Chapter 54: Self-Rescue Part 1

Ming Li decided that Sun Xihan was an exceptionally patient person.

Even after Ming Li rejected her on the grounds that she “didn’t want to dance,” Sun Xihan didn’t get angry. She simply uttered a faint “oh” and sat to the side, fiddling with her phone.

The phone was still in landscape mode. Ming Li couldn’t tell if she was still watching those old dance videos.

In truth, when Sun Xihan had made that proposal—which hardly sounded like an invitation at all—Ming Li’s heart had skipped a beat for a few seconds.

But it was only for a few seconds.

Almost immediately, her mind was flooded with thoughts of the company and the Gu family. She thought about how much she would have to explain to others just to dance again, and currently, she was too exhausted to explain anything to anyone.

The household had finally quieted down. She could finally spend her breakfast hours in peace.

It was like the old metaphor of a frog in a pot of warming water; once the frog has been boiled long enough, it no longer has the courage to jump out.

Right now, Ming Li was that frog.

She had walked into this hair salon on a whim, driven by a sudden burst of momentum, but now she felt like she was sitting on a bed of needles. She wasn’t sure what the perm would look like, and she didn’t even want to imagine what kind of waves a sudden change in hairstyle would stir up within the Gu family.

Then again, she realized, it was just a hairstyle. Gu Xueqiang likely wouldn’t say anything.

Gu Qingshuang certainly wouldn’t—she probably wouldn’t even notice.

Unlike Assistant Lin, who had gone for voluminous waves starting from the roots, Sun Xihan helped Ming Li communicate with the stylist for a smaller, tighter wave. It was a style that worked whether her hair was down or tied up; if she put it in a bun, no one would even be able to tell she’d had it permed.

Ming Li didn’t know why Sun Xihan was so certain this style would suit her.

But the look Sun Xihan chose was remarkably similar to the one Ming Li had eyed in the catalog earlier.

In many ways, she and Sun Xihan shared common ground, particularly in their aesthetics.

Perming hair was an agonizingly slow process. From the time the sky turned dark until the city lights began to flicker on, the entire world outside was wrapped in orange-toned light. It looked like the opening credits of a movie, with all sorts of people entering the frame.

Ming Li was exhausted from sitting. She had spent all day in an office chair, and now she had been sitting here for over two hours. Her back and waist were beginning to ache.

This was somehow more tiring than dancing.

Worse still, she couldn’t even play with her phone comfortably. Her neck felt stiff, and with her head full of rollers, she couldn’t look down. Holding the phone up was too much effort, so she just sat there, bored to tears.

With Sun Xihan sitting right beside her, she didn’t even feel comfortable spacing out.

Ming Li knew her frequency of dazing off had increased lately. No matter the environment, she found it easy to sink into her own thoughts, often losing herself for half an hour at a time.

It was a state that was easily noticed.

And Ming Li did not want Sun Xihan to notice her problems.

After another half hour, Ming Li finally couldn’t help but reach back and thump her lower back. Sun Xihan, sitting nearby, suddenly asked, “Were you injured?”

“No,” Ming Li replied. “I’ve just been sitting too long. My back is sore.”

Sun Xihan let out a soft “oh.” Then she asked, “Have you had a child?”

Ming Li looked at her in shock. “Why would you ask that?”

“Just a guess,” Sun Xihan said. “Your current state is a lot like someone who just finished their postpartum recovery. Except for your figure, of course.”

Ming Li was speechless.

The comment was beyond rude, especially coming from Sun Xihan’s arrogant mouth.

Ming Li’s expression chilled. “I haven’t been pregnant,” she said coldly.

Sun Xihan glanced at her waist again. “I heard you became a wealthy socialite wife. Why would your back be sore?”

“I sit in an office all day. Is that not allowed?”

“It’s allowed,” Sun Xihan replied smoothly. “Which is why you should stand up and move. I think dancing would be quite appropriate.”

Caught off guard by the verbal trap, Ming Li stammered for a few seconds before sighing helplessly. “Why me?”

“I usually only hear the question ‘Why not me?'” Sun Xihan said. “There are plenty of answers to that: poor dancing, the wrong look, bad form. The range of answers for that is huge. But for your question…”

Sun Xihan frowned slightly, tucked her phone away, and stared directly at her. “Because you are Ming Li?”

Even her answer sounded like a tentative probe.

Sun Xihan didn’t know the “standard” answer either. When her director asked her to consider someone for the B-roll Understudy, the only name that came to mind was Ming Li.

They had shared the stage before. Sun Xihan had once been her B-roll Understudy. Even Sun Xihan—a girl who had been the “blessed daughter of heaven” since childhood—found herself playing second fiddle to Ming Li in a university teeming with talent.

At first, she had been defiant. But when they stood on the stage and Sun Xihan looked at Ming Li’s back, the stage itself had convinced her.

Many things in life have no objective standard; everyone has their own preferences.

But in the world of dance—especially to those who had danced since they could walk—skill was the only thing that commanded respect.

And she could see at a glance that Ming Li’s talent was better than hers. Her ceiling was higher.

That was why she wanted Ming Li.

She hadn’t been entirely certain at first, but after seeing Ming Li again, her conviction had solidified.

The protagonist of Thorn Crown had two sides. Sun Xihan would dance the side of light, and Ming Li would dance the side of darkness. It would be the ultimate contrast.

It required immense stage experience and technical skill.

Others might not be able to reach that level in a short time, but if it was Ming Li, Sun Xihan believed she could do it.

This was the real reason she was lingering in this hair salon.

Of course, there was another reason: she really wanted to see what Ming Li looked like with a perm.