Jin'er, it looks like you have a romantic rival

When Zhou Yanqi saw her brother arrive, she knew she would have no further chance, but she still refused to give up. With her slender hand, she took out a business card of her own and said:

"Yun, here's my card. It has my personal WeChat and phone number on it. If you ever come here to eat again, or need anything, you can call me anytime."

With that, Zhou Yanqi winked at Yun Xiaoran. This was a master flirt's trick for keeping someone hooked: deliberately calling it her personal WeChat to imply how much she valued him.

Anyone who didn't know what she was thinking would genuinely believe she had fallen for Yun Xiaoran.

"Okay..."

Under the gaze of Zhou Yanqi's beautiful eyes, Yun Xiaoran reluctantly put the card in his pocket. This pointless social exchange was finally about to end.

Zhou Yanqi watched with satisfaction as Yun Xiaoran walked away gracefully. Maybe his aloofness was only on the surface. Perhaps he was secretly bursting with desire.

She had seen plenty of men like that.

Meanwhile.

Sister Hua had witnessed the whole thing. Her lips parted slightly in disbelief. "Jin'er."

"Hmm?"

"It looks like you have a romantic rival."

"So what if I do? Sister Hua, you don't actually think I've fallen for him, do you?"

"All I feel for a two-timer like him is disgust."

Shen Jin explained indignantly. Watching Yun Xiaoran flirt with another woman only made her think he was revolting. Then she took a fierce bite of her strawberry-and-chocolate frozen dessert.

"Oh."

Sister Hua nodded thoughtfully, though she felt something wasn't quite right.

Seeing his sister's superb acting, Zhou Zeyu struggled to hold back his laughter. Yun Xiaoran gave him a helpless look, then put the business card on the table and weighed it down with a glass.

That little incident had stirred the feelings of four people. Afterward, Zhou Zeyu and Yun Xiaoran continued discussing their views on music, while Sister Hua chatted with Shen Jin about amusing anecdotes. Shen Jin, however, was clearly distracted.

She even wanted to get the meal over with as soon as possible.

As the meals at both tables drew to a close.

A beautiful woman appeared at the restaurant entrance. She had a shapely figure and was casually dressed in a white shirt and jeans, complete with sunglasses and a mask. Her barely visible eyes held both a young girl's innocence and a mature woman's allure.

"Let's eat here, Xi. There aren't any good restaurants nearby anyway."

Liu Yi spoke quietly beside Li Qingxi. There was little choice; this place was the closest to the rehearsal venue for I Am a Singer.

"Here it is, then. We'll just grab something to eat."

Li Qingxi looked around and immediately found the restaurant pleasant, with the sea nearby and high-rises surrounding it.

Yun Xiaoran was enthusiastically discussing music with Zhou Zeyu, completely unaware that his ex-girlfriend was approaching from behind.

As it was nearly noon, more diners gradually arrived.

Only the private dining room near the floor-to-ceiling windows had just been vacated, so Li Qingxi naturally took a seat there, less than ten meters from Yun Xiaoran across a wall and an aisle.

But Yun Xiaoran had his back to Li Qingxi the entire time, so he had no idea that he and his ex-girlfriend were sitting back to back.

"Li Qingxi?"

With the earlier incident over, Sister Hua had resumed eating, but she kept glancing toward Yun Xiaoran and the floor-to-ceiling windows, hoping that woman from before would come back for another round.

Instead, to her surprise, she had spotted their sworn rival.

"She's here too?"

Shen Jin frowned slightly, then said:

"Let's not come to this restaurant again."

"Why?"

"No reason. I just don't want to eat here anymore."

This restaurant really was bad luck for her. First she had caught her newlywed husband flirting with a woman here, and now she had run into her sworn rival.

"Oh, okay..."

"Don't worry. Once the latest season of I Am a Singer airs tonight, the paid trolls will start trashing that song Shen Muge sang."

Liu Yi was plotting things out.

Last night, she had learned from Lone Cloud that the cover rights to this song had already been sold to China Star Entertainment once. There was no need to think twice about it; everyone knew only two singers in Mainland Entertainment were best suited to sing it.

One was Shen Muge.

The other was Li Qingxi.

If you couldn't have it, you destroyed it. That was a basic rule of Mainland Entertainment. Meanwhile, Li Qingxi was keeping an eye on the plagiarism exposés on VA Site.

As long as there was evidence that Lone Cloud really had plagiarized it, she wouldn't even have to act herself. Those creators on VA Site could destroy the song for her.

A double safeguard!

Whenever Li Qingxi thought of Lone Cloud's indifferent attitude toward her, she grew furious. She was a second-tier singer in Mainland Entertainment, after all.

Yet she kept feeling that Lone Cloud's way of speaking was remarkably similar to someone she knew. She just couldn't remember who.

"Muge, you really sang 'Silence' beautifully, but we've decided not to perform it tonight. We'll save it for the finals."

Sister Hua helped Shen Jin weigh the pros and cons of saving the song for the finals. Shen Jin, however, had already gone over it in her head. Saving it for the finals would be no better than singing it now.

"If Mr. Lone Cloud's new song this afternoon is still this good, let's send him another invitation through China Star Entertainment's official channels. It would be even better if he could become my exclusive lyricist."

Shen Jin's admiration for Lone Cloud had clearly risen another level. Yesterday, she had still called him Lone Cloud Peninsula; today, he had become Mr. Lone Cloud.

"Okay."

Sister Hua nodded.

"If we make it into the finals this afternoon, let's find a nightclub and celebrate."

Shen Jin was about to object, but her gaze fell on Yun Xiaoran across from her, happily chatting with Zhou Zeyu. That conspicuous business card was still beneath his glass, and anger instantly welled up inside her.

"All right. It's been ages since we celebrated. Let's go out with everyone on the team tonight. My treat."

"Great. I'm holding you to that."

Sister Hua was very excited about drinking tonight, mainly because too many unpleasant things had happened lately.

A rare trace of relaxation appeared on Shen Jin's face. She leaned back gracefully in her chair, her alluring eyes secretly watching the oblivious Yun Xiaoran with smug satisfaction.

"Zhou, I'll head back first. It's already past two, and I still need time to record my new song."

Yun Xiaoran rose, preparing to leave, and first said goodbye to Zhou Zeyu.

"Aren't you taking my sister's card?"

Zhou Zeyu picked up the card from beneath the glass and waved it between his index and middle fingers.

"Are you sure you don't want to add her personal WeChat?"

Yun Xiaoran sighed helplessly.

"Quit messing around. Having her here at lunch was already enough for me. Why would I add her on WeChat and let her bombard me with messages every day?"

Zhou Zeyu also realized that Yun Xiaoran seemed no stranger to this sort of thing, and that his sister had been rather rude. Feeling guilty, he said:

"Sorry. I haven't told my sister you're that creator on VA Site yet."

"It's fine. The fewer people who know about that identity, the better."

"Jin'er, did you hear that? Yun Xiaoran has an account on VA Site too."

"Of course I know. That day, he even..."

Shen Jin replied impatiently.

She had glanced over just now, and the business card beneath the glass had disappeared. Yun Xiaoran must have tucked it away like some precious treasure.