Chapter 38: Visiting Zheng Xiuyan (2)

  Zhang Chengyuan felt both sympathy and admiration. Zheng Xiuyan, at a young age, had worked hard to become a singer, fearing no hardship, putting in more effort than he, a man several years her senior, who relied almost entirely on his innate talent to take shortcuts, and if they were under the same conditions, he would probably be far inferior to Zheng Xiuyan.

  He shook his head and sighed, then perked up and carefully observed Zheng Xiuyan's dance moves. Compared to the people around her, Zheng Xiuyan, who had only been practicing for a few months, was still far behind in terms of level, looking very immature. However, compared to herself a few months ago, she had made significant progress, showing that her hard work and natural talent were quite good. Unfortunately, it was just "good" and not yet at the level of surpassing others. To debut through the company's rigorous selection process would likely take many more years of effort. Firstly, because she was still very young, only a little over 11 years old; secondly, because the internal competition within the company was too fierce, making it extremely difficult to survive and get the opportunity to debut.

  After about half an hour, perhaps it was time to eat, the trainees walked out of the training room in twos and threes. They were slightly surprised by Zhang Chengyuan's tall and straight figure, but then they indifferently walked past him. Before long, only a few people were left in the entire training room, with Zheng Xiuyan still practicing alone. It was then that Zhang Chengyuan finally entered, quietly walking to within two or three meters of Zheng Xiuyan and waiting for her to finish one set of movements before stopping herself.

  After waiting for two or three minutes, Zheng Xiuyan stopped and took a deep breath, only to suddenly notice Zhang Chengyuan's towering figure that no normal person could ignore. Especially for the petite and sensitive Zheng Xiuyan, Zhang Chengyuan was like a straight mountain peak standing in front of her. Adding to this was Zhang Chengyuan's even colder expression than hers, which always made her feel under pressure. This also made it impossible for her to speak with Zhang Chengyuan as freely as she did with Little Crystal, and so the relationship between the two had barely progressed over several months.

  It's not that Zhang Chengyuan intentionally put on a stern face, but he felt that as an older brother, he should be serious and dignified. Even in front of Little Water Crystal, he was almost the same, except that Little Water Crystal was young and innocent, never finding Zhang Chengyuan's expression intimidating. On the other hand, Zheng Xiuyan was mature beyond her years, clever and sensitive, and had reached an age where she began to understand the differences between men and women, so she naturally felt a bit intimidated by Zhang Chengyuan, making it difficult for her to get close to him. From Zhang Chengyuan's perspective, he thought that their personalities were just not compatible. Moreover, in other people's eyes, both of them seemed to have cold and icy personalities, making it quite difficult for them to get along.

  "Oppa, how did you come here?"

  Zhang Chengyuan expressionlessly said, "Nothing, just received a call from Shui Jing yesterday and thought of coming to see you." His tone was unintentionally softer than usual.

  Zheng Xiuyan heard Zhang Chengyuan's words, and a hint of dissatisfaction flashed in her eyes. She muttered to herself, not knowing what she was thinking.

  Zhang Chengyuan: "I bought some food for you on the street, just make do with it." He handed over the bag of food he was holding to Zheng Xiuyan, who thanked him and took it with her head lowered.

  The two of them didn't go find another place, and directly sat down on the spot. The dance room was originally quite clean, and before sitting down, Zhang Chengyuan had quietly used his inner strength to sweep out a clean area, so he wasn't worried about getting his clothes dirty.

  Watching Zheng Xiuyan eating slowly, Zhang Chengyuan sat upright and didn't say a word. Zheng Xiuyan was already used to Zhang Chengyuan's demeanor and wanted to eat quickly to get rid of the ice man in front of her as soon as possible, but she was afraid of being scolded like before for eating too fast, so she had to be patient and pretend he didn't exist.

  Time passed slowly, and Zheng Xiuyan finished eating quickly and started cleaning up. Zhang Chengyuan was still sitting cross-legged without a word, only taking out a pack of tissues from his pocket to hand over to Zheng Xiuyan, letting her clean up more neatly.

  After everything was packed up, Zheng Xiuyan thought Zhang Chengyuan would leave immediately like the previous times. However, she heard Zhang Chengyuan telling her to sit down and then asking her: "Is your left ankle injured? Does it hurt?"

  Zheng Xiuyan looked at him in surprise and said, "It's just a twist, I can bear it."

  Zhang Chengyuan stretched out a palm and said coldly: "Give me your foot, I'll help you deal with it."

  Zheng Xiuyan's face turned even colder, she glared at Zhang Chengyuan and refused: "No! I'll handle it myself."

  Zhang Chengyuan stopped talking, his body moved forward by more than a meter, and he directly stretched out his hand to grab Zheng Xiuyan's left calf. Before she could react, he quickly took off the shoe and sock on her left foot, revealing her small foot that had just grown a few new toenails.

  Jung Soo-yeon struggled to break free from Jang Sung-won's grasp, but didn't scream out loud, seemingly mindful of the remaining trainees in the dance studio, afraid of causing any controversy.

  Jang Sung-won looked at her coldly and said, "Don't think too much." Zheng Xiuyan was immediately scared and didn't dare to struggle again.

  The internal force entered Zheng Xiuyan's body and carefully explored around her ankle, finding that it was indeed just a minor injury as Zheng Xiuyan had said. Zhang Chengyuan couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief, saying: "Fortunately, it didn't hurt the bones or tendons. I'll help you unblock your blood vessels and meridians, and you'll be fine after resting for a night."

  Zhang Chengyuan pressed down on Zheng Xiuyan's ankle a few times, then held her heel and rotated the entire foot clockwise and counterclockwise several times. His technique was ordinary, just as a disguise, the key being that during this process, he slowly inputted internal energy, driving out the stagnant blood in the blood vessels and reconnecting the blocked meridians, allowing the flow of qi and blood to be unimpeded. In this way, this small injury was easily cured.

  Zheng Xiuyan was still immersed in the shyness of having her small feet caressed by Zhang Chengyuan, her head almost touching her chest, dazed and somewhat at a loss, only feeling that the places where Zhang Chengyuan touched her were warm and comfortable, as if they would reach directly to her heart. She didn't know how long she had been in a daze when she realized that Zhang Chengyuan had gently patted her head, hearing him say: "Okay, put on your shoes and socks. You don't have to practice dance today, go practice something else. Oh, right, what have you learned here over the past few months? Yesterday, Shuijing asked about your situation, I didn't know anything, and was scolded by her."

  When it comes to crystal, Zhang Chengyuan's handsome face becomes more vivid and lively, but Zheng Xiuyan inadvertently glanced over and felt a little depressed for no reason, casually replied: "Mainly learning dance and vocal music, occasionally also taking some performance courses." In fact, there are still many things to learn, but Zheng Xiuyan is too lazy to tell Zhang Chengyuan one by one, anyway, Zhang Chengyuan doesn't really care about these things.

  Zhang Chengyuan indeed did not express any disapproval, however he wasn't completely indifferent either. He just didn't quite understand what the singer should learn and didn't know what to ask, so he simply said: "Mm, you have to study hard from now on." After a brief pause, he continued asking: "How are the instructors in the company treating you? Are they very strict?"

  "Hmm!" Zheng Xiuyan's mood was somewhat subdued.

  Zhang Chengyuan's expression remained unchanged as he asked, "Can your body still withstand it?"

  "It's okay."

  Zhang Chengyuan looked at her and asked: "How's your school study going?"

  "It's still passable."

  Zhang Chengyuan furrowed his brow: "Have you made any new friends at the company?"

  "Yes."

  "Having a few more friends will be helpful for you to establish yourself in the company, at least you won't be isolated and helpless."

  "Uh-huh."

  Zhang Chengyuan felt a bit annoyed in his heart and let out a sigh: "Has anyone bullied you?"

  "No!" Even if there was, Zheng Xiuyan had no intention of telling Zhang Chengyuan.

  "If there is, if it's just some small matter, then it's not necessary to bother with them. However, if they go too far, you tell me and I'll help you resolve it."

  "I can handle it." Zheng Xiuyan looked at Zhang Chengyuan with suspicion, thinking to herself: "If it's a girl bullying me, what can you do about it? Beat her up?"

  "If there's anything difficult to handle, just give me a call, you don't have to treat me like an outsider. After all, I'm your sister's brother."

  "Uh-huh."

  Zhang Chengyuan stood up and said: "I'll go back first, I'll come see you again when I have time!" As soon as he turned around, he heard Zheng Xiuyan say: "If you don't have time, then don't come."

  Zhang Chengyuan shook his head and walked away with some disappointment. He had never met a girl who was so unfriendly to him before, and he thought to himself: "This girl's mind is really hard to fathom!"

  At this time, Zheng Xiuyan thought: "He took care of me, and it was indeed because of the crystal, not because he really cared about me."