CHAPTER 45: CHAPTER 45: I CONFESS, I’VE BEEN TAINTED

After Xie Qingci and the others went down, they watched two more groups, and it was time for an intermission.

The stage screen started playing behind-the-scenes footage again.

Yu Xia got up to go to the restroom and ran into Song Xi on her way out.

He was leaning against a corner, frowning, with his eyes closed, looking very uncomfortable.

"Song Xi? What’s wrong?" she asked as she walked over.

Song Xi immediately opened his eyes and stood up straight. Seeing it was her, he shook his head and said, "Yu Xia, I’m fine."

If he says he’s fine, then he’s fine. She wasn’t one to meddle in other people’s business.

Nodding at him, she said plainly, "Well then, hurry back."

Then she turned and walked back.

However, after taking only a few steps, she heard the sound of fabric rustling and slight retching noises behind her.

Yu Xia slowed her pace, stopped, and looked back.

Song Xi was already squatting against the wall, with his fist against his mouth, his face a bit flushed.

She quickly frowned, then walked back to him in her high heels.

"What’s going on? Are you feeling unwell?"

Song Xi looked up with a slightly pale smile, pushing up the gold-rimmed glasses that had slipped down his nose.

His hands were quite nice-looking.

Yu Xia glanced at him and heard him say, "Well, I’m a bit uncomfortable. Maybe I danced too intensely earlier, and now my stomach feels upset."

"Stomach discomfort; did you skip breakfast or eat too late? You young ones rely on your youth and don’t eat properly."

She was just saying a couple of casual remarks, things she was used to hearing at home, without any other intentions.

After speaking, she hesitated for two seconds and then asked, "Can you bear it? If not, I can take you to the doctor now."

"No need," he replied seemingly relaxed, "I’m used to it, and it’s not a big deal. Is the time almost up?"

Yu Xia checked her phone, "Almost. Can you stand up? Let’s go back."

"I can."

He slowly stood up with the support of the wall, but maybe his posture was wrong and he almost stumbled while getting up, so Yu Xia instinctively reached out to support him.

Standing up, she realized he was quite tall, probably about six feet, almost completely blocking her view.

"Are you alright? You can’t even stand steadily," she asked with concern, frowning, worried he might fall, so she didn’t immediately withdraw her hand.

Song Xi stood upright properly without letting her support him any longer and shook his head, "It’s okay, it’s okay, let’s go back. Yu Xia, you go ahead, I’ll slowly return backstage."

She looked at him a couple of times more, nodded, and left.

She wondered in her heart whether to report this to He Ci, clarifying that she was just helping, not intentionally getting close to this young man.

Given this was outside the restroom, hopefully no one was insane enough to take photos out of context.

Her charm was too great, sigh. Even friendly gestures were risky.

As she thought about this, turning the corner and moving along the hallway, she spotted Xie Qingci standing there, quietly watching them.

Yu Xia stopped abruptly and instinctively glanced back at Song Xi, then felt ridiculous for acting guilty.

So she coughed, assumed the role of a mentor, and said, "Xie Qingci, going to the restroom? The break’s almost over; hurry up."

She then calmly walked past him.

Xie Qingci stayed silent, didn’t even turn to look at her, just quietly lifted his eyelids to continue watching Song Xi approach.

Song Xi seemed unaware of anything odd, and told him, "Better hurry, I’ll let them know you’re here."

Xie Qingci said nothing, just stared at him, then let out an ambiguous chuckle through his nose.

Leaning against the wall, he turned and walked back the way Yu Xia had come.

Song Xi took a couple more steps, standing where Xie Qingci had been, looking back —

Exactly where he could see the corner where he had talked with Yu Xia, but it was across the hallway, so one couldn’t hear what was said.

Pressing his stomach, questioning something he always wondered about, he pushed his glasses up again, a refined smile playing on his lips.

...

Yu Xia didn’t want to know what happened next, she clipped away fast in her high heels like she had roller skates, quickly returning to the broadcast room.

There were two minutes left, and she sat in the mentor’s seat, secretly sending He Ci a message.

[He, I need to confess something to you.]

He Ci quickly replied, [You’re playing on your phone during the show... Have you lost control and started going after young ones? Are you a beast, Yu Xia?! Break it off now!]

Feeling speechless, Yu Xia sent two more messages.

[... Can you not jump to conclusions? I just wanted to say, I let my helpful nature get the better of me and supported that young Song Xi outside the restroom.]

[I feel sullied; the words ’pure’ etched on my trachea make this seem terrible, so I’m giving you a heads-up.]

This time He Ci’s message came right before the stage restarted, either because he was too speechless to say anything or took time to think of how to scold her.

But what he sent was just a short message.

[I’ll apply for some psychiatric assistance funds for you, we’re not short on money.]

"....." Insult, plain insult!

Not wanting to see it, she silenced her phone and placed it on the table face down.

The stage resumed.

The first team to perform in the second half was Ning Yunchao and Wei Yaoyao’s group.

Their team name was "Temptation of Returning Home’s Short-haired Wives".

As soon as the name was read out, many people shivered.

Ning Yunchao couldn’t bring himself to speak first, so when it’s this cringeworthy, Wei Yaoyao had to step up.

"Hello mentors, hello audience friends, we’re the ’Temptation of Returning Home’s Short-haired Wives’! I’m contestant number one, Wei Yaoyao, Lin Pinru from the Henan branch!"

"Hey, isn’t that something wrong?"

Shu Ran jokingly asked, "Shouldn’t the introduction be short-haired wife number one, short-haired wife number two?"

Yu Xia played along, mischievously, "Or you could use something similar in meaning, Temptation of Returning Home’s Short-haired Noble Consort Wei, Noble Consort Ning?"

Wei Yaoyao dryly chuckled, patting her curly hair.

"Isn’t that inappropriate?"

Yu Xia cheerfully laughed, "I think it’s quite fitting, it matches your team name and today’s vibe perfectly."

The song they chose was a youthful, sweet tune filled with pink bubbles, and their outfits were more of a cute, academic style.

It made the two eighteen-year-olds, Ning Yunchao and Wei Yaoyao, even more adorable, especially when Ning Yunchao smiled with his dimples.

Looking at it just made people happy.

The big screen in the broadcast room was showing the two female mentors teasing Wei Yaoyao; Song Xi and the others, who had already performed, led the uproarious laughter.

Xie Qingci sat serenely in the last row, with a calm expression, lost in thought.

Two rows over, Pei Lu deliberately turned to talk to him, but with the surrounding noise and Pei Lu not speaking loudly, he didn’t notice and didn’t respond.

Pei Lu said something else, seemed a bit embarrassed, turned back, and didn’t speak again.