Chapter 176 - 172: Good-for-nothing x Innocent Little Tyrant 11

Chapter 176: Chapter 172: Good-for-nothing x Innocent Little Tyrant 11

For her second competition, Ji Xiaosong was a little more composed than before.

By now, she had fans in the country. Under Luna’s guidance, her fan base had been relatively well-behaved from the start.

Unsurprisingly, she won the championship.

The national finals were just half a month away.

The competition would be broadcast live in its entirety, so Ji Xiaosong underwent intensive training arranged by Luna.

「Before she left home.」

"Xiaosong, have you packed everything?"

Shen Fengming placed the neatly folded performance outfit into a silver suitcase, her fingers repeatedly stroking the satin fabric.

Ji Xiaosong, who was stuffing throat lozenges into her sheet music folder, looked up and smiled. "Mom, you’ve already checked three times."

She watched her mother tuck a thermos further into the side pocket and suddenly noticed the white hairs at her temples, glaringly bright in the morning light. A sharp sting hit the tip of her nose.

Over the years, while Shen Fengming hadn’t lived a life of luxury, she had been comfortably well-off.

Ji Fu had been cruel, but she had persevered all thanks to the love Shen Fengming secretly gave her.

She was her mother’s only child, and Shen Fengming had given her almost everything.

"Does your back still hurt?"

Ji Xiaosong quickly supported her mother. "Should I have the home-care nurse stay with you for a few days?"

"Stop fussing over nothing."

Shen Fengming feigned annoyance and batted her hand away, then turned to pull a velvet box from the bottom drawer of the tallboy dresser.

Inside the faded blue velvet lay a shell brooch. The mother-of-pearl shimmered with an iridescent glow in the morning light. "This was a gift from your grandmother. Not much was left from back then."

"Wear it on stage this time."

Shen Fengming pinned the brooch to her daughter’s collar, her fingertips trembling slightly. "Mom will be in front of the TV, clapping for you."

Ji Xiaosong gave Shen Fengming a hug and left home.

On the day of the finals, Ji Xiaosong’s votes were far ahead of everyone else’s.

The moment the overhead stage lights cascaded down like the Milky Way, Ji Xiaosong caught a glimpse of familiar curly hair behind the judges’ panel.

Shen Fengming nervously clutched a program, being led toward the VIP section by a girl wearing a staff badge.

And just behind that seat, Jiang Yao’s figure, clad in a sharp suit, was faintly visible in the shadows.

"Ladies and gentlemen, let’s welcome tonight’s favorite to win—"

When the spotlight suddenly flared to life, Ji Xiaosong’s fingertip slipped on the piano keys.

She saw her mother’s smiling face, deliberately pushed into the camera’s view by the director, and out of the corner of her eye, she caught Jiang Yao in the shadows of the side stage gesturing to the main control console.

The stage lift slowly raised her snow-white skirt, and a clear, soaring harp melody suddenly appeared in the backing track—a cadenza she had casually mentioned wanting to add just yesterday.

When the live camera panned across the audience, the bullet chat exploded with exclamations of amazement.

Someone screenshotted a side view of Shen Fengming wiping away a tear, while even more people were discussing the shell brooch on her chest, identical to her daughter’s.

No one noticed that in the director’s booth, Jiang Yao was staring at the real-time public opinion monitoring screen, pushing the "Ji Xiaosong’s New Song" trending topic up another three spots.

The shower of confetti at the moment of her victory was heavier than expected.

As Ji Xiaosong retreated backstage clutching her trophy, a sticky note on the vanity mirror fluttered down.

Forceful fountain pen script read: "Changing room, third locker. There’s a surprise."

When she pushed the door open, she found Jiang Yao leaning against a pile of champagne roses, his tie hanging loosely from his second button.

He reached out to brush a sequin from her hair. The USB drive lying in his palm was still warm from his body heat. "Every shot of your mother, from the moment she entered to the moment she cried, is on here."

"Why...?"

Her throat tightened as she remembered the extra anti-slip rug by the control console during rehearsals, and those work messages on WeChat that were always answered in seconds, even in the dead of night.

"The first time I saw you at the preliminary competition, you looked so confident and poised..."

He suddenly leaned in, the sharp edge of the trophy pressing between their chests. "I thought right then and there, a light like that shouldn’t be covered in dust."

The moment footsteps were heard in the hallway, he took half a step back, reverting to the noble and reserved appearance of Vice President Jiang, but not before stuffing a velvet box into her palm.

The moment she opened it, Ji Xiaosong saw the mother-of-pearl from the shattered shell brooch, now sparkling under the light, perfectly embedded in a new crescent-shaped platinum setting. A small "J&J" was engraved on the inside.

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes."

Ji Xiaosong’s knuckles turned white as she gripped the brooch box. Scalding tears fell into the engraved indentation, smudging the "J&J" into two shimmering crescent moons.

A sudden burst of cheering from outside the door startled her, making her take half a step back. Seven or eight stagehands carrying champagne burst through the partially closed door.

As a confetti cannon went off with a POP, Jiang Yao raised a hand to shield her from the flying gold foil, his palm secretly enveloping her trembling fingertips.

"President Jiang, you really kept us in the dark!"

The promotions director squeezed to the front, holding up a phone that was live-streaming. The bullet chat on the screen was refreshing at a rate of a thousand comments per second. "We had just cut from the award ceremony when we got an urgent task: film the sweetest public relationship announcement vlog in history!"

The tips of Ji Xiaosong’s ears turned bright red and she tried to pull her hand away, but Jiang Yao simply laced their fingers together and held their joined hands up for the camera.

A stray rhinestone from her eyelashes still clung to the shoulder of his suit, but his tone was as effortless as ever. "This is Starry Entertainment’s key project for the next three years. I trust we’ll have everyone’s full support."

"President Jiang is mixing business with pleasure!"

The sound engineer, who had dreadlocks, playfully tossed a bouquet at them. Baby’s breath landed on their clasped hands.

The blue light from a monitor in the hallway slanted in, illuminating Jiang Yao’s suddenly tense jawline.

He quickly traced the words "I’m sorry" onto her palm.

Ji Xiaosong suddenly stood on her tiptoes and kissed his sweat-dampened temple. Facing the continuous clicking of camera shutters, she chuckled. "Mr. Investor, I think my signing fee needs a raise."

When she saw the phone was live-streaming a moment ago, she had also been stunned for a second.

’But then it occurred to her that in a place like the entertainment industry, anyone without a powerful background could easily become a target for bullies. Even with all her talent, she might not be able to protect herself. In that case, boldly revealing her trump card was another form of self-preservation.’

At the celebration banquet, a dazzling crystal chandelier cast a glow on the champagne tower, making it look like a waterfall of amber.

At that moment, Jiang Yao was pushing a gilt-edged contract across the table.

The words "Lead Partner for Global Tour" stamped in gold foil on the cover made the contestant in the next seat drop her fork onto her ceramic plate with a CLATTER.

"The shortlist for next quarter’s brand ambassador."

He tapped his iPad nonchalantly. On the screen, a haute couture jewelry catalog lit up, and a photo of Ji Xiaosong from her audition was displayed prominently in the top spot.

The public relations director immediately understood and raised his glass. "Xiaosong is a Ziwei Star the likes of which Fenxing sees only once a decade."

From a corner came the heavy THUD of a glass being set back down on the table.

The runner-up, Lin Xixi, was gripping her napkin so tightly her knuckles had turned white. Her manager, however, was already squeezing his way to the main table with a glass of wine, smiling. "President Jiang, you have such a keen eye. For Xiaosong’s new album, could our artist perhaps feature on a track?"

Ji Xiaosong sipped her honey water and gave a faint smile, her gaze sweeping over Lin Xixi’s stiff false eyelashes.

Three hours ago, this same girl had been in the restroom, mocking the "gods created by capital." Now, she was being pushed forward by her manager to toast, saying, "Senior, please take care of me."

Jiang Yao suddenly reached out and adjusted the shawl that was slipping from Ji Xiaosong’s shoulders. With his warm palm resting on the back of her neck, he said, "The tour’s head planner will be at the office tomorrow. You can personally pick the band."

His words were spoken casually, but they made the third-place winner, who was holding up her phone hoping for a photo op, freeze in her tracks.

Everyone knew that Fenxing’s ace producer never took on projects with new artists.

"President Jiang, you’re playing favorites."

The music director came over, laughing, to smooth things over, but Jiang Yao just tapped him lightly on the shoulder with the contract. "Fenxing is establishing a fund for original music this year," Jiang Yao announced. "Anyone here with a demo is welcome to submit it."

The slight rustling of the tablecloth instantly turned into thunderous applause, and Lin Xixi finally spilled her red wine all over her skirt.

As Jiang Yao, live in front of the entire internet, placed the key to the top-floor recording studio of the Fenxing Building into Ji Xiaosong’s palm, he said, "True protection isn’t shielding you. It’s putting you in a position that no one can ever take away."