Chapter 74

Cantare Entertainment top floor.

The sound of a cup shattering on the ground came from Liu Xin's rest room. The company's staff seemed used to it, but still couldn't help whispering to each other.

"Don't you all have work to do?"

Chen Xinya walked over with a cold face and scolded the employees. Everyone wisely took the hint and quickly left.

She walked to the door of the rest room, and could still hear the sound of things being thrown around inside.

Chen Xinya paused at the door, waiting for the noise to die down a bit before pushing the door open and walking in.

"Didn't anyone teach you to knock before entering!?" Liu Xin yelled from the couch.

Chen Xinya was not annoyed. She closed the door, walked over, and sat down next to Liu Xin. In a gentle voice she said to her:

"Senior sister, this is still the company after all. You should restrain yourself a little."

Liu Xin snorted coldly:

"What? Are you afraid it will get out? I'd like to see who doesn't want to work here anymore. If they dare say one bad thing about me outside, I won't just take away their job, I'll make sure they can't get a foothold in the industry anymore!"

Chen Xinya saw that she was truly angry, so she gently rubbed Liu Xin's back instead of provoking her further:

"Senior sister, calm down. This is your body we're talking about. Look at the broken cup on the floor. What if you accidentally cut yourself later? That would be so unfortunate!"

With both coaxing and persuasion, Liu Xin finally regained some composure.

Of course Chen Xinya knew why she was angry, but still she started massaging Liu Xin's shoulders while pretending not to know, asking:

"Which employee was so blind as to make senior sister angry? Let's just fire them!"

Liu Xin pushed her hand away impatiently:

"Who else but that damned Qin Wei? She's lucky to still be alive after Italy. She should be grateful and live prudently from now on. But she still dares to steal the spotlight during the competition, acting all eccentric like that." After hearing this, Chen Xinya laughed:

"Oh, is that all? I thought it was something serious. Don't be angry over her, senior sister. She's not worth it."

"Not worth it?"

Liu Xin glared at her.

"You told me Qin Wei is allergic to peanut butter, so I specifically ordered salad with a bit of peanut butter for everyone, and then tricked Youyou into giving it to her. But what happened? Nothing happened to her at all. Instead she stole all the attention!"

Chen Xinya sighed:

"How could it have had no effect? If that was true she would have danced jazz like senior sister. You saw how much attention she got, trending all day without even needing to buy hot search terms. The public was entirely focused on discussing her!

But she didn't dance it after all. The fact that she switched to playing an instrument meant the allergy prevented her from showing her face. The veil she wore on stage said it all.

And it served her right to have that allergy attack. We can't be blamed for her misfortune at believing Youyou! Senior sister, it's not that we lacked strength, but rather the enemy was too crafty."

Liu Xin snorted again:

"So what? In the end it was still a waste of effort! Go online and see for yourself. We had the real-time hot search but now we have nothing for the competition. What's left to compete over? Competing with ourselves?"

"Has senior sister considered that it could actually be a good thing if Qin Wei makes it through the auditions into the competition..."

Chen Xinya had not finished speaking when Liu Xin pushed her aside, almost causing her to fall on the broken glass. Before she could react, she heard Liu Xin pointing at her and yelling angrily:

"You opportunistic wretch! You're speaking up for her? Don't forget how you sabotaged her when she was a guest on that show! If she finds out, do you think she'd let you off easy?!"

Chen Xinya was angry at almost falling into the glass shards. With the competition coming up soon and her own busy schedule of commercials, an injury could ruin her prospects. She lashed back in a moment of anger:

"You were involved in the Europe incidents too. Even if we got lucky in the UK, the Italian police are still investigating. If they find any shred of evidence, Liu Xin, do you think you'll fare any better?"

Her words seemed to bring back some of Liu Xin's composure. She no longer attacked so fiercely.

But Liu Xin was still angry and went to stand silently by the window.

The two of them were grasshoppers tied together on one rope. They both understood clearly that they shouldn't rip each other apart right now.

At least until they cleared their names in the case, they had to stand united.

Considering various factors, Chen Xinya compromised first.

She got up and went to the window, resting her chin on Liu Xin's shoulder as she said softly:

"Senior sister, anger has clouded your judgment. When you calm down you'll see things more clearly. We both know what kind of person Qin Wei is. The louder the calls for her to enter the competition during the auditions, the greater people's expectations of her will be. And the harder things will become for her afterwards. You know what 'unworthy of one's position' means right?

With her lack of skills, the higher she stands, the harder she will fall."

Liu Xin sneered:

"But from what I've seen, she used to pretend to be weak while secretly strong. It doesn't seem like she lacks skills at all.

I've seen her play the violin with my own eyes. And now she can play some folk music too. Looks like she spent the last two difficult years taking a lot of lessons."

Chen Xinya said to her:

"It takes sustained daily practice over time to accomplish anything in music. It's not hard to hastily learn one or two pieces to fake it. Whether it's real skill or a sham, that will be revealed over time. When that happens, there will only be four words: 'collapse of public image'.

And even at her peak, Qin Wei was envied by others in the industry. Now that she has stolen the spotlight from so many, do you think we're the only ones upset with her?"

These words seemed to enlighten Liu Xin. She pondered for a moment, then turned her head:

"You mean...Qiao Sixiao?"

Chen Xinya nodded: "Qiao Sixiao is known as the lifelong arch-nemesis for a reason. Everyone knows they have similar styles and standings, but are at odds with each other. Right now Qin Wei has stolen her thunder, so perhaps she is even angrier!"

Liu Xin nodded, even showing some delight:

"You're right!

And since our competition is about forming a group, not getting first place, someone like Qiao Sixiao is pretty much guaranteed a spot already. If we can connect with her, our own opportunities will improve too.

And being in a group with her afterwards would bring us up another level!"

...

The competition had tired Qin Wei out so much that she slept for a full day and night when she got home, naturally missing the trending news. She didn't wake up until late afternoon the next day. If she wasn't so hungry she could have kept sleeping, but now she had to get up and eat.

She messaged Li Yao to order some food for her, then freshened up simply and went downstairs to the living room. Right then her phone buzzed, and she thought it was Li Yao replying at first. But when she opened it, it turned out to be a message from Shen Kai:

[Something Funny: I happened to see your video yesterday. I'm surprised you dared audition with that. Do you need my help getting through the preliminaries? Just say the word.]

Ugh!

Qin Wei rolled her eyes. This guy was still talking down to her. As if she had ever asked him for help.

His tone was a bit irritating. Why hadn't the original host blocked him already? Or should she just block him herself?

She tapped the upper right corner and pulled down the menu. Delete...

Just then the door made a sound and opened. Qin Wei paused and looked up to see Li Yao entering with the food she wanted to eat. It seemed he was in a good mood today, voluntarily serving Qin Wei.