Chapter 100

Chapter 100

Jiang Sheshe shoved Qin Se aside and scrambled onto the bus as if a pack of hounds were snapping at her heels.

Once inside, she threw her arms around Ning Xi’s legs and refused to let go.

Ning Xi stared down at her. “What are you doing?!”

“I’m going to Xiangcheng Mall too! I have to! I’m joining this group!” Jiang Sheshe’s tone was bossy, but she didn’t dare look Ning Xi in the eye.

“No way! We only have enough money for four people. You’re going to drag down our per capita budget!”

“Then I’ll pay you back ten times whatever I spend today later, okay?”

“Right away, Miss Jiang! Isn’t it uncomfortable lying on the floor like that? There’s an empty seat right here, please, sit down.”

Ning Xi’s face did a complete 180 as she spoke with a beaming smile.

Jiang Sheshe primly smoothed out non-existent wrinkles on her clothes, lifted her chin, and sat down properly in the seat.

On the other side.

Ning Mingyue hadn’t expected Jiang Sheshe to suddenly hop onto the other vehicle right before departure.

She said somewhat awkwardly, “It seems Sheshe really wanted to go to the mall after all.”

Wei Xuan frowned, hesitating for a second before saying, “I’ll go ask Sheshe what’s going on. Why don’t you guys head out first?”

The implication was that he intended to follow Jiang Sheshe to Xiangcheng Mall.

Ning Mingyue was stunned.

Wei Xuan had already started walking away, but before he could take more than a few steps, the bus Jiang Sheshe was on pulled out.

With no other choice, he ended up getting into the same car as Ning Mingyue and Shen Yibai.

However, he lacked his usual poise and attentiveness throughout the trip, his disappointment clearly visible.

The drive from Ling Village to Xiangcheng Plaza took about forty minutes.

At first, everyone was quiet.

Eventually, Ning Xi started to feel bored. “Driver, can we have some music? What’s a road trip without a sing-along!”

As if his soul had been awakened, the driver’s eyes lit up. He pulled out two microphones and handed them to Ning Xi.

“Hey, little sister, you asked the right man! This bus is equipped with mics! We can have a karaoke party whenever you want!”

Ning Xi was pleasantly surprised. “Oh!”

[M-Microphones?]

[Imagine how this driver felt, hiding those mics for so long, finally waiting for a passenger who wanted to sing.]

[Driver: After all these years, I’ve finally found my kindred spirit.]

[Looking at it this way, it really is hard for a Zhong Ziqi to meet his Bo Ya.]

[Wait, is this the ‘Bo Ya Smashes His Lute’ story?]

“Who on earth sings into a microphone on the road? How psycho…” Jiang Sheshe looked at Ning Xi, who was excitedly fiddling with the microphone, with disbelief.

Ning Xi casually shoved the other microphone into Jiang Sheshe’s arms. “Stop complaining.”

Jiang Sheshe immediately raised her hand. “I want to sing ‘Fast Cars & Superstars’!”

Ning Xi replied, “Then sing it.”

Fu Zhi was dissatisfied. “I don’t want to hear that one! It’s boring!”

Ning Xi was getting a bit impatient. “There are only two mics. Just wait a bit. You can sing the next one, okay?”

Fu Zhi: “…Fine, but I get to pick the next song.”

“Deal.”

[Talk about a classic ‘slap in the face’ moment.]

[I told you Ning Xi knows how to tame dogs.]

Soon, the music started.

“…When the bass gets bumping

Up in the club

Pour another shot

And show me some love

I wanna get the party going

Ladies to the front…”
“Now let me see you shake it

And turn the music up”

At first, Ning Xi and Jiang Sheshe were relatively reserved, merely swaying slightly to the rhythm of the music.

But when the song reached its peak, the two of them faced each other and broke into a synchronized shoulder-shaking dance.

[?????????]

[Sudden onset of illness!]

[Have these two lost their minds? Hahahaha.]

[The ‘You Are My Blessing’ Shaking Competition has officially begun!]

[Say what you want, but they actually sing really well. As expected of an idol and a singer-songwriter.]

In the front seat, Qin Se was wearing sunglasses and silently counting the beats when someone suddenly tugged at her clothes.

She turned around to see Ning Xi holding out a microphone.

Qin Se froze and instinctively shook her head.

“I’m not good at English songs…”

“Who said that? I saw your interview before; your English is clearly very good!” Ning Xi shouted over her shoulder, covering one ear as Jiang Sheshe sang enthusiastically beside her.

Qin Se paused for a moment before taking the microphone.

A magnetic, charming, low-register version of “Fast Cars & Superstars” filled the air.

It was easy to lose oneself in her voice.

[Qin Se really deserves that second-place debut she got based on her vocals alone.]

[Exactly. Back on that survival show, someone with Qin Se’s personality got zero screen time at first. It wasn’t until the first stage, where she sang a rearranged low-register love song, that she slowly gained fans and made it into the debut lineup. She pulled off a total reversal in the finale to take second place.]

[I’m actually shocked that Qin Se’s English accent has improved so much. I remember their group did an overseas interview once, and Qin Se was stumbling over her answers. I think she even got criticized for her pronunciation.]

[Who knows? Maybe Qin Se studied English in private? She’s always seemed like a hard worker.]

After singing a short segment, Qin Se handed the microphone back to Ning Xi.

Ning Xi gave her a big thumbs-up, acknowledging the quality of her voice.

Qin Se pursed her lips uncomfortably.

She turned back to face the front of the car, but her mind involuntarily drifted back to that overseas English interview years ago.

At the time, all the other members had chatted fluently. Even those with average English skills were able to answer questions confidently using simple vocabulary.

Only she had stood there, restless and anxious, looking at the host while stumbling through the few English words she knew, her face flushed bright red.

After that interview, she saw the tide of ridicule and mockery online and went to the bathroom to cry alone.

She hated that she was born in a remote mountain village, hated that her parents had abandoned her as a child, and hated even more that she had gone out to work and been scouted for a survival show while working a part-time job.

If she were just the Qin Se from the mountain village, she wouldn’t have had to lose face in a place like that.

Qin Se had forgotten how long she cried that day.

She only remembered that after returning to China, she began studying English in secret, hiding it from everyone.

She had never surrendered to fate, and she wouldn’t start now.

But the gap was always there. Even after memorizing half a dictionary, her progress remained stagnant.

Until one day, she found an English book on her desk.

And a card-

“If you want to study English systematically, you can use this set of textbooks. For speaking practice, try imitating American TV shows or cartoons first.

My favorites are ‘Barbie’ and ‘Peppa Pig’ hahahahaha (crossed out).

Also, there’s a quote I really like that I want to share with you:

‘Flowing water does not compete to be first; it competes for its endless, surging flow.’

Keep it up!”