Everyone Spends Money to Make Me Debut as Center (GL) - Chapter 19
“Aren’t you going back to the dorm yet?”
Chi Ling gave her a sideways glance. She had actually noticed when Bai Chang arrived but didn’t want to stop. Who knew the woman would just stand there and watch? She finally stopped to catch her breath. “I haven’t practiced enough.”
“It’s only the first day. You’re already good enough,” Bai Chang said. “You have seven days to practice.”
Earlier, after class, Wei Jie had a chat with Bai Chang, telling her how envious she was that Bai Chang had signed a completely transformed Chi Ling. If she could afford it, she would have poached her to be a coach at her own dance studio.
Bai Chang had known Wei Jie for so many years that she knew how much of a compliment that was from a dancer. And as the boss, she was incredibly proud that her own trainee was being praised.
It was something she had never thought about before: feeling proud of Chi Ling.
But now, it seemed the recipient of that praise wasn’t entirely satisfied with herself.
“For me, there is no ‘good enough,’ only ‘better.’ If I have seven days, I’ll practice for all seven days. Who would ever complain about being too good?”
Bai Chang was silent, not because she couldn’t refute Chi Ling, but because she noticed the horrifying bruises on Chi Ling’s knees. The purple-and-blue marks had some red spots in them and were especially prominent on her fair, slender legs.
The choreography for the theme song’s chorus had a move where they had to land on both knees. Chi Ling had practiced it over and over again to perfect the move.
The fact that Chi Ling could still walk without a limp after spending a day practicing on her knees was already a marvel to Bai Chang.
Her brow furrowed slightly, and Bai Chang’s voice dropped unconsciously, taking on a sense of pressure. “Stop.”
Chi Ling had no choice but to turn off the music. “What is it?”
Bai Chang walked toward her quickly with a cold expression.
Chi Ling instinctively took half a step back. She can’t be here to warn me about Wei Xike, can she?
“Are you here to talk about Wei Xike? You don’t have to come any closer; just talk from there,” Chi Ling said, holding up her arm between them. “I admit that I was wrong to eavesdrop on your conversation, but it wasn’t intentional. If you want to hear my explanation, I can give you one, or you can ask the VJ who was with me that day for the footage.”
And if they were really going to get into it, she was the one who was the victim of gossip, wasn’t she?
“Shut up,” Bai Chang said in a low voice, then grabbed Chi Ling’s wrist, which was so thin she could hold it with one hand, and pulled her toward a stool.
“Wait, what are you doing?” Chi Ling was inexplicably pushed onto a stool. She struggled to look up at Bai Chang and was startled by the dark, bottomless look in her eyes.
Seriously.
She had already apologized. She couldn’t possibly be planning to beat her up out of frustration, could she?
“Don’t you know you’re hurt?”
Chi Ling looked down and only then noticed the bruises on her knees.
The main reason for this was the original owner’s delicate constitution. She had been careful to pull back her strength every time she did the move to avoid hurting her knees, but her body was too sensitive. Any slight touch would cause a huge red mark. So, while her legs looked horrible now, they didn’t hurt much.
“Sit still,” Bai Chang said, giving her a warning glance. She then took out her phone. “Yuanyuan, go to a nearby pharmacy and get some medicine for bruises.”
“Did someone fall? Not you, right, boss!”
“Not me. It’s…” Bai Chang started, then her eyes landed on Chi Ling’s innocent expression. She turned away and sent the message in text instead.
Bai Yuanyuan was fast. She ran up in less than ten minutes.
Bai Chang looked at the bag in her hand. “What did you buy?”
Bai Yuanyuan replied, “Safflower oil. The doctor said this is enough for bruises, so there’s no need to waste money.”
Bai Chang gave her a polite smile. Do I look like the kind of person who needs to save money on medicine?
Bai Yuanyuan sensed the danger in that smile. “Boss, I’m sorry…”
Chi Ling rubbed her forehead in a headache. “Do you have any common sense? Why would you make your assistant run out for this? Normal people don’t even need safflower oil for bruises, okay? You can just cover it with concealer when you’re on stage.”
“Are you going to lecture me on common sense now?” Bai Chang said, opening the bottle of strong-smelling safflower oil. She poured some into her palm and rubbed it to warm it up. Then, she crouched in front of Chi Ling and gently massaged her knees with her warm hands.
“What are you doing!” Chi Ling was a person who was even awkward with hugs. She couldn’t stand someone suddenly rubbing her knees. She was so startled that she almost jumped off the stool. “Let go of me!”
Bai Chang caught her ankle and pulled her back, her brows tightly furrowed. Her tone became stern.
“You’ve hurt your knees before, and you’re still not being careful. Didn’t Tang Yu prepare knee pads for you?”
“Knee pads…” Tang Yu did seem to have given her a bag of things, but Chi Ling had never opened it. “I didn’t get a chance to bring them out. They’re in the dorm.”
The main thing was that she thought knee pads would affect her flexibility.
Bai Chang patiently rubbed her knees with her palm. Her technique was practiced; she must have done this many times before. Chi Ling looked down at her serious expression and felt a little uneasy. “Just give me the medicine. I can do it myself when I get back.”
“Wanwan said you got back to the dorm at three in the morning yesterday. If you wait until you get back, are you ever going to sleep?”
“Why would she snitch on me…” Chi Ling muttered.
After massaging her knees, Bai Chang leaned down and blew on the red, swollen area, asking softly, “Does it still hurt?”
The cool breeze made Chi Ling flinch slightly. Her eyelashes fluttered, and she felt a strange flutter in her heart. At this point, was this woman still pretending to be gentle and caring? Did she think she could still hook her in with a finger, just like the original owner?
“What’s there to hurt? It didn’t hurt in the first place. I told you not to, but you still put this stinky medicine on my leg.” Chi Ling stood up and moved her legs around a bit, rubbing the skin on her knees with her index finger. “Can I wash this smell off with shower gel?”
She didn’t want to smell like safflower oil every day in the practice room.
Bai Yuanyuan was just happily admiring a scene straight out of a K-drama, but in the next second, Chi Ling’s response, which was even more unromantic than a man’s, shattered her girlish heart.
She’s asking if the smell will wash off? That’s the smell of the flame of love burning between you two, don’t you smell it?!
Bai Yuanyuan was so frustrated.
Bai Chang stood up with a cold expression. “You can try to wash it off.”
Chi Ling said, “Okay.”
Bai Yuanyuan: “Okay? Okay! Okay???”
Sister Chi Ling, snap out of it!
••••
The next morning, right after dinner, Chi Ling was called over by Xi Yaozhi.
“Is it for a solo interview? Am I the first?”
“No,” Xi Yaozhi said, taking out her phone and making a call before handing it to Chi Ling. “Sister Tang Yu wants to talk to you.”
“Huh?” Chi Ling took the phone, confused. “Hello, Sister Tang Yu?”
“Miss Chi! Have you not opened the bag I gave you?!” Before making this call, Chi Ling never would have thought that a calm person like Tang Yu could have such a loud voice. She moved the phone away from her ear, and after the person on the other end finished yelling, she brought it back and pretended to be serious. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I opened it. I saw the knee pads.”
“You did not! What else was in there besides the knee pads?”
“I…” Chi Ling drooped her shoulders and gave in. “Sister Tang Yu, don’t be angry. I just forgot. I’ll open it tonight when I get back.”
“Don’t you dare lie to me. I’m your agent. If anything happens to you in there, it’s my responsibility. Can you make me worry a little less?”
“Okay, I promise I won’t lie.”
After getting her promise, Tang Yu’s voice finally softened a little. “Don’t push yourself too hard. Even if you get eliminated, I can still make you famous with my bare hands.”
Chi Ling smiled, not for any other reason than the fact that it had been a long time since she felt like someone cared about her. “Sister Tang Yu, you don’t have much faith in me.”
“…Don’t try to get sympathy from me.”
“I’m hanging up now. I still have to practice.”
Tang Yu: “…”
Author’s Note:
Tang Yu: Why are you so cold to me too?
Chi Ling: Business is business.