When the Side Character Gets a System and Travels through Difference Worlds-Chapter 84: Chi Mo 38

The fourth episode’s shoot was scheduled for three days. Chi Mo’s dad only came for one day, leaving with the other special guests on the second. The moment he left, Tan You breathed a sigh of relief. She had truly never encountered a situation like this before.

In her deep-rooted impression, the role of a "father" was someone like Tan Lin: short-tempered and irritable, throwing things and smashing bowls at the slightest displeasure, as if he was the only good person in the world and everyone else was full of flaws.

But now, after meeting Chi Mo’s dad, Tan You realized that fathers could be different. To be honest, she was a little envious, but that was all it was: envy. She had long since given up any hope of having a close relationship with her own parents.

The second day of shooting still involved splitting the guests into pairs. Tan You wasn’t the least bit surprised to be grouped with Xu Jike. Given the director’s usual antics, he was definitely trying to create more highlights for the show.

After all, Song Haomin and his ex-wife were guaranteed to film together until the end. As for the other guests, they would, of course, be paired up. Yes, even though the show had gone so far off the rails, the director was still stubbornly trying to manually create some "CP" chemistry.

Tan You didn’t care who she was paired with. In any case, today would probably be her last day alone with Xu Jike. Once this variety show was over, she and Xu Jike would likely have no reason to see each other again.

Xu Jike had a headache as well. He knew all the tricks men use to pick up women. There was the suspension bridge effect in psychology, a principle he had mastered over the years and had indeed used to successfully pursue many women.

But with Chi Mo, it was like a dog trying to bite a hedgehog—completely ineffective.

As early as after the first episode’s taping, Chi Mo had been blunt: she was afraid of heights and the dark, and she disliked all kinds of extreme sports. As a result, there were very few activities he could arrange.

Once the activities became mundane, it was hard to generate that kind of hormonal spark between a man and a woman, and their interactions would become very bland. This was precisely the situation Xu Jike now faced. But no matter what, he was still happy deep down to be able to go out alone with Chi Mo.

The typical activities in a Jiangnan water town were things like riding a sculling boat, listening to Pingtan, or visiting museums. Right now, Xu Jike and Tan You were sitting in a Pingtan hall, listening to the master performers sing in their high-pitched, melodic style.

Xu Jike pinched the bridge of his nose. "Can you understand any of it?"

Tan You narrowed her eyes slightly. "I can understand some of it. It’s giving me an idea."

"What are you thinking about? Working on your choreography again?" Xu Jike knew Chi Mo’s habit. Except for the second taping, where she didn’t release a video, Chi Mo would release a brand-new dance after every episode shoot.

’She must be putting a lot of thought into this next dance too.’

Before, Xu Jike didn’t get it. But after watching Chi Mo’s two dance videos, he realized her world was one he could never comprehend. By now, Xu Jike had watched those two videos so many times they were practically worn out. Whenever he was alone, he would watch them over and over again.

"Yes. I’m a dancer, after all. I always have to keep putting out new work," Tan You said bluntly. "Do you have other plans after this Pingtan performance?"

Xu Jike shook his head. "No. What do you want to do? I can go with you."

Tan You was indifferent. "I’m going to a nearby teahouse. I heard they have a small stage there every day. I need to talk to the musicians about something."

Xu Jike said, "Then let’s go together. The Pingtan is over anyway."

Tan You stood up and thanked the Pingtan performers before leaving. They found the teahouse without any trouble and also reached an agreement with the musicians.

Given Chi Mo’s current popularity, any collaboration with her would be a huge benefit to the musicians. So, as soon as she stated her request, neither the musicians nor the teahouse owner had any objections. Soon, Chi Mo was sitting down with the musicians to discuss the musical arrangement. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The teahouse’s daily performances started at four in the afternoon. This gave Tan You nearly six hours to work on her dance.

Tan You was the type of person who became completely absorbed in her work. Once she was in the zone, she was oblivious to everyone else. While the musicians were busy composing the traditional-style song, Tan You was on stage, practicing her dance over and over.

Meanwhile, Xu Jike sat quietly below the stage, watching. He had never seen Chi Mo dance from this close before. He knew she wasn’t dancing for him, yet his heart couldn’t help but pound erratically.

The more he watched, the more hopeless Xu Jike felt. ’That’s just how life is. You meet the right person at the wrong time, and you aren’t even the best version of yourself, so you’re destined to never be a part of their world.’

Brother Chuan clearly knew how to film a scene. Just by capturing the shot of Xu Jike’s back and Chi Mo’s dance on stage, he had already conveyed a sense of a fated "bad ending."

After dancing continuously for nearly two hours, Tan You finally stopped to rest for a moment. Wiping the beads of sweat from her forehead, she caught her breath. She felt she had pretty much perfected the stunning dance.

’Now all that’s missing is the arrangement from the musicians... oh, right, and a costume.’

The thought of the Hanfu and other historical costumes she had seen was tempting. But with the limited resources here, Tan You ultimately took out her red dance outfit.

Chi Mo herself liked fresh, light colors, or what one might call the Morandi color palette, so her dance outfits were mostly light-shaded. But Tan You wasn’t like that. She had a preference for red.

Although she rarely chose to wear red in her daily life, Tan You especially loved red dance costumes when performing. In fact, a few of her outfits were ones she had made by hand.

This particular dance outfit was very simple; it could even be worn as everyday clothing, though its style looked a bit vintage.

The guzheng teacher knocked on the door enthusiastically. "Ms. Chi, the first draft of the arrangement is ready! Do you want to take a listen? If it’s not right, we can make some changes."

Tan You said, "Okay, let’s listen to it."

As she went with the guzheng teacher to listen to the arrangement, Tan You had a quick word with Brother Chuan, mainly about her dance outfit. Brother Chuan grinned. "Don’t worry, I’ll definitely bring it over for you. I’ll get the director to send the stylist over, too."

Tan You trusted Brother Chuan to get things done. While she was discussing the music with the arrangers, the directing team was having a bit of a headache. The main issue was that the later stages of the variety show filming had gotten stale. Even they couldn’t stand watching the awkward conversations anymore.

Now, upon hearing the news from Brother Chuan’s side, the director’s small eyes widened. "Quick! Everyone, to the teahouse!"

The assistant director hesitated. "This is a romance reality show. Is it really appropriate for you to focus all the cameras on Chi Mo?"

The director rolled his eyes. "Just tell me, do you want to see Chi Mo’s performance or not? Besides, with the way filming is going, editing is going to be a nightmare. We have such good material right in front of us. Are you really willing to let it go?"

"Well, I’m not willing to let it go," the assistant director immediately said, shaking his head. He was surprisingly quick to act. "Quick! Everyone, grab Chi Mo’s things! We’re heading to the teahouse now!"