The subway arrived at the station.
Han Xiao rubbed her knees and stood up, “Then I’ll go, thank you all today.”
Jiang Ran’s sympathy exploded, and she suggested, “Why don’t we walk you a bit further? Isn’t that person still downstairs at your place? It’d be troublesome if they woke up…”
“No need, if he wakes up, the designated driver will notify me. Since there’s no notification, it’s still safe. My home is right outside this station, it’s very quick… I’m off! Bye-bye!”
Han Xiao smiled and politely refused Jiang Ran’s kind offer, waving casually.
After exiting the station, she walked towards her apartment.
Qin Yian was sleeping soundly by the roadside of the apartment.
Pushing the door open, Lu Qin was sitting on the sofa watching TV, but the sound was muted. When a person is anxious, any sound is noise.
Han Xiao walked directly to Lu Qin and sat down beside her, saying with a grin, “Sister Qin, what are you watching? Why isn’t the sound on?”
“…Sister Qin?”
“Girl, can’t you tell what’s important and what’s not? So everything I said before went in one ear and out the other?”
Lu Qin stared expressionlessly at the TV and said, “The preliminary rounds are in a few days, and you still have time to wander around outside?”
“I’m not that short on time. I had something to do.”
Han Xiao collapsed onto the sofa, letting out a soft groan.
After a busy day, collapsing onto her soft sofa truly felt like bliss.
Lu Qin scoffed, “Busy? Busy with what? Isn’t it just about the orphanage?”
“Wow! Sister Qin, you’re so smart, you guessed it right away.”
Han Xiao sat up, wrapped her arms around Lu Qin’s arm, and said in a spoiled tone.
“Pfft, do I need to guess something like this? Last time I came over, I saw a pile of things in the living room, and I knew what you wanted to do. I just didn’t bother to say anything.”
Lu Qin really had no way with her ‘treasure.’ She pulled Han Xiao’s hand and complained, “It’s just an orphanage? Do you need to be so invested?”
“That orphanage’s funding is quite tight…”
“Your acting career is also quite tight.”
Han Xiao frowned, her small expression serious, “Can that word be used like that? Don’t bully me for not finishing high school; I can still easily get into an acting university.”
“Go away! Go away! If anyone needs to worry, it’s the country. Why are you so eager to show kindness? Does anyone even know?”
“If your mind is full of wanting others to know before doing charity, then your motives are problematic. Those children are very pitiful; you’ll know when you visit them someday.”
Lu Qin had no rebuttal.
This was also one of the reasons she immediately took a liking to Han Xiao. Qin Yimo’s academic performance was indeed excellent, but she gave Lu Qin a very ‘sharp’ feeling.
But she still had to scold her now; otherwise, Han Xiao wouldn’t be clear-headed.
“They’re pitiful, but aren’t you pitiful? Can you pity yourself first?”
“I have money, looks, and time. What do I need to be pitied for? Tell me, so I can refute you one by one.”
Lu Qin indeed wanted to tell Han Xiao the reasons why she was pitiful.
But hearing Han Xiao say that, she couldn’t say anything.
I haven’t even said it yet, and you’re already thinking about how to refute me one by one.
So is it still useful for me to say it?
Their conversation then fell into an awkward silence.
It was Lu Qin who first broke the quiet.
She glared fiercely at Han Xiao and said, “Starting tomorrow, you’ll seriously practice your singing. If you mess up in the preliminaries, you’ll really become a joke. Then it’ll be hard not to quit the entertainment industry.”
“If I quit, I quit. At most, I’ll go back and be a mooch. You know my family’s situation anyway; they’re all high achievers and have always disapproved of me entering this line of work… According to their plan, I should be pursuing a doctorate… Dr. Xiao Han, doesn’t that sound especially cool?”
Han Xiao replied, then pulled out her exclusive smiley face pillow from behind her and hugged it comfortably.
Slap!
Lu Qin took advantage of Han Xiao’s search for the pillow to smack her on the head, saying angrily, “Han Xiao!!”
Han Xiao sighed helplessly and said, “Alright! Alright! When an elder calls your full name, it means they’re really angry.”
“If you quit like this, people will laugh at you for a lifetime, and you’ll forever have a ‘loser’ label stuck on you!”
Lu Qin was no longer going to be gentle with Han Xiao.
She was afraid that if she continued to be gentle, Han Xiao would pretend nothing happened, go take a shower, sleep, and even apply a beautiful face mask before bed.
This girl’s skin was truly as thick as a city wall.
“Sister Qin, don’t be angry, don’t be angry. We’re just chatting; getting angry harms your health. Wouldn’t it be more annoying to get more wrinkles?”
Han Xiao quickly comforted her, patting Lu Qin’s back, “I just said that casually… Why did you take it seriously?”
Lu Qin felt a vein throbbing in her forehead and her heart racing.
Han Xiao hugged Lu Qin’s arm and comforted her, “Don’t worry, even if I don’t consider myself, I’ll still fight for your honor. I haven’t done anything wrong, and if I quit just like this, I wouldn’t be reconciled either.”
“At least you have some conscience,” Lu Qin finally said, her anger subsiding.
“Nonsense! My conscience is huge!”
Han Xiao puffed out her chest, smiled, and sniffed, inhaling the aroma in the air.
She changed the subject and asked, “Sister Qin, what’s that smell? It’s so fragrant…”
“Isn’t it your time of the month? I guessed you’d be back with cold hands and feet. Go see if it’s still warm?”
Han Xiao’s exaggerated expression, “Wow! Thank you, Sister Qin, you’re so thoughtful!”
“Yes, you call me Sister Qin now, but in your heart, you’ll call me an old witch.”
“That’s slander! I’m clearly the most polite.”
Han Xiao knew Sister Qin was still fuming, so she stopped talking, scurried off to eat, and buried her head in her bowl, drinking the soup.
After she finished the soup in her bowl, she looked at Lu Qin, who was sitting opposite her, and asked, “Aren’t you going home yet?”
“I’ll sleep here for the next few days, so you don’t run off again.”
Han Xiao pouted, made a face at Lu Qin, and asked, “But Sister Qin, why does your junior always seem to dislike you? What deep-seated grudge is it?”
“Shut up!”
Han Xiao obediently went back to drinking her soup.
She finished her soup and leaned in again, “But if that day really comes, and I retire from the industry, what will you do?”
“I’ll just retire directly!”
“Huh? It’s not that serious, is it?”
“Why isn’t it? If even you can’t win, then even if I find someone else, can they win against her and Qin Yimo? I’m not putting up with that!”
“Don’t say that! If that day really comes, I’ll introduce you to another talent.”
“Who could you introduce? Don’t tell me it’s someone you found at the orphanage… I’m not interested in being a nanny.”
“No, it’s a classmate from school.”
“You haven’t been to school, what kind of classmate could you have?”
“Oh, really! He even writes his own songs. I’ll sing it for you.”
Han Xiao put down her spoon, coughed twice, and sang a few lines a cappella.
Whose light was stolen from a neighbor’s wall as a child?
Unkempt for years, enduring a decade of cold studies.
Now reading leisurely under the lamp, with a beauty adding fragrance. Half a life of false fame is merely an illusion.
Lu Qin’s sense of hearing was keener than Han Xiao’s.
After only a few lines, her voice involuntarily rose, “He wrote this himself?”
“Yes, and the arrangement and singing are pretty perfect too, but there’s no recording… You wouldn’t believe me just by my word.”
“Art student?”
“No, it’s out of interest.”
“Out of interest he can write something like this? How old is he?”
“Third year of high school.”
“What’s his name?”
“Um… his name is Xu Huo. Xu as in ‘Yan Wu Xu’, and Huo as in ‘Huo Ran’.”
She said Xu Huo’s name, wanting Lu Qin to remember it clearly. But Lu Qin frowned.
She felt that Han Xiao’s current smiling expression looked very much like a girl in love, who, after finding a boy she likes, can’t help but talk about him intentionally or unintentionally in front of her parents.
It seemed like an introduction, but it was actually showing off…
“Why does that name sound like a boy’s?”
Han Xiao nodded, “He is a boy.”
Lu Qin’s face instantly darkened.
“…How did you two meet?”
“Guess?!”
Han Xiao watched Lu Qin say nothing, and Lu Qin also stopped talking.
Usually, joking and fooling around were fine, but how could she easily get away with something like this?
“Han Xiao, be serious.”
Lu Qin said angrily, picking up a cushion and throwing it at Han Xiao’s head.
“How come I don’t know you’re so close to a boy? Are you crazy?”
Han Xiao quickly protected her head with both hands, looking pitiful and wronged, her big eyes brimming with tears.