attack and go full scholar mode, then Make it so Little Sakura and the Great Demon King show regretful expressions???!"

"I just came in and got tripped by something sticky and slippery, then someone snatched my underwear in the chaos. As a straight girl, I can't get up anymore. What do all you Lesbians think about this????"

Because CP Fans made up a sizable portion of Little Sakura's fanbase.

—This was also the price of selling her through a CP pairing to push her to first place in the theme song rankings.

So at this stage, the deranged nonsense in the Live Broadcast Room was beyond absurd. It was enough to immediately drag normal viewers out of their immersion in the stage, making them either turn off the Bullet Comment, watch on, repeat it, or become assimilated, leaving the scene chaotic and surreal for a time.