"It's Tong Fei."
Tong Luo suddenly chimed in.
When everyone turned to look at her, she calmly continued, "Tong Fei would never leave after being humiliated. The Tong family is now meddling in this."
Everyone knew about the years of pain and suffering Tong Luo had to endure, hidden away behind her cold façade.
Realization suddenly struck Jiang Xuxu. "They can't do anything to Mr. Song, so they're going after Qiu Yan?"
Furious, she slammed her palms on the table as shock was painted all over her face. "Tong Fei was in the wrong! She has some nerve coming back here."
"Tong Fei only cares about the end result. She doesn't care how it gets done."
Tong Luo was calm, certain in her rationale.
She knew Tong Fei all too well.
Tong Fei had been after her in the first place, so how could she just leave when Tong Luo was still safe and sound in the show?
To someone as mean-spirited as Tong Fei, that was unacceptable.
"I told Qiu Yan not to be so arrogant. I didn't expect karma to hit her so quickly."
Jiang Xuxu softly muttered to herself.
She did not understand what the rich and powerful were like, but she knew that if Tong Fei was bad, the Tong family would be worse.
*
It was time for the afternoon filming session to start. Jiang Xuxu searched the entire place and still could not find her teammate.
Just then, she was approached by the crew member from before. "Ms. Jiang, your teammate is busy with another job. You'll be alone for the afternoon."
Jiang Xuxu silently nodded in response.
Forcing herself to smile, she replied, "Good. I didn't want to be teammates with my rival, anyway."
The crew member seemed satisfied with her answer as she smiled at Jiang Xuxu before leaving.
As Jiang Xuxu watched her walk away, she curled her lips up in a derisive sneer.
"Another job"… What a great excuse.
Meanwhile, Qi Wu was meeting up with her new teammate.
When Tan Song saw Qi Wu standing by the stadium entrance, he hurriedly walked over. "My apologies for the delay."
Qi Wu calmly shook her head to indicate it was fine. Just as they were about to head into the stadium, someone called out to her from behind.
"Don't…"
Tan Song only had enough time to utter one word before Qi Wu turned around.
Helplessness flashed in his eyes.
The person who called out to Qi Wu was a young man.
His hair had been dyed a dark red that made him seem bold and noble. However, his face was rather sweet and demure with a hint of childlike innocence.
He was barely over six feet, but there was a shapeless air of oppressiveness that lingered around him as he walked over to Qi Wu.
Qi Wu did not seem to feel that oppressive aura, however. She calmly looked up at him and asked, "You called?"
The young man snorted. "You're not as amazing as they say. Without your luck, you would never have won this morning!"
Tan Song panicked.
"Jiang Yiran, don't say that."
Tan Song was not good at socializing, so his attempts to defend Qi Wu were very clumsy.
His shout captured Jiang Yiran's attention, who then turned to look at him.
Disbelief was painted all over his face. "Bro, she's just a stranger. You would actually…"
He did not finish his sentence and, after a few moments, shot Qi Wu an angry glare before stomping away.
Tan Song heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that Jiang Yiran did not continue bothering Qi Wu.
He then turned to Qi Wu with an apologetic look on his face. "I'm sorry. I don't know why he was after you."
Qi Wu tilted her head and solemnly stared back. "Do you really not know?"
"S-Should I?"
Faced with Qi Wu's calm and seemingly infinite eyes, Tan Song tensed up in nervousness.
However, Qi Wu merely looked away and softly remarked, "Fool."
The way that man looked at her was exactly the same way Tong Luo looked at Tan Song. While their eyes burned with hostility, they had no intention to hurt their targets.
They were glaring simply because they were possessive.
Tan Song silently stared.
The man who had been labeled a fool did not dare to get angry or protest the label.
He had always been stuck in his own world over the years. The only other people he interacted with were his family and manager.
Approaching Qi Wu was something that took dozens of tries to muster his courage.
Qi Wu and Tan Song sat down beside Jiang Xuxu.
When Qi Wu saw that Jiang Xuxu was alone, realization flashed in her eyes.
It was at that time that Jiang Xuxu leaned over to whisper into Qi Wu's ear, "Is Jiang Yiran staring at you or Tan Song?"
Qi Wu looked up to find Jiang Yiran warily staring at them with his cheeks puffed up as though he was upset.
"Both," she softly replied.
Jiang Xuxu fell silent.
Confusion was painted all over her face.
However, she had always been somewhat scatterbrained, so she did not really push for an answer.
"Okay, as long as he's not going to target you. Jiang Yiran is a newcomer Yuchu Entertainment is heavily betting on. They started promoting him before filming even started. He is the most popular among all of us here."
Jiang Xuxu had thoroughly done her homework before arriving for the filming.
The moment "Rookie Assembly" announced their list of contestants, she would scour the internet to find out more about them.
"They say Yuchu Entertainment even had someone compose a song for Jiang Yiran so that he could sing it during the competition."
All of those tiny pieces of information had been found in the fan group chats she had joined as part of her investigation.
Qi Wu calmly nodded.
Just then, Song Qi entered the stadium.
*
Meanwhile, outside the filming location of "Rookie Assembly."
As Chang Xun picked up his phone after parking the car, he started grumbling, "Why would it be boring? She lives with you. At the very least, take responsibility for her. She's so innocent. I really can't stop worrying if I don't check in on her.
During the few days Chang Xun spent interacting with Qi Wu, he recognized a problem with her.
She was way too innocent.
She was curious about everything in the world, be it good or bad. She never held a grudge either. It would be weird if a pushover like her was not bullied in a talent show.
Chang Xun did not trust an old fart like Song Qi to properly take care of her, so he had to personally check in on her before he could stop worrying.
Over the phone, Jin Si let out a cold snort of laughter. "She's working for you instead of me. Be thankful I haven't kicked her out."
Chang Xun felt his lips twitch, but he did not dare tell Jin Si exactly what he thought.
Thus, all he could do was curse Jin Si out in his mind. This heartless scoundrel!
As he stepped out of the car and headed into the filming location, he retorted, "I didn't ask you to come with me. I just want you to listen while I keep the call going."
Jin Si did not respond to Chang Xun, but he didn't hang up either.
He turned to look at his chat with Qi Wu. The last message sent was still Qi Wu's message about chocolate.