I Ran Away After Flirting with the Goddess - Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Shen Lishu’s claw machine skills were definitely not just talk!

The mechanical claw, which usually wobbles uselessly in other people’s hands, seemed exceptionally obedient to her, dropping exactly where she wanted it to.

An Rongrong’s eyes were wide and round as she leaned against the plastic glass, unmoving. She didn’t dare breathe, her focused gaze following the mechanical claw’s every move.

It’s been picked up! It’s picked up! As long as it doesn’t drop in the middle, she’s got it!

An Rongrong’s heart was in her throat, dangling along with that little panda. Even her toes were tensing up to help those three claws hold on.

An Rongrong had played these machines before. Once, out of sheer stubbornness and refusal to admit defeat, she spent over a hundred yuan… only to be taught a lesson by the machine and finally accept the fact that she was terrible at it. Every time, she either couldn’t pick anything up at all, or the prize would drop the moment it was lifted. Those three claws usually had zero grip strength; An Rongrong even suspected it was all just a scam to steal money.

Compared to An Rongrong, who was tensing every fiber of her being down to her hair Shen Lishu, who was operating the joystick, appeared far too composed. She stood there in a lazy, casual posture. What felt like an eternity of claw-machine-time to An Rongrong took only a few seconds for Shen Lishu.

Drop, grab, lift, fall into the hole.

It was that simple.

An Rongrong stared blankly at the black-and-white panda that had landed accurately in the chute and rolled to the exit. She didn’t quite process it at first.

“She got it? You got it!!” An Rongrong switched from disbelief to ecstatic joy in an instant. She bent down, pulled the panda out, and gave it a hard squeeze. Feeling the real, fluffy texture, her eyes crinkled into crescent moons. “You actually caught it.”

So it really is possible to catch them.

Shen Lishu stood by, watching An Rongrong jump and bounce like a little girl, her eyes bright and curved with flickering light. Infected by her mood, a relaxed smile appeared on Shen Lishu’s face.

Shen Lishu flipped her remaining coin into the air with her thumb, caught it accurately, and slotted it into the coin hole. The movement was seamless, and her tone was light: “Pick another one.”

I can pick another one?!

An Rongrong was so excited she almost let out a “chicken scream.” She regretted wearing a skirt because it meant she couldn’t do a split, and she looked at Shen Lishu with eyes full of light.

Sister’s move just now was so alpha!

The two of them huddled around the machine and caught two more in a row. Every shot was a hit, shattering An Rongrong’s worldview! Shen Lishu spread her hands triumphantly and raised an eyebrow at An Rongrong.

Heh, just for fun.

“Ying ying ying.” An Rongrong was so envious of this skill she almost cried. Transforming into a “ying ying monster,” she circled around Shen Lishu. She blew “rainbow farts” (flattery) up to the sky, rolling around and pestering Shen Lishu to teach her the technique.

Shen Lishu folded her arms and leaned lightly against the machine, watching An Rongrong’s antics with a smile in her eyes, but she simply wouldn’t teach her.

Looking at how they interacted, an outsider might think they had known each other for years; who would guess it had only been a few days? Especially since they weren’t even filming right now.

Not far away, Xiao Zhang, the assistant, sat on a small stool away from the filming area holding Shen Lishu’s phone. Watching her boss, she felt it was quite extraordinary. Shen Lishu wasn’t a person with a bad temper, but she wasn’t exactly approachable or warm either.

Usually, if she gave a junior a tip or two on acting, it was because she was in an exceptionally good mood. She never did things like this teaching acting hand-in-hand, or proactively catching dolls for someone. She certainly wouldn’t do something so inconsistent with her mature image as a “Best Actress,” like teasing An Rongrong on purpose.

Xiao Zhang couldn’t help but take out her own phone and snap a photo of the two. In the photo, An Rongrong had a plushie tucked under each arm, her face tilted up and pouting as she pretended to be pitiful, begging Shen Lishu to teach her. Meanwhile, Shen Lishu leaned against the machine behind her, her long, pale legs crossed. She had her arms folded and was looking down at An Rongrong with a smile. From Xiao Zhang’s angle, it was a picture of one person acting up and the other laughing along.

“All departments, get ready!”

The loudspeaker on the set blared. Director Mao heartlessly had someone take the two dolls from An Rongrong’s arms, telling her to put away her “Husky” energy and bring back her quiet and refined temperament.

Xiao Zhang didn’t know much about filming, so she lowered her head to scroll through her phone and “slump” at work. Her boss was a top-tier star in the industry, so by association, Xiao Zhang was half an insider herself and loved “eating melons” (gossip) on the trending searches.

Because Shen Lishu valued her privacy and didn’t like having too many people around her, her manager, Sister Su, had only assigned her one personal assistant: Xiao Zhang. Yesterday, Xiao Zhang had a family emergency, so Shen Lishu let her leave early.

Who knew that she would be targeted for a fake scandal that night? Sister Su had called Xiao Zhang the moment the photos leaked, speaking in a stern tone and docking her bonus for the month due to a “work lapse.” After all, if an assistant had been present, the two wouldn’t have been misunderstood as being on a date.

Shen Lishu probably didn’t even know about the pay cut. Compared to the workaholic Sister Su, Shen Lishu was a beautiful and kind boss.

The heat from yesterday’s scandal had died down. Xiao Zhang browsed the trending searches and unexpectedly found a familiar name:

“An Rongrong.”

Xiao Zhang’s heart skipped a beat just seeing the entry. In the industry, there’s an unwritten consensus: trending searches that only feature a full name are usually bought. It’s either marketing or promotion. What “works” could An Rongrong possibly have? Her biggest work was the Yuri drama Sink she was currently filming with Shen Lishu.

Surely she didn’t buy a trending search to hype the drama and leech off Shen Lishu’s fame?

Xiao Zhang felt that An Rongrong shouldn’t be that low, but then again, what wouldn’t a “small transparent” (nugu) do to get famous? Her face fell as she clicked into the entry, afraid that another mess would cause her salary to be docked again.

Xiao Zhang expected An Rongrong to have bought a search praising her acting, her looks, or her age something about being a “formidable junior” to prepare for her career pivot.

However, after clicking it, Xiao Zhang blinked a few times, thinking she had seen it wrong. She never expected that the most popular post in the trending search was actually an attack on An Rongrong!

The blogger’s words were quite poisonous, saying that An Rongrong had dragged down her team’s singing level back when she was in a girl group, that she debuted only because of her face, and that there must be “capital” (powerful backers) supporting her behind the scenes. Otherwise, why would a Best Actress of Shen Lishu’s status be propping her up now?

The account had posted several times in a row:

@IndustryInsiderUncle8V: Survival shows are just a springboard; capital is just playing around. The lineup was decided internally long ago. Chen XX in the group had much better vocals than An RR, but she didn’t debut, while An RR did. If you say there’s no fishiness involved, I don’t believe it.

@IndustryInsiderUncle8V: Best Actress Shen can really swallow her pride. To prop up An RR, she’s not only playing a supporting role but also doing the “soul sisters” act. She even put the hat she wore yesterday on An RR’s head. Is she afraid people won’t know she’s licking the boots of capital? Tsk tsk, just how big is the master behind An RR?

With him setting the rhythm, the comments below were full of people trashing An Rongrong’s singing. At the same time, his words used An Rongrong to insult and belittle Shen Lishu, causing Shen Lishu’s fans to have a bad impression of An Rongrong.

Consequently, the fans’ comment control was limited to: Taking Big Sister away, Big Sister is beautiful on her own, please focus on Big Sister’s upcoming work…

Xiao Zhang looked at several popular Weibo comments; there were only a handful of people speaking up for An Rongrong. At a glance, it was obvious they were unorganized, independent fans. No matter how hard they tried to defend her, they were no match for the “water army” (paid trolls) someone had deliberately hired to bash her.

Yes, deliberately hired. An Rongrong was being targeted.

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