Chapter 35

On the day of the finals, Su Xingyao woke up early.

For today’s competition, he brought the “Sunset Dog” headgear with him to the venue.

However, the production team wanted to keep it mysterious, so they asked him to put it on only when he went on stage. As a result, he had to keep the dog headgear in his suitcase.

Before leaving, it was still dark outside. Lu Jiuxu had already gone to get the car.

While waiting for him at the door, Su Xingyao heard some noise, and Sunset ran out of its little bed.

Sunset ran quite fast, but in the end, it quickly stopped in front of Su Xingyao, then obediently squatted down on the ground, its dark shiny eyes fixed on the coral cat headgear still worn by Su Xingyao. “Woof woof woof!”

The little dog was very confused, extending its paw to lightly scratch Su Xingyao’s cat ears in displeasure.

Su Xingyao took off the gloves and bent down to rub the soft, floppy triangle ears of the dog.

“I’ll put on your headgear as soon as I get to the production team, okay?”

While Su Xingyao was talking to Sunset, Lu Jiuxu had already driven the car over.

He parked it a few meters away and leaned on the half-opened window with one hand.

“Coral Cat, let’s go.”

Su Xingyao waved to Sunset while holding the cat paw gloves, then quickly jogged over and got into the passenger seat.

As he buckled his seatbelt, he corrected Lu Jiuxu’s mistake.

“Tonight, at 8 o’clock, I’ll be turning into Sunset Dog.”

Su Xingyao had his head lowered, but he heard the man next to him drag his words out in a teasing tone.

“Okay, Sunset Dog.”

Lu Jiuxu was already very familiar with the route to the production building, having driven it several times before.

This time, he didn’t even use the navigation and directly drove Su Xingyao to the VIP entrance of the production team’s parking lot.

Since Su Xingyao was wearing the costume, his movements were a bit slower. By the time he got out of the car, Lu Jiuxu had already taken his suitcase out.

Su Xingyao stretched out his cat paw to take it, and just as he was about to say goodbye to Lu Jiuxu, he heard the man speak first.

“Mr. Xiao Su…”

Su Xingyao looked up at him. “Hmm?”

Lu Jiuxu didn’t look at him but glanced at the entrance of the passageway before lowering his gaze to meet Su Xingyao’s eyes.

“Aren’t there any complimentary tickets from the production team?”

The unexpected question caught Su Xingyao off guard.

He didn’t understand why Lu Jiuxu suddenly seemed concerned about the production team’s complimentary tickets.

Shaking his cat’s head, Su Xingyao answered truthfully.

“No, the audience for today’s competition was randomly selected from those who registered online.”

Lu Jiuxu seemed to have asked the question casually. He lowered his head and gently rubbed his thumb over the black dog on the phone case.

“Mm, got it.”

After speaking, he opened the car door and got in.

Su Xingyao stayed where he was, planning to watch Lu Jiuxu leave before heading inside.

Lu Jiuxu skillfully turned the car around right where he was.

Before the car drove off, he opened the passenger window, holding the steering wheel with one hand.

“Good luck, Sunset Dog.”

Hearing this, Su Xingyao smiled lightly and waved back at him, “I will.”

After Lu Jiuxu left, Su Xingyao hurriedly swiped his card and got into the elevator.

Since the live broadcast was involved, there were a lot of things to pay attention to, including timing and preparations.

The production team had informed everyone to try to arrive before o’clock.

Su Xingyao woke up early, so when he arrived, most of the other contestants hadn’t yet shown up.

He pushed open the door and entered his group’s practice room, only to find that the rapper had actually arrived the earliest today.

Su Xingyao was about to greet him with a “Good morning” but then noticed that the rapper was on the phone with his girlfriend.

“Okay, okay.”

“Be good, hurry back, and be careful on your way home.”

Realizing that he had arrived at the wrong moment and not wanting to eavesdrop on their conversation, Su Xingyao took two steps back and left the practice room.

As he was about to close the door for the rapper, he heard the rapper say to his girlfriend, “I think there will be tickets for the next round. If I make it to the next stage and get tickets, I’ll definitely save the best spot for you.”

The door gently clicked shut, but Su Xingyao stood still at the door, motionless.

Tickets?

Suddenly, he recalled what Lu Jiuxu had said to him earlier when leaving.

So, Lu Jiuxu was asking about the live audience tickets…

Now understanding the meaning behind his words, Su Xingyao finally reacted, though a bit belatedly.

Lu Jiuxu was… going to come to the venue to cheer for him?

Su Xingyao wasn’t completely sure, but he felt like that was probably what Lu Jiuxu meant.

Unfortunately, Lu Jiuxu had already left, and he couldn’t ask him face to face.

But Lu Jiuxu had helped him so much, and he rarely asked Su Xingyao for help in return.

Thinking about this, Su Xingyao couldn’t help but take out his phone and type a few lines on WeChat.

After 520 came back, he also changed his phone case to the white cat design that Lu Jiuxu had won for him as a prize from the claw machine.

With his left hand, he gently dragged his finger over the cat’s face on the phone case and quickly typed out a message on WeChat.

Mr. Lu, were you asking about the tickets just now? I misunderstood earlier. There should be tickets for the next round. If you still need one, I can get one for you.

After typing this long message, Su Xingyao moved his finger toward the send button.

But before sending it, he hesitated.

He looked at the text he had just written and felt that something seemed off.

Was he being too confident?

What if something unexpected happened today, and he didn’t make it to the next round?

After thinking it over, Su Xingyao decided to delete the message.

After deleting it, he made some changes.

But again, he felt that something was still not quite right.

While Su Xingyao was indecisively editing the message, Lu Jiuxu, who had parked his car in the parking space outside the building, was still sitting inside the car. His slender eyes were gently fixed on the WeChat interface, watching the constant blinking “The other party is typing…”

He patiently watched the words appear and disappear, appear and disappear.

After seven or eight rounds, the words stopped appearing.

He continued to wait for about thirty more seconds.

When Su Xingyao still hadn’t sent the message, Lu Jiuxu took the initiative and sent him a message.

It was a picture.

Mr. Lu: The sunrise in the city.

Su Xingyao was about to lock his phone when he saw the photo that Lu Jiuxu had sent.

Between the gaps of densely packed buildings, the rising sun was gently emitting its glow.

Mr. Xiao Su: So beautiful.

After sending the message, Su Xingyao thought for a moment and added another line.

Mr. Xiao Su: Be careful on the road.

After sending that, his finger paused for a few seconds before he typed one more message.

Mr. Xiao Su: The competition will be live at 8 o’clock tonight…

As soon as Su Xingyao sent the last message, Lu Jiuxu replied almost instantly.

Mr. Lu: Okay.

Mr. Lu: I’ll be watching on time.

Su Xingyao looked at Lu Jiuxu’s reply.

Watching on time?

When Su Xingyao arrived at the program’s preparation area for the evening’s performance, Shen Huaixi was still the hot topic of discussion among all the online users.

Although his team had already removed all his trending topics, the buzz surrounding him was still off the charts.

Especially after he had just shifted the blame to the production team yesterday, the program’s official Weibo account boldly and loudly promoted tonight’s live broadcast.

Netizens, who were all experts in reading between the lines, were amused by it.

【They keep emphasizing “live broadcast, live broadcast, live broadcast,” hahahaha, this production team really cracks me up.】

【Is The Voice of Heaven hinting that everyone should watch the live broadcast tonight to see if there’s any malicious editing, right? Right?】

【Wow, this is getting heated! Just thinking about it is so exciting. Song Yingming is already carrying the blame, now you better step it up and give me a high-definition camera aimed at Shen Huaixi’s white lotus face tonight.】

Right now, the most talked-about topics are: the first-ever live broadcast of a music variety show, the mentor at the center of the storm, and a production team that has already torn its relationship with him but knows how to stir up trouble…

These three elements are coming together, and at 8 o’clock tonight, everyone will be able to witness it in person.

Netizens, who are all eager for drama, saw that there was such a juicy scandal to feast on, and they were completely distracted from other things all day. They anxiously sat in front of the websites with live broadcast rights, waiting for the program to start on time at 8 o’clock.

On one side, netizens were eagerly waiting like hungry little sparrows to watch Shen Huaixi make a fool of himself.

On the other side, Shen Huaixi, who had already torn his relationship with the production team, still steeled himself and showed up at the live performance venue today.

He couldn’t focus on anything all day, his head buzzing non-stop.

Having suddenly been wronged so much and insulted so harshly by netizens, the pampered, spoiled young man was reluctant to return to this terrible program.

But his manager kept persuading him, urging him to perform well during the live broadcast tonight, and even wrote a script for him, telling him he must find a chance during the broadcast to clear up the misunderstanding.

Shen Huaixi knew that tonight really was a great opportunity to salvage his reputation.

If he could seize this chance, he could still recover some of his public image.

But, as much as he understood that, it wasn’t something everyone could handle—being cursed and mocked by tens of thousands of people overnight.

Especially considering that he had been carefully cherished and protected since childhood, with no one around him ever saying a harsh word.

The psychological gap was just too big, and Shen Huaixi couldn’t shake it off.

For today’s recording, Wen Ningshu noticed that her son was in a bad mood, so she specifically came to the scene to accompany him.

Of course, she had another purpose for coming.

She had seen the videos that netizens had edited and interpreted to smear Shen Huaixi.

So, aside from supporting her son in person, her main goal today was to talk to the production team.

She planned to put pressure on the production team, demanding that they remove the parts from previous episodes where Shen Huaixi had been wronged and criticized.

It was true that Wen Ningshu had spoiled Shen Huaixi since he was little.

However, despite being in the entertainment industry for so long, their family rarely used their connections and influence to clear a path for him.

First, it was because he had always been doing well and didn’t need it.

Second, Shen Liangyu didn’t really want his family involved in the entertainment industry, so the Shen family generally kept their distance from these matters.

Now that Shen Huaixi had suffered such an unfair malicious editing, as his mother, Wen Ningshu naturally had to step in to help smooth things over.

In the makeup room…

Shen Huaixi was inside changing into the clothes he would wear for tonight, while Wen Ningshu, who was waiting for him in the corner, received a message on her phone.

Since both of her sons entered the entertainment industry, she often kept up with the news about them.

Wen Ningshu opened her phone and saw that the message mentioned both Shen Huaixi and Su Xingyao.

She hadn’t seen the two sons’ names appear together in the news for a long time, so her eyes suddenly twitched a few times.

In the past, such news was usually about media outlets and Shen Huaixi’s fans accusing Su Xingyao of bullying him.

At first, Wen Ningshu only noticed her son’s name and didn’t pay much attention to the title. She thought Su Xingyao had been caught doing something else to bully Shen Huaixi.

However, when she opened the message, the content completely overturned her previous understanding.

In the video, Su Xingyao’s face was struck by Shen Huaixi several times with a pillow. His once-pale skin turned red and even seemed slightly swollen.

Wen Ningshu’s hand trembled, almost dropping her phone.

In her memory, it was always Su Xingyao who had been scheming and bullying Shen Huaixi… but in this video, it was the complete opposite.

She watched this segment many times, and with each viewing, her expression became heavier.

The Shen Huaixi in the video seemed so unfamiliar to her.

It wasn’t until Shen Huaixi finished changing his clothes and came out that Wen Ningshu saw the two lines of text below the video:

Shen Huaixi, the villain always accuses others first. How funny!

He hits Su Xingyao and then pretends to cry, accusing the other of bullying him!

Instinctively, Wen Ningshu muted the video and watched it all the way through.

Shen Huaixi, in a bad mood and overwhelmed by insults, felt exhausted and weak as though he hadn’t eaten for days. He didn’t notice his mother’s unusual behavior.

When he finished his styling and the other staff left, Wen Ningshu finally walked up behind him.

“Huaixi,” Wen Ningshu smiled gently, and after complimenting his outfit, she said, “This outfit suits you perfectly. You look like a prince stepping out of the mirror.”

Although Shen Huaixi had been harshly criticized online, he couldn’t stop himself from constantly checking the comments about him.

So, he was very aware of the derogatory nickname “Fu Qingyan’s Mute Little Prince.”

Hearing the word “prince” suddenly, his heart skipped a beat, and he irritably replied to Wen Ningshu, “Mom… I’m not in the mood for jokes right now.”

Wen Ningshu nodded.

However, she still stood motionless behind Shen Huaixi.

After a moment, she spoke again, “I just saw the video of you and Xingyao.”

Shen Huaixi, who had been looking down and frantically searching for his name on a small account, suddenly turned pale.

These past few days, he had been heavily criticized, not just for his performance on The Voice of Heaven but also because of the video with Su Xingyao.

When Wen Ningshu started speaking, he already knew which video she was referring to.

The high-intensity internet activity and the constant insults throughout the day had made his nerves incredibly tense, so he was unable to fully calm down and reflect on things.

Hearing his mother mention the video, Shen Huaixi, feeling a little guilty, didn’t probe into what she wanted to say, as he normally would. Instead, he immediately started to explain.

“Mom… don’t listen to what those haters and marketing accounts are saying. They’re just editing pictures and maliciously editing videos to attack me. As for Xingyao, it’s all being manipulated by those netizens, you know, back then, many people didn’t like Xingyao. I don’t know how it ended up like this…”

Wen Ningshu didn’t respond immediately but lowered her head to glance at Shen Huaixi.

She didn’t focus on his expression, she just smiled lightly and spoke calmly.

“Mom just wanted to ask, why were you crying so hard at the time?”

Shen Huaixi, whose heart had been tightly wound up, suddenly relaxed.

He let out a light breath, adjusted his breathing, and then said, “I was hurt.”

Wen Ningshu raised her head and, through the mirror, looked directly into Shen Huaixi’s eyes.

“Where were you hurt?”

Shen Huaixi didn’t dare to meet her gaze and hurriedly lowered his eyes. “I fell and twisted my ankle…”

Wen Ningshu smiled.

“I saw you holding your waist, wasn’t it your waist that was hurt?”

At her words, Shen Huaixi’s right hand unconsciously clenched, and after a moment, he lifted his head to act coquettishly toward Wen Ningshu.

“Mm, it should be my waist. It’s been so long, I almost forgot…”

Wen Ningshu nodded. “Next time, be careful during the filming.”

After saying that, an assistant knocked on the door of the dressing room. Wen Ningshu opened the door and, seeing the assistant wanted to speak with Shen Huaixi privately, she made an excuse to leave.

As soon as she stepped out of the dressing room, Wen Ningshu’s smile completely faded.

She took out her phone and searched for a long time before finding Su Xingyao’s number. She called him directly.

However, this time, she no longer heard the busy signal of being blocked but was instead informed by the system that the number was out of service.

—

After Wen Ningshu left, Shen Huaixi sat alone in front of the mirror, his heart pounding wildly.

His mind kept replaying the conversation with Wen Ningshu just now, and he hadn’t heard anything the assistant had said.

While Shen Huaixi was still lost in thought, the program staff came to inform him that the mentors were being called to their positions.

Realizing what he was about to face, Shen Huaixi took a deep breath and stood up, walking out with mixed emotions.

Meanwhile, the audience and netizens were all incredibly excited as they waited.

Although the program’s main livestream hadn’t started yet, it was already accessible.

Even before the broadcast began, several million people were already watching.

Tonight, the topic in the chat was incredibly consistent, with everyone typing 【Waiting for White Lotus Shen】.

However, after a while, netizens were suddenly told by other enthusiastic viewers that Shen Huaixi had started a solo livestream.

Hearing this, the viewers quickly exited the main livestream room and discovered that there were indeed four new livestream links below the main room.

These four livestream rooms correspond to four mentors: Wen Yun, Sheng Yan, Shen Huaixi, and Xu Beizhou.

After discovering this surprising move, the netizens quickly jumped into Shen Huaixi’s livestream room.

【66666666】

【Hahaha, the program team really understands the viewers】

【I’m very satisfied with this solo livestream】

【Hehe, now that we have the livestream room, if the program team doesn’t zoom in on White Lotus Shen’s face, I’ll lose respect for them!】

【Screen recording is on, I won’t miss any of White Lotus Shen’s micro-expressions】

【So is it bad editing, or is he really this fake? We’ll wait and see】

【Ahhh, you guys are so bad, why are you staring at him like that? Not like me, I just want to watch White Lotus Shen and see how he’ll cause trouble tonight】

The netizens in Shen Huaixi’s livestream room were all smiling, but when he sat down and saw the camera aimed directly at him, he was so angry he wanted to curse.

Shen Huaixi quickly turned to Xu Beizhou next to him and asked, “What’s going on?”

Xu Beizhou pointed at the same camera in front of him. “This will livestream us in a bit.”

Upon hearing this, the fire inside Shen Huaixi flared up instantly.

He raised an eyebrow, his expression no longer weak and innocent, but rather a bit flustered and exasperated.

“Are they doing this on purpose?”

Earlier, in order to clear himself of any responsibility, Shen Huaixi’s team had quickly shifted the blame to the program team during their emergency PR.

So, feeling guilty, the first thing Shen Huaixi thought of was that the program team was intentionally retaliating against him.

Xu Beizhou didn’t understand why Shen Huaixi was so angry. Thinking he wasn’t used to the livestream format, he tried to explain.

“It was announced after the group assignments, each mentor has their own solo livestream room. Did you forget?”

After that, Xu Beizhou tried to comfort him. “It’s just regular filming, nothing special. Today’s a livestream anyway.”

However, Xu Beizhou’s words did not comfort Shen Huaixi. Instead, they made him feel even more uneasy.

He had indeed forgotten about this detail, and now, with his reputation plummeting, he couldn’t calm down at all.

At that very moment, he suddenly had a premonition, a nagging feeling that something else bad might happen later.

He knew that at this critical juncture, he couldn’t afford to make any more mistakes.

Thinking this, Shen Huaixi stood up, ready to leave and tell his assistant and the program team that he wasn’t going to record tonight.

He knew that if he left before the broadcast started, netizens would definitely criticize him, but at this moment, he simply didn’t want to think about it anymore.

However, things didn’t go as planned.

Just as Shen Huaixi stood up, the scene controller began to announce.

“Only thirty seconds until the broadcast begins. Please, all mentors, audience, and staff, get ready.”

As soon as the announcement was made, the countdown immediately started on the screen, and the audience began to scream in excitement.

Shen Huaixi, who had just stood up, had no choice but to sit back down.

He closed his eyes in frustration.

He was so angry that he didn’t have the strength to get up again.

He should never have listened to his manager and agreed to participate in tonight’s livestream!