“Aye.” Thinking of the former artist he brought out single-handedly, Fang Xie was extra melancholy. He was totally unaware of Su Jin’s whereabouts. In the blink of an eye, she disappeared for five months, but she didn’t even send a sealed letter back…
When Su Jishi noticed his melancholy, she hesitated, but still did not tell him that she had gotten news of her sister.
She practiced the pipa during the day these days, and lay in bed at night, quietly reading through all the diaries that Su Jinqing left on her phone, and gradually unraveled the burden that had been repressed in Su Jinqing’s heart for so many years.
When Su Jishi was first taken back to the country, she did blame her sister for her waywardness, but this resentment gradually dissipated.
Only after she became ‘Su Jin’ did Su Jishi understand the helplessness and hardships that the identity ‘Su Jin’ faced. For her agency, Su Jinqing’s unannounced departure was a great irresponsibility; but for her, it was a relief after several years of repression.
Having been a geologist for so many years, Su Jishi had long learned one thing —— When a geological disaster occured, one should not blame nature, but the government, which did a terrible job at defense mechanisms.
A volcanic eruption was just a momentary event, so why didn’t people around Su Jinqing noticed her distress, her depression, her helplessness, and her confusion before the eruption?
Did she hide it too well, or did people ignore them too thoroughly?
In view of this, Su Jishii did not tell Fang Xie that her sister might be in the Northern Territory. After all, Fang Xie represented her ‘agency’s’ position. If Su Jinqing was found out, then…
Thoughts flashed through Su Jishi’s mind, but her face remained unchanged while she continued seriously holding her pipa and learning the art from her teacher.
The teacher taught him for a few days, but after a few days of teaching, Su Jishi still only played Little Star, Two Tigers and Happy Birthday.
The teacher was devastated.
Su Jishi was devastated.
Fang Xie also collapsed.
The dress rehearsal was coming up in a few days. A few days before the dress rehearsal, Fang Xie sent Xiao Xia to take her place on the pretext that Su Jishi had other schedules. It was common in the entertainment industry for artists to not show up at rehearsals and only have their assistants walk for them, but that day, when the other three starlets were there in person, Su Jishi’s absence was particularly conspicuous.
Xu Yadan, who was quite at odds with Su Jin, played Xi Shi in the show 《Four Beauties》. She grew up learning folk dance and had a solid foundation, so she naturally wanted to show her enchanting figure onstage this time. Seeing that Su Jin was absent, she often whispered in the background, and almost shouted with a loud speaker in front of everyone, “Su Jin isn’t dedicated! Su Jin is not worthy of being the No. 1 Flower!”
At such a burning moment, Mu Xiulun sent a WeChat message, saying that he had returned to China and invited Su Jin to the racecourse for a meeting.
Su Jishi looked at her fingertips that were swollen and reddened because of strumming, and for the first time in her 28 years of life, the thought of escape arose.
She had never ‘backed out of a challenge’… but she had to admit that she was indeed a little less artistic.
Even if it was only a day off, she really wanted to take a break.
Mr. Mu: When are you free?
Mr. Mu: I’ll bring your boyfriend. Let’s go on a four-person date to the racecourse.
Su Jishi gritted her teeth, prepared 800 reasons and went to Fang Xie to ask for leave.
Surprisingly, Fang Xie readily agreed.
None of the 800 hundred reasons Su Jishi had prepared in advance was picked for use.
Su Jishi: “Why are you so nice?” She said suspiciously, “I thought you were going to say, ‘If you can’t practice your pipa, you’re not allowed to go anywhere’!”
Fang Xie raised a smile as if he had gained an insight to life and death: “How could it be, Sister Su? I’m all to blame for pushing you in this matter. Look, if I had pushed you out of this job early on and even got scolded for being a snub, so what? You’re not in a girl group with the three other starlets. Who cares what other people think of you? It’s all my fault for being too greedy. Just for that show fee, I dragged everything till now…”
He let out a long sigh: “I can see it. You are just a rice cooker.”
Su Jishi: …?
“You can develop your own multi-functional uses, and learn to cook soup, stir-fry, stew, stuff yogurt, bake sweet potatoes, steam buns, and make cakes.”
Su Jishi: …??
Fang Xie: “But the factory settings are different. No matter how hard you work, you can’t squeeze soy milk.”
Su Jishi: ……????
Fang Xie stared at Su Jishi’s ten red and swollen fingers and sighed long and hard: “Go, go. The racecourse is quite good. If you hurt your arm or something in the process, then you won’t have to perform onstage.”
The author has something to say:
Next chapter spoilers: Fang Xie’s crow beak((a jinx))…Cough cough cough.
Peek-Aboo 
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