“We just walked out together…” Anya smiled, her eyes slightly red.
“They didn’t wait for you?” another girl asked.
Anya didn’t speak, she raised her hand and wiped away a non-existent tear. “Thinking that there are still so many days left, I feel it’s a bit of an ordeal.”
“Just practice your own part well, as long as you don’t make mistakes, it’s fine. The final ranking is still individual competition,” Lu Jingwei said. Her duo movements were paired with Wen Shike, so Anya didn’t affect her much technically. To make her words sound a bit more humane, she added, “We can only try our best to help her.”
“Whether she dances well or not is one thing, I just want her attitude to be a bit more professional. Stop putting on a show, it’s annoying,” Zhou Yueran scratched her hair. “By then, people will think we’re bullying her.”
“Don’t worry, soon enough people will say we’re bullying her,” Wen Shike said nonchalantly.
“Is this kind of persona popular nowadays? Or am I just behind the times?” Ming Wangxue was utterly confused. “The editors won’t help her edit it that way, right? Or does she have some unspeakable background backing her?”
Ming Wangxue dropped her voice to a whisper for that last sentence.
“Maybe her personality is just like that,” someone else remarked.
Wen Shike yawned, pulled her hat down a bit, and stuffed her hands in her pockets.
People were coming out of other classrooms, presumably heading back. They greeted each other as the groups dispersed and merged. Sun Yuexi, who had been training in that room, saw Wen Shike and gave her a brilliant smile.
Wen Shike could clearly feel that Sun Yuexi was much more enthusiastic than before.
Over the next two days, Anya settled down quite a bit. Though she didn’t speak much, she basically sat near Wen Shike. When Wen Shike and the others gathered to talk, she would sit alone nearby, leaving a lonely silhouette. When they practiced dancing, she would stand to the side and watch them.
There was a lot of this footage, which would be difficult to edit later. Although the others didn’t say it, they showed signs of worry.
“Anya, are you still feeling down?” Wen Shike looked toward Anya. Although her expression looked the same as usual, her voice carried a hint of concern. “Don’t worry too much. As long as you’re willing to learn properly, we’re all willing to help you.”
The corners of the mouths of the people nearby twitched, they clearly wanted to laugh but held it back.
“Yeah! Anya, don’t just sit there moping by yourself. We all want to help you. Don’t let your brooding time exceed your practice time.”
Ming Wangxue looked worried. With her baby face, it was impossible to tell she was being sarcastic.
Anya pursed her lips: “Sorry, I’m wasting everyone’s time.”
“It is indeed a bit of a delay. However, since it’s our first time collaborating, it’s normal for problems to arise. I believe you’ll be able to adjust soon, right? After all, it’s already the third day, and we don’t have much time left.” Lu Jingwei’s voice was very gentle, and her expression was even gentler.
It’s just acting like a ‘Green Tea’ [manipulative/fake innocent] who doesn’t know how to do that?
Anya: “…”
Anya lowered her head: “I’m sorry.”
“It’s fine. Do you want to practice now? I can accompany you.” Lu Jingwei stood up and fixed her gaze on her. This wasn’t a question, it was a demand.
Anya had no choice but to stand up.
The others stood up as well, looking very proactive.
“So we can finally start practicing the formations?” another girl asked.
Anya: “…”
Anya wanted to curse. Was there any difference between that and saying they hadn’t been able to practice formations because of her?
Wen Shike said nothing more; her goal had been achieved. Anya glanced at her, and Wen Shike looked back, giving her a relatively mild look.
Anya took a deep breath.
Because of this interlude, Anya was forced to practice along with them. Moreover, she had to practice, because whenever she wanted to rest a bit longer, those annoying people would jump out and ask if she was feeling down again, telling her not to worry, that such and such a move was indeed difficult but she would definitely learn it, as if her dancing ability was even worse than Ming Wangxue’s.
“Keke, today I heard a few people saying you’re bullying Anya in your team. Be careful.” Sun Yuexi ran into Wen Shike in the restroom and caught her, speaking in a low voice.
Wen Shike frowned.
“But I believe you. You wouldn’t do something like that.” Sun Yuexi had seen Anya with a hundred people, it wasn’t a huge crowd, so they were bound to cross paths. Subjectively speaking, she didn’t particularly like the girl, but Anya seemed to have a decent reputation around here.
“It’s fine, don’t worry.” Wen Shike wiped her hands. “There are cameras everywhere here. Most of the time spent with her is in the classroom, everything is on video.”
Just then, Anya and a few other girls came in to use the restroom. They glanced at each other, and Wen Shike nodded as a greeting.
Wherever there is competition, there is intrigue. It’s normal, especially in a place with limited spots.
Wen Shike suddenly felt she was quite kind-hearted. If it were the people she knew back home, Anya would have probably been forced out of the competition the first time she played these tricks.
She finished washing her hands, took a hand cream out of her pocket, squeezed some onto her hand, and looked at Sun Yuexi: “Do you want some?”
“No thanks.” Sun Yuexi looked at the logo on the hand cream. Although she didn’t know how much this specific cream cost, she knew the price of the brand’s other products; none of them were cheap.
“Really, don’t be polite. I brought a lot.”
“Then… I’ll take a little. I’m a bit curious.”
Wen Shike squeezed some onto her hand. The two of them rubbed the cream in while walking back. On the way, they ran into Lu Jingwei. Wen Shike said goodbye to Sun Yuexi and fell in line beside Lu Jingwei.
“I’m just going to buy a bottle of mineral water.” Lu Jingwei’s eyes fell on Wen Shike’s hands. No wonder this young lady’s hands were so smooth.
“I want a drink too.” Noticing Lu Jingwei’s gaze, Wen Shike asked again, “Hand cream, do you want some?”
“No, I don’t really like that greasy feeling.”
“You can just apply it to the back of your hand.” Wen Shike reached out and rubbed the back of her own hand against the back of Lu Jingwei’s. “Oh, sorry, I forgot to ask you.”
Lu Jingwei: “…”
Lu Jingwei was speechless for a moment. However, noticing the hidden smile in Wen Shike’s eyes, she knew this person was just teasing her on purpose.
Lu Jingwei lowered her head and silently rubbed the hand cream into the back of her hand. She didn’t know how much the young lady had applied at once, but after rubbing a bunch onto Lu Jingwei’s hand, it took Wen Shike quite a while to finish rubbing her own hands together.
The two of them brought seven bottles of mineral water back. They could drink the sponsor’s milk whenever they wanted, but if they wanted water, they either had to get it themselves or buy it from the vending machine.
When they returned, Anya was already in the classroom.
“Wow, water bought by the Miss Heiress herself! I’m going to enshrine this.”
“What if I can’t bear to drink it?”
The group laughed and joked around.
Perhaps because they were now familiar, the original awkwardness was completely gone. Wen Shike had become the regular target of the group’s teasing.
Zhou Yueran took the water: “Why didn’t I think of bringing some cash?”
“Probably because you didn’t expect them to be so stingy they wouldn’t even provide mineral water,” Wen Shike glanced at the camera, her words pointed.
The others laughed again.
Anya held her mineral water. Actually, she should have refused it, because accepting it meant her relationship with Wen Shike wasn’t actually that bad.
She frowned.
She did want to piggyback on the famous Wen Heiress’s popularity by creating conflict to gain more attention. She didn’t care about the voices outside criticizing her.
“Black-label fame” is still fame. As long as people were cursing her and discussing her, it was fine. As long as there was heat, she would have work. Besides, her company was originally a competitor of the Yin family, so as long as she didn’t offend the other party to death, it didn’t matter.
But now, things were clearly no longer developing according to her plan.
Anya frowned, feeling somewhat irritable.