The Plan to Save the Villainess Supporting Actress [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 24.3

For the first time in her life, Nan Zhi felt this emotion.

So, this was what love could be vast and overwhelming.

Yet also delicate and intimate.

It roared through her mind.

Images flashed wildly before finally settling on the face of a girl beneath the camphor tree, her beauty favored by the sunlight.

She wanted to see Zhu Ran.

“Love me”
all the time.
The one being fooled isn’t me.”

The music came to an abrupt halt. The seven girls paused, slightly breathless, frozen in their ending poses.

Xu Silan’s brows were tightly knit, her expression grim.

As the silence stretched, the unease in the girls’ hearts grew wildly.

Yu Yulin and Zhu Ran exchanged a glance, both seeing the same worry reflected in each other’s eyes.

Jian Zhiyao couldn’t hold back any longer and asked, “Instructor Xu, is there something wrong with our performance?”

Xu Silan’s sharp eyes narrowed slightly, sweeping over them before finally settling on Zhu Ran.

“Something wrong?” She let out a cold laugh. “You are the problem. Stand properly.”

Her words sent a chill through the girls.

“Leader, step forward.”

Yu Yulin obediently took half a step forward.

“How well do you understand your teammates?”

“Huh?”

Caught off guard by the question, Yu Yulin looked utterly bewildered.

“On the surface, your group has a rapper, a vocalist, a dancer nothing missing, even a visual center. But in reality, the overall stage performance is terrible.”

Xu Silan didn’t mince words, her tone cutting.

When Yu Yulin faltered, she pressed on, “When you dance, what do you see in the mirror, a cohesive unit, or individuals?”

This time, everyone froze.

From selecting the center position to finalizing parts, this was only their third full rehearsal. Aside from Zhu Ran, none of them were entirely familiar with the choreography yet.

With Xu Silan watching, the pressure had made them even more nervous. To avoid mistakes, their focus had been entirely on themselves.

They hadn’t really considered their teammates.

But wasn’t it because they weren’t familiar enough with the song yet that.

As if reading their minds, Xu Silan smirked and asked,

“Are you going to say it’s because you haven’t had enough practice that you performed poorly?”

“It has nothing to do with that,” Xu Silan stood up, walking straight to Zhu Ran and locking eyes with her. “You tell me, do you think everyone in your group has had their strengths fully utilized? Has each member been assigned parts that truly suit them?”

Zhu Ran frowned slightly, lost in thought.

Beside them, Jian Zhiyao muttered under her breath, “Honestly, none of us really fit this song to begin with.”

“Then make the song fit you!”

Xu Silan’s red lips parted as she coldly spat out the words before turning to leave.

Make the song fit them?

What did that mean?

Confusion spread across everyone’s faces.

Zhu Ran suddenly realized something and looked up at Xu Silan’s retreating figure.

Just like during the theme song evaluation, when Xu Silan had given Nan Zhi and her guidance this time, Xu Silan was teaching them again.

If the song didn’t suit them, then they should change the song until it did.

“Including the choreography?”

The girls all turned to stare at Zhu Ran, baffled by her seemingly random question.

But Xu Silan, with her back still turned to them, allowed the first hint of a smile to appear on her face.

The corners of her lips curled slightly as she half-turned, raising an eyebrow at Zhu Ran.

“Of course.”

By the time Xu Silan had completely left the Fool group’s practice room, no one else had deciphered the cryptic exchange between the two.

All they knew was that Xu Silan had left looking, pleased?

Why?

Jian Zhiyao’s eyes nearly bulged out of her head. “Tell me, what were you two talking about? I feel like I understood but also didn’t understand at all?”

“Same,” Kong Anni looked even more bewildered. “What choreography?”

Zhu Ran met the six pairs of curious eyes and only then realized what she had done.

She had actually without consulting anyone spoken those words to Xu Silan on her own?

She had made a decision for all of them?

A familiar terror suddenly shattered its restraints, crawling over her skin like thousands of needles piercing her flesh and veins, icy and suffocating.

The voices of Shen Yan and Jiang Zhiyun seemed to slither out from some unseen speaker, lingering sinisterly in her ears.

The world before her vanished, replaced by that all-too-familiar space.

The eternally dark, damp basement.

Condensation would form on the drainage pipes, gathering into droplets every thirty seconds.

Drip. Drip.

Falling into a tiny puddle of mud.

In that cramped space, the world seemed to disappear no light, no chirping insects, no wind, no sound of rain.

Only her own sobs, bouncing off the walls and echoing back, overlapping with the rhythmic dripping until they blurred into hallucinations.

“Come on, tell me! I’m dying of curiosity here!” Jian Zhiyao whined, grabbing Zhu Ran’s arm and shaking it lightly.

Zhu Ran snapped out of her daze but before she could speak, Yu Yulin cut in.

“Zhu Ran? Are you okay?” Yu Yulin suddenly leaned in, scrutinizing her face. “You’ve gone really pale, is it low blood sugar again? Are you dizzy? Does anyone have chocolate?”

Kong Anni immediately jumped up and rushed to the corner where their bags were.

“I have some! I brought a piece this morning!”

“Oh no!” Jian Zhiyao wailed. “I ate it earlier, sorry! I didn’t think this would happen!”

“Does anyone else have any? Candy, soda anything will do.”

“This one’s made with erythritol, it doesn’t work.”

Zhu Ran slowly blinked her eyes. The scene before her overlapped with the phantom images from moments ago, creating a strange illusion.

For a moment, she almost didn’t know which world she was living in.

Which one was her reality?

It had been so long, so very long since she’d dreamed of that basement.

And it had been just as long since she’d experienced these kinds of hallucinations.

Why?

Why did they appear now, when she was finally feeling happy?

Zhu Ran parted her lips slightly, taking a very soft, quiet breath.

Thankfully, she was alive here.

“Thank you, everyone. I… I’m fine now.”

The moment she opened her mouth, her voice was unbearably hoarse. For an instant, it felt as if the illusion had truly happened to her, tormenting even her throat.

Yu Yulin still looked somewhat worried. “Are you really okay? Feeling dizzy? If you are, you have to tell us!”

“Yeah! Did you eat breakfast properly today? Oh, what’s wrong with me Nan Zhi even came looking for me earlier. She mentioned you fainted from low blood sugar before and asked me to keep an eye on you. And I actually forgot!” Jian Zhiyao said with a face full of regret.

Zhu Ran froze slightly. “Nan Zhi came to see you?”

“Yeah, I share a dorm with Xia Lan from her group. Last night, Xia Lan told me Nan Zhi asked her to pass along the message to remember to bring some candy and make sure to drag you to meals so you don’t go hungry. But then I woke up and completely forgot.” Jian Zhiyao scratched her head sheepishly and stuck out her tongue.

Kong Anni pretended to be angry. “Not only did you forget, but you also ate my chocolate! As punishment, you’re buying us ice cream for two days!”

“Fine, fine, I accept my punishment.”

The cicadas’ cries surged like roaring tides.

The stifling heat unique to early summer seemed to seep through the air conditioning, creeping bit by bit into Zhu Ran’s body.

Something burned inside her.

She wanted to see Nan Zhi.

That was the only thought left.

“I need to step out for a moment. Sorry, I’ll be right back.”

Her words stumbled, but her body moved swiftly as she dashed outside.

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