Chapter 82: The Center of the Fish Pond (17)
In the familiar dance studio…
Su Mingxiu bid farewell to her previous teammates and joined her new group. Calling them “new” wasn’t quite accurate, since everyone present was very familiar to her.
Suhui sat down on the floor beside her, Pao Tong naturally took the other side, and Annie, glancing at Wang Zhi, had a brilliant idea. “How about we sit in a circle? It’ll be easier to discuss.”
Saying this, she sat down directly across from Su Mingxiu.
Wang Zhi and the other members, after exchanging glances, formed a small circle around them. Despite the spacious dance studio, they only occupied a small corner. The warmth of their bodies so close together made Su Mingxiu feel like the air around her had become warmer.
She shifted back slightly. “Hmm… should we spread out a bit? We don’t have to sit so close.”
Pao Tong and Suhui followed her, so Annie and Wang Zhi across from them had no choice but to move back as well. But with such a small distance between them, the difference was negligible.
The black-haired woman leaned towards Suhui, creating a gap of half an arm’s length between her and Pao Tong.
Pao Tong, sensing her moving away, her eyes dimming for a moment, was noticed by Annie, who quickly clapped her hands. “Let’s discuss the style of our song and dance first. What kind of style do you all like?”
Knowing her friend’s intention, Pao Tong spoke first: “Although I’m better at ballads, I also want to try something new. So, maybe a more energetic, audience-friendly style?”
Suhui hadn’t intended to be inflexible, but hearing Pao Tong’s suggestion, she instinctively countered: “This format relies heavily on individual skills. There are no restrictions on our choices, so everyone’s performance might be inconsistent. In this case, I think it’s better to play it safe and choose something we’re good at.”
Annie frowned at her. “But what I’m good at is different from what you’re good at… You and Tongtong are both good at ballads, while I specialize in powerful dance moves. And Wang Zhi’s dance style is more sensual. If we all choose what we’re good at, we won’t be able to work together.”
Wang Zhi instinctively wanted to mediate, but she couldn’t think of anything to say, so she looked at Su Mingxiu, who had the ability to control the situation.
“Uh…” Su Mingxiu thought, She knew this would happen.
Resting her chin on her hand, she made a suggestion: “How about a blind vote? Let’s discuss the general direction first, like whether we want to focus on vocals, dance, or rap, then we vote on each aspect, minority obeys the majority?”
Su Mingxiu’s suggestion was adopted, so they asked the program team for a blank notebook. The following time was spent proposing ideas, voting, proposing ideas, voting. First, they decided on a dance-focused performance, then on a lyrical and sensual style—
“Next is the lyrics and composition.”
Saying this, she paused for a moment. Su Mingxiu realized that the two people in charge of this were Pao Tong and Suhui.
This combination, both in terms of members and the vibe they gave off, was terrifying.
She was silent for a few seconds, then asked Wang Zhi and the other members beside her: “Are any of you good at lyrics or composition? You can join them.”
Wang Zhi looked at the person beside her. The member, encouraged by her gaze, said tentatively: “Then… I can try?”
“Sure,” Suhui said without hesitation.
Pao Tong also smiled. “Welcome to join us.”
They both stood up and prepared to go to the composition room provided by the program team. Su Mingxiu originally wanted to discuss the upcoming MV filming with Annie, but within half an hour, everyone in the dance studio had been pulled away.
Finally, Wang Zhi walked over to her helplessly: “Shouldn’t you… go and mediate?”
Su Mingxiu: “?”
Although she had anticipated disagreements, she hadn’t expected it to happen so quickly.
Did they clash as soon as they left the room?
When Su Mingxiu and her live stream camera arrived, the two people in the composition room were staring at each other. Pao Tong’s eyes were slightly red as she said: “What I meant was, if you don’t know how to use the piano, we can—”
“Who says I don’t know how?” Suhui looked at her calmly. “Just find someone to teach me, and I’ll learn.”
Pao Tong: “…”
But composition wasn’t just about playing the piano. There was also recording, adjusting equipment, and so on. She had known that Suhui wasn’t conventional, but she hadn’t expected her so-called composition skills to be self-taught!
Suhui composed by humming the melody and having others transcribe it. What kind of composition method was that?
Su Mingxiu looked at Suhui with a blank expression, already guessing the problem. Feeling Su Mingxiu’s gaze, Suhui subconsciously retorted to Pao Tong: “Didn’t you also say you could write lyrics?”
“Those two lines are too cliché, why don’t you let everyone see them?”
“Suhui.”
Su Mingxiu called her name directly, her expression slightly cold. She even reached out and pushed away the approaching live stream camera.
No one saw how she did it, but the equipment wasn’t damaged. It was simply pushed to the farthest corner of the room. Even the staff member controlling the camera didn’t react in time.
Pao Tong, hearing Suhui’s words, crumpled the paper in her hand even tighter.
Sensing the disapproval in Su Mingxiu’s tone, Suhui felt a bit unhappy. But she felt she wasn’t wrong, so she insisted: “This is a competition with so many participants, but she’s writing about her own feelings, using the lyrics as a… confession to you.”
Before she could finish, Su Mingxiu covered her mouth.
The live stream viewers didn’t hear everything clearly, but it was enough to shock them.
[As expected, no one can maintain a perfect persona under 24/7 surveillance. Suhui’s EQ… isn’t suitable for a girl group, right?]
[Seriously, if someone criticized my work like that, especially in public, I would definitely flip out and quit on the spot.]
[But Suhui has always been straightforward? And judging from Pao Tong’s reaction, is there something wrong with the lyrics she wrote? I prefer people who are direct, crying and playing the victim card for sympathy is a bit too much.]
[Lol, Su Mingxiu, who’s flirting with everyone, isn’t being criticized, but Pao Tong, who’s just being a bit sensitive, is being called a “tea” (pretentious). You fans are applying double standards?]
[Su Mingxiu flirting with everyone? Please watch the previous episodes carefully, she treats Suhui differently, the others are basically the same to her, how is that flirting? CP fans are angry!]
…
The comments section was even more chaotic than the show itself.
Su Mingxiu didn’t let Suhui finish her sentence. She pulled her out of the room. “I’ll talk to her, Annie, you go and comfort Pao Tong.”
Annie gave her an “OK” sign, motioning for everyone to leave and give them some space. Even the cameras were driven out.
Pulling Pao Tong to sit beside her on the piano bench, Annie wrapped her arm around Pao Tong’s shoulder, her head resting on Pao Tong’s. She lowered her voice and said soothingly: “What’s wrong with you lately?”
“Didn’t we agree to work hard together and debut? What happened? It feels like your focus is elsewhere.”
Through the transparent glass of the composition room, Pao Tong could see the camera still hovering outside. She lowered her head even further, sniffed, and said to her friend: “I…”
“Nini, shouldn’t I… like her…?”
She almost swallowed the last few words, but Annie instantly understood what she meant. The usually cool and collected girl became incredibly gentle when comforting her friend.
“You mean Xiuxiu?”
“Her personality is really attractive, there’s nothing wrong with liking someone, don’t say that.”
“But she and Suhui…”
At the same time…
In the bathroom, farthest from the door, Suhui looked at the ocean outside the window, as if recalling her time in the sea.
Back then, whenever she thought about humans, it was always related to egg-laying. She didn’t understand the hidden rules of human society, nor did she understand why, besides absolute strength, they cared about so many other things…
Oh, right, that word was “persona.”
Thinking of this, she turned to look at Su Mingxiu, who had followed her. “Are you going to scold me? Because I argued with her in front of the camera?”
Her manager at Neptune Entertainment had reminded her that such behavior was inappropriate.
“No.”
Su Mingxiu, thinking about this fish’s personality, felt a headache. But she couldn’t be a conventional authority figure, forcing a child to follow social rules just because they were straightforward.
She herself was a rule-breaker. Otherwise, she would have followed the system’s instructions, flirted with everyone, waited for their goodwill ratings to reach 100, then moved on to the next world.
Instead, she had been carefully avoiding… any unnecessary contact with anyone other than Suhui, preventing them from developing any unwanted feelings for her.
After a moment of thought, she said: “Humans are easily embarrassed. Sometimes, they don’t want others to know who they like. It’s a private matter. It’s impolite to expose it without their permission—”
After a pause, Su Mingxiu added: “I won’t scold you for arguing with her, I’ll only explain how others might perceive it. Whether you want to listen or respect their feelings is up to you.”
Suhui’s blue eyes looked at her, as vast and deep as the sunlit ocean outside the window.
After a while…
Su Mingxiu heard her ask: “So you knew she liked you all along?”
Then, this fish, who didn’t understand subtlety, asked: “What about you? Do you like her?”
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