CHAPTER 42: CHAPTER 38: GOT CARELESS, COMMERCIAL PERFORMANCES ARE REALLY TIRING

The two of them rushed off towards the venue for the commercial performance.

"What kind of event is this commercial performance?"

On their way there, Chu Tian asked curiously.

In his previous life, he had attended countless commercial performances, but most were prepared in advance. Haste like today was quite rare.

The problem was, everything was too rushed. Xu Qingqiu didn’t even bring a makeup artist, and her assistant was someone she grabbed along the way—him. What kind of commercial performance is this?

"It’s a medley concert; I just need to sing one song."

"A concert? And you’re wearing that?"

Even if it was a medley concert, surely one couldn’t perform in a white T-shirt, jeans, and sneakers?

"There are clothes in the back; I can change into them when we get there."

Xu Qingqiu seemed quite natural as she pointed to the trunk of the car. Looks like she came prepared, huh?

As if she knew what he was thinking, Xu Qingqiu said with a smile, "I usually keep a set of clothes in the car. In the past, the company arranged so many performances that I often didn’t have time to go back and change, so I put them in the car just in case."

As she said this, her smile was somewhat bitter.

Goodness, to what extent was she being pushed? Needing to have performance clothes prepared in the car... not even performers rushing between gigs were this busy, right? In my previous life, no matter how busy, I always had time to catch my breath during makeup, costume fittings, or on-site preparations. Changing clothes in the car wasn’t unheard of, but mostly it was done at the venue because of special requirements. I had never encountered such non-stop commercial performance hopping before. In other words, right after one finishes, it’s straight to another place, and not just on special occasions, but as a regular thing. No wonder they say it’s exploitative. Isn’t this exploitation?

"What about the makeup artist? Don’t you need to do makeup?"

At the commercial performance venue, some places have makeup artists, but it’s not guaranteed. If there isn’t one, wouldn’t that be a disaster?

"It’s just me. Do you think my makeup doesn’t look good?"

Xu Qingqiu playfully pointed to herself, looking quite proud.

Chu Tian didn’t know what to say.

You’re a Queen, for goodness’ sake! Don’t you even have a personal makeup artist? You have to do it yourself? Let’s not even mention assistants. She doesn’t have a business assistant, so she has to contact the commercial performance organizers herself. She doesn’t have an agent assistant; everything depends on Sister Hua. She did have a personal assistant, Zhou Yiyi, and, of course, me—an unofficial one who doesn’t do much.

Looking at the girl driving beside him, Chu Tian felt an inexplicable pang of heartache for her.

However, he didn’t say much, his mind filled with thoughts.

「In the blink of an eye, they arrived at the commercial performance venue, where someone had already been waiting for them.」

"Are you Teacher Xu? We need to hurry. The show has already started inside."

"Okay, I can be quick. I just need to go inside, do some makeup and change clothes."

"Alright, I’ll take you to the makeup room."

The group hurriedly walked in, with Chu Tian closely following behind.

But his appearance stood out too much. He was over 1.8 meters tall with long legs, and the sunglasses he habitually wore had somehow found their way onto his face again.

His hands in his pockets, striding along—he looked so cool that it made the surrounding staff turn their heads repeatedly.

"Who is this?"

"Oh, he’s my assistant."

The coordinator finally couldn’t help asking. Xu Qingqiu looked back in surprise just in time to see Chu Tian following behind her—his stubbled chin right in her field of vision, causing her heart to skip a beat. Then she quickly turned back and explained in a hurry.

"Oh, your assistant is really handsome."

The young female coordinator brightened up when she heard he was an assistant, but her eyes quickly became a bit complicated.

Xu Qingqiu didn’t care about that much. The scene she had glanced back at earlier was still echoing in her mind, and her heart was far from calm.

「...」

"Hello, you’re Teacher Xu’s assistant, right? Please have her look at this form. It’s just the schedule; make absolutely sure not to get it wrong."

"Teacher Xu needs to be reminded of this beforehand. She must not make a mistake when the time comes."

"Remember to tell Teacher Xu to go on stage from this exit and then come down from the other side."

"Handsome assistant, did you remember everything I said before? Pass this information to Teacher Xu as well; she will need it later."

"Handsome guy, sorry to trouble you again, but could you fetch Teacher Xu? We need to test the equipment here."

Was there really this much to do, or was this coordinator doing it on purpose?

In any case, ever since he arrived, Chu Tian hadn’t had a moment’s rest.

Xu Qingqiu was getting her makeup done, and Chu Tian, standing outside, had become a mascot. He didn’t know who had spread the word that he was the assistant, but several people had come to assign him tasks.

If it were anything else, I might have refused, but these were all relevant to Xu Qingqiu. As her assistant, I can only remember each one and relay them to her. I absolutely can’t get them wrong. In my previous life, it was always others who told me these things. I never realized being an assistant involved so much work. The coordination tasks alone were a huge pile, and this was just a medley concert. What if it were a solo concert or a major event? Wouldn’t I be run ragged? I never thought just helping out temporarily would be so tiring. I’ve run back and forth dozens of times already; my legs feel like they’ve been run thin. I was careless. Who would have thought a simple commercial performance could be this draining?

Finally, Xu Qingqiu was done with her makeup, and he began relaying the details to her one by one. Before he was even halfway through, his voice started failing him again.

Frightened, Xu Qingqiu hastily told him to stop talking and took out a cutesy little piggy thermos from her bag.

"Drink this quickly. It’s loquat syrup I brewed; it’s good for your throat."

Chu Tian looked at the pig-head lid speechlessly, his face a mixture of conflict.

How am I supposed to drink from this?

"Drink up! Hurry, and don’t talk after you finish. I shouldn’t have brought you today. Your throat had just started to get better, and now you’ve been talking so much. If today, because of this, you again..."

At this point, she was nearly in tears.

It had been such a struggle to see Chu Tian getting a bit better. Just as hope began to rise in my heart, my impromptu decision has led to him losing his voice again. This is the second time. The first time, I caused his throat to give out, and now it’s happened again.

At this moment, she felt incredibly guilty and was on the verge of crying.

Wait, why is she crying?

Chu Tian was bewildered.

Is it just because I found the cup a bit too cutesy? I didn’t say I wouldn’t drink from it. Why is she about to cry?

Frightened, he hurriedly grabbed the cup and gulped down the syrup, all the while lifting his eyes to Xu Qingqiu and incessantly gesturing towards the thermos, as if to say, "Look, I’m drinking!"

Xu Qingqiu, who was about to cry, couldn’t help but laugh out loud at this sight.

Chu Tian’s actions were just too funny.

After laughing, she gave Chu Tian a resentful tap. She had been terrified only moments before, fearing that because of her, his throat had worsened again.

If the hope I’d just begun to feel vanished again, and Chu Tian reverted to his previous state, wouldn’t all the effort of the past year be in vain? But seeing Chu Tian acting this way now, it seems he’s alright. At least his attitude is different; he can still make me laugh.

She finally eased her worries.

"Drink more. I won’t let you talk too much from now on. You also need to watch it, talk less."

Chu Tian quickly nodded, showing he understood.

"Teacher Xu?! It’s time to get ready to go on stage!"