Chapter 272

The show lasted less than an hour, about half an hour, but a lot of additional footage was shot afterwards. Anyway, it was almost 9 pm when the filming wrapped up.

Xiao Qi thought it was good that she had found the Chairman, otherwise it wouldn't feel very safe for a few girls to head back this late at night.

She called the Chairman and Boss Huang was still saying he wanted to treat them to a meal, but she declined, saying she was with her roommates and they had a campus curfew to adhere to, so it was inconvenient.

They exchanged WeChat contacts with everyone.

They even added the host Liya's WeChat, which felt quite incredible since she was a celebrity.

Liya was very nice. After the interview, she was more humorous in her speech and not as stern as during the interview. She seemed quite close with Boss Huang too and their interactions had some flirtatious undertones. Xiao Qi noticed Liya's arm leaning against Boss Huang's arm, and remained that way for a while.

Xiao Qi couldn't quite pinpoint the feeling, but something just seemed odd. Perhaps it was a young girl's perspective on the world that made things appear disorienting and difficult to adapt to.

When they arrived at the TV station's underground parking lot, the Chairman was indeed already waiting for them. The Chairman drove a very ordinary Toyota while Boss Huang was in a flashy, high-end Mercedes that arrogantly drove by them.

Boss Huang extended another invitation for them to leave together, but this time the Chairman turned it down in a neither arrogant nor subservient manner.

It was very cool.

Xiao Qi realized that the righteous-looking Chairman with thick brows and big eyes handled everything in a very reliable way in both speech and action.

Once back in the car, the mood lightened up tremendously compared to the tense atmosphere at the TV station. It felt like arriving home, a sense of ease and comfort.

"Have you eaten?" Xiao Shengzhou asked.

Xiao Qi shook her head. "Luckily Wei Cheng brought some bread so we filled our stomachs a bit, but we basically didn't eat anything." "Let me take you girls out for supper. We'll eat first before I send you back to campus. At this hour all the shops near the school would be closed already."

Xiao Qi thought it would be good to get a free meal, so she asked her roommates who were also quite hungry and they agreed.

Xiao Shengzhou took them to a hawker center which was considered one of the signature things to eat in Alliance City. With the seaside location, there was abundant seafood, and many people would visit the open-air hawker centers at night when the weather was hot. Business was always booming.

The aroma of food already made their mouths water as they arrived. Sitting on chairs facing the open view of the sea, they could even hear the sound of waves.

After being tensed up sitting in front of the cameras earlier, everyone relaxed now, limbs stretching out.

Wei Cheng felt like if she had to sit any longer, her waist would have snapped.

The ever energetic Honey simply couldn't stay seated.

Yunshu was still fine, probably used to long sessions of sitting, but it was more comfortable and relaxing chatting and joking around with roommates.

Xiao Shengzhou was very gentlemanly, not making decisions for them but passing the menu to Xiao Qi and her friends to select dishes. Xiao Qi's first reaction was to decline and say anything is fine, but remembering that she intended to treat everyone, she passed the menu to each friend to choose before returning it to the Chairman. Xiao Shengzhou had already eaten so he only ordered stir-fried sea cucumber, while Xiao Qi added some other dishes, plus a big bottle of ice-cold Coke.

The food arrived swiftly, the table filled edge to edge with vibrant reds and greens of bell peppers and chilies, though not actually spicy in taste.

Xiao Qi had asked for a bowl of plain white rice beforehand which she steadily worked through while taking her time to enjoy the dishes.

Wei Cheng and the others were truly hungry, even the usually dieting Honey finished all the carbs on her plate.

Xiao Qi also ordered some greens and fruit platter for Yunshu.

Despite it being a roadside hawker center, the turnover rate was high and crowds were big, so the fruit platter was still quite fresh, retaining the seaside charm. To Xiao Qi's surprise, there was even pickled ginger and chili sauce which looked like a ominous dark cuisine, but tasted unexpectedly delightful, numbing and mildly sweet.

During the meal Xiao Qi had gone to settle the bill, only to be told it was already paid...She didn't even notice when the Chairman had taken care of it.

With full stomachs nourished by the sea breeze and lively chatter, bellies filled with ice-cold Coke, everyone felt deeply satisfied.

The Toyota started up again, heading back to Enhua University. Sleepiness sets in easily after a full meal, and the three girls in the back seat soon dozed off, all tilted together in a tangled mess when Xiao Qi turned to look at them.

In contrast, she was no longer drowsy in order to keep the Chairman company as he drove.

"How did the interview go?"

"It went quite well, very smooth. The host didn't ask anything weird either, mainly questions from the prepared list." In actuality there were a couple tricky questions that Xiao Qi skirted around, giving standard noncommittal responses.

"That's good to hear. Were you nervous?"

"A little bit, but it was a pre-recorded show, so slightly better I guess. I was way more nervous when participating in the English speech competition previously. I kept running to the bathroom out of nervousness leading up to the competition. In comparison this was better."

Hearing this, Xiao Shengzhou was somewhat amused. In his impression, this little girl Su Xiaoqi would unflinchingly return his gaze whenever he so much as glanced at her, exuding a powerful aura completely contrary to being insecure or introverted.

"I know your English is very good. You were also very calm singing on stage last time, so I wouldn't have expected you to be nervous for speeches."

"Yeah, when I sang on stage I just closed my eyes so I couldn't see anyone, and when opened, I couldn't really make out faces either since the stage lights were so bright and the audience quite far. I was just singing on my own without paying attention to others. But speeches are different, the schoolmates and teachers are seated so close below. I feel I'm actually quite insecure and introverted at heart, afraid of not doing well and being mocked."

Hearing this, Xiao Shengzhou was even more dumbfounded. In his eyes this little girl Su Xiaoqi was the very image of confidence bordering on arrogance even, absolutely no signs of being insecure or introverted. Was he to see her as ignorant or far too self-aware?

"I watched your speech and thought you did great. Don't worry, the student council is still waiting to hang up the second banner, you know." Xiao Shengzhou joked.

Xiao Qi was also a bit embarrassed recalling the banner business...Any student winning accolades outside school would be granted the honor of having their achievement banners displayed...So the Chairman thought she could achieve a good ranking in her speech competition?

Oh well, a speech competition is slightly better than some million dollar award.

Best to avoid flaunting wealth after all.

And so the two continued their sporadic conversation until Enhua University drew near, and Xiao Qi's group returned to their dorm shortly before 11 pm.

Not having told others about Xiao Qi's interview, they simply explained they went downtown in Alliance City together for fun.

Just returning at this hour piqued the curiosity of girls from other dorms who came over wanting to know details. Smelling the smoky scent of barbeque on them, they claimed they just went to eat at a hawker center.

With no shopping haul either, the others soon dispersed back to their own dorms.

After taking turns showering and blow drying their hair, all the roommates retired to their beds.

Honey rolled around in bed, "Still our own beds are the comfiest! Just now when Xiao Qi mentioned us at the end, I was busy looking everywhere, wondering if we'd appear on the show, if I should ask my mom to watch."

Wei Cheng was also quite excited to see what she would look like on TV herself, though she wasn't sure if her rural hometown would even get the Alliance City sports channel.

Thinking of how her mom would react, Yunshu felt it best not to mention anything.

Xiao Qi actually wanted her parents to watch too, but knowing how dramatic people back home could be, she decided to record the show when it aired and send them the footage instead.