"Excuse me, are you Ji Xiaonian?" Inside the train carriage, a girl bravely asked.
Xiaonian turned her head around. Hearing the crowd's astonished voices, she responded with a smile, "I think...perhaps you've mistaken me for someone else."
"You're definitely Ji Xiaonian. I'd recognize you even if you turned to ashes!" someone passionately exclaimed.
Turned to ashes...Xiaonian was frightened, with an expression desperately clinging to life, "Why don't we just get along peacefully..."
"Pfft"
Seeing the woman's frightened expression, everyone in the carriage couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Xiaonian! You're so pretty, I'm your fan..." A girl eagerly pulled along her boyfriend, extremely excited as she spoke.
Xiaonian looked over, somewhat bewildered and incredulous, "Is that so...I actually have fans..."
The surrounding crowd whispered among themselves. A girl softly said, "Her expression is so cute."
"I listen to your songs every day, they're so good, (Ordinary Road) I always play the music video too." The fan girl zealously pulled her boyfriend's arm, beaming with elation.
Seeing her happy appearance, Xiaonian amiably responded, "Thank you! But it would sound even better in a male cover."
"Has this song been released yet?" Seeing her idol engage her in conversation, the fan was overwhelmed with excitement.
"It's a secret." Xiaonian playfully winked, smiling as she said, "You'll probably find out after some time."
By now the surrounding onlookers were all looking over. The woman's facial expressions were affable, unlike her seemingly aloof and cold beauty that gave off an untouchable aura.
She stood in the train carriage, appearing quite reticent, yet still politely answering everyone's questions. Hence, the crowd gathering around gradually loosened up, actively conversing.
"Xiaonian, why are you squeezing onto the subway?" someone asked.
Xiaonian awkwardly rubbed her nose and replied, "Actually I used to frequently take the bus and subway, it's just that today...I forgot to wear a face mask."
"Did you normally wear a face mask when going out before this?" a girl shyly questioned.
"Mm-hmm." Xiaonian gave a faint smile, "If it wasn't for you guys crowding around today, I wouldn't have even realized that I forgot my face mask."
"Xiaonian, take a seat!" A fan pointed to a vacant spot that had just been given up, then looked towards the still-standing dumbstruck young man, "The gentleman already gave his seat up for you."
Xiaonian felt awkward, shaking her head, "No need, no need, handsome guy you should sit instead, I think standing is fine for me too."
The young man happened to be closest to the woman. Seeing her talk to him, he couldn't help but turn red with shyness, bashfully responding, "You should sit instead, ladies first."
Seeing him insist on giving up his seat, Xiaonian somewhat apologetically sat down, awkwardly uttering, "Thanks."
"Xiaonian, how did you get to know Cheng Liran..." A girl suddenly posed the question.
The atmosphere instantly turned silent. Everyone looked towards the woman, as if waiting for her response.
Xiaonian saw the inexplicably quiet train carriage, bewildered. Damn, she didn't have any memory of how she knew Cheng Liran either. What the heck?
"Um...I have quite a lot of antis, and I was just worried earlier about possibly being attacked. Let's put this sensitive topic aside for now if that's alright. Peaceful development, peaceful coexistence." Xiaonian had a dumbstruck expression as she spoke.
Gamers would understand what "peaceful development" meant, and everyone couldn't help but laugh. No one clung on to this topic either.
At this moment, a video made it to the top of the hot search on Weibo again. The experienced internet users who saw the video of the woman riding the subway rushed to comment below.
"Which subway line is this, please state, it's urgent."
"Hahaha, why do I feel like Ji Xiaonian looks so confused?"
"Peaceful development, I'm dying of laughter! Does she play Honor of Kings too?"
"Oh my gosh, I'm so envious of them!"
"Black fan here: We only diss her online, don't have the guts to do it in real life."
"Comment above speaks the truth."
"I can't even, openly riding the subway like that, desperate for fame and attention huh."
"Awesome, stirring up hype like this, of course she'd make the hot search."
"To be honest, I still deeply admire her, going to such great lengths just to trend."
"Didn't you guys hear her say that she takes the subway frequently? She just happened to forget her face mask today."
"You actually believe what she said?"
"Regardless, she still comes across as very down-to-earth and polite."
"Is it still in time for me to coincidentally bump into her there?"
While netizens were still locked in intense discussion, Xiaonian who felt extremely awkward even just sitting in the train carriage finally heard that it was her stop. She promptly stood up.
"Xiaonian, are you getting off?" a fan excitedly asked.
In fact, none of the onlooking crowd were alighting here. Seeing the somewhat lost woman, to tell the truth, they found her rather adorable.
"Yup! I'm getting off here, bye-bye!" Xiaonian saw the doors open and hurriedly slipped out.
But after getting off, she realized that it appeared everyone had alighted at this stop with her. Xiaonian turned her head back to see a sea of people surrounding her. She awkwardly laughed, "Oh what a coincidence...everyone happened to be getting off at the same station..."
Laughter sounded out from the crowd. Everyone whispered among themselves, while those taking pictures and videos continued doing so. They were silently amazed to themselves - this face looked flawless from every angle.
"Xiaonian, I have a spare face mask, want to borrow it?" Someone yelled.
Xiaonian's eyes lit up at that and she promptly nodded, "Really? Let me borrow it."
A face mask was then passed through the crowd to her. Xiaonian quickly accepted it, smiling as she said, "I'll return it when there's a chance."
"No need, it's for you."
"Hahaha!"
Xiaonian felt awkward. She put on the face mask, then took the elevator up and exited the station with a group still trailing behind her.
Seeing a taxi not too far away, she immediately made a dash for it, swiftly getting on as she bid the onlookers still crowding around her, "Bye bye, I'm going home, you guys should hurry along to your own matters too!"
The crowd saw the woman slip away before they could even react. Quick as lightning. Among them were still many of Cheng Liran's fans who often left scathing comments about her online. But directly facing and beholding her now, they discovered how shockingly beautiful this woman was in person, easily drawing all attention the moment one laid eyes on her even in a packed crowd.
"Oh my god, she's so gorgeous." Some in the remaining crowd still discussed among themselves.
"I didn't even dare admit I was a black fan just now."
"Hahaha, have to admit, she really is very good-looking, and her personality doesn't seem bad either."
"It was after watching her variety show that I felt this girl's pretty decent."
At this moment, Xiaonian heaved a huge sigh of relief after getting into the taxi. The consequences of not wearing a mask were too severe. She was lucky today, but what if she met some aggressive black fans and got surrounded and beaten? That mental image made her shiver. She must always have spare masks on hand from now on.
