Eight hours ago.
A summer night with visible stars usually promises a clear day tomorrow.
The morning air was a bit chilly.
Han Xiao, awakened from her sleep, frowned.
She reached out from under the covers, fumbled to turn off her alarm, and then drowsily drifted back to sleep.
But she forced herself to sit up, yawning uncomfortably.
The chubby cat dozing on her neck also yawned, and perhaps finding Han Xiao too noisy, it simply ran to the corner of the bed to continue sleeping.
It’s truly good to be a cat—no work, no school, no worries.
They just eat when they wake up and sleep when they’re full.
Occasionally, Han Xiao would maliciously think about taking Tai Ge to get “the balls chopped off” so it could also experience the difficulties of a cat’s life.
After sitting for a while longer, her thoughts finally became clearer.
Sleep deprivation is very common among high school students. Hardship is almost every high school student’s feeling because they do things they don’t particularly enjoy every day.
Han Xiao didn’t feel that way because her studies weren’t burdensome; most of the time, she was striving for her dreams.
And this ‘struggle’ was precisely her ‘interest.’
There’s nothing happier than that in the world.
But these past few days, she felt tired for the first time.
When the first ray of sunlight dispelled the darkness, Tai Ge, on the sofa, lazily yawned again.
It was sleeping soundly until some wicked woman picked it up to keep her company… What cat doesn’t sleep until noon?
Tucking its little paws into its chest, it squinted at the girl twisting herself into S-shapes, M-shapes, and Z-shapes in front of the French windows.
Then it looked up at the sky outside, which was gradually brightening.
The living room was quiet, with only the girl’s occasional hurried breaths as she held her breath.
Unopened delivery boxes were scattered across the floor, some containing cosmetics, others throat lozenges.
The tabletop was messy with unfinished milk tea and coffee, and a half-empty bottle of mineral water lay haphazardly on the ground… Everything was still in a state of slumber.
Only Han Xiao was seated cross-legged on a yoga mat, meticulously completing her last movement.
She twisted her hands behind her neck to her back, one foot pressing against her lower back, fully displaying her voluptuous and graceful figure and flexible curves.
Her form-fitting yoga clothes had a loose neckline, subtly revealing her chest.
Dance is an essential skill for a female artist, especially for a beautiful and hot singer like Han Xiao.
Not dancing would be a terrible waste.
Yoga is the best choice for shaping and fitness, and she diligently does it for two hours every day.
It’s just a pity… Once an interest becomes utilitarian, it’s hard to enjoy the process.
She had the most say in that now.
The only one who could appreciate this beautiful scene was Lu Qin, who was staying there.
As time passed, the hazy morning light enveloped this alluring scene that wasn’t visible to others.
Lu Qin emerged from the bedroom with a yawn.
Seeing the fiery, graceful curves in front of the French windows, she first paused, then sighed heavily…
“What are you trying to do by working so hard? You were fine before. Are you really planning to train yourself into a devilish figure so that when you go on stage, the audience will just vote for you without caring about anything else?”
“What time did you wake up?”
“Are you hungry?”
Han Xiao responded to none of Lu Qin’s three questions.
Seeing this, Lu Qin could only advise, “Be careful not to catch a cold. Go to sleep if you’re tired… Don’t let trivial things affect your mood. When you finish singing, those who are prejudiced against you will naturally apologize. I don’t need to teach you that too much is as bad as too little, do I?”
That being said.
But thinking about what happened that day, even Lu Qin couldn’t help but get a headache.
There’s a saying in the manager’s circle, a third-rate manager’s job is to make plans and implement them step-by-step; a second-rate manager’s job is to clean up a “shit-covered ass”; and a first-rate manager needs to think about how to avoid encountering such an “ass.”
This little girl was deeply wronged this time.
The reason she didn’t cry or make a fuss was because she knew crying and fussing were useless; she was keeping it all bottled up inside…
Thinking of this, Han Xiao stopped her movements, got up, and walked towards the practice room.
Lu Qin frowned, “You’re still going? Do you understand the balance between work and rest? If you keep practicing like this, you’ll have a raspy voice on stage!”
“It’s not enough… I need to practice more.”
You can’t just hum a few tunes and sing on stage.
Who can’t sing?
But professional singers and ordinary people are different: breath control, vocal runs, vocalization methods… there are many tricks to it.
But Lu Qin was truly angry.
She pushed Han Xiao towards the bedroom, “Enough of this nonsense! Go get some sleep!”
Han Xiao had indeed been working very hard these past few days, and Lu Qin should have been happy.
Because normally, Han Xiao was like a lazy cat. When work was too tiring, she would frown and coquettishly bargain with her.
To put it unpleasantly, this was incomparable to those ‘diligent’ girls in the industry.
For resources, they could climb into three or four men’s beds in one night.
See how hard she works, yet Han Xiao isn’t quite ruthless enough.
Unfortunately, in the end, Lu Qin still couldn’t win against Han Xiao, or rather, couldn’t win against the hint of tears in her eyes.
She could only watch helplessly as Han Xiao went into the vocal practice room.
Resigned, she made her a cup of soothing throat tea and took it in, then left for work, taking the living room trash with her.
It wasn’t until noon that Han Xiao emerged from the practice room, profound fatigue evident in her eyes and movements.
Perhaps she had sung for too long, and with poor air circulation in the room, the oxygen levels were low, making her feel a bit dizzy.
The cat couldn’t tell time or know what hour it was, but it knew it was hungry.
It jumped off the sofa, its soft paw pads making no sound as it landed on the floor.
Then, with its soft tail wagging, its big head gently brushed against her calf, and a gentle purr emanated from its throat.
“Are you hungry?”
“Meow~~”
“Hold on, I’ll pour you some cat food…”
Han Xiao casually tore off a piece of bread and popped it into her mouth for an emergency snack.
Tai Ge, having no emergency food, secretly extended a small paw into the fish tank.
Just as it touched the water, Han Xiao suddenly turned back.
It immediately retracted its paw, guiltily licking the water from it.
Ah.
“Greedy cat!”
Han Xiao swiftly poured cat food for the chubby cat and fed the goldfish.
Although it was two meals’ worth, the chubby cat usually finished it in one go.
The foolish goldfish didn’t eat much, but that was because Han Xiao didn’t feed them much, otherwise, they’d flip over in minutes… truly shameless.
Finally, she warned Tai Ge not to eye the goldfish.
Tai Ge licked its paws and meowed, and only then did Han Xiao feel at ease returning to her room to catch up on sleep.
Like master, like cat… She was so clumsy she couldn’t even scoop out the goldfish without a net, so Tai Ge definitely couldn’t be too smart.
But strangely enough, Han Xiao, who had been so tired just moments ago, found herself tossing and turning once her head hit the pillow.
Her temples throbbed fiercely, and remembering the nightmares of these past few days, she almost wanted to cry.
EX…
Sleepiness finally crept into her mind, making her feel hazy, and her throat was uncomfortably sore. It felt like she had a fever.
She should take medicine immediately in this situation, but illness strikes like a mountain.
She was utterly exhausted and just wanted to sleep deeply, too lazy to even move a finger.
With effort, she fumbled for her phone under the pillow, dialed a number, and her weak voice said, “Sister Qin, I have a high fever. Please bring me some medicine when you come back… I’m going to sleep first, I can’t keep my eyes open.”
She hung up the phone.
The curtains weren’t drawn yet, and a warm light shone on her eyelids.
The fatigue of the past few days permeated her entire body.
She, who usually had to toss and turn to fall asleep, now fell asleep in less than five seconds.
Her little face was flushed, burning with fever.