BANCB 06

Chapter 06

Liang Yuxuan nodded. Once the car had driven away, she bent down to massage her aching calves, letting out a soft, gentle sigh.

By the time she reached the apartment, it was already eight o’clock. The moment Liang Yuxuan hauled her suitcase across the threshold, she could no longer hold herself up and crouched onto the floor.

“Congratulations to South Ballet’s principal solo dancer, Miss Liang Yuxuan, on a highly successful tour…” Xiao Jie came running out upon hearing the noise, the bouquet of flowers in her hands trembling. “What on earth happened?”

Xiao Jie set the bouquet of lilies down at the entryway and helped Liang Yuxuan up, noticing the cold sweat pooling on her forehead and a face as pale as paper.

“Did your Achilles tendinitis flare up again? Why didn’t you let me come pick you up? Are you really being polite with me?” Xiao Jie guided her over to the living room sofa.

Liang Yuxuan sat down, squeezing her right heel to soothe the dull ache. “…You didn’t answer the phone.”

Xiao Jie choked on her words, glancing at her phone on the coffee table. “Blame me for not noticing while putting on my makeup. Without you helping me, I could spend eight hundred years and still not line my eyeliner right. Let me go get a bucket of hot water to soak your feet?”

Liang Yuxuan nodded. It wasn’t until Xiao Jie brought over the foot-soaking bucket and submerged her legs into the steaming, medicated water that she finally felt alive again.

“How did you end up so miserable?” Xiao Jie sat beside her, shaking her head and tsk-tsking.

Liang Yuxuan exerted considerable effort to move her ankle joint. “The B-role dancer injured her waist in the previous performance, so her condition wasn’t any better than mine. I pushed through to perform a whole act, and it ended up like this.”

“I’m not just talking about that.” Xiao Jie held up her phone in front of her. “What’s the deal with that Bei Ying? To think I used to be a casual fan of hers. Does she even have the professional integrity of an idol? Her studio just finished clarifying the scandal one second, and the next second she likes a link sharing Bian Xu’s song Rosabella. Wasn’t that clarification entirely for nothing?”

Liang Yuxuan had also seen Weibo on her way back to the apartment.

After ROF Studio issued their statement, fans who resisted the relationship had basically accepted the clarification. However, Bei Ying’s subsequent move stirred up a whole new wave of drama.

Although Bei Ying quickly unliked it within seconds, quick-handed netizens had already taken screenshots.

Most of her career-focused fans, either out of trust or self-consolation, firmly believed it was just a simple accidental slip of the finger. But because of this, a wave of casual shipper fans emerged among the public.

Xiao Jie slapped the coffee table heavily. “You don’t mingle in the entertainment circle so you wouldn’t know. For this kind of rumored couple with actual photographic evidence, a lot of us hard-core shippers don’t care at all about official clarifications. Shipping a couple is all about idealist philosophy—I think, therefore I am. As long as I run fast enough, a breakup can never catch up to me!”

The corners of Liang Yuxuan’s lips pressed downward as she bent over to ladle the hot water in the bucket.

“With Bei Ying adding fuel to the fire, those shipper fans will absolutely follow the crumbs to piece together the clues, imagining a legendary, tragic love story—the studio playing the wicked villain by forcing a separation, leaving the female lead with a grievance she can’t voice, silently rebelling by liking the love song the male lead wrote for her…”

Seeing Liang Yuxuan remain entirely silent, Xiao Jie sneaked a glance at her. “Hey, here I am getting so worked up as if I’m the one being cheated on. How come you, the actual person involved, aren’t angry at all?”

Liang Yuxuan slowly blinked twice, her brows drawing together. “Can’t you tell? I am very angry.”

“?” Xiao Jie observed her subtle facial expressions. “Just this?”

“This is exactly what I look like when I’m angry…”

“Then last time when my ex-boyfriend came over and you felt awkward, didn’t you have this exact same expression?”

“…” Liang Yuxuan thought about it. “Probably, yes.”

Xiao Jie’s mouth twitched. “Forget it, let’s talk about the main point. Does Bian Xu’s song actually have anything to do with Bei Ying?”

Liang Yuxuan shook her head. “I don’t know.”

“You never asked Bian Xu?”

“Over the past two years, I’ve occasionally received flowers after my performances,” Liang Yuxuan said, gazing at the bouquet of lilies in the entryway. “But it’s always been either lilies or daisies. It seems no one has ever given me roses.”

The female lead of Rosabella was likened to a rose. Yet, Liang Yuxuan was so cold and detached that she didn’t resemble a rose in the slightest.

Moreover, that song was published three years ago. At that time, Liang Yuxuan was completely nameless in the South Ballet, and Bian Xu didn’t know her at all.

So why bring embarrassment upon herself?

Since that Rosabella wasn’t her, what difference did it make whether it was Person A, B, or C?

It took Xiao Jie a moment of processing to understand Liang Yuxuan’s meaning. She rolled her eyes. “Who was the one who told me at the beginning that dating was just a sacrifice for the sake of art? From what I see, you’ve clearly fallen hard for Bian Xu.”

Liang Yuxuan dazed for a moment, remembering that particular incident.

Last autumn, South Ballet hired a veteran ballet master to direct the troupe’s new production.

After that Director Cao watched her performance, he told Qin He in private that the young girl was gentle and quiet when angry, and equally gentle and quiet when happy. She lacked emotional intensity on stage—much like a celestial fairy in the heavens devoid of human desires. She was beautiful, yes, but she lacked that bit of spark to truly dance her way into people’s hearts. It was a pity given her solid, lifelong training since childhood.

Qin He asked if it was still in time to nurture it now.

Director Cao laughed and said, “Nurture a temper? Why not try dating someone? Maybe she’ll get it then.”

Liang Yuxuan happened to be picking up her forgotten pointe shoes in the wings at the time. Parting the curtain, she walked out. “But my mother doesn’t allow me to date. She says it will get in the way of dancing.”

The two instructors were startled. Qin He smoothly covered it up, saying they were just joking around.

Director Cao, however, found an opportunity to pull her aside alone and brought up the topic again—

“I can tell you listen to your elders very well. But sometimes, being too obedient means suppressing your natural instincts. When a person restrains their desires, they lose the ability to express emotion, so your performances naturally lack passion. This is also why the troupe has always arranged solos with flat emotions for you. I’m not joking; building an intimate relationship might really help you let loose and open up your mind.”

Liang Yuxuan had memorized those words back then, only half-understanding them.

Later, when she and Bian Xu got together, Xiao Jie said this man really didn’t look like the type to date seriously, telling her to protect herself well.

Recalling Director Cao’s advice, Liang Yuxuan said with absolute seriousness that she wasn’t thinking long-term either. She was just looking for a partner with good qualifications to experience a sex life; her instructor said this would help elevate the artistic expression of her body.

Xiao Jie was completely stunned by her shocking words, commenting that the mindset of you artists is truly avant-garde.

…

Pulling her thoughts back to the present, Liang Yuxuan reeled in her memories.

She gave Xiao Jie an apologetic smile. “That was just a lie to fool you.”

“…Why would you lie to me?!”

“If I had told you back then that I was serious, what would you have done?”