Inside the subway station.
Luo Xiaoqian ran into the carriage, gasping for breath.
Thankfully, she made it. Any later and she’d be caught in the after-work rush hour. Beijing’s notorious traffic jams were sothing she certainly didn’t want to experience cramd in a subway like a flattened photograph.
Finding an empty seat, Luo Xiaoqian finally caught her breath, but her empty stomach began to ache disconcertingly.
After a night of tossing and turning, she awoke and dashed to the audition site. She had barely had ti to shower upon returning ho before Leng Zimo summoned her. Considering it all, she hadn’t eaten a bite the entire day.
Years of irregular als had already scarred her stomach, which could hardly stand such abuse.
She wrapped her arms around herself and frowned, curling up into a ball.
By the ti she left the subway and walked ho with her stomach in pain, it was already six in the evening.
She went over to the water dispenser with a cup in hand, only to find the water jug empty.
"When you’re down on your luck, even a sip of water gets stuck in your teeth!"
Muttering bitterly to herself, she clenched her teeth, went into the kitchen, turned on the fla, and started boiling so cold water, opening a pack of instant noodles.
The noodles cooked quickly, and she devoured them and gulped down the soup. Luo Xiaoqian sighed in contentnt.
It wasn’t even seven o’clock yet. With two hours left before she had to work, she could take a little break.
Thinking this, she grabbed a cushion to lean on the sofa and reached into her pocket, sorting out all the change except for the money for her cab ride—adding up to a total of one hundred seventy yuan.
"One hundred seventy, today’s the twenty-eighth, seventeen days till payday, ten yuan a day!" Luo Xiaoqian said with a self-deprecating laugh. "That’s enough. There were tis before when I got by on a hundred yuan for a month!"
She carefully organized the money, put it back into her purse, and leaned back on the couch. No sooner had her back touched the couch when she jumped up again.
"Where’s my photo, my photo..."
Above the couch, below the couch, in the kitchen...
She searched the whole room and couldn’t find the photo.
"Weird, I’m sure I put it in my pocket. It must have fallen out on the way. Luo Xiaoqian, you’re such a fool!"
She had gone to great lengths to retrieve that photo; how could she have lost it!
Slapping her forehead, she grabbed her purse and keys from the table and hurried out of her house.
She combed the path from her ho to the subway back and forth but couldn’t find the photo, tired and cradling her aching stomach. Sitting on a chair by the road, she took out her phone to check the ti, let out a sharp scream, and bolted toward the bus stop.
In her frantic rush, she still arrived at her singing gig at the Golden Palace ten minutes late.
Manager Liu Feifei looked displeased. "Luo Xiaoqian, well well, just passing the ’Huaxia Idol’ preliminaries and you already start throwing diva tantrums?"
"Manager Liu, I didn’t an to. There was a traffic jam on the way!" Luo Xiaoqian hung her head and apologized. "I promise, it won’t happen again!"
"Exactly, Manager Liu. Look, all the guests below are waiting for Xiao Qian to sing. Xiao Qian, hurry up and get changed!" Xu Xia also hastily tried to smooth things over.
Manager Liu glanced at the custors. "Let tell you, Luo Xiaoqian, don’t think you can pull this just because the custors like you. As soon as you leave, I can replace you with any number of Little Faye Wongs and Little Na Yings!"
"Manager Liu, I’m really sorry!" Luo Xiaoqian kept apologizing profusely.
"Enough!" Liu Feifei crossed her arms. "I’m giving you five minutes. If you’re not on stage in five minutes, get out imdiately!"
User Comments
0 comments from readers