[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-becoming-a-goddess-in-tokyo":3,"chapter-becoming-a-goddess-in-tokyo-becoming-a-goddess-in-tokyo-chapter-18":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Becoming a Goddess in Tokyo",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2339002,4573,"Chapter 18: Chapter Eighteen: China","becoming-a-goddess-in-tokyo-chapter-18",18,"\u003Cp>“Ancestral spirit, the Kobe beef you asked for.” Luo Quan walked into the house and placed the takeout steak before Wen Xia, along with a plastic container of rice—it had cost her thirty thousand yen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Finally back! I’m starving.” Wen Xia slurped loudly, then scrambled to set up the meal.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After enduring so long outside, feeling the warm, relaxed atmosphere of home, Luo Quan didn’t even bother removing her makeup; she collapsed straight onto the tatami.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Hey, what’s wrong?” Wen Xia bit into the still-steaming steak and asked with concern.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Quan spoke weakly: “I’m exhausted—I signed autographs for over a thousand fans today. My hand’s practically broken…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia sipped her chopsticks: “Normal. At your current popularity, you’ll probably have to do this every week from now on.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No more. No next time.” Luo Quan shook her head, voice trembling with near-tears. “I’m never doing another offline event again—no more autograph sessions, fan meetings, thank-you handshakes. Don’t even think about me going back!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wait, I just noticed you wore makeup today!” Wen Xia gasped. Makeup had elevated Luo Quan’s beauty to another level, and her current posture held an inexplicable allure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Stay like that. Don’t move. I’m taking a photo.” Wen Xia pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of Luo Quan, whose face radiated utter despair.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s the point? I sweated so much today—my makeup’s smudged.” Luo Quan crossed her right arm over her head and shot Wen Xia a glance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia laughed: “Not smudged. Just a little messy hair—but it gives off a special kind of beauty.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What kind of beauty?” Luo Quan asked curiously.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Like a peony crushed mercilessly by wind and rain—petals scattered helplessly on the ground, leaving only a lonely stem. A beauty of sorrow, of pity…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Withered flowers and fallen willows? I knew you weren’t going to say anything nice!” Luo Quan glared at Wen Xia, turned her head away, and opened her phone to scroll through Twitter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her Twitter followers had now surpassed two hundred thousand, rising as fiercely as her album sales. She checked the charts—her three songs were all listed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rankings combined physical sales with online streaming. Her highest-ranked song was “I Once Thought of Ending It All,” at #21; “Lemon” at #28; “Spark” at #37.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The results matched Luo Quan’s expectations. Most songs on the chart lately were new releases from girl groups—high sales, but low quality: mindless pop tunes you’d tire of after a few listens. They’d be swept away soon enough by truly high-quality music.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Just as she put down her phone, Luo Quan heard a sound from Wen Xia’s direction—it sounded like a domestic variety show.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Curious, Luo Quan shifted her body and leaned her head toward Wen Xia’s computer screen: “What are you watching?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia ate her steak-and-rice bowl slowly, mumbling: “Let’s debut. There’s a new girl group survival show airing in China right now—huge buzz.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s not bad. I remember China hasn’t had a big-scale survival show like this in ages.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“We’ll see if it’s worth it.” Wen Xia’s expression turned serious; she watched intently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Today was episode two. Contestants had already shown their talents and entered group training. What aired were mostly behind-the-scenes clips: conflicts, tears, friendships—but no skill.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The dances and songs each group performed were, except for a few individuals, downright painful to watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But to Luo Quan, it wasn’t so bad. After all, this was a mass-audience show. Only a handful had ever been trainees. The others might lack foundation, but their attitudes were sincere, and most had decent looks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still, the audience voting results surprised her: the stronger trainees, except a few, ranked surprisingly low, while those with no skill but likable personas, personalities, or looks received unexpectedly high votes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Wen Xia turned off the livestream. Her expression grew grim.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“What’s wrong?” Luo Quan asked, confused.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia pinched the bridge of her nose wearily: “If these are the future members of girl groups, this group will never take off.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Why? They look fine to me. A few of these girls are really pretty—they could debut and get tons of fans.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia sighed: “You think this is a beauty pageant? Even with makeup and filters, looks are never the most important factor for a girl group’s success. Only skill and persona matter!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Quan frowned: “Their skill isn’t bad. I think they dance well. Even if they’re behind Korean girl groups, the gap isn’t huge.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia said nothing. She opened YouTube, typed “Sweetgirl” into the search bar, and a list of videos with tens of millions of views appeared. She clicked one at random.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The video was an early MV from Wen Xia’s former girl group—nearly a hundred million views. The song itself wasn’t catchy, just energetic—a decent dance track.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the real highlight was the five idols dancing in sync: their movements unified, powerful, flawless in rhythm, timing, and aesthetic grace.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among all ninety-nine contestants divided into groups, Luo Quan couldn’t find one group that could be mentioned in the same breath as those five idols—not even their shadows.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“See the gap now?” Wen Xia closed the video and asked.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Quan looked embarrassed: “Uh… yeah. The gap really is that big.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia said gravely: “We’re fourth-generation. We debuted less than three years ago. Among our generation, our dance skills rank top three. But compared to established seniors, we’re at least one tier behind.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Quan sighed: “Of course there’s a gap. They’ve been doing this for over a decade—they’ve built full professional industries. We’ve just started.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“That’s exactly why I’m frustrated,” Wen Xia lay back, defeated. “I thought finding a few high-look, high-skill trainees in China wouldn’t be hard. Now I see—even finding one who meets a single criterion is tough. I underestimated this way too much.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Quan comforted her: “Don’t worry. China’s huge. Everything’s scarce except people. We’ll find them.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia suddenly sat up, staring straight at Luo Quan: “Luo Luo—can you dance?!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Luo Quan froze: “You’re not seriously thinking of dragging me into this? I can’t dance. Even if I could, I wouldn’t join. Look at these long limbs—how would I look dancing?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia paused, then nodded: “Yeah, you’re built for calisthenics. Wait till you grow taller—you’d look bizarre standing in a girl group.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m fucking—” Luo Quan swore to heaven—if she had even half Wen Xia’s strength, she’d beat her ass right now.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, I have to say this!” Wen Xia flipped over, opened her phone, logged into her main account, and posted a Weibo: “If I judged by skill alone, ignoring looks and background, where would I rank on ‘Let’s Debut’?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Wen Xia’s post, Luo Quan was startled: “You’re not afraid of offending people?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wen Xia rolled her eyes: “If I really wanted to offend someone, I’d just post two words: ‘Is this it?’”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Cool.” Luo Quan gave Wen Xia a thumbs-up. Girls this distinctive were rare.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Because Wen Xia’s departure from the group was still trending, her Weibo quickly gained massive attention. Netizens flooded the comments with jokes:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No way. No looks, no connections, and your emotional intelligence is this low? You’d get kicked off stage by the judges. Better become a dance teacher—or you won’t even afford meals.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Shocking! Former popular girl group leader reduced to starvation.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Serious talk: the judges on that variety show probably couldn’t even teach Wen Xia.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“You don’t get Wen Xia’s point? She’s saying the show’s rigged—skilled trainees rank low, while pretty ones from big companies rank high. Totally unfair!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wen Xia’s a master of passive aggression. Always has been.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’ve wanted to say this for ages, but I was scared of backlash. Wen Xia’s got guts.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Interestingly, despite the huge discussion, no related search terms appeared on the trending list.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Looks like someone suppressed it.” Luo Quan glanced at Wen Xia, who sighed helplessly and closed Weibo.\u003C\u002Fp>",1315,"2026-06-20T22:54:01.657Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","a4d1e12d768280c3ef4ebecee305b94adab4f6a9b60cd5056758ca2b27470e2b","becoming-a-goddess-in-tokyo-chapter-19","becoming-a-goddess-in-tokyo-chapter-17",1000,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fbecoming-a-goddess-in-tokyo-cover.jpg"]