Grab The Heroine and Run Away Ch. 37.1

“Hehe.”

“Hehehe…”

Xu Heran stood with her hands behind her back, laughing strangely while walking.

“…”

“Excuse me, can you walk a bit faster?” Xin Nuo turned around, giving her a glance, “You’ve been busy all day, aren’t you tired?”

Lord Pearl not only wasn’t tired, Lord Pearl felt like she could run another ten kilometer marathon right now!

“Xin Nuo, please watch your language. You’re not even willing to address me as Teacher Xu!” Xu Heran said with a stern face, intentionally.

“Oh?” Xin Nuo stood in place, waiting for Xu Heran to catch up. The two walked side by side towards the dormitory. Xin Nuo chuckled and said, “Teacher Xu is quite imposing. I feel a lot of pressure. How about this? Why don’t I go find Teacher Jian?”

“!” Without hesitation, Xu Heran reached out and hugged Xin Nuo’s shoulder. She still remembered when Xin Nuo reached out to hug Jian Yueyin not long ago.

“Compared to Teacher Jian, you and I are closer~”

“Is that so?” Xin Nuo’s voice merged with another girl’s voice.

Xu Heran and Xin Nuo turned around at the same time. Jian Yueyin had somehow come up behind them, smiling on her face. She deliberately said, “Xin Nuo, are you and I not close enough? In that case, Xin Nuo, should the two of us get closer from now on?”

As Jian Yueyin’s voice fell, a hint of a smile appeared in Xin Nuo’s deep eyes. She immediately turned her head and fixed her gaze on Xu Heran’s face.

Due to the heat, the girl with pink hair had her hair messily tied behind her head, and her bangs were even more chaotic. She poked here and smoothed there. But some people just had good looks. No matter how messy their hairstyle, paired with a beautiful face, it inadvertently displayed a charming sense of disorder.

In the night, Xu Heran’s eyes seemed to be coated with a layer of dark film, the purple veins fading like stars, and the deep blue, as if extracted from the depths of the sea, was heavy like a gem. Glancing casually, it was hard to distinguish between blue and black.

At this moment, her eyes gradually widened under the smiling gazes of the two people, panic spreading across her face.

“No, no way…” Xu Heran quickly shook her head slightly, “Sister Yueyin! Teacher Jian! Friends’ spouses should not be trifled with!”

Jian Yueyin burst into laughter, Xin Nuo’s face turned dark, and she raised her hand to smack Xu Heran’s buttocks, then reached out to cover her mouth.

“Always talking nonsense.”

Jian Yueyin touched her lips with her hand and didn’t let Xu Heran off. “Oh, I really want to tease you a bit?”

“Hissss!” Xu Heran felt that Jian Yueyin was “bearing a grudge” against her because of the milk-snatching incident during the day and was deliberately retaliating. She exclaimed in a mournful tone, “Teacher Jian, esteemed Jian, spare me, please!”

“I’ll find someone else to tease you! How about Jiang Xiaoqiong?” Xu Heran began to sell out her teammate, “Because of my disrespectful behavior towards Teacher Jian today, I deeply apologize. I’ve decided to offer up Jiang Xiaoqiong as a gesture of goodwill and ask for Teacher Jian’s forgiveness!”

After Xu Heran finished speaking, she turned to Xin Nuo and asked, “In ancient times, wasn’t there a custom of sending a hostage? Jiang Xiaoqiong will definitely be willing to offer her courage and determination for the sake of this family!”

Xin Nuo: “…”

Jian Yueyin: “…”

“Are you two in this kind of relationship already?” Jian Yueyin was surprised. “One of you is 16 and the other is 18, and there’s even a 20-year-old kid. It’s truly a medical miracle!”

“Teacher Jian, please don’t let Xu Heran lead you astray. There are hardly any sober people left in our camp,” Xin Nuo said with a melancholic tone.

The three of them looked at each other and chuckled lightly.

“Enough with the jokes. What were you two talking about just now, and who is ‘Ran Ran’ addressing as ‘Teacher’?” Jian Yueyin asked.

Xin Nuo gently told Jian Yueyin about how Xu Heran was teaching her and Song Fenghua to sing. After she finished, a thought crossed her mind, and she smiled as she asked Jian Yueyin, “Teacher Jian, do you have any spare time to join our after-school study group?”

“Me?” Jian Yueyin patted Xu Heran’s shoulder. “Well, you should ask ‘Ran Ran’ if she’s willing to let me join your happy family.”

Xu Heran deliberately used a sour tone, saying, “They say, ‘New people laugh, old people cry.’ Our Nuo Nuo is always eager for the new and tired of the old. What can I do? I had no choice but to forgive her.”

Xin Nuo raised her hand, embraced Xu Heran, tilted her head, and bumped her shoulder. “Alright, mainly it’s because Fenghua and I have a weak foundation in singing, and this song is difficult. Xu Xu can’t handle both of us on her own, so I joined Fenghua.”

“Seven days is indeed a bit tight,” Jian Yueyin laughed. “I’m sorry about that, Teacher Xu. I won’t stand during the ceremony.”

Xu Heran took a deep breath and quickly pulled Xin Nuo to the side, positioning herself between Xin Nuo and Jian Yueyin.

“Sincerely welcome, Teacher Jian,” Xu Heran said in a solemn tone. “But I’ll take charge of Xin Nuo’s progress. I wholeheartedly entrust Little Fenghua to you. If you’re not satisfied, I’ll even throw in a Little Jiang Xiaoqiong as a bonus. How about that? Quite considerate, isn’t it?”

Jian Yueyin raised her thumb, indicating her satisfaction.

The next day, in the vacant practice room, Jian Yueyin arrived as promised.

Song Fenghua was momentarily taken aback but merely glanced at Xu Heran without saying much. Although Xu Heran and Jian Yueyin claimed they would each take charge of one person, the four of them were mostly sitting together. With the two most skilled singers from the training camp present, Xin Nuo and Song Fenghua’s progress in their songs skyrocketed.

The atmosphere within the camp grew more intense with each passing day, and the lights in the practice room shone later into the night. Everyone strained themselves like taut strings, with their thoughts all focused on the upcoming stage performance.

On the third-to-last day, exhausted trainees returned to their dormitory with heavy steps. They were startled when they saw a thick stack of posters on their desks.

“What is this?” Sasa walked over halfway and her gaze landed on the table, meeting her own eyes in the poster.

“!”

In an instant, she almost jumped up startled.

Other girls exclaimed in surprise, “It’s our posters!”

The dormitory, which had been mostly silent in the past few days, suddenly became lively. The trainees, under immense pressure as the stage performance approached, revealed bright smiles of delight. They immediately grabbed their posters and rushed outside.

“Look, quick! It’s my poster!”

Many people rushed out into the corridor, comparing each other’s posters.

“It’s from the previous stage! It’s super impressive! Your poster looks amazing too!”

“Ah ah ah, I look so good! Mom, your daughter is so beautiful! You’re really good at giving birth! Muamuamua!”

“Passed, I’ve passed!” The dormitory was surrounded by cheerful laughter.

“Hey, hey, can you hear me?” At this moment, the dormitory’s speaker system came to life. “Twenty-one trainees, good evening, everyone.”

“Have you all discovered the posters on your desks? Each person has a total of five pictures, making a hundred in total. Now, please sacrifice a bit of your sleep time to sign your names on these hundred posters. They will be given to the lucky winners of Universal TV.”

“Wow—”

The trainees held their posters, exuding bubbles of happiness.

A staff member carried a small box and placed it on the corridor floor.

“Here are some markers, you can choose your favorite color. Please return them after using them.”

“Alright!”

“I want the gold one.”

“Pink pink pink—Oh, right, where’s Little Pearl! I didn’t see Little Pearl’s poster!” Jiang Qiong shouted, randomly grabbed a colored marker, her eyes gleaming, “I want to see Little Pearl and Xin Nuo’s posters!”

As her voice fell, the trainees in the corridor, as if reminded, turned their heads and rushed toward Dormitory Number One.

“Xu Pearl! Hand over your poster!” Jiang Qiong led the charge, knocking on the door of Dormitory Number One, “Bang bang bang.” There was only noise inside, no one opened the door, “Hey hey hey!”

Jiang Qiong twisted the door of Dormitory Number One, and it was locked!

“I don’t have my poster!” Xu Heran held Xin Nuo’s poster and shivered, “They’ve all been snatched.”

“Hahaha!” Sasa leaned against the doorway, “Little Pearl’s poster is super nice!”

A crowd gathered at the entrance of Dormitory Number One.

“Let us see! Sasa, we’re on the same team!” Jiang Qiong shouted, “And what’s the use of you keeping it? These will all be taken by the staff. They’re gifts for the audience!”

Sasa sneered, “Hmph! They did it on purpose! They definitely hid their own posters secretly. I don’t care, as long as I don’t hand it over, the production team will have to give us more posters for us to sign!”

Assistant director, watching the dormitory’s surveillance camera: “…”

“Besides, look, one picture, five copies, divided into twenty sets! We’re twenty-one people, apart from our own, can’t we get the other trainees’ posters! It’s a conspiracy by the production team, posters are meant for us!” Sasa’s words were incredibly wise.

Jiang Qiong: Makes so much sense!

Assistant Director: “???”

“Well, in that case, let’s exchange posters.” Jiang Qiong said, “Let’s satisfy our internal demands first!”

Sasa: “I’ve been waiting for this moment!”

She turned around, gave a wicked smile to the six people inside the dormitory, and opened the door.

“Wow…”

In a rush, a group of people squeezed in.

“Be careful not to fold the posters!” Haya, standing at the back, reminded with a cheerful smile.

“Quick, let’s exchange!” Jiang Qiong climbed up and said.

“Get in line, money in one hand, goods in the other.” Sasa became the spokesperson for Dormitory Number One. After the trainees outside the door counted their thirty-five posters, she finally reached out and had her dormmates hand over theirs.

“What about Xu Pearl’s!” Jiang Qiong was curious about Xu Heran’s poster. Sasa smirked mysteriously, took five posters from Sun Lingxi’s hand, “Be careful, these are limited edition!”

Jiang Qiong held up the poster.

The first one, at the top of dark stairs, a girl with pink-tipped hair stood straight, the high light above her head like a melting moon, the mercury-like radiance falling onto her slender body. Colored halos surrounded the girl’s body, her expression indifferent, and lowered eyelashes blocked the light beneath her eyes.

“Wow!”

A group of trainees held their faces, revealing intoxicated smiles.

Momma’s Little Pearl looks so cool.

The second one, a girl holding a baseball bat, her mouth curved in a half-smile, her eyes teasing, lips adorned with rosy blush like a pink beach, scattered specks of glitter reflecting bright and sparkling light. At the swing of her sleeve, plastic fragments flew, and among them, one piece soared high, shimmering, harmonizing with the light in the girl’s eyes.

“Wow!!”

The trainees added emphasis to their voices.

Momma’s Little Pearl is so naughty!

Little Pearl singing with a microphone looks so cool! Little Pearl who throws kisses to the audience is both shameless and arrogant!

Jiang Qiong waved her hand and landed on the last one.

Among the 105 photos of all the trainees in the training camp, there’s only one poster that isn’t a stage photo.

A girl with her hair tied in a ponytail sits obediently on a stool, as if she’s talking to someone next to her and suddenly hears her name being called from behind. She instinctively turns around, her cheerful smile frozen in the moment of looking back.

The dressing room is bathed in soft and bright light, accentuating the girl’s smile. The crowd around her is blurred, but her eyes are bright and radiant, with each eyelash seemingly outlined by a glow.

“It’s Xin Nuo,” Jiang Qiong laughed, pointing to the reflection in the mirror in the poster. The mirror only reflects a fair and slender hand. As a witness, Jiang Qiong happily explained to everyone, “Xin Nuo used Sister Cui’s phone to take this picture for Xu Heran!”

“Ah—”

The mommas, who have been gagged, nodded in agreement.

“Hey, where’s Xin Nuo’s poster?” Jiang Qiong got the posters from Dormitory Number One except for Xin Nuo’s. There’s none for Xin Nuo.

“Uh…” Sasa looked towards the center of the east wall.

On the bed, someone was lying quietly with their hands placed on their abdomen, breathing steadily.

Xu Heran: sighs

sighs

“Xu Pearl!”

Jiang Qiong immediately understood, “You better hand over Xin Nuo’s posters to me! A total of 20 sets, 100 posters! How could you swallow them all!”

sighs

“Don’t pretend to be asleep! Get up!” Jiang Qiong stood by the bed, hands on her hips, questioning, “Where did you hide them? A hundred of them!”

sigh~

Jiang Qiong angrily sought help from Xin Nuo.

As soon as she returned to the dorm, she went to freshen up and just glanced at the posters. When she came out, Xin Nuo realized her posters were missing: “Hmm.”

She had a towel on her head, opened Xu Heran’s cupboard.

The cupboard was completely empty, not even a strand of hair.

“Xu Heran?” Xin Nuo asked, “Did you hide the posters under the blanket?”

sigh~

Xu Heran was asleep, unaware of anything.

Xin Nuo raised her hand, placing the towel around her neck. She stretched her arm, amidst the curious gazes of the onlookers, and reached under Xu Heran’s mattress, noticeably taller than the others.

sigh. A certain slumbering pearl quickly turned over, pressing against the edge of the mattress.

“Am I supposed to go up and get it myself, or are you going to hand it down?” Xin Nuo looked up, pinched Xu Heran’s arm with her fingers, and said helplessly, “A hundred posters, are you planning to use them as firewood for the winter?”

sigh.

Xu Heran mumbled in her sleep, “Only a hundred… not enough to cover a room.”

Xin Nuo: “…”

“Aren’t you afraid of having nightmares? Hurry up, I’m going up now. Three, two…”

On the bed, Xu Heran got up with useless indignation. Crying “wuwuwu,” she lifted the blanket, and with great care, pulled out the thick posters, holding them in front of her.

“My beloved posters, someone ruthless is intentionally trying to come between us. Today, against my will, I’m handing you over to the enemy. But you must remember, I’m reluctant! I’m reluctant to part with you—”

Xu Heran grumbled and pouted, “Muah, muah, muah,” she kissed the face of the black-haired girl on the poster.

“Don’t get the precious posters dirty,” Xin Nuo said coldly.

“Hey!” Xu Heran felt that her cruel words were like a knife stabbing into her weak heart. She was like a small grass oppressed in the wind and rain, and in the end, she could only surrender everything.

Ah! She’s so pitiful!

“You must treat it well,” Xu Heran said reluctantly.

Jiang Qiong nodded, “Yes, yes, I will.”

“Love it as much as you love yourself!” Xu Heran repeatedly emphasized.

Jiang Qiong frowned, “Okay, okay.”

“Absolutely do not get it dirty, and don’t use it as a coaster. Don’t even think about using it when you run out of tissue— ” Xu Heran went on and on.

Xin Nuo listened as Xu Heran’s words became increasingly nonsensical. She swiftly climbed up the ladder and lightly punched Pearl.

“Heh, hand them over.” Jiang Qiong forcefully tugged and pulled the thick posters from Xu Heran’s grasp. She counted them, “Just these few? Xin Nuo!”

Xin Nuo uncovered the entirety of Xu Heran’s blanket, revealing the posters hidden beneath.

“What about mine?” Xu Heran said in a miffed tone.

“Here you go.” Xin Nuo handed the posters to Jiang Qiong, then turned around to pat Xu Heran’s head.

“Hmph.”

Xu Heran’s mood had slightly improved. She raised a poster, pressing down on two corners, and stuck it on the wall.

On the splendid stage, the black-haired girl had an indifferent expression. Her legs were slightly spread apart, black combat boots resting on the dark stage floor. The surrounding lights were colorful and dazzling, making her appear like a cold silver blade inserted into the lens.

“So beautiful!” Xu Heran exclaimed. Then she leaned over, her lips pressing against the poster over the girl’s mouth.

“Mwah!”

Xin Nuo: “…”

Jiang Qiong: OVO

The onlooking trainees: OoO

Among them, a diehard Xindong fan’s heart raced as they pointed at Xu Heran and said, “Little Pearl, what’s the big deal about kissing the poster? Do you dare to do it for real?”

As her words fell, a cold gaze glanced over, freezing the excitement on a certain tall Haxing’s face.

“Cough, true is false, false is true, real and fake, fake and real, all things in the world are like dreams and illusions, Amitabha.” Haya averted her eyes, meeting the puzzled gaze of Lin Weining, who wore a blank expression.

“…?” The typically gentle girl looked perplexed, struggling to curl her lips, “Oh… I see.”

Haya: “Ha… hahaha.”

The twenty-one trainees gathered in the Number One dormitory to distribute the posters, completely disregarding the need for signatures. Not long after, the assistant director rushed into the dormitory with a megaphone. When the vigilant trainees spotted him, they scattered like birds and animals, rushing back into the dormitory and locking the door.

“Signatures! No hoarding posters!” The assistant director held up a megaphone, tapping on each door. “Hurry up and finish signing. Do you still want to rest?”

“We strongly demand that the program team hand over the remaining posters! These are our spoils of war!” Xu Heran shouted. “You gave them to us, why should we give them back?”

Everyone nodded, “Yeah, that’s right.”

The assistant director was at a loss for words.

Which trainee collects posters from other trainees’ rooms? Can’t you create some intrigue and later edit it into an exciting drama?

“Get some new ones quickly so we can finish signing. Do you still want to rest?” Xu Heran sat on the bed, hands on her hips, shouting.

The assistant director: “…”

Damn it!

“Forget it, go to the warehouse and get the extras.” The assistant director told the others.

“But, Director Liu, weren’t those meant for us to keep?” A staff member behind the assistant director hesitated.

“It’s fine. Tomorrow, we’ll have the publicity department print more. Everyone will get their share.” The assistant director reassured, and the staff members happily went to the warehouse to fetch more posters.

The poster storm came to an end, and the tense atmosphere at the training camp eased slightly. Many girls looked at the posters on the wall and took a deep breath.

Keep shining like this, keep going!

On the day of the performance, in the morning, on the Universal TV Starlight Girls’ Comment Section.

“Daily cursing at the dog director! Bullying my girl Goose, you dog director!!!”

“Starting from when the program team invalidated all previous votes and even changed the voting tickets to one each, I’ve mentally killed the dog director a thousand times! Me and the dog director cannot coexist!”

“Our Nuo Nuo finally reached the top as an individual trainee, and over ten million votes were reset by the dog director! Ahh, I hate this so much! I want to throw ten million votes at the dog director and make him swallow them!”

“To the sisters ahead, don’t be upset. You have to believe that Nuo Nuo’s radiance can’t be concealed. What belongs to her, destiny will eventually return to her!”

“Sob, sob, thank you for comforting me! I’ve been supporting Nuo Nuo all along, but I didn’t win the dumplings made by the trainees during the Dragon Boat Festival, and I didn’t win the posters this time either! A whole hundred of them! Not just Nuo Nuo’s, but including other trainees, a total of twenty-one hundred posters! Why don’t I have a single one!”

“Ah… pat, pat, there, there, don’t be sad. If you’re sad, just look at me. I have signed posters of both Xu Heran and Nuo Nuo. Xu Heran’s is even a backstage photo, and oh, I’m also going to watch the live performance this afternoon, front row tickets~ Hahaha!”

“?????”

This comment was immediately surrounded by countless jealous fans, who simultaneously berated her shameless behavior while avidly soaking in the aura of Nuo Nuo.

“Hehe, the tea fans came uninvited, all thanks to the software my Xu Heran introduced. I became a member for a year, and unexpectedly, I drew a poster of Xu Heran… is that what she’s called? Wow, such a beautiful young girl! I immediately got hooked on the show!”

“I’m a tea fan too. Our Xu Heran and Ji Songyu are the only two artists in Universal Entertainment. Supporting them is like supporting family! Keep going!”

“Well… passerby, which company is Universal Entertainment? Are there really only two artists? Isn’t Ji Songyu an award-winning actress? She even won a major award this year. How did she end up in some no-name small company? And now she’s called to a talent show to mentor their new talents? Isn’t that exploiting them?”

“?????”

“We tea fans don’t feel exploited at all. Haven’t you seen it? This show is exclusively sponsored by Universal Entertainment. There’s not a single other advertisement. With such substantial capital, do you think they would mistreat Ji Songyu? And don’t forget about all the awards and status Ji Songyu has achieved. Plus, doesn’t she have a billionaire sister? Who would be foolish enough to mistreat her?”

“No advertisements… could it be that they couldn’t attract sponsors? Haha, after all, they’re just a group of unknown trainees.” Someone sarcastically quipped, “Wasn’t Ji Songyu a late addition? If your so-called Universal Entertainment is so impressive, why couldn’t they attract well-known investors?”

“Couldn’t attract sponsors? How do you know about the show then? Our little program doesn’t have any sponsors. We just acquired a dairy brand to give the trainees some endorsements. We even plastered the whole city with promotional materials. Even my grandma knows about Starlight Milk now!”

“Yeah, our little program is so pitiful. We only play the winning stage performance on loop every night in the 66-story Universal Entertainment Tower in the Huan Cheng East District along the river. Just showcasing the names of the winning female trainees.”

“Sob, sob, sob, how can a company be this poor! They only bought the 66-story building! Why didn’t they buy more!”

“The thing is, they did buy more. They also bought the surrounding villas, parks, supermarkets, and residential buildings. That entire area has been transformed into Universal. The supermarkets are open now!”

“Wow… I thought that was all arranged by the show’s production team! I was thinking they must be really well-funded. So that was Universal Entertainment?”

“Exactly! I pass by there every day on my way to work. I’ve seen them put up the Universal Entertainment sign. And do you know that there’s a forest park over 5 million square meters in size there? They even built villas inside. Universal Entertainment bought that too! I suspect that in the future, Universal Entertainment’s artists might live there!”

“Is it safe?”

“Absolutely safe! There’s security every five steps, and they don’t allow outsiders near that area.”

The group chatted and laughed, occasionally stepping out to refresh the main show, all waiting for the 9 o’clock update.

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Translator: Glariosa
Editor: Sinensis

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