In a Survival Variety Show, My Lookalike Rival and I Got a Happy Ending - Chapter 27

Chapter 27

The air fell silent for a moment.

“Can I… get to know you?” Only after asking did Qin Sijing realize her tone was far too serious, so she quickly added, “I’m just a little curious.”

“Of course. You can ask me anything directly.”

Anything. Including her experiences from childhood to the present.

Jiang Xunruo’s childhood was quite different from Qin Sijing’s.

When she was six years old, she was sent to her maternal grandmother’s house in the countryside.

Most of the people in the countryside had moved away, so there weren’t many children in the village, and even fewer her age.

They spoke a dialect that Jiang Xunruo couldn’t quite understand; she could only watch from the sidelines, unable to fit in at all.

Later, in second grade, her parents realized her studies were falling behind, so they brought her back to the city.

She thought everything would get better then.

But her parents were incredibly busy with work and had no time to look after her. She almost never saw them throughout the day.

She was, indeed, very well-behaved.

She woke up on time, ate breakfast, and went to school with her backpack. She followed the rules at school, listened attentively in class, and soon brought her grades back up.

Jiang Xunruo knew her parents were busy, so she never let them worry.

However, precisely because she was sensible and obedient, she ended up transferring schools three times following her parents’ moves.

During the first transfer, she was still sad about being separated from her friends.

By the third transfer, in her second year of high school, she was already very skilled at it, maintaining a faint yet friendly demeanor toward everyone.

She didn’t expect to make friends with anyone; after all, she never knew when she would transfer again or move to a new place.

When she was eighteen, her mother said, “Ruoruo, go study abroad.”

She nodded and said okay.

Dragging her suitcase to the airport to board the plane alone, Jiang Xunruo didn’t feel much; instead, she felt very calm.

Winter in a foreign land was very cold.

Jiang Xunruo rented a small apartment near the school and bought things to decorate it into a cozy home.

Warm-toned curtains, soft rugs, and a few potted plants on the windowsill.

She was truly good at taking care of herself; she could cook for herself and even learned to fix the lightbulbs.

The apartment was cozy, but it was just… a little too quiet.

So, she began to turn on the television, using the sound as background noise to make the apartment feel a bit more lively.

One night, a TV drama was playing.

The girl in the drama was about sixteen or seventeen, with a high ponytail and the blue-and-white school uniform from the show. She was exceptionally bright and beautiful.

She walked with a breeze, and when she smiled, the entire screen lit up.

Jiang Xunruo stared blankly at the TV screen. Because this girl looked… a little bit like her.

No, rather, she herself looked a little bit like that girl.

The eyes were somewhat similar.

But the difference was that this girl looked full of vitality living so vividly and freely.

Jiang Xunruo immediately began searching for her name.

Qin Sijing. Debuted as a child star, acted in many dramas.

In interviews, she spoke very directly and boldly. When asked sensitive questions, she didn’t play games; instead, she would say seriously, “I cannot answer this question right now.”

Jiang Xunruo watched every interview and work of hers she could find, even tracking down footage of Qin Sijing participating in a show at eight years old.

Such a small person, yet she didn’t have stage fright at all, looking poised and elegant. Facing the camera, she would openly and honestly say, “The future? I want to win Best Actress.”

Later on, Qin Sijing’s voice often echoed in her small apartment. Sometimes it was lines from a drama, sometimes fragments of an interview.

Her voice accompanied her for four whole years.

During the days she lived in that small apartment, she dreamed of Qin Sijing almost every night.

She dreamed she was outside the crowd, watching Qin Sijing looking spirited and triumphant under the spotlight.

She wanted to walk a bit closer to her, but her feet felt as if they had grown roots, making her unable to move at all.

When she woke up, it wasn’t yet dawn outside.

Jiang Xunruo would stare at the ceiling in a daze, a nameless sense of melancholy in her heart.

“…And then?” Qin Sijing’s voice pulled Jiang Xunruo back to reality.

Jiang Xunruo then realized she had been silent for a long time so long that Qin Sijing was looking at her with concern.

“Then I returned to the country, signed with an agency, and debuted.”

Qin Sijing listened seriously to everything she had just said, and for a moment, didn’t know what to say.

There was only the sound of each other’s quiet breathing in the tent.

Qin Sijing suddenly remembered the first day she arrived at the show, when she said to the camera, “I refuse to team up with her.”

She remembered Jiang Xunruo just smiling mildly, as if she hadn’t been offended at all.

She seemed to have already… I’ve gotten used to it.

Qin Sijing cleared her throat, trying to lighten the atmosphere. “Ahem, who is that star you liked so much? Do I know them?”

Jiang Xunruo smiled. “Want to help me get an autograph?”

“Mm.”

Qin Sijing was actually seriously considering the possibility.

“If they’re domestic, I guarantee I can ask. If they’re foreign, I’ll find a way.”

After saying this, she noticed Jiang Xunruo was quietly gazing at her.

“That, I’ll tell you when there’s a chance in the future.”

Like exchanging secrets, she suddenly added a sentence: “But I can tell you one thing first: I’ve never been in a relationship.”

Qin Sijing’s eyes widened.

Wait a second, did “getting to know each other” mean… including the need to know each other’s romantic history?

After a long pause, she said, “…I haven’t been in one either.”

The two looked at each other and, for some reason, lowered their heads and laughed at the same time.

The atmosphere suddenly became relaxed.

Qin Sijing had a look of “I get you” on her face. “I used to have zero interest in love and romance. All that ‘love’ stuff it’ll just fall apart in a few years. It’s not as solid as a career.”

Having said this, Qin Sijing also realized the words “used to” were a bit subtle.

Jiang Xunruo’s expression also turned slightly subtle. “So, Teacher Qin… has an interest now?”

“…”

Qin Sijing really wanted to bite off her tongue; she desperately wanted to retract that sentence.

Jiang Xunruo, on the other hand, was much more composed.

She pursed her lips and said softly, “It wasn’t that I was uninterested. I… had an unrequited love.”

Qin Sijing: “???”

The whole world seemed to go quiet.

Qin Sijing’s eyes were wide, and the words practically burst out: “Who was so impressive they made you have an unrequited love?”

No, I mean, Jiang Xunruo’s conditions were so good.

She had the face, the figure, the education; her personality was gentle, and she knew how to take care of people.

Even she, a former rival, had come to see her in a new light in such a short time.

Who could make her have an unrequited love?

Who was so impressive?!

Who was so unappreciative?!!

Jiang Xunruo was amused by her exaggerated reaction. “Teacher Qin, not everyone is going to like me.”

“No,” Qin Sijing was a bit tongue-tied, even leaning forward in her urgency. “It’s just that you really are great. How could anyone not like you?”

She said it so earnestly that Jiang Xunruo kept watching her, the smile in her eyes growing deeper. “So I am that good in Teacher Qin’s heart.”

“…Just telling the truth.”

“Actually, I didn’t need her to respond to me.”

“Why?” Qin Sijing didn’t understand. “I think the person you like would definitely like you too.”

Jiang Xunruo’s gaze rested on Qin Sijing’s face, finally meeting her eyes.

“Mm. If I like someone, I will definitely approach her first, and then wait for her to discover me, see me, and like me.”

She paused. “If she doesn’t like me, then at least I was once close enough to her.”

Qin Sijing opened her mouth but found herself unable to speak.

Her mind was a mess right now.

Jiang Xunruo had someone she liked, and it was an unrequited love.

What kind of type was the person she liked?

Did that person… ever know what was in Jiang Xunruo’s heart?

Countless questions exploded in her mind, and Qin Sijing even started to feel an uncontrollable sourness in her heart.