Ming Tang felt a bit sheepish under Chi Ling’s unwavering gaze.
Those eyes were currently catching the bright sunlight, clear and transparent like thin, newly melting ice.
Chi Ling had only paused for a brief moment, yet the others from Class A had already walked quite a distance ahead. Only Qiao Xiangshu remained by her side, staying back with her.
“What is going on with you two?” Qiao Xiangshu said with a cheeky grin. “A day apart feels like three autumns? You’ve both gone dazed just looking at each other.”
Qi Deng chimed in with the teasing: “Exactly, exactly! There’s only eyes for each other.”
Interrupted by Qiao Xiangshu and Qi Deng, Ming Tang hurriedly pulled her gaze away from Chi Ling, letting out a slightly guilty cough.
“Ming Tang looks beautiful,” Chi Ling said succinctly, her amber eyes still staring straight at Ming Tang.
In that instant, Ming Tang felt an silent thunderbolt explode deep within her mind.
If you rounded this sentence up, how was it any different from a confession?
Ming Tang stammered, “You… um, you wearing this outfit… should look even better.”
Hearing this, Chi Ling’s smile deepened.
Qiao Xiangshu desperately wanted to roll a massive eye at these two deities who were acting like no one else existed around them.
Seeing that the backs of their other Class A teammates were about to vanish from sight, Qiao Xiangshu poked the back of Chi Ling’s hand. “We should go. There will be plenty of time to look later!”
“Bye-bye,” Chi Ling nodded. “See you in a bit.”
“See you in a bit,” Ming Tang replied.
Regardless of whether Chi Ling’s farewell actually included her, Qi Deng also blankly raised her hand and waved it around.
Watching Chi Ling and Qiao Xiangshu’s figures gradually disappear from view, Ming Tang realized after the fact that her cheeks felt faintly hot under Chi Ling’s gaze. Just as she was about to press the back of her hand against her face to cool herself down, her rationality suddenly reminded her that she was currently wearing makeup, making her halt the movement abruptly.
“Qi Deng, is my face red?” Ming Tang asked.
Qi Deng didn’t answer. Instead, she just stared infatuation style at the direction Chi Ling had left, murmuring aimlessly, “Tell me… how can Chi Ling look so beautiful when she smiles…”
Ming Tang: ?
Instantly, Ming Tang felt that her face was no longer hot, and her heart was no longer fluttering.
“She has already walked far away,” Ming Tang poured cold water on her. “While there’s still an hour left before recording, hurry back and practice. Otherwise, you’ll be crying if you get eliminated early.”
Qi Deng managed to catch a faint trace of sourness in those words.
Ever since she previously figured out her shortcomings regarding expression management, and after completing her full hair and makeup, Ming Tang had started intentionally controlling her expressions during mirror practice.
Unsure exactly which step had worked, Ming Tang’s smile was no longer as forced and rigid as before.
She even clearly remembered the relaxed feeling of her lips involuntarily curving into a natural arc when she faced Chi Ling just now.
During the final Ending Pose, her hair was always uncooperative, hitting her face after she whipped her head.
This issue hadn’t appeared often during previous practices.
Ming Tang stared into the mirror, whipping her head twice with controlled force, and discovered the culprit was actually the small braid that had just been woven in. Every time she whipped her head, it would viciously smack against her face.
If she had known, she would have asked Sister Xi to tie it on the other side.
Ming Tang began frequently testing the effect of the head whip with different amounts of force, completely failing to notice when Qi Deng had slunk over to her side.
“Ming Tang, why are you cosplaying a pellet drum?” The confusion in Qi Deng’s voice did not seem faked at all.
Ming Tang froze upon hearing the voice. She only felt her head spinning continuously, unsure if it was a side effect of turning too many times, or because Qi Deng’s words made her eyes go black with exasperation every single time.
“Oh!”
Before Ming Tang could speak, she saw Qi Deng smash her right fist firmly into her left palm, her tone incredibly certain.
“I see it now! You want to strike a cool Ending Pose, right?”
The touch of gratitude that Qi Deng had finally displayed some human understanding had just arisen in Ming Tang’s heart, and she was about to nod in agreement since Qi Deng was generally correct in the grand scheme of things, when she heard a comment that made her instantly close her eyes and let out a long sigh.
“But doing it like that won’t work, you’ll turn into the Golden Hair Lion King.”
Ming Tang: Fine.
Exhausted in both body and mind, Ming Tang didn’t know how to respond to Qi Deng’s genuine concern. She smoothed out the hair she had shaken into a mess, and just happened to look up and see the time. Changing the subject, she said, “I see time is about up. Let’s head over to the recording hall.”
Qi Deng nodded repeatedly. “Okay.”
When the two of them rushed back backstage, the staff had not yet begun organizing the members of each class.
The two threaded through the crowd, attempting to find other Class C members so they could cluster together and avoid getting lost.
But unfortunately, at this moment, everyone was wearing the exact same uniform, making it truly difficult to recognize anyone.
Although everyone had differences in height and build, looking for people based purely on the backs of their heads was genuinely not that easy.
Quite a few people were racing against the clock, repeating the theme song dance in a low-energy, power saving mode, wanting to continue deepening their muscle memory before going onstage even though they had already sweated like rain and thrown themselves into practicing this dance countless times in just a mere four days.
Relying on her height advantage which was slightly above the crowd, Ming Tang straightened her spine, stretched her neck, and lifted her chin to look around. Before she could locate her own group’s whereabouts, she saw the door to the makeup room pull inward.
The person leading the way out was none other than Chi Ling.
Chi Ling also happened to look up, her eyes meeting Ming Tang’s, who was scanning from afar.
Completely changing her usual loose, very casual, and lazy tied-up hairstyle, the stylist had given her a half-up high ponytail.
Her lips were dabbed with a glittering lip glaze that gleamed with a watery luster under the bright lights.
Looking at Ming Tang, Chi Ling tilted her head slightly, her hair cascading down with the movement. She blinked, looking exactly like an obedient little animal.
“I can’t take it, Chi Ling is really too cute…” Jian Jiahe had sidled over at some unknown point.
Qi Deng also nodded repeatedly.
Ming Tang suspected that Alphas drifted over by scent.
Chi Ling walked right up to Ming Tang, her eyes holding only Ming Tang.
The entertainment industry’s universally acknowledged number one beautiful face of an Omega was standing right before her, asking her with a beautiful, radiant smile, “How is it? Am I pretty?”
Ming Tang suddenly felt her heart skip a beat.
Chi Ling leaned close to her, tilting her face up, looking over from the bottom up.
Like a dew-kissed low lotus, quietly blooming right beside her face.
Ming Tang only felt as though her throat had been seized by something invisible.
“Pr-pretty…”
Ming Tang very uselessly stammered again.
Hearing this, Chi Ling was highly satisfied, and even her shallow smile grew several degrees more radiant.
Even after withdrawing back to a normal social distance, Ming Tang still felt her heart pounding like a beating drum.
After being directly and objectively struck by Chi Ling’s beautiful face, Ming Tang had even helped Chi Ling think of a hot search trending topic.
#HumanGuavaChiLing
Or #HumanLotusChiLing would work too.
Looking at Chi Ling, who looked incomparably harmonious with the pink and green colors on her body, appearing noble and refined as if detached from the mortal world, Ming Tang only felt that her previous assumption had been too narrow.
Wearing this outfit, how could Chi Ling merely look like a cute guava? She clearly ought to be a guava spirit taken human form, a lotus flower turned immortal.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk, a whole group of people gone dazed again.” Qiao Xiangshu shook her head, looking at the three Alphas in front of her with an expression of despair over their lack of progress.
“Class A trainees, over this way.”
The staff member’s voice came through the megaphone, sounding a bit distorted.
[Today’s Mission: Before going onstage, stick out your foot and trip Chi Ling.]