Jiang Ling’s mouth was covered, rendering her unable to make a sound.
She could only watch helplessly as Fang Wannan’s face gradually flushed red, finally glaring at her in anger.
But due to her overwhelming shyness, the glare lacked any real menace and even carried a hint of coy charm.
“Mmph, I get it, let go already—!”
Struggling, Jiang Ling managed to get Fang Wannan to silently release her hand.
“Um…”
“Ugh, really, it’s your fault for not holding it steady!”
Before Jiang Ling could say anything, Fang Wannan turned her gaze away, her face bright red.
“So careless! Get out already, I need to rest properly!”
Muttering, she quickly lay down, wrapping herself tightly in the blanket, refusing to come out.
Jiang Ling found the current situation a bit strange but couldn’t quite put her finger on what felt off.
Her heart was racing abnormally, and there seemed to be some chaotic, faint noise in her ears, causing a ringing that made her frown and tap her ear.
Only when everything returned to silence did she hesitantly speak, “I’ll head back then?”
At her words, the blanket shifted slightly.
Fang Wannan peeked out, the blanket covering most of her face, revealing only her slightly flustered eyes.
“Thank you for visiting me. I’m… really happy.”
With that, she quickly turned away, pulling the blanket back over herself.
A muffled, slow voice came through, tinged with a barely noticeable joy.
“I’ll recover as soon as I can.”
“Fever?”
After entering, Jiang Ling took off her coat, tied her loose hair into a high ponytail, and nodded in response.
“But from how she looked, she’s probably almost recovered.”
Hearing this, Bai Xue nodded knowingly.
“That’s about what I expected.”
This made Jiang Ling’s hair-tying motion slow down, and she asked, confused, “You already knew she was fine?”
“Well, she doesn’t seem like the type to have serious issues. She probably just forgot to reply to messages.”
Bai Xue didn’t deny it, offering a logical analysis.
“Then what was the point of me going?”
“Hmm… you could say it was to bond.”
Bai Xue smiled, waving her phone, which displayed her chat history with Fang Wannan.
Jiang Ling glanced at it and clearly saw words like “happy” and “thank you,” followed by a bunch of cute emojis.
“I think she was really happy you visited. After all, it’s been a while since Nannan sent me so many messages at once.”
She chuckled lightly, as if a bit sentimental.
Jiang Ling suddenly felt her mood shift strangely again.
She didn’t dwell on it and responded with silence instead.
“By the way, how’s your talent performance preparation going?”
Seeing Jiang Ling stay quiet, Bai Xue changed the subject, eyeing her closely.
“Uh… can we go back to the previous topic?”
Jiang Ling avoided her gaze, looking guilty.
“The deadline’s approaching, you know. But for this, I don’t care about the process, only the result. As long as you deliver something satisfactory on the evaluation day, it’s fine.”
Bai Xue didn’t press further, reaching out to pinch half of Jiang Ling’s cheek.
“Got it—!”
Annoyed, Jiang Ling swatted away her teasing hand and turned to practice dance moves in front of the mirror.
Their group dance wasn’t particularly difficult.
Even a complete beginner could manage it smoothly with enough mechanical repetition.
That’s what Jiang Ling thought, but when she moved to the music and saw her awkward, distorted dance moves in the mirror, she covered her face with both hands and collapsed onto the floor.
Thud!
The heavy sound drew Lin Xiaoyu’s attention.
Jiang Ling pounded the floor with her fists, muttering, “Argh, why is it so ugly?!”
Seeing this, Lin Xiaoyu stood up, walked over, crouched beside her, and patted her shoulder solemnly.
“You’re very good-looking.”
“I’m not talking about my face, I mean my dancing!”
Jiang Ling retorted, on the verge of tears.
She was confident in her looks, but her dance moves…
“You’re just copying the moves without any personal flair, so it looks bad.”
Lin Xiaoyu pinpointed Jiang Ling’s issue with brutal honesty.
“Master, save me!”
Jiang Ling got up, clung to Lin Xiaoyu’s straight leg, and started fake-crying.
Expressionless, Lin Xiaoyu dragged Jiang Ling, who was hanging onto her, across the floor while pulling out her phone to record a short video and send it to their group chat.
Yes, the group chat for their team, which Bai Xue had just created today.
Soon after, three notification sounds chimed in succession.
Fang Wannan: …
Mo Ran: …
Bai Xue: Very spirited!
Seeing Lin Xiaoyu’s lips twitch slightly, Jiang Ling sensed trouble.
She grabbed her phone, looked at the chat, and nearly fainted from embarrassment.
“Lin Xiaoyu, you’re banned from taking any photos or videos of me from now on!”
“Even if I take ten thousand steps back, is it really not okay?”
Unfazed, Lin Xiaoyu snapped two more photos of the fuming Jiang Ling.
“Not even if you retreat to outer space! Wait, did you just take more? Delete them now!”
After a “fierce” struggle, Jiang Ling was overpowered and pinned down, helplessly watching as Lin Xiaoyu shared the photos widely.
“Alright, enough messing around.”
Lin Xiaoyu put away her phone and pointed to the center position.
“Come here, dance it once for me.”
The center position was typically reserved for the group’s C-position, usually given to someone strong in dance or with striking visuals to make the performance stand out.
“No pressure, just perform at your usual level.”
Lin Xiaoyu stood in front of Jiang Ling and turned on the music.
As the lively music flowed, Jiang Ling stiffly followed the memorized moves, making occasional small mistakes but pushing through to continue dancing.
When the final segment ended, the practice room was filled only with Jiang Ling’s slightly rapid breathing.
“Hmm…”
Lin Xiaoyu turned off the looping music, her expression neutral, showing no clear emotion.
This made Jiang Ling even more nervous.
“You remember the moves well, but your dancing is too stiff. You lack confidence and personal style, just copying mechanically. Out of ten, I’d give you three.”
“Three…”
Jiang Ling squatted on the floor, drawing circles dejectedly.
“One of those is a pity point.”
Stabbed repeatedly, Jiang Ling choked, whining pitifully, “That’s too harsh!”
“There’s one more critical issue: your stamina is lacking. You can’t last.”
Pausing for a moment, Lin Xiaoyu’s expression turned serious.
“It’s common to perform several songs in a row on stage. If you don’t build up your endurance now, you’ll suffer later.”
Hearing this, Jiang Ling grew anxious and hurriedly stood up to ask, “What should I do?”
“Special training.”
Jiang Ling assumed it would be something like cardio training and was about to agree when Lin Xiaoyu slowly lifted her chin.
Her fingertip pressed gently, brushing against Jiang Ling’s soft, moist lips, creating an ambiguous shape.
“I heard kissing is great for building stamina. Wanna try?”