Your Aloof Persona Has Crumbled - Chapter 29

“Your friend only issued that warning yesterday, so it’s normal for her to be on her best behavior now,” Lu Jingwei said, looking at Wen Shike. “Do you want to use a towel to cold compress your face before going? Won’t it look bad on camera?”

“I trust the production team’s skills,” Wen Shike dismissed with a wave of her hand.

Production Team: “…” Production Team: “You are literally torturing us working-class folk.”

“Don’t bother, if I’m ugly, I’m ugly,” Wen Shike said with a numb expression, looking like she had completely come to terms with it. “I already wasted a whole day yesterday. I don’t even know how much the others have practiced.”

Lu Jingwei didn’t push her.

As they headed to the dance studio, several “fansites” (photographers) noticed Wen Shike’s exhaustion. Although Wen Shike tried her best to strike a pose, her eyes were clearly missing their usual sparkle.

“Young Mistress, you’ve changed! Why are you starting work so early? If you didn’t sleep well, you should sleep a bit longer,” a fansite girl called out after snapping a photo.

“I’ve been getting up early for quite a while now,” Wen Shike glanced at her, then covered her mouth to yawn. “Can’t sleep anymore, Zhou Yueran is already there.”

“Are you actually afraid of Sister Zhou?” Zhou Yueran’s temper was famous in Dream Chaser.

Wen Shike looked at the girl who asked, then let out a small laugh.

Joke’s on you, how could she be afraid of Zhou Yueran?

This time, she was in a group with Zhou Yueran again. An Ya was also performing RAP this time, but in RAP Group B, she claimed she wanted to “challenge herself.”

In the Practice Room

When they arrived at the classroom, everyone else was already there. As soon as Wen Shike pushed the door open, the group looked over in unison.

“You look listless. What were you doing last night?” Zhou Yueran glanced at her.

“Just didn’t sleep well, what else could it be? Have you all finished writing your lyrics?” Wen Shike pulled her lyrics from her pocket and sat down next to Zhou Yueran.

“Finished, but I feel like they need some polishing,” one girl said. “Some parts feel a bit weird… Young Mistress, care to help?”

The RAP group didn’t have much choreography, and the blocking wasn’t complex. The main issue was the lyrics. They spent the entire morning refining the words, weighing every choice carefully. During the mentor’s evaluation in the afternoon, they passed on the first try, leaving everyone in a great mood.

This was Wen Shike’s third team-up, and it was the most harmonious one yet. Everyone was friendly, there was no infighting, and no apparent conflicts, even if someone had a private issue with Wen Shike, they didn’t act on it.

Dinner Observations

When Lu Jingwei waited for Wen Shike to eat dinner, she noticed Wen Shike’s hands couldn’t stay still, fiddling with the drawstring of her hoodie, a clear sign she was in a much better mood than she had been that morning.

“Zhou Yueran tripped on flat ground in the classroom today,” Wen Shike said, lowering her voice.

Lu Jingwei glanced at her and couldn’t help but smile.

“I hope it makes the final cut,” Wen Shike said, hands in her pockets. “I’m going to go give the director a suggestion.”

“Zhou Yueran might actually fight you for her life then,” Lu Jingwei marveled at how Wen Shike could say such things with a straight face, without even a hint of a suppressed giggle.

Wen Shike said nonchalantly, “She wanted to this afternoon. But after I told her to keep our company’s legal team in mind, she held back.”

Lu Jingwei laughed again. “Have you ever considered participating in a roast style talk show?”

Wen Shike blinked. I’d love to! But my manager definitely wouldn’t allow it. If I went, I could write my own scripts. I could write 30,000 words just roasting An Ya, okay?

“I feel like that kind of show doesn’t quite fit my brand image,” Wen Shike said, furrowing her brows in mock seriousness.

“Nothing particularly interesting happened in our group,” Lu Jingwei’s voice trailed off. Well, there were strange things. For instance, when she ran into those two girls from the morning, the way they looked at her was very odd, probing and curious. They likely wanted to gossip, but since they weren’t close, they held back.

Thank goodness they weren’t in the same group otherwise, she felt those four strange eyes would be the death of her.

The Encounter in the Cafeteria

When the two reached the cafeteria, An Ya happened to walk in with a companion. She locked eyes with Wen Shike for a split second before quickly averting her gaze and walking away.

Wen Shike: “???” Even if Sister Qiu had warned her, she shouldn’t be reacting like that.

“It is indeed strange,” Lu Jingwei frowned.

“When she’s acting crazy, I wish she’d be normal. Now that she looks ‘normal,’ it feels even more abnormal,” Wen Shike looked at the food. “The food looks decent today?”

“Fried fish nuggets, sweet and sour pork ribs… did we get a new sponsor?” Lu Jingwei plated the food. “I grabbed chopsticks and a spoon for you.”

“Mhm.” Wen Shike served herself a small portion of rice.

An Ya chose a seat as far away from Wen Shike and Lu Jingwei as possible. Last night, she had received a message from that person. They told her that Wen Shike’s side had begun to fight back, and that the photos taken by the paparazzi had fallen into Wen Shike’s hands.

Qiu Yu had contacted them directly, warning them to stop the “drafting” (maliciously comparing and putting down one artist to boost another).

Drafting Wen Shike wasn’t her team’s idea, it was An Ya’s own.

She had been overjoyed when she signed with Ming Rui, until she was dragged into a lounge by that scumbag. He told her this was “normal” in the industry and not to overthink it. Those things contradicted everything she had been taught. She didn’t want to accept it, but she had to, she couldn’t fight back. Between her family’s hardships and the exorbitant contract termination fee, she couldn’t afford to leave.

Later, she realized most people in her company had gone through the same. Some artists were even used by the company to trade for resources. Being stuck with just one person actually made her “lucky.”

So, she numbed herself. If the environment was like this, then accepting it was less painful. She had strong adaptability, as long as she could make money, she would do anything. As long as she could be famous, she was willing to pay any price.

Then, she met Wen Shike during the Dream Chaser auditions.

Wen Shike arrived in a Bentley. An Ya didn’t know the specific model, but she knew the price, it was a figure she couldn’t even dream of right now. The staff at the audition were incredibly fawning toward Wen Shike, their attitudes noticeably cautious. So many people were flattering Wen Shike that she never noticed an inconspicuous girl staring at her.

Wen Shike exuded an aura entirely different from those around her: confident, powerful, and utterly out of place in that setting.

An Ya stared at Wen Shike until she was swallowed by the crowd. Some people were born at the finish line, while she had to endure countless tortures just for a chance to stand at the starting line.

She was jealous of Wen Shike to the point of madness. She didn’t believe she was significantly inferior to Wen Shike in terms of raw talent. She was beautiful, she’d had many confessions since she was a child. She hadn’t learned singing or dancing before, but she was doing well now, the foundation wasn’t the issue. Her grades were good, she had been accepted into a “211” university in a developed region. It was only because of her family’s crisis that she signed the contract to make fast money.

Because of work, she was constantly taking leave from school and had already repeated a year. If she repeated again, she might be expelled. The company squeezed her, leaving her no time to study or prepare for graduation.

An Ya always felt that if she had the same conditions as Wen Shike, she wouldn’t be any worse than her.

Furthermore, Ming Rui wasn’t afraid of the Yin family’s company in the entertainment industry; the two were rivals. So when she suggested marketing herself by stepping on Wen Shike, the company saw no problem. They had stepped on Yin family artists before. So what if she was the Yin family’s Young Mistress? The fact that she entered the entertainment industry suggested the Yin family didn’t care much for her; top-tier wealthy families usually disliked the industry.

Seeing people online praise her while putting Wen Shike down gave her an indescribable joy. She projected all her resentment and dissatisfaction onto Wen Shike. Wen Shike was too happy, too upright, so upright it made a “small person” like her feel uncomfortable.

Now, thinking that Wen Shike knew about her “situation,” An Ya felt sick all over. She gripped her chopsticks tightly. Wen Shike already disliked her now, she likely thought she was “filthy” to the extreme. Her hidden dirtiness had been sliced open and laid bare on the table.

The Dinner Conversation Continues

“An Ya is looking at you,” Lu Jingwei turned her head slightly, glancing at An Ya before quietly blocking her line of sight. “Her look is a bit scary.”

“They should probably arrange a psychiatrist for her,” Wen Shike took a sip of water. She wanted to look at An Ya, but as she looked up, she only saw Lu Jingwei’s concerned eyes. She stopped looking for An Ya and just looked at Lu Jingwei. “I’ll go suggest to the director that they provide psychological counseling for everyone. After all, a constant competitive environment is high-stress, it might lead to some… warping.”

“Kind-hearted of you.”

“Just a small gesture,” Wen Shike finished every bit of food in her bowl. “By the way, I might suggest they give everyone more fish next time. There wasn’t enough.”

Lu Jingwei chuckled. “I don’t like fish that much, you can have mine.”

“Last time we had hot pot, you ate a lot of fish. And at Yipin Mansion, you ate a lot of fish too,” Wen Shike pointed out.

The two looked at each other.

“Eat it yourself. I think I’ll go back to ‘torturing’ the production team,” Wen Shike put down her chopsticks and wiped her hands with a wet wipe.

“Alright,” Lu Jingwei said helplessly. She observes things so closely. “The director is probably going to be driven crazy by you.”

Wen Shike looked bewildered. “I don’t feel like I’ve given that many suggestions.”

“The greatest difficulty the production team has ever faced?” Lu Jingwei countered.

Wen Shike: “…”

“Don’t we not have phones…?” Wen Shike said softly.

“My roommate has one, she let me watch with her,” Lu Jingwei propped her chin on her hand. “There’s also a compilation of ‘padded coat runway walks.’ I watched that too, and even forwarded it to my own Weibo.”

Wen Shike: “…”

“Just so you know, I also have a compilation of your old dancing videos,” Wen Shike leaned in closer, her voice low. “Your fans edited those, too.”

Lu Jingwei thought back to her old costumes: “…”