Sparks
Chu Yiqi noticed that Xi Ai was in a daze, and after thinking about it for a moment, he felt that she still hadn't found her normal business state, and it was a bit... deliberate.
Ugh, this is so annoying.
Besides his personality changing over the past two years, Chu Yiqi has also undergone another significant change—he has become exceptionally adept at distracting himself.
For example, when Xi Ai came to her senses, she said, "Then blame Sister Luo," and fumbled for the punishment stick. However, she was still not paying attention to what was in front of her. The noise around her was somewhat distant, and she gradually heard another kind of sound.
She was actually very familiar with that voice; it had been there often before she left.
It didn't come from anywhere else; it came from Chu Yiqi's own mind.
A voice murmured, "Why drag such a good person into this when you haven't even resolved your own problems?"
He said, "You should leave, stay away from her!"
The other voice was slightly brighter, but much weaker: "She won't be affected by me..."
The sounds in her ears were a bit chaotic, and Chu Yiqi suddenly felt a little dizzy. Just when she was about to wonder if she had really suddenly relapsed, she suddenly heard Xi Ai say, "Who wrote this? Step forward and accept the praise."
Chu Yiqi blinked and suddenly came to her senses. It was only then that she realized that the words she had just heard were from her struggles a long, long time ago.
Chu Yiqi leaned over to look at the slip of paper that Xi Ai had drawn: imitate a dubbing clip from an animated film, with the clip randomly selected from the comments.
"You're praising it before you've even drawn it?" Meng Yike said with a smile.
Chu Yiqi quietly spoke up: "I wrote it."
Xi Ai: "..."
Meng Yike: "..."
Xi Ai was silent for a moment, then said, "Then... let's go with this one, Pleasant Goat."
"Okay, okay."
Xi Ai's eyes flickered, and she said, "Then it's not too much for me to want a partner, is it?"
Nie Chuiying was happy to see Xi Ai causing trouble for others—mainly Chu Yiqi—so she immediately agreed: "Not at all!"
As expected, Xi Ai slowly shifted her gaze to Chu Yiqi: "Teacher Chu, would you do me the honor?"
Chu Yiqi clearly felt that this was expected, but she still couldn't help but purse her lips. She stared at Xi Ai and finally said, "There's a sense of powerlessness, like you're punishing yourself for something you wrote yourself."
[I knew it, hahaha, it's another one!]
[Why is our Qiqi looking so unsurprised? Xi'ai, you should reflect on your actions.]
[Xi Ai: So what?]
[Qiqi: Seemingly has lost all strength and means...]
In any case, Chu Yiqi and Xi Ai eventually completed a 30-second clip together.
The two of them stared at the screen the entire time, without making any eye contact.
Chu Yiqi was busy focusing on the next line of the poem, while Xi Ai simply wanted to laugh when she saw Chu Yiqi—perhaps it was a dramatic feeling of watching a well-behaved student get dragged into the mess and an acquaintance scrambling to catch a tantrum.
After commotion for a while, the morning live stream ended. The group looked at each other, and Shi Yunshan and Nie Chuiying, as if on the same wavelength, stared at each other and said, "How about... we go take another nap?"
These words struck a chord with the group, and they all agreed. Meng Yike said, "Okay, Sister Luo just told me she won't be back for about half an hour."
Xi Ai slowly went upstairs. The medicine bottle on the bedside table was very conspicuous. Xi Ai closed the door, leaned against the wardrobe and looked at it for a while, and finally smiled silently.
I can't tell if I'm laughing at someone who's incredibly stubborn, or if I'm just genuinely happy.
After applying some medicine, Xi Ai went to sit on the bay window and refreshed Weibo amidst a bunch of fluffy things.
Xi Ai saw a very familiar clip—from a variety show.
Actually, she couldn't remember the name, but it was the variety show where For 8 debuted.
That was four or five years ago.
Sometimes Xi Ai is actually very grateful that she chose to become an actress, because at least she has developed a habit that she didn't even develop during her student days—to fall asleep quickly, anywhere she can.
Xi Ai didn't even have time to turn off her phone.
The clip on the screen shows Xi Ai and Chu Yiqi's first meeting.
*
After a round of preliminary selection, only forty people remained to sit at the welcome party.
Logically, there should be a self-introduction at the first meeting, but this self-introduction... is the video from when I first registered.
Of course, there will be a blank space between every two paragraphs.
So when the video cover changed to Xi Ai, a pair of almost identical sisters in the corner whispered to each other.
"Wait, how can someone have an alpha filter on their own? Look!"
Those nearby followed the "sneaky" look and searched for the person in question, and by sheer coincidence, they saw Xi Ai looking over.
Compared to her averted gaze after being caught, Xi Ai was quite natural. She raised the corners of her lips and subtly waved her hand.
Zhou Qingxi and Zhou Yangxi were both stunned, then smiled and made heart shapes with their hands in response.
But Yang Xi was still muttering to herself, "When she greeted me, I felt like I was seeing a professor or my boss, you know?"
Qingxi: "..."
You unlucky kid, you've really been thoroughly marinated by a well-behaved omega.
After a pause, Zhou Qingxi said, "I remember now, she was the Best Newcomer at that film festival last year!"
"Ah, I know, that way she raised her glass really killed me."
The real reserve boss, Xi Ai, didn't say anything, but turned to say a word to the person next to her.
—It actually looks like a coincidence now, the person next to me is Shi Yunshan.
At one end of the room, the video started playing.
Xi Ai leisurely admired her self-introduction, which she could easily use to start a speech by simply moving the microphone and changing locations. However, she always felt awkward watching her own performance videos and past movies with strangers—but she watched them without flinching.
The clip she captured in the video was a scene that went viral online when the movie was first released—a young and alluring woman slowly raised her eyes in the swaying lights, her undisguised ambition and oppressive aura mixed with a seemingly contemptuous scrutiny that stared straight into the depths of everyone's eyes.
A moment later, the woman smiled, a smile that wasn't entirely kind. Like someone at the top of a pyramid, she looked down upon all living beings, upon ants, upon a… dying person, and perhaps, upon herself. She slowly picked up a glass of chilled wine, raised it with a flippant yet defiant air, and slowly brought it to her lips…
After the video finished playing, Xi Ai stood up and appeared, saying, "Hello everyone—well... I hope we can become friends instead of being clients and service providers?"
After watching the video packed with various elements, the group at the table gained a better understanding of Miss Xi, so they naturally laughed. One of them even asked Xi Ai, "So, if you can become friends and then become business partners, would you be a close friend with insider information?"
In this joke, only the person opposite remained seated upright, with a calm expression, which seemed to be a coldness put on out of restraint.
That was Chu Yiqi.
Xi Ai didn't pay attention to her, but just smiled faintly and said, "That won't do, I haven't even spent money on myself yet."
In fact, Xi Ai's words were quite deliberate. It was as if she anticipated that someone might use her background to make a fuss, and she was indirectly clarifying that she did not get the position through back channels or bring in investment.
In fact, after saying this, Chu Yiqi's gaze softened slightly, but he still looked at Xi Ai with hostility.
Perhaps it's just that this person's personality and aura don't match. Chu Yiqi silently explained her attitude to herself.
But that scene...
Although I didn't like this person subjectively, the tension and sense of proportion at that moment were still impeccable.
Chu Yiqi looked across at the other side—
Xi Ai rested her chin on her hand, looking at the large screen as if listening to some year-end report. Then, as if casually scanning the room, she spotted the protagonist of the next video.
The next person is Chu Yiqi.
Undeniably, even from just a few clips of the video, it's clear that Chu Yiqi has exceptional professional skills—Xi Ai actually quite likes her creative style.
Chu Yiqi's personal style and preferences are also very obvious - he mainly sings ancient-style songs, which are both narrations of culture and records of the years.
In her view, this is one of the meanings of music.
The music Chu Yiqi used in the video was from her college assignment; it was a different style altogether, but the lyrics and video editing were very fitting.
"A string of butterflies is the whole of spring."
As one lyric ends, a string of butterflies flutters by, the video switches to a classical dance practice in a dance studio, and then to a stage performance.
The rise and fall of the water sleeves resembled a grand feast in a peaceful and prosperous era.
Raise a glass to the invitation, to embark on a journey of hope amidst despair.
"After one flight of wings, years of wind and rain have followed."
"What exactly is it?"
The blooming fireworks are
Millions of butterfly wings
"A single spark can start a prairie fire."
The scene was once again fluttered by a butterfly of flowing light, followed by a domestic competition and a performance by the silver medalist—Chu Yiqi.
The cello faded, butterflies rose, and fell into words, eventually landing on the final lyrics.
"It's you, it's me too, the mountain rain that never stops for ten thousand years."
"A thousand-year-old butterfly flaps its wings..."
...
"Good afternoon." Chu Yiqi slowly stood up, said only a few words, and then sat down again.
Xi Ai clapped her hands a few times—simply to express her appreciation for her professional skills. This clapping led to a round of applause, just like when everyone finished their self-introductions.
After a while, Xi Ai shifted her gaze to a spot a little further away opposite her, looking at Chu Yiqi, who was sitting quietly without saying a word or interacting with anyone.
Perhaps it was because Xi Ai had been involved in various circles since childhood, seeing too many people, and because her major in drama required her to observe people's personalities and subtle expressions. At that moment, Xi Ai saw Chu Yiqi, and what she saw was Chu Yiqi's hidden worries, his retreat into his own shell, and his reluctance to communicate with the outside world.
To be honest, Xi Ai didn't like this kind of temperament.
Especially in Chu Yiqi's opening, she said "it is the 'Qiqi' of 'Qiqi' in 'Qiuyiqi'", and perhaps Xi Ai herself did not notice that in that brief moment, she was frowning.
Just as she was pulling herself back to reality, Xi Ai and Chu Yiqi met each other's eyes.
Aside from Chu Yiqi's initial discomfort and subconscious avoidance when facing Xi Ai's gaze, as well as a slight unease, Xi Ai clearly saw that Chu Yiqi's gaze towards her was different from how he looked at others—it carried a sense of rejection.
Xi Ai frowned, not bothering to conceal the undisguised aloofness in her eyes, and simply looked back at him without making a sound.
Perhaps this was their first direct confrontation. It wasn't exactly a friendly first meeting, and it seemed to foreshadow their long period of antagonism ahead.
After the meet-and-greet ended, everyone slowly returned to their dormitories.
The dormitory assignments and the order of the video calls during the meeting were consistent, so unsurprisingly, Xi Ai and Chu Yiqi were in the same dormitory, and the other two were Zhou Qingxi and Zhou Yangxi.
"Sis, does this count as a dream come true, like going back to college?"
Zhou Qingxi looked at her, pushed both of their suitcases forward a bit, and said, "Sure, they're exactly the same, okay? Four-person dorm with bunk beds and desks underneath."
Xi Ai didn't participate in this topic—it's simply not something Miss Xi could participate in.
Xi Ai applied to a university abroad early on and has been living there mostly by herself.
She glanced at Chu Yiqi beside her: he was slowly packing his things.
Fortunately, the two sisters weren't one to embarrass their roommate. Zhou Yangxi took out a bag of chocolate balls and asked Chu Yiqi, "Chu Yiqi, do you want some?"
Chu Yiqi was clearly taken aback for a moment, then took one and said in a very soft voice, "Thank you."
"Ahh, I absolutely love your voice!"
Chu Yiqi smiled slightly, pursing her lips, but didn't respond. Xi Ai, however, silently finished reading and said, "What about me?"
Zhou Yangxi felt a little embarrassed and guilty for a moment, and said, "You two are not the same type, but I like your temperament..."
"Describe it in detail, a brief summary of one hundred words, let's begin."
Even though Xi Ai was smiling, and her smile was quite deceptive, Zhou Yangxi still felt inferior.
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