Chapter 14: The Schemer and the Innocent Flower

[Help, what kind of unparalleled kind little angel is Sibo?]
[No one wants to inconvenience themselves or the selfish roommate, only Sisi is willing to sacrifice herself.]
[That sounds so righteous.]
[Righteous? That word fits perfectly. Sisi seems like she’s offering herself to feed the eagles.]

“Actually…” Song Qing hesitated before speaking, “Sisi, you don’t have to do this.”
“We can continue drawing lots; whoever draws it goes to live with Xu Zhaozhao—that would be fair.”

“No need,” Chen Sisi smiled and shook her head. “Zhaozhao and I have worked together on several projects before. Living together means we’ll have things to talk about and won’t get bored.”

With that, she dragged her suitcase into the double room.

The moment she stepped in, a faint, proud smile curved her lips.

Not only did she easily secure the double room, but she also earned sympathy from the other female guests—a win-win situation.

Once inside, she first checked the camera placement.

After confirming there was only one camera and it only covered the foot of the bed, she finally exhaled in relief and plopped down onto the bed.

Sitting down, she casually surveyed the room’s condition.

Although the production team claimed the room had been renovated, to the luxury-accustomed Chen Sisi, it was still just passable.

Fortunately, the bed and bedding were brand new.

Covering her nose, she feigned concern and spoke to Xu Zhaozhao, who was starting to clean, “Zhaozhao, are you going to shower?”

Xu Zhaozhao lowered her head, wiping dust off the table, ignoring Chen Sisi.

“If you’re not going, I’ll go shower first…”

Chen Sisi didn’t shrink back from Xu Zhaozhao’s silence; she continued enthusiastically, “Wait for me to come back, then we can clean the room together, how about that?”

[Sibo is just too gentle—what on earth is Zhaozhao raging about?]
[Honestly, it’s pointless explaining to the selfish one; just mind your own business.]

What the viewers didn’t know was that Chen Sisi’s words held a hidden meaning.

What she really meant was: “I’m going to shower, and you need to tidy up the room while I’m in there.”

But to the audience, she appeared as a pure-hearted little star eager to get along with her roommate.

Xu Zhaozhao wasn’t ignoring Chen Sisi to maintain an image; she genuinely did not want to engage with her at the moment.

Since the reality show began that afternoon, Chen Sisi had sent her endless signals.

Having fought on Chen Sisi’s behalf and put on a facade for the cameras long enough, Xu Zhaozhao was on the verge of losing all patience.

When Chen Sisi finally emerged from the bathroom after a whole hour,

the small courtyard originally had one bathroom,

but considering the many male and female guests living together, the production team added another bathroom for convenience.

Chen Sisi deliberately prolonged her shower time, hoping to accidentally brush past the leading actor, showing off her delicate, natural-looking makeup.

In the end, she waited a long time in the bathroom but never heard the actor’s voice, instead blocking all the other girls who wanted to shower, making them anxious outside.

With no choice, she returned to the room feeling disappointed.

Fortunately, her exquisite natural look wasn’t wasted; she struck all the right angles and casually showed off on camera, earning a flood of praise from fans in the chat.

Watching the live stream from the office, Liu Li was very pleased with Chen Sisi’s performance.

She said to Zhao Xin, “See? I told you Sisi’s camera presence is unbeatable.”

“Oh wow, that innocent look fresh out of the bath is sure to win a bunch of casual fans!”

Zhao Xin stood silently beside her, inwardly complaining: You’ve watched the live stream all afternoon, but I’m the one who’s been doing all the work.

After dropping Zhaozhao off at the filming location, she hurried back to work.

She had no idea Zhaozhao was so skilled at fixing cars.

Thanks to Zhaozhao’s adjustments, her secondhand car drove much better than before.

Back at the company, after finishing her backlog, Zhao Xin tried to sneak in some time to watch the live stream and see how Sisi was doing, only to be assigned a heap of tasks by Liu Li again.

It was already ten at night, and she still hadn’t eaten dinner.

Seeing Zhao Xin not responding, Liu Li looked up and said, “What’s wrong? You seem upset.”

Zhao Xin looked down at her toes and said nothing.

“Don’t be stubborn,” Liu Li turned off the stream and stared at her. “Do you think I don’t know about those little schemes you’ve been pulling behind my back?”

Zhao Xin lifted her head. “Liu Jie, I don’t understand what you mean by ‘little schemes.’”

“You’re really stubborn!”

Liu Li’s anger flared. “What’s going on with Xu Zhaozhao’s dress? Don’t think I didn’t notice—that was a gift from our partner company for Sisi!”

“The company hired you to be my assistant, not an assistant to some artist. You assist me.”

“If you act without my approval, do you even respect me as your superior?”

“Liu Jie, I’m not disrespecting you or acting on my own, but…”

Zhao Xin took a deep breath and confessed her mistake.

“I gave Zhaozhao the wrong start time for the broadcast and felt I had to fix it.”

“As for that dress, it was urgent—Zhaozhao’s clothes got dirty, and she couldn’t appear on stage in dirty clothes!”

“You always have a thousand replies ready when I say something,” Liu Li rolled her eyes.

Fortunately, Xu Zhaozhao only stole a little bit of Sisi’s spotlight during her appearance.

Though Sisi didn’t manage to partner with the leading actor, and was even rejected in a humiliating way by Shen Mu,

she gained the sympathy of a wide audience.

Especially paired with the muscular handsome guy, the fragile little white rabbit and the strong big gray wolf pairing surprisingly worked well.

Liu Li only regretted the production team confiscating the guests’ phones, cutting off their contact with the outside world.

Otherwise, she would have called to comfort Sisi properly, and reminded her to keep a calm mindset—whether or not she formed a couple with the leading actor, this reality show experience wouldn’t be in vain.

“Alright,” she said to Zhao Xin, “Let’s forget this incident. But don’t act on your own again.”

Originally, Sisi wanted Zhaozhao to be late and embarrassed,

but Zhao Xin’s interference ruined that plan and left everyone frustrated.

“You’ve worked hard all day. Finish what you have, hand it over to me, then go home.”

Fortunately, Liu Li could still make work difficult for Zhao Xin as a lesson.

Zhao Xin placed a stack of folders on Liu Li’s desk. “Then, Liu Jie, I’m leaving now.”

“Mm, go ahead. Remember what I told you today.”

Leaving Liu Li’s office, Zhao Xin immediately opened the live stream for “Love in the Wilderness.”

She avoided the elevator, fearing signal loss, and watched the stream while descending the stairs after work.

Chen Sisi entered the room, which Xu Zhaozhao had already tidied up to be neat and bright.

“Wow, Zhaozhao, why didn’t you wait for me?”

She looked surprised.

“I never said to wait for you. Didn’t I say we’d clean up together?”

Xu Zhaozhao, fed up with the pretense, said, “You shower that long just to avoid helping out, right? What’s with this act of being so virtuous now?”