Xu Yi sat up straight and patted the little head. "Don't worry. I'm fine."
"Really?"
"Of course, when have I ever lied to you?"
Xiao Xiao thought about it carefully for a while, but she couldn't recall it.
Xu Yi roused herself, as if telling a short story, or perhaps to herself, "I can't be discouraged by a temporary setback. What I'm doing now is far from what Miss Gu did for me back then."
"I need to pull myself together and make Miss Gu fall in love with me." Xu Yi calmed down and thought of the dating steps He Xiaojing had told her before she came.
She was abrupt this morning; she shouldn't have revealed Xiaoxiao so early. She and Miss Gu haven't even established a normal friendship yet. Telling Miss Gu directly that they have a child together is incomprehensible to Miss Gu.
Xu Yi quickly adjusted her mindset, and her renewed spirits inspired Xiao Xiao.
Xiao Xiao nestled in her arms and laughed, but after laughing, she worried that her presence had been discovered.
"Will Xiao Gu's mother report me to the production team?" Xiao Xiao was still wearing an invisibility talisman, which Xu Yi had strung together with a rope and hung around her neck. It was quite pretty, and Xiao Xiao hadn't been willing to take it off.
Xu Yi hesitated for a moment before answering her, "Miss Gu is not that kind of person."
After saying that, she touched her little head and thought for a moment before saying, "If you are discovered, I will send you back to Cangshan. The formation left by Master can connect to the secret realm and can send you back to before the world changed. Don't be afraid."
"I'm not afraid!"
Just as Xiaoxiao finished speaking, the door was opened.
Zhang Ya stood at the door, and Xiao Xiao and Xu Yi looked at Zhang Ya together, while Zhang Ya also looked at Xu Yi with surprise.
Zhang Ya: "What are you dawdling in your room for? The announcement has been made three times already."
"Can't you see it?" Xu Yi asked her directly.
Zhang Ya blinked, even more puzzled than Xu Yi, and asked, "What are you looking at?"
Xu Yi pointed to Xiao Xiao on the sofa and deliberately told the truth: "This is my child with Teacher Gu."
"..." Zhang Ya was amused by her. "Did you go crazy after sleeping all night? Don't joke with me, hurry up and get out of here. Today's activities have changed. In the morning, we will take photos and check in at the base as originally planned. We will rest at noon. In the afternoon, the program team has arranged for a psychologist to come and provide psychological counseling for all the trainees."
Zhang Ya came in and grabbed Xu Yi's hand, but Xu Yi interrupted her, "Wait a minute, I haven't washed up yet."
Zhang Ya realized she was still wearing her pajamas and smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I was in such a hurry. Hurry up and get ready. There are only two instructors leading the group today, and if you're late, you'll have to wait in line for a long time."
"Okay. Wait for me outside for a moment, I'll be right there."
After Zhang Ya left, Xiao Xiao whispered to Xu Yi, "Can't she see me?"
"Hmm. There are two possibilities. One is that only Miss Gu can see you, and the other is that Miss Gu can't see you either, but she's pretending to see you."
"Why are you pretending to see me?" Xiao Xiao didn't understand.
Xu Yi spread her hands, shrugged, and smiled helplessly: "Only Miss Gu probably knows why."
Xu Yi went to the bathroom to tidy up quickly. She picked up Xiao Xiao and helped her change into little red pants and a bright red, festive little bib.
Xu Yi still wanted to mock her taste. Other people's dolls were dressed in pretty fairy dresses, but why did her little one like to dress up as a New Year's picture doll?
Well, it's what the child wants, so as a mother, I can only neither understand nor oppose it.
"I'm taking you out today, and we'll verify it. But you still need to be careful not to make any noise, or you might scare others, understand?"
"Um!"
Xu Yi led her out discreetly, only letting his right hand hang down so that Xiao Xiao could hold her little finger.
Zhang Ya, who was waiting for her at the door, did not notice anything amiss.
As usual, she wanted to walk on Xu Yi's right, but Xu Yi tugged at her clothes and pulled her to his left.
Zhang Ya was puzzled but didn't pay much attention, and followed her downstairs.
Xu Yi descended the stairs slowly, pausing at the next step as she waited for her tiny baby, Bao Xiaoxiao, with her small arms and legs.
Zhang Ya looked at her with concern, "You must have worked hard practicing your legs yesterday!"
“…Hmm.” Xu Yi let her misunderstand, and the two slowly walked into the hall.
From the moment they left the room until they reached the villa's gate, Xiao Xiao was very nervous. She held Xu Yi's hand tightly, pressed her body against Xu Yi's leg, and followed him step by step, afraid of being discovered or getting lost. Along the way, she also looked around at everything with great curiosity.
When she was the spirit of her natal sword, she went out to play for one night, but at that time it was the sword spirit's perception of external things, which is different from when she transformed into human form and gained the five senses to observe the world.
Everything she saw was new and exciting, just like Xu Yi when she first came down the mountain.
If someone could see this scene at this moment, they would be amazed that the two, one big and one small, look like they were carved from the same mold.
Xiao Xiao and Gu Yueyue look very alike, especially in their facial features, while she and Xu Yi look very alike, especially in their expressions and movements.
During this process, Xu Yi would secretly observe her little cub out of the corner of her eye, finding it more and more interesting. However, due to the presence of live-streaming cameras all around, she couldn't laugh out loud.
It was at this moment that Xu Yi touched her cheek with slight surprise. She seemed to be... becoming more emotional?
As they stepped out of the villa, Xu Yi took Xiao Xiao's hand, but Xiao Xiao took her first step and then quickly stepped back.
Xu Yi was forced to stop and turned back to look at her without making a sound.
The little barefoot girl stood still, lifting her tiny foot that had just stepped out, looking at Xu Yi with a pitiful expression.
Xu Yi used his divine sense to communicate with Xiao Xiao through his mind, and heard Xiao Xiao softly crying, "Hot feet."
A note from the author:
I had an extra update yesterday, so I'm too tired today. Here's my usual update, haha.
Thank you so much for your comments and messages, and thank you Lei Lei for the support! Sending you all love~
Thank you to all the little angels who voted for me or watered my plants with nutrient solution between 23:36:35 on December 29, 2021 and 19:09:26 on December 30, 2021!
Thank you to the little angels who threw landmines: SaltyFishFatAndFat, LL 1;
Thank you to the little angels who watered the nutrient solution: wase 18 bottles; No real roots, 10 bottles; More distant than the universe, 5 bottles; Minyan 1 bottle;
Thank you so much for your support! I will continue to work hard!
Chapter Thirty-Five
Xu Yi had no choice; she couldn't hold her, nor could she find her a pair of shoes at the last minute.
'Be patient? '
'...I think I'll get a different mother.'
'Jump onto my back, I'll carry you.'
Xiao Xiao took two steps back for a running start and quickly jumped onto Xu Yi's back, her little arms tightly wrapped around Xu Yi's neck, as if afraid of falling off.
Xu Yi was also afraid that she would fall, but because there were cameras everywhere and Zhang Ya was with her, she couldn't hold Xiao Xiao up. She could only repeatedly tell her not to be naughty and to hold her tightly.
Upon arriving at the meeting point, people had already started lining up spontaneously.
Xia Lan looked at Gu Yueyue across the crowd, her face full of bitterness. She had finally waited until that annoying Fan Weiwei was gone, and Teacher Yuan was absent due to leave. She thought she could work closely with her idol, but instead, so many students showed up.
Today's task is to capture everyone's wonderful moments. They are responsible for finding the shooting locations, angles, and content themselves, while their mentors are in charge of taking the photos.
In other words, everyone will get the chance to have either Gu Yueyue or Xia Lan take a photo of them.
The question now is whether to choose Xia Lan or Gu Yueyue.
Gu Yueyue's girl group was incredibly popular across much of Asia back then. However, after the group disbanded, everyone went their separate ways, achieving varying degrees of success. Some married into wealthy families, some became wealthy themselves, some retired behind the scenes, some became variety show personalities, and some even returned to China to pursue political careers.
Gu Yueyue switched careers to become an actress and won the Best Actress award last year. This year, her company is deliberately exploiting her, leaving Gu Yueyue in a very awkward position in the industry.
You say she's very popular, but there are countless new internet celebrities these days, even Fan Weiwei has more fans than her; you say she's not popular, but who in the industry doesn't know Gu Yueyue? How many netizens don't know Gu Yueyue?
When the trainees were choosing mentors, they had some difficulty weighing the options. Gu Yueyue's fans don't follow the typical fandom culture. They include the group fans she attracted when she was in a girl group, as well as drama fans who watched her TV series. The age range of her fans is basically from her twenties and thirties to her forties and fifties.
Xia Lan is different. She is a new generation idol. She is talented and famous, and her company is also well-managed. She is indeed true to herself and does not create a fake persona. But isn't Xia Lan's frankness, Xia Lan's talent, and Xia Lan's golden voice all just labels that have been packaged?
Following Xia Lan can increase your fanbase, and following Gu Yueyue can also increase your fanbase, but compared to each other, it's clear that Xia Lan's fans are more adaptable to the current fandom culture.
Therefore, in the end, Xia Lan's group had more students in line. Zhang Ya also understood this. In just a few days, she had transformed from a simple fan of her idol into a responsible team leader who had learned to think about the team.
"Where are we going?" Zhang Ya asked the members of Villa No. 3.
She wanted to go to Gu Yueyue's place, but since everyone basically acted as a team, she, as the team leader, had to take care of everyone.
Shen Ningjiao spoke first, "I want to go to Teacher Xia's place."
Shen Ningjiao has a good sense of music and can write lyrics and compose music herself. She has a good impression of Xia Lan, who is a few years older than her and has already become famous.
Han Shixue slowly said, "Then I want to go to Teacher Gu's place."
Shen Ningjiao: "Are you deliberately trying to make things difficult for me?"
Han Shixue: "Aren't you just picking on me? You know perfectly well that I like Teacher Gu the most."
Seeing that the two were about to fight, Zhang Ya quickly stopped them, "Don't argue, don't argue. We are a team, we should have a spirit of unity and mutual assistance. We should unite as a team."
The two women snorted coldly at Zhang Ya, who was also exhausted by their behavior. She turned to ask Ruan Hanmei and Zhuang Yan.
"And you? Where do you want to go?"
Both of them said they were fine with it, as both mentors were excellent and they liked them very much.
Zheng Wan was unhappy. "I don't care how you choose, I'm choosing Teacher Gu."
"I also choose Teacher Gu." For the first time, Xu Yi stood on the same side as Zheng Wan.
Miao Lele was the last one left to choose. She looked at Gu Yueyue from afar, then at Xia Lan, and finally came up with a good idea, "Let's go to Teacher Gu's place? There are too many people at Teacher Xia's place. In this hot summer, we'll have to wait in line for a long time, and it will be so hot."
Miao Lele's straightforward words amused Zhang Ya.
"You're really a talent."
Seeing that everyone was leaning towards Gu Yueyue, Shen Ningjiao became unhappy. "I don't care, I only came here for Teacher Xia. I'm going to Teacher Xia."
Han Shixue: "The minority must obey the majority. We can't expect all seven of us to follow your lead just because of one person."
“Then let’s separate. There’s no rule that says we have to be together.” Shen Ningjiao remained unyielding.
Zhang Ya wanted to try to persuade her again, but Zheng Wan, being straightforward and clever, stepped forward and said, "Let's break up then. It's not like our team has been at odds for just a day or two. It's been three or four days already, why do we have to stick together like this?"
“…” Zhang Ya laughed in anger, “Fine, let’s break up.”
So the seven of them ran towards Gu Yueyue, while only Shen Ningjiao went towards Xia Lan's group.