Chapter 150
Chapter 150
And so, a familiar scene played out in the courtyard once again.
Fu Zhi: “Jiang Sheshe, if you don’t know how to talk, then shut up!”
Jiang Sheshe: “I just happen to love telling the truth! What, did I hit a nerve?”
Fu Zhi: “@!#￥￥%#%”
Jiang Sheshe: “?&…%#%￥&%”
Ning Xi, meanwhile, was still immersed in what Jiang Sheshe had just said.
“Fu Zhi is so rich, and you still don’t like him!”
“So it turns out I’m actually the kind of principled person who won’t bow down for money?” Ning Xi murmured, looking rather pleased with herself.
She’d never noticed that about herself before.
Since Jiang Sheshe had managed to find her such an advantage from such a bizarre angle, Ning Xi decided she ought to thank her properly.
“All right, stop arguing, stop arguing. We’re all family here. Come on, come on, over here~”
The moment Ning Xi spoke, the two people who had been bickering nonstop instantly fell silent.
A suspicious blush flickered across Jiang Sheshe’s face, as if she had once again talked herself into something. “Family? We’re family?”
Fu Zhi looked like he was about to faint. “How can a love-struck idiot be part of my family?!”
The two looked at each other, sparks practically flying, as if they wished they could stab each other to death with their eyes.
The next second, they both turned to Ning Xi in unison.
“Whose side are you on?!”
Ning Xi: “…”
Both sides were all thorns. How was she supposed to choose?
“Today, I’m going to tell my dear family some hard truths. You two listen up.” Ning Xi cleared her throat.
Jiang Sheshe and Fu Zhi both widened their eyes, holding their breath as they waited for Ning Xi’s choice.
“Your mom’s brother is called uncle, three plus three equals six, two times three also equals six, and stir-fried pork with chili needs pork;
You buy books in a bookstore, you raise pigs in a pigpen, when it’s pouring rain you hurry back indoors, and your dad’s sister is your aunt;
A sea-view room lets you see the sea, the gas pedal is stepped on with your foot, if your legs don’t work then use a cane, and vegetables are bought at the market;
You use your hands to play on your phone, you can drink beer in a bar, a single dog isn’t necessarily a dog, and don’t go staring at someone else’s wife!”
After belting all that out in one breath, Ning Xi patted both of them on the shoulder and said earnestly, “Treasure this. Once you enter society, no one will teach you things like this anymore.”
With that, she flicked her sleeves and strode away in style.
Only the two of them were left standing there, still completely dumbfounded. What the heck had she just said?
[Holy crap! Why didn’t Ning Xi say all this earlier?!]
[Can you slow down? My notes can barely keep up]
[I didn’t memorize it just now, let me review: 3 + 3 = 6, stir-fried pork with chili needs uncle?]
[Finally, someone is popularizing this knowledge. You can raise pigs in a bookstore [like]]
Ning Xi walked quite a distance with her hands behind her back before she remembered that she had forgotten to thank Jiang Sheshe.
So she turned back around and gave Jiang Sheshe a thumbs-up.
“Your words have pleased me greatly, so I hereby bestow upon you the title of Comfort, along with a small gift.”
As she spoke, she began rummaging through her pockets.
The moment Jiang Sheshe heard there was a small gift, she immediately stopped arguing with Fu Zhi, and her mood improved too.
There was even a hint of unfamiliar shyness in her expression. “Ahem, you don’t have to give me anything too expensive. After all, I have everything already, and I always buy the most expensive and best versions, so when it comes to gifts, it’s really the thought that matters most to me…”
Ning Xi finally pulled a pair of chopsticks out of her pocket.
“Promise me you’ll use these to eat something you like, okay?”
Jiang Sheshe: “…?”
She had thought the small gift might only be worth one buck. She hadn’t expected it to be two sticks.
[It’s~ the~ thought~ that~ matters~ most~]
[Is this gift bad? I was just worried I didn’t have chopsticks for the bathroom. I’ll gladly accept them, thanks]
[Does throwing out trash come with this long of a windup now? Ning Xi really does have a sense of ceremony.]
Ning Xi smiled in satisfaction. Now that she had given away that little gift, her pockets were so much cleaner!
This time, she really was going to make a stylish exit~
Jiang Sheshe looked at Ning Xi’s retreating back, then down at the chopsticks in her hand. Her clear eyes revealed the kind of stupidity completely uncontaminated by knowledge.
“So what exactly is the meaning behind Ning Xi giving me these chopsticks?”
Fu Zhi let out two cold laughs. “What meaning could a pair of disposable chopsticks possibly have?”
They were definitely chopsticks Ning Xi had deliberately taken extra of during a meal, all so she could snack anytime, anywhere.
Jiang Sheshe narrowed her eyes at Fu Zhi. “Heh. You’re saying that on purpose because you want me to think the chopsticks aren’t important and throw them away, so you can pick them back up and pretend they’re a gift Ning Xi gave you?”
She had already seen through everything, and predicted Fu Zhi’s prediction!
Fu Zhi: “…”
Fu Zhi slapped himself across the face.
He had no business talking to Jiang Sheshe in the first place.
Could anyone with romance brain be a normal person?
…
With her hands clasped behind her back, Ning Xi strolled all the way backstage.
The staff had already finished testing the lighting, backdrop, and music, and the entire rundown had been finalized.
Ning Xi watched as everyone carried out the last of their work in an orderly fashion, and a faint emotion began to boil in her chest.
“We’ve reached the part you’re familiar with.”
Xie Lanchen’s lazy, smiling voice came from behind her.
Ning Xi turned to look at Xie Lanchen and suddenly asked, “Xiao Xie, in a little while, apart from the Ling Village audience invited by the Program Team, there will also be several million, maybe even tens of millions of people watching the livestream. Do you feel nervous?”
Xie Lanchen paused, then looked at Ning Xi. “What about you?”
Ning Xi shook her head. Her lovely, delicate face carried a spirited confidence. “Of course I’m not nervous.”
Only excited.
After half a year away, she was finally welcoming her stage again.
Even before she learned the plot of the entire book on the first day of filming this variety show, she had already sensed that Father Ning treated her as an abandoned pawn, using her popularity to pave the way for Ning Mingyue.
But what could she do about it?
Father Ning was her guardian in name, and Shengshi held her management contract firmly in its grasp.
She couldn’t make a scene. She couldn’t gamble her future against them.
“Do you know? Every time before I step onto a stage, I get so excited. It feels like electricity is surging through every cell in my body, like every drop of blood in me is boiling for it.” Ning Xi looked at the stage before her, her eyes shining with a scorching, almost fanatical light.
According to her adoptive mother, when she was little, in order to master a single dance move, she would keep dancing excitedly even after twisting her ankle.
Even when she was exhausted to the point of losing all strength, she still wanted to keep practicing. She wished she could spend every day soaking in the dance studio.
But she had no memory of it at all.
Because as long as she stood onstage, as long as a single spotlight fell on her, as long as even one audience member below was watching her…
She would become excited. She would want to burn herself over and over again for the stage.
So, to step onto a stage again, for the spotlight, and to be watched by her audience…
Even knowing full well that the investors behind You Are My Blessing were Father Ning and Shengshi, she still chose to join.
And she took the initiative to choose Fu Zhi, who had never gotten along with her, as her opposite-sex guest.
After all, compared to the morally flawed, scandal-ridden “friend” Father Ning had prepared for her, Fu Zhi, whom she had known for more than ten years, was naturally the better choice.
The night before joining You Are My Blessing, she had once thought:
They had better not give her even the slightest chance.
Because if they did, she would seize it with everything she had.
And make sure Father Ning and Shengshi could never suppress her again.
“Now, at last, it’s my stage again.”