Anyone who wasn't deaf could hear that her singing sounded completely different from Jiang Jinran's...
Continuing to sing seemed like inviting humiliation.
She couldn't go on singing. The audience and judges already knew the score.
Jiang Jinran didn't even need to speak, because the matter already had an answer.
They left the stage.
Jiang Jinran followed the others backstage in silence.
She had only just stepped through the doorway-
"Jiang Jinran!" Shi Hui shouted in fury, and a dark figure rushed straight toward her-
Shi Hui charged over with a twisted expression, towering fury surging in her eyes. The girl in front of her raised her arm, her palm about to land on Jiang Jinran's face!
Jiang Jinran froze briefly, then swiftly stepped back to dodge.
She dodged in time, and Shi Hui's slap failed to land on her face.
But her nails scraped across Jiang Jinran's cheek.
Several red, bloody scratches instantly appeared on her snow-white skin.
Jiang Jinran retreated too quickly and accidentally stepped on a prop behind her. Losing her balance, she landed heavily on her backside!
That hurt.
What bloody rotten luck.
Jiang Jinran narrowed her eyes. Who had she offended?!
She had clearly been the victim all along...
Shi Hui stood there trembling with anger, her entire face flushed red with rage.
The others watched it all coldly.
Even though Jiang Jinran was the bedraggled victim at that moment.
They tacitly condoned Shi Hui's actions. They even thought Jiang Jinran deserved this "punishment."
"Jiang Jinran, you ruined all the hard work everyone put in over all these days!"
Someone said that.
"You just wanted the spotlight, wanted the whole world to know how well you sing! Shi Hui was doing it for everyone's sake, so we could win an award... You're so selfish, so awful!"
Someone accused her like that.
"Just to prove a point, you kicked away an honor that was already firmly in our grasp... I don't know what on earth you were thinking. Couldn't you give an inch?"
"Selfish and desperate for attention. You deserve what happened to you!"
Jiang Jinran only felt her ears hurting.
She stood up from the floor and pressed her lips together. Before she could speak-
Someone knocked on the door.
Everyone's attention immediately shifted to the doorway.
The person knocking was Jiang Chuji's manager.
"Hello." His manager, He Yan, curved his lips politely, sweeping his gaze around the room. "If you don't mind, I'd like to borrow someone."
Borrow someone?
Apart from Jiang Jinran, who remained silent and stern-faced, everyone grew excited.
After all, this was Jiang Chuji's manager.
Even the slightest connection to Jiang Chuji was enough to get people excited.
"Who do you want to borrow? We're all free," someone asked cautiously.
He Yan swept his gaze around again before finally settling on Jiang Jinran in the corner. He smiled kindly. "I'm here for this student, Xiao Shu."
Jiang Jinran blinked.
The others abruptly froze.
Surprise, jealousy, confusion-all sorts of emotions surged into their hearts.
In the end, they could only watch helplessly as He Yan led Jiang Jinran away.
"What happened to your face?" He Yan warmed to people easily. As soon as they left the backstage area, he asked the question with seeming casualness.
Jiang Jinran touched her cheek, her voice low. "Nothing. A dog scratched me."
"You even carry a dog around with you, huh?" He Yan clicked his tongue.
Jiang Jinran didn't respond for a moment.
He Yan switched into chatterbox mode and asked again, "Do you know who I am?"
Jiang Jinran nodded. "I do."
Jiang Chuji was famous, and his manager, He Yan, often appeared on camera with him, so naturally, he was famous too.
As they spoke, He Yan led Jiang Jinran to the door of the VIP lounge, then knocked gently. "Chuji, I brought her."
Jiang Jinran kept feeling that something about this scene was off.
It was particularly like something written in those gossip papers-
"Manager brings teenage girl to private rendezvous with top male star."
As her thoughts wandered, the door in front of Jiang Jinran opened.
Jiang Chuji's incomparably beautiful face appeared before her.
"All right, you can go." Jiang Chuji first looked at He Yan and dismissed him, then lowered his eyes, his gaze dark as he looked at Jiang Jinran. "Come in with me."
Jiang Jinran wasn't averse to seeing Jiang Chuji.
Otherwise, she wouldn't have obediently followed He Yan in the first place.
Compared with Shi Hui and that bunch of crazed demons and monsters, Jiang Chuji was much better.
Jiang Chuji's private VIP lounge was far more spacious than the backstage waiting room Jiang Jinran had shared with so many people. It was fully equipped and could be called luxurious.
"What would you like to drink?"
Jiang Chuji walked ahead. Jiang Jinran looked up and could only see his broad back.
"Anything."
She answered distractedly.
Jiang Chuji poured her a glass of juice and handed it over.
Jiang Jinran reached out to take it.
"What happened to your face?"
Jiang Chuji sat down opposite Jiang Jinran. He leaned back lazily against the sofa, looking casual, yet a faint, amused smile lingered at the corners of his eyes.
He asked the same question as He Yan.
But Jiang Jinran felt that something wasn't quite right.
[What's with that punchable look on this guy's face? Unless I'm mistaken, he seems to be taking pleasure in my misfortune?]
"Ha-ha."
All of a sudden, Jiang Chuji laughed aloud.
"Xiao Ran, you're really adorable sometimes." The man smoothed the hair over his forehead and spoke rather meaningfully.
"But today was a bit of a pity."
Jiang Chuji frowned slightly and abruptly came out with that remark.
A cold gleam like obsidian suffused his pitch-black eyes.
"I'd originally wanted to properly enjoy watching you get angry and make a fool of yourself, Xiao Ran."
Jiang Chuji delivered the words slowly and deliberately, like a venomous snake hidden in the night, lazily flicking its tongue.
Jiang Jinran: ??!!
"Watching you get played in circles is a kind of pleasure too." Jiang Chuji propped his cheek on his hand and tilted his head to look at her.
Jiang Jinran felt she needed a little time to digest this fact-
[Does this guy have some kind of dark personality?]
[He actually wants to see his own little sister make a fool of herself.]
[How vicious!]
Jiang Chuji blinked. He had never hidden his true self from Jiang Jinran.
He had never been a good person.
Everyone thought he liked to smile, but behind that smile lurked a dark, rotten heart.
Jiang Chuji had always felt that an immense urge to destroy and wreak havoc lay hidden in his heart.
What he loved most was seeing cute, fragile little things like Jiang Jinran battered and broken bit by bit.
Unfortunately.
Today, Jiang Jinran had tenaciously clawed back a victory and hadn't fulfilled his wish.
A pity, but interesting too.
"Big Brother."
Jiang Jinran suddenly called out to him in a bright, clear voice.
Jiang Chuji came back to his senses, his gaze landing on Jiang Jinran's cute little face.
Jiang Jinran suddenly raised a finger, pointed at her own head, and said with complete seriousness, "Is there something wrong with your brain?"