CHAPTER 31 (PART 2)

Cheng Yue didn’t even look at her, still fixated on the stage. He asked indifferently, “So you naturally assumed that the Cheng family’s name was yours to use?”

Another wave of applause erupted from the audience.

Jiang Su and her group had secured an A.

Dong Jiayu felt her scalp go numb. Jealousy, rage, and unwillingness nearly consumed her.

Sister Wang kept signaling at her from behind, but she was blind to it.

“I just wanted you to know… I did all this because I like you.”

“How interesting.” Cheng Yue’s lips curved into a smirk. “So what, if one day you commit suicide, would you blame that on me too?”

He wasn’t referring to Jiang Su.

Hearing those words, Dong Jiayu felt as if there was an underlying message.

Her heart trembled, and she clenched her palms tightly, desperately searching for more words, hoping to stir even a shred of warmth in Cheng Yue.

She used to personally make soup and deliver it to Cheng Corporation.

She knew he had lacked family warmth for many years—he should like those things, shouldn’t he?

Dong Jiayu opened her mouth.

Cheng Yue: “What are you afraid of? So eager to pin everything on liking me, huh?”

Dong Jiayu broke out in a cold sweat.

“If you had even a little bit of intelligence, at this moment, you would have been scrambling away, crying, and kneeling before my mother, saying you’ve repaid your debt and that you don’t deserve anything more. But you didn’t.”

Sister Wang couldn’t help but speak up. “Mr. Cheng—”

If he kept talking, with so many people here, Dong Jiayu would be completely ruined. It wasn’t just a matter of no one wanting to hire her anymore!

Cheng Yue shot her a sidelong glance. “And who do you think you are? You think you have the right to speak here?”

Sister Wang choked on her words, completely silenced by his gaze.

At this moment, the performance on stage had switched to Ding Xuan.

Ding Xuan instinctively scanned the audience for Dong Jiayu, but she was nowhere to be found.

What was going on?

A bad feeling crept over Ding Xuan.

Cheng Yue rubbed his fingertips together. “But what a pity. Your first instinct was to talk about liking me. You’ve been serving tea and water to my mother for years, and you still haven’t figured out what I actually like?”

“So now, your only option is to kneel before all the media, cry, and admit you fabricated everything. Say that your ambition reached the skies, but your fate was as fragile as paper, and you can’t bear the warmth of the Cheng family anymore.”

This wasn’t a threat.

It wasn’t a hypothetical scenario either.

It was a statement of fact.

There was no warmth in Cheng Yue—not even a trace!

He had completely torn her apart, and he did it in a setting where she had no room to defend herself or fabricate more lies!

Dong Jiayu trembled violently. “No, you can’t—”

Her eyes were bloodshot, and her mind was in utter chaos. On one side, she was desperately struggling against her crumbling situation; on the other, she couldn’t accept Cheng Yue’s coldness… Aren’t I special to him? Not even a little? He clearly didn’t have any other women around him—only me…

“Dong Jiayu.” Sister Wang gritted her teeth. “Get a grip…”

Couldn’t this be handled later?

Cheng Yue pressed his lips together. “I find the way you speak quite interesting—saying half a sentence, hiding the rest, making others guess. If the newspapers write about you tomorrow, I’ll be sure to suggest they spread the word.”

Dong Jiayu completely lost it. She threw herself at Cheng Yue’s feet.

“Did you forget? Without me, you would have died. You would have died, Cheng Yue! I’m not asking for much—I just want to have an easier time in the entertainment industry…”

Cheng Yue frowned. “Don’t dirty my shoes.”

At this point, Dong Jiayu couldn’t even pretend anymore. Clutching her chest, she collapsed backward.

Sister Wang hurriedly supported her and started retreating.

Cheng Yue’s secretary followed them, smiling. “Going to the hospital? Sure. By the way, about that forty million… I think the children in the mountain villages need it more. What do you think?”

Sister Wang choked.

Cheng Yue glanced at the chaotic dancing on stage.

“…Boring.”

But surprisingly, he wasn’t in a particularly bad mood today.

Maybe it was because he had just dealt with a pest.

When Cheng Yue returned to the Cheng family from the remote mountains, his grandparents hadn’t welcomed him warmly.

Under his grandfather’s orders, the Cheng family’s private doctor issued him a diagnosis of mental illness.

Back then, it had weighed heavily on him.

But there was nothing he could do—he was someone who held grudges.

So later, he thought: Fine. I’ll just act normal for you all to see.

If others pretended to be polite, sophisticated philanthropists in high society, then he would play along.

But a pest was still a pest—stupid and filthy.

Cheng Yue thought to himself: Why do I feel so at ease now?

Maybe it was because, unlike his mother, he truly was a cold and ruthless person to his core.

A heartless, lunatic sociopath—so why should I pretend to be normal?

His gaze shifted slightly as he heard the announcement on stage—the live voting was about to begin.

The MicroGlow Platform boss cautiously observed Cheng Yue’s expression, feeling the suffocating tension in the air.

He hesitated before stammering out, “S-Sir, since it’s so rare for you to grace us with your presence today… perhaps, after the rankings and the group announcement, you could personally present the trophies?”

Cheng Yue’s bodyguard: “…”

This guy has guts! He actually dares to ask Mr. Cheng to do this?!

Cheng Yue: “Sure.”

Just then, the large screen at the back of the stage displayed the voting count.

In the audience, Ding Xuan dialed Dong Jiayu’s phone, but no one answered.

She had no choice but to call someone from Lion King Entertainment instead.

Then, she lifted her head and looked at the big screen.

At that moment, countless eyes were fixed on it as well.

The votes began skyrocketing.

Fans in the venue screamed with excitement, their enthusiasm reaching its peak.

Jiang Su’s vote count climbed rapidly—ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand… soaring at an insane speed.

Finally, the numbers stopped at 275,678 votes.

Two hundred seventy-five thousand!

More than 275,000 votes!

She had completely crushed Ding Xuan, the second-place contestant, by a huge margin.

Yes, Ding Xuan was in second place, with 90,331 votes—just over 90,000.

She had underestimated Jiang Su’s vote count. When she was botting votes earlier, she hadn’t dared to go overboard.

Below that, third place was Yu Xinyan, fourth was Lin Sifeng, fifth was Li Mo’er, and sixth was Wu Qingqing…

A flicker of surprise flashed in Cheng Yue’s eyes.

This number represents popularity, right?

Does Jiang Su really have that much popularity?

In his memory, she was never particularly likable.

Just like Dong Jiayu, she had a habit of speaking in half-truths.

The only difference was that Dong Jiayu made people think positively of her, while Jiang Su would start speaking, then stop halfway, leaving behind nothing but lingering resentment.

Cheng Yue asked, “Who came in second? The one who performed with Jiang Su?”

“It was Ding Xuan, this girl.” The boss pulled up a photo on his phone and showed it to Cheng Yue.

Cheng Yue: “…She got second place? That performance was both ridiculous and boring.”

The boss was momentarily speechless.

“Is everyone blind? Or is your show just that awful?” Cheng Yue asked casually.

The boss panicked immediately—this was bad!

If the big boss thought their show was trash…

He quickly said, “It’s possible that someone tampered with the system and manipulated the votes.”

Cheng Yue found this amusing. “Hmm? People actually bother rigging votes for something like this? Do they think they’re running for president?”

The boss wiped the sweat off his forehead and hurriedly ordered an investigation into the system.

Meanwhile, Xuan Wen and Zhao Qiuying, maintaining neutral expressions, started adding up the scores.

Jiang Su had a base score of 10 points. She initially received an A, earning her 12 points. Then, with the audience vote conversions from four performances, she gained 3 points, 7 points, 19 points, and 27 points respectively.

Zhao Qiuying, his voice slightly tight with excitement, gripped the scorecard and announced, “Jiang Su, with a total score of 78 points, secures first place across all four performances and successfully debuts.”

Even with the 20 points that Dong Jiayu had given her, Ding Xuan only reached a total of 39 points.

Once again, Jiang Su had completely outpaced the competition.

And Ding Xuan was still the second highest scorer.

With her score set as the benchmark, the audience—both in the venue and behind their screens—erupted into excited screams.

[Hahahaha, this is so satisfying! Proves once again that trash is just trash! Jiang Su absolutely crushed her!]

[Ding Xuan’s face must be turning green with rage. After all that effort, her performance still ended up looking pathetic.]

The host hesitated slightly as he read the next segment from the cue card: “Now, let’s invite… Mr. Cheng to, uh, present the award to the first-place winner.”

[??? Which Mr. Cheng?]