Chapter 11
Chapter 11
Jiang Xuxu soon understood why Qiu Yan said what she said,
She glanced at Qi Wu and burst out laughing.
“Hahahaha!”
Qi Wu looked at her and tilted her head in confusion.
Jiang Xuxu smiled back and shook her head. “Come on, sweetie. Let’s go find our rooms.”
Qiu Yan had assumed Qi Wu was going to be her crutch in the show. Well, it was fine. Jiang Xuxu did not mind being associated with her silly little angel.
Qi Wu glanced at Qiu Yan’s retreating back and softly commented, “That person hates you a lot.”
To her surprise, Jiang Xuxu merely made a heart gesture with her hands and happily exclaimed, “Are you worried about me, sweetie?”
Qi Wu stared at her in silence.
Confusion flashed in her eyes.
She did not understand why Jiang Xuxu was so happy.
*
The production team was very generous, booking out the entire area to serve as the contestants’ living quarters. There were four rows of villas with each villa accommodating four to six contestants.
Throughout the walk over to the name list, Jiang Xuxu prayed fervently that she would be able to live with her silly little angel.
Her praying ended abruptly when she saw Qi Wu’s name appear next to Tong Luo’s on the list.
Her eyes had eyes like saucers.
“You’re roommates with Tong Luo!”
Tong Luo arrived at the villa as soon as she said that.
Tong Luo glanced at her name on the door before looking at Qi Wu. The gloomy and hostile look in her eyes intensified.
Then, she coldly brushed past the two women to enter the villa.
As Jiang Xuxu rubbed her arms, she commented, “Something about Tong Luo feels strangely off to me. Don’t you think so, sweetie?”
“She dislikes me.”
That was Qi Wu’s response.
Jiang Xuxu was at a loss for words. “No way. We haven’t even chosen which category we’ll be in yet. Have we already started competing against each other?”
She started worrying. “What do we do? Can the two of you still live in the same room in peace?”
In her mind, Qi Wu was an angel who did not care to fight for what she wanted. Did that mean Qi Wu would be bullied if she had to share a room with someone who was very ambitious?
Qi Wu did not say a word and merely looked at Jiang Xuxu before saying, “Do you need me to go with you to look for your room?”
Jiang Xuxu hurriedly waved her hands. “It’s fine. There’s no need. You should check in on your new roommate. Tell me if she bullies you!”
Qi Wu did not agree to the request and simply said, “Goodbye.”
Jiang Xuxu watched with the worried eyes of a mother hen as Qi Wu walked into the villa.
The villa Qi Wu was assigned to would be home to four contestants. Hence, she and Tong Luo would be sharing with two other contestants.
The other two contestants were nowhere to be found when Qi Wu walked in, so she headed straight for the door with her name on it.
Tong Luo was already inside the room when Qi Wu opened the door and only spared Qi Wu a glance before turning her attention back to her task.
“Hello,” Qi Wu softly greeted before sitting down on the only empty bed in the room.
She had not packed a lot for the contest as even the bag she carried with her was bought for her by Jin Si at the last minute. In total, she had only packed two spare changes of clothes and her jar of lemon drops.
Silence fell in the room.
A few long moments later, Tong Luo hoarsely asked, “Which category will you choose?”
Qi Wu calmly gazed into Tong Luo’s nervous and hostile eyes.
“The Actor category.”
Tong Luo bit her lips when she heard that.
“I’ll admit that you’re beautiful enough that a lot of people will be drawn to you, but acting requires more than just looks. It seems we will be competitors from now on.”
Her words were filled with aggression and hostility. It was as though she could not even be bothered to pretend to be polite after hearing Qi Wu’s answer.
“Thanks.”
Qi Wu was not at all provoked by what Tong Luo said.
She had always been a talented young girl. Even when she was undergoing the selection to be priestess, no one had dared to openly admit they were all opponents.
Tong Luo was rendered speechless by that answer.
Lost in her thoughts, she furrowed her brows for a long time before she eventually muttered, “Weirdo.”
The two of them did not speak again after that.
That was until Tong Luo stood up to head toward the closet.
The cabinet was decorated with some of the merchandise from the sponsors of “Rookie Assembly”. The most eye-catching of them all was the heavy gold-plated statue with the words “L&P” etched into it.
The statue was of a running man whose muscles were so strong that they allowed him to fly.
Tong Luo’s hiss echoed through the room.
Tong Luo had accidentally stubbed her toe against the edge of the closet. The pain was so bad that she immediately placed a hand on the cabinet so that she could check if her toe was swollen red.
That was why she did not notice that the statue was swaying dangerously on the edge of the cabinet above her.
The soft sounds of the statue wobbling around made Tong Luo look up to find the statue about to hit her in the face at the very next second. Her pupils shrank in fear.
It was so close to her that she could not have reacted in time. Just as despair rose in her, she heard a calm voice say into her ear, “Be careful.”
Bang!
Tong Luo’s legs turned to jelly as she instantly fell backward on the ground.
She gazed up at Qi Wu’s calm face with fearful eyes as Qi Wu held up the statue that was going to crash straight onto Tong Luo’s head.
“You…! That statue is really heavy!”
She could not help but shout in shock.
Meanwhile, they also heard the production team’s voices through their headsets as the crew cried out in fear and worry.
“Tong Luo, are you two all right? We’ll send someone over right away!”
There was no change in Qi Wu’s expression as she placed the statue on a nearby table before standing up on her tiptoes to look at the top of the cabinet.
“The statue was not properly secured.”
Tong Luo remained silent.
She did not know what to say at all.
From the moment she made her debut, she had reached the top of the industry. Before she could even properly enjoy life under the bright spotlights, life dragged her down to the very bottom as if it were all a prank.
No one could have known just how much she had to endure over the last eight years just to get this chance.
This was her only chance to turn the tables on her life. That was why she would do anything she could to last until the end of the competition.
After taking a brief moment to calm herself down and waiting for the crew to arrive, Tong Luo stood up.
“Thank you for saving me, but I won’t let you win either.”
Tong Luo knew that it was extremely unfriendly of her to say that at this time, but the cruel life she had to endure for the last eight years forced her to lose all sentiment and be practical.
To her surprise, despite how hostile she sounded, Qi Wu politely nodded in response.
“Okay,” Qi Wu said.
She sounded so calm and gentle that it made Tong Luo uneasy.
Tong Luo would much rather Qi Wu get angry.
When the production crew arrived, their disbelief was clear in their voices.
“You caught the statue with one hand?”
Even the most muscular man in their prop department needed two hands to securely carry the statue.
However, they had just watched Qi Wu casually catch the statue through the cameras.
Qi Wu nodded. With a calm and unaffected look on her face, she replied, “I’m strong.”
The two crew members looked at each other.
Based on how thin and frail Qi Wu looked, “strong” was not a descriptor anyone would have used for her.
Even Qu Man, who had been following behind the two crew members, could not stand their disbelief. She rolled her eyes and barked out, “Go secure the statue already! Then, check everything else once more. I do not want to see this happening again.”
The two crew members hurriedly nodded and went to work.
Qu Man glanced at Tong Luo with calm eyes and asked in a professional tone of voice, “Are you suffering from shock?”
Tong Luo shook her head. “No.”
Even if she were in shock, she knew there was no point admitting it. Song Qi would happily watch his contestants suffer as long as nothing major happened.
As expected, Qu Man did not question her any further.